{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_53527/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_53527","id":"gutenberg_53527","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53527","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity","God (Christianity) -- Attributes","Providence and government of God -- Christianity"],"text":"{a1}             THE EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD\n\n\n                           STEPHEN CHARNOCK\n\n\n                     WITH HIS LIFE AND CHARACTER\n                         BY WILLIAM SYMINGTON\n\n\n                          TWO VOLUMES IN ONE\n\n                               Volume 1\n\n\n                             Baker Books\n\n                  A Division of Baker Book House Co\n                     Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516\n\n\n\n\n{a2}                Reprinted 1996 by Baker Books\n                a division of Baker Book House Company\n              P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516\u20126287\n\n                       Originally published as\n        _Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God_\n                  by Robert Carter & Brothers, 1853\n\n                     Third printing, January 2000\n\n               Printed in the United States of America\n\n                         ISBN: 0\u20128010\u20121112\u20124\n\n         For information about academic books, resources for\n        Christian leaders, and all new releases available from\n                Baker Book House, visit our web site:\n                      http://www.bakerbooks.com\n\n\n\n\n  \u250c\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2510\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502                      Transcriber\u2019s Notes                       \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Punctuation has been standardized.                            \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps.      \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Non-printable characteristics have been given the following   \u2502\n  \u2502  transliteration:                                              \u2502\n  \u2502      Italic text: --> _text_                                   \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  This book was written in a period when many words had         \u2502\n  \u2502  not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have     \u2502\n  \u2502  multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in   \u2502\n  \u2502  the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated     \u2502\n  \u2502  with a Transcriber\u2019s Note.                                    \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  The page numbers from the original book are shown in braces   \u2502\n  \u2502  {} for reference purposes.                                    \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Footnotes are identified in the text with a number in         \u2502\n  \u2502  brackets [2] and have been accumulated in a single section    \u2502\n  \u2502  at the end of the text.                                       \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2502  Transcriber\u2019s Notes are used when making corrections to the   \u2502\n  \u2502  text or to provide additional information for the modern      \u2502\n  \u2502  reader. These notes are not identified in the text, but have  \u2502\n  \u2502  been accumulated in a single section at the end of the book.  \u2502\n  \u2502                                                                \u2502\n  \u2514\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2500\u2518\n\n\n\n\n{a3}                      CONTENTS OF VOL. I\n\n\n                                                               PAGE\n  LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE AUTHOR.                              a5\n\n  PREFACE.                                                      a19\n\n\n                             DISCOURSE I.\n\n                       ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.\n\n  PSALM xiv. 1.\u2015\u2015The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.\n    They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is\n    none that doeth good.                                       a23\n\n\n                            DISCOURSE II.\n\n                        ON PRACTICAL ATHEISM.\n\n  PSALM xiv. 1.\u2015\u2015The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.\n    They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is\n    none that doeth good.                                       a89\n\n\n                            DISCOURSE III.\n\n                       ON GOD\u2019S BEING A SPIRIT.\n\n  JOHN iv. 24.\u2015\u2015God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must\n    worship him in spirit and in truth.                        a176\n\n\n                            DISCOURSE IV.\n\n                        ON SPIRITUAL WORSHIP.\n\n  JOHN iv. 24.\u2015\u2015God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must\n    worship him in spirit and in truth.                        a205\n\n\n                             DISCOURSE V.\n\n                       ON THE ETERNITY OF GOD.\n\n  PSALM xc. 2.\u2015\u2015Before the mountains were brought forth, or\n    ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from\n    everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.                  a276\n\n\n{a4}                        DISCOURSE VI.\n\n                     ON THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD.\n\n  PSALM cii. 26, 27.\u2015\u2015They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea,\n    all of them shall wax old as a garment; as a vesture shalt thou\n    change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same,\n    and thy years shall have no end.                           a310\n\n\n                            DISCOURSE VII.\n\n                        ON GOD\u2019S OMNIPRESENCE.\n\n  JEREMIAH xxiii. 24.\u2015\u2015Can any hide himself in secret places, that\n    I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and\n    earth? saith the Lord.                                     a363\n\n\n                           DISCOURSE VIII.\n\n                         ON GOD\u2019S KNOWLEDGE.\n\n  PSALM cxlvii. 5.\u2015\u2015Great is our Lord, and of great power: his\n    understanding is infinite.                                 a406\n\n\n                            DISCOURSE IX.\n\n                        ON THE WISDOM OF GOD.\n\n  ROMANS xvi. 27.\u2015\u2015To God only wise be glory, through Jesus Christ\n    forever. Amen.                                             a498\n\n\n\n\n{a5}               LIFE AND CHARACTER OF CHARNOCK,\n\n                        BY WM. SYMINGTON, D.D.\n\n\nSTEPHEN CHARNOCK, B.D., was born in the year 1628, in the parish\nof St. Katharine Cree, London. His father, Mr. Richard Charnock,\npractised as a solicitor in the Court of Chancery, and was descended\nfrom a family of some antiquity in Lancashire. Stephen, after a course\nof preparatory study, entered himself, at an early period of life, a\nstudent in Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was placed under the\nimmediate tuition of the celebrated Dr. William Sancroft, who became\nafterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. Although there is too much reason\nto fear that colleges seldom prove the spiritual birthplaces of the\nyouth that attend them, it was otherwise in this case. The Sovereign\nSpirit, who worketh where and how he wills, had determined that\nthis young man, while prosecuting his early studies, should undergo\nthat essential change of heart which, besides yielding an amount of\npersonal comfort, could not fail to exert a salutary influence on all\nhis future inquiries, sanctify whatever learning he might hereafter\nacquire, and fit him for being eminently useful to thousands of his\nfellow\u2011creatures. To this all\u2011important event we may safely trace the\neminence to which, both as a Preacher and as a Divine, he afterwards\nattained,\u2015\u2015as he had thus a stimulus to exertion, a motive to vigorous\nand unremitting application, which could not otherwise have existed.\n\nOn his leaving the University he spent some time in a private family,\neither as a preceptor or for the purpose of qualifying himself the\nbetter for discharging the solemn and arduous duties of public life,\non which he was about to enter. Soon after this, just as the Civil War\nbroke out in England, he commenced his official labors as a minister\nof the gospel of peace, somewhere in Southwark. He does not appear\nto have held this situation long; but short as was his {a6} ministry\nthere, it was not altogether without fruit. He who had made the\nstudent himself, while yet young, the subject of saving operations,\nwas pleased also to give efficacy to the first efforts of the youthful\npastor to win souls to Christ. Several individuals in this his first\ncharge were led to own him as their spiritual father. Nor is this a\nsolitary instance of the early ministry of an individual receiving\nthat countenance from on high which has been withheld from the labors\nof his riper years. A circumstance this, full of encouragement to\nthose who, in the days of youth, are entering with much fear and\ntrembling on service in the Lord\u2019s vineyard. At the time when they\nmay feel impelled to exclaim with most vehemence, _Who is sufficient\nfor these things?_ God may cheer them with practical confirmations of\nthe truth, that their _sufficiency is of God_.\n\nIn 1649, Charnock removed from Southwark to Oxford, where, through\nfavor of the Parliamentary Visitors, he obtained a fellowship in New\nCollege; and, not long afterwards, in consequence of his own merits,\nwas incorporated Master of Arts. His singular gifts, and unwearied\nexertions, so attracted the notice and gained the approbation of\nthe learned and pious members of the University, that, in 1652, he\nwas elevated to the dignity of Senior Proctor,\u2015\u2015an office which he\ncontinued to hold till 1656, and the duties of which he discharged\nin a way which brought equal honor to himself and benefit to the\ncommunity.\n\nWhen the period of his proctorship expired, he went to Ireland, where\nhe resided in the family of Mr. Henry Cromwell, who had been appointed\nby his father, the Protector, to the government of that country.\nIt is remarkable how many of the eminent divines, both of England\nand Scotland, have spent some part of their time in Ireland, either\nas chaplains to the army or as refugees from persecuting bigotry.\nCharnock seems to have gone thither in the capacity of chaplain to the\nGovernor, an office which, in his case at least, proved no sinecure.\nDuring his residence in Dublin, he appears to have exercised his\nministry with great regularity and zeal. He preached, we are told,\nevery Lord\u2019s day, with much acceptance, to an audience composed of\npersons of different religious denominations, and of opposite grades\nin society. His talents and worth attracted the members of other\nchurches, and his connection with the family of the Governor secured\nthe attendance of persons of rank. By these his ministrations were\ngreatly esteemed and applauded; and it is hoped that to some of them\nthey were also blessed. But even many who had no respect for his\npiety, and who reaped no saving benefits from his preaching, were\nunable to withhold their admiration {a7} of his learning and his\ngifts. Studying at once to be an \u201censample to the flock,\u201d and to \u201cwalk\nwithin his house with a perfect heart,\u201d his qualities, both public\nand private, his appearances, whether in the pulpit or the domestic\ncircle, commanded the esteem of all who were privileged to form his\nacquaintance. It is understood that the honorary degree of Bachelor\nin Divinity, which he held, was the gift of Trinity College, Dublin,\nconferred during his residence in that city.\n\nThe restoration of Charles, in 1660, put an end to Charnock\u2019s\nministry in Ireland, and hindered his resuming it elsewhere for a\nconsiderable time. That event, leading, as it could not but do, to\nthe re\u2011establishment of arbitrary power, was followed, as a natural\nconsequence, by the ejectment of many of the most godly ministers that\never lived. Among these was the excellent individual of whom we are\nnow speaking. Accordingly, although on his return to England he took\nup his residence in London, he was not permitted to hold any pastoral\ncharge there. Nevertheless, he continued to prosecute his studies\nwith ardor, and occasionally exercised his gifts in a private way for\nfifteen years, during which time he paid some visits to the continent,\nespecially to France and Holland.\n\nAt length, in 1675, when the restrictions of the government were so\nfar relaxed, he accepted a call from a congregation in Crosby Square,\nto become co\u2011pastor with the Rev. Thomas Watson, the ejected minister\nof St. Stephen\u2019s, Walbrook, who, soon after the Act of Uniformity,\nhad collected a church in that place. Mr. Watson was an eminent\nPresbyterian divine, and the society which he was instrumental in\nfounding became afterwards, under the ministry of Dr. Grosvenor, one\nof the most flourishing in the city, in respect both of numbers and of\nwealth. It may not be uninteresting here to insert a few brief notices\nrespecting the place of worship which this congregation occupied,\nbeing the scene of Charnock\u2019s labors during a principal part of his\nministry, and that in connection with which he closed his official\ncareer.\n\nThe place in which this humble Presbyterian congregation[1] assembled\nwas a large hall of Crosby House, an ancient mansion on the east side\nof Bishopgate Street, erected by Sir John Crosby, Sheriff and Alderman\nof London, in 1470. After passing through the hands of several\noccupants, and, among others, those of Richard III., who thought\nit not unfit for being a royal residence, it became, about the\n{a8} year 1640, the property of Alderman Sir John Langham, a staunch\nPresbyterian and Loyalist. A calamitous fire afterwards so injured\nthe building, as to render it unsuitable for a family residence;\nbut the hall, celebrated for its magnificent oaken ceiling, happily\nescaped the conflagration, and was converted into a meeting\u2011house for\nMr. Watson\u2019s congregation, of which the proprietor is supposed to have\nbeen a member. The structure, though greatly dilapidated, still exists,\nand is said to be regarded as one of the most perfect specimens of the\ndomestic architecture of the fifteenth century now remaining in the\nmetropolis. But, as an illustration of the vicissitudes such edifices\nare destined to undergo, it may be stated that Crosby Hall, after\nhaving witnessed the splendors of royalty, and been consecrated\nto the solemnities of divine worship, was lately\u2015\u2015perhaps it\nis still\u2015\u2015dedicated to the inferior, if not ignoble, uses of a\nwool\u2011packer.\n\nAfter saying so much about the building, a word or two respecting the\ncongregation which assembled for years under its vaulted roof, may\nnot be deemed inappropriate. It was formed, as we have already said,\nby the Rev. Thomas Watson, the ejected minister of St. Stephen\u2019s,\nWalbrook. This took place in 1662, and Charnock was Mr. Watson\u2019s\ncolleague for five years. Mr. Watson was succeeded by the son of an\nejected minister, the Rev. Samuel Slater, who discharged the pastoral\nduties with great ability and faithfulness for twenty\u2011four years, and\nclosed his ministry and life with this solemn patriarchal sentence\naddressed to his people:\u2015\u2015\u201cI charge you before God, that you prepare\nto meet me at the day of judgment, as my crown of joy; and that\nnot one of you be wanting at the right hand of God.\u201d Dr. Benjamin\nGrosvenor succeeded Mr. Slater. His singular acumen, graceful\nutterance, lively imagination, and fervid devotion, are said to have\nsecured for the congregation a greater degree of prosperity than it\nhad ever before enjoyed. A pleasing recollection has been preserved,\nof perhaps one of the most touching discourses ever composed, having\nbeen delivered by him in this Hall, on _The Temper of Christ_. In this\ndiscourse the Saviour is introduced, by way of illustrating his own\ncommand that \u201crepentance and remission of sins should be preached\nunto all nations, _beginning at Jerusalem_,\u201d as giving the Apostles\ndirections how they are to proceed in carrying out this requirement.\nAmongst other things, he is represented as saying to them:\u2015\u2015\u201cGo into\nall nations and offer this salvation as you go; but lest the poor\nhouse of Israel should think themselves abandoned to despair, the\nseed of Abraham, mine ancient friend; as cruel and unkind as they have\nbeen, go, make them the _first offer_ of grace; let them that struck\nthe rock, drink first of its refreshing streams; and {a9} they that\ndrew my blood, be welcome to its healing virtue. Tell them, that as I\nwas sent to the _lost sheep of the house of Israel_, so, if they will\nbe gathered, I will be their shepherd still. Though they despised my\n_tears_ which I shed over them, and imprecated my _blood_ to be upon\nthem, tell them \u2019twas for their sakes I shed both; that by my tears\nI might soften their hearts towards God, and by my blood I might\nreconcile God to them.... Tell them, you have seen the prints of\nthe nails upon my hands and feet, and the wounds of the spear in my\nside; and that those marks of their cruelty are so far from giving me\nvindictive thoughts, that, if they will but repent, every wound they\nhave given me speaks in their behalf, pleads with the Father for the\nremission of their sins, and enables me to bestow it.... Nay, if you\nmeet that poor wretch that thrust the spear into my side, tell him\nthere is another way, a better way, of coming at my heart. If he will\nrepent, and _look upon him whom he has pierced, and will mourn_, I\nwill cherish him in that very bosom he has wounded; he shall find the\nblood he shed an ample atonement for the sin of shedding it. And tell\nhim from me, he will put me to more pain and displeasure by refusing\nthis offer of my blood, than when he first drew it forth.\u201d In Dr.\nGrosvenor\u2019s old age, notwithstanding that he was assisted, from time\nto time, by eminent divines, the congregation began to decline. After\nhis death, the pastoral charge was held by Dr. Hodge and Mr. Jones\nsuccessively, but, under the ministry of the latter, the church had\nbecome so enfeebled, that, on the expiration of the lease in 1769, the\nmembers agreed to dissolve, and were gradually absorbed in other\nsocieties.\n\nFrom this digression we return, only to record the last circumstance\nnecessary to complete this brief sketch. The death of Charnock took\nplace July 27, 1680, when he was in the fifty\u2011third year of his age.\nThe particulars that have come down to us of this event, like those\nof the other parts of his history, are scanty, yet they warrant us\nto remark that he died in a frame of mind every way worthy of his\nexcellent character and holy life. He was engaged, at the time, in\ndelivering to his people, at Crosby Hall, that series of Discourses\non the Existence and Attributes of God, on which his fame as a writer\nchiefly rests. The intense interest which he was observed to take in\nthe subjects of which he treated, was regarded as an indication that\nhe was nearly approaching that state in which he was to be \u201cfilled\nwith all the fulness of God.\u201d Not unfrequently was he heard to\ngive utterance to a longing desire for that region for which he\ngave evidence of his being so well prepared. These circumstances\nwere, naturally enough, looked upon as proofs that his mighty {a10}\nmind, though yet on earth, had begun to \u201cput off its mortality,\u201d and\nwas fast ripening for the paradise of God. From his death taking place\nin the house of Mr. Richard Tymns, in the parish of Whitechapel,\nLondon, it may be inferred that his departure was sudden. The body\nwas immediately after taken to the meeting\u2011house at Crosby Square,\nwhich had been so often the scene of his prayers and preaching. From\nthence, accompanied by a long train of mourners, it was conveyed to\nSt. Michael\u2019s Church, Cornhill, where it was deposited hard by the\nTower under the belfrey. The funeral sermon was preached by his early\nfriend and fellow\u2011student at Cambridge, Mr. John Johnson, from these\napposite words:\u2015\u2015\u201cThen shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in\nthe kingdom of their Father.\u201d\n\nSuch is an outline of the facts, as far as they are known, of the\nlife of this great man. There are none, it is true, of those striking\noccurrences and marvellous incidents in the narrative, which attract\nthe notice of the multitude, and which are so gratifying to those who\nare in quest of excitement more than of edification. But, let it not\nbe thought that, for this reason, the narrative must be destitute of\nthe materials of personal improvement. If the advantages to be derived\nfrom a piece of biography are at all proportioned to the degree in\nwhich the character and circumstances of the subject resemble those\nof the reader, a greater number, at least, may be expected to obtain\nbenefit from a life, the incidents of which are more common, inasmuch\nas there are but comparatively few, the events of whose history are of\nan extraordinary and dazzling description. \u201cWhen a character,\u201d to use\nthe language of a profound judge of human nature,[2] \u201cselected from\nthe ordinary ranks of life, is faithfully and minutely delineated,\nno effort is requisite to enable us to place ourselves in the same\nsituation; we accompany the subject of the narrative, with an interest\nundiminished by distance, unimpaired by dissimilarity of circumstances;\nand, from the efforts by which he surmounted difficulties and\nvanquished temptations, we derive the most useful practical lessons.\nHe who desires to strengthen his virtue and purify his principles,\nwill always prefer the solid to the specious; will be more disposed to\ncontemplate an example of the unostentatious piety and goodness which\nall men may obtain, than of those extraordinary achievements to which\nfew can aspire; nor is it the mark of a superior, but rather a vulgar\nand superficial taste, to consider nothing as great or excellent but\nthat which glitters with titles, or is elevated by rank.\u201d\n\n{a11} Let us endeavor to portray the character of Charnock.\n\nThe mental qualities by which he was most distinguished as a man,\nwere judgment and imagination. The reasoning faculty, naturally strong,\nwas improved by diligent training and habitual exercise. In tracing\nthe relations and tendencies of things, he greatly excelled; he could\ncompare and contrast with admirable ease and beautiful discrimination;\nand his deductions, as was to be expected, were usually sound and\nlogical. Judgment was, indeed, the presiding faculty in his, as it\nought to be in all minds.\n\nThe more weighty qualities of intellect were in him united to a\nbrilliant fancy. By this means he was enabled to adorn the more solid\nmaterials of thought with the attractive hues of inventive genius. His\nfine and teeming imagination, ever under the strict control of reason\nand virtue, was uniformly turned to the most important purposes.\nThis department of mental phenomena, from the abuses to which it is\nliable, is apt to be undervalued; yet, were this the proper place, it\nwould not be difficult to show that imagination is one of the noblest\nfaculties with which man has been endowed\u2015\u2015a faculty, indeed, the\nsound and proper use of which is not only necessary to the existence\nof sympathy and other social affections, but also intimately connected\nwith those higher exercises of soul, by which men are enabled\nto realize the things that are not seen and eternal. Charnock\u2019s\nimagination was under the most cautious and skilful management\u2015\u2015the\nhandmaid, not the mistress of his reason\u2015\u2015and, doubtless, it\ntended, in no small degree, to free his character from that cold\nand contracted selfishness which is apt to predominate in those who\nare deficient in this quality; to impart a generous warmth to his\nintercourse with others; and to throw over his compositions as an\nauthor an animating and delightful glow.\n\nThese qualities of mind were associated with habits of intense\napplication and persevering diligence, which alike tended to\ninvigorate his original powers, and enabled him to turn them all to\nthe best account. To the original vigor of his powers must be added\nthat which culture supplied. Charnock was a highly educated man. As\nremarked by the first editors of his works, he was not only \u201ca person\nof excellent parts, strong reason, great judgment, and curious fancy,\u201d\nbut \u201cof high improvements and general learning, as having been all\nhis days a most diligent and methodical student.\u201d An alumnus of both\nthe English universities, he may be said to have drawn nourishment\nfrom each of these generous mothers. He had the reputation of being\na general scholar; his acquisitions being by no means limited to\nthe literature of his profession. Not only was his {a12} acquaintance\nwith the original languages of Scripture great, but he had made\nconsiderable attainments in the study of medicine; and, indeed, there\nwas scarcely any branch of learning with which he was unacquainted.\nAll his mental powers were thus strengthened and refined by judicious\ndiscipline, and, as we shall see presently, he knew well how to devote\nhis treasures, whether original or acquired, to the service of the\nRedeemer; and to consecrate the richest stores of natural genius and\neducational attainment, by laying them all at the foot of the Cross.\n\nBut that which gave the finish to Charnock\u2019s intellectual character,\nwas not the predominance of any one quality so much as the harmonious\nand nicely balanced union of all. Acute perception, sound judgment,\nmasculine sense, brilliant imagination, habits of reflection, and\na complete mastery over the succession of his thoughts, were all\ncombined in that comely order and that due proportion which go to\nconstitute a well\u2011regulated mind. There was, in his case, none of that\ndisproportionate development of any one particular faculty, which, in\nsome cases, serves, like an overpowering glare, to dim, if not almost\nto quench the splendor of the rest. The various faculties of his soul,\nto make use of a figure, rather shone forth like so many glittering\nstars, from the calm and clear firmament of his mind, each supplying\nits allotted tribute of light, and contributing to the serene and\nsolemn lustre of the whole. As has been said of another, so may it be\nsaid of him\u2015\u2015\u201cIf it be rare to meet with an individual whose mental\nfaculties are thus admirably balanced, in whom no tyrant faculty\nusurps dominion over the rest, or erects a despotism on the ruins of\nthe intellectual republic; still more rare is it to meet with such a\nmind in union with the far higher qualities of religious and moral\nexcellence.\u201d\n\nNor were Charnock\u2019s moral qualities less estimable than his\nintellectual. He was a pre\u2011eminently holy man, distinguished at\nonce by personal purity, social equity, and habitual devotion. Early\nthe subject of saving grace, he was in his own person an excellent\nexample of the harmony of faith, with the philosophy of the moral\nfeelings. Strongly he felt that while \u201cnot without law to God,\u201d he\nwas nevertheless \u201cunder law to Christ.\u201d The motives from which he\nacted in every department of moral duty were evangelical motives;\nand so entirely was he imbued with the spirit, so completely\nunder the power of the gospel, that whatever he did, no matter how\nhumble in the scale of moral duty, he \u201cserved the Lord Christ.\u201d The\nregulating principle of his whole life is embodied in the apostolical\ninjunction:\u2015\u2015\u201cWhatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and\nnot {a13} unto men.\u201d The various talents with which he was gifted\nby the God of nature, were all presided over by an enlightened and\ndeep\u2011toned piety, for which he was indebted to the sovereign grace\nof God in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was this that struck the key\u2011note\nof the intellectual and moral harmony to which we have adverted as a\nprominent feature in his character. This at once directed each faculty\nto its proper object, and regulated the measure of its exercise.\nDevotion was the very element in which he lived and breathed, and had\nhis being. Devout communion with Supreme Excellence, the contemplation\nof celestial themes, and preparation for a higher state of being,\nconstituted the truest pleasures of his existence, elevated him far\nabove the control of merely sentient and animal nature, and secured\nfor him an undisturbed repose of mind, which was itself but an\nantepast of what awaited him in the unclouded region of glory. Nor was\nhis devotion transient or occasional merely; it was habitual as it was\ndeep, extending its plastic and sanctifying influence to every feature\nof character, and every event of life; dictating at once ceaseless\nefforts for the welfare of man, and intensest desires for the\nglory of God; and securing that rarest perhaps of all combinations,\nclose communion with the future and the eternal, and the busy and\nconscientious discharge of the ordinary duties of everyday life.\n\nHis natural temper appears to have been reserved, and his manners\ngrave. Regarding the advantages to be derived from general society as\ninsufficient to compensate for the loss of those to be acquired by\nretirement, he cultivated the acquaintance of few, and these few\nthe more intelligent and godly, with whom, however, putting aside\nhis natural backwardness, he was wont to be perfectly affable and\ncommunicative. But his best and most highly cherished companions\nwere his books, of which he had contrived to secure a valuable\nthough select collection. With these he held frequent and familiar\nintercourse. Great part of his time, indeed, was spent in his study;\nand when the calls of unavoidable duty compelled him to leave it, so\nbent was he on redeeming time, that, not content with appropriating\nthe hours usually devoted to sleep, he cultivated the habit of\nthinking while walking along the streets. So successful was he in his\nefforts of abstraction, that, amid the most crowded and attractive\nscenes, he could withdraw his mind easily from the vanities which\nsolicited his attention, and give himself up to close thinking and\nuseful meditation. The productions of his pen, and the character of\nhis pulpit services, bore ample evidence that the hours of retirement\nwere given neither to frivolous vacuity nor to self\u2011indulgent {a14}\nsloth, but to the industrious cultivation of his powers, and to\nconscientious preparation for public duty. He was not content, like\nmany, with the mere reputation of being a _recluse_; on the contrary,\nhe was set on bringing forth the fruits of a _hard student_. There\nwas always one day in the week in which he made it to appear that\nthe others were not misspent. His Sabbath ministrations were not the\nloose vapid effusions of a few hours\u2019 careless preparation, but were\nrather the substantial, well\u2011arranged, well\u2011compacted products of much\nintense thought and deep cogitation. \u201cHad he been less in his study,\u201d\nsays his editors quaintly, \u201che would have been less liked in the\npulpit.\u201d\n\nTo a person of these studious habits it may easily be conceived what\ndistress it must have occasioned to have his library swept away from\nhim. In that dreadful misfortune which befell the metropolis in 1666,\never since known as \u201cthe fire of London,\u201d the whole of Charnock\u2019s\nbooks were destroyed. The amount of calamity involved in such an\noccurrence can be estimated aright only by those who know from\nexperience the strength and sacredness of that endearment with which\nthe real student regards those silent but instructive friends which\nhe has drawn around him by slow degrees; with which he has cultivated\na long and intimate acquaintance; which are ever at hand with their\nvaluable assistance, counsel and consolation, when these are needed;\nwhich, unlike some less judicious companions, never intrude upon him\nagainst his will; and with whose very looks and positions, as they\nrepose in their places around him, he has become so familiarized,\nthat it is no difficult thing for him to call up their appearance\nwhen absent, or to go directly to them in the dark without the risk\nof a mistake. Some may be disposed to smile at this love of books.\nBut where is the scholar who will do so? Where is the man of letters\nwho, for a single moment, would place the stately mansions and large\nestates of the \u201csons of earth\u201d in comparison with his own well\u2011loaded\nshelves? Where the student who, on looking round upon the walls of\nhis study, is not conscious of a satisfaction greater and better far\nthan landed proprietor ever felt on surveying his fields and lawns\u2015\u2015a\nsatisfaction which almost unconsciously seeks vent in the exclamation,\n\u201cMy library! a dukedom large enough!\u201d Such, and such only, can judge\nwhat must have been Charnock\u2019s feelings, when he found that his\nmuch cherished volumes had become a heap of smouldering ashes. The\nsympathetic regret is only rendered the more intense, when it is\nthought that, in all probability, much valuable manuscript perished\nin the conflagration.\n\n{a15} Charnock excelled as a _Preacher_. This is an office which,\nwhether as regards its origin, nature, design, or effects, it\nwill be difficult to overrate. The relation in which it stands\nto the salvation of immortal souls, invests it with an interest\noverwhelmingly momentous. Our former remarks will serve to show how\nwell he of whom we now speak was qualified for acting in this highest\nof all the capacities in which man is required to serve. His mental\nand moral endowments, his educational acquirements, his habitual\nseriousness, his sanctified imagination, and his vigorous faith,\npre\u2011eminently fitted him for discharging with ability and effect the\nduties of a herald of the Cross. Of his style of preaching we may form\na pretty accurate idea from the writings he has left, which were all\nof them transcribed from the notes of his sermons. We hence infer that\nhis discourses, while excelling in solid divinity and argumentative\npower, were not by any means deficient in their practical bearing,\nbeing addressed not more to the understandings than to the hearts\nof his hearers. \u201cNothing,\u201d it has been justly remarked, \u201ccan be\nmore nervous than his reasoning, nothing more affecting than his\napplications.\u201d While able to unravel with great acuteness and judgment\nthe intricacies of a nice question in polemics, he could with no less\ndexterity and skill address himself to the business of the Christian\nlife, or to the casuistry of religious experience. Perspicuous\nplainness, convincing cogency, great wisdom, fearless honesty, and\naffectionate earnestness, are the chief characteristics of his sermons.\n\nTo this it must be added that his preaching was eminently evangelical.\nSo deeply imbued with gospel truth were his discourses, that, like the\nBook of the Law of old, they might be said to be sprinkled with blood,\neven the blood of atonement. The Cross was at once the basis on which\nhe rested his doctrinal statements, and the armory from which he drew\nhis most forcible and pointed appeals to the conscience. His aim seems\nnever once to have been to catch applause to himself by the enticing\nwords of man\u2019s wisdom, by arraying his thoughts in the motley garb of\nan affected and gorgeous style, or by having recourse to the tricks\nof an inflated and meretricious oratory. His sole ambition appears to\nhave been to \u201cturn sinners from the error of their ways;\u201d and for this\nend he wisely judged nothing to be so well adapted as \u201cholding forth\nthe words of eternal life\u201d in their native simplicity and power, and\nin a spirit of sincere and ardent devotion. His object was to move his\nhearers, not towards himself, but towards his Master; not to elicit\nexpressions of admiration for the messenger, but to make the message\nbear on the salvation of those to whom it was delivered; not to please,\nso {a16} much as to convert, his hearers; not to tickle their fancy,\nbut to save the soul from death, and thus to hide a multitude of sins.\n\nThe character of his preaching, it is true, was adapted to the higher\nand more intelligent classes; yet was it not altogether unsuited to\nthose of humbler rank and pretensions. He could handle the mysteries\nof the gospel with great perspicuity and plainness, using his profound\nlearning for the purpose, not of mystifying, but of making things\nclear, so that persons even in the ordinary walks of life felt him to\nbe not beyond their capacity. The energy, gravity, and earnestness of\nhis manner, especially when young, contributed to render him a great\nfavorite with the public, and accordingly he drew after him large and\ndeeply interested audiences\u2015\u2015a circumstance which, we can suppose,\nwas valued by him, not because of the incense which it ministered\nto a spirit of vanity, but of the opportunity it afforded him of\nwinning souls to the Redeemer. When more advanced in life, this kind\nof popularity, we are told, declined, in consequence of his being\ncompelled from an infirmity of memory to read his sermons, with the\nadditional disadvantage of requiring to supply defect of sight by the\nuse of a glass. But an increasing weight and importance in the matter,\nfully compensated for any deficiency in the manner of his preaching.\nIf the more flighty of his hearers retired, others\u2015\u2015among whom were\nmany of his brethren in the ministry\u2015\u2015who knew how to prefer solidity\nto show, crowded to supply their places. Reckoning it no ordinary\nprivilege to be permitted to sit devoutly at the feet of one so well\nqualified to initiate them into the knowledge of the deep things of\nGod, they continued to listen to his instructions with as much\nadmiration and profit as ever.\n\nIt is as a _Writer_, however, that Charnock is best known, and this,\nindeed, is the only character in which we can now come into contact\nwith him. His works are extensive, but, with a single exception,\nposthumous. The only thing published by himself was the piece on \u201cThe\nSinfulness and Cure of Thoughts,\u201d which appeared originally in the\nSupplement to the Morning Exercise at Cripplegate. Yet such was the\nquantity of manuscript left behind him at his death, that two large\nfolio volumes were soon transcribed, and published by his friends,\nMr. Adams and Mr. Veal, to whom he had committed his papers. The\nDiscourse on Providence was the first published; it appeared in 1680.\nThe Discourses on the Existence and Attributes of God came next, in\n1682. There followed in succession the treatises on Regeneration,\nReconciliation, The Lord\u2019s Supper, &c. A second edition of the\nwhole works, in two volumes, folio, came out in 1684, and a third\nin 1702\u2015\u2015no slight proof of the estimation in which they {a17} were\nheld. Several of the treatises have appeared from time to time in a\nseparate form, especially those on Divine Providence, on Man\u2019s Enmity\nto God, and on Mercy for the Chief of Sinners. The best edition of\nCharnock\u2019s works is that published in 1815, in nine volumes, royal\n8vo; with a prefatory Dedication, and a Memoir of the Author, by the\nRev. Edward Parsons of Leeds.\n\nAll Charnock\u2019s writings are distinguished for sound theology, profound\nthinking, and lively imagination. They partake of that massive\ndivinity for which the Puritan Divines were in general remarkable, and\nare of course orthodox in their doctrinal statements and reasonings.\nEverywhere the reader meets with the evidences and fruits of deep\nthought, of a mind, indeed, of unusual comprehension and energy\nof grasp, that could penetrate with ease into the very core, and\nfathom at pleasure the profoundest depths of the most abstruse and\nobscure subjects; while, from the rich stores of an exuberant and\nhallowed fancy, he was enabled to throw over his compositions the most\nattractive ornaments, and to supply spontaneously such illustrations\nas were necessary to render his meaning more clear, or his lessons\nmore impressive. In a word, for weight of matter, for energy of\nthought, for copiousness of improving reflection, for grandeur\nand force of illustration, and for accuracy and felicitousness of\nexpression, Charnock is equalled by few, and surpassed by none of\nthe writers of the age to which he belonged. The eulogy pronounced\nby a competent judge on the Treatise on the Attributes, applies with\nequal justice to all his other writings:\u2015\u2015\u201cPerspicuity and depth;\nmetaphysical subtlety and evangelical simplicity; immense learning,\nand plain but irrefragable reasoning, conspire to render that work\none of the most inestimable productions that ever did honor to the\nsanctified judgment and genius of a human being.\u201d[3]\n\nThe correctness of the composition, in these works, is remarkable,\nconsidering that they were not prepared for the press by the author\nhimself, and that they must have been originally written amid scenes\nof distraction and turmoil, arising out of the events of the times.\nThe latter circumstance may account for the manly vigor by which they\nare characterized, but it only renders their accuracy and polish the\nmore wonderful. Refinement of taste and extensive scholarship can\nalone explain the chasteness, ease, and elegance of style, so free\nfrom all verbosity and clumsiness, which mark these productions. There\nwere giants in literature in those days, and STEPHEN CHARNOCK was not\nthe least of the noble fraternity.\n\nCharnock may not have all the brilliancy of Bunyan, nor all the {a18}\nmetaphysical acumen and subtle analysis of Howe, nor all the awful\nearnestness of Baxter; but he is not less argumentative, while he\nis more theological than any of them, and his theology, too, is more\nsound than that of some. \u201cHe was not,\u201d say the original editors of\nhis works, \u201cfor that modern divinity which is so much in vogue with\nsome, who would be counted the only sound divines; having tasted the\nold, he did not desire the new, but said the old is better.\u201d There is,\ntherefore, not one of all the Puritan Divines whose writings can with\nmore safety be recommended to the attention of students of divinity\nand young ministers. It is one of the happy signs of the times in\nwhich we live, that a taste for reading such works is beginning\nto revive; and we can conceive no better wish for the interests of\nmankind in general, and of our country in particular, than that the\nminds of our young divines were thoroughly impregnated with the good\nold theology to be found in such writings as those which we now take\nthe liberty to introduce and recommend. \u201cIf a preacher wishes to\nrecommend himself by the weight of his doctrines,\u201d to use the language\nof Mr. Parsons, \u201che will find in the writings of Charnock the great\ntruths of Scripture illustrated and explained in the most lucid and\nmasterly manner. If he wishes to be distinguished by the evangelical\nstrain of his discourses, and by the continual exhibition of Christ\nand him crucified, he will here find the characters of Christ, and the\nadaptation of the gospel to the circumstances and wants of man as a\nfallen creature, invariably kept in view. If he wishes for usefulness\nin the Church of God, here he has the brightest example of forcible\nappeals to the conscience, and of the most impressive applications of\nScripture truth, to the various conditions of mankind. And, finally,\nif he reads for his own advantage as a Christian, his mind will\nbe delighted with the inexhaustible variety here provided for the\nemployment of his enlightened faculties, and his improvement in every\ndivine attainment.\u201d\n\nHappy shall we be, if what we have written shall, by the blessing\nof God, prove the means of producing or reviving a taste for reading\nthe works of our author, being fully convinced with a former editor,\nthat, \u201cwhile talent is respected, or virtue revered\u2015\u2015while holiness\nof conversation, consistency of character, or elevation of mind,\nare considered as worthy of imitation\u2015\u2015while uniform and strenuous\nexertion for the welfare of man is honored, and constant devotedness\nto the glory of God admired, the memory of CHARNOCK shall be held in\ngrateful remembrance.\u201d\n\n    ANNFIELD PLACE, Glasgow, June, 1846.\n\n\n\n\n{a19}                       TO THE READER.\n\n\nTHIS long since promised and greatly expected volume of the reverend\nauthor upon the Divine Attributes, being transcribed out of his own\nmanuscripts by the unwearied diligence of those worthy persons that\nundertook it,[4] is now at last come to thy hands: doubt not but\nthy reading will pay for thy waiting, and thy satisfaction make full\ncompensation for thy patience. In the epistle before his treatise on\nProvidence, it was intimated that his following discourses would not\nbe inferior to that; and we are persuaded that, ere thou hast perused\none half of this, thou wilt acknowledge that it was modestly spoken.\nEnough, assure thyself, thou wilt find here for thy entertainment and\ndelight, as well as profit. The sublimeness, variety, and rareness of\nthe truths here handled, together with the elegancy of the composure,\nneatness of the style, and whatever is wont to make any book desirable,\nwill all concur in the recommendation of this. What so high and\nnoble a subject, what so fit for his meditations or thine, as\nthe highest and noblest Being, and those transcendently glorious\nperfections wherewith he is clothed! A mere contemplation of the\nDivine excellencies may afford much pleasure to any man that loves\nto exercise his reason, and is addicted to speculation: but what\nincomparable sweetness, then, will holy souls find in viewing and\nconsidering those perfections now, which they are more fully to behold\nhereafter; and seeing what manner of God, how wise and powerful, how\ngreat, and good, and holy is he, in whom the covenant interests them,\nand in the enjoyment of whom their happiness consists! If rich men\ndelight to sum up their vast revenues, to read over their rentals,\nlook upon their hoards; if they bless themselves in their great wealth,\nor, to use the prophet\u2019s words (Jer. ix. 23), \u201cglory in their riches,\u201d\nwell may believers rejoice and glory in their \u201cknowing the Lord\u201d\n(ver. 24), and please themselves in seeing how rich they are in having\nan immensely full and all\u2011sufficient God for their inheritance. Alas!\nhow little do most men know of that Deity they profess to serve, and\nown, not as their Sovereign only, but their Portion. To such this\nauthor might say, as Paul to the Athenians, \u201cWhom you ignorantly\nworship, him declare I unto you\u201d (Acts xvii. 23). These treatises,\nreader, will inform thee who He is whom thou callest thine, {a20}\n\npresent thee with a view of thy chief good, and make thee value\nthyself a thousand times more upon thy interest with God, than upon\nall external accomplishments and worldly possessions. Who but delights\nto hear well of one whom he loves! God is thy love, if thou be a\nbeliever; and then it cannot but fill thee with delight and ravishment\nto hear so much spoken in his praise. David desired to \u201cdwell in the\nhouse of the Lord,\u201d that he might there behold his beauty: how much of\nthat beauty, if thou art but capable of seeing it, mayest thou behold\nin this volume, which was our author\u2019s main business, for about three\nyears before he died, to display before his hearers! True, indeed, the\nLord\u2019s glory, as shining forth before his heavenly courtiers above,\nis unapproachable by mortal men; but what of it is visible in his\nworks\u2015\u2015creation, providence, redemption\u2015\u2015falls under the cognizance of\nhis inferior subjects here. And this is, in a great measure, presented\nto view in these discourses; and so much, we may well say, as may, by\nthe help of grace, be effectual to raise thy admiration, attract thy\nlove, provoke thy desires, and enable thee to make some guess at what\nis yet unseen; and why not, likewise, to clear thy eyes, and prepare\nthem for future sight, as well as turn them away from the contemptible\nvanities of this present life? Whatever is glorious in this world,\nyet (as the apostle, in another case) \u201chath no glory, by reason of\nthe glory that excels\u201d (2 Cor. iii. 10). This \u201cexcellent glory\u201d is the\nsubject of this book, to which all created beauty is but mere shadow\nand duskiness. If thy eyes be well fixed on this, they will not be\neasily drawn to wander after other objects: if thy heart be taken with\nGod, it will be mortified to everything that is not God.\n\nBut thou hast in this book, not only an excellent subject in the\ngeneral, but great variety of matter for the employment of thy\nunderstanding, as well as enlivening thy affections, and that, too,\nsuch as thou wilt not find elsewhere: many excellent things which are\nout of the road of ordinary preachers and writers, and which may be\ngrateful to the curious, no less than satisfactory to the wise and\njudicious. It is not, therefore, a book to be played with or slept\nover, but read with the most intent and serious mind; for though it\nafford much pleasure for the fancy, yet much more work for the heart,\nand hath, indeed, enough in it to busy all the faculties. The dress\nis complete and decent, yet not garish nor theatrical; the rhetoric\nmasculine and vigorous, such as became a pulpit, and was never\nborrowed from the stage; the expressions full, clear, apt, and such\nas are best suited to the weightiness and spirituality of the truths\nhere delivered. It is plain he was no empty preacher, but was more for\nsense than sound, filled up his words with matter, and chose rather to\ninform his hearers\u2019 minds than to claw any itching ears. Yet we will\nnot say but some little things, a word, or a phrase now and then he\nmay have, which, no doubt, had he lived to transcribe his own sermons,\nhe would have altered. If in some lesser matters he differ from thee,\nit is but in such as godly and learned men do frequently, and may,\nwithout breach of charity, differ in among themselves: in some things\nhe may differ from us too, and, it may be, we from {a21} each other;\nand where are there any two persons who have in all, especially the\nmore disputable points of religion, exactly the same sentiments,\u2015\u2015at\nleast, express themselves altogether in the same terms? But this\nwe must say, that though he treat of many of the most abstruse and\nmysterious doctrines of Christianity, which are the subjects of great\ndebates and controversies in the world, yet we find no one material\nthing in which he may justly be called heterodox (unless old heresies\nbe of late grown orthodox, and his differing from them must make him\nfaulty), but generally delivers, as in his former pieces,[5] what\nis most consonant to the faith of this and other, the best reformed\nchurches. He was not, indeed, for that modern divinity which is so\nmuch in vogue with some who would be counted the only sound divines;\nhaving \u201ctasted the old,\u201d he did not desire \u201cthe new,\u201d but said, \u201cthe\nold is better.\u201d Some errors, especially the Socinian, he sets himself\nindustriously against, and cuts the very sinews of them, yet sometimes\nalmost without naming them.\n\nIn the doctrinal part of several of his discourses thou wilt find\nthe depth of _polemical_ divinity, and in his inferences from thence,\nthe sweetness of _practical_; some things which may exercise the\nprofoundest scholar, and others which may instruct and edify the\nweakest Christian. Nothing is more nervous than his reasonings, and\nnothing more affecting than his applications. Though he make great use\nof schoolmen, yet they are certainly more beholden to him than he to\nthem; he adopts their notions, but he refines them too, and improves\nthem and reforms them from the barbarousness in which they were\nexpressed, and dresseth them up in his own language (so far as the\nnature of the matter will permit, and more clear terms are to be\nfound), and so makes them intelligible to vulgar capacities, which,\nin their original rudeness, were obscure and strange even to learned\nheads.\n\nIn a word, he handles the great truths of the gospel with that\nperspicuity, gravity, and majesty, which best becomes the oracles of\nGod; and we have reason to believe, that no judicious and unbiassed\nreader but will acknowledge this to be incomparably the best practical\ntreatise the world ever saw in English upon this subject. What Dr.\nJackson did, to whom our author gave all due respect, was more brief\nand in another way. Dr. Preston did worthily upon the Attributes in\nhis day; but his discourses likewise, are more succinct, when this\nauthor\u2019s are more full and large. But whatever were the mind of God in\nit, it was not his will that either of these two should live to finish\nwhat he had begun, both being taken away when preaching upon this\nsubject. Happy souls! whose last breath was spent in so noble a work,\npraising God while they had any being (Psal. cxlvi. 2).\n\nHis method is much the same in most of these discourses, both in the\ndoctrinal and practical part, which will make the whole more plain\nand facile to ordinary readers. He rarely makes objections, and yet\nfrequently answers them, by implying them in those propositions he\nlays down for the clearing up the truths he asserts. His dexterity\nis admirable in the applicatory {a22} work, where he not only brings\ndown the highest doctrines to the lowest capacities, but collects\ngreat variety of proper, pertinent, useful, and yet, many times,\nunthought\u2011of inferences, and that from those truths, which however\nthey afford much matter for inquisition and speculation, yet might\nseem, unless to the most intelligent and judicious Christians, to\nhave a more remote influence upon practice. He is not like some school\nwriters, who attenuate and rarefy the matter they discourse of to a\ndegree bordering upon annihilation, at least, beat it so thin, that a\npuff of breath may blow it away; spin their thread so fine, that the\ncloth, when made up, proves useless, solidity dwindles into niceties,\nand what we thought we had got by their assertions, we lose by their\ndistinctions. But if our author have some subtilties and superfine\nnotions in his argumentations, yet he condenseth them again, and\nconsolidates them into substantial and profitable corollaries in his\napplications; and in them his main business is, as to discipline a\nprofane world for its neglect of God, and contempt of him in his most\nadorable and shining perfections, so likewise to show how the Divine\nAttributes are not only infinitely excellent in themselves, but a\ngrand foundation for all true divine worship, and should be the great\nmotives to provoke men to the exercise of faith, and love, and fear,\nand humility, and all that holy obedience they are called to by the\ngospel; and this, without peradventure, is the great end of all those\nrich discoveries God hath in his word made of himself to us. And,\nreader, if these elaborate discourses of this holy man, through the\nLord\u2019s blessing, become a means of promoting holiness in thee, and\nstir thee up to love and live to the God of his praise (Ps. cix. 1),\nwe are well assured that his end in preaching them is answered, and\nso is ours in publishing them.\n\n                          Thine in the Lord,\n\n                                                          EDW. VEEL.\n                                                          RI. ADAMS.\n\n\n\n\n{a23}                        DISCOURSE I.\n\n                       ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.\n\n  PSALM xiv. 1.\u2015\u2015The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.\n    They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is\n    none that doeth good.\n\n\nTHIS psalm is a description of the deplorable corruption by nature\nof every son of Adam, since the withering of that common root. Some\nrestrain it to the Gentiles, as a wilderness full of briers and\nthorns, as not concerning the Jews, the garden of God, planted by his\ngrace, and watered by the dew of heaven. But the apostle, the best\ninterpreter, rectifies this in extending it by name to Jews, as well\nas Gentiles, (Rom. iii. 9). \u201cWe have before proved both Jews and\nGentiles, that they are all under sin;\u201d and (ver. 10\u201212) cites part\nof this psalm and other passages of scripture for the further evidence\nof it, concluding by Jews and Gentiles, every person in the world\nnaturally in this state of corruption.\n\nThe psalmist first declares the corruption of the faculties of\nthe soul, _The fool hath said in his heart_; secondly, the streams\nissuing from thence, _they are corrupt_, &c.: the first in atheistical\nprinciples, the other in unworthy practice; and lays all the evil,\ntyranny, lust, and persecutions by men, (as if the world were only\nfor their sake) upon the neglects of God, and the atheism cherished\nin their hearts.\n\n_The fool_, a term in scripture signifying a wicked man, used also\nby the heathen philosophers to signify a vicious person, \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc as coming\nfrom \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc signifies the extinction of life in men, animals, and plants;\nso the word \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc is taken, a plant that hath lost all that juice\nthat made it lovely and useful.[6] So a fool is one that hath lost\nhis wisdom, and right notion of God and divine things which were\ncommunicated to man by creation; one dead in sin, yet one not so\nmuch void of rational faculties as of grace in those faculties, not\none that wants reason, but abuses his reason. In Scripture the word\nsignifies foolish.[7]\n\n_Said in his heart_; that is, he thinks, or he doubts, or he wishes.\nThe thoughts of the heart are in the nature of words to God, though\nnot to men. It is used in the like case of the atheistical person,\n(Ps. x. 11, 13), \u201cHe hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten; he\nhath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.\u201d He doth not form\na syllogism, as Calvin speaks, that there is no God: he dares not\n{a24} openly publish it, though he dares secretly think it. He cannot\nraze out the thoughts of a Deity, though he endeavors to blot those\ncharacters of God in his soul. He hath some doubts whether there be a\nGod or no: he wishes there were not any, and sometimes hopes there is\nnone at all. He could not so ascertain himself by convincing arguments\nto produce to the world, but he tampered with his own heart to bring\nit to that persuasion, and smothered in himself those notices of a\nDeity; which is so plain against the light of nature, that such a man\nmay well be called a fool for it.\n\n_There is no God_[8] \u05dc\u05d9\u05ea \u05e9\u05d5\u05dc\u05d8\u05e0\u05d0 _non potestas Domini_, Chald\u00e6. It is not\nJehovah, which name signifies the essence of God, as the prime and\nsupreme being; but Eloahia, which name signifies the providence of\nGod, God as a rector and judge. Not that he denies the existence\nof a Supreme Being, that created the world, but his regarding the\ncreatures, his government of the world, and consequently his reward\nof the righteous or punishments of the wicked.\n\nThere is a threefold denial of God,[9] 1. _Quoad existentiam_; this\nis absolute atheism. 2. _Quoad Providentiam_, or his inspection into,\nor care of the things of the world, bounding him in the heavens.\n3. _Quoad naturam_, in regard of one or other of the perfections due\nto his nature.\n\nOf the denial of the providence of God most understand this, not\nexcluding the absolute atheist, as Diagoras is reported to be, nor\nthe skeptical atheist, as Protagoras, who doubted whether there were a\nGod.[10] Those that deny the providence of God, do in effect deny the\nbeing of God; for they strip him of that wisdom, goodness, tenderness,\nmercy, justice, righteousness, which are the glory of the Deity. And\nthat principle, of a greedy desire to be uncontrolled in their lusts,\nwhich induceth men to a denial of Providence, that thereby they might\nstifle those seeds of fear which infect and embitter their sinful\npleasures, may as well lead them to deny that there is any such being\nas a God. That at one blow, their fears may be dashed all in pieces\nand dissolved by the removal of the foundation: as men who desire\nliberty to commit works of darkness, would not have the lights in\nthe house dimmed, but extinguished. What men say against Providence,\nbecause they would have no check in their lusts, they may say in their\nhearts against the existence of God upon the same account; little\ndifference between the dissenting from the one and disowning the other.\n\n_They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none\nthat doeth good._ He speaks of the atheist in the singular, \u201cthe fool;\u201d\nof the corruption issuing in the life in the plural; intimating that\nthough some few may choke in their hearts the sentiments of God and\nhis providence, and positively deny them, yet there is something of\na secret atheism in all, which is the fountain of the evil practices\nin their lives, not an utter disowning of the being of a God, but a\ndenial or doubting of some of the rights of his nature. When men deny\nthe God of purity, they must needs be polluted in soul and body, and\ngrow brutish in their actions. When the sense of religion is {a25}\nshaken off, all kinds of wickedness is eagerly rushed into, whereby\nthey become as loathsome to God as putrefied carcases are to men.[11]\nNot one or two evil actions is the product of such a principle, but\nthe whole scene of a man\u2019s life is corrupted and becomes execrable.\n\nNo man is exempted from some spice of atheism by the depravation of\nhis nature, which the psalmist intimates, \u201cthere is none that doeth\ngood:\u201d though there are indelible convictions of the being of a God,\nthat they cannot absolutely deny it; yet there are some atheistical\nbubblings in the hearts of men, which evidence themselves in their\nactions. As the apostle, (Tit. i. 16), \u201cThey profess that they know\nGod, but in works they deny him.\u201d Evil works are a dust stirred up by\nan atheistical breath. He that habituates himself in some sordid lust,\ncan scarcely be said seriously and firmly to believe that there is\na God in being; and the apostle doth not say that they know God, but\nthey profess to know him: true knowledge and profession of knowledge\nare distinct. It intimates also to us, the unreasonableness of atheism\nin the consequence, when men shut their eyes against the beams of so\nclear a sun, God revengeth himself upon them for their impiety, by\nleaving them to their own wills, lets them fall into the deepest sink\nand dregs of iniquity; and since they doubt of him in their hearts,\nsuffers them above others to deny him in their works, this the apostle\ndiscourseth at large.[12] The text then is a description of man\u2019s\ncorruption.\n\n1. Of his mind. _The fool hath said in his heart._ No better title\nthan that of a fool is afforded to the atheist.\n\n2. Of the other faculties, 1. In sins of commission, expressed by\nthe loathsomeness (_corrupt_, _abominable_), 2. In sins of omission\n(_there is none that doeth good_) he lays down the corruption of the\nmind as the cause, the corruption of the other faculties as the effect.\n\nI. It is a great folly to deny or doubt of the existence or being of\nGod: or, an atheist is a great fool.\n\nII. Practical atheism is natural to man in his corrupt state. It\nis against nature as constituted by God, but natural, as nature is\ndepraved by man: the absolute disowning of the being of a God is not\nnatural to men, but the contrary is natural; but an inconsideration of\nGod, or misrepresentation of his nature, is natural to man as corrupt.\n\nIII. A secret atheism, or a partial atheism, is the spring of all the\nwicked practices in the world: the disorders of the life spring from\nthe ill dispositions of the heart.\n\nFor the first, every atheist is a grand fool. If he were not a\nfool, he would not imagine a thing so contrary to the stream of the\nuniversal reason of the world, contrary to the rational dictates of\nhis own soul, and contrary to the testimony of every creature, and\nlink in the chain of creation: if he were not a fool, he would not\nstrip himself of humanity, and degrade himself lower than the most\ndespicable brute. It is a folly; for though God be so inaccessible\nthat we cannot know him perfectly, yet he is so much in the light,\nthat {a26} we cannot be totally ignorant of him; as he cannot be\ncomprehended in his essence, he cannot be unknown in his existence; it\nis as easy by reason to understand that he is, as it is difficult to\nknow what he is. The demonstrations reason furnisheth us with for the\nexistence of God, will be evidences of the atheist\u2019s folly. One would\nthink there were little need of spending time in evidencing this truth,\nsince in the principle of it, it seems to be so universally owned, and\nat the first proposal and demand, gains the assent of most men.\n\nBut, 1. Doth not the growth of atheism among us render this necessary?\nmay it not justly be suspected, that the swarms of atheists are more\nnumerous in our times, than history records to have been in any age,\nwhen men will not only say it in their hearts, but publish it with\ntheir lips, and boast that they have shaken off those shackles which\nbind other men\u2019s consciences? Doth not the barefaced debauchery of\nmen evidence such a settled sentiment, or at least a careless belief\nof the truth, which lies at the root, and sprouts up in such venomous\nbranches in the world? Can men\u2019s hearts be free from that principle\nwherewith their practices are so openly depraved? It is true, the\nlight of nature shines too vigorously for the power of man totally\nto put it out; yet loathsome actions impair and weaken the actual\nthoughts and considerations of a Deity, and are like mists that\ndarken the light of the sun, though they cannot extinguish it:\ntheir consciences, as a candlestick, must hold it, though their\nunrighteousness obscure it, (Rom. i. 18). \u201cWho hold the truth in\nunrighteousness.\u201d The engraved characters of the law of nature remain,\nthough they daub them with their muddy lusts to make them illegible:\nso that since the inconsideration of a Deity is the cause of all\nthe wickedness and extravagances of men; and as Austin saith, the\nproposition is always true, the fool hath said in his heart, &c. and\nmore evidently true in this age than any, it will not be unnecessary\nto discourse of the demonstrations of this first principle. The\napostles spent little time in urging this truth; it was taken for\ngranted all over the world, and they were generally devout in the\nworship of those idols they thought to be gods: that age run from\none God to many, and our age is running from one God to none at all.\n\n2. The existence of God is the foundation of all religion. The whole\nbuilding totters if the foundation be out of course: if we have not\ndeliberate and right notions of it, we shall perform no worship,\nno service, yield no affection to him. If there be not a God, it is\nimpossible there can be one, for eternity is essential to the notion\nof a God; so all religion would be vain, and unreasonable to pay\nhomage to that which is not in being, nor can ever be. We must first\nbelieve that he is, and that he is what he declares himself to be,\nbefore we can seek him, adore him, and devote our affections to\nhim.[13] We cannot pay God a due and regular homage, unless we\nunderstand him in his perfections, what he is; and we can pay him\nno homage at all, unless we believe that he is.\n\n3. It is fit we should know why we believe, that our belief of a\nGod may appear to be upon undeniable evidence, and that we may give\na better reason for his existence, than that we have heard our {a27}\nparents and teachers tell us so, and our acquaintance think so. It\nis as much as to say there is no God, when we know not why we believe\nthere is, and would not consider the arguments for his existence.\n\n4. It is necessary to depress that secret atheism which is in the\nheart of every man by nature. Though every visible object which offers\nitself to our sense, presents a deity to our minds, and exhorts us to\nsubscribe to the truth of it; yet there is a root of atheism springing\nup sometimes in wavering thoughts and foolish imaginations, inordinate\nactions, and secret wishes. Certain it is, that every man that doth\nnot love God, denies God; now can he that disaffects him, and hath\na slavish fear of him, wish his existence, and say to his own heart\nwith any cheerfulness, there is a God, and make it his chief care to\npersuade himself of it? he would persuade himself there is no God,\nand stifle the seeds of it in his reason and conscience, that he might\nhave the greatest liberty to entertain the allurements of the flesh.\nIt is necessary to excite men to daily and actual considerations of\nGod and his nature, which would be a bar to much of that wickedness\nwhich overflows in the lives of men.\n\n5. Nor is it unuseful to those who effectually believe and love\nhim;[14] for those who have had a converse with God, and felt his\npowerful influences in the secrets of their hearts, to take a prospect\nof those satisfactory accounts which reason gives of that God they\nadore and love; to see every creature justify them in their owning\nof him, and affections to him: indeed the evidences of a God striking\nupon the conscience of those who resolve to cleave to sin as their\nchiefest darling, will dash their pleasures with unwelcome mixtures.\n\nI shall further premise this, That the folly of atheism is evidenced\nby the light of reason. Men that will not listen to Scripture, as\nhaving no counterpart of it in their souls, cannot easily deny natural\nreason, which riseth up on all sides for the justification of this\ntruth. There is a natural as well as a revealed knowledge, and the\nbook of the creatures is legible in declaring the being of a God, as\nwell as the Scriptures are in declaring the nature of a God; there are\noutward objects in the world, and common principles in the conscience,\nwhence it may be inferred.\n\nFor, 1. God in regard of his existence is not only the discovery of\nfaith, but of reason. God hath revealed not only his being, but some\nsparks of his eternal power and godhead in his works, as well as in\nhis word. (Rom. i. 19, 20), \u201cGod hath showed it unto them,\u201d\u2015\u2015how?[15]\nin his works; by the things that are made, it is a discovery to our\nreason, as shining in the creatures; and an object of our faith as\nbreaking out upon us in the Scriptures: it is an article of our faith,\nand an article of our reason. Faith supposeth natural knowledge,\nas grace supposeth nature. Faith indeed is properly of things above\nreason, purely depending upon revelation. What can be demonstrated\nby natural light, is not so properly the object of faith; though in\nregard of the addition of a certainty by revelation it is so. The\nbelief that God is, which the apostle speaks of,[16] is not so much\nof the bare existence of God, as what God is in relation to them that\n{a28} seek him, viz. a rewarder. The apostle speaks of the faith of\nAbel, the faith of Enoch, such a faith that pleases God: but the faith\nof Abel testified in his sacrifice, and the faith of Enoch testified\nin his walking with God, was not simply a faith of the existence of\nGod. Cain in the time of Abel, other men in the world in the time\nof Enoch, believed this as well as they: but it was a faith joined\nwith the worship of God, and desires to please him in the way of his\nown appointment; so that they believed that God was such as he had\ndeclared himself to be in his promise to Adam, such an one as would\nbe as good as his word, and bruise the serpent\u2019s head. He that seeks\nto God according to the mind of God, must believe that he is such a\nGod that will pardon sin, and justify a seeker of him; that he is a\nGod of that ability and will, to justify a sinner in that way he hath\nappointed for the clearing the holiness of his nature, and vindicating\nthe honor of his law violated by man. No man can seek God or love\nGod, unless he believe him to be thus; and he cannot seek God without\na discovery of his own mind how he would be sought. For it is not a\nseeking God in any way of man\u2019s invention, that renders him capable\nof this desired fruit of a reward. He that believes God as a rewarder,\nmust believe the promise of God concerning the Messiah. Men under the\nconscience of sin, cannot tell without a divine discovery, whether God\nwill reward, or how he will reward the seekers of him; and therefore\ncannot act towards him as an object of faith. Would any man seek God\nmerely because he is, or love him because he is, if he did not know\nthat he should be acceptable to him? The bare existence of a thing is\nnot the ground of affection to it, but those qualities of it and our\ninterest in it, which render it amiable and delightful. How can men,\nwhose consciences fly in their faces, seek God or love him, without\nthis knowledge that he is a rewarder? Nature doth not show any way to\na sinner, how to reconcile God\u2019s provoked justice with his tenderness.\nThe faith the apostle speaks of here is a faith that eyes the reward\nas an encouragement, and the will of God as the rule of its acting; he\ndoth not speak simply of the existence of God.\n\nI have spoken the more of this place, because the Socinians[17] use\nthis to decry any natural knowledge of God, and that the existence of\nGod is only to be known by revelation, so that by that reason any one\nthat lived without the Scripture hath no ground to believe the being\nof a God. The Scripture ascribes a knowledge of God to all nations\nin the world (Rom. i. 19); not only a faculty of knowing, if they\nhad arguments and demonstrations, as an ignorant man in any art hath\na faculty to know; but it ascribes an actual knowledge (ver. 10)\n\u201cmanifest in them;\u201d (ver. 21) \u201cThey knew God;\u201d not they might know him;\nthey knew him when they did not care for knowing him. The notices of\nGod are as intelligible to us by reason, as any object in the world is\nvisible; he is written in every letter.\n\n2. We are often in the Scripture sent to take a prospect of the\ncreatures for a discovery of God. The apostles drew arguments from\nthe topics of nature, when they discoursed with those that owned\nthe Scripture (Rom. i. 19), as well as when they treated with those\n{a29} that were ignorant of it, as Acts xiv. 16, 17. And among the\nphilosophers of Athens (Acts xvii. 27, 29), such arguments the Holy\nGhost in the apostles thought sufficient to convince men of the\nexistence, unity, spirituality, and patience of God. Such arguments\nhad not been used by them and the prophets from the visible things in\nthe world to silence the Gentiles with whom they dealt, had not this\ntruth, and much more about God, been demonstrable by natural reason:\nthey knew well enough that probable arguments would not satisfy\npiercing and inquisitive minds.[18]\n\nIn Paul\u2019s account, the testimony of the creatures was without\ncontradiction. God himself justifies this way of proceeding by his\nown example, and remits Job to the consideration of the creatures,\nto spell out something of his divine perfections.[19] And this is\nso convincing an argument of the existence of God, that God never\nvouchsafed any miracle, or put forth any act of omnipotency, besides\nwhat was evident in the creatures, for the satisfaction of the\ncuriosity of any atheist, or the evincing of his being, as he hath\ndone for the evidencing those truths which were not written in\nthe book of nature, or for the restoring a decayed worship, or the\nprotection or deliverance of his people. Those miracles in publishing\nthe gospel, indeed, did demonstrate the existence of some supreme\npower; but they were not seals designedly affixed for that, but for\nthe confirmation of that truth, which was above the ken of purblind\nreason, and purely the birth of divine revelation. Yet what proves the\ntruth of any spiritual doctrine, proves also in that act the existence\nof the Divine Author of it. The revelation always implies a revealer,\nand that which manifests it to be a revelation, manifests also the\nsupreme Revealer of it. By the same light the sun manifests other\nthings to us, it also manifests itself. But what miracles could\nrationally be supposed to work upon an atheist, who is not drawn\nto a sense of the truth proclaimed aloud by so many wonders of the\ncreation? Let us now proceed to the demonstration of the atheist\u2019s\nfolly.\n\nIt is a folly to deny or doubt of a Sovereign Being, incomprehensible\nin his nature, infinite in his essence and perfections, independent\nin his operations, who hath given being to the whole frame of sensible\nand intelligible creatures, and governs them according to their\nseveral natures, by an unconceivable wisdom; who fills the heavens\nwith the glory of his majesty, and the earth with the influences of\nhis goodness.\n\nIt is a folly inexcusable to renounce, in this case, all appeal to\nuniversal consent, and the joint assurances of the creatures.\n\n_Reason I._ \u2019Tis a folly to deny or doubt of that which hath been the\nacknowledged sentiment of all nations, in all places and ages. There\nis no nation but hath owned some kind of religion, and, therefore,\nno nation but hath consented in the notion of a Supreme Creator and\nGovernor.\n\n1. This hath been universal. 2. It hath been constant and\nuninterrupted. 3. Natural and innate.\n\n{a30} First, It hath been universally assented to by the judgments and\npractices of all nations in the world.\n\n1. No nation hath been exempt from it. All histories of former and\nlatter ages have not produced any one nation but fell under the force\nof this truth. Though they have differed in their religions, they have\nagreed in this truth; here both heathen, Turk, Jew, and Christian,\ncentre without any contention. No quarrel was ever commenced upon this\nscore; though about other opinions wars have been sharp, and enmities\nirreconcilable. The notion of the existence of a Deity was the same\nin all, Indians as well as Britons, Americans as well as Jews. It hath\nnot been an opinion peculiar to this or that people, to this or that\nsect of philosophers; but hath been as universal as the reason whereby\nmen are differenced from other creatures, so that some have rather\ndefined man by _animal religiosum_, than _animal rationale_. \u2019Tis so\ntwisted with reason that a man cannot be accounted rational, unless\nhe own an object of religion; therefore he that understands not this,\nrenounceth his humanity when he renounceth a Divinity. No instance\ncan be given of any one people in the world that disclaimed it. It\nhath been owned by the wise and ignorant, by the learned and stupid,\nby those who had no other guide but the dimmest light of nature, as\nwell as those whose candles were snuffed by a more polite education,\nand that without any solemn debate and contention. Though some\nphilosophers have been known to change their opinions in the concerns\nof nature, yet none can be proved to have absolutely changed their\nopinion concerning the being of a God. One died for asserting one God;\nnone, in the former ages upon record, hath died for asserting no God.\nGo to the utmost bounds of America, you may find people without some\nbroken pieces of the law of nature, but not without this signature\nand stamp upon them, though they wanted commerce with other nations,\nexcept as savage as themselves, in whom the light of nature was as\nit were sunk into the socket, who are but one remove from brutes,\nwho clothe not their bodies, cover not their shame, yet were they as\nsoon known to own a God, as they were known to be a people. They were\npossessed with the notion of a Supreme Being, the author of the world;\nhad an object of religious adoration; put up prayers to the deity they\nowned for the good things they wanted, and the diverting the evils\nthey feared. No people so untamed where absolute perfect atheism\nhad gained a footing. No one nation of the world known in the time\nof the Romans that were without their ceremonies, whereby they\nsignified their devotion to a deity. They had their places of worship,\nwhere they made their vows, presented their prayers, offered their\nsacrifices, and implored the assistance of what they thought to be a\ngod; and in their distresses run immediately, without any deliberation,\nto their gods: so that the notion of a deity was as inward and settled\nin them as their own souls, and, indeed, runs in the blood of mankind.\nThe distempers of the understanding cannot utterly deface it; you\nshall scarce find the most distracted bedlam, in his raving fits,\nto deny a God, though he may blaspheme, and fancy himself one.\n\n2. Nor doth the idolatry and multiplicity of gods in the world {a31}\nweaken, but confirm this universal consent. Whatsoever unworthy\nconceits men have had of God in all nations, or whatsoever degrading\nrepresentations they have made of him, yet they all concur in\nthis, that there is a Supreme Power to be adored. Though one people\nworshipped the sun, others the fire,\u2015\u2015and the Egyptians, gods out of\ntheir rivers, gardens, and fields; yet the notion of a Deity existent,\nwho created and governed the world, and conferred daily benefits upon\nthem, was maintained by all, though applied to the stars, and in part\nto those sordid creatures. All the Dagons of the world establish this\ntruth, and fall down before it. Had not the nations owned the being of\na God, they had never offered incense to an idol: had there not been\na deep impression of the existence of a Deity, they had never exalted\ncreatures below themselves to the honor of altars: men could not so\neasily have been deceived by forged deities, if they had not had a\nnotion of a real one. Their fondness to set up others in the place of\nGod, evidenced a natural knowledge that there was One who had a right\nto be worshipped. If there were not this sentiment of a Deity, no\nman would ever have made an image of a piece of wood, worshipped it,\nprayed to it, and said, \u201cDeliver me, for thou art my God.\u201d[20] They\napplied a general notion to a particular image. The difference is in\nthe manner, and immediate object of worship, not in the formal ground\nof worship. The worship sprung from a true principle, though it was\nnot applied to a right object: while they were rational creatures,\nthey could not deface the notion; yet while they were corrupt\ncreatures it was not difficult to apply themselves to a wrong object\nfrom a true principle. A blind man knows he hath a way to go as well\nas one of the clearest sight; but because of his blindness he may miss\nthe way and stumble into a ditch. No man would be imposed upon to take\na Bristol stone instead of a diamond, if he did not know that there\nwere such things as diamonds in the world: nor any man spread forth\nhis hands to an idol, if he were altogether without the sense of a\nDeity. Whether it be a false or a true God men apply to, yet in both,\nthe natural sentiment of a God is evidenced; all their mistakes were\ngrafts inserted in this stock, since they would multiply gods rather\nthan deny a Deity.\n\nHow should such a general submission be entered into by all the\nworld, so as to adore things of a base alloy,[21] if the force of\nreligion were not such, that in any fashion a man would seek the\nsatisfaction of his natural instinct to some object of worship? This\ngreat diversity confirms this consent to be a good argument, for it\nevidenceth it not to be a cheat, combination or conspiracy to deceive,\nor a mutual intelligence, but every one finds it in his climate, yea\nin himself. People would never have given the title of a God to men or\nbrutes had there not been a pre\u2011existing and unquestioned persuasion,\nthat there was such a being;\u2015\u2015how else should the notion of a God\ncome into their minds?\u2015\u2015the notion that there is a God must be more\nancient.[22]\n\n3. Whatsoever disputes there have been in the world, this of the {a32}\nexistence of God was never the subject of contention. All other things\nhave been questioned. What jarrings were there among philosophers\nabout natural things! into how many parties were they split! with what\nanimosities did they maintain their several judgments! but we hear of\nno solemn controversies about the existence of a Supreme Being: this\nnever met with any considerable contradiction: no nation, that hath\nput other things to question, would ever suffer this to be disparaged,\nso much as by a public doubt. We find among the heathen contentions\nabout the nature of God and the number of gods, some asserted an\ninnumerable multitude of gods, some affirmed him to be subject to\nbirth and death, some affirmed the entire world was God; others\nfancied him to be a circle of a bright fire; others that he was a\nspirit diffused through the whole world:[23] yet they unanimously\nconcurred in this, as the judgment of universal reason, that there was\nsuch a sovereign Being: and those that were skeptical in everything\nelse, and asserted that the greatest certainty was that there was\nnothing certain, professed a certainty in this. The question was not\nwhether there was a First Cause, but what it was. It is much the same\nthing, as the disputes about the nature and matter of the heavens,\nthe sun and planets, though there be great diversity of judgments, yet\nall agree that there are heavens, sun, planets; so all the contentions\namong men about the nature of God, weaken not, but rather confirm,\nthat there is a God, since there was never a public formal debate\nabout his existence.[24] Those that have been ready to pull out\none another\u2019s eyes for their dissent from their judgments, sharply\ncensured one another\u2019s sentiments, envied the births of one another\u2019s\nwits, always shook hands with an unanimous consent in this; never\ncensured one another for being of this persuasion, never called it\ninto question; as what was never controverted among men professing\nChristianity, but acknowledged by all, though contending about other\nthings, has reason to be judged a certain truth belonging to the\nchristian religion; so what was never subjected to any controversy,\nbut acknowledged by the whole world, hath reason to be embraced as\na truth without any doubt.\n\n4. This universal consent is not prejudiced by some few dissenters.\nHistory doth not reckon twenty professed atheists in all ages in\nthe compass of the whole world: and we have not the name of any one\nabsolute atheist upon record in Scripture; yet it is questioned,\nwhether any of them, noted in history with that infamous name, were\ndownright deniers of the existence of God, but rather because they\ndisparaged the deities commonly worshipped by the nations where they\nlived, as being of a clearer reason to discern that those qualities,\nvulgarly attributed to their gods, as lust and luxury, wantonness and\nquarrels, were unworthy of the nature of a god.[25] But suppose they\nwere really what they are termed to be, what are they to the multitude\nof men that have sprung out of the loins of Adam? not so much as\none grain of ashes is to all that were ever turned into that form\nby any fires in your chimneys. And many more were not sufficient to\nweigh down the contrary consent of the whole world, and bear {a33}\ndown an universal impression. Should the laws of a country, agreed\nuniversally to by the whole body of the people, be accounted vain,\nbecause an hundred men of those millions disapprove of them, when\nnot their reason, but their folly and base interest, persuades them\nto dislike them and dispute against them? What if some men be blind,\nshall any conclude from thence that eyes are not natural to men? shall\nwe say that the notion of the existence of God is not natural to men,\nbecause a very small number have been of a contrary opinion? shall a\nman in a dungeon, that never saw the sun, deny that there is a sun,\nbecause one or two blind men tell him there is none, when thousands\nassure him there is.[26] Why should then the exceptions of a few, not\none to millions, discredit that which is voted certainly true by the\njoint consent of the world? Add this, too, that if those that are\nreported to be atheists had had any considerable reason to step aside\nfrom the common persuasion of the whole world, it is a wonder it met\nnot with entertainment by great numbers of those, who, by reason of\ntheir notorious wickedness and inward disquiets, might reasonably be\nthought to wish in their hearts that there were no God. It is strange\nif there were any reason on their side, that in so long a space of\ntime as hath run out from the creation of the world, there could not\nbe engaged a considerable number to frame a society for the profession\nof it. It hath died with the person that started it, and vanished as\nsoon as it appeared.\n\nTo conclude this, is it not folly for any man to deny or doubt\nof the being of a God, to dissent from all mankind, and stand in\ncontradiction to human nature? What is the general dictate of nature\nis a certain truth. It is impossible that nature can naturally and\nuniversally lie. And therefore those that ascribe all to nature, and\nset it in the place of God, contradict themselves, if they give not\ncredit to it in that which it universally affirms. A general consent\nof all nations is to be esteemed as a law of nature.[27] Nature cannot\nplant in the minds of all men an assent to a falsity, for then the\nlaws of nature would be destructive to the reason and minds of men.\nHow is it possible, that a falsity should be a persuasion spread\nthrough all nations, engraven upon the minds of all men, men of the\nmost towering, and men of the most creeping understanding; that they\nshould consent to it in all places, and in those places where the\nnations have not had any known commerce with the rest of the known\nworld? a consent not settled by any law of man to constrain people to\na belief of it: and indeed it is impossible that any law of man can\nconstrain the belief of the mind. Would not he deservedly be accounted\na fool, that should deny that to be gold which hath been tried and\nexamined by a great number of knowing goldsmiths, and hath passed the\ntest of all their touch\u2011stones? What excess of folly would it be for\nhim to deny it to be true gold, if it had been tried by all that had\nskill in that metal in all nations in the world!\n\nSecondly, It hath been a constant and uninterrupted consent. It hath\nbeen as ancient as the first age of the world; no man is able to\nmention any time, from the beginning of the world, wherein this notion\nhath not been universally owned; it is as old as mankind, {a34} and\nhath run along with the course of the sun, nor can the date be fixed\nlower than that.\n\n1. In all the changes of the world, this hath been maintained. In\nthe overturnings of the government of states, the alteration of modes\nof worship, this hath stood unshaken. The reasons upon which it was\nfounded were, in all revolutions of time, accounted satisfactory and\nconvincing, nor could absolute atheism in the changes of any laws\never gain the favor of any one body of people to be established by\na law. When the honor of the heathen idols was laid in the dust, this\nsuffered no impair. The being of one God was more vigorously owned\nwhen the unreasonableness of multiplicity of gods was manifest; and\ngrew taller by the detection of counterfeits. When other parts of the\nlaw of nature have been violated by some nations, this hath maintained\nits standing. The long series of ages hath been so far from blotting\nit out, that it hath more strongly confirmed it, and maketh further\nprogress in the confirmation of it. Time, which hath eaten out the\nstrength of other things, and blasted mere inventions, hath not been\nable to consume this. The discovery of all other impostures, never\nmade this by any society of men to be suspected as one. It will not be\neasy to name any imposture that hath walked perpetually in the world\nwithout being discovered, and whipped out by some nation or other.\nFalsities have never been so universally and constantly owned without\npublic control and question. And since the world hath detected many\nerrors of the former age, and learning been increased, this hath been\nso far from being dimmed, that it hath shone out clearer with the\nincrease of natural knowledge, and received fresh and more vigorous\nconfirmations.\n\n2. The fears and anxieties in the consciences of men have given men\nsufficient occasion to root it out, had it been possible for them to\ndo it. If the notion of the existence of God had been possible to have\nbeen dashed out of the minds of men, they would have done it rather\nthan have suffered so many troubles in their souls upon the commission\nof sin; since there did not want wickedness and wit in so many corrupt\nages to have attempted it and prospered in it, had it been possible.\nHow comes it therefore to pass, that such a multitude of profligate\npersons that have been in the world since the fall of man, should not\nhave rooted out this principle, and dispossessed the minds of men of\nthat which gave birth to their tormenting fears? How is it possible\nthat all should agree together in a thing which created fear, and an\nobligation against the interest of the flesh, if it had been free for\nmen to discharge themselves of it? No man, as far as corrupt nature\nbears sway in him, is willing to live controlled.\n\nThe first man would rather be a god himself than under one:[28] why\nshould men continue this notion in them, which shackled them in their\nvile inclinations, if it had been in their power utterly to deface\nit? If it were an imposture, how comes it to pass, that all the wicked\nages of the world could never discover that to be a cheat, which\nkept them in continual alarms? Men wanted not will to shake off such\napprehensions; as Adam, so all his posterity are desirous to hide\nthemselves from God upon the commission of sin,[29] and by the {a35}\nsame reason they would hide God from their souls. What is the reason\nthey could never attain their will and their wish by all their\nendeavors? Could they possibly have satisfied themselves that there\nwere no God, they had discarded their fears, the disturbers of the\nrepose of their lives, and been unbridled in their pleasures. The\nwickedness of the world would never have preserved that which was a\nperpetual molestation to it, had it been possible to be razed out.\n\nBut since men under the turmoils and lashes of their own consciences\ncould never bring their hearts to a settled dissent from this truth,\nit evidenceth, that as it took its birth at the beginning of the\nworld, it cannot expire, no not in the ashes of it, nor in anything\nbut the reduction of the soul to that nothing from whence it sprung.\nThis conception is so perpetual, that the nature of the soul must be\ndissolved before it be rooted out, nor can it be extinct while the\nsoul endures.\n\n3. Let it be considered also by us that own the Scripture, that the\ndevil deems it impossible to root out this sentiment. It seems to be\nso perpetually fixed, that the devil did not think fit to tempt man to\nthe denial of the existence of a Deity, but persuaded him to believe\nhe might ascend to that dignity and become a god himself; Gen. iii. 1,\n\u201cHath God said?\u201d and he there owns him (ver. 5), \u201cYe shall become as\ngods.\u201d He owns God in the question he asks the woman, and persuades\nour first parents to be gods themselves. And in all stories, both\nancient and modern, the devil was never able to tincture men\u2019s minds\nwith a professed denial of the Deity, which would have opened a door\nto a world of more wickedness than hath been acted, and took away\nthe bar to the breaking out of that evil, which is naturally in the\nhearts of men, to the greater prejudice of human societies. He wanted\nnot malice to raze out all the notions of God, but power: he knew it\nwas impossible to effect it, and therefore in vain to attempt it. He\nset up himself in several places of the ignorant world as a god, but\nnever was able to overthrow the opinion of the being of a God. The\nimpressions of a Deity were so strong as not to be struck out by the\nmalice and power of hell.\n\nWhat a folly is it then in any to contradict or doubt of this truth,\nwhich all the periods of time have not been able to wear out; which\nall the wars and quarrels of men with their own consciences have not\nbeen able to destroy; which ignorance and debauchery, its two greatest\nenemies, cannot weaken; which all the falsehoods and errors which\nhave reigned in one or other part of the world, have not been able\nto banish; which lives in the consents of men in spite of all their\nwishes to the contrary, and hath grown stronger, and shone clearer,\nby the improvements of natural reason!\n\nThirdly, Natural and innate; which pleads strongly for the perpetuity\nof it. It is natural, though some think it not a principle writ in\nthe heart of man;[30] it is so natural that every man is born with\na restless instinct to be of some kind of religion or other, which\nimplies some object of religion. The impression of a Deity is as\ncommon as reason, and of the same age with reason.[31] It is a\nrelic of knowledge after the fall of Adam, like fire under ashes,\nwhich sparkles as soon {a36} as ever the heap of ashes is opened. A\nnotion sealed up in the soul of every man;[32] else how could those\npeople who were unknown to one another, separate by seas and mounts,\ndiffering in various customs and manner of living, had no mutual\nintelligence one with another, light upon this as a common sentiment,\nif they had not been guided by one uniform reason in all their minds,\nby one nature common to them all: though their climates be different,\ntheir tempers and constitutions various, their imaginations in some\nthings as distant from one another as heaven is from earth, the\nceremonies of their religion not all of the same kind; yet wherever\nyou find human nature, you find this settled persuasion. So that the\nnotion of a God seems to be twisted with the nature of man, and is\nthe first natural branch of common reason, or upon either the first\ninspection of a man into himself and his own state and constitution,\nor upon the first sight of any external visible object. Nature within\nman, and nature without man, agree upon the first meeting together to\nform this sentiment, that there is a God. It is as natural as anything\nwe call a common principle. One thing which is called a common\nprinciple and natural is, that the whole is greater than the parts. If\nthis be not born with us, yet the exercise of reason essential to man\nsettles it as a certain maxim; upon the dividing anything into several\nparts, he finds every part less than when they were altogether. By\nthe same exercise of reason, we cannot cast our eyes upon anything in\nthe world, or exercise our understandings upon ourselves, but we must\npresently imagine, there was some cause of those things, some cause\nof myself and my own being; so that this truth is as natural to man\nas anything he can call most natural or a common principle.\n\nIt must be confessed by all, that there is a law of nature writ upon\nthe hearts of men, which will direct them to commendable actions, if\nthey will attend to the writing in their own consciences. This law\ncannot be considered without the notice of a Lawgiver. For it is but\na natural and obvious conclusion, that some superior hand engrafted\nthose principles in man, since he finds something in him twitching\nhim upon the pursuit of uncomely actions, though his heart be mightily\ninclined to them; man knows he never planted this principle of\nreluctancy in his own soul; he can never be the cause of that which\nhe cannot be friends with. If he were the cause of it, why doth he not\nrid himself of it? No man would endure a thing that doth frequently\nmolest and disquiet him, if he could cashier it. It is therefore sown\nin man by some hand more powerful than man, which riseth so high, and\nis rooted so strong, that all the force that man can use cannot pull\nit up. If therefore this principle be natural in man, and the law of\nnature be natural, the notion of a Lawgiver must be as natural, as the\nnotion of a printer, or that there is a printer, is obvious upon the\nsight of a stamp impressed. After this the multitude of effects in the\nworld step in to strengthen this beam of natural light, and the direct\nconclusion from thence is, that that power which made those outward\nobjects, implanted this inward principle. This is sown in us, born\nwith us, and sprouts up with our growth, or as one saith; it is like\nletters carved upon the bark of a {a37} young plant, which grows\nup together with us, and the longer it grows the letters are more\nlegible.[33]\n\nThis is the ground of this universal consent, and why it may well be\ntermed natural. This will more evidently appear to be natural, because,\n\n1. This consent could not be by mere tradition. 2. Nor by any mutual\nintelligence of governors to keep people in awe, which are two things\nthe atheist pleads; the first hath no strong foundation, and that\nother is as absurd and foolish as it is wicked and abominable. 3. Nor\nwas it fear first introduced it.\n\nFirst, It could not be by mere tradition. Many things indeed are\nentertained by posterity which their ancestors delivered to them, and\nthat out of a common reverence to their forefathers, and an opinion\nthat they had a better prospect of things than the increase of the\ncorruption of succeeding ages would permit them to have. But if this\nbe a tradition handed from our ancestors, they also must receive it\nfrom theirs; we must then ascend to the first man, we cannot else\nescape a confounding ourselves with running into infinite. Was it then\nthe only tradition he left to them? Is it not probable he acquainted\nthem with other things in conjunction with this, the nature of God,\nthe way to worship him, the manner of the world\u2019s existence, his own\nstate? We may reasonably suppose him to have a good stock of knowledge;\nwhat is become of it? It cannot be supposed, that the first man should\nacquaint his posterity with an object of worship, and leave them\nignorant of a mode of worship and of the end of worship. We find in\nScripture his immediate posterity did the first in sacrifices, and\nwithout doubt they were not ignorant of the other: how come men to be\nso uncertain in all other things, and so confident of this, if it were\nonly a tradition? How did debates and irreconcilable questions start\nup concerning other things, and this remain untouched, but by a small\nnumber? Whatsoever tradition the first man left besides this, is lost,\nand no way recoverable, but by the revelation God hath made in his\nWord. How comes it to pass this of a God is longer lived than all the\nrest which we may suppose man left to his immediate descendants? How\ncome men to retain the one and forget the other? What was the reason\nthis survived the ruin of the rest, and surmounted the uncertainties\ninto which the other sunk? Was it likely it should be handed down\nalone without other attendants on it at first? Why did it not expire\namong the Americans, who have lost the account of their own descent,\nand the stock from whence they sprung, and cannot reckon above eight\nhundred or a thousand years at most? Why was not the manner of the\nworship of a God transmitted as well as that of his existence? How\ncame men to dissent in their opinions concerning his nature, whether\nhe was corporeal or incorporeal, finite or infinite, omnipresent\nor limited? Why were not men as negligent to transmit this of his\nexistence as that of his nature? No reason can be rendered for\nthe security of this above the other, but that there is so clear a\ntincture of a Deity upon the minds of men, such traces and shadows\nof him in the creatures, such indelible {a38} instincts within, and\ninvincible arguments without to keep up this universal consent. The\ncharacters are so deep that they cannot possibly be rased out, which\nwould have been one time or other, in one nation or other, had it\ndepended only upon tradition, since one age shakes off frequently the\nsentiments of the former. I cannot think of above one which may be\ncalled a tradition, which indeed was kept up among all nations, viz.\nsacrifices, which could not be natural but instituted. What ground\ncould they have in nature, to imagine that the blood of beasts could\nexpiate and wash off the guilt and stains of a rational creature? Yet\nthey had in all places (but among the Jews, and some of them only)\nlost the knowledge of the reason and end of the institution, which the\nScripture acquaints us was to typify and signify the redemption by the\nPromised Seed. This tradition hath been superannuated and laid aside\nin most parts of the world, while this notion of the existence of a\nGod hath stood firm. But suppose it were a tradition, was it likely\nto be a mere intention and figment of the first man? Had there been no\nreason for it, this posterity would soon have found out the weakness\nof its foundation. What advantage had it been to him to transmit\nso great a falsehood to kindle the fears or raise the hopes of his\nposterity, if there were no God? It cannot be supposed he should\nbe so void of that natural affection men in all ages bear to their\ndescendants, as so grossly to deceive them, and be so contrary to the\nsimplicity and plainness which appears in all things nearest their\noriginal.\n\nSecondly, Neither was it by any mutual intelligence of governors\namong themselves to keep people in subjection to them. If it were a\npolitical design at first, it seems it met with the general nature of\nmankind very ready to give it entertainment.\n\n1. It is unaccountable how this should come to pass. It must be either\nby a joint assembly of them, or a mutual correspondence. If by an\nassembly, who were the persons? Let the name of any one be mentioned.\nWhen was the time? Where was the place of this appearance? By what\nauthority did they meet together? Who made the first motion, and\nfirst started this great principle of policy? By what means could\nthey assemble from such distant parts of the world? Human histories\nare utterly silent in it, and the Scripture, the ancientest history,\ngives an account of the attempt of Babel, but not a word of any design\nof this nature. What mutual correspondence could such have, whose\ninterests are for the most part different, and their designs contrary\nto one another? How could they, who were divided by such vast seas,\nhave this mutual converse? How could those who were different in their\ncustoms and manners, agree so unanimously together in one thing to\ngull the people? If there had been such a correspondence between the\ngovernors of all nations, what is the reason some nations should be\nunknown to the world till of late times? How could the business be so\nsecretly managed, as not to take vent, and issue in a discovery to the\nworld? Can reason suppose so many in a joint conspiracy, and no man\u2019s\nconscience in his life under sharp afflictions, or on his death\u2011bed,\nwhen conscience is most awakened, constrain him to reveal openly the\ncheat that beguiled the world? How came they to be so unanimous {a39}\nin this notion, and to differ in their rites almost in every country?\nwhy could they not agree in one mode of worship throughout all the\nworld, as well as in this universal notion? If there were not a\nmutual intelligence, it cannot be conceived how in every nation such\na state\u2011engineer should rise up with the same trick to keep people in\nawe. What is the reason we cannot find any law in any one nation to\nconstrain men to the belief of the existence of a God, since politic\nstratagems have been often fortified by laws? Besides, such men make\nuse of principles received to effect their contrivances, and are\nnot so impolitic as to build designs upon principles that have no\nfoundation in nature. Some heathen lawgivers have pretended a converse\nwith their gods, to make their laws be received by the people with\na greater veneration, and fix with stronger obligation the observance\nand perpetuity of them; but this was not the introducing a new\nprinciple, but the supposition of an old received notion, that there\nwas a God, and an application of that principle to their present\ndesign. The pretence had been vain had not the notion of a God been\ningrafted. Politicians are so little possessed with a reverence of God,\nthat the first mighty one in the Scripture (which may reasonably gain\nwith the atheist the credit of the ancientest history in the world),\nis represented without any fear of God.[34] An invader and oppressor\nof his neighbors, and reputed the introducer of a new worship, and\nbeing the first that built cities after the flood (as Cain was the\nfirst builder of them before the flood), built also idolatry with\nthem, and erected a new worship, and was so far from strengthening\nthat notion the people had of God, that he endeavored to corrupt it.\nThe first idolatry in common histories being noted to proceed from\nthat part of the world; the ancientest idol being at Babylon, and\nsupposed to be first invented by this person: whence, by the way,\nperhaps Rome is in the Revelations called Babylon, with respect to\nthat similitude of their saint\u2011worship, to the idolatry first set up\nin that place.[35] \u2019Tis evident politicians have often changed the\nworship of a nation, but it is not upon record that the first thoughts\nof an object of worship ever entered into the minds of people by any\ntrick of theirs.\n\nBut to return to the present argument, the being of a God is owned\nby some nations that have scarce any form of policy among them. \u2019Tis\nas wonderful how any wit should hit upon such an invention, as it is\nabsurd to ascribe it to any human device, if there were not prevailing\narguments to constrain the consent. Besides, how is it possible they\nshould deceive themselves? What is the reason the greatest politicians\nhave their fears of a Deity upon their unjust practices, as well as\nother men they intend to befool? How many of them have had forlorn\nconsciences upon a death\u2011bed, upon the consideration of a God to\nanswer an account to in another world? Is it credible they should\nbe frighted by that wherewith they knew they beguiled others? No man\nsatisfying his pleasures would impose {a40} such a deceit upon himself\nto render and make himself more miserable than the creatures he hath\ndominion over.\n\n2. It is unaccountable how it should endure so long a time; that this\npolicy should be so fortunate as to gain ground in the consciences of\nmen, and exercise an empire over them, and meet with such an universal\nsuccess. If the notion of a God were a state\u2011engine, and introduced\nby some political grandees, for the ease of government, and preserving\npeople with more facility in order, how comes it to pass the first\nbroachers of it were never upon record? There is scarce a false\nopinion vented in the world, but may, as a stream, be traced to the\nfirst head and fountain. The inventors of particular forms of worship\nare known; and the reasons why they prescribed them known; but what\ngrandee was the author of this? Who can pitch a time and person that\nsprung up this notion? If any be so insolent as to impose a cheat,\nhe can hardly be supposed to be so successful as to deceive the whole\nworld for many ages: impostures pass not free through the whole world\nwithout examination and discovery: falsities have not been universally\nand constantly owned without control and question. If a cheat imposeth\nupon some towns and countries, he will be found out by the more\npiercing inquiries of other places; and it is not easy to name any\nimposture that hath walked so long in its disguise in the world,\nwithout being unmasked and whipped out by some nation or other. If\nthis had been a mere trick, there would have been as much craft in\nsome to discern it as there was in others to contrive it. No man can\nbe imagined so wise in a kingdom, but others may be found as wise as\nhimself: and it is not conceivable, that so many clear\u2011sighted men in\nall ages should be ignorant of it, and not endeavour to free the world\nfrom so great a falsity. It cannot be found that a trick of state\nshould always beguile men of the most piercing insights, as well as\nthe most credulous: that a few crafty men should befool all the wise\nmen in the world, and the world lie in a belief of it and never like\nto be freed from it.[36] What is the reason the succeeding politicians\nnever knew this stratagem; since their maxims are usually handed to\ntheir successors.[37]\n\nThis persuasion of the existence of God, owes not itself to any\nimposture or subtility of men: if it had not been agreeable to common\nnature and reason, it could not so long have borne sway. The imposed\nyoke would have been cast off by multitudes; men would not have\ncharged themselves with that which was attended with consequences\ndispleasing to the flesh, and hindered them from a full swing of their\nrebellious passions; such a shackle would have mouldered of itself,\nor been broke by the extravagances human nature is inclined unto. The\nwickedness of men, without question, hath prompted them to endeavour\nto unmask it, if it were a cosenage, but could never yet be so\nsuccessful as to free the world from a persuasion, or their own\nconsciences from the tincture of the existence of a Deity. It must\nbe therefore of an ancienter date than the craft of statesmen, and\ndescend into the world with the first appearance of human nature.\n{a41} Time, which hath rectified many errors, improves this notion,\nmakes it shock down its roots deeper and spread its branches larger.\n\nIt must be a natural truth that shines clear by the detection of those\nerrors that have befooled the world, and the wit of man is never able\nto name any human author that first insinuated it into the beliefs of\nmen.\n\nThirdly, Nor was it fear first introduced it. Fear is the consequent\nof wickedness. As man was not created with any inherent sin, so he\nwas not created with any terrifying fears; the one had been against\nthe holiness of the Creator, the other against his goodness: fear did\nnot make this opinion, but the opinion of the being of a Deity was\nthe cause of this fear, after his sense of angering the Deity by his\nwickedness. The object of fear is before the act of fear; there could\nnot be an act of fear exercised about the Deity, till it was believed\nto be existent, and not only so, but offended: for God as existent\nonly, is not the object of fear or love; it is not the existence of a\nthing that excites any of those affections, but the relation a thing\nbears to us in particular. God is good, and so the object of love, as\nwell as just, and thereby the object of fear. He was as much called\n_Love_,[38] and _Mens_, or _Mind_, in regard of his goodness and\nunderstanding, by the heathens, as much as by any other name. Neither\nof those names were proper to insinuate fear; neither was fear the\nfirst principle that made the heathens worship a God; they offered\nsacrifices out of gratitude to some, as well as to other, out of fear;\nthe fear of evils in the world, and the hopes of relief and assistance\nfrom their gods, and not a terrifying fear of God, was the principal\nspring of their worship. When calamities from the hands of men, or\njudgments by the influences of Heaven were upon them, they implored\nthat which they thought a deity; it was not their fear of him, but\na hope in his goodness, and persuasion of remedy from him, for the\naverting those evils that rendered them adorers of a God: if they had\nnot had pre\u2011existing notions of his being and goodness, they would\nnever have made addresses to him, or so frequently sought to that they\nonly apprehended as a terrifying object.[39] When you hear men calling\nupon God in a time of affrighting thunder, you cannot imagine that the\nfear of thunder did first introduce the notion of a God, but implies,\nthat it was before apprehended by them, or stamped upon them, though\ntheir fear doth at present actuate that belief, and engage them in a\npresent exercise of piety; and whereas the Scripture saith, \u201cThe fear\nof God is the beginning of wisdom,\u201d[40] or of all religion; it is not\nunderstood of a distracted and terrifying fear, but a reverential fear\nof him, because of his holiness; or a worship of him, a submission to\nhim, and sincere seeking of him.\n\nWell, then, is it not a folly for an atheist to deny that which is the\nreason and common sentiment of the whole world; to strip himself of\nhumanity, run counter to his own conscience, prefer a private before\nan universal judgment, give the lie to his own nature and reason,\nassert things impossible to be proved, nay, impossible to be acted,\nforge irrationalities for the support of his fancy against the common\n{a42} persuasion of the world, and against himself, and so much of God\nas is manifest in him and every man?[41]\n\n_Reason II._ It is a folly to deny that which all creatures or all\nthings in the world manifest.[42] Let us view this in Scripture,\nsince we acknowledge it, and after consider the arguments from natural\nreason.\n\nThe apostle resolves it (Rom. i. 19, 20), \u201cThe invisible things of him\nfrom the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by\nthe things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that\nthey are without excuse.\u201d They know, or might know, by the things\nthat were made, the eternity and power of God; their sense might take\na circuit about every object, and their minds collect the being and\nsomething of the perfections of the Deity. The first discourse of\nthe mind upon the sight of a delicate piece of workmanship, is the\nconclusion of the being of an artificer, and the admiration of his\nskill and industry. The apostle doth not say, the invisible things\nof God are _believed_, or they have an opinion of them, but they are\n_seen_, and _clearly seen_. They are like crystal glasses, which give\na clear representation of the existence of a Deity, like that mirror,\nreported to be in a temple in Arcadia, which represented to the\nspectator, not his own face, but the image of that deity which he\nworshipped. The whole world is like a looking\u2011glass, which, whole\nand entire, represents the image of God, and every broken piece of\nit, every little shred of a creature doth the like; not only the\ngreat ones, elephants and the leviathan, but ants, flies, worms, whose\nbodies rather than names we know: the greater cattle and the creeping\nthings (Gen. i. 24); not naming there any intermediate creature, to\ndirect us to view him in the smaller letters, as well as the greater\ncharacters of the world. His name is \u201cglorious,\u201d and his attributes\nare excellent \u201cin all the earth;\u201d[43] in every creature, as the glory\nof the sun is in every beam and smaller flash; he is seen in every\ninsect, in every spire of grass. The voice of the Creator is in\nthe most contemptible creature. The apostle adds, that they are so\nclearly seen, that men are inexcusable if they have not some knowledge\nof God by them; if they might not certainly know them, they might\nhave some excuse: so that his existence is not only probably, but\ndemonstratively proved from the things of the world.[44]\n\nEspecially the heavens declare him, which God \u201cstretches out like\na curtain,\u201d[45] or, as some render the word, a \u201cskin,\u201d whereby is\nsignified, that heaven is as an open book, which was anciently made\nof the skins of beasts, that by the knowledge of them we may be taught\nthe knowledge of God. Where Scripture was not revealed, the world\nserved for a witness of a God; whatever arguments the Scripture uses\nto prove it, are drawn from nature (though, indeed, it doth not so\nmuch prove as suppose the existence of a God); but what arguments it\nuses are from the creatures, and particularly the heavens, which are\nthe public preachers of this doctrine. The breath of God sounds to\nall the world through those organ\u2011pipes. His being is visible in their\nexistence, his wisdom in their frame, his power in their {a43} motion,\nhis goodness in their usefulness. They have a voice, and their voice\nis as intelligible as any common language.[46] And those are so\nplain heralds of a Deity, that the heathen mistook them for deities,\nand gave them a particular adoration, which was due to that God they\ndeclared. The first idolatry seems to be of those heavenly bodies,\nwhich began probably in the time of Nimrod. In Job\u2019s time it is\ncertain they admired the glory of the sun, and the brightness of the\nmoon, not without kissing their hands, a sign of adoration.[47] It is\nevident a man may as well doubt whether there be a sun, when he sees\nhis beams gilding the earth, as doubt whether there be a God, when he\nsees his works spread in the world.\n\nThe things in the world declare the existence of a God. 1. In their\nproduction. 2. Harmony. 3. Preservation. 4. Answering their several\nends.\n\nFirst, In their production. The declaration of the existence of God\nwas the chief end for which they were created, that the notion of\na supreme and independent Eternal Being might easier incur into the\nactive understanding of man from the objects of sense, dispersed in\nevery corner of the world, that he might pay a homage and devotion\nto the Lord of all (Isai. xl. 12, 13, 18, 19, &c.), \u201cHave you not\nunderstood from the foundation of the earth, it is he that sits upon\nthe circle of the heaven,\u201d &c. How could this great heap be brought\ninto being, unless a God had framed it? Every plant, every atom, as\nwell as every star, at the first meeting, whispers this in our ears,\n\u201cI have a Creator; I am witness to a Deity.\u201d Who ever saw statues or\npictures but presently thinks of a statuary and limner? Who beholds\ngarments, ships, or houses, but understands there was a weaver, a\ncarpenter, an architect?[48] Who can cast his eyes about the world,\nbut must think of that power that formed it, and that the goodness\nwhich appears in the formation of it hath a perfect residence in some\nbeing? \u201cThose things that are good must flow from something perfectly\ngood: that which is chief in any kind is the cause of all of that\nkind. Fire, which is most hot, is the cause of all things which are\nhot. There is some being, therefore, which is the cause of all that\nperfection which is in the creature; and this is God.\u201d (_Aquin. 1\nqu. 2. Artic. 3._) All things that are demonstrate something from\nwhence they are. All things have a contracted perfection, and what\nthey have is communicated to them. Perfections are parcelled out among\nseveral creatures. Anything that is imperfect cannot exist of itself.\nWe are led, therefore, by them to consider a fountain which bubbles up\nin all perfection; a hand which distributes those several degrees of\nbeing and perfection to what we see. We see that which is imperfect;\nour minds conclude something perfect to exist before it. Our eye sees\nthe streams, but our understanding riseth to the head; as the eye sees\nthe shadow, but the understanding informs us whether it be the shadow\nof a man or of a beast.\n\nGod hath given us sense to behold the objects in the world, and\nunderstanding to reason his existence from them. The understanding\ncannot conceive a thing to have made itself; that is against all {a44}\nreason. As they are made, they speak out a Maker,[49] and cannot be a\ntrick of chance, since they are made with such an immense wisdom, that\nis too big for the grasp of all human understanding. Those that doubt\nwhether the existence of God be an implanted principle, yet agree that\nthe effects in the world lead to a supreme and universal cause; and\nthat if we have not the knowledge of it rooted in our natures, yet we\nhave it by discourse; since, by all masters of reason, a _processus\nin infinitum_ must be accounted impossible in subordinate causes. This\nwill appear in several things.\n\nI. The world and every creature had a beginning. The Scripture\nascertains this to us.[50] David, who was not the first man, gives\nthe praise to God of his being \u201ccuriously wrought,\u201d &c. (Ps. cxxxix.\n14, 15). God gave being to men, and plants, and beasts, before they\ngave being to one another. He gives being to them now as the Fountain\nof all being, though the several modes of being are from the several\nnatures of second causes.\n\nIt is true, indeed, we are ascertained that they were made by the true\nGod; that they were made by his word; that they were made of nothing;\nand not only this lower world wherein we live, but, according to the\nJewish division, the world of men, the world of stars, and the world\nof spirits and souls. We do not waver in it, or doubt of it, as the\nheathen did in their disputes; we know they are the workmanship of\nthe true God, of that God we adore, not of false gods; \u201cby his word,\u201d\nwithout any instrument or engine, as in earthly structures; \u201cof\nthings which do not appear,\u201d without any pre\u2011existent matter, as all\nartificial works of men are framed. Yet the proof of the beginning of\nthe world is affirmed with good reason; and if it had a beginning, it\nhad also some higher cause than itself: every effect hath a cause.\n\nThe world was not eternal, or from eternity.[51] The matter of the\nworld cannot be eternal. Matter cannot subsist without form, nor put\non any form without the action of some cause. This cause must be in\nbeing before it acted; that which is not cannot act. The cause of the\nworld must necessarily exist before any matter was endued with any\nform; that, therefore, cannot be eternal before which another did\nsubsist; if it were from eternity, it would not be subject to mutation.\nIf the whole was from eternity, why not also the parts; what makes the\nchanges so visible, then, if eternity would exempt it from mutability?\n\n1. Time cannot be infinite, and, therefore, the world not eternal.\nAll motion hath its beginning; if it were otherwise, we must say the\nnumber of heavenly revolutions of days and nights, which are past to\nthis instant, is actually infinite, which cannot be in nature.[52] If\nit were so, it must needs be granted that a part is equal to the whole;\nbecause infinite being equal to infinite, the number of days past, in\nall ages to the beginning of one year being infinite (as they would be,\nsupposing the world had no beginning) would by consequence be equal\nto the number of days which shall pass to the end of the {a45} next;\nwhereas that number of days past is indeed but a part; and so a part\nwould be equal to the whole.\n\n2. Generations of men, animals, and plants, could not be from\neternity. If any man say the world was from eternity, then there must\nbe propagations of living creatures in the same manner as are at this\nday; for without this the world could not consist.[53] What we see\nnow done must have been perpetually done, if it be done by a necessity\nof nature; but we see nothing now that doth arise but by a mutual\npropagation from another. If the world were eternal, therefore, it\nmust be so in all eternity. Take any particular species. Suppose a man,\nif men were from eternity; then there were perpetual generations\u2015\u2015some\nwere born into the world, and some died. Now the natural condition of\ngeneration is, that a man doth not generate a man, nor a sheep a lamb,\nas soon as ever itself is brought into the world; but get strength and\nvigor by degrees, and must arrive to a certain stated age before they\ncan produce the like; for whilst anything is little and below the due\nage, it cannot increase its kind. Men, therefore, and other creatures,\ndid propagate their kind by the same law, not as soon as ever they\nwere born, but in the interval of some time; and children grew up\nby degrees in the mother\u2019s womb till they were fit to be brought\nforth. If this be so, then there could not be an eternal succession\nof propagating; for there is no eternal continuation of time. Time\nis always to be conceived as having one part before another; but\nthat perpetuity of nativities is always after some time, wherein it\ncould not be for the weakness of age. If no man, then, can conceive\na propagation from eternity, there must be then a beginning of\ngeneration in time, and, consequently, the creatures were made in time.\n\n\u201cIf the world were eternal, it must have been in the same posture as\nit is now, in a state of generation and corruption; and so corruption\nmust have been as eternal as generation, and then things that do\ngenerate and corrupt must have eternally been and eternally not have\nbeen: there must be some first way to set generation on work.\u201d[54] We\nmust lose ourselves in our conceptions; we cannot conceive a father\nbefore a child, as well as we cannot conceive a child before a father:\nand reason is quite bewildered, and cannot return into a right way of\nconception, till it conceive one first of every kind: one first man,\none first animal, one first plant, from whence others do proceed. The\nargument is unanswerable, and the wisest atheist (if any atheist can\nbe called wise) cannot unloose the knot. We must come to something\nthat is first in every kind, and this first must have a cause, not of\nthe same kind, but infinite and independent; otherwise men run into\ninconceivable labyrinths and contradictions.\n\nMan, the noblest creature upon earth, hath a beginning. No man in\nthe world but was some years ago no man. If every man we see had a\nbeginning, then the first man had also a beginning, then the world\nhad a beginning: for the earth, which was made for the use of man, had\nwanted that end for which it was made. We must pitch upon some one man\nthat was unborn; that first man must either be eternal; that cannot be,\nfor he that hath no beginning hath no end; or must {a46} spring out of\nthe earth as plants and trees do;[55] that cannot be; why should not\nthe earth produce men to this day, as it doth plants and trees? He was\ntherefore made; and whatsoever is made hath some cause that made it,\nwhich is God. If the world were uncreated, it were then immutable,\nbut every creature upon the earth is in a continual flux, always\nchanging:[56] if things be mutable, they were created; if created,\nthey were made by some author: whatsoever hath a beginning must have\na maker; if the world hath a beginning, there was then a time when it\nwas not; it must have some cause to produce it. That which makes is\nbefore that which is made, and this is God.\n\nII. Which will appear further in this proposition, No creature can\nmake itself; the world could not make itself.\n\nIf every man had a beginning, every man then was once nothing; he\ncould not then make himself, because nothing cannot be the cause\nof something; \u2018The Lord he is God; he hath made us, and not we\nourselves.\u2019 (Ps. c. 3.) Whatsoever begun in time was not; and when it\nwas nothing, it had nothing, and could do nothing; and therefore could\nnever give to itself, nor to any other, to be, or to be able to do:\nfor then it gave what it had not, and did what it could not. Since\nreason must acknowledge a first of every kind, a first man, &c., it\nmust acknowledge him created and made, not by himself:[57] why have\nnot other men since risen up by themselves, not by chance? why hath\nnot chance produced the like in that long time the world hath stood?\nIf we never knew anything give being to itself, how can we imagine\nanything ever could? If the chiefest part of this lower world cannot,\nnor any part of it hath been known to give being to itself, then the\nwhole cannot be supposed to give any being to itself: man did not form\nhimself; his body is not from himself; it would then have the power\nof moving itself, but that it is not able to live or act without the\npresence of the soul. Whilst the soul is present, the body moves;\nwhen that is absent, the body lies as a senseless log, not having\nthe least action or motion. His soul could not form itself. Can that\nwhich cannot form the least mote, the least grain of dust, form itself\na nobler substance than any upon the earth? This will be evident to\nevery man\u2019s reason, if we consider,\n\n1. Nothing can act before it be. The first man was not, and therefore\ncould not make himself to be. For anything to produce itself is to act;\nif it acted before it was, it was then something and nothing at the\nsame time; it then had a being before it had a being; it acted when it\nbrought itself into being. How could it act without a being, without\nit was? So that if it were the cause of itself, it must be before\nitself as well as after itself; it was before it was; it was as a\ncause before it was as an effect. Action always supposeth a principle\nfrom whence it flows; as nothing hath no existence, so it hath no\noperation: there must be, therefore, something of real existence to\ngive a being to those things that are, and every cause must be an\neffect of some other before it be a cause. To be and not to be at the\nsame time, is a manifest contradiction, which would be, if anything\nmade itself. That which makes is always before that {a47} which is\nmade. Who will say the house is before the carpenter, or the picture\nbefore the limner? The world as a creator must be before itself as a\ncreature.\n\n2. That which doth not understand itself and order itself could not\nmake itself. If the first man fully understood his own nature, the\nexcellency of his own soul, the manner of its operations, why was not\nthat understanding conveyed to his posterity? Are not many of them\nfound, who understand their own nature, almost as little as a beast\nunderstands itself; or a rose understands its own sweetness; or a\ntulip its own colors? The Scripture, indeed, gives us an account how\nthis came about, viz. by the deplorable rebellion of man, whereby\ndeath was brought upon them (a spiritual death, which includes\nignorance, as well as an inability to spiritual action.[58]) Thus\nhe fell from his honor, and became like the beasts that perish, and\nnot retaining God in his knowledge, retained not himself in his own\nknowledge.\n\nBut what reply can an atheist make to it, who acknowledges no higher\ncause than nature? If the soul made itself, how comes it to be so\nmuddy, so wanting in its knowledge of itself, and of other things?\nIf the soul made its own understanding, whence did the defect arise?\nIf some first principle was settled by the first man in himself,\nwhere was the stop that he did not implant all in his own mind, and,\nconsequently in the minds of all his descendants? Our souls know\nlittle of themselves, little of the world, are every day upon new\ninquiries, have little satisfaction in themselves, meet with many\nan invincible rub in their way, and when they seem to come to some\nresolution in some cases, stagger again, and, like a stone rolled up\nto the top of the hill, quickly find themselves again at the foot.\nHow come they to be so purblind in truth? so short of that which they\njudge true goodness? How comes it to pass they cannot order their\nown rebellious affections, and suffer the reins they have to hold\nover their affections to be taken out of their hands by the unruly\nfancy and flesh? This no man that denies the being of a God, and the\nrevelation in Scripture, can give an account of. Blessed be God that\nwe have the Scripture, which gives us an account of those things, that\nall the wit of men could never inform us of; and that when they are\ndiscovered and known by revelation, they appear not contrary to reason!\n\n3. If the first man made himself, how came he to limit himself? If he\ngave himself being, why did he not give himself all the perfections\nand ornaments of being? Nothing that made itself could sit down\ncontented with a little, but would have had as much power to give\nitself that which is less, as to give itself being, when it was\nnothing. The excellences it wanted had not been more difficult to gain\nthan the other which it possessed, as belonging to its nature. If the\nfirst man had been independent upon another, and had his perfection\nfrom himself, he might have acquired that perfection he wanted as well\nas have bestowed upon himself that perfection he had; and then there\nwould have been no bounds set to him. He would have been omniscient\nand immutable. He might have given {a48} himself what he would; if he\nhad had the setting his own bounds, he would have set none at all; for\nwhat should restrain him? No man now wants ambition to be what he is\nnot; and if the first man had not been determined by another, but had\ngiven himself being, he would not have remained in that determinate\nbeing, no more than a toad would remain a toad, if it had power to\nmake itself a man, and that power it would have had, if it had given\nitself a being. Whatsoever gives itself being, would give itself all\ndegrees of being, and so would have no imperfection, because every\nimperfection is a want of some degree of being. He that could give\nhimself matter and life, might give himself everything.[59] The giving\nof life is an act of omnipotence; and what is omnipotent in one thing\nmay be in all. Besides, if the first man had made himself, he would\nhave conveyed himself to all his posterity in the same manner;\nevery man would have had all the perfections of the first man, as\nevery creature hath the perfections of the same kind, from whence it\nnaturally issues; all are desirous to communicate what they can to\ntheir posterity. Communicative goodness belongs to every nature. Every\nplant propagates its kind in the same perfection it hath itself; and\nthe nearer anything comes to a rational nature, the greater affection\nit hath to that which descends from it; therefore this affection\nbelongs to a rational nature much more. The first man, therefore,\nif he had had power to give himself being, and, consequently, all\nperfection, he would have had as much power to convey it down to his\nposterity; no impediment could have stopped his way; then all souls\nproceeding from that first man would have been equally intellectual.\nWhat should hinder them from inheriting the same perfections?\nWhence should they have divers qualifications and differences in\ntheir understandings? No man then would have been subject to those\nweaknesses, doubtings, and unsatisfied desires of knowledge and\nperfection. But being all souls are not alike, it is certain they\ndepend upon some other cause for the communication of that excellency\nthey have. If the perfections of man be so contracted and kept within\ncertain bounds, it is certain that they were not in his own power,\nand so were not from himself. Whatsoever hath a determinate being must\nbe limited by some superior cause. There is, therefore, some superior\npower, that hath thus determined the creature by set bounds and\ndistinct measures, and hath assigned to every one its proper nature,\nthat it should not be greater or less than it is; who hath said of\nevery one as of the waves of the sea, \u201cHitherto shalt thou come, but\nno further;\u201d[60] and this is God. Man could not have reserved any\nperfection from his posterity; for since he doth propagate not by\nchoice, but nature, he could no more have kept back any perfection\nfrom them, than he could, as he pleased, have given any perfection\nbelonging to his nature to them.\n\n4. That which hath power to give itself being, cannot want power to\npreserve that being. Preservation is not more difficult than creation.\nIf the first man made himself, why did he not preserve himself? He\nis not now among the living in the world. How came he {a49} to be so\nfeeble as to sink into the grave? Why did he not inspire himself with\nnew heat and moisture, and fill his languishing limbs and declining\nbody with new strength? Why did he not chase away diseases and death\nat the first approach? What creature can find the dust of the first\nman? All his posterity traverse the stage and retire again; in a short\nspace their age departs, and is removed from them \u2018as a shepherd\u2019s\ntent,\u2019 and is \u2018cut off with pining sickness.\u2019[61] \u2018The life of man is\nas a wind, and like a cloud that is consumed and vanishes away. The\neye that sees him shall see him no more; he returns not to his house,\nneither doth his place know him any more.\u2019[62] The Scripture gives us\nthe reason of this, and lays it upon the score of sin against his\nCreator, which no man without revelation can give any satisfactory\naccount of. Had the first man made himself, he had been sufficient\nfor himself, able to support himself without the assistance of any\ncreature. He would not have needed animals and plants, and other helps\nto nourish and refresh him, nor medicines to cure him. He could not be\nbeholden to other things for his support, which he is certain he never\nmade for himself. His own nature would have continued that vigor,\nwhich once he had conferred upon himself. He would not have needed\nthe heat and light of the sun; he would have wanted nothing sufficient\nfor himself in himself; he needed not have sought without himself for\nhis own preservation and comfort. What depends upon another is not\nof itself; and what depends upon things inferior to itself is less of\nitself. Since nothing can subsist of itself, since we see those things\nupon which man depends for his nourishment and subsistence, growing\nand decaying, starting into the world and retiring from it, as well as\nman himself; some preserving cause must be concluded, upon which all\ndepends.\n\n5. If the first man did produce himself, why did he not produce\nhimself before?\n\nIt hath been already proved, that he had a beginning, and could not\nbe from eternity. Why then did he not make himself before? Not because\nhe would not. For having no being, he could have no will; he could\nneither be willing nor not willing. If he could not then, how could\nhe afterwards? If it were in his own power, he could have done it,\nhe would have done it; if it were not in his own power, then it was\nin the power of some other cause, and that is God. How came he by\nthat power to produce himself? If the power of producing himself were\ncommunicated by another, then man could not be the cause of himself.\nThat is the cause of it which communicated that power to it. But\nif the power of being was in and from himself and in no other, nor\ncommunicated to him, man would always have been in act, and always\nhave existed; no hindrance can be conceived. For that which had the\npower of being in itself was invincible by anything that should stand\nin the way of its own being.\n\nWe may conclude from hence, the excellency of the Scripture; that\nit is a word not to be refused credit. It gives us the most rational\naccount of things in the 1st and 2d of Genesis, which nothing in the\nworld else is able to do.\n\nIII. No creature could make the world. No creature can create {a50}\nanother. If it creates of nothing, it is then omnipotent and so not\na creature. If it makes something of matter unfit for that which is\nproduced out of it, then the inquiry will be, Who was the cause of the\nmatter? and so we must arrive to some uncreated being, the cause of\nall. Whatsoever gives being to any other must be the highest being,\nand must possess all the perfections of that which it gives being to.\nWhat visible creature is there which possesses the perfections of the\nwhole world? If therefore an invisible creature made the world, the\nsame inquiries will return whence that creature had its being? for he\ncould not make himself. If any creature did create the world, he must\ndo it by the strength and virtue of another, which first gave him\nbeing, and this is God. For whatsoever hath its existence and virtue\nof acting from another, is not God. If it hath its virtue from another,\nit is then a second cause, and so supposeth a first cause. It must\nhave some cause of itself, or be eternally existent. If eternally\nexistent, it is not a second cause, but God; if not eternally existent,\nwe must come to something at length which was the cause of it, or else\nbe bewildered without being able to give an account of anything. We\nmust come at last to an infinite, eternal, independent Being, that\nwas the first cause of this structure and fabric wherein we and all\ncreatures dwell. The Scripture proclaims this aloud, \u201cI am the Lord\nand there is none else: I form the light, and I create darkness.\u201d[63]\nMan, the noblest creature, cannot of himself make a man, the chiefest\npart of the world. If our parents only, without a superior power, made\nour bodies or souls, they would know the frame of them; as he that\nmakes a lock knows the wards of it; he that makes any curious piece\nof arras, knows how he sets the various colors together, and how many\nthreads went to each division in the web; he that makes a watch,\nhaving the idea of the whole work in his mind, knows the motions of\nit, and the reason of those motions. But both parents and children\nare equally ignorant of the nature of their souls and bodies, and\nof the reason of their motions. God only, that had the supreme hand\nin forming us, in whose \u201cbook all our members are written, which in\ncontinuance were fashioned,\u201d[64] knows what we all are ignorant of. If\nman hath in an ordinary course of generation his being chiefly from a\nhigher cause than his parents, the world then certainly had its being\nfrom some infinitely wise intelligent Being, which is God. If it\nwere, as some fancy, made by an assembly of atoms, there must be some\ninfinite intelligent cause that made them, some cause that separated\nthem, some cause that mingled them together for the piling up so\ncomely a structure as the world. It is the most absurd thing to think\nthey should meet together by hazard, and rank themselves in that order\nwe see, without a higher and a wise agent. So that no creature could\nmake the world. For supposing any creature was formed before this\nvisible world, and might have a hand in disposing things, yet he must\nhave a cause of himself, and must act by the virtue and strength of\nanother, and this is God.\n\nIV. From hence it follows, that there is a first cause of things,\nwhich we call God. There must be something supreme in the order {a51}\nof nature, something which is greater than all, which hath nothing\nbeyond it or above it, otherwise we must run _in infinitum_. We see\nnot a river, but we conclude a fountain; a watch, but we conclude an\nartificer. As all number begins from unity, so all the multitude of\nthings in the world begins from some unity, oneness as the principle\nof it. It is natural to arise from a view of those things, to the\nconception of a nature more perfect than any. As from heat mixed\nwith cold, and light mixed with darkness, men conceive and arise in\ntheir understandings to an intense heat and a pure light; and from a\ncorporeal or bodily substance joined with an incorporeal, (as man is\nan earthly body and a spiritual soul), we ascend to a conception of\na substance purely incorporeal and spiritual: so from a multitude of\nthings in the world, reason leads us to one choice being above all.\nAnd since in all natures in the world, we still find a superior nature;\nthe nature of one beast, above the nature of another; the nature of\nman above the nature of beasts; and some invisible nature, the worker\nof strange effects in the air and earth, which cannot be ascribed to\nany visible cause, we must suppose some nature above all those, of\nunconceivable perfection.\n\nEvery skeptic, one that doubts whether there be anything real or no\nin the world, that counts everything an appearance, must necessarily\nown a first cause.[65] They cannot reasonably doubt, but that there\nis some first cause which makes the things appear so to them. They\ncannot be the cause of their own appearance. For as nothing can have\na being from itself, so nothing can appear by itself and its own force.\nNothing can be and not be at the same time. But that which is not and\nyet seems to be; if it be the cause why it seems to be what it is not,\nit may be said to be and not to be. But certainly such persons must\nthink themselves to exist. If they do not, they cannot think; and if\nthey do exist, they must have some cause of that existence. So that\nwhich way soever we turn ourselves, we must in reason own a first\ncause of the world. Well then might the Psalmist term an atheist\na fool, that disowns a God against his own reason. Without owning a\nGod as the first cause of the world, no man can give any tolerable or\nsatisfactory account of the world to his own reason. And this first\ncause,\n\n1. Must necessarily exist. It is necessary that He by whom all things\nare, should be before all things, and nothing before him.[66] And if\nnothing be before him, he comes not from any other; and then he always\nwas, and without beginning. He is from himself; not that he once was\nnot, but because he hath not his existence from another, and therefore\nof necessity he did exist from all eternity. Nothing can make itself,\nor bring itself into being; therefore there must be some being which\nhath no cause, that depends upon no other, never was produced by any\nother, but was what he is from eternity, and cannot be otherwise;\nand is not what he is by will, but nature, necessarily existing, and\nalways existing without any capacity or possibility ever not to be.\n\n2. Must be infinitely perfect. Since man knows he is an imperfect\nbeing, he must suppose the perfections he wants are seated in some\n{a52} other being which hath limited him, and upon which he depends.\nWhatsoever we conceive of excellency or perfection, must be in God.\nFor we can conceive no perfection but what God hath given us a power\nto conceive. And he that gave us a power to conceive a transcendent\nperfection above whatever we saw or heard of, hath much more in\nhimself; else he could not give us such a conception.\n\nSecondly, As the production of the world, so the harmony of all\nthe parts of it declare the being and wisdom of a God. Without the\nacknowledging God, the atheist can give no account of those things.\nThe multitude, elegancy, variety, and beauty of all things are steps\nwhereby to ascend to one fountain and original of them. Is it not a\nfolly to deny the being of a wise agent, who sparkles in the beauty\nand motions of the heavens, rides upon the wings of the wind, and is\nwrit upon the flowers and fruits of plants? As the cause is known by\nthe effects, so the wisdom of the cause is known by the elegancy of\nthe work, the proportion of the parts to one another. Who can imagine\nthe world could be rashly made, and without consultation, which, in\nevery part of it, is so artificially framed? No work of art springs up\nof its own accord.[67] The world is framed by an excellent art, and,\ntherefore, made by some skilful artist. As we hear not a melodious\ninstrument, but we conclude there is a musician that touches it,\nas well as some skilful hand that framed and disposed it for those\nlessons; and no man that hears the pleasant sound of a lute but will\nfix his thoughts, not upon the instrument itself, but upon the skill\nof the artist that made it, and the art of the musician that strikes\nit, though he should not see the first, when he saw the lute, nor see\nthe other, when he hears the harmony: so a rational creature confines\nnot his thoughts to his sense when he sees the sun in its glory, and\nthe moon walking in its brightness; but riseth up in a contemplation\nand admiration of that Infinite Spirit that composed, and filled them\nwith such sweetness. This appears,\n\n1. In the linking contrary qualities together. All things are\ncompounded of the elements. Those are endued with contrary qualities,\ndryness and moisture, heat and cold. These would always be contending\nwith and infesting one another\u2019s rights, till the contest ended in the\ndestruction of one or both. Where fire is predominant, it would suck\nup the water; where water is prevalent, it would quench the fire.\nThe heat would wholly expel the cold, or the cold overpower the heat;\nyet we see them chained and linked one within another in every body\nupon the earth, and rendering mutual offices for the benefit of that\nbody wherein they are seated, and all conspiring together in their\nparticular quarrels for the public interest of the body. How could\nthose contraries, that of themselves observe no order, that are always\npreying upon one another, jointly accord together of themselves, for\none common end, if they were not linked in a common band, and reduced\nto that order by some incomprehensible wisdom and power, which keeps\na hand upon them, orders their motions and directs their events, and\nmakes them friendly pass into one another\u2019s natures? Confusion had\nbeen the result of the discord and diversity of their natures; no\ncomposition could have been of {a53} those conflicting qualities for\nthe frame of any body, nor any harmony arose from so many jarring\nstrings, if they had not been reduced into concord by one that is\nsupreme Lord over them, and knows how to dispose their varieties and\nenmities for the public good. If a man should see a large city or\ncountry, consisting of great multitudes of men, of different tempers,\nfull of frauds, and factions, and animosities in their natures against\none another, yet living together in good order and peace, without\noppressing and invading one another, and joining together for the\npublic good, he would presently conclude there were some excellent\ngovernor, who tempered them by his wisdom, and preserved the public\npeace, though he had never yet beheld him with his eye.[68] It is\nas necessary to conclude a God, who moderates the contrarieties in\nthe world, as to conclude a wise prince who overrules the contrary\ndispositions in a state, making every one to keep his own bounds\nand confines. Things that are contrary to one another subsist in an\nadmirable order.\n\n2. In the subserviency of one thing to another. All the members of\nliving creatures are curiously fitted for the service of one another,\ndestined to a particular end, and endued with a virtue to attain that\nend, and so distinctly placed, that one is no hindrance to the other\nin its operations.[69] Is not this more admirable than to be the\nwork of chance, which is incapable to settle such an order, and fix\nparticular and general ends, causing an exact correspondency of all\nthe parts with one another, and every part to conspire together for\none common end? One thing is fitted for another. The eye is fitted\nfor the sun, and the sun fitted for the eye. Several sorts of food are\nfitted for several creatures, and those creatures fitted with organs\nfor the partaking that food.\n\n(1.) Subserviency of heavenly bodies. The sun, the heart of the world,\nis not for itself, but for the good of the world, as the heart of man\nis for the good of the body.[70] How conveniently is the sun placed,\nat a distance from the earth, and the upper heavens, to enlighten the\nstars above, and enliven the earth below! If it were either higher\nor lower, one part would want its influences. It is not in the higher\nparts of the heavens; the earth, then, which lives and fructifies\nby its influence would have been exposed to a perpetual winter and\nchillness, unable to have produced anything for the sustenance of man\nor beast. If seated lower, the earth had been parched up, the world\nmade uninhabitable, and long since had been consumed to ashes by the\nstrength of its heat. Consider the motion, as well as the situation of\nthe sun. Had it stood still, one part of the world had been cherished\nby its beams, and the other left in a desolate widowhood, in a\ndisconsolate darkness. Besides, the earth would have had no shelter\nfrom its perpendicular beams striking perpetually, and without any\nremission, upon it. The same incommodities would have followed upon\nits fixedness as upon its too great nearness. By a constant day, the\nbeauty of the stars had been obscured, the knowledge of their motions\nbeen prevented, and a considerable part of the glorious wisdom of\nthe Creator, in those choice \u201cworks of his {a54} fingers,\u201d[71] had\nbeen veiled from our eyes. It moves in a fixed line, visits all parts\nof the earth, scatters in the day its refreshing blessings in every\ncreek of the earth, and removes the mask from the other beauties of\nheaven in the night, which sparkle out to the glory of the Creator.\nIt spreads its light, warms the earth, cherisheth the seeds, excites\nthe spirit in the earth, and brings fruit to maturity. View also the\nair, the vast extent between heaven and earth, which serves for a\nwater\u2011course, a cistern for water, to bedew the face of the sun\u2011burnt\nearth, to satisfy the desolate ground, and to cause the \u201cbud of the\ntender herb to spring forth.\u201d[72] Could chance appoint the clouds of\nthe air to interpose as fans between the scorching heat of the sun,\nand the faint bodies of the creatures? Can that be the \u201cfather of the\nrain, or beget the drops of dew?\u201d[73] Could anything so blind settle\nthose ordinances of heaven for the preservation of creatures on the\nearth? Can this either bring or stay the bottles of heaven, when the\n\u201cdust grows into hardness, and the clouds cleave fast together?\u201d[74]\n\n(2.) Subserviency of the lower world, the earth, and sea, which was\ncreated to be inhabited, (Isa. xlv. 18). The sea affords water to the\nrivers, the rivers, like so many veins, are spread through the whole\nbody of the earth, to refresh and enable it to bring forth fruit for\nthe sustenance of man and beast, (Ps. civ. 10, 11). \u201cHe sends the\nsprings into the valleys, which run among the hills; they give drink\nto every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst. He\ncauses the grass to grow for the cattle, and the herb for the service\nof man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth.\u201d (ver. 14.) The\ntrees are provided for shades against the extremity of heat, a refuge\nfor the panting beasts, an \u201chabitation for birds,\u201d wherein to make\ntheir nests (ver. 17), and a basket for their provision. How are\nthe valleys and mountains of the earth disposed for the pleasure and\nprofit of man! Every year are the fields covered with harvests for\nthe nourishing the creatures; no part is barren, but beneficial to\nman. The mountains that are not clothed with grass for his food, are\nset with stones to make him an habitation; they have their peculiar\nservices of metals and minerals, for the conveniency and comfort, and\nbenefit of man. Things which are not fit for his food, are medicines\nfor his cure, under some painful sickness. Where the earth brings not\nforth corn, it brings forth roots for the service of other creatures.\nWood abounds more in those countries where the cold is stronger than\nin others. Can this be the result of chance, or not rather of an\nInfinite Wisdom? Consider the usefulness of the sea, for the supply\nof rivers to refresh the earth: \u201cWhich go up by the mountains and down\nby the valleys into the place God hath founded for them\u201d (Ps. civ. 8):\na store\u2011house for fish, for the nourishment of other creatures, a\nshop of medicines for cure, and pearls for ornament: the band that\nties remote nations together, by giving opportunity of passage to, and\ncommerce with, one another. How should that natural inclination of the\nsea to cover the earth, submit to this subserviency to the creatures?\nWho hath pounded in this fluid mass of water in certain limits,\nand confined it to its {a55} own channel, for the accommodation of\nsuch creatures, who, by its common law, can only be upon the earth?\nNaturally the earth was covered with the deep as with a garment; the\nwaters stood above the mountains. \u201cWho set a bound that they might not\npass over,\u201d[75] that they return not again to cover the earth? Was it\nblind chance or an Infinite Power, that \u201cshut up the sea with doors,\nand made thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and said, Hitherto\nshall thou come and no farther, and here shall thy proud waves be\nstayed?\u201d[76] All things are so ordered, that they are not _propter\nse_, but _propter aliud_. What advantage accrues to the sun by its\nunwearied rolling about the world? Doth it increase the perfection of\nits nature by all its circuits? No; but it serves the inferior world,\nit impregnates things by its heat. Not the most abject thing but hath\nits end and use. There is a straight connection: the earth could not\nbring forth fruit without the heavens; the heavens could not water the\nearth without vapors from it.\n\n(3.) All this subserviency of creatures centres in man. Other\ncreatures are served by those things, as well as ourselves, and\nthey are provided for their nourishment and refreshment, as well as\nours;[77] yet, both they, and all creatures meet in man, as lines in\ntheir centres. Things that have no life or sense, are made for those\nthat have both life and sense; and those that have life and sense,\nare made for those that are endued with reason. When the Psalmist\nadmiringly considers the heavens, moon and stars, he intimates man to\nbe the end for which they were created (Ps. viii. 3, 4): \u201cWhat is man,\nthat thou art mindful of him?\u201d He expresseth more particularly the\ndominion that man hath \u201cover the beasts of the field, the fowl of the\nair, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea\u201d (ver. 6\u20128);\nand concludes from thence, the \u201cexcellency of God\u2019s name in all\nthe earth.\u201d All things in the world, one way or other, centre in an\nusefulness for man; some to feed him, some to clothe him, some to\ndelight him, others to instruct him, some to exercise his wit, and\nothers his strength. Since man did not make them, he did not also\norder them for his own use. If they conspire to serve him who never\nmade them, they direct man to acknowledge another, who is the joint\nCreator both of the lord and the servants under his dominion; and,\ntherefore, as the inferior natures are ordered by an invisible hand\nfor the good of man, so the nature of man is, by the same hand,\nordered to acknowledge the existence and the glory of the Creator of\nhim. This visible order man knows he did not constitute; he did not\nsettle those creatures in subserviency to himself; they were placed\nin that order before he had any acquaintance with them, or existence\nof himself; which is a question God puts to Job, to consider of (Job\nxxxviii. 4): \u201cWhere wast thou when I laid the foundation of the earth?\ndeclare, if thou hast understanding.\u201d All is ordered for man\u2019s use;\nthe heavens answer to the earth, as a roof to a floor, both composing\na delightful habitation for man; vapors ascend from the earth, and\nthe heaven concocts them, and returns them back in welcome showers for\nthe supplying of the earth.[78] The light {a56} of the sun descends\nto beautify the earth, and employs its heat to midwife its fruits,\nand this for the good of the community, whereof man is the head;\nand though all creatures have distinct natures, and must act for\nparticular ends, according to the law of their creation, yet there\nis a joint combination for the good of the whole, as the common end;\njust as all the rivers in the world, from what part soever they come,\nwhether north or south, fall into the sea, for the supply of that mass\nof waters, which loudly proclaims some infinitely wise nature, who\nmade those things in so exact an harmony. \u201cAs in a clock, the hammer\nwhich strikes the bell leads us to the next wheel, that to another,\nthe little wheel to a greater, whence it derives its motion, this\nat last to the spring, which acquaints us that there was some artist\nthat framed them in this subordination to one another for this orderly\nmotion.\u201d[79]\n\n(4.) This order or subserviency is regular and uniform; everything is\ndetermined to its particular nature.[80] The sun and moon make day and\nnight, months and years, determine the seasons, never are defective\nin coming back to their station and place; they wander not from their\nroads, shock not against one another, nor hinder one another in the\nfunctions assigned them. From a small grain or seed, a tree springs,\nwith body, root, bark, leaves, fruit of the same shape, figure, smell,\ntaste; that there should be as many parts in one, as in all of the\nsame kind, and no more; and that in the womb of a sensitive creature\nshould be formed one of the same kind, with all the due members,\nand no more; and the creature that produceth it knows not how it is\nformed, or how it is perfected. If we say this is nature, this nature\nis an intelligent being; if not, how can it direct all causes to\nsuch uniform ends? if it be intelligent, this nature must be the same\nwe call God, \u201cwho ordered every herb to yield seed, and every fruit\ntree to yield fruit after its kind, and also every beast, and every\ncreeping thing after its kind.\u201d (Gen. i. 11, 12, 24.) And everything\nis determined to its particular season; the sap riseth from the root\nat its appointed time, enlivening and clothing the branches with a\nnew garment at such a time of the sun\u2019s returning, not wholly hindered\nby any accidental coldness of the weather, it being often colder at\nits return, than it was at the sun\u2019s departure. All things have their\nseasons of flourishing, budding, blossoming, bringing forth fruit;\nthey ripen in their seasons, cast their leaves at the same time, throw\noff their old clothes, and in the spring appear with new garments, but\nstill in the same fashion. The winds and the rain have their seasons,\nand seem to be administered by laws for the profit of man.[81] No\nsatisfactory cause of those things can be ascribed to the earth,\nthe sea, or the air, or stars. \u201cCan any understand the spreading\nof his clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?\u201d (Job xxxviii. 29).\nThe natural reason of those things cannot be demonstrated, without\nrecourse to an infinite and intelligent being; nothing can be rendered\ncapable of the direction of those things but a God.\n\nThis regularity in plants and animals is in all nations. The heavens\nhave the same motion in all parts of the world; all men have the same\nlaw of nature in their mind; all creatures are stamped {a57} with the\nsame law of creation. In all parts the same creatures serve for the\nsame use; and though there be different creatures in India and Europe,\nyet they have the same subordination, the same subserviency to one\nanother, and ultimately to man; which shows that there is a God, and\nbut one God, who tunes all those different strings to the same notes\nin all places. Is it nature merely conducts these natural causes in\ndue measure to their proper effects, without interfering with one\nanother? Can mere nature be the cause of those musical proportions of\ntime? You may as well conceive a lute to sound its own strings without\nthe hand of an artist; a city well governed without a governor; an\narmy keep its stations without a general, as imagine so exact an order\nwithout an orderer. Would any man, when he hears a clock strike, by\nfit intervals, the hour of the day, imagine this regularity in it\nwithout the direction of one that had understanding to manage it?\nHe would not only regard the motion of the clock, but commend the\ndiligence of the clock\u2011keeper.\n\n(5.) This order and subserviency is constant. Children change the\ncustoms and manners of their fathers; magistrates change the laws\nthey have received from their ancestors, and enact new ones in their\nroom: but in the world all things consist as they were created at the\nbeginning; the law of nature in the creatures hath met with no change.\nWho can behold the sun rising in the morning, the moon shining in\nthe night, increasing and decreasing in its due spaces, the stars in\ntheir regular motions night after night, for all ages, and yet deny a\nPresident over them?[82] And this motion of the heavenly bodies, being\ncontrary to the nature of other creatures, who move in order to rest,\nmust be from some higher cause. But those, ever since the settling in\ntheir places, have been perpetually rounding the world. What nature,\nbut one powerful and intelligent, could give that perpetual motion\nto the sun,[83] which being bigger than the earth a hundred sixty\u2011six\ntimes, runs many thousand miles with a mighty swiftness in the space\nof an hour, with an unwearied diligence performing its daily task, and,\nas a strong man, rejoicing to run its race, for above five thousand\nyears together, without intermission, but in the time of Joshua?[84]\nIt is not nature\u2019s sun, but God\u2019s sun, which he \u201cmakes to rise upon\nthe just and unjust.\u201d[85] So a plant receives its nourishment from\nthe earth, sends forth the juice to every branch, forms a bud which\nspreads it into a blossom and flower; the leaves of this drop off,\nand leave a fruit of the same color and taste, every year, which,\nbeing ripened by the sun, leaves seeds behind it for the propagation\nof its like, which contains in the nature of it the same kind of buds,\nblossoms, fruit, which were before; and being nourished in the womb\nof the earth, and quickened by the power of the sun, discovers itself\nat length, in all the progresses and motions which its predecessor\ndid. Thus in all ages, in all places, every year it performs the same\ntask, spins out fruit of the same color, taste, virtue, to refresh\nthe several creatures for which they are provided. {a58} This settled\nstate of things comes from that God who laid the \u201cfoundations of\nthe earth,\u201d that it should \u201cnot be removed\u201d forever;[86] and set\n\u201cordinances for them\u201d to act by a stated law;[87] according to which\nthey move as if they understood themselves to have made a covenant\nwith their Creator.[88]\n\n3. Add to this union of contrary qualities, and the subserviency of\none thing to another, the admirable variety and diversity of things\nin the world. What variety of metals, living creatures, plants! what\nvariety and distinction in the shape of their leaves, flowers, smell,\nresulting from them! Who can number up the several sorts of beasts\non the earth, birds in the air, fish in the sea? How various are\ntheir motions! Some creep, some go, some fly, some swim; and in all\nthis variety each creature hath organs or members, fitted for their\npeculiar motion. If you consider the multitude of stars, which shine\nlike jewels in the heavens, their different magnitudes, or the variety\nof colors in the flowers and tapestry of the earth, you could no more\nconclude they made themselves, or were made by chance, than you can\nimagine a piece of arras, with a diversity of figures and colors,\neither wove itself, or were knit together by hazard.\n\nHow delicious is the sap of the vine, when turned into wine, above\nthat of a crab! Both have the same womb of earth to conceive them,\nboth agree in the nature of wood and twigs, as channels to convey it\ninto fruit. What is that which makes the one so sweet, the other so\nsour, or makes that sweet which was a few weeks before unpleasantly\nsharp? Is it the earth? No: they both have the same soil; the branches\nmay touch each other; the strings of their roots may, under ground,\nentwine about one another. Is it the sun? both have the same beams.\nWhy is not the taste and color of the one as gratifying as the other?\nIs it the root? the taste of that is far different from that of\nthe fruit it bears. Why do they not, when they have the same soil,\nthe same sun, and stand near one another, borrow something from one\nanother\u2019s natures? No reason can be rendered, but that there is a\nGod of infinite wisdom hath determined this variety, and bound up the\nnature of each creature within itself. \u201cEverything follows the law\nof its creation; and it is worthy observation, that the Creator of\nthem hath not given that power to animals, which arise from different\nspecies, to propagate the like to themselves; as mules, that arise\nfrom different species. No reason can be rendered of this, but the\nfixed determination of the Creator, that those species which were\ncreated by him should not be lost in those mixtures which are contrary\nto the law of the creation?\u201d[89] This cannot possibly be ascribed to\nthat which is commonly called nature, but unto the God of nature, who\nwill not have his creatures exceed their bounds or come short of them.\n\nNow since among those varieties there are some things better than\nother, yet all are good in their kind, and partake of goodness,[90]\nthere must be something better and more excellent than all those, from\nwhom they derive that goodness, which inheres in their nature and is\ncommunicated by them to others: and this excellent Being must {a59}\ninherit, in an eminent way in his own nature, the goodness of all\nthose varieties, since they made not themselves, but were made by\nanother. All that goodness which is scattered in those varieties must\nbe infinitely concentered in that nature, which distributed those\nvarious perfections to them (Ps. xciv. 9): \u201cHe that planted the ear,\nshall not he hear; he that formed the eye, shall not he see; he that\nteacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?\u201d The Creator is greater\nthan the creature, and whatsoever is in his effects, is but an\nimpression of some excellency in himself: there is, therefore, some\nchief fountain of goodness whence all those various goodnesses in the\nworld do flow.\n\nFrom all this it follows, if there be an order, and harmony, there\nmust be an Orderer: one that \u201cmade the earth by his power, established\nthe world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his\ndiscretion\u201d (Jer. x. 12). Order being the effect, cannot be the cause\nof itself: order is the disposition of things to an end, and is not\nintelligent, but implies an intelligent Orderer; and, therefore, it\nis as certain that there is a God, as it is certain there is order in\nthe world. Order is an effect of reason and counsel; this reason and\ncounsel must have its residence in some being before this order was\nfixed: the things ordered are always distinct from that reason and\ncounsel whereby they are ordered, and also after it, as the effect\nis after the cause. No man begins a piece of work but he hath the\nmodel of it in his own mind: no man builds a house, or makes a watch,\nbut he hath the idea or copy of it in his own head. This beautiful\nworld bespeaks an idea of it, or a model: since there is such a\nmagnificent wisdom in the make of each creature, and the proportion\nof one creature to another, this model must be before the world, as\nthe pattern is always before the thing that is wrought by it. This,\ntherefore, must be in some intelligent and wise agent, and this is God.\nSince the reason of those things exceed the reason and all the art of\nman, who can ascribe them to any inferior cause? Chance it could not\nbe; the motions of chance are not constant, and at set seasons, as\nthe motions of creatures are. That which is by chance is contingent,\nthis is necessary; uniformity can never be the birth of chance. Who\ncan imagine that all the parts of a watch can meet together and put\nthemselves in order and motion by chance? \u201cNor can it be nature only,\nwhich indeed is a disposition of second causes. If nature hath not\nan understanding, it cannot work such effects. If nature therefore\nuses counsel to begin a thing, reason to dispose it, art to effect it,\nvirtue to complete it, and power to govern it, why should it be called\nnature rather than God?\u201d[91] Nothing so sure as that which hath an end\nto which it tends, hath a cause by which it is ordered to that end.\nSince therefore all things are ordered in subserviency to the good of\nman, they are so ordered by Him that made both man and them; and man\nmust acknowledge the wisdom and goodness of his Creator, and act in\nsubserviency to his glory, as other creatures act in subserviency to\nhis good. Sensible objects were not made only to gratify the sense of\nman, but to hand something to his mind as he is a rational creature:\nto discover God to {a60} him as an object of love and desire to be\nenjoyed. If this be not the effect of it, the order of the creature,\nas to such an one, is in vain, and falls short of its true end.[92]\n\nTo conclude this: As when a man comes into a palace, built according\nto the exactest rule of art, and with an unexceptionable conveniency\nfor the inhabitants, he would acknowledge both the being and skill\nof the builder; so whosoever shall observe the disposition of all\nthe parts of the world, their connection, comeliness, the variety of\nseasons, the swarms of different creatures, and the mutual offices\nthey render to one another, cannot conclude less, than that it was\ncontrived by an infinite skill, effected by infinite power, and\ngoverned by infinite wisdom. None can imagine a ship to be orderly\nconducted without a pilot; nor the parts of the world to perform their\nseveral functions without a wise guide; considering the members of the\nbody cannot perform theirs, without the active presence of the soul.\nThe atheist, then, is a fool to deny that which every creature in his\nconstitution asserts, and thereby renders himself unable to give a\nsatisfactory account of that constant uniformity in the motions of\nthe creatures.\n\nThirdly, As the production and harmony, so particular creatures,\npursuing and attaining their ends, manifest that there is a God. All\nparticular creatures have natural instincts, which move them for some\nend. The intending of an end is a property of a rational creature;\nsince the lower creatures cannot challenge that title, they must act\nby the understanding and direction of another; and since man cannot\nchallenge the honor of inspiring the creatures with such instincts,\nit must be ascribed to some nature infinitely above any creature in\nunderstanding. No creature doth determine itself. Why do the fruits\nand grain of the earth nourish us, when the earth which instrumentally\ngives them that fitness, cannot nourish us, but because their several\nends are determined by one higher than the world?\n\n1. Several creatures have several natures. How soon will all creatures,\nas soon as they see the light, move to that whereby they must live,\nand make use of the natural arms God hath given their kind, for their\ndefence, before they are grown to any maturity to afford them that\ndefence! The Scripture makes the appetite of infants to their milk a\nfoundation of the divine glory, (Ps. viii. 3), \u201cOut of the mouths of\nbabes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength;\u201d that is, matter of\npraise and acknowledgment of God, in the natural appetite they have\nto their milk and their relish of it. All creatures have a natural\naffection to their young ones; all young ones by a natural instinct,\nmove to, and receive the nourishment that is proper for them; some\nare their own physicians, as well as their own caterers, and naturally\ndiscern what preserves them in life, and what restores them when\nsick. The swallow flies to its celandine, and the toad hastens to\nits plantain. Can we behold the spider\u2019s nets, or silkworm\u2019s web,\nthe bee\u2019s closets, or the ant\u2019s granaries, without acknowledging a\nhigher being than a creature who hath planted that genius in them?\nThe consideration of the nature of several creatures God commended to\nJob, (chap. xxxix., where he discourseth {a61} to Job of the natural\ninstincts of the goat, the ostrich, horse, and eagle, &c.) to persuade\nhim to the acknowledgment and admiration of God, and humiliation of\nhimself. The spider, as if it understood the art of weaving, fits its\nweb both for its own habitation, and a net to catch its prey. The bee\nbuilds a cell which serves for chambers to reside in, and a repository\nfor its provision. Birds are observed to build their nests with a\nclammy matter without, for the firmer duration of it, and with a soft\nmoss and down within, for the conveniency and warmth of their young.\n\u201cThe stork knows his appointed time,\u201d (Jer. viii. 7), and the swallows\nobserve the time of their coming; they go and return according to the\nseasons of the year; this they gain not by consideration, it descends\nto them with their nature; they neither gain nor increase it by\nrational deductions. It is not in vain to speak of these. How little\ndo we improve by meditation those objects which daily offer themselves\nto our view, full of instructions for us! And our Saviour sends his\ndisciples to spell God in the lilies.[93] It is observed also, that\nthe creatures offensive to man go single; if they went by troops, they\nwould bring destruction upon man and beast; this is the nature of them,\nfor the preservation of others.\n\n2. They know not their end. They have a law in their natures, but\nhave no rational understanding, either of the end to which they are\nappointed, or the means fit to attain it; they naturally do what they\ndo, and move by no counsel of their own, but by a law impressed by\nsome higher hand upon their natures. What plant knows why it strikes\nits root into the earth? doth it understand what storms it is to\ncontest with? Or why it shoots up its branches towards heaven? doth it\nknow it needs the droppings of the clouds to preserve itself, and make\nit fruitful? These are acts of understanding; the root is downward\nto preserve its own standing, the branches upward to preserve other\ncreatures; this understanding is not in the creature itself, but\noriginally in another. Thunders and tempests know not why they are\nsent; yet by the direction of a mighty hand, they are instruments of\njustice upon a wicked world. Rational creatures that act for some end,\nand know the end they aim at, yet know not the manner of the natural\nmotion of the members to it.[94] When we intend to look upon a thing,\nwe take no counsel about the natural motion of our eyes, we know\nnot all the principles of their operations, or how that dull matter\nwhereof our bodies are composed, is subject to the order of our minds.\nWe are not of counsel with our stomachs about the concoction of our\nmeat, or the distribution of the nourishing juice to the several parts\nof the body.[95] Neither the mother nor the f\u0153tus sit in council how\nthe formation should be made in the womb. We know no more than a plant\nknows what stature it is of, and what medicinal virtue its fruit hath\nfor the good of man; yet all those natural operations are perfectly\ndirected to their proper end, by an higher wisdom than any human\nunderstanding is able to conceive, since they exceed the ability\nof an inanimate or fleshly nature, yea, and the wisdom of a man.\nDo we not often {a62} see reasonable creatures acting for one end,\nand perfecting a higher than what they aimed at or could suspect?\nWhen Joseph\u2019s brethren sold him for a slave, their end was to be\nrid of an informer;[96] but the action issued in preparing him to\nbe the preserver of them and their families. Cyrus\u2019s end was to be\na conqueror, but the action ended in being the Jews\u2019 deliverer (Prov.\nxvi. 9). \u201cA man\u2019s heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directs his\nsteps.\u201d\n\n3. Therefore there is some superior understanding and nature which so\nacts them. That which acts for an end unknown to itself, depends upon\nsome overruling wisdom that knows that end. Who should direct them in\nall those ends, but He that bestowed a being upon them for those ends;\nwho knows what is convenient for their life, security and propagation\nof their natures?[97] An exact knowledge is necessary both of what is\nagreeable to them, and the means whereby they must attain it, which,\nsince it is not inherent in them, is in that wise God, who puts those\ninstincts into them, and governs them in the exercise of them to such\nends. Any man that sees a dart flung, knows it cannot hit the mark\nwithout the skill and strength of an archer; or he that sees the hand\nof a dial pointing to the hours successively, knows that the dial\nis ignorant of its own end, and is disposed and directed in that\nmotion by another. All creatures ignorant of their own natures, could\nnot universally in the whole kind, and in every climate and country,\nwithout any difference in the whole world, tend to a certain end, if\nsome overruling wisdom did not preside over the world and guide them:\nand if the creatures have a Conductor, they have a Creator; all things\nare \u201cturned round about by his counsel, that they may do whatsoever\nhe commands them, upon the face of the world in the earth.\u201d[98] So\nthat in this respect the folly of atheism appears. Without the owning\na God, no account can be given of those actions of creatures, that\nare an imitation of reason. To say the bees, &c. are rational, is\nto equal them to man: nay, make them his superiors, since they do\nmore by nature than the wisest man can do by art: it is their own\ncounsel whereby they act, or another\u2019s; if it be their own, they are\nreasonable creatures; if by another\u2019s, it is not mere nature that is\nnecessary; then other creatures would not be without the same skill,\nthere would be no difference among them. If nature be restrained by\nanother, it hath a superior; if not, it is a free agent; it is an\nunderstanding Being that directs them; and then it is something\nsuperior to all creatures in the world; and by this, therefore, we\nmay ascend to the acknowledgment of the necessity of a God.\n\nFourthly. Add to the production and order of the world and the\ncreatures acting for their end, the preservation of them. Nothing\ncan depend upon itself in its preservation, no more than it could\nin its being. If the order of the world was not fixed by itself,\nthe preservation of that order cannot be continued by itself. Though\nthe matter of the world after creation cannot return to that nothing\nwhence it was fetched, without the power of God that made it, (because\nthe same power is as requisite to reduce a thing to nothing as to\nraise a thing from nothing), yet without the actual exerting of a {a63}\npower that made the creatures, they would fall into confusion. Those\ncontesting qualities which are in every part of it, could not have\npreserved, but would have consumed, and extinguished one another, and\nreduced the world to that confused chaos, wherein it was before the\nSpirit moved upon the waters: as contrary parts could not have met\ntogether in one form, unless there had been one that had conjoined\nthem; so they could not have kept together after their conjunction\nunless the same hand had preserved them. Natural contrarieties cannot\nbe reconciled. It is as great power to keep discords knit, as at first\nto link them. Who would doubt but that an army made up of several\nnations and humors, would fall into a civil war and sheathe their\nswords in one another\u2019s bowels, if they were not under the management\nof some wise general; or a ship dash against the rocks without the\nskill of a pilot? As the body hath neither life nor motion without\nthe active presence of the soul, which distributes to every part\nthe virtue of acting, sets every one in the exercise of its proper\nfunction, and resides in every part; so there is some powerful cause\nwhich doth the like in the world, that rules and tempers it.[99] There\nis need of the same power and action to preserve a thing, as there\nwas at first to make it. When we consider that we are preserved, and\nknow that we could not preserve ourselves, we must necessarily run to\nsome first cause which doth preserve us. All works of art depend upon\nnature, and are preserved while they are kept by the force of nature,\nas a statue depends upon the matter whereof it is made, whether stone\nor brass; this nature, therefore, must have some superior by whose\ninflux it is preserved. Since, therefore, we see a stable order in\nthe things of the world, that they conspire together for the good and\nbeauty of the universe; that they depend upon one another; there must\nbe some principle upon which they do depend; something to which the\nfirst link of the chain is fastened, which himself depends upon no\nsuperior, but wholly rests in his own essence and being. It is the\ntitle of God to be the \u201cPreserver of man and beast.\u201d[100] The Psalmist\nelegantly describeth it, (Psalm civ. 24, &c.) \u201cThe earth is full of\nhis riches: all wait upon him, that he may give them their meat in\ndue season. When he opens his hand, he fills them with good; when\nhe hides his face they are troubled; if he take away their breath,\nthey die, and return to dust. He sends forth his Spirit, and they are\ncreated, and renews the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall\nendure forever; and the Lord shall rejoice in his works.\u201d Upon the\nconsideration of all which, the Psalmist (ver. 34) takes a pleasure\nin the meditation of God as the cause and manager of all those things;\nwhich issues into a joy in God, and a praising of him. And why should\nnot the consideration of the power and wisdom of God in the creatures\nproduce the same effect in the hearts of us, if he be our God? Or, as\nsome render it, \u201cMy meditation shall be sweet,\u201d or acceptable _to_ him,\nwhereby I find matter of praise in the things of the world, and offer\nit to the Creator of it.\n\n_Reason III._ It is a folly to deny that which a man\u2019s own nature\nwitnesseth to him. The whole frame of bodies and souls bears the {a64}\nimpress of the infinite power and wisdom of the Creator: a body framed\nwith an admirable architecture, a soul endowed with understanding,\nwill, judgment, memory, imagination. Man is the epitome of the world,\ncontains in himself the substance of all natures, and the fulness of\nthe whole universe; not only in regard of the universalness of his\nknowledge, whereby he comprehends the reasons of many things; but as\nall the perfections of the several natures of the world are gathered\nand united in man, for the perfection of his own, in a smaller volume.\nIn his soul he partakes of heaven; in his body of the earth. There is\nthe life of plants, the sense of beasts, and the intellectual nature\nof angels. \u201cThe Lord breathed into his nostril the breath of life, and\nman,\u201d[101] &c.: \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd, _of lives_. Not one sort of _lives_, but several;\nnot only an _animal_, but a _rational_ life; a soul of a nobler\nextract and nature, than what was given to other creatures. So that\nwe need not step out of doors, or cast our eyes any further than\nourselves, to behold a God. He shines in the capacity of our souls,\nand the vigor of our members. We must fly from ourselves, and be\nstripped of our own humanity, before we can put off the notion of a\nDeity. He that is ignorant of the existence of God, must be possessed\nof so much folly, as to be ignorant of his own make and frame.\n\n1. In the parts whereof he doth consist, body and soul.\n\nFirst, Take a prospect of the body. The Psalmist counts it a matter\nof praise and admiration (Psalm cxxxix. 15, 16): \u201cI will praise thee,\nfor I am fearfully and wonderfully made. When I was made in secret,\nand curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, in thy book\nall my members were written.\u201d The scheme of man and every member was\ndrawn in his book. All the sinews, veins, arteries, bones, like a\npiece of embroidery or tapestry, were wrought by God, as it were, with\ndeliberation; like an artificer, that draws out the model of what he\nis to do in writing, and sets it before him when he begins his work.\nAnd, indeed, the fabric of man\u2019s body, as well as his soul, is an\nargument for a Divinity. The artificial structure of it, the elegancy\nof every part, the proper situation of them, their proportion one to\nanother, the fitness for their several functions, drew from Galen[102]\n(a heathen, and one that had no raised sentiments of a Deity) a\nconfession of the admirable wisdom and power of the Creator, and that\nnone but God could frame it.\n\n1. In the order, fitness, and usefulness of every part. The whole\nmodel of the body is grounded upon reason. Every member hath its\nexact proportion, distinct office, regular motion. Every part hath a\nparticular comeliness, and convenient temperament bestowed upon it,\naccording to its place in the body. The heart is hot, to enliven the\nwhole; the eye clear, to take in objects to present them to the soul.\nEvery member is presented for its peculiar service and action. Some\nare for sense, some for motion, some for preparing, and others for\ndispensing nourishment to the several parts: they mutually depend\nupon and serve one another. What small strings fasten the particular\nmembers together, \u201cas the earth, that hangs {a65} upon nothing!\u201d[103]\nTake but one part away, and you either destroy the whole, or stamp\nupon it some mark of deformity. All are knit together by an admirable\nsymmetry; all orderly perform their functions, as acting by a settled\nlaw; none swerving from their rule, but in case of some predominant\nhumor. And none of them, in so great a multitude of parts, stifled\nin so little a room, or jostling against one another, to hinder their\nmutual actions; none can be better disposed. And the greatest wisdom\nof man could not imagine it, till his eyes present them with the sight\nand connection of one part and member with another.\n\n(1.) The heart.[104] How strongly it is guarded with ribs like a\nwall, that it might not be easily hurt! It draws blood from the liver,\nthrough a channel made for that purpose; rarefies it, and makes it\nfit to pass through the arteries and veins, and to carry heat and\nlife to every part of the body: and by a perpetual motion, it sucks\nin the blood, and spouts it out again; which motion depends not upon\nthe command of the soul, but is pure natural.\n\n(2.) The mouth takes in the meat, the teeth grind it for the stomach,\nthe stomach prepares it, nature strains it through the milky veins,\nthe liver refines it, and mints it into blood, separates the purer\nfrom the drossy parts, which go to the heart, circuits through the\nwhole body, running through the veins, like rivers through so many\nchannels of the world, for the watering of the several parts; which\nare framed of a thin skin for the straining the blood through, for the\nsupply of the members of the body, and framed with several valves or\ndoors, for the thrusting the blood forwards to perform its circular\nmotion.\n\n(3.) The brain, fortified by a strong skull, to hinder outward\naccidents, a tough membrane or skin, to hinder any oppression by the\nskull; the seat of sense, that which coins the animal spirits, by\npurifying and refining those which are sent to it, and seems like a\ncurious piece of needlework.\n\n(4.) The ear, framed with windings and turnings, to keep any thing\nfrom entering to offend the brain; so disposed as to admit sounds with\nthe greatest safety and delight; filled with an air within, by the\nmotion whereof the sound is transmitted to the brain:[105] as sounds\nare made in the air by diffusing themselves, as you see circles made\nin the water by the flinging in a stone. This is the gate of knowledge,\nwhereby we hear the oracles of God, and the instruction of men for\narts. It is by this they are exposed to the mind, and the mind of\nanother man framed in our understandings.\n\n(5.) What a curious workmanship is that of the eye, which is in the\nbody, as the sun in the world; set in the head as in a watchtower,\nhaving the softest nerves for the receiving the greater multitude\nof spirits necessary for the act of vision! How is it provided with\ndefence, by the variety of coats to secure and accommodate the little\nhumor and part whereby the vision is made! Made of a round figure, and\nconvex, as most commodious to receive the species of objects; shaded\nby the eyebrows and eyelids; secured by the eyelids, which are its\nornament and safety, which refresh it when it is {a66} too much dried\nby heat, hinder too much light from insinuating itself into it to\noffend it, cleanse it from impurities, by their quick motion preserve\nit from any invasion, and by contraction confer to the more evident\ndiscerning of things. Both the eyes seated in the hollow of the bone\nfor security, yet standing out, that things may be perceived more\neasily on both sides. And this little member can behold the earth,\nand in a moment view things as high as heaven.\n\n(6.) The tongue for speech framed like a musical instrument; the\nteeth serving for variety of sounds; the lungs serving for bellows to\nblow the organs as it were, to cool the heart, by a continual motion\ntransmitting a pure air to the heart, expelling that which was smoky\nand superfluous.[106] It is by the tongue that communication of truth\nhath a passage among men; it opens the sense of the mind; there would\nbe no converse and commerce without it. Speech among all nations hath\nan elegancy and attractive force, mastering the affections of men.\nNot to speak of other parts, or of the multitude of spirits that act\nevery part; the quick flight of them where there is a necessity of\ntheir presence. Solomon (Eccles. xii.) makes an elegant description\nof them, in his speech of old age; and Job speaks of this formation of\nthe body (Job x. 9\u201211), &c. Not the least part of the body is made in\nvain. The hairs of the head have their use, as well as are an ornament.\nThe whole symmetry of the body is a ravishing object. Every member\nhath a signature and mark of God and his wisdom. He is visible in the\nformation of the members, the beauty of the parts, and the vigor of\nthe body. This structure could not be from the body; that only hath a\npassive power, and cannot act in the absence of the soul. Nor can it\nbe from the soul. How comes it then to be so ignorant of the manner of\nits formation? The soul knows not the internal parts of its own body,\nbut by information from others, or inspection into other bodies. It\nknows less of the inward frame of the body than it doth of itself; but\nhe that makes the clock can tell the number and motions of the wheels\nwithin, as well as what figures are without.\n\nThis short discourse is _useful_ to raise our admirations of the\nwisdom of God, as well as to demonstrate that there is an infinite\nwise Creator; and the consideration of ourselves every day, and\nthe wisdom of God in our frame, would maintain religion much in the\nworld; since all are so framed that no man can tell any error in the\nconstitution of him. If thus the body of man is fitted for the service\nof his soul by an infinite God, the body ought to be ordered for the\nservice of this God, and in obedience to him.\n\n2. In the admirable difference of the features of men; which is a\ngreat argument that the world was made by a wise Being. This could\nnot be wrought by chance, or be the work of mere nature, since we find\nnever, or very rarely, two persons exactly alike. This distinction\nis a part of infinite wisdom; otherwise what confusion would be\nintroduced into the world? Without this, parents could not know their\nchildren, nor children their parents, nor a brother his sister, nor\na subject his magistrate. Without it there had been no comfort of\nrelations, no government, no commerce. Debtors {a67} would not have\nbeen known from strangers, nor good men from bad. Propriety could\nnot have been preserved, nor justice executed; the innocent might\nhave been apprehended for the nocent; wickedness could not have been\nstopped by any law. The faces of men are the same for parts, not for\nfeatures, a dissimilitude in a likeness. Man, like to all the rest in\nthe world, yet unlike to any, and differenced by some mark from all,\nwhich is not to be observed in any other species of creatures. This\nspeaks some wise agent which framed man; since, for the preservation\nof human society and order in the world, this distinction was\nnecessary.\n\nSecondly, As man\u2019s own nature witnesseth a God to him in the structure\nof his body, so also \u201cin the nature of his soul.\u201d[107] We know that we\nhave an understanding in us; a substance we cannot see, but we know it\nby its operations; as thinking, reasoning, willing, remembering, and\nas operating about things that are invisible and remote from sense.\nThis must needs be distinct from the body; for that being but dust and\nearth in its original, hath not the power of reasoning and thinking;\nfor then it would have that power, when the soul were absent, as well\nas when it is present. Besides, if it had that power of thinking, it\ncould think only of those things which are sensible, and made up of\nmatter, as itself is. This soul hath a greater excellency; it can know\nitself, rejoice in itself, which other creatures in this world are not\ncapable of. The soul is the greatest glory of this lower world; and,\nas one saith, \u201cThere seems to be no more difference between the soul\nand an angel, than between a sword in the scabbard and when it is out\nof the scabbard.\u201d[108]\n\n1. Consider the vastness of its capacity. The understanding can\nconceive the whole world, and paint in itself the invisible pictures\nof all things. It is capable of apprehending and discoursing of things\nsuperior to its own nature. \u201cIt is suited to all objects, as the\neye to all colors, or the ear to all sounds.\u201d[109] How great is the\nmemory, to retain such varieties, such diversities! The will also can\naccommodate other things to itself. It invents arts for the use of man:\nprescribes rules for the government of states; ransacks the bowels of\nnature; makes endless conclusions, and steps in reasoning from one\nthing to another, for the knowledge of truth. It can contemplate and\nform notions of things higher than the world.\n\n2. The quickness of its motion. \u201cNothing is more quick in the whole\ncourse of nature. The sun runs through the world in a day; this can\ndo it in a moment. It can, with one flight of fancy, ascend to the\nbattlements of heaven.\u201d[110] The mists of the air, that hinder the\nsight of the eye, cannot hinder the flights of the soul; it can pass\nin a moment from one end of the world to the other, and think of\nthings a thousand miles distant. It can think of some mean thing in\nthe world; and presently, by one cast, in the twinkling of an eye,\nmount up as high as heaven. As its desires are not bounded by sensual\nobjects, so neither are the motions of it restrained by them. It will\nbreak forth with the greatest vigor, and conceive things infinitely\nabove it; though it be in the body, it acts as if it were ashamed\nto be cloistered in it. This could not be the result of any {a68}\nmaterial cause. Whoever knew mere matter understand, think, will? and\nwhat it hath not, it cannot give. That which is destitute of reason\nand will, could never confer reason and will. It is not the effect\nof the body; for the body is fitted with members to be subject to it.\nIt is in part ruled by the activity of the soul, and in part by the\ncounsel of the soul; it is used by the soul, and knows not how it is\nused.[111] Nor could it be from the parents, since the souls of the\nchildren often transcend those of the parents in vivacity, acuteness\nand comprehensiveness. One man is stupid, and begets a son with\na capacious understanding; one is debauched and beastly in morals,\nand begets a son who, from his infancy, testifies some virtuous\ninclinations, which sprout forth in delightful fruit with the ripeness\nof his age. Whence should this difference arise,\u2015\u2015a fool begat the\nwise man, and a debauched the virtuous man? The wisdom of the one\ncould not descend from the foolish soul of the other; nor the virtues\nof the son, from the deformed and polluted soul of the parent.[112]\nIt lies not in the organs of the body: for if the folly of the parent\nproceeded not from their souls, but the ill disposition of the organs\nof their bodies, how comes it to pass that the bodies of the children\nare better organized beyond the goodness of their immediate cause?\nWe must recur to some invisible hand, that makes the difference, who\nbestows upon one at his pleasure richer qualities than upon another.\nYou can see nothing in the world endowed with some excellent quality,\nbut you must imagine some bountiful hand did enrich it with that dowry.\nNone can be so foolish as to think that a vessel ever enriched itself\nwith that sprightly liquor wherewith it is filled; or that anything\nworse than the soul should endow it with that knowledge and activity\nwhich sparkles in it. Nature could not produce it. That nature is\nintelligent, or not; if it be not, then it produceth an effect more\nexcellent than itself, inasmuch as an understanding being surmounts\na being that hath no understanding. If the supreme cause of the soul\nbe intelligent, why do we not call it God as well as nature? We must\narise from hence to the notion of a God; a spiritual nature cannot\nproceed but from a spirit higher than itself, and of a transcendent\nperfection above itself. If we believe we have souls, and understand\nthe state of our own faculties, we must be assured that there was some\ninvisible hand which bestowed those faculties, and the riches of them\nupon us. A man must be ignorant of himself before he can be ignorant\nof the existence of God. By considering the nature of our souls, we\nmay as well be assured that there is a God, as that there is a sun, by\nthe shining of the beams in at our windows; and, indeed, the soul is\na statue and representation of God, as the landscape of a country or a\nmap represents all the parts of it, but in a far less proportion than\nthe country itself is. The soul fills the body, and God the world;\nthe soul sustains the body, and God the world; the soul sees, but is\nnot seen; God sees all things, but is himself invisible. How base are\nthey {a69} then that prostitute their souls, an image of God, to base\nthings unexpressibly below their own nature!\n\n3. I might add, the union of soul and body. Man is a kind of compound\nof angel and beast, of soul and body; if he were only a soul, he were\na kind of angel; if only a body, he were another kind of brute. Now\nthat a body as vile and dull as earth, and a soul that can mount up\nto heaven, and rove about the world, with so quick a motion, should be\nlinked in so strait an acquaintance; that so noble a being as the soul\nshould be inhabitant in such a tabernacle of clay; must be owned to\nsome infinite power that hath so chained it.\n\nThirdly, Man witnesseth to a God in the operations and reflections of\nconscience. (Rom. ii. 15), \u201cTheir thoughts are accusing or excusing.\u201d\nAn inward comfort attends good actions, and an inward torment follows\nbad ones; for there is in every man\u2019s conscience fear of punishment\nand hope of reward; there is, therefore, a sense of some superior\njudge, which hath the power both of rewarding and punishing. If man\nwere his supreme rule, what need he fear punishment, since no man\nwould inflict any evil or torment on himself; nor can any man be\nsaid to reward himself, for all rewards refer to another, to whom the\naction is pleasing, and is a conferring some good a man had not before;\nif an action be done by a subject or servant, with hopes of reward, it\ncannot be imagined that he expects a reward from himself, but from the\nprince or person whom he eyes in that action, and for whose sake he\ndoth it.\n\n1. There is a law in the minds of men which is a rule of good and\nevil. There is a notion of good and evil in the consciences of men,\nwhich is evident by those laws which are common in all countries,\nfor the preserving human societies, the encouragement of virtue, and\ndiscouragement of vice; what standard should they have for those laws\nbut a common reason? the design of those laws was to keep men within\nthe bounds of goodness for mutual commerce, whence the apostle calls\nthe heathen magistrate a \u201cminister of God for good\u201d (Rom. xiii. 4):\nand \u201cthe Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the law\u201d\n(Rom. ii. 14).\n\nMan in the first instant of the use of reason, finds natural\nprinciples within himself; directing and choosing them, he finds a\ndistinction between good and evil; how could this be if there were not\nsome rule in him to try and distinguish good and evil? If there was\nnot such a law and rule in man, he could not sin; for where there is\nno law there is no transgression. If man were a law to himself, and\nhis own will his law, there could be no such thing as evil; whatsoever\nhe willed, would be good and agreeable to the law, and no action could\nbe accounted sinful; the worst act would be as commendable as the\nbest. Everything at man\u2019s appointment would be good or evil. If there\nwere no such law, how should men that are naturally inclined to evil\ndisapprove of that which is unlovely, and approve of that good which\nthey practise not? No man but inwardly thinks well of that which\nis good, while he neglects it; and thinks ill of that which is evil,\nwhile he commits it. Those that are vicious, do praise those that\npractise the contrary virtues. Those that are evil would seem to be\ngood, and those that are blameworthy {a70} yet will rebuke evil in\nothers. This is really to distinguish between good and evil; whence\ndoth this arise, by what rule do we measure this, but by some innate\nprinciple? And this is universal, the same in one man as in another,\nthe same in one nation as in another; they are born with every man,\nand inseparable from his nature (Prov. xxvii. 19): as in water, face\nanswers to face, so the heart of man to man. Common reason supposeth\nthat there is some hand which hath fixed this distinction in man;\nhow could it else be universally impressed? No law can be without a\nlawgiver: no sparks but must be kindled, by some other. Whence should\nthis law then derive its original? Not from man; he would fain blot\nit out, and cannot alter it when he pleases. Natural generation never\nintended it; it is settled therefore by some higher hand, which, as\nit imprinted it, so it maintains it against the violence of men, who,\nwere it not for this law, would make the world more than it is, an\naceldama and field of blood; for had there not been some supreme good,\nthe measure of all other goodness in the world, we could not have\nhad such a thing as good. The Scripture gives us an account that this\ngood was distinguished from evil before man fell, they were _objecta\nscibilia_; good was commanded and evil prohibited, and did not depend\nupon man. From this a man may rationally be instructed that there is\na God; for he may thus argue: I find myself naturally obliged to do\nthis thing, and avoid that; I have, therefore, a superior that doth\noblige me; I find something within me that directs me to such actions,\ncontrary to my sensitive appetite; there must be something above\nme, therefore, that puts this principle into man\u2019s nature; if there\nwere no superior, I should be the supreme judge of good and evil;\nwere I the lord of that law which doth oblige me, I should find no\ncontradiction within myself, between reason and appetite.\n\n2. From the transgression of this law of nature, fears do arise in\nthe consciences of men. Have we not known or heard of men struck by\nso deep a dart, that could not be drawn out by the strength of men, or\nappeased by the pleasure of the world; and men crying out with horror,\nupon a death\u2011bed, of their past life, when \u201ctheir fear hath come as a\ndesolation, and destruction as a whirlwind?\u201d (Prov. i. 27): and often\nin some sharp affliction, the dust hath been blown off from men\u2019s\nconsciences, which for a while hath obscured the writing of the law.\nIf men stand in awe of punishment, there is then some superior to whom\nthey are accountable; if there were no God, there were no punishment\nto fear. What reason of any fear, upon the dissolution of the knot\nbetween the soul and body, if there were not a God to punish, and\nthe soul remained not in being to be punished? How suddenly will\nconscience work upon the appearance of an affliction, rouse itself\nfrom sleep like an armed man, and fly in a man\u2019s face before he is\naware of it! It will \u201csurprise the hypocrites\u201d (Isa. xxxviii. 14):\nit will bring to mind actions committed long ago, and set them in\norder before the face, as God\u2019s deputy, acting by his authority and\nomniscience. As God hath not left himself without a witness among\nthe creatures (Acts xiv. 17), so he hath not left himself without\na witness in a man\u2019s own breast.\n\n(1.) This operation of conscience hath been universal. No nation {a71}\nhath been any more exempt from it than from reason; not a man but hath\none time or other more or less smarted under the sting of it. All over\nthe world conscience hath shot its darts; it hath torn the hearts of\nprinces in the midst of their pleasures; it hath not flattered them\nwhom most men flatter; nor feared to disturb their rest, whom no man\ndares to provoke. Judges have trembled on a tribunal, when innocents\nhave rejoiced in their condemnation. The iron bars upon Pharaoh\u2019s\nconscience, were at last broke up, and he acknowledged the justice\nof God in all that he did, (Exod. ix. 27): \u201cI have sinned, the Lord\nis righteous, and I and my people are wicked.\u201d Had they been like\nchildish frights at the apprehension of bugbears, why hath not reason\nshaken them off? But, on the contrary, the stronger reason grows,\nthe smarter those lashes are; groundless fears had been short\u2011lived,\nage and judgment would have worn them off, but they grow sharper with\nthe growth of persons. The Scripture informs us they have been of as\nancient a date as the revolt of the first man, (Gen. iii. 10): \u201cI was\nafraid,\u201d saith Adam, \u201cbecause I was naked;\u201d which was an expectation\nof the judgment of God. All his posterity inherit his fears, when God\nexpresseth himself in any tokens of his majesty and providence in the\nworld. Every man\u2019s conscience testifies that he is unlike what he\nought to be, according to that law engraven upon his heart. In some,\nindeed, conscience may be seared or dimmer; or suppose some men may\nbe devoid of conscience, shall it be denied to be a thing belonging\nto the nature of man? Some men have not their eyes, yet the power of\nseeing the light is natural to man, and belongs to the integrity of\nthe body. Who would argue that, because some men are mad, and have\nlost their reason by a distemper of the brain, that therefore reason\nhath no reality, but is an imaginary thing? But I think it is a\nstanding truth that every man hath been under the scourge of it, one\ntime or other, in a less or a greater degree; for, since every man is\nan offender, it cannot be imagined, conscience, which is natural to\nman, and an active faculty, should always lie idle, without doing this\npart of its office. The apostle tells us of the thoughts accusing or\nexcusing one another, (or by turns), according as the actions were.\nNor is this truth weakened by the corruptions in the world, whereby\nmany have thought themselves bound in conscience to adhere to a false\nand superstitious worship and idolatry, as much as any have thought\nthemselves bound to adhere to a worship commanded by God. This very\nthing infers that all men have a reflecting principle in them; it is\nno argument against the being of conscience, but only infers that it\nmay err in the application of what it naturally owns. We can no more\nsay, that because some men walk by a false rule, there is no such\nthing as conscience, than we can say that because men have errors in\ntheir minds, therefore they have no such faculty as an understanding;\nor because men will that which is evil, they have no such faculty as a\nwill in them.\n\n(2.) These operations of conscience are when the wickedness is most\nsecret. These tormenting fears of vengeance have been frequent in\nmen, who have had no reason to fear man, since their wickedness\nbeing unknown to any but themselves, they could have no accuser\nbut themselves. They have been in many acts which their companions\n{a72} have justified them in; persons above the stroke of human laws,\nyea, such as the people have honored as gods, have been haunted by\nthem. Conscience hath not been frighted by the power of princes, or\nbribed by the pleasures of courts. David was pursued by his horrors,\nwhen he was, by reason of his dignity, above the punishment of the law,\nor, at least, was not reached by the law; since, though the murder\nof Uriah was intended by him, it was not acted by him. Such examples\nare frequent in human records; when the crime hath been above any\npunishment by man, they have had an accuser, judge, and executioner\nin their own breasts. Can this be originally from a man\u2019s self? He who\nloves and cherishes himself, would fly from anything that disturbs him;\nit is a greater power and majesty from whom man cannot hide himself,\nthat holds him in those fetters. What should affect their minds for\nthat which can never bring them shame or punishment in this world, if\nthere were not some supreme judge to whom they were to give an account,\nwhose instrument conscience is? Doth it do this of itself? hath it\nreceived an authority from the man himself to sting him? It is some\nsupreme power that doth direct and commission it against our wills.\n\n(3.) These operations of conscience cannot be totally shaken off by\nman. If there be no God, why do not men silence the clamors of their\nconsciences, and scatter those fears that disturb their rest and\npleasures? How inquisitive are men after some remedy against those\nconvulsions! Sometimes they would render the charge insignificant,\nand sing a rest to themselves, though they \u201cwalk in the wickedness\nof their own hearts.\u201d[113] How often do men attempt to drown it by\nsensual pleasures, and perhaps overpower it for a time; but it revives,\nreinforceth itself, and acts a revenge for its former stop. It holds\nsin to a man\u2019s view, and fixes his eyes upon it, whether he will or no.\n\u201cThe wicked are like a troubled sea, and cannot rest,\u201d (Isa. lvii. 20):\nthey would wallow in sin without control, but this inward principle\nwill not suffer it; nothing can shelter men from those blows. What\nis the reason it could never be cried down? Man is an enemy to his\nown disquiet; what man would continue upon the rack, if it were in\nhis power to deliver himself? Why have all human remedies been without\nsuccess, and not able to extinguish those operations, though all\nthe wickedness of the heart hath been ready to assist and second the\nattempt? It hath pursued men notwithstanding all the violence used\nagainst it; and renewed its scourges with more severity, as men deal\nwith their resisting slaves. Man can as little silence those thunders\nin his soul, as he can the thunders in the heavens; he must strip\nhimself of his humanity, before he can be stripped of an accusing\nand affrighting conscience; it sticks as close to him as his nature;\nsince man cannot throw out the process it makes against him, it is an\nevidence that some higher power secures its throne and standing. Who\nshould put this scourge into the hand of conscience, which no man in\nthe world is able to wrest out?\n\n(4.) We may add, the comfortable reflections of conscience. There are\nexcusing, as well as accusing reflections of conscience, when things\nare done as works of the \u201claw of nature,\u201d (Rom. ii. 15): as it doth\n{a73} not forbear to accuse and torture, when a wickedness, though\nunknown to others, is committed; so when a man hath done well, though\nhe be attacked with all the calumnies the wit of man can forge, yet\nhis conscience justifies the action, and fills him with a singular\ncontentment. As there is torture in sinning, so there is peace and joy\nin well\u2011doing. Neither of those it could do, if it did not understand\na Sovereign Judge, who punishes the rebels, and rewards the well\u2011doer.\nConscience is the foundation of all religion; and the two pillars\nupon which it is built, are the being of God, and the bounty of God\nto those that \u201cdiligently seek him.\u201d[114] This proves the existence\nof God. If there were no God, conscience were useless; the operations\nof it would have no foundation, if there were not an eye to take\nnotice, and a hand to punish or reward the action. The accusations\nof conscience evidence the omniscience and the holiness of God;\nthe terrors of conscience, the justice of God; the approbations of\nconscience, the goodness of God. All the order in the world owes\nitself, next to the providence of God, to conscience; without it the\nworld would be a Golgotha. As the creatures witness, there was a first\ncause that produced them, so this principle in man evidenceth itself\nto be set by the same hand, for the good of that which it had so\nframed. There could be no conscience if there were no God, and man\ncould not be a rational creature, if there were no conscience. As\nthere is a rule in us, there must be a judge, whether our actions be\naccording to the rule. And since conscience in our corrupted state\nis in some particular misled, there must be a power superior to\nconscience, to judge how it hath behaved itself in its deputed office;\nwe must come to some supreme judge, who can judge conscience itself.\nAs a man can have no surer evidence that he is a being, than because\nhe thinks he is a thinking being; so there is no surer evidence\nin nature that there is a God, than that every man hath a natural\nprinciple in him, which continually cites him before God, and puts him\nin mind of him, and makes him one way or other fear him, and reflects\nupon him whether he will or no. A man hath less power over his\nconscience, than over any other faculty; he may choose whether he will\nexercise his understanding about, or move his will to such an object;\nbut he hath no such authority over his conscience: he cannot limit it,\nor cause it to cease from acting and reflecting; and therefore, both\nthat, and the law about which it acts, are settled by some Supreme\nAuthority in the mind of man, and this is God.\n\nFourthly. The evidence of a God results from the vastness of desires\nin man, and the real dissatisfaction he hath in everything below\nhimself. Man hath a boundless appetite after some sovereign good;\nas his understanding is more capacious than anything below, so is his\nappetite larger. This affection of desire exceeds all other affections.\nLove is determined to something known; fear, to something apprehended:\nbut desires approach nearer to infiniteness, and pursue, not only what\nwe know, or what we have a glimpse of, but what we find wanting in\nwhat we already enjoy. That which the desire of man is most naturally\ncarried after is _bonum_; some fully satisfying good. We desire\nknowledge by the sole impulse of reason, {a74} but we desire good\nbefore the excitement of reason; and the desire is always after\ngood, but not always after knowledge. Now the soul of man finds\nan imperfection in everything here, and cannot scrape up a perfect\nsatisfaction and felicity. In the highest fruitions of worldly things\nit is still pursuing something else, which speaks a defect in what it\nalready hath. The world may afford a felicity for our dust, the body,\nbut not for the inhabitant in it; it is too mean for that. Is there\nany one soul among the sons of men, that can upon a due inquiry say\nit was at rest and wanted no more, that hath not sometimes had desires\nafter an immaterial good? The soul \u201cfollows hard after\u201d such a thing,\nand hath frequent looks after it (Ps. lxiii. 8). Man desires a stable\ngood, but no sublunary thing is so; and he that doth not desire such\na good, wants the rational nature of a man. This is as natural as\nunderstanding, will, and conscience. Whence should the soul of man\nhave those desires? how came it to understand that something is still\nwanting to make its nature more perfect, if there were not in it\nsome notion of a more perfect being which can give it rest? Can such\na capacity be supposed to be in it without something in being able to\nsatisfy it? if so, the noblest creature in the world is miserablest,\nand in a worse condition than any other. Other creatures obtain\ntheir ultimate desires, \u201cthey are filled with good,\u201d (Ps. civ. 28):\nand shall man only have a vast desire without any possibility\nof enjoyment? Nothing in man is in vain; he hath objects for his\naffections, as well as affections for objects; every member of his\nbody hath its end, and doth attain it; every affection of his soul\nhath an object, and that in this world; and shall there be none for\nhis desire, which comes nearest to infinite of any affection planted\nin him? This boundless desire had not its original from man himself;\nnothing would render itself restless; something above the bounds\nof this world implanted those desires after a higher good, and made\nhim restless in everything else. And since the soul can only rest in\nthat which is infinite, there is something infinite for it to rest in;\nsince nothing in the world, though a man had the whole, can give it\na satisfaction, there is something above the world only capable to\ndo it, otherwise the soul would be always without it, and be more in\nvain than any other creature. There is, therefore, some infinite being\nthat can only give a contentment to the soul, and this is God. And\nthat goodness which implanted such desires in the soul, would not\ndo it to no purpose, and mock it in giving it an infinite desire of\nsatisfaction, without intending it the pleasure of enjoyment, if it\ndoth not by its own folly deprive itself of it. The felicity of human\nnature must needs exceed that which is allotted to other creatures.\n\n_Reason IV._ As it is a folly to deny that which all nations in the\nworld have consented to, which the frame of the world evidenceth,\nwhich man in his body, soul, operations of conscience, witnesseth to;\nso it is a folly to deny the being of God, which is witnessed unto by\nextraordinary occurrences in the world.\n\n1. In extraordinary judgments. When a just revenge follows abominable\ncrimes, especially when the judgment is suited to the sin by a strange\nconcatenation and succession of providences, methodized {a75} to bring\nsuch a particular punishment; when the sin of a nation or person is\nmade legible in the inflicted judgment, which testifies that it cannot\nbe a casual thing. The Scripture gives us an account of the necessity\nof such judgments, to keep up the reverential thoughts of God in\nthe world (Ps. ix. 16): \u201cThe Lord is known by the judgment which\nhe executes; the wicked is snared in the work of his own hand:\u201d\nand jealousy is the name of God, (Exod. xxxiv. 14), \u201cWhose name is\njealous.\u201d He is distinguished from false gods by the judgments which\nhe sends, as men are by their names. Extraordinary prodigies in many\nnations have been the heralds of extraordinary judgments, and presages\nof the particular judgments which afterwards they have felt, of\nwhich the Roman histories, and others, are full. That there are such\nthings is undeniable, and that the events have been answerable to\nthe threatening, unless we will throw away all human testimonies,\nand count all the histories of the world forgeries. Such things are\nevidences of some invisible power which orders those affairs. And if\nthere be invisible powers, there is also an efficacious cause which\nmoves them; a government certainly there is among them, as well as\nin the world, and then we must come to some supreme governor which\npresides over them. Judgments upon notorious offenders have been\nevident in all ages; the Scripture gives many instances. I shall\nonly mention that of Herod Agrippa, which Josephus mentions.[115] He\nreceives the flattering applause of the people, and thought himself a\nGod; but by the sudden stroke upon him, was forced by his torture to\nconfess another. \u201cI am God,\u201d saith he, \u201cin your account, but a higher\ncalls me away; the will of the heavenly Deity is to be endured.\u201d The\nangel of the Lord smote him. The judgment here was suited to the sin;\nhe that would be a god, is eaten up of worms, the vilest creatures.\nTully Hostilius, a Roman king, who counted it the most unroyal thing\nto be religious, or own any other God but his sword, was consumed\nhimself, and his whole house, by lightning from heaven. Many things\nare unaccountable unless we have recourse to God. The strange\nrevelations of murderers, that have most secretly committed their\ncrimes; the making good some dreadful imprecations, which some\nwretches have used to confirm a lie, and immediately have been struck\nwith that judgment they wished; the raising often unexpected persons\nto be instruments of vengeance on a sinful and perfidious nation; the\noverturning the deepest and surest counsels of men, when they have had\na successful progress, and come to the very point of execution; the\nwhole design of men\u2019s preservation hath been beaten in pieces by some\nunforeseen circumstance, so that judgments have broken in upon them\nwithout control, and all their subtleties been outwitted; the strange\ncrossing of some in their estates, though the most wise, industrious,\nand frugal persons, and that by strange and unexpected ways; and it\nis observable how often everything contributes to carry on a judgment\nintended, as if they rationally designed it: all those loudly proclaim\na God in the world; if there were no God, there would be no sin; if no\nsin, there would be no punishment.\n\n{a76} 2. In miracles. The course of nature is uniform; and when it is\nput out of its course, it must be by some superior power invisible to\nthe world; and by whatsoever invisible instruments they are wrought,\nthe efficacy of them must depend upon some first cause above nature.\n(Psalm lxxii. 18): \u201cBlessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth\nwondrous things,\u201d by himself and his sole power. That which cannot\nbe the result of a natural cause, must be the result of something\nsupernatural: what is beyond the reach of nature, is the effect of a\npower superior to nature; for it is quite against the order of nature,\nand is the elevation of something to such a pitch, which all nature\ncould not advance it to. Nature cannot go beyond its own limits; if it\nbe determined by another, as hath been formerly proved, it cannot lift\nitself above itself, without that power that so determined it. Natural\nagents act necessarily; the sun doth necessarily shine, fire doth\nnecessarily burn: that cannot be the result of nature, which is above\nthe ability of nature; that cannot be the work of nature which is\nagainst the order of nature; nature cannot do anything against itself,\nor invert its own course. We must own that such things have been, or\nwe must accuse all the records of former ages to be a pack of lies;\nwhich whosoever doth, destroys the greatest and best part of human\nknowledge. The miracles mentioned in the Scripture, wrought by our\nSaviour, are acknowledged by the heathen, by the Jews at this day,\nthough his greatest enemies. There is no dispute whether such things\nwere wrought, \u201cthe dead raised,\u201d the \u201cblind restored to sight.\u201d\nThe heathens have acknowledged the miraculous eclipse of the sun\nat the passion of Christ, quite against the rule of nature, the moon\nbeing then in opposition to the sun; the propagation of Christianity\ncontrary to the methods whereby other religions have been propagated,\nthat in a few years the nations of the world should be sprinkled with\nthis doctrine, and give in a greater catalogue of martyrs courting the\ndevouring flames, than all the religions of the world. To this might\nbe added, the strange hand that was over the Jews, the only people in\nthe world professing the true God, that should so often be befriended\nby their conquerors, so as to rebuild their temple, though they were\nlooked upon as a people apt to rebel. Dion and Seneca observe, that\nwherever they were transplanted, they prospered, and gave laws to\nthe victors; so that this proves also the authority of the Scripture,\nthe truth of christian religion, as well as the being of a God, and\na superior power over the world. To this might be added, the bridling\nthe tumultuous passions of men for the preservation of human societies,\nwhich else would run the world into unconceivable confusions, (Psalm\nlxv. 7): \u201cWhich stilleth the noise of the sea, and the tumults of\nthe people;\u201d as also the miraculous deliverance of a person or nation,\nwhen upon the very brink of ruin; the sudden answer of prayer when God\nhath been sought to, and the turning away a judgment, which in reason\ncould not be expected to be averted, and the raising a sunk people\nfrom a ruin which seemed inevitable, by unexpected ways.\n\n3. Accomplishments of prophecies. Those things which are purely\ncontingent, and cannot be known by natural signs and in their causes,\nas eclipses and changes in nations, which may be discerned {a77}\nby an observation of the signs of the times; such things that fall\nnot within this compass, if they be foretold and come to pass, are\nsolely from some higher hand, and above the cause of nature. This in\nScripture is asserted to be a notice of the true God (Isa. xli. 23):\n\u201cShow the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you\nare God,\u201d and (Isa. xlvi. 10), \u201cI am God declaring the end from the\nbeginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,\nsaying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.\u201d And\nprophecy was consented to by all the philosophers to be from divine\nillumination: that power which discovers things future, which all\nthe foresight of men cannot ken and conjecture, is above nature. And\nto foretell them so certainly as if they did already exist, or had\nexisted long ago, must be the result of a mind infinitely intelligent;\nbecause it is the highest way of knowing, and a higher cannot be\nimagined: and he that knows things future in such a manner, must\nneeds know things present and past. Cyrus was prophesied of by Isaiah\n(xliv. 28, and xlv. 1) long before he was born; his victories, spoils,\nall that should happen in Babylon, his bounty to the Jews came to pass,\naccording to that prophecy; and the sight of that prophecy which the\nJews shewed him, as other historians report, was that which moved him\nto be favorable to the Jews.\n\nAlexander\u2019s sight of Daniel\u2019s prophecy concerning his victories\nmoved him to spare Jerusalem. And are not the four monarchies plainly\ndeciphered in that book, before the fourth rose up in the world?\nThat power which foretells things beyond the reach of the wit of man,\nand orders all causes to bring about those predictions, must be an\ninfinite power, the same that made the world, sustains it and governs\nall things in it according to his pleasure, and to bring about his own\nends; and this being is God.\n\n_Use I._ If atheism be a folly, it is then pernicious to the world\nand to the atheist himself. Wisdom is the band of human societies, the\nglory of man. Folly is the disturber of families, cities, nations; the\ndisgrace of human nature.\n\nFirst, It is pernicious to the world.\n\n1. It would root out the foundations of government. It demolisheth all\norder in nations. The being of a God is the guard of the world: the\nsense of a God is the foundation of civil order: without this there\nis no tie upon the consciences of men. What force would there be in\noaths for the decisions of controversies, what right could there be\nin appeals made to one that had no being? A city of atheists would\nbe a heap of confusion; there could be no ground of any commerce,\nwhen all the sacred bands of it in the consciences of men were snapt\nasunder, which are torn to pieces and utterly destroyed by denying\nthe existence of God. What magistrate could be secure in his standing?\nWhat private person could be secure in his right? Can that then be\na truth that is destructive of all public good? If the atheist\u2019s\nsentiment, that there were no God, were a truth, and the contrary that\nthere were a God, were a falsity, it would then follow, that falsity\nmade men good and serviceable to one another; that error were the\nfoundation of all the beauty, and order, and outward {a78} felicity of\nthe world, the fountain of all good to man.[116] If there were no God,\nto believe there is one, would be an error; and to believe there is\nnone, would be the greatest wisdom, because it would be the greatest\ntruth. And then as it is the greatest wisdom to fear God, upon the\napprehension of his existence, so it would be the greatest error to\nfear him if there were none.[117] It would unquestionably follow, that\nerror is the support of the world, the spring of all human advantages;\nand that every part of the world were obliged to a falsity for being\na quiet habitation, which is the most absurd thing to imagine. It is a\nthing impossible to be tolerated by any prince, without laying an axe\nto the root of the government.\n\n2. It would introduce all evil into the world. If you take away God,\nyou take away conscience, and thereby all measures and rules of good\nand evil. And how could any laws be made when the measure and standard\nof them were removed? All good laws are founded upon the dictates of\nconscience and reason, upon common sentiments in human nature, which\nspring from a sense of God; so that if the foundation be demolished,\nthe whole superstructure must tumble down: a man might be a thief, a\nmurderer, an adulterer, and could not in a strict sense be an offender.\nThe worst of actions could not be evil, if a man were a god to himself,\na law to himself. Nothing but evil deserves a censure, and nothing\nwould be evil if there were no God, the Rector of the world against\nwhom evil is properly committed. No man can make that morally evil\nthat is not so in itself: as where there is a faint sense of God,\nthe heart is more strongly inclined to wickedness; so where there is\nno sense of God, the bars are removed, the flood\u2011gates set open for\nall wickedness to rush in upon mankind. Religion pinions men from\nabominable practices, and restrains them from being slaves to their\nown passions: an atheist\u2019s arms would be loose to do anything.[118]\nNothing so villanous and unjust but would be acted if the natural fear\nof a Deity were extinguished. The first consequence issuing from the\napprehension of the existence of God, is his government of the world.\nIf there be no God, then the natural consequence is that there is\nno supreme government of the world: such a notion would cashier all\nsentiments of good, and be like a Trojan horse, whence all impurity,\ntyranny, and all sorts of mischiefs would break out upon mankind:\ncorruption and abominable works in the text are the fruit of the\nfool\u2019s persuasion that there is no God. The perverting the ways of\nmen, oppression and extortion, owe their rise to a forgetfulness of\nGod (Jer. iii. 21): \u201cThey have perverted their way, and they have\nforgotten the Lord their God.\u201d (Ezek. xxii. 12): \u201cThou hast greedily\ngained by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord.\u201d The whole\nearth would be filled with violence, all flesh would corrupt their\nway, as it was before the deluge, when probably atheism did abound\nmore than idolatry; and if not a disowning the being, yet denying the\nprovidence of God by the posterity of Cain: those of the family of\nSeth only \u201ccalling upon the name of the Lord\u201d (Gen. vi. 11, 12,\ncompared with Gen. iv. 26).\n\nThe greatest sense of a Deity in any, hath been attended with the\n{a79} greatest innocence of life and usefulness to others; and a\nweaker sense hath been attended with a baser impurity. If there were\nno God, blasphemy would be praiseworthy; as the reproach of idols\nis praiseworthy, because we testify that there is no divinity in\nthem.[119] What can be more contemptible than that which hath no\nbeing? Sin would be only a false opinion of a violated law, and an\noffended deity. If such apprehensions prevail, what a wide door is\nopened to the worst of villanies! If there be no God, no respect is\ndue to him; all the religion in the world is a trifle, and error;\nand thus the pillars of all human society, and that which hath made\ncommonwealths to flourish, are blown away.\n\nSecondly, It is pernicious to the atheist himself. If he fear no\nfuture punishment, he can never expect any future reward: all his\nhopes must be confined to a swinish and despicable manner of life,\nwithout any imaginations of so much as a drachm of reserved happiness.\nHe is in a worse condition than the silliest animal, which hath\nsomething to please it in its life: whereas an atheist can have\nnothing here to give him a full content, no more than any other man\nin the world, and can have less satisfaction hereafter. He deposeth\nthe noble end of his own being, which was to serve a God and have a\nsatisfaction in him, to seek a God and be rewarded by him; and he that\ndeparts from his end, recedes from his own nature. All the content\nany creature finds, is in performing its end, moving according to its\nnatural instinct; as it is a joy to the sun to run its race.[120] In\nthe same manner it is a satisfaction to every other creature, and its\ndelight to observe the law of its creation. What content can any man\nhave that runs from his end, opposeth his own nature, denies a God by\nwhom and for whom he was created, whose image he bears, which is the\nglory of his nature, and sinks into the very dregs of brutishness? How\nelegantly it is described by Bildad,[121] \u201cHis own counsel shall cast\nhim down, terrors shall make him afraid on every side, destruction\nshall be ready at his side, the first\u2011born of death shall devour\nhis strength, his confidence shall be rooted out, and it shall bring\nhim to the king of terrors. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his\nhabitation; he shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased\nout of the world. They that come after him shall be astonished at his\nday, as they that went before were affrighted. And this is the place\nof him that knows not God.\u201d[122] If there be a future reckoning (as\nhis own conscience cannot but sometimes inform him of), his condition\nis desperate, and his misery dreadful and unavoidable. It is not\nrighteous a hell should entertain any else, if it refuse him.\n\n_Use II._ How lamentable is it, that in our times this folly of\natheism should be so rife! That there should be found such monsters in\nhuman nature, in the midst of the improvements of reason, and shinings\nof the gospel, who not only make the Scripture the matter of their\njeers, but scoff at the judgments and providences of God in the world,\nand envy their Creator a being, without whose goodness they had none\nthemselves; who contradict in their carriage what they assert to be\ntheir sentiment, when they dreadfully imprecate {a80} damnation to\nthemselves! Whence should that damnation they so rashly wish be poured\nforth upon them, if there were not a revenging God? Formerly atheism\nwas as rare as prodigious, scarce two or three known in an age; and\nthose that are reported to be so in former ages, are rather thought to\nbe counted so for mocking at the senseless deities the common people\nadored, and laying open their impurities. A mere natural strength\nwould easily discover that those they adored for gods, could not\ndeserve that title, since their original was known, their uncleanness\nmanifest and acknowledged by their worshippers. And probably it was so;\nsince the Christians were termed \u1f04\u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03b9, because they acknowledged not\ntheir vain idols.[123]\n\nI question whether there ever was, or can be in the world, an\nuninterrupted and internal denial of the being of God, or that men\n(unless we can suppose conscience utterly dead) can arrive to such\na degree of impiety; for before they can stifle such sentiments in\nthem (whatsoever they may assert), they must be utter strangers to\nthe common conceptions of reason, and despoil themselves of their\nown humanity. He that dares to deny a God with his lips, yet sets up\nsomething or other as a God in his heart. Is it not lamentable that\nthis sacred truth, consented to by all nations, which is the band\nof civil societies, the source of all order in the world, should\nbe denied with a bare face, and disputed against in companies, and\nthe glory of a wise Creator ascribed to an unintelligent nature, to\nblind chance? Are not such worse than heathens? They worshipped many\ngods, these none; they preserved a notion of God in the world under a\ndisguise of images, these would banish him both from earth and heaven,\nand demolish the statutes of him in their own consciences; they\ndegraded him, these would destroy him; they coupled creatures with\nhim\u2015\u2015(Rom. i. 25), \u201cWho worshipped the creature with the Creator,\u201d as\nit may most properly be rendered\u2015\u2015and these would make him worse than\nthe creature, a mere nothing. Earth is hereby become worse than hell.\nAtheism is a persuasion which finds no footing anywhere else. Hell,\nthat receives such persons, in this point reforms them: they can never\ndeny or doubt of his being, while they feel his strokes. The devil,\nthat rejoices at their wickedness, knows them to be in an error; for\nhe \u201cbelieves, and trembles at the belief.\u201d[124] This is a forerunner\nof judgment. Boldness in sin is a presage of vengeance, especially\nwhen the honor of God is more particularly concerned therein; it\ntends to the overturning human society, taking off the bridle from\nthe wicked inclinations of men: and God appears not in such visible\njudgments against sin immediately committed against himself, as in\nthe case of those sins that are destructive to human society. Besides,\nGod, as Governor of the world, will uphold that, without which\nall his ordinances in the world would be useless. Atheism is point\nblank against all the glory of God in creation, and against all the\nglory of God in redemption, and pronounceth at one breath, both the\nCreator, and all acts of religion and divine institutions, useless and\ninsignificant. Since most have had, one time or other, some risings of\ndoubt, whether there be a God, though few do in expressions deny his\nbeing, it may not be {a81} unnecessary to propose some things for the\nfurther impressing this truth, and guarding themselves against such\ntemptations.\n\n1. It is utterly impossible to demonstrate there is no God. He\ncan choose no medium, but will fall in as a proof for his existence,\nand a manifestation of his excellency, rather than against it. The\npretences of the atheist are so ridiculous, that they are not worth\nthe mentioning. They never saw God, and therefore know not how to\nbelieve such a being; they cannot comprehend him. He would not be a\nGod, if he could fall within the narrow model of a human understanding;\nhe would not be infinite, if he were comprehensible, or to be\nterminated by our sight. How small a thing must that be which is\nseen by a bodily eye, or grasped by a weak mind! If God were visible\nor comprehensible, he would be limited. Shall it be a sufficient\ndemonstration from a blind man, that there is no fire in the room,\nbecause he sees it not, though he feel the warmth of it? The knowledge\nof the effect is sufficient to conclude the existence of the cause.\nWho ever saw his own life? Is it sufficient to deny a man lives,\nbecause he beholds not his life, and only knows it by his motion? He\nnever saw his own soul, but knows he hath one by his thinking power.\nThe air renders itself sensible to men in its operations, yet was\nnever seen by the eye. If God should render himself visible, they\nmight question as well as now, whether that which was so visible were\nGod, or some delusion. If he should appear glorious, we can as little\nbehold him in his majestic glory, as an owl can behold the sun in its\nbrightness: we should still but see him in his effects, as we do the\nsun by his beams. If he should show a new miracle, we should still\nsee him but by his works; so we see him in his creatures, every one of\nwhich would be as great a miracle as any can be wrought, to one that\nhad the first prospect of them. To require to see God, is to require\nthat which is impossible (1 Tim. vi. 16): \u201cHe dwells in the light\nwhich no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see.\u201d\nIt is visible that he is, \u201cfor he covers himself with light as with\na garment\u201d (Psalm civ. 2); it is visible what he is, \u201cfor he makes\ndarkness his secret place\u201d (Psalm xviii. 11). Nothing more clear to\nthe eye than light, and nothing more difficult to the understanding\nthan the nature of it: as light is the first object obvious to the eye,\nso is God the first object obvious to the understanding. The arguments\nfrom nature do, with greater strength, evince his existence, than any\npretences can manifest there is no God. No man can assure himself by\nany good reason there is none; for as for the likeness of events to\nhim that is righteous, and him that is wicked; to him that sacrificeth,\nand to him that sacrificeth not (Eccles. ix. 2): it is an argument for\na reserve of judgment in another state, which every man\u2019s conscience\ndictates to him, when the justice of God shall be glorified in another\nworld, as much as his patience is in this.\n\n2. Whosoever doubts of it, makes himself a mark, against which all\nthe creatures fight. All the stars fought against Sisera for Israel:\nall the stars in heaven, and the dust on earth, fight for God against\nthe atheist. He hath as many arguments against him as there are\ncreatures in the whole compass of heaven and earth. He is most {a82}\nunreasonable, that denies or doubts of that whose image and shadow he\nsees round about him; he may sooner deny the sun that warms him, the\nmoon that in night walks in her brightness, deny the fruits he enjoys\nfrom the earth, yea, and deny that he doth exist. He must tear his own\nconscience, fly from his own thoughts, be changed into the nature of\na stone, which hath neither reason nor sense, before he can disengage\nhimself from those arguments which evince the being of a God. He that\nwould make the natural religion professed in the world a mere romance,\nmust give the lie to the common sense of mankind; he must be at an\nirreconcilable enmity with his own reason, resolve to hear nothing\nthat it speaks, if he will not hear what it speaks in this case, with\na greater evidence than it can ascertain anything else. God hath so\nsettled himself in the reason of man, that he must vilify the noblest\nfaculty God hath given him, and put off nature itself, before he can\nblot out the notion of a God.\n\n3. No question but those that have been so bold as to deny that there\nwas a God, have sometimes been much afraid they have been in an error,\nand have at least suspected there was a God, when some sudden prodigy\nhath presented itself to them, and roused their fears; and whatsoever\nsentiments they might have in their blinding prosperity, they have\nhad other kind of motions in them in their stormy afflictions, and,\nlike Jonah\u2019s mariners, have been ready to cry to him for help, whom\nthey disdained to own so much as in being, while they swam in their\npleasures. The thoughts of a Deity cannot be so extinguished, but they\nwill revive and rush upon a man, at least under some sharp affliction.\nAmazing judgments will make them question their own apprehensions. God\nsends some messengers to keep alive the apprehension of him as a Judge,\nwhile men resolve not to own or reverence him as a Governor. A man\ncannot but keep a scent of what was born with him; as a vessel that\nhath been seasoned first with a strong juice will preserve the scent\nof it, whatsoever liquors are afterwards put into it.\n\n4. What is it for which such men rack their wits, to form notions\nthat there is no God? Is it not that they would indulge some vicious\nhabit, which hath gained the possession of their soul, which they know\n\u201ccannot be favored by that holy God,\u201d whose notion they would raze\nout?[125] Is it not for some brutish affection, as degenerative of\nhuman nature, as derogatory to the glory of God; a lust as unmanly\nas sinful? The terrors of God are the effects of guilt; and therefore\nmen would wear out the apprehensions of a Deity, that they might\nbe brutish without control. They would fain believe there were no\nGod, that they might not be men, but beasts. How great a folly is\nit to take so much pains in vain, for a slavery and torment; to\ncast off that which they call a yoke, for that which really is one!\nThere is more pains and toughness of soul requisite to shake off\nthe apprehensions of God, than to believe that he is, and cleave\nconstantly to him. What a madness is it in any to take so much pains\nto be less than a man, by razing out the apprehensions of God, when,\nwith less pains, he may be more than an earthly man, by cherishing the\nnotions of God, and walking answerably thereunto?\n\n{a83} 5. How unreasonable is it for any man to hazard himself at\nthis rate in the denial of a God! The atheist saith he knows not that\nthere is a God; but may he not reasonably think there may be one for\naught he knows? and if there be, what a desperate confusion will he\nbe in, when all his bravadoes shall prove false! What can they gain\nby such an opinion? A freedom, say they, from the burdensome yoke\nof conscience, a liberty to do what they list, that doth not subject\nthem to divine laws. It is a hard matter to persuade any that they can\ngain this. They can gain but a sordid pleasure, unworthy the nature\nof man. But it were well that such would argue thus with themselves:\nIf there be a God, and I fear and obey him, I gain a happy eternity;\nbut if there be no God, I lose nothing but my sordid lusts, by firmly\nbelieving there is one. If I be deceived at last, and find a God,\ncan I think to be rewarded by him, for disowning him? Do not I run a\ndesperate hazard to lose his favor, his kingdom, and endless felicity\nfor an endless torment? By confessing a God I venture no loss; but\nby denying him, I run the most desperate hazard, if there be one. He\nis not a reasonable creature, that will not put himself upon such a\nreasonable arguing. What a doleful meeting will there be between the\nGod who is denied, and the atheist that denies him, who shall meet\nwith reproaches on God\u2019s part, and terrors on his own! All that he\ngains is a liberty to defile himself here, and a certainty to be\ndespised hereafter, if he be in an error, as undoubtedly he is.\n\n6. Can any such person say he hath done all that he can to inform\nhimself of the being of God, or of other things which he denies?\nOr rather they would fain imagine there is none, that they may\nsleep securely in their lusts, and be free (if they could) from\nthe thunder\u2011claps of conscience. Can such say they have used their\nutmost endeavors to instruct themselves in this, and can meet with no\nsatisfaction? Were it an abstruse truth it might not be wondered at;\nbut not to meet with satisfaction in this which everything minds us of,\nand helpeth, is the fruit of an extreme negligence, stupidity, and a\nwillingness to be unsatisfied, and a judicial process of God against\nthem. It is strange any man should be so dark in that upon which\ndepends the conduct of his life, and the expectation of happiness\nhereafter. I do not know what some of you may think, but I believe\nthese things are not useless to be proposed for ourselves to answer\ntemptations; we know not what wicked temptation in a debauched and\nskeptic age, meeting with a corrupt heart, may prompt men to; and\nthough there may not be any atheist here present, yet I know there is\nmore than one, who have accidentally met with such, who openly denied\na Deity; and if the like occasion happen, these considerations may\nnot be unuseful to apply to their consciences. But I must confess,\nthat since those that live in this sentiment, do not judge themselves\nworthy of their own care, they are not worthy of the care of others;\nand a man must have all the charity of the christian religion, which\nthey despise, not to contemn them, and leave them to their own folly.\nAs we are to pity madmen, who sink under an unavoidable distemper, we\nare as much to abominate them, who wilfully hug this prodigious frenzy.\n\n{a84} _Use III._ If it be the atheist\u2019s folly to deny or doubt of\nthe being of God, it is our wisdom to be firmly settled in this truth,\nthat God is. We should never be without our arms in an age wherein\natheism appears barefaced without a disguise. You may meet with\nsuggestions to it, though the devil formerly never attempted to\ndemolish this notion in the world, but was willing to keep it up,\nso the worship due to God might run in his own channel, and was\nnecessitated to preserve it, without which he could not have erected\nthat idolatry, which was his great design in opposition to God;\nyet since the foundations of that are torn up, and never like to be\nrebuilt, he may endeavor, as his last refuge, to banish the notion of\nGod out of the world, that he may reign as absolutely without it, as\nhe did before by the mistakes about the divine nature. But we must not\nlay all upon Satan; the corruption of our own hearts ministers matter\nto such sparks. It is not said Satan hath suggested to the fool, but\n\u201cthe fool hath said in his heart,\u201d there is no God. But let them come\nfrom what principle soever, silence them quickly, give them their\ndismiss; oppose the whole scheme of nature to fight against them,\nas the stars did against Sisera. Stir up sentiments of conscience\nto oppose sentiments of corruption. Resolve sooner to believe that\nyourselves are not, than that God is not; and if you suppose they\nat any time come from Satan, object to him that you know he believes\nthe contrary to what he suggests. Settle this principle firmly in you,\n\u201clet us behold Him that is invisible,\u201d as Moses did;[126] let us have\nthe sentiments following upon the notion of a God, to be restrained\nby a fear of him, excited by a love to him, not to violate his laws\nand offend his goodness. He is not a God careless of our actions,\nnegligent to inflict punishment, and bestow rewards, \u201che forgets not\nthe labor of our love,\u201d[127] nor the integrity of our ways; he were\nnot a God, if he were not a governor; and punishments and rewards are\nas essential to government, as a foundation to a building. His being\nand his government in rewarding, which implies punishment, (for the\nneglects of him are linked together)[128] are not to be separated in\nour thoughts of him.\n\n1. Without this truth fixed in us, we can never give him the worship\ndue to his name. When the knowledge of anything is fluctuating and\nuncertain, our actions about it are careless. We regard not that\nwhich we think doth not much concern us. If we do not firmly believe\nthere is a God, we shall pay him no steady worship; and if we believe\nnot the excellency of his nature, we shall offer him but a slight\nservice.[129] The Jews call the knowledge of the being of God the\nfoundation and pillar of wisdom.[130] The whole frame of religion is\ndissolved without this apprehension, and totters if this apprehension\nbe wavering. Religion in the heart is as water in a weather\u2011glass,\nwhich riseth or falls according to the strength or weakness of this\nbelief. How can any man worship that which he believes not to be, or\ndoubts of? Could any man omit the paying a homage to one, whom he did\nbelieve to be an omnipotent, wise being, possessing {a85} (infinitely\nabove our conceptions) the perfections of all creatures? He must\neither think there is no such being, or that he is an easy, drowsy,\ninobservant God, and not such an one as our natural notions of him,\nif listened to, as well as the Scripture, represents him to be.\n\n2. Without being rooted in this, we cannot order our lives. All\nour baseness, stupidity, dulness, wanderings, vanity, spring from\na wavering and unsettledness in this principle. This gives ground\nto brutish pleasures, not only to solicit, but conquer us. Abraham\nexpected violence in any place where God was not owned (Gen. xx. 11),\n\u201cSurely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will slay me\nfor my wife\u2019s sake.\u201d The natural knowledge of God firmly impressed,\nwould choke that which would stifle our reason and deface our souls.\nThe belief that God is, and what he is, would have a mighty influence\nto persuade us to a real religion, and serious consideration, and\ncasting about how to be like to him and united with him.\n\n3. Without it we cannot have any comfort of our lives. Who would\nwillingly live in a stormy world, void of a God? If we waver in this\nprinciple, to whom should we make our complaints in our afflictions?\nWhere should we meet with supports? How could we satisfy ourselves\nwith the hopes of a future happiness? There is a sweetness in the\nmeditation of his existence, and that he is a Creator.[131] Thoughts\nof other things have a bitterness mixed with them: houses, lands,\nchildren, now are, shortly they will not be; but God is, that made the\nworld: his faithfulness as he is a Creator, is a ground to deposit our\nsouls and concerns in our innocent sufferings.[132] So far as we are\nweak in the acknowledgment of God, we deprive ourselves of our content\nin the view of his infinite perfections.\n\n4. Without the rooting of this principle, we cannot have a firm belief\nof Scripture. The Scripture will be a slight thing to one that hath\nweak sentiments of God. The belief of a God must necessarily precede\nthe belief of any revelation; the latter cannot take place without\nthe former as a foundation. We must firmly believe the being of a God,\nwherein our happiness doth consist, before we can believe any means\nwhich conduct us to him. Moses begins with the Author of creation,\nbefore he treats of the promise of redemption. Paul preached God as\na Creator to a university, before he preached Christ as Mediator.[133]\nWhat influence can the testimony of God have in his revelation upon\none that doth not firmly assent to the truth of his being? All would\nbe in vain that is so often repeated, \u201cThus saith the Lord,\u201d if we\ndo not believe there is a Lord that speaks it. There could be no\nawe from his sovereignty in his commands, nor any comfortable taste\nof his goodness in his promises. The more we are strengthened in\nthis principle, the more credit we shall be able to give to divine\nrevelation, to rest in his promise, and to reverence his precept; the\nauthority of all depends upon the being of the Revealer.\n\nTo this purpose, since we have handled this discourse by natural\narguments,\n\n{a86} 1. Study God in the creatures as well as in the Scriptures. The\nprimary use of the creatures, is to acknowledge God in them; they were\nmade to be witnesses of himself in his goodness, and heralds of his\nglory, which glory of God as Creator \u201cshall endure forever\u201d (Psalm\nciv. 31): that whole psalm is a lecture of creation and providence.\nThe world is a sacred temple; man is introduced to contemplate it, and\nbehold with praise the glory of God in the pieces of his art. As grace\ndoth not destroy nature, so the book of redemption blots not out that\nof creation. Had he not shown himself in his creatures, he could never\nhave shown himself in his Christ; the order of things required it.\nGod must be read wherever he is legible; the creatures are one book,\nwherein he hath writ a part of the excellency of his name,[134] as\nmany artists do in their works and watches. God\u2019s glory, like the\nfilings of gold, is too precious to be lost wherever it drops: nothing\nso vile and base in the world, but carries in it an instruction for\nman, and drives in further the notion of a God. As he said of his\ncottage, Enter here, _Sunt hic etiam Dii_, God disdains not this place:\nso the least creature speaks to man, every shrub in the field, every\nfly in the air, every limb in a body; Consider me, God disdains not\nto appear in me; he hath discovered in me his being and a part of his\nskill, as well as in the highest. The creatures manifest the being of\nGod and part of his perfections. We have indeed a more excellent way,\na revelation setting him forth in a more excellent manner, a firmer\nobject of dependence, a brighter object of love, raising our hearts\nfrom self\u2011confidence to a confidence in him. Though the appearance\nof God in the one be clearer than in the other, yet neither is to\nbe neglected. The Scripture directs us to nature to view God; it had\nbeen in vain else for the apostle to make use of natural arguments.\nNature is not contrary to Scripture, nor Scripture to nature; unless\nwe should think God contrary to himself who is the Author of both.\n\n2. View God in your own experiences of him. There is a taste and\nsight of his goodness, though no sight of his essence.[135] By the\ntaste of his goodness you may know the reality of the fountain, whence\nit springs and from whence it flows; this surpasseth the greatest\ncapacity of a mere natural understanding. Experience of the sweetness\nof the ways of Christianity is a mighty preservative against atheism.\nMany a man knows not how to prove honey to be sweet by his reason, but\nby his sense; and if all the reason in the world be brought against\nit, he will not be reasoned out of what he tastes. Have not many found\nthe delightful illapses of God into their souls, often sprinkled with\nhis inward blessings upon their seeking of him; had secret warnings in\ntheir approaches to him; and gentle rebukes in their consciences upon\ntheir swervings from him? Have not many found sometimes an invisible\nhand raising them up when they were dejected; some unexpected\nprovidence stepping in for their relief; and easily perceived that\nit could not be a work of chance, nor many times the intention of the\ninstruments he hath used in it? You have often found that {a87} he is,\nby finding that he is a rewarder, and can set to your seals that he is\nwhat he hath declared himself to be in his word (Isa. xliii. 12): \u201cI\nhave declared, and have saved; therefore you are my witnesses, saith\nthe Lord, that I am God.\u201d The secret touches of God upon the heart,\nand inward converses with him, are a greater evidence of the existence\nof a supreme and infinitely good Being, than all nature.\n\n_Use IV._ Is it a folly to deny or doubt of the being of God? It is a\nfolly also not to worship God, when we acknowledge his existence; it\nis our wisdom then to worship him. As it is not indifferent whether\nwe believe there is a God or no; so it is not indifferent whether we\nwill give honor to that God or no. A worship is his right as he is the\nAuthor of our being, and fountain of our happiness. By this only we\nacknowledge his Deity; though we may profess his being, yet we deny\nthat profession in neglects of worship. To deny him a worship is as\ngreat a folly, as to deny his being. He that renounceth all homage to\nhis Creator, envies him the being which he cannot deprive him of. The\nnatural inclination to worship is as universal as the notion of a God;\nidolatry else had never gained footing in the world. The existence of\nGod was never owned in any nation, but a worship of him was appointed.\nAnd many people who have turned their backs upon some other parts\nof the law of nature, have paid a continual homage to some superior\nand invisible being. The Jews give a reason why man was created in\nthe evening of the Sabbath, because he should begin his being with\nthe worship of his Maker. As soon as ever he found himself to be\na creature, his first solemn act should be a particular respect to\nhis Creator. \u201cTo fear God and keep his commandment,\u201d is the whole of\nman,[136] or is whole man;[137] he is not a man but a beast, without\nobservance of God. Religion is as requisite as reason to complete\na man: he were not reasonable if he were not religious; because by\nneglecting religion, he neglects the chiefest dictate of reason.\nEither God framed the world with so much order, elegancy, and variety\nto no purpose, or this was his end at least, that reasonable creatures\nshould admire him in it, and honor him for it. The notion of God\nwas not stamped upon men, the shadows of God did not appear in the\ncreatures, to be the subject of an idle contemplation, but the motive\nof a due homage to God. He created the world for his glory, a people\nfor himself, that he might have the honor of his works; that since we\nlive and move in him, and by him, we should live and move to him and\nfor him. It was the condemnation of the heathen world, that when they\nknew there was a God, they did not give him the glory due to him.[138]\nHe that denies his being, is an atheist to his essence: he that denies\nhis worship, is an atheist to his honor.\n\nIf it be a folly to deny the being of God, it will be our wisdom,\nthen, since we acknowledge his being, often to think of him. Thoughts\nare the first issue of a creature as reasonable:[139] He that hath\ngiven us the faculty whereby we are able to think, should be the\nprincipal object about which the power of it should be exercised.\nIt is a justice to God, the author of our understandings, a justice\nto {a88} the nature of our understandings, that the noblest faculty\nshould be employed about the most excellent object. Our minds are\na beam from God; and, therefore, as the beams of the sun, when they\ntouch the earth, should reflect back upon God. As we seem to deny the\nbeing of God not to think of him; we seem also to unsoul our souls\nin misemploying the activity of them any other way, like flies, to\nbe oftener on dunghills than flowers. It is made the black mark of\nan ungodly man, or an atheist, that \u201cGod is not in all his thoughts\u201d\n(Psalm x. 4). What comfort can be had in the being of God without\nthinking of him with reverence and delight? A God forgotten is as good\nas no God to us.\n\n\n\n\n{a89}                       DISCOURSE II.\n\n                        ON PRACTICAL ATHEISM.\n\n  PSALM xiv. 1.\u2015\u2015The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.\n    They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is\n    none that doeth good.\n\n\nPRACTICAL atheism is natural to man in his depraved state, and very\nfrequent in the hearts and lives of men.\n\n_The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God._ He regards him\nas little as if he had no being. He said in his _heart_, not with\nhis tongue, nor in his head: he never firmly thought it, nor openly\nasserted it. Shame put a bar to the first, and natural reason to the\nsecond; yet, perhaps, he had sometimes some doubts whether there were\na God or no. He wished there were not any, and sometimes hoped there\nwere none at all. He could not raze out the notion of a Deity in his\nmind, but he neglected the fixing the sense of God in his heart, and\nmade it too much his business to deface and blot out those characters\nof God in his soul, which had been left under the ruins of original\nnature. Men may have atheistical hearts without atheistical heads.\nTheir reasons may defend the notion of a Deity, while their hearts\nare empty of affection to the Deity. Job\u2019s children may curse God\n_in their hearts_, though not with their lips.[140]\n\n_There is no God._ Most understand it of a denial of the providence\nof God, as I have said in opening the former doctrine. He denies some\nessential attribute of God, or the exercise of that attribute in the\nworld.[141] He that denies any _essential_ attribute, may be said to\ndeny the being of God. Whosoever denies angels or men to have reason\nand will, denies the human and angelical nature, because understanding\nand will are essential to both those natures; there could neither\nbe angel nor man without them. No nature can subsist without the\nperfections essential to that nature, nor God be conceived of without\nhis. The apostle tells us (Eph. ii. 12), that the Gentiles were\n\u201cwithout God in the world.\u201d So, in some sense, all unbelievers may\nbe termed atheists; for rejecting the Mediator appointed by God, they\nreject that God who appointed him. But this is beyond the intended\nscope, natural atheism being the only subject; yet this is deducible\nfrom it. That the title of \u1f04\u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03b9 doth not only belong to those who\ndeny the existence of God, or to those who contemn all sense of a\nDeity, and would root the conscience and reverence of God out {a90}\nof their souls; but it belongs also to those who give not that worship\nto God which is due to him, who worship many gods, or who worship\none God in a false and superstitious manner, when they have not right\nconceptions of God, nor intend an adoration of him according to the\nexcellency of his nature. All those that are unconcerned for any\nparticular religion fall under this character: though they own a\nGod in general, yet are willing to acknowledge any God that shall be\ncoined by the powers under whom they live. The Gentiles were without\nGod in the world; without the true notion of God, not without a God of\ntheir own framing. This general or practical atheism is natural to men.\n\n1. Not natural by created, but by corrupted nature. It is against\nnature, as nature came out of the hand of God; but universally\nnatural, as nature hath been sophisticated and infected by the\nserpent\u2019s breath. Inconsideration of God, or misrepresentation of his\nnature, are as agreeable to corrupt nature, as the disowning the being\nof a God is contrary to common reason. God is not denied, _natur\u00e2, sed\nvitiis_.[142]\n\n2. It is universally natural: \u201cThe wicked are estranged from the womb\n(Psalm lviii. 3). They go astray as soon as they be born: their poison\nis like the poison of a serpent.\u201d _The wicked_, (and who by his birth\nhath a better title?) they go astray from the dictates of God and the\nrule of their creation as soon as ever they be born. Their poison is\nlike the poison of a serpent, which is radically the same in all of\nthe same species. It is seminally and fundamentally in all men, though\nthere may be a stronger restraint by a divine hand upon some men than\nupon others. This principle runs through the whole stream of nature.\nThe natural bent of every man\u2019s heart is distant from God. When we\nattempt anything pleasing to God, it is like the climbing up a hill,\nagainst nature; when anything is displeasing to him, it is like\na current running down the channel in its natural course; when we\nattempt anything that is an acknowledgment of the holiness of God,\nwe are fain to rush, with arms in our hands, through a multitude of\nnatural passions, and fight the way through the oppositions of our\nown sensitive appetite. How softly do we naturally sink down into that\nwhich sets us at a greater distance from God! There is no active,\npotent, efficacious sense of a God by nature. \u201cThe heart of the sons\nof men is fully set in them to do evil\u201d (Eccl. viii. 11). _The heart_,\nin the singular number, as if there were but one common heart beat in\nall mankind, and bent, as with one pulse, with a joint consent and\nforce to wickedness, without a sense of the authority of God in the\nearth, as if one heart acted every man in the world. The great apostle\ncites the text to verify the charge he brought against all mankind.\n[143] In his interpretation, the Jews, who owned one God, and were\ndignified with special privileges, as well as the Gentiles that\nmaintained many gods, are within the compass of this character. The\napostle leaves out the first part of the text, \u201cThe fool hath said in\nhis heart,\u201d but takes in the latter part, and the verses following. He\ncharges _all_, because all, every man of them, was under sin\u2015\u2015\u201cThere\nis none that seeks God;\u201d and, {a91} ver. 19, he adds, \u201cWhat the law\nsaith, it speaks to those that are under the law,\u201d that none should\nimagine he included only the Gentiles, and exempted the Jews from this\ndescription. The leprosy of atheism had infected the whole mass of\nhuman nature. No man, among Jews or Gentiles, did naturally seek God;\nand, therefore, all were void of any spark of the practical sense of\nthe Deity. The effects of this atheism are not in all externally of\nan equal size; yet, in the fundamentals and radicals of it, there\nis not a hair\u2019s difference between the best and the worst men\nthat ever traversed the world. The distinction is laid either in\ncommon grace, bounding and suppressing it; or in special grace,\nkilling and crucifying it. It is in every one either triumphant or\nmilitant, reigning or deposed. No man is any more born with sensible\nacknowledgments of God, than he is born with a clear knowledge of\nthe nature of all the stars in the heavens, or plants upon the earth.\nNone seeks after God.[144] None seek God as his rule, as his end,\nas his happiness, which is a debt the creature naturally owes to\nGod. He desires no communion with God; he places his happiness in\nanything inferior to God; he prefers everything before him, glorifies\neverything above him; he hath no delight to know him; he regards not\nthose paths which lead to him; he loves his own filth better than\nGod\u2019s holiness; his actions are tinctured and dyed with self, and are\nvoid of that respect which is due from him to God.\n\nThe noblest faculty of man, his understanding, wherein the remaining\nlineaments of the image of God are visible; the highest operation of\nthat faculty, which is wisdom, is, in the judgment of the Spirit of\nGod, devilish, whilst it is earthly and sensual;[145] and the wisdom\nof the best man is no better by nature; a legion of impure spirits\npossess it; devilish, as the devil, who, though he believe there is\na God, yet acts as if there were none, and wishes he had no superior\nto prescribe him a law, and inflict that punishment upon him which\nhis crimes have merited. Hence the poison of man by nature is said\nto be like the poison of a serpent,[146] alluding to that serpentine\ntemptation which first infected mankind, and changed the nature of\nman into the likeness of that of the devil; so that, notwithstanding\nthe harmony of the world, that presents men not only with the notice\nof the being of a God, but darts into their minds some remarks of\nhis power and eternity; yet the thoughts and reasonings of man are\nso corrupt, as may well be called diabolical, and as contrary to\nthe perfection of God, and the original law of their nature, as the\nactings of the devil are; for since every natural man is a child of\nthe devil, and is acted by the diabolical spirit, he must needs have\nthat nature which his father hath, and the infusion of that venom\nwhich the spirit that acts him is possessed with, though the full\ndiscovery of it may be restrained by various circumstances (Eph.\nii. 2). To conclude: though no man, or at least very few, arrive to\na round and positive conclusion in their hearts that there is no God,\nyet there is no man that naturally hath in his heart any reverence\nof God. In general, before I come to a particular proof, take some\npropositions.\n\n{a92} _Prop. I._ Actions are a greater discovery of a principle than\nwords. The testimony of works is louder and clearer than that of words;\nand the frame of men\u2019s hearts must be measured rather by what they\ndo than by what they say. There may be a mighty distance between the\ntongue and the heart, but a course of actions is as little guilty\nof lying as interest is, according to our common saying. All outward\nimpieties are the branches of an atheism at the root of our nature, as\nall pestilential sores are expressions of the contagion in the blood;\nsin is therefore frequently called ungodliness in our English dialect.\nMen\u2019s practices are the best indexes of their principles: the current\nof a man\u2019s life is the counterpart of the frame of his heart. Who can\ndeny an error in the spring or wheels, when he perceives an error in\nthe hand of the dial? Who can deny an atheism in the heart, when so\nmuch is visible in the life? The taste of the water discovers what\nmineral it is strained through. A practical denial of God is worse\nthan a verbal, because deeds have usually more of deliberation than\nwords; words may be the fruit of a passion, but a set of evil actions\nare the fruit and evidence of a predominant evil principle in the\nheart. All slighting words of a prince do not argue an habitual\ntreason; but a succession of overt treasonable attempts signify a\nsettled treasonable disposition in the mind. Those, therefore, are\nmore deservedly termed atheists, who acknowledge a God, and walk as if\nthere were none, than those (if there can be any such) that deny a God,\nand walk as if there were one. A sense of God in the heart would burst\nout in the life; where there is no reverence of God in the life, it is\neasily concluded there is less in the heart. What doth not influence\na man when it hath the addition of the eyes, and censures of outward\nspectators, and the care of a reputation (so much the god of the\nworld) to strengthen it and restrain the action, must certainly\nhave less power over the heart when it is single, without any other\nconcurrence. The flames breaking out of a house discover the fire\nto be much stronger and fiercer within. The apostle judgeth those\nof the circumcision, who gave heed to Jewish fables, to be deniers\nof God, though he doth not tax them with any notorious profaneness:\n(Tit. i. 16), \u201cThey profess that they know God, but in works they\ndeny him.\u201d He gives them epithets contrary to what they arrogated\nto themselves.[147] They boasted themselves to be holy; the apostle\ncalls them abominable: they bragged that they fulfilled the law,\nand observed the traditions of their fathers; the apostle calls them\ndisobedient, or unpersuadable: they boasted that they only had the\nrule of righteousness, and a sound judgment concerning it; the apostle\nsaid they had a reprobate sense, and unfit for any good work; and\njudges against all their vain\u2011glorious brags, that they had not a\nreverence of God in their hearts; there was more of the denial of God\nin their works than there was acknowledgment of God in their words.\nThose that have neither God in their thoughts, nor in their tongues,\nnor in their works, cannot properly be said to acknowledge him. Where\nthe honor of God is not practically owned in the lives of men, the\nbeing of God is not sensibly acknowledged in the hearts of men. The\n{a93} principle must be of the same kind with the actions; if the\nactions be atheistical, the principle of them can be no better.\n\n_Prop. II._ All sin is founded in a secret atheism. Atheism is the\nspirit of every sin; all the floods of impieties in the world break in\nat the gate of a secret atheism, and though several sins may disagree\nwith one another, yet, like Herod and Pilate against Christ, they join\nhand in hand against the interest of God. Though lusts and pleasures\nbe diverse, yet they are all united in disobedience to him.[148] All\nthe wicked inclinations in the heart, and struggling motions, secret\nrepinings, self\u2011applauding confidences in our own wisdom, strength,\n&c., envy, ambition, revenge, are sparks from this latent fire; the\nlanguage of every one of these is, I would be a Lord to myself, and\nwould not have a God superior to me. The variety of sins against the\nfirst and second table, the neglects of God, and violences against man,\nare derived from this in the text; first, \u201cThe fool hath said in his\nheart,\u201d and then follows a legion of devils. As all virtuous actions\nspring from an acknowledgment of God, so all vicious actions rise from\na lurking denial of him: all licentiousness goes glib down where there\nis no sense of God. Abraham judged himself not secure from murder,\nnor his wife from defilement in Gerar, if there were no fear of God\nthere.[149] He that makes no conscience of sin has no regard to the\nhonor, and, consequently, none to the being of God. \u201cBy the fear of\nGod men depart from evil\u201d (Prov. xvi. 6); by the non\u2011regarding of God\nmen rush into evil. Pharaoh oppressed Israel because he \u201cknew not the\nLord.\u201d If he did not deny the being of a Deity, yet he had such an\nunworthy notion of God as was inconsistent with the nature of a Deity;\nhe, a poor creature, thought himself a mate for the Creator. In sins\nof omission we own not God, in neglecting to perform what he enjoins;\nin sins of commission we set up some lust in the place of God, and\npay to that the homage which is due to our Maker. In both we disown\nhim; in the one by not doing what he commands, in the other by doing\nwhat he forbids. We deny his sovereignty when we violate his laws;\nwe disgrace his holiness when we cast our filth before his face; we\ndisparage his wisdom when we set up another rule as the guide of our\nactions than that law he hath fixed; we slight his sufficiency when\nwe prefer a satisfaction in sin before a happiness in him alone; and\nhis goodness, when we judge it not strong enough to attract us to him.\nEvery sin invades the rights of God, and strips him of one or other of\nhis perfections. It is such a vilifying of God as if he were not God;\nas if he were not the supreme Creator and Benefactor of the world; as\nif we had not our being from him; as if the air we breathed in, the\nfood we lived by, were our own by right of supremacy, not of donation.\nFor a subject to slight his sovereign, is to slight his royalty; or a\nservant his master, is to deny his superiority.\n\n_Prop. III._ Sin implies that God is unworthy of a being. Every sin is\na kind of cursing God in the heart;[150] an aim at the destruction of\nthe being of God; not actually, but virtually; not in the intention\nof every sinner, but in the nature of every sin. That affection which\n{a94} excites a man to break His law, would excite him to annihilate\nhis being if it were in his power. A man in every sin aims to set up\nhis own will as his rule, and his own glory as the end of his actions\nagainst the will and glory of God; and could a sinner attain his end,\nGod would be destroyed. God cannot outlive his will and his glory;\nGod cannot have another rule but his own will, nor another end but his\nown honor. Sin is called a turning the back upon God,[151] a kicking\nagainst him,[152] as if he were a slighter person than the meanest\nbeggar. What greater contempt can be shown to the meanest, vilest\nperson, than to turn the back, lift up the heel, and thrust away with\nindignation? all which actions, though they signify that such a one\nhath a being, yet they testify also that he is unworthy of a being,\nthat he is an unuseful being in the world, and that it were well the\nworld were rid of him. All sin against knowledge is called a reproach\nof God.[153] Reproach is a vilifying a man as unworthy to be admitted\ninto company. We naturally judge God unfit to be conversed with. God\nis the term turned from by a sinner; sin is the term turned to, which\nimplies a greater excellency in the nature of sin than in the nature\nof God; and as we naturally judge it more worthy to have a being in\nour affections, so consequently more worthy to have a being in the\nworld, than that infinite nature from whom we derive our beings and\nour all, and upon whom, with a kind of disdain, we turn our backs.\nWhosoever thinks the notion of a Deity unfit to be cherished in his\nmind by warm meditation, implies that he cares not whether he hath a\nbeing in the world or no. Now though the light of a Deity shines so\nclearly in man, and the stings of conscience are so smart, that he\ncannot absolutely deny the being of a God, yet most men endeavor to\nsmother this knowledge, and make the notion of a God a sapless and\nuseless thing (Rom. i. 28): \u201cThey like not to retain God in their\nknowledge.\u201d It is said, \u201cCain went out from the presence of the Lord\u201d\n(Gen. iv. 16); that is, from the worship of God. Our refusing or\nabhorring the presence of a man implies a carelessness whether he\ncontinue in the world or no; it is a using him as if he had no being,\nor as if we were not concerned in it. Hence all men in Adam, under\nthe emblem of the prodigal, are said to go into a far country; not\nin respect of place, because of God\u2019s omnipresence, but in respect\nof acknowledgment and affection: they mind and love anything but God.\nAnd the descriptions of the nations of the world, lying in the ruins\nof Adam\u2019s fall, and the dregs of that revolt, is that they know not\nGod. They forget God, as if there were no such being above them; and,\nindeed, he that doth the works of the devil, owns the devil to be more\nworthy of observance, and, consequently, of a being, than God, whose\nnature he forgets, and whose presence he abhors.\n\n_Prop. IV._ Every sin in its own nature would render God a foolish and\nimpure being. Many transgressors esteem their acts, which are contrary\nto the law of God, both wise and good: if so, the law against which\nthey are committed, must be both foolish and impure. What a reflection\nis there, then, upon the Lawgiver! The moral law is not properly a\nmere act of God\u2019s will considered in itself, or a tyrannical {a95}\nedict, like those of whom it may well be said, _stat pro ratione\nvoluntas_: but it commands those things which are good in their own\nnature, and prohibits those things which are in their own nature evil;\nand therefore is an act of his wisdom and righteousness; the result\nof his wise counsel, and an extract of his pure nature; as all the\nlaws of just lawgivers, are not only the acts of their will, but of\na will governed by reason and justice, and for the good of the public,\nwhereof they are conservators. If the moral commands of God were\nonly acts of his will, and had not an intrinsic necessity, reason\nand goodness, God might have commanded the quite contrary, and made\na contrary law, whereby that which we now call vice, might have been\ncanonized for virtue: He might then have forbid any worship of him,\nlove to him, fear of his name: He might then have commanded murders,\nthefts, adulteries. In the first he would have untied the link of\nduty from the creature, and dissolved the obligations of creatures to\nhim, which is impossible to be conceived; for from the relation of a\ncreature to God, obligations to God, and duties upon those obligations,\ndo necessarily result. It had been against the rule of goodness and\njustice to have commanded the creature not to love him, and fear and\nobey him: this had been a command against righteousness, goodness,\nand intrinsic obligations to gratitude. And should murder, adulteries,\nrapines have been commanded instead of the contrary, God would have\ndestroyed his own creation; he would have acted against the rule\nof goodness and order; he had been an unjust tyrannical governor of\nthe world: public society would have been cracked in pieces, and the\nworld become a shambles, a brothel\u2011house, a place below the common\nsentiments of a mere man. All sin, therefore, being against the law of\nGod, the wisdom and holy rectitude of God\u2019s nature is denied in every\nact of disobedience. And what is the consequence of this, but that\nGod is both foolish and unrighteous in commanding that, which was\nneither an act of wisdom, as a governor, nor an act of goodness, as\na benefactor to his creature? As was said before, presumptuous sins\nare called reproaches of God (Numb. xv. 30): \u201cThe soul that doth aught\npresumptuously reproacheth the Lord.\u201d Reproaches of men are either\nfor natural, moral, or intellectual defects. All reproaches of God\nmust imply a charge, either of unrighteousness or ignorance: if of\nunrighteousness, it is a denial of his holiness; if of ignorance, it\nis a blemishing his wisdom. If God\u2019s laws were not wise and holy, God\nwould not enjoin them: and if they are so, we deny infinite wisdom and\nholiness in God by not complying with them. As when a man believes not\nGod when he promises, he makes him a liar (1 John v. 10); so he that\nobeys not a wise and holy God commanding, makes him guilty either of\nfolly or unrighteousness. Now, suppose you knew an absolute atheist\nwho denied the being of a God, yet had a life free from any notorious\nspot or defilement; would you in reason count him so bad as the other\nthat owns a God in being, yet lays, by his course of action, such a\nblack imputation of folly and impurity upon the God he professeth to\nown\u2015\u2015an imputation which renders any man a most despicable creature?\n\n_Prop. V._ Sin in its own nature endeavors to render God the most\n{a96} miserable being. It is nothing but an opposition to the will of\nGod: the will of no creature is so much contradicted as the will of\nGod is by devils and men; and there is nothing under the heavens that\nthe affections of human nature stand more point blank against, than\nagainst God. There is a slight of him in all the faculties of man; our\nsouls are as unwilling to know him, as our wills are averse to follow\nhim (Rom. viii. 7): \u201cThe carnal mind is enmity against God, it is not\nsubject to the law of God, nor can be subject.\u201d It is true, God\u2019s will\ncannot be hindered of its effect, for then God would not be supremely\nblessed, but unhappy and miserable: all misery ariseth from a want\nof that which a nature would have, and ought to have: besides, if\nanything could frustrate God\u2019s will, it would be superior to him: God\nwould not be omnipotent, and so would lose the perfection of the Deity,\nand consequently the Deity itself; for that which did wholly defeat\nGod\u2019s will, would be more powerful than he. But sin is a contradiction\nto the will of God\u2019s revelation, to the will of his precept: and\ntherein doth naturally tend to a superiority over God, and would\nusurp his omnipotence, and deprive him of his blessedness. For if God\nhad not an infinite power to turn the designs of it to his own glory,\nbut the will of sin could prevail, God would be totally deprived\nof his blessedness. Doth not sin endeavor to subject God to the\nextravagant and contrary wills of men, and make him more a slave than\nany creature can be? For the will of no creature, not the meanest and\nmost despicable creature, is so much crossed, as the will of God is by\nsin (Isa. xliii. 24): \u201cThou hast made me to serve with thy sins:\u201d thou\nhast endeavored to make a mere slave of me by sin. Sin endeavors to\nsubject the blessed God to the humor and lust of every person in the\nworld.\n\n_Prop. VI._ Men sometimes in some circumstances do wish the not being\nof God. This some think to be the meaning of the text, \u201cThe fool hath\nsaid in his heart, There is no God,\u201d that is, he wishes there were no\nGod. Many tamper with their own hearts to bring them to a persuasion\nthat there is no God: and when they cannot do that, they conjure up\nwishes that there were none. Men naturally have some conscience of\nsin, and some notices of justice (Rom. i. 32): \u201cThey know the judgment\nof God,\u201d and they know the demerit of sin; \u201cthey know the judgment of\nGod, and that they which do such things are worthy of death.\u201d What is\nthe consequent of this but fear of punishment; and what is the issue\nof that fear, but a wishing the Judge either unwilling or unable\nto vindicate the honor of his violated law? When God is the object\nof such a wish, it is a virtual undeifying of him: not to be able\nto punish, is to be impotent; not to be willing to punish, is to\nbe unjust: imperfections inconsistent with the Deity. God cannot\nbe supposed without an infinite power to act, and an infinite\nrighteousness as the rule of acting. Fear of God is natural to all\nmen; not a fear of offending him, but a fear of being punished by him:\nthe wishing the extinction of God has its degree in men, according\nto the degree of their fears of his just vengeance: and though such a\nwish be not in its meridian but in the damned in hell, yet it hath its\nstarts and motions in affrighted and awakened consciences on the earth:\nunder this rank of wishers, that there were no God, or that God were\ndestroyed, do fall.\n\n{a97} 1. Terrified consciences, that are _Magor\u2011missabib_, see nothing\nbut matter of fear round about. As they have lived without the bounds\nof the law, they are afraid to fall under the stroke of his justice:\nfear wishes the destruction of that which it apprehends hurtful: it\nconsiders him as a God to whom vengeance belongs, as the Judge of\nall the earth.[154] The less hopes such an one hath of his pardon,\nthe more joy he would have to hear that his judge should be stripped\nof his life: he would entertain with delight any reasons that might\nsupport him in the conceit that there were no God: in his present\nstate such a doctrine would be his security from an account: he would\nas much rejoice if there were no God to inflame an hell for him, as\nany guilty malefactor would if there were no judge to order a gibbet\nfor him. Shame may bridle men\u2019s words, but the heart will be casting\nabout for some arguments this way, to secure itself: such as are at\nany time in Spira\u2019s case, would be willing to cease to be creatures,\nthat God might cease to be Judge. \u201cThe fool hath said in his heart,\nthere is no Elohim, no Judge;\u201d fancying God without any exercise of\nhis judicial authority. And there is not any wicked man under anguish\nof spirit, but, were it within the reach of his power, would take\naway the life of God, and rid himself of his fears by destroying his\nAvenger.\n\n2. Debauched persons are not without such wishes sometimes: an\nobstinate servant wishes his master\u2019s death, from whom he expects\ncorrection for his debaucheries. As man stands in his corrupt nature,\nit is impossible but one time or other most debauched persons at least\nhave some kind of velleities, or imperfect wishes. It is as natural\nto men to abhor those things which are unsuitable and troublesome,\nas it is to please themselves in things agreeable to their minds and\nhumors; and since man is so deeply in love with sin, as to count it\nthe most estimable good, he cannot but wish the abolition of that law\nwhich checks it, and, consequently, the change of the Lawgiver which\nenacted it; and in wishing a change in the holy nature of God, he\nwishes a destruction of God, who could not be God if he ceased to\nbe immutably holy. They do as certainly wish that God had not a holy\nwill to command them, as despairing souls wish that God had not a\nrighteous will to punish them, and to wish conscience extinct for the\nmolestations they receive from it, is to wish the power conscience\nrepresents out of the world also. Since the state of sinners is a\nstate of distance from God, and the language of sinners to God is,\n\u201cDepart from us;\u201d[155] they desire as little the continuance of his\nbeing, as they desire the knowledge of his ways; the same reason which\nmoves them to desire God\u2019s distance from them, would move them to\ndesire God\u2019s not being: since the greatest distance would be most\nagreeable to them, the destruction of God must be so too; because\nthere is no greater distance from us, than in not being. Men would\nrather have God not to be, than themselves under control, that\nsensuality might range at pleasure; he is like a \u201cheifer sliding from\nthe yoke\u201d (Hosea iv. 16). The cursing of God in the heart, feared\nby Job of his children, intimates a wishing God despoiled of his\nauthority, that their pleasure might not be damped by his law. Besides,\n{a98} is there any natural man that sins against actuated knowledge,\nbut either thinks or wishes that God might not see him, that God might\nnot know his actions? And is not this to wish the destruction of God,\nwho could not be God unless he were immense and omniscient?\n\n3. Under this rank fall those who perform external duties only\nout of a principle of slavish fear. Many men perform those duties\nthat the law enjoins, with the same sentiments that slaves perform\ntheir drudgery; and are constrained in their duties by no other\nconsiderations but those of the whip and the cudgel. Since, therefore,\nthey do it with reluctancy, and secretly murmur while they seem to\nobey, they would be willing that both the command were recalled, and\nthe master that commands them were in another world. The spirit of\nadoption makes men act towards God as a father, a spirit of bondage\nonly eyes him as a judge. Those that look upon their superiors as\ntyrannical, will not be much concerned in their welfare; and would be\nmore glad to have their nails pared, than be under perpetual fear of\nthem. Many men regard not the Infinite Goodness in the service of him,\nbut consider him as cruel, tyrannical, injurious to their liberty.\nAdam\u2019s posterity are not free from the sentiments of their common\nfather, till they are regenerate. You know what conceit was the hammer\nwhereby the hellish Jael struck the nail into our first parents, which\nconveyed death, together with the same imagination to all their\nposterity (Gen. iii. 5): \u201cGod knows that in the day you eat thereof,\nyour eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and\nevil.\u201d Alas, poor souls! God knew what he did when he forbade you that\nfruit; he was jealous you should be too happy; it was cruelty in him\nto deprive you of a food so pleasant and delicious. The apprehension\nof the severity of God\u2019s commands riseth up no less in desires that\nthere were no God over us, than Adam\u2019s apprehension of envy in God\nfor the restraint of one tree, moved him to attempt to be equal with\nGod: fear is as powerful to produce the one in his posterity, as\npride was to produce the other in the common root. When we apprehend\na thing hurtful to us, we desire so much evil to it, as may render it\nincapable of doing us the hurt we fear. As we wish the preservation\nof what we love or hope for, so we are naturally apt to wish the\nnot being of that whence we fear some hurt or trouble. We must not\nunderstand this as if any man did formally wish the destruction of\nGod, as God. God in himself is an infinite mirror of goodness and\nravishing loveliness; he is infinitely good, and so universally good,\nand nothing but good; and is therefore so agreeable to a creature,\nas a creature, that it is impossible that the creature, while it\nbears itself to God as a creature, should be guilty of this, but\nthirst after him and cherish every motion to him. As no man wishes the\ndestruction of any creature, as a creature, but as it may conduce to\nsomething which he counts may be beneficial to himself; so no man doth,\nnor perhaps can wish the cessation of the being of God, as God; for\nthen he must wish his own being to cease also; but as he considers\nhim clothed with some perfections, which he apprehends as injurious\nto him, as his holiness in forbidding sin, his justice in punishing\nsin; and God being judged in those perfections, contrary {a99} to what\nthe revolted creature thinks convenient and good for himself, he may\nwish God stripped of those perfections, that thereby he may be free\nfrom all fear of trouble and grief from him in his fallen state. In\nwishing God deprived of those, he wishes God deprived of his being;\nbecause God cannot retain his deity without a love of righteousness,\nand hatred of iniquity; and he could not testify his love to the\none, or his loathing of the other, without encouraging goodness, and\nwitnessing his anger against iniquity. Let us now appeal to ourselves,\nand examine our own consciences. Did we never please ourselves\nsometimes in the thoughts, how happy we should be, how free in our\nvain pleasures, if there were no God? Have we not desired to be our\nown lords, without control, subject to no law but our own, and be\nguided by no will but that of the flesh? Did we never rage against\nGod under his afflicting hand? Did we never wish God stripped of his\nholy will to command, and his righteous will to punish? &c.\n\nThus much for the general. For the proof of this, many considerations\nwill bring in evidence; most may be reduced to these two generals: Man\nwould set himself up, first, as his own rule; secondly, as his own end\nand happiness.\n\nI. Man would set himself up as his own rule instead of God. This will\nbe evidenced in this method.\n\n1. Man naturally disowns the rule God sets him. 2. He owns any other\nrule rather than that of God\u2019s prescribing. 3. These he doth in order\nto the setting himself up as his own rule. 4. He makes himself not\nonly his own rule, but he would make himself the rule of God, and give\nlaws to his Creator.\n\nFirst, Man naturally disowns the rule God sets him. It is all one to\ndeny his royalty, and to deny his being. When we disown his authority,\nwe disown his Godhead. It is the right of God to be the sovereign of\nhis creatures, and it must be a very loose and trivial assent that\nsuch men have to God\u2019s superiority over them, (and consequently to\nthe excellency of his being, upon which that authority is founded)\nwho are scarce at ease in themselves, but when they are invading his\nrights, breaking his bands, casting away his cords, and contradicting\nhis will. Every man naturally is a son of Belial, would be without a\nyoke, and leap over God\u2019s enclosures; and in breaking out against his\nsovereignty, we disown his being, as God, for to be God and sovereign\nare inseparable; he could not be God, if he were not supreme; nor\ncould he be a Creator without being a Lawgiver. To be God and yet\ninferior to another, is a contradiction. To make rational creatures\nwithout prescribing them a law, is to make them without holiness,\nwisdom and goodness.\n\n1. There is in man naturally an unwillingness to have any\nacquaintance with the rule God sets him (Psalm xiv. 2): \u201cNone that\ndid understand and seek God.\u201d The refusing instruction and casting\nhis Word behind the back is a part of atheism.[156] We are heavy in\nhearing the instructions either of law or gospel,[157] and slow in\nthe apprehension of what we hear. The people that God had hedged in\nfrom the wilderness of the world for his own garden, were foolish\n{a100} and did not know God; were sottish and had no understanding of\nhim.[158] The law of God is accounted a strange thing;[159] a thing\nof a different climate, and a far country from the heart of man;\nwherewith the mind of man had no natural acquaintance, and had no\ndesire to have any; or they regarded it as a sordid thing: what God\naccounts great and valuable, they account mean and despicable. Men\nmay show a civility to a stranger, but scarce contract an intimacy:\nthere can be no amicable agreement between the holy will of God and\nthe heart of a depraved creature: one is holy, the other unholy; one\nis universally good, the other stark naught. The purity of the Divine\nrule renders it nauseous to the impurity of a carnal heart. Water and\nfire may as well friendly kiss each other and live together without\nquarrelling and hissing, as the holy will of God and the unregenerate\nheart of a fallen creature.\n\nThe nauseating a holy rule is an evidence of atheism in the heart, as\nthe nauseating wholesome food is of putrefied phlegm in the stomach.\nIt is found more or less in every Christian, in the remainders,\nthough not in a full empire. As there is a law in his mind whereby he\ndelights in the law of God, so there is a law in his members whereby\nhe wars against the law of God (Rom. vii. 22, 23, 25). How predominant\nis this loathing of the law of God, when corrupt nature is in its full\nstrength, without any principle to control it! There is in the mind of\nsuch a one a darkness, whereby it is ignorant of it, and in the will\na depravedness, whereby it is repugnant to it. If man were naturally\nwilling and able to have an intimate acquaintance with, and delight\nin the law of God, it had not been such a signal favor for God to\npromise to \u201cwrite the law in the heart.\u201d A man may sooner engrave\nthe chronicle of a whole nation, or all the records of God in the\nScripture upon the hardest marble with his bare finger, than write one\nsyllable of the law of God in a spiritual manner upon his heart. For,\n\n(1.) Men are negligent in using the means for the knowledge of God\u2019s\nwill. All natural men are fools, who know not how to use the price\nGod puts into their hands;[160] they put not a due estimate upon\nopportunities and means of grace, and account that law folly which is\nthe birth of an infinite and holy wisdom. The knowledge of God which\nthey may glean from creatures, and is more pleasant to the natural\ngust of men, is not improved to the glory of God, if we will believe\nthe indictment the apostle brings against the Gentiles.[161] And most\nof those that have dived into the depths of nature, have been more\nstudious of the qualities of the creatures, than of the excellency of\nthe nature, or the discovery of the mind of God in them; who regard\nonly the rising and motions of the star, but follow not with the wise\nmen, its conduct to the King of the Jews. How often do we see men\nfilled with an eager thirst for all other kind of knowledge, that\ncannot acquiesce in a twilight discovery, but are inquisitive into\nthe causes and reasons of effects, yet are contented with a weak and\nlanguishing knowledge of God and his law, and are easily tired with\nthe proposals of them! He now that nauseates the means whereby he\nmay come to know and obey God, has no intention to make the {a101}\nlaw of God his rule. There is no man that intends seriously an end,\nbut he intends means in order to that end: as when a man intends the\npreservation or recovery of his health, he will intend means in order\nto those ends, otherwise he cannot be said to intend his health; so\nhe that is not diligent in using means to know the mind of God, has\nno sound intention to make the will and law of God his rule. Is not\nthe inquiry after the will of God made a work by the bye, and fain\nto lacquey after other concerns of an inferior nature, if it hath\nany place at all in the soul? which is a despising the being of God.\nThe notion of the sovereignty of God bears the same date with the\nnotion of his Godhead; and by the same way that he reveals himself, he\nreveals his authority over us: whether it be by creatures without, or\nconscience within. All authority over rational creatures consists in\ncommanding and directing: the duty of rational creatures in compliance\nwith that authority consists in obeying. Where there is therefore a\ncareless neglect of those means which convey the knowledge of God\u2019s\nwill and our duty, there is an utter disowning of God as our Sovereign\nand our rule.\n\n(2.) When any part of the mind and will of God breaks in upon men,\nthey endeavor to shake it off: as a man would a sergeant that comes\nto arrest him, \u201cthey like not to retain God in their knowledge\u201d\n(Rom. i. 28). \u201cA natural man receives not the things of the Spirit\nof God;\u201d that is, into his affection; he pusheth them back as men do\ntroublesome and importunate beggars: they have no kindness to bestow\nupon it: they thrust with both shoulders against the truth of God,\nwhen it presseth in upon them; and dash as much contempt upon it as\nthe Pharisees did upon the doctrine our Saviour directed against their\ncovetousness. As men naturally delight to be without God in the world,\nso they delight to be without any offspring of God in their thoughts.\nSince the spiritual palate of man is depraved, divine truth is\nunsavory and ungrateful to us, till our taste and relish is restored\nby grace: hence men damp and quench the motions of the Spirit to\nobedience and compliance with the dictates of God; strip them of their\nlife and vigor, and kill them in the womb. How unable are our memories\nto retain the substance of spiritual truth; but like sand in a glass,\nput in at one part and runs out at the other! Have not many a secret\nwish, that the Scripture had never mentioned some truths, or that they\nwere blotted out of the Bible, because they face their consciences,\nand discourage those boiling lusts they would with eagerness and\ndelight pursue? Methinks that interruption John gives our Saviour\nwhen he was upon the reproof of their pride, looks little better than\na design to divert him from a discourse so much against the grain,\nby telling him a story of their prohibiting one to cast out devils,\nbecause he followed not them.[162] How glad are men when they can\nraise a battery against a command of God, and raise some smart\nobjection whereby they may shelter themselves from the strictness\nof it!\n\n(3.) When men cannot shake off the notices of the will and mind of God,\nthey have no pleasure in the consideration of them; which could not\npossibly be, if there were a real and fixed design to own {a102} the\nmind and law of God as our rule. Subjects or servants that love to\nobey their prince and master, will delight to read and execute their\norders. The devils understand the law of God in their minds, but they\nloathe the impressions of it upon their wills: those miserable spirits\nare bound in chains of darkness, evil habits in their wills, that they\nhave not a thought of obeying that law they know. It was an unclean\nbeast under the law that did not chew the cud: it is a corrupt heart\nthat doth not chew truth by meditation. A natural man is said not to\nknow God, or the things of God; he may know them nationally, but he\nknows them not affectionately. A sensual soul can have no delight\nin a spiritual law. To be sensual and not to have the Spirit are\ninseparable (Jude 19). Natural men may indeed meditate upon the law\nand truth of God, but without delight in it; if they take any pleasure\nin it, it is only as it is knowledge, not as it is a rule; for we\ndelight in nothing that we desire, but upon the same account that\nwe desire it. Natural men desire to know God and some part of his\nwill and law, not out of a sense of their practical excellency, but\na natural thirst after knowledge: and if they have a delight, it is\nin the act of knowing, not in the object known, not in the duties\nthat stream from that knowledge; they design the furnishing their\nunderstandings, not the quickening their affections,\u2015\u2015like idle\nboys that strike fire, not to warm themselves by the heat, but sport\nthemselves with the sparks; whereas a gracious soul accounts not only\nhis meditation, or the operations of his soul about God and his will\nto be sweet, but he hath a joy in the object of that meditation.[163]\nMany have the knowledge of God, who have no delight in him or his will.\nOwls have eyes to perceive that there is a sun, but by reason of the\nweakness of their sight have no pleasure to look upon a beam of it:\nso neither can a man by nature love, or delight in the will of God,\nbecause of his natural corruption. That law that riseth up in men\nfor conviction and instruction, they keep down under the power of\ncorruption; making their souls not the sanctuary, but prison of truth\n(Rom. i. 18). They will keep it down in their hearts, if they cannot\nkeep it out of their heads, and will not endeavor to know and taste\nthe spirit of it.\n\n(4.) There is, further, a rising and swelling of the heart against\nthe will of God. 1st. Internal. God\u2019s law cast against a hard\nheart, is like a ball thrown against a stone wall, by reason of the\nresistance rebounding the further from it; the meeting of a divine\ntruth and the heart of man, is like the meeting of two tides, the\nweaker swells and foams. We have a natural antipathy against a divine\nrule, and therefore when it is clapped close to our consciences,\nthere is a snuffing at it, high reasonings against it, corruption\nbreaks out more strongly: as water poured on lime sets it on fire\nby an _antiperistasis_, and the more water is cast upon it, the more\nfuriously it burns; or as the sunbeams shining upon a dunghill make\nthe steams the thicker, and the stench the noisomer, neither being\nthe positive cause of the smoke in the lime, or the stench in the\ndunghill, but by accident the causes of the eruption: (Rom. vii. 8),\n\u201cBut sin taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner\nof concupiscence, for {a103} without the law sin was dead.\u201d Sin was\nin a languishing posture, as if it were dead, like a lazy garrison\nin a city, till, upon an alarm from the adversary, it takes arms, and\nrevives its courage; all the sin in the heart gathers together its\nforce to maintain its standing, like the vapors of the night, which\nunite themselves more closely to resist the beams of the rising\nsun. Deep conviction often provokes fierce opposition; sometimes\ndisputes against a divine rule end in blasphemies: (Acts xiii. 45),\n\u201ccontradicting and blaspheming\u201d are coupled together. Men naturally\ndesire things that are forbidden, and reject things commanded, from\nthe corruption of nature, which affects an unbounded liberty, and\nis impatient of returning under that yoke it hath shaken off, and\ntherefore rageth against the bars of the law, as the waves roar\nagainst the restraint of a bank. When the understanding is dark, and\nthe mind ignorant, sin lies as dead; \u201cA man scarce knows he hath such\nmotions of concupiscence in him, he finds not the least breath of wind,\nbut a full calm in his soul; but when he is awakened by the law, then\nthe viciousness of nature being sensible of an invasion of its empire,\narms itself against the divine law, and the more the command is urged,\nthe more vigorously it bends its strength, and more insolently lifts\nup itself against it;\u201d[164] he perceives more and more atheistical\nlusts than before; \u201call manner of concupiscence,\u201d more leprous and\ncontagious than before. When there are any motions to turn to God, a\nreluctancy is presently perceived; atheistical thoughts bluster in the\nmind like the wind, they know not whence they come, nor whither they\ngo; so unapt is the heart to any acknowledgment of God as his ruler,\nand any re\u2011union with him. Hence men are said to resist the Holy Ghost\n(Acts vii. 51), to fall against it, as the word signifies, as a stone,\nor any ponderous body falls against that which lies in its way: they\nwould dash to pieces, or grind to powder that very motion which is\nmade for their instruction, and the Spirit too which makes it, and\nthat not from a fit of passion, but an habitual repugnance; \u201cYe always\nresist,\u201d &c. 2d. External. It is a fruit of atheism in the fourth\nverse of this psalm, \u201cWho eat up my people as they eat bread.\u201d How\ndo the revelations of the mind of God meet with opposition! and the\ncarnal world like dogs bark against the shining of the moon; so much\nmen hate the light, that they spurn at the lanthorns that bear it;\nand because they cannot endure the treasure, often fling the earthen\nvessels against the ground wherein it is held. If the entrance of\ntruth render the market worse for Diana\u2019s shrines, the whole city will\nbe in an uproar.[165] When Socrates upon natural principles confuted\nthe heathen idolatry, and asserted the unity of God, the whole cry of\nAthens, a learned university, is against him; and because he opposed\nthe public received religion, though with an undoubted truth, he must\nend his life by violence. How hath every corner of the world steamed\nwith the blood of those that would maintain the authority of God in\nthe world! The devil\u2019s children will follow the steps of their father,\nand endeavor to bruise the heel of divine truth, that would endeavor\nto break the head of corrupt lust.\n\n{a104} (5.) Men often seem desirous to be acquainted with the will of\nGod, not out of any respect to his will, and to make it their rule,\nbut upon some other consideration. Truth is scarce received as truth.\nThere is more of hypocrisy than sincerity in the pale of the church,\nand attendance on the mind of God. The outward dowry of a religious\nprofession, makes it often more desirable than the beauty. Judas was a\nfollower of Christ for the bag, not out of any affection to the divine\nrevelation. Men sometime pretend a desire to be acquainted with the\nwill of God, to satisfy their own passions, rather than to conform to\nGod\u2019s will; the religion of such is not the judgment of the man, but\nthe passion of the brute. Many entertain a doctrine for the person\u2019s\nsake, rather than a person for the doctrine\u2019s sake, and believe a\nthing because it comes from a man they esteem, as if his lips were\nmore canonical than Scripture. The Apostle implies in the commendation\nhe gives the Thessalonians,[166] that some receive the word for human\ninterest, not as it is in truth the word and will of God to command\nand govern their consciences by its sovereign authority; or else they\nhave the \u201ctruth of God\u201d (as St. James speaks of the faith of Christ)\n\u201cwith respect of persons;\u201d[167] and receive it not for the sake of\nthe fountain, but of the channel; so that many times the same truth\ndelivered by another, is disregarded, which, when dropping from the\nfancy and mouth of a man\u2019s own idol, is cried up as an oracle. This\nis to make not God, but man the rule; for though we entertain that\nwhich materially is the truth of God, yet not formally as his truth,\nbut as conveyed by one we affect; and that we receive a truth and\nnot an error, we owe the obligation to the honesty of the instrument,\nand not to the strength and clearness of our own judgment. Wrong\nconsiderations may give admittance to an unclean, as well as a clean\nbeast into the ark of the soul. That which is contrary to the mind of\nGod, may be entertained, as well as that which is agreeable. It is all\none to such that have no respect to God, what they have, as it is all\none to a sponge to suck up the foulest water or the sweetest wine,\nwhen either is applied to it.\n\n(6.) Many that entertain the notions of the will and mind of God,\nadmit them with unsettled and wavering affections. There is a great\nlevity in the heart of man. The Jews that one day applaud our Saviour\nwith hosannahs as their king, vote his crucifixion the next, and use\nhim as a murderer. We begin in the Spirit, and end in the flesh. Our\nhearts, like lute\u2011strings, are changed with every change of weather,\nwith every appearance of a temptation; scarce one motion of God in a\nthousand prevails with us for a settled abode. It is a hard task to\nmake a signature of those truths upon our affections, which will with\nease pass current with our understandings; our affections will as soon\nlose them, as our understandings embrace them. The heart of man is\n\u201cunstable as water.\u201d[168] Some were willing to rejoice in John\u2019s\nlight, which reflected a lustre on their minds; but not in his heat,\nwhich would have conveyed a warmth to their hearts; and the light was\npleasing to them but for a season,[169] while their corruptions lay\nas if they were dead, not when they were awakened. {a105} Truth may\nbe admitted one day, and the next day rejected; as Austin saith of\na wicked man, he loves the truth shining, but he hates the truth\nreproving. This is not to make God, but our own humor, our rule and\nmeasure.\n\n(7.) Many desire an acquaintance with the law and truth of God, with\na design to improve some lust by it; to turn the word of God to be a\npander to the breach of his law. This is so far from making God\u2019s will\nour rule, that we make our own vile affections the rule of his law.\nHow many forced interpretations of Scripture have been coined to give\ncontent to the lusts of men, and the divine rule forced to bend, and\nbe squared to men\u2019s loose and carnal apprehensions! It is a part of\nthe instability or falseness of the heart, to \u201cwrest the Scriptures to\ntheir own destruction;\u201d[170] which they could not do, if they did not\nfirst wring them to countenance some detestable error or filthy crime.\nIn Paradise the first interpretation made of the first law of God,\nwas point blank against the mind of the Lawgiver, and venomous to the\nwhole race of mankind. Paul himself feared that some might put his\ndoctrine of grace to so ill a use, as to be an altar and sanctuary to\nshelter their presumption (Rom. vi. 1, 15): \u201cShall we then continue\nin sin, that grace may abound?\u201d Poisonous consequences are often\ndrawn from the sweetest truths; as when God\u2019s patience is made a topic\nwhence to argue against his providence,[171] or an encouragement to\ncommit evil more greedily; as though because he had not presently a\nrevenging hand, he had not an all\u2011seeing eye: or when the doctrine\nof justification by faith is made use of to depress a holy life; or\nGod\u2019s readiness to receive returning sinners, an encouragement to\ndefer repentance till a death\u2011bed. A liar will hunt for shelter\nin the reward God gave the midwives that lied to Pharaoh for the\npreservation of the males of Israel, and Rahab\u2019s saving the spies by\nfalse intelligence. God knows how to distinguish between grace and\ncorruption, that may lie close together; or between something of moral\ngoodness and moral evil, which may be mixed; we find their fidelity\nrewarded, which was a moral good; but not their lie approved, which\nwas a moral evil. Nor will Christ\u2019s conversing with sinners, be a\nplea for any to thrust themselves into evil company. Christ conversed\nwith sinners, as a physician with diseased persons, to cure them, not\napprove them; others with profligate persons, to receive infection\nfrom them, not to communicate holiness to them. Satan\u2019s children have\nstudied their father\u2019s art, who wanted not perverted Scripture to\nsecond his temptations against our Saviour.[172] How often do carnal\nhearts turn divine revelation to carnal ends, as the sea fresh water\ninto salt! As men subject the precepts of God to carnal interests,\nso they subject the truths of God to carnal fancies. When men\nwill allegorize the word, and make a humorous and crazy fancy the\ninterpreter of divine oracles, and not the Spirit speaking in the\nword; this is to enthrone our own imaginations as the rule of God\u2019s\nlaw, and depose his law from being the rule of our reason; this is to\nrifle truth of its true mind and intent. \u2019Tis more to rob a man of his\nreason, the essential constitutive part of man, than of his estate;\nthis is to refuse an intimate acquaintance with his will. We shall\n{a106} never tell what is the matter of a precept, or the matter of\na promise, if we impose a sense upon it contrary to the plain meaning\nof it; thereby we shall make the law of God to have a distinct sense\naccording to the variety of men\u2019s imaginations, and so make every\nman\u2019s fancy a law to himself. Now that this unwillingness to have a\nspiritual acquaintance with divine truth is a disowning God as our\nrule, and a setting up self in his stead, is evident; because this\nunwillingness respects truth.\n\n1st. As it is most spiritual and holy. A fleshly mind is most\ncontrary to a spiritual law, and particularly as it is a searching\nand discovering law, that would dethrone all other rules in the soul.\nAs men love to be without a holy God in the world, so they love to\nbe without a holy law, the transcript and image of God\u2019s holiness in\ntheir hearts; and without holy men, the lights kindled by the Father\nof lights. As the holiness of God, so the holiness of the law most\noffends a carnal heart (Isa. xxx. 11): \u201cCause the Holy One of Israel\nto cease from before us, prophesy to us right things.\u201d They could not\nendure God as a holy one. Herein God places their rebellion, rejecting\nhim as their rule (ver. 9), \u201cRebellious children, that will not hear\nthe law of the Lord.\u201d The more pure and precious any discovery of God\nis, the more it is disrelished by the world: as spiritual sins are\nsweetest to a carnal heart, so spiritual truths are most distasteful.\nThe more of the brightness of the sun any beam conveys, the more\noffensive it is to a distempered eye.\n\n2d. As it doth most relate to, or lead to God. The devil directs his\nfiercest batteries against those doctrines in the word, and those\ngraces in the heart, which most exalt God, debase man, and bring men\nto the lowest subjection to their Creator; such is the doctrine and\ngrace of justifying faith. That men hate not knowledge as knowledge,\nbut as it directs them to choose the fear of the Lord, was the\ndetermination of the Holy Ghost long ago (Prov. i. 29): \u201cFor that they\nhated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.\u201d Whatsoever\nrespects God, clears up guilt, witnesses man\u2019s revolt to him, rouseth\nup conscience, and moves to a return to God, a man naturally runs from,\nas Adam did from God, and seeks a shelter in some weak bushes of error,\nrather than appear before it. Not that men are unwilling to inquire\ninto and contemplate some divine truths which lie furthest from the\nheart, and concern not themselves immediately with the rectifying\nthe soul: they may view them with such a pleasure as some might take\nin beholding the miracles of our Saviour, who could not endure his\nsearching doctrine. The light of speculation may be pleasant, but the\nlight of conviction is grievous; that which galls their consciences,\nand would affect them with a sense of their duty to God. Is it not\neasy to perceive, that when a man begins to be serious in the concerns\nof the honor of God and the duty of his soul, he feels a reluctancy\nwithin him, even against the pleas of conscience; which evidenceth\nthat some unworthy principle has got footing in the hearts of men,\nwhich fights against the declarations of God without, and the\nimpressions of the law of God within, at the same time when a man\u2019s\nown conscience takes part with it, which is the substance of the\napostle\u2019s discourse, Rom. vii. 15, 16, {a107} &c. Close discourses\nof the honor of God, and our duty to him, are irksome when men are\nupon a merry pin: they are like a damp in a mine, that takes away\ntheir breath; they shuffle them out as soon as they can, and are\nas unwilling to retain the speech of them in their mouths, as the\nknowledge of them in their hearts. Gracious speeches, instead of\nbettering many men, distemper them, as sometimes sweet perfumes affect\na weak head with aches.\n\n3d. As it is most contrary to self. Men are unwilling to acquaint\nthemselves with any truth that leads to God, because it leads from\nself. Every part of the will of God is more or less displeasing, as it\nsounds harsh against some carnal interest men would set above God, or\nas a mate with him. Man cannot desire any intimacy with that law which\nhe regards as a bird of prey, to pick out his right eye or gnaw off\nhis right hand, his lust dearer than himself. The reason we have such\nhard thoughts of God\u2019s will is, because we have such high thoughts\nof ourselves. It is a hard matter to believe or will that which hath\nno affinity with some principle in the understanding, and no interest\nin our will and passions: our unwillingness to be acquainted with\nthe will of God ariseth from the disproportion between that and our\ncorrupt hearts; \u201cWe are alienated from the life of God in our minds\u201d\n(Eph. iv. 18, 19). As we live not like God, so we neither think or\nwill as God; there is an antipathy in the heart of man against that\ndoctrine which teaches us to deny ourselves and be under the rule of\nanother; but whatsoever favors the ambition, lusts, and profits of\nmen, is easy entertainable. Many are fond of those sciences which may\nenrich their understandings, and grate not upon their sensual delights.\nMany have an admirable dexterity in finding out philosophical reasons,\nmathematical demonstrations, or raising observations upon the records\nof history; and spend much time and many serious and affectionate\nthoughts in the study of them. In those they have not immediately\nto do with God, their beloved pleasures are not impaired; it is a\nsatisfaction to self without the exercise of any hostility against it.\nBut had those sciences been against self, as much as the law and will\nof God, they had long since been rooted out of the world. Why did the\nyoung man turn his back upon the law of Christ? because of his worldly\nself. Why did the Pharisees mock at the doctrine of our Saviour, and\nnot at their own traditions? because of covetous self. Why did the\nJews slight the person of our Saviour and put him to death, after the\nreading so many credentials of his being sent from heaven? because\nof ambitious self, that the Romans might not come and take away their\nkingdom. If the law of God were fitted to the humors of self, it would\nbe readily and cordially observed by all men: self is the measure of a\nworld of seeming religious actions; while God seems to be the object,\nand his law the motive, self is the rule and end (Zech. vii. 5): \u201cDid\nyou fast unto me,\u201d &c.\n\n2. As men discover their disowning the will of God as a rule by\nunwillingness to be acquainted with it, so they discover it, by\nthe contempt of it after they cannot avoid the notions and some\nimpressions of it. The rule of God is burthensome to a sinner; he\nflies from it as from a frightful bugbear, and unpleasant yoke: sin\nagainst {a108} the knowledge of the law is therefore called a going\nback from the commandment of God\u2019s lips (Job xxiii. 12): \u201cA casting\nGod\u2019s word behind them,\u201d[173] as a contemptible thing, fitter to be\ntrodden in the dirt than lodged in the heart; nay it is a casting it\noff as an abominable thing, for so the word \u05d6\u05e0\u05d7 signifies, Hos. viii. 3.\n\u201cIsrael hath cast off the thing that is good;\u201d an utter refusal of\nGod (Jer. xliv. 16): \u201cAs for the word which thou hast spoken to us\nin the name of the Lord, we will not hearken.\u201d In the slight of his\nprecepts his essential perfections are slighted. In disowning his\nwill as a rule, we disown all those attributes which flow from his\nwill, as goodness, righteousness, and truth. As an act of the divine\nunderstanding is supposed to precede the act of the divine will, so we\nslight the infinite reason of God. Every law, though it proceeds from\nthe will of the lawgiver, and doth formally consist in an act of the\nwill, yet it doth pre\u2011suppose an act of the understanding. If the\ncommandment be holy, just, and good, as it is (Rom. vii. 12); if it\nbe the image of God\u2019s holiness, a transcript of his righteousness,\nand the efflux of his goodness; then in every breach of it, dirt is\ncast upon those attributes which shine in it; and a slight of all\nthe regards he hath to his own honor, and all the provisions he makes\nfor his creature. This atheism, or contempt of God, is more taken\nnotice of by God than the matter of the sin itself; as a respect\nto God in a weak and imperfect obedience is more than the matter of\nthe obedience itself, because it is an acknowledgment of God; so a\ncontempt of God in an act of disobedience, is more than the matter\nof the disobedience. The creature stands in such an act not only in a\nposture of distance from God, but defiance of him; it was not the bare\nact of murder and adultery which Nathan charged upon David, but the\natheistical principle which spirited those evil acts. The despising\nthe commandment of the Lord was the venom of them.[174] It is possible\nto break a law without contempt; but when men pretend to believe there\nis a God, and that this is the law of God, it shows a contempt of his\nmajesty:[175] men naturally account God\u2019s laws too strict, his yoke\ntoo heavy, and his limits too strait; and he that liveth in a contempt\nof this law, curseth God in his life. How can they believe there is\na God, who despise him as a ruler? How can they believe him to be a\nguide, that disdain to follow him? To think we firmly believe a God\nwithout living conformable to his law, is an idle and vain imagination.\nThe true and sensible notion of a God cannot subsist with disorder and\nan affected unrighteousness. This contempt is seen,\n\n1. In any presumptuous breach of any part of his law. Such sins are\nfrequently called in Scripture, rebellions, which are a denial of\nthe allegiance we owe to him. By a wilful refusal of his right in one\npart, we root up the foundation of that rule he doth justly challenge\nover us; his right is as extensive to command us in one thing, as in\nanother; and if it be disowned in one thing, it is virtually disowned\nin all, and the whole statute book of God is contemned (James ii. 10,\n11): \u201cWhosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point,\nis guilty of all.\u201d A willing breaking one part, though there be a\nwilling observance of all the other points of it, is a breach {a109}\nof the whole; because the authority of God, which gives sanction to\nthe whole, is slighted: the obedience to the rest is dissembled: for\nthe love, which is the root of all obedience, is wanting; for \u201clove\nis the fulfilling the whole law.\u201d[176] The rest are obeyed because\nthey cross not carnal desire so much as the other, and so it is an\nobservance of himself, not of God. Besides, the authority of God,\nwhich is not prevalent to restrain us from the breach of one point,\nwould be of as little force with us to restrain us from the breach\nof all the rest, did the allurements of the flesh give us as strong a\ndiversion from the one as from the other; and though the command that\nis transgressed be the least in the whole law, yet the authority which\nenjoins it is the same with that which enacts the greatest: and it is\nnot so much the matter of the command, as the authority commanding\nwhich lays the obligation.\n\n2. In the natural averseness to the declarations of God\u2019s will and\nmind, which way soever they tend. Since man affected to be as God,\nhe desires to be boundless; he would not have fetters, though they\nbe golden ones, and conduce to his happiness. Though the law of God\nbe a strength to them, yet they will not (Isa. xxx. 15): \u201cIn returning\nshall be your strength, and you would not.\u201d They would not have a\nbridle to restrain them from running into the pit, nor be hedged in by\nthe law, though for their security; as if they thought it too slavish\nand low\u2011spirited a thing to be guided by the will of another. Hence\nman is compared to a wild ass, that loves to \u201csnuff up the wind in\nthe wilderness at her pleasure,\u201d rather than come under the guidance\nof God;[177] from whatsoever quarter of the heavens you pursue her\nshe will run to the other. The Israelites \u201ccould not endure what was\ncommanded,\u201d[178] though in regard of the moral part, agreeable to what\nthey found written in their own nature, and to the observance whereof\nthey had the highest obligations of any people under heaven, since\nGod had, by many prodigies, delivered them from a cruel slavery, the\nmemory of which prefaced the Decalogue (Exod. xx. 2), \u201cI am the Lord\nthy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the\nhouse of bondage.\u201d They could not think of the rule of their duty, but\nthey must reflect upon the grand incentive of it in their redemption\nfrom Egyptian thraldom; yet this people were cross to God, which way\nsoever he moved. When they were in the brick kilns, they cried for\ndeliverance; when they had heavenly manna, they longed for their\nonions and garlic. In Num. xiv. 3, they repent of their deliverance\nfrom Egypt, and talk of returning again to seek the remedy of their\nevils in the hands of their cruellest enemies, and would rather put\nthemselves into the irons, whence God had delivered them, than believe\none word of the promise of God for giving them a fruitful land; but\nwhen Moses tells them God\u2019s order, that they should turn back by the\nway of the Red Sea,[179] and that God had confirmed it by an oath,\nthat they should not see the land of Canaan,[180] they then run cross\nto this command of God, and, instead of marching towards the Red\nSea, which they had wished for before, they will go up to Canaan,\nas in spite of God and his threatening: \u201cWe will go to the place\n{a110} which the Lord hath promised\u201d (ver. 40), which Moses calls\na transgressing the commandment of the Lord (ver. 41). They would\npresume to go up, notwithstanding Moses\u2019 prohibition, and are smitten\nby the Amalekites. When God gives them a precept, with a promise to\ngo up to Canaan, they long for Egypt; when God commands them to return\nto the Red Sea, which was nearer to the place they longed for, they\nwill shift sides, and go up to Canaan;[181] and when they found they\nwere to traverse the solitudes of the desert, they took pet against\nGod, and, instead of thanking him for the late victory against the\nCanaanites, they reproach him for his conduct from Egypt, and the\nmanna wherewith he nourished them in the wilderness. They would not\ngo to Canaan, the way God had chosen, nor preserve themselves by\nthe means God had ordained. They would not be at God\u2019s disposal, but\ncomplain of the badness of the way, and the lightness of manna, empty\nof any necessary juice to sustain their nature. They murmuringly\nsolicit the will and power of God to change all that order which he\nhad resolved in his counsel, and take another, conformable to their\nvain foolish desires; and they signified thereby that they would\ninvade his conduct, and that he should act according to their fancy,\nwhich the psalmist calls a \u201ctempting of God, and limiting the Holy One\nof Israel\u201d (Psalm lxxviii. 41). To what point soever the declarations\nof God stand, the will of man turns the quite contrary way. Is not\nthe carriage of this nation the best then in the world? a discovery\nof the depth of our natural corruption, how cross man is to God?\nAnd that charge God brings against them, may be brought against all\nmen by nature, that they despise his judgments, and have a rooted\nabhorrency of his statutes in their soul (Lev. xxvi. 43). No sooner\nhad they recovered from one rebellion, but they revolted to another;\nso difficult a thing it is for man\u2019s nature to be rendered capable of\nconforming to the will of God. The carriage of this people is but a\ncopy of the nature of mankind, and is \u201cwritten for our admonition\u201d\n(1 Cor. x. 11). From this temper men are said to make \u201cvoid the law of\nGod;\u201d[182] to make it of no obligation, an antiquated and moth\u2011eaten\nrecord. And the Pharisees, by setting up their traditions against the\nwill of God, are said to make his law of \u201cnone effect;\u201d to strip it of\nall its authority, as the word signifies, (Matt. xv. 6), \u1f20\u03ba\u03c5\u03c1\u03ce\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5.\n\n3. We have the greatest slight of that will of God which is most for\nhis honor and his greatest pleasure. It is the nature of man, ever\nsince Adam, to do so (Hos. vi. 6, 7). God desired mercy and not a\nsacrifice; the knowledge of himself more than burnt offering; but they,\nlike men as Adam, have transgressed the covenant, invade God\u2019s rights,\nand not let him be Lord of one tree. We are more curious observers of\nthe fringes of the law than of the greater concerns of it. The Jews\nwere diligent in sacrifices and offerings, which God did not urge upon\nthem as principals, but as types of other things; but negligent of\nthe faith which was to be established by him. Holiness, mercy, pity,\nwhich concerned the honor of God, as governor of the world, and were\nimitations of the holiness and goodness of God, they were strangers\nto. This is God\u2019s complaint {a111} (Isa. i. 11, 12, xvi. 17). We shall\nfind our hearts most averse to the observation of those laws which are\neternal, and essential to righteousness; such that he could not but\ncommand, as he is a righteous Governor; in the observation of which we\ncome nearest to him, and express his image more clearly; as those laws\nfor an inward and spiritual worship, a supreme affection to him. God,\nin regard of his righteousness and holiness of his nature, and the\nexcellency of his being, could not command the contrary to these. But\nthis part of his will our hearts most swell against, our corruption\ndoth most snarl at; whereas those laws which are only positive, and\nhave no intrinsic righteousness in them, but depend purely upon the\nwill of the Lawgiver, and may be changed at his pleasure (which the\nother, that have an intrinsic righteousness in them, cannot), we\nbetter comply with, than that part of his will that doth express more\nthe righteousness of his nature;[183] such as the ceremonial part of\nworship, and the ceremonial law among the Jews. We are more willing\nto observe order in some outward attendances and glavering devotions,\nthan discard secret affections to evil, crucify inward lusts and\ndelightful thoughts. A \u201changing down the head like a bullrush\u201d is not\ndifficult; but the \u201cbreaking the heart,\u201d like a potter\u2019s vessel, to\nshreds and dust (a sacrifice God delights in, whereby the excellency\nof God and the vileness of the creature is owned), goes against the\ngrain; to cut off an outward branch is not so hard as to hack at the\nroot. What God most loathes, as most contrary to his will, we most\nlove: no sin did God so severely hate, and no sin were the Jews more\ninclined unto, than that of idolatry. The heathen had not changed\ntheir God, as the Jews had changed their glory (Jer. ii. 11); and all\nmen are naturally tainted with this sin, which is so contrary to the\nholy and excellent nature of God. By how much the more defect there is\nof purity in our respects to God, by so much the more respect there is\nto some idol within or without us, to humor, custom, and interest, &c.\nNever did any law of God meet with so much opposition as Christianity,\nwhich was the design of God from the first promise to the exhibiting\nthe Redeemer, and from thence to the end of the world. All people\ndrew swords at first against it. The Romans prepared yokes for their\nneighbors, but provided temples for the idols those people worshipped;\nbut Christianity, the choicest design and most delightful part of the\nwill of God, never met with a kind entertainment at first in any place;\nRome, that entertained all others, persecuted this with fire and sword,\nthough sealed by greater testimonies from heaven than their own\nrecords could report in favor of their idols.\n\n4. In running the greatest hazards, and exposing ourselves to more\ntrouble to cross the will of God, than is necessary to the observance\nof it. It is a vain charge men bring against the divine precepts, that\nthey are rigorous, severe, difficult; when, besides the contradiction\nto our Saviour, who tells us his \u201cyoke is easy,\u201d and his \u201cburthen\nlight,\u201d they thwart their own calm reason and judgment. Is there not\nmore difficulty to be vicious, covetous, violent, cruel, than to be\nvirtuous, charitable, kind? Doth the will of God enjoin that that\nis {a112} not conformable to right reason, and secretly delightful\nin the exercise and issue? And on the contrary, what doth Satan and\nthe world engage us in, that is not full of molestation and hazard?\nIs it a sweet and comely thing to combat continually against our\nown consciences, and resist our own light, and commence a perpetual\nquarrel against ourselves, as we ordinarily do when we sin? They in\nthe Prophet (Micah vi. 6\u20128) would be at the expense of \u201cthousands of\nrams, and ten thousand rivers of oil,\u201d if they could compass them; yea,\nwould strip themselves of their natural affection to their first\u2011born\nto expiate the \u201csin of their soul,\u201d rather than to \u201cdo justice, love\nmercy, and walk humbly with God;\u201d things more conducible to the honor\nof God, the welfare of the world, the security of their souls, and\nof a more easy practice than the offerings they wished for. Do not\nmen then disown God when they will walk in ways hedged with thorns,\nwherein they meet with the arrows of conscience, at every turn, in\ntheir sides; and slide down to an everlasting punishment, sink under\nan intolerable slavery, to contradict the will of God? when they will\nprefer a sensual satisfaction, with a combustion in their consciences,\nviolation of their reasons, gnawing cares and weary travels before the\nhonor of God, the dignity of their natures, the happiness of peace and\nhealth, which might be preserved at a cheaper rate, than they are at\nto destroy them?\n\n5. In the unwillingness and awkwardness of the heart, when it is\nto pay God a service. Men \u201cdo evil with both hands earnestly,\u201d[184]\nbut do good with one hand faintly; no life in the heart, nor any\ndiligence in the hand. What slight and loose thoughts of God doth\nthis unwillingness imply? It is a wrong to his providence, as though\nwe were not under his government, and had no need of his assistance;\na wrong to his excellency, as though there were no amiableness in him\nto make his service desirable; an injury to his goodness and power,\nas if he were not able or willing to reward the creatures\u2019 obedience,\nor careless not to take notice of it; it is a sign we receive little\nsatisfaction in him, and that there is a great unsuitableness between\nhim and us.\n\n(1.) There is a kind of constraint in the first engagement. We are\nrather pressed to it than enter ourselves volunteers. What we call\nservice to God is done naturally much against our wills; it is not a\ndelightful food, but a bitter potion; we are rather haled, than run\nto it. There is a contradiction of sin within us against our service,\nas there was a contradiction of sinners without our Saviour against\nhis doing the will of God. Our hearts are unwieldy to any spiritual\nservice of God; we are fain to use a violence with them sometimes:\nHezekiah, it is said, \u201cwalked before the Lord, with a perfect heart\u201d\n(2 Kings xx. 9); he walked, he made himself to walk: man naturally\ncares not for a walk with God; if he hath any communion with him, it\nis with such a dulness and heaviness of spirit as if he wished himself\nout of his company. Man\u2019s nature, being contrary to holiness, hath an\naversion to any act of homage to God, because holiness must at least\nbe pretended. In every duty wherein we have a communion with God,\nholiness is requisite: now as men are against {a113} the truth of\nholiness, because it is unsuitable to them, so they are not friends\nto those duties which require it, and for some space divert them from\nthe thoughts of their beloved lusts. The word of the Lord is a yoke,\nprayer a drudgery, obedience a strange element. We are like fish, that\n\u201cdrink up iniquity like water,\u201d[185] and come not to the bank without\nthe force of an angle; no more willing to do service for God, than\na fish is of itself to do service for man. It is a constrained act to\nsatisfy conscience, and such are servile, not son\u2011like performances,\nand spring from bondage more than affection; if conscience, like a\ntask\u2011master, did not scourge them to duty, they would never perform\nit. Let us appeal to ourselves, whether we are not more unwilling to\nsecret, closet, hearty duty to God, than to join with others in some\nexternal service; as if those inward services were a going to the rack,\nand rather our penance than privilege. How much service hath God in\nthe world from the same principle that vagrants perform their task in\nBridewell! How glad are many of evasions to back them in the neglect\nof the commands of God, of corrupt reasonings from the flesh to waylay\nan act of obedience, and a multitude of excuses to blunt the edge of\nthe precept! The very service of God shall be a pretence to deprive\nhim of the obedience due to him. Saul will not be ruled by God\u2019s will\nin the destroying the cattle of the Amalekites, but by his own; and\nwill impose upon the will and wisdom of God, judging God mistaken in\nhis command, and that the cattle God thought fittest to be meat to\nthe fowls, were fitter to be sacrifices on the altar.[186] If we do\nperform any part of his will, is it not for our own ends, to have\nsome deliverance from trouble? (Isa. xxvi. 16): \u201cIn trouble have\nthey visited thee; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was\nupon them.\u201d In affliction, he shall find them kneeling in homage and\ndevotion; in prosperity, he shall feel them kicking with contempt;\nthey can pour out a prayer in distress, and scarce drop one when they\nare delivered.\n\n(2.) There is a slightness in our service of God. We are loth to come\ninto his presence; and when we do come, we are loth to continue with\nhim. We pay not an homage to him heartily, as to our Lord and Governor;\nwe regard him not as our Master, whose work we ought to do, and whose\nhonor we ought to aim at. 1. In regard of the matter of service. When\nthe torn, the lame, and the sick is offered to God;[187] so thin and\nlean a sacrifice, that you may have thrown it to the ground with a\npuff; so some understand the meaning of \u201cyou have snuffed at it.\u201d\nMen have naturally such slight thoughts of the majesty and law of God,\nthat they think any service is good enough for him, and conformable\nto his law. The dullest and deadest time we think fittest to pay God\na service in; when sleep is ready to close our eyes, and we are unfit\nto serve ourselves, we think it a fit time to open our hearts to God.\nHow few morning sacrifices hath God from many persons and families!\nMen leap out of their beds to their carnal pleasures or worldly\nemployments, without any thought of their Creator and Preserver, or\nany reflection upon his will as the rule of our daily obedience. And\nas many reserve the dregs of their lives, their old age, to offer up\ntheir souls to {a114} God, so they reserve the dregs of the day, their\nsleeping time, for the offering up their service to him. How many\ngrudge to spend their best time in the serving the will of God, and\nreserve for him the sickly and rheumatic part of their lives; the\nremainder of that which the devil and their own lusts have fed upon!\nWould not any prince or governor judge a present half eaten up by\nwild beasts, or that which died in a ditch, a contempt of his royalty?\nA corrupt thing is too base and vile for so great a King as God is,\nwhose name is dreadful.[188] When by age men are weary of their own\nbodies, they would present them to God; yet grudgingly, as if a tired\nbody were too good for him, snuffing at the command for service. God\ncalls for our best, and we give him the worst. 2. In respect of frame.\nWe think any frame will serve God\u2019s turn, which speaks our slight\nof God as a Ruler. Man naturally performs duty with an unholy heart,\nwhereby it becomes an abomination to God (Prov. xxviii. 9): \u201cHe that\nturns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayers shall be\nan abomination to God.\u201d The services which he commands, he hates for\ntheir evil frames or corrupt ends (Amos v. 21): \u201cI hate, I despise\nyour feast\u2011days, I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.\u201d God\nrequires gracious services, and we give him corrupt ones. We do not\nrouse up our hearts, as David called upon his lute and harp to awake\n(Psalm lvii. 8). Our hearts are not given to him; we put him off with\nbodily exercise. The heart is but ice to what it doth not affect.\n[1.] There is not that natural vigor in the observance of God, which\nwe have in worldly business. When we see a liveliness in men in other\nthings, change the scene into a motion towards God, how suddenly doth\ntheir vigor shrink and their hearts freeze into sluggishness! Many\ntimes we serve God as languishingly as if we were afraid he should\naccept us, and pray as coldly as if we were unwilling he should\nhear us, and take away that lust by which we are governed, and which\nconscience forces us to pray against; as if we were afraid God should\nset up his own throne and government in our hearts. How fleeting are\nwe in divine meditation, how sleepy in spiritual exercises! but in\nother exercises active. The soul doth not awaken itself, and excite\nthose animal and vital spirits, which it will in bodily recreations\nand sports; much less the powers of the soul: whereby it is evident\nwe prefer the latter before any service to God. Since there is a\nfulness of animal spirits, why might they not be excited in holy\nduties as well as in other operations, but that there is a reluctancy\nin the soul to exercise its supremacy in this case, and perform\nanything becoming a creature in subjection to God as a Ruler?\n[2.] It is evident also in the distractions we have in his service.\nHow loth are we to serve God fixedly one hour, nay a part of an hour,\nnotwithstanding all the thoughts of his majesty, and the eternity\nof glory set before our eye! What man is there, since the fall of\nAdam, that served God one hour without many wanderings and unsuitable\nthoughts unfit for that service? How ready are our hearts to start\nout and unite themselves with any worldly objects that please us!\n[3.] Weariness in it evidenceth it. To be weary of our dulness\nsignifies a desire, {a115} to be weary of service signifies a\ndiscontent, to be ruled by God. How tired are we in the performance\nof spiritual duties, when in the vain triflings of time we have a\nperpetual motion! How will many willingly revel whole nights, when\ntheir hearts will flag at the threshold of a religious service! like\nDagon,[189] lose both our heads to think, and hands to act, when the\nark of God is present. Some in the Prophet wished the new moon and\nthe Sabbath over, that they might sell their corn, and be busied again\nin their worldly affairs.[190] A slight and weariness of the Sabbath,\nwas a slight of the Lord of the Sabbath, and of that freedom from the\nyoke and rule of sin, which was signified by it. The design of the\nsacrifices in the new moon was to signify a rest from the tyranny of\nsin, and a consecration to the spiritual service of God. Servants that\nare quickly weary of their work, are weary of the authority of their\nmaster that enjoins it. If our hearts had a value for God, it would\nbe with us as with the needle to the loadstone; there would be upon\nhis beck a speedy motion to him, and a fixed union with him. When the\njudgments and affections of the saints shall be fully refined in glory,\nthey shall be willing to behold the face of God, and be under his\ngovernment to eternity, without any weariness: as the holy angels have\nowned God as their sovereign near these six thousand years, without\nbeing weary of running on his errands. But, alas, while the flesh\nclogs us, there will be some relics of unwillingness to hear his\ninjunctions, and weariness in performing them; though men may excuse\nthose things by extrinsic causes, yet God\u2019s unerring judgment calls it\na weariness of himself (Isaiah xliii. 22): \u201cThou hast not called upon\nme, O Jacob, but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.\u201d Of this he\ntaxeth his own people, when he tells them he would have the beasts\nof the field, the dragons and the owls\u2015\u2015the Gentiles, that the Jews\ncounted no better than such\u2015\u2015to honor him and acknowledge him their\nrule in a way of duty (ver. 20, 21).\n\n6. This contempt is seen in a deserting the rule of God, when our\nexpectations are not answered upon our service. When services are\nperformed from carnal principles, they are soon cast off when carnal\nends meet not with desired satisfaction. But when we own ourselves\nGod\u2019s servants and God our Master, \u201cour eyes will wait upon him till\nhe have mercy on us.\u201d[191] It is one part of the duty we owe to God\nas our Master in heaven to continue in prayer (Col. iv. 1, 2); and\nby the same reason in all other service, and to watch in the same\nwith thanksgiving: to watch for occasions of praise, to watch with\ncheerfulness for further manifestations of his will, strength to\nperform it, success in the performance, that we may from all draw\nmatter of praise. As we are in a posture of obedience to his precepts,\nso we should be in a posture of waiting for the blessing of it. But\nnaturally we reject the duty we owe to God, if he do not speed the\nblessing we expect from him. How many do secretly mutter the same as\nthey in Job xxi. 15: \u201cWhat is the Almighty that we should serve him,\nand what profit shall we have if we pray to him?\u201d They serve not God\nout of conscience to his commands, but for some carnal profit; and if\nGod make them to wait for it, they will not {a116} stay his leisure,\nbut cease soliciting him any longer. Two things are expressed;\u2015\u2015that\nGod was not worthy of any homage from them,\u2015\u2015\u201cWhat is the Almighty\nthat we should serve him?\u201d and that the service of him would not bring\nthem in a good revenue or an advantage of that kind they expected.\nInterest drives many men on to some kind of service, and when they do\nnot find an advance of that, they will acknowledge God no more; but\nlike some beggars, if you give them not upon their asking, and calling\nyou good master, from blessing they will turn to cursing. How often\ndo men do that secretly, practically, if not plainly, which Job\u2019s wife\nadvised him to, curse God, and cast off that disguise of integrity\nthey had assumed! (Job ii. 9): \u201cDost thou still retain thy integrity?\ncurse God. \u201d What a stir, and pulling, and crying is here! Cast off\nall thoughts of religious service, and be at daggers drawing with\nthat God, who for all thy service of him has made thee so wretched\na spectacle to men, and a banquet for worms. The like temper is\ndeciphered in the Jews (Mal. iii. 14), \u201cIt is in vain to serve God,\nand what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, that we have\nwalked mournfully before the Lord?\u201d What profit is it that we have\nregarded his statutes, and carried ourselves in a way of subjection\nto God, as our Sovereign, when we inherit nothing but sorrow, and the\nidolatrous neighbors swim in all kind of pleasures? as if it were the\nmost miserable thing to acknowledge God? If men have not the benefits\nthey expect, they think God unrighteous in himself, and injurious to\nthem, in not conferring the favor they imagine they have merited; and\nif they have not that recompense, they will deny God that subjection\nthey owe to him as creatures. Grace moves to God upon a sense of duty;\ncorrupt nature upon a sense of interest. Sincerity is encouraged by\ngracious returns, but is not melted away by God\u2019s delay or refusal.\nCorrupt nature would have God at its back, and steers a course of duty\nby hope of some carnal profit, not by a sense of the sovereignty of\nGod.\n\n7. This contempt is seen in breaking promises with God. \u201cOne while\nthe conscience of a man makes vows of new obedience, and perhaps\nbinds himself with many an oath; but they prove like Jonah\u2019s gourd,\nwithering the next day after their birth. This was Pharaoh\u2019s temper:\nunder a storm he would submit to God, and let Israel go; but when\nthe storm is ended, he will not be under God\u2019s control, and Israel\u2019s\nslavery shall be increased. The fear of Divine wrath makes many\na sinner turn his back upon his sin, and the love of his ruling\nlust makes him turn his back upon his true Lord. This is from the\nprevalency of sin, that disputes with God for the sovereignty.\u201d[192]\nWhen God hath sent a sharp disease, as a messenger to bind men to\ntheir beds, and make an interruption of their sinful pleasures, their\nmouths are full of promises of a new life, in hope to escape the just\nvengeance of God: the sense of hell, which strikes strongly upon them,\nmakes them full of such pretended resolutions when they howl upon\ntheir beds. But if God be pleased in his patience to give them a\nrespite, to take off the chains wherewith he seemed to be binding\nthem for destruction, and recruit their strength, {a117} they are\nmore earnest in their sins than they were in their promises of a\nreformation, as if they had got the mastery of God, and had outwitted\nhim. How often doth God charge them of not returning to him after a\nsuccession of judgments![193] So hard it is, not only to allure, but\nto scourge men, to an acknowledgment of God as their Ruler!\n\nConsider then, are we not naturally inclined to disobey the known\nwill of God? Can we say, Lord, for thy sake we refrain the thing to\nwhich our hearts incline? Do we not allow ourselves to be licentious,\nearthly, vain, proud, revengeful, though we know it will offend him?\nHave we not been peevishly cross to his declared will? run counter to\nhim and those laws which express most of the glory of his holiness?\nIs not this to disown him as our rule? Did we never wish there were\nno law to bind us, no precept to check our idols? What is this, but\nto wish that God would depose himself from being our governor, and\nleave us to our own conduct? or else to wish that he were as unholy\nas ourselves, as careless of his own laws as we are; that is, that\nhe were no more a God than we, a God as sinful and unrighteous as\nourselves? He whose heart riseth against the law of God to unlaw it,\nriseth against the Author of that law to undeify him. He that casts\ncontempt upon the dearest thing God hath in the world, that which is\nthe image of his holiness, the delight of his soul; that which he hath\ngiven a special charge to maintain, and that because it is holy, just,\nand good, would not stick to rejoice at the destruction of God himself.\nIf God\u2019s holiness and righteousness in the beam be despised, much more\nwill an immense goodness and holiness in the fountain be rejected:\nhe that wisheth a beam far from his eyes, because it offends and\nscorcheth him, can be no friend to the sun, from whence that beam\ndoth issue. How unworthy a creature is man, since he only, a rational\ncreature, is the sole being that withdraws itself from the rule of\nGod in this earth! And how miserable a creature is he also, since,\ndeparting from the order of God\u2019s goodness, he falls into the order\nof his justice; and while he refuseth God to be the rule of his life,\nhe cannot avoid him being the Judge of his punishment! It is this is\nthe original of all sin, and the fountain of all our misery. This is\nthe first thing man disowns, the rule which God sets him.\n\nSecondly, Man naturally owns any other rule rather than that of God\u2019s\nprescribing. The law of God orders one thing, the heart of man desires\nanother. There is not the basest thing in the world, but man would\nsooner submit to be guided by it, rather than by the holiness of God;\nand when anything that God commands crosses our own wills, we value\nit no more than we would the advice of a poor despicable beggar. How\nmany are \u201clovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God!\u201d[194] To make\nsomething which contributes to the perfection of nature, as learning,\nwisdom, moral virtues, our rule, would be more tolerable; but to pay\nthat homage to a swinish pleasure, which is the right of God, is an\ninexcusable contempt of him. The greatest excellency in the world\nis infinitely below God; much more a bestial delight, which is both\ndisgraceful and below the nature of {a118} man. If we made the vilest\ncreature on earth our idol, it is more excusable than to be the slave\nof a brutish pleasure. The viler the thing is that doth possess the\nthrone in our heart, the greater contempt it is of him who can only\nclaim a right to it, and is worthy of it. Sin is the first object\nof man\u2019s election, as soon as the faculty whereby he chooses comes\nto exercise its power; and it is so dear to man, that it is, in the\nestimate of our Saviour, counted as the right hand, and the right eye,\ndear, precious, and useful members.\n\n1. The rule of Satan is owned before the rule of God. The natural\nman would rather be under the guidance of Satan than the yoke of his\nCreator. Adam chose him to be his governor in Paradise. No sooner had\nSatan spoke of God in a way of derision (Gen. iii. 1, 5), \u201cYea, hath\nGod said,\u201d but man follows his counsel and approves of the scoff; and\nthe greatest part of his posterity have not been wiser by his fall,\nbut would rather ramble in the devil\u2019s wilderness, than to stay in\nGod\u2019s fold. It is by the sin of man that the devil is become the god\nof the world, as if men were the electors of him to the government;\nsin is an election of him for a lord, and a putting the soul under his\ngovernment. Those that live according to the course of the world, and\nare loth to displease it, are under the government of the prince of\nit. The greatest part of the works done in the world is to enlarge\nthe kingdom of Satan. For how many ages were the laws whereby the\ngreatest part of the world was governed in the affairs of religion,\nthe fruits of his usurpation and policy? When temples were erected\nto him, priests consecrated to his service; the rites used in most\nof the worship of the world were either of his own coining, or the\nmisapplying the rites God had ordained to himself, under the notion\nof a God: whence the apostle calls all idolatrous feasts the table\nof devils, the cup of devils, sacrifice to devils, fellowship with\ndevils;[195] devils being the real object of the pagan worship, though\nnot formally intended by the worshipper; though in some parts of the\nIndies, the direct and peculiar worship is to the devil, that he might\nnot hurt them. And though the intention of others was to offer to God,\nand not the devil, yet since the action was contrary to the will of\nGod, he regards it as a sacrifice to devils. It was not the intention\nof Jeroboam to establish priests to the devil, when he consecrated\nthem to the service of his calves, for Jehu afterwards calls them \u201cthe\nservants of the Lord\u201d (2 Kings x. 23), \u201cSee if there be here none of\nthe servants of the Lord,\u201d to distinguish them from the servants of\nBaal; signifying that the true God was worshipped under those images,\nand not Baal, nor any of the gods of the heathens; yet the Scripture\ncouples the calves and devils together, and ascribes the worship given\nto one to be given to the other: \u201cHe ordained him priests for the high\nplaces, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made;\u201d[196]\nso that they were sacrifices to devils, notwithstanding the intention\nof Jeroboam and his subjects that had set them up and worshipped them,\nbecause they were contrary to the mind of God, and agreeable to the\ndoctrine and mind of Satan, though the object of their worship in\ntheir own intention were not the devil, but some deified man or some\ncanonized saint. {a119} The intention makes not a good action; if so,\nwhen men kill the best servants of God with a design to do God service,\nas our Saviour foretells,[197] the action would not be murder; yet\nwho can call it otherwise, since God is wronged in the persons of his\nservants? Since most of the worship of the world, which men\u2019s corrupt\nnatures incline them to, is false and different from the revealed will\nof God, it is a practical acknowledgment of the devil, as the governor,\nby acknowledging and practising those doctrines, which have not the\nstamp of divine revelation upon them, but were minted by Satan to\ndepress the honor of God in the world. It doth concern men, then,\nto take good heed, that in their acts of worship they have a divine\nrule; otherwise it is an owning the devil as the rule: for there is no\nmedium; whatsoever is not from God, is from Satan. But to bring this\ncloser to us, and consider that which is more common among us: men\nthat are in a natural condition, and wedded to their lusts, are under\nthe paternal government of Satan (John viii. 44): \u201cYe are of your\nfather, the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.\u201d If we\ndivide sin into spiritual and carnal, which division comprehends all,\nthe devil\u2019s authority is owned in both; in spiritual, we conform to\nhis example, because those he commits; in carnal, we obey his will,\nbecause those he directs: he acts the one, and sets us a copy; he\ntempts to the other, and gives us a kind of a precept. Thus man by\nnature being a willing servant of sin, is more desirous to be bound\nin the devil\u2019s iron chain, than in God\u2019s silken cords. What greater\natheism can there be, than to use God as if he were inferior to the\ndevil? to take the part of his greatest enemy, who drew all others\ninto the faction against him? to pleasure Satan by offending God, and\ngratify our adversary with the injury of our Creator? For a subject\nto take arms against his prince with the deadliest enemy both himself\nand prince hath in the whole world, adds a greater blackness to the\nrebellion.\n\n2. The more visible rule preferred before God in the world, is man.\nThe opinion of the world is more our rule than the precept of God;\nand many men\u2019s abstinence from sin is not from a sense of the Divine\nwill, no, nor from a principle of reason, but from an affection to\nsome man on whom they depend, or fear of punishment from a superior;\nthe same principle with that in a ravenous beast, who abstains from\nwhat he desires, for fear only of a stick or club. Men will walk with\nthe herds, go in fashion with the most, speak and act as the most\ndo. While we conform to the world, we cannot perform a reasonable\nservice to God, nor prove, nor approve practically what the good and\nacceptable will of God is; the apostle puts them in opposition to one\nanother.[198] This appears,\n\n1. In complying more with the dictates of men, than the will of God.\nMen draw encouragement from God\u2019s forbearance to sin more freely\nagainst him; but the fear of punishment for breaking the will of man\nlays a restraint upon them. The fear of man is a more powerful curb,\nto restrain men in their duty, than the fear of God; so we may please\na friend, a master, a governor, we are regardless whether we please\nGod or no; men\u2011pleasers are more than God\u2011pleasers; {a120} man is\nmore advanced as a rule, than God, when we submit to human orders, and\nstagger and dispute against divine. Would not a prince think himself\nslighted in his authority, if any of his servants should decline his\ncommands, by the order of one of his subjects? And will not God make\nthe same account of us, when we deny or delay our obedience, for fear\nof one of his creatures? In the fear of man, we as little acknowledge\nGod for our sovereign, as we do for our comforter (Isa. li. 12, 13):\n\u201cI, even I, am he that comforteth you; who art thou, that thou\nshouldst be afraid of a man that shall die,\u201d &c. \u201cand forgettest\nthe Lord thy maker?\u201d &c. We put a slight upon God, as if he were not\nable to bear us out in our duty to him, and incapable to balance the\nstrength of an arm of flesh.\n\n2. In observing that which is materially the will of God, not because\nit is his will, but the injunctions of men. As the word of God may be\nreceived, yet not as his word, so the will of God may be performed,\nyet not as his will; it is materially done, but not formally obeyed.\nAn action, and obedience in that action, are two things; as when man\ncommands the ceasing from all works of the ordinary calling on the\nSabbath, it is the same that God enjoins: the cessation, or attendance\nof his servants on the hearing of the word, are conformable in the\nmatter of it to the will of God; but it is only conformable in the\nobediential part of the acts to the will of man, when it is done only\nwith respect to a human precept. As God hath a right to enact his\nlaws without consulting his creature in the way of his government, so\nman is bound to obey those laws, without consulting whether they be\nagreeable to men\u2019s laws or no. If we act the will of God because the\nwill of our superiors concurs with it, we obey not God in that, but\nman, a human will being the rule of our obedience, and not the divine;\nthis is to vilify God, and make him inferior to man in our esteem, and\na valuing the rule of man above that of our Creator. Since God is the\nhighest perfection and infinitely good, whatsoever rule he gives the\ncreature must be good, else it cannot proceed from God. A base thing\ncannot be the product of an infinite excellency, and an unreasonable\nthing cannot be the product of an infinite wisdom and goodness;\ntherefore, as the respecting God\u2019s will before the will of man is\nexcellent and worthy of a creature, and is an acknowledging the\nexcellency, goodness, and wisdom of God, so the eying the will of man\nbefore and above the will of God, is on the contrary, a denial of all\nthose in a lump, and a preferring the wisdom, goodness, and power of\nman in his law, above all those perfections of God in his. Whatsoever\nmen do that looks like moral virtue or abstinence from vices, not\nout of obedience to the rule God hath set, but because of custom,\nnecessity, example, or imitation, they may, in the doing of it, be\nrather said to be apes than Christians.\n\n3. In obeying the will of man when it is contrary to the will of\nGod; as the Israelites willingly \u201cwalked after the commandment,\u201d[199]\nnot of God, but of Jeroboam in the case of the calves, and \u201cmade\nthe king\u2019s heart glad with their lies.\u201d[200] They cheered him with\ntheir ready obedience to his command for idolatry (which was a lie\nin itself, and a lie in them) against the commandment of God, and the\n{a121} warnings of the prophets, rather than cheer the heart of God\nwith their obedience to his worship instituted by him; nay, and when\nGod offered them to cure them their wound, their iniquity breaks\nout afresh; they would neither have him as a lord to rule them, nor\na physician to cure them (Hosea vii. 1): \u201cWhen I would have healed\nIsrael, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered.\u201d The whole\nPersian nation shrunk at once from a duty due by the light of nature\nto the Deity, upon a decree that \u201cneither God or man should be\npetitioned to for thirty days, but only their king;\u201d[201] one only,\nDaniel, excepted against it, who preferred his homage to God, above\nobedience to his prince. An adulterous generation is many times made\nthe rule of men\u2019s professions, as is implied in those words of our\nSaviour (Mark viii. 38): \u201cWhosoever shall be ashamed of me and my\nwords in this adulterous and sinful generation:\u201d own him among his\ndisciples, and be ashamed of him among his enemies. Thus men are\nsaid to deny God (Tit. i. 16), when they \u201cattend to Jewish fables\nand the precepts of men rather than the word of God;\u201d when the\ndecrees or canons of fallible men are valued at a higher rate, and\npreferred before the writings of the Holy Ghost by his apostles. As\nman naturally disowns the rule God sets him, and owns any other rule\nthan that of God\u2019s prescribing, so,\n\nThirdly, He doth this in order to the setting himself up as his own\nrule; as though our own wills, and not God\u2019s, were the true square and\nmeasure of goodness. We make an idol of our own wills, and as much as\nself is exalted, God is deposed; the more we esteem our own wills, the\nmore we endeavor to annihilate the will of God; account nothing of him,\nthe more we account of ourselves, and endeavor to render ourselves his\nsuperiors, by exalting our own wills. No prince but would look upon\nhis authority as invaded, his royalty derided, if a subject should\nresolve to be a law to himself, in opposition to his known will; true\npiety is to hate ourselves, deny ourselves, and cleave solely to the\nservice of God. To make ourselves our own rule, and the object of\nour chiefest love, is atheism. If self\u2011denial be the greatest part\nof godliness, the great letter in the alphabet of religion; self\u2011love\nis the great letter in the alphabet of practical atheism. Self is the\ngreat antichrist and anti\u2011God in the world, that sets up itself above\nall that is called God; self\u2011love is the captain of that black band\n(2 Tim. iii. 2): it sits in the temple of God, and would be adored as\nGod. Self\u2011love begins; but denying the power of godliness, which is\nthe same with denying the ruling power of God, ends the list. It is so\nfar from bending to the righteous will of the Creator, that it would\nhave the eternal will of God stoop to the humor and unrighteous will\nof a creature; and this is the ground of the contention between the\nflesh and spirit in the heart of a renewed man; flesh wars for the\ngodhead of self, and spirit fights for the godhead of God; the one\nwould settle the throne of the Creator, and the other maintain a\nlaw of covetousness, ambition, envy, lust, in the stead of God. The\nevidence of this will appear in these propositions:\n\n1. This is natural to man as he is corrupted. What was the venom\n{a122} of the sin of Adam, is naturally derived with his nature to\nall his posterity. It was not the eating a forbidden apple, or the\npleasing his palate that Adam aimed at, or was the chief object of\nhis desire, but to live independently on his Creator, and be a God\nto himself (Gen. iii. 5): \u201cYou shall be as gods.\u201d That which was the\nmatter of the devil\u2019s temptation, was the incentive of man\u2019s rebellion;\na likeness to God he aspired to in the judgment of God himself, an\ninfallible interpreter of man\u2019s thoughts; \u201cBehold, man is become\nas one of us, to know good and evil,\u201d in regard of self\u2011sufficiency\nand being a rule to himself. The Jews understand the ambition of man\nto reach no further than an equality with the angelical nature; but\nJehovah here understands it in another sense; God had ordered man by\nthis prohibition not to eat of the fruit of the \u201ctree of knowledge\nof good and evil;\u201d not to attempt the knowledge of good and evil of\nhimself, but to wait upon the dictates of God; not to trust to his own\ncounsels, but to depend wholly upon him for direction and guidance.\nCertainly he that would not hold off his hand from so small a thing\nas an apple, when he had his choice of the fruit of the garden, would\nnot have denied himself anything his appetite had desired, when that\nprinciple had prevailed upon him; he would not have stuck at a greater\nmatter to pleasure himself with the displeasing of God, when for so\nsmall a thing he would incur the anger of his Creator. Thus would he\ndeify his own understanding against the wisdom of God, and his own\nappetite against the will of God. This desire of equality with God,\na learned man[202] thinks the apostle intimates (Phil. ii. 6): \u201cWho\nbeing in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God;\u201d\nthe Son\u2019s being in the form of God, and thinking it no robbery to be\nequal with God, implies that the robbery of sacrilege committed by our\nfirst parents, for which the Son of God humbled himself to the death\nof the cross, was an attempt to be equal with God, and depend no more\nupon God\u2019s directions, but his own conduct; which could be no less\nthan an invasion of the throne of God, and endeavor to put himself\ninto a posture to be his mate. Other sins, adultery, theft, &c. could\nnot be committed by him at that time, but he immediately puts forth\nhis hand to usurp the power of his Maker; this treason is the old Adam\nin every man. The first Adam contradicted the will of God to set up\nhimself; the second Adam humbled himself, and did nothing but by the\ncommand and will of his Father. This principle wherein the venom of\nthe old Adam lies, must be crucified to make way for the throne of the\nhumble and obedient principle of the new Adam, or quickening Spirit;\nindeed sin in its own nature is nothing else but \u201ca willing according\nto self, and contrary to the will of God;\u201d lusts are therefore called\nthe wills of the flesh and of the mind.[203] As the precepts of God\nare God\u2019s will, so the violation of these precepts is man\u2019s will; and\nthus man usurps a godhead to himself, by giving that honor to his own\nwill which belongs to God, appropriating the right of rule to himself,\nand denying it to his Creator. That servant that acts according to\nhis own will, with a neglect of his master\u2019s, refuseth the duty of\na servant, and invades the right of his master. {a123} This self\u2011love\nand desire of independency on God has been the root of all sin in the\nworld. The great controversy between God and man hath been, whether he\nor they shall be God; whether his reason or theirs, his will or theirs,\nshall be the guiding principle. As grace is the union of the will\nof God and the will of the creature, so sin is the opposition of the\nwill of self to the will of God; \u201cLeaning to our own understanding,\u201d\nis opposed as a natural evil to \u201ctrusting in the Lord,\u201d[204] a\nsupernatural grace. Men commonly love what is their own, their\nown inventions, their own fancies; therefore the ways of a wicked\nman are called the \u201cways of his own heart.\u201d[205] and the ways of a\nsuperstitious man his own devices (Jer. xviii. 11): \u201cWe will walk\nafter our own devices;\u201d we will be a law to ourselves; and what the\nPsalmist saith of the tongue, Our tongues are our own, who shall\ncontrol us? is as truly the language of men\u2019s hearts, Our wills are\nour own, who shall check us?\n\n2. This is evident in the dissatisfaction of men with their own\nconsciences when they contradict the desires of self. Conscience is\nnothing but an actuated or reflex knowledge of a superior power and\nan equitable law; a law impressed, and a power above it impressing\nit. Conscience is not the lawgiver, but the remembrancer to mind\nus of that law of nature imprinted upon our souls, and actuate the\nconsiderations of the duty and penalty, to apply the rule to our\nacts, and pass judgment upon matter of fact: it is to give the charge,\nurge the rule, enjoin the practice of those notions of right, as part\nof our duty and obedience. But man is as much displeased with the\ndirections of conscience, as he is out of love with the accusations\nand condemning sentence of this officer of God: we cannot naturally\nendure any quick and lively practical thoughts of God and his will,\nand distaste our own consciences for putting us in mind of it: they\ntherefore \u201clike not to retain God in their knowledge,\u201d[206] that is,\nGod in their own consciences; they would blow it out, as it is the\ncandle of the Lord in them to direct them, and their acknowledgments\nof God, to secure themselves against the practice of its principles:\nthey would stop all the avenues to any beam of light, and would not\nsuffer a sparkle of divine knowledge to flutter in their minds, in\norder to set up another directing rule suited to the fleshly appetite:\nand when they cannot stop the light of it from glaring in their faces,\nthey rebel against it, and cannot endure to abide in its paths.[207]\nHe speaks not of those which had the written word, or special\nrevelations; but only a natural light or traditional, handed from Adam:\nhence are all the endeavors to still it when it begins to speak, by\nsome carnal pleasures, as Saul\u2019s evil spirit with a fit of music; or\nbribe it with some fits of a glavering devotion, when it holds the\nlaw of God in its commanding authority before the mind: they would\nwipe out all the impressions of it when it presses the advancement\nof God above self, and entertain it with no better compliment than\nAhab did Elijah, \u201cHast thou found me, O my enemy?\u201d If we are like\nto God in anything of our natural fabric, it is in the superior and\nmore spiritual part of our souls. The resistance of that which is\nmost like to God, and instead of God in us, is a disowning of the\nSovereign represented by {a124} that officer. He that would be without\nconscience, would be without God, whose vicegerent it is, and make\nthe sensitive part, which conscience opposes, his lawgiver. Thus a\nman, out of respect to sinful self, quarrels with his natural self,\nand cannot comport himself in a friendly behavior to his internal\nimplanted principles: he hates to come under the rebukes of them, as\nmuch as Adam hated to come into the presence of God, after he turned\ntraitor against him: the bad entertainment God\u2019s deputy hath in us,\nreflects upon that God whose cause it pleads: it is upon no other\naccount that men loathe the upright language of their own reasons in\nthose matters, and wish the eternal silence of their own consciences,\nbut as they maintain the rights of God, and would hinder the idol of\nself from usurping his godhead and prerogative. Though this power be\npart of a man\u2019s self, rooted in his nature, as essential to him and\ninseparable from him as the best part of his being; yet he quarrels\nwith it, as it is God\u2019s deputy, and stickling for the honor of God in\nhis soul, and quarrelling with that sinful self he would cherish above\nGod. We are not displeased with this faculty barely as it exerciseth a\nself\u2011reflection; but as it is God\u2019s vicegerent, and bears the mark of\nhis authority in it. In some cases this self\u2011reflecting act meets with\ngood entertainment, when it acts not in contradiction to self, but\nsuitable to natural affections. As suppose a man hath in his passion\nstruck his child, and caused thereby some great mischief to him, the\nreflection of conscience will not be unwelcome to him; will work some\ntenderness in him, because it takes the part of self and of natural\naffection; but in the more spiritual concerns of God it will be rated\nas a busy\u2011body.\n\n3. Many, if not most actions, materially good in the world, are done\nmore because they are agreeable to self, than as they are honorable\nto God. As the word of God may be heard not as his word,[208] but as\nthere may be pleasing notions in it, or discourses against an opinion\nor party we disaffect; so the will of God may be performed, not as his\nwill, but as it may gratify some selfish consideration, when we will\nplease God so far as it may not displease ourselves, and serve him as\nour Master, so far as his command may be a servant to our humor; when\nwe consider not who it is that commands, but how short it comes of\ndispleasing that sin which rules in our heart, pick and choose what is\nleast burdensome to the flesh, and distasteful to our lusts. He that\ndoth the will of God, not out of conscience of that will, but because\nit is agreeable to himself, casts down the will of God, and sets his\nown will in the place of it; takes the crown from the head of God,\nand places it upon the head of self. If things are done, not because\nthey are commanded by God, but desirable to us, it is a disobedient\nobedience; a conformity to God\u2019s will in regard of the matter, a\nconformity to our own will in regard of the motive; either as the\nthings done are agreeable to natural and moral self, or sinful self.\n\n(1). As they are agreeable to natural or moral self. When men will\npractise some points of religion, and walk in the track of some divine\nprecepts; not because they are divine, but because they are {a125}\nagreeable to their humor or constitution of nature; from the sway\nof a natural bravery, the bias of a secular interest, not from an\ningenuous sense of God\u2019s authority, or a voluntary submission to his\nwill; as when a man will avoid excess in drinking, not because it is\ndishonorable to God, but as it is a blemish to his own reputation,\nor an impair of the health of his body: doth this deserve the name\nof an observance of the divine injunction, or rather an obedience\nto ourselves? Or when a man will be liberal in the distribution of\nhis charity, not with an eye to God\u2019s precept, but in compliance\nwith his own natural compassion, or to pleasure the generosity of\nhis nature: the one is obedience to a man\u2019s own preservation; the\nother an obedience to the interest or impulse of a moral virtue. It\nis not respect to the rule of God, but the authority of self, and, at\nthe best, is but the performance of the material part of the divine\nrule, without any concurrence of a spiritual motive or a spiritual\nmanner. That only is a maintaining the rights of God, when we pay\nan observance to his rule, without examining the agreeableness of\nit to our secular interest, or consulting with the humor of flesh and\nblood; when we will not decline his service, though we find it cross,\nand hath no affinity with the pleasure of our own nature: such an\nobedience as Abraham manifested in his readiness to sacrifice his\nson; such an obedience as our Saviour demands in cutting off the right\nhand. When we observe anything of divine order upon the account of its\nsuitableness to our natural sentiments, we shall readily divide from\nhim, when the interest of nature turns its point against the interest\nof God\u2019s honor; we shall fall off from him according to the change\nwe find in our own humors. And can that be valued as a setting up the\nrule of God, which must be deposed upon the mutable interest of an\ninconstant mind? Esau had no regard to God in delaying the execution\nof his resolution to shorten his brother\u2019s days, though he was awed by\nthe reverence of his father to delay it; he considered, perhaps, how\njustly he might lie under the imputation of hastening crazy Isaac\u2019s\ndeath, by depriving him of a beloved son. But had the old man\u2019s head\nbeen laid, neither the contrary command of God, nor the nearness of a\nfraternal relation, could have bound his hands from the act, no more\nthan they did his heart from the resolution (Gen. xxvii. 41): \u201cEsau\nhated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him;\nand Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are\nat hand, then will I slay my brother.\u201d So many children, that expect\nat the death of their parents great inheritances of portions, may be\nobservant of them, not in regard of the rule fixed by God, but to\ntheir own hopes, which they would not frustrate by a disobligement.\nWhence is it that many men abstain from gross sins, but in love to\ntheir reputation? Wickedness may be acted privately, which a man\u2019s\nown credit puts a bar to the open commission of. The preserving his\nown esteem may divert him from entering into a brothel house, to which\nhe hath set his mind before, against a known precept of his Creator.\nAs Pharaoh parted with the Israelites, so do some men with their\nblemishing sins; not out of a sense of God\u2019s rule, but the smart\nof present judgments, or fear of a future wrath. Our security then,\n{a126} and reputation, is set up in the place of God. This also may be,\nand is in renewed men, who have the law written in their hearts, that\nis, an habitual disposition to an agreement with the law of God; when\nwhat is done is with a respect to this habitual inclination, without\neying the divine precept, which is appointed to be their rule. This\nalso is to set up a creature, as renewed self is, instead of the\nCreator, and that law of his in his word, which ought to be the rule\nof our actions. Thus it is when men choose a moral life, not so much\nout of respect to the law of nature, as it is the law of God, but\nas it is a law become one with their souls and constitutions. There\nis more of self in this than consideration of God; for if it were\nthe latter, the revealed law of God would, upon the same reason, be\nreceived as well as his natural law. From this principle of self,\nmorality comes by some to be advanced above evangelical dictates.\n\n(2.) As they are agreeable to sinful self. Not that the commands of\nGod are suited to bolster up the corruptions of men, no more than\nthe law can be said to excite or revive sin:[209] but it is like a\nscandal taken, not given; an occasion taken by the tumultuousness of\nour depraved nature. The Pharisees were devout in long prayers, not\nfrom a sense of duty, or a care of God\u2019s honor; but to satisfy their\nambition, and rake together fuel for their covetousness,[210] that\nthey might have the greater esteem and richer offerings, to free by\ntheir prayers the souls of deceased persons from purgatory; an opinion\nthat some think the Jewish synagogue had then entertained,[211]\nsince some of their doctors have defended such a notion. Men may\nobserve some precepts of God to have a better conveniency to break\nothers. Jehu was ordered to cut off the house of Ahab. The service\nhe undertook was in itself acceptable, but corrupt nature misacted\nthat which holiness and righteousness commanded. God appointed it to\nmagnify his justice, and check the idolatry that had been supported\nby that family; Jehu acted it to satisfy his revenge and ambition:\nhe did it to fulfil his lust, not the will of God who enjoined him:\nJehu applauds it as zeal; and God abhors it as murder, and therefore\nwould avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu (Hos. i. 4).\nSuch kind of services are not paid to God for his own sake, but to\nourselves for our lusts\u2019 sake.\n\n4. This is evident in neglecting to take God\u2019s direction upon emergent\noccasions. This follows the text, \u201cNone did seek God.\u201d When we consult\nnot with him, but trust more to our own will and counsel, we make\nourselves our own governors and lords independent upon him; as though\nwe could be our own counsellors, and manage our concerns without\nhis leave and assistance; as though our works were in our own hands,\nand not in the \u201chands of God;\u201d[212] that we can by our own strength\nand sagacity direct them to a successful end without him. If we must\n\u201cacquaint ourselves with God\u201d before we decree a thing,[213] then\nto decree a thing without acquainting God with it, is to prefer our\npurblind wisdom before the infinite wisdom of God: to resolve without\nconsulting God, is to depose {a127} God and deify self, our own wit\nand strength. We would rather, like Lot, follow our own humor and stay\nin Sodom, than observe the angel\u2019s order to go out of it.\n\n5. As we account the actions of others to be good or evil, as they\nsuit with, or spurn against our fancies and humors. Virtue is a crime,\nand vice a virtue, as it is contrary or concurrent with our humors.\nLittle reason have many men to blame the actions of others, but\nbecause they are not agreeable to what they affect and desire; we\nwould have all men take directions from us, and move according to our\nbeck, hence that common speech in the world, Such an one is an honest\nfriend. Why? because he is of their humor, and lackeys according to\ntheir wills. Thus we make self the measure and square of good and evil\nin the rest of mankind, and judge of it by our own fancies, and not\nby the will of God, the proper rule of judgment. Well then, let us\nconsider: Is not this very common? are we not naturally more willing\nto displease God than displease ourselves, when it comes to a point\nthat we must do one or other? Is not our own counsel of more value\nwith us, than conformity to the will of the Creator? Do not our\njudgments often run counter to the judgment of God? Have his laws\na greater respect from us, than our own humors? Do we scruple the\nstaining his honor when it comes in competition with our own? Are\nnot the lives of most men a pleasing themselves, without a repentance\nthat ever they displeased God? Is not this to undeify God, to deify\nourselves, and disown the propriety he hath in us by the right of\ncreation and beneficence? We order our own ways by our own humors, as\nthough we were the authors of our own being, and had given ourselves\nlife and understanding. This is to destroy the order that God hath\nplaced between our wills and his own, and a lifting up of the foot\nabove the head; it is the deformity of the creature. The honor of\nevery rational creature consists in the service of the First Cause\nof his being; as the welfare of every creature consists in the orders\nand proportionable motion of its members, according to the law of\nits creation. He that moves and acts according to a law of his own,\noffers a manifest wrong to God, the highest wisdom and chiefest good;\ndisturbs the order of the world; nulls the design of the righteousness\nand holiness of God. The law of God is the rule of that order he\nwould have observed in the world; he that makes another law his rule,\nthrusts out the order of the Creator, and establishes the disorder of\nthe creature. But this will yet be more evident, in the fourth thing.\n\nFourthly, Man would make himself the rule of God, and give laws to\nhis Creator. We are willing God should be our benefactor, but not our\nruler; we are content to admire his excellency and pay him a worship,\nprovided he will walk by our rule. \u201cThis commits a riot upon his\nnature, To think him to be what we ourselve \u2018would have him, and wish\nhim to be\u2019 (Psalm l. 21), we would amplify his mercy and contract his\njustice; we would have his power enlarged to supply our wants, and\nstraitened when it goes about to revenge our crimes; we would have\nhim wise to defeat our enemies, but not to disappoint our unworthy\nprojects; we would have him all eye to regard our indigence, and\nblind not to discern our guilt; we would have him {a128} true to his\npromises, regardless of his precepts, and false to his threatenings;\nwe would new mint the nature of God according to our models, and shape\na God according to our own fancies, as he made us at first according\nto his own image;\u201d instead of obeying him, we would have him obey\nus; instead of owning and admiring his perfections, we would have him\nstrip himself of his infinite excellency, and clothe himself with a\nnature agreeable to our own. This is not only to set up self as the\nlaw of God, but to make our own imaginations the model of the nature\nof God.[214] Corrupted man takes a pleasure to accuse or suspect the\nactions of God: we would not have him act conveniently to his nature;\nbut act what doth gratify us, and abstain from what distastes us. Man\nis never well but when he is impeaching one or other perfection of\nGod\u2019s nature, and undermining his glory, as if all his attributes must\nstand indicted at the bar of our purblind reason: this weed shoots up\nin the exercise of grace. Peter intended the refusal of our Saviour\u2019s\nwashing his feet, as an act of humility, but Christ understands it to\nbe a prescribing a law to himself, a correcting his love (John xiii.\n8, 9). This is evidenced,\n\n1. In the strivings against his law. How many men imply by their\nlives, that they would have God deposed from his government, and some\nunrighteous being step into his throne; as if God had or should change\nhis laws of holiness into laws of licentiousness: as if he should\nabrogate his old eternal precepts, and enact contrary ones in their\nstead? What is the language of such practices, but that they would be\nGod\u2019s lawgivers and not his subjects? that he should deal with them\naccording to their own wills, and not according to his righteousness?\nthat they could make a more holy, wise, and righteous law than the\nlaw of God? that their imaginations, and not God\u2019s righteousness,\nshould be the rule of his doing good to them? (Jer. ix. 31): \u201cThey\nhave forsaken my law, and walked after the imaginations of their own\nheart.\u201d When an act is known to be a sin, and the law that forbids it\nacknowledged to be the law of God, and after this we persist in that\nwhich is contrary to it, we tax his wisdom as if he did not understand\nwhat was convenient for us; \u201cwe would teach God knowledge;\u201d[215] it is\nan implicit wish that God had laid aside the holiness of his nature,\nand framed a law to pleasure our lusts. When God calls for weeping\nand mourning, and girding with sackcloth upon approaching judgments,\nthen the corrupt heart is for joy and gladness, eating of flesh and\ndrinking of wine, because to\u2011morrow they should die;[216] as if God\nhad mistaken himself when he ordered them so much sorrow, when their\nlives were so near an end; and had lost his understanding when he\nordered such a precept: disobedience is therefore called contention\n(Rom. ii. 8): \u201cContentious, and obey not the truth:\u201d contention\nagainst God, whose truth it is that they disobey; a dispute with him,\nwhich hath more of wisdom in itself, and conveniency for them, his\ntruth of their imaginations. The more the love, goodness, and holiness\nof God appears in any command, the more are we naturally averse from\nit, and cast an imputation on him, as if he were foolish, unjust,\ncruel, {a129} and that we could have advised and directed him better.\nThe goodness of God is eminent to us in appointing a day for his own\nworship, wherein we might converse with him, and he with us, and our\nsouls be refreshed with spiritual communications from him; and we\nrather use it for the ease of our bodies, than the advancement of\nour souls, as if God were mistaken and injured his creature, when he\nurged the spiritual part of duty. Every disobedience to the law is\nan implicit giving law to him, and a charge against him that he might\nhave provided better for his creature.\n\n2. In disapproving the methods of God\u2019s government of the world.\nIf the counsels of Heaven roll not about according to their schemes,\ninstead of adoring the unsearchable depths of his judgments, they call\nhim to the bar, and accuse him, because they are not fitted to their\nnarrow vessels, as if a nut\u2011shell could contain an ocean. As corrupt\nreason esteems the highest truths foolishness, so it counts the most\nrighteous ways unequal. Thus we commence a suit against God, as though\nhe had not acted righteously and wisely, but must give an account\nof his proceedings at our tribunal. This is to make ourselves God\u2019s\nsuperiors, and presume to instruct him better in the government of the\nworld; as though God hindered himself and the world, in not making us\nof his privy council, and not ordering his affairs according to the\ncontrivances of our dim understandings. Is not this manifest in our\nimmoderate complaints of God\u2019s dealings with his church, as though\nthere were a coldness in God\u2019s affections to his church, and a glowing\nheat towards it only in us? Hence are those importunate desires for\nthings which are not established by any promise, as though we would\noverrule and over persuade God to comply with our humor. We have an\nambition to be God\u2019s tutors and direct him in his counsels: \u201cWho hath\nbeen his counsellor?\u201d saith the apostle.[217] Who ought not to be his\ncounsellor? saith corrupt nature. Men will find fault with God in what\nhe suffers to be done according to their own minds, when they feel\nthe bitter fruit of it. When Cain had killed his brother, and his\nconscience racked him, how saucily and discontentedly doth he answer\nGod! (Gen. iv. 9), \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d Since thou dost own\nthyself the rector of the world, thou shouldst have preserved his\nperson from my fury; since thou dost accept his sacrifice before my\noffering, preservation was due as well as acceptance. If this temper\nbe found on earth, no wonder it is lodged in hell. That deplorable\nperson under the sensible stroke of God\u2019s sovereign justice, would\noppose his nay to God\u2019s will (Luke xvi. 30): \u201cAnd he said, Nay, father\nAbraham, but if one went to them from the dead they will repent.\u201d\nHe would presume to prescribe more effectual means than Moses and\nthe prophets, to inform men of the danger they incurred by their\nsensuality. David was displeased, it is said (2 Sam. vi. 8), when the\nLord had made a breach upon Uzzah, not with Uzzah, who was the object\nof his pity, but with God, who was the inflicter of that punishment.\nWhen any of our friends have been struck with a rod, against our\nsentiments and wishes, have not our hearts been apt to swell in\ncomplaints against God, as though he disregarded the goodness {a130}\nof such a person, did not see with our eyes, and measure him by our\nesteem of him? as if he should have asked our counsel, before he had\nresolved, and managed himself according to our will, rather than his\nown. If he be patient to the wicked, we are apt to tax his holiness,\nand accuse him as an enemy to his own law. If he inflict severity upon\nthe righteous, we are ready to suspect his goodness, and charge him to\nbe an enemy to his affectionate creature. If he spare the Nimrods of\nthe world, we are ready to ask, \u201cWhere is the God of judgment?\u201d[218]\nIf he afflict the pillars of the earth, we are ready to question,\nwhere is the God of mercy? It is impossible, since the depraved nature\nof man, and the various interests and passions in the world, that\ninfinite power and wisdom can act righteously for the good of the\nuniverse, but he will shake some corrupt interest or other upon the\nearth; so various are the inclinations of men, and such a weather\u2011cock\njudgment hath every man in himself, that the divine method he applauds\nthis day, upon a change of his interest, he will cavil at the next.\nIt is impossible for the just orders of God to please the same person\nmany weeks, scarce many minutes together. God must cease to be God,\nor to be holy, if he should manage the concerns of the world according\nto the fancies of men. How unreasonable is it thus to impose laws upon\nGod! Must God revoke his own orders? govern according to the dictates\nof his creature? Must God, who hath only power and wisdom to sway the\nsceptre, become the obedient subject of every man\u2019s humor, and manage\neverything to serve the design of a simple creature? This is not to\nbe God, but to set the creature in his throne: though this be not\nformally done, yet that it is interpretatively and practically done,\nis every hour\u2019s experience.\n\n3. In impatience in our particular concerns. It is ordinary with man\nto charge God in his complaints in the time of affliction. Therefore\nit is the commendation the Holy Ghost gives to Job (ch. i. 22), that\nin all this, that is, in those many waves that rolled over him, he did\nnot charge God foolishly, he never spake nor thought anything unworthy\nof the majesty and righteousness of God; yet afterwards we find\nhim warping; he nicknames the affliction to be God\u2019s oppression of\nhim, and no act of his goodness (x. 3): \u201cIs it good for thee, that\nthou shouldst oppress?\u201d He seems to charge God with injustice, for\npunishing him when he was not wicked, for which he appeals to God:\n\u201cThou knowest that I am not wicked\u201d (ver. 7), and that God acted\nnot like a Creator (ver. 8). If our projects are disappointed, what\nfretfulness against God\u2019s management are our hearts racked with!\nHow do uncomely passions bubble upon us, interpretatively at least\nwishing that the arms of his power had been bound, and the eye of his\nomniscience been hoodwinked, that we might have been left to our own\nliberty and designs? and this oftentimes when we have more reason to\nbless him than repine at him. The Israelites murmured more against\nGod in the wilderness, with manna in their mouths, than they did at\nPharaoh in the brick\u2011kilns, with their garlic and onions between their\nteeth. Though we repine at instruments in our afflictions, yet God\ncounts it a reflection upon himself. The Israelites speaking against\nMoses, was, in God\u2019s interpretation, {a131} a rebellion against\nhimself:[219] and rebellion is always a desire of imposing laws\nand conditions upon those against whom the rebellion is raised. The\nsottish dealings of the vine\u2011dressers in Franconia with the statue of\nSt. Urban, the protector of the vines, upon his own day, is an emblem\nof our dealing with God: if it be a clear day and portend a prosperous\nvintage, they honor the statue and drink healths to it; if it be\na rainy day, and presage a scantiness, they daub it with dirt in\nindignation. We cast out our mire and dirt against God when he acts\ncross to our wishes, and flatter him when the wind of his providence\njoins itself to the tide of our interest. Men set a high price upon\nthemselves, and are angry God values them not at the same rate, as if\ntheir judgment concerning themselves were more piercing than his. This\nis to disannul God\u2019s judgment, and condemn him and count ourselves\nrighteous, a \u2019tis Job xl. 8. This is the epidemical disease of human\nnature; they think they deserve caresses instead of rods, and upon\ncrosses are more ready to tear out the heart of God, than reflect\nhumbly upon their own hearts. When we accuse God, we applaud ourselves,\nand make ourselves his superiors, intimating that we have acted more\nrighteously to him than he to us, which is the highest manner of\nimposing laws upon him; as that emperor accused the justice of God\nfor snatching him out of the world too soon.[220] What a high piece\nof practical atheism is this, to desire that infinite wisdom should\nbe guided by our folly, and asperse the righteousness of God rather\nthan blemish our own! Instead of silently submitting to his will\nand adoring his wisdom, we declaim against him, as an unwise and\nunjust governor: we would invert his order, make him the steward and\nourselves the proprietors of what we are and have: we deny ourselves\nto be sinners, and our mercies to be forfeited.\n\n4. It is evidenced in envying the gifts and prosperities of others.\nEnvy hath a deep tincture of practical atheism, and is a cause of\natheism.[221] We are unwilling to leave God to be the proprietor and\ndo what he will with his own, and as a Creator to do what he pleases\nwith his creatures. We assume a liberty to direct God what portions,\nwhen and how, he should bestow upon his creatures. We would not let\nhim choose his own favorites, and pitch upon his own instruments for\nhis glory; as if God should have asked counsel of us how he should\ndispose of his benefits. We are unwilling to leave to his wisdom the\nmanagement of his own judgments to the wicked, and the dispensation\nof his own love to ourselves. This temper is natural: it is as ancient\nas the first age of the world. Adam envied God a felicity by himself,\nand would not spare a tree that he had reserved as a mark of his\nsovereignty. The passion that God had given Cain to employ against\nhis sin, he turns against his Creator. He was wroth with God and with\nAbel;[222] but envy was at the root, because his brother\u2019s sacrifice\nwas accepted and his refused. How could he envy his accepted person,\nwithout reflecting upon the {a132} Acceptor of his offering? Good men\nhave not been free from it. Job questions the goodness of God, that he\nshould shine upon the counsel of the wicked (Job x. 3). Jonah had too\nmuch of self, in fearing to be counted a false prophet, when he came\nwith absolute denunciations of wrath;[223] and when he could not bring\na volley of destroying judgments upon the Ninevites, he would shoot\nhis fury against his Master, envying those poor people the benefit,\nand God the honor of his mercy; and this after he had been sent into\nthe whale\u2019s belly to learn humiliation, which, though he exercised\nthere, yet those two great branches of self\u2011pride and envy were\nnot lopped off from him in the belly of hell; and God was fain to\ntake pains with him, and by a gourd scarce makes him ashamed of his\npeevishness. Envy is not like to cease till all atheism be cashiered,\nand that is in heaven. This sin is an imitation of the devil, whose\nfirst sin upon earth was envy, as his first sin in heaven was pride.\nIt is a wishing that to ourselves, which the devil asserted as his\nright, to give the kingdoms of the world to whom he pleased:[224]\nit is an anger with God, because he hath not given us a patent for\ngovernment. It utters the same language in disparagement of God, as\nAbsalom did in reflection on his father: If I were king in Israel,\njustice should be better managed; if I were Lord of the world,\nthere should be more wisdom to discern the merits of men, and more\nrighteousness in distributing to them their several portions. Thus\nwe impose laws upon God, and would have the righteousness of his\nwill submit to the corruptions of ours, and have him lower himself to\ngratify our minds, rather than fulfil his own. We charge the Author\nof those gifts with injustice, that he hath not dealt equally; or with\nignorance, that he hath mistook his mark. In the same breath that we\ncensure him by our peevishness, we would guide him by our wills. This\nis an unreasonable part of atheism. If all were in the same state and\ncondition, the order of the world would be impaired. Is God bound to\nhave a care of thee, and neglect all the world besides? \u201cShall the\nearth be forsaken for thee?\u201d[225] Joseph had reason to be displeased\nwith his brothers, if they had muttered because he gave Benjamin a\ndouble portion, and the rest a single. It was unfit that they, who had\ndeserved no gift at all, should prescribe him rules how to dispense\nhis own doles; much more unworthy it is to deal so with God; yet this\nis too rife.\n\n5. It is evidenced in corrupt matter or ends of prayer and praise.\nWhen we are importunate for those things that we know not whether the\nrighteousness, holiness, and wisdom of God can grant, because he hath\nnot discovered his will in any promise to bestow them, we would then\nimpose such conditions on God, which he never obliged himself to grant;\nwhen we pray for things not so much to glorify God, which ought to be\nthe end of prayer, as to gratify ourselves. We acknowledge, indeed,\nby the act of petitioning, that there is a God; but we would have him\nungod himself to be at our beck, and debase himself to serve our turns.\nWhen we desire those things which are repugnant to those attributes\nwhereby he doth manage the government of the world; when, by some\nsuperficial services, we think we have {a133} gained indulgence to\nsins, which seems to be the thought of the strumpet, in her paying her\nvows, to wallow more freely in the mire of her sensual pleasures\u2015\u2015\u201cI\nhave peace\u2011offerings with me; this day I have paid my vows, I have\nmade my peace with God, and have entertainment for thee;\u201d[226] or when\nmen desire God to bless them in the commission of some sin, as when\nBalak and Balaam offered sacrifices, that they might prosper in the\ncursing of the Israelites (Numb. xxv. 1, &c.) So for a man to pray to\nGod to save him, while he neglects the means of salvation appointed\nby God, or to renew him when he slights the word, the only instrument\nto that purpose; this is to impose laws upon God, contrary to the\ndeclared will and wisdom of God, and to desire him to slight his own\ninstitutions. When we come into the presence of God with lusts reeking\nin our hearts, and leap from sin to duty, we would impose the law\nof our corruption on the holiness of God. While we pray \u201cthe will of\nGod may be done,\u201d self\u2011love wishes its own will may be performed, as\nthough God should serve our humors, when we will not obey his precepts.\nAnd when we make vows under any affliction, what is it often but a\nsecret contrivance to bend and flatter him to our conditions? We will\nserve him if he will restore us; we think thereby to compound the\nbusiness with him, and bring him down to our terms.\n\n6. It is evidenced in positive and bold interpretations of the\njudgments of God in the world. To interpret the judgments of God to\nthe disadvantage of the sufferer, unless it be an unusual judgment,\nand have a remarkable hand of God in it, and the sin be rendered\nplainly legible in the affliction, is a presumption of this nature.\nWhen men will judge the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with\nthe sacrifices, greater sinners than others, and themselves righteous,\nbecause no drops of it were dashed upon them; or when Shimei, being\nof the house of Saul, shall judge according to his own interest, and\ndesires David\u2019s flight upon Absalom\u2019s rebellion to be a punishment\nfor invading the rights of Saul\u2019s family, and depriving him of the\nsuccession in the kingdom,[227] as if he had been of God\u2019s privy\ncouncil, when he decreed such acts of justice in the world. Thus we\nwould fasten our own wills as a law or motive upon God, and interpret\nhis acts according to the motions of self. Is it not too ordinary,\nwhen God sends an affliction upon those that bear ill\u2011will to us, to\njudge it to be a righting of our cause, to be a fruit of God\u2019s concern\nfor us in revenging our wrongs, as if we \u201chad heard the secrets of\nGod,\u201d or, as Eliphaz saith, \u201chad turned over the records of heaven?\u201d\n(Job xv. 8.) This is a judgment according to self\u2011love, not a divine\nrule; and imposeth laws upon heaven, implying a secret wish that God\nwould take care only of them, make our concerns his own, not in ways\nof kindness and justice, but according to our fancies; and this is\ncommon in the profane world, in those curses they so readily spit out\nupon any affront, as if God were bound to draw his arrows and shoot\nthem into the heart of all their offenders at their beck and pleasure.\n\n7. It is evidenced, in mixing rules for the worship of God with those\nwhich have been ordered by him. Since men are most prone {a134} to\nlive by sense, it is no wonder that a sensible worship, which affects\ntheir outward sense with some kind of amazement, is dear to them, and\nspiritual worship most loathsome. Pompous rites have been the great\nengine wherewith the devil hath deceived the souls of men, and wrought\nthem to a nauseating the simplicity of divine worship, as unworthy the\nmajesty and excellency of God.[228] Thus the Jews would not understand\nthe glory of the second temple in the presence of the Messiah, because\nit had not the pompous grandeur of that of Solomon\u2019s erecting. Hence\nin all ages men have been forward to disfigure God\u2019s models, and dress\nup a brat of their own; as though God had been defective in providing\nfor his own honor in his institutions, without the assistance of his\ncreature. This hath always been in the world; the old world had their\nimaginations, and the new world hath continued them. The Israelites in\nthe midst of miracles, and under the memory of a famous deliverance,\nwould erect a calf. The Pharisees, that sate in Moses\u2019 chair, would\ncoin new traditions, and enjoin them to be as current as the law of\nGod.[229] Papists will be blending the christian appointments with\npagan ceremonies, to please the carnal fancies of the common people.\n\u201cAltars have been multiplied\u201d under the knowledge of the law of\nGod.[230] Interest is made the balance of the conveniency of God\u2019s\ninjunctions. Jeroboam fitted a worship to politic ends, and posted up\ncalves to prevent his subjects revolting from his sceptre, which might\nbe occasioned by their resort to Jerusalem, and converse with the body\nof the people from whom they were separated.[231] Men will be putting\nin their own dictates with God\u2019s laws, and are unwilling he should be\nthe sole Governor of the world without their counsel; they will not\nsuffer him to be Lord of that which is purely and solely his concern.\nHow often hath the practice of the primitive church, the custom\nwherein we are bred, the sentiments of our ancestors, been owned as\na more authentic rule in matters of worship, than the mind of God\ndelivered in his Word! It is natural by creation to worship God; and\nit is as natural by corruption for man to worship him in a human way,\nand not in a divine; is not this to impose laws upon God, to esteem\nourselves wiser than he? to think him negligent of his own service,\nand that our feeble brains can find out ways to accommodate his honor,\nbetter than himself hath done? Thus do men for the most part equal\ntheir own imaginations to God\u2019s oracles: as Solomon built a high place\nto Moloch and Chemoch, upon the Mount of Olives, to face on the east\npart Jerusalem and the temple;[232] this is not only to impose laws\non God, but also to make self the standard of them.\n\n8. It is evidenced, in suiting interpretations of Scripture to\ntheir own minds and humors. Like the Laced\u00e6monians, that dressed the\nimages of their gods according to the fashion of their own country,\nwe would wring Scripture to serve our own designs, and judge the law\nof God by the law of sin, and make the serpentine seed in us to be\nthe interpreter of divine oracles: this is like Belshazzar to drink\nhealths out of the sacred vessels. As God is the author of his law\n{a135} and word, so he is the best interpreter of it; the Scripture\nhaving an impress of divine wisdom, holiness, and goodness, must be\nregarded according to that impress, with a submission and meekness of\nspirit and reverence of God in it; but when, in our inquiries into the\nword, we inquire not of God, but consult flesh and blood, the temper\nof the times wherein we live, or the satisfaction of a party we side\nwithal, and impose glosses upon it according to our own fancies,\nit is to put laws upon God, and make self the rule of him. He that\ninterprets the law to bolster up some eager appetite against the will\nof the lawgiver, ascribes to himself as great an authority as he that\nenacted it.\n\n9. In falling off from God after some fair compliances, when his will\ngrateth upon us, and crosseth ours. They will walk with him as far\nas he pleaseth them, and leave him upon the first distaste, as though\nGod must observe their humors more than they his will. Amos must\nbe suspended from prophesying, because the \u201cland could not bear his\nwords,\u201d and his discourses condemned their unworthy practices against\nGod.[233] The young man came not to receive directions from our\nSaviour, but expected a confirmation of his own rules, rather than\nan imposition of new.[234] He rather cares for commendations than\ninstructions, and upon the disappointment turns his back; \u201che was\nsad,\u201d that Christ would not suffer him to be rich, and a Christian\ntogether; and leaves him because his command was not suitable to\nthe law of his covetousness. Some truths that are at a further\ndistance from us, we can hear gladly; but when the conscience\nbegins to smart under others, if God will not observe our wills, we\nwill, with Herod, be a law to ourselves.[235] More instances might be\nobserved.\u2015\u2015Ingratitude is a setting up self, and an imposing laws on\nGod. It is as much as to say, God did no more than he was obliged to\ndo; as if the mercies we have were an act of duty in God, and not of\nbounty.\u2015\u2015Insatiable desires after wealth: hence are those speeches\n(James iv. 13), \u201cWe will go into such a city, and buy and sell, &c. to\nget gain;\u201d as though they had the command of God, and God must lacquey\nafter their wills. When our hearts are not contented with any supply\nof our wants, but are craving an overplus for our lust; when we are\nunsatisfied in the midst of plenty, and still like the grave, cry,\nGive, give.\u2015\u2015Incorrigibleness under affliction, &c.\n\nII. The second main thing: As man would be a law to himself, so he\nwould be his own end and happiness in opposition to God. Here four\nthings shall be discoursed on. 1. Man would make himself his own end\nand happiness. 2. He would make anything his end and happiness rather\nthan God. 3. He would make himself the end of all creatures. 4. He\nwould make himself the end of God.\n\nFirst, Man would make himself his own end and happiness. As God ought\nto be esteemed the first cause, in point of our dependence on him, so\nhe ought to be our last end, in point of our enjoyment of him. When\nwe therefore trust in ourselves, we refuse him as the first cause; and\nwhen we act for ourselves, and expect a blessedness from ourselves, we\nrefuse him as the chiefest good, and last end, which is an undeniable\npiece of atheism; for man is a creature of a higher rank than others\nin the world, and was not made as animals, {a136} plants, and other\nworks of the divine power, materially to glorify God, but a rational\ncreature, intentionally to honor God by obedience to his rule,\ndependence on his goodness, and zeal for his glory. It is, therefore,\nas much a slighting of God, for man, a creature, to set himself up as\nhis own end, as to regard himself as his own law. For the discovery of\nthis, observe that there is a three\u2011fold self\u2011love.\n\n1. Natural, which is common to us by the law of nature with other\ncreatures, inanimate as well as animate, and so closely twisted with\nthe nature of every creature, that it cannot be dissolved but with\nthe dissolution of nature itself. It consisted not with the wisdom and\ngoodness of God to create an unnatural nature, or to command anything\nunnatural, nor doth he; for when he commands us to sacrifice ourselves,\nand dearest lives for himself, it is not without a promise of a more\nnoble state of being in exchange for what we lose. This self\u2011love is\nnot only commendable, but necessary, as a rule to measure that duty\nwe owe to our neighbor, whom we cannot love as ourselves, if we do not\nfirst love ourselves. God having planted this self\u2011love in our nature,\nmakes this natural principle the measure of our affection to all\nmankind of the same blood with ourselves.\n\n2. Carnal self\u2011love: when a man loves himself above God, in opposition\nto God, with a contempt of God; when our thoughts, affections, designs,\ncentre only in our own fleshly interest, and rifle God of his honor,\nto make a present of it to ourselves: thus the natural self\u2011love, in\nitself good, becomes criminal by the excess, when it would be superior\nand not subordinate to God.\n\n3. A gracious self\u2011love: when we love ourselves for higher ends than\nthe nature of a creature, as a creature dictates, viz. in subserviency\nto the glory of God. This is a reduction of the revolted creature to\nhis true and happy order; a Christian is therefore said to be \u201ccreated\nin Christ to good works.\u201d[236] As all creatures were created, not\nonly for themselves, but for the honor of God; so the grace of the\nnew creation carries a man to answer this end, and to order all his\noperations to the honor of God, and his well\u2011pleasing. The first is\nfrom nature, the second from sin, the third from grace; the first is\nimplanted by creation, the second the fruit of corruption, and the\nthird is by the powerful operation of grace. This carnal self\u2011love is\nset up in the stead of God as our last end; like the sea, which all\nthe little and great streams of our actions run to and rest in. And\nthis is, 1. Natural. It sticks as close to us as our souls; it is\nas natural as sin, the foundation of all the evil in the world. As\nself\u2011abhorrency is the first stone that is laid in conversion, so an\ninordinate self\u2011love was the first inlet to all iniquity. As grace\nis a rising from self to centre in God, so is sin a shrinking from\nGod into the mire of a carnal selfishness; since every creature is\nnearest to itself and next to God, it cannot fall from God, but must\nimmediately sink into self;[237] and, therefore, all sins are well\nsaid to be branches or modifications of this fundamental passion. What\nis wrath, but a defence and strengthening self against the attempts of\nsome real or imaginary evil? Whence springs envy, but from a self\u2011love,\ngrieved {a137} at its own wants in the midst of another\u2019s enjoyment,\nable to supply it? What is impatience, but a regret that self is not\nprovided for at the rate of our wish, and that it hath met with a\nshock against supposed merit? What is pride, but a sense of self\u2011worth,\na desire to have self of a higher elevation than others? What is\ndrunkenness, but a seeking a satisfaction for sensual self in the\nspoils of reason? No sin is committed as sin, but as it pretends\na self\u2011satisfaction. Sin, indeed, may well be termed a man\u2019s self,\nbecause it is, since the loss of original righteousness, the form\nthat overspreads every part of our souls. The understanding assents\nto nothing false but under the notion of true, and the will embraceth\nnothing evil but under the notion of good; but the rule whereby\nwe measure the truth and goodness of proposed objects, is not the\nunerring Word, but the inclinations of self, the gratifying of which\nis the aim of our whole lives. Sin and self are all one: what is\ncalled a living to sin in one place,[238] is called a living to self\nin another: \u201cThat they that live should not live unto themselves.\u201d[239]\nAnd upon this account it is that both the Hebrew word, \u05d7\u05d8\u05d0, and the\nGreek word, \u1f01\u03bc\u03b1\u03c1\u03c4\u03ac\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, used in Scripture to express sin, properly\nsignify to miss the mark, and swerve from that _white_ to which all\nour actions should be directed, viz. the glory of God. When we fell\nto loving ourselves, we fell from loving God; and, therefore, when\nthe Psalmist saith (Psalm xiv. 2), there were none that sought God,\nviz. as the last end; he presently adds, \u201cThey are all gone aside,\u201d\nviz. from their true mark, and therefore become filthy. 2. Since\nit is natural, it is also universal.[240] The not seeking God is as\nuniversal as our ignorance of him. No man in a state of nature but\nhath it predominant; no renewed man on this side heaven but hath it\npartially. The one hath it flourishing, the other hath it struggling.\nIf to aim at the glory of God as the chief end, and not to live to\nourselves, be the greatest mark of the restoration of the divine\nimage,[241] and a conformity to Christ, who glorified not himself,[242]\nbut the Father;[243] then every man, wallowing in the mire of corrupt\nnature, pays a homage to self, as a renewed man is biassed by the\nhonor of God. The Holy Ghost excepts none from this crime (Phil.\nii. 21): \u201cAll seek their own.\u201d It is rare for them to look above or\nbeyond themselves. Whatsoever may be the immediate subject of their\nthoughts and inquiries, yet the utmost end and stage is their profit,\nhonor, or pleasure. Whatever it be that immediately possesses the mind\nand will, self sits like a queen, and sways the sceptre, and orders\nthings at that rate, that God is excluded, and can find no room in\nall his thoughts (Psalm x. 4): \u201cThe wicked, through the pride of his\ncountenance, will not seek after God; God is not in all his thoughts.\u201d\nThe whole little world of man is so overflowed with a deluge of self,\nthat the dove, the glory of the Creator, can find no place where to\nset its foot; and if ever it gain the favor of admittance, it is to\ndisguise and be a vassal to some carnal project, as the glory of God\nwas a mask for the murdering his servants. It is from the power of\nthis principle that the difficulty of conversion ariseth: as there\nis no greater pleasure to a believing {a138} soul than the giving\nitself up to God, and no stronger desire in him, than to have a fixed\nand unchangeable will to serve the designs of his honor; so there is\nno greater torment to a wicked man, than to part with his carnal ends,\nand lay down the Dagon of self at the feet of the ark. Self\u2011love and\nself\u2011opinion in the Pharisees waylaid all the entertainment of truth\n(John v. 44): \u201cThey sought honor one of another, and not the honor\nwhich comes from God.\u201d It is of so large an extent, and so insinuating\nnature, that it winds itself into the exercise of moral virtues,\nmixeth with our charity (Matt. vi. 2), and finds nourishment in the\nashes of martyrdom (1 Cor. xiii. 3).\n\nThis making ourselves our end will appear in a few things.\n\n1. In frequent self\u2011applauses, and inward overweening reflections.\nNothing more ordinary in the natures of men, than a dotage on their\nown perfections, acquisitions, or actions in the world: \u201cMost think of\nthemselves above what they ought to think\u201d (Rom. xii. 3, 4). Few think\nof themselves so meanly as they ought to think: this sticks as close\nto us as our skin; and as humility is the beauty of grace, this is the\nfilthiest soil of nature. Our thoughts run more delightfully upon the\ntrack of our own perfections, than the excellency of God; and when we\nfind anything of a seeming worth, that may make us glitter in the eyes\nof the world, how cheerfully do we grasp and embrace ourselves! When\nthe grosser profanenesses of men have been discarded, and the floods\nof them dammed up, the head of corruption, whence they sprang, will\nswell the higher within, in self\u2011applauding speculations of their\nown reformation, without acknowledgment of their own weaknesses, and\ndesires of divine assistance to make a further progress. \u201cI thank God\nI am not like this publican;\u201d[244] a self\u2011reflection, with a contempt\nrather than compassion to his neighbor, is frequent in every Pharisee.\nThe vapors of self\u2011affections, in our clouded understandings, like\nthose in the air in misty mornings, alter the appearance of things,\nand make them look bigger than they are. This is thought by some to be\nthe sin of the fallen angels, who, reflecting upon their own natural\nexcellency superior to other creatures, would find a blessedness in\ntheir own nature, as God did in his, and make themselves the last\nend of their actions. It is from this principle we are naturally so\nready to compare ourselves rather with those that are below us, than\nwith those that are above us; and often think those that are above\nus inferior to us, and secretly glory that we are become none of the\nmeanest and lowest in natural or moral excellencies. How far were\nthe gracious penmen of the Scripture from this, who, when possessed\nand directed by the Spirit of God, and filled with a sense of him,\ninstead of applauding themselves, publish upon record their own faults\nto all the eyes of the world! And if Peter, as some think, dictated\nthe Gospel which Mark wrote as his amanuensis, it is observable that\nhis crime in denying his Master is aggravated in that Gospel in some\ncircumstances, and less spoken of his repentance than in the other\nevangelists: \u201cWhen he thought thereon, he wept;\u201d[245] but in the other,\n\u201cHe went out and wept bitterly.\u201d[246] This is one part {a139} of\natheism and self\u2011idolatry, to magnify ourselves with the forgetfulness,\nand to the injury of our Creator.\n\n2. In ascribing the glory of what we do or have to ourselves, to our\nown wisdom, power, virtue, &c. How flaunting is Nebuchadnezzar at\nthe prospect of Babylon, which he had exalted to be the head of so\ngreat an empire! (Dan. iv. 30): \u201cIs not this great Babylon that I\nhave built? For,\u201d &c. He struts upon the battlements of his palace,\nas if there were no God but himself in the world, while his eye\ncould not but see the heavens above him to be none of his own framing,\nattributing his acquisitions to his own arm, and referring them to\nhis own honor, for his own delight; not for the honor of God, as a\ncreature ought, nor for the advantage of his subjects, as the duty of\na prince. He regards Babylon as his heaven, and himself as his idol,\nas if he were all, and God nothing. An example of this we have in the\npresent age. But it is often observed, that God vindicates his own\nhonor, brings the most heroical men to contempt and unfortunate ends,\nas a punishment of their pride, as he did here (Dan. iv. 31): \u201cWhile\nthe word was in the king\u2019s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven,\u201d\n&c. This was Herod\u2019s crime, to suffer others to do it:[247] he had\ndiscovered his eloquence actively, and made himself his own end\npassively, in approving the flatteries of the people, and offered not\nwith one hand to God the glory he received from his people with the\nother.[248] Samosatenus is reported to put down the hymns which were\nsung for the glory of God and Christ, and caused songs to be sung\nin the temple for his own honor. When anything succeeds well, we are\nready to attribute it to our own prudence and industry: if we meet\nwith a cross, we fret against the stars and fortune, and second\ncauses, and sometimes against God: as they curse God as well as their\nking (Isa. viii. 21), not acknowledging any defect in themselves. The\nPsalmist, by his repetition of, \u201cNot unto us, not unto us, but to thy\nname give glory\u201d (Psalm cxv. 1), implies the naturality of this temper,\nand the difficulty to cleanse our hearts from those self\u2011reflections.\nIf it be angelical to refuse an undue glory stolen from God\u2019s throne\n(Rev. xxii. 8, 9), it is diabolical to accept and cherish it. To\nseek our own glory is not glory (Prov. xxv. 27). It is vile, and the\ndishonor of a creature, who by the law of his creation is referred\nto another end. So much as we sacrifice to our own credit, to the\ndexterity of our hands, or the sagacity of our wit, we detract from\nGod.\n\n3. In desires to have self\u2011pleasing doctrines. When we cannot endure\nto hear anything that crosses the flesh; though the wise man tells us,\nit is better to hear the \u201crebuke of the wise, than the song of fools\u201d\n(Eccles. vii. 5). If Hanani the seer reprove king Asa for not relying\non the Lord, his passion shall be armed for self against the prophet,\nand arrest him a prisoner (2 Chron. xvi. 10). If Micaiah declare to\nAhab the evil that shall befall him, Amon the governor shall receive\norders to clap him up in a dungeon. Fire doth not sooner seize upon\ncombustible matter than fury will be kindled, if self be but pinched.\nThis interest of lustful self barred the heart of Herodias against the\nentertainment of the truth, and caused her {a140} savagely to dip her\nhands in the blood of the Baptist, to make him a sacrifice to that\ninward idol.[249]\n\n4. In being highly concerned for injuries done to ourselves, and\nlittle or not at all concerned for injuries done to God. How will\nthe blood rise in us, when our honor and reputation is invaded, and\nscarce reflect upon the dishonor God suffers in our sight and hearing!\nViolent passions will transform us into Boanerges in the one case, and\nour unconcernedness render us Gallios in the other. We shall extenuate\nthat which concerns God, and aggravate that which concerns ourselves.\nNothing but the death of Jonathan, a first\u2011born and a generous son,\nwill satisfy his father Saul, when the authority of his edict was\nbroken by his tasting of honey, though he had recompensed his crime\ncommitted in ignorance by the purchase of a gallant victory. But when\nthe authority of God was violated in saving the Amalekites\u2019 cattle,\nagainst the command of a greater sovereign than himself, he can daub\nthe business, and excuse it with a design of sacrificing. He was not\nso earnest in hindering the people from the breach of God\u2019s command,\nas he was in vindicating the honor of his own:[250] he could hardly\nadmit of an excuse to salve his own honor; but in the concerns of\nGod\u2019s honor, pretend piety, to cloak his avarice. And it is often\nseen, when the violation of God\u2019s authority, and the stain of\nour own reputation are coupled together, we are more troubled for\nwhat disgraces us than for what dishonors God. When Saul had thus\ntransgressed, he is desirous that Samuel would turn again to preserve\nhis own honor before the elders, rather than grieved that he had\nbroken the command of God (ver. 30).\n\n5. In trusting in ourselves. When we consult with our own wit and\nwisdom, more than inquire of God, and ask leave of him: as the\nAssyrian (Isa. x. 13), \u201cBy the strength of my hands I have done it,\nand by my wisdom; for I am prudent.\u201d When we attempt things in the\nstrength of our own heads, and parts, and trust in our own industry,\nwithout application to God for direction, blessing, and success, we\naffect the privilege of the Deity, and make gods of ourselves. The\nsame language in reality with Ajax in Sophocles: \u201cOthers think to\novercome with the assistance of the gods, but I hope to gain honor\nwithout them.\u201d Dependence and trust is an act due from the creature\nonly to God. Hence God aggravates the crime of the Jews in trusting in\nEgypt (Isa. xxxi. 3), \u201cthe Egyptians are men and not gods.\u201d Confidence\nin ourselves is a defection from God (Jer. xvii. 5). And when we\ndepart from and cast off God to depend upon ourselves, which is but\nan arm of flesh, we choose the arm of flesh for our God; we rob God of\nthat confidence we ought to place in him, and that adoration which is\ndue to him, and build it upon another foundation; not that we are to\nneglect the reason and parts God hath given us, or spend more time\nin prayer than in consulting about our own affairs, but to mix our\nown intentions in business, with ejaculations to heaven, and take\nGod along with us in every motion: but certainly it is an idolizing\nof self, when we are more diligent in our attendance on our own wit,\nthan fervent in our recourses to God.\n\n6. The power of sinful self, above the efficacy of the notion\nof God, {a141} is evident in our workings for carnal self against\nthe light of our own consciences. When men of sublime reason, and\nclear natural wisdom, are voluntary slaves to their own lusts, row\nagainst the stream of their own consciences, serve carnal self with a\ndisgraceful and disturbing drudgery, making it their God, sacrificing\nnatural self, all sentiments of virtue, and the quiet of their lives,\nto the pleasure, honor, and satisfaction of carnal self: this is a\nprostituting God in his deputy, conscience, to carnal affections, when\ntheir eyes are shut against the enlightenings of it, and their ears\ndeaf to its voice, but open to the least breath and whisper of self; a\ndebt that the creature owes supremely to God. Much more might be said,\nbut let us see what atheism lurks in this, and how it entrencheth upon\nGod.\n\n1. It is usurping God\u2019s prerogative. It is God\u2019s prerogative to be his\nown end, and act for his own glory; because there is nothing superior\nto him in excellency and goodness to act for: he had not his being\nfrom anything without himself, whereby he should be obliged to act\nfor anything but himself. To make ourselves then our last end, is to\ncorrival God in his being the supreme good, and blessedness to himself:\nas if we were our own principle, the author of our own being, and were\nnot obliged to a higher power than ourselves, for what we are and have.\nTo direct the lines of all our motions to ourselves, is to imply that\nthey first issued only from ourselves. When we are rivals to God in\nhis chief end, we own or desire to be rivals to him in the principle\nof his being: this is to set ourselves in the place of God. All things\nhave something without them, and above them as their end; all inferior\ncreatures act for some superior order in the rank of creation; the\nlesser animals are designed for the greater, and all for man: man,\ntherefore, for something nobler than himself. To make ourselves\ntherefore our own end, is to deny any superior, to whom we are to\ndirect our actions. God alone being the supreme Being, can be his\nown ultimate end: for if there were anything higher and better than\nGod, the purity and righteousness of his own nature would cause him\nto act for and toward that as his chiefest mark: this is the highest\nsacrilege, to alienate the proper good and rights of God, and employ\nthem for our own use; to steal from him his own honor, and put it into\nour own cabinets; like those birds that ravished the sacrifice from\nthe altar and carried it to their own nests.[251] When we love only\nourselves, and act for no other end but ourselves, we invest ourselves\nwith the dominion which is the right of God, and take the crown from\nhis head. For as the crown belongs to the king, so to love his own\nwill, to will by his own will and for himself, is the property of\nGod; because he hath no other will, no other end above him to be the\nrule and scope of his actions. When therefore we are by self\u2011love\ntransformed wholly into ourselves, we make ourselves our own\nfoundation, without God and against God; when we mind our own glory\nand praise, we would have a royal state equal with God, who created\nall things for himself.[252] What can man do more for God than he\nnaturally doth for himself, since he doth all those things for himself\nwhich he should do for God? We {a142} own ourselves to be our own\ncreators and benefactors, and fling off all sentiments of gratitude\nto him.\n\n2. It is a vilifying of God. When we make ourselves our end, it is\nplain language that God is not our happiness; we postpone God to\nourselves, as if he were not an object so excellent and fit for our\nlove as ourselves are (for it is irrational to make that our end,\nwhich is not God, and not the chiefest good); it is to deny him to be\nbetter than we, to make him not to be so good as ourselves, and so fit\nto be our chiefest good as ourselves are; that he hath not deserved\nany such acknowledgment at our hands by all that he hath done for us:\nwe assert ourselves his superiors by such kind of acting, though we\nare infinitely more inferior to God than any creature can be to us.\nMan cannot dishonor God more than by referring that to his own glory,\nwhich God made for his own praise, upon account whereof he only hath a\nright to glory and praise, and none else. He thus \u201cchangeth the glory\nof the incorruptible God into a corruptible image;\u201d[253] a perishing\nfame and reputation, which extends but little beyond the limits of his\nown habitation; or if it doth, survives but a few years, and perishes\nat last with the age wherein he lived.\n\n3. It is as much as in us lies a destroying of God. By this temper\nwe destroy that God that made us, because we destroy his intention\nand his honor. God cannot outlive his will and his glory: because he\ncannot have any other rule but his own will, or any other end but his\nown honor. The setting up self as our end puts a nullity upon the true\nDeity; by paying to ourselves that respect and honor which is due to\nGod, we make the true God as no God. Whosoever makes himself a king of\nhis prince\u2019s rights and territories, manifests an intent to throw him\nout of his government. To choose ourselves as our end is to undeify\nGod, since to be the last end of a rational creature is a right\ninseparable from the nature of the Deity; and therefore not to set God,\nbut self always before us, is to acknowledge no being but ourselves to\nbe God.\n\nSecondly. The second thing, Man would make anything his end and\nhappiness rather than God. An end is so necessary in all our actions,\nthat he deserves not the name of a rational creature that proposeth\nnot one to himself. This is the distinction between rational creatures\nand others; they act with a formal intention, whereas other creatures\nare directed to their end by a natural instinct, and moved by nature\nto what the others should be moved by reason: when a man, therefore,\nacts for that end which was not intended him by the law of his\ncreation, nor is suited to the noble faculties of his soul, he acts\ncontrary to God, overturns his order, and merits no better a title\nthan that of an atheist. A man may be said two ways to make a thing\nhis last end and chief good.\n\n1. Formally. When he actually judges this or that thing to be his\nchiefest good, and orders all things to it. So man doth not formally\njudge sin to be good, or any object which is the incentive of sin\nto be his last end: this cannot be while he hath the exercise of his\nrational faculties.\n\n2. Virtually and implicitly. When he loves anything against the {a143}\ncommand of God, and prefers in the stream of his actions the enjoyment\nof that, before the fruition of God, and lays out more strength and\nexpends more time in the gaining that, than answering the true end\nof his creation: when he acts so as if something below God could make\nhim happy without God, or that God could not make him happy without\nthe addition of something else. Thus the glutton makes a god of his\ndainties; the ambitious man of his honor; the incontinent man of his\nlust; and the covetous man of his wealth; and consequently esteems\nthem as his chiefest good, and the most noble end, to which he directs\nhis thoughts: thus he vilifies and lessens the true God, which can\nmake him happy, in a multitude of false gods, that can only render\nhim miserable. He that loves pleasure more than God, says in his heart\nthere is no God but his pleasure. He that loves his belly more than\nGod, says in his heart there is no God but his belly: their happiness\nis not accounted to lie in that God that made the world, but in the\npleasure or profit they make their god. In this, though a created\nobject be the immediate and subordinate term to which we turn, yet\nprincipally and ultimately, the affection to it terminates in self.\nNothing is naturally entertained by us, but as it affects our sense\nor mingles with some promise of advantage to us. This is seen,\n\n1. In the fewer thoughts we have of God than of anything else. Did\nwe apprehend God to be our chiefest good and highest end, should we\ngrudge him the pains of a few days\u2019 thoughts upon him? Men in their\ntravels are frequently thinking upon their intended stage: but our\nthoughts run upon new acquisitions to increase our wealth, rear up our\nfamilies, revenge our injuries, and support our reputation: trifles\npossess us; but \u201cGod is not in all our thoughts;\u201d[254] seldom the\nsole object of them. We have durable thoughts of transitory things,\nand flitting thoughts of a durable and eternal good. The covenant of\ngrace engageth the whole heart to God, and bars anything else from\nengrossing it: but what strangers are God and the souls of most men!\nThough we have the knowledge of him by creation, yet he is for the\nmost part an unknown God in the relations wherein he stands to us,\nbecause a God undelighted in: hence it is, as one observes, that\nbecause we observe not the ways of God\u2019s wisdom, conceive not of him\nin his vast perfections, nor are stricken with an admiration of his\ngoodness, that we have fewer good sacred poems, than of any other\nkind.[255] The wits of men hang the wing when they come to exercise\ntheir reasons and fancies about God. Parts and strength are given us,\nas well as corn and wine to the Israelites, for the service of God;\nbut those are consecrated to some cursed Baal.[256] Like Venus in the\nPoet, we forsake heaven to follow some Adonis.\n\n2. In the greedy pursuit of the world.[257] When we pursue worldly\nwealth or worldly reputation with more vehemency than the riches of\ngrace, or the favor of God;\u2015\u2015when we have a foolish imagination, that\nour happiness consists in them, we prefer earth before heaven, broken\ncisterns which can hold no water, before an ever\u2011springing fountain\nof glory and bliss; and, as though there were a defect in {a144} God,\ncannot be content with him as our portion, without an addition of\nsomething inferior to him;\u2015\u2015when we make it our hopes, and say to the\nwedge, \u201cThou art my confidence;\u201d and rejoice more because it is great,\nand because \u201cour hand hath gotten much,\u201d than in the privilege of\ncommunion with God and the promise of an everlasting fruition of\nhim;[258] this is so gross, that Job joins it with the idolatry of\nthe sun and moon, which he purgeth himself of (xxxi. 26). And the\napostle, when he mentions covetousness or covetous men, passes it not\nover without the title of idolatry to the vice, and idolater to the\nperson;[259] in that it is a preferring clay and dirt as an end more\ndesirable than the original of all goodness, in regard of affection\nand dependence.\n\n3. In a strong addictedness to sensual pleasures (Phil. iii. 19).\nWho make their \u201cbelly their god;\u201d subjecting the truths of God to\nthe maintenance of their luxury. In debasing the higher faculties to\nproject for the satisfaction of the sensitive appetite as their chief\nhappiness, whereby many render themselves no better than a rout of\nsublimated brutes among men, and gross atheists to God. When men\u2019s\nthoughts run also upon inventing new methods to satisfy their bestial\nappetite, forsaking the pleasures which are to be had in God, which\nare the delights of angels, for the satisfaction of brutes. This is an\nopen and unquestionable refusal of God for our end, when our rest is\nin them, as if they were the chief good, and not God.\n\n4. In paying a service, upon any success in the world, to instruments\nmore than to God, their sovereign Author. When \u201cthey sacrifice to\ntheir net, and burn incense to their drag.\u201d[260] Not that the Assyrian\ndid offer a sacrifice to his arms, but ascribed to them what was due\nonly to God, and appropriated the victory to his forces and arms. The\nprophet alludes to those that worshipped their warlike instruments,\nwhereby they had attained great victories; and those artificers who\nworshipped the tools by which they had purchased great wealth, in\nthe stead of God; preferring them as the causes of their happiness,\nbefore God who governs the world. And are not our affections, upon\nthe receiving of good things, more closely fixed to the instruments\nof conveyance, than to the chief Benefactor, from whose coffers they\nare taken? Do we not more delight in them, and hug them with a greater\nendearedness, as if all our happiness depended on them, and God were\nno more than a bare spectator? Just as if when a man were warmed by\na beam, he should adore that and not admire the sun that darts it out\nupon him.\n\n5. In paying a respect to man more than God. When in a public\nattendance on his service, we will not laugh, or be garish, because\nmen see us; but our hearts shall be in a ridiculous posture, playing\nwith feathers and trifling fancies, though God see us; as though\nour happiness consisted in the pleasing of men, and our misery in\na respect to God. There is no fool that saith in his heart, There is\nno God, but he sets up something in his heart as a god. This is,\n\n1. A debasing of God, (1.) In setting up a creature. It speaks God\nless amiable than the creature, short of those perfections which\nsome silly, sordid thing, which hath engrossed their affections,\nis possessed {a145} with; as if the cause of all being could be\ntranscended by his creature, and a vile lust could equal, yea,\nsurmount the loveliness of God. It is to say to God, as the rich\nto the poor (James ii. 3), \u201cStand thou there, or sit here under my\nfootstool;\u201d it is to sink him below the mire of the world, to order\nhim to come down from his glorious throne, and take his place below\na contemptible creature, which, in regard of its infinite distance, is\nnot to be compared with him. It strips God of the love that is due to\nhim by the right of his nature and the greatness of his dignity; and\nof the trust that is due to him, as the First Cause and the chiefest\ngood, as though he were too feeble and mean to be our blessedness.\nThis is intolerable, to make that which is God\u2019s footstool, the earth,\nto climb up into his throne; to set that in our heart which God hath\nmade even below ourselves and put under our feet; to make that which\nwe trample upon to dispose of the right God hath to our hearts.[261]\nIt is worse than if a queen should fall in love with the little image\nof the prince in the palace, and slight the beauty of his person; and\nas if people should adore the footsteps of a king in the dirt, and\nturn their backs upon his presence. (2.) It doth more debase him to\nset up a sin, a lust, a carnal affection as our chief end. To steal\naway the honor due to God, and appropriate it to that which is no work\nof his hands, to that which is loathsome in his sight, hath disturbed\nhis rest, and wrung out his just breath to kindle a hell for its\neternal lodging, a God\u2011dishonoring and a soul\u2011murdering lust, is worse\nthan to prefer Barabbas before Christ. The baser the thing, the worse\nis the injury to him with whom we would associate it. If it were some\ngenerous principle, a thing useful to the world, that we place in an\nequality with, or a superiority above him, though it were a vile usage,\nyet it were not altogether so criminal; but to gratify some unworthy\nappetite with the displeasure of the Creator, something below the\nrational nature of man, much more infinitely below the excellent\nmajesty of God, is a more unworthy usage of him. To advance one of\nthe most virtuous nobles in a kingdom as a mark of our service and\nsubjection, is not so dishonorable to a despised prince as to take\na scabby beggar or a rotten carcase to place in his throne. Creeping\nthings, abominable beasts, the Egyptian idols, cats and crocodiles,\nwere greater abominations, and a greater despite done to God, than\nthe image of jealousy at the gate of the altar.[262] And let not any\nexcuse themselves, that it is but one lust or one creature which is\npreferred as the end: is not he an idolater that worships the sun or\nmoon, one idol, as well as he that worships the whole host of heaven?\nThe inordinacy of the heart to one lust may imply a stronger contempt\nof him, than if a legion of lusts did possess the heart. It argues a\ngreater disesteem, when he shall be slighted for a single vanity. The\ndepth of Esau\u2019s profaneness in contemning his birth\u2011right, and God in\nit, is aggravated by his selling it for one morsel of meat,[263] and\nthat none of the daintiest, none of the costliest\u2015\u2015a mess of pottage;\nimplying, had he parted with it at a greater rate, it had been more\ntolerable, and his profaneness more excusable. And it is reckoned\nas a high aggravation of the corruption of the Israelite judges (Amos\nii. 6), {a146} that they sold the poor for a pair of shoes; that is,\nthat they would betray the cause of the poor for a bribe of no greater\nvalue than might purchase them a pair of shoes. To place any one thing\nas our chief end, though never so light, doth not excuse. He that\nwill not stick to break with God for a trifle, a small pleasure, will\nleap the hedge upon a greater temptation. Nay, and if wealth, riches,\nfriends, and the best thing in the world, our own lives, be preferred\nbefore God, as our chief happiness and end but one moment, it is an\ninfinite wrong, because the infinite goodness and excellency of God\nis denied; as though the creature or lust we love, or our own life,\nwhich we prefer in that short moment before him, had a goodness in\nitself, superior to, and more desirable than the blessedness in God.\nAnd though it should be but one minute, and a man in all the period\nof his days, both before and after that failure, should actually and\nintentionally prefer God before all other things; yet he doth him an\ninfinite wrong, because God in every moment is infinitely good, and\nabsolutely desirable, and can never cease to be good, and cannot have\nthe least shadow or change in him and his perfections.\n\n2. It is a denying of God (Job xxxi. 26\u201228): \u201cIf I beheld the sun\nwhen it shined, or the moon walking in its brightness, and my heart\nhath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand; this also\nwere iniquity to be punished by the judge, for I should have denied\nthe Lord above.\u201d This denial of God is not only the act of an open\nidolater, but the consequent of a secret confidence, and immoderate\njoy in worldly goods. This denial of God is to be referred to ver. 24,\n25. When a man saith to gold, \u201cThou art my confidence,\u201d and rejoices\nbecause his wealth is great; he denies that God which is superior to\nall those, and the proper object of trust. Both idolatries are coupled\nhere together; that which hath wealth and that which hath those\nglorious creatures in heaven for its object. And though some may think\nit a light sin, yet the crime being of deeper guilt, a denial of God,\ndeserves a severer punishment, and falls under the sentence of the\njust Judge of all the earth, under that notion which Job intimates in\nthose words, \u201cThis also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge.\u201d\nThe kissing the hand to the sun, moon, or any idol, was an external\nsign of religious worship among those and other nations. This is far\nless than an inward hearty confidence, and an affectionate trust. If\nthe motion of the hand be, much more the affection of the heart to an\nexcrementitious creature, or a brutish pleasure, is a denial of God,\nand a kind of an abjuring of him, since the supreme affection of the\nsoul is undoubtedly and solely the right of the Sovereign Creator,\nand not to be given in common to others, as the outward gesture may\nin a way of civil respect. Nothing that is an honor peculiar to God\ncan be given to a creature, without a plain exclusion of God to be\nGod; it being a disowning the rectitude and excellency of his nature.\nIf God should command a creature such a love, and such a confidence\nin anything inferior to him, he would deny himself his own glory, he\nwould deny himself to be the most excellent being. Can the Romanists\nbe free from this, when they call the cross _spem unicam_, and\n{a147} say to the Virgin, _In te Domina speravi_, as Bonaventure?\n&c. Good reason, therefore, have worldlings and sensualists, persons\nof immoderate fondness to anything in the world, to reflect upon\nthemselves; since though they own the being of God, they are guilty\nof so great disrespect to him, that cannot be excused from the title\nof an unworthy atheism; and those that are renewed by the spirit\nof God, may here see ground of a daily humiliation for the frequent\nand too common excursions of their souls in creature confidences and\naffections, whereby they fall under the charge of an act of practical\natheism, though they may be free from a habit of it.\n\nThirdly, Man would make himself the end of all creatures. Man would\nsit in the seat of God, and set his heart as the heart of God, as the\nLord saith of Tyrus (Ezek. xxviii. 2). What is the consequence of this,\nbut to be esteemed the chief good and end of other creatures? a thing\nthat the heart of God cannot but be set upon, it being an inseparable\nright of the Deity, who must deny himself if he deny this affection\nof the heart. Since it is the nature of man, derived from his root,\nto desire to be equal with God, it follows that he desires no creature\nshould be equal with him, but subservient to his ends and his glory.\nHe that would make himself God, would have the honor proper to God.\nHe that thinks himself worthy of his own supreme affection, thinks\nhimself worthy to be the object of the supreme affection of others.\nWhosoever counts himself the chiefest good and last end, would have\nthe same place in the thoughts of others. Nothing is more natural\nto man than a desire to have his own judgment the rule and measure\nof the judgments and opinions of the rest of mankind. He that sets\nhimself in the place of the prince, doth, by that act, challenge all\nthe prerogatives and dues belonging to the prince; and apprehending\nhimself fit to be a king, apprehends himself also worthy of the homage\nand fealty of the subjects. He that loves himself chiefly, and all\nother things and persons for himself, would make himself the end of\nall creatures. It hath not been once or twice only in the world that\nsome vain princes have assumed to themselves the title of gods, and\ncaused divine adorations to be given to them, and altars to smoke with\nsacrifices for their honor. What hath been practised by one, is by\nnature seminally in all; we would have all pay an obedience to us,\nand give to us the esteem that is due to God. This is evident,\n\n1. In pride. When we entertain a high opinion of ourselves, and act\nfor our own reputes, we dispossess God from our own hearts; and while\nwe would have our fame to be in every man\u2019s mouth, and be admired in\nthe hearts of men, we would chase God out of the hearts of others, and\ndeny his glory a residence anywhere else, that our glory should reside\nmore in their minds than the glory of God; that their thoughts should\nbe filled with our achievements, more than the works and excellency\nof God, with our image, and not with the divine. Pride would paramount\nGod in the affections of others, and justle God out of their souls;\nand by the same reason that man doth thus in the place where he lives,\nhe would do so in the whole world, and press the whole creation from\nthe service of their true Lord, to his own service. Every proud man\nwould be counted by {a148} others as he counts himself, the highest,\nchiefest piece of goodness, and be adored by others, as much as\nhe adores and admires himself. No proud man, in his self\u2011love, and\nself\u2011admiration, thinks himself in an error; and if he be worthy of\nhis own admiration, he thinks himself worthy of the highest esteem\nof others, that they should value him above themselves, and value\nthemselves only for him. What did Nebuchadnezzar intend by setting up\na golden image, and commanding all his subjects to worship it, upon\nthe highest penalty he could inflict, but that all should aim only at\nthe pleasing his humor?\n\n2. In using the creatures contrary to the end God has appointed. God\ncreated the world and all things in it, as steps whereby men might\nascend to a prospect of him, and the acknowledgment of his glory; and\nwe would use them to dishonor God, and gratify ourselves: he appointed\nthem to supply our necessities, and support our rational delights,\nand we use them to cherish our sinful lusts. We wring groans from\nthe creature in diverting them from their true scope to one of our\nown fixing, when we use them not in his service, but purely for our\nown, and turn those things he created for himself, to be instruments\nof rebellion against him to serve our turns, and hereby endeavor to\ndefeat the ends of God in them, to establish our own ends by them:\nthis is a high dishonor to God, a sacrilegious undermining of his\nglory,[264] to reduce what God hath made to serve our own glory\nand our own pleasure; it perverts the whole order of the world, and\ndirects it to another end than what God hath constituted, to another\nintention contrary to the intention of God; and thus man makes himself\na God by his own authority. As all things were made by God, so they\nare for God; but while we aspire to the end of the creation, we deny\nand envy God the honor of being Creator; we cannot make ourselves the\nchief end of the creatures against God\u2019s order, but we imply thereby\nthat we were their first principle; for if we lived under a sense of\nthe Creator of them while we enjoy them for our use, we should return\nthe glory to the right owner. This is diabolical; though the devil,\nfor his first affecting an authority in heaven, has been hurled down\nfrom the state of an angel of light into that of darkness, vileness,\nand misery, to be the most accursed creature living, yet he still\naspires to mate God, contrary to the knowledge of the impossibility of\nsuccess in it. Neither the terrors he feels, nor the future torments\nhe doth expect, do a jot abate his ambition to be competitor with his\nCreator; how often hath he, since his first sin, arrogated to himself\nthe honor of a God from the blind world, and attempted to make the Son\nof God, by a particular worship, count him as the \u201cchiefest good and\nbenefactor of the world!\u201d[265] Since all men by nature are the devil\u2019s\nchildren, the serpent\u2019s seed, they have something of this venom in\ntheir natures, as well as others of his qualities. We see that there\nmay be, and is a prodigious atheism, lurking under the belief of a\nGod; the devil knows there is a God, but acts like an atheist; and so\ndo his children.\n\nFourthly, Man would make himself the end of God. This necessarily\nfollows upon the former; whosoever makes himself his own law and his\nown end in the place of God, would make God the subject {a149} in\nmaking himself the sovereign; he that steps into the throne of a\nprince, sets the prince at his footstool; and while he assumes the\nprince\u2019s prerogative, demands a subjection from him. The order of the\ncreation has been inverted by the entrance of sin.[266] God implanted\nan affection in man with a double aspect, the one to pitch upon\nGod, the other to respect ourselves; but with this proviso, that\nour affection to God should be infinite, in regard of the object,\nand centre in him as the chiefest happiness and highest end. Our\naffections to ourselves should be finite, and refer ultimately to God\nas the original of our being; but sin hath turned man\u2019s affections\nwholly to himself, whereas he should love God first, and himself in\norder to God; he now loves himself first, and God in order to himself;\nlove to God is lost, and love to self hath usurped the throne. As God\nby \u201ccreation put all things under the feet of man,\u201d[267] reserving\nthe heart for himself, man by corruption hath dispossessed God of his\nheart, and put him under his own feet. We often intend ourselves when\nwe pretend the honor of God, and make God and religion a stale to some\ndesigns we have in hand; our Creator a tool for our own ends. This is\nevident,\n\n1. In our loving God, because of some self\u2011pleasing benefits\ndistributed by him. There is in men a kind of natural love to God,\nbut it is but a secondary one, because God gives them the good things\nof this world, spreads their table, fills their cup, stuffs their\ncoffers, and doth them some good turns by unexpected providences; this\nis not an affection to God for the unbounded excellency of his own\nnature, but for his beneficence, as he opens his hand for them; an\naffection to themselves, and those creatures, their gold, their honor,\nwhich their hearts are most fixed upon, without a strong spiritual\ninclination that God should be glorified by them in the use of those\nmercies. It is rather a disowning of God, than any love to him,\nbecause it postpones God to those things they love him for; this would\nappear to be no love, if God should cease to be their benefactor, and\ndeal with them as a judge; if he should change his outward smiles into\nafflicting frowns, and not only shut his hand, but strip them of what\nhe sent them. The motive of their love being expired, the affection\nraised by it must cease for want of fuel to feed it; so that God\nis beholden to sordid creatures of no value (but as they are his\ncreatures) for most of the love the sons of men pretend to him. The\ndevil spake truth of most men, though not of Job, when he said (Job i.\n9): \u201cThey love not God for naught;\u201d but while he makes a hedge about\nthem and their families, whilst he blesseth the works of their hands,\nand increaseth their honor in the land. It is like Peter\u2019s sharp\nreproof of his Master, when he spake of the ill\u2011usage, even to death,\nhe was to meet with at Jerusalem: \u201cThis shall not be unto thee.\u201d It\nwas as much out of love to himself, as zeal for his Master\u2019s interest,\nknowing his Master could not be in such a storm without some drops\nlighting upon himself. All the apostasies of men in the world are\nwitnesses to this; they fawn whilst they may have a prosperous\nprofession, but will not bear one chip of the cross for the interest\nof God; they would partake of his blessings, {a150} but not endure the\nprick of a lance for him, as those, that admired the miracles of our\nSaviour, and shrunk at his sufferings. A time of trial discovers these\nmercenary souls to be more lovers of themselves than their Maker. This\nis a pretended love of friendship to God, but a real love to a lust,\nonly to gain by God. A good man\u2019s temper is contrary: \u201cQuench hell,\nburn heaven,\u201d said a holy man, \u201cI will love and fear my God.\u201d\n\n2. It is evident, in abstinence from some sins, not because they\noffend God, but because they are against the interest of some other\nbeloved corruption, or a bar to something men hunt after in the world.\nWhen temperance is cherished not to honor God, but preserve a crazy\ncarcase; prodigality forsaken, out of a humor of avarice; uncleanness\nforsaken, not out of a hatred of lust, but love to their money;\ndeclining a denial of the interest and truth of God, not out of\naffection to them, but an ambitious zeal for their own reputation.\nThere is a kind of conversion from sin, when God is not made the term\nof it (Jer. iv. 1): \u201cIf thou wilt return, O Israel, return unto me,\nsaith the Lord.\u201d[268] When we forbear sin as dogs do the meat they\nlove: they forbear not out of a hatred of the carrion, but fear of\nthe cudgel; these are as wicked in their abstaining from sin, as\nothers are in their furious committing it. Nothing of the honor of\nGod and the end of his appointments is indeed in all this, but the\nconveniences self gathers from them. Again, many of the motives the\ngenerality of the world uses to their friends and relations to draw\nthem from vices, are drawn from self, and used to prop up natural or\nsinful self in them. Come, reform yourself, take other courses, you\nwill smut your reputation and be despicable; you will destroy your\nestate, and commence a beggar; your family will be undone, and you may\nrot in a prison: not laying close to them the duty they owe to God,\nthe dishonor which accrues to him by their unworthy courses, and the\ningratitude to the God of their mercies; not that the other motives\nare to be laid aside and slighted. Mint and cummin may be tithed,\nbut the weightier concerns are not to be omitted; but this shows that\nself is the bias, not only of men in their own course, but in their\ndealings with others; what should be subordinate to the honor of God,\nand the duty we owe to him, is made superior.\n\n3. It is evident, in performing duties merely for a selfish interest:\nmaking ourselves the end of religious actions, paying a homage to that,\nwhile we pretend to render it to God (Zech. vii. 5): \u201cDid you at all\nfast unto me, even unto me?\u201d Things ordained by God may fall in with\ncarnal ends affected by ourselves; and then religion is not kept up by\nany interest of God in the conscience, but the interest of self in the\nheart: we then sanctify not the name of God in the duty, but gratify\nourselves: God may be the object, self is the end; and a heavenly\nobject is made subservient to a carnal design. Hypocrisy passes a\ncompliment on God, and is called flattery (Psalm lxxviii. 36): \u201cThey\ndid flatter him with their lips,\u201d &c. They gave him a parcel of good\nwords for their own preservation. Flattery, in the old notion among\nthe heathens, is a vice more peculiar to serve our own turn and purvey\nfor the belly: they knew they could not {a151} subsist without God,\nand therefore gave him a parcel of good words, that he might spare\nthem, and make provision for them. Israel is an empty vine,[269] a\nvine, say some, with large branches and few clusters, but brings forth\nfruit to himself: while they professed love to God with their lips,\nit was that God should promote their covetous designs, and preserve\ntheir wealth and grandeur;[270] in which respect a hypocrite may be\nwell termed a religious atheist, an atheist masked with religion. The\nchief arguments which prevail with many men to perform some duties\nand appear religious, are the same that Hamor and Shechem used to the\npeople of their city to submit to circumcision, viz. the engrossing\nof more wealth (Gen. xxxiv. 21, 22): \u201cIf every male among us be\ncircumcised, as they are circumcised, shall not their cattle and\ntheir substance, and every beast of theirs, be ours?\u201d This is seen,\n\n(1.) In unwieldiness to religious duties where self is not concerned.\nWith what lively thoughts will many approach to God, when a revenue\nmay be brought in to support their own ends! But when the concerns of\nGod only are in it, the duty is not the delight, but the clog; such\nfeeble devotions, that warm not the soul, unless there be something\nof self to give strength and heat to them. Jonah was sick of his work,\nand run from God, because he thought he should get no honor by his\nmessage: God\u2019s mercy would discredit his prophecy.[271] Thoughts of\ndisadvantage cut the very sinews of service. You may as well persuade\na merchant to venture all his estate upon the inconstant waves without\nhopes of gain, as prevail with a natural man to be serious in duty,\nwithout expectation of some warm advantage. \u201cWhat profit should we\nhave if we pray to him?\u201d is the natural question (Job xxi. 15). \u201cWhat\nprofit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin?\u201d (Job xxxv. 3).\nI shall have more good by my sin than by my service. It is for God\nthat I dance before the ark, saith David, therefore I will be more\nvile (2 Sam. vi. 22). It is for self that I pray, saith a natural\nman, therefore I will be more warm and quick. Ordinances of God are\nobserved only as a point of interest, and prayer is often most fervent,\nwhen it is least godly, and most selfish; carnal ends and affections\nwill pour out lively expressions. If there be no delight in the means\nthat lead to God, there is no delight in God himself; because love\nis _appetitus unionis_, a desire of union; and where the object is\ndesirable, the means that brings us to it would be delightful too.\n\n(2.) In calling upon God only in a time of necessity. How officious\nwill men be in affliction, to that God whom they neglect in their\nprosperity! \u201cWhen he slew them, then they sought him, and they\nreturned and inquired after God, and they remembered that God was\ntheir rock\u201d (Psalm lxxviii. 34). They remembered him under the scourge,\nand forgot him under his smiles: they visit the throne of grace,\nknock loud at heaven\u2019s gates, and give God no rest for their early\nand importunate devotions when under distress: but when their desires\nare answered, and the rod removed, they stand aloof from him, and rest\nupon their own bottom, as Jer. ii. 31: \u201cWe are lords; we will come\nno more unto thee.\u201d When we have need {a152} of him, he shall find\nus clients at his gate; and when we have served our turn, he hears no\nmore of us: like Noah\u2019s dove sent out of the ark, that returned to him\nwhen she found no rest on the earth, but came not back when she found\na footing elsewhere. How often do men apply themselves to God, when\nthey have some business for him to do for them! And then too, they are\nloth to put it solely into his hand to manage it for his own honor;\nbut they presume to be his directors, that he may manage it for their\nglory. Self spurs men on to the throne of grace; they desire to be\nfurnished with some mercy they want, or to have the clouds of some\njudgments which they fear blown over: this is not affection to God,\nbut to ourselves: as the Romans worshipped a quartan ague as a goddess,\nand Timorem and Pallorem, fear and paleness, as gods; not out of any\naffection they had to the disease or the passion, but for fear to\nreceive any hurt by them. Again, when we have gained the mercy we need,\nhow little do we warm our souls with the consideration of that God\nthat gave it, or lay out the mercy in his service! We are importunate\nto have him our friend in our necessities, and are ungratefully\ncareless of him, and his injuries he suffers by us or others. When\nhe hath discharged us from the rock where we stuck, we leave him, as\nhaving no more need of him, and able to do well enough without him;\nas if we were petty gods ourselves, and only wanted a lift from him\nat first. This is not to glorify God as God, but as our servant; not\nan honoring of God, but a self\u2011seeking: he would hardly beg at God\u2019s\ndoor, if he could pleasure himself without him.\n\n(3.) In begging his assistance to our own projects. When we lay the\nplot of our own affairs, and then come to God, not for counsel but\nblessing, self only shall give us counsel how to act; but because we\nbelieve there is a God that governs the world, we will desire him to\ncontribute success. God is not consulted with till the counsel of\nself be fixed; then God must be the executor of our will. Self must be\nthe principal, and God the instrument to hatch what we have contrived.\nIt is worse when we beg of God to favor some sinful aim; the Psalmist\nimplies this (Psalm lxvi. 18): \u201cIf I regard iniquity in my heart,\nthe Lord will not hear me.\u201d Iniquity regarded as the aim in prayer,\nrenders the prayer successless, and the suppliant an atheist, in\ndebasing God to back his lust by his holy providence. The disciples\nhad determined revenge; and because they could not act it without\ntheir Master, they would have him be their second in their vindictive\npassion (Luke ix. 55): \u201cCall for fire from heaven.\u201d We scarce seek\nGod till we have modelled the whole contrivance in our own brains,\nand resolved upon the methods of performance; as though there were\nnot a fulness of wisdom in God to guide us in our resolves, as well\nas power to breathe success upon them.\n\n(4.) In impatience upon the refusal of our desires. How often do men\u2019s\nspirits rise against God, when he steps not in with the assistance\nthey want! If the glory of God swayed more with them than their\nprivate interest, they would let God be judge of his own glory, and\nrather magnify his wisdom than complain of his want of goodness.\nSelfish hearts will charge God with neglect of them, if he be {a153}\nnot as quick in their supplies as they are in their desires; like\nthose in Isa. lviii. 3, \u201cWherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou\nseest not? wherefore have we afflicted our souls, and thou takest\nno knowledge?\u201d When we aim at God\u2019s glory in our importunities, we\nshall fall down in humble submissions when he denies us; whereas self\nriseth up in bold expostulations, as if God were our servant, and\nhad neglected the service he owed us, not to come at our call. We\nover\u2011value the satisfactions of self above the honor of God. Besides,\nif what we desire be a sin, our impatience at a refusal is more\nintolerable: it is an anger, that God will not lay aside his holiness\nto serve our corruption.\n\n(5.) In the actual aims men have in their duties. In prayer for\ntemporal things, when we desire health for our own ease, wealth\nfor our own sensuality, strength for our revenge, children for the\nincrease of our family, gifts for our applause; as Simon Magus did\nthe Holy Ghost: or, when some of those ends are aimed at, this is\nto desire God not to serve himself of us, but to be a servant to our\nworldly interest, our vain glory, the greatening of our names, &c. In\nspiritual mercies begged for; when pardon of sin is desired only for\nour own security from eternal vengeance; sanctification desired only\nto make us fit for everlasting blessedness; peace of conscience, only\nthat we may lead our lives more comfortably in the world; when we have\nnot actual intentions for the glory of God, or when our thoughts of\nGod\u2019s honor are overtopped by the aims of self\u2011advantage: not but\nthat as God hath pressed us to those things by motives drawn from the\nblessedness derived to ourselves by them, so we may desire them with\na respect to ourselves; but this respect must be contained within the\ndue banks, in subordination to the glory of God, not above it, nor in\nan equal balance with it.[272] That which is nourishing or medicinal\nin the first or second degree, is in the fourth or fifth degree mere\ndestructive poison. Let us consider it seriously; though a duty be\nheavenly, doth not some base end smut us in it? [1.] How is it with\nour confessions of sin? Are they not more to procure our pardon, than\nto shame ourselves before God, or to be freed from the chains that\nhinder us from bringing him the glory for which we were created; or\nmore to partake of his benefits, than to honor him in acknowledging\nthe rights of his justice? Do we not bewail sin as it hath ruined us,\nnot as it opposed the holiness of God? Do we not shuffle with God,\nand confess one sin, while we reserve another; as if we would allure\nGod by declaring our dislike of one, to give us liberty to commit\nwantonness with another; not to abhor ourselves, but to daub with\nGod. [2.] Is it any better in our private and family worship? Are not\nsuch assemblies frequented by some, where some upon whom they have\na dependence may eye them, and have a better opinion of them, and\naffection to them? If God were the sole end of our hearts, would\nthey not be as glowing under the sole eye of God, as our tongues or\ncarriages are seemingly serious under the eye of man? Are not family\nduties performed by some that their voices may be heard, and their\nreputation supported among godly neighbors? [3.] Is not the charity\nof many men tainted with this {a154} end\u2015\u2015self,[273] as the Pharisees\nwere, while they set the miserable object before them, but not the\nLord; bestowing alms not so much upon the necessities of the people,\nas the friendship we owe them for some particular respects; or casting\nour bread upon those waters which stream down in the sight of the\nworld, that our doles may be visible to them, and commended by them;\nor when we think to oblige God to pardon our transgressions, as if\nwe merited it and heaven too at his hands, by bestowing a few pence\nupon indigent persons? And [4.] Is it not the same with the reproofs\nof men? Is not heat and anger carried out with full sail when our\nworldly interest is prejudiced and becalmed in the concerns of God?\nDo not many masters reprove their servants with more vehemency for the\nneglect of their trade and business, than the neglect of divine duties;\nand that upon religious arguments, pretending the honor of God that\nthey may mind their own interest? But when they are negligent in what\nthey owe to God, no noise is made, they pass without rebuke; is not\nthis to make God and religion a stale to their own ends? It is a part\nof atheism not to regard the injuries done to God, as Tiberius,[274]\n\u201cLet God\u2019s wrongs be looked to or cared for by himself.\u201d [5.] Is\nit not thus in our seeming zeal for religion? as Demetrius and the\ncraftsmen at Ephesus cried up aloud the greatness of Diana of the\nEphesians, not out of any true zeal they had for her, but their gain,\nwhich was increased by the confluence of her worshippers, and the sale\nof her own shrines (Acts xix. 24, 28).\n\n4. In making use of the name of God to countenance our sin. When we\nset up an opinion that is a friend to our lusts, and then dig deep\ninto the Scripture to find crutches to support it, and authorize our\npractices; when men will thank God for what they have got by unlawful\nmeans, fathering the fruit of their cheating craft, and the simplicity\nof their chapmen upon God; crediting their cozenage by his name, as\nmen do brass money, with a thin plate of silver, and the stamp and\nimage of the prince. The Jews urge the law of God for the crucifying\nhis Son (John xix. 7): \u201cWe have a law, and by that law he is to die,\u201d\nand would make him a party in their private revenge. Thus often when\nwe have faltered in some actions, we wipe our mouths, as if we sought\nGod more than our own interest, prostituting the sacred name and\nhonor of God, either to hatch or defend some unworthy lust against\nhis word.[275] Is not all this a high degree of atheism?\n\n1. It is a vilifying God, an abuse of the highest good. Other\nsins subject the creature and outward things to them, but acting\nin religious services for self, subjects not only the highest\nconcernments of men\u2019s souls, but the Creator himself to the creature,\nnay, to make God contribute to that which is the pleasure of the\ndevil, a greater slight than to cast the gifts of a prince to a herd\nof nasty swine. It were more excusable to serve ourselves of God upon\nthe higher accounts, such that materially conduce to his glory; but\nit is an intolerable wrong to make him and his ordinances caterers for\nour own bellies, as they did:[276] they sacrificed the \u05e0\u05d3\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea of which\nthe offerer {a155} might eat, not out of any reference to God, but\nlove to their gluttony; not to please him, but feast themselves. The\nbelly was truly made the god, when God was served only in order to\nthe belly; as though the blessed God had his being, and his ordinances\nwere enjoined to pleasure their foolish and wanton appetites; as\nthough the work of God were only to patronize unrighteous ends, and be\nas bad as themselves, and become a pander to their corrupt affections.\n\n2. Because it is a vilifying of God, it is an undeifying or dethroning\nGod. It is an acting as if we were the lords, and God our vassal; a\nsetting up those secular ends in the place of God, who ought to be our\nultimate end in every action; to whom a glory is as due, as his mercy\nto us is utterly unmerited by us. He that thinks to cheat and put the\nfool upon God by his pretences, doth not heartily believe there is\nsuch a being. He could not have the notion of a God, without that\nof omniscience and justice; an eye to see the cheat, and an arm to\npunish it. The notion of the one would direct him in the manner of\nhis services, and the sense of the other would scare him from the\ncherishing his unworthy ends. He that serves God with a sole respect\nto himself, is prepared for any idolatry; his religion shall warp with\nthe times and his interest; he shall deny the true God for an idol,\nwhen his worldly interest shall advise him to it, and pay the same\nreverence to the basest image, which he pretends now to pay to God; as\nthe Israelites were as real for idolatry under their basest princes,\nas they were pretenders to the true religion under those that were\npious. Before I come to the use of this, give me leave to evince this\npractical atheism by two other considerations.\n\n1. Unworthy imaginations of God. \u201cThe fool hath said in his heart,\nThere is no God:\u201d that is, he is not such a God as you report him\nto be; this is meant by their being \u201ccorrupt,\u201d in the second verse,\ncorrupt being taken for playing the idolaters (Exod. xxxii. 7). We\ncannot comprehend God; if we could, we should cease to be finite; and\nbecause we cannot comprehend him, we erect strange images of him in\nour fancies and affections. And since guilt came upon us, because we\ncannot root out the notions of God, we would debase the majesty and\nnature of God, that we may have some ease in our consciences, and\nlie down with some comfort in the sparks of our own kindling. This\nis universal in men by nature. \u201cGod is not in all his thoughts;\u201d[277]\nnot in any of his thoughts, according the excellency of his nature\nand greatness of his majesty. As the heathen did not glorify God as\nGod, so neither do they conceive of God as God; they are all infected\nwith some one or other ill opinion of him, thinking him not so holy,\npowerful, just, good, as he is, and as the natural force of the human\nunderstanding might arrive to. We join a new notion of God in our vain\nfancies, and represent him not as he is, but as we would have him to\nbe, fit for our own use, and suited to our own pleasure. We set that\nactive power of imagination on work, and there comes out a god (a calf)\nwhom we own for a notion of God. Adam cast him into so narrow a mould,\nas to think that himself, who had newly sprouted up by his almighty\npower, was fit to be his corrival in knowledge, and had vain hopes to\ngrasp as {a156} much as infiniteness; if he, in his first declining,\nbegun to have such a conceit, it is no doubt but we have as bad under\na mass of corruption. When holy Agur speaks of God, he cries out\nthat he had not \u201cthe understanding of a man, nor the knowledge of\nthe holy;\u201d[278] he did not think rationally of God, as man might by\nhis strength at his first creation. There are as many carved images\nof God as there are minds of men, and as monstrous shapes as those\ncorruptions into which they would transform him. Hence sprang,\n\n1. Idolatry. Vain imaginations first set afloat and kept up this in\nthe world. Vain imaginations of the God \u201cwhose glory they changed\ninto the image of corruptible man.\u201d[279] They had set up vain images\nof him in their fancy, before they set up idolatrous representations\nof him in their temples; the likening him to those idols of wood and\nstone, and various metals, were the fruit of an idea erected in their\nown minds. This is a mighty debasing the Divine nature, and rendering\nhim no better than that base and stupid matter they make the visible\nobject of their adoration; equalling him with those base creatures\nthey think worthy to be the representations of him. Yet how far did\nthis crime spread itself in all corners of the world, not only among\nthe more barbarous and ignorant, but the more polished and civilized\nnations! Judea only, where God had placed the ark of his presence,\nbeing free from it, in some intervals of time only after some sweeping\njudgment. And though they vomited up their idols under some sharp\nscourge, they licked them up again after the heavens were cleared over\ntheir heads: the whole book of Judges makes mention of it. And though\nan evangelical light hath chased that idolatry away from a great part\nof the world, yet the principle remaining coins more spiritual idols\nin the heart, which are brought before God in acts of worship.\n\n2. Hence all superstition received its rise and growth. When we mint\na god according to our own complexion, like to us in mutable and\nvarious passions, soon angry and soon appeased, it is no wonder that\nwe invent ways of pleasing him after we have offended him, and think\nto expiate the sin of our souls by some melancholy devotions and\nself\u2011chastisements. Superstition is nothing else but an unscriptural\nand unrevealed dread of God.[280] When they imagined him a rigorous\nand severe master, they cast about for ways to mitigate him whom they\nthought so hard to be pleased: a very mean thought of him, as if a\nslight and pompous devotion could as easily bribe and flatter him out\nof his rigors, as a few good words or baubling rattles could please\nand quiet little children; and whatsoever pleased us, could please\na God infinitely above us. Such narrow conceits had the Philistines,\nwhen they thought to still the anger of the God of Israel, whom they\nthought they possessed in the ark, with the present of a few golden\nmice.[281] All the superstition this day living in the world is built\nupon this foundation: so natural it is to man to pull God down to\nhis own imaginations, rather than raise his imaginations up to God.\nHence doth arise also the diffidence of his mercy, though they repent;\nmeasuring God by the contracted models of their own spirits; as though\nhis nature were as difficult to pardon {a157} their offences against\nhim, as they are to remit wrongs done to themselves.\n\n3. Hence springs all presumption, the common disease of the world.\nAll the wickedness in the world, which is nothing else but presuming\nupon God, rises from the ill interpretations of the goodness of God,\nbreaking out upon them in the works of creation and providence. The\ncorruption of man\u2019s nature engendered by those notions of goodness\na monstrous birth of vain imaginations; not of themselves primarily,\nbut of God; whence arose all that folly and darkness in their minds\nand conversations (Rom. i. 20, 21). They glorified him not as God,\nbut, according to themselves, imagined him good that themselves might\nbe bad; fancied him so indulgent, as to neglect his own honor for\ntheir sensuality. How doth the unclean person represent him to his own\nthoughts, but as a goat; the murderer as a tiger; the sensual person\nas a swine; while they fancy a God indulgent to their crimes without\ntheir repentance! As the image on the seal is stamped upon the wax, so\nthe thoughts of the heart are printed upon the actions. God\u2019s patience\nis apprehended to be an approbation of their vices, and from the\nconsideration of his forbearance, they fashion a god that they believe\nwill smile upon their crimes. They imagine a god that plays with them;\nand though he threatens doth it only to scare, but means not as he\nspeaks. A god they fancy like themselves, that would do as they would\ndo, not be angry for what they count a light offence (Psalm l. 21):\n\u201cThou thoughtest I was such a one as thyself;\u201d that God and they were\nexactly alike as two tallies. \u201cOur wilful misapprehensions of God are\nthe cause of our misbehavior in all his worship. Our slovenly and lazy\nservices tell him to his face what slight thoughts and apprehensions\nwe have of him.\u201d[282] Compare these two together. Superstition\nariseth from terrifying misapprehensions of God: presumption from\nself\u2011pleasing thoughts. One represents him only rigorous, and the\nother careless. One makes us over\u2011officious in serving him by our\nown rules; and the other over\u2011bold in offending him according to our\nhumors. The want of a true notion of God\u2019s justice makes some men\nslight him; and the want of a true apprehension of his goodness makes\nothers too servile in their approaches to him. One makes us careless\nof duties, and the other makes us look on them rather as physic\nthan food; an unsupportable penance, than a desirable privilege.\nIn this case hell is the principle of duty performed to heaven.\nThe superstitious man believes God hath scarce mercy to pardon; the\npresumptuous man believes he hath no such perfection as justice to\npunish. The one makes him insignificant to what he desires, kindness\nand goodness; the other renders him insignificant to what he fears,\nhis vindictive justice. What between the idolater, the superstitious,\nthe presumptuous person, God should look like no God in the world.\nThese unworthy imaginations of God are likewise,\n\n2. A vilifying of him. Debasing the Creator to be a creature of their\nown fancies; putting their own stamp upon him; and fashioning him not\naccording to that beautiful image he impressed upon {a158} them by\ncreation; but the defaced image they inherit by their fall, and which\nis worse, the image of the devil which spread itself over them at\ntheir revolt and apostasy. Were it possible to see a picture of God,\naccording to the fancies of men, it would be the most monstrous being,\nsuch a God that never was, nor ever can be. We honor God when we have\nworthy opinions of him suitable to his nature; when we conceive of him\nas a being of unbounded loveliness and perfection. We detract from him\nwhen we ascribe to him such qualities as would be a horrible disgrace\nto a wise and good man as injustice and impurity. Thus men debase God\nwhen they invert his order, and would create him according to their\nimage, as he first created them according to his own; and think him\nnot worthy to be a God, unless he fully answer the mould they would\ncast him into, and be what is unworthy of his nature. Men do not\nconceive of God as he would have them; but he must be what they would\nhave him, one of their own shaping.\n\n1. This is worse than idolatry. The grossest idolater commits not a\ncrime so heinous, by changing his glory into the image of creeping\nthings and senseless creatures, as the imagining God to be as one of\nour sinful selves, and likening him to those filthy images we erect in\nour fancies. One makes him an earthly God, like an earthly creature;\nthe other fancies him an unjust and impure God, like a wicked creature.\nOne sets up an image of him in the earth, which is his footstool;\nthe other sets up an image of him in the heart, which ought to be his\nthrone.\n\n2. It is worse than absolute atheism, or a denial of God. \u201c_Dignius\ncredimus non esse, quodcunque non ita fuerit, ut esse deberet_,\u201d[283]\nwas the opinion of Tertullian. It is more commendable to think him not\nto be, than to think him such a one as is inconsistent with his nature.\nBetter to deny his existence, than deny his perfection. No wise man\nbut would rather have his memory rot, than be accounted infamous, and\nwould be more obliged to him that should deny that ever he had a being\nin the world, than to say he did indeed live, but he was a sot, a\ndebauched person, and a man not to be trusted. When we apprehend God\ndeceitful in his promises, unrighteous in his threatenings, unwilling\nto pardon upon repentance, or resolved to pardon notwithstanding\nimpenitency: these are things either unworthy of the nature of God,\nor contrary to that revelation he hath given of himself. Better for\na man never to have been born than be forever miserable; so better to\nbe thought no God, than represented impotent or negligent, unjust or\ndeceitful; which are more contrary to the nature of God than hell can\nbe to the greatest criminal. In this sense perhaps the apostle affirms\nthe Gentiles (Eph. ii. 12) to be such as are \u201cwithout God in the\nworld;\u201d as being more atheists in adoring God under such notions as\nthey commonly did, than if they had acknowledged no God at all.\n\n3. This is evident by our natural desire to be distant from him, and\nunwillingness to have any acquaintance with him. Sin set us first at\na distance from God; and every new act of gross sin estrangeth us more\nfrom him, and indisposeth us more for him: it makes us {a159} both\nafraid and ashamed to be near him. Sensual men were of this frame\nthat Job discourseth of (ch. xxi. 7\u20129, 14, 15). Where grace reigns,\nthe nearer to God the more vigorous the motion; the nearer anything\napproaches to us, that is the object of our desires, the more eagerly\ndo we press forward to it: but our blood riseth at the approaches of\nanything to which we have an aversion. We have naturally a loathing\nof God\u2019s coming to us or our return to him: we seek not after him as\nour happiness; and when he offers himself, we like it not, but put\na disgrace upon him in choosing other things before him. God and we\nare naturally at as great a distance, as light and darkness, life\nand death, heaven and hell. The stronger impression of God anything\nhath, the more we fly from it. The glory of God in reflection upon\nMoses\u2019 face scared the Israelites; they who had desired God to speak\nto them by Moses, when they saw a signal impression of God upon\nhis countenance, were afraid to come near him, as they were before\nunwilling to come near to God.[284] Not that the blessed God is in\nhis own nature a frightful object; but our own guilt renders him so\nto us, and ourselves indisposed to converse with him; as the light of\nthe sun is as irksome to a distempered eye, as it is in its own nature\ndesirable to a sound one. The saints themselves have had so much\nfrailty, that they have cried out, that they were undone, if they had\nany more than ordinary discoveries of God made unto them; as if they\nwished him more remote from them. Vileness cannot endure the splendor\nof majesty, nor guilt the glory of a judge.\n\nWe have naturally, 1. No desire of remembrance of him, 2. Or converse\nwith him, 3. Or thorough return to him, 4. Or close imitation of him:\nas if there were not any such being as God in the world; or as if\nwe wished there were none at all; so feeble and spiritless are our\nthoughts of the being of a God.\n\n1. No desire for the remembrance of him. How delightful are other\nthings in our minds! How burdensome the memorials of God, from whom\nwe have our being! With what pleasure do we contemplate the nature\nof creatures, even of flies and toads, while our minds tire in the\nsearch of Him, who hath bestowed upon us our knowing and meditating\nfaculties! Though God shows himself to us in every creature, in the\nmeanest weed as well as the highest heavens, and is more apparent in\nthem to our reasons than themselves can be to our sense; yet though we\nsee them, we will not behold God in them: we will view them to please\nour sense, to improve our reason in their natural perfections; but\npass by the consideration of God\u2019s perfections so visibly beaming\nfrom them. Thus we play the beasts and atheists in the very exercise\nof reason, and neglect our Creator to gratify our sense, as though\nthe pleasure of that were more desirable than the knowledge of God.\nThe desire of our souls is not towards his name and the remembrance\nof him,[285] when we set not ourselves in a posture to feast our souls\nwith deep and serious meditations of him; have a thought of him, only\nby the bye and away, as if we were afraid of too intimate acquaintance\nwith him. Are not the thoughts of God rather our invaders than our\nguests; seldom invited to reside and take up their home in our hearts?\nHave we not, when {a160} they have broke in upon us, bid them depart\nfrom us,[286] and warned them to come no more upon our ground; sent\nthem packing as soon as we could, and were glad when they were gone?\nAnd when they have departed, have we not often been afraid they should\nreturn again upon us, and therefore looked about for other inmates,\nthings not good, or if good, infinitely below God, to possess the room\nof our hearts before any thoughts of him should appear again? Have we\nnot often been glad of excuses to shake off present thoughts of him,\nand when we have wanted real ones, found out pretences to keep God\nand our hearts at a distance? Is not this a part of atheism, to be so\nunwilling to employ our faculties about the giver of them, to refuse\nto exercise them in a way of a grateful remembrance of him; as though\nthey were none of his gift, but our own acquisition; as though the\nGod that truly gave them had no right to them, and he that thinks on\nus every day in a way of providence, were not worthy to be thought on\nby us in a way of special remembrance? Do not the best, that love the\nremembrance of him, and abhor this natural averseness, find, that when\nthey would think of God, many things tempt them and turn them to think\nelsewhere? Do they not find their apprehensions too feeble, their\nmotions too dull, and the impressions too slight? This natural atheism\nis spread over human nature.\n\n2. No desire of converse with him. The word \u201cremember\u201d in the command\nfor keeping holy the Sabbath\u2011day, including all the duties of the day,\nand the choicest of our lives, implies our natural unwillingness to\nthem, and forgetfulness of them. God\u2019s pressing this command with more\nreasons than the rest, manifests that man hath no heart for spiritual\nduties. No spiritual duty, which sets us immediately face to face\nwith God, but in the attempts of it we find naturally a resistance\nfrom some powerful principle; so that everyone may subscribe to the\nspeech of the apostle, that \u201cwhen we would do good, evil is present\nwith them.\u201d No reason of this can be rendered, but the natural\ntemper of our souls, and an affecting a distance from God under\nany consideration: for though our guilt first made the breach, yet\nthis aversion to a converse with him steps up without any actual\nreflections upon our guilt, which may render God terrible to us as\nan offended judge. Are we not often also, in our attendance upon\nhim, more pleased with the modes of worship which gratify our fancy,\nthan to have our souls inwardly delighted with the object of worship\nhimself? This is a part of our natural atheism. To cast such duties\noff by total neglect, or in part, by affecting a coldness in them, is\nto cast off the fear of the Lord.[287] Not to call upon God, and not\nto know him, are one and the same thing (Jer. x. 25). Either we think\nthere is no such Being in the world, or that he is so slight a one,\nthat he deserves not the respect he calls for; or so impotent and poor,\nthat he cannot supply what our necessities require.\n\n3. No desire of a thorough return to him. The first man fled from\nhim after his defection, though he had no refuge to fly to but the\ngrace of his Creator. Cain went from his presence, would be a fugitive\n{a161} from God rather than a suppliant to him; when by faith in, and\napplication of the promised Redeemer, he might have escaped the wrath\nto come for his brother\u2019s blood, and mitigated the sorrows he was\njustly sentenced to bear in the world. Nothing will separate prodigal\nman from commoning with swine; and make him return to his father,\nbut an empty trough: have we but husks to feed on, we shall never\nthink of a father\u2019s presence. It were well if our sores and indigence\nwould drive us to him; but when our strength is devoured, we will not\n\u201creturn to the Lord our God, nor seek him for all this.\u201d[288] Not his\ndrawn sword, as a God of judgment, nor his mighty power, as a Lord,\nnor his open arms, as the Lord their God, could move them to turn\ntheir eyes and their hearts towards him. The more he invites us to\npartake of his grace, the further we run from him to provoke his wrath:\nthe louder God called them by his prophets, the closer they stuck to\ntheir Baal.[289] We turn our backs when he stretches out his hand,\nstop our ears when he lifts up his voice. We fly from him when he\ncourts us, and shelter ourselves in any bush from his merciful hand\nthat would lay hold upon us; nor will we set our faces towards him,\ntill our way be hedged up with thorns, and not a gap left to creep\nout any by\u2011way.[290] Whosoever is brought to a return, puts the Holy\nGhost to the pain of striving; he is not easily brought to a spiritual\nsubjection to God, nor persuaded to a surrender at a summons, but\nsweetly overpowered by storm, and victoriously drawn into the arms\nof God. God stands ready, but the heart stands off; grace is full\nof entreaties, and the soul full of excuses; Divine love offers,\nand carnal self\u2011love rejects. Nothing so pleases us as when we are\nfarthest from him; as if anything were more amiable, anything more\ndesirable, than himself.\n\n4. No desire of any close imitation of him. When our Saviour was to\ncome as a refiner\u2019s fire, to purify the sons of Levi, the cry is, \u201cWho\nshall abide the day of his coming?\u201d (Mal. iii. 2, 3.) Since we are\nalienated from the life of God, we desire no more naturally to live\nthe life of God, than a toad, or any other animal, desires to live\nthe life of a man. No heart that knows God but hath a holy ambition\nto imitate him. No soul that refuseth him for a copy, but is ignorant\nof his excellency. Of this temper is all mankind naturally. Man in\ncorruption is as loth to be like God in holiness, as Adam, after his\ncreation, was desirous to be like God in knowledge; his posterity are\nlike their father, who soon turned his back upon his original copy.\nWhat can be worse than this? Can the denial of his being be a greater\ninjury than this contempt of him; as if he had not goodness to deserve\nour remembrance, nor amiableness fit for our converse; as if he were\nnot a Lord fit for our subjection, nor had a holiness that deserved\nour imitation? For the use of this:\u2015\u2015\n\n_Use I._ It serves for information.\n\n1. It gives us occasion to admire the wonderful patience and mercy\nof God. How many millions of practical atheists breathe every day in\nhis air, and live upon his bounty who deserve to be inhabitants in\nhell, rather than possessors of the earth! An infinite holiness is\noffended, an infinite justice is provoked; yet an infinite patience\n{a162} forbears the punishment, and an infinite goodness relieves our\nwants: the more we had merited his justice and forfeited his favor,\nthe more is his affection enhanced, which makes his hand so liberal\nto us. At the first invasion of his rights, he mitigates the terror of\nthe threatening which was set to defend his law, with the grace of a\npromise to relieve and recover his rebellious creature.[291] Who would\nhave looked for anything but tearing thunders, sweeping judgments,\nto raze up the foundations of the apostate world? But oh, how great\nare his bowels to his aspiring competitors! Have we not experimented\nhis contrivances for our good, though we have refused him for our\nhappiness? Has he not opened his arms, when we spurned with our feet;\nheld out his alluring mercy, when we have brandished against him\na rebellious sword? Has he not entreated us while we have invaded\nhim, as if he were unwilling to lose us, who are ambitious to destroy\nourselves? Has he yet denied us the care of his providence, while we\nhave denied him the rights of his honor, and would appropriate them\nto ourselves? Has the sun forborne shining upon us, though we have\nshot our arrows against him? Have not our beings been supported by\nhis goodness, while we have endeavored to climb up to his throne; and\nhis mercies continued to charm us, while we have used them as weapons\nto injure him? Our own necessities might excite us to own him as our\nhappiness, but he adds his invitations to the voice of our wants. Has\nhe not promised a kingdom to those that would strip him of his crown,\nand proclaimed pardon upon repentance to those that would take away\nhis glory? and hath so twisted together his own end, which is his\nhonor, and man\u2019s true end, which is his salvation, that a man cannot\ntruly mind himself and his own salvation, but he must mind God\u2019s\nglory; and cannot be intent upon God\u2019s honor, but by the same act\nhe promotes himself and his own happiness? so loth is God to give\nany just occasion of dissatisfaction to his creature, as well as\ndishonor to himself. All those wonders of his mercy are enhanced by\nthe heinousness of our atheism; a multitude of gracious thoughts from\nhim above the multitude of contempts from us.[292] What rebels in\nactual arms against their prince, aiming at his life, ever found that\nfavor from him; to have all their necessaries richly afforded them,\nwithout which they would starve, and without which they would be\nunable to manage their attempts, as we have received from God? Had\nnot God had riches of goodness, forbearance, and long\u2011suffering, and\ninfinite riches too, the despite the world had done him, in refusing\nhim as their rule, happiness, and end, would have emptied him long\nago.[293]\n\n2. It brings in a justification of the exercise of his justice. If\nit gives us occasion loudly to praise his patience, it also stops\nour mouths from accusing any acts of his vengeance. What can be too\nsharp a recompense for the despising and disgracing so great a Being?\nThe highest contempt merits the greatest anger; and when we will not\nown him for our happiness, it is equal we should feel the misery of\nseparation from him. If he that is guilty of treason deserves to lose\nhis life, what punishment can be thought great enough for him that\nis so disingenuous as to prefer himself before a God so infinitely\n{a163} good, and so foolish as to invade the rights of one infinitely\npowerful? It is no injustice for a creature to be forever left to\nhimself, to see what advantage he can make of that self he was so\nbusily employed to set up in the place of his Creator. The soul of\nman deserves an infinite punishment for despising an infinite good;\nand it is not unequitable, that that self which man makes his rule\nand happiness above God, should become his torment and misery by the\nrighteousness of that God whom he despised.\n\n3. Hence ariseth a necessity of a new state and frame of soul,\nto alter an atheistical nature. We forget God; think of him with\nreluctancy; have no respect to God in our course and acts: this cannot\nbe our original state. God, being infinitely good, never let man come\nout of his hands with this actual unwillingness to acknowledge and\nserve him; he never intended to dethrone himself for the work of his\nhands, or that the creature should have any other end than that of\nhis Creator: as the apostle saith, in the case of the Galatians\u2019 error\n(Gal. v. 8), \u201cThis persuasion came not of Him that called you;\u201d so\nthis frame comes not from him that created you: how much, therefore,\ndo we need a restoring principle in us! Instead of ordering ourselves\naccording to the will of God, we are desirous to \u201cfulfil the wills of\nthe flesh:\u201d[294] there is a necessity of some other principle in us\nto make us fulfil the will of God, since we were created for God, not\nfor the flesh. We can no more be voluntarily serviceable to God, while\nour serpentine nature and devilish habits remain in us, than we can\nsuppose the devil can be willing to glorify God, while the nature\nhe contracted by his fall abides powerfully in him. Our nature and\nwill must be changed, that our actions may regard God as our end,\nthat we may delightfully meditate on him, and draw the motives of our\nobedience from him. Since this atheism is seated in nature, the change\nmust be in our nature; since our first aspirings to the rights of\nGod were the fruits of the serpent\u2019s breath which tainted our nature,\nthere must be a removal of this taint, whereby our natures may be\non the side of God against Satan, as they were before on the side\nof Satan against God. There must be a supernatural principle before\nwe can live a supernatural life, _i. e._ live to God, since we are\nnaturally alienated from the life of God: the aversion of our natures\nfrom God, is as strong as our inclination to evil; we are disgusted\nwith one, and pressed with the other; we have no will, no heart, to\ncome to God in any service. This nature must be broken in pieces and\nnew moulded, before we can make God our rule and our end: while men\u2019s\n\u201cdeeds are evil\u201d they cannot comply with God;[295] much less while\ntheir natures are evil. Till this be done, all the service a man\nperforms riseth from some \u201cevil imagination of the heart, which is\nevil, only evil, and that continually;\u201d[296] from wrong notions of\nGod, wrong notions of duty, or corrupt motives. All the pretences of\ndevotion to God are but the adoration of some golden image. Prayers to\nGod for the ends of self, are like those of the devil to our Saviour,\nwhen he asked leave to go into the herd of swine: the object was right,\nChrist; the end was the destruction of the swine, and the satisfaction\nof their malice to the owners; there {a164} is a necessity then that\ndepraved ends should be removed, that that which was God\u2019s end in our\nframing, may be our end in our acting, viz. his glory, which cannot\nbe without a change of nature. We can never honor him supremely whom\nwe do not supremely love; till this be, we cannot glorify God as God,\nthough we do things by his command and order; no more, than when God\nemployed the devil in afflicting Job.[297] His performance cannot be\nsaid to be good, because his end was not the same with God\u2019s; he acted\nout of malice, what God commanded out of sovereignty, and for gracious\ndesigns; had God employed an holy angel in his design upon Job, the\naction had been good in the affliction, because his nature was holy,\nand therefore his ends holy; but bad in the devil, because his ends\nwere base and unworthy.\n\n4. We may gather from hence, the difficulty of conversion, and\nmortification to follow thereupon. What is the reason men receive no\nmore impression from the voice of God and the light of his truth, than\na dead man in the grave doth from the roaring thunder, or a blind mole\nfrom the light of the sun? It is because our atheism is as great as\nthe deadness of the one, or the blindness of the other. The principle\nin the heart is strong to shut the door both of the thoughts and\naffections against God. If a friend oblige us, we shall act for him as\nfor ourselves; we are won by entreaties; soft words overcome us; but\nour hearts are as deaf as the hardest rock at the call of God; neither\nthe joys of heaven proposed by him can allure us, nor the flashed\nterrors of hell affright us to him, as if we conceived God unable to\nbestow the one or execute the other: the true reason is, God and self\ncontest for the deity. The law of sin is, God must be at the footstool;\nthe law of God is, sin must be utterly deposed. Now it is difficult\nto leave a law beloved for a law long ago discarded. The mind of man\nwill hunt after anything; the will of man embrace anything: upon the\nproposal of mean objects the spirit of man spreads its wings, flies to\ncatch them, becomes one with them: but attempt to bring it under the\npower of God, the wings flag, the creature looks lifeless, as though\nthere were no spring of motion in it; it is as much crucified to God,\nas the holy apostle was to the world. The sin of the heart discovers\nits strength the more God discovers the \u201choliness of his will.\u201d[298]\nThe love of sin hath been predominant in our nature, has quashed a\nlove to God, if not extinguished it. Hence also is the difficulty of\nmortification. This is a work tending to the honor of God, the abasing\nof that inordinately aspiring humor in ourselves. If the nature of man\nbe inclined to sin, as it is, it must needs be bent against anything\nthat opposes it. It is impossible to strike any true blow at any\nlust till the true sense of God be re\u2011entertained in the soil where\nit ought to grow. Who can be naturally willing to crucify what is\nincorporated with him\u2015\u2015his flesh? what is dearest to him\u2015\u2015himself? Is\nit an easy thing for man, the competitor with God, to turn his arms\nagainst himself, that self should overthrow its own empire, lay aside\nall its pretensions to, and designs for, a godhead; to hew off its\nown members, and subdue its own affections? It is the nature of man to\n\u201ccover his sin,\u201d {a165} to hide it in his bosom,[299] not to destroy\nit; and as unwillingly part with his carnal affections, as the legion\nof devils were with the man that had been long possessed; and when he\nis forced and fired from one, he will endeavor to espouse some other\nlust, as those devils desired to possess swine, when they were chased\nfrom their possession of that man.\n\n5. Here we see the reason of unbelief. That which hath most of God\nin it, meets with most aversion from us; that which hath least of\nGod, finds better and stronger inclinations in us. What is the reason\nthat the heart of man is more unwilling to embrace the gospel, than\nacknowledge the equity of the law? because there is more of God\u2019s\nnature and perfection evident in the gospel than in the law; besides,\nthere is more reliance on God, and distance from self, commanded\nin the gospel. The law puts a man upon his own strength, the gospel\ntakes him off from his own bottom; the law acknowledges him to have\na power in himself, and to act for his own reward; the gospel strips\nhim of all his proud and towering thoughts,[300] brings him to his due\nplace, the foot of God; orders him to deny himself as his own rule,\nrighteousness, and end, \u201cand henceforth not to live to himself.\u201d[301]\nThis is the true reason why men are more against the gospel than\nagainst the law; because it doth more deify God, and debase man. Hence\nit is easier to reduce men to some moral virtue than to faith; to make\nmen blush at their outward vices, but not at the inward impurity of\ntheir natures. Hence it is observed, that those that asserted that all\nhappiness did arise from something in a man\u2019s self, as the Stoics and\nEpicureans did, and that a wise man was equal with God, were greater\nenemies to the truths of the gospel than others (Acts xvii. 18),\nbecause it lays the axe to the root of their principal opinion,\ntakes the one from their self\u2011sufficiency, and the other from their\nself\u2011gratification; it opposeth the brutish principle of the one,\nwhich placed happiness in the pleasures of the body, and the more\nnoble principle of the other, which placed happiness in the virtue\nof the mind; the one was for a sensual, the other for a moral self;\nboth disowned by the doctrine of the gospel.\n\n6. It informs us, consequently, who can be the Author of grace and\nconversion, and every other good work. No practical atheist ever yet\nturned to God, but was turned by God; and not to acknowledge it to God\nis a part of this atheism, since it is a robbing God of the honor of\none of his most glorious works. If this practical atheism be natural\nto man ever since the first taint of nature in Paradise, what can be\nexpected from it, but a resisting of the work of God, and setting up\nall the forces of nature against the operations of grace, till a day\nof power dawn and clear up upon the soul?[302] Not all the angels in\nheaven, or men upon earth, can be imagined to be able to persuade a\nman to fall out with himself; nothing can turn the tide of nature, but\na power above nature. God took away the sanctifying Spirit from man,\nas a penalty for the first sin; who can regain it but by his will and\npleasure? who can restore it, but he that removed it? Since every man\nhath the same fundamental atheism {a166} in him by nature, and would\nbe a rule to himself and his own end, he is so far from dethroning\nhimself, that all the strength of his corrupted nature is alarmed up\nto stand to their arms upon any attempt God makes to regain the fort.\nThe will is so strong against God, that it is like many wills twisted\ntogether (Eph. ii. 3), \u201cWills of the flesh;\u201d we translate it the\n\u201cdesires of the flesh;\u201d like many threads twisted in a cable, never\nto be snapped asunder by a human arm; a power and will above ours,\ncan only untwist so many wills in a knot. Man cannot rise to an\nacknowledgment of God without God; hell may as well become heaven, the\ndevil be changed into an angel of light. The devil cannot but desire\nhappiness; he knows the misery into which he is fallen, he cannot be\ndesirous of that punishment he knows is reserved for him. Why doth he\nnot sanctify God, and glorify his Creator, wherein there is abundantly\nmore pleasure than in his malicious course? Why doth he not petition\nto recover his ancient standing? he will not; there are chains of\ndarkness upon his faculties; he will not be otherwise than he is; his\ndesire to be god of the world sways him against his own interest, and\nout of love to his malice, he will not sin at a less rate to make a\ndiminution of his punishment. Man, if God utterly refuseth to work\nupon him, is no better; and to maintain his atheism would venture a\nhell. How is it possible for a man to turn himself to that God against\nwhom he hath a quarrel in his nature; the most rooted and settled\nhabit in him being to set himself in the place of God? An atheist by\nnature can no more alter his own temper, and engrave in himself the\ndivine nature, than a rock can carve itself into the statue of a man,\nor a serpent that is an enemy to man could or would raise itself to\nthe nobility of the human nature. That soul that by nature would strip\nGod of his rights, cannot, without a divine power, be made conformable\nto him, and acknowledge sincerely and cordially the rights and glory\nof God.\n\n7. We may here see the reason why there can be no justification by\nthe best and strongest works of nature. Can that which hath atheism at\nthe root justify either the action or person? What strength can those\nworks have which have neither God\u2019s law for their rule, nor his glory\nfor their end? that are not wrought by any spiritual strength from\nhim, nor tend with any spiritual affection to him? Can these be a\nfoundation for the most holy God to pronounce a creature righteous?\nThey will justify his justice in condemning, but cannot sway his\njustice to an absolution. Every natural man in his works picks and\nchooses; he owns the will of God no further than he can wring it to\nsuit the law of his members, and minds not the honor of God, but as it\njostles not with his own glory and secular ends. Can he be righteous\nthat prefers his own will and his own honor before the will and honor\nof the Creator? However men\u2019s actions may be beneficial to others,\nwhat reason hath God to esteem them, wherein there is no respect\nto him, but themselves; whereby they dethrone him in their thoughts,\nwhile they seem to own him in their religious works? Every day\nreproves us with something different from the rule; thousands of\nwanderings offer themselves to {a167} our eyes: can justification\nbe expected from that which in itself is matter of despair?\n\n8. See here the cause of all the apostasy in the world. Practical\natheism was never conquered in such; they are still \u201calienated from\nthe life of God,\u201d and will not live to God, as he lives to himself and\nhis own honor.[303] They loathe his rule, and distaste his glory; are\nloth to step out of themselves to promote the ends of another; find\nnot the satisfaction in him as they do in themselves; they will be\njudges of what is good for them and righteous in itself, rather than\nadmit of God to judge for them. When men draw back from truth to error,\nit is to such opinions which may serve more to foment and cherish\ntheir ambition, covetousness, or some beloved lust that disputes with\nGod for precedency, and is designed to be served before him (John xii.\n42, 43): \u201cThey love the praise of men more than the praise of God.\u201d A\npreferring man before God was the reason they would not confess Christ,\nand God in him.\n\n9. This shows us the excellency of the gospel and christian religion.\nIt sets man in his due place, and gives to God what the excellency of\nhis nature requires. It lays man in the dust from whence he was taken,\nand sets God upon that throne where he ought to sit. Man by nature\nwould annihilate God and deify himself; the gospel glorifies God and\nannihilates man. In our first revolt we would be like him in knowledge;\nin the means he hath provided for our recovery, he designs to make\nus like him in grace; the gospel shows ourselves to be an object of\nhumiliation, and God to be a glorious object for our imitation. The\nlight of nature tells us there is a God; the gospel gives us a more\nmagnificent report of him; the light of nature condemns gross atheism,\nand that of the gospel condemns and conquers spiritual atheism in the\nhearts of men.\n\n_Use II._ Of exhortation.\n\nFirst, Let us labor to be sensible of this atheism in our nature, and\nbe humbled for it. How should we lie in the dust, and go bowing under\nthe humbling thoughts of it all our days! Shall we not be sensible of\nthat whereby we spill the blood of our souls, and give a stab to the\nheart of our own salvation? Shall we be worse than any creature, not\nto bewail that which tends to our destruction? He that doth not lament\nit, cannot challenge the character of a Christian, hath nothing of the\ndivine life and love planted in his soul. Not a man but shall one day\nbe sensible, when the eternal God shall call him out to examination,\nand charge his conscience to discover every crime, which will then\nown the authority whereby it acted; when the heart shall be torn open,\nand the secrets of it brought to public view; and the world and man\nhimself shall see what a viperous brood of corrupt principles and ends\nnested in his heart. Let us, therefore, be truly sensible of it, till\nthe consideration draw tears from our eyes and sorrow from our souls;\nlet us urge the thoughts of it upon our hearts till the core of that\npride be eaten out, and our stubbornness changed into humility; till\nour heads become waters, and our eyes fountains of tears, and be a\nspring of prayer to God to change the heart, and mortify the atheism\nin it; and consider {a168} what a sad thing it is to be a practical\natheist: and who is not so by nature?\n\n1. Let us be sensible of it in ourselves. Have any of our hearts been\na soil wherein the fear and reverence of God hath naturally grown?\nHave we a desire to know him, or a will to embrace him? Do we delight\nin his will, and love the remembrance of his name? Are our respects to\nhim, as God, equal to the speculative knowledge we have of his nature?\nIs the heart, wherein he hath stamped his image, reserved for his\nresidence? Is not the world more affected than the Creator of the\nworld; as though that could contribute to us a greater happiness than\nthe Author of it? Have not creatures as much of our love, fear, trust,\nnay, more, than God that framed both them and us? Have we not too\noften relied upon our own strength, and made a calf of our own wisdom,\nand said of God, as the Israelites of Moses, \u201cAs for this Moses we\nwot not what is become of him?\u201d (Exod. xxxii. 1) and given oftener the\nglory of our good success to our drag and our net, to our craft and\nour industry, than to the wisdom and blessing of God? Are we, then,\nfree from this sort of atheism?[304] It is as impossible to have two\nGods at one time in one heart, as to have two kings at one time in\nfull power in one kingdom. Have there not been frequent neglects\nof God? Have we not been deaf whilst he hath knocked at our doors?\nslept when he hath sounded in our ears, as if there had been no such\nbeing as a God in the world? How many strugglings have been against\nour approaches to him! Hath not folly often been committed, with\nvain imaginations starting up in the time of religious service, which\nwe would scarce vouchsafe a look to at another time, and in another\nbusiness, but would have thrust them away with indignation? Had\nthey stept in to interrupt our worldly affairs, they would have been\ntroublesome intruders; but while we are with God they are acceptable\nguests. How unwilling have our hearts been to fortify themselves with\nstrong and influencing considerations of God, before we addressed\nto him! Is it not too often that our lifelessness in prayer proceeds\nfrom this atheism; a neglect of seeing what arguments and pleas may\nbe drawn from the divine perfections, to second our suit in hand, and\nquicken our hearts in the service? Whence are those indispositions\nto any spiritual duty, but because we have not due thoughts of the\nmajesty, holiness, goodness, and excellency of God? Is there any duty\nwhich leads to a more particular inquiry after him, or a more clear\nvision of him, but our hearts have been ready to rise up and call\nit cursed rather than blessed? Are not our minds bemisted with an\nignorance of him, our wills drawn by aversion from him, our affections\nrising in distaste of him? more willing to know anything than his\nnature, and more industrious to do anything than his will? Do we not\nall fall under some one or other of these considerations? Is it not\nfit, then, that we should have a sense of them? It is to be bewailed\nby us, that so little of God is in our hearts, when so many evidences\nof the love of God are in the creatures; that God should be so little\nour end, who hath been so much our benefactor; that he should be\nso {a169} little in our thoughts, who sparkles in everything which\npresents itself to our eyes.\n\n2. Let us be sensible of it in others. We ought to have a just\nexecration of the too open iniquity in the midst of us; and imitate\nholy David, whose tears plentifully gushed out, \u201cbecause men kept\nnot God\u2019s law.\u201d[305] And is it not a time to exercise this pious\nlamentation? Hath the wicked atheism of any age been greater, or\ncan you find worse in hell, than we may hear of and behold on earth?\nHow is the excellent Majesty of God adored by the angels in heaven,\ndespised and reproached by men on earth, as if his name were published\nto be matter of their sport! What a gasping thing is a natural sense\nof God among men in the world! Is not the law of God, accompanied with\nsuch dreadful threatenings and curses, made light of, as if men would\nplace their honor in being above or beyond any sense of that glorious\nMajesty? How many wallow in pleasures, as if they had been made men\nonly to turn brutes, and their souls given them only for salt, to\nkeep their bodies from putrefying? It is as well a part of atheism not\nto be sensible of the abuses of God\u2019s name and laws by others, as to\nviolate them ourselves: what is the language of a stupid senselessness\nof them, but that there is no God in the world whose glory is worth\na vindication, and deserves our regards? That we may be sensible of\nthe unworthiness of neglecting God as our rule and end, consider,\n\n1. The unreasonableness of it as it concerns God.\n\n1st. It is a high contempt of God. It is an inverting the order of\nthings; a making God the highest to become the lowest; and self the\nlowest to become the highest: to be guided by every base companion,\nsome idle vanity, some carnal interest, is to acknowledge an\nexcellency abounding in them which is wanting in God; an equity in\ntheir orders, and none in God\u2019s precepts; a goodness in their promises,\nand a falsity in God\u2019s; as if infinite excellency were a mere vanity,\nand to act for God were the debasement of our reason; to act for\nself or some pitiful creature, or sordid lust, were the glory and\nadvancement of it. To prefer any one sin before the honor of God,\nis as if that sin had been our creator and benefactor, as if it were\nthe original cause of our being and support. Do not men pay as great\na homage to that as they do to God? Do not their minds eagerly pursue\nit? Are not the revolvings of it, in their fancies, as delightful\nto them as the remembrance of God to a holy soul? Do any obey the\ncommands of God with more readiness than they do the orders of their\nbase affections? Did Peter leap more readily into the sea to meet his\nMaster, than many into the jaws of hell to meet their Dalilahs? How\ncheerfully did the Israelites part with their ornaments for the sake\nof an idol, who would not have spared a moiety for the honor of their\nDeliverer![306] If to make God our end is the principal duty in nature,\nthen to make ourselves, or anything else, our end, is the greatest\nvice in the rank of evils.\n\n2d. It is a contempt of God as the most amiable object. God is\ninfinitely excellent and desirable (Zech. ix. 17): \u201cHow great is his\n{a170} goodness, and how great is his beauty!\u201d There is nothing in\nhim but what may ravish our affections; none that knows him but finds\nattractives to keep them with him; He hath nothing in him which can\nbe a proper object of contempt, no defects or shadow of evil; there\nis infinite excellency to charm us, and infinite goodness to allure\nus,\u2015\u2015the Author of our being, the Benefactor of our lives. Why then\nshould man, which is his image, be so base as to slight the beautiful\nOriginal which stamped it on him? He is the most lovely object;\ntherefore to be studied, therefore to be honored, therefore to be\nfollowed. In regard of his perfection he hath the highest right to our\nthoughts. All other beings were eminently contained in his essence,\nand were produced by his infinite power. The creature hath nothing\nbut what it hath from God. And is it not unworthy to prefer the copy\nbefore the original\u2015\u2015to fall in love with a picture, instead of the\nbeauty it represents? The creature which we advance to be our rule and\nend, can no more report to us the true amiableness of God, than a few\ncolors mixed and suited together upon a piece of cloth, can the moral\nand intellectual loveliness of the soul of man. To contemn God one\nmoment is more base than if all creatures were contemned by us forever;\nbecause the excellency of creatures is, to God, like that of a drop to\nthe sea, or a spark to the glory of unconceivable millions of suns. As\nmuch as the excellency of God is above our conceptions, so much doth\nthe debasing of him admit of unexpressible aggravations.\n\n2. Consider the ingratitude in it. That we should resist that God with\nour hearts who made us the work of his hands, and count him as nothing,\nfrom whom we derive all the good that we are or have. There is no\ncontempt of man but steps in here to aggravate our slighting of God;\nbecause there is no relation one man can stand in to another, wherein\nGod doth not more highly appear to man. If we abhor the unworthy\ncarriage of a child to a tender father, a servant to an indulgent\nmaster, a man to his obliging friend, why do men daily act that\ntoward God which they cannot speak of without abhorrency, if acted\nby another against man? Is God a being less to be regarded than man,\nand more worthy of contempt than a creature?\u2015\u2015\u201cIt would be strange\nif a benefactor should live in the same town, in the same house with\nus, and we never exchange a word with him; yet this is our case, who\nhave the works of God in our eyes, the goodness of God in our being,\nthe mercy of God in our daily food\u201d[307]\u2015\u2015yet think so little of him,\nconverse so little with him, serve everything before him, and prefer\neverything above him? Whence have we our mercies but from his hand?\nWho, besides him, maintains our breath this moment? Would he call\nfor our spirits this moment, they must depart from us to attend\nhis command. There is not a moment wherein our unworthy carriage is\nnot aggravated, because there is not a moment wherein he is not our\nGuardian, and gives us not tastes of a fresh bounty. And it is no\nlight aggravation of our crime, that we injure him without whose\nbounty, in giving us our being, we had not been capable of casting\ncontempt upon him: that he that hath the greatest stamp of his image,\nman, {a171} should deserve the character of the worst of his rebels:\nthat he who hath only reason by the gift of God to judge of the equity\nof the laws of God, should swell against them as grievous, and the\ngovernment of the Lawgiver as burdensome. Can it lessen the crime to\nuse the principle wherein we excel the beasts to the disadvantage of\nGod, who endowed us with that principle above the beasts?\n\n1. It is a debasing of God beyond what the devil doth at present.\nHe is more excusable in his present state of acting, than man is in\nhis present refusing God for his rule and end. He strives against\na God that exerciseth upon him a vindictive justice; we debase a\nGod that loads us with his daily mercies. The despairing devils are\nexcluded from any mercy or divine patience; but we are not only under\nthe long\u2011suffering of his patience, but the large expressions of\nhis bounty. He would not be governed by him when he was only his\nbountiful Creator: we refuse to be guided by him after he hath given\nus the blessing of creation from his own hand, and the more obliging\nblessings of redemption by the hand and blood of his Son. It cannot be\nimagined that the devils and the damned should ever make God their end,\nsince he hath assured them he will not be their happiness; and shut up\nall his perfections from their experimental notice, but those of his\npower to preserve them, and his justice to punish them. They have no\ngrant from God of ever having a heart to comply with his will, or ever\nhaving the honor to be actively employed for his glory. They have some\nplea for their present contempt of God, not in regard of his nature,\nfor he is infinitely amiable, excellent and lovely, but in regard of\nhis administration toward them. But what plea can man have for his\npractical atheism, who lives by his power, is sustained by his bounty,\nand solicited by his Spirit? What an ungrateful thing is it to put off\nthe nature of man for that of devils, and dishonor God under mercy, as\nthe devils do under his wrathful anger!\n\n2. It is an ungrateful contempt of God, who cannot be injurious to us.\nHe cannot do us wrong, because he cannot be unjust (Gen. xviii. 25):\n\u201cShall not the Judge of all the earth do right?\u201d His nature doth as\nmuch abhor unrighteousness, as love a communicative goodness: he never\ncommanded anything but what was highly conducible to the happiness\nof man. Infinite goodness can no more injure man than it can dishonor\nitself: it lays out itself in additions of kindness, and while we\ndebase him, he continues to benefit us; and is it not an unparalleled\ningratitude to turn our backs upon an object so lovely, an object\nso loving, in the midst of varieties of allurements from him? God\ndid create intellectual creatures, angels and men, that he might\ncommunicate more of himself and his own goodness and holiness to\nman, than creatures of a lower rank were capable of. What do we\ndo, by rejecting him as our rule and end, but cross, as much as in\nus lies, God\u2019s end in our creation, and shut our souls against the\ncommunications of those perfections he was so willing to bestow? We\nuse him as if he intended us the greatest wrong, when it is impossible\nfor him to do any to any of his creatures.\n\n3. Consider the misery which will attend such a temper if it continue\n{a172} predominant. Those that thrust God away as their happiness\nand end, can expect no other but to be thrust away by him, as to any\nrelief and compassion. A distance from God here can look for nothing,\nbut a remoteness from God hereafter. When the devil, a creature of\nvast endowments, would advance himself above God, and instruct man\nto commit the same sin, he is \u201ccursed above all creatures.\u201d[308] When\nwe will not acknowledge him a God of all glory, we shall be separated\nfrom him as a God of all comfort: \u201cAll they that are afar off shall\nperish\u201d (Psalm lxxiii. 27). This is the spring of all woe. What the\nProdigal suffered, was because he would leave his father, and live\nof himself. Whosoever is ambitious to be his own heaven, will at\nlast find his soul to become its own hell. As it loved all things for\nitself, so it shall be grieved with all things for itself. As it would\nbe its own god against the right of God, it shall then be its own\ntormentor by the justice of God.\n\nSecondly, Watch against this atheism, and be daily employed in the\nmortification of it. In every action we should make the inquiry,\nWhat is the rule I observe? Is it God\u2019s will or my own? Whether do my\nintentions tend to set up God or self? As much as we destroy this, we\nabate the power of sin: these two things are the head of the serpent\nin us, which we must be bruising by the power of the cross. Sin is\nnothing else but a turning from God, and centering in self, and most\nin the inferior part of self: if we bend our force against those two,\nself\u2011will and self\u2011ends, we shall intercept atheism at the spring head,\ntake away that which doth constitute and animate all sin: the sparks\nmust vanish if the fire be quenched which affords them fuel. They\nare but two short things to ask in every undertaking: Is God my rule\nin regard of his will? Is God my end in regard of his glory? All sin\nlies in the neglect of these, all grace lies in the practice of them.\nWithout some degree of the mortification of these; we cannot make\nprofitable and comfortable approaches to God. When we come with idols\nin our hearts, we shall be answered according to the multitude and\nthe baseness of them too.[309] What expectation of a good look from\nhim can we have, when we come before him with undeifying thoughts of\nhim, a petition in our mouths, and a sword in our hearts, to stab his\nhonor? To this purpose,\n\n1. Be often in the views of the excellencies of God. When we have\nno intercourse with God by delightful meditations, we begin to be\nestranged from him, and prepare ourselves to live without God in the\nworld. Strangeness is the mother and nurse of disaffection: we slight\nmen sometimes because we know them not. The very beasts delight in the\ncompany of men; when being tamed and familiar, they become acquainted\nwith their disposition. A daily converse with God would discover so\nmuch of loveliness in his nature, so much of sweetness in his ways,\nthat our injurious thoughts of God would wear off, and we should count\nit our honor to contemn ourselves and magnify him. By this means a\nslavish fear, which is both a dishonor to God and a torment to the\nsoul,[310] and the root of atheism, will be cast out, and an ingenuous\nfear of him wrought in the heart. Exercised thoughts on him would\nissue out in affections to him, which {a173} would engage our hearts\nto make him both our rule and our end. This course would stifle any\ntemptations to gross atheism, wherewith good souls are sometimes\nhaunted, by confirming us more in the belief of a God, and discourage\nany attempts to a deliberate practical atheism. We are not like to\nespouse any principle which is confuted by the delightful converse we\ndaily have with him. The more we thus enter into the presence chamber\nof God, the more we cling about him with our affections, the more\nvigorous and lively will the true notion of God grow up in us, and be\nable to prevent anything which may dishonor him and debase our souls.\nLet us therefore consider him as the only happiness; set up the true\nGod in our understandings; possess our hearts with a deep sense of his\ndesirable excellency above all other things. This is the main thing\nwe are to do in order to our great business: all the directions in the\nworld, with the neglect of this, will be insignificant ciphers. The\nneglect of this is common, and is the basis of all the mischiefs which\nhappen to the souls of men.\n\n2. Prize and study the Scripture. We can have no delight in meditation\non him, unless we know him; and we cannot know him but by the means of\nhis own revelation; when the revelation is despised, the revealer will\nbe of little esteem. Men do not throw off God from being their rule,\ntill they throw off Scripture from being their guide; and God must\nneeds be cast off from being an end, when the Scripture is rejected\nfrom being a rule. Those that do not care to know his will, that love\nto be ignorant of his nature, can never be affected to his honor. Let\ntherefore the subtleties of reason veil to the doctrine of faith, and\nthe humor of the will to the command of the word.\n\n3. Take heed of sensual pleasures, and be very watchful and cautious\nin the use of those comforts God allows us. Job was afraid, when his\n\u201csons feasted, that they should curse God in their hearts.\u201d[311] It\nwas not without cause that the apostle Peter joined sobriety with\nwatchfulness and prayer (1 Pet. iv. 7): \u201cThe end of all things is at\nhand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.\u201d\u2015\u2015A moderate use\nof worldly comforts.\u2015\u2015Prayer is the great acknowledgment of God, and\ntoo much sensuality is a hindrance of this, and a step to atheism.\nBelshazzar\u2019s lifting himself up against the Lord, and not glorifying\nof God, is charged upon his sensuality (Dan. v. 23). Nothing is more\napt to quench the notions of God, and root out the conscience of him,\nthan an addictedness to sensual pleasures. Therefore take heed of that\nsnare.\n\n4. Take heed of sins against knowledge. The more sins against\nknowledge are committed, the more careless we are, and the more\ncareless we shall be of God and his honor; we shall more fear his\njudicial power; and the more we fear that, the more we shall disaffect\nthat God in whose hand vengeance is, and to whom it doth belong.\nAtheism in conversation proceeds to atheism in affection, and that\nwill endeavor to sink into atheism in opinion and judgment.\n\n_The sum of the whole._\u2015\u2015And now consider in the whole what has been\nspoken.\n\n{a174} 1. Man would set himself up as his own rule. He disowns the\nrule of God, is unwilling to have any acquaintance with the rule God\nsets him, negligent in using the means for the knowledge of his will,\nand endeavors to shake it off when any notices of it break in upon\nhim; when he cannot expel it, he hath no pleasure in the consideration\nof it, and the heart swells against it. When the notions of the will\nof God are entertained, it is on some other consideration, or with\nwavering and unsettled affections. Many times men design to improve\nsome lust by his truth. This unwillingness respects truth as it is\nmost spiritual and holy; as it most relates and leads to God; as it\nis most contrary to self. He is guilty of contempt of the will of God,\nwhich is seen in every presumptuous breach of his law; in the natural\naversions to the declaration of his will and mind, which way soever he\nturns; in slighting that part of his will which is most for his honor;\nin the awkwardness of the heart when it is to pay God a service.\nA constraint in the first engagement, slightness in the service, in\nregard of the matter, in regard of the frame, without a natural vigor.\nMany distractions, much weariness, in deserting the rule of God,\nwhen our expectations are not answered upon our service, in breaking\npromises with God. Man naturally owns any other rule rather than that\nof God\u2019s prescribing: the rule of Satan; the will of man; in complying\nmore with the dictates of men than the will of God; in observing\nthat which is materially so, not because it is his will, but the\ninjunctions of men; in obeying the will of man when it is contrary\nto the will of God. This man doth in order to the setting up himself.\nThis is natural to man as he is corrupted. Men are dissatisfied with\ntheir own consciences when they contradict the desires of self. Most\nactions in the world are done, more because they are agreeable to self,\nthan as they are honorable to God; as they are agreeable to natural\nand moral self, or sinful self. It is evident in neglects of taking\nGod\u2019s directions upon emergent occasions; in counting the actions\nof others to be good or bad, as they suit with, or spurn against our\nfancies and humors. Man would make himself the rule of God, and give\nlaws to his Creator, in striving against his law; disapproving of his\nmethods of government in the world; in impatience in our particular\nconcerns; envying the gifts and prosperity of others; corrupt matter\nor ends of prayer or praise; bold interpretations of the judgments\nof God in the world; mixing rules in the worship of God with those\nwhich have been ordained by him; suiting interpretations of Scripture\nwith our own minds and humors; falling off from God after some fair\ncompliances, when his will grates upon us, and crosseth ours.\n\n2. Man would be his own end. This is natural and universal. This is\nseen in frequent self\u2011applauses and inward overweening reflections; in\nascribing the glory of what we do or have to ourselves; in desire of\nself\u2011pleasing doctrines; in being highly concerned in injuries done\nto ourselves, and little or not at all concerned for injuries done to\nGod; in trusting in ourselves; in workings for carnal self against the\nlight of our own consciences: this is a usurping God\u2019s prerogative,\nvilifying God, destroying God. Man would make anything his end or\nhappiness rather than God. This appears in the {a175} fewer thoughts\nwe have of him than of anything else; in the greedy pursuit of the\nworld; in the strong addictedness to sensual pleasures; in paying\na service, upon any success in the world, to instruments more than\nto God: this is a debasing God in setting up a creature, but more\nin setting up a base lust; it is a denying of God. Man would make\nhimself the end of all creatures. In pride; using the creatures\ncontrary to the end God hath appointed: this is to dishonor God, and\nit is diabolical. Man would make himself the end of God; in loving\nGod, because of some self\u2011pleasing benefits distributed by him; in\nabstinence from some sins, because they are against the interest\nof some other beloved corruption; in performing duties merely for\na selfish interest, which is evident in unwieldiness in religious\nduties, where self is not concerned; in calling upon God only in\na time of necessity; in begging his assistance to our own projects\nafter we have by our own craft, laid the plot; in impatience upon\na refusal of our desires; in selfish aims we have in our duties: this\nis a vilifying God, a dethroning him; in unworthy imaginations of\nGod, universal in man by nature. Hence spring idolatry, superstition,\npresumption, the common disease of the world. This is a vilifying God;\nworse than idolatry, worse than absolute atheism. Natural desires to\nbe distant from him; no desires for the remembrance of him; no desires\nof converse with him; no desires of a thorough return to him; no\ndesire of any close imitation of him.\n\n\n\n\n{a176}                      DISCOURSE III.\n\n                       ON GOD\u2019S BEING A SPIRIT.\n\n  JOHN iv. 24\u2015\u2015God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must\n    worship him in spirit and in truth.\n\n\nTHE words are part of the dialogue between our Saviour and the\nSamaritan woman.[312] Christ, intending to return from Judea to\nGalilee, passed through the country of Samaria, a place inhabited not\nby Jews, but a mixed company of several nations, and some remainders\nof the posterity of Israel, who escaped the captivity, and were\nreturned from Assyria; and being weary with his journey, arrived\nabout the sixth hour or noon (according to the Jews\u2019 reckoning the\ntime of the day), at a well that Jacob had digged, which was of great\naccount among the inhabitants for the antiquity of it, as well as the\nusefulness of it, in supplying their necessities: he being thirsty,\nand having none to furnish him wherewith to draw water, at last comes\na woman from the city, whom he desires to give him some water to\ndrink. The woman, perceiving him by his language or habit to be a Jew,\nwonders at the question, since the hatred the Jews bore the Samaritans\nwas so great, that they would not vouchsafe to have any commerce with\nthem, not only in religious, but civil affairs, and common offices\nbelonging to mankind. Hence our Saviour takes occasion to publish to\nher the doctrine of the gospel; and excuseth her rude answer by her\nignorance of him; and tells her, that if she had asked him a greater\nmatter, even that which concerned her eternal salvation, he would\nreadily have granted it, notwithstanding the rooted hatred between\nthe Jews and Samaritans; and bestowed a water of a greater virtue,\nthe \u201cwater of life.\u201d[313] The woman is no less astonished at his reply\nthan she was at his first demand. It was strange to hear a man speak\nof giving living water to one of whom he had begged the water of that\nspring, and had no vessel to draw any to quench his own thirst. She\ntherefore demands whence he could have this water that he speaks\nof,[314] since she conceived him not greater than Jacob, who had\ndigged that well and drank of it. Our Saviour, desirous to make a\nprogress in that work he had begun, extols the water he spake of,\nabove this of the well, from its particular virtue fully to refresh\nthose that drank of it, and be as a cooling and comforting fountain\nwithin them, of more efficacy than that without.[315] The woman,\nconceiving a good opinion of our Saviour, {a177} desires to partake\nof this water, to save her pains in coming daily to the well, not\napprehending the spirituality of Christ\u2019s discourse to her:[316]\nChrist finding her to take some pleasure in his discourse, partly\nto bring her to a sense of her sin, before he did communicate the\nexcellency of his grace, bids her return back to the city and bring\nher husband with her to him. [317] She freely acknowledges that she\nhad no husband; whether having some check of conscience at present for\nthe unclean life she led, or loth to lose so much time in the gaining\nthis water so much desired by her:[318] our Saviour takes an occasion\nfrom this to lay open her sin before her, and to make her sensible of\nher own wicked life and the prophetic excellency of himself; and tells\nher she had had five husbands, to whom she had been false, and by whom\nshe was divorced, and the person she now dwelt with was not her lawful\nhusband, and in living with him she violated the rights of marriage,\nand increased guilt upon her conscience.[319] The woman being affected\nwith this discourse, and knowing him to be a stranger that could not\nbe certified of those things but in an extraordinary way, begins to\nhave a high esteem of him as a prophet.[320] And upon this opinion\nshe esteems him able to decide a question, which had been canvassed\nbetween them and the Jews, about the place of worship.[321] Their\nfathers worshipping in that mountain, and the Jews affirming Jerusalem\nto be a place of worship, she pleads the antiquity of the worship in\nthis place, Abraham having built an altar there (Gen. xii. 7), and\nJacob, upon his return from Syria. And, surely, had the place been\ncapable of an exception, such persons as they, and so well acquainted\nwith the will of God, would not have pitched upon that place to\ncelebrate their worship. Antiquity hath, too, too often bewitched the\nminds of men, and drawn them from the revealed will of God. Men are\nmore willing to imitate the outward actions of their famous ancestors,\nthan conform themselves to the revealed will of their Creator. The\nSamaritans would imitate the patriarchs in the place of worship, but\nnot in the faith of the worshippers. Christ answers her, that this\nquestion would quickly be resolved by a new state of the church, which\nwas near at hand; and neither Jerusalem, which had now the precedency,\nnor that mountain, should be of any more value in that concern, than\nany other place in the world:[322] but yet, to make her sensible of\nher sin and that of her countrymen, tells her, that their worship\nin that mountain was not according to the will of God, he having\nlong after the altars built in this place, fixed Jerusalem as the\nplace of sacrifices; besides, they had not the knowledge of that\nGod which ought to be worshipped by them, but the Jews had the \u201ctrue\nobject of worship,\u201d and the \u201ctrue manner of worship, according to\nthe declaration God had made of himself to them.\u201d[323] But all that\nservice shall vanish, the veil of the temple shall be rent in twain,\nand that carnal worship give place to one more spiritual; shadows\nshall fly before substance, and truth advance itself above figures;\nand the worship of God shall be with the strength of the Spirit: such\na worship, and such worshippers doth the Father seek;[324] for \u201cGod is\na {a178} Spirit: and those that worship him must worship him in spirit\nand in truth.\u201d The design of our Saviour is to declare, that God is\nnot taken with external worship invented by men, no, nor commanded by\nhimself; and that upon this reason, because he is a spiritual essence,\ninfinitely above gross and corporeal matter, and is not taken with\nthat pomp which is a pleasure to our earthly imaginations.\n\n\u03a0\u03bd\u03b5\u1fe6\u03bc\u03b1 \u1f41 \u0398\u03b5\u03cc\u03c2. Some translate it just as the words lie: \u201cSpirit is\nGod.\u201d[325] But it is not unusual, both in the Old and New Testament\nlanguages, to put the predicate before the subject, as Psalm v. 9,\n\u201cTheir throat is an open sepulchre;\u201d in the Hebrew, \u201cA sepulchre open\ntheir throat;\u201d so Psalm cxi. 3, \u201cHis work is honorable and glorious;\u201d\nHeb. \u201cHonor and glory is his work;\u201d and there wants not one example\nin the same evangelist (John i. 1), \u201cAnd the Word was God;\u201d Greek,\n\u201cAnd God was the Word:\u201d in all, the predicate, or what is ascribed,\nis put before the subject to which it is ascribed. One tells us, and\nhe, a head of a party that hath made a disturbance in the church of\nGod,[326] that this place is not aptly brought to prove God to be a\nSpirit; and the reason of Christ runs not thus,\u2015\u2015God is of a spiritual\nessence, and therefore must be worshipped with a spiritual worship;\nfor the essence of God is not the foundation of his worship, but his\nwill; for then we were not to worship him with a corporeal worship,\nbecause he is not a body; but with an invisible and eternal worship,\nbecause he is invisible and eternal. But the nature of God is the\nfoundation of worship; the will of God is the rule of worship; the\nmatter and manner is to be performed according to the will of God.\nBut is the nature of the object of worship to be excluded? No; as the\nobject is, so ought our devotion to be, spiritual as he is spiritual.\nGod, in his commands for worship, respected the discovery of his\nown nature; in the law, he respected the discovery of his mercy and\njustice, and therefore commanded a worship by sacrifices; a spiritual\nworship without those institutions would not have declared those\nattributes which was God\u2019s end to display to the world in Christ;\nand though the nature of God is to be respected in worship, yet the\nobligations of the creature are to be considered. God is a Spirit,\ntherefore must have a spiritual worship; the creature hath a body as\nwell as a soul, and both from God; and therefore ought to worship God\nwith the one as well as the other, since one as well as the other is\nfreely bestowed upon him. The spirituality of God was the foundation\nof the change from the Judaical carnal worship to a more spiritual\nand evangelical.\n\n_God is a Spirit_; that is, he hath nothing corporeal, no mixture of\nmatter, not a visible substance, a bodily form.[327] He is a Spirit,\nnot a bare spiritual substance, but an understanding, willing Spirit,\nholy, wise, good, and just. Before, Christ spake of the Father,[328]\nthe first person in the Trinity; now he speaks of God essentially: the\nword Father is personal, the word God essential; so that our Saviour\nwould render a reason, not from any one person in the blessed Trinity,\nbut from the Divine nature, why we should worship in spirit, and\ntherefore makes use of the word God, the being a Spirit being common\n{a179} to the other persons with the Father. This is the reason of\nthe proposition (ver. 23), \u201c_Of a spiritual worship_.\u201d Every nature\ndelights in that which is like it, and distastes that which is most\ndifferent from it. If God were corporeal, he might be pleased with the\nvictims of beasts, and the beautiful magnificence of temples, and the\nnoise of music; but being a Spirit, he cannot be gratified with carnal\nthings; he demands something better and greater than all those,\u2015\u2015that\nsoul which he made, that soul which he hath endowed, a spirit of a\nframe suitable to his nature. He indeed appointed sacrifices, and a\ntemple, as shadows of those things which were to be most acceptable\nto him in the Messiah, but they were imposed only \u201ctill the time of\nreformation.\u201d[329]\n\n_Must worship him_; not they may, or it would be more agreeable to\nGod to have such a manner of worship; but they _must_. It is not\nexclusive of bodily worship; for this were to exclude all public\nworship in societies, which cannot be performed without reverential\npostures of the body.[330] The gestures of the body are helps to\nworship, and declarations of spiritual acts. We can scarcely worship\nGod with our spirits without some tincture upon the outward man; but\nhe excludes all acts merely corporeal, all resting upon an external\nservice and devotion, which was the crime of the Pharisees, and the\ngeneral persuasion of the Jews as well as heathens, who used the\noutward ceremonies, not as signs of better things, but as if they did\nof themselves please God, and render the worshippers accepted with\nhim, without any suitable frame of the inward man.[331] It is as if\nhe had said, Now you must separate yourselves from all carnal modes\nto which the service of God is now tied, and render a worship chiefly\nconsisting in the affectionate motions of the heart, and accommodated\nmore exactly to the condition of the object, who is a Spirit.\n\n_In spirit and truth._[332] The evangelical service now required has\nthe advantage of the former; that was a shadow and figure, this the\nbody and truth.[333] Spirit, say some, is here opposed to the legal\nceremonies; truth, to hypocritical services; or, rather truth is\nopposed to shadows,[334] and an opinion of worth in the outward action;\nit is principally opposed to external rites, because our Saviour saith\n(ver. 23): \u201cThe hour comes, and now is,\u201d &c. Had it been opposed to\nhypocrisy, Christ had said no new thing; for God always required truth\nin the inward parts, and all true worshippers had served him with a\nsincere conscience and single heart. The old patriarchs did worship\nGod in spirit and _truth_, as taken for sincerity; such a worship\nwas always, and is perpetually due to God, because he always was, and\neternally will be, a Spirit.[335] And it is said, \u201cThe Father seeks\nsuch to worship him,\u201d not, shall seek; he always sought it; it always\nwas performed to him by one or other in the world: and the prophets\nhad always rebuked them for resting upon their outward solemnities\n(Isa. lviii. 7, and Micah vi. 8): but a worship without legal rites\nwas proper to an evangelical state and the times of the gospel, God\nhaving then exhibited Christ, and brought into the world the substance\nof those {a180} shadows, and the end of those institutions; there was\nno more need to continue them when the true reason of them was ceased.\nAll laws do naturally expire when the true reason upon which they were\nfirst framed is changed. Or by spirit may be meant, such a worship as\nis kindled in the heart by the breath of the Holy Ghost. Since we are\ndead in sin, a spiritual light and flame in the heart, suitable to the\nnature of the object of our worship, cannot be raised in us without\nthe operation of a supernatural grace; and though the fathers could\nnot worship God without the Spirit, yet in the gospel\u2011times, there\nbeing a fuller effusion of the Spirit, the evangelical state is called,\n\u201cthe administration of the Spirit,\u201d and \u201cthe newness of the Spirit,\u201d\nin opposition to the legal economy, entitled the \u201coldness of the\nletter.\u201d[336] The evangelical state is more suited to the nature\nof God than any other; such a worship God must have, whereby he is\nacknowledged to be the true sanctifier and quickener of the soul. The\nnearer God doth approach to us, and the more full his manifestations\nare, the more spiritual is the worship we return to God. The gospel\npares off the rugged parts of the law, and heaven shall remove what is\nmaterial in the gospel, and change the ordinances of worship into that\nof a spiritual praise.\n\nIn the words there is: 1. A proposition,\u2015\u2015\u201cGod is a Spirit;\u201d the\nfoundation of all religion. 2. An inference,\u2015\u2015\u201cThey that worship\nhim,\u201d &c.\n\nAs God, a worship belongs to him; as a Spirit, a spiritual worship\nis due to him: in the inference we have, 1. The manner of worship,\n\u201cin spirit and truth;\u201d 2. The necessity of such a worship, \u201cmust.\u201d\n\nThe proposition declares the nature of God; the inference, the duty\nof man. The observations lie plain.\n\n_Obs._ 1. God is a pure spiritual being: \u201che is a Spirit.\u201d 2. The\nworship due from the creature to God must be agreeable to the nature\nof God, and purely spiritual. 3. The evangelical state is suited to\nthe nature of God.\n\nI. For the first: \u201cGod is a pure spiritual being.\u201d It is the\nobservation of one,[337] that the plain assertion of God\u2019s being a\nSpirit is found but once in the whole Bible, and that is in this place;\nwhich may well be wondered at, because God is so often described\nwith hands, feet, eyes, and ears, in the form and figure of a man.\nThe spiritual nature of God is deducible from many places; but not\nanywhere, as I remember, asserted _totidem verbis_, but in this text:\nsome allege that place (2 Cor. iii. 17), \u201cThe Lord is that Spirit,\u201d\nfor the proof of it; but that seems to have a different sense: in the\ntext, the nature of God is described; in that place, the operations\nof God in the gospel. \u201cIt is not the ministry of Moses, or that old\ncovenant, which communicates to you that Spirit it speaks of; but it\nis the Lord Jesus, and the doctrine of the gospel delivered by him,\nwhereby this Spirit and liberty is dispensed to you; he opposes here\nthe liberty of the gospel to the servitude of the law;\u201d[338] it is\nfrom Christ that a divine virtue diffuseth itself by the gospel;\nit is by him, not by the law, that we partake of that Spirit. The\nspirituality of God is {a181} as evident as his being.[339] If\nwe grant that God is, we must necessarily grant that he cannot be\ncorporeal, because a body is of an imperfect nature. It will appear\nincredible to any that acknowledge God the first Being and Creator of\nall things, that he should be a massy, heavy body, and have eyes and\nears, feet and hands, as we have.\u2015\u2015For the explication of it,\n\n1. Spirit is taken various ways in Scripture. It signifies sometimes\nan a\u00ebrial substance, as Psalm xi. 6; a horrible tempest (Heb. a\nspirit of tempest); sometimes the breath, which is a thin substance\n(Gen. vi. 17): \u201cAll flesh, wherein is the breath of life\u201d (Heb. spirit\nof life). A thin substance, though it be material and corporeal, is\ncalled spirit; and in the bodies of living creatures, that which is\nthe principle of their actions is called spirits, the animal and vital\nspirits. And the finer parts extracted from plants and minerals we\ncall spirits, those volatile parts separated from that gross matter\nwherein they were immersed, because they come nearest to the nature\nof an incorporeal substance; and from this notion of the word, it is\ntranslated to signify those substances that are purely immaterial, as\nangels and the souls of men. Angels are called spirits (Psalm civ. 4):\n\u201cWho makes his angels spirits;\u201d[340] and not only good angels are so\ncalled, but evil angels (Mark i. 27); souls of men are called spirits\n(Eccles. xii.); and the soul of Christ is called so (John xix. 30);\nwhence God is called \u201cthe God of the spirits of all flesh\u201d (Numb. xxii.\n16). And spirit is opposed to flesh (Isa. xxxi. 3): \u201cThe Egyptians\nare flesh, and not spirit.\u201d And our Saviour gives us the notion of\na spirit to be something above the nature of a body (Luke xxiv. 39),\n\u201cnot having flesh and bones,\u201d extended parts, loads of gross matter.\nIt is also taken for those things which are active and efficacious;\nbecause activity is of the nature of a spirit: Caleb had another\nspirit (Numb. xiv. 24), an active affection. The vehement motions\nof sin are called spirit (Hos. iv. 12): \u201cthe spirit of whoredoms,\u201d\nin that sense that Prov. xxix. 11, \u201ca fool utters all his mind,\u201d all\nhis spirit; he knows not how to restrain the vehement motions of his\nmind. So that the notion of a spirit is, that it is a fine, immaterial\nsubstance, an active being, that acts itself and other things. A mere\nbody cannot act itself; as the body of man cannot move without the\nsoul, no more than a ship can move itself without wind and waves. So\nGod is called a Spirit, as being not a body, not having the greatness,\nfigure, thickness, or length of a body, wholly separate from anything\nof flesh and matter. We find a principle within us nobler than that of\nour bodies; and, therefore, we conceive the nature of God, according\nto that which is more worthy in us, and not according to that which is\nthe vilest part of our natures. God is a most spiritual Spirit, more\nspiritual than all angels, all souls.[341] As he exceeds all in the\nnature of being, so he exceeds all in the nature of spirit: he hath\nnothing gross, heavy, material, in his essence.\n\n2. When we say God is a Spirit, it is to be understood by way of\nnegation. There are two ways of knowing or describing God: by way\nof affirmation, affirming that of him by way of eminency, which is\nexcellent in the creature, as when we say God is wise, good; the {a182}\nother, by way of negation, when we remove from God in our conceptions\nwhat is tainted with imperfection in the creature.[342] The first\nascribes to him whatsoever is excellent; the other separates from\nhim whatsoever is imperfect. The first is like a limning, which adds\none color to another to make a comely picture; the other is like\na carving, which pares and cuts away whatsoever is superfluous, to\nmake a complete statue. This way of negation is more easy; we better\nunderstand what God is not, than what he is; and most of our knowledge\nof God is by this way; as when we say God is infinite, immense,\nimmutable, they are negatives; he hath no limits, is confined to\nno place, admits of no change.[343] When we remove from him what is\ninconsistent with his being, we do more strongly assert his being,\nand know more of him when we elevate him above all, and above our own\ncapacity. And when we say God is a Spirit, it is a negation; he is\nnot a body; he consists not of various parts, extended one without\nand beyond another. He is not a spirit, so as our souls are, to be\nthe form of any body; a spirit, not as angels and souls are, but\ninfinitely higher. We call him so, because, in regard of our weakness,\nwe have not any other term of excellency to express or conceive of\nhim by; we transfer it to God in honor, because spirit is the highest\nexcellency in our nature: yet we must apprehend God above any spirit,\nsince his nature is so great that he cannot be declared by human\nspeech, perceived by human sense, or conceived by human understanding.\n\nII. The second thing, that \u201cGod is a Spirit.\u201d Some among the heathens\nimagined God to have a body;[344] some thought him to have a body\nof air; some a heavenly body; some a human body;[345] and many of\nthem ascribed bodies to their gods, but bodies without blood, without\ncorruption, bodies made up of the finest and thinnest atoms; such\nbodies, which, if compared with ours, were as no bodies. The Sadducees\nalso, who denied all spirits, and yet acknowledged a God, must\nconclude him to be a body, and no spirit. Some among Christians have\nbeen of that opinion. Tertullian is charged by some, and excused by\nothers; and some monks of Egypt were so fierce for this error, that\nthey attempted to kill one Theophilus, a bishop, for not being of\nthat judgment. But the wiser heathens were of another mind,[346] and\nesteemed it an unholy thing to have such imaginations of God.[347]\nAnd some Christians have thought God only to be free from anything of\nbody, because he is omnipresent, immutable, he is only incorporeal and\nspiritual; all things else, even the angels, are clothed with bodies,\nthough of a neater matter, and a more active frame than ours; a pure\nspiritual nature they allowed to no being but God. Scripture and\nreason meet together to assert the spirituality of God. Had God had\nthe lineaments of a body, the Gentiles had not fallen under that\naccusation of changing his glory into that of a corruptible man.[348]\nThis is signified by the name God gives himself (Exod. iii. 14): \u201cI\nam that I am;\u201d a simple, pure, uncompounded {a183} being, without\nany created mixture; as infinitely above the being of creatures as\nabove the conceptions of creatures (Job xxxvii. 23): \u201cTouching the\nAlmighty, we cannot find him out.\u201d He is so much a Spirit, that he\nis the \u201cFather of spirits\u201d (Heb. xii. 9). The Almighty Father is not\nof a nature inferior to his children. The soul is a spirit; it could\nnot else exert actions without the assistance of the body, as the act\nof understanding itself, and its own nature, the act of willing, and\nwilling things against the incitements and interest of the body. It\ncould not else conceive of God, angels, and immaterial substances;\nit could not else be so active, as with one glance to fetch a\ncompass from earth to heaven, and by a sudden motion, to elevate the\nunderstanding from an earthly thought, to the thinking of things as\nhigh as the highest heavens. If we have this opinion of our souls,\nwhich, in the nobleness of their acts, surmount the body, without\nwhich the body is but a dull inactive piece of clay, we must needs\nhave a higher conception of God, than to clog him with any matter,\nthough of a finer temper than ours: we must conceive of him by the\nperfections of our souls, without the vileness of our bodies. If God\nmade man according to his image, we must raise our thoughts of God\naccording to the noblest part of that image, and imagine the exemplar\nor copy not to come short, but to exceed the thing copied by it.\nGod were not the most excellent substance if he were not a Spirit.\nSpiritual substances are more excellent than bodily; the soul of man\nmore excellent than other animals; angels more excellent than men.\nThey contain, in their own nature, whatsoever dignity there is in the\ninferior creatures; God must have, therefore, an excellency above all\nthose, and, therefore, is entirely remote from the conditions of a\nbody. It is a gross conceit, therefore, to think that God is such a\nspirit as the air is; for that is to be a body as the air is, though\nit be a thin one; and if God were no more a spirit than that, or than\nangels, he would not be the most simple being.[349] Yet some think\nthat the spiritual Deity was represented by the air in the ark of\nthe testament.[350] It was unlawful to represent him by any image\nthat God had prohibited. Everything about the ark had a particular\nsignification. The gold and other ornaments about it signified\nsomething of Christ, but were unfit to represent the nature of God: a\nthing purely invisible, and falling under nothing of sense, could not\nrepresent him to the mind of man. The air in the ark was the fittest;\nit represented the invisibility of God, air being imperceptible to our\neyes. Air diffuseth itself through all parts of the world; it glides\nthrough secret passages into all creatures; it fills the space between\nheaven and earth. There is no place wherein God is not present. To\nevidence this,\n\n1. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be Creator. All multitude\nbegins in, and is reduced to unity. As above multitude there is\nan absolute unity, so above mixed creatures there is an absolute\nsimplicity. You cannot conceive number without conceiving the\nbeginning of it in that which was not number, viz. a unit. You cannot\nconceive any mixture, but you must conceive some simple thing to\nbe the original and basis of it. The works of art done by {a184}\nrational creatures have their foundation in something spiritual. Every\nartificer, watchmaker, carpenter, hath a model in his own mind of the\nwork he designs to frame: the material and outward fabric is squared\naccording to an inward and spiritual idea. A spiritual idea speaks\na spiritual faculty as the subject of it. God could not have an idea\nof that vast number of creatures he brought into being, if he had not\nhad a spiritual nature.[351] The wisdom whereby the world was created\ncould never be the fruit of a corporeal nature; such natures are\nnot capable of understanding and comprehending the things which are\nwithin the compass of their nature, much less of producing them; and\ntherefore beasts which have only corporeal faculties move to objects\nby the force of their sense, and have no knowledge of things as they\nare comprehended by the understanding of man. All acts of wisdom speak\nan intelligent and spiritual agent. The effects of wisdom, goodness,\npower, are so great and admirable, that they bespeak him a more\nperfect and eminent being than can possibly be beheld under a bodily\nshape. Can a corporeal substance put \u201cwisdom in the inward parts, and\ngive understanding to the heart?\u201d[352]\n\n2. If God were not a pure Spirit, he could not be one. If God had a\nbody, consisting of distinct members, as ours; or all of one nature,\nas the water and air are, yet he were then capable of division, and\ntherefore could not be entirely one. Either those parts would be\nfinite or infinite: if finite, they are not parts of God; for to be\nGod and finite is a contradiction; if infinite, then there are as many\ninfinite as distinct members, and therefore as many Deities. Suppose\nthis body had all parts of the same nature, as air and water hath,\nevery little part of air is as much air as the greatest, and every\nlittle part of water is as much water as the ocean; so every little\npart of God would be as much God as the whole; as many particular\nDeities to make up God, as little atoms to compose a body. What can be\nmore absurd? If God had a body like a human body, and were compounded\nof body and soul, of substance and quality, he could not be the most\nperfect unity; he would be made up of distinct parts, and those of\na distinct nature, as the members of a human body are. Where there\nis the greatest unity, there must be the greatest simplicity; but God\nis one. As he is free from any change, so he is void of any multitude\n(Deut. vi. 4): \u201cThe Lord our God is one Lord.\u201d\n\n3. If God had a body as we have, he would not be invisible. Every\nmaterial thing is not visible: the air is a body yet invisible, but\nit is sensible; the cooling quality of it is felt by us at every\nbreath, and we know it by our touch, which is the most material sense.\nEverybody that hath members like to bodies, is visible; but God is\ninvisible.[353] The apostle reckons it amongst his other perfections\n(1 Tim. i. 17): \u201cNow unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible.\u201d\nHe is invisible to our sense, which beholds nothing but material\nand colored things; and incomprehensible to our understanding, that\nconceives nothing but what is finite. God is therefore a Spirit\nincapable of being seen, and infinitely incapable of being understood.\n{a185} If he be invisible, he is also spiritual. If he had a body, and\nhid it from our eyes, he might be said not to be seen, but could not\nbe said to be invisible. When we say a thing is visible, we understand\nthat it hath such qualities which are the objects of sense, though we\nmay never see that which is in its own nature to be seen. God hath no\nsuch qualities as fall under the perception of our sense. His works\nare visible to us, but not his Godhead.[354] The nature of a human\nbody is to be seen and handled; Christ gives us such a description of\nit (Luke xxiv. 39): \u201cHandle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh\nand bones as you see me have;\u201d but man hath been so far from seeing\nGod, \u201cthat it is impossible he can see him\u201d (1 Tim. vi. 16). There\nis such a disproportion between an infinite object and a finite sense\nand understanding, that it is utterly impossible either to behold or\ncomprehend him. But if God had a body more luminous and glorious than\nthat of the sun, he would be as well visible to us as the sun, though\nthe immensity of that light would dazzle our eyes, and forbid any\nclose inspection into him by the virtue of our sense. We have seen\nthe shape and figure of the sun, but \u201cno man hath ever seen the shape\nof God.\u201d[355] If God had a body, he were visible, though he might not\nperfectly and fully be seen by us;[356] as we see the heavens, though\nwe see not the extension, latitude, and greatness of them. Though\nGod hath manifested himself in a bodily shape (Gen. xviii. 1), and\nelsewhere Jehovah appeared to Abraham, yet the substance of God was\nnot seen, no more than the substance of angels was seen in their\napparitions to men. A body was formed to be made visible by them, and\nsuch actions done in that body, that spake the person that did them\nto be of a higher eminency than a bare corporeal creature. Sometimes\na representation is made to the inward sense and imagination, as to\nMicaiah,[357] and to Isaiah (vi. 1); but they saw not the essence of\nGod, but some images and figures of him proportioned to their sense\nor imagination. The essence of God no man ever saw, nor can see. John\ni. 18. Nor doth it follow that God hath a body,[358] because Jacob\nis said to \u201csee God face to face\u201d (Gen. xxxii. 30); and Moses had the\nlike privilege (Deut. xxxiv. 10). This only signifies a fuller and\nclearer manifestation of God by some representations offered to the\nbodily sense, or rather to the inward spirit. For God tells Moses he\ncould not see his face (Exod. xxxiii. 20); and that none ever saw the\nsimilitude of God (Deut. iv. 15). Were God a corporeal substance, he\nmight in some measure be seen by corporeal eyes.\n\n4. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be infinite. All bodies are\nof a finite nature; everybody is material, and every material thing\nis terminated. The sun, a vast body, hath a bounded greatness; the\nheavens, of a mighty bulk, yet have their limits. If God had a body he\nmust consist of parts, those parts would be bounded and limited, and\nwhatsoever is limited is of a finite virtue, and therefore below an\ninfinite nature. Reason therefore tells us, that the most excellent\nnature, as God is, cannot be of a corporeal condition; because of the\nlimitation and other actions which belong to every {a186} body. God\nis infinite, \u201cfor the heaven of heavens cannot contain him\u201d (2 Chron.\nii. 6). The largest heavens, and those imaginary spaces beyond the\nworld, are no bounds to him. He hath an essence beyond the bounds of\nthe world, and cannot be included in the vastness of the heavens. If\nGod be infinite, then he can have no parts in him; if he had, they\nmust be finite or infinite: finite parts can never make up an infinite\nbeing. A vessel of gold, of a pound weight, cannot be made of the\nquantity of an ounce. Infinite parts they cannot be, because then\nevery part would be equal to the whole, as infinite as the whole,\nwhich is contradictory. We see in all things every part is less than\nthe whole bulk that is composed of it; as every member of a man is\nless than the whole body of man. If all the parts were finite, then\nGod in his essence were finite; and a finite God is not more excellent\nthan a creature: so that if God were not a Spirit, he could not be\ninfinite.\n\n5. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be an independent being.\nWhatsoever is compounded of many parts depends either essentially or\nintegrally upon those parts; as the essence of a man depends upon the\nconjunction and union of his two main parts, his soul and body; when\nthey are separated, the essence of a man ceaseth: and the perfection\nof a man depends upon every member of the body; so that if one be\nwanting the perfection of the whole is wanting: as if a man hath lost\na limb, you call him not a perfect man, because that part is gone upon\nwhich his perfection as an entire man did depend. If God therefore\nhad a body, the perfection of the Deity would depend upon every part\nof that body; and the more parts he were compounded of, the more\nhis dependency would be multiplied according to the number of those\nparts of the body: for that which is compounded of many parts is more\ndependent than that which is compounded of fewer. And because God\nwould be a dependent being if he had a body, he could not be the first\nbeing; for the compounding parts are in order of nature before that\nwhich is compounded by them; as the soul and body are before the man\nwhich results from the union of them. If God had parts and bodily\nmembers as we have, or any composition, the essence of God would\nresult from those parts, and those parts be supposed to be before\nGod. For that which is a part, is before that whose part it is. As\nin artificial things you may conceive it: all the parts of a watch\nor clock are in time before that watch which is made by setting those\nparts together. In natural things you must suppose the members of a\nbody framed before you can call it a man; so that the parts of this\nbody are before that which is constituted by them. We can conceive no\nother of God, if he were not a pure, entire, unmixed Spirit. If he had\ndistinct parts, he would depend upon them; those parts would be before\nhim; his essence would be the effect of those distinct parts, and so\nhe would not be absolutely and entirely the first being; but he is so\n(Isa. xliv. 6): \u201cI am the first, and I am the last.\u201d He is the first;\nnothing is before him. Whereas, if he had bodily parts, and those\nfinite, it would follow, God is made up of those parts which are not\nGod; and that which is not God, is in order of nature before that\nwhich is God. So that we see if God were not a Spirit he could not\nbe independent.\n\n{a187} 6. If God were not a Spirit, he were not immutable and\nunchangeable. His immutability depends upon his simplicity. He\nis unchangeable in his essence, because he is a pure and unmixed\nspiritual Being. Whatsoever is compounded of parts may be divided\ninto those parts, and resolved into those distinct parts which make\nup and constitute the nature. Whatsoever is compounded is changeable\nin its own nature, though it should never be changed. Adam, who was\nconstituted of body and soul, had he stood in innocence, had not died;\nthere had been no separation made between his soul and body whereof he\nwas constituted, and his body had not resolved into those principles\nof dust from whence it was extracted. Yet in his own nature he was\ndissoluble into those distinct parts whereof he was compounded; and so\nthe glorified saints in heaven, after the resurrection, and the happy\nmeeting of their souls and bodies in a new marriage knot, shall never\nbe dissolved; yet in their own nature they are mutable and dissoluble,\nand cannot be otherwise, because they are made up of such distinct\nparts that may be separated in their own nature, unless sustained by\nthe grace of God: they are immutable by will, the will of God, not\nby nature. God is immutable by nature as well as will: as he hath\na necessary existence, so he hath a necessary unchangeableness (Mal.\niii. 6), \u201cI, the Lord, change not.\u201d He is as unchangeable in his\nessence as in his veracity and faithfulness: they are perfections\nbelonging to his nature. But if he were not a pure Spirit, he could\nnot be immutable by nature.\n\n7. If God were not a pure Spirit, he could not be omnipresent. He\nis in heaven above, and the earth below;[359] he fills heaven and\nearth.[360] The divine essence is at once in heaven and earth; but\nit is impossible a body can be in two places at one and the same time.\nSince God is everywhere, he must be spiritual. Had he a body, he could\nnot penetrate all things; he would be circumscribed in place. He could\nnot be everywhere but in parts, not in the whole; one member in one\nplace, and another in another; for to be confined to a particular\nplace, is the property of a body: but, since he is diffused through\nthe whole world, higher than heaven, deeper than hell, longer than the\nearth, broader than the sea,[361] he hath not any corporeal matter.\nIf he had a body wherewith to fill heaven and earth, there could be no\nbody besides his own: it is the nature of bodies to bound one another,\nand hinder the extending of one another. Two bodies cannot be in the\nsame place in the same point of earth: one excludes the other; and it\nwill follow hence that we are nothing, no substances, mere illusions;\nthere could be no place for anybody else.[362] If his body were as big\nas the world, as it must be if with that he filled heaven and earth,\nthere would not be room for him to move a hand or a foot, or extend\na finger; for there would be no place remaining for the motion.\n\n8. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be the most perfect being.\nThe more perfect anything is in the rank of creatures, the more\nspiritual and simple it is, as gold is the more pure and perfect that\nhath least mixture of other metals. If God were not a Spirit, {a188}\nthere would be creatures of a more excellent nature than God, as\nangels and souls, which the Scripture call spirits, in opposition to\nbodies. There is more of perfection in the first notion of a spirit\nthan in the notion of a body. God cannot be less perfect than his\ncreatures, and contribute an excellency of being to them which he\nwants himself. If angels and souls possess such an excellency, and\nGod want that excellency, he would be less than his creatures, and\nthe excellency of the effect would exceed the excellency of the cause.\nBut every creature, even the highest creature, is infinitely short of\nthe perfection of God; for whatsoever excellency they have is finite\nand limited; it is but a spark from the sun\u2015\u2015a drop from the ocean;\nbut God is unboundedly perfect, in the highest manner, without any\nlimitation; and therefore above spirits, angels, the highest creatures\nthat were made by him: an infinite sublimity, a pure act, to which\nnothing can be added, from which nothing can be taken. \u201cIn him there\nis light and no darkness,\u201d[363] spirituality without any matter,\nperfection without any shadow or taint of imperfection. Light pierceth\ninto all things, preserves its own purity, and admits of no mixture of\nanything else with it.\n\n_Question._ It may be said, If God be a Spirit, and it is impossible\nhe can be otherwise than a Spirit, how comes God so often to have such\nmembers as we have in our bodies ascribed to him, not only a soul, but\nparticular bodily parts, as heart, arms, hands, eyes, ears, face, and\nback parts? And how is it that he is never called a Spirit in plain\nwords, but in this text by our Saviour?\n\n_Answer._ It is true, many parts of the body, and natural affections\nof the human nature, are reported of God in Scripture. Head,[364] eyes,\nand eye\u2011lids,[365] apple of the eye, mouth, &c.; our affections also,\ngrief, joy, anger, &c. But it is to be considered,\n\n1. That this is in condescension to our weakness. God being desirous\nto make himself known to man, whom he created for his glory, humbles,\nas it were, his own nature to such representations as may suit and\nassist the capacity of the creature; since by the condition of our\nnature nothing erects a notion of itself in our understanding, but\nas it is conducted in by our sense.[366] God hath served himself of\nthose things which are most exposed to our sense, most obvious to\nour understandings, to give us some acquaintance with his own nature,\nand those things which otherwise we were not capable of having any\nnotion of. As our souls are linked with our bodies, so our knowledge\nis linked with our sense; that we can scarce imagine anything, at\nfirst, but under a corporeal form and figure, till we come, by great\nattention to the object, to make, by the help of reason, a separation\nof the spiritual substance from the corporeal fancy, and consider it\nin its own nature. We are not able to conceive a spirit, without some\nkind of resemblance to something below it, nor understand the actions\nof a spirit, without considering the operations of a human body in\nits several members. As the glories of another life are signified\nto us by the pleasures of this; so the nature of God, by a gracious\ncondescension to our capacities, is {a189} signified to us by a\nlikeness to our own. The more familiar the things are to us which\nGod uses to this purpose, the more proper they are to teach us what\nhe intends by them.\n\n2. All such representations are to signify the acts of God, as they\nbear some likeness to those which we perform by those members he\nascribes to himself. So that those members ascribed to him rather note\nhis visible operations to us, than his invisible nature; and signify\nthat God doth some works like to those which men do by the assistance\nof those organs of their bodies. So the wisdom of God is called\nhis eye, because he knows that with his mind which we see with our\neyes.[367] The efficiency of God is called his hand and arm; because\nas we act with our hands, so doth God with his power. The divine\nefficacies are signified:\u2015\u2015by his eyes and ears, we understand his\nomniscience; by his face, the manifestation of his favor; by his\nmouth, the revelation of his will; by his nostrils, the acceptation\nof our prayers; by his bowels, the tenderness of his compassion; by\nhis heart, the sincerity of his affections; by his hand, the strength\nof his power; by his feet, the ubiquity of his presence. And in this,\nhe intends instruction and comfort: by his eyes, he signifies his\nwatchfulness over us; by his ears, his readiness to hear the cries\nof the oppressed;[368] by his arm, his power\u2015\u2015an arm to destroy\nhis enemies, and an arm to relieve his people.[369] All those are\nattributed to God to signify divine actions, which he doth without\nbodily organs as we do with them.\n\n3. Consider also, that only those members which are the instruments\nof the noblest actions, and under that consideration, are used\nby him to represent a notion of him to our minds. Whatsoever is\nperfect and excellent is ascribed to him, but nothing that savors\nof imperfection.[370] The heart is ascribed to him, it being the\nprinciple of vital actions, to signify the life that he hath in\nhimself; watchful and discerning eyes, not sleepy and lazy ones; a\nmouth to reveal his will, not to take in food. To eat and sleep are\nnever ascribed to him, nor those parts that belong to the preparing or\ntransmitting nourishment to the several parts of the body, as stomach,\nliver, reins, nor bowels under that consideration, but as they are\nsignificant of compassion; but only those parts are ascribed to him\nwhereby we acquire knowledge, as eyes and ears, the organs of learning\nand wisdom; or to communicate it to others, as the mouth, lips, tongue,\nas they are instruments of speaking, not of tasting; or those parts\nwhich signify strength and power, or whereby we perform the actions of\ncharity for the relief of others; taste and touch, senses that extend\nno farther than to corporeal things, and are the grossest of all the\nsenses, are never ascribed to him.\n\n4. It were worth consideration, \u201cwhether this describing God by the\nmembers of a human body were so much figuratively to be understood,\nas with respect to the incarnation of our Saviour, who was to assume\nthe human nature, and all the members of a human body?\u201d[371] Asaph,\nspeaking in the person of God (Psalm lxxviii. 1), {a190} \u201cI will\nopen my mouth in parables;\u201d in regard of God it is to be understood\nfiguratively, but in regard of Christ literally, to whom it is applied\n(Matt. xiii. 34, 35); and that apparition (Isa. vi.) which was the\nappearance of Jehovah, is applied to Christ (John xii. 40, 41). After\nthe report of the creation, and the forming of man, we read of God\u2019s\nspeaking to him, but not of God\u2019s appearing to him in any visible\nshape.[372] A voice might be formed in the air to give man notice of\nhis duty; some way of information he must have what positive laws he\nwas to observe, besides that law which was engraven in his nature,\nwhich we call the law of nature; and without a voice the knowledge\nof the divine will could not be so conveniently communicated to man.\nThough God was heard in a voice, he was not seen in a shape; but after\nthe fall we several times read of his appearing in such a form; though\nwe read of his speaking before man\u2019s committing of sin, yet not of\nhis walking, which is more corporeal, till afterwards.[373] \u201cThough\nGod would not have man believe him to be corporeal, yet he judged it\nexpedient to give some pre\u2011notices of that divine incarnation which\nhe had promised.\u201d[374]\n\n5. Therefore, we must not conceive of the visible Deity according to\nthe letter of such expressions, but the true intent of them. Though\nthe Scripture speaks of his eyes and arm, yet it denies them to be\n\u201carms of flesh.\u201d[375] We must not conceive of God according to the\nletter, but the design of the metaphor. When we hear things described\nby metaphorical expressions, for the clearing them up to our fancy,\nwe conceive not of them under that garb, but remove the veil by an\nact of our reason. When Christ is called a sun, a vine, bread, is\nany so stupid as to conceive him to be a vine with material branches,\nand clusters, or be of the same nature with a loaf? But the things\ndesigned by such metaphors are obvious to the conception of a mean\nunderstanding. If we would conceive God to have a body like a man,\nbecause he describes himself so, we may conceit him to be like a bird,\nbecause he is mentioned with wings;[376] or like a lion, or leopard,\nbecause he likens himself to them in the acts of his strength and\nfury.[377] He is called a rock, a horn, fire, to note his strength\nand wrath; if any be so stupid as to think God to be really such,\nthey would make him not only a man but worse than a monster. Onkelos,\nthe Chaldee paraphrast upon parts of the Scripture, was so tender of\nexpressing the notion of any corporeity in God, that when he meets\nwith any expressions of that nature, he translates them according to\nthe true intent of them; as when God is said to descend (Gen. xi. 5),\nwhich implies a local motion, a motion from one place to another, he\ntranslates it, \u201cAnd God revealed himself.\u201d[378] We should conceive of\nGod according to the design of the expressions; when we read of his\neyes, we should conceive his omniscience; of his hand, his power;\nof his sitting, his immutability; of his throne, his majesty; and\nconceive of him as surmounting, not only the grossness of bodies,\nbut the spiritual excellency {a191} of the most dignified creatures;\nsomething so perfect, great, spiritual, as nothing can be conceived\nhigher and purer. \u201cChrist,\u201d saith one, \u201cis truly _Deus figuratus_; and\nfor his sake, was it more easily permitted to the Jews to think of God\nin the shape of a man.\u201d[379]\n\n_Use._ If God be a pure spiritual being, then\n\n1. Man is not the image of God, according to his external bodily form\nand figure. The image of God in man consisted not in what is seen,\nbut in what is not seen; not in the conformation of the members, but\nrather in the spiritual faculties of the soul; or, most of all, in\nthe holy endowments of those faculties (Eph. iv. 24): \u201cThat ye put\non the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and\ntrue holiness.\u201d[380] The image which is restored by redeeming grace,\nwas the image of God by original nature. The image of God cannot be\nin that part which is common to us with beasts, but rather in that\nwherein we excel all living creatures, in reason, understanding, and\nan immortal spirit. God expressly saith, that none \u201csaw a similitude\u201d\nof him (Deut. iv. 15, 16); which had not been true, if man, in regard\nof his body, had been the image and similitude of God, for then a\nfigure of God had been seen every day, as often as we saw a man or\nbeheld ourselves. Nor would the apostle\u2019s argument stand good (Acts\nxvii. 29), \u201cThat the Godhead is not like to stone graven by art,\u201d if\nwe were not the offspring of God, and bore the stamp of his nature in\nour spirits rather than our bodies.[381] It was a fancy of Eugubinus,\nthat when God set upon the actual creation of man, he took a bodily\nform for an exemplar of that which he would express in his work, and\ntherefore that the words of Moses[382] are to be understood of the\nbody of man; because there was in man such a shape which God had then\nassumed. To let alone God\u2019s forming himself a body for that work as\na groundless fancy, man can in no wise be said to be the image of God,\nin regard of the substance of his body; but beasts may as well be said\nto be made in the image of God, whose bodies have the same members as\nthe body of man for the most part, and excel men in the acuteness of\nthe senses and swiftness of their motion, agility of body, greatness\nof strength, and in some kind of ingenuities also, wherein man hath\nbeen a scholar to the brutes, and beholden to their skill. The soul\ncomes nearest the nature of God, as being a spiritual substance; yet\nconsidered singly, in regard of its spiritual substance, cannot well\nbe said to be the image of God; a beast, because of its corporeity,\nmay as well be called the image of a man, for there is a greater\nsimilitude between man and a brute, in the rank of bodies, than there\ncan be between God and the highest angels in the rank of spirits. If\nit doth not consist in the substance of the soul, much less can it in\nany similitude of the body. This image consisted partly in the state\nof man, as he had dominion over the creatures; partly in the nature of\nman, as he was an intelligent being, and thereby was capable of having\na grant of that dominion; but principally in the conformity of the\nsoul with {a192} God, in the frame of his spirit, and the holiness of\nhis actions; not at all in the figure and form of his body, physically,\nthough morally there might be, as there was a rectitude in the body\nas an instrument to conform to the holy motions of the soul, as the\nholiness of the soul sparkled in the actions and members of the body.\nIf man were like God because he hath a body, whatsoever hath a body\nhath some resemblance to God, and may be said to be in part his image;\nbut the truth is, the essence of all creatures cannot be an image of\nthe immense essence of God.\n\n2. If God be a pure Spirit, \u201cit is unreasonable to frame any image or\npicture of God.\u201d[383] Some heathens have been wiser in this than some\nChristians; Pythagoras forbade his scholars to engrave any shape of\nhim upon a ring, because he was not to be comprehended by sense, but\nconceived only in our minds: our hands are as unable to fashion him,\nas our eyes to see him.[384] The ancient Romans worshipped their gods\none hundred and seventy years before any material representations\nof them;[385] and the ancient idolatrous Germans thought it a wicked\nthing to represent God in a human shape; yet some, and those no\nRomanists, labor to defend the making images of God in the resemblance\nof man, because he is so represented in Scripture: \u201cHe may be,\u201d saith\none,[386] \u201cconceived so in our minds, and figured so to our sense.\u201d If\nthis were a good reason, why may he not be pictured as a lion, horn,\neagle, rock, since he is under such metaphors shadowed to us? The\nsame ground there is for the one as for the other. What though man\nbe a nobler creature, God hath no more the body of a man than that\nof an eagle; and some perfections in other creatures represent some\nexcellencies in his nature and actions which cannot be figured by a\nhuman shape, as strength by the lion, swiftness and readiness by the\nwings of the bird. But God hath absolutely prohibited the making \u201cany\nimage\u201d whatsoever of him, and that with terrible threatenings (Exod.\nxx. 5): \u201cI, the Lord, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the\nfathers upon their children,\u201d and Deut. v. 8, 9. After God had given\nthe Israelites the commandment wherein he forbade them to have any\nother gods before him, be forbids all figuring of him by the hand of\nman;[387] not only images, but any likeness of him, either by things\nin heaven, in the earth, or in the water. How often doth he discover\nhis indignation by the prophets, against them that offer to mould\nhim in a creature form! This law was not to serve a particular\ndispensation, or to endure a particular time, but it was a declaration\nof his will, invariable in all places and all times; being founded\nupon the immutable nature of his being, and therefore agreeable to\nthe law of nature, otherwise not chargeable upon the heathens; and\ntherefore when God had declared his nature and his works in a stately\nand majestic eloquence, he demands of them, \u201cTo whom they would liken\nhim, or what likeness they would compare unto him?\u201d (Isa. xl. 18);\n{a193} where they could find anything that would be a lively image\nand resemblance of his infinite excellency? founding it upon the\ninfiniteness of his nature, which necessarily implies the spirituality\nof it, God is infinitely above any statue: and those that think to\ndraw God by a stroke of a pencil, or form him by the engravings of\nart, are more stupid than the statues themselves. To show the\nunreasonableness of it, consider,\n\n1. It is impossible to fashion any image of God. If our more capacious\nsouls cannot grasp his nature, our weaker sense cannot frame his image;\nit is more possible, of the two, to comprehend him in our minds, than\nto frame him in an image to our sense. He inhabits inaccessible light;\nas it is impossible for the eye of man to see him, it is impossible\nfor the art of man to paint him upon walls, and carve him out of wood.\nNone knows him but himself, none can describe him but himself.[388]\nCan we draw a figure of our own souls, and express that part of\nourselves, wherein we are most like to God? Can we extend this to any\nbodily figure, and divide it into parts? How can we deal so with the\noriginal copy, whence the first draught of our souls was taken, and\nwhich is infinitely more spiritual than men or angels? No corporeal\nthing can represent a spiritual substance; there is no proportion\nin nature between them. God is a simple, infinite, immense, eternal,\ninvisible, incorruptible being; a statue is a compounded, finite,\nlimited, temporal, visible, and corruptible body. God is a living\nspirit; but a statue nor sees, nor hears, nor perceives anything. But\nsuppose God had a body, it is impossible to mould an image of it in\nthe true glory of that body; can the statue of an excellent monarch\nrepresent the majesty and air of his countenance, though made by the\nskilfullest workman in the world? If God had a body in some measure\nsuited to his excellency, were it possible for man to make an exact\nimage of him, who cannot picture the light, heat, motion, magnitude,\nand dazzling property of the sun? The excellency of any corporeal\nnature of the least creature, the temper, instinct, artifice, are\nbeyond the power of a carving tool; much more is God.\n\n2. To make any corporeal representations of God is unworthy of God.\nIt is a disgrace to his nature. Whosoever thinks a carnal corruptible\nimage to be fit for a representation of God, renders God no better\nthan a carnal and a corporeal being. It is a kind of debasing an angel,\nwho is a spiritual nature, to represent him in a bodily shape, who is\nas far removed from any fleshliness as heaven from earth; much more to\ndegrade the glory of the divine nature to the lineaments of a man. The\nwhole stock of images is but a lie of God (Jer. x. 8, 14); a doctrine\nof vanities and falsehood; it represents him in a false garb to the\nworld, and sinks his glory into that of a corruptible creature.[389]\nIt impairs the reverence of God in the minds of men, and by degrees\nmay debase men\u2019s apprehensions of God, and be a means to make\nthem believe he is such a one as themselves; and that not being\nfree from the figure, he is not also free from the imperfections\nof the bodies.[390] Corporeal images of God were the fruits of base\nimaginations of him; and as they sprung from them, so {a194} they\ncontribute to a greater corruption of the notions of the divine nature:\nthe heathens begun their first representations of him by the image\nof a corruptible man, then of birds, till they descended not only to\nfour\u2011footed beasts but creeping things, even serpents, as the apostle\nseems to intimate in his enumeration (Rom. i. 23): it had been more\nhonorable to have continued in human representations of him, than have\nsunk so low as beasts and serpents, the baser images; though the first\nhad been infinitely unworthy of him, he being more above a man, though\nthe noblest creature, than man is above a worm, a toad, or the most\ndespicable creeping thing upon the earth. To think we can make an\nimage of God of a piece of marble, or an ingot of gold, is a greater\ndebasing of him, than it would be of a great prince, if you should\nrepresent him in the statue of a frog. When the Israelites represented\nGod by a calf, it is said \u201cthey sinned a great sin\u201d (Exod. xxxii. 31):\nand the sin of Jeroboam, who intended only a representation of God by\nthe calves at Dan and Bethel, is called more emphatically,[391] \u201cthe\nwickedness of your wickedness,\u201d the very scum and dregs of wickedness.\nAs men debased God by this, so God debased men for this; he degraded\nthe Israelites into captivity, under the worst of their enemies, and\npunished the heathens with spiritual judgments, as uncleanness through\nthe lusts of their own hearts (Rom. i. 24); which is repeated again\nin other expressions (ver. 26, 27), as a meet recompense for their\ndisgracing the spiritual nature of God. Had God been like to man, they\nhad not offended in it; but I mention this, to show a probable reason\nof those base lusts which are in the midst of us, that have scarce\nbeen exceeded by any nation, viz., the unworthy and unspiritual\nconceits of God, which are as much a debasing of him as material\nimages were when they were more rife in the world; and may be as well\nthe cause of spiritual judgments upon men, as the worshipping molten\nand carved images were the cause of the same upon the heathen.\n\n3. Yet this is natural to man. Wherein we may see the contrariety\nof man to God. Though God be a Spirit, yet there is nothing man is\nmore prone to, than to represent him under a corporeal form. The\nmost famous guides of the heathen world have fashioned him, not only\naccording to the more honorable images of men, but bestialized him\nin the form of a brute. The Egyptians, whose country was the school\nof learning to Greece, were notoriously guilty of this brutishness in\nworshipping an ox for an image of their God; and the Philistines their\nDagon, in a figure composed of the image of a woman and a fish:[392]\nsuch representations were ancient in the oriental parts. The gods of\nLaban, that he accuseth Jacob of stealing from him, are supposed to\nbe little figures of men.[393] Such was the Israelites\u2019 golden calf;\ntheir worship was not terminated on the image, but they worshipped the\ntrue God under that representation; they could not be so brutish as to\ncall a calf their deliverer, and give him so great a title (\u201cThese be\nthy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt,\u201d\nExod. xxxii. 4): or that which they knew belonged to the true God,\n\u201cthe God of Abraham, Isaac, {a195} and Jacob.\u201d[394] They knew the calf\nto be formed of their ear\u2011rings, but they had consecrated it to God\nas a representation of him; though they chose the form of the Egyptian\nidol, yet they knew that Apis, Osiris, and Isis, the gods of the\nEgyptians adored in that figure, had not wrought their redemption from\nbondage, but would have used their force, had they been possessed of\nany, to have kept them under the yoke, rather than have freed them\nfrom it; the feast also which they celebrated before that image, is\ncalled by Aaron the feast of the Lord (Exod. xxxii. 5); a feast to\nJehovah, the incommunicable name of the creator of the world; it is\ntherefore evident, that both the priest and the people pretended to\nserve the true God, not any false divinity of Egypt; that God who\nhad rescued them from Egypt, with a mighty hand, divided the Red\nSea before them, destroyed their enemies, conducted them, fed them\nby miracle, spoken to them from Mount Sinai, and amazed them by his\nthunderings and lightnings when he instructed them by his law; a God\nwhom they could not so soon forget. And with this representing God\nby that image, they are charged by the Psalmist (Psalm cvi. 19, 20),\n\u201cthey made a calf in Horeb, and changed their glory into a similitude\nof an ox that eateth grass:\u201d they changed their glory, that is, God,\nthe glory of Israel; so that they took this figure for the image of\nthe true God of Israel, their own God; not the God of any other nation\nin the world. Jeroboam intended no other by his calves, but symbols of\nthe presence of the true God; instead of the ark and the propitiatory\nwhich remained among the Jews. We see the inclination of our natures\nin the practice of the Israelites; a people chosen out of the whole\nworld to bear up God\u2019s name, and preserve his glory; and in that the\nimages of God were so soon set up in the Christian church; and to this\nday, the picture of God, in the shape of an old man, is visible in the\ntemple of the Romanists. It is prone to the nature of man,\n\n4. To represent God by a corporeal image; and to worship him in and\nby that image, is idolatry. Though the Israelites did not acknowledge\nthe calf to be God, nor intended a worship to any of the Egyptian\ndeities by it; but worshipped that God in it, who had so lately and\nmiraculously delivered them from a cruel servitude; and could not in\nnatural reason judge him to be clothed with a bodily shape, much less\nto be like an ox that eateth grass; yet the apostle brings no less\na charge against them than that of idolatry (1 Cor. x. 7); he calls\nthem idolaters, who before that calf kept a feast to Jehovah, citing\nExod. xxxii. 5. Suppose we could make such an image of God as might\nperfectly represent him; yet since God hath prohibited it, shall we\nbe wiser than God? He hath sufficiently manifested himself in his\nworks without images: He is seen in the creatures, more particularly\nin the heavens, which declare his glory. His works are more excellent\nrepresentations of him, as being the works of his own hands, than\nanything that is the product of the art of man. His glory sparkles in\nthe heavens, sun, moon, and stars, as being magnificent pieces of his\nwisdom and power; yet the kissing the hand to the sun or the heavens,\nas representatives of the {a196} excellency and majesty of God,\nis idolatry in Scripture account, and a denial of God;[395] a\nprostituting the glory of God to a creature. Either the worship is\nterminated on the image itself, and then it is confessed by all to\nbe idolatry, because it is a giving that worship to a creature which\nis the sole right of God, or not terminated in the image, but in\nthe object represented by it; it is then a foolish thing; we may as\nwell terminate our worship on the true object without, as with an\nimage.[396] An erected statue is no sign or symbol of God\u2019s special\npresence, as the ark, tabernacle, temple were. It is no part of divine\ninstitution; has no authority of a command to support it; no cordial\nof a promise to encourage it; and the image being infinitely distant\nfrom, and below the majesty and spirituality of God, cannot constitute\none object of worship with him. To put a religious character upon any\nimage formed by the corrupt imagination of man, as a representation of\nthe invisible and spiritual Deity, is to think the Godhead to be like\nsilver and gold, or stone graven by art and man\u2019s device.[397]\n\nIII. This doctrine will direct us in our conceptions of God, as a pure\nperfect Spirit, than which nothing can be imagined more perfect, more\npure, more spiritual.\n\n1. We cannot have an adequate or suitable conception of God: He dwells\nin inaccessible light; inaccessible to the acuteness of our fancy,\nas well as the weakness of our sense. If we could have thoughts of\nhim, as high and excellent as his nature, our conceptions must be as\ninfinite as his nature. All our imaginations of him cannot represent\nhim, because every created species is finite; it cannot therefore\nrepresent to us a full and substantial notion of an infinite Being. We\ncannot speak or think worthily enough of him, who is greater than our\nwords, vaster than our understandings. Whatsoever we speak or think\nof God, is handed first to us by the notice we have of some perfection\nin the creature, and explains to us some particular excellency of God,\nrather than the fulness of his essence. No creature, nor all creatures\ntogether, can furnish us with such a magnificent notion of God, as can\ngive us a clear view of him. Yet God in his word is pleased to step\nbelow his own excellency, and point us to those excellencies in his\nworks, whereby we may ascend to the knowledge of those excellencies\nwhich are in his nature. But the creatures, whence we draw our lessons,\nbeing finite, and our understandings being finite, it is utterly\nimpossible to have a notion of God commensurate to the immensity and\nspirituality of his being. \u201cGod is not like to visible creatures, nor\nis there any proportion between him and the most spiritual.\u201d[398] We\ncannot have a full notion of a spiritual nature, much less can we have\nof God, who is a Spirit above spirits. No spirit can clearly represent\nhim: the angels, that are great spirits, are bounded in their extent,\nfinite in their being, and of a mutable nature. Yet though we cannot\nhave a suitable conception of God, we must not content ourselves\nwithout any conception of him. It is our sin not to endeavor after\na true notion of {a197} him: it is our sin to rest in a mean and\nlow notion of him, when our reason tells us we are capable of having\nhigher: but if we ascend as high as we can, though we shall then\ncome short of a suitable notion of him, this is not our sin, but our\nweakness. God is infinitely superior to the choicest conceptions, not\nonly of a sinner, but of a creature. If all conceptions of God below\nthe true nature of God were sin, there is not a holy angel in heaven\nfree from sin; because, though they are the most capacious creatures,\nyet they cannot have such a notion of an infinite Being as is fully\nsuitable to his nature, unless they were infinite as he himself is.\n\n2. But, however, we must by no means conceive of God under a human or\ncorporeal shape. Since we cannot have conceptions honorable enough for\nhis nature, we must take heed we entertain not any which may debase\nhis nature; though we cannot comprehend him as he is, we must be\ncareful not to fancy him to be what he is not. It is a vain thing to\nconceive him with human lineaments: we must think higher of him than\nto ascribe to him so mean a shape: we deny his spirituality when we\nfancy him under such a form. He is spiritual, and between that which\nis spiritual and that which is corporeal, there is no resemblance.[399]\nIndeed, Daniel saw God in a human form (Dan. vii. 9): \u201cThe Ancient\nof days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hairs of\nhis head like pure wool:\u201d he is described as coming to judgment; it\nis not meant of Christ probably, because Christ (ver. 13) is called\nthe Son of Man coming near to the Ancient of days. This is not the\nproper shape of God, for no man hath seen his shape. It was a vision\nwherein such representations were made, as were accommodated to\nthe inward sense of Daniel; Daniel saw him in a rapture or ecstacy,\nwherein outward senses are of no use. God is described, not as he is\nin himself, of a human form, but in regard of his fitness to judge:\n\u201cwhite,\u201d notes the purity and simplicity of the Divine nature;\n\u201cAncient of days,\u201d in regard of his eternity; \u201cwhite hair,\u201d in regard\nof his prudence and wisdom, which is more eminent in age than youth,\nand more fit to discern causes and to distinguish between right and\nwrong. Visions are riddles, and must not be understood in a literal\nsense. We are to watch against such determinate conceptions of God.\nVain imaginations do easily infest us; tinder will not sooner take\nfire than our natures kindle into wrong notions of the Divine Majesty.\nWe are very apt to fashion a god like ourselves; we must therefore\nlook upon such representations of God, as accommodated to our weakness:\nand no more think them to be literal descriptions of God, as he is in\nhimself, than we will think the image of the sun in the water, to be\nthe true sun in the heavens. We may, indeed, conceive of Christ as man,\nwho hath in heaven the vestment of our nature, and is _Deus figuratus_,\nthough we cannot conceive the godhead under a human shape.\n\n1. To have such a fancy is to disparage and wrong God. A corporeal\nfancy of God is as ridiculous in itself, and as injurious to God,\nas a wooden statue. The caprices of our imagination are often\nmore mysterious than the images which are the works of art; it is\nas irreligious {a198} to measure God\u2019s essence by our line, his\nperfections by our imperfections, as to measure his thoughts and\nactings by the weakness and unworthiness of our own. This is to limit\nan infinite essence, and pull him down to our scanty measures, and\nrender that which is unconceivably above us, equal with us. It is\nimpossible we can conceive God after the manner of a body, but we\nmust bring him down to the proportion of a body, which is to diminish\nhis glory, and stoop him below the dignity of his nature. God is a\npure Spirit, he hath nothing of the nature and tincture of a body;\nwhosoever, therefore, conceives of him as having a bodily form, though\nhe fancy the most beautiful and comely body, instead of owning his\ndignity, detracts from the super\u2011eminent excellency of his nature and\nblessedness. When men fancy God like themselves in their corporeal\nnature, they will soon make a progress, and ascribe to him their\ncorrupt nature; and while they clothe him with their bodies, invest\nhim also in the infirmities of them. God is a jealous God, very\nsensible of any disgrace, and will be as much incensed against an\ninward idolatry as an outward: that command which forbade corporeal\nimages,[400] would not indulge carnal imaginations; since the nature\nof God is as much wronged by unworthy images, erected in the fancy,\nas by statues carved out of stone or metals: one as well as the other\nis a deserting of our true spouse, and committing adultery; one with\na material image, and the other with a carnal notion of God. Since\nGod humbles himself to our apprehensions, we should not debase him\nin thinking him to be that in his nature, which he makes only a\nresemblance of himself to us.\n\n2. To have such fancies of God, will obstruct and pollute our worship\nof him. How is it possible to give him a right worship, of whom we\nhave so debasing a notion? We shall never think a corporeal deity\nworthy of a dedication of our spirits. The hating instruction, and\ncasting God\u2019s word behind the back, is charged upon the imagination\nthey had, that \u201cGod was such a one as themselves\u201d (Psalm l. 17, 21).\nMany of the wiser heathens did not judge their statues to be their\ngods, or their gods to be like their statues; but suited them to\ntheir politic designs; and judged them a good invention to keep people\nwithin the bounds of obedience and devotion, by such visible figures\nof them, which might imprint a reverence and fear of those gods upon\nthem; but these are false measures; a despised and undervalued God is\nnot an object of petition or affection. Who would address seriously\nto a God he has low apprehensions of? The more raised thoughts we have\nof him, the viler sense we shall have of ourselves; they would make us\nhumble and self\u2011abhorrent in our supplications to him (Job xlii. 6):\n\u201cwherefore I abhor myself,\u201d &c.\n\n3. Though we must not conceive of God, as of a human or corporeal\nshape; yet we cannot think of God, without some reflection upon our\nown being. We cannot conceive him to be an intelligent being, but we\nmust make some comparison between him and our own understanding nature\nto come to a knowledge of him. Since we are enclosed in bodies, we\napprehend nothing but what comes in {a199} by sense, and what we in\nsome sort measure by sensible objects. And in the consideration of\nthose things which we desire to abstract from sense, we are fain to\nmake use of the assistance of sense and visible things: and therefore\nwhen we frame the highest notion, there will be some similitude of\nsome corporeal thing in our fancy; and though we would spiritualize\nour thoughts, and aim at a more abstracted and raised understanding,\nyet there will be some dregs of matter sticking to our conceptions;\nyet we still judge by argument and reasoning, what the thing is we\nthink of under those material images. A corporeal image will follow\nus, as the shadow doth the body.[401] While we are in the body, and\nsurrounded with fleshly matter, we cannot think of things without some\nhelp from corporeal representations: something of sense will interpose\nitself in our purest conceptions of spiritual things;[402] for the\nfaculties which serve for contemplation, are either corporeal, as the\nsense and fancy, or so allied to them, that nothing passes into them\nbut by the organs of the body; so that there is a natural inclination\nto figure nothing but under a corporeal notion, till by an attentive\napplication of the mind and reason to the object thought upon, we\nseparate that which is bodily from that which is spiritual, and by\ndegrees ascend to that true notion of that we think upon, and would\nhave a due conception of in our mind. Therefore God tempers the\ndeclaration of himself to our weakness, and the condition of our\nnatures. He condescends to our littleness and narrowness, when he\ndeclares himself by the similitude of bodily members. As the light of\nthe sun is tempered, and diffuseth itself to our sense through the air\nand vapors, that our weak eyes may not be too much dazzled with it;\nwithout it we could not know or judge of the sun, because we could\nhave no use of our sense, which we must have before we can judge of\nit in our understanding; so we are not able to conceive of spiritual\nbeings in the purity of their own nature, without such a temperament,\nand such shadows to usher them into our minds. And therefore we find\nthe Spirit of God accommodates himself to our contracted and teddered\ncapacities, and uses such expressions of God as are suited to us in\nthis state of flesh wherein we are. And therefore because we cannot\napprehend God in the simplicity of his own being, and his undivided\nessence, he draws the representations of himself from several\ncreatures and several actions of those creatures: as sometimes he is\nsaid to be angry, to walk, to sit, to fly; not that we should rest in\nsuch conceptions of him, but take our rise from this foundation, and\nsuch perfections in the creatures, to mount up to a knowledge of God\u2019s\nnature by those several steps, and conceive of him by those divided\nexcellencies, because we cannot conceive of him in the purity of\nhis own essence. We cannot possibly think or speak of God, unless we\ntransfer the names of created perfections to him;[403] yet we are to\nconceive of them in a higher manner when we apply them to the Divine\nnature, than when we consider them in the several creatures formally,\nexceeding those perfections and excellencies which are in the creature,\nand in a more excellent manner: \u201cas one saith, though {a200} we cannot\ncomprehend God without the help of such resemblances, yet we may,\nwithout making an image of him; so that inability of ours excuseth\nthose apprehensions of him from any way offending against his Divine\nnature.\u201d[404] These are not notions so much suited to the nature of\nGod as the weakness of man. They are helps to our meditations, but\nought not to be formal conceptions of him. We may assist ourselves in\nour apprehensions of him, by considering the subtilty and spirituality\nof air; and considering the members of a body, without thinking him\nto be air, or to have any corporeal member. Our reason tells us,\nthat whatsoever is a body, is limited and bounded; and the notion\nof infiniteness and bodiliness, cannot agree and consist together:\nand therefore what is offered by our fancy should be purified by our\nreason.\n\n4. Therefore we are to elevate and refine all our notions of God, and\nspiritualize our conceptions of him. Every man is to have a conception\nof God; therefore he ought to have one of the highest elevation. Since\nwe cannot have a full notion of him, we should endeavor to make it as\nhigh and as pure as we can. Though we cannot conceive of God, but some\ncorporeal representations or images in our minds will be conversant\nwith us, as motes in the air when we look upon the heavens, yet our\nconceptions may and must rise higher. As when we see the draught of\nthe heavens and earth in a globe, or a kingdom in a map, it helps our\nconceptions, but doth not terminate them: we conceive them to be of a\nvast extent, far beyond that short description of them. So we should\nendeavor to refine every representation of God, to rise higher and\nhigher, and have our apprehensions still more purified; separating the\nperfect from the imperfect, casting away the one, and greatening the\nother; conceive him to be a Spirit diffused through all, containing\nall, perceiving all. All the perfections of God are infinitely\nelevated above the excellencies of the creatures; above whatsoever\ncan be conceived by the clearest and most piercing understanding.\nThe nature of God as a Spirit is infinitely superior to whatsoever\nwe can conceive perfect in the notion of a created spirit. Whatsoever\nGod is, he is infinitely so: he is infinite Wisdom, infinite Goodness,\ninfinite Knowledge, infinite Power, infinite Spirit; infinitely\ndistant from the weakness of creatures, infinitely mounted above\nthe excellencies of creatures: as easy to be known that he is,\nas impossible to be comprehended what he is. Conceive of him as\nexcellent, without any imperfection; a Spirit without parts; great\nwithout quantity; perfect without quality; everywhere without place;\npowerful without members; understanding without ignorance; wise\nwithout reasoning; light without darkness; infinitely more excelling\nthe beauty of all creatures, than the light in the sun, pure and\nunviolated, exceeds the splendor of the sun dispersed and divided\nthrough a cloudy and misty air: and when you have risen to the highest,\nconceive him yet infinitely above all you can conceive of spirit,\nand acknowledge the infirmity of your own minds. And whatsoever\nconception comes into your minds, say, This is not God; God is more\nthan this: if I could conceive {a201} him, he were not God; for God\nis incomprehensibly above whatsoever I can say, whatsoever I can think\nand conceive of him.\n\n_Inference 1._ If God be a Spirit, no corporeal thing can defile\nhim. Some bring an argument against the omnipresence of God, that it\nis a disparagement to the Divine essence to be everywhere, in nasty\ncottages as well as beautiful palaces and garnished temples. What\nplace can defile a spirit? Is light, which approaches to the nature of\nspirit, polluted by shining upon a dunghill, or a sunbeam tainted by\ndarting upon a quagmire? Doth an angel contract any soil, by stepping\ninto a nasty prison to deliver Peter? What can steam from the most\nnoisome body to pollute the spiritual nature of God? As he is \u201cof\npurer eyes than to behold iniquity,\u201d[405] so he is of a more spiritual\nsubstance than to contract any physical pollution from the places\nwhere he doth diffuse himself. Did our Saviour, who had a true body,\nderive any taint from the lepers he touched, the diseases he cured, or\nthe devils he expelled? God is a pure Spirit; plungeth himself into no\nfilth; is dashed with no spot by being present with all bodies. Bodies\nonly receive defilement from bodies.\n\n_Inference 2._ If God be a Spirit, he is active and communicative.\nHe is not clogged with heavy and sluggish matter, which is cause of\ndulness and inactivity. The more subtle, thin, and approaching nearer\nthe nature of a spirit anything is, the more diffusive it is. Air\nis a gliding substance; spreads itself through all regions, pierceth\ninto all bodies; it fills the space between heaven and earth; there is\nnothing but partakes of the virtue of it. Light, which is an emblem of\nspirit, insinuates itself into all places, refresheth all things. As\nspirits are fuller, so they are more overflowing, more piercing, more\noperative than bodies. The Egyptian horses were weak things, because\nthey were \u201cflesh, and not spirit.\u201d[406] The soul being a spirit,\nconveys more to the body than the body can to it. What cannot so\ngreat a spirit do for us? What cannot so great a spirit work in us?\nGod, being a spirit above all spirits, can pierce into the centre of\nall spirits; make his way into the most secret recesses; stamp what\nhe pleases. It is no more to him to turn our spirits, than to make a\nwilderness become waters, and speak a chaos into a beautiful frame of\nheaven and earth. He can act our souls with infinite more ease than\nour souls can act our bodies; he can fix in us what motions, frames,\ninclinations he pleases; he can come and settle in our hearts with\nall his treasures. It is an encouragement to confide in him, when\nwe petition him for spiritual blessings: as he is a spirit, he is\npossessed with \u201cspiritual blessings.\u201d[407] A spirit delights to bestow\nthings suitable to its nature, as bodies do to communicate what is\nagreeable to theirs. As he is a Father of spirits, we may go to him\nfor the welfare of our spirits; he being a Spirit, is as able to\nrepair our spirits as he was to create them. As he is a Spirit, he is\nindefatigable in acting. The members of the body tire and flag; but\nwho ever heard of a soul wearied with being active? who ever heard of\na weary angel? In the purest simplicity, there is the greatest power,\nthe most efficacious goodness, the most reaching justice to affect\nthe spirit, that can insinuate itself everywhere {a202} to punish\nwickedness without weariness, as well as to comfort goodness. God\nis active, because he is spirit; and if we be like to God, the more\nspiritual we are, the more active we shall be.\n\n_Inference 3._ God being a Spirit, is immortal. His being immortal,\nand being invisible, are joined together.[408] Spirits are in their\nnature incorruptible; they can only perish by that hand that framed\nthem. Every compounded thing is subject to mutation; but God, being\na pure and simple Spirit, is without corruption, without any shadow\nof change.[409] Where there is composition, there is some kind\nof repugnancy of one part against the other; and where there is\nrepugnancy, there is a capability of dissolution. God, in regard of\nhis infinite spirituality, hath nothing in his own nature contrary\nto it; can have nothing in himself which is not himself. The world\nperishes; friends change and are dissolved; bodies moulder, because\nthey are mutable. God is a Spirit in the highest excellency and glory\nof spirits; nothing is beyond him; nothing above him; no contrariety\nwithin him. This is our comfort, if we devote ourselves to him;\nthis God is our God; this Spirit is our Spirit; this is our all,\nour immutable, our incorruptible support; a Spirit that cannot die\nand leave us.\n\n_Inference 4._ If God be a Spirit, we see how we can only converse\nwith him by our spirits. Bodies and spirits are not suitable to one\nanother: we can only see, know, embrace a spirit with our spirits. He\njudges not of us by our corporeal actions, nor our external devotions\nby our masks and disguises: he fixes his eye upon the frame of the\nheart, bends his ear to the groans of our spirits. He is not pleased\nwith outward pomp. He is not a body; therefore the beauty of temples,\ndelicacy of sacrifices, fumes of incense, are not grateful to him;\nby those, or any external action, we have no communion with him.\nA spirit, when broken, is his delightful sacrifice;[410] we must\ntherefore, have our spirits fitted for him, \u201cbe renewed in the spirit\nof our minds,\u201d[411] that we may be in a posture to live with him, and\nhave an intercourse with him. We can never be united to God but in\nour spirits: bodies unite with bodies, spirits with spirits. The more\nspiritual anything is, the more closely doth it unite. Air hath the\nclosest union; nothing meets together sooner than that, when the parts\nare divided by the interposition of a body.\n\n_Inference 5._ If God be a Spirit, he can only be the true\nsatisfaction of our spirits: spirit can only be filled with spirit:\ncontent flows from likeness and suitableness. As we have a resemblance\nto God in regard of the spiritual nature of our soul, so we can have\nno satisfaction but in him. Spirit can no more be really satisfied\nwith that which is corporeal, than a beast can delight in the company\nof an angel. Corporeal things can no more fill a hungry spirit, than\npure spirit can feed an hungry body. God, the highest Spirit, can only\nreach out a full content to our spirits. Man is lord of the creation:\nnothing below him can be fit for his converse; nothing above him\noffers itself to his converse but God. We have no correspondence with\nangels. The influence they have upon us, the protection they {a203}\nafford us, is secret and undiscerned; but God, the highest Spirit,\noffers himself to us in his Son, in his ordinances, is visible in\nevery creature, presents himself to us in every providence; to him\nwe must seek; in him we must rest. God had no rest from the creation\ntill he had made man; and man can have no rest in the creation till\nhe rests in God. God only is our dwelling place;[412] our souls should\nonly long for him:[413] our souls should only wait upon him. The\nspirit of man never riseth to its original glory, till it be carried\nup on the wings of faith and love to its original copy. The face\nof the soul looks most beautiful, when it is turned to the face of\nGod, the Father of spirits; when the derived spirit is fixed upon\nthe original Spirit, drawing from it life and glory. Spirit is only\nthe receptacle of spirit. God, as Spirit, is our principle; we must\ntherefore live upon him. God, as Spirit, hath some resemblance to us\nas his image; we must, therefore, only satisfy ourselves in him.\n\n_Inference 6._ If God be a Spirit, we should take most care of that\nwherein we are like to God. Spirit is nobler than body; we must,\ntherefore, value our spirits above our bodies. The soul, as spirit,\npartakes more of the divine nature, and deserves more of our choicest\ncares. If we have any love to this Spirit, we should have a real\naffection to our own spirits, as bearing a stamp of the spiritual\nDivinity, the chiefest of all the works of God; as it is said of\nbehemoth (Job xl. 19). That which is most the image of this immense\nspirit, should be our darling; so David calls his soul (Psalm xxxv.\n17). Shall we take care of that wherein we partake not of God, and not\ndelight in the jewel which hath his own signature upon it? God was not\nonly the Framer of spirits, and the End of spirits; but the Copy and\nExemplar of spirits. God partakes of no corporeity; he is pure Spirit.\nBut how do we act, as if we were only matter and body! We have but\nlittle kindness for this great Spirit as well as our own, if we take\nno care of his immediate offspring, since he is not only Spirit, but\nthe Father of spirits.[414]\n\n_Inference 7._ If God be a Spirit, let us take heed of those sins\nwhich are spiritual. Paul distinguisheth between the filth of the\nflesh, and that of the spirit.[415] By the one we defile the body;\nby the other we defile the spirit, which, in regard of its nature, is\nof kin to the Creator. To wrong one who is near of kin to a prince,\nis worse than to injure an inferior subject. When we make our spirits,\nwhich are most like to God in their nature, and framed according\nto his image, a stage to act vain imaginations, wicked desires, and\nunclean affections, we wrong God in the excellency of his work, and\nreflect upon the nobleness of the pattern; we wrong him in that part\nwhere he hath stamped the most signal character of his own spiritual\nnature; we defile that whereby we have only converse with him as a\nSpirit, which he hath ordered more immediately to represent him in\nthis nature, than all corporeal things in the world can, and make that\nSpirit with whom we desire to be joined unfit for such a knot. God\u2019s\nspirituality is the root of his other perfections. We have already\nheard he could not be infinite, omnipresent, immutable, without {a204}\nit. Spiritual sins are the greatest root of bitterness within us.\nAs grace in our spirits renders us more like to a spiritual God, so\nspiritual sins bring us into a conformity to a degraded devil.[416]\nCarnal sins change us from men to brutes, and spiritual sins divest\nus of the image of God for the image of Satan. We should by no means\nmake our spirits a dunghill, which bear upon them the character of\nthe spiritual nature of God, and were made for his residence. Let us,\ntherefore, behave ourselves towards God in all those ways which the\nspiritual nature of God requires us.\n\n\n\n\n{a205}                      DISCOURSE IV.\n\n                        ON SPIRITUAL WORSHIP.\n\n  JOHN iv. 24.\u2015\u2015God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must\n    worship him in spirit and in truth.\n\n\nHAVING thus despatched the first proposition, \u201cGod is a Spirit,\u201d it\nwill not be amiss to handle the inference our Saviour makes from that\nproposition, which is the second observation propounded.\n\n_Doct._ That the worship due from us to God ought to be spiritual, and\nspiritually performed. Spirit and truth are understood variously. We\nare to worship God,\n\n1. Not by legal ceremonies. The evangelical administration being\ncalled spirit, in opposition to the legal ordinances as carnal; and\ntruth in opposition to them as typical. As the whole Judaical service\nis called flesh, so the whole evangelical service is called spirit; or\nspirit may be opposed to the worship at Jerusalem, as it was carnal;\ntruth, to the worship on the Mount Gerizim, because it was false. They\nhad not the true object of worship, nor the true medium of worship\nas those at Jerusalem had. Their worship should cease, because it was\nfalse; and the Jewish worship should cease, because it was carnal.\nThere is no need of a candle when the sun spreads his beams in the air;\nno need of those ceremonies when the Sun of righteousness appeared;\nthey only served for candles to instruct and direct men till the time\nof his coming. The shadows are chased away by displaying the substance,\nso that they can be of no more use in the worship of God, since the\nend for which they were instituted is expired; and that discovered to\nus in the gospel, which the Jews sought for in vain among the baggage\nand stuff of their ceremonies.\n\n2. With a spiritual and sincere frame. _In spirit_, _i. e._ with\nspirit; with the inward operations of all the faculties of our souls,\nand the cream and flower of them; and the reason is, because there\nought to be a worship suitable to the nature of God; and as the\nworship was to be spiritual, so the exercise of that worship ought\nto be in a spiritual manner.[417] It shall be a worship \u201cin truth,\u201d\nbecause the true God shall be adored without those vain imaginations\nand fantastic resemblances of him,[418] which were common among the\nblind Gentiles, and contrary to the glorious nature of God, and\nunworthy ingredients in religious services. It shall be a worship \u201cin\nspirit,\u201d without those carnal rites the degenerate Jews rested on;\nsuch a {a206} posture of soul which is the life and ornament of every\nservice God looks for at your hands. There must be some proportion\nbetween the object adored, and the manner in which we adore it; it\nmust not be a mere corporeal worship, because God is not a body; but\nit must rise from the centre of our soul, because God is a Spirit. If\nhe were a body, a bodily worship might suit him, images might be fit\nto represent him; but being a Spirit, our bodily services enter us not\ninto communion with him. Being a spirit, we must banish from our minds\nall carnal imaginations of him, and separate from our wills all cold\nand dissembled affections to him. We must not only have a loud voice,\nbut an elevated soul; not only a bended knee, but a broken heart;\nnot only a supplicating tone, but a groaning spirit; not only a ready\near for the word, but a receiving heart; and this shall be of greater\nvalue with him, than the most costly outward services offered at\nGerizim or Jerusalem. Our Saviour certainly meant not by worshipping\nin spirit, only the matter of the evangelical service, as opposed\nto the legal administration, without the manner wherein it was to\nbe performed. It is true, God always sought a worship in spirit; he\nexpected the heart of the worshipper should join with his instituted\nrights of adoration in every exercise of them; but he expects such a\ncarriage more under the gospel administration, because of the clearer\ndiscoveries of his nature made in it, and the greater assistances\nconveyed by it.\n\nI shall, therefore, 1. Lay down some general propositions. 2. Show\nwhat this spiritual worship is. 3. Why we must offer to God a\nspiritual service. 4. The use.\n\n1. Some general propositions.\n\n_Prop. I._ The right exercise of worship is founded upon, and riseth\nfrom, the spirituality of God.[419] The first ground of the worship\nwe render to God, is the infinite excellency of his nature, which\nis not only one attribute, but results from all; for God, as God, is\nthe object of worship; and the notion of God consists not in thinking\nhim wise, good, just, but all those infinitely beyond any conception;\nand hence it follows that God is an object infinitely to be loved and\nhonored. His goodness is sometimes spoken of in Scripture as a motive\nof our homage (Psalm cxxx. 4): \u201cThere is forgiveness with thee that\nthou mayest be feared.\u201d Fear, in the Scripture dialect, signifies the\n\u201cwhole worship of God\u201d (Acts x. 35): but in every nation, \u201che that\nfears him\u201d is accepted of him.[420] If God should act towards men\naccording to the rigors of his justice due to them for the least of\ntheir crimes, there could be no exercise of any affection but that\nof despair, which could not engender a worship of God, which ought to\nbe joined with love, not with hatred. The beneficence and patience of\nGod, and his readiness to pardon men, is the reason of the honor they\nreturn to him; and this is so evident a motive, that generally the\nidolatrous world ranked those creatures in the number of their gods,\nwhich they perceived useful and beneficial to mankind, as the sun\nand moon, the Egyptians the ox, &c. And the more beneficial anything\nappeared to mankind, the higher station men gave it in the rank\nof their deities, and bestowed a more peculiar and solemn worship\n{a207} upon it. Men worshipped God to procure and continue his favor,\nwhich would not have been acted by them, had they not conceived it\na pleasing thing to him to be merciful and gracious. Sometimes his\njustice is proposed to us as a motive of worship (Heb. xii. 28, 29):\n\u201cServe God with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming\nfire;\u201d which includes his holiness, whereby he doth hate sin, as well\nas his wrath, whereby he doth punish it. Who but a mad and totally\nbrutish person, or one that was resolved to make war against heaven,\ncould behold the effects of God\u2019s anger in the world, consider him\nin his justice as a \u201cconsuming fire,\u201d and despise him, and rather be\ndrawn out by that consideration to blasphemy and despair, than to seek\nall ways to appease him? Now though the infinite power of God, his\nunspeakable wisdom, his incomprehensible goodness, the holiness of\nhis nature, the vigilance of his providence, the bounty of his hand,\nsignify to man that he should love and honor him, and are the motives\nof worship; yet the spirituality of his nature is the rule of worship,\nand directs us to render our duty to him with all the powers of our\nsoul. As his goodness beams out upon us, worship is due in justice to\nhim; and as he is the most excellent nature, veneration is due to him\nin the highest manner with the choicest affections. So that indeed\nthe spirituality of God comes chiefly into consideration in matter of\nworship: all his perfections are grounded upon this: he could not be\ninfinite, immutable, omniscient, if he were a corporeal being;[421] we\ncannot give him a worship unless we judge him worthy, excellent, and\ndeserving a worship at our hands; and we cannot judge him worthy of\na worship, unless we have some apprehensions and admirations of his\ninfinite virtues; and we cannot apprehend and admire those perfections,\nbut as we see them as causes shining in their effects. When we see,\ntherefore, the frame of the world to be the work of his power, the\norder of the world to be the fruit of his wisdom, and the usefulness\nof the world to be the product of his goodness, we find the motives\nand reasons of worship; and weighing that this power, wisdom, goodness,\ninfinitely transcend any corporeal nature, we find a rule of worship,\nthat it ought to be offered by us in a manner suitable to such a\nnature as is infinitely above any bodily being. His being a Spirit\ndeclares what he is; his other perfections declare what kind of Spirit\nhe is. All God\u2019s perfections suppose him a Spirit; all centre in\nthis; his wisdom doth not suppose him merciful, or his mercy suppose\nhim omniscient; there may be distinct notions of those, but all\nsuppose him to be of a spiritual nature. How cold and frozen will our\ndevotions be, if we consider not his omniscience, whereby he discerns\nour hearts! How carnal will our services be, if we consider him not as\na pure Spirit![422] In our offers to, and transactions with men, we\ndeal not with them as mere animals, but as rational creatures; and we\ndebase their natures if we treat them otherwise; and if we have not\nraised apprehensions of God\u2019s spiritual nature in our treating with\nhim, but allow him only such frames as we think fit enough for men, we\ndebase his spirituality to the littleness of our own being. We must,\ntherefore, possess our souls with {a208} this; we shall else render\nhim no better than a fleshly service. We do not much concern ourselves\nin those things of which we are either utterly ignorant, or have but\nslight apprehensions of. That is the first proposition;\u2015\u2015The right\nexercise of worship is grounded upon the spirituality of God.\n\n_Prop. II._ This spiritual worship of God is manifest by the light of\nnature, to be due to him. In reference to this, consider,\n\n1. The outward means or matter of that worship which would be\nacceptable to God, was not known by the light of nature. The law for a\nworship, and for a spiritual worship by the faculties of our souls was\nnatural, and part of the law of creation; though the determination of\nthe particular acts, whereby God would have this homage testified, was\nof positive institution, and depended not upon the law of creation.\nThough Adam in innocence knew God was to be worshipped, yet by nature\nhe did not know by what outward acts he was to pay this respect, or at\nwhat time he was more solemnly to be exercised in it than at another:\nthis depended upon the directions God, as the sovereign Governor\nand Lawgiver, should prescribe. You therefore find the positive\ninstitutions of the \u201ctree of the knowledge of good and evil,\u201d and the\ndetermination of the time of worship (Gen. ii. 3, 17). Had there been\nany such notion in Adam naturally, as strong as that other, that a\nworship was due to God, there would have been found some relics of\nthese modes universally consented to by mankind, as well as of the\nother. But though all nations have by an universal consent concurred\nin the acknowledgment of the being of God, and his right to adoration,\nand the obligation of the creature to it; and that there ought to be\nsome public rule and polity in matters of religion (for no nation hath\nbeen in the world without a worship, and without external acts and\ncertain ceremonies to signify that worship); yet their modes and rites\nhave been as various as their climates, unless in that common notion\nof sacrifices, not descending to them by nature, but tradition from\nAdam; and the various ways of worship have been more provoking than\npleasing. Every nation suited the kind of worship to their particular\nends and polities they designed to rule by. How God was to be\nworshipped is more difficult to be discerned by nature with its eyes\nout than with its eyes clear.[423] The pillars upon which the worship\nof God stands cannot be discerned without revelation, no more than\nblind Samson could tell where the pillars of the Philistines\u2019 theatre\nstood, without one to conduct him. What Adam could not see with his\nsound eyes, we cannot with our dim eyes; he must be told from heaven\nwhat worship was fit for the God of heaven. It is not by nature that\nwe can have such a full prospect of God as may content and quiet us;\nthis is the noble effect of Divine revelation; He only knows himself,\nand can only make himself known to us. It could not be supposed that\nan infinite God should have no perfections but what were visible\nin the works of his hands; and that these perfections should not\nbe infinitely greater, than as they were sensible in their present\neffects: this had been to apprehend God a limited Being, meaner than\nhe is. Now it is impossible to honor God as we ought, {a209} unless we\nknow him as he is; and we could not know him as he is, without divine\nrevelation from himself; for none but God can acquaint us with his\nown nature: and therefore the nations void of this conduct, heaped up\nmodes of worship from their own imaginations, unworthy of the majesty\nof God, and below the nature of man. A rational man would scarce\nhave owned such for signs of honor, as the Scripture mentions in the\nservices of Baal and Dagon; much less an infinitely wise and glorious\nGod. And when God had signified his mind to his own people, how\nunwilling were they to rest satisfied with God\u2019s determination, but\nwould be warping to their own inventions, and make gods, and ways of\nworship to themselves![424] as in the matter of the golden calf, as\nwas lately spoken of.\n\n2. Though the outward manner of worship acceptable to God could not be\nknown without revelation, and those revelations might be various; yet\nthe inward manner of worship with our spirits was manifest by nature:\nand not only manifest by nature to Adam in innocence, but after his\nfall, and the scales he had brought upon his understanding by that\nfall. When God gave him his positive institutions before the fall,\nor whatsoever additions God should have made, had he persisted in\nthat state; or, when he appointed him, after his fall, to testify his\nacknowledgment of him by sacrifices, there needed no command to him\nto make those acknowledgments by those outward ways prescribed to\nhim, with the intention and prime affection of his spirit: this nature\nwould instruct him in without revelation; for he could not possibly\nhave any semblance of reason to think that the offering of beasts, or\nthe presenting the first fruits of the increase of the ground, as an\nacknowledgment of God\u2019s sovereignty over him and his bounty to him,\nwas sufficient, without devoting to him that part wherein the image\nof his Creator did consist: he could not but discern, by a reflection\nupon his own being, that he was made for God as well as by God: for it\nis a natural principle of which the apostle speaks (Rom. xi. 36), \u201cFor\nof him, and through him, and to him are all things,\u201d &c.: that the\nwhole whereof he did consist was due to God; and that his body, the\ndreggy and dusty part of his nature, was not fit to be brought alone\nbefore God, without that nobler principle, which he had, by creation,\nlinked with it. Nothing in the whole law of nature, as it is informed\nof religion, was clearer, next to the being of a God, than this manner\nof worshipping God with the mind and spirit. And as the Gentiles\nnever sunk so low into the mud of idolatry, as to think the images\nthey worshipped were really their gods, but the representations, or\nhabitations of their gods; so they never deserted this principle in\nthe notion of it, that God was to be honored with the best they were,\nand the best they had: as they never denied the being of a God in\nthe notion, though they did in the practice, so they never rejected\nthis principle in notion, though they did, and now most men do, in\nthe inward observation of it: it was a maxim among them that God was\n_mens animus_, mind and spirit, and therefore was to be honored with\nthe mind and spirit: that religion did not consist in the ceremonies\nof the body, but the work of the soul; whence the speech of one\nof them: {a210} \u201cSacrifice to the gods, not so much clothed with\npurple garments as a pure heart:\u201d[425] and of another: \u201cGod regards\nnot the multitude of the sacrifices, but the disposition of the\nsacrificer.\u201d[426] It is not fit we should deny God the cream and the\nflower, and give him the flotten part and the stalks. And with what\nreverence and intention of mind they thought their worship was to be\nperformed, is evident by the priests crying out often, _Hoc age_, Mind\nthis, let your spirits be intent upon it. This could not but result,\n\n(1.) From the knowledge of ourselves. It is a natural principle,\n\u201cGod hath made us, and not we ourselves\u201d (Psalm c. 1, 2). Man knows\nhimself to be a rational creature; as a creature he was to serve\nhis Creator, and as a rational creature with the best part of that\nrational nature he derived from him. By the same act of reason that\nhe knows himself to be a creature, he knows himself to have a Creator;\nthat this Creator is more excellent than himself, and that an honor\nis due from him to the Creator for framing of him; and, therefore,\nthis honor was to be offered to him by the most excellent part\nwhich was framed by him. Man cannot consider himself as a thinking,\nunderstanding, being, but he must know that he must give God the\nhonor of his thoughts, and worship him with those faculties whereby\nhe thinks, wills, and acts.[427] He must know his faculties were given\nhim to act, and to act for the glory of that God who gave him his soul,\nand the faculties of it; and he could not in reason think they must be\nonly active in his own service, and the service of the creature, and\nidle and unprofitable in the service of his Creator. With the same\npowers of our soul, whereby we contemplate God, we must also worship\nGod; we cannot think of him but with our minds, nor love him but with\nour will; and we cannot worship him without the acts of thinking and\nloving, and therefore cannot worship him without the exercise of our\ninward faculties: how is it possible then for any man that knows his\nown nature, to think that extended hands, bended knees, and lifted up\neyes, were sufficient acts of worship, without a quickened and active\nspirit?\n\n(2.) From the knowledge of God. As there was a knowledge of God by\nnature, so the same nature did dictate to man, that God was to be\nglorified as God; the apostle implies the inference in the charge he\nbrings against them for neglecting it.[428] \u201cWe should speak of God\nas he is,\u201d said one;[429] and the same reason would inform them that\nthey were to act towards God as he is. The excellency of the object\nrequired a worship according to the dignity of his nature, which could\nnot be answered but by the most serious inward affection, as well\nas outward decency; and a want of this cannot but be judged to be\nunbecoming the majesty of the Creator of the world, and the excellency\nof religion. No nation, no person, did ever assert, that the vilest\npart of man was enough for the most excellent Being, as God is; that a\nbodily service could be a sufficient acknowledgment for the greatness\nof God, or a sufficient return for the bounty of God. Man could not\nbut know that he was to act in religion conformably to the object\nof religion, and to the excellency of his own {a211} soul:[430]\nthe notion of a God was sufficient to fill the mind of man with\nadmiration and reverence, and the first conclusion from it would be\nto honor God, and that he have all the affection placed on him that so\ninfinite and spiritual a Being did deserve: the progress then would be,\nthat this excellent Being was to be honored with the motions of the\nunderstanding and will, with the purest and most spiritual powers in\nthe nature of man, because he was a spiritual being, and had nothing\nof matter mingled with him. Such a brutish imagination, to suppose\nthat blood and fumes, beasts and incense, could please a Deity,\nwithout a spiritual frame, cannot be supposed to befall any but those\nthat had lost their reason in the rubbish of sense. Mere rational\nnature could never conclude that so excellent a Spirit would be put\noff with a mere animal service; an attendance of matter and body\nwithout spirit, when they themselves, of an inferior nature, would\nbe loth to sit down contented with an outside service from those that\nbelong to them; so that this instruction of our Saviour, that God is\nto be worshipped in spirit and truth, is conformable to the sentiments\nof nature, and drawn from the most undeniable principles of it. The\nexcellency of God\u2019s nature, and the excellent constitution of human\nfaculties, concur naturally to support this persuasion; this was as\nnatural to be known by men, as the necessity of justice and temperance\nfor the support of human societies and bodies. It is to be feared,\nthat if there be not among us such brutish apprehensions, there are\nsuch brutish dealings with God, in our services, against the light of\nnature; when we place all our worship of God in outward attendances\nand drooping countenances, with unbelieving frames and formal\ndevotions; when prayer is muttered over in private, slightly, as\na parrot learns lessons by rote, not understanding what it speaks,\nor to what end it speaks it; not glorifying God in thought and spirit,\nwith understanding and will.\n\n_Prop. III._ Spiritual worship therefore was always required by\nGod, and always offered to him by one or other. Man had a perpetual\nobligation upon him to such a worship from the nature of God; and\nwhat is founded upon the nature of God is invariable. This and that\nparticular mode of worship may wax old as a garment, and as a vesture\nmay be folded up and changed, as the expression is of the heavens;[431]\nbut God endures forever; his spirituality fails not, therefore a\nworship of him in spirit must run through all ways and rites of\nworship. God must cease to be Spirit, before any service but that\nwhich is spiritual can be accepted by him. The light of nature is\nthe light of God; the light of nature being unchangeable, what was\ndictated by that, was alway, and will alway be, required by God.\nThe worship of God being perpetually due from the creature, the\nworshipping him as God is as perpetually his right. Though the outward\nexpressions of his honor were different, one way in Paradise (for\na worship was then due, since a solemn time for that worship was\nappointed), another under the law, another under the gospel; the\nangels also worship God in heaven, and fall down before his throne;\nyet, though they differ in rites, they agree in this necessary\ningredient, all rites, though of a different shape, {a212} must be\noffered to him, not as carcasses, but animated with the affections of\nthe soul. Abel\u2019s sacrifice had not been so excellent in God\u2019s esteem,\nwithout those gracious habits and affections working in his soul.[432]\nFaith works by love; his heart was on fire as well as his sacrifice.\nCain rested upon his present; perhaps thought he had obliged God;\nhe depended upon the outward ceremony, but sought not for the inward\npurity: it was an offering brought to the Lord;[433] he had the right\nobject, but not the right manner (Gen. iv. 7): \u201cIf thou doest well,\nshalt thou not be accepted?\u201d And in the command afterwards to Abraham,\n\u201cWalk before me, and be thou perfect,\u201d was the direction in all our\nreligious acts and walkings with God. A sincere act of the mind and\nwill, looking above and beyond all symbols, extending the soul to\na pitch far above the body, and seeing the day of Christ through\nthe veil of the ceremonies, was required by God: and though Moses,\nby God\u2019s order, had instituted a multitude of carnal ordinances,\nsacrifices, washings, oblations of sensible things, and recommended\nto the people the diligent observation of those statutes, by the\nallurements of promises and denouncing of threatenings; as if there\nwere nothing else to be regarded, and the true workings of grace were\nto be buried under a heap of ceremonies; yet sometimes he doth point\nthem to the inward worship, and, by the command of God, requires of\nthem the \u201ccircumcision of the heart\u201d (Deut. x. 16), the turning to\nGod with \u201call their heart and all their soul\u201d (Deut. xxx. 10): whereby\nthey might recollect, that it was the engagement of the heart and the\nworship of the Spirit that was most agreeable to God; and that he took\nnot any pleasure in their observance of ceremonies, without true piety\nwithin, and the true purity of their thoughts.\n\n_Prop. IV._ It is, therefore, as much every man\u2019s duty to worship God\nin spirit, as it is their duty to worship him. Worship is so due to\nhim as God, as that he that denies it disowns his deity; and spiritual\nworship is so due, that he that waives it denies his spirituality. It\nis a debt of justice we owe to God, to worship him; and it is as much\na debt of justice to worship him according to his nature. Worship is\nnothing else but a rendering to God the honor that is due to him; and,\ntherefore, the right posture of our spirits in it is as much, or more,\ndue, than the material worship in the modes of his own prescribing:\nthat is, grounded both upon his nature and upon his command; this\nonly upon his command, that is perpetually due; whereas, the channel\nwherein outward worship runs may be dried up, and the river diverted\nanother way; such a worship wherein the mind thinks of God, feels a\nsense of God, has a spirit consecrated to God, the heart glowing with\naffections to God; it is else a mocking God with a feather. A rational\nnature must worship God with that wherein the glory of God doth most\nsparkle in him. God is most visible in the frame of the soul, it is\nthere his image glitters; he hath given us a jewel as well as a case,\nand the jewel as well as the case we must return to him; the spirit\nis God\u2019s gift, and must \u201creturn to him;\u201d[434] it must return to him\nin every service morally, as well as it must return to him at last\nphysically. It is not fit we should serve {a213} our Maker only with\nthat which is the brute in us, and withhold from him that which doth\nconstitute us reasonable creatures; we must give him our bodies, but\na \u201cliving sacrifice.\u201d[435] If the spirit be absent from God when the\nbody is before him, we present a dead sacrifice; it is morally dead in\nthe duty, though it be naturally alive in the posture and action. It\nis not an indifferent thing whether we shall worship God or no; nor is\nit an indifferent thing whether we shall worship him with our spirits\nor no; as the excellency of man\u2019s knowledge consists in knowing things\nas they are in truth, so the excellency of the will in willing things\nas they are in goodness. As it is the excellency of man, to know God\nas God; so it is no less his excellency, as well as his duty to honor\nGod as God. As the obligation we have to the power of God for our\nbeing, binds us to a worship of him; so the obligation we have to his\nbounty for fashioning us according to his own image, binds us to an\nexercise of that part wherein his image doth consist. God hath \u201cmade\nall things for himself\u201d (Prov. xvi. 4), that is, for the evidence of\nhis own goodness and wisdom; we are therefore to render him a glory\naccording to the excellency of his nature, discovered in the frame of\nour own. It is as much our sin not to glorify God as God, as not to\nattempt the glorifying of him at all; it is our sin not to worship\nGod as God, as well as to omit the testifying any respect at all to\nhim. As the Divine nature is the object of worship, so the Divine\nperfections are to be honored in worship; we do not honor God if we\nhonor him not as he is; we honor him not as a Spirit, if we think him\nnot worthy of the ardors and ravishing admirations of our spirits. If\nwe think the devotions of the body are sufficient for him, we contract\nhim into the condition of our own being; and not only deny him to be\na spiritual nature, but dash out all those perfections which he could\nnot be possessed of were he not a Spirit.\n\n_Prop. V._ The ceremonial law was abolished to promote the\nspirituality of divine worship. That service was gross, carnal,\ncalculated for an infant and sensitive church. It consisted in\nrudiments, the circumcision of the flesh, the blood and smoke of\nsacrifices, the steams of incense, observation of days, distinction\nof meats, corporal purifications; every leaf of the law is clogged\nwith some rite to be particularly observed by them. The spirituality\nof worship lay veiled under a thick cloud, that the people could not\nbehold the glory of the gospel, which lay covered under those shadows\n(2 Cor. iii. 13): \u201cThey could not steadfastly look to the end of\nthat which is abolished:\u201d They understood not the glory and spiritual\nintent of the law, and therefore came short of that spiritual frame in\nthe worship of God, which was their duty. And therefore in opposition\nto this administration, the worship of God under the gospel is called\nby our Saviour in the text, a worship in spirit; more spiritual for\nthe matter, more spiritual for the motives, and more spiritual for\nthe manner and frames of worship.\n\n1. This legal service is called flesh in Scripture, in opposition to\nthe gospel, which is called spirit. The ordinances of the law, though\nof divine institution, are dignified by the apostle with no better a\n{a214} title than carnal ordinances,[436] and a carnal command:[437]\nbut the gospel is called the ministration of the Spirit, as being\nattended with a special and spiritual efficacy on the minds of\nmen.[438] And when the degenerate Galatians, after having tasted of\nthe pure streams of the gospel, turned about to drink of the thicker\nstreams of the law, the apostle tells them, that they begun in the\nspirit and would now be made perfect in the flesh;[439] they would\nleave the righteousness of faith for a justification by works. The\nmoral law, which is in its own nature spiritual,[440] in regard of\nthe abuse of it, in expectation of justification by the outward works\nof it, is called flesh: much more may the ceremonial administration,\nwhich was never intended to run parallel with the moral, nor had any\nfoundation in nature as the other had. That whole economy consisted\nin sensible and material things, which only touched the flesh: it\nis called the letter and the oldness of the letter;[441] as letters,\nwhich are but empty sounds of themselves, but put together and formed\ninto words, signify something to the mind of the hearer or reader:\nan old letter, a thing of no efficacy upon the spirit, but as a law\nwritten upon paper. The gospel hath an efficacious spirit attending it,\nstrongly working upon the mind and will, and moulding the soul into\na spiritual frame for God, according to the doctrine of the gospel;\nthe one is old and decays, the other is new and increaseth daily. And\nas the law itself is called flesh, so the observers of it and resters\nin it are called Israel after the flesh;[442] and the evangelical\nworshipper is called a Jew after the spirit (Rom. ii. 29). They were\nIsrael after the flesh as born of Jacob, not Israel after the spirit\nas born of God; and therefore the apostle calls them Israel and not\nIsrael;[443] Israel after a carnal birth, not Israel after a spiritual;\nIsrael in the circumcision of the flesh, not Israel by a regeneration\nof the heart.\n\n2. The legal ceremonies were not a fit means to bring the heart\ninto a spiritual frame. They had a spiritual intent; the rock and\nmanna prefigured the salvation and spiritual nourishment by the\nRedeemer.[444] The sacrifices were to point them to the justice of God\nin the punishment of sin, and the mercy of God in substituting them\nin their steads, as types of the Redeemer and the ransom by his blood.\nThe circumcision of the flesh was to instruct them in the circumcision\nof the heart: they were flesh in regard of their matter, weakness and\ncloudiness, spiritual in regard of their intent and signification;\nthey did instruct, but not efficaciously work strong spiritual\naffections in the soul of the worshipper. They were weak and beggarly\nelements;[445] had neither wealth to enrich nor strength to nourish\nthe soul: they could not perfect the comers to them, or put them\ninto a frame agreeable to the nature of God,[446] nor purge the\nconscience from those dead and dull dispositions which were by nature\nin them:[447] being carnal they could not have an efficacy to purify\nthe conscience of the offerer and work spiritual effects: had they\ncontinued without the exhibition of Christ, they could never have\nwrought any change in us or purchased {a215} any favor for us.[448]\nAt the best they were but shadows, and came inexpressibly short of the\nefficacy of that person and state whose shadows they were. The shadow\nof a man is too weak to perform what the man himself can do, because\nit wants the life, spirit, and activity of the substance: the whole\npomp and scene was suited more to the sensitive than the intellectual\nnature; and, like pictures, pleased the fancy of children rather than\nimproved their reason. The Jewish state was a state of childhood,[449]\nand that administration a pedagogy.[450] The law was a schoolmaster\nfitted for their weak and childish capacity, and could no more\nspiritualize the heart, than the teachings in a primer\u2011school can\nenable the mind, and make it fit for affairs of state; and because\nthey could not better the spirit, they were instituted only for a time,\nas elements delivered to an infant age, which naturally lives a life\nof sense rather than a life of reason. It was also a servile state,\nwhich doth rather debase than elevate the mind; rather carnalize\nthan spiritualize the heart: besides, it is a sense of mercy that\nboth melts and elevates the heart into a spiritual frame: \u201cThere is\nforgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared;\u201d[451] and they\nhad, in that state, but some glimmerings of mercy in the daily bloody\nintimations of justice. There was no sacrifice for some sins, but\na cutting off without the least hints of pardon; and in the yearly\nremembrance of sin there was as much to shiver them with fear, as to\npossess them with hopes; and such a state which always held them under\nthe conscience of sin, could not produce a free spirit, which was\nnecessary for a worship of God according to his nature.\n\n3. In their use they rather hindered than furthered a spiritual\nworship. In their own nature they did not tend to the obstructing a\nspiritual worship, for then they had been contrary to the nature of\nreligion, and the end of God who appointed them; nor did God cover the\nevangelical doctrine under the clouds of the legal administration, to\nhinder the people of Israel from perceiving it, but because they were\nnot yet capable to bear the splendor of it, had it been clearly set\nbefore them. The shining of the face of Moses was too dazzling for\ntheir weak eyes, and therefore there was a necessity of a veil, not\nfor the things themselves, but the \u201cweakness of their eyes.\u201d[452] The\ncarnal affections of that people sunk down into the things themselves;\nstuck in the outward pomp, and pierced not through the veil to the\nspiritual intent of them; and by the use of them without rational\nconceptions, they besotted their minds and became senseless of those\nspiritual motions required of them. Hence came all their expectations\nof a carnal Messiah; the veil of ceremonies was so thick, and the film\nupon their eyes so condensed, that they could not look through the\nveil to the Spirit of Christ; they beheld not the heavenly Canaan for\nthe beauty of the earthly; nor minded the regeneration of the spirit,\nwhile they rested upon the purifications of the flesh; the prevalency\nof sense and sensitive affections diverted their minds from inquiring\ninto {a216} the intent of them. Sense and matter are often clogs to\nthe mind, and sensible objects are the same often to spiritual motions.\nOur souls are never more raised than when they are abstracted from\nthe entanglements of them. A pompous worship, made up of many sensible\nobjects, weakens the spirituality of religion. Those that are most\nzealous for outward, are usually most cold and indifferent in inward\nobservances; and those that overdo in carnal modes, usually underdo\nin spiritual affections. This was the Jewish state.[453] The nature\nof the ceremonies being pompous and earthly by their show and beauty,\nmeeting with their weakness and childish affections, filled their eyes\nwith an outward lustre, allured their minds and detained them from\nseeking things higher and more spiritual; the kernel of those rights\nlay concealed in a thick shell; the spiritual glory was little seen;\nand the spiritual sweetness little tasted. Unless the Scripture be\ndiligently searched, it seems to transfer the worship of God from the\ntrue faith and the spiritual motions of the heart, and stake it down\nto outward observances, and the _opus operatum_. Besides, the voice\nof the law did only declare sacrifices, and invited the worshippers to\nthem with a promise of the atonement of sin, turning away the wrath of\nGod. It never plainly acquainted them that those things were types and\nshadows of something future; that they were only outward purifications\nof the flesh; it never plainly told them, at the time of appointing\nthem, that those sacrifices could not abolish sin, and reconcile them\nto God. Indeed, we see more of them since their death and dissection,\nin that one Epistle to the Hebrews, than can be discerned in the five\nbooks of Moses. Besides, man naturally affects a carnal life, and\ntherefore affects a carnal worship; he designs the gratifying his\nsense, and would have a religion of the same nature. Most men have\nno mind to busy their reasons about the things of sense, and are\nnaturally unwilling to raise them up to those things which are allied\nto the spiritual nature of God; and therefore the more spiritual any\nordinance is, the more averse is the heart of man to it. There is a\nsimplicity of the gospel from which our minds are easily corrupted\nby things that pleasure the sense, as Eve was by the curiosity of her\neyes, and the liquorishness of her palate.[454] From this principle\nhath sprung all the idolatry in the world. The Jews knew they had a\nGod who had delivered them, but they would have a sensible God to go\nbefore them;[455] and the papacy at this day is a witness of the truth\nof this natural corruption.\n\n4. Upon these accounts, therefore, God never testified himself well\npleased with that kind of worship. He was not displeased with them,\nas they were his own institution, and ordained for the representing\n(though in an obscure manner) the glorious things of the gospel; nor\nwas he offended with those people\u2019s observance of them; for, since\nhe had commanded them, it was their duty to perform them, and their\nsin to neglect them; but he was displeased with them as they were\npractised by them, with souls as morally carnal in the practices, as\nthe ceremonies were materially carnal {a217} in their substance. It\nwas not their disobedience to observe them; but it was a disobedience,\nand a contempt of the end of the institution to rest upon them; to be\nwarm in them, and cold in morals; they fed upon the bone and neglected\nthe marrow; pleased themselves with the shell, and sought not for the\nkernel; they joined not with them the internal worship of God; fear\nof him, with faith in the promised Seed, which lay veiled under those\ncoverings (Hos. vi. 6); \u201cI desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the\nknowledge of God more than burnt\u2011offerings;\u201d and therefore he seems\nsometimes weary of his own institutions, and calls them not his own,\nbut their sacrifices, their feasts (Isa. i. 11, 14): they were his by\nappointment, theirs by abuse; the institution was from his goodness\nand condescension, therefore his; the corruption of them was from the\nvice of their nature, therefore theirs. He often blamed them for their\ncarnality in them; showed his dislike of placing all their religion\nin them; gives the sacrificers, on that account, no better a title\nthan that of the princes of Sodom and Gomorrah;[456] and compares\nthe sacrifices themselves to the \u201ccutting off a dog\u2019s neck,\u201d \u201cswine\u2019s\nblood,\u201d and \u201cthe murder of a man.\u201d[457] And indeed God never valued\nthem, or expressed any delight in them; he despised the feasts of the\nwicked (Amos v. 21); and had no esteem for the material offerings of\nthe godly (Psalm l. 13): \u201cWill I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the\nblood of goats?\u201d which he speaks to his saints and people, before he\ncomes to reprove the wicked; which he begins (ver. 16), \u201cBut to the\nwicked, God said,\u201d &c. So slightly he esteems them, that he seems to\ndisown them to be any part of his command, when he brought his people\nout of the land of Egypt (Jer. vii. 21): \u201cI spake not to your fathers,\nnor commanded them concerning burnt\u2011offerings and sacrifices.\u201d He did\nnot value and regard them, in comparison with that inward frame which\nhe had required by the moral law; that being given before the law\nof ceremonies, obliged them, in the first place, to an observance of\nthose precepts. They seemed to be below the nature of God, and could\nnot of themselves please him. None could in reason persuade themselves\nthat the death of a beast was a proportionable offering for the sin of\na man, or ever was intended for the expiation of transgression. In the\nsame rank are all our bodily services under the gospel; a loud voice\nwithout spirit, bended bulrushes without inward affections, are no\nmore delightful to God, than the sacrifices of animals; it is but a\nchange of one brute for another of a higher species; a mere brute for\nthat part of man which hath an agreement with brutes; such a service\nis a mere animal service, and not spiritual.\n\n5. And therefore God never intended that sort of worship to be durable,\nand had often mentioned the change of it for one more spiritual. It\nwas not good or evil in itself; whatsoever goodness it had was solely\nderived to it by institution, and therefore it was mutable. It had no\nconformity with the spiritual nature of God who was to be worshipped,\nnor with the rational nature of man who was to worship; and therefore\nhe often speaks of taking away the new {a218} moons, and feasts,\nand sacrifices, and all the ceremonial worship, as things he took no\npleasure in, to have a worship more suited to his excellent nature;\nbut he never speaks of removing the gospel administration, and the\nworship prescribed there, as being more agreeable to the nature and\nperfections of God, and displaying them more illustriously to the\nworld. The apostle tells us, it was to be \u201cdisannulled because of its\nweakness;\u201d[458] a determinate time was fixed for its duration, till\nthe accomplishment of the truth figured under that pedagogy.[459] Some\nof the modes of that worship being only typical, must naturally expire\nand be insignificant in their use, upon the finishing of that by the\nRedeemer, which they did prefigure: and other parts of it, though God\nsuffered them so long, because of the weakness of the worshipper, yet\nbecause it became not God to be always worshipped in that manner, he\nwould reject them, and introduce another more spiritual and elevated.\n\u201cIncense and a pure offering\u201d should be offered everywhere unto his\nname.[460] He often told them he would make a \u201cnew covenant by the\nMessiah,\u201d and the old should be rejected;[461] that the \u201cformer things\nshould not be remembered, and the things of old no more considered,\u201d\nwhen he should do \u201ca new thing in the earth.\u201d[462] Even the ark of\nthe covenant, the symbol of his presence, and the glory of the Lord in\nthat nation, should not any more be remembered and visited;[463] that\nthe temple and sacrifices should be rejected, and others established;\nthat the order of the Aaronical priesthood should be abolished, and\nthat of Melchizedek set up in the stead of it, in the person of the\nMessiah, to endure forever;[464] that Jerusalem should be changed;\na new heaven and earth created; a worship more conformable to heaven,\nmore advantageous to earth. God had proceeded in the removal of some\nparts of it, before the time of taking down the whole furniture of\nthis house; the pot of manna was lost; Urim and Thummim ceased; the\nglory of the temple was diminished; and the ignorant people wept at\nthe sight of the one, without raising their faith and hope in the\nconsideration of the other, which was promised to be filled with\na spiritual glory. And as soon as ever the gospel was spread in the\nworld, God thundered out his judgments upon that place in which he\nhad fixed all those legal observances; so that the Jews, in the letter\nand flesh, could never practise the main part of their worship, since\nthey were expelled from that place where it was only to be celebrated.\nIt is one thousand six hundred years since they have been deprived\nof their altar, which was the foundation of all the Levitical worship,\nand have wandered in the world without a sacrifice, a prince, or\npriest, an ephod or teraphim.[465] And God fully put an end to it\nin the command he gave to the apostles, and in them to us, in the\npresence of Moses and Elias, to hear his Son only (Matt. xvii. 5):\n\u201cBehold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved\nSon, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.\u201d And at the death of\nour Saviour, testified it to that whole nation and the world, by\nthe rending in twain the veil of the temple. The whole frame of that\nservice, {a219} which was carnal, and, by reason of the corruption of\nman, weakened, is nulled; and a spiritual worship is made known to the\nworld, that we might now serve God in a more spiritual manner, and\nwith more spiritual frames.\n\n_Prop. VI._ The service and worship the gospel settles is spiritual,\nand the performance of it more spiritual. Spirituality is the genius\nof the gospel, as carnality was of the law; the gospel is therefore\ncalled spirit; we are abstracted from the employments of sense, and\nbrought nearer to a heavenly state. The Jews had angels\u2019 bread poured\nupon them; we have angels\u2019 service prescribed to us, the praises\nof God, communion with God in spirit, through his Son Jesus Christ,\nand stronger foundations for spiritual affections. It is called a\n\u201creasonable service;\u201d[466] it is suited to a rational nature, though\nit finds no friendship from the corruption of reason. It prescribes\na service fit for the reasonable faculties of the soul, and advanceth\nthem while it employs them. The word reasonable may be translated\n\u201cword\u2011service,\u201d[467] as well as reasonable service; an evangelical\nservice, in opposition to a law service. All evangelical service is\nreasonable, and all truly reasonable service is evangelical.\n\nThe matter of the worship is spiritual; it consists in love of\nGod, faith in God, recourse to his goodness, meditation on him, and\ncommunion with him. It lays aside the ceremonial, spiritualizeth the\nmoral. The commands that concerned our duty to God, as well as those\nthat concerned our duty to our neighbor, were reduced by Christ to\ntheir spiritual intention. The motives are spiritual; it is a state\nof more grace, as well as of more truth,[468] supported by spiritual\npromises, beaming out in spiritual privileges; heaven comes down in\nit to earth, to spiritualize earth for heaven. The manner of worship\nis more spiritual; higher flights of the soul, stronger ardors\nof affection, sincerer aims at his glory; mists are removed from\nour minds, clogs from the soul, more of love than fear; faith in\nChrist kindles the affections, and works by them. The assistances\nto spiritual worship are greater. The Spirit doth not drop, but is\nplentifully poured out. It doth not light sometimes upon, but dwells\nin the heart. Christ suited the gospel to a spiritual heart, and the\nSpirit changeth the carnal heart to make it fit for a spiritual gospel.\nHe blows upon the garden, and causes the spices to flow forth; and\noften makes the soul in worship like the chariots of Aminadab, in a\nquick and nimble motion. Our blessed Lord and Saviour, by his death,\ndiscovered to us the nature of God; and after his ascension sent his\nSpirit to fit us for the worship of God, and converse with him. One\nspiritual evangelical believing breath is more delightful to God than\nmillions of altars made up of the richest pearls, and smoking with\nthe costliest oblations, because it is spiritual; and a mite of spirit\nis of more worth than the greatest weight of flesh: one holy angel is\nmore excellent than a whole world of mere bodies.\n\n_Prop. VII._ Yet the worship of God with our bodies is not to be\nrejected upon the account that God requires a spiritual worship.\nThough we must perform the weightier duties of the law, yet we are\n{a220} not to omit and leave undone the lighter precepts, since both\nthe _magnalia_ and _minutula legis_, the greater and the lesser duties\nof the law, have the stamp of divine authority upon them. As God under\nthe ceremonial law did not command the worship of the body and the\nobservation of outward rites without the engagement of the spirit,\nso neither doth he command that of the spirit without the peculiar\nattendance of the body. The Schwelksendians denied bodily worship;\nand the indecent postures of many in public attendance intimate no\ngreat care either of composing their bodies or spirits. A morally\ndiscomposed body intimates a tainted heart. Our bodies as well as our\nspirits are to be presented to God.[469] Our bodies in lieu of the\nsacrifices of beasts, as in the Judaical institutions; body for the\nwhole man; a living sacrifice, not to be slain, as the beasts were,\nbut living a new life, in a holy posture, with crucified affections.\nThis is the inference the apostle makes of the privileges of\njustification, adoption, co\u2011heirship with Christ, which he had before\ndiscoursed of; privileges conferred upon the person, and not upon a\npart of man.\n\n1. Bodily worship is due to God. He hath a right to an adoration by\nour bodies, as they are his by creation; his right is not diminished,\nbut increased, by the blessing of redemption: (1 Cor. vi. 20) \u201cFor\nyou are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your bodies and\nyour spirits, which are God\u2019s.\u201d The body, as well as the spirit, is\nredeemed, since our Saviour suffered crucifixion in his body, as well\nas agonies in his soul. Body is not taken here for the whole man, as\nit may be in Rom xii.; but for the material part of our nature, it\nbeing distinguished from the spirit. If we are to render to God an\nobedience with our bodies, we are to render him such acts of worship\nwith our bodies as they are capable of. As God is the Father of\nspirits, so he is the God of all flesh; therefore the flesh he hath\nframed of the earth, as well as the noble portion he hath breathed\ninto us, cannot be denied him without a palpable injustice. The\nservice of the body we must not deny to God, unless we will deny him\nto be the author of it, and the exercise of his providential care\nabout it. The mercies of God are renewed every day upon our bodies\nas well as our souls, and, therefore, they ought to express a fealty\nto God for his bounty every day. \u201cBoth are from God; both should be\nfor God. Man consists of body and soul; the service of man is the\nservice of both. The body is to be sanctified as well as the soul;\nand, therefore, to be offered to God as well as the soul. Both are\nto be glorified, both are to glorify. As our Saviour\u2019s divinity was\nmanifested in his body, so should our spirituality in ours. To give\nGod the service of the body and not of the soul, is hypocrisy; to\ngive God the service of the spirit and not of the body, is sacrilege;\nto give him neither, atheism.\u201d[470] If the only part of man that\nis visible were exempted from the service of God, there could be\nno visible testimonies of piety given upon any occasion. Since not\na moiety of man, but the whole is God\u2019s creature, he ought to pay\na homage with the whole, and not only with a moiety of himself.\n\n{a221} 2. Worship in societies is due to God, but this cannot be\nwithout some bodily expressions. The law of nature doth as much direct\nmen to combine together in public societies for the acknowledgment of\nGod, as in civil communities for self\u2011preservation and order; and a\nnotice of a society for religion is more ancient than the mention of\ncivil associations for politic government (Gen. iv. 26): \u201cThen began\nmen to call upon the name of the Lord,\u201d viz., in the time of Seth.\nNo question but Adam had worshipped God before, as well as Abel, and\na family religion had been preserved; but, as mankind increased in\ndistinct families, they knit together in companies to solemnize the\nworship of God.[471] Hence, as some think, those that incorporated\ntogether for such ends, were called the \u201csons of God;\u201d sons by\nprofession, though not sons by adoption; as those of Corinth were\nsaints by profession, though in such a corrupted church they could\nnot be all so by regeneration; yet saints, as being of a Christian\nsociety, and calling upon the name of Christ, that is, worshipping God\nin Christ, though they might not be all saints in spirit and practice.\nSo Cain and Abel met together to worship (Gen. iv. 3) \u201cat the end of\nthe days,\u201d at a set time. God settled a public worship among the Jews,\ninstituted synagogues for their convening together, whence called the\n\u201csynagogues of God.\u201d[472] The Sabbath was instituted to acknowledge\nGod a common benefactor. Public worship keeps up the memorials of God\nin a world prone to atheism, and a sense of God in a heart prone to\nforgetfulness. The angels sung in company, not singly, at the birth\nof Christ,[473] and praised God not only with a simple elevation of\ntheir spiritual nature, but audibly, by forming a voice in the air.\nAffections are more lively, spirits more raised in public than private;\nGod will credit his own ordinance. Fire increaseth by laying together\nmany coals on one place; so is devotion inflamed by the union of\nmany hearts, and by a joint presence; nor can the approach of the\nlast day of judgment, or particular judgments upon a nation, give\na writ of ease from such assemblies. (Heb. x. 25): \u201cNot forsaking the\nassembling ourselves together; but so much the more as you see the\nday approaching.\u201d Whether it be understood of the day of judgment,\nor the day of the Jewish destruction and the Christian persecution,\nthe apostle uses it as an argument to quicken them to the observance,\nnot to encourage them to a neglect. Since, therefore, natural\nlight informs us, and divine institution commands us, publicly to\nacknowledge ourselves the servants of God, it implies the service of\nthe body. Such acknowledgments cannot be without visible testimonies,\nand outward exercises of devotion, as well as inward affections. This\npromotes God\u2019s honor, checks others\u2019 profaneness, allures men to the\nsame expressions of duty; and though there may be hypocrisy and an\noutward garb without an inward frame, yet better a moiety of worship\nthan none at all; better acknowledge God\u2019s right in one than disown it\nin both.\n\n3. Jesus Christ, the most spiritual worshipper, worshipped God\nwith his body. He prayed orally, and kneeled, \u201cFather, if it be\n{a222} thy will,\u201d[474] &c. He blessed with his mouth, \u201cFather, I thank\nthee.\u201d[475] He lifted up his eyes as well as elevated his spirit, when\nhe praised his Father for mercy received, or begged for the blessings\nhis disciples wanted.[476] The strength of the spirit must have vent\nat the outward members. The holy men of God have employed the body in\nsignificant expressions of worship; Abraham in falling on his face,\nPaul in kneeling, employing their tongues, lifting up their hands.\nThough Jacob was bed\u2011rid, yet he would not worship God without some\ndevout expression of reverence; it is in one place \u201cleaning upon his\nstaff;\u201d[477] in another, \u201cbowing himself upon his bed\u2019s head.\u201d[478]\nThe reason of the diversity is in the Hebrew word, which, without\nvowels, may be read _mittah_, a bedor _matteh_, a staff; however, both\nsignify a testimony of adoration by a reverent gesture of the body.\nIndeed, in angels and separated souls, a worship is performed purely\nby the spirit; but while the soul is in conjunction with the body, it\ncan hardly perform a serious act of worship without some tincture upon\nthe outward man and reverential composure of the body. Fire cannot be\nin the clothes but it will be felt by the members, nor flames be pent\nup in the soul without bursting out in the body. The heart can no\nmore restrain itself from breaking out, than Joseph could inclose his\naffections without expressing them in tears to his brethren.[479] \u201cWe\nbelieve, and therefore speak.\u201d[480]\n\nTo conclude: God hath appointed some parts of worship which cannot\nbe performed without the body, as sacraments; we have need of them\nbecause we are not wholly spiritual and incorporeal creatures. The\nreligion which consists in externals only is not for an intellectual\nnature; a worship purely intellectual is too sublime for a nature\nallied to sense, and depending much upon it. The christian mode of\nworship is proportioned to both; it makes the sense to assist the\nmind, and elevates the spirit above the sense. Bodily worship helps\nthe spiritual: the members of the body reflect back upon the heart,\nthe voice bars distractions, the tongue sets the heart on fire in good\nas well as in evil. It is as much against the light of nature to serve\nGod without external significations, as to serve him only with them\nwithout the intention of the mind. As the invisible God declares\nhimself to men by visible works and signs, so should we declare our\ninvisible frames by visible expressions. God hath given us a soul and\nbody in conjunction; and we are to serve him in the same manner he\nhath framed us.\n\nII. The second thing I am to show is, what spiritual worship is. In\ngeneral, the whole spirit is to be employed; the name of God is not\nsanctified but by the engagement of our souls. Worship is an act of\nthe understanding, applying itself to the knowledge of the excellency\nof God and actual thoughts of his majesty; recognizing him as the\nsupreme Lord and Governor of the world, which is natural knowledge;\nbeholding the glory of his attributes in the Redeemer, which is\nevangelical knowledge. This is the sole act of the spirit of man. The\nsame reason is for all our worship as for our thanksgiving. This must\nbe done with understanding: (Psalm xlvii. 7) {a223} \u201cSing ye praise\nwith understanding;\u201d with a knowledge and sense of his greatness,\ngoodness, and wisdom. It is also an act of the will, whereby the soul\nadores and reverences his majesty, is ravished with his amiableness,\nembraceth his goodness, enters itself into an intimate communion with\nthis most lovely object, and pitcheth all his affections upon him. We\nmust worship God understandingly; it is not else a reasonable service.\nThe nature of God and the law of God abhor a blind offering; we must\nworship him heartily, else we offer him a dead sacrifice. A reasonable\nservice is that wherein the mind doth truly act something with God.\nAll spiritual acts must be acts of reason, otherwise they are not\nhuman acts, because they want that principle which is constitutive of\nman, and doth difference him from other creatures. Acts done only by\nsense are the acts of a brute; acts done by reason are the acts of a\nman. That which is only an act of sense cannot be an act of religion.\nThe sense, without the conduct of reason, is not the subject of\nreligious acts; for then beasts were capable of religion as well as\nmen. There cannot be religion where there is not reason; and there\ncannot be the exercise of religion where there is not an exercise of\nthe rational faculties; nothing can be a christian act that is not a\nhuman act. Besides, all worship must be for some end; the worship of\nGod must be for God. It is by the exercise of our rational faculties\nthat we only can intend an end. An ignorant and carnal worship is a\nbrutish worship. Particularly,\n\n1. Spiritual worship is a worship from a spiritual nature. Not only\nphysically spiritual, so our souls are in their frame; but morally\nspiritual, by a renewing principle. The heart must be first cast into\nthe mould of the gospel, before it can perform a worship required by\nthe gospel. Adam living in Paradise might perform a spiritual worship;\nbut Adam fallen from his rectitude could not: we, being heirs of his\nnature, are heirs of his impotence. Restoration to a spiritual life\nmust precede any act of spiritual worship. As no work can be good,\nso no worship can be spiritual, till we are created in Christ.[481]\nChrist is our life.[482] As no natural action can be performed without\nlife in the root or heart, so no spiritual act without Christ in the\nsoul. Our being in Christ is as necessary to every spiritual act as\nthe union of our soul with our body is necessary to natural action.\nNothing can exceed the limits of its nature; for then it should\nexceed itself in acting, and do that which it hath no principle to do.\nA beast cannot act like a man, without partaking of the nature of a\nman; nor a man act like an angel, without partaking of the angelical\nnature. How can we perform spiritual acts without a spiritual\nprinciple? Whatsoever worship proceeds from the corrupted nature,\ncannot deserve the title of spiritual worship, because it springs\nnot from a spiritual habit. If those that are evil cannot speak good\nthings, those that are carnal cannot offer a spiritual service. Poison\nis the fruit of a viper\u2019s nature (Matt. xii. 34): \u201cO generation of\nvipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the\nabundance of the heart the mouth speaks.\u201d As the root is, so is the\nfruit. If the soul be habitually carnal, {a224} the worship cannot\nbe actually spiritual. There may be an intention of spirit, but there\nis no spiritual principle as a root of that intention. A heart may\nbe sensibly united with a duty, when it is not spiritually united\nwith Christ in it. Carnal motives and carnal ends may fix the mind\nin an act of worship, as the sense of some pressing affliction may\nenlarge a man\u2019s mind in prayer. Whatsoever is agreeable to the nature\nof God must have a stamp of Christ upon it; a stamp of his grace\nin performance, as well as of his mediation in the acceptance. The\napostle lived not, but Christ lived in him;[483] the soul worships\nnot, but Christ in him. Not that Christ performs the act of worship,\nbut enables us spiritually to worship, after he enables us spiritually\nto live. As God counts not any soul living but in Christ, so he\ncounts not any a spiritual worshipper but in Christ. The goodness and\nfatness of the fruit come from the fatness of the olive wherein we are\nengrafted. We must find healing in Christ\u2019s wings, before God can find\nspirituality in our services. All worship issuing from a dead nature\nis but a dead service. A living action cannot be performed, without\nbeing knit to a living root.\n\n2. Spiritual worship is done by the influence and with the assistance\nof the Spirit of God. A heart may be spiritual, when a particular act\nof worship may not be spiritual. The Spirit may dwell in the heart,\nwhen he may suspend his influence on the act. Our worship is then\nspiritual, when the fire that kindles our affections comes from heaven,\nas that fire upon the altar wherewith the sacrifices were consumed.\nGod tastes a sweetness in no service, but as it is dressed up by the\nhand of the Mediator, and hath the air of his own Spirit in it; they\nare but natural acts, without a supernatural assistance; without\nan actual influence, we cannot act from spiritual motives, nor for\nspiritual ends, nor in a spiritual manner. We cannot mortify a lust\nwithout the Spirit,[484] nor quicken a service without the Spirit.\nWhatsoever corruption is killed, is slain by his power; whatsoever\nduty is spiritualized, is refined by his breath. He quickens our\ndead bodies in our resurrection;[485] he renews our dead souls in our\nregeneration; he quickens our carnal services in our adorations; the\nchoicest acts of worship are but infirmities without his auxiliary\nhelp.[486] We are logs, unable to move ourselves, till he raise our\nfaculties to a pitch agreeable to God; puts his hand to the duty, and\nlifts that up and us with it. Never any great act was performed by the\napostles to God, or for God; but they are said to be filled with the\nHoly Ghost. Christ could not have been conceived immaculate as that\n\u201choly thing,\u201d without the Spirit\u2019s overshadowing the Virgin; nor any\nspiritual act conceived in our heart, without the Spirit\u2019s moving\nupon us, to bring forth a living religion from us. The acts of worship\nare said to be in the Spirit, \u201csupplication in the Spirit;\u201d[487]\nnot only with the strength and affection of our own spirits, but\nwith the mighty operation of the Holy Ghost, if Jude may be the\ninterpreter;[488] the Holy Ghost exciting us, impelling us, and firing\nour souls by his divine flame; raising up the affections, and making\nthe {a225} soul cry with a holy importunity, Abba, Father. To render\nour worship spiritual, we should, before every engagement in it,\nimplore the actual presence of the Spirit, without which we are not\nable to send forth one spiritual breath or groan; but be wind\u2011bound\nlike a ship without a gale, and our worship be no better than carnal.\nHow doth the spouse solicit the Spirit with an \u201cAwake, O north wind,\nand come, thou south wind,\u201d[489] &c.\n\n3. Spiritual worship is done with sincerity. When the heart stands\nright to God, and the soul performs what it pretends to perform; when\nwe serve God with our spirits, as the apostle (Rom. i. 9), \u201cGod is\nmy witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son:\u201d\nthis is not meant of the Holy Ghost; for the apostle would never have\ncalled the Spirit of God his own spirit; but with my spirit, that\nis, a sincere frame of heart. A carnal worship, whether under the law\nor gospel, is, when we are busied about external rites, without an\ninward compliance of soul. God demands the heart; \u201cMy son, give me thy\nheart;\u201d[490] not give me thy tongue, or thy lips, or thy hands; these\nmay be given without the heart, but the heart can never be bestowed\nwithout these as its attendants. A heap of services can be no more\nwelcome to God, without our spirits, than all Jacob\u2019s sons could be\nto Joseph, without the Benjamin he desired to see. God is not taken\nwith the cabinet, but the jewel; he first respected Abel\u2019s faith and\nsincerity, and then his sacrifice; he disrespected Cain\u2019s infidelity\nand hypocrisy, and then his offering. For this cause he rejected the\nofferings of the Jews, the prayers of the Pharisees, and the alms of\nAnanias and Sapphira, because their hearts and their duties were at\na distance from one another. In all spiritual sacrifices, our spirits\nare God\u2019s portion. Under the law, the reins were to be consumed by\nthe fire on the altar, because the secret intentions of the heart were\nsignified by them (Psalm vii. 9), \u201cThe Lord trieth the heart and the\nreins.\u201d It was an ill omen among the heathen, if a victim wanted a\nheart. The widow\u2019s mites, with her heart in them, were more esteemed\nthan the richer offerings without it.[491] Not the quantity of service,\nbut the will in it, is of account with this infinite Spirit. All\nthat was to be brought for the framing of the tabernacle was to be\noffered \u201cwillingly with the heart.\u201d[492] The more of will, the more of\nspirituality and acceptableness to God (Psalm cxix. 108), \u201cAccept the\nfree\u2011will offering of my lips.\u201d Sincerity is the salt which seasons\nevery sacrifice. The heart is most like to the object of worship; the\nheart in the body is the spring of all vital actions; and a spiritual\nsoul is the spring of all spiritual actions. How can we imagine God\ncan delight in the mere service of the body, any more than we can\ndelight in converse with a carcass? Without the heart it is no worship;\nit is a stage play; an acting a part without being that person really\nwhich is acted by us: a hypocrite, in the notion of the word, is a\nstage\u2011player. We may as well say a man may believe with his body, as\nworship God only with his body. Faith is a great ingredient in worship;\nand it is \u201cwith the heart man believes unto righteousness.\u201d[493] We\nmay be truly said to worship God, {a226} though we want perfection;\nbut we cannot be said to worship him, if we want sincerity; a statue\nupon a tomb, with eyes and hands lifted up, offers as good and true\na service; it wants only a voice, the gestures and postures are the\nsame; nay, the service is better; it is not a mockery; it represents\nall that it can be framed to; but to worship without our spirits, is\na presenting God with a picture, an echo, voice, and nothing else;\na compliment; a mere lie; a \u201ccompassing him about with lies.\u201d[494]\nWithout the heart the tongue is a liar; and the greatest zeal\na dissembling with him. To present the spirit, is to present with\nthat which can never naturally die; to present him only the body, is\nto present him that which is every day crumbling to dust, and will at\nlast lie rotting in the grave; to offer him a few rags, easily torn; a\nskin for a sacrifice, a thing unworthy the majesty of God; a fixed eye\nand elevated hands, with a sleepy heart and earthly soul, are pitiful\nthings for an ever\u2011blessed and glorious Spirit: nay, it is so far\nfrom being spiritual, that it is blasphemy; to pretend to be a Jew\noutwardly, without being so inwardly, is, in the judgment of Christ,\nto blaspheme.[495] And is not the same title to be given with as much\nreason to those that pretend a worship and perform none? Such a one is\nnot a spiritual worshipper, but a blaspheming devil in Samuel\u2019s mantle.\n\n4. Spiritual worship is performed with an unitedness of heart.\nThe heart is not only now and then with God, but \u201cunited to fear or\nworship his name.\u201d[496] A spiritual duty must have the engagement\nof the spirit, and the thoughts tied up to the spiritual object. The\nunion of all the parts of the heart together with the body is the\nlife of the body; and the moral union of our hearts is the life of any\nduty. A heart quickly flitting from God makes not God his treasure; he\nslights the worship, and therein affronts the object of worship. All\nour thoughts ought to be ravished with God; bound up in him as in a\nbundle of life; but when we start from him to gaze after every feather,\nand run after every bubble, we disown a full and affecting excellency,\nand a satisfying sweetness in him. When our thoughts run from God, it\nis a testimony we have no spiritual affection to God; affection would\nstake down the thoughts to the object affected; it is but a mouth love,\nas the prophet praiseth it;[497] but their hearts go \u201cafter their\ncovetousness;\u201d covetous objects pipe, and the heart danceth after them;\nand thoughts of God are shifted off to receive a multitude of other\nimaginations; the heart and the service staid awhile together, and\nthen took leave of one another. The Psalmist[498] still found his\nheart with God when he awaked; still with God in spiritual affections\nand fixed meditations. A carnal heart is seldom with God, either in or\nout of worship; if God should knock at the heart in any duty, it would\nbe found not at home, but straying abroad. Our worship is spiritual\nwhen the door of the heart is shut against all intruders, as our\nSaviour commands in closet\u2011duties.[499] It was not his meaning to\ncommand the shutting the closet\u2011door, and leave the heart\u2011door open\nfor every thought that would be apt to haunt us. Worldly affections\nare to be laid aside if we would have {a227} our worship spiritual;\nthis was meant by the Jewish custom of wiping or washing off the\ndust of their feet before their entrance into the temple, and of not\nbringing money in their girdles. To be spiritual in worship, is to\nhave our souls gathered and bound up wholly in themselves, and offered\nto God. Our loins must be girt, as the fashion was in the eastern\ncountries, where they wore long garments, that they might not waver\nwith the wind, and be blown between their legs, to obstruct them in\ntheir travel: our faculties must not hang loose about us. He is a\ncarnal worshipper that gives God but a piece of his heart, as well as\nhe that denies him the whole of it; that hath some thoughts pitched\nupon God in worship, and as many willingly upon the world. David\nsought God, not with a moiety of his heart, but with his \u201cwhole heart;\u201d\nwith his entire frame;[500] he brought not half his heart, and left\nthe other in the possession of another master. It was a good lesson\nPythagoras gave his scholars,[501] \u201cNot to make the observance of God\na work by the bye.\u201d If those guests be invited, or entertained kindly,\nor if they come unexpected, the spirituality of that worship is lost;\nthe soul kicks down what it wrought before: but if they be brow\u2011beaten\nby us, and our grief rather than our pleasure, they divert our\nspiritual intention from the work in hand, but hinder not God\u2019s\nacceptance of it as spiritual, because they are not the acts of our\nwill, but offences to our wills.\n\n5. Spiritual worship is performed with a spiritual activity, and\nsensibleness of God; with an active understanding to meditate on his\nexcellency, and an active will to embrace him when he drops upon the\nsoul. If we understand the amiableness of God, our affections will be\nravished; if we understand the immensity of his goodness, our spirits\nwill be enlarged. We are to act with the highest intention suitable\nto the greatness of that God with whom we have to do (Psalm cl. 2):\n\u201cPraise him according to his excellent greatness;\u201d not that we can\nworship him equally, but in some proportion the frame of the heart is\nto be suited to the excellency of the object; our spiritual strength\nis to be put out to the utmost, as creatures that act naturally do.\nThe sun shines, and the fire burns to the utmost of their natural\npower. This is so necessary, that David, a spiritual worshipper,\nprays for it before he sets upon acts of adoration (Psalm lxxx. 18):\n\u201cQuicken us, that we may call upon thy name;\u201d as he was loth to have\na drowsy faculty, he was loth to have a drowsy instrument, and would\nwillingly have them as lively as himself (Psalm lvii. 8): \u201cAwake up,\nmy glory; awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake early.\u201d How\nwould this divine soul screw himself up to God, and be turned into\nnothing but a holy flame! Our souls must be boiling hot when we serve\nthe Lord.[502] The heart doth no less burn when it spiritually comes\nto God, than when God doth spiritually approach to it;[503] a Nabal\u2019s\nheart, one as cold as a stone, cannot offer up a spiritual service.\nWhatsoever is enjoined us as our duty, ought to be performed with the\ngreatest intenseness of our spirit. As it {a228} is our duty to pray,\nso it is our duty to pray with the most fervent importunity. It is\nour duty to love God, but with the purest and most sublime affections;\nevery command of God requires the whole strength of the creature to be\nemployed in it. That love to God wherein all our duty to God is summed\nup, is to be with all our strength, with all our might, &c.[504]\nThough in the covenant of grace he hath mitigated the severity of the\nlaw, and requires not from us such an elevation of our affections as\nwas possible in the state of innocence, yet God requires of us the\nutmost moral industry to raise our affections to a pitch, at least\nequal to what they are in other things. What strength of affection\nwe naturally have, ought to be as much and more excited in acts of\nworship, than upon other occasions and our ordinary works. As there\nwas an inactivity of soul in worship, and a quickness to sin, when\nsin had the dominion; so when the soul is spiritualized, the temper is\nchanged; there is an inactivity to sin, and an ardor in duty; the more\nthe soul is \u201cdead to sin,\u201d the more it is \u201calive to God,\u201d[505] and\nthe more lively too in all that concerns God and his honor; for grace\nbeing a new strength added to our natural, determines the affections\nto new objects, and excites them to a greater vigor. And as the\nhatred of sin is more sharp, the love to everything that destroys the\ndominion of it is more strong; and acts of worship may be reckoned as\nthe chiefest batteries against the power of this inbred enemy. When\nthe Spirit is in the soul, like the rivers of waters flowing out of\nthe belly, the soul hath the activity of a river, and makes haste to\nbe swallowed up in God, as the streams of the river in the sea. Christ\nmakes his people \u201ckings and priests to God;\u201d[506] first kings, then\npriests; gives first a royal temper of heart, that they may offer\nspiritual sacrifices as priests, kings and priests to God, acting\nwith a magnificent spirit in all their motions to him. We cannot be\nspiritual priests, till we be spiritual kings. The Spirit appeared in\nthe likeness of fire, and where he resides, communicates, like fire,\npurity and activity. Dulness is against the light of nature. I do not\nremember that the heathen ever offered a snail to any of their false\ndeities, nor an ass, but to Priapus, their unclean idol; but the\nPersians sacrificed to the sun a horse, a swift and generous creature.\nGod provided against those in the law, commanding an ass\u2019 firstling,\nthe offspring of a sluggish creature, to be redeemed, or his neck\nbroke, but by no means to be offered to him.[507] God is a Spirit\ninfinitely active, and therefore frozen and benumbed frames are\nunsuitable to him; he \u201crides upon a cherub\u201d and flies; he comes upon\nthe \u201cwings of the wind;\u201d he rides upon a \u201cswift cloud;\u201d[508] and\ntherefore demands of us not a dull reason, but an active spirit. God\nis a living God, and therefore must have a lively service. Christ is\nlife, and slothful adorations are not fit to be offered up in the name\nof life. The worship of God is called wrestling in Scripture; and Paul\nwas a striver in the service of his Master,[509] \u201cin an agony.\u201d[510]\nAngels worshipped God spiritually with their wings on; and when God\ncommands them to worship Christ, the next Scripture quoted is, that\nhe makes them {a229} \u201cflames of fire.\u201d[511] If it be thus, how may\nwe charge ourselves? What Paul said of the sensual widow,[512] that\nshe is \u201cdead while she lives,\u201d we may say often of ourselves, we are\ndead while we worship. Our hearts are in duty as the Jews were in\ndeliverances, as those \u201cin a dream;\u201d[513] by which unexpectedness\nGod showed the greatness of his care and mercy; and we attend him as\nmen in a dream, whereby we discover our negligence and folly. This\nactivity doth not consist in outward acts; the body may be hot, and\nthe heart may be faint, but in an inward stirring, meltings, flights.\nIn the highest raptures the body is most insensible. Strong spiritual\naffections are abstracted from outward sense.\n\n6. Spiritual worship is performed with acting spiritual habits. When\nall the living springs of grace are opened, as the fountains of the\ndeep were in the deluge, the soul and all that is within it, all the\nspiritual impresses of God upon it, erect themselves to \u201cbless his\nholy name.\u201d[514] This is necessary to make a worship spiritual. As\nnatural agents are determined to act suitable to their proper nature,\nso rational agents are to act conformable to a rational being. When\nthere is a conformity between the act and the nature whence it flows,\nit is a good act in its kind; if it be rational, it is a good rational\nact, because suitable to its principle; as a man endowed with reason\nmust act suitable to that endowment, and exercise his reason in his\nacting; so a Christian endued with grace, must act suitable to that\nnature, and exercise his grace in his acting. Acts done by a natural\ninclination are no more human acts than the natural acts of a beast\nmay be said to be human; though they are the acts of a man, as he is\nthe efficient cause of them, yet they are not human acts, because they\narise not from that principle of reason which denominates him a man.\nSo acts of worship performed by a bare exercise of reason, are not\nchristian and spiritual acts, because they come not from the principle\nwhich constitutes him a Christian; reason is not the principle, for\nthen all rational creatures would be Christians. They ought, therefore,\nto be acts of a higher principle, exercises of that grace whereby\nChristians are what they are; not but that rational acts in worship\nare due to God, for worship is due from us as men, and we are settled\nin that rank of being by our reason. Grace doth not exclude reason,\nbut ennobles it, and calls it up to another form; but we must not rest\nin a bare rational worship, but exert that principle whereby we are\nChristians. To worship God with our reason, is to worship him as men;\nto worship God with our grace is to worship him as Christians, and\nso spiritually; but to worship him only with our bodies, is no better\nthan brutes. Our desires of the word are to issue from the regenerate\nprinciple (1 Pet. ii. 2): \u201cAs new\u2011born babes desire the sincere milk\nof the word;\u201d it seems to be not a comparison, but a restriction.\nAll worship must have the same spring, and be the exercise of that\nprinciple, otherwise we can have no communion with God. Friends that\nhave the same habitual dispositions, have a fundamental fitness for an\nagreeable converse with one another; but if the temper wherein their\nlikeness consists be languishing, and the string out of tune, there is\nnot an actual fitness; {a230} and the present indisposition breaks the\nconverse, and renders the company troublesome. Though we may have the\nhabitual graces which compose in us a resemblance to God, yet for want\nof acting those suitable dispositions, we render ourselves unfit for\nhis converse, and make the worship, which is fundamentally spiritual,\nto become actually carnal. As the will cannot naturally act to any\nobject but by the exercise of its affections, so the heart cannot\nspiritually act towards God but by the exercise of graces. This is\nGod\u2019s music (Eph. v. 19): \u201cSinging and making melody to God in your\nhearts.\u201d Singing and all other acts of worship are outward, but the\nspiritual melody is \u201cby grace in the heart\u201d (Col. iii. 16): this\nrenders it a spiritual worship; for it is an effect of the fulness of\nthe spirit in the soul, as (ver. 19), \u201cBut be filled with the Spirit.\u201d\nThe overflowing of the Spirit in the heart, setting the soul of a\nbeliever thus on work to make a spiritual melody to God, shows that\nsomething higher than bare reason is put in tune in the heart. Then\nis the fruit of the garden pleasant to Christ, when the Holy Spirit,\n\u201cthe north and south wind, blow upon the spices,\u201d and strike out the\nfragrancy of them.[515] Since God is the Author of graces, and bestows\nthem to have a glory from them, they are best employed about him and\nhis service. It is fit he should have the cream of his own gifts.\nWithout the exercise of grace we perform but a work of nature, and\noffer him a few dry bones without marrow. The whole set of graces must\nbe one way or other exercised. If any treble be wanting in a lute,\nthere will be great defect in the music. If any one spiritual string\nbe dull, the spiritual harmony of worship will be spoiled. And\ntherefore;\n\n1. Faith must be acted in worship; a confidence in God. A natural\nworship cannot be performed without a natural confidence in the\ngoodness of God; whosoever comes to him, must regard him as a rewarder,\nand a faithful Creator.[516] A spiritual worship cannot be performed\nwithout an evangelical confidence in him as a gracious Redeemer. To\nthink him a tyrant, meditating revenge, damps the soul; to regard him\nas a gracious king, full of tender bowels, spirits the affections to\nhim. The mercy of God is the proper object of trust (Psalm xxxiii. 18):\n\u201cThe eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that\nhope in his mercy.\u201d The worship of God in the Old Testament is most\ndescribed by fear; in the New Testament by faith. Fear, or the worship\nof God, and hope in his mercy are linked together; when they go hand\nin hand, the accepting eye of God is upon us; when we do not trust,\nwe do not worship. Those of Judah had the temple\u2011worship among them,\nespecially in Josiah\u2019s time (Zeph. iii. 2), the time of that prophecy;\nyet it was accounted no worship, because no trust in the worshippers.\nInterest in God cannot be improved without an exercise of faith. The\ngospel\u2011worship is prophesied of, to be a confidence in God, as in a\nhusband more than in a lord (Hos. ii. 16): \u201cThou shalt call me Ishi,\nand shalt call me no more Baali.\u201d \u201cThou shalt call me;\u201d that is, thou\nshalt worship me, worship being often comprehended under invocation.\nMore confidence is to be exercised in a husband or father, than in a\nlord {a231} or master. If a man have not faith, he is without Christ;\nand though a man be in Christ by the habit of faith, he performs a\nduty out of Christ without an act of faith: without the habit of faith,\nour persons are out of Christ; and without the exercise of faith,\nthe duties are out of Christ. As the want of faith in a person is\nthe death of the soul, so the want of faith in a service is the death\nof the offering. Though a man were at the cost of an ox, yet to kill\nit without bringing it to the \u201cdoor of the tabernacle,\u201d was not a\nsacrifice, but a murder (Lev. xvii. 3, 4). The tabernacle was a type\nof Christ, and a look to him is necessary in every spiritual sacrifice.\nAs there must be faith to make any act an act of obedience, so there\nmust be faith to make any act of worship spiritual. That service is\nnot spiritual that is not vital; and it cannot be vital without the\nexercise of a vital principle; all spiritual life is \u201chid in Christ,\u201d\nand drawn from him by faith (Gal. ii. 20). Faith, as it hath relation\nto Christ, makes every act of worship a living act, and, consequently,\na spiritual act. Habitual unbelief cuts us off from the body of Christ\n(Rom. xi. 20): \u201cBecause of unbelief they were broken off;\u201d and a want\nof actuated belief breaks us off from a present communion with Christ\nin spirit. As unbelief in us hinders Christ from doing any mighty work,\nso unbelief in us hinders us from doing any mighty spiritual duty; so\nthat the exercise of faith, and a confidence in God, is necessary to\nevery duty.\n\n2. Love must be acted to render a worship spiritual. Though God\ncommanded love in the Old Testament, yet the manner of giving the law\nbespoke more of fear than love. The dispensation of the law was with\nfire, thunder, &c., proper to raise horror, and benumb the spirit;\nwhich effect it had upon the Israelites, when they desired that God\nwould speak no more to them. Grace is the genius of the gospel, proper\nto excite the affection of love. The law was given by the \u201cdisposition\nof angels,\u201d with signs to amaze; the gospel was ushered in with the\n\u201csongs of angels,\u201d composed of peace and good\u2011will, calculated to\nravish the soul. Instead of the terrible voice of the law, \u201cDo this\nand live,\u201d the comfortable voice of the gospel is, \u201cGrace, grace!\u201d\nUpon this account the principle of the Old Testament was fear, and the\nworship often expressed by the fear of God. The principle of the New\nTestament is love. The Mount Sinai gendereth to bondage (Gal. iv. 44);\nMount Sion, from whence the gospel or evangelical law goes forth,\ngendereth to liberty; and therefore the \u201cspirit of bondage unto fear,\u201d\nas the property of the law, is opposed to the state of adoption, the\nprinciple of love, as the property of the gospel (Rom. viii. 15);\nand therefore the worship of God under the gospel, or New Testament,\nis oftener expressed by love than fear, as proceeding from higher\nprinciples, and acting nobler passions. In this state we are to serve\nhim without fear (Luke i. 74); without a bondage fear; not without\na fear of unworthy treating him; with a \u201cfear of his goodness\u201d as it\nis prophesied of (Hos. ix. 5). Goodness is not the object of terror,\nbut reverence; God, in the law, had more the garb of a judge; in the\ngospel, of a father; the name of a father is sweeter and bespeaks more\nof affection. As their services were with a feeling of the thunders\nof the law in their consciences, {a232} so is our worship to be with\na sense of gospel grace in our spirits; spiritual worship is that,\ntherefore, which is exercised with a spiritual and heavenly affection,\nproper to the gospel. The heart should be enlarged according to the\nliberty the gospel gives of drawing near to God as a father. As he\ngives us the nobler relation of children, we are to act the nobler\nqualities of children. Love should act according to its nature, which\nis desired of union; desire of a moral union by affections, as well as\na mystical union by faith; as flame aspires to reach flame, and become\none with it. In every act of worship we should endeavor to be united\nto God, and become one spirit with him. This grace doth spiritualize\nworship; in that one word, love, God hath wrapt up all the devotion\nhe requires of us; it is the total sum of the first table, \u201cThou shalt\nlove the Lord thy God:\u201d it is to be acted in everything we do; but\nin worship our hearts should more solemnly rise up and acknowledge\nhim amiable and lovely, since the law is stripped of its cursing\npower, and made sweet in the blood of the Redeemer. Love is a thing\nacceptable of itself, but nothing acceptable without it; the gifts\nof one man to another are spiritualized by it. We would not value a\npresent without the affection of the donor; every man would lay claim\nto the love of others, though he would not to their possessions.\nLove is God\u2019s right in every service, and the noblest thing we can\nbestow upon him in our adorations of him. God\u2019s gifts to us are\nnot so estimable without his love; nor our services valuable by him\nwithout the exercise of a choice affection. Hezekiah regarded not his\ndeliverance without the love of the Deliverer; \u201cIn love to my soul\nthou hast delivered me\u201d (Isa. xxxviii. 17). So doth God say, In love\nto my honor thou hast worshipped me: so that love must be acted, to\nrender our worship spiritual.\n\n3. A spiritual sensibleness of our own weakness is necessary to make\nour worship spiritual. Affections to God cannot be without relentings\nin ourselves. When the eye is spiritually fixed upon a spiritual God,\nthe heart will mourn that the worship is no more spiritually suitable.\nThe more we act love upon God, as amiable and gracious, the more\nwe should exercise grief in ourselves, as we are vile and offending.\nSpiritual worship is a melting worship, as well as an elevating\nworship; it exalts God, and debaseth the creature. The Publican was\nmore spiritual in his humble address to God, when the Pharisee was\nwholly carnal with his swelling language. A spiritual love in worship\nwill make us grieve that we have given him so little, and could give\nhim no more. It is a part of spiritual duty to bewail our carnality\nmixed with it; as we receive mercies spiritually, when we receive\nthem with a sense of God\u2019s goodness and our own vileness; in the same\nmanner we render a spiritual worship.\n\n4. Spiritual desires for God render the service spiritual; when the\nsoul \u201cfollows hard after him\u201d (Psalm lxiii. 8); pursues after God as\na God of infinite and communicative goodness, with sighs and groans\nunutterable. A spiritual soul seems to be transformed into hunger and\nthirst, and becomes nothing but desire. A carnal worshipper is taken\nwith the beauty and magnificence of the temple; a spiritual worshipper\ndesires to see the glory of God in the sanctuary (Psalm lxiii. 2),\n{a233} he pants after God: as he came to worship, to find God, he\nboils up in desires for God, and is loth to go from it without God,\n\u201cthe living God\u201d (Psalm xlii. 2). He would see the Urim and the\nThummim; the unusual sparkling of the stones upon the high\u2011priest\u2019s\nbreast\u2011plate. That deserves not the title of spiritual worship, when\nthe soul makes no longing inquiries: \u201cSaw you him whom my soul loves?\u201d\nA spiritual worship is when our desires are chiefly for God in the\nworship; as David desires to dwell in the house of the Lord; but his\ndesire is not terminated there, but to behold the beauty of the Lord\n(Psalm xxvii. 4), and taste the ravishing sweetness of his presence.\nNo doubt but Elijah\u2019s desires for the enjoyment of God while he\nwas mounting to heaven, were as fiery as the chariot wherein he was\ncarried. Unutterable groans acted in worship are the fruit of the\nSpirit, and certainly render it a spiritual service (Rom. viii. 26).\nStrong appetites are agreeable to God, and prepare us to eat the fruit\nof worship. A spiritual Paul presseth forward to know Christ, and the\npower of his resurrection; and a spiritual worshipper actually aspires\nin every duty to know God, and the power of his grace. To desire\nworship as an end is carnal; to desire it as a means, and act desires\nin it for communion with God in it, is spiritual, and the fruit of\na spiritual life.\n\n5. Thankfulness and admiration are to be exercised in spiritual\nservice. This is a worship of spirits; praise is the adoration of the\nblessed angels (Isa. vi. 3), and of glorified spirits (Rev. iv. 11):\n\u201cThou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor, and power;\u201d and\n(Rev. v. 13, 14), they worship him ascribing \u201cBlessing, honor, glory,\nand power to Him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever\nand ever.\u201d Other acts of worship are confined to this life, and leave\nus as soon as we have set our foot in heaven; there, no notes but\nthis of praise are warbled out; the power, wisdom, love, and grace in\nthe dispensation of the gospel, seat themselves in the thoughts and\ntongues of blessed souls. Can a worship on earth be spiritual, that\nhath no mixture of an eternal heavenly duty with it? The worship of\nGod in innocence had been chiefly an admiration of him in the works\nof creation; and should not our evangelical worship be an admiration\nof him in the works of redemption, which is a restoration to a better\nstate? After the petitioning for pardoning grace (Hos. xiv. 2), there\nis a rendering the calves or heifers of our lips, alluding to the\nheifers used in eucharistical sacrifices. The praise of God is the\nchoicest sacrifice and worship under a dispensation of redeeming grace;\nthis is the prime and eternal part of worship under the gospel. The\nPsalmist (Psalm cxlix. cl.), speaking of the gospel times, spurs on to\nthis kind of worship; \u201cSing to the Lord a new song; let the children\nof Zion be joyful in their king; let the saints be joyful in glory,\nand sing aloud upon their beds; let the high praises of God be in\ntheir mouths;\u201d he begins and ends both psalms with \u201cPraise ye the\nLord.\u201d That cannot be a spiritual and evangelical worship, that hath\nnothing of the praise of God in the heart. The consideration of God\u2019s\nadorable perfections, discovered in the gospel, will make us come to\nhim with more seriousness; beg blessings of him with more confidence;\nfly to him with a winged {a234} faith and love, and more spiritually\nglorify him in our attendances upon him.\n\n6. Spiritual worship is performed with delight. The evangelical\nworship is prophetically signified by keeping the feast of tabernacles;\n\u201cThey shall go up from year to year, to worship the King, the Lord\nof Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles\u201d (Zech. xiv. 16):\nwhy that feast, when there were other feasts observed by the Jews?\nThat was a feast celebrated with the greatest joy; typical of the\ngladness which was to be under the exhibition of the Messiah, and a\nthankful commemoration of the redemption wrought by him. It was to be\ncelebrated five days after the \u201csolemn day of atonement\u201d (Lev. xxiii.\n34, compared with ver. 27), wherein there was one of the solemnest\ntypes of the sacrifice of the death of Christ. In this feast they\ncommemorated their exchange of Egypt for Canaan; the manna wherewith\nthey were fed; the water out of the rock wherewith they were refreshed;\nin remembrance of this, they poured water on the ground, pronouncing\nthose words in Isaiah, they shall \u201cdraw waters out of the wells\nof salvation;\u201d which our Saviour refers to himself (John vii. 37),\ninviting them to him, to drink \u201cupon the last day, the great day of\nthe feast of tabernacles,\u201d wherein the solemn ceremony was observed.\nSince we are freed by the death of the Redeemer from the curses of the\nlaw, God requires of us a joy in spiritual privileges. A sad frame in\nworship gives the lie to all gospel liberty, to the purchase of the\nRedeemer\u2019s death, the triumphs of his resurrection: it is a carriage,\nas if we were under the influences of the legal fire and lightning,\nand an entering a protest against the freedom of the gospel. The\nevangelical worship is a spiritual worship; and praise, joy, and\ndelight are prophesied of, as great ingredients in attendance on\ngospel ordinances (Isaiah xii. 3\u20125). What was occasion of terror in\nthe worship of God under the law, is the occasion of delight in the\nworship of God under the gospel. The justice and holiness of God, so\nterrible in the law, becomes comfortable under the gospel; since they\nhave feasted themselves on the active and passive obedience of the\nRedeemer. The approach is to God as gracious, not to God as unpacified;\nas a son to a father, not as a criminal to a judge. Under the law, God\nwas represented as a judge; remembering their sin in their sacrifices,\nand representing the punishment they had merited: in the gospel as\na father, accepting the atonement, and publishing the reconciliation\nwrought by the Redeemer. Delight in God is a gospel frame; therefore\nthe more joyful, the more spiritual: \u201cThe sabbath is to be a delight;\u201d\nnot only in regard of the day, but in regard to the duties of it (Isa.\nlviii. 13); in regard of the marvellous work he wrought on it; raising\nup our blessed Redeemer on that day, whereby a foundation was laid for\nthe rendering our persons and services acceptable to God (Psalm cxviii.\n24); \u201cThis is the day which the Lord hath made, we will be glad and\nrejoice in it.\u201d A lumpish frame becomes not a day and a duty, that\nhath so noble and spiritual a mark upon it. The angels, in the first\nact of worship after the creation, were highly joyful (Job xxxviii. 7):\n\u201cThey shouted for joy,\u201d &c. The saints have particularly acted this in\ntheir worship. David would not content himself with an approach to the\naltar, without going to {a235} God as his \u201cexceeding joy\u201d (Psalm xliii.\n4). My triumphant joy: when he danced before the ark, he seems to be\ntransformed into delight and pleasure (2 Sam. vi. 14, 16). He had as\nmuch delight in worship, as others had in their harvest and vintage.\nAnd those that took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, would as\njoyfully attend upon the communications of God. Where there is a\nfulness of the Spirit, there is a \u201cwaking melody to God in the heart\u201d\n(Eph. v. 18, 19); and where there is an acting of love (as there is\nin all spiritual services), the proper fruit of it is joy in a near\napproach to the object of the soul\u2019s affection. Love is _appetitus\nunionis_; the more love, the more delight in the approachings of\nGod to the soul, or the outgoings of the soul to God. As the object\nof worship is amiable in a spiritual eye, so the means tending to a\ncommunion with this object are delightful in the exercise. Where there\nis no delight in a duty, there is no delight in the object of the duty;\nthe more of grace, the more of pleasure in the actings of it; as the\nmore of nature there is in any natural agent, the more of pleasure in\nthe act, so the more heavenly the worship, the more spiritual. Delight\nis the frame and temper of glory. A heart filled up to the brim with\njoy, is a heart filled up to the brim with the Spirit; joy is the\nfruit of the Holy Ghost (Gal. v. 22). (1.) Not the joy of God\u2019s\ndispensation flowing from God, but a gracious active joy streaming\nto God. There is a joy, when the comforts of God are dropped into the\nsoul, as oil upon the wheel; which indeed makes the faculties move\nwith more speed and activity in his service, like the chariots of\nAminadab; and a soul may serve God in the strength of this taste,\nand its delight terminate in the sensible comfort. This is not the\njoy I mean, but such a joy that hath God for its object, delighting\nin him as the term, in worship as the way to him; the first is God\u2019s\ndispensation, the other is our duty; the first is an act of God\u2019s\nfavor to us, the second a sprout of habitual grace in us. The comforts\nwe have from God may elevate our duties; but the grace we have within\ndoth spiritualize our duties. (2.) Nor is every delight an argument of\na spiritual service. All the requisites to worship must be taken in. A\nman may invent a worship and delight in it; as Micah in the adoration\nof his idol, when he was glad he had got both an Ephod and a Levite\n(Judges xvii). As a man may have a contentment in sin, so he may have\na contentment in worship; not because it is a worship of God, but the\nworship of his own invention, agreeable to his own humor and design,\nas (Isa. lviii. 2) it is said, they \u201cdelighted in approaching to God;\u201d\nbut it was for carnal ends. Novelty engenders complacency; but it\nmust be a worship wherein God will delight; and that must be a worship\naccording to his own rule and infinite wisdom, and not our shallow\nfancies. God requires a cheerfulness in his service, especially under\nthe gospel, where he sits upon a throne of grace; discovers himself\nin his amiableness, and acts the covenant of grace, and the sweet\nrelation of a father. The priests of old were not to sully themselves\nwith any sorrow, when they were in the exercise of their functions.\nGod put a bar to the natural affections of Aaron and his sons, when\nNadab and Abihu had been cut off by a severe hand of God (Lev. x. 6).\nEvery true Christian in a higher order of priesthood, is a person\n{a236} dedicated to joy and peace, offering himself a lively sacrifice\nof praise and thanksgiving; and there is no christian duty, but is to\nbe set off and seasoned with cheerfulness: he that loves a cheerful\ngiver in acts of charity, requires no less a cheerful spirit in acts\nof worship; as this is an ingredient in worship, so it is the means\nto make your spirits intent in worship. When the heart triumphs in the\nconsideration of divine excellency and goodness, it will be angry at\nanything that offers to jog and disturb it.\n\n7. Spiritual worship is to be performed, though with a delight in\nGod, yet with a deep reverence of God. The gospel, in advancing the\nspirituality of worship, takes off the terror, but not the reverence\nof God; which is nothing else in its own nature, but a due and high\nesteem of the excellency of a thing according to the nature of it; and,\ntherefore, the gospel presenting us with more illustrious notices of\nthe glorious nature of God, is so far from indulging any disesteem of\nhim, that it requires of us a greater reverence suitable to the height\nof its discovery, above what could be spelt in the book of creation;\nthe gospel worship is therefore expressed by trembling (Hos. xi. 10):\n\u201cThey shall walk after the Lord; he shall roar like a lion; when\nhe shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the West.\u201d When\nthe lion of the tribe of Judah shall lift up his powerful voice\nin the gospel, the western Gentiles shall run trembling to walk\nafter the Lord. God hath alway attended his greatest manifestations\nwith remarkable characters of majesty, to create a reverence in\nhis creature: he caused the \u201cwind to march before him,\u201d to cut the\nmountain, when he manifested himself to Elijah (1 Kings xix. 11); \u201cA\nwind and a cloud of fire,\u201d before that magnificent vision to Ezekiel\n(chap. i. 4, 5); \u201cThunders and lightnings\u201d before the giving the law\n(Exod. xix. 18); and a \u201cmighty wind\u201d before the giving the Spirit\n(Acts ii.): God requires of us an awe of him in the very act of\nperformance. The angels are pure, and cannot fear him as sinners, but\nin \u201creverence they cover their faces\u201d when they stand before him (Isa.\nvi. 2): his power should make us reverence him, as we are creatures;\nhis justice, as we are sinners; his goodness, as we are restored\ncreatures. \u201cGod is clothed with unspeakable majesty; the glory of his\nface shines brighter than the lights of heaven in their beauty. Before\nhim the angels tremble, and the heavens melt; we ought not therefore\nto come before him with the sacrifice of fools, nor tender a duty to\nhim, without falling low upon our faces, and bowing the knees of our\nhearts in token of reverence.\u201d[517] Not a slavish fear, like that\nof devils; but a \u201cgodly fear,\u201d like that of saints (Heb. xii. 28);\njoined with a sense of an unmovable kingdom, becometh us; and this\nthe apostle calls a grace necessary to make our service acceptable,\nand therefore the grace necessary to make it spiritual, since nothing\nfinds admission to God, but what is of a spiritual nature. The\nconsideration of his glorious nature should imprint an awful respect\nupon our souls to him; his goodness should make his majesty more\nadorable to us, as his majesty makes his goodness more admirable in\nhis condescensions to us. As God is a Spirit, our worship must be\nspiritual; and being, as he is, the supreme Spirit, our worship {a237}\nmust be reverential; we must observe the state he takes upon him in\nhis ordinances; \u201cHe is in heaven, we upon the earth;\u201d we must not\ntherefore be \u201chasty to utter anything before God\u201d (Eccles. v. 7).\nConsider him a Spirit in the highest heavens, and ourselves spirits\ndwelling in a dreggy earth. Loose and garish frames debase him to our\nown quality; slight postures of spirit intimate him to be a slight and\nmean being; our being in covenant with him, must not lower our awful\napprehensions of him; as he is the Lord thy God, it is a glorious and\nfearful name, or wonderful (Deut. xxviii. 58); though he lay by his\njustice to believers, he doth not lay by his majesty; when we have a\nconfidence in him, because he is the Lord our God, we must have awful\nthoughts of his majesty, because his name is glorious. God is terrible\nfrom his holy places, in regard of the great things he doth for his\nIsrael (Psalm lxviii. 35); we should behave ourselves with that inward\nhonor and respect of him, as if he were present to our bodily eyes;\nthe higher apprehensions we have of his majesty, the greater awe will\nbe upon our hearts in his presence, and the greater spirituality in\nour acts. We should manage our hearts so, as if we had a view of God\nin his heavenly glory.\n\n8. Spiritual worship is to be performed with humility in our spirits.\nThis is to follow upon the reverence of God. As we are to have high\nthoughts of God, that we may not debase him; we must have low thoughts\nof ourselves, not to vaunt before him. When we have right notions of\nthe Divine Majesty, we shall be as worms in our own thoughts, and\ncreep as worms into his presence; we can never consider him in his\nglory, but we have a fit opportunity to reflect upon ourselves, and\nconsider how basely we revolted from him, and how graciously we are\nrestored by him. As the gospel affords us greater discoveries of God\u2019s\nnature, and so enhanceth our reverence of him, so it helps us to a\nfuller understanding of our own vileness and weakness, and therefore\nis proper to engender humility; the more spiritual and evangelical\ntherefore any service is, the more humble it is. That is a spiritual\nservice that doth most manifest the glory of God; and this cannot\nbe manifested by us, without manifesting our own emptiness and\nnothingness. The heathens were sensible of the necessity of humility\nby the light of nature;[518] after the name of God, signified by \u0395\u1f36\ninscribed on the temple at Delphos, followed \u0393\u03bd\u1ff6\u03b8\u03af \u03c3\u03b5\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd, whereby\nwas insinuated, that when we have to do with God, who is the only\n_Ens_, we should behave ourselves with a sense of our own infirmity,\nand infinite distance from him. As a person, so a duty leavened\nwith pride, hath nothing of sincerity, and therefore nothing of\nspirituality in it (Hab. ii. 4): \u201cHis soul which is lifted up, is not\nupright in him.\u201d The elders that were crowned by God to be kings and\npriests, to offer spiritual sacrifices, uncrown themselves in their\nworship of him, and cast down their ornaments at \u201chis feet\u201d[519] the\nGreek word to worship, \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03ba\u03c5\u03bd\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd, signifies to creep like a dog upon\nhis belly before his master; to lie low. How deep should our sense be\nof the privilege of God\u2019s admitting us to his worship, and affording\nus such a mercy under our deserts of wrath! How mean should be our\nthoughts, both of our persons {a238} and performances! How patiently\nshould we wait upon God for the success of worship! How did Abraham,\nthe father of the faithful, equal himself to the earth, when he\nsupplicated the God of heaven, and devote himself to him under the\ntitle of very \u201cdust and ashes!\u201d (Gen. xviii. 27.) Isaiah did but\nbehold an evangelical apparition of God and the angels worshipping him,\nand presently reflects upon his \u201cown uncleanness\u201d (Isa. vi. 5). God\u2019s\npresence both requires and causes humility. How lowly is David in his\nown opinion, after a magnificent duty performed by himself and his\npeople (1 Chron. xxix. 14): \u201cWho am I? and what is my people, that we\nshould be able to offer so willingly?\u201d The more spiritual the soul is\nin its carriage to God, the more humble it is; and the more gracious\nGod is in his communications to the soul, the lower it lies. God\ncommanded not the fiercer creatures to be offered to him in sacrifices,\nbut lambs and kids, meek and lowly creatures; none that had stings\nin their tails, or venom in their tongues[520] The meek lamb was the\ndaily sacrifice; the doves were to be offered by pairs; God would not\nhave honey mixed with any sacrifice (Lev. ii. 11), that breeds choler,\nand choler pride; but oil he commanded to be used, that supples and\nmollifies the parts. Swelling pride and boiling passions render our\nservices carnal; they cannot be spiritual, without a humble sweetness\nand an innocent sincerity; one grain of this transcends the most\ncostly sacrifices: a contrite heart puts a gloss upon worship (Psalm\nli. 16, 17). The departure of men and angels from God, began in pride;\nour approaches and return to him must begin in humility; and therefore\nall those graces, which are bottomed on humility, must be acted in\nworship, as faith, and a sense of our own indigence. Our blessed\nSaviour, the most spiritual worshipper, prostrated himself in the\ngarden with the greatest lowliness, and offered himself upon the cross\na sacrifice with the greatest humility. Melted souls in worship have\nthe most spiritual conformity to the person of Christ in the state of\nhumiliation, and his design in that state; as worship without it is\nnot suitable to God, so neither is it advantageous for us. A time of\nworship is a time of God\u2019s communication. The vessel must be melted\nto receive the mould it is designed for; softened wax is fittest to\nreceive a stamp, and a spiritually melted soul fittest to receive a\nspiritual impression. We cannot perform duty in an evangelical and\nspiritual strain, without the meltingness and meanness in ourselves\nwhich the gospel requires.\n\n9. Spiritual worship is to be performed with holiness. God is a holy\nSpirit; a likeness to God must attend the worshipping of God as he\nis; holiness is alway in season; \u201cIt becomes his house forever\u201d (Psalm\nxci. 5). We can never serve the living God till we \u201chave consciences\npurged from dead works\u201d (Heb. ix. 14). Dead works in our consciences\nare unsuitable to God, an eternal living Spirit. The more mortified\nthe heart, the more quickened the service. Nothing can please an\ninfinite purity but that which is pure; since God is in his glory, in\nhis ordinances, we must not be in our filthiness. The holiness of his\nSpirit doth sparkle in his ordinances; the holiness of our spirits\nought also to sparkle in our observance of them. The {a239} holiness\nof God is most celebrated in the worship of angels;[521] spiritual\nworship ought to be like angelical; that cannot be with souls totally\nimpure. As there must be perfect holiness to make a worship perfectly\nspiritual; so there must be some degree of holiness to make it in any\nmeasure spiritual. God would have all the utensils of the sanctuary\nemployed about his service to be holy; the inwards of the sacrifice\nwere to be rinsed thrice.[522] The crop and feathers of sacrificed\ndoves were to be hung eastward towards the entrance of the temple, at\na distance from the holy of holies, where the presence of God was most\neminent (Lev. i. 16). When Aaron was to go into the holy of holies,\nhe was to \u201csanctify himself\u201d in an extraordinary manner (Lev. xvi. 4).\nThe priests were to be bare\u2011footed in the temple, in the exercise of\ntheir office; shoes alway were to be put off upon holy ground: \u201cLook\nto thy foot when thou goest to the house of God,\u201d saith the wise man\n(Eccles. v. 1). Strip the affections, the feet of the soul, of all the\ndirt contracted; discard all earthly and base thoughts from the heart.\nA beast was not to touch the Mount Sinai, without losing his life; nor\ncan we come near the throne with brutish affections, without losing\nthe life and fruit of the worship. An unholy soul degrades himself\nfrom a spirit to a brute, and the worship from spiritual to brutish.\nIf any unmortified sin be found in the life, as it was in the comers\nto the temple, it taints and pollutes the worship (Isa. i. 15). All\nworship is an acknowledgment of the excellency of God as he is holy;\nhence it is called, a \u201csanctifying God\u2019s name\u201d (Jer. vii. 9, 10); how\ncan any person sanctify God\u2019s name that hath not a holy resemblance\nto his nature? If he be not holy as he is holy, he cannot worship\nhim according to his excellency in spirit and in truth; no worship\nis spiritual wherein we have not a communion with God. But what\nintercourse can there be between a holy God, and an impure creature;\nbetween light and darkness? We have no fellowship with him in any\nservice, unless \u201cwe walk in the light,\u201d in service and out of service,\nas he is light (1 John i. 7). The heathen thought not their sacrifices\nagreeable to God without washing their hands; whereby they signified\nthe preparation of their hearts, before they made the oblation: clean\nhands without a pure heart, signify nothing; the frame of our hearts\nmust answer the purity of the outward symbols (Psalm xxvi. 6): \u201cI will\nwash my hands in innocence, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord;\u201d he\nwould observe the appointed ceremonies, but not without \u201ccleansing his\nheart as well as his hands.\u201d Vain man is apt to rest upon outward acts\nand rites of worship; but this must alway be practised; the words are\nin the present tense, \u201cI wash,\u201d \u201cI compass.\u201d Purity in worship ought\nto be our continual care. If we would perform a spiritual service,\nwherein we would have communion with God, it must be in holiness;\nif we would walk with Christ, it must be in \u201cwhite\u201d (Rev. iii. 4),\nalluding to the white garments the priests put on, when they went to\nperform their service; as without this we cannot see God in heaven,\nso neither can we see the beauty of God in his own ordinances.\n\n10. Spiritual worship is performed with spiritual ends, with raised\n{a240} aims at the glory of God. No duty can be spiritual that hath a\ncarnal aim; where God is the sole object, he ought to be the principal\nend; in all our actions he is to be our end, as he is the principle\nof our being; much more in religious acts, as he is the object of our\nworship. The worship of God in Scripture is expressed by the \u201cseeking\nof him\u201d (Heb. xi. 6); him, not ourselves; all is to be referred to God.\nAs we are \u201cnot to live to ourselves, that being the sign of a carnal\nstate, so we are not to worship for ourselves\u201d (Rom. xiv. 7, 8). As\nall actions are denominated good from their end, as well as their\nobject, so upon the same account they are denominated spiritual.\nThe end spiritualizeth our natural actions, much more our religious;\nthen are our faculties devoted to him when they centre in him. If the\nintention be evil, there is nothing but darkness in the whole service\n(Luke xi. 34). The first institution of the Sabbath, the solemn day\nfor worship, was to contemplate the glory of God in his stupendous\nworks of creation, and render him a homage for them (Rev. iv. 11):\n\u201cThou art worthy, O Lord, to receive honor, glory, and power; for\nthou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and\nwere created.\u201d No worship can be returned without a glorifying of\nGod; and we cannot actually glorify him, without direct aims at the\npromoting his honor. As we have immediately to do with God, so we\nare immediately to mind the praise of God. As we are not to content\nourselves with habitual grace, but be rich in the exercise of it in\nworship, so we are not to acquiesce in the habitual aims at the glory\nof God, without the actual overflowings of our hearts in those aims.\nIt is natural for man to worship God for self; self\u2011righteousness is\nthe rooted aim of man in his worship since his revolt from God, and\nbeing sensible it is not to be found in his natural actions, he seeks\nfor it in his moral and religious. By the first pride we flung God off\nfrom being our sovereign, and from being our end, since a pharisaical\nspirit struts it in nature, not only to do things to be seen of\nmen, but to be admired by God (Isa. lviii. 3): \u201cWherefore have we\nfasted and thou takest no knowledge?\u201d This is to have God worship\nthem, instead of being worshipped by them. Cain\u2019s carriage after his\nsacrifice testified some base end in his worship; he came not to God\nas a subject to a sovereign, but as if he had been the sovereign, and\nGod the subject; and when his design is not answered, and his desire\nnot gratified, he proves more a rebel to God, and a murderer of his\nbrother. Such base scents will rise up in our worship from the body\nof death which cleaves to us, and mix themselves with our services,\nas weeds with the fish in the net. David, therefore, after his people\nhad offered willingly to the temple, begs of God that their \u201chearts\nmight be prepared to him\u201d (1 Chron. xxix. 18); that their hearts might\nstand right to God, without any squinting to self\u2011ends. Some present\nthemselves to God, as poor men offer a present to a great person; not\nto honor him, but to gain for themselves a reward richer than their\ngift. \u201cWhat profit is it that we have kept his ordinance?\u201d &c. (Mal.\niii. 14). Some worship him, intending thereby to make him amends for\nthe wrong they have done him; wipe off their scores, and satisfy their\ndebts; as though a spiritual wrong could be {a241} recompensed with a\nbodily service, and an infinite Spirit be outwitted and appeased by a\ncarnal flattery. Self is the spirit of carnality; to pretend a homage\nto God, and intend only the advantage of self, is rather to mock\nhim than worship him. When we believe that we ought to be satisfied,\nrather than God glorified, we set God below ourselves, imagine that he\nshould submit his own honor to our advantage; we make ourselves more\nglorious than God, as though we were not made for him, but he hath a\nbeing only for us; this is to have a very low esteem of the majesty\nof God. Whatsoever any man aims at in worship above the glory of God,\nthat he forms as an idol to himself instead of God, and sets up a\ngolden image, God counts not this as a worship. The offerings made in\nthe wilderness for forty years together, God esteemed as not offered\nto him (Amos v. 25): \u201cHave you offered to me sacrifices and offerings\nin the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?\u201d They did it not to\nGod, but to themselves; for their own security, and the attainment of\nthe possession of the promised land. A spiritual worshipper performs\nnot worship for some hopes of carnal advantage; he uses ordinances as\nmeans to bring God and his soul together, to be more fitted to honor\nGod in the world, in his particular place; when he hath been inflamed\nand humble in any address or duty, he gives God the glory; his heart\nsuits the doxology at the end of the Lord\u2019s Prayer, ascribes the\nkingdom, power, and glory to God alone, and if any viper of pride\nstarts out upon him, he endeavors presently to shake it off. That\nwhich was the first end of our framing, ought to be the chief end of\nour acting towards God; but when men have the same ends in worship as\nbrutes, the satisfaction of a sensitive part, the service is no more\nthan brutish. The acting for a sensitive end is unworthy the majesty\nof God to whom we address, and unbecoming a rational creature. The\nacting for a sensitive end is not a rational, much less can it be a\nspiritual service; though the act may be good in itself, yet not good\nin the agent, because he wants a due end. We are, then, spiritual,\nwhen we have the same end in our redeemed services, as God had in his\nredeeming love, viz., his own glory.\n\n11. Spiritual service is offered to God in the name of Christ. Those\nare only \u201cspiritual sacrifices, that are offered up to God by Jesus\nChrist\u201d (1 Pet. ii. 5); that are the fruits of the sanctification\nof the Spirit, and offered in the mediation of the Son: as the altar\nsanctifies the gift, so doth Christ spiritualize our services for\nGod\u2019s acceptation; as the fire upon the altar separated the airy and\nfiner parts of the sacrifice from the terrene and earthly; this is\nthe golden altar upon which the prayers of the saints are offered\nup \u201cbefore the throne\u201d (Rev. viii. 3). As all that we have from God\nstreams through his blood, so all that we give to God ascends by\nvirtue of his merits. All the blessings God gave to the Israelites\ncame out of Sion,[523] that is, from the gospel hid under the law;\nall the duties we present to God are to be presented in Sion, in an\nevangelical manner; all our worship must be bottomed on Christ. God\nhath intended that we should \u201chonor the Son, as we honor the Father;\u201d\nas we honor the Father by offering our service only to him, so we\n{a242} are to honor the Son by offering it only in his name; in him\nalone God is well pleased, because in him alone he finds our services\nspiritual and worthy of acceptation; we must therefore take fast\nhold of him with our spirits, and the faster we hold him, the more\nspiritual is our worship. To do anything in the name of Christ, is not\nto believe the worship shall be accepted for itself, but to have our\neye fixed upon Christ for the acceptance of it, and not to rest upon\nthe work done, as carnal people are apt to do. The creatures present\ntheir acknowledgments to God by man; and man can only present his\nby Christ. It was utterly unlawful after the building of the temple,\nto sacrifice anywhere else; the temple being a type of Christ, it is\nutterly unlawful for us to present our services in any other name than\nhis. This is the way to be spiritual. If we consider God out of Christ,\nwe can have no other notions but those of horror and bondage. We\nbehold him a Spirit, but environed with justice and wrath for sinners;\nbut the consideration of him in Christ, veils his justice, draws forth\nhis mercy, represents him more a father than a judge. In Christ the\naspect of justice is changed, and by that the temper of the creature;\nso that in and by this Mediator, we \u201ccan have a spiritual boldness,\nand access to God with confidence\u201d (Eph. iii. 12), whereby the spirit\nis kept from benumbness and distraction, and our souls quickened and\nrefined. The thoughts kept upon Christ in a duty of worship quickly\nelevates the soul, and benumbness the whole service. Sin makes our\nservices black, and the blood of Christ makes both our persons and\nservices white.\n\nTo conclude this head. God is a Spirit infinitely happy, therefore\nwe must approach to him with cheerfulness; he is a Spirit of infinite\nmajesty, therefore we must come before him with reverence; he is a\nSpirit infinitely high, therefore we must offer up our sacrifices with\nthe deepest humility; he is a Spirit infinitely holy, therefore we\nmust address him with purity; he is a Spirit infinitely glorious, we\nmust therefore acknowledge his excellency in all that we do, and in\nour measures contribute to his glory, by having the highest aims in\nhis worship; he is a Spirit infinitely provoked by us, therefore we\nmust offer up our worship in the name of a pacifying Mediator and\nIntercessor.\n\nIII. The third general is, Why a spiritual worship is due to God,\nand to be offered to him. We must consider the object of worship,\nand the subject of worship; the worshipper and the worshipped. God\nis a spiritual Being; man is a reasonable creature. The nature of God\ninforms us what is fit to be presented to him; our own nature informs\nus what is fit to be presented by us.\n\n_Reason I._ The best we have is to be presented to God in worship.\nFor,\n\n1. Since God is the most excellent Being, he is to be served by\nus with the most excellent thing we have, and with the choicest\nveneration. God is so incomprehensibly excellent, that we cannot\nrender him what he deserves: we must render him what we are able to\noffer: the best of our affections; the flower of our strength; the\ncream and top of our spirits. By the same reason that we are bound to\ngive God the best worship, we must offer it to him in the best manner.\nWe cannot give to God anything too good for so blessed {a243} a Being;\nGod being a \u201cgreat king,\u201d slight services become not his majesty\n(Mal. i. 13, 14); it is unbecoming the majesty of God, and the reason\nof a creature, to give him a trivial thing; it is unworthy to bestow\nthe best of our strength on our lust, and the worst and weakest in\nthe service of God. An infinite Spirit should have affections as near\nto infinite as we can; as he is a Spirit without bounds, so he should\nhave a service without limits; when we have given him all, we cannot\nserve him according to the excellency of his nature (Josh. xxiv. 19);\nand shall we give him less than all? His infinite excellency, and our\ndependence on him as creatures, demands the choicest adoration; our\nspirits, being the noblest part of our nature, are as due to him as\nthe service of our bodies, which are the vilest; to serve him with the\nworst only, is to diminish his honor.\n\n2. Under the law, God commanded the best to be offered him. He\nwould have the males, the best of the kind; the fat, the best of the\ncreature;[524] he commanded them to offer him the firstlings of the\nflock; not the firstlings of the womb, but the firstlings of the year:\nthe Jewish cattle having two breeding\u2011times, in the beginning of the\nspring and the beginning of September; the latter breed was the weaker,\nwhich Jacob knew (Gen. xxx.) when he laid the rods before the cattle\nwhen they were strong in the spring, and withheld them when they were\nfeeble in the autumn. One reason (as the Jews say) why God accepted\nnot the offering of Cain was, because he brought the meanest, not the\nbest of the fruit; and therefore, it is said, only that he brought of\nthe \u201cfruit\u201d of the ground (Gen. iv. 3), not the first of the fruit,\nor the best of the fruit, as Abel, who brought the \u201cfirstling\u201d of his\nflock, and the fat thereof (ver. 4).\n\n3. And this the heathen practised by the light of nature. They for the\nmost part offered males, as being more worthy; and burnt the male, not\nthe female frankincense, as it is divided into those two kinds; they\noffered the best, when they offered their children to Moloch. Nothing\nmore excellent than man, and nothing dearer to parents than their\nchildren, which are part of themselves. When the Israelites would have\na golden calf for a representation of God, they would dedicate their\njewels, and strip their wives and children of their richest ornaments,\nto show their devotion. Shall men serve their dumb idols with the best\nof their substance, and the strength of their souls; and shall the\nliving God have a duller service from us, than idols had from them?\nGod requires no such hard, but delightful worship from us, our spirits.\n\n4. All creatures serve man, by the providential order of God, with the\nbest they have. As we, by God\u2019s appointment, receive from creatures\nthe best they can give, ought we not with a free will to render to God\nthe best we can offer? The beasts give us their best fat; the trees\ntheir best fruit; the sun its best light; the fountains their best\nstreams; shall God order us the best from creatures, and we put him\noff with the worst from ourselves?\n\n5. God hath given us the choicest thing he had\u2015\u2015a Redeemer that was\nthe power of God, and the wisdom of God; the best he had in {a244}\nheaven, his own Son, and in himself a sacrifice for us, that we might\nbe enabled to present ourselves a sacrifice to him. And Christ offered\nhimself for us, the best he had, and that with the strength of the\nDeity through the eternal Spirit; and shall we grudge God the best\npart of ourselves? As God would have a worship from his creature,\nso it must be with the best part of his creature. If we have \u201cgiven\nourselves to the Lord\u201d (2 Cor. viii. 5), we can worship with no less\nthan ourselves. What is the man without his spirit? If we are to\nworship God with all that we have received from him, we must worship\nhim with the best part we have received from him; it is but a small\nglory we can give him with the best, and shall we deprive him of his\nright by giving him the worst? As what we are is from God, so what we\nare ought to be for God. Creation is the foundation of worship (Psalm\nc. 2, 3): \u201cServe the Lord with gladness; know ye that the Lord he is\nGod; it is he that hath made us.\u201d He hath ennobled us with spiritual\naffections; where is it fittest for us to employ them, but upon him?\nand at what time, but when we come solemnly to converse with him? Is\nit justice to deny him the honor of his best gift to us? our souls\nare more his gift to us, than anything in the world; other things\nare so given that they are often taken from us, but our spirits\nare the most durable gift. Rational faculties cannot be removed\nwithout a dissolution of nature. Well then, as he is God, he is to be\nhonored with all the propensions and ardor that the infiniteness and\nexcellency of such a Being require, and the incomparable obligations\nhe hath laid upon us in this state deserve at our hands. In all our\nworship, therefore, our minds ought to be filled with the highest\nadmiration, love, and reverence. Since our end was to glorify God, we\nanswer not our end, and honor him not, unless we give him the choicest\nwe have.[525]\n\n_Reason II._ We cannot else act towards God according to the nature\nof rational creatures. Spiritual worship is due to God, because of his\nnature; and due from us, because of our nature. As we are to adore God,\nso we are to adore him as men; the nature of a rational creature makes\nthis impression upon him; he cannot view his own nature without having\nthis duty striking upon his mind. As he knows, by inspection into\nhimself, that there was a God that made him; so, that he is made to be\nin subjection to God, subjection to him in his spirit as well as his\nbody, and ought morally to testify this natural dependence on him. His\nconstitution informs him that he hath a capacity to converse with God;\nthat he cannot converse with him, but by those inward faculties; if\nit could be managed by his body without his spirit, beasts might as\nwell converse with God as men. It can never be a \u201creasonable service\u201d\n(Rom. xii. 1), as it ought to be, unless the reasonable faculties be\nemployed in the management of it; it must be a worship prodigiously\nlame, without the concurrence of the chiefest part of man with it.\nAs we are to act conformably to the nature of the object, so also\nto the nature of our own faculties. Our faculties, in the very gift\nof them to us, were destined to be exercised, about what? What? All\nother things but the Author of them. It is a conceit cannot enter into\nthe heart {a245} of a rational creature, that he should act as such\na creature in other things, and as a stone in things relating to the\ndonor of them; as a man, with his mind about him in the affairs of the\nworld; as a beast, without reason in his acts towards God. If a man\ndid not employ his reason in other things, he would be an unprofitable\ncreature in the world: if he do not employ his spiritual faculties\nin worship, he denies them the proper end and use for which they were\ngiven him; it is a practical denial that God hath given him a soul,\nand that God hath any right to the exercise of it. If there were no\nworship appointed by God in the world, the natural inclination of man\nto some kind of religion would be in vain; and if our inward faculties\nwere not employed in the duties of religion they would be in vain;\nthe true end of God in the endowment of us with them would be defeated\nby us, as much as lies in us, if we did not serve him with that\nwhich we have from him solely at his own cost. As no man can with\nreason conclude, that the rest commanded on the Sabbath and the\nsanctification of it, was only a rest of the body, that had been\nperformed by the beasts as well as men, but some higher end was aimed\nat for the rational creature; so no man can think that the command for\nworship terminated only in the presence of the body; that God should\ngive the command to man as a reasonable creature, and expect no other\nservice from him than that of a brute. God did not require a worship\nfrom man for any want he had, or any essential honor that could\naccrue to him, but that men might testify their gratitude to him,\nand dependence on him. It is the most horrid ingratitude not to have\nlively and deep sentiments of gratitude after such obligations, and\nnot to make those due acknowledgments that are proper for a rational\ncreature. Religion is the highest and choicest act of a reasonable\ncreature; no creature under heaven is capable of it that wants reason.\nAs it is a violation of reason not to worship God, so it is no less a\nviolation of reason not to worship him with the heart and spirit; it\nis a high dishonor to God, and defeats him not only of the service due\nto him from man, but that which is due to him from all the creatures.\nEvery creature, as it is an effect of God\u2019s power and wisdom, doth\npassively worship God; that is, it doth afford matter of adoration\nto man that hath reason to collect it, and return it where it is due.\nWithout the exercise of the soul, we can no more hand it to God, than\nwithout such an exercise, we can gather it from the creature; so that\nby this neglect, the creatures are restrained from answering their\nchief end; they cannot pay any service to God without man; nor can\nman, without the employment of his rational faculties, render a homage\nto God, any more than beasts can. This engagement of our inward power\nstands firm and inviolable, let the modes of worship be what they\nwill, or the changes of them by the sovereign authority of God never\nso frequent; this could not expire or be changed as long as the nature\nof man endured. As man had not been capable of a command for worship,\nunless he had been endued with spiritual faculties; so he is not\nactive in a true practice of worship, unless they be employed by\nhim in it. The constitution of man makes this manner of worship\nperpetually obligatory, and the oblation can never cease, till man\n{a246} cease to be a creature furnished with such faculties; in our\nworship, therefore, if we would act like rational creatures, we should\nextend all the powers of our souls to the utmost pitch, and essay\nto have apprehensions of God, equal to the excellency of his nature,\nwhich, though we may attempt, we can never attain.\n\n_Reason III._ Without this engagement of our spirits no act is an\nact of worship. True worship, being an acknowledgment of God and the\nperfections of his nature, results only from the soul, that being\nonly capable of knowing God and those perfections which are the object\nand motive of worship. The posture of the body is but to testify the\ninward temper and affection of the mind; if, therefore, it testifies\nwhat it is not, it is a lie, and no worship; the cringes a beast may\nbe taught to make to an altar may as well be called worship, since a\nman thinks as little of that God he pretends to honor, as the beast\ndoth of the altar to which he bows. Worship is a reverent remembrance\nof God, and giving some honor to him with the intention of the soul;\nit cannot justly have the name of worship, that wants the essential\npart of it; it is an ascribing to God the glory of his nature, an\nowning subjection and obedience to him as our sovereign Lord; this is\nas impossible to be performed without the spirit, as that there can be\nlife and motion in a body without a soul; it is a drawing near to God,\nnot in regard of his essential presence, so all things are near to God,\nbut in an acknowledgment of his excellency, which is an act of the\nspirit; without this, the worst of men in a place of worship are as\nnear to God as the best. The necessity of the conjunction of our soul\nariseth from the nature of worship, which being the most serious thing\nwe can be employed in, the highest converse with the highest object\nrequires the choicest temper of spirit in the performance. That\ncannot be an act of worship, which is not an act of piety and virtue;\nbut there is no act of virtue done by the members of the body,\nwithout the concurrence of the powers of the soul. We may as well\ncall the presence of a dead carcass in a place of worship, an act of\nreligion, as the presence of a living body without an intent spirit;\nthe separation of the soul from one is natural, the other moral; that\nrenders the body lifeless, but this renders the act loathsome to God;\nas the being of the soul gives life to the body, so the operation of\nthe soul gives life to the actions. As he cannot be a man that wants\nthe form of a man, a rational soul; so that cannot be a worship that\nwants an essential part, the act of the spirit; God will not vouchsafe\nany acts of man so noble a title without the requisite qualifications\n(Hos. v. 6): \u201cThey shall go with their flocks and their herds to\nseek the Lord,\u201d &c. A multitude of lambs and bullocks for sacrifice,\nto appease God\u2019s anger. God would not give it the title of worship,\nthough instituted by himself, when it wanted the qualities of such\na service. \u201cThe spirit of whoredom was in the midst of them\u201d (v. 4).\nIn the judgment of our Saviour, it is a \u201cvain worship, when the\ntraditions of men are taught for the doctrines of God\u201d (Matt. xv. 9);\nand no less vain must it be, when the bodies of men are presented\nto supply the place of their spirits. As an omission of duty is a\ncontempt of God\u2019s sovereign authority, so the omission of the manner\nof it is a contempt of it, and of his {a247} amiable excellency; and\nthat which is a contempt and mockery, can lay no just claim to the\ntitle of worship.\n\n_Reason IV._ There is in worship an approach of God to man. It was\ninstituted to this purpose, that God might give out his blessings to\nman; and ought not our spirits to be prepared and ready to receive his\ncommunications? We are, in such acts, more peculiarly in his presence.\nIn the Israelites hearing the law, it is said, God was to \u201ccome among\nthem\u201d (Exod. xix. 10, 11). Then, men are said to stand before the\nLord (Deut. x. 8): \u201cGod, before whom I stand\u201d (1 Kings, xvii. 1):\nthat is, whom I worship; and therefore when Cain forsook the worship\nof God settled in his father\u2019s family, he is said, \u201cto go out from the\npresence of the Lord\u201d (Gen. iv. 16). God is essentially present in the\nworld; graciously present in his church. The name of the evangelical\ncity is Jehovah Shammah (Ezek. xlviii. 35), \u201cthe Lord is there.\u201d God\nis more graciously present in the evangelical institutions than in\nthe legal; he \u201cloves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings\nof Jacob\u201d (Ps. lxxxvii. 2); his evangelical law and worship which was\nto go forth from Zion, as the other did from Sinai (Mic. iv. 2). God\ndelights to approach to men, and converse with them in the worship\ninstituted in the gospel, more than in all the dwellings of Jacob. If\nGod be graciously present, ought not we to be spiritually present? A\nlifeless carcass service becomes not so high and delectable a presence\nas this; it is to thrust him from us, not invite him to us; it is\nto practise in the ordinances what the prophet predicts concerning\nmen\u2019s usage of our Saviour (Isa. liii. 2): \u201cThere is no form, no\ncomeliness, nor beauty that we should desire him.\u201d A slightness in\nworship reflects upon the excellency of the object of worship. God\nand his worship are so linked together, that whosoever thinks the\none not worth his inward care, esteems the other not worth his inward\naffection. How unworthy a slight is it of God, who proffers the\nopening his treasure; the re\u2011impressing his image; conferring his\nblessings; admits us into his presence, when he hath no need for us;\nwho hath millions of angels to attend him in his court, and celebrate\nhis praise! He that worships not God with his spirit, regards not\nGod\u2019s presence in his ordinances, and slights the great end of God in\nthem, and that perfection he may attain by them. We can only expect\nwhat God hath promised to give, when we tender to him what he hath\ncommanded us to present. If we put off God with a shell, he will put\nus off with a husk. How can we expect his heart, when we do not give\nhim ours; or hope for the blessing needful for us, when we render not\nthe glory due to him? It cannot be an advantageous worship without\nspiritual graces; for those are uniting, and union is the ground of\nall communion.\n\n_Reason V._ To have a spiritual worship is God\u2019s end in the\nrestoration of the creature, both in redemption by his Son and\nsanctification by his spirit. A fitness for spiritual offerings was\nthe end of the \u201ccoming of Christ\u201d (Mal. iii. 3); he should purge them\nas gold and silver by fire, a spirit burning up their dross, melting\nthem into a holy compliance with and submission to God. To what\npurpose? That they may offer to the lord an offering in righteousness;\na pure {a248} offering from a purified spirit; he came to \u201cbring us\nto God\u201d (1 Pet. iii. 18) in such a garb, as that we might be fit to\nconverse with him. Can we be thus, without a fixedness of our spirits\non him? The offering of spiritual sacrifices is the end of making\nany a \u201cspiritual habitation\u201d and a \u201choly priesthood\u201d (1 Pet. ii. 5).\nWe can no more be worshippers of God without a worshipper\u2019s nature,\nthan a man can be a man without human nature. As man was at first\ncreated for the honor and worship of God, so the design of restoring\nthat image which was defaced by sin tends to the same end. We are not\nbrought to God by Christ, nor are our services presented to him, if\nthey be without our spirits; would any man that undertakes to bring\nanother to a prince, introduce him in a slovenly and sordid habit,\nsuch a garb that he knows hateful to him? or bring the clothes or\nskin of a man stuffed with straw, instead of the person? to come with\nour skins before God, without our spirits, is contrary to the design\nof God in redemption and regeneration. If a carnal worship would\nhave pleased God, a carnal heart would have served his turn, without\nthe expense of his Spirit in sanctification. He bestows upon man a\nspiritual nature, that he may return to him a spiritual service; he\nenlightens the understanding, that he may have a rational service;\nand new moulds the will, that he may have a voluntary service. As it\nis the milk of the word wherewith he feeds us, so it is the service\nof the word wherewith we must glorify him. So much as there is of\nconfusedness in our understanding, so much of starting and levity in\nour wills, so much of slipperiness and skipping in our affections; so\nmuch is abated of the due qualities of the worship of God, and so much\nwe fall short of the end of redemption and sanctification.\n\n_Reason VI._ A spiritual worship is to be offered to God, because\nno worship but that can be acceptable. We can never be secured of\nacceptance without it; he being a Spirit, nothing but the worship\nin spirit can be suitable to him: what is unsuitable, cannot be\nacceptable; there must be something in us, to make our services\ncapable of being presented by Christ for an actual acceptation.\nNo service is \u201cacceptable to God by Jesus Christ,\u201d but as it is a\nspiritual sacrifice, and offered by a spiritual heart (1 Pet. ii. 5).\nThe sacrifice is first spiritual, before it be acceptable to God by\nChrist; when it is \u201can offering in righteousness,\u201d it is then, and\nonly then, pleasant to the Lord (Mal. iii. 3, 4). No prince would\naccept a gift that is unsuitable to his majesty, and below the\ncondition of the person that presents it. Would he be pleased with\na bottle of water for drink, from one that hath his cellar full of\nwine? How unacceptable must that be that is unsuitable to the Divine\nMajesty! And what can be more unsuitable than a withdrawing the\noperations of our souls from him, in the oblation of our bodies? We as\nlittle glorify God as God, when we give him only a corporeal worship,\nas the heathen did, when they represented him in a corporeal shape\n(Rom. i. 21); one as well as the other denies his spiritual nature:\nthis is worse, for had it been lawful to represent God to the eye, it\ncould not have been done but by a bodily figure suited to the sense;\nbut since it is necessary to worship him, it cannot be by a corporeal\nattendance, {a249} without the operation of the Spirit. A spiritual\nframe is more pleasing to God than the highest exterior adornments,\nthan the greatest gifts, and the highest prophetic illuminations.\n\u201cThe glory of the second temple\u201d exceeded the glory of the first\n(Hag. ii. 8, 9). As God accounts the spiritual glory of ordinances\nmost beneficial for us, so our spiritual attendance upon ordinances\nis most pleasing to him; he that offers the greatest services without\nit, offers but flesh (Hos. viii. 13): \u201cThey sacrifice flesh for the\nsacrifices of my offerings, but the Lord accepts them not.\u201d Spiritual\nframes are the soul of religious services; all other carriages without\nthem are contemptible to this spirit: we can never lay claim to that\npromise of God, none shall \u201cseek my face in vain.\u201d We affect a vain\nseeking of him, when we want a due temper of spirit for him; and vain\nspirits shall have vain returns: it is more contrary to the nature of\nGod\u2019s holiness to have communion with such, than it is contrary to the\nnature of light to have communion with darkness. To make use of this:\n\n_Use 1._ First it serves for information.\n\n1. If spiritual worship be required by God, how sad is it for them\nthat they are so far from giving God a spiritual worship, that they\nrender him no worship at all! I speak not of the neglect of public,\nbut of private; when men present not a devotion to God from one year\u2019s\nend to the other. The speech of our Saviour, that we must worship God\nin spirit and truth, implies that a worship is due to him from every\none; that is the common impression upon the consciences of all men\nin the world, if they have not by some constant course in gross sins,\nhardened their souls, and stifled those natural sentiments. There\nwas never a nation in the world without some kind of religion; and\nno religion was ever without some modes to testify a devotion; the\nheathens had their sacrifices and purifications; and the Jews, by\nGod\u2019s order, had their rites, whereby they were to express their\nallegiance to God. Consider,\n\n(1.) Worship is a duty incumbent upon all men. It is a homage mankind\nowes to God, under the relation wherein he stands obliged to him; it\nis a prime and immutable justice to own our allegiance to him; it is\nas unchangeable a truth that God is to be worshipped, as that God is;\nhe is to be worshipped as God, as creator, and therefore by all, since\nhe is the Creator of all, the Lord of all, and all are his creatures,\nand all are his subjects. Worship is founded upon creation (Psalm c.\n2, 3): it is due to God for himself and his own essential excellency,\nand therefore due from all; it is due upon the account of man\u2019s nature;\nthe human rational nature is the same in all. Whatsoever is due to\nGod upon the account of man\u2019s nature, and the natural obligations\nhe hath laid upon man, is due from all men; because they all enjoy\nthe benefits which are proper to their nature. Man in no state\nwas exempted, nor can be exempted from it; in Paradise he had his\nSabbath and sacraments; man therefore dissolves the obligation of a\nreasonable nature, by neglecting the worship of God. Religion is in\nthe first place to be minded. As soon as Noah came out of the ark, he\ncontrived not a habitation for himself, but an altar for the Lord, to\nacknowledge him the author of his preservation from the deluge (Gen.\nviii. 20): and wheresoever {a250} Abraham came, his first business was\nto erect an altar, and pay his arrears of gratitude to God, before he\nran upon the score for new mercies (Gen. xii. 7; xiii. 4, 18): he left\na testimony of worship wherever he came.\n\n(2.) Wholly therefore to neglect it, is a high degree of atheism.\nHe that calls not upon God, \u201csaith in his heart, There is no God;\u201d\nand seems to have the sentiments of natural conscience, as to God,\nstifled in him (Psalm xiv. 1, 4): it must arise from a conceit that\nthere is no God, or that we are equal to him, adoration not being due\nfrom persons of an equal state; or that God is unable, or unwilling to\ntake notice of the adoring acts of his creatures: what is any of these\nbut an undeifying the supreme Majesty? When we lay aside all thoughts\nof paying any homage to him, we are in a fair way opinionatively to\ndeny him, as much as we practically disown him. Where there is no\nknowledge of God, that is, no \u201cacknowledgment of God,\u201d a gap is opened\nto all licentiousness (Hos. iv. 1, 2); and that by degrees brawns the\nconscience, and razeth out the sense of God. Those forsake God that\n\u201cforget his holy mountain\u201d (Isa. lxv. 11); they do not practically\nown him as the Creator of their souls or bodies. It is the sin of\nCain, who turning his back upon worship, is said to \u201cgo out from\nthe presence of the Lord\u201d (Gen. iv. 16). Not to worship him with our\nspirits, is against his law of creation: not to worship him at all, is\nagainst his act of creation; not to worship him in truth, is hypocrisy;\nnot to worship him at all, is atheism; whereby we render ourselves\nworse than the worms in the earth, or a toad in a ditch.\n\n(3.) To perform a worship to a false God, or to the true God in a\nfalse manner, seems to be less a sin than to live in perpetual neglect\nof it. Though it be directed to a false object instead of God, yet it\nis under the notion of a God, and so is an acknowledgment of such a\nBeing as God in the world; whereas the total neglect of any worship,\nis a practical denying of the existence of any supreme Majesty.\nWhosoever constantly omits a public and private worship, transgresses\nagainst an universally received dictate; for all nations have agreed\nin the common notion of worshipping God, though they have disagreed in\nthe several modes and rites whereby they would testify that adoration.\nBy a worship of God, though superstitious, a veneration and reverence\nof such a being is maintained in the world; whereas by a total neglect\nof worship, he is virtually disowned and discarded, if not from his\nexistence, yet from his providence and government of the world; all\nthe mercies we breathe in are denied to flow from him. A foolish\nworship owns religion, though it bespatters it; as if a stranger\ncoming into a country mistakes the subject for the prince, and pays\nthat reverence to the subject which is due to the prince; though\nhe mistakes the object, yet he owns an authority; or if he pays any\nrespect to the true prince of that country after the mode of his own,\nthough appearing ridiculous in the place where he is, he owns the\nauthority of the prince; whereas the omission of all respect would\nbe a contempt of majesty: and, therefore, the judgments of God have\nbeen more signal upon the sacrilegious contemners of worship among\nthe heathens, than upon {a251} those that were diligent and devout in\ntheir false worship; and they generally owned the blessings received\nto the preservation of a sense and worship of a Deity among them.\nThough such a worship be not acceptable to God, and every man is\nbound to offer to God a devotion agreeable to his own mind; yet it\nis commendable, not as worship, but as it speaks an acknowledgment of\nsuch a being as God, in his power and creation, and his beneficence\nin his providence. Well, then, omissions of worship are to be avoided.\nLet no man execute that upon himself which God will pronounce at last\nas the greatest misery, and bid God depart from him, who will at last\nbe loth to hear God bid him depart from him. Though man hath natural\nsentiments that God is to be worshipped, yet having an hostility in\nhis nature, he is apt to neglect, or give it him in a slight manner;\nhe therefore sets a particular mark and notice of attention upon the\nfourth command, \u201cRemember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.\u201d Corrupt\nnature is apt to neglect the worship of God, and flag in it. This\ncommand, therefore, which concerns his worship, he fortifies with\nseveral reasons. Nor let any neglect worship, because they cannot\nfind their hearts spiritual in it. The further we are from God, the\nmore carnal shall we be. No man can expect heat by a distance from the\nsunbeams, or other means of warmth. Though God commanded a circumcised\nheart in the Jewish services, yet he did not warrant a neglect of the\noutward testimonies of religion he had then appointed. He expected,\naccording to his command, that they should offer the sacrifices, and\npractise the legal purification he had commanded; he would have them\ndiligently observed, though he had declared that he imposed them only\nfor a time; and our Saviour ordered the practice of those positive\nrites as long as the law remained unrepealed, as in the case of\nthe leper (Mark xiv. 4). It is an injustice to refuse the offering\nourselves to God according to the manner he hath in his wisdom\nprescribed and required. If spiritual worship be required by God, then,\n\n2. It informs us, that diligence in outward worship is not to be\nrested in. Men may attend all their days on worship, with a juiceless\nheart and unquickened frame, and think to compensate the neglect\nof the manner with abundance of the matter of service.[526] Outward\nexpressions are but the badges and liveries of service, not the\nservice itself. As the strength of sin lies in the inward frame\nof the heart, so the strength of worship in the inward complexion\nand temper of the soul. What do a thousand services avail, without\ncutting the throat of our carnal affections? What are loud prayers,\nbut as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals, without divine charity?\nA pharisaical diligence in outward forms, without inward spirit, had\nno better a title vouchsafed by our Saviour than that of hypocritical.\nGod desires not sacrifices, nor delights in burnt\u2011offerings: shadows\nare not to be offered instead of substance. God required the heart\nof man for itself, but commanded outward ceremonies as subservient to\ninward worship, and goads and spurs unto it. They were never appointed\nas the substance of religion, but auxiliaries to it. What value had\nthe offering of the human nature of Christ been of, if he {a252} had\nnot had a divine nature to qualify him to be the Priest? and what is\nthe oblation of our bodies, without a priestly act of the spirit in\nthe presentation of it? Could the Israelites have called themselves\nworshippers of God according to his order, if they had brought a\nthousand lambs that had died in a ditch, or been killed at home? They\nwere to be brought living to the altar; the blood shed at the foot\nof it. A thousand sacrifices killed without had not been so valuable\nas one brought alive to the place of offering: one sound sacrifice\nis better than a thousand rotten ones. As God took no pleasure in\nthe blood of beasts without its relation to the Antitype; so he takes\nno pleasure in the outward rites of worship, without faith in the\nRedeemer. To offer a body with a sapless spirit, is a sacrilege of the\nsame nature with that of the Israelites when they offered dead beasts.\nA man without spiritual worship is dead while he worships, though by\nhis diligence in the externals of it, he may, like the angel of the\nchurch of Sardis, \u201chave a name to live\u201d (Rev. iii. 1). What security\ncan we expect from a multitude of dead services? What weak shields are\nthey against the holy eye and revenging wrath of God! What man, but\none out of his wits, would solicit a dead man to be his advocate or\nchampion? Diligence in outward worship is not to be rested in.\n\n_Use II._ shall be for examination. Let us try ourselves concerning\nthe manner of our worship. We are now in the end of the world, and\nthe dregs of time; wherein the apostle predicts there may be much of\na form, and little of the power of godliness (2 Tim. iii. 1, 5); and,\ntherefore, it stands us in hand to search into ourselves, whether it\nbe not thus with us? whether there be as much reverence in our spirits\nas there may be devotion in our countenances and outward carriages.\n\n1. How, therefore, are our hearts prepared to worship? Is our\ndiligence greater to put our hearts in an adoring posture, than our\nbodies in a decent garb? or are we content to have a muddy heart,\nso we may have a dressed carcass? To have a spirit a cage of unclean\nbirds, while we wipe the filth from the outside of the platter, is\nno better than a pharisaical devotion, and deserves no better a name\nthan that of a whited sepulchre. Do we take opportunities to excite\nand quicken our spirits to the performance, and cry aloud with David,\n\u201cAwake, awake, my glory!\u201d Are not our hearts asleep when Christ\nknocks? When we hear the voice of God, \u201cSeek my face;\u201d do we answer\nhim with warm resolutions, \u201cThy face, Lord, we will seek?\u201d (Ps. xxvii.\n8.) Do we comply with spiritual motions, and strike whilst the iron is\nhot? Is there not more of reluctancy than readiness? Is there a quick\nrising of the soul in reverence to the motion, as Eglon to Ehud; or a\nsullen hanging the head at the first approach of it? Or if our hearts\nseem to be engaged and on fire, what are the motives that quicken\nthat fire? Is it only the blast of a natural conscience, fear of\nhell, desires of heaven, as abstracted from God? or is it an affection\nto God; an obedient will to please him; longings to enjoy him, as a\nholy and sanctifying God in his ordinances, as well as a blessed and\nglorified God in heaven? What do we expect in our approaches from\nhim? that which may make {a253} divine impressions upon us, and more\nexactly conform us to the Divine nature? or do we design nothing but\nan empty formality, a rolling eye, and a filling the air with a few\nwords, without any openings of heart to receive the incomes, which,\naccording to the nature of the duty, might be conveyed to us? Can this\nbe a spiritual worship? The soul then closely waits upon him, when its\nexpectation is only from him (Psalm lxii.6). Are our hearts seasoned\nwith a sense of sin; a sight of our spiritual wants; raised notions\nof God; glowing affections to him; strong appetite after a spiritual\nfulness? Do we rouse up our sleepy spirits, and make a covenant with\nall that is within us to attend upon him? So much as we want of this,\nso much we come short of a spiritual worship. In Ps. lvii. 7 (\u201cMy\nheart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed\u201d), David would fix his heart,\nbefore he would engage in a praising act of worship. He appeals to God\nabout it, and that with doubling the expression, as being certain of\nan inward preparedness. Can we make the same appeals in a fixation of\nspirit?\n\n2. How are our hearts fixed upon him; how do they cleave to him in\nthe duty? Do we resign our spirits to God, and make them an entire\nholocaust, a whole burnt\u2011offering in his worship? or do we not\nwillingly admit carnal thoughts to mix themselves with spiritual\nduties, and fasten our minds to the creature, under pretences of\ndirecting them to the Creator? Do we not pass a mere compliment\nupon God, by some superficial act of devotion; while some covetous,\nenvious, ambitious, voluptuous imagination may possess our minds?\nDo we not invert God\u2019s order, and worship a lust instead of God with\nour spirits, that should not have the least service, either from\nour souls or bodies, but with a spiritual disdain be sacrificed to\nthe just indignation of God? How often do we fight against his will,\nwhile we cry, \u201cHail, Master!\u201d instead of crucifying our own thoughts,\ncrucifying the Lord of our lives; our outward carriage plausible, and\nour inward stark naught! Do we not often regard iniquity more than\nGod in our hearts, in a time of worship?\u2015\u2015roll some filthy imagination\nas a sweet morsel under our tongues, and taste more sweetness in that\nthan in God? Do not our spirits smell rank of earth, while we offer\nto heaven; and have we not hearts full of thick clay, as their \u201chands\nwere full of blood?\u201d (Isa. i. 15.) When we sacrifice, do we not wrap\nup our souls in communion with some sordid fancy, when we should\nentwine our spirits about an amiable God? While we have some fear of\nhim, may we not have a love to something else above him? This is to\nworship, or swear by the Lord, and by Malcham (Zeph. i. 5). How often\ndoth an apish fancy render a service inwardly ridiculous, under a\ngrave outward posture; skipping to the shop, warehouse, counting\u2011house,\nin the space of a short prayer! and we are before God as a Babel, a\nconfusion of internal languages; and this in those parts of worship\nwhich are, in the right use, most agreeable to God, profitable for\nourselves, ruinous to the kingdom of sin and Satan, and means to bring\nus into a closer communion with the Divine Majesty. Can this be a\nspiritual worship?\n\n3. How do we act our graces in worship? Though the instrument {a254}\nbe strung, if the strings be not wound up, what melody can be the\nissue? All readiness and alacrity discover a strength of nature; and\na readiness in spirituals discovers a spirituality in the heart. As\nunaffecting thoughts of God are not spiritual thoughts, so unaffecting\naddresses to God are not spiritual addresses. Well, then, what\nawakenings, and elevations of faith and love have we? What strong\noutflowings of our souls to him? What indignation against sin?\nWhat admirations of redeeming grace? How low have we brought our\ncorruptions to the footstool of Christ, to be made his conquered\nenemies? How straitly have we clasped our faith about the cross and\nthrone of Christ, to become his intimate spouse? Do we in hearing hang\nupon the lips of Christ; in prayer take hold of God, and will not let\nhim go; in confessions rend the caul of our hearts, and indite our\nsouls before him with a deep humility? Do we act more by a soaring\nlove than a drooping fear? So far as our spirits are servile, so far\nthey are legal and carnal; so much as they are free and spontaneous,\nso much they are evangelical and spiritual. As men under the law\nare subject to the constraint of \u201cbondage all their life\u2011time\u201d (Heb.\nii. 15), in all their worship; so under the gospel they are under a\nconstraint of love (2 Cor. v. 14): how then are believing affections\nexercised, which are alway accompanied with holy fear; a fear of his\ngoodness that admits us into his presence, and a fear to offend him in\nour act of worship? So much as we have of forced or feeble affection,\nso much we have of carnality.\n\n4. How do we find our hearts after worship? By an after carriage we\nmay judge of the spirituality of it.\n\n(1.) How are we as to inward strength? When a worship is spiritually\nperformed, grace is more strengthened, corruption more mortified;\nthe soul, like Samson after his awakening, goes out with a renewed\nstrength; as the inward man is renewed day by day, that is, every day;\nso it is renewed in every worship. Every shower makes the grass and\nfruit grow in good ground where the root is good, and the weeds where\nthe ground is naught; the more prepared the heart is to obedience\nin other duties after worship, the more evidence there is that it\nhath been spiritual in the exercise of it. It is the end of God in\nevery dispensation, as in that of John Baptist, \u201cto make ready a\npeople prepared for the Lord\u201d (Luke i. 17): when the heart is by\nworship prepared for fresh acts of obedience, and hath a more exact\nwatchfulness against the encroachments of sin. As carnal men after\nworship sprout up in spiritual wickedness, so do spiritual worshippers\nin spiritual graces; spiritual fruits are a sign of a spiritual frame.\nWhen men are more prone to sin after duty, it is a sign there was\nbut little communion with God in it; and a greater strength of sin,\nbecause such an act is contrary to the end of worship which is the\nsubduing of sin. It is a sign the physic hath wrought well, when the\nstomach hath a better appetite to its appointed food; and worship\nhath been well performed, when we have a stronger inclination to\nother acts well pleasing to God, and a more sensible distaste of\nthose temptations we too much relished before. It is a sign of a good\nconcoction, {a255} when there is a greater strength in the vitals of\nreligion, a more eager desire to know God. When Moses had been praying\nto God, and prevailed with him, he puts up a higher request to \u201cbehold\nhis glory\u201d (Exod. xxxiii. 13, 18): when the appetite stands strong to\nfuller discoveries of God, it is a sign there hath been a spiritual\nconverse with him.\n\n(2.) How is it especially as to humility? The Pharisees\u2019 worship was,\nwithout dispute, carnal; and we find them not more humble after all\ntheir devotions, but overgrown with more weeds of spiritual pride;\nthey performed them as their righteousness. What men dare plead before\nGod in his day, they plead before him in their hearts in their day;\nbut this men will do at the day of judgment: \u201cWe have prophesied in\nthy name,\u201d &c. (Matt. vii. 21). They show what tincture their services\nleft upon their spirits; that which excludes them from any acceptation\nat the last day, excludes them from any estimation of being spiritual\nin this day. The carnal worshippers charge God with injustice in not\nrewarding them, and claim an acceptation as a compensation due to\nthem (Isa. lviii. 3): \u201cWherefore have we afflicted our souls, and thou\ntakest no knowledge?\u201d A spiritual worshipper looks upon his duties\nwith shame, as well as he doth upon his sins with confusion; and\nimplores the mercy of God for the one as well as the other. In Psalm\ncxliii. 2, the prophet David, after his supplications, begs of God\nnot to enter into judgment with him; and acknowledges any answer that\nGod should give him, as a fruit of his faithfulness to his promise,\nand not the merit of his worship: \u201cIn thy faithfulness answer me,\u201d &c.\nWhatsoever springs from a gracious principle, and is the breath of the\nSpirit, leaves a man more humble; whereas, that which proceeds from\na stock of nature, hath the true blood of nature running in the veins\nof it; viz., that pride which is naturally derived from Adam. The\nbreathing of the Divine Spirit is, in everything, to conform us to\nour Redeemer; that being the main work of his office, is his work in\nevery particular christian act influenced by him. Now Jesus Christ,\nin all his actions, was an exact pattern of all humility. After the\ninstitution and celebration of the supper, a special act of worship in\nthe church, though he had a sense of all the authority his Father had\ngiven him, yet he \u201chumbles himself to wash his disciples\u2019 feet\u201d (John\nxiii. 2\u20124); and after his sublime prayer (John xvii.), \u201cHe humbles\nhimself to the death, and offers himself\u201d to his murderers, because\nof his Father\u2019s pleasure. (John xviii. 1): \u201cWhen he had spoken those\nwords, he went over the brook Kedron into the garden.\u201d What is the\nend of God in appointing worship, is the end of a spiritual heart in\noffering it; not his own exaltation, but God\u2019s glory. Glorifying the\nname of God is the fruit of that evangelical worship the Gentiles were\nin time to give to God (Ps. lxxxvi. 9): \u201cAll nations which thou hast\nmade shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify\nthy name.\u201d Let us examine, then, what debasing ourselves there is in\na sense of our own vileness, and distance from so glorious a Spirit.\nSelf\u2011denial is the heart of all gospel grace. Evangelical, {a256}\nspiritual worship cannot be without the ingredient of the main\nevangelical principle.\n\n(3.) What delight is there after it? What pleasure is there, and what\nis the object of that pleasure? Is it the communion we have had with\nGod, or a fluency in ourselves? Is it something which hath touched\nour hearts, or tickled our fancies? As the strength of sin is known\nby the delightful thoughts of it after the commission; so is the\nspirituality of duty, by the object of our delightful remembrance\nafter the performance. It was a sign David was spiritual in the\nworship of God in the tabernacle, when he enjoyed it, because he\nlonged for the spiritual part of it, when he was exiled from it; his\ndesires were not only for liberty to revisit the tabernacle, but to\nsee the \u201cpower and glory of God in the sanctuary,\u201d as he had seen\nit before (Ps. lxiii. 2): his desires for it could not have been so\nardent, if his reflection upon what had past had not been delightful;\nnor could his soul be poured out in him, for the want of such\nopportunities, if the remembrance of the converse he had had with\nGod, had not been accompanied with a delightful relish (Ps. xlii. 4).\nLet us examine what delight we find in our spirits after worship.\n\n_Use III._ is of comfort. And it is very comfortable to consider,\nthat the smallest worship with the heart and spirit, flowing from\na principle of grace, is more acceptable than the most pompous\nveneration; yea, if the oblation were as precious as the whole circuit\nof heaven and earth without it. That God that values a cup of cold\nwater given to any as his disciple, will value a sincere service above\na costly sacrifice. God hath his eye upon them that honor his nature;\nhe would not \u201cseek such to worship him,\u201d if he did not intend to\naccept such a worship from them; when we therefore invoke him, and\npraise him, which are the prime parts of religion, he will receive\nit as a sweet savor from us, and overlook infirmities mixed with\nthe graces. The great matter of discomfort, and that which makes\nus question the spirituality of worship, is the many starts of our\nspirits, and rovings to other things. For answer to which,\n\n1. It is to be confessed that these starts are natural to us. Who is\nfree from them? We bear in our bosoms a nest of turbulent thoughts,\nwhich, like busy gnats, will be buzzing about us while we are in our\nmost inward and spiritual converses. Many wild beasts lurk in a man\u2019s\nheart, as in a close and covert wood, and scarce discover themselves\nbut at our solemn worship. No duty so holy, no worship so spiritual,\nthat can wholly privilege us from them; they will jog us in our most\nweighty employments, that, as God said to Cain, sin lies at the door,\nand enters in, and makes a riot in our souls. As it is said of wicked\nmen, \u201cthey cannot sleep\u201d for multitude of thoughts (Eccles. v. 12);\nso it may be of many a good man, he cannot worship for multitude of\nthoughts; there will be starts, and more in our religious than natural\nemployments; it is natural to man. Some therefore think, the bells\ntied to Aaron\u2019s garments, between the pomegranates, were to warn the\npeople, and recall their fugitive minds to the present service, when\nthey heard the sound of them, upon the least motion of the high\u2011priest.\nThe sacrifice of Abraham, the father or the faithful, was not exempt\nfrom the fowls {a257} pecking at it (Gen. xv. 11). Zechariah himself\nwas drowsy in the midst of his visions, which being more amazing,\nmight cause a heavenly intentness (Zech. iv. 1): \u201cThe angel that\ntalked with me, came again and awaked me, as a man is awaked out of\nsleep.\u201d He had been roused up before, but he was ready to drop down\nagain; his heart was gone, till the angel jogged him. We may complain\nof such imaginations, as Jeremiah doth of the enemies of the Jews\n(Lam. iv. 19). Our persecutors are swifter than eagles; they light\nupon us with as much speed as eagles upon a carcass; they pursue us\nupon the mountain of divine institutions, and they lay wait for us in\nthe wilderness, in our retired addresses to God. And this will be so\nwhile,\n\n(1.) There is natural corruption in us. There are in a godly man\ntwo contrary principles, flesh and spirit, which endeavor to hinder\none another\u2019s acts, and are alway stirring upon the offensive or\ndefensive part (Gal. v. 17). There is a body of death, continually\nexhaling its noisome vapors: it is a body of death in our worship,\nas well as in our natures; it snaps our resolutions asunder (Rom.\nvii. 19); it hinders us in the doing good, and contradicts our\nwills in the stirring up evil. This corruption being seated in all\nthe faculties, and a constant domestic in them, has the greater\nopportunity to trouble us, since it is by those faculties that we\nspiritually transact with God; and it stirs more in the time of\nreligious exercises, though it be in part mortified; as a wounded\nbeast, though tired, will rage and strive to its utmost, when the\nenemy is about to fetch a blow at it. All duties of worship tend to\nthe wounding of corruption; and it is no wonder to feel the striving\nof sin to defend itself and offend us, when we have our arms in our\nhands to mortify it, that the blow may be diverted which is directed\nagainst it. The apostles had aspiring thoughts; and being persuaded of\nan earthly kingdom, expected a grandeur in it; and though we find some\nappearance of it at other times, as when they were casting out devils,\nand gave an account of it to their Master, he gives them a kind of\na check (Luke x. 20), intimating that there was some kind of evil in\ntheir rejoicing upon that account; yet this never swelled so high, as\nto break out into a quarrel who should be greatest, until they had the\nmost solemn ordinance, the Lord\u2019s supper, to quell it (Luke xxii. 24).\nOur corruption is like lime, which discovers not its fire by any smoke\nor heat, till you cast water, the enemy of fire, upon it; neither doth\nour natural corruption rage so much, as when we are using means to\nquench and destroy it.\n\n(2.) While there is a devil, and we in his precinct. As he accuseth\nus to God, so he disturbs us in ourselves; he is a bold spirit, and\nloves to intrude himself when we are conversing with God: we read,\nthat when the angels presented themselves before God, Satan comes\namong them (Job i. 6). Motions from Satan will thrust themselves\nin with our most raised and angelical frames; he loves to take off\nthe edge of our spirits from God; he acts but after the old rate; he\nfrom the first envied God an obedience from man, and envied man the\nfelicity of communion with God; he is unwilling God should have the\nhonor of worship, and that we should have the fruit of it; {a258} he\nhath himself lost it, and therefore is unwilling we should enjoy it;\nand being subtle, he knows how to make impressions upon us suitable to\nour inbred corruptions, and assault us in the weakest part. He knows\nall the avenues to get within us (as he did in the temptation of Eve),\nand being a spirit, he wants not a power to dart them immediately upon\nour fancy; and being a spirit, and therefore active and nimble, he\ncan shoot those darts faster than our weakness can beat them off. He\nis diligent also, and watcheth for his prey, and seeks to devour our\nservices as well as our souls, and snatch our best morsels from us. We\nknow he mixed himself with our Saviour\u2019s retirements in the wilderness,\nand endeavored to fly\u2011blow his holy converse with his Father in the\npreparation to his mediatory work. Satan is God\u2019s ape, and imitates\nthe Spirit in the office of a remembrancer; as the Spirit brings good\nthoughts and divine promises to mind, to quicken our worship, so the\ndevil brings evil things to mind, and endeavors to fasten them in\nour souls to disturb us; and though all the foolish starts we have in\nworship are not purely his issue, yet being of kin to him, he claps\nhis hands, and sets them on like so many mastiffs, to tear the service\nin pieces. And both those distractions, which arise from our own\ncorruption and from Satan, are most rife in worship, when we are under\nsome pressing affliction. This seems to be David\u2019s case, Ps. lxxxvi.\nwhen in ver. 11 he prays God to unite his heart to fear and worship\nhis name; he seems to be under some affliction, or fear of his enemies:\n\u201cO free me from those distractions of spirit, and those passions which\narise in my soul, upon considering the designs of my enemies against\nme, and press upon me in my addresses to thee, and attendances on\nthee. \u201d Job also in his affliction complains (Job xvii. 11) that\n\u201chis purposes were broken off;\u201d he could not make an even thread\nof thoughts and resolutions; they were frequently snapt asunder,\nlike rotten yarn when one is winding it up. Good men and spiritual\nworshippers have lain under this trouble. Though they are a sign of\nweakness of grace, or some obstructions in the acting of strong grace,\nyet they are not alway evidences of a want of grace; what ariseth from\nour own corruption, is to be matter of humiliation and resistance;\nwhat ariseth from Satan, should edge our minds to a noble conquest of\nthem. If the apostle did comfort himself with his disapproving of what\nrose from the natural spring of sin within him, with his consent to\nthe law, and dissent from his lust; and charges it not upon himself,\nbut upon the sin that dwelt in him, with which he had broken off the\nformer league, and was resolved never to enter into amity with it;\nby the same reason we may comfort ourselves, if such thoughts are\nundelighted in, and alienate not our hearts from the worship of God\nby all their busy intrusions to interrupt us.\n\n2. These distractions (not allowed) may be occasions, by an holy\nimprovement, to make our hearts more spiritual after worship, though\nthey disturb us in it, by answering those ends for which we may\nsuppose God permits them to invade us. And that is,\n\nFirst, When they are occasions to humble us,\n\n(1.) For our carriage in the particular worship. There is nothing\nso dangerous as spiritual pride; it deprived devils and men of the\n{a259} presence of God, and will hinder us of the influence of God.\nIf we had had raised and uninterrupted motions in worship, we should\nbe apt to be lifted up; and the devil stands ready to tempt us to\nself\u2011confidence. You know how it was with Paul (2 Cor. xii. 1\u20127);\nhis buffetings were occasions to render him more spiritual than his\nraptures, because more humble. God suffers those wanderings, starts,\nand distractions, to prevent our spiritual pride; which is as a worm\nat the root of spiritual worship, and mind us of the dusty frame of\nour spirits, how easily they are blown away; as he sends sickness to\nput us in mind of the shortness of our breath, and the easiness to\nlose it. God would make us ashamed of ourselves in his presence; that\nwe may own, that what is good in any duty, is merely from his grace\nand Spirit, and not from ourselves; that with Paul we may cry out,\n\u201cBy grace we are what we are,\u201d and by grace we do what we do; we may\nbe hereby made sensible, that God can alway find something in our\nexactest worship, as a ground of denying us the successful fruit of it.\nIf we cannot stand upon our duties for salvation, what can we bottom\nupon in ourselves? If therefore they are occasions to make us out of\nlove with any righteousness of our own, to make us break our hearts\nfor them, because we cannot keep them out; if we mourn for them as\nour sins, and count them our great afflictions, we have attained\nthat brokenness which is a choice ingredient in a spiritual sacrifice.\nThough we have been disturbed by them, yet we are not robbed of the\nsuccess; we may behold an answer of our worship in our humiliation,\nin spite of all of them.\n\n(2.) For the baseness of our nature. These unsteady motions help us\nto discern that heap of vermin that breeds in our nature. Would any\nman think he had such an averseness to his Creator and Benefactor;\nsuch an unsuitableness to him; such an estrangedness from him, were\nit not for his inspection into his distracted frame? God suffers this\nto hang over us as a rod of correction, to discover and fetch out the\nfolly of our hearts. Could we imagine our natures so highly contrary\nto that God who is so infinitely amiable, so desirable an object;\nor that there should be so much folly and madness in the heart, as\nto draw back from God in those services which God hath appointed\nas pipes through which to communicate his grace, to convey himself,\nhis love and goodness to the creature? If, therefore, we have a deep\nsense of, and strong reflections upon our base nature, and bewail that\nmass of averseness which lies there, and that fulness of irreverence\ntowards the God of our mercies, the object of our worship, it is a\nblessed improvement of our wanderings and diversions. Certainly, if\nany Israelite had brought a lame and rotten lamb to be sacrificed to\nGod, and afterward had bewailed it, and laid open his heart to God\nin a sensible and humble confession of it, that repentance had been a\nbetter sacrifice, and more acceptable in the sight of God, than if he\nhad brought a sound and a living offering.\n\nSecondly, When they are occasions to make us prize duties of worship.\nWhen we argue, as rationally we may, that they are of singular use,\nsince our corrupt hearts and a malicious devil doth chiefly endeavor\nto hinder us from them, and that we find we have not those gadding\nthoughts when we are upon worldly business, or {a260} upon any sinful\ndesign which may dishonor God and wound our souls. This is a sign\nsin and Satan dislike worship, for he is too subtle a spirit to\noppose that which would further his kingdom. As it is an argument the\nScripture is the word of God, because the wickedness of the world doth\nso much oppose it, so it is a ground to believe the profitableness\nand excellency of worship, because Satan and our own unruly hearts\ndo so much interrupt us in it: if, therefore, we make this use of our\ncross\u2011steps in worship, to have a greater value for such duties, more\naffections to them, and desires to be frequent in them, our hearts are\ngrowing spiritual under the weights that would depress them to\ncarnality.\n\nThirdly, When we take a rise from hence, to have heavenly admirations\nof the graciousness of God, that he should pity and pardon so many\nslight addresses to him, and give any gracious returns to us. Though\nmen have foolish rangings every day, and in every duty, yet free\ngrace is so tender as not to punish them (Gen. viii. 21): \u201cAnd the\nLord smelt a sweet savor; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not\ncurse the ground for man\u2019s sake, for the imagination of man\u2019s heart\nis evil from his youth.\u201d It is observable, that this was just after\na sacrifice which Noah offered to God (ver. 20): but probably not\nwithout infirmities common to human nature, which may be grounded upon\nthe reason God gives, that though he had destroyed the earth before,\nbecause of the \u201cevil of man\u2019s imaginations\u201d (Gen. vi. 5), he still\nfound evil imaginations; he doth not say in the heart of Cham, or\nothers of Noah\u2019s family, but in man\u2019s heart, including Noah also, who\nhad both the judgments of God upon the former world, and the mercy\nof God in his own preservation, before his eyes; yet God saw evil\nimaginations rooted in the nature of man, and though it were so, yet\nhe would be merciful. If, therefore, we can, after finding our hearts\nso vagrant in worship, have real frames of thankfulness that God hath\nspared us, and be heightened in our admirations at God\u2019s giving us\nany fruit of such a distracted worship, we take advantage from them\nto be raised into an evangelical frame, which consists in the humble\nacknowledgments of the grace of God. When David takes a review of\nthose tumultuous passions which had ruffled his mind, and possessed\nhim with unbelieving notions of God in the persons of his prophets\n(Ps. cxvi. 11), how high doth his soul mount in astonishment and\nthankfulness to God for his mercy! (ver. 12.) Notwithstanding his\ndistrust, God did graciously perform his promise, and answer his\ndesire: then it is, \u201cWhat shall I render to the Lord?\u201d His heart was\nmore affected for it, because it had been so passionate in former\ndistrusts. It is indeed a ground of wondering at the patience of the\nSpirit of God, that he should guide our hearts when they are so apt to\nstart out, as it is the patience of a master to guide the hand of his\nscholar, while he mixes his writing with many blots. It is not one\nor two infirmities the Spirit helps us in, and helps over, but many\n(Rom. viii. 26). It is a sign of a spiritual heart, when he can take\na rise to bless God for the renewing and blowing up his affections,\nin the midst of so many incursions from Satan to the contrary, and\nthe readiness of the heart too much to comply with them.\n\n{a261} Fourthly, When we take occasion from thence to prize the\nmediation of Christ. The more distractions jog us, the more need\nwe should see of going out to a Saviour by faith. One part of our\nSaviour\u2019s office is to stand between us and the infirmities of our\nworship. As he is an advocate, he presents our services, and pleads\nfor them and us (1 John ii. 1), for the sins of our duties, as well as\nfor our other sins. Jesus Christ is an High\u2011priest, appointed by God\nto take away the \u201ciniquities of our holy things,\u201d which was typified\nby Aaron\u2019s plate upon his mitre (Exod. xxviii. 36, 38). Were there\nno imperfections, were there no creeping up of those frogs into our\nminds, we should think our worship might merit acceptance with God\nupon its own account; but if we behold our own weakness, that not\na tear, a groan, a sigh, is so pure, but must have Christ to make\nit entertainable; that there is no worship without those blemishes;\nand upon this, throw all our services into the arms of Christ for\nacceptance, and solicit him to put his merits in the front, to make\nour ciphers appear valuable; it is a spiritual act, the design of God\nin the gospel being to advance the honor and mediation of his Son.\nThat is a spiritual and evangelical act which answers the evangelical\ndesign. The design of Satan, and our own corruption is defeated, when\nthose interruptions make us run swifter, and take faster hold on the\nHigh\u2011priest who is to present our worship to God, and our own souls\nreceive comfort thereby. Christ had temptations offered to him by\nthe devil in his wilderness retirement, that, from an experimental\nknowledge, he might be able more \u201ccompassionately to succor us\u201d (Heb.\nii. 18); we have such assaults in our retired worship especially,\nthat we may be able more highly to value him and his mediation.\n\n3. Let us not, therefore, be discouraged by those interruptions and\nstarts of our hearts.\n\n(1.) If we find in ourselves a strong resistance of them. The flesh\nwill be lusting; that cannot be hindered; yet if we do not fulfil the\nlusts of it, rise up at its command, and go about its work, we may be\nsaid to walk in the Spirit (Gal. v. 16, 17): we \u201cwalk in the Spirit,\u201d\nif we \u201cfulfil not the lusts of the flesh,\u201d though there be a lusting\nof the flesh against the Spirit; so we worship in the Spirit, though\nthere be carnal thoughts arising if we do not fulfil them; though\nthe stirring of them discovers some contrariety in us to God, yet the\nresistance manifests that there is a principle of contrariety in us\nto them; that as there is something of flesh that lusts against the\nspirit, so there is something of spirit in worship which lusts against\nthe flesh: we must take heed of omitting worship, because of such\ninroads, and lying down in the mire of a total neglect. If our spirits\nare made more lively and vigorous against them; if those cold vapors\nwhich have risen from our hearts make us, like a spring in the midst\nof the cold earth, more warm, there is, in this case, more reason\nfor us to bless God, than to be discouraged. God looks upon it as\nthe disease, not the wilfulness of our nature; as the weakness of the\nflesh, not the willingness of the spirit. If we would shut the door\nupon them, it seems they are unwelcome company; men do not use to lock\ntheir doors upon those they love; if they break in and disturb {a262}\nus with their impertinences, we need not be discomforted, unless we\ngive them a share in our affections, and turn our back upon God to\nentertain them; if their presence makes us sad, their flight would\nmake us joyful.\n\n(2.) If we find ourselves excited to a stricter watch over our\nhearts against them; as travellers will be careful when they come to\nplaces where they have been robbed before, that they be not so easily\nsurprised again. We should not only lament when we have had such\nfoolish imaginations in worship breaking in upon us, but also bless\nGod that we have had no more, since we have hearts so fruitful of\nweeds. We should give God the glory when we find our hearts preserved\nfrom these intruders, and not boast of ourselves, but return him our\npraise for the watch and guard he kept over us, to preserve us from\nsuch thieves. Let us not be discomforted; for as the greatness of our\nsins, upon our turning to God, is no hindrance to our justification,\nbecause it doth not depend upon our conversion as the meritorious\ncause, but upon the infinite value of our Saviour\u2019s satisfaction,\nwhich reaches the greatest sins as well as the least; so the multitude\nof our bewailed distractions in worship are not a hindrance to our\nacceptation, because of the uncontrollable power of Christ\u2019s\nintercession.\n\n_Use IV._ is for exhortation. Since spiritual worship is due to God,\nand the Father seeks such to worship him, how much should we endeavor\nto satisfy the desire and order of God, and act conformable to the law\nof our creation and the love of redemption! Our end must be the same\nin worship which was God\u2019s end in creation and redemption; to glorify\nhis name, set forth his perfections, and be rendered fit, as creatures\nand redeemed ones, to partake of that grace which is the fruit of\nworship. An evangelical dispensation requires a spiritual homage; to\nneglect, therefore, either the matter or manner of gospel duties, is\nto put a slight upon gospel privileges. The manner of duty is ever\nof more value than the matter; the scarlet dye is more precious than\nthe cloth tinctured with it. God respects more the disposition of\nthe sacrificer than the multitude of the sacrifices.[527] The solemn\nfeasts appointed by God were but dung as managed by the Jews (Mal.\nii. 3). The heart is often welcome without the body, but the body\nnever grateful without the heart. The inward acts of the spirit\nrequire nothing from without to constitute them good in themselves;\nbut the outward acts of devotion require inward acts to render them\nsavory to God. As the goodness of outward acts consists not in the\nacts themselves, so the acceptableness of them results not from the\nacts themselves, but from the inward frame animating and quickening\nthose acts, as blood and spirits running through the veins of a duty\nto make it a living service in the sight of God. Imperfections in\nworship hinder not God\u2019s acceptation of it, if the heart, spirited\nby grace, be there to make it a sweet savor. The stench of burning\nflesh and fat in the legal sacrifices might render them noisome to the\noutward senses; but God smelt a sweet savor in them, as they {a263}\nrespected Christ. When the heart and spirit are offered up to God, it\nmay be a savory duty, though attended with unsavory imperfections; but\na thousand sacrifices without a stamp of faith, a thousand spiritual\nduties with an habitual carnality, are no better than stench with God.\nThe heart must be purged, as well as the temple was by our Saviour, of\nthe thieves that would rob God of his due worship. Antiquity had some\ntemples wherein it was a crime to bring any gold; therefore those that\ncame to worship laid their gold aside before they went into the temple.\nWe should lay aside our worldly and trading thoughts before we address\nto worship (Isa. xxvi. 9): \u201cWith my spirit within me will I seek thee\nearly.\u201d Let not our minds be gadding abroad, and exiled from God and\nthemselves. It will be thus when the \u201cdesire of our soul is to his\nname, and the remembrance of him\u201d (ver. 8). When he hath given so\ngreat and admirable a gift as that of his Son, in whom are all things\nnecessary to salvation, righteousness, peace, and pardon of sin, we\nshould manage the remembrance of his name in worship with the closest\nunitedness of heart, and the most spiritual affections. The motion\nof the spirit is the first act in religion; to this we are obliged in\nevery act. The devil requires the spirit of his votaries; should God\nhave a less dedication than the devil?\n\nMotives to back this exhortation.\n\nI. Not to give God our spirit is a great sin. It is a mockery of God,\nnot worship, contempt, not adoration, whatever our outward fervency or\nprotestations may be.[528] Every alienation of our hearts from him is\na real scorn put upon him. The acts of the soul are real, and more the\nacts of the man than the acts of the body; because they are the acts\nof the choicest part of man, and of that which is the first spring of\nall bodily motions; it is the \u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f10\u03bd\u03b4\u03b9\u03ac\u03b8\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, the internal speech\nwhereby we must speak with God. To give him, therefore, only an\nexternal form of worship without the life of it, is a taking his name\nin vain. We mock him, when we mind not what we are speaking to him, or\nwhat he is speaking to us; when the motions of our hearts are contrary\nto the motions of our tongues; when we do anything before him slovenly,\nimpudently, or rashly. As in a lutinist it is absurd to sing one tune\nand play another; so it is a foul thing to tell God one thing with\nour lips, and think another with our hearts. It is a sin like that\nthe apostle chargeth the heathens with (Rom. i. 28): \u201cThey like not to\nretain God in their knowledge.\u201d Their stomachs are sick while they are\nupon any duty, and never leave working till they have thrown up all\nthe spiritual part of worship, and rid themselves of the thoughts of\nGod, which are as unwelcome and troublesome guests to them. When men\nbehave themselves in the sight of God, as if God were not God, they\ndo not only defame him, but deny him, and violate the unchangeable\nperfections of the Divine nature.\n\n1. It is against the majesty of God, when we have not awful thoughts\nof that great Majesty to whom we address; when our souls cleave\nnot to him when we petition him in prayer, or when he gives out his\norders to us in his Word. It is a contempt of the majesty of a prince,\nif, whilst he is speaking to us, we listen not to him with {a264}\nreverence and attention, but turn our backs on him, to play with one\nof his hounds, or talk with a beggar; or while we speak to him, to\nrake in a dunghill. Solomon adviseth us to \u201ckeep our foot when we go\nto the house of God\u201d (Eccles. v. 1). Our affections should be steady,\nand not slip away again; why? (ver. 2) because \u201cGod is in heaven,\u201d\n&c. He is a God of majesty; earthly, dirty frames are unsuitable\nto the God of heaven; low spirits are unsuitable to the Most High.\nWe would not bring our mean servants or dirty dogs into a prince\u2019s\npresence chamber; yet we bring not only our worldly, but our profane\naffections into God\u2019s presence. We give in this case those services\nto God which our Governor would think unworthy of him (Mal. i. 8). The\nmore excellent and glorious God is, the greater contempt of him it is\nto suffer such foolish affections to be competitors with him for our\nhearts. It is a scorn put upon him to converse with a creature, while\nwe are dealing with him; but a greater to converse in our thoughts\nand fancies with some sordid lust, which is most hateful to him; and\nthe more aggravation it attracts, in that we are to apprehend him the\nmost glorious object sitting upon his throne in time of worship, and\nourselves standing as vile creatures before him, supplicating for our\nlives, and the conveyance of grace and mercy to our souls; as if a\ngrand mutineer, instead of humbly begging the pardon of his offended\nprince, should present his petition not only scribbled and blotted,\nbut besmeared with some loathsome excrement. It is unbecoming both the\nmajesty of God, and the worship itself, to present him with a picture\ninstead of a substance, and bring a world of nasty affections in\nour hearts, and ridiculous toys in our heads before him, and worship\nwith indisposed and heedless souls. He is a great King (Mal. i. 14):\ntherefore address to him with fear and reverence.\n\n2. It is against the life of God. Is a dead worship proportioned\nto a living God? The separation of heavenly affections from our\nsouls before God, makes them as much a carcass in his sight, as the\ndivorce of the soul makes the body a carcass. When the affections\nare separated, worship is no longer worship, but a dead offering,\na lifeless bulk; for the essence and spirit of worship is departed.\nThough the soul be present with the body in a way of information, yet\nit is not present in a way of affection, and this is the worst; for\nit is not the separation of the soul from informing that doth separate\na man from God, but the removal of our affections from him. If a\nman pretend an application to God, and sleep and snore all the time,\nwithout question such a one did not worship. In a careless worship\nthe heart is morally dead while the eyes are open: the heart of the\nspouse (Cant. v. 2) waked while her eyes slept; and our hearts, on the\ncontrary, sleep while our eyes wake. Our blessed Saviour hath died to\npurge our consciences from dead works and frames, that we may serve\nthe living God (Heb. ix. 14); to serve God as a God of life. David\u2019s\nsoul cried and fainted for God under this consideration (Ps. xlii. 2);\nbut to present our bodies without our spirits, is such a usage of\nGod, that implies he is a dead image, not worthy of any but a dead\nand heartless service, like one of those idols the Psalmist speaks of\n(Ps. cxv. 5), that have \u201ceyes, and see not; ears, {a265} and hear not;\u201d\nno life in it. Though it be not an objective idolatry, because the\nworship is directed to the true God; yet I may call it a subjective\nidolatry in regard of the frame, fit only to be presented to some\nsenseless stock. We intimate God to be no better than an idol, and\nto have no more knowledge of us and insight into us, than an idol can\nhave. If we did believe him to be the living God, we durst not come\nbefore him with services so unsuitable to him, and reproaches of him.\n\n3. It is against the infiniteness of God. We should worship God with\nthose boundless affections which bear upon them a shadow or image\nof his infiniteness; such are the desires of the soul which know no\nlimits, but start out beyond whatsoever enjoyment the heart of man\npossesses. No creeping creature was to be offered to God in sacrifice,\nbut such as had legs to run, or wings to fly. For us to come before\nGod with a light creeping frame, is to worship him with the lowest\nfinite affections, as though anything, though never so mean or torn,\nmight satisfy an infinite Being; as though a poor shallow creature\ncould give enough to God without giving him the heart, when, indeed,\nwe cannot give him a worship proportionable to his infiniteness, did\nour hearts swell as large as heaven in our desires for him in every\nact of our duties.\n\n4. It is against the spirituality of God. God being a Spirit, calls\nfor a worship in spirit; to withhold this from him implies him to\nbe some gross corporeal matter. As a Spirit, he looks for the heart;\na wrestling heart in prayer, a trembling heart in the Word (Isa.\nlxvi. 2). To bring nothing but the body when we come to a spiritual\nGod to beg spiritual benefits, to wait for spiritual communications,\nwhich can only be dispensed to us in a spiritual manner, is unsuitable\nto the spiritual nature of God. A mere carnal service implicitly\ndenies his spirituality, which requires of us higher engagements than\nmere corporeal ones. Worship should be rational, not an imaginative\nservice, wherein is required the activity of our noblest faculties;\nand our fancy ought to have no share in it, but in subserviency to\nthe more spiritual part of our soul.\n\n5. It is against the supremacy of God. As God is one and the only\nSovereign; so our hearts should be one, cleaving wholly to him, and\nundivided from him. In pretending to deal with him, we acknowledge his\ndeity and sovereignty; but in withholding our choicest faculties and\naffections from him, and the starting of our minds to vain objects,\nwe intimate their equality with God, and their right as well as his\nto our hearts and affections. It is as if a princess should commit\nadultery with some base scullion while she is before her husband,\nwhich would be a plain denial of his sole right to her. It intimates\nthat other things are superior to God; they are true sovereigns that\nengross our hearts. If a man were addressing himself to a prince, and\nshould in an instant turn his back upon him, upon a beck or nod from\nsome inconsiderable person; is it not an evidence that that person\nthat invited him away hath a greater sovereignty over him than that\nprince to whom he was applying himself? And do we not discard God\u2019s\nabsolute dominion over us, when, at the least beck of a corrupt\ninclination, we can dispose of our hearts to it, and alienate {a266}\nthem from God? as they, in Ezek. xxxiii. 32, left the service of God\nfor the service of their covetousness, which evidenced that they owned\nthe authority of sin more than the authority of God. This is not to\nserve God as our Lord and absolute Master, but to make God serve our\nturn, and submit his sovereignty to the supremacy of some unworthy\naffection. The creature is preferred before the Creator, when the\nheart runs most upon it in time of religious worship, and our own\ncarnal interest swallows up the affections that are due to God. It is\n\u201can idol set up in the heart\u201d (Ezek. xiv. 4) in his solemn presence,\nand attracts that devotion to itself which we only owe to our\nSovereign Lord; and the more base and contemptible that is to which\nthe spirit is devoted, the more contempt there is of God\u2019s dominion.\nJudas\u2019s kiss, with a \u201cHail Master!\u201d was no act of worship, or an\nowning his Master\u2019s authority, but a designing the satisfaction of\nhis covetousness in the betraying of him.\n\n6. It is against the wisdom of God. God, as a God of order, has put\nearthly things in subordination to heavenly; and we, by this unworthy\ncarriage, invert this order, and put heavenly things in subordination\nto earthly; in placing mean and low things in our hearts, and bringing\nthem so placed into God\u2019s presence, which his wisdom at the creation\nput under our feet. A service without spiritual affections is a\n\u201csacrifice of fools\u201d (Eccles. v. 1), which have lost their brains and\nunderstandings: a foolish spirit is very unsuitable to an infinitely\nwise God. Well may God say of such a one, as Achish of David, who\nseemed mad, \u201cWhy have you brought this fellow to play the madman in\nmy presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?\u201d (1 Sam. xxi. 15.)\n\n7. It is against the omnisciency of God. To carry it fair without,\nand impertinently within, is as though God had not an all\u2011seeing eye\nthat could pierce into the heart, and understand every motion of the\ninward faculties; as though God were easily cheated with an outward\nfawning service, like an apothecary\u2019s box with a gilded title, that\nmay be full of cobwebs within. What is such a carriage, but a design\nto deceive God, when, with Herod, we pretend to worship Christ, and\nintend to murder all the motions of Christ in our souls? A heedless\nspirit, an estrangement of our souls, a giving the reins to them to\nrun out from the presence of God to see every reed shaken with the\nwind, is to deny him to be the Searcher of hearts, and the Discerner\nof secret thoughts; as though he could not look through us to the\ndarkness and remoteness of our minds, but were an ignorant God, who\nmight be put off with the worst as well as the best in our flock. If\nwe did really believe there were a God of infinite knowledge, who saw\nour frames and whether we came dressed with wedding garments suitable\nto the duties we are about to perform, should we be so garish, and put\nhim off with such trivial stuff, without any reverence of his Majesty?\n\n8. It is against the holiness of God. To alienate our spirits is to\noffend him while we pretend to worship him; though we may be mighty\nofficious in the external part, yet our base and carnal affections\nmake all our worship but as a heap of dung; and who would not look\nupon it as an affront to lay dung before a prince\u2019s throne? {a267}\n(Prov. xxi. 27), \u201cThe sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination;\u201d how\nmuch more when he brings it with a wicked mind? A putrefied carcass\nunder the law had not been so great an affront to the holiness of God,\nas a frothy unmelted heart, and a wanton fancy, in a time of worship.\nGod is so holy, that if we could offer the worship of angels, and\nthe quintessence of our souls in his service, it would be beneath his\ninfinite purity; how unworthy, then, are they of him, when they are\npresented not only without the sense of our uncleanness, but sullied\nwith the fumes and exhalations of our corrupt affections, which are as\nso many plague\u2011spots upon our duties, contrary to the unspotted purity\nof the Divine nature? Is not this an unworthy conceit of God, and\ninjurious to his infinite holiness?\n\n9. It is against the love and kindness of God. It is a condescension\nin God to admit a piece of earth to offer up a duty to him, when\nhe hath myriads of angels to attend him in his court, and celebrate\nhis praise. To admit man to be an attendant on him, and a partner\nwith angels, is a high favor. It is not a single mercy, but a heap\nof mercies, to be admitted into the presence of God (Ps. v. 7): \u201cI\nwill come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercies.\u201d When the\nblessed God is so kind as to give us access to his majesty, do we not\nundervalue his kindness when we deal uncivilly with him, and deny him\nthe choicest part of ourselves? It is a contempt of his sovereignty,\nas our spirits are due to him by nature; a contempt of his goodness,\nas our spirits are due to him by gratitude. How abusive a carriage\nis it to make use of his mercy to encourage our impudence, that\nshould excite our fear and reverence! How unworthy would it be for\nan indigent debtor to bring to his indulgent creditor an empty purse\ninstead of payment! When God holds out his golden sceptre to encourage\nour approaches to him, stands ready to give us the pardon of sin and\nfull felicity, the best things he hath, is it a fit requital of his\nkindness to give him a formal outside only, a shadow of religion; to\nhave the heart overswayed with other thoughts and affections, as if\nall his proffers were so contemptible as to deserve only a slight at\nour hands? It is a contempt of the love and kindness of God.\n\n10. It is against the sufficiency and fulness of God. When we give God\nour bodies, and the creature our spirits, it intimates a conceit that\nthere is more content to be had in the creature than in God blessed\nforever; that the waters in the cistern are sweeter than those in\nthe fountain. Is not this a practical giving God the lie, and denying\nthose promises wherein he hath declared the satisfaction he can give\nto the spirit, as he is the God of the spirits of all flesh? If we\ndid imagine the excellency and loveliness of God were worthy to be\nthe ultimate object of our affections, the heart would attend more\nclosely upon him, and be terminated in him; did we believe God to\nbe all\u2011sufficient, full of grace and goodness, a tender Father, not\nwilling to forsake his own, willing, as well as able, to supply their\nwants, the heart would not so lamely attend upon him, and would not\nupon every impertinency be diverted from him. There is much of a wrong\nnotion of God, and a predominancy of the world above him in the heart,\nwhen we can more savorly relish the thoughts of {a268} low inferior\nthings than heavenly, and let our spirits upon every trifling occasion\nbe fugitive from him; it is a testimony that we make not God our\nchiefest good. If apprehensions of his excellency did possess our\nsouls, they would be fastened on him, glued to him; we should not\nlisten to that rabble of foolish thoughts that steal our hearts\nso often from him. Were our breathings after God as strong as the\npantings of the hart after the water\u2011brooks, we should be like that\ncreature, not diverted in our course by every puddle. Were God the\npredominant satisfactory object in our eye, he would carry our whole\nsoul along with him. When our spirits readily retreat from God in\nworship upon every giddy motion, it is a kind of repentance that ever\nwe did come near him, and implies that there is a fuller satisfaction,\nand more attractive excellency in that which doth so easily divert us,\nthan in that God to whose worship we did pretend to address ourselves.\nIt is as if, when we are petitioning a prince, we should immediately\nturn about, and make request to one of his guard, as though so mean a\nperson were more able to give us the boon we want than the sovereign\nis.\n\nII. Consideration by way of motive. To have our spirits off from God\nin worship is a bad sign: it was not so in innocence. The heart of\nAdam could cleave to God: the law of God was engraven upon him, he\ncould apply himself to the fulfilling of it without any twinkling.\nThere was no folly and vanity in his mind, no independency in his\nthoughts, no duty was his burden; for there was in him a proneness\nto, and a delight in, all the duties of worship. It is the fall hath\ndistempered us; and the more unwieldiness there is in our spirits, the\nmore carnal our affections are in worship, the more evidence there is\nof the strength of that revolted state.\n\n1. It argues much corruption in the heart. As by the eructations of\nthe stomach, we may judge of the windiness and foulness of it; so,\nby the inordinate motions of our minds and hearts, we may judge of\nthe weakness of its complexion. A strength of sin is evidenced by the\neruptions and ebullitions of it in worship, when they are more sudden,\nnumerous, and vigorous than the motions of grace. When the heart\nis apt, like tinder, to catch fire from Satan, it is a sign of much\ncombustible matter suitable to his temptation. Were not corruption\nstrong, the soul could not turn so easily from God when it is in his\npresence, and hath an advantageous opportunity to create a fear and\nawe of God in it. Such base fruit could not sprout up so suddenly,\nwere there not much sap and juice in the root of sin. What communion\nwith a living root can be evidenced without exercises of an inward\nlife? That spirit, which is a well of living waters in a gracious\nheart, will be especially springing up when it is before God.\n\n2. It shows much affection to earthly things, and little to heavenly.\nThere must needs be an inordinate affection to earthly things, when,\nupon every slight solicitation, we can part with God, and turn the\nback upon a service glorious for him and advantageous for ourselves,\nto wed our hearts to some idle fancy that signifies nothing. How\ncan we be said to entertain God in our affections, when we give\nhim not the precedency in our understandings, but let every {a269}\ntrifle jostle the sense of God out of our minds? Were our hearts\nfully determined to spiritual things, such vanities could not seat\nthemselves in our understandings, and divide our spirits from God.\nWere our hearts balanced with a love to God, the world could never\nsteal our hearts so much from his worship, but his worship would\ndraw our hearts to it. It shows a base neutrality in the greatest\nconcernments; a halting between God and Baal; a contrariety between\naffection and conscience, when natural conscience presses a man to\nduties of worship, and his other affections pull him back, draw him\nto carnal objects, and make him slight that whereby he may honor God.\nGod argues the profaneness of the Jews\u2019 hearts from the wickedness\nthey brought into his house, and acted there (Jer. xxiii. 11): \u201cYea,\nin my house,\u201d that is, my worship, \u201cI found their wickedness,\u201d saith\nthe Lord. Carnality in worship is a kind of an idolatrous frame;\nwhen the heart is renewed, idols are cast to the moles and the bats\n(Isa. ii. 20).\n\n3. It shows much hypocrisy to have our spirits off from God. The mouth\nspeaks, and the carriage pretends what the heart doth not think; there\nis a dissent of the heart from the pretence of the body. Instability\nis a sure sign of hypocrisy. Double thoughts argue a double heart.\nThe wicked are compared to chaff (Ps. i. 4), for the uncertain and\nvarious motions of their minds, by the least wind of fancy. The least\nmotion of a carnal object diverts the spirit from God, as the scent\nof carrion doth the raven from the flight it was set upon. The people\nof God are called God\u2019s spouse, and God calls himself their husband;\nwhereby is noted the most intimate union of the soul with God; and\nthat there ought to be the highest love and affection to him, and\nfaithfulness in his worship; but when the heart doth start from him\nin worship, it is a sign of the unsteadfastness of it with God, and\na disrelish of any communion with him; it is, as God complains of the\nIsraelites, a going a whoring after our own imaginations. As grace\nrespects God as the object of worship, so it looks most upon God in\napproaching to him. Where there is a likeness and love, there is a\ndesire of converse and intimacy; if there be no spiritual entwining\nabout God in our worship, it is a sign there is no likeness to him, no\ntrue sense of him, no renewed image of God in us; every living image\nwill move strongly to join itself with its original copy, and be glad,\nwith Jacob, to sit steadily in those chariots that shall convey him\nto his beloved Joseph.\n\nIII. Consider the danger of a carnal worship.\n\n1. We lose the comfort of worship. The soul is a great gainer when it\noffers a spiritual worship, and as great a loser when it is unfaithful\nwith God. Treachery and perfidiousness hinder commerce among men;\nso doth hypocrisy in its own nature communion with God. God never\npromised anything to the carcass, but to the spirit of worship. God\nhath no obligation upon him, by any word of his, to reward us with\nhimself, when we perform it not to himself; when we give an outside\nworship, we have only the outside of an ordinance; we can expect\nno kernel, when we give God only the shell: he that only licks the\noutside of the glass, can never be refreshed {a270} with the rich\ncordial enclosed within. A cold and lazy formality will make God\nto withdraw the light of his countenance, and not shine with any\ndelightful communications upon our souls; but if we come before him\nwith a liveliness of affections, and steadiness of heart, he will draw\nthe veil, and cause his glory to display itself before us. An humble\npraying Christian, and a warm, affectionate Christian in worship, will\nsoon find a God who is delighted with such frames, and cannot long\nwithhold himself from the soul. When our hearts are inflamed with love\nto him in worship, it is a preparation to some act of love on his part,\nwhereby he intends further to gratify us. When John was in the Spirit\non the Lord\u2019s day, that is, in spiritual employment, and meditation,\nand other duties, he had that great revelation of what should happen\nto the church in all ages (Rev. i. 10); his being in the Spirit,\nintimates his ordinary course on that day, and not any extraordinary\nact in him, though it was followed with an extraordinary discovery\nof God to him; when he was thus engaged, \u201che heard a voice behind\nhim.\u201d God doth not require of us spirituality in worship to advantage\nhimself, but that we might be prepared to be advantaged by him. If we\nhave a clear and well\u2011disposed eye, it is not a benefit to the sun,\nbut fits us to receive benefits from his beams. Worship is an act that\nperfects our own souls; they are then most widened by spiritual frames,\nto receive the influence of divine blessings, as an eye most opened\nreceives the fruit of the sun\u2019s light better than the eye that is shut.\nThe communications of God are more or less, according as our spiritual\nframes are more or less in our worship; God will not give his\nblessings to unsuitable hearts. What a nasty vessel is a carnal heart\nfor a spiritual communication! The chief end of every duty enjoined\nby God, is to have communion with him; and therefore it is called a\ndrawing near to God; it is impossible, therefore, that the outward\npart of any duty can answer the end of God in his institution. It is\nnot a bodily appearance or gesture whereby men can have communion with\nGod, but by the impressions of the heart, and reflections of the heart\nupon God; without this, all the rich streams of grace will run beside\nus, and the growth of the soul be hindered and impaired. A \u201cdiligent\nhand makes rich,\u201d saith the wise man; a diligent heart in spiritual\nworship, brings in rich incomes to the humble and spiritual soul.\n\n2. It renders the worship not only unacceptable, but abominable\nto God. It makes our gold to become dross, it soils our duties, and\nbespots our souls. A carnal and unsteady frame shows an indifferency\nof spirit at best; and lukewarmness is as ungrateful to God, as heavy\nand nauseous meat is to the stomach; he \u201cspews them out of his mouth\u201d\n(Rev. iii. 16). As our gracious God doth overlook infirmities where\nintentions are good, and endeavors serious and strong; so he loathes\nthe services where the frames are stark naught (Ps. lxvi. 18): \u201cIf\nI regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer.\u201d\nLukewarm and indifferent services stink in the nostrils of God. The\nheart seems to loathe God when it starts from him upon every occasion,\nwhen it is unwilling to employ itself about, and stick close to him:\nand can God be pleased with such a frame? The {a271} more of the\nheart and spirit is in any service, the more real goodness there\nis in it, and the more savory it is to God; the less of the heart\nand spirit, the less of goodness, and the more nauseous to God, who\nloves righteousness and \u201ctruth in the inward parts\u201d (Ps. li. 6).\nAnd therefore infinite goodness and holiness cannot but hate worship\npresented to him with deceitful, carnal, and flitting affections; they\nmust be more nauseous to God, than a putrefied carcass can be to man;\nthey are the profanings of that which should be the habitation of the\nSpirit; they make the spirit, the seat of duty, a filthy dunghill;\nand are as loathsome to God, as money\u2011changers in the temple were to\nour Saviour. We see the evil of carnal frames, and the necessity and\nbenefit of spiritual frames: for further help in this last, let us\npractise these following directions:\n\n1. Keep up spiritual frames out of worship. To avoid low affections,\nwe must keep our hearts as much as we can in a settled elevation. If\nwe admit unworthy dispositions at one time, we shall not easily be rid\nof them in another;[529] as he that would not be bitten with gnats in\nthe night, must keep his windows shut in the day: when they are once\nentered, it is not easy to expel them; in which respect, one adviseth\nto be such out of worship as we would be in worship. If we mix\nspiritual affections with our worldly employments, worldly affections\nwill not mingle themselves so easily with our heavenly engagements.\nIf our hearts be spiritual in our outward calling, they will scarce be\ncarnal in our religious service. If \u201cwe walk in the Spirit, we shall\nnot fulfil the lusts of the flesh\u201d (Gal. v. 16). A spiritual walk in\nthe day will hinder carnal lustings in worship. The fire was to be\nkept alive upon the altar, when sacrifices were not offered, from\nmorning till night, from night till morning, as well as in the very\ntime of sacrifice. A spiritual life and vigor out of worship would\nrender it at its season sweet and easy, and preserve a spontaneity\nand preparedness to it, and make it both natural and pleasant to us.\nAnything that doth unhinge and discompose our spirits, is inconsistent\nwith religious services, which are to be performed with the greatest\nsedateness and gravity. All irregular passions disturb the serenity of\nthe spirit, and open the door for Satan: saith the apostle (Eph. iv.\n26, 27), \u201cLet not the sun go down upon your wrath; neither give place\nto the devil.\u201d Where wrath breaks the lock, the devil will quickly\nbe over the threshold; and though they be allayed, yet they leave\nthe heart sometime after, like the sea rolling and swelling after\nthe storm is ceased. Mixture with ill company leaves a tincture upon\nus in worship. Ephraim\u2019s allying himself with the Gentiles, bred an\nindifferency in religion (Hos. vii. 8): \u201cEphraim hath mixed himself\nwith the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned:\u201d it will make our\nhearts, and consequently our services, half dough, as well as half\nbaked; these and the like, make the Holy Spirit withdraw himself, and\nthen the soul is like a wind\u2011bound vessel, and can make no way. When\nthe sun departs from us, it carries its beams away with it; then \u201cdoth\ndarkness spread itself over the earth, and the beasts of the forests\ncreep out\u201d (Ps. civ. 20). When the Spirit withdraws awhile from a\ngood man, it carries {272} away (though not habitual, yet) much of\nthe exciting and assisting grace; and then carnal dispositions perk\nup themselves from the bosom of natural corruption. To be spiritual\nin worship, we must bar the door at other times against that which\nis contrary to it; as he that would not be infected with a contagious\ndisease, carries some preservative about with him, and inures himself\nto good scents. To this end, be much in secret ejaculations to God;\nthese are the purest nights of the soul, that have more of fervor and\nless of carnality; they preserve a liveliness in the spirit, and make\nit more fit to perform solemn stated worship with greater freedom and\nactivity; a constant use of this would make our whole lives, lives of\nworship. As frequent sinful acts strengthen habits of sin, so frequent\nreligious acts strengthen habits of grace.\n\n2. Excite and exercise particularly a love to God, and dependence on\nhim. Love is a commanding affection, a uniting grace; it draws all\nthe faculties of the soul to one centre. The soul that loves God, when\nit hath to do with him, is bound to the beloved object; it can mind\nnothing else during such impressions. When the affection is set to\nthe worship of God, everything the soul hath will be bestowed upon it;\nas David\u2019s disposition was to the temple (1 Chron. xxix. 3). Carnal\nframes, like the fowls, will be lighting upon the sacrifice, but not\nwhen it is inflamed; though the scent of the flesh invite them, yet\nthe heat of the fire drives them to their distance. A flaming love\nwill singe the flies that endeavor to interrupt and disturb us. The\nhappiness of heaven consists in a full attraction of the soul to God,\nby his glorious influence upon it; there will be such a diffusion of\nhis goodness throughout the souls of the blessed, as will unite the\naffections perfectly to him; these affections which are scattered here,\nwill be there gathered into one flame, moving to him, and centering in\nhim: therefore, the more of a heavenly frame possesses our affections\nhere, the more settled and uniform will our hearts be in all their\nmotions to God, and operations about him. Excite a dependence on him:\n(Prov. xvi. 3) \u201cCommit thy works to the Lord, and thy thoughts shall\nbe established.\u201d Let us go out in God\u2019s strength, and not in our own;\nvain is the help of man in anything, and vain is the help of the heart.\nIt is through God only we can do valiantly in spiritual concerns as\nwell as temporal; the want of this makes but slight impressions upon\nthe spirit.\n\n3. Nourish right conceptions of the majesty of God in your minds.\nLet us consider that we are drawing to God, the most amiable object,\nthe best of beings, worthy of infinite honor, and highly meriting the\nhighest affections we can give; a God that made the world by a word,\nthat upholds the great frame of heaven and earth; a Majesty above\nthe conceptions of angels; who uses not his power to strike us to our\ndeserved punishment, but his love and bounty to allure us; a God that\ngave all the creatures to serve us, and can, in a trice, make them as\nmuch our enemies as he hath now made them our servants. Let us view\nhim in his greatness, and in his goodness, that our hearts may have a\ntrue value of the worship of so great a majesty, and count it the most\nworthy employment with all diligence to attend upon him. When we have\na fear of God, it will make our worship {a273} serious; when we have\na joy in God, it will make our worship durable. Our affections will be\nraised when we represent God in the most reverential, endearing, and\nobliging circumstances. We honor the majesty of God, when we consider\nhim with due reverence according to the greatness and perfection of\nhis works, and in this reverence of his majesty doth worship chiefly\nconsist. Low thoughts of God will make low frames in us before him.\nIf we thought God an infinite glorious Spirit, how would our hearts\nbe lower than our knees in his presence! How humbly, how believingly\npleading is the Psalmist, when he considers God to be without\ncomparison in the heavens; to whom none of the sons of the mighty\ncan be likened; when there was none like to him in strength and\nfaithfulness round about (Ps. lxxxix 6\u20128). We should have also deep\nimpressions of the omniscience of God, and remember we have to deal\nwith a God that searcheth the heart and trieth the reins, to whom the\nmost secret temper is as visible as the loudest words are audible;\nthat though man judges by outward expressions, God judges by inward\naffections. As the law of God regulates the inward frames of the heart,\nso the eye of God pitches upon the inward intentions of the soul.\nIf God were visibly present with us, should we not approach to him\nwith strong affections, summon our spirits to attend upon him, behave\nourselves modestly before him? Let us consider he is as really present\nwith us, as if he were visible to us; let us, therefore, preserve\na strong sense of the presence of God. No man, but one out of his\nwits, when he were in the presence of a prince, and making a speech\nto him, would break off at every period, and run after the catching of\nbutterflies. Remember in all worship you are before the Lord, to whom\nall things are open and naked.\n\n4. Let us take heed of inordinate desires after the world. As the\nworld steals away a man\u2019s heart from the word, so it doth from all\nother worship; \u201cIt chokes the word\u201d (Matt. xiii. 27); it stifles all\nthe spiritual breathings after God in every duty; the edge of the soul\nis blunted by it, and made too dull for such sublime exercises. The\napostle\u2019s rule in prayer, when he joins \u201csobriety with watching unto\nprayer\u201d (1 Pet. iv. 7), is of concern in all worship, sobriety in the\npursuit and use of all worldly things. A man drunk with worldly fumes\ncannot watch, cannot be heavenly, affectionate, spiritual in service.\nThere is a magnetic force in the earth to hinder our flights to heaven.\nBirds, when they take their first flights from the earth, have more\nflutterings of their wings, than when they are mounted further in the\nair, and got more without the sphere of the earth\u2019s attractiveness:\nthe motion of their wings is more steady, that you can perceive them\nstir; they move like a ship with a full gale. The world is a clog\nupon the soul, and a bar to spiritual frames; it is as hard to elevate\nthe heart to God in the midst of a hurry of worldly affairs, as it is\ndifficult to meditate when we are near a great noise of waters falling\nfrom a precipice, or in the midst of a volley of muskets. Thick clayey\naffections bemire the heart, and make it unfit for such high flights\nit is to take in worship; therefore, get your hearts clear from\nworldly thoughts and desires, if you would be more spiritual in\nworship.\n\n{a274} 5. Let us be deeply sensible of our present wants, and the\nsupplies we may meet with in worship. Cold affections to the things we\nwould have will grow cooler; weakness of desire for the communications\nin worship, will freeze our hearts at the time of worship, and make\nway for vain and foolish diversions. A beggar that is ready to perish,\nand knows he is next door to ruin, will not slightly and dully beg an\nalms, and will not be diverted from his importunity by every slight\ncall, or the moving of an atom in the air. Is it pardon we would have?\nlet us apprehend the blackness of sin, with the aggravations of it\nas it respects God; let us be deeply sensible of the want of pardon\nand worth of mercy, and get your affections into such a frame as\na condemned man would do; let us consider, that as we are now at\nthe throne of God\u2019s grace, we shall shortly be at the bar of God\u2019s\njustice; and if the soul should be forlorn there, how fixedly and\nearnestly would it plead for mercy! Let us endeavor to stir up the\nsame affections now, which we have seen some dying men have, and\nwhich we suppose despairing souls would have done at God\u2019s tribunal.\nWe must be sensible that the life or death of our souls depends upon\nworship.[530] Would we not be ashamed to be ridiculous in our carriage\nwhile we are eating; and shall we not be ashamed to be cold or garish\nbefore God, when the salvation of our souls, as well as the honor of\nGod, is concerned? If we did see the heaps of sins, the eternity of\npunishment due to them; if we did see an angry and offended Judge; if\nwe did see the riches of mercy, the glorious outgoings of God in the\nsanctuary, the blessed doles he gives out to men when they spiritually\nattend upon him, both the one and the other would make us perform our\nduties humbly, sincerely, earnestly, and affectionately, and wait upon\nhim with our whole souls, to have misery averted, and mercy bestowed.\nLet our sense of this be encouraged by the consideration of our\nSaviour presenting his merits; with what affection doth he present his\nmerits, his blood shed upon the cross, now in heaven? And shall our\nhearts be cold and frozen, flitting and unsteady, when his affections\nare so much concerned? Christ doth not present any man\u2019s case and\nduties without a sense of his wants; and shall we have none of\nour own? Let me add this; let us affect our hearts with a sense of\nwhat supplies we have met with in former worship; the delightful\nremembrance of what converse we have had with God in former worship\nwould spiritualize our hearts for the present worship. Had Peter had\na view of Christ\u2019s glory in the mount fresh in his thoughts, he would\nnot so easily have turned his back upon his Master, nor would the\nIsraelites have been at leisure for their idolatry, had they preserved\nthe sense of the majesty of God discovered in his late thunders from\nMount Sinai.\n\n6. If anything intrudes that may choke the worship, cast it speedily\nout. We cannot hinder Satan and our own corruption from presenting\ncoolers to us, but we may hinder the success of them; we cannot hinder\nthe gnats from buzzing about us when we are in our business, but we\nmay prevent them from settling upon us. A man that is running on a\nconsiderable errand, will shun all unnecessary discourse, that may\nmake him forget or loiter in his business. What {a275} though there\nmay be something offered that is good in itself, yet if it hath a\ntendency to despoil God of his honor, and ourselves of the spiritual\nintentness in worship, send it away. Those that weed a field of\ncorn, examine not the nature and particular virtues of the weeds, but\nconsider only how they choke the corn, to which the native juice of\nthe soil is designed. Consider what you are about; and if anything\ninterpose that may divert you, or cool your affections in your present\nworship, cast it out.\n\n7. As to private worship, let us lay hold of the most melting\nopportunities and frames. When we find our hearts in a more than\nordinary spiritual frame, let us look upon it as a call from God to\nattend him; such impressions and notions are God\u2019s voice, inviting\nus into communion with him in some particular act of worship, and\npromising us some success in it. When the Psalmist had a secret\nmotion to \u201cseek God\u2019s face\u201d (Ps. xxvii. 8), and complied with it,\nthe issue is the encouragement of his heart, which breaks out into\nan exhortation to others to be of good courage, and wait on the Lord\n(v. 13, 14): \u201cWait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall\nstrengthen thy heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.\u201d One blow will do more\non the iron when it is hot, than a hundred when it is cold; melted\nmetals may be stamped with any impression; but, once hardened, will\nwith difficulty be brought into the figure we intend.[531]\n\n8. Let us examine ourselves at the end of every act of worship, and\nchide ourselves for any carnality we perceive in them. Let us take a\nreview of them, and examine the reason, why art thou so low and carnal,\nO my soul? as David did of his disquietedness (Ps. xlii. 5): \u201cWhy art\nthou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me?\u201d\nIf any unworthy frames have surprised us in worship, let us seek them\nout after worship; call them to the bar; make an exact scrutiny into\nthe causes of them, that we may prevent their incursions another time;\nlet our pulses beat quick by way of anger and indignation against\nthem; this would be a repairing what hath been amiss; otherwise they\nmay grow, and clog an after\u2011worship more than they did a former.\nDaily examination is an antidote against the temptations of the\nfollowing day, and constant examination of ourselves after duty is a\npreservative against vain encroachments in following duties; and upon\nthe finding them out, let us apply the blood of Christ by faith for\nour cure, and draw strength from the death of Christ for the conquest\nof them, and let us also be humbled for them. God lifts up the humble;\nwhen we are humbled for our carnal frames in one duty, we shall find\nourselves by the grace of God more elevated in the next.\n\n\n\n\n{a276}                       DISCOURSE V.\n\n                       ON THE ETERNITY OF GOD.\n\n  PSALM xc. 2.\u2015\u2015Before the mountains were brought forth, or\n    ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from\n    everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.\n\n\nTHE title of this psalm is a prayer; the author, Moses. Some think\nnot only this, but the ten following psalms, were composed by him. The\ntitle wherewith he is dignified is, \u201cThe man of God,\u201d as also in Deut.\nxxxiii. 1. One inspired by him to be his interpreter, and deliver his\noracles; one particularly directed by him;[532] one who as a servant\ndid diligently employ himself in his master\u2019s business, and acted for\nthe glory of God;[533] he was the minister of the Old Testament, and\nthe prophet of the New.[534]\n\nThere are two parts of this psalm. 1. A complaint of the frailty of\nman\u2019s life in general (v. 3\u20126); and then a particular complaint of\nthe condition of the church (v. 8\u201210). 2. A prayer (v. 12). But before\nhe speaks of the shortness of human life, he fortifies them by the\nconsideration of the refuge they had, and should find in God (v. 1):\n\u201cLord, thou hast been our dwelling\u2011place in all generations.\u201d We have\nhad no settled abode in the earth, since the time of Abraham\u2019s being\ncalled out from Ur of the Chaldees. We have had Canaan in a promise,\nwe have it not yet in possession; we have been exposed to the\ncruelties of an oppressing enemy, and the incommodities of a desert\nwilderness; we have wanted the fruits of the earth, but not the dews\nof heaven. \u201cThou hast been our dwelling\u2011place in all generations.\u201d\nAbraham was under thy conduct; Isaac and Jacob under thy care; their\nposterity was multiplied by thee, and that under their oppressions.\nThou hast been our shield against dangers, our security in the times\nof trouble; when we were pursued to the Red Sea, it was not a creature\ndelivered us; and when we feared the pinching of our bowels in the\ndesert, it was no creature rained manna upon us. Thou hast been\nour dwelling\u2011place; thou hast kept open house for us, sheltered us\nagainst storms, and preserved us from mischief, as a house doth an\ninhabitant from wind and weather; and that not in one or two, but in\nall generations. Some think an allusion is here made to the ark, to\nwhich they were to have recourse in all emergencies. Our refuge and\ndefence hath not been from created things; not from the ark, but from\nthe God of the ark. Observe,\n\n1. God is a perpetual refuge and security to his people. His\nprovidence is not confined to one generation; it is not one age {a277}\nonly that tastes of his bounty and compassion. His eye never yet slept,\nnor hath he suffered the little ship of his church to be swallowed up,\nthough it hath been tossed upon the waves; he hath always been a haven\nto preserve us, a house to secure us; he hath always had compassions\nto pity us, and power to protect us; he hath had a face to shine,\nwhen the world hath had an angry countenance to frown.[535] He brought\nEnoch home by an extraordinary translation from a brutish world; and\nwhen he was resolved to reckon with men for their brutish lives, he\nlodged Noah, the ph\u0153nix of the world, in an ark, and kept him alive\nas a spark in the midst of many waters, whereby to rekindle a church\nin the world; in all generations he is a dwelling\u2011place to secure his\npeople here, or entertain them above. His providence is not wearied,\nnor his care fainting; he never wanted will to relieve us, \u201cfor he\nhath been our refuge,\u201d nor ever can want power to support us, \u201cfor he\nis a God from everlasting to everlasting.\u201d The church never wanted a\npilot to steer her, and a rock to shelter her, and dash in pieces the\nwaves which threaten her.\n\n2. How worthy is it to remember former benefits, when we come to\nbeg for new. Never were the records of God\u2019s mercies so exactly\nrevised, as when his people have stood in need of new editions of\nhis power. How necessary are our wants to stir us up to pay the rent\nof thankfulness in arrear! He renders himself doubly unworthy of the\nmercies he wants, that doth not gratefully acknowledge the mercies he\nhath received. God scarce promised any deliverance to the Israelites,\nand they, in their distress, scarce prayed for any deliverance; but\nthat from Egypt was mentioned on both sides, by God to encourage them,\nand by them to acknowledge their confidence in him. The greater our\ndangers, the more we should call to mind God\u2019s former kindness. We\nare not only thankfully to acknowledge the mercies bestowed upon our\npersons, or in our age, but those of former times. \u201cThou hast been our\ndwelling\u2011place in all generations.\u201d Moses was not living in the former\ngenerations, yet he appropriates the former mercies to the present age.\nMercies, as well as generations, proceed out of the loins of those\nthat have gone before. All mankind are but one Adam; the whole church\nbut one body. In the second verse he backs his former consideration.\n1. By the greatness of his power in forming the world. 2. By the\nboundlessness of his duration: \u201cFrom everlasting to everlasting.\u201d As\nthou hast been our dwelling\u2011place, and expended upon us the strength\nof thy power and riches of thy love, so we have no reason to doubt\nthe continuance on thy part, if we be not wanting on our parts; for\nthe vast mountains and fruitful earth are the works of thy hands, and\nthere is less power requisite for our relief, than there was for their\ncreation; and though so much strength hath been upon various occasions\nmanifested, yet thy arm is not weakened, for \u201cfrom everlasting to\neverlasting thou art God.\u201d[536] Thou hast always been God, and no\ntime can be assigned as the beginning of thy being.[537] The mountains\nare not of so long a standing as thyself; they are {a278} the effects\nof thy power, and therefore cannot be equal to thy duration; since\nthey are the effects, they suppose the precedency of their cause.\nIf we would look back, we can reach no further than the beginning of\nthe creation, and account the years from the first foundation of the\nworld; but after that we must lose ourselves in the abyss of eternity;\nwe have no cue to guide our thoughts; we can see no bounds in thy\neternity. But as for man, he traverseth the world a few days, and\nby thy order pronounced concerning all men, returns to the dust, and\nmoulders into the grave. By mountains, some understand angels, as\nbeing creatures of a more elevated nature; by earth, they understand\nhuman nature, the earth being the habitation of men. There is no\nneed to divert in this place from the letter to such a sense. The\ndescription seems to be poetical, and amounts to this: he neither\nbegan with the beginning of time, nor will expire with the end of it;\nhe did not begin when he made himself known to our fathers, but his\nbeing did precede the creation of the world, before any created being\nwas formed, and any time settled.[538] \u201cBefore the mountains were\nbrought forth,\u201d or before they were begotten or born; the word being\nused in those senses in Scripture; before they stood up higher than\nthe rest of the earthly mass God had created. It seems that mountains\nwere not casually cast up by the force of the deluge softening the\nground, and driving several parcels of it together, to grow up into a\nmassy body, as the sea doth the sand in several places; but they were\nat first formed by God. The eternity of God is here described,\n\n1. In his priority: \u201cBefore the world.\u201d\n\n2. In the extension of his duration: \u201cFrom everlasting to everlasting\nthou art God.\u201d He was before the world, yet he neither began nor ends;\nhe is not a temporary, but an eternal God; it takes in both parts\nof eternity, what was before the creation of the world, and what is\nafter; though the eternity of God be one permanent state, without\nsuccession, yet the spirit of God, suiting himself to the weakness\nof our conception, divides it into two parts; one past before the\nfoundation of the world, another to come after the destruction of the\nworld; as he did exist before all ages, and as he will exist after\nall ages. Many truths lie couched in the verse.\n\n1. The world hath a beginning of being: it was not from eternity, it\nwas once nothing; had it been of a very long duration, some records\nwould have remained of some memorable actions done of a longer date\nthan any extant. 2. The world owes its being to the creating power of\nGod: \u201cThou hast formed it\u201d out of nothing into being; Thou, that is,\nGod; it could not spring into being of itself; it was nothing; it must\nhave a former. 3. God was in being before the world: the cause must\nbe before the effect; that word which gives being, must be before\nthat which receives being. 4. This Being was from eternity: \u201cFrom\neverlasting.\u201d 5. This Being shall endure to eternity: \u201cTo everlasting.\u201d\n6. There is but one God, one eternal: \u201cFrom everlasting to everlasting,\nthou art {a279} God.\u201d None else but one hath the property of eternity;\nthe gods of the heathen cannot lay claim to it.\n\n_Doct._ God is of an eternal duration. The eternity of God is the\nfoundation of the stability of the covenant, the great comfort of a\nChristian. The design of God in Scripture is, to set forth his dealing\nwith men in the way of a covenant. The priority of God before all\nthings begins the Bible: \u201cIn the beginning God created\u201d (Gen. i. 1).\nHis covenant can have no foundation, but in his duration before and\nafter the world:[539] and Moses here mentions his eternity, not only\nwith respect to the essence of God, but to his federal providence;\nas he is the dwelling\u2011place of his people in all generations. The\nduration of God forever is more spoken of in Scripture than his\neternity, _\u00e0 parte ante_, though that is the foundation of all the\ncomfort we can take from his immortality: if he had a beginning, he\nmight have an end, and so all our happiness, hope and being would\nexpire with him; but the Scripture sometimes takes notice of his being\nwithout beginning, as well as without end: \u201cThou art from everlasting\u201d\n(Ps. xciii. 2); \u201cBlessed be God from everlasting to everlasting\u201d (Ps.\nxli. 13); \u201cI was set up from everlasting\u201d (Prov. viii. 23): if his\nwisdom were from everlasting, himself was from everlasting: whether we\nunderstand it of Christ the Son of God, or of the essential wisdom of\nGod, it is all one to the present purpose. The wisdom of God supposeth\nthe essence of God, as habits in creatures suppose the being of some\npower or faculty as their subject. The wisdom of God supposeth mind\nand understanding, essence and substance. The notion of eternity is\ndifficult; as Austin said of time,[540] if no man will ask me the\nquestion, what time is, I know well enough what it is; but if any ask\nme what it is, I know not how to explain it; so may I say of eternity;\nit is easy in the word pronounced, but hardly understood, and more\nhardly expressed; it is better expressed by negative than positive\nwords. Though we cannot comprehend eternity, yet we may comprehend\nthat there is an eternity; as, though we cannot comprehend the\nessence of God what he is, yet we may comprehend that he is; we may\nunderstand the notion of his existence, though we cannot understand\nthe infiniteness of his nature; yet we may better understand eternity\nthan infiniteness; we can better conceive a time with the addition of\nnumberless days and years, than imagine a Being without bounds; whence\nthe apostle joins his eternity with his power; \u201cHis eternal power and\nGodhead\u201d (Rom. i. 20); because, next to the power of God, apprehended\nin the creature, we come necessarily by reasoning, to acknowledge\nthe eternity of God. He that hath an incomprehensible power must\nneeds have an eternity of nature; his power is most sensible in the\ncreatures to the eye of man, and his eternity easily from thence\ndeducible by the reason of man. Eternity is a perpetual duration,\nwhich hath neither beginning nor end; time hath both. Those things\nwe say are in time that have beginning, grow up by degrees, have\nsuccession of parts; eternity is contrary to time, and is therefore\na permanent and immutable state; a perfect possession {a280} of life\nwithout any variation; it comprehends in itself all years, all ages,\nall periods of ages; it never begins; it endures after every duration\nof time, and never ceaseth; it doth as much outrun time, as it went\nbefore the beginning of it: time supposeth something before it; but\nthere can be nothing before eternity; it were not then eternity. Time\nhath a continual succession; the former time passeth away and another\nsucceeds: the last year is not this year, nor this year the next.\nWe must conceive of eternity contrary to the notion of time; as the\nnature of time consists in the succession of parts, so the nature of\neternity in an infinite immutable duration. Eternity and time differ\nas the sea and rivers; the sea never changes place, and is always\none water; but the rivers glide along, and are swallowed up in the\nsea; so is time by eternity.[541] A thing is said to be eternal, or\neverlasting rather, in Scripture,\n\n1. When it is of a long duration, though it will have an end; when\nit hath no measures of time determined to it; so circumcision is said\nto be in the flesh for an \u201ceverlasting covenant\u201d (Gen. xvii. 13); not\npurely everlasting, but so long as that administration of the covenant\nshould endure. And so when a servant would not leave his master,\nbut would have his ear bored, it is said, he should be a servant\n\u201cforever\u201d (Deut. xv. 17); _i. e._ till the jubilee, which was every\nfiftieth year: so the meat\u2011offering they were to offer is said to\nbe \u201cperpetual\u201d (Lev. vi. 20); Canaan is said to be given to Abraham\nfor an \u201ceverlasting\u201d possession (Gen. xvii. 8); when as the Jews are\nexpelled from Canaan, which is given a prey to the barbarous nations.\nIndeed circumcision was not everlasting; yet the substance of the\ncovenant whereof this was a sign, viz., that God would be the God of\nbelievers, endures forever; and that circumcision of the heart, which\nwas signified by circumcision of the flesh, shall remain forever in\nthe kingdom of glory: it was not so much the lasting of the sign, as\nof the thing signified by it, and the covenant sealed by it: the sign\nhad its abolition; so that the apostle is so peremptory in it, that he\nasserts, that if any went about to establish it, he excluded himself\nfrom a participation of Christ (Gal. v. 2). The sacrifices were to be\nperpetual, in regard to the thing signified by them; viz., the death\nof Christ, which was to endure in the efficacy of it: and the passover\nwas to be \u201cforever\u201d (Exod. xii. 24), in regard of the redemption\nsignified by it, which was to be of everlasting remembrance. Canaan\nwas to be an everlasting possession, in regard of the glory of heaven\ntypified, to be forever conferred upon the spiritual seed of Abraham.\n\n2. When a thing hath no end, though it hath a beginning. So angels and\nsouls are everlasting; though their being shall never cease, yet there\nwas a time when their being began; they were nothing before they were\nsomething, though they shall never be nothing again, but shall live\nin endless happiness or misery. But that properly is eternal that hath\nneither beginning nor end; and thus eternity is a property of God.\n\nIn this doctrine I shall show, I. How God is eternal, or in what\nrespects eternity is his property. II. That he is eternal, and must\n{a281} needs be so. III. That eternity is only proper to God, and not\ncommon to him with any creature. IV. The use.\n\nI. How God is eternal, or in what respects he is so. Eternity is a\nnegative attribute, and is a denying of God any measures of time, as\nimmensity is a denying of him any bounds of place. As immensity is the\ndiffusion of his essence, so eternity is the duration of his essence;\nand when we say God is eternal, we exclude from him all possibility\nof beginning and ending, all flux and change. As the essence of God\ncannot be bounded by any place, so it is not to be limited by any time:\nas it is his immensity to be everywhere, so it is his eternity to be\nalway. As created things are said to be somewhere in regard of place,\nand to be present, past, or future, in regard of time; so the Creator\nin regard of place is everywhere, in regard of time is _semper_.[542]\nHis duration is as endless as his essence is boundless: he always\nwas and always will be, and will no more have an end than he had\na beginning; and this is an excellency belonging to the Supreme\nBeing.[543] As his essence comprehends all beings, and exceeds them,\nand his immensity surmounts all places; so his eternity comprehends\nall times, all durations, and infinitely excels them.[544]\n\n1. God is without beginning. \u201cIn the beginning\u201d God created the world\n(Gen. i. 1). God was then before the beginning of it; and what point\ncan be set wherein God began, if he were before the beginning of\ncreated things? God was without beginning, though all other things\nhad time and beginning from him. As unity is before all numbers, so\nis God before all his creatures. Abraham called upon the name of the\neverlasting God (Gen. xxi. 33) the eternal God.[545]\u2015\u2015It is opposed to\nthe heathen gods, which were but of yesterday, new coined, and so new;\nbut the eternal God was before the world was made. In that sense it is\nto be understood; \u201cThe mystery which was kept secret since the world\nbegan, but now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets,\naccording to the command of the everlasting God, made known to all\nnations for the obedience of faith\u201d (Rom. xvi. 26). The gospel is not\npreached by the command of a new and temporary god, but of that God\nthat was before all ages: though the manifestation of it be in time,\nyet the purpose and resolve of it was from eternity. If there were\ndecrees before the foundation of the world, there was a Decreer\nbefore the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the\nworld he loved Christ as a Mediator; a fore\u2011ordination of him was\nbefore the foundation of the world (John xvii. 24); a choice of men,\nand therefore a Chooser before the foundation of the world (Eph. i. 4);\na grace given in Christ before the world began (2 Tim. i. 9), and\ntherefore a Donor of that grace. From those places, saith Crellius,\nit appears that God was before the foundation of the world, but they\ndo not assert an absolute eternity; but to be before all creatures\nis equivalent to his being from eternity.[546] Time began with\nthe foundation of the world; but God being before time, could have\nno beginning in time. Before the beginning of the creation, and\nthe beginning of {a282} time, there could be nothing but eternity;\nnothing but what was uncreated, that is, nothing but what was without\nbeginning. To be in time is to have a beginning; to be before all time\nis never to have a beginning, but always to be; for as between the\nCreator and creatures there is no medium, so between time and eternity\nthere is no medium. It is as easily deduced that he that was before\nall creatures is eternal, as he that made all creatures is God. If\nhe had a beginning, he must have it from another, or from himself;\nif from another, that from whom he received his being would be better\nthan he, so more a God than he. He cannot be God that is not supreme;\nhe cannot be supreme that owes his being to the power of another. He\nwould not be said only to have immortality as he is (1 Tim. vi. 16),\nif he had it dependent upon another; nor could he have a beginning\nfrom himself; if he had given beginning to himself, then he was once\nnothing; there was a time when he was not; if he was not, how could he\nbe the Cause of himself? It is impossible for any to give a beginning\nand being to itself: if it acts it must exist, and so exist before\nit existed. A thing would exist as a cause before it existed as an\neffect. He that is not, cannot be the cause that he is; if, therefore,\nGod doth exist, and hath not his being from another, he must exist\nfrom eternity. Therefore, when we say God is of and from himself,\nwe mean not that God gave being to himself; but it is negatively\nto be understood that he hath no cause of existence without himself.\nWhatsoever number of millions of millions of years we can imagine\nbefore the creation of the world, yet God was infinitely before those;\nhe is therefore called the \u201cAncient of Days\u201d (Dan. vii. 9), as being\nbefore all days and time, and eminently containing in himself all\ntimes and ages. Though, indeed, God cannot properly be called ancient,\nthat will testify that he is decaying, and shortly will not be; no\nmore than he can be called young, which would signify that he was not\nlong before. All created things are new and fresh; but no creature can\nfind out any beginning of God: it is impossible there should be any\nbeginning of him.\n\n2. God is without end. He always was, always is, and always will\nbe what he is. He remains always the same in being; so far from any\nchange, that no shadow of it can touch him (James i. 17). He will\ncontinue in being as long as he hath already enjoyed it; and if we\ncould add never so many millions of years together, we are still\nas far from an end as from a beginning; for \u201cthe Lord shall endure\nforever\u201d (Ps. ix. 7). As it is impossible he should not be, being\nfrom all eternity, so it is impossible that he should not be to all\neternity. The Scripture is most plentiful in testimonies of this\neternity of God, _\u00e0 parte post_, or after the creation of the world:\nhe is said to \u201clive forever\u201d (Rev. iv. 9, 10). The earth shall perish,\nbut God shall \u201cendure forever,\u201d and his \u201cyears shall have no end\u201d (Ps.\ncii. 27). Plants and animals grow up from small beginnings, arrive\nto their full growth, and decline again, and have always remarkable\nalterations in their nature; but there is no declination in God by all\nthe revolutions of time. Hence some think the incorruptibility of the\nDeity was signified by the shittim, or cedar wood, whereof the ark\nwas made, it being of an incorruptible nature (Exod. xxv. 10). {a283}\nThat which had no beginning of duration can never have an end, or any\ninterruptions in it. Since God never depended upon any, what should\nmake him cease to be what eternally he hath been, or put a stop to the\ncontinuance of his perfections? He cannot will his own destruction;\nthat is against universal nature in all things to cease from being, if\nthey can preserve themselves. He cannot desert his own being, because\nhe cannot but love himself as the best and chiefest good. The reason\nthat anything decays is either its own native weakness, or a superior\npower of something contrary to it. There is no weakness in the nature\nof God that can introduce any corruption, because he is infinitely\nsimple without any mixture; nor can he be overpowered by anything\nelse; a weaker cannot hurt him, and a stronger than he there cannot\nbe; nor can he be outwitted or circumvented, because of his infinite\nwisdom.[547] As he received his being from none, so he cannot be\ndeprived of it by any: as he doth necessarily exist, so he doth\nnecessarily always exist. This, indeed, is the property of God;\nnothing so proper to him as always to be. Whatsoever perfections\nany being hath, if it be not eternal, it is not divine. God only is\nimmortal;[548] he only is so by a necessity of nature. Angels, souls,\nand bodies too, after the resurrection, shall be immortal, not by\nnature, but grant; they are subject to return to nothing, if that word\nthat raised them from nothing should speak them into nothing again.\nIt is as easy with God to strip them of it, as to invest them with\nit; nay, it is impossible but that they should perish, if God should\nwithdraw his power from preserving them, which he exerted in creating\nthem; but God is immovably fixed in his own being; that as none\ngave him his life, so none can deprive him of his life, or the\nleast particle of it. Not a jot of the happiness and life which God\ninfinitely possesses can be lost; it will be as durable to everlasting,\nas it hath been possessed from everlasting.\n\n3. There is no succession in God. God is without succession or\nchange. It is a part of eternity; \u201cfrom everlasting to everlasting he\nis God,\u201d _i. e._ the same. God doth not only always remain in being,\nbut he always remains the same in that being: \u201cthou art the same\u201d\n(Ps. cii. 27). The being of creatures is successive; the being of God\nis permanent, and remains entire with all its perfections unchanged\nin an infinite duration. Indeed, the first notion of eternity is to be\nwithout beginning and end, which notes to us the duration of a being\nin regard of its existence; but to have no succession, nothing first\nor last, notes rather the perfection of a being in regard of its\nessence. The creatures are in a perpetual flux; something is acquired\nor something lost every day. A man is the same in regard of existence\nwhen he is a man, as he was when he was a child; but there is a new\nsuccession of quantities and qualities in him. Every day he acquires\nsomething till he comes to his maturity; every day he loseth something\ntill he comes to his period. A man is not the same at night that he\nwas in the morning; something is expired, and something is added;\nevery day there is a change in his age, a change in his substance,\na change in his accidents. But God hath his whole being in one and\nthe same point, or moment of eternity. {a284} He receives nothing as\nan addition to what he was before; he loseth nothing of what he was\nbefore; he is always the same excellency and perfection in the same\ninfiniteness as ever. His years do not fail (Heb. i. 12), his years\ndo not come and go as others do; there is not this day, to\u2011morrow, or\nyesterday, with him. As nothing is past or future with him in regard\nof knowledge, but all things are present, so nothing is past or future\nin regard of his essence. He is not in his essence this day what he\nwas not before, or will be the next day and year what he is not now.\nAll his perfections are most perfect in him every moment; before all\nages, after all ages.[549] As he hath his whole essence undivided in\nevery place, as well as in an immense space, so he hath all his being\nin one moment of time, as well as in infinite intervals of time. Some\nillustrate the difference between eternity and time by the similitude\nof a tree, or a rock standing upon the side of a river, or shore\nof the sea; the tree stands always the same and unmoved, while the\nwaters of the river glide along at the foot. The flux is in the river,\nbut the tree acquires nothing but a diverse respect and relation of\npresence to the various parts of the river as they flow. The waters\nof the river press on, and push forward one another, and what the\nriver had this minute, it hath not the same the next.[550] So are all\nsublunary things in a continual flux. And though the angels have no\nsubstantial change, yet they have an accidental; for the actions of\nthe angels this day are not the same individual actions which they\nperformed yesterday: but in God there is no change; he always remains\nthe same. Of a creature, it may be said he was, or he is, or he shall\nbe; of God it cannot be said but only he is.[551] He is what he always\nwas, and he is what he always will be; whereas a creature is what he\nwas not, and will be what he is not now. As it may be said of the\nflame of a candle, it is a flame; but it is not the same individual\nflame as was before, nor is it the same that will be presently after;\nthere is a continual dissolution of it into air, and a continual\nsupply for the generation of more. While it continues it may be said\nthere is a flame; yet not entirely one, but in a succession of parts.\nSo of a man it may be said, he is in a succession of parts; but he is\nnot the same that he was, and will not be the same that he is. But God\nis the same, without any succession of parts and of time; of him it\nmay be said, \u201cHe is.\u201d He is no more now than he was, and he shall be\nno more hereafter than he is. God possesses a firm and absolute being,\nalways constant to himself.[552] He sees all things sliding under\nhim in a continual variation; he beholds the revolutions in the world\nwithout any change of his most glorious and immovable nature. All\nother things pass from one state to another; from their original,\nto their eclipse and destruction; but God possesses his being in one\nindivisible point, having neither beginning, end, nor middle.\n\n(1.) There is no succession in the knowledge of God. The variety\nof successions and changes in the world make not succession, or new\n{a285} objects in the Divine mind; for all things are present to\nhim from eternity in regard of his knowledge, though they are not\nactually present in the world, in regard of their existence. He doth\nnot know one thing now, and another anon; he sees all things at once;\n\u201cKnown unto God are all things from the beginning of the world\u201d (Acts\nxv. 18); but in their true order of succession, as they lie in the\neternal council of God, to be brought forth in time. Though there be\na succession and order of things as they are wrought, there is yet no\nsuccession in God in regard of his knowledge of them. God knows the\nthings that shall be wrought, and the order of them in their being\nbrought upon the stage of the world; yet both the things and the order\nhe knows by one act. Though all things be present with God, yet they\nare present to him in the order of their appearance in the world,\nand not so present with him as if they should be wrought at once.\nThe death of Christ was to precede his resurrection in order of time;\nthere is a succession in this; both at once are known by God; yet the\nact of his knowledge is not exercised about Christ as dying and rising\nat the same time; so that there is succession in things when there\nis no succession in God\u2019s knowledge of them. Since God knows time,\nhe knows all things as they are in time; he doth not know all things\nto be at once, though he knows at once what is, has been, and will\nbe. All things are past, present, and to come, in regard of their\nexistence; but there is not past, present, and to come, in regard of\nGod\u2019s knowledge of them,[553] because he sees and knows not by any\nother, but by himself; he is his own light by which he sees, his own\nglass wherein he sees; beholding himself, he beholds all things.\n\n(2.) There is no succession in the decrees of God. He doth not decree\nthis now, which he decreed not before; for as his works were known\nfrom the beginning of the world, so his works were decreed from the\nbeginning of the world; as they are known at once, so they are decreed\nat once; there is a succession in the execution of them; first grace,\nthen glory; but the purpose of God for the bestowing of both, was\nin one and the same moment of eternity. \u201cHe chose us in him before\nthe foundation of the world, that we should be holy\u201d (Eph. i. 4): The\nchoice of Christ, and the choice of some in him to be holy and to be\nhappy, were before the foundation of the world. It is by the eternal\ncounsel of God all things appear in time; they appear in their order\naccording to the counsel and will of God from eternity. The redemption\nof the world is after the creation of the world; but the decree\nwhereby the world was created, and whereby it was redeemed, was from\neternity.\n\n(3.) God is his own eternity. He is not eternal by grant, and the\ndisposal of any other, but by nature and essence.[554] The eternity\nof God is nothing else but the duration of God; and the duration\nof God is nothing else but his existence enduring.[555] If eternity\nwere anything distinct from God, and not of the essence of God, then\nthere would be something which was not God, necessary to perfect God.\nAs immortality is the great perfection of a rational creature, so\neternity is the choice perfection of God, yea, the gloss and lustre of\nall {a286} others. Every perfection would be imperfect, if it were not\nalways a perfection. God is essentially whatsoever he is, and there\nis nothing in God but his essence. Duration or continuance in being\nin creatures, differs from their being; for they might exist but for\none instant, in which case they may be said to have being, but not\nduration, because all duration includes _prius et posterius_. All\ncreatures may cease from being if it be the pleasure of God; they are\nnot, therefore, durable by their essence, and therefore are not their\nown duration, no more than they are their own existence. And though\nsome creatures, as angels, and souls, may be called everlasting, as\na perpetual life is communicated to them by God; yet they can never\nbe called their own eternity, because such a duration is not simply\nnecessary, nor essential to them, but accidental, depending upon the\npleasure of another; there is nothing in their nature that can hinder\nthem from losing it, if God, from whom they received it, should design\nto take it away; but as God is his own necessity of existing, so he is\nhis own duration in existing; as he doth necessarily exist by himself,\nso he will always necessarily exist by himself.[556]\n\n(4.) Hence all the perfections of God are eternal. In regard of\nthe Divine eternity, all things in God are eternal; his power, mercy,\nwisdom, justice, knowledge. God himself were not eternal if any of his\nperfections, which are essential to him, were not eternal also; he had\nnot else been a perfect God from all eternity, and so his whole self\nhad not been eternal. If anything belonging to the nature of a thing\nbe wanting, it cannot be said to be that thing which it ought to be.\nIf anything requisite to the nature of God had been wanting one moment,\nhe could not have been said to be an eternal God.\n\nII. God is eternal. The Spirit of God in Scripture condescends to\nour capacities in signifying the eternity of God by days and years,\nwhich are terms belonging to time, whereby we measure it (Ps. cii. 27).\nBut we must no more conceive that God is bounded or measured by time,\nand hath succession of days, because of those expressions, than we\ncan conclude him to have a body, because members are ascribed to\nhim in Scripture, to help our conceptions of his glorious nature and\noperations. Though years are ascribed to him, yet they are such as\ncannot be numbered, cannot be finished, since there is no proportion\nbetween the duration of God, and the years of men. \u201cThe number of his\nyears cannot be searched out, for he makes small the drops of water;\nthey pour down rain according to the vapor thereof\u201d (Job xxxvi. 26,\n27). The numbers of the drops of rain which have fallen in all parts\nof the earth since the creation of the world, if subtracted from the\nnumber of the years of God, would be found a small quantity, a mere\nnothing, to the years of God. As all the nations in the world compared\nwith God, are but as the \u201cdrop of a bucket, worse than nothing, than\nvanity\u201d (Isa. xl. 15); so all the ages of the world, if compared with\nGod, amount not to so much as the one hundred thousandth part of a\nminute; the minutes from the creation may be numbered, but the years\nof the duration of God being infinite, are without measure. As one day\nis to the life of man, so are a thousand years to the life of God. The\nHoly Ghost expresseth {a287} himself to the capacity of man, to give\nus some notion of an infinite duration, by a resemblance suited to the\ncapacity of man.[557] If a thousand years be but as a day to the life\nof God, then as a year is to the life of man, so are three hundred\nand sixty\u2011five thousand years to the life of God; and as seventy years\nare to the life of man, so are twenty\u2011five millions four hundred and\nfifty thousand years to the life of God. Yet still, since there is no\nproportion between time and eternity, we must dart our thoughts beyond\nall those; for years and days measure only the duration of created\nthings, and of those only that are material and corporeal, subject to\nthe motion of the heavens, which makes days and years.[558] Sometimes\nthis eternity is expressed by parts, as looking backward and forward;\nby the differences of time, \u201cpast, present, and to come\u201d (Rev. i. 8),\n\u201cwhich was, and is, and is to come\u201d (Rev. iv. 8).[559] Though this\nmight be spoken of anything in being, though but for an hour, it was\nthe last minute, it is now, and it will be the next minute; yet the\nHoly Ghost would declare something proper to God, as including all\nparts of time; he always was, is now, and always shall be. It might\nalways be said of him, he was, and it may always be said of him, he\nwill be; there is no time when he began, no time when he shall cease.\nIt cannot be said of a creature he always was, he always is what\nhe was, and he always will be what he is; but God always is what he\nwas, and always will be what he is; so that it is a very significant\nexpression of the eternity of God, as can be suited to our capacities.\n\n1. His eternity is evident, by the name God gives himself (Exod. iii.\n14): \u201cAnd God said unto Moses, I am that I am; thus shalt thou say\nto the children of Israel, \u2018I Am hath sent me unto you.\u2019\u201d This is\nthe name whereby he is distinguished from all creatures; I Am, is his\nproper name. This description being in the present tense, shows that\nhis essence knows no past, nor future; if it were _he was_, it would\nintimate he were not now what he once was; if it were _he will be_,\nit would intimate he were not yet what he will be; but _I Am_; I\nam the only being, the root of all beings; he is therefore, at the\ngreatest distance from not being, and that is eternal. So that _is_\nsignifies his eternity, as well as his perfection and immutability.\nAs _I Am_ speaks the want of no blessedness, so it speaks the want\nof no duration; and therefore the French, wherever they find this\nword Jehovah, in the Scripture, which we translate Lord, and Lord\neternal, render it the Eternal,\u2015\u2015I am always and immutably the same.\nThe eternity of God is opposed to the volubility of time, which is\nextended into past, present and to come. Our time is but a small drop,\nas a sand to all the atoms and small particles of which the world is\nmade; but God is an unbounded sea of being. \u201cI Am that I Am;\u201d _i. e._\nan infinite life; I have not that now, which I had not formerly;\nI shall not afterwards have that which I have not now; I am that in\nevery moment which I was, and will be in all moments of time; nothing\ncan be added to me, nothing can be detracted from me; there is nothing\nsuperior to him, which can detract from him; nothing desirable {a288}\nthat can be added to him. Now if there were any beginning and end of\nGod, any succession in him, he could not be \u201cI Am;\u201d[560] for in regard\nof what was past, he would not be; in regard of what was to come, he\nis not yet; and upon this account a heathen argues well;[561] of all\ncreatures it may be said they were, or they will be; but of God it\ncannot be said anything else but _est_, God is, because he fills an\neternal duration. A creature cannot be said to be, if it be not yet,\nnor if it be not now, but hath been.[562] God only can be called\n\u201cI Am;\u201d all creatures have more of not being, than being; for every\ncreature was nothing from eternity, before it was made something\nin time; and if it be incorruptible in its whole nature, it will be\nnothing to eternity after it hath been something in time; and if it be\nnot corruptible in its nature, as the angels, or in every part of its\nnature, as man in regard of his soul; yet it hath not properly a being,\nbecause it is dependent upon the pleasure of God to continue it, or\ndeprive it of it; and while it is, it is mutable, and all mutability\nis a mixture of not being. If God therefore be properly \u201cI Am,\u201d _i. e._\nbeing, it follows that he always was; for if he were not always, he\nmust, as was argued before, be produced by some other, or by himself;\nby another he could not; then he had not been God, but a creature;\nnor by himself, for then as producing, he must be before himself, as\nproduced; he had been before he was. And he always will be; for being\n\u201cI Am,\u201d having all being in himself, and the fountain of all being to\neverything else, how can he ever have his name changed to I am not.\n\n2. God hath life in himself (John v. 26): \u201cThe Father hath life in\nhimself;\u201d he is the \u201cliving God;\u201d therefore \u201csteadfast forever\u201d (Dan.\nvi. 26). He hath life by his essence, not by participation. He is a\nsun to give light and life to all creatures, but receives not light\nor life from anything; and therefore he hath an unlimited life, not\na drop of life, but a fountain; not a spark of a limited life, but a\nlife transcending all bounds. He hath life in himself; all creatures\nhave their life in him and from him. He that hath life in himself doth\nnecessarily exist, and could never be made to exist; for then he had\nnot life in himself, but in that which made him to exist, and gave\nhim life. What doth necessarily exist therefore, exists from eternity;\nwhat hath being of itself could never be produced in time, could not\nwant being one moment, because it hath being from its essence, without\ninfluence of any efficient cause. When God pronounced his name, \u201cI Am\nthat I Am,\u201d angels and men were in being; the world had been created\nabove two thousand four hundred years; Moses, to whom he then speaks,\nwas in being; yet God only is, because he only hath the fountain of\nbeing in himself; but all that they were was a rivulet from him. He\nhath from nothing else, that he doth subsist; everything else hath its\nsubsistence from him as their root, as the beam from the sun, as the\nrivers and fountains from the sea.[563] All life is seated in God,\nas in its proper throne, in its most perfect purity. God is life; it\nis in him originally, radically, therefore eternally. He is a pure\nact, nothing but vigor and act; he hath by his nature that life which\nothers have by his grant; {a289} whence the Apostle saith (1 Tim. vi.\n16) not only that he is immortal, but he hath immortality in a full\npossession; fee simple, not depending upon the will of another, but\ncontaining all things within himself. He that hath life in himself,\nand is from himself, cannot but be. He always was, because he received\nhis being from no other, and none can take away that being which was\nnot given by another. If there were any space before he did exist,\nthen there was something which made him to exist; life would not then\nbe in him, but in that which produced him into being; he could not\nthen be God, but that other which gave him being would be God.[564]\nAnd to say God sprung into being by chance, when we see nothing in\nthe world that is brought forth by chance, but hath some cause of\nits existence, would be vain; for since God is a being, chance, which\nis nothing, could not bring forth something; and by the same reason,\nthat he sprung up by chance, he might totally vanish by chance. What a\nstrange notion of a God would this be! such a God that had no life in\nhimself but from chance! Since he hath life in himself, and that there\nwas no cause of his existence, he can have no cause of his limitation,\nand can no more be determined to a time, than he can to a place. What\nhath life in itself, hath life without bounds, and can never desert\nit, nor be deprived of it; so that he lives necessarily, and it is\nabsolutely impossible that he should not live; whereas all other\nthings \u201clive, and move, and have their being in him\u201d (Acts xvii. 28);\nand as they live by his will, so they can return to nothing at his\nword.\n\n3. If God were not eternal, he were not immutable in his nature. It\nis contrary to the nature of immutability to be without eternity; for\nwhatsoever begins, is changed in its passing from not being to being.\nIt began to be what it was not; and if it ends, it ceaseth to be what\nit was; it cannot therefore be said to be God, if there were neither\nbeginning or ending, or succession in it (Mal. iii. 6): \u201cI am the Lord,\nI change not;\u201d (Job xxxvii. 23): \u201cTouching the Almighty, we cannot\nfind him out.\u201d God argues here, saith Calvin, from his unchangeable\nnature as Jehovah, to his immutability in his purpose. Had he not been\neternal, there had been the greatest change from nothing to something.\nA change of essence is greater than a change of purpose. God is a\nsun glittering always in the same glory; no growing up in youth; no\npassing on to age. If he were not without succession, standing in one\npoint of eternity, there would be a change from past to present, from\npresent to future. The eternity of God is a shield against all kind\nof mutability. If anything sprang up in the essence of God that was\nnot there before, he could not be said to be either an eternal, or an\nunchanged substance.\n\n4. God could not be an infinitely perfect Being, if he were not\neternal. A finite duration is inconsistent with infinite perfection.\nWhatsoever is contracted within the limits of time, cannot swallow up\nall perfections in itself. God hath an unsearchable perfection. \u201cCanst\nthou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty\nunto perfection?\u201d (Job xi. 7.) He cannot be found out: he {a290} is\ninfinite, because he is incomprehensible. Incomprehensibility ariseth\nfrom an infinite perfection, which cannot be fathomed by the short\nline of man\u2019s understanding. His essence in regard of its diffusion,\nand in regard of its duration, is incomprehensible, as well as his\naction: if God, therefore, had beginning, he could not be infinite;\nif not infinite, he did not possess the highest perfection; because a\nperfection might be conceived beyond it. If his being could fail, he\nwere not perfect; can that deserve the name of the highest perfection,\nwhich is capable of corruption and dissolution? To be finite and\nlimited, is the greatest imperfection, for it consists in a denial of\nbeing. He could not be the most blessed Being if he were not always\nso, and should not forever remain so; and whatsoever perfections he\nhad, would be soured by the thoughts, that in time they would cease,\nand so could not be pure affections, because not permanent; but \u201cHe\nis blessed from everlasting to everlasting\u201d (Ps. xli. 13). Had he a\nbeginning, he could not have all perfection without limitation; he\nwould have been limited by that which gave him beginning; that which\ngave him being would be God, and not himself, and so more perfect than\nhe: but since God is the most sovereign perfection, than which nothing\ncan be imagined perfecter by the most capacious understanding, He is\ncertainly \u201ceternal;\u201d being infinite, nothing can be added to him,\nnothing detracted from him.\n\n5. God could not be omnipotent, almighty, if he were not eternal.\nThe title of almighty agrees not with a nature that had a beginning;\nwhatsoever hath a beginning was once nothing; and when it was nothing,\ncould act nothing: where there is no being there is no power. Neither\ndoth the title of almighty agree with a perishing nature: he can\ndo nothing to purpose, that cannot preserve himself against the\noutward force and violence of enemies, or against the inward causes\nof corruption and dissolution. No account is to be made of man,\nbecause \u201chis breath is in his nostrils\u201d (Isa. ii. 22); could a better\naccount be made of God, if he were of the like condition? He could not\nproperly be almighty, that were not always mighty; if he be omnipotent,\nnothing can impair him; he that hath all power, can have no hurt. If\nhe doth whatsoever he pleaseth, nothing can make him miserable, since\nmisery consists in those things which happen against our will.[565]\nThe almightiness and eternity of God are linked together: \u201cI am Alpha\nand Omega, the beginning and ending, saith the Lord, which was, and\nwhich is, and which is to come, the Almighty\u201d (Rev. i. 8): almighty\nbecause eternal, and eternal because almighty.\n\n6. God would not be the first cause of all if he were not eternal;\nbut he is the first and the last; the first cause of all things, the\nlast end of all things:[566] that which is the first cannot begin to\nbe; it were not then the first; it cannot cease to be: whatsoever is\ndissolved, is dissolved into that whereof it doth consist, which was\nbefore it, and then it was not the first. The world might not have\nbeen; it was once nothing; it must have some cause to call it out of\nnothing: nothing hath no power to make itself something; there {a291}\nis a superior cause, by whose will and power it comes into being,\nand so gives all the creatures their distinct forms.[567] This power\ncannot but be eternal; it must be before the world; the founder must\nbe before the foundation; and his existence must be from eternity; or\nwe must say nothing did exist from eternity:[568] and if there were no\nbeing from eternity, there could not now be any being in time. What we\nsee, and what we are, must arise from itself or some other; it cannot\nfrom itself: if anything made itself, it had a power to make itself;\nit then had an active power before it had a being; it was something\nin regard of power, and was nothing in regard of existence at the same\ntime. Suppose it had a power to produce itself, this power must be\nconferred upon it by another; and so the power of producing itself,\nwas not from itself, but from another; but if the power of being was\nfrom itself, why did it not produce itself before? why was it one\nmoment out of being?[569] If there be any existence of things, it is\nnecessary that that which was the \u201cfirst cause,\u201d should \u201cexist from\neternity.\u201d Whatsoever was the immediate cause of the world, yet the\nfirst and chief cause wherein we must rest, must have nothing before\nit; if it had anything before it, it were not the first; he therefore\nthat is the first cause, must be without beginning; nothing must be\nbefore him; if he had a beginning from some other, he could not be\nthe first principle and author of all things; if he be the first cause\nof all things, he must give himself a beginning, or be from eternity:\nhe could not give himself a beginning; whatsoever begins in time was\nnothing before, and when it was nothing, it could do nothing; it could\nnot give itself anything, for then it gave what it had not, and did\nwhat it could not. If he made himself in time, why did he not make\nhimself before? what hindered him? It was either because he could\nnot, or because he would not; if he could not, he always wanted power,\nand always would, unless it were bestowed upon him, and then he could\nnot be said to be from himself. If he would not make himself before,\nthen he might have made himself when he would: how had he the power\nof willing and nilling without a being? Nothing cannot will or nill;\nnothing hath no faculties; so that it is necessary to grant some\neternal being, or run into inextricable labyrinths and mazes. If we\ndeny some eternal being, we must deny all being; our own being, the\nbeing of everything about us; unconceivable absurdities will arise.\nSo, then, if God were the cause of all things, he did exist before\nall things, and that from eternity.\n\nIII. Eternity is only proper to God, and not communicable. It is as\ngreat a madness to ascribe eternity to the creature, as to deprive the\nLord of the creature of eternity.[570] It is so proper to God, that\nwhen the apostle would prove the deity of Christ, he proves it by his\nimmutability and eternity, as well as his creating power: \u201cThou art\nthe same, and thy years shall not fail\u201d (Heb. i. 10\u201212). The argument\nhad not strength, if eternity belonged essentially to any but God; and\ntherefore he is said only to have \u201cimmortality\u201d (1 Tim. vi. 16): all\nother things receive their being from him, and can be deprived {a292}\nof their being by him: all things depend on him; he of none: all other\nthings are like clothes, which would consume if God preserved them not.\nImmortality is appropriated to God, _i. e._ an independent immortality.\nAngels and souls have an immortality, but by donation from God, not\nby their own essence; dependent upon their Creator, not necessary in\ntheir own nature: God might have annihilated them after he had created\nthem; so that their duration cannot properly be called an eternity,\nit being extrinsical to them, and dependent upon the will of their\nCreator, by whom they may be extinguished; it is not an absolute and\nnecessary, but a precarious immortality. Whatsoever is not God, is\ntemporary; whatsoever is eternal, is God. It is a contradiction to say\na creature can be eternal; as nothing eternal is created, so nothing\ncreated is eternal. What is distinct from the nature of God cannot\nbe eternal, eternity being the essence of God. Every creature, in the\nnotion of a creature, speaks a dependence on some cause, and therefore\ncannot be eternal. As it is repugnant to the nature of God not to be\neternal, so it is repugnant to the nature of a creature to be eternal;\nfor then a creature would be equal to the Creator, and the Creator, or\nthe Cause, would not be before the creature, or effect.[571] It would\nbe all one to admit many gods, as many eternals; and all one to say,\nGod can be created, as to say a creature can be uncreated, which is\nto be eternal.\n\n1. Creation is a producing something from nothing. What was once\nnothing, cannot therefore be eternal; not being was eternal; therefore\nits being could not be eternal, for it should be then before it was,\nand would be something when it was nothing. It is the nature of a\ncreature to be nothing before it was created; what was nothing before\nit was, cannot be equal with God in an eternity of duration.\n\n2. There is no creature but is mutable, therefore not eternal. As\nit had a change from nothing to something, so it may be changed from\nbeing to not being. If the creature were not mutable, it would be most\nperfect, and so would not be a creature, but God; for God only is most\nperfect. It is as much the essence of a creature to be mutable, as\nit is the essence of God to be immutable. Mutability and eternity are\nutterly inconsistent.\n\n3. No creature is infinite, therefore not eternal: to be infinite in\nduration is all one as to be infinite in essence. It is as reasonable\nto conceive a creature immense, filling all places at once, as eternal,\nextended to all ages; because neither can be without infiniteness,\nwhich is the property of the Deity.[572] A creature may as well be\nwithout bounds of place, as limitations of time.\n\n4. No effect of an intellectual free agent can be equal in duration\nto its cause. The productions of natural agents are as ancient often\nas themselves; the sun produceth a beam as old in time as itself;\nbut who ever heard of a piece of wise workmanship as old as the wise\nartificer? God produced a creature, not necessarily and naturally, as\nthe sun doth a beam, but freely, as an intelligent agent. The sun was\nnot necessary; it might be or not be, according to the {a293} pleasure\nof God. A free act of the will is necessary to precede in order of\ntime, as the cause of such effects as are purely voluntary.[573] Those\ncauses that act as soon as they exist act naturally, necessarily, not\nfreely, and cannot cease from acting. But suppose a creature might\nhave existed by the will of God from eternity; yet, as some think,\nit could not be said absolutely, and in its own nature to be eternal,\nbecause eternity was not of the essence of it. The creature could not\nbe its own duration; for though it were from eternity, it might not\nhave been from eternity, because its existence depended upon the free\nwill of God, who might have chose whether he would have created it or\nno. God only is eternal; \u201cthe first and the last, the beginning and\nthe end;\u201d who, as he subsisted before any creature had a being, so he\nwill eternally subsist if all creatures were reduced to nothing.\n\nIV. _Use 1._ Information. If God be of an eternal duration, then\n\u201cChrist is God.\u201d Eternity is the property of God, but it is ascribed\nto Christ: \u201cHe is before all things\u201d (Col. i. 17), _i. e._ all created\nthings; he is therefore no creature, and if no creature, eternal. \u201cAll\nthings were created by him,\u201d both in heaven and in earth, angels, as\nwell as men, whether they be thrones or dominions (ver. 16). If all\nthings were his creatures, then he is no creature; if he were, all\nthings were not created by him, or he must create himself. He hath no\ndifference of time; for he is \u201cthe same yesterday, to\u2011day, and forever:\n\u201d[574] the same, with the name of God, \u201cI Am,\u201d which signifies his\neternity. He is no more to\u2011day than he was yesterday, nor will be\nany other to\u2011morrow than he is to\u2011day; and therefore Melchizedec,\nwhose descent, birth, and death, father and mother, beginning and end\nof days, are not upon record, was a type of the existence of Christ\nwithout difference of time; \u201cHaving neither beginning of days nor end\nof life, but made like the Son of God\u201d (Heb. vii. 3). The suppression\nof his birth and death was intended by the Holy Ghost as a type of\nthe excellency of Christ\u2019s person in regard of his eternity, and\nthe duration of his charge in regard of his priesthood. As there\nwas an appearance of an eternity in the suppression of the race of\nMelchisedec, so there is a true eternity in the Son of God. How could\nthe eternity of the Son of God be expressed by any resemblance so\nwell, as by such a suppression of the beginning and end of this great\nperson, different from the custom of the Spirit of God in the Old\nTestament, who often records the generations and ends of holy men;\nand why might not this, which was a kind of a shadow of eternity,\nbe a representation of the true eternity of Christ, as well as the\nrestoration of Isaac to his father without death, is said to be\na figure of the resurrection of Christ after a real death?[575]\nMelchisedec is only mentioned once (without any record of his\nextraction) in his appearance to Abraham after his victory, as if\nhe came from heaven only for that action, and instantly disappeared\nagain, as if he had been an eternal person. And Christ himself hints\nhis own eternity: \u201cI came forth from the Father, and am come into\n{a294} the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father\u201d (John\nxvi. 28). He goes to the Father as he came from the Father; he goes\nto the Father \u201cfor everlasting,\u201d so he came from the Father \u201cfrom\neverlasting;\u201d there is the same duration in coming forth from the\nFather, as in returning to the Father. But more plainly: he speaks\nof a glory that he \u201chad with the Father before the world was\u201d (John\nxvii. 5), when there was no creature in being. This is an actual glory,\nand not only in decree; for a decreed glory believers had, and why\nmay not every one of them say the same words, \u201cFather, glorify me\nwith that glory which I had with thee before the world was,\u201d if it\nwere only a glory in decree? Nay, it may be said of every man, he\nwas before the world was, because he was so in decree. Christ speaks\nof something peculiar to him, a glory in actual possession before\nthe world was: \u201cGlorify me, embrace, honor me as thy Son, whereas I\nhave now been, in the eyes of the world, handled disgracefully as a\nservant.\u201d If it were only in decree, why is not the like expression\nused of others in Scripture as well as of Christ? Why did he not use\nthe same words for his disciples that were then with him, who had a\nglory in decree? His eternity is also mentioned in the Old Testament:\n\u201cThe Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works\nof old\u201d (Prov. viii. 22). If he were the work of God, he existed\nbefore himself, if he existed before all the works of God. It is so\nnot properly meant of the essential wisdom of God, since the discourse\nruns in the name of a person; and several passages there are which\nbelong not so much to the essential wisdom of God, as ver. 13: \u201cThe\nevil way and the froward mouth do I hate,\u201d which belongs rather to the\nholiness of God, than to the essential wisdom of God; besides, it is\ndistinguished from Jehovah, as possessed by him, \u201cand rejoicing before\nhim.\u201d Yet plainer: \u201cOut of thee,\u201d _i. e._ Bethlehem, \u201cshall he come\nforth to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of\nold, from everlasting,\u201d \u05de\u05d9\u05de\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd \u201cfrom the ways of eternity\u201d (Mic. v. 2).\nThere are two goings forth of Christ described, one from Bethlehem, in\nthe days of his incarnation, and another from eternity. The Holy Ghost\nadds, after his prediction of his incarnation, his going out from\neverlasting, that none should doubt of his deity. If this going out\nfrom everlasting were only in the purpose of God, it might be said\nof David, and of every creature; and in Isa. ix. 6 he is particularly\ncalled the \u201ceverlasting,\u201d or \u201ceternal Father;\u201d not the Father in the\nTrinity, but a Father to us; yet \u201ceternal,\u201d the \u201cFather of eternity.\u201d\nAs he is the \u201cmighty God,\u201d so he is \u201cthe everlasting Father.\u201d Can\nsuch a title be ascribed to any whose being depends upon the will\nof another, and may be dashed out at the pleasure of a superior? As\nthe eternity of God is the ground of all religion, so the eternity\nof Christ is the ground of the Christian religion. Could our sins be\nperfectly expiated had he not an eternal divinity to answer for the\noffences committed against an eternal God? Temporary sufferings had\nbeen of little validity, without an infiniteness and eternity in his\nperson to add weight to his passion.\n\n2. If God be eternal, he knows all things as present. All things are\npresent to him in his eternity; for this is the notion of eternity,\n{a295} to be without succession.[576] If eternity be one indivisible\npoint, and is not diffused into preceding and succeeding parts, then\nthat which is known in it or by it is perceived without any succession,\nfor knowledge is as the substance of the person knowing; if that hath\nvarious actions and distinct from itself, then it understands things\nin differences of time as time presents them to view. But, since\nGod\u2019s being depends not upon the revolutions of time, so neither does\nhis knowledge; it exceeds all motions of years and days, comprehends\ninfinite spaces of past and future. God considers all things in his\neternity in one simple knowledge, as if they were now acted before him:\n\u201cKnown unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world;\u201d\n\u1f00\u03c0\u1fbd \u03b1\u1f30\u1ff6\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2, _\u00e0 seculo_, \u201cfrom eternity\u201d (Acts xv. 18). God\u2019s knowledge\nis co\u2011eternal with him; if he knows that in time which he did not not\nknow from eternity, he would not be eternally perfect, since knowledge\nis the perfection of an intelligent nature.\n\n3. How bold and foolish is it for a mortal creature to censure the\ncounsels and actions of an eternal God, or be too curious in his\ninquisitions! It is by the consideration of the unsearchable number\nof the years of God that Elihu checks too bold inquiries: \u201cwho hath\nenjoined him his way, or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?\nBehold, God is great, and we know him not; neither can the number of\nhis years be searched out.\u201d[577] Eternity sets God above our inquiries\nand censures. Infants of a day old are not able to understand the\nacts of wise and gray heads: shall we, that are of so short a being\nand understanding as yesterday, presume to measure the motions\nof eternity by our scanty intellects? We that cannot foresee an\nunexpected accident which falls in to blast a well\u2011laid design, and\nrun a ship many leagues back from the intended harbor; we cannot\nunderstand the reason of things we see done in time, the motions of\nthe sea, the generation of rain, the nature of light, the sympathies\nand antipathies of the creatures; and shall we dare to censure\nthe actions of an eternal God, so infinitely beyond our reach? The\ncounsels of a boundless being are not to be scanned by the brain of a\nsilly worm, that hath breathed but a few minutes in the world. Since\neternity cannot be comprehended in time, it is not to be judged by\na creature of time: \u201cLet us remember to magnify his works which we\nbehold,\u201d because he is eternal, which is the exhortation of Elihu,\nbacked by this doctrine of God\u2019s eternity (Job xxxvi. 24), and not\naccuse any work of him who is the \u201cAncient of Days,\u201d or presume to\ndirect him of whose eternity we come infinitely short. Whenever,\ntherefore, any unworthy notion of the counsels and works of God is\nsuggested to us by Satan, or our own corrupt hearts, let us look\nbackward to God\u2019s eternal and our own short duration, and silence\nourselves with the same question wherewith God put a stop to the\nreasoning of Job\u2015\u2015\u201cWhere wast thou when I laid the foundations of the\nearth?\u201d (Job xxxviii. 4), and reprove ourselves for our curiosity,\nsince we are of so short a standing, and were nothing when the eternal\nGod laid the first stone of the world.\n\n4. What a folly and boldness is there in sin, since an eternal God\n{a296} is offended thereby! All sin is aggravated by God\u2019s eternity.\nThe blackness of the heathen idolatry was in changing the glory of\nthe incorruptible God (Rom. i. 23); erecting resemblances of him\ncontrary to his immortal nature; as if the eternal God, whose life is\nas unlimited as eternity, were like those creatures whose beings are\nmeasured by the short ell of time, which are of a corruptible nature,\nand daily passing on to corruption; they could not really deprive God\nof his glory and immortality, but they did in estimation. There is in\nthe nature of every sin a tendency to reduce God to a not being. He\nthat thinks unworthily of God, or acts unworthily towards him, doth\n(as much as in him lies) sully and destroy these two perfections of\nhis, immutability and eternity. It is a carriage, as if he were as\ncontemptible as a creature that were but of yesterday, and shall not\nremain in being to\u2011morrow. He that would put an end to God\u2019s glory\nby darkening it, would put an end to God\u2019s life by destroying it. He\nthat should love a beast with as great an affection as he loves a man,\ncontemns a rational nature; and he that loves a perishing thing with\nthe same affection he should love an everlasting God, contemns his\neternity; he debaseth the duration of God below that of the world. The\nlow valuation of God speaks him in his esteem no better than withering\ngrass, or a gourd, which lasts for a night; and the creature which\npossesses his affection, to be a good that lasts forever. How foolish,\nthen, is every sin that tends to destroy a being that cannot destroy\nor desert himself; a Being, without whose eternity the sinner himself\ncould not have had the capacity of a being to affront him! How base is\nthat which would not let the works of God remain in their established\nposture! How much more base is not enduring the fountain and glory of\nall beings, that would not only put an end to the beauty of the world,\nbut the eternity of God!\n\n5. How dreadful is it to lie under the stroke of an eternal God!\nHis eternity is as great a terror to him that hates him, as it is\na comfort to him that loves him; because he is the \u201cliving God,\nan everlasting king, the nations shall not be able to abide his\nindignation\u201d (Jer. x. 10). Though God be least in their thoughts, and\nis made light of in the world, yet the thoughts of God\u2019s eternity,\nwhen he comes to judge the world, shall make the slighters of him\ntremble. That the Judge and punisher lives forever, is the greatest\ngrievance to a soul in misery, and adds an inconceivable weight to it,\nabove what the infiniteness of God\u2019s executive power could do without\nthat duration. His eternity makes the punishment more dreadful than\nhis power; his power makes it sharp, but his eternity renders it\nperpetual; ever to endure, is the sting at the end of every lash.\nAnd how sad is it to think that God lays his eternity to pawn for the\npunishment of obstinate sinners, and engageth it by an oath, that he\nwill \u201cwhet his glittering sword,\u201d that his \u201chand shall take hold of\njudgment,\u201d that he will \u201crender vengeance to his enemies, and a reward\nto them that hate him;\u201d a reward proportioned to the greatness of\ntheir offences, and the glory of an eternal God! \u201cI lift up my hand to\nheaven, and say, I live forever;\u201d (Deut. xxxii. 40, 41): _i. e._, as\nsurely as I live forever, I will whet my glittering sword. {a297} As\nnone can convey good with a perpetuity, so none can convey evil with\nsuch a lastingness as God. It is a great loss to lose a ship richly\nfraught in the bottom of the sea, never to be cast upon the shore;\nbut how much greater is it to lose eternally a sovereign God, which\nwe were capable of eternally enjoying, and undergo an evil as durable\nas that God we slighted, and were in a possibility of avoiding! The\nmiseries of men after this life are not eased, but sharpened, by the\nlife and eternity of God.\n\n_Use 2._ Of comfort. What foundation of comfort can we have in any\nof God\u2019s attributes, were it not for his infiniteness and eternity,\nthough he be \u201cmerciful, good, wise, faithful?\u201d What support could\nthere be, if they were perfections belonging to a corruptible God?\nWhat hopes of a resurrection to happiness can we have, or of the\nduration of it, if that God that promised it were not immortal to\ncontinue it, as well as powerful to effect it? His power were not\nAlmighty, if his duration were not eternal.\n\n1. If God be eternal, his covenant will be so. It is founded upon\nthe eternity of God; the oath whereby he confirms it, is by his\nlife. Since there is none greater than himself, he swears by himself\n(Heb. vi. 13), or by his own life, which he engageth together with his\neternity for the full performance; so that if he lives forever, the\ncovenant shall not be disannulled; it is an \u201cimmutable counsel\u201d (ver.\n16, 17). The immutability of his counsel follows the immutability of\nhis nature. Immutability and eternity go hand in hand together. The\npromise of eternal life is as ancient as God himself in regard of the\npurpose of the promise, or in regard of the promise made to Christ\nfor us. \u201cEternal life which God promised before the world began.\u201d\n(Tit. i. 2): As it hath an ante\u2011eternity, so it hath a post\u2011eternity;\ntherefore the gospel, which is the new covenant published, is termed\nthe \u201ceverlasting gospel\u201d (Rev. xiv. 6), which can no more be altered\nand perish, than God can change and vanish into nothing; he can as\nlittle morally deny his truth, as he can naturally desert his life.\nThe covenant is there represented in a green color, to note its\nperpetual verdure; the rainbow, the emblem of the covenant \u201cabout the\nthrone, was like to an emerald\u201d (Rev. iv. 3), a stone of a green color,\nwhereas the natural rainbow hath many colors; this but one, to signify\nits eternity.\n\n2. If God be eternal, he being our God in covenant, is an eternal\ngood and possession. \u201cThis God is our God forever and ever\u201d (Ps.\nxlviii. 14): \u201cHe is a dwelling\u2011place in all generations.\u201d We shall\ntraverse the world awhile, and then arrive at the blessings Jacob\nwished for Joseph, \u201cthe blessings of the everlasting hills\u201d (Gen.\nxlix. 26). If an estate of a thousand pound per annum render a man\u2019s\nlife comfortable for a short term, how much more may the soul be\nswallowed up with joy in the enjoyment of the Creator, whose years\nnever fail, who lives forever to be enjoyed, and can keep us in life\nforever to enjoy him! Death, indeed, will seize upon us by God\u2019s\nirreversible order, but the immortal Creator will make him disgorge\nhis morsel, and land us in a glorious immortality; our souls at their\ndissolution, and our bodies at the resurrection, after which they\nshall remain forever, and employ the extent of that boundless {a298}\neternity, in the fruition of the sovereign and eternal God; for it\nis impossible that the believer, who is united to the immortal God\nthat is from everlasting to everlasting, can ever perish; for being\nin conjunction with him who is an ever\u2011flowing fountain of life, he\ncannot suffer him to remain in the jaws of death. While God is eternal,\nand always the same, it is not possible that those that partake of his\nspiritual life, should not also partake of his eternal. It is from the\nconsideration of the endlessness of the years of God that the church\ncomforts herself that \u201cher children shall continue, and their seed\nbe established forever\u201d (Ps. cii. 27, 28). And from the eternity\nof God Habakkuk (chap. i. 12) concludes the eternity of believers,\n\u201cArt not thou from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? we shall\nnot die, O Lord.\u201d After they are retired from this world, they shall\nlive forever with God, without any change by the multitude of those\nimaginable years and ages that shall run forever. It is that God that\nhath neither beginning nor end, that is our God; who hath not only\nimmortality in himself, but immortality to give out to others. As\nhe hath \u201cabundance of spirit\u201d to quicken them (Mal. ii. 15), so he\nhath abundance of immortality to continue them. It is only in the\nconsideration of this a man can with wisdom say, \u201cSoul, take thy ease;\nthou hast goods laid up for many years\u201d (Luke xii. 19, 20): to say it\nof any other possession is the greatest folly in the judgment of our\nSaviour. \u201cMortality shall be swallowed up of immortality;\u201d \u201crivers\nof pleasure\u201d shall be \u201cfor evermore.\u201d Death is a word never spoken\nthere by any; never heard by any in that possession of eternity; it\nis forever put out as one of Christ\u2019s conquered enemies. The happiness\ndepends upon the presence of God, with whom believers shall be forever\npresent. Happiness cannot perish as long as God lives; he is the first\nand the last; the first of all delights, nothing before him; the last\nof all pleasures, nothing beyond him; a paradise of delights in every\npoint, without a flaming sword.\n\n3. The enjoyment of God will be as fresh and glorious after many ages,\nas it was at first. God is eternal, and eternity knows no change;\nthere will then be the fullest possession without any decay in the\nobject enjoyed. There can be nothing past, nothing future; time\nneither adds to it, nor detracts from it; that infinite fulness of\nperfection which flourisheth in him now, will flourish eternally,\nwithout any discoloring of it in the least, by those innumerable ages\nthat shall run to eternity, much less any despoiling him of them:\n\u201cHe is the same in his endless duration\u201d (Ps. cii. 27). As God is,\nso will the eternity of him be, without succession, without division;\nthe fulness of joy will be always present; without past to be thought\nof with regret for being gone; without future to be expected with\ntormenting desires. When we enjoy God, we enjoy him in his eternity\nwithout any flux; an entire possession of all together, without the\npassing away of pleasures that may be wished to return, or expectation\nof future joys which might be desired to hasten. Time is fluid, but\neternity is stable; and after many ages, the joys will be as savory\nand satisfying as if they had been but that moment first tasted by\nour hungry appetites. When the glory of the Lord shall rise upon you,\nit shall be so far from ever setting, that after millions {a299} of\nyears are expired, as numerous as the sands on the sea\u2011shore, the sun,\nin the light of whose countenance you shall live, shall be as bright\nas at the first appearance; he will be so far from ceasing to flow,\nthat he will flow as strong, as full, as at the first communication\nof himself in glory to the creature. God, therefore, as sitting upon\nhis throne of grace, and acting according to his covenant, is like\na jasper\u2011stone, which is of a green color, a color always delightful\n(Rev. iv. 3); because God is always vigorous and flourishing; a pure\nact of life, sparkling new and fresh rays of life and light to the\ncreature, flourishing with a perpetual spring, and contenting the most\ncapacious desire; forming your interest, pleasure, and satisfaction;\nwith an infinite variety, without any change or succession; he will\nhave variety to increase delights, and eternity to perpetuate them;\nthis will be the fruit of the enjoyment of an infinite and eternal God:\nhe is not a cistern, but a fountain, wherein water is always living,\nand never putrefies.\n\n4. If God be eternal, here is a strong ground of comfort against all\nthe distresses of the church, and the threats of the church\u2019s enemies.\nGod\u2019s abiding forever is the plea Jeremy makes for his return to\nhis forsaken church: \u201cThou, O Lord, remainest forever; thy throne\nfrom generation to generation\u201d (Lam. v. 19, 20). The church is weak;\ncreated things are easily cut off; what prop is there, but that God\nthat lives forever? What, though Jerusalem lost its bulwarks, the\ntemple were defaced, the land wasted; yet the God of Jerusalem sits\nupon an eternal throne, and from everlasting to everlasting there is\nno diminution of his power. The prophet intimates in this complaint,\nthat it is not agreeable to God\u2019s eternity to forget his people, to\nwhom he hath from eternity borne good\u2011will. In the greatest confusions,\nthe church\u2019s eyes are to be fixed upon the eternity of God\u2019s throne,\nwhere he sits as governor of the world. No creature can take any\ncomfort in this perfection, but the church; other creatures depend\nupon God, but the church is united to him. The first discovery of\nthe name \u201cI am,\u201d which signifies the divine eternity, as well as\nimmutability, was for the comfort of the \u201coppressed Israelites in\nEgypt\u201d (Exod. iii. 14, 15): it was then published from the secret\nplace of the Almighty, as the only strong cordial to refresh them: it\nhath not yet, it shall not ever lose its virtue in any of the miseries\nthat have, or shall successively befall the church. It is a comfort as\ndurable as the God whose name it is; he is still \u201cI Am;\u201d and the same\nto the church, as he was then to his Israel. His spiritual Israel have\na greater right to the glories of it, than the carnal Israel could\nhave. No oppression can be greater than theirs; what was a comfort\nsuited to that distress, hath the same suitableness to every other\noppression. It was not a temporary name, but a name forever; his\n\u201cmemorial to all generations\u201d (ver. 15), and reacheth to the church of\nthe Gentiles with whom he treats as the God of Abraham; ratifying that\ncovenant by the Messiah, which he made with Abraham, the father of the\nfaithful. The church\u2019s enemies are not to be feared; they may spring\nas the grass, but soon after do wither by their own inward principles\nof decay, or are cut down by the hand of God (Ps. xcii. 7\u20129). They\nmay be instruments of the {a300} anger of God, but \u201cthey shall be\nscattered as the workers of iniquity by the hand of the Lord, that\nis high for evermore\u201d (ver. 8), and is engaged by his promise, to\npreserve a church in the world. They may threaten, but their breath\nmay vanish as soon as their threatenings are pronounced; for they\ncarry their breath in no surer a place than their own nostrils, upon\nwhich the eternal God can put his hand, and sink them with all their\nrage. Do the prophets and instructors of the church \u201clive forever\u201d\n(Zech. i. 5)? No: shall, then, the adversaries and disturbers of\nthe church live forever? They shall vanish as a shadow; their being\ndepends upon the eternal God of the faithful, and the everlasting\nJudge of the wicked. He that inhabits eternity is above them that\ninhabit mortality; and must, whether they will or no, \u201csay to\ncorruption, Thou art my father, and to the worm, Thou art my mother,\nand my sister\u201d (Job xvii. 14.) When they will act with a confidence,\nas if they were living gods, he will not be mated; but evidence\nhimself to be a living God above them. Why, then, should mortal\nmen be feared in their frowns, when an immortal God hath promised\nprotection in his word, and lives forever to perform it?\n\n5. Hence follows another comfort; since God is eternal, he hath\nas much power as will to be as good as his word. His promises are\nestablished upon his eternity; and his perfection is a main ground\nof trust; \u201cTrust in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is\neverlasting strength\u201d (Isa. xxvi. 4). \u05d1\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05dd His name is doubled;\nthat name, Jah and Jehovah, which was always the strength of his\npeople; and not a single one, but the strength or rock of eternities:\nnot a failing, but an eternal truth and power; that as his strength\nis eternal, so our trust in him should imitate his eternity in its\nperpetuity; and therefore in the despondency of his people, as if God\nhad forgot his promises, and made no account of them, or his word, and\nwere weary of doing good, he calls them to reflect on what they had\nheard of his eternity, which is attended with immutability, who hath\nan infiniteness of power to perform his will, and an infiniteness\nof understanding to judge of the right seasons of it. His wisdom,\nwill, truth, have always been, and will to eternity be the same\n(Isa. xl. 27, 28). He wants not life, any more than love, forever\nto help us; since his word is past, he will never fail us; since\nhis life continues, he can never be out of a capacity to relieve us;\nand, therefore, whenever we foolishly charge him by our distrustful\nthoughts, we forget his love, which made the promise, and his eternal\nlife, which can accomplish it. As his word is the bottom of our trust,\nand his truth is the assurance of his sincerity, so his eternity is\nthe assurance of his ability to perform: \u201cHis word stands forever\u201d\n(ver. 8). A man may be my friend this day, and be in another world\nto\u2011morrow; and though he be never so sincere in his word, yet death\nsnaps his life asunder, and forbids the execution. But as God cannot\ndie, so he cannot lie; because he is the eternity of Israel: \u201cThe\nstrength of Israel will not lie, nor repent,\u201d \u05e0\u05e6\u05d7 perpetuity, or\neternity of Israel (1 Sam. xv. 29). Eternity implies immutability;\nwe could have no ground for our hopes, if we knew him not to be longer\nlived than ourselves. The Psalmist beats {a301} off our hands from\ntrust in men, \u201cbecause their breath goes forth, they return to their\nearth, and in that day their thoughts perish\u201d (Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4).\nAnd if the God of Jacob were like them, what happiness could we have\nin making him our help? As his sovereignty in giving precepts had\nnot been a strong ground of obedience, without considering him as\nan eternal lawgiver, who could maintain his rights; so his kindness\nin making the promises had not been a strong ground of confidence,\nwithout considering him as an eternal promiser, whose thoughts and\nwhose life can never perish.[578] And this may be one reason why the\nHoly Ghost mentions so often the post\u2011eternity of God, and so little\nhis ante\u2011eternity; because that is the strongest foundation of our\nfaith and hope, which respects chiefly that which is future, and not\nthat which is past; yet, indeed, no assurance of his after\u2011eternity\ncan be had, if his ante\u2011eternity be not certain. If he had a beginning,\nhe may have an end; and if he had a change in his nature, he might\nhave in his counsels; but since all the resolves of God are as himself\nis, eternal, and all the promises of God are the fruits of his counsel,\ntherefore they cannot be changed; if he should change them for the\nbetter, he would not have been eternally wise, to know what was best;\nif for the worse, he had not been eternally good or just. Men may\nbreak their promises, because they are made without foresight; but\nGod, that inhabits eternity, foreknows all things that shall be done\nunder the sun, as if they had been then acting before him; and nothing\ncan intervene, or work a change in his resolves; because the least\ncircumstances were eternally foreseen by him. Though there may be\nvariations, and changes to our sight, the wind may tack about, and\nevery hour new and cross accidents happen; yet the eternal God, who\nis eternally true to his word, sits at the helm, and the winds and\nthe waves obey him. And though he should defer his promise a thousand\nyears, yet he is \u201cnot slack\u201d (2 Pet. iii. 8, 9); for he defers it but\na day to his eternity: and who would not with comfort stay a day in\nexpectation of a considerable advantage?\n\n_Use 3._ For exhortation. 1. To something which concerns us in\nourselves; 2. To something which concerns us with respect to God.\n\n1. To something which concerns us in ourselves.\n\n(1.) Let us be deeply affected with our sins long since committed.\nThough they are past with us, they are, in regard of God\u2019s eternity,\npresent with him; there is no succession in eternity, as there is in\ntime. All things are before God at once; our sins are before him, as\nif committed this moment, though committed long ago. As he is what\nhe is in regard of duration, so he knows what he knows in regard of\nknowledge. As he is not more than he was, nor shall not be any more\nthan he is, so he always knew what he knows, and shall not cease\nto know what he now knows. As himself, so his knowledge, is one\nindivisible point of eternity. He knows nothing but what he did know\nfrom eternity; he shall know no more for the future than he now knows.\nOur sins being present with him in his eternity, should be present\nwith us in our regard of remembrance of them, and sorrow for them.\nWhat though many years are lapsed, much time run out, {a302} and our\niniquities almost blotted out of our memory; yet since a thousand\nyears are, in God\u2019s sight, and in regard of his eternity, but as a\nday\u2015\u2015\u201cA thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, when it\nis past, and as a watch in the night\u201d (Ps. xc. 4)\u2015\u2015they are before\nhim. For suppose a man were as old as the world, above five thousand\nsix hundred years; the sins committed five thousand years ago, are,\naccording to that rule, but as if they were committed five days ago;\nso that sixty\u2011two years are but as an hour and a half; and the sins\ncommitted forty years since as if they were committed but this present\nhour. But if we will go further, and consider them but as a watch\nof the night, about three hours (for the night, consisting of twelve\nhours, was divided into set watches), then a thousand years are but\nas three hours in the sight of God; and then sins committed sixty\nyears ago are but as if they were committed within this five minutes.\nLet none of us set light by the iniquities committed many years ago,\nand imagine that length of time can wipe out their guilt. No: let\nus consider them in relation to God\u2019s eternity, and excite an inward\nremorse, as if they had been but the birth of this moment.\n\n(2.) Let the consideration of God\u2019s eternity abate our pride. This\nis the design of the verses following the text: the eternity of God\nbeing so sufficient to make us understand our own nothingness, which\nought to be one great end of man, especially as fallen. The eternity\nof God should make us as much disesteem ourselves, as the excellency\nof God made Job abhor himself (Job xlii. 5, 6). His excellency should\nhumble us under a sense of our vanity, and his eternity under a sense\nof the shortness of our duration. If man compares himself with other\ncreatures, he may be too sensible of his greatness; but if he compares\nhimself with God, he cannot but be sensible of his baseness.\n\n1st. In regard of our impotence to comprehend this eternity of God.\nHow little do we know, how little can we know, of God\u2019s eternity!\nWe cannot fully conceive it, much less express it; we have but a\nbrutish understanding in all those things, as Agur said of himself\n(Prov. xxx. 7). What is infinite and eternal, cannot be comprehended\nby finite and temporary creatures; if it could, it would not be\ninfinite and eternal;[579] for to know a thing, is to know the extent\nand cause of it. It is repugnant to eternity to be known, because it\nhath no limits, no causes; the most soaring understanding cannot have\na proportionable understanding of it. What disproportion is there\nbetween a drop of water and the sea in their greatness and motion; yet\nby a drop we may arrive to a knowledge of the nature of the sea, which\nis a mass of drops joined together; but the longest duration of times\ncannot make us know what eternity is, because there is no proportion\nbetween time and eternity. The years of God are as numberless as\nhis thoughts (Ps. xl. 5), and our minds as far from reckoning the\none as the other. If our understandings are too gross to comprehend\nthe majesty of his infinite works, they are much more too short to\ncomprehend the infiniteness of his eternity.\n\n{a303} 2d. In regard of the vast disproportion of our duration to this\nduration of God.\n\n[1.] We have more of nothing than being. We were nothing from an\nunbegun eternity, and we might have been nothing to an endless\neternity, had not God called us into being; and if he please we may\nbe nothing by as short an annihilating word, as we were something by\na creating word. As it is the prerogative of God to be, \u201cI am that I\nam;\u201d so it is the property of a creature to be, \u201cI am not what I am;\u201d\nI am not by myself what I am, but by the indulgence of another. I was\nnothing formerly; I may be nothing again, unless he that is \u201cI Am\u201d\nmake me to subsist what I now am. Nothing is as much the title of\nthe creature as being is the title of God. Nothing is so holy as God,\nbecause nothing hath being as God: \u201cThere is none holy as the Lord,\nfor there is none besides thee\u201d (1 Sam. ii. 2). Man\u2019s life is an image,\na dream, which are next to nothing; and if compared with God, worse\nthan nothing; a nullity as well as a vanity, because \u201cwith God only\nis the fountain of life\u201d (Ps. xxxvi. 9). The creature is but a drop\nof life from him, dependent on him: a drop of water is a nothing if\ncompared with the vast conflux of waters and numberless drops in the\nocean. How unworthy is it for dust and ashes, kneaded together in time,\nto strut against the Father of eternity! Much more unworthy for that\nwhich is nothing, worse than nothing, to quarrel with that which is\nonly being, and equal himself with Him that inhabits eternity.\n\n[2.] What being we have had a beginning. After an unaccountable\neternity was run out, in the very dregs of time, a few years ago we\nwere created, and made of the basest and vilest dross of the world,\nthe slime and dust of the earth; made of that wherewith birds build\ntheir nests; made of that which creeping things make their habitation,\nand beasts trample upon. How monstrous is pride in such a creature, to\naspire, as if he were the Father of eternity, and as eternal as God,\nand so his own eternity!\n\n[3.] What being we have is but of a short duration in regard of our\nlife in this world. Our life is in a constant change and flux; we\nremain not the same an entire day; youth quickly succeeds childhood,\nand age as speedily treads upon the heels of youth; there is a\ncontinual defluxion of minutes, as there is of sands in a glass. He is\nas a watch wound up at the beginning of his life, and from that time\nis running down, till he comes to the bottom; some part of our lives\nis cut off every day, every minute. Life is but a moment: what is past\ncannot be recalled, what is future cannot be ensured. If we enjoy this\nmoment, we have lost that which is past, and shall presently lose this\nby the next that is to come. The short duration of men is set out in\nScripture by such creatures as soon disappear: a worm (Job xxv. 6),\nthat can scarce outlive a winter; grass, that withers by the summer\nsun. Life is a \u201cflower,\u201d soon withering (Job xiv. 2); a \u201cvapor,\u201d soon\nvanishing (James iv. 14); a \u201csmoke,\u201d soon disappearing (Ps. cii. 3).\nThe strongest man is but compacted dust; the fabric must moulder;\nthe highest mountain falls and comes to naught. Time gives place to\neternity; we live now, and die to\u2011morrow. {a304} Not a man since the\nworld began ever lived a day in God\u2019s sight; for no man ever lived a\nthousand years. The longest day of any man\u2019s life never amounted to\ntwenty\u2011four hours in the account of divine eternity: a life of so many\nhundred years, with the addition \u201che died,\u201d makes up the greatest part\nof the history of the patriarchs (Gen. v.); and since the life of man\nhath been curtailed, if any be in the world eighty years, he scarce\nproperly lives sixty of them, since the fourth part of time is at\nleast consumed in sleep. A greater difference there is between the\nduration of God and that of a creature, than between the life of\none for a minute, and the life of one that should live as many years\nas the whole globe of heaven and earth, if changed into papers,\ncould contain figures. And this life, though but of a short duration\naccording to the period God hath determined, is easily cut off; the\ntreasure of life is deposited in a brittle vessel. A small stone\nhitting against Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s statue will tumble it down into a\npoor and nasty grave; a grape\u2011stone, the bone of a fish, a small fly\nin the throat, a moist damp, are enough to destroy an earthly eternity,\nand reduce it to nothing. What a nothing, then, is our shortness, if\ncompared with God\u2019s eternity; our frailty, with God\u2019s duration! How\nhumble, then, should perishing creatures be before an eternal God,\nwith whom \u201cour days are as a hand\u2019s breadth, and our age as nothing!\u201d\n(Ps. xxxix. 5.) The angels, that have been of as long a duration as\nheaven and earth, tremble before him; the heavens melt at his presence;\nand shall we, that are but of yesterday, approach a divine eternity\nwith unhumbled souls, and offer the calves of our lips with the pride\nof devils, and stand upon our terms with him, without falling upon our\nfaces, with a sense that we are but dust and ashes, and creatures of\ntime? How easy is it to reason out man\u2019s humility! but how hard is it\nto reason man into it!\n\n(3.) Let the consideration of God\u2019s eternity take off our love and\nconfidence from the world, and the things thereof. The eternity of\nGod reproaches a pursuit of the world, as preferring a momentary\npleasure before an everlasting God; as though a temporal world could\nbe a better supply than a God whose years never fail. Alas! what is\nthis earth men are so greedy of, and will get, though by blood and\nsweat? What is this whole earth, if we had the entire possession of\nit, if compared with the vast heavens, the seat of angels and blessed\nspirits? It is but as an atom to the greatest mountain, or as a drop\nof dew to the immense ocean. How foolish is it to prefer a drop before\nthe sea, or an atom before the world! The earth is but a point to the\nsun; the sun with its whole orb, but a little part of the heavens if\ncompared with the whole fabric. If a man had the possession of all\nthose, there could be no comparison between those that have had a\nbeginning, and shall have an end, and God who is without either of\nthem. Yet how many are there that make nothing of the divine eternity,\nand imagine an eternity of nothing!\n\n[1.] The world hath been but of a short standing. It is not yet six\nthousand years since the foundations of it were laid, and therefore\nit cannot have a boundless excellency, as that God, who hath {a305}\nbeen from everlasting, doth possess. If Adam had lived to this day,\nand been as absolute lord of his posterity, as he was of the other\ncreatures, had it been a competent object to take up his heart? had\nhe not been a madman, to have preferred this little created pleasure\nbefore an everlasting uncreated God? a thing that had a dependent\nbeginning, before that which had an independent eternity?\n\n[2.] The beauties of the world are transitory and perishing. The\nwhole world is nothing else but a fluid thing; the fashion of it is a\npageantry, \u201cpassing away\u201d (1 Cor. vii. 31): though the glories of it\nmight be conceived greater than they are, yet they are not consistent,\nbut transient; there cannot be an entire enjoyment of them, because\nthey grow up and expire every moment, and slip away between our\nfingers while we are using them. Have we not heard of God\u2019s dispersing\nthe greatest empires like \u201cchaff before a whirlwind,\u201d or as \u201csmoke out\nof a chimney\u201d (Hos. xiii. 3), which, though it appears as a compacted\ncloud, as if it would choke the sun, is quickly scattered into several\nparts of the air, and becomes invisible? Nettles have often been heirs\nto stately palaces, as God threatens Israel (Hos. ix. 6). We cannot\npromise ourselves over night anything the next day. A kingdom with\nthe glory of a throne may be cut off in a morning (Hos. x. 15). The\nnew wine may be taken from the mouth when the vintage is ripe; the\ndevouring locust may snatch away both the hopes of that and the\nharvest (Joel i. 15); they are, therefore, things which are not, and\nnothing cannot be a fit object for confidence or affection; \u201cWilt\nthou set thy eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make\nthemselves wings\u201d (Prov. xxiii. 5). They are not properly beings,\nbecause they are not stable, but flitting. They are not, because they\nmay not be the next moment to us what they are this: they are but\ncisterns, not springs, and broken cisterns, not sound and stable; no\nsolidity in their substance, nor stability in their duration. What\na foolish thing is it then, to prefer a transient felicity, a mere\nnullity, before an eternal God! What a senseless thing would it be\nin a man to prefer the map of a kingdom, which the hand of a child\ncan tear in pieces, before the kingdom shadowed by it! How much more\ninexcusable is it to value things, that are so far from being eternal,\nthat they are not so much as dusky resemblances of an eternity. Were\nthe things of the world more glorious than they are, yet they are but\nas a counterfeit sun in a cloud, which comes short of the true sun in\nthe heavens, both in glory and duration; and to esteem them before God,\nis inconceivably baser, than if a man should value a party\u2011colored\nbubble in the air, before a durable rock of diamonds. The comforts\nof this world are as candles, that will end in a snuff; whereas the\nfelicity that flows from an eternal God, is like the sun, that shines\nmore and more to a perfect day.\n\n[3.] They cannot therefore be fit for a soul, which was made to have\nan interest in God\u2019s eternity. The soul being of a perpetual nature,\nwas made for the fruition of an eternal good; without such a good it\ncan never be perfect. Perfection, that noble thing, riseth {a306} not\nfrom anything in this world, nor is a title due to a soul while in\nthis world; it is then they are said to be made perfect, when they\narrive at that entire conjunction with the eternal God in another\nlife (Heb. xii. 23). The soul cannot be ennobled by an acquaintance\nwith these things, or established by a dependence on them; they cannot\nconfer what a rational nature should desire, or supply it with what\nit wants. The soul hath a resemblance to God in a post\u2011eternity; why\nshould it be drawn aside by the blandishments of earthly things, to\nneglect its true establishment, and lackey after the body, which is\nbut the shadow of the soul, and was made to follow it and serve it?\nBut while it busieth itself altogether in the concerns of a perishing\nbody, and seeks satisfaction in things that glide away, it becomes\nrather a body than soul, descends below its nature, reproacheth that\nGod who hath imprinted upon it an image of his own eternity, and\nloseth the comfort of the everlastingness of its Creator. How shall\nthe whole world, if our lives were as durable as that, be a happy\neternity to us, who have souls that shall survive all the delights of\nit, which must fry in those flames that shall fire the whole frame of\nnature at the general conflagration of the world? (2 Pet. iii. 10.)\n\n[4.] Therefore let us provide for a happy interest in the eternity of\nGod. Man is made for an eternal state. The soul hath such a perfection\nin its nature, that it is fit for eternity, and cannot display all\nits operations but in eternity. To an eternity it must go, and live\nas long as God himself lives. Things of a short duration are not\nproportioned to a soul made for an eternal continuance; to see that it\nbe a comfortable eternity, is worth all our care. Man is a forecasting\ncreature, and considers not only the present, but the future too, in\nhis provisions for his family; and shall he disgrace his nature in\ncasting off all consideration of a future eternity? Get possession,\ntherefore, of the eternal God. \u201cA portion in this life\u201d is the lot\nof those who shall be forever miserable (Ps. xvii. 14). But God,\n\u201can everlasting portion,\u201d is the lot of them that are designed for\nhappiness. \u201cGod is my portion forever\u201d (Ps. lxxiii. 26). \u201cTime is\nshort\u201d (1 Cor. vii. 29). The whole time for which God designed this\nbuilding of the world, is of a little compass; it is a stage erected\nfor rational creatures to act their parts upon for a few thousand\nyears; the greatest part of which time is run out; and then shall time,\nlike a rivulet, fall into the sea of eternity, from whence it sprung.\nAs time is but a slip of eternity, so it will end in eternity; our\nadvantages consist in the present instant; what is past never promised\na return, and cannot be fetched back by all our vows. What is future,\nwe cannot promise ourselves to enjoy; we may be snatched away before\nit comes. Every minute that passeth, speaks the fewer remaining,\ntill the time of death; and as we are every hour further from our\nbeginning, we are nearer our end. The child born this day grows up, to\ngrow nothing at last. In all ages there is \u201cbut a step between us and\ndeath,\u201d as David said of himself (1 Sam. xx. 3). The little time that\nremains for the devil till the day of judgment, envenoms his wrath;\nhe rageth, because \u201chis time is short\u201d (Rev. xii. 12). The little time\nthat remains between this moment {a307} and our death, should quicken\nour diligence to inherit the endless and unchangeable eternity of God.\n\n[5.] Often meditate on the eternity of God. The holiness, power, and\neternity of God, are the fundamental articles of all religion, upon\nwhich the whole body of it leans; his holiness for conformity to him,\nhis power and eternity for the support of faith and hope. The strong\nand incessant cries of the four beasts, representing that christian\nchurch, are \u201cHoly, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is,\nand is to come\u201d (Rev. iv. 8). Though his power is intimated, yet the\nchiefest are his holiness, three times expressed; and his eternity\nwhich is repeated, \u201cwho lives forever and ever\u201d (ver. 9). This ought\nto be the constant practice in the church of the Gentiles, which\nthis book chiefly respects; the meditation of his converting grace\nmanifested to Paul, ravished the apostle\u2019s heart; but not without\nthe triumphant consideration of his immortality and eternity, which\nare the principal parts of the doxology: \u201cNow unto the King eternal,\nimmortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever\nand ever\u201d (1 Tim. i. 15\u201217). It could be no great transport to the\nspirit, to consider him glorious without considering him immortal. The\nunconfinedness of his perfections in regard of time, presents the soul\nwith matter of the greatest complacency. The happiness of our souls\ndepends upon his other attributes, but the perpetuity of it upon his\neternity. Is it a comfort to view his immense wisdom; his overflowing\ngoodness; his tender mercy; his unerring truth? What comfort were\nthere in any of those, if it were a wisdom that could be baffled; a\ngoodness that could be damped; a mercy that can expire; and a truth\nthat can perish with the subject of it? Without eternity, what were\nall his other perfections, but as glorious, yet withering flowers;\na great, but a decaying beauty? By a frequent meditation of God\u2019s\neternity, we should become more sensible of our own vanity and the\nworld\u2019s triflingness; how nothing should ourselves; how nothing would\nall other things appear in our eyes! how coldly should we desire them!\nhow feebly should we place any trust in them! Should we not think\nourselves worthy of contempt to dote upon a perishing glory, to expect\nsupport from an arm of flesh, when there is an eternal beauty to\nravish us, an eternal arm to protect us? Asaph, when he considered God\n\u201ca portion forever,\u201d thought nothing of the glories of the earth, or\nthe beauties of the created heavens, worth his appetite or complacency,\nbut \u201cGod\u201d (Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26). Besides, an elevated frame of heart at\nthe consideration of God\u2019s eternity, would batter down the strongholds\nand engines of any temptation: a slight temptation will not know where\nto find and catch hold of a soul high and hid in a meditation of it;\nand if it doth, there will not be wanting from hence preservatives to\nresist and conquer it. What transitory pleasures will not the thoughts\nof God\u2019s eternity stifle? When this work busieth a soul, it is too\ngreat to suffer it to descend, to listen to a sleeveless errand from\nhell or the world. The wanton allurements of the flesh will be put\noff with indignation. The proffers of the world will be ridiculous\nwhen they are cast into the balance with the eternity of God, which\nsticking in our thoughts, we shall not be {a308} so easy a prey for\nthe fowler\u2019s gin. Let us, therefore, often meditate upon this, but\nnot in a bare speculation, without engaging our affections, and making\nevery notion of the divine eternity end in a suitable impression\nupon our hearts. This would be much like the disciples gazing upon\nthe heavens at the ascension of their Master, while they forgot the\npractice of his orders (Acts i. 11). We may else find something of\nthe nature of God, and lose ourselves, not only in eternity, but to\neternity.\n\n2. And hence the second part of the exhortation is, to something which\nconcerns us with a respect to God.\n\n(1.) If God be eternal, how worthy is he of our choicest affections,\nand strongest desires of communion with him! Is not everything to be\nvalued according to the greatness of its being! How, then, should we\nlove him, who is not only lovely in his nature, but eternally lovely;\nhaving from everlasting all those perfections centered in himself,\nwhich appear in time! If everything be lovely, by how much more\nit partakes of the nature of God, who is the chief good; how much\nmore infinitely lovely is God, who is superior to all other goods,\nand eternally so! Not a God of a few minutes, months, years, or\nmillions of years; not of the dregs of time or the top of time, but\nof eternity; above time, inconceivably immense beyond time. The loving\nhim infinitely, perpetually, is an act of homage due to him for his\neternal excellency; we may give him the one, since our souls are\nimmortal, though we cannot the other, because they are finite. Since\nhe incloseth in himself all the excellencies of heaven and earth\nforever, he should have an affection, not only of time in this world,\nbut of eternity in future; and if we did not owe him a love for what\nwe are by him, we owe him a love for what he is in himself; and more\nfor what he is, than for what he is to us. He is more worthy of our\naffections because he is the eternal God, than because he is our\nCreator; because he is more excellent in his nature, than in his\ntransient actions; the beams of his goodness to us, are to direct our\nthoughts and affections to him; but his own eternal excellency ought\nto be the ground and foundation of our affections to him. And truly,\nsince nothing but God is eternal, nothing but God is worth the loving;\nand we do but a just right to our love, to pitch it upon that which\ncan always possess us and be possessed by us; upon an object that\ncannot deceive our affection, and put it out of countenance by a\ndissolution. And if our happiness consists in being like to God, we\nshould imitate him in loving him as he loves himself, and as long as\nhe loves himself; God cannot do more to himself than love himself;\nhe can make no addition to his essence, nor diminution from it. What\nshould we do less to an eternal Being, than to bestow affections upon\nhim, like his own to himself; since we can find nothing so durable as\nhimself, for which we should love it?\n\n(2.) He only is worthy of our best service. The Ancient of Days is to\nbe served before all that are younger than himself; our best obedience\nis due to him as a God of unconfined excellency; everything that is\nexcellent deserves a veneration suitable to its excellency. As God\nis infinite, he hath right to a boundless service; as he is {a309}\neternal, he hath right to a perpetual service: as service is a debt\nof justice upon the account of the excellency of his nature, so a\nperpetual service is as much a debt of justice upon the account of\nhis eternity. If God be infinite and eternal, he merits an honor and\ncomportment from his creatures, suited to the unlimited perfection\nof his nature, and the duration of his being. How worthy is the\nPsalmist\u2019s resolution! \u201cI will sing unto the Lord as long as I live;\nI will sing praise to my God while I have any being\u201d (Ps. civ. 33).\nIt is the use he makes of the endless duration of the glory of God;\nand will extend to all other service as well as praise. To serve other\nthings, or to serve ourselves, is too vast a service upon that which\nis nothing. In devoting ourselves to God, we serve him that is, that\nwas, so as that he never began; is to come, so as that he never shall\nend; by whom all things are what they are; who hath both eternal\nknowledge to remember our service, and eternal goodness to reward it.\n\n\n\n\n{a310}                      DISCOURSE VI.\n\n                     ON THE IMMUTABILITY OF GOD.\n\n  PSALM cii. 26, 27.\u2015\u2015They shall perish, but thou shalt endure:\n    yea, all of them shall wax old as a garment; as a vesture\n    shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou\n    art the same, and thy years shall have no end.\n\n\nTHIS Psalm contains a complaint of a people pressed with a great\ncalamity; some think of the Jewish church in Babylon; others think the\nPsalmist doth here personate mankind lying under a state of corruption,\nbecause he wishes for the coming of the Messiah, to accomplish that\nredemption promised by God, and needed by them. Indeed the title\nof the Psalm is \u201cA prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed,\nand pours out his complaint before the Lord;\u201d whether afflicted with\nthe sense of corruption, or with the sense of oppression. And the\nredemption by the Messiah, which the ancient church looked upon as\nthe fountain of their deliverance from a sinful or a servile bondage,\nis in this psalm spoken of. A set time appointed for the discovery\nof his mercy to Sion (ver. 13); an appearance in glory to build up\nSion (ver. 16); the loosing of the prisoner by redemption, and them\nthat are appointed to death (ver. 20); the calling of the Gentiles\n(ver. 22); and the latter part of the psalm, wherein are the verses\nI have read, are applied to Christ (Heb. i.) Whatsoever the design\nof the psalm might be, many things are intermingled that concern the\nkingdom of the Messiah, and redemption by Christ.\n\nSome make three parts of the psalm. 1. A petition plainly delivered\n(ver. 1, 2): \u201cHear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee,\u201d\n&c. 2. The petition strongly and argumentatively enforced and pleaded\n(ver. 3), from the misery of the petitioner in himself, and his\nreproach from his enemies. 3. An acting of faith in the expectation of\nan answer in the general redemption promised (ver. 12, 13): \u201cBut thou,\nO Lord, shalt endure forever; thou shalt arise and have mercy upon\nSion; the heathen shall fear thy name.\u201d The first part is the petition\npleaded; the second part is the petition answered, in an assurance\nthat there should in time be a full deliverance.[580] The design\nof the penman is to confirm the church in the truth of the divine\npromises; that though the foundations of the world should be ripped\nup, and the heavens clatter together, and the whole fabric of them\nbe unpinned and fall to pieces, the firmest parts of it dissolved;\nyet the church should continue {a311} in its stability, because it\nstands not upon the changeableness of creatures, but is built upon\nthe immutable rock of the truth of God, which is as little subject\nto change, as his essence.\n\n_They shall perish, thou shalt change them._ As he had before ascribed\nto God the \u201cfoundation of heaven and earth\u201d (ver. 25), so he ascribes\nto God here the destruction of them. Both the beginning and end of the\nworld are here ascertained. There is nothing, indeed, from the present\nappearance of things, that can demonstrate the cessation of the world.\nThe heaven and earth stand firm; the motions of the heavenly bodies\nare the same, their beauty is not decayed; individuals corrupt, but\nthe species and kinds remain. The successions of the year observe\ntheir due order; but the sin of man renders the change of the present\nappearance of the world necessary to accomplish the design of God for\nthe glory of his elect. The heavens do not naturally perish, as some\nfancied an old age of the world, wherein it must necessarily decay as\nthe bodies of animals do; or that the parts of the heavens are broken\noff by their rubbing one against another in their motion, and falling\nto the earth, are the seeds of those things that grow among us.[581]\n\n_The earth and heavens._ He names here the most stable parts of\nthe world, and the most beautiful parts of the creation; those that\nare freest from corruptibility and change, to illustrate thereby\nthe immutability of God; that though the heavens and earth have a\nprerogative of fixedness above other parts of the world, and the\ncreatures that reside below, the heavens remain the same as they\nwere created, and the centre of the earth retains its fixedness, and\nare as beautiful and fresh in their age as they were in their youth\nmany years ago, notwithstanding the change of the elements, fire\nand water being often turned into air, so that there may remain but\nlittle of that air which was first created by reason of the continual\ntransmutation; yet this firmness of the earth and heavens is not to\nbe regarded in comparison of the unmovableness and fixedness of the\nbeing of God; as their beauty comes short of the glory of his being,\nso doth their firmness come short of his stability. Some, by heavens\nand earth, understand the creatures which reside in the earth, and\nthose which are in the air, which is called heaven often in Scripture;\nbut the ruin and fall of these being seen every day, had been no fit\nillustration of the unchangeableness of God.\n\n_They, shall perish, they shall be changed._ 1. They _may_ perish,\nsay some; they have it not from themselves that they do not perish,\nbut from thee, who didst endue them with an incorruptible nature; they\nshall perish if thou speakest the word; thou canst with as much ease\ndestroy them, as thou didst create them. But the Psalmist speaks not\nof their possibility, but the certainty of their perishing. 2. They\n_shall_ perish in their qualities and motion, not in their substance,\nsay others. They shall cease from that motion which is designed\nproperly for the generation and corruption of things in the earth;\nbut in regard of their substance and beauty they shall remain. As when\nthe strings or wheels of a clock or watch are taken off, the material\nparts remain, though the motion of it, and the use for discovering\n{a312} the time of the day, ceaseth.[582] To perish, doth not signify\nalway a falling into nothing, an annihilation, by which both the\nmatter and the form are destroyed, but a ceasing of the present\nappearance of them; a ceasing to be what they now are; as a man is\nsaid to perish when he dies, whereas the better part of man doth not\ncease to be. The figure of the body moulders away, and the matter of\nit returns to dust; but the soul being immortal ceaseth not to act,\nwhen the body, by reason of the absence of the soul, is incapable\nof acting. So the heavens shall perish; the appearance they now have\nshall vanish, and a more glorious and incorruptible frame be erected\nby the power and goodness of God. The dissolution of heaven and earth\nis meant by the word _perish_; the raising a new frame is signified\nby the word _changed_: as if the Spirit of God would prevent any wrong\nmeaning of the word _perish_, by alleviating the sense of that, by\nanother which signifies only a mutation and change; as when we change\na habit and garment, we quit the old to receive the new.\n\n_As a garment, as a vesture._ Thou shalt change them, \u1f11\u03bb\u03af\u03be\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2,[583]\nthou shalt fold them up. The heavens are compared to a curtain (Ps.\nciv. 2), and shall in due time be folded up as clothes and curtains\nare. As a garment encompasseth the whole body, so do the heavens\nencircle the earth.[584] Some say, as a garment is folded up to be\nlaid aside, that when there is need it may be taken again for use;\nso shalt thou fold up the heavens like a garment, that when they are\nrepaired, thou mayest again stretch them out about the earth; thou\nshalt fold them up, so that what did appear shall not now appear.\nIt may be illustrated by the metaphor of a scroll or book, which\nthe Spirit of God useth (Isa. xxxiv. 4; Rev. vi. 14): \u201cThe heavens\ndeparted as a scroll when it is rolled together.\u201d When a book is\nrolled up or shut, nothing can be read in it till it be opened again;\nso the face of the heavens, wherein the stars are as letters declaring\nthe glory of God, shall be shut or rolled together, so that nothing\nshall appear, till by its renovation it be opened again: as a garment\nit shall be changed, not to be used in the same fashion, and for the\nsame use again. It seems, indeed, to be for the worse; an old garment\nis not changed but into rags, to be put to other uses, and afterwards\nthrown upon the dunghill; but similitudes are not to be pressed\ntoo far; and this will not agree with the new heavens and new\nearth, physically so, as well as metaphorically so. It is not likely\nthe heavens will be put to a worse use than God designed them for\nin creation; however, a change as a garment, speaks not a total\ncorruption, but an alteration of qualities; as a garment not to\nbe used in the same fashion as before. We may observe, that it is\nprobable the world shall not be annihilated, but refined. It shall\nlose its present form and fashion; but not its foundation: indeed, as\nGod raised it from nothing, so he can reduce it into nothing; yet it\ndoth not appear that God will annihilate it, and utterly destroy both\nthe matter and form of it; part shall be consumed, and part purified\n(2 Pet. iii. 12, 13): \u201cThe heavens shall be on fire and dissolved;\nnevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and\na new earth.\u201d They shall be melted down as gold by the artificer, to\nbe refined from its dross, {a313} and wrought into a more beautiful\nfashion, that they may serve the design of God for those that shall\nreside therein; a new world wherein righteousness shall dwell: the\napostle opposing it thereby to the old world wherein wickedness did\nreside. The heavens are to be purged, as the vessels that held the\nsin\u2011offering were to be purified by the fire of the sanctuary. God,\nindeed, will take down this scaffold, which he hath built to publish\nhis glory. As every individual hath a certain term of its duration, so\nan end is appointed for the universal nature of heaven and earth (Isa.\nli. 6): \u201cThe heavens shall vanish like smoke\u201d which disappears. As\nsmoke is resolved and attenuated into air, not annihilated, so shall\nthe world assume a new face, and have a greater clearness and splendor;\nas the bodies of men, dissolved into dust, shall have more glorious\nqualities at their resurrection; as a vessel of gold is melted down\nto remove the batterings in it, and receive a more comely form by the\nskill of the workman.\n\n1. The world was not destroyed by the deluge: it was rather washed by\nwater, than consumed; so it shall be rather refined by the last fire,\nthan lie under an irrecoverable ruin.\n\n2. It is not likely God would liken the everlastingness of his\ncovenant, and the perpetuity of his spiritual Israel, to the duration\nof the ordinances of the heavens (as he doth in Jer. xxxi. 35, 36), if\nthey were wholly to depart from before him. Though that place may only\ntend to an assurance of a church in the world, while the world endures;\nyet it would be but small comfort, if the happiness of believers\nshould endure no longer than the heavens and earth, if they were to\nhave a total period.\n\n3. Besides, the bodies of the saints must have place for their support\nto move in, and glorious objects suited to those glorious senses which\nshall be restored to them; not in any carnal way, which our Saviour\nrejects, when he saith, There is no eating, or drinking, or marrying,\n&c. in the other world; but whereby they may glorify God; though how\nor in what manner their senses shall be used, would be rashness to\ndetermine; only something is necessary for the corporeal state of\nmen, that there may be an employment for their senses as well as their\nsouls.\n\n4. Again, How could the creature, the world, or any part of it, be\nsaid to be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious\nliberty of the sons of God, if the whole frame of heaven and earth\nwere to be annihilated (Rom. viii. 21)? The apostle saith also, that\nthe creature waits with an \u201cearnest expectation for this manifestation\nof the sons of God\u201d (ver. 19); which would have no foundation if the\nwhole frame should be reduced to nothing. What joyful expectation can\nthere be in any of a total ruin? How should the creature be capable\nof partaking in this glorious liberty of the sons of God?[585] As the\nworld for the sin of man lost its first dignity, and was cursed after\nthe fall, and the beauty bestowed upon it by creation defaced; so\nit shall recover that ancient glory, when he shall be fully restored\nby the resurrection to that dignity he lost by his first sin. As man\nshall be freed from his corruptibility to receive {a314} that glory\nwhich is prepared for him, so shall the creatures be freed from that\nimperfection or corruptibility, those stains and spots upon the face\nof them, to receive a new glory suited to their nature, and answerable\nto the design of God, when the glorious liberty of the saints shall\nbe accomplished.[586] As when a prince\u2019s nuptials are solemnized, the\nwhole country echoes with joy; so the inanimate creatures, when the\ntime of the marriage of the Lamb is come, shall have a delight and\npleasure from that renovation. The apostle sets forth the whole world\nas a person groaning; and the Scripture is frequent in such metaphors;\nas when the creatures are said to wait upon God, and to be troubled,\nthe hills are said to leap and the mountains to rejoice (Ps. civ.\n27\u201229); the creature is said to groan, as the heavens are said to\ndeclare the glory of God, passively, naturally, not rationally. It is\nnot likely angels are here meant, though they cannot but desire it;\nsince they are affected with the dishonor and reproach God hath in the\nworld, they cannot but long for the restoration of his honor in the\nrestoration of the creature to its true end: and, indeed, the angels\nare employed to serve man in this sinful state, and cannot but in\nholiness wish the creature freed from his corruption. Nor is it meant\nof the new creatures, which have the first fruits of the Spirit;\nthose he brings in afterwards, groaning and waiting for the adoption\n(ver. 23); where he distinguisheth the rational creature from the\ncreature he had spoken of before. If he had meant the believing\ncreature by that creature that desired the liberty of the sons of\nGod, what need had there been of that additional distinction, and\nnot only they, but we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit,\ngroan within ourselves? Whereby it seems he means some creatures below\nrational creatures, since neither angels nor blessed souls can be said\nto travail in pain, with that distress as a woman in travail hath, as\nthe word signifies, who perform the work joyfully which God sets them\nupon.[587] If the creatures be subject to vanity by the sin of man,\nthey shall also partake of a happiness by the restoration of man. The\nearth hath borne thorns and thistles, and venomous beasts; the air\nhath had its tempests and infectious qualities; the water hath caused\nits floods and deluges. The creature hath been abused to luxury and\nintemperance; and been tyrannized over by man, contrary to the end of\nits creation. It is convenient that some time should be allotted for\nthe creature\u2019s attaining its true end, and that it may partake of the\npeace of man, as it hath done of the fruits of his sin; otherwise it\nwould seem, that sin had prevailed more than grace, and would have\nhad more power to deface, than grace to restore things into their due\norder.\n\n5. Again, Upon what account should the Psalmist exhort the heavens to\nrejoice, and the earth to be glad, when God \u201ccomes to judge the world\nwith righteousness\u201d (Ps. xcvi. 11\u201213), if they should be annihilated\nand sunk forever into nothing? \u201cIt would seem,\u201d saith Daille, \u201cto be\nan impertinent figure, if the Judge of the world brought to them a\ntotal destruction; an entire ruin could not be matter of triumph to\ncreatures, who naturally have that instinct or {a315} inclination\nput into them by their Creator, to preserve themselves, and to effect\ntheir own preservation.\u201d\n\n6. Again, the Lord is to rejoice in his works (Ps. civ. 31): \u201cThe\nglory of the Lord shall endure forever; the Lord shall rejoice in\nhis works;\u201d not hath, but shall rejoice in his works: in the works of\ncreation, which the Psalmist had enumerated, and which is the whole\nscope of the Psalm: and he intimates that it is part of the glory of\nthe Lord which endures forever; that is, his manifestative glory, to\nrejoice in his works: the glory of the Lord must be understood with\nreference to the creation he had spoken of before. How short was that\njoy God had in his works after he had sent them beautified out of his\nhand! How soon did he repent, not only that he had made man, but was\ngrieved at the heart also, that he made the other creatures which\nman\u2019s sin had disordered! (Gen. vi. 7.) What joy can God have in them,\nsince the curse upon the entrance of sin into the world remains upon\nthem? If they are to be annihilated upon the full restoration of his\nholiness, what time will God have to rejoice in the other works of\ncreation? It is the joy of God to see all his works in due order;\nevery one pointing to their true end; marching together in their\nexcellency, according to his first intendment in their creation. Did\nGod create the world to perform its end only for one day; scarce so\nmuch, if Adam fell the very first day of his creation? What would have\nbeen their end, if Adam had been confirmed in a state of happiness as\nthe angels were? \u2019tis likely will be answered and performed upon the\ncomplete restoration of man to that happy state from whence he fell.\nWhat artificer compiles a work by his skill, but to rejoice in it? And\nshall God have no joy from the works of his hands? Since God can only\nrejoice in goodness, the creatures must have that goodness restored\nto them which God pronounced them to have at the first creation, and\nwhich he ordained them for, before he can again rejoice in his works.\nThe goodness of the creatures is the glory and joy of God.\n\n_Inference 1._ We may infer from hence, what a base and vile thing sin\nis, which lays the foundation of the world\u2019s change. Sin brings it to\na decrepit age; sin overturned the whole work of God (Gen. iii. 17);\nso that to render it useful to its proper end, there is a necessity of\na kind of a new creating it. This causes God to fire the earth for a\npurification of it from that infection and contagion brought upon it\nby the apostasy and corruption of man. It hath served sinful man, and\ntherefore must undergo a purging flame, to be fit to serve the holy\nand righteous Creator. As sin is so riveted in the body of man, that\nthere is need of a change by death to raze it out; so hath the curse\nfor sin got so deep into the bowels of the world, that there is need\nof a change by fire to refine it for its master\u2019s use. Let us look\nupon sin with no other notion than as the object of God\u2019s hatred, the\ncause of his grief in the creatures, and the spring of the pain and\nruin of the world.\n\n2. How foolish a thing is it to set our hearts upon that which shall\nperish, and be no more what it is now! The heavens and the earth,\nthe solidest and firmest parts of the creation, shall not continue in\nthe posture they are; they must perish and undergo a refining {a316}\nchange. How feeble and weak are the other parts of the creation, the\nlittle creatures walking upon and fluttering about the world, that\nare perishing and dying every day; and we scarce see them clothed with\nlife and beauty this day, but they wither and are despoiled of all\nthe next; and are such frail things fit objects for our everlasting\nspirits and affections? Though the daily employment of the heavens is\nthe declaration of the glory of God (Ps. xix. 1), yet neither this,\nnor their harmony, order, beauty, amazing greatness and glory of them,\nshall preserve them from a dissolution and melting at the presence\nof the Lord. Though they have remained in the same posture from the\ncreation till this day, and are of so great antiquity, yet they must\nbow down to a change before the will and word of their Creator; and\nshall we rest upon that which shall vanish like smoke? Shall we take\nany creature for our support like ice, that will crack under our\nfeet, and must, by the order of their Lord Creator, deceive our hopes?\nPerishing things can be no support to the soul; if we would have rest,\nwe must run to God and rest in God. How contemptible should that be to\nus, whose fashion shall pass away, which shall not endure long in its\npresent form and appearance; contemptible as a rest, not contemptible\nas the work of God; contemptible as an end, not contemptible as a\nmeans to attain our end! If these must be changed, how unworthy are\nother things to be the centre of our souls, that change in our very\nusing of them, and slide away in our very enjoyment of them!\n\n_Thou art the same._ The essence of God, with all the perfections\nof his nature, are pronounced the same, without any variation from\neternity to eternity; so that the text doth not only assert the\neternal duration of God, but his immutability in that duration.\nHis eternity is signified in that expression, \u201cThou shalt endure;\u201d\nhis immutability in this, \u201cThou art the same.\u201d To endure, argues\nindeed his immutability as well as eternity; for what endures, is not\nchanged, and what is changed, doth not endure;[588] but \u201cThou art the\nsame\u201d[589] doth more fully signify it. He could not be the same if he\ncould be changed into any other thing than what he is; the Psalmist\ntherefore puts not thou hast been, or shalt be, but thou art the same,\nwithout any alteration. \u201cThou art the same;\u201d that is, the same God;\nthe same in essence and nature; the same in will and purpose. Thou\ndost change all other things as thou pleasest, but thou art immutable\nin every respect, and receivest no shadow of change, though never\nso light and small. The Psalmist here alludes to the name Jehovah,\nI Am;[590] and doth not only ascribe immutability to God, but exclude\neverything else from partaking in that perfection. All things else\nare tottering; God sees all other things in continual motion under\nhis feet, like water passing away and no more seen; while he remains\nfixed and immovable; his wisdom and power, his knowledge and will,\nare always the same. His essence can receive no alteration, neither\nby itself, nor by any external cause; whereas other things either\nnaturally decline to destruction, pass from one term to another, till\nthey come to their period; or shall at the last {a317} day be wrapped\nup, after God hath completed his will in them and by them, as a man\ndoth a garment he intends to repair and transform to another use. So\nthat in the text, God, as immutable, is opposed to all creatures as\nperishing and changeable.\n\n_Doctrine._ God is unchangeable in his essence, nature, and\nperfections. Immutability and eternity are linked together; and,\nindeed, true eternity is true immutability; whence eternity is\ndefined the possession of an immutable life. Yet immutability differs\nfrom eternity in our conception; immutability respects the essence\nor existence of a thing; eternity respects the duration of a being in\nthat state, or rather, immutability is the state itself;[591] eternity\nis the measure of that state. A thing is said to be changed, when it\nis otherwise now in regard of nature, state, will, or any quality than\nit was before; when either something is added to it, or taken from it;\nwhen it either loses or acquires. But now it is the essential property\nof God, not to have any accession to, or diminution of, his essence\nor attributes, but to remain entirely the same. He wants nothing;\nhe loses nothing; but doth uniformly exist by himself, without any\nnew nature, new thoughts, new will, new purpose, or new place. This\nunchangeableness of God was anciently represented by the figure of\na cube, a piece of metal or wood framed four\u2011square, when every side\nis exactly of the same equality; cast it which way you will, it will\nalways be in the same posture, because it is equal to itself in all\nits dimensions.[592] He was therefore said to be the centre of all\nthings, and other things the circumference; the centre is never moved,\nwhile the circumference is; it remains immovable in the midst of the\ncircle; \u201cThere is no variableness nor shadow of turning with him\u201d\n(James i. 17). The moon hath her spots, so hath the sun; there is a\nmixture of light and darkness; it hath its changes; sometimes it is\nin the increase, sometimes in the wane; it is always either gaining\nor losing, and by the turnings and motions, either of the heavenly\nbodies or of the earth, it is in its eclipse, by the interposition of\nthe earth between that and the sun. The sun also hath its diurnal and\nannual motion; it riseth and sets, and puts on a different face; it\ndoth not always shine with the noon\u2011day light; it is sometimes veiled\nwith clouds and vapors; it is always going from one tropic to another,\nwhereby it makes various shadows on the earth, and produceth the\nvarious seasons of the year; it is not always in our hemisphere, nor\ndoth it always shine with an equal force and brightness in it. Such\nshadows and variations have no place in the eternal Father of Lights;\nhe hath not the least spot or diminution of brightness; nothing can\ncloud him or eclipse him.\n\nFor the better understanding this perfection of God, I shall premise\nthree things.\n\n1. The immutability of God is a perfection. Immutability considered\nin itself, without relation to other things, is not a perfection. It\nis the greatest misery and imperfection of the evil angels, that they\nare immutable in malice against God; but as God is infinite in essence,\ninfinitely good, wise, holy; so it is a perfection necessary to his\nnature, that he should be immutably all this, all excellency, {a318}\ngoodness, wisdom, immutably all that he is; without this he would be\nan imperfect Being. Are not the angels in heaven, who are confirmed\nin a holy and happy state, more perfect than when they were in a\npossibility of committing evil and becoming miserable? Are not the\nsaints in heaven, whose wills by grace do unalterably cleave to God\nand goodness, more perfect than if they were as Adam in Paradise,\ncapable of losing their felicity, as well as preserving it? We count a\nrock, in regard of its stability, more excellent than the dust of the\nground, or a feather that is tossed about with every wind; is it not\nalso the perfection of the body to have a constant tenor of health,\nand the glory of a man not to warp aside from what is just and right,\nby the persuasions of any temptations?\n\n2. Immutability is a glory belonging to all the attributes of God.\nIt is not a single perfection of the Divine nature, nor is it limited\nto particular objects thus and thus disposed. Mercy and justice have\ntheir distinct objects and distinct acts; mercy is conversant about\na penitent, justice conversant about an obstinate sinner. In our\nnotion and conception of the Divine perfections, his perfections\nare different: the wisdom of God is not his power, nor his power his\nholiness, but immutability is the centre wherein they all unite. There\nis not one perfection but may be said to be and truly is, immutable;\nnone of them will appear so glorious without this beam, this sun of\nimmutability, which renders them highly excellent without the least\nshadow of imperfection. How cloudy would his blessedness be if it were\nchangeable! How dim his wisdom, if it might be obscured! How feeble\nhis power, if it were capable to be sickly and languish! How would\nmercy lose much of its lustre, if it could change into wrath; and\njustice much of its dread, if it could be turned into mercy, while the\nobject of justice remains unfit for mercy, and one that hath need of\nmercy continues only fit for the Divine fury! But unchangeableness is\na thread that runs through the whole web; it is the enamel of all the\nrest; none of them without it could look with a triumphant aspect. His\npower is unchangeable: \u201cIn the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength\u201d\n(Isa. xxvi. 4). His mercy and his holiness endure forever: he never\ncould, nor ever can, look upon iniquity (Hab. i. 13). He is a rock in\nthe righteousness of his ways, the truth of his word, the holiness of\nhis proceedings, and the rectitude of his nature. All are expressed\nDeut xxxii. 4: \u201cHe is a rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways\nare judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity; just and right\nis he.\u201d All that we consider in God is unchangeable; for his essence\nand his properties are the same, and, therefore, what is necessarily\nbelonging to the essence of God, belongs also to every perfection of\nthe nature of God; none of them can receive any addition or diminution.\nFrom the unchangeableness of his nature, the apostle (James i. 17)\ninfers the unchangeableness of his holiness, and himself (in Mal.\niii. 6) the unchangeableness of his counsel.\n\n3. Unchangeableness doth necessarily pertain to the nature of God. It\nis of the same necessity with the rectitude of his nature; he can no\nmore be changeable in his essence than he can be unrighteous in his\nactions. God is a necessary Being; he is necessarily what he is, and,\n{a319} therefore, is unchangeably what he is. Mutability belongs to\ncontingency. If any perfection of his nature could be separated from\nhim, he would cease to be God. What did not possess the whole nature\nof God, could not have the essence of God; it is reciprocated with the\nnature of God. Whatsoever is immutable by nature is God; whatsoever is\nGod is immutable by nature. Some creatures are immutable by his grace\nand power. God is holy, happy, wise, good, by his essence; angels\nand men are made holy, wise, happy, strong, and good, by qualities\nand graces.[593] The holiness, happiness, and wisdom of saints and\nangels, as they had a beginning, so they are capable of increase\nand diminution, and of an end also; for their standing is not from\nthemselves, or from the nature of created strength, holiness, or\nwisdom, which in themselves are apt to fail, and finally to decay;\nbut from the stability and confirmation they have by the gift and\ngrace of God. The heaven and earth shall be changed; and after that\nrenewal and reparation they shall not be changed. Our bodies after the\nresurrection shall not be changed, but forever be \u201cmade conformable\nto the glorious body of Christ\u201d (Phil. iii. 21); but this is by the\npowerful grace of God: so that, indeed, those things may be said\nafterwards rather to be unchanged than unchangeable, because they are\nnot so by nature, but by sovereign dispensation. As creatures have not\nnecessary beings, so they have not necessary immutability. Necessity\nof being, and, therefore, immutability of being, belongs by nature\nonly to God; otherwise, if there were any change in God, he would be\nsometimes what he was not, and would cease to be what he was, which is\nagainst the nature, and, indeed, against the natural notion of a Deity.\nLet us see then,\n\nI. In what regards God is immutable. II. Prove that God is immutable.\nIII. That this is proper to God, and incommunicable to any creature.\nIV. Some propositions to clear the unchangeableness of God from\nanything that seems contrary to it. V. The use.\n\nI. In what respects God is unchangeable.\n\n1. God is unchangeable in his essence. He is unalterably fixed in\nhis being, so that not a particle of it can be lost from it, not a\nmite added to it. If a man continue in being as long as Methuselah,\nnine hundred and sixty\u2011nine years; yet there is not a day, nay, an\nhour, wherein there is not some alteration in his substance. Though\nno substantial part is wanting, yet there is an addition to him by\nhis food, a diminution of something by his labor; he is always making\nsome acquisition, or suffering some loss: but in God there can be no\nalteration, by the accession of anything to make his substance greater\nor better, or by diminution to make it less or worse. He who hath not\nbeing from another, cannot but be always what he is: God is the first\nBeing, an independent Being; he was not produced of himself, or of\nany other, but by nature always hath been, and, therefore, cannot by\nhimself, or by any other, be changed from what he is in his own nature.\nThat which is not may as well assume to itself a being, as he who\nhath and is all being, have the least change from what he is. Again,\nbecause he is a Spirit, he is not subject to those mutations which\nare found in corporeal and bodily natures; because he is an {a320}\nabsolutely simple Spirit, not having the least particle of composition;\nhe is not capable of those changes which may be in created spirits.\n\n(1.) If his essence were mutable, God would not truly be; it could\nnot be truly said by himself, \u201cI Am that I Am\u201d (Exod. iii. 14), if\nhe were such a thing or Being at this time, and a different Being at\nanother time. Whatsoever is changed properly is not, because it doth\nnot remain to be what it was; that which is changed was something, is\nsomething, and will be something. A being remains to that thing which\nis changed; yet though it may be said such a thing is, yet it may be\nalso said such a thing is not, because it is not what it was in its\nfirst being; it is not now what it was, it is now what it was not; it\nis another thing than it was, it was another thing than it is; it will\nbe another thing than what it is or was. It is, indeed, a being, but\na different being from what it was before. But if God were changed,\nit could not be said of him that he is, but it might also be said of\nhim that he is not; or if he were changeable, or could be changed, it\nmight be said of him he is, but he will not be what he is; or he may\nnot be what he is, but there will be or may be some difference in his\nbeing, and so God would not be \u201cI Am that I Am;\u201d for though he would\nnot cease utterly to be, yet he would cease to be what he was before.\n\n(2.) Again: if his essence were mutable, he could not be perfectly\nblessed, and fully rejoice in himself. If he changed for the better,\nhe could not have an infinite pleasure in what he was before the\nchange, because he was not infinitely blessed; and the pleasure of\nthat state could not be of a higher kind than the state itself, or,\nat least, the apprehension of a happiness in it. If he changed for\nthe worse, he could not have a pleasure in it after the change; for\naccording to the diminution of his state would be the decrease of his\npleasure. His pleasure could not be infinite before the change, if\nhe changed for the better; it could not be infinite after the change,\nif he changed for the worse. If he changed for the better, he would\nnot have had an infinite goodness of being before; and not having an\ninfinite goodness of being, he would have a finite goodness of being;\nfor there is no medium between finite and infinite. Then, though the\nchange were for the better, yet, being finite before, something would\nbe still wanting to make him infinitely blessed; because being finite,\nhe could not change to that which is infinite; for finite and infinite\nare extremes so distant, that they can never pass into one another;\nthat is, that that which is finite should become infinite, or that\nwhich is infinite should become finite; so that supposing him mutable,\nhis essence in no state of change could furnish him with an infinite\npeace and blessedness.\n\n(3.) Again: if God\u2019s essence be changed, he either increaseth or\ndiminisheth.[594] Whatsoever is changed, doth either gain by receiving\nsomething larger and greater than it had in itself before, or gains\nnothing by being changed. If the former, then it receives more than\nitself, more than it had in itself before. The Divine nature cannot\nbe increased; for whatsoever receives anything than what it had in\nitself before, must necessarily receive it from another, because {a321}\nnothing can give to itself that which it hath not. But God cannot\nreceive from another what he hath not already, because whatsoever\nother things possess is derived from him, and, therefore, contained\nin him, as the fountain contains the virtue in itself which it conveys\nto the streams; so that God cannot gain anything. If a thing that is\nchanged gain nothing by that change, it loseth something of what it\nhad before in itself; and this loss must be by itself or some other.\nGod cannot receive any loss from anything in himself; he cannot will\nhis own diminution, that is repugnant to every nature. He may as well\nwill his own destruction as his own decrease: every decrease is a\npartial destruction. But it is impossible for God to die any kind\nof death, to have any resemblance of death, for he is immortal, and\n\u201conly hath immortality\u201d (1 Tim. vi. 16), therefore impossible to be\ndiminished in any particle of his essence; nor can he be diminished by\nanything in his own nature, because his infinite simplicity admits of\nnothing distinct from himself, or contrary to himself. All decreases\ncome from something contrary to the nature of that thing which doth\ndecrease. Whatsoever is made less than itself, was not truly _unum_,\none and simple, because that which divides itself in separation was\nnot the same in conjunction. Nor can he be diminished by any other\nwithout himself; because nothing is superior to God, nothing stronger\nthan God which can oppress him. But whatsoever is changed is weaker\nthan that which changeth it, and sinks under a power it cannot\nsuccessfully resist; weakness belongs not to the Deity.[595] Nor,\nlastly, can God change from a state wherein he is, to another state\nequal to the former, as men in some cases may do; for in passing from\none state to another equal to it, something must be parted with which\nhe had before, that some other thing may accrue to him as a recompense\nfor that loss, to make him equal to what he was. This recompense then\nhe had not before, though he had something equal to it. And in this\ncase it could not be said by God \u201cI Am that I Am,\u201d but I am equal to\nwhat I was; for in this case there would be a diminution and increase\nwhich, as was showed, cannot be in God.\n\n(4.) Again: God is of himself, from no other.[596] Natures, which\nare made by God, may increase, because they began to be; they may\ndecrease, because they were made of nothing, and so tend to nothing;\nthe condition of their original leads them to defect, and the power\nof their Creator brings them to increase. But God hath no original;\nhe hath no defect, because he was not made of nothing: he hath no\nincrease, because he had no beginning. He was before all things, and,\ntherefore, depends upon no other thing which, by its own change, can\nbring any change upon him. That which is from itself cannot be changed,\nbecause it hath nothing before it, nothing more excellent than itself;\nbut that which is from another as its first cause and chief good, may\nbe changed by that which was its efficient cause and last end.[597]\n\n2. God is immutable in regard of knowledge. God hath known from\nall eternity all that which he can know, so that nothing is hid from\nhim. He knows not at present any more than he hath known {a322} from\neternity: and that which he knows now he always knows: \u201cAll things are\nopen and naked before him\u201d (Heb. iv. 13). A man is said to be changed\nin regard of knowledge, when he knows that now which he did not know\nbefore, or knows that to be false now which he thought true before,\nor has something for the object of his understanding now, which he had\nnot before. But,\n\n(1.) This would be repugnant to the wisdom and omniscience which\nbelongs to the notions of a Deity. That cannot be God that is not\ninfinitely wise; that cannot be infinitely wise that is either\nignorant of, or mistaken in, his apprehension of any one thing. If God\nbe changed in knowledge, it must be for want of wisdom; all change of\nthis nature in creatures implies this defect preceding or accompanying\nit. Such a thought of God would have been unworthy of him that is\n\u201conly wise,\u201d that hath no mate for wisdom (1 Tim. i. 17); none wise\nbeside himself. If he knew that thing this day which he knew not\nbefore, he would not be an \u201conly wise\u201d Being; for a being that did\nknow everything at once might be conceived, and so a wiser being\nbe apprehended by the mind of man. If God understood a thing at one\ntime which he did not at another, he would be changed from ignorance\nto knowledge; as if he could not do that this day which he could\ndo to\u2011morrow, he would be changed from impotence to power. He could\nnot be always omniscient, because there might be yet something still\nto come which he yet knows not, though he may know all things that\nare past. What way soever you suppose a change, you must suppose a\npresent or a past ignorance; if he be changed in his knowledge for\nthe perfection of his understanding, he was ignorant before; if his\nunderstanding be impaired by the change, he is ignorant after it.\n\n(2.) If God were changeable in his knowledge, it would make him unfit\nto be an object of trust to any rational creature. His revelations\nwould want the due ground for entertainment, if his understanding\nwere changeable; for that might be revealed as truth now which might\nprove false hereafter, and that as false now which hereafter might\nprove true; and so God would be an unfit object of obedience in regard\nof his precepts, and an unfit object of confidence in regard of his\npromises. For if he be changeable in knowledge he is defective in\nknowledge, and might promise that now which he would know afterwards\nwas unfit to be promised, and, therefore, unfit to be performed.\nIt would make him an incompetent object of dread, in regard of his\nthreatenings; for he might threaten that now which he might know\nhereafter were not fit or just to be inflicted. A changeable mind and\nunderstanding cannot make a due and right judgment of things to be\ndone, and things to be avoided; no wise man would judge it reasonable\nto trust a weak and flitting person. God must needs be unchangeable\nin his knowledge; but, as the schoolmen say, that, as the sun always\nshines, so God always knows; as the sun never ceaseth to shine, so God\nnever ceaseth to know. Nothing can be hid from the vast compass of his\nunderstanding, no more than anything can shelter itself without the\nverge of his power. This farther appears in that,\n\n1st. God knows by his own essence. He doth not know, as we {a323}\ndo, by habits, qualities, species, whereby we may be mistaken at one\ntime and rectified at another. He hath not an understanding distinct\nfrom his essence as we have, but being the most simple Being, his\nunderstanding is his essence; and as from the infiniteness of his\nessence we conclude the infiniteness of his understanding, so from\nthe unchangeableness of his essence, we may justly conclude the\nunchangeableness of his knowledge. Since, therefore, God is without\nall composition, and his understanding is not distinct from his\nessence, what he knows, he knows by his essence, and there can then be\nno more mutability in his knowledge than there can be in his essence;\nand if there were any in that, he could not be God, because he would\nhave the property of a creature. If his understanding then be his\nessence, his knowledge is as necessary, as unchangeable as his essence.\nAs his essence eminently contains all perfections in itself, so his\nunderstanding comprehends all things past, present, and future, in\nitself. If his understanding and his essence were not one and the same,\nhe were not simple, but compounded: if compounded, he would consist of\nparts; if he consisted of parts, he would not be an independent Being,\nand so would not be God.\n\n2d. God knows all things by one intuitive act. As there is no\nsuccession in his being, so that he is one thing now and another\nthing hereafter; so there is no succession in his knowledge. He knows\nthings that are successive, before their existence and succession, by\none single act of intuition; by one cast of his eye all things future\nare present to him in regard of his eternity and omnipresence; so that\nthough there is a change and variation in the things known, yet his\nknowledge of them and their several changes in nature is invariable\nand unalterable. As imagine a creature that could see with his eye\nat one glance the whole compass of the heavens, by sending out beams\nfrom his eye without receiving any species from them, he would see the\nwhole heavens uniformly, this part now in the east, then in the west,\nwithout any change in his eye, for he sees every part and every motion\ntogether; and though that great body varies and whirls about, and is\nin continual agitation, his eye remains steadfast, suffers no change,\nbeholds all their motions at once and by one glance. God knows all\nthings from eternity, and, therefore, perpetually knows them;[598] the\nreason is because the Divine knowledge is infinite,[599] and therefore,\ncomprehends all knowable truths at once. An eternal knowledge\ncomprehends in itself all time, and beholds past and present in the\nsame manner, and, therefore, his knowledge is immutable: by one simple\nknowledge he considers the infinite spaces of past and future.\n\n3d. God\u2019s knowledge and will is the cause of all things and their\nsuccessions.[600] There can be no pretence of any changeableness of\nknowledge in God; but in this case, before things come to pass, he\nknows that they will come to pass; after they are come to pass, he\nknows that they are past, and slide away. This would be something if\nthe succession of things were the cause of the Divine knowledge, as it\nis of our knowledge; but on the contrary, the {a324} Divine knowledge\nand will is the cause of the succession of them: God doth not know\ncreatures because they are; but they are because he knows them: \u201cAll\nhis works were known to him from the beginning of the world\u201d (Acts xv.\n18). All his works were not known to him, if the events of all those\nworks were not also known to him; if they were not known to him, how\nshould he make them? he could not do anything ignorantly. He made them\nthen after he knew them, and did not know them after he made them.\nHis knowledge of them made a change in them; their existence made no\nchange in his knowledge. He knew them when they were to be created,\nin the same manner that he knew them after they were created; before\nthey were brought into act, as well as after they were brought into\nact; before they were made, they were, and were not; they were in the\nknowledge of God, when they were not in their own nature; God did not\nreceive his knowledge from their existence, but his knowledge and will\nacted upon them to bring them into being.\n\n4th. Therefore the distinction of past and future makes no change in\nthe knowledge of God. When a thing is past, God hath no more distinct\nknowledge of it after it is past, than he had when it was to come; all\nthings were all in their circumstances of past, present, and to come;\nseen by his understanding, as they were determined by his will.[601]\nBesides, to know a day to be past or future, is only to know the state\nof that day in itself, and to know its relation to that which follows,\nand that which went before. This day wherein we are, if we consider it\nin the state wherein it was yesterday, it was to come, it was future;\nbut if we consider it in that state wherein it will be to\u2011morrow, we\nunderstand it as past. This in man cannot be said to be a different\nknowledge of the thing itself, but only of the circumstance attending\na thing, and the different relation of it. As I see the sun this\nday, I know it was up yesterday, I know it will be up to\u2011morrow; my\nknowledge of the sun is the same; if there be any change, it is in the\nsun, not in my knowledge; only I apply my knowledge to such particular\ncircumstances. How much more must the knowledge of those things in\nGod be unchangeable, who knows all those states, conditions, and\ncircumstances, most perfectly from eternity; wherein there is no\nsuccession, no past or future, and therefore will know them forever!\nHe always beholds the same thing; he sees, indeed, succession in\nthings, and he sees a thing to be past which before was future. As\nfrom eternity he saw Adam as existing in such a time; in the first\ntime he saw that he would be, in the following time he saw that he had\nbeen; but this he knew from eternity; this he knew in the same manner;\nthough there was a variation in Adam, yet there was no variation in\nGod\u2019s knowledge of him, in all his states; though Adam was not present\nto himself, yet in all his states he was present to God\u2019s eternity.\n\n5th. Consider, that the knowledge of God, in regard of the manner of\nit, as well as the objects, is incomprehensible to a finite creature.\nSo that though we cannot arrive to a full understanding of the manner\nof God\u2019s knowledge, yet we must conceive so of it, as to {a325} remove\nall imperfection from him in it. And since it is an imperfection to be\nchangeable, we must remove that from God; the knowledge of God about\nthings past, present and future, must be inconceivably above ours:\n\u201cHis understanding is infinite\u201d (Ps. cxlvii. 5). There is no number\nof it; it can no more be calculated or drawn into an account by us,\nthan infinite spaces, which have no bounds and limits, can be measured\nby us. We can no more arrive, even in heaven, to a comprehensive\nunderstanding of the manner of his knowledge, than of the infinite\nglory of his essence; we may as well comprehend one as the other. This\nwe must conclude, that God being not a body, doth not see one thing\nwith eyes, and another thing with mind, as we do; but being a spirit,\nhe sees and knows only with mind, and his mind is himself, and is as\nunchangeable as himself; and therefore as he is not now another thing\nthan what he was, so he knows not anything now in another manner than\nas he knew it from eternity; he sees all things in the glass of his\nown essence; as, therefore, the glass doth not vary, so neither doth\nhis vision.\n\n3. God is unchangeable in regard of his will and purpose. A change\nin his purpose is, when a man determines to do that now which before\nhe determined not to do, or to do the contrary; when a man hates\nthat thing which he loved, or begins to love that which he before\nhated; when the will is changed, a man begins to will that which he\nwilled not before, and ceaseth to will that which he willed before.\nBut whatsoever God hath decreed, is immutable; whatsoever God hath\npromised, shall be accomplished: \u201cThe word that goes forth of his\nmouth shall not return to him void, but it shall accomplish that\nwhich he pleaseth\u201d (Isa. lv. 11); whatsoever \u201che purposeth, he will\ndo\u201d (Isa. xlvi. 11; Numb. xxiii. 19); his decrees are therefore called\n\u201cmountains of brass\u201d (Zech. vi. 1): brass, as having substance and\nsolidity; mountains, as being immovable, not only by any creature, but\nby himself; because they stand upon the basis of infallible wisdom,\nand are supported by uncontrollable power. From this immutability\nof his will, published to man, there could be no release from the\nseverity of the law, without satisfaction made by the death of a\nMediator, since it was the unalterable will of God, that death should\nbe the wages of sin; and from this immutable will it was, that the\nlength of time, from the first promise of the Redeemer to his mission,\nand the daily provocations of men, altered not his purpose for the\naccomplishment of it in the fulness of that time he had resolved upon;\nnor did the wickedness of former ages hinder the addition of several\npromises as buttresses to the first. To make this out, consider,\n\n(1.) The will of God is the same with his essence. If God had a will\ndistinct from his essence, he would not be the most simple Being. God\nhath not a faculty of will distinct from himself; as his understanding\nis nothing else but _Deus intelligens_, God understanding; so his will\nis nothing else but _Deus volens_, God willing; being, therefore, the\nessence of God; though it is considered, according to our weakness,\nas a faculty, it is as his understanding and wisdom, eternal and\nimmutable; and can no more be changed than his essence. The {a326}\nimmutability of the Divine counsel depends upon that of his essence;\nhe is the Lord Jehovah, therefore he is true to his word (Mal. iii. 6;\nIsa. xliii. 13): \u201cYea, before the day I am he, and there is none that\ncan deliver out of my hand.\u201d He is the same, immutable in his essence,\ntherefore irresistible in his power.\n\n(2.) There is a concurrence of God\u2019s will and understanding in\neverything. As his knowledge is eternal, so is his purpose. Things\ncreated had not been known to be, had not God resolved them to be\nthe act of his will; the existence of anything supposeth an act of\nhis will. Again, as God knows all things by one simple vision of\nhis understanding, so he wills all things by one act of volition;\ntherefore the purpose of God in the Scripture is not expressed by\ncounsels in the plural number, but counsel; showing that all the\npurposes of God are not various, but as one will, branching itself\nout into many acts towards the creature; but all knit in one root,\nall links of one chain. Whatsoever is eternal is immutable; as his\nknowledge is eternal, and therefore immutable, so is his will; he\nwills or nills nothing to be in time, but what he willed and nilled\nfrom eternity; if he willed in time that to be that he willed not\nfrom eternity, then he would know that in time which he knew not from\neternity; for God knows nothing future, but as his will orders it to\nbe future, and in time to be brought into being.\n\n(3.) There can be no reason for any change in the will of God. When\nmen change in their minds, it must be for want of foresight; because\nthey could not foresee all the rubs and bars which might suddenly\noffer themselves; which if they had foreseen, they would not have\ntaken such measures: hence men often will that which they afterwards\nwish they had not willed when they come to understand it clearer,\nand see that to be injurious to them which they thought to be good\nfor them; or else the change proceeds from a natural instability\nwithout any just cause, and an easiness to be drawn into that which is\nunrighteous; or else it proceeds from a want of power, when men take\nnew counsels, because they are invincibly hindered from executing the\nold. But none of those can be in God.\n\n1st. It cannot be for want of foresight. What can be wanting to an\ninfinite understanding? How can any unknown event defeat his purpose,\nsince nothing happens in the world but what he wills to effect, or\nwills to permit; and therefore all future events are present with him?\nBesides, it doth not consist with God\u2019s wisdom to resolve anything,\nbut upon the highest reason; and what is the highest and infinite\nreason, cannot but be unalterable in itself; for there can be no\nreason and wisdom higher than the highest. All God\u2019s purposes are not\nbare acts of will, but acts of counsel. \u201cHe works all things according\nto the counsel of his own will\u201d (Eph. i. 11): and he doth not say so\nmuch that his will, as that \u201chis counsel shall stand\u201d (Isa. xlvi. 10).\nIt stands, because it is counsel; and the immutability of a promise\nis called the \u201cimmutability of his counsel\u201d (Heb. vi. 17), as being\nintroduced and settled by the most perfect wisdom, and therefore to\nbe carried on to a full and complete execution; his purpose, then,\ncannot be changed for want of foresight; for this would be a charge\nof weakness.\n\n{a327} 2d. Nor can it proceed from a natural instability of his will,\nor an easiness to be drawn to that which is unrighteous. If his will\nshould not adhere to his counsel, it is because it is not fit to be\nfollowed, or because it will not follow it; if not fit to be followed,\nit is a reflection upon his wisdom; if it be established, and he will\nnot follow it, there is a contrariety in God, as there is in a fallen\ncreature, will against wisdom. That cannot be in God which he hates\nin a creature, viz. the disorder of faculties, and being out of their\ndue place. The righteousness of God is like a \u201cgreat mountain\u201d (Ps.\nxxxvi. 6). The rectitude of his nature is as immovable in itself,\nas all the mountains in the world are by the strength of man. \u201cHe is\nnot as a man, that he should repent or lie\u201d (Numb. xxiii. 19); who\noften changes, out of a perversity of will, as well as want of wisdom\nto foresee, or want of ability to perform. His eternal purpose must\neither be righteous or unrighteous; if righteous and holy, he would\nbecome unholy by the change; if not righteous nor holy, then he\nwas unrighteous before the change; which way soever it falls, it\nwould reflect upon the righteousness of God, which is a blasphemous\nimagination.[602] If God did change his purpose, it must be either\nfor the better,\u2015\u2015then the counsel of God was bad before; or for the\nworse,\u2015\u2015then he was not wise and good before.\n\n3d. Nor can it be for want of strength. Who hath power to control him?\nNot all the combined devices and endeavors of men can make the counsel\nof God to totter (Prov. xix. 21): \u201cThere are many devices in a man\u2019s\nheart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand;\u201d that,\nand that only shall stand. Man hath a power to devise and imagine,\nbut no power to effect and execute of himself. God wants no more power\nto effect what he will, than he wants understanding to know what is\nfit. Well, then, since God wanted not wisdom to frame his decrees,\nnor holiness to regulate them, nor power to effect them, what should\nmake him change them? since there can be no reason superior to\nhis, no event unforeseen by him, no holiness comparable to his, no\nunrighteousness found in him, no power equal to his, to put a rub in\nhis way.\n\n4th. Though the will of God be immutable, yet it is not to be\nunderstood so, as that the things themselves so willed are immutable.\nNor will the immutability of the things willed by him, follow upon the\nunchangeableness of his will in willing them; though God be firm in\nwilling them, yet he doth not will that they should alway be. God did\nnot perpetually will the doing those things which he once decreed to\nbe done; he decreed that Christ should suffer, but he did not decree\nthat Christ should alway suffer; so he willed the Mosaical rites for\na time, but he did not will that they should alway continue; he willed\nthat they should endure only for a time; and when the time came for\ntheir ceasing, God had been mutable if he had not put an end to them,\nbecause his will had fixed such a period. So that the changing of\nthose things which he had once appointed to be practised, is so far\nfrom charging God with changeableness, that God would be mutable if\nhe did not take them away; since he decreed as well their abolition at\nsuch a time, as their continuance till such a {a328} time; so that the\nremoval of them was pursuant to his unchangeable will and decree. If\nGod had decreed that such laws should alway continue, and afterwards\nchanged that decree, and resolved the abrogation of them, then indeed\nGod had been mutable; he had rescinded one decree by another; he\nhad then seen an error in his first resolve, and there must be some\nweakness in the reason and wisdom whereon it was grounded.[603] But it\nwas not so here; for the change of those laws is so far from slurring\nGod with any mutability, that the very change of them is no other\nthan the issue of his eternal decree; for from eternity he purposed\nin himself to change this or that dispensation, though he did decree\nto bring such a dispensation into the world. The decree itself\nwas eternal and immutable, but the thing decreed was temporary and\nmutable. As a decree from eternity doth not make the thing decreed to\nbe eternal, so neither doth the immutability of the decree render the\nthing so decreed to be immutable: as for example, God decreed from all\neternity to create the world; the eternity of this decree did not make\nthe world to be in being and actually created from eternity; so God\ndecreed immutably that the world so created should continue for such\na time; the decree is immutable if the world perish at that time,\nand would not be immutable if the world did endure beyond that time\nthat God hath fixed for the duration of it: as when a prince orders a\nman\u2019s remaining in prison for so many days; if he be prevailed with to\ngive him a delivery before those days, or to continue him in custody\nfor the same crime after those days, his order is changed; but if he\norders the delivery of him just at that time, till which he had before\ndecreed that he should continue in prison, the purpose and order of\nthe prince remains firm, and the change in the state of the prisoner\nis the fruit of that firm and fixed resolution: so that we must\ndistinguish between the person decreeing, the decree itself, and\nthe thing decreed. The person decreeing, viz., God, is in himself\nimmutable, and the decree is immutable; but the thing decreed may be\nmutable; and if it were not changed according to the first purpose,\nit would argue the decree itself to be changed; for while a man wills\nthat this may be done now, and another thing done afterwards, the same\nwill remains; and though there be a change in the effects, there is no\nchange in the will.\n\n5th. The immutability of God\u2019s will doth not infringe the liberty\nof it. The liberty of God\u2019s will consists with the necessity of\ncontinuing his purpose. God is necessarily good, immutably good; yet\nhe is freely so, and would not be otherwise than what he is. God was\nfree in his first purpose; and purposing this or that by an infallible\nand unerring wisdom, it would be a weakness to change the purpose. But,\nindeed, the liberty of God\u2019s will doth not seem so much to consist\nin an indifferency to this or that, as in an independency on anything\nwithout himself: his will was free, because it did not depend upon the\nobjects about which his will was conversant. To be immutably good is\nno point of imperfection, but the height of perfection.\n\n4. As God is unchangeable in regard of essence, knowledge, purpose,\n{a329} so he is unchangeable in regard of place. He cannot be changed\nin time, because he is eternity; so he cannot be changed in place,\nbecause he hath ubiquity: he is eternal, therefore cannot be changed\nin time; he is omnipresent, therefore cannot be changed in place: he\ndoth not begin to be in one place wherein he was not before, or cease\nto be in a place wherein he was before. He that fills every place in\nheaven and earth, cannot change place; he cannot leave one to possess\nanother, that is equally, in regard of his essence, in all: \u201cHe fills\nheaven and earth\u201d (Jer. xxiii. 24). The heavens that are not subject\nto those changes to which sublunary bodies are subject, that are not\ndiminished in quantity or quality; yet they are alway changing place\nin regard of their motion; no part of them doth alway continue in the\nsame point: but God hath no change of his nature, because he is most\ninward in everything; he is substantially in all spaces, real and\nimaginary; there is no part of the world which he doth not fill; no\nplace can be imagined wherein he doth not exist. Suppose a million of\nworlds above and about this, encircling one another; his essence would\nbe in every part and point of those worlds; because it is indivisible,\nit cannot be divided; nor can it be contained within those created\nlimits of millions of worlds, when the most soaring and best coining\nfancy hath run through all creatures to the highest sphere of the\nheavens, and imagined one world after another, till it can fancy\nno more: none of these, nor all of these, can contain God; for the\n\u201cheaven of heavens cannot contain him\u201d (1 Kings viii. 27); \u201cHe is\nhigher than heaven, deeper than hell\u201d (Job xi. 8), and possesses\ninfinite imaginary spaces beyond created limits. He who hath no cause\nof being, can have no limits of being;[604] and though by creation he\nbegan to be in the world, yet he did not begin to be where the world\nis, but was in the same imaginary space from all eternity; for he was\nalway in himself by his own eternal _ubi_. Therefore observe, that\nwhen God is said to draw near to us when we draw near to him (James\niv. 8), it is not by local motion or change of place, but by special\nand spiritual influences, by exciting and supporting grace. As we\nordinarily say, the sun is come into the house when yet it remains in\nits place and order in the heavens, because the beams pierce through\nthe windows and enlighten the room, so when God is said to come down\nor descend (Gen. xi. 5; Exod. xxxiv. 5), it is not by a change of\nplace, but a change of outward acts, when he puts forth himself in\nways of fresh mercy or new judgments, in the effluxes of his love\nor the flames of his wrath. When good men feel the warm beams of his\ngrace refreshing them, or wicked men feel the hot coals of his anger\nscorching them. God\u2019s drawing near to us is not so much his coming to\nus, but his drawing us to him;[605] as when watermen pull a rope that\nis in one end fastened to the shore, and the other end to the vessel;\nthe shore is immovable, yet it seems to the eye to come to them,\nbut they really move to the shore. God is an immovable rock; we are\nfloating and uncertain creatures; while he seems to approach to us, he\ndoth really make us to approach to him; he comes not to us by {a330}\nany change of place himself, but draws us to him by a change of mind,\nwill, and affections in us.\n\nII. The second thing propounded, is the reasons to prove God\nimmutable. The heathens acknowledged God to be so: Plato[606] and the\nPythagoreans called God, or the stable good principle, \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd, _idem_:\nthe evil principle, \u1f15\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd, another thing, changeable; one thing one\ntime, and another thing another time[607] (Dan. vi. 26): \u201cHe is the\nliving God, and steadfast forever.\u201d\n\n1. The name Jehovah signifies this attribute (Exod. iii. 14): \u201cI am\nthat I am; I am hath sent me to you.\u201d It signifies his immutability\nas well as eternity. I am, signifies his eternity; that, or the same\nthat I am, his immutability:[608] as it respects the essence of God,\nit signifies his unchangeable being from eternity to eternity; as it\nrespects the creature, it signifies his constancy in his counsels and\npromises, which spring from no other cause but the unchangeableness\nof his nature.[609] The reason why men stand not to their covenant,\nis because they are not always the same; I am, that is, I am the same,\nbefore the creation of the world, and since the creation of the world;\nbefore the entrance of sin, and since the entrance of sin; before\ntheir going into Egypt, and while they remain in Egypt. The very\nname Jehovah[610] bears, according to the grammatical order, a mark\nof God\u2019s unchangeableness; it never hath anything added to it, nor\nanything taken from it; it hath no plural number, no affixes\u2015\u2015a custom\npeculiar to the eastern languages; it never changes its letters as\nother words do. That only is a true being which hath not only an\neternal existence, but stability in it: that is not truly a being,\nthat never remains in the same state.[611] All things that are changed\ncease to be what they were, and begin to be what they were not, and\ntherefore cannot have the title truly applied to them, they are; they\nare, indeed, but like a river in a continual flux, that no man ever\nsees the same; let his eye be fixed upon one place of it, the water\nhe sees, slides away, and that which he saw not succeeds in its place;\nlet him take his eye off but for the least moment, and fix it there\nagain, and he sees not the same that he saw before. All sensible\nthings are in a perpetual stream; that which is sometimes this and\nsometimes that, is not, because it is not always the same; whatsoever\nis changed, is something now which it was not alway; but of God it\nis said, I am, which could not be if he were changeable; for it may\nbe said of him, he is not, as well as he is, because he is not what\nhe was; if we say not of him, he was, nor he will be, but only he is,\nwhence should any change arrive? He must invincibly remain the same,\nof whose nature, perfections, knowledge and will, it cannot be said it\nwas, as if it were not now in him; or it shall be, as if it were not\nyet in him; but he is, because he doth not only exist, but doth alway\nexist the same. I am, that is, I receive from no other what I am in\nmyself; he depends upon no other in his {a331} essence, knowledge,\npurposes, and therefore hath no changing power over him.\n\n2. If God were changeable, he could not be the most perfect Being.\nGod is the most perfect Being, and possesses in himself infinite and\nessential goodness (Matt. v. 48): \u201cYour heavenly Father is perfect.\u201d\nIf he could change from that perfection, he were not the highest\nexemplar and copy for us to write after. If God doth change, it\nmust be either to a greater perfection than he had before, or to a\nless, _mutatio perfectiva vel amissiva_; if he changes to acquire a\nperfection he had not, then he was not before the most excellent Being;\nnecessarily, he was not what he might be; there was a defect in him,\nand a privation of that which is better than what he had and was; and\nthen he was not alway the best, and so was not alway God; and being\nnot alway God, could never be God; for to begin to be God is against\nthe notion of God; not to a less perfection than he had; that were to\nchange to imperfection, and to lose a perfection which he possessed\nbefore, and cease to be the best Being; for he would lose some good\nwhich he had, and acquire some evil which he was free from before.\nSo that the sovereign perfection of God is an invincible bar to any\nchange in him; for which way soever you cast it for a change, his\nsupreme excellency is impaired and nulled by it: for in all change\nthere is something from which a thing is changed, and something to\nwhich it is changed; so that on the one part there is a loss of what\nit had, and on the other part there is an acquisition of what it had\nnot. If to the better, he was not perfect, and so was not God; if to\nthe worse, he will not be perfect, and so be no longer God after that\nchange. If God be changed, his change must be voluntary or necessary;\nif voluntary, he then intends the change for the better, and chose\nit to acquire a perfection by it; the will must be carried out to\nanything under the notion of some goodness in that which it desires.\nSince good is the object of the desire and will of the creature, evil\ncannot be the object of the desire and will of the Creator. And if he\nshould be changed for the worse, when he did really intend the better,\nit would speak a defect of wisdom, and a mistake of that for good\nwhich was evil and imperfect in itself; and if it be for the better,\nit must be a motion or change for something without himself; that\nwhich he desireth is not possessed by himself, but by some other.\nThere is, then, some good without him and above him, which is the end\nin this change; for nothing acts but for some end, and that end is\nwithin itself or without itself; if the end for which God changes be\nwithout himself, then there is something better than himself: besides,\nif he were voluntarily changed for the better, why did he not change\nbefore? If it were for want of power, he had the imperfection of\nweakness; if for want of knowledge of what was the best good, he had\nthe imperfection of wisdom, he was ignorant of his own happiness; if\nhe had both wisdom to know it, and power to effect it, it must be for\nwant of will; he then wanted that love to himself and his own glory,\nwhich is necessary in the Supreme Being. Voluntarily he could not be\nchanged for the worse, he could not be such an enemy {a332} to his\nown glory; there is nothing but would hinder its own imperfection\nand becoming worse. Necessarily he could not be changed, for that\nnecessity must arise from himself, and then the difficulties spoken\nof before will recur, or it must arise from another; he cannot be\nbettered by another, because nothing hath any good but what it hath\nreceived from the hands of his bounty, and that without loss to\nhimself, nor made worse; if anything made him worse, it would be sin,\nbut that cannot touch his essence or obscure his glory, but in the\ndesign and nature of the sin itself (Job xxxv. 6, 7): \u201cIf thou sinnest,\nwhat dost thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied,\nwhat dost thou unto him? if thou be righteous, what givest thou him;\nor what receives he at thy hand?\u201d He hath no addition by the service\nof man, no more than the sun hath of light by a multitude of torches\nkindled on the earth; nor any more impair by the sins of men, than\nthe light of the sun hath by men\u2019s shooting arrows against it.\n\n3. God were not the most simple being if he were not immutable.[612]\nThere is in everything that is mutable a composition either essential\nor accidental; and in all changes, something of the thing changed\nremains, and something of it ceaseth and is done away; as for example,\nin an accidental change, if a white wall be made black, it loses its\nwhite color; but the wall itself, which was the subject of that color,\nremains and loses nothing of its substance: likewise in a substantial\nchange, as when wood is burnt, the substantial part of wood is lost,\nthe earthly part is changed into ashes, the airy part ascends in smoke,\nthe watery part is changed into air by the fire: there is not an\nannihilation of it, but a resolution of it into those parts whereof it\nwas compounded; and this change doth evidence that it was compounded\nof several parts distinct from one another. If there were any change\nin God, it is by separating something from him, or adding something\nto him; if by separating something from him, then he was compounded\nof something distinct from himself; for if it were not distinct from\nhimself it could not be separated from him without loss of his being;\nif by adding anything to him, then it is a compounding of him, either\nsubstantially or accidentally. Mutability is absolutely inconsistent\nwith simplicity, whether the change come from an internal or external\nprinciple. If a change be wrought by something without, it supposeth\neither contrary or various parts in the thing so changed, whereof it\ndoth consist; if it be wrought by anything within, it supposeth that\nthe thing so changed doth consist of one part that doth change it,\nand another part that is changed, and so it would not be a simple\nbeing. If God could be changed by anything within himself, all in God\nwould not be God; his essence would depend upon some parts, whereof\nsome would be superior to others; if one part were able to change\nor destroy another, that which doth change would be God, that which\nis changed would not be God; so God would be made up of a Deity and\na non\u2011Deity, and part of God would depend upon God; part would be\ndependent, and part would be independent; part would be mutable, part\nimmutable: so that {a333} mutability is against the notion of God\u2019s\nindependency as well as his simplicity. God is the most simple being;\nfor that which is first in nature, having nothing beyond it, cannot by\nany means be thought to be compounded; for whatsoever is so, depends\nupon the parts whereof it is compounded, and so is not the first being:\nnow God being infinitely simple, hath nothing in himself which is not\nhimself, and therefore cannot will any change in himself, he being his\nown essence and existence.[613]\n\n4. God were not eternal if he were mutable. In all change there is\nsomething that perishes, either substantially or accidentally. All\nchange is a kind of death, or imitation of death; that which was dies,\nand begins to be what it was not. The soul of man, though it ceaseth\nnot to be and exist, yet when it ceaseth to be in quality what it was,\nis said to die. Adam died when he changed from integrity to corruption,\nthough both his soul and body were in being (Gen. ii. 17); and the\nsoul of a regenerate man is said to \u201cdie to sin,\u201d when it is changed\nfrom sin to grace (Rom. vi. 11). In all change there is a resemblance\nof death; so the notion of mutability is against the eternity of God.\nIf anything be acquired by a change, then that which is acquired was\nnot from eternity, and so he was not wholly eternal; if anything be\nlost which was from eternity, he is not wholly everlasting; if he did\ndecrease by the change, something in him which had no beginning would\nhave an end; if he did increase by that change, something in him would\nhave a beginning that might have no end. What is changed doth not\nremain, and what doth not remain is not eternal.[614] Though God alway\nremains in regard of existence, he would be immortal, and live alway;\nyet if he should suffer any change, he could not properly be eternal,\nbecause he would not alway be the same, and would not in every part\nbe eternal; for all change is finished in time, one moment preceding,\nanother moment following; but that which is before time cannot be\nchanged by time. God cannot be eternally what he was; that is, he\ncannot have a true eternity, if he had a new knowledge, a new purpose,\na new essence; if he were sometimes this and sometimes that, sometimes\nknow this and sometimes know that, sometimes purpose this and\nafterwards hath a new purpose; he would be partly temporary and partly\neternal, not truly and universally eternal. He that hath anything of\nnewness, hath not properly and truly an entire eternity. Again, by\nthe same reason that God could in the least cease to be what he was,\nhe might also cease wholly to be; and no reason can be rendered why\nGod might not cease wholly to be, as well as cease to be entirely and\nuniformly what he was. All changeableness implies a corruptibility.\n\n5. If God were changeable, he were not infinite and almighty. All\nchange ends in addition or diminution; if anything be added, he was\nnot infinite before, if anything be diminished, he is not infinite\nafter. All change implies bounds and limits to that which is changed;\nbut God is infinite; \u201cHis greatness is unsearchable:\u201d[615] we can add\nnumber to number without any end, and can conceive {a334} an infinite\nnumber; yet the greatness of God is beyond all our conceptions. But\nif there could be any change in his greatness for the better, it would\nnot be unsearchable before that change; if for the worse, it would\nnot be unsearchable after that change. Whatsoever hath limits and is\nchangeable, is conceivable and searchable; but God is not only not\nknown, but impossible in his own nature to be known and searched out,\nand, therefore, impossible to have any diminution in his nature. All\nthat which is changed arrives to something which it was not before,\nor ceaseth in part to be what it was before. He would not also be\nalmighty. What is omnipotent cannot be made worse; for to be made\nworse, is in part to be corrupted. If he be made better, he was not\nalmighty before; something of power was wanting to him. If there\nshould be any change, it must proceed from himself or from another;\nif from himself, it would be an inability to preserve himself in the\nperfection of his nature; if from another, he would be inferior in\nstrength, knowledge, and power, to that which changes him, either in\nhis nature, knowledge, or will; in both an inability; an inability in\nhim to continue the same, or an inability in him to resist the power\nof another.\n\n6. The world could not be ordered and governed but by some Principle\nor Being which were immutable. Principles are alway more fixed and\nstable than things which proceed from those principles; and this is\ntrue both in morals and naturals. Principles in conscience, whereby\nmen are governed, remain firmly engraven in their minds. The root\nlies firmly in the earth, while branches are shaken with the wind. The\nheavens, the cause of generation, are more firm and stable than those\nthings which are wrought by their influence. All things in the world\nare moved by some power and virtue which is stable; and unless it were\nso, no order would be observed in motion, no motion could be regularly\ncontinued. He could not be a full satisfaction to the infinite desire\nof the souls of his people. Nothing can truly satisfy the soul of man\nbut rest; and nothing can give it rest but that which is perfect and\nimmutably perfect; for else it would be subject to those agitations\nand variations which the being it depends upon is subject to. The\nprinciple of all things must be immutable,[616] which is described\nby some by a unity, the principle of number, wherein there is a\nresemblance of God\u2019s unchangeableness. A unit is not variable; it\ncontinues in its own nature immutably a unit. It never varies from\nitself; it cannot be changed from itself; but is, as it were, so\nomnipotent towards others, that it changes all numbers. If you add\nany number, it is the beginning of that number, but the unit is not\nincreased by it; a new number ariseth from that addition, but the unit\nstill remains the same, and adds value to other figures, but receives\nnone from them.\n\nIII. The third thing to speak to is, that immutability is proper\nto God, and incommunicable to any creature. Mutability is natural to\nevery creature as a creature, and immutability is the sole perfection\nof God. He only is infinite wisdom, able to foreknow future events;\nhe only is infinitely powerful, able to call forth all means to\neffect; so that wanting neither wisdom to contrive, nor strength to\nexecute, {a335} he cannot alter his counsel. None being above him,\nnothing in him contrary to him, and being defective in no blessedness\nand perfection, he cannot vary in his essence and nature. Had not\nimmutability as well as eternity been a property solely pertaining\nto the Divine nature, as well as creative power and eternal duration,\nthe apostle\u2019s argument to prove Christ to be God from this perpetual\nsameness, had come short of any convincing strength. These words of\nthe text he applies to Christ (Heb. i. 10\u201212): \u201cThey shall be changed,\nbut thou art the same.\u201d There had been no strength in the reason, if\nimmutability by nature did belong to any creature.\n\nThe changeableness of all creatures is evident:\n\n1. Of corporeal creatures it is evident to sense. All plants and\nanimals, as they have their duration bounded in certain limits; so\nwhile they do exist, they proceed from their rise to their fall. They\npass through many sensible alterations, from one degree of growth to\nanother, from buds to blossoms, from blossoms to flowers and fruits.\nThey come to their pitch that nature had set them, and return back\nto the state from whence they sprung; there is not a day but they\nmake some acquisition, or suffer some loss. They die and spring up\nevery day; nothing in them more certain than their inconstancy: \u201cThe\ncreature is subject to vanity\u201d (Rom. viii. 20). The heavenly bodies\nare changing their place; the sun every day is running his race, and\nstays not in the same point; and though they are not changed in their\nessence, yet they are in their place. Some, indeed, say there is a\ncontinual generation of light in the sun, as there is a loss of light\nby the casting out its beams, as in a fountain there is a flowing out\nof the streams, and a continual generation of supply. And though these\nheavenly bodies have kept their standing and motion from the time of\ntheir creation, yet both the sun\u2019s standing still in Joshua\u2019s time,\nand its going back in Hezekiah\u2019s time, show that they are changeable\nat the pleasure of God. But in man the change is perpetually visible;\nevery day there is a change from ignorance to knowledge, from one\nwill to another, from passion to passion, sometimes sad and sometimes\ncheerful, sometimes craving this, and presently nauseating it; his\nbody changes from health to sickness, or from weakness to strength;\nsome alteration there is either in body or mind. Man, who is the\nnoblest creature, the subordinate end of the creation of other things,\ncannot assure himself of a consistency and fixedness in anything the\nshort space of a day, no, not of a minute. All his months are months\nof vanity (Job vii. 3); whence the Psalmist calls man at the \u201cbest\nestate altogether vanity,\u201d a mere heap of vanity (Ps. xxxv.) As he\ncontains in his nature the nature of all creatures, so he inherits in\nhis nature the vanity of all creatures. A little world, the centre of\nthe world and of the vanity of the world; yea, \u201clighter than vanity\u201d\n(Ps. lxii. 9), more movable than a feather; tossed between passion and\npassion, daily changing his end, and changing the means; an image of\nnothing.\n\n2. Spiritual natures, as angels. They change not in their being, but\nthat is from the indulgence of God. They change not in their goodness,\nbut that is not from their nature, but divine grace in their {a336}\nconfirmation; but they change in their knowledge; they know more\nby Christ than they did by creation (1 Tim. iii. 16). They have an\naddition of knowledge every day, by the providential dispensations\nof God to his church (Eph. iii. 10); and the increase of their\nastonishment and love is according to the increase of their knowledge\nand insight. They cannot have a new discovery without new admirations\nof what is discovered to them: there is a change in their joy when\nthere is a change in a sinner (Luke xv. 10). They were changed in\ntheir essence, when they were made such glorious spirits of nothing;\nsome of them were changed in their will, when of holy they became\nimpure. The good angels were changed in their understandings, when\nthe glories of God in Christ were presented to their view; and all can\nbe changed in their essence again; and as they were made of nothing,\nso by the power of God may be reduced to nothing again. So glorified\nsouls shall have an unchanged operation about God, for they shall\nbehold his face without any grief or fear of loss, without vagrant\nthoughts; but they can never be unchangeable in their nature, because\nthey can never pass from finite to infinite.\n\nNo creature can be unchangeable in its nature:\u2015\u20151. Because every\ncreature rose from nothing. As they rose from nothing, so they\ntend to nothing, unless they are preserved by God. The notion of\na creature speaks changeableness; because to be a creature is to be\nmade something of nothing, and, therefore, creation is a change of\nnothing into something. The being of a creature begins from change,\nand, therefore, the essence of a creature is subject to change. God\nonly is uncreated, and, therefore, unchangeable. If he were made he\ncould not be immutable; for the very making is a change of not being\ninto being. All creatures were made good, as they were the fruits of\nGod\u2019s goodness and power; but must needs be mutable, because they were\nthe extracts of nothing. 2. Because every creature depends purely upon\nthe will of God. They depend not upon themselves, but upon another for\ntheir being. As they received their being from the word of his mouth\nand the arm of his power, so by the same word they can be cancelled\ninto nothing, and return into as little significancy as when they were\nnothing. He that created them by a word, can by a word destroy them:\nif God should \u201ctake away their breath, they die, and return into their\ndust\u201d (Ps. civ. 29). As it was in the power of the Creator that things\nmight be, before they actually were, so it is in the power of the\nCreator that things after they are may cease to be what they are; and\nthey are, in their own nature, as reducible to nothing as they were\nproducible by the power of God from nothing; for there needs no more\nthan an act of God\u2019s will to null them, as there needed only an act of\nGod\u2019s will to make them. Creatures are all subject to a higher cause:\nthey are all reputed as nothing. \u201cHe doth according to his will in the\narmies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can\nstay his hand, or say unto him, What dost thou?\u201d (Dan. iv. 35.) But\nGod is unchangeable, because he is the highest good; none above him,\nall below him; all dependent on him; himself upon none. 3. No creature\nis absolutely perfect. No {a337} creature can be so perfect, or can\never be, but something by the infinite power of God may be added to it;\nfor whatsoever is finite may receive greater additions, and, therefore,\na change. No creature you can imagine, but in your thoughts you may\nfancy him capable of greater perfections than you know he hath, or\nthan really he hath. The perfections of all creatures are searchable;\nthe perfection of God is only unsearchable (Job xi. 6), and, therefore,\nhe only immutable. God only is always the same. Time makes no addition\nto him, nor diminisheth anything of him. His nature and essence, his\nwisdom and will, have always been the same from eternity, and shall be\nthe same to eternity, without any variation.\n\nIV. The fourth thing propounded is, Some propositions to clear this\nunchangeableness of God from anything that seems contrary to it.\n\n_Prop. I._ There was no change in God when he began to create the\nworld in time. The creation was a real change, but the change was\nnot subjectively in God, but in the creature; the creature began\nto be what it was not before. Creation is considered as active or\npassive.[617] Active creation is the will and power of God to create.\nThis is from eternity, because God willed from eternity to create\nin time; this never had beginning, for God never began in time to\nunderstand anything, to will anything, or to be able to do anything;\nbut he alway understood and alway willed those things which he\ndetermined from eternity to produce in time. The decree of God may be\ntaken for the act decreeing, that is eternal and the same, or for the\nobject decreed, that is in time; so that there may be a change in the\nobject, but not in the will whereby the object doth exist.\n\n1. There was no change in God by the act of creation, because there\nwas no new will in him. There was no new act of his will which was not\nbefore. The creation began in time, but the will of creating was from\neternity. The work was new, but the decree whence that new work sprung\nwas as ancient as the Ancient of Days. When the time of creating came,\nGod was not made _ex nolente volens_, as we are; for whatsoever God\nwilled to be now done, he willed from eternity to be done; but he\nwilled also that it should not be done till such an instant of time,\nand that it should not exist before such a time. If God had willed the\ncreation of the world only at that time when the world was produced,\nand not before, then, indeed, God had been changeable. But though God\nspake that word which he had not spoke before, whereby the world was\nbrought into act; yet he did not will that will he willed not before.\nGod did not create by a new counsel or new will, but by that which was\nfrom eternity (Eph. i. 9). All things are wrought according to that\n\u201cpurpose in himself,\u201d and according to \u201cthe counsel of his will\u201d (ver.\n11); and as the holiness of the elect is the fruit of his eternal will\n\u201cbefore the foundation of the world\u201d (ver. 4), so, likewise, is the\nexistence of things, and of those persons whom he did elect. As when\nan artificer frames a house or a temple according to that model he had\nin his mind some years before, there is no change {a338} in the model\nin his mind; the artificer is the same, though the work is produced by\nhim some time after he had framed that copy of it in his own mind, but\nthere is a change of the thing produced by him according to that model.\nOr, when a rich man intends, four or five years hence, if he lives,\nto build a hospital, is there any change in will, when, after the\nexpiration of that time, he builds and endows it? Though it be after\nhis will, yet it is the fruit of his precedent will. So God, from all\neternity, did will and command that the creatures should exist in such\na part of time; and, by his eternal will, all things, whether past,\npresent, or to come, did, do, and shall exist, at that point of time\nwhich that will did appoint for them: not, as though God had a new\nwill when things stood up in being, but only that which was prepared\nin his immutable counsel and will from eternity, doth then appear.\nThere can be no instant fixed from eternity, wherein it can be said,\nGod did not will the creation of the world; for had the will of God\nfor the shortest moment been undetermined to the creation of the world,\nand afterwards resolved upon it, there had been a moral change in God\nfrom not willing to willing; but this there was not, for God executes\nnothing in time which he had not ordained from eternity, and appointed\nall the means and circumstances whereby it should be brought about. As\nthe determination of our Saviour to suffer was not a new will, but an\neternal counsel, and wrought no change in God (Acts ii. 23).\n\n2. There is no change in God by the act of creation, because there was\nno new power in God. Had God had a will at the time of creation which\nhe had not before, there had been a moral change in him; so had there\nbeen in him a power only to create then and not before, there had been\na physical change in him from weakness to ability. There can be no\nmore new power in God, than there can be a new will in God; for his\nwill is his power, and what he willeth to effect, that he doth effect:\nas he was unchangeably holy, so he was unchangeably almighty, \u201cwhich\nwas, and is, and is to come\u201d (Rev. iv. 8); which was almighty, and\nis almighty, and ever will be almighty. The work therefore makes no\nchange in God, but there is a change in the thing wrought by that\npower of God. Suppose you had a seal engraven upon some metal a\nhundred years old, or as old as the creation, and you should this\nday, so many ages after the engraving of it, make an impression of\nthat seal upon wax; would you say the engravement upon the seal were\nchanged, because it produced that stamp upon the wax now which it did\nnot before? No, the change is purely in the wax, which receives a new\nfigure or form by the impression; not in the seal, that was capable of\nimprinting the same long before. God was the same from eternity as he\nwas when he made a signature of himself upon the creatures by creation,\nand is no more changed by stamping them into several forms, than the\nseal is changed by making impression upon the wax. As when a house is\nenlightened by the sun, or that which was cold is heated by it, there\nis a change in the house from darkness to light, from coldness to heat;\nbut is there any change in the light and heat of the sun? There is a\nchange in the thing enlightened or warmed by that light and heat which\nremains fixed and constant in the sun, which was {a339} as capable in\nitself to produce the same effects before, as at that instant when it\nworks them; so when God is the author of a new work, he is not changed,\nbecause he works it by an eternal will and an eternal power.\n\n3. Nor is there any new relation acquired by God by the creation of\nthe world. There was a new relation acquired by the creature, as, when\na man sins, he hath another relation to God than he had before,\u2015\u2015he\nhath relation to God, as a criminal to a Judge; but there is no change\nin God, but in the malefactor. The being of men makes no more change\nin God than the sins of men. As a tree is now on our right hand,\nand by our turning about it is on our left hand, sometimes before us,\nsometimes behind us, according to our motion near it or about it, and\nthe turning of the body; there is no change in the tree, which remains\nfirm and fixed in the earth, but the change is wholly in the posture\nof the body, whereby the tree may be said to be before us or behind\nus, or on the right hand or on the left hand.[618] God gained no new\nrelation of Lord or Creator by the creation; for though he had created\nnothing to rule over, yet he had the power to create and rule, though\nhe did not create and rule: as a man may be called a skilful writer,\nthough he does not write, because he is able to do it when he pleases;\nor a man skilful in physic is called a physician, though he doth\nnot practise that skill, or discover his art in the distribution of\nmedicines, because he may do it when he pleases; it depends upon his\nown will to show his art when he has a mind to it. So the name Creator\nand Lord belongs to God from eternity, because he could create and\nrule, though he did not create and rule. But, howsoever, if there were\nany such change of relation, that God may be called Creator and Lord\nafter the creation and not before, it is not a change in essence, nor\nin knowledge, nor in will; God gains no perfection nor diminution by\nit; his knowledge is not increased by it; he is no more by it than\nhe was, and will be, if all those things ceased; and therefore Austin\nillustrates it by this similitude:\u2015\u2015as a piece of money when it is\ngiven as the price of a thing, or deposited only as a pledge for the\nsecurity of a thing borrowed; the coin is the same, and is not changed,\nthough the relation it had as a pledge and as a price be different\nfrom one another: so that suppose any new relation be added, yet there\nis nothing happens to the nature of God which may infer any change.\n\n_Prop. II._ There was no change in the Divine nature of the Son,\nwhen he assumed human nature. There was an union of the two natures,\nbut no change of the Deity into the humanity, or of the humanity into\nthe Deity: both preserved their peculiar properties. The humanity was\nchanged by a communication of excellent gifts from the divine nature,\nnot by being brought into an equality with it, for that was impossible\nthat a creature should become equal to the Creator. He took the \u201cform\nof a servant,\u201d but he lost not the form of God; he despoiled not\nhimself of the perfections of the Deity. He was indeed emptied, \u201cand\nbecame of no reputation\u201d (Phil. ii. 7); but he did not cease to be God,\nthough he was reputed to be only a man, {a340} and a very mean one too.\nThe glory of his divinity was not extinguished nor diminished, though\nit was obscured and darkened, under the veil of our infirmities; but\nthere was no more change in the hiding of it, than there is in the\nbody of the sun when it is shadowed by the interposition of a cloud.\nHis blood while it was pouring out from his veins was the \u201cblood of\nGod\u201d (Acts xx. 28); and, therefore, when he was bowing the head of\nhis humanity upon the cross, he had the nature and perfections of\nGod; for had he ceased to be God, he had been a mere creature, and his\nsufferings would have been of as little value and satisfaction as the\nsufferings of a creature. He could not have been a sufficient Mediator,\nhad he ceased to be God: and he had ceased to be God, had he lost any\none perfection proper to the divine nature; and losing none, he lost\nnot this of unchangeableness, which is none of the meanest belonging\nto the Deity. Why by his union with the human nature should he lose\nthis, any more than he lost his omniscience, which he discovered\nby his knowledge of the thoughts of men; or his mercy, which he\nmanifested to the height in the time of his suffering? That is truly a\nchange, when a thing ceaseth to be what it was before: this was not in\nChrist; he assumed our nature without laying aside his own. When the\nsoul is united to the body, doth it lose any of those perfections that\nare proper to its nature? Is there any change either in the substance\nor qualities of it? No; but it makes a change in the body, and of a\ndull lump it makes it a living mass, conveys vigor and strength to it,\nand, by its power, quickens it to sense and motion.[619] So did the\ndivine nature and human remain entire; there was no change of the one\ninto the other, as Christ by a miracle changed water into wine, or\nmen by art change sand or ashes into glass: and when he prays \u201cfor the\nglory he had with God before the world was\u201d (John xvii. 5), he prays\nthat a glory he had in his Deity might shine forth in his person as\nMediator, and be evidenced in that height and splendor suitable to\nhis dignity, which had been so lately darkened by his abasement;\nthat as he had appeared to be the Son of Man in the infirmity of the\nflesh, he might appear to be the Son of God in the glory of his person,\nthat he might appear to be the Son of God and the Son of Man in one\nperson.[620] Again, there could be no change in this union; for, in\na real change, something is acquired which was not possessed before,\nneither formally nor eminently: but the divinity had from eternity,\nbefore the incarnation, all the perfections of the human nature\neminently in a nobler manner than they are in themselves, and\ntherefore could not be changed by a real union.[621]\n\n_Prop. III._ Repentance and other affections ascribed to God in\nScripture, argue no change in God. We often read of God\u2019s repenting,\nrepenting of the good he promised (Jer. xviii. 10), and of the evil\nhe threatened (Exod. xxxii. 14; John iii. 10), or of the work he hath\nwrought (Gen. vi. 6). We must observe, therefore, that,\n\n1. Repentance is not properly in God. He is a pure Spirit, and is not\ncapable of those passions which are signs of weakness and impotence,\n{a341} or subject to those regrets we are subject to. Where there is\na proper repentance there is a want of foresight, an ignorance of what\nwould succeed, or a defect in the examination of the occurrences which\nmight fall within consideration. All repentance of a fact is grounded\nupon a mistake in the event which was not foreseen, or upon an after\nknowledge of the evil of the thing which was acted by the person\nrepenting. But God is so wise that he cannot err, so holy he cannot\ndo evil; and his certain prescience, or foreknowledge, secures him\nagainst any unexpected events. God doth not act but upon clear and\ninfallible reason; and a change upon passion is accounted by all\nso great a weakness in man, that none can entertain so unworthy a\nconceit of God. Where he is said to repent (Gen. vi. 6), he is also\nsaid to grieve; now no proper grief can be imagined to be in God. As\nrepentance is inconsistent with infallible foresight, so is grief no\nless inconsistent with undefiled blessedness. God is \u201cblessed forever\u201d\n(Rom. ix. 8), and therefore nothing can befall him that can stain that\nblessedness. His blessedness would be impaired and interrupted while\nhe is repenting, though he did soon rectify that which is the cause\nof his repentance. \u201cGod is of one mind, and who can turn him? what his\nsoul desires that he doth\u201d (Job xxiii. 13).\n\n2. But God accommodates himself in the Scripture to our weak capacity.\nGod hath no more of a proper repentance, than he hath of a real body;\nthough he, in accommodation to our weakness, ascribes to himself the\nmembers of our bodies to set out to our understanding the greatness of\nhis perfections, we must not conclude him a body like us; so, because\nhe is said to have anger and repentance, we must not conclude him\nto have passions like us. When we cannot fully comprehend him as he\nis, he clothes himself with our nature in his expressions that we may\napprehend him as we are able, and by an inspection into ourselves,\nlearn something of the nature of God; yet those human ways of\nspeaking ought to be understood in a manner agreeable to the infinite\nexcellency and majesty of God, and are only designed to mark out\nsomething in God which hath a resemblance with something in us; as we\ncannot speak to God as gods, but as men, so we cannot understand him\nspeaking to us as a God, unless he condescend to speak to us like a\nman. God therefore frames his language to our dulness, not to his own\nstate, and informs us by our own phrases, what he would have us learn\nof his nature, as nurses talk broken language to young children. In\nall such expressions, therefore, we must ascribe the perfection we\nconceive in them to God, and lay the imperfection at the door of the\ncreature.\n\n3. Therefore, repentance in God is only a change of his outward\nconduct, according to his infallible foresight and immutable will.\nHe changes the way of his providential proceeding according to the\ncarriage of the creature, without changing his will, which is the rule\nof his providence. When God speaks of his repenting \u201cthat he had made\nman\u201d (Gen. vi. 6), it is only his changing his conduct from a way of\nkindness to a way of severity, and is a word suited to our capacities\nto signify his detestation of sin, and his resolution to punish {a342}\nit, after man had made himself quite another thing, than God had made\nhim; \u201cit repents me,\u201d that is, I am purposed to destroy the world, as\nhe that repents of his work throws it away;[622] as if a potter cast\naway the vessel he had framed, it were a testimony that he repented\nthat ever he took pains about it, so the destruction of them seems\nto be a repentance in God that ever he made them; it is a change of\nevents, not of counsels. Repentance in us is a grief for a former\nfact, and a changing of our course in it; grief is not in God, but\nhis repentance is a willing a thing should not be as it was, which\nwill was fixed from eternity; for God, foreseeing man would fall,\nand decreeing to permit it, he could not be said to repent in time\nof what he did not repent from eternity; and therefore, if there were\nno repentance in God from eternity, there could be none in time.[623]\nBut God is said to repent when he changes the disposition of affairs\nwithout himself; as men, when they repent, alter the course of their\nactions, so God alters things, _extra se_, or without himself, but\nchanges nothing of his own purpose within himself. It rather notes\nthe action he is about to do, than anything in his own nature, or\nany change in his eternal purpose. God\u2019s repenting of his kindness\nis nothing but an inflicting of punishment, which the creature by\nthe change of his carriage hath merited: as his repenting of the\nevil threatened is the withholding the punishment denounced, when the\ncreature hath humbly submitted to his authority, and acknowledged his\ncrime. Or else we may understand those expressions of joy, and grief,\nand repentance, to signify thus much, that the things declared to be\nthe objects of joy, and grief, and repentance, are of that nature,\nthat if God were capable of our passions, he would discover himself\nin such cases as we do; as when the prophets mention the joys and\napplaudings of heaven, earth, and the sea, they only signify that\nthe things they speak of are so good, that if the heavens and the sea\nhad natures capable of joy, they would express it upon that occasion\nin such a manner as we do; so would God have joy at the obedience\nof men, and grief at the unworthy carriage of men, and repent of his\nkindness when men abuse it, and repent of his punishment when men\nreform under his rod, were the majesty of his nature capable of such\naffections.[624]\n\n_Prop. IV._ The not fulfilling of some predictions in Scripture,\nwhich seem to imply a changeableness of the Divine will, do not argue\nany change in it. As when he reprieved Hezekiah from death, after a\nmessage sent by the prophet Isaiah, that he should die (2 Kings xx.\n1\u20125; Isa. xxxviii. 1\u20125), and when he made an arrest of that judgment\nhe had threatened by Jonah against Nineveh (Jon. iii. 4\u201210). There is\nnot, indeed, the same reason of promises and threatenings altogether;\nfor in promising, the obligation lies upon God, and the right to\ndemand is in the party that performs the condition of the promise: but\nin threatenings, the obligation lies upon the sinner, and God\u2019s right\nto punish is declared thereby; so that though God doth not punish, his\nwill is not changed, because his will was to declare the demerit of\nsin, and his right to punish {a343} upon the commission of it; though\nhe may not punish according to the strict letter of the threatening\nthe person sinning, but relax his own law for the honor of his\nattributes, and transfer the punishment from the offender to a person\nsubstituted in his room: this was the case in the first threatening\nagainst man, and the substituting a Surety in the place of the\nmalefactor. But the answer to these cases is this, that where we\nfind predictions in Scripture declared, and yet not executed, we\nmust consider them, not as absolute but conditional, or as the civil\nlaw calls it, an interlocutory sentence.[625] God declared what\nwould follow by natural causes, or by the demerit of man, not what\nhe would absolutely himself do: and in many of those predictions,\nthough the condition be not expressed, yet it is to be understood;\nso the promises of God are to be understood, with the condition\nof perseverance in well doing; and threatenings, with a clause of\nrevocation annexed to them, provided that men repent: and this God\nlays down as a general case, alway to be remembered as a rule for\nthe interpreting his threatenings against a nation, and the same\nreason will hold in threatenings against a particular person. (Jer.\nxviii. 7\u201210) \u201cAt what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and\nconcerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and destroy it;\nif that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil,\nI will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them;\u201d and so when\nhe speaks of planting a nation, if they do evil, he will repent of the\ngood, &c. It is a universal rule by which all particular cases of this\nnature are to be tried; so that when man\u2019s repentance arrives, God\nremains firm in his first will, always equal to himself; and it is not\nhe that changes, but man. For since the interposition of the Mediator,\nwith an eye to whom God governed the world after the fall, the right\nof punishing was taken off if men repented, and mercy was to flow out,\nif by a conversion men returned to their duty (Ezek. xviii. 20, 21).\nThis, I say, is grounded upon God\u2019s entertaining the Mediator; for the\ncovenant of works discovered no such thing as repentance or pardon.\nNow these general rules are to be the interpreters of particular cases:\nso that predictions of good are not to be counted absolute, if men\nreturn to evil; nor predictions of evil, if men be thereby reduced to\na repentance of their crimes. So Nineveh shall be destroyed, that is,\naccording to the general rule, unless the inhabitants repent, which\nthey did; they manifested a belief of the threatening, and gave glory\nto God by giving credit to the prophet: and they had a notion of this\nrule God lays down in the other prophets; for they had an apprehension\nthat, upon their humbling themselves, they might escape the threatened\nvengeance, and stop the shooting those arrows that were ready in\nthe bow.[626] Though Jonah proclaimed destruction without declaring\nany hopes of an arrest of judgment, yet their natural notion of God\nafforded some natural hopes of relief if they did their duty, and\nspurned not against the prophet\u2019s message; and therefore, saith one,\nGod did not always express this condition, because it was needless;\nhis own rule revealed in Scripture was sufficient to some; and the\nnatural notion all men had of God\u2019s goodness upon their repentance,\nmade {a344} it not absolutely necessary to declare it. And besides,\nsaith he, it is bootless; the expressing it can do but little good;\nsecure ones will repent never the sooner, but rather presume upon\ntheir hopes of God\u2019s forbearance, and linger out their repentance till\nit be too late. And to work men to repentance, whom he hath purposed\nto spare, he threatens them with terrible judgments; which by how\nmuch the more terrible and peremptory they are, are likely to be more\neffectual for that end God in his purpose designs them; viz. to humble\nthem under a sense of their demerit, and an acknowledgment of his\nrighteous justice; and, therefore, though they be absolutely denounced,\nyet they are to be conditionally interpreted with a reservation of\nrepentance. As for that answer which one gives, that by forty days\nwas not meant forty natural days, but forty prophetical days, that\nis years, a day for a year; and that the city was destroyed forty\nyears after by the Medes; the expression of God\u2019s repenting upon their\nhumiliation puts a bar to that interpretation; God repented, that is,\nhe did not bring the punishment upon them according to those days the\nprophet had expressed; and, therefore, forty natural days are to be\nunderstood; and if it were meant forty years, and they were destroyed\nat the end of that term, how could God be said to repent, since\naccording to that, the punishment threatened was, according to the\ntime fixed, brought upon them? and the destruction of it forty years\nafter will not be easily evinced, if Jonah lived in the time of\nJeroboam, the second king of Israel, as he did (2 Kings xiv. 25);\nand Nineveh was destroyed in the time of Josiah, king of Judah. But\nthe other answer is plain. God did not fulfil what he had threatened,\nbecause they reformed what they had committed: when the threatening\nwas made, they were a fit object for justice; but when they repented,\nthey were a fit object for a merciful respite. To threaten when sins\nare high, is a part of God\u2019s justice; not to execute when sins are\nrevoked by repentance, is a part of God\u2019s goodness. And in the case\nof Hezekiah (2 Kings xx. 1, 5), Isaiah comes with a message from God,\nthat he should \u201cset his house in order,\u201d for he shall die; that is,\nthe disease was mortal, and no outward applications could in their own\nnature resist the distemper: \u201cBehold, I will add to thy days fifteen\nyears; I will heal thee\u201d (Isa. xxxviii. 1, 5). It seems to me to be\none entire message, because the latter part of it was so suddenly\nafter the other committed to Isaiah, to be delivered to Hezekiah;\nfor he was not gone out of the king\u2019s house, before he was ordered\nto return with the news of his health, by an extraordinary indulgence\nof God against the power of nature and force of the disease, \u201cBehold,\nI will add to thy life;\u201d noting it as an extraordinary thing; he was\nin the second court of the king\u2019s house when this word came to him\n(2 Kings xx. 4); the king\u2019s house having three courts, so that he\nwas not gone above half\u2011way out of the palace. God might send this\nmessage of death, to prevent the pride Hezekiah might swell with for\nhis deliverance from Sennacherib: as Paul had a messenger of Satan to\nbuffet him to prevent his lifting up (2 Cor. xii. 7); and this good\nman was subject to this sin, as we find afterwards in the case of the\nBabylonish ambassadors; and God delayed this other part of the message\nto humble him, and {a345} draw out his prayer: and as soon as ever\nhe found Hezekiah in this temper, he sent Isaiah with a comfortable\nmessage of recovery; so that the will of God was to signify to him the\nmortality of his distemper, and afterwards to relieve him by a message\nof an extraordinary recovery.\n\n_Prop. V._ God is not changed, when of loving to any creatures he\nbecomes angry with them, or of angry he becomes appeased. The change\nin these cases is in the creature; according to the alteration in the\ncreature, it stands in a various relation to God: an innocent creature\nis the object of his kindness, an offending creature is the object of\nhis anger; there is a change in the dispensations of God, as there is\na change in the creature making himself capable of such dispensations.\nGod always acts according to the immutable nature of his holiness,\nand can no more change in his affections to good and evil, than he can\nin his essence. When the devils, now fallen, stood as glorious angels,\nthey were the objects of God\u2019s love, because holy; when they fell,\nthey were the objects of God\u2019s hatred, because impure; the same reason\nwhich made him love them while they were pure, made him hate them when\nthey were criminal. The reason of his various dispensations to them\nwas the same in both, as considered in God, his immutable holiness;\nbut as respecting the creature, different; the nature of the creature\nwas changed, but the Divine holy nature of God remained the same:\n\u201cWith the pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward, thou\nwilt show thyself froward\u201d (Ps. xviii. 26): he is a refreshing light\nto those that obey him, and a consuming fire to those that resist him.\nThough the same angels were not always loved, yet the same reason that\nmoved him to love them, moved him to hate them. It had argued a change\nin God if he had loved them alway, in whatsoever posture they were\ntowards him; it could not be counted love, but a weakness and impotent\nfondness; the change is in the object, not in the affection of God;\nfor the object loved before is not beloved now, because that which\nwas the motive of love, is not now in it; so that the creature having\na different state from what it had, falls under a different affection\nor dispensation. It had been a mutable affection in God to love that\nwhich was not worthy of love with the same love wherewith he loved\nthat which had the greatest resemblance to himself; had God loved the\nfallen angels in that state and for that state, he had hated himself,\nbecause he had loved that which was contrary to himself and the\nimage of his own holiness, which made them appear before, good in his\nsight. The will of God is unchangeably set to love righteousness and\nhate iniquity, and from this hatred to punish it; and if a righteous\ncreature contracts the wrath of God, or a sinful creature hath the\ncommunications of God\u2019s love, it must be by a change in themselves.\nIs the sun changed when it hardens one thing and softens another,\naccording to the disposition of the several subjects? Or when the sun\nmakes a flower more fragrant, and a dead carcass more noisome? There\nare divers effects, but the reason of that diversity is not in the sun,\nbut in the subject; the sun is the same, and produceth those different\neffects by the same quality of heat; so if an unholy soul approach to\nGod, God looks angrily {a346} upon him; if a holy soul come before him,\nthe same immutable perfection in God draws out his kindness towards\nhim: as some think, the sun would rather refresh than scorch us, if\nour bodies were of the same nature and substance with that luminary.\nAs the will of God for creating the world was no new, but an eternal\nwill, though it manifested itself in time, so the will of God for the\npunishment of sin, or the reconciliation of the sinner, was no new\nwill: though his wrath in time break out in the effects of it upon\nsinners, and his love flows out in the effects of it upon penitents.\nChrist by his death reconciling God to man, did not alter the will of\nGod, but did what was consonant to his eternal will; he came not to\nchange his will, but to execute his will: \u201cLo, I come to do thy will,\nO God\u201d (Heb. x. 7). And the grace of God in Christ was not a new grace,\nbut an old grace in a new appearance; \u201cthe grace of God hath appeared\u201d\n(Tit. i. 11).\n\n_Prop. VI._ A change of laws by God argues no change in God, when\nGod abrogates some laws which he had settled in the church, and enacts\nothers. I spake of this something the last day; I shall only add this:\nGod commanded one thing to the Jews, when the church was in an infant\nstate; and removed those laws, when the church came to some growth.\nThe elements of the world were suited to the state of children (Gal.\niv. 3). A mother feeds not the infant with the same diet as she doth\nwhen it is grown up. Our Saviour acquainted not his disciples with\nsome things at one time which he did at another, because they were\nnot able to bear them: where was the change; in Christ\u2019s will, or in\ntheir growth from a state of weakness to that of strength? A physician\nprescribes not the same thing to a person in health, as he doth to one\nconflicting with a distemper; nor the same thing in the beginning as\nhe doth in the state or declination of the disease. The physician\u2019s\nwill and skill are the same, but the capacity and necessity of the\npatient for this or that medicine, or method of proceeding, are not\nthe same. When God changed the ceremonial law, there was no change in\nthe Divine will, but an execution of his will; for when God commanded\nthe observance of the law he intended not the perpetuity of it;\nnay, in the prophets he declares the cessation of it; he decreed to\ncommand it, but he decreed to command it only for such a time; so\nthat the abrogation of it was no less an execution of his decree, than\nthe establishment of it for a season was; the commanding of it was\npursuant to his decree for the appointing of it, and the nulling of it\nwas pursuant to his decree of continuing it only for such a season; so\nthat in all this there was no change in the will of God. The counsel\nof God stands sure; what changes soever there are in the world, are\nnot in God or his will, but in the events of things, and the different\nrelations of things to God: it is in the creature, not in the Creator.\nThe sun alway remains of the same hue, and is not discolored in itself,\nbecause it shines green through a green glass, and blue through a blue\nglass; the different colors come from the glass, not from the sun; the\nchange is alway in the disposition of the creature, and not in the\nnature of God or his will.\n\nV. _Use 1._ For information.\n\n1. If God be unchangeable in his nature, and immutability be a {a347}\nproperty of God, then Christ hath a Divine nature. This in the Psalm\nis applied to Christ in the Hebrews (Heb. i. 11), where he joins the\ncitation out of this Psalm with that out of Ps. xlv. 6, 7, \u201cThy throne,\nO God, is forever and ever; thou hast loved righteousness and hated\niniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil\nof gladness above thy fellows; and thou, Lord, in the beginning hast\nlaid the foundation of the earth,\u201d &c. As the first must necessarily\nbe meant of Christ the Mediator, and therein he is distinguished\nfrom God, as one anointed by him; so the other must be meant of\nChrist, whereby he is made one with God in regard of the creation\nand dissolution of the world, in regard of eternity and immutability.\nBoth the testimonies are linked together by the copulative _and_, \u201cand\nthou, Lord;\u201d declaring thereby that they are both to be understood\nof the same person, the Son of God. The design of the chapter is to\nprove Christ to be God; and such things are spoken of him as could not\nbelong to any creature; no, not to the most excellent of the angels.\nThe same person that is said to be anointed above his fellows, and\nis said to lay the foundation of the earth and heavens, is said to be\nthe same; that is, the same in himself; the prerogative of sameness\nbelongs to that person as well as creation of heaven and earth. The\nSocinians say it is spoken of God, and that God shall destroy the\nheavens by Christ; if so, Christ is not a mere creature, not created\nwhen he was incarnate; for the same person that shall change the world\ndid create the world; if God shall change the world by him, God also\ncreated the world by him; he was then before the world was; for how\ncould God create the world by one that was not; that was not in being\ntill after the creation of the world? The heavens shall be changed,\nbut the person who is to change the heavens is said to be the same, or\nunchangeable in the creation as well as the dissolution of the world.\nThis sameness refers to the whole sentence. The Psalm wherein the\ntext is, and whence this in the Hebrews is cited, is properly meant\nof Christ, and redemption by him, and the completing of it at the last\nday, and not of the Babylonish captivity;[627] that captivity was not\nso deplorable as the state of the Psalmist describes; Daniel and his\ncompanions flourished in that captivity; it could not reasonably be\nsaid of them, that their days were consumed like smoke, their hearts\nwithered like grass; that they forgot to \u201ceat their bread\u201d (ver. 3, 4).\nBesides, he complains of \u201cshortness of life\u201d (ver. 11); but none had\nany more reason to complain of that in the time of the captivity, than\nbefore and after it, than at any other time: their deliverance would\ncontribute nothing to the natural length of their lives. Besides, when\nSion should be built, the heathen should \u201cfear the name of the Lord\u201d\n(that is, worship God), and \u201call the kings of the earth his glory\u201d\n(ver. 15). The rearing the second temple after the deliverance, did\nnot proselyte the nations; nor did the kings of the earth worship the\nglory of God; nor did God appear in such glory at the erecting the\nsecond temple. The second temple was less glorious than the first, for\nit wanted some of the ornaments which were the glory of the first; but\nit is {a348} said of this state, that when the Lord should build up\nSion, he should \u201cappear in his glory\u201d (ver. 16); his proper glory,\nand extraordinary glory. Now that God who shall appear in glory, and\nbuild up Sion, is the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world; he builds\nup the church, he causes the nations to fear the Lord, and the kings\nof the earth his glory; he broke down the partition wall, and opened\na door for the entrance of the Gentiles; he struck the chains from\noff the prisoners, and loosed those that were appointed to death by\nthe curse of the law (ver. 20): and to this person is ascribed the\ncreation of the world; and he is pronounced to remain the same in the\nmidst of an infinite number of changes in inferior things. And it is\nlikely the Psalmist considers not only the beginning of redemption,\nbut the completing of it at the second coming of Christ; for he\ncomplains of those evils which shall be removed by his second coming,\nviz., the shortness of life, persecutions and reproaches wherewith the\nchurch is afflicted in this world; and comforts not himself with those\nattributes which are directly opposed to sin, as the mercy of God,\nthe covenant of God, but with those that are opposed to mortality\nand calamities, as the unchangeableness and eternity of God; and from\nthence infers a perpetual establishment of believers. \u201cThe children\nof thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established\nbefore thee\u201d (ver. 28): so that the Psalm itself seems to aim in the\nwhole discourse at Christ, and asserts his divinity, which the apostle,\nas an interpreter, doth fully evidence; applying it to him, and\nmanifesting his deity by his immutability as well as eternity.[628]\nWhile all other things lose their forms, and pass through multitudes\nof variations, he constantly remains the same, and shall be the same,\nwhen all the empires of the world shall slide away, and a period be\nput to the present motions of the creation: and as there was no change\nmade in his being by the creation of things, so neither shall there be\nby the final alteration of things; he shall see them finish, as he saw\nthem rise up into being, and be the same after their reign, as he was\nbefore their original; he is the first and the last (Rev. i. 17).\n\n2. Here is ground and encouragement for worship. An atheist will make\nanother use of this; if God be immutable, why should we worship him,\nwhy should we pray to him? good will come if he wills it; evil cannot\nbe averted by all our supplications, if he hath ordained it to fall\nupon us. But certainly since unchangeableness is knowing, and willing\ngoodness is a perfection, an adoration and admiration is due to\nGod, upon the account of this excellence. If he be God, he is to be\nreverenced, and the more highly reverenced, because he cannot but be\nGod. Again, what comfort could it be to pray to a God, that like the\nchameleon changed colors every day, every moment? What encouragement\ncould there be to lift up our eyes to one that were of one mind this\nday and of another mind tomorrow? Who would put up a petition to an\nearthly prince that were so mutable, as to grant a petition one day\nand deny it another, and change his own act? But if a prince promise\nthis or that thing upon such or such a condition, and you know his\npromise to be as unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians,\nwould any man {a349} reason thus? because it is unchangeable we will\nnot seek to him, we will not perform the condition, upon which the\nfruit of the proclamation is to be enjoyed. Who would not count such\nan inference ridiculous? What blessings hath not God promised upon\nthe condition of seeking him? Were he of an unrighteous nature, or\nchangeable in his mind, this would be a bar to our seeking him, and\nfrustrate our hopes; but since it is otherwise, is not this excellency\nof his nature the highest encouragement, to ask of him the blessings\nhe hath promised, and a beam from heaven to fire our zeal in asking?\nIf you desire things against his will, which he hath declared he will\nnot grant, prayer then would be an act of disobedience and injury to\nhim, as well as an act of folly in itself; his unchangeableness then\nmight stifle such desires: but if we ask according to his will, and\naccording to our reasonable wants, what ground have we to make such\na ridiculous argument? He hath willed everything that may be for\nour good, if we perform the condition he hath required; and hath\nput it upon record, that we may know it and regulate our desires\nand supplications according to it. If we will not seek him, his\nimmutability cannot be a bar, but our own folly is the cause; and by\nour neglect we despoil him of this perfection as to us, and either\nimply that he is not sincere, and means not as he speaks; or that he\nis as changeable as the wind, sometimes this thing, sometimes that,\nand not at all to be confided in. If we ask according to his revealed\nwill, the unchangeableness of his nature will assure us of the grant;\nand what a presumption would it be in a creature dependent upon his\nsovereign, to ask that which he knows he has declared his will against;\nsince there is no good we can want, but he hath promised to give, upon\nour sincere and ardent desire for it? God hath decreed to give this\nor that to man, but conditionally, and by the means of inquiring after\nhim, and asking for it: \u201cAsk, and you shall receive\u201d (Ezek. xxxvi. 37;\nMatt. vii. 7): as much as to say, You shall not receive unless you ask.\nWhen the highest promises are made, God expects they should be put\nin suit; our Saviour joins the promise and the petition together;\nthe promise to encourage the petition, and the petition to enjoy\nthe promise: he doth not say perhaps it shall be given, but it shall,\nthat is, it certainly shall; your heavenly Father is unchangeably\nwilling to give you those things. We must depend upon his immutability\nfor the thing, and submit to his wisdom for the time. Prayer is an\nacknowledgment of our dependence upon God; which dependence could have\nno firm foundation without unchangeableness. Prayer doth not desire\nany change in God, but is offered to God that he would confer those\nthings which he hath immutably willed to communicate; but he willed\nthem not without prayer as the means of bestowing them. The light\nof the sun is ordered for our comfort, for the discovery of visible\nthings, for the ripening the fruits of the earth; but withal it\nis required that we use our faculty of seeing, that we employ our\nindustry in sowing and planting, and expose our fruits to the view of\nthe sun, that they may receive the influence of it. If a man shuts his\neyes, and complains that the sun is changed into darkness, it would\nbe ridiculous; the sun is not changed, but we alter ourselves; nor is\nGod changed {a350} in not giving us the blessings he hath promised,\nbecause he hath promised in the way of a due address to him, and\nopening our souls to receive his influence, and to this, his\nimmutability is the greatest encouragement.\n\n3. This shows how contrary man is to God in regard of his\ninconstancy. What an infinite distance is there between the immutable\nGod, and mutable man, and how should we bewail this flittingness\nin our nature! There is a mutability in us as creatures, and a\ncreature cannot but be mutable by nature, otherwise it were not a\ncreature but God. The establishment of any creature is from grace\nand gift; naturally we tend to nothing, as we come from nothing. This\ncreature\u2011mutability is not our sin, yet it should cause us to lie\ndown under a sense of our own nothingness, in the presence of the\nCreator. The angels as creatures, though not corrupt, cover their\nfaces before him: and the arguments God uses to humble Job, though\na fallen creature, are not from his corruption: for I do not remember\nthat he taxed him with that; but from the greatness of his majesty and\nexcellency of his nature declared in his works (Job xxxviii.\u2012xli.);\nand, therefore, men that have no sense of God and humility before him,\nforget that they are creatures as well as corrupt ones. How great is\nthe distance between God and us, in regard of our inconstancy in good,\nwhich is not natural to us by creation: for the mind and affections\nwere regular, and by the great artificer were pointed to God as\nthe object of knowledge and love. We have the same faculties of\nunderstanding, will, and affection, as Adam had in innocence; but\nnot with the same light, the same bias, and the same ballast. Man,\nby his fall, wounded his head and heart; the wound in his head made\nhim unstable in the truth, and that in his heart unsteadfast in\nhis affections: he changed himself from the image of God to that of\nthe devil, from innocence to corruption, and from an ability to be\nsteadfast to a perpetual inconstancy; \u201chis silver became dross, and\nhis wine was mixed with water\u201d (Isa. i. 22). He changed,\n\n(1.) To inconstancy in truth, opposed to the immutability of\nknowledge in God. How are our minds floating between ignorance and\nknowledge! Truth in us is like those ephemera, creatures of a day\u2019s\ncontinuance,\u2015\u2015springs up in the morning, and expires at night. How\nsoon doth that fly away from us which we have had, not only some weak\nflashes of, but which we have learned and have had some relish of! The\ndevil stood not in the truth (John viii. 44), and therefore manages\nhis engines to make us as unstable as himself: our minds reel, and\ncorrupt reasonings oversway us; like sponges we suck up water, and a\nlight compression makes us spout it out again. Truths are not engraven\nupon our hearts, but writ as in dust, defaced by the next puff of wind,\n\u201ccarried about with every wind of doctrine\u201d (Eph. iv. 14); like a ship\nwithout a pilot and sails, at the courtesy of the next storm, or like\nclouds that are tenants to the wind and sun, moved by the wind and\nmelted by the sun. The Galatians were no sooner called into the grace\nof God, but they were removed from it (Gal. i. 6); some have been\nreported to have _menstruam fidem_, kept an opinion for a month;\nand many are like him that believed the soul\u2019s immortality no longer\nthan he had Plato\u2019s {a351} book of that subject in his hand:[629] one\nlikens such to children; they play with truths as children do with\nbabies, one while embrace them, and a little after throw them into\nthe dirt. How soon do we forget what the truth is delivered to us, and\nwhat it represented us to be (James i. 23, 24). Is it not a thing to\nbe bewailed, that man should be such a weathercock, turned about with\nevery breath of wind, and shifting aspects as the wind shifts points?\n\n(2.) Inconstancy in will, and affections opposed to the immutability\nof will in God. We waver between God and Baal; and while we are\nnot only resolving, but upon motion a little way, look back with a\nhankering after Sodom; sometimes lifted up with heavenly intentions,\nand presently cast down with earthly cares, like a ship that by an\nadvancing wave seems to aspire to heaven, and the next fall of the\nwaves makes it sink down to the depths. We change purposes oftener\nthan fashions, and our resolutions are like letters in water, whereof\nno mark remains; we will be as John to\u2011day to love Christ, and as\nJudas to\u2011morrow to betray him, and, by an unworthy levity, pass into\nthe camp of the enemies of God; resolved to be as holy as angels in\nthe morning, when the evening beholds us as impure as devils. How\noften do we hate what before we loved, and shun what before we longed\nfor! and our resolutions are like vessels of crystal, which break at\nthe first knock, are dashed in pieces by the next temptation. Saul\nresolved not to persecute David any more, but you soon find him upon\nhis old game. Pharaoh more than once promised, and probably resolved,\nto let Israel go, but at the end of the storm his purposes vanish\n(Exod. viii. 27, 32). When an affliction pincheth men, they intend\nto change their course, and the next news of ease changes their\nintentions; like a bow not fully bent in their inclinations, they\ncannot reach the mark, but live many years between resolutions of\nobedience and affections to rebellion (Ps. lxxviii. 17): and what\npromises men make to God are often the fruit of their passion, their\nfear, not of their will. The Israelites were startled at the terrors\nwherewith the law was delivered, and promised obedience (Exod. xx. 19),\nbut a month after forgot them, and make a golden calf, and in the\nsight of Sinai call for, and dance before, their gods (Exod. xxxii.);\nnever people more unconstant. Peter, who vowed an allegiance to his\nMaster, and a courage to stick to him, forswears him almost with the\nsame breath. Those that cry out with a zeal, \u201cThe Lord he is God,\u201d\nshortly after return to the service of their idols (1 Kings xviii. 39).\nThat which seems to be our pleasure this day, is our vexation\nto\u2011morrow; a fear of a judgment puts us into a religious pang, and a\nlove to our lusts reduceth us to a rebellious inclination; as soon as\nthe danger is over, the saint is forgotten: salvation and damnation\npresent themselves to us, touch us, and engender some weak wishes,\nwhich are dissolved by the next allurements of a carnal interest. No\nhold can be taken of our promises, no credit is to be given to our\nresolutions.\n\n(3.) Inconstancy in practice. How much beginning in the Spirit, and\nending in the flesh; one day in the sanctuary, another in the stews;\nclear in the morning as the sun, and clouded before noon; {a352} in\nheaven by an excellency of gifts, in hell by a course of profaneness;\nlike a flower, which some mention, that changes its color three times\na day, one part white, then purple, then yellow! The spirit lusts\nagainst the flesh, and the flesh quickly triumphs over the spirit.\nIn a good man how often is there a spiritual lethargy; though he doth\nnot openly defame God, yet he doth not always glorify him; he doth\nnot forsake the truth, but he doth not always make the attainment of\nit, and settlement in it his business. This levity discovers itself in\nreligious duty, \u201cwhen I would do good, evil is present with me\u201d (Rom.\nvii. 21). Never more present, than when we have a mind to do good,\nand never more present than when we have a mind to do the best and\ngreatest good. How hard is it to make our thoughts and affections keep\ntheir stand! place them upon a good object, and they will be frisking\nfrom it, as a bird from one bough, one fruit, to another: we vary\npostures according to the various objects we meet with. The course\nof the world is a very airy thing, suited to the uncertain notions of\nthat \u201cprince of the power of the air,\u201d which works in it (Eph. ii. 2).\nThis ought to be bewailed by us. Though we may stand fast in the truth,\nthough we may spin our resolutions into a firm web, though the spirit\nmay triumph over the flesh in our practice, yet we ought to bewail\nit, because inconstancy is our nature, and what fixedness we have in\ngood is from grace. What we find practised by most men is natural to\nall;[630] \u201cas face answers to face in a glass, so doth heart to heart\u201d\n(Prov. xxvii. 19); a face in the glass is not more like a natural face,\nwhose image it is, than one man\u2019s heart is naturally like another.\n\n1st. It is natural to those out of the church. Nebuchadnezzar is\nso affected with Daniel\u2019s prophetic spirit, that he would have none\naccounted the true God, but the \u201cGod of Daniel\u201d (Dan. ii. 47). How\nsoon doth this notion slip from him, and an image must be set up for\nall to worship, upon pain of a most cruel, painful death! Daniel\u2019s God\nis quite forgotten. The miraculous deliverance of the three children,\nfor not worshipping his image, makes him settle a decree to secure the\nhonor of God from the reproach of his subjects (Dan. iii. 29); yet, a\nlittle while after, you have him strutting in his palace, as if there\nwere no God but himself.\n\n2d. It is natural to those in the Church. The Israelites were the\nonly church God had in the world, and a notable example of inconstancy.\nAfter the miracles of Egypt, they murmured against God, when they saw\nPharaoh marching with an army at their heels. They desired food, and\nsoon nauseated the manna they were before fond of. When they came into\nCanaan, they sometimes worshipped God, and sometimes idols, not only\nthe idols of one nation, but of all their neighbors. In which regard\nGod calls this, his heritage; \u201ca speckled bird\u201d (Jer. xii. 9); a\npeacock, saith Hierom, inconstant, made up of varieties of idolatrous\ncolors and ceremonies. This levity of spirit is the root of all\nmischief; it scatters our thoughts in the service of God; it is the\ncause of all revolts and apostasies from him; it makes us unfit to\nreceive the communications of God: whatsoever we hear is like words\nwrit in sand, ruffled out by the {a353} next gale; whatsoever is put\ninto us is like precious liquor in a palsy hand, soon spilt: it breeds\ndistrust of God when we have an uncertain judgment of him, we are not\nlike to confide in him; an uncertain judgment will be followed with\na distrustful heart. In fine, where it is prevalent, it is a certain\nsign of ungodliness. To be driven with the wind like chaff, and to\nbe ungodly, is all one in the judgment of the Holy Ghost (Ps. i. 4);\nthe ungodly are \u201clike the chaff which the wind drives away,\u201d which\nsignifies not their destruction, but their disposition, for their\ndestruction is inferred from it (ver. 5), \u201ctherefore the ungodly shall\nnot stand in judgment.\u201d How contrary is this to the unchangeable God,\nwho is alway the same, and would have us the same, in our religious\npromises and resolutions for good!\n\n4. If God be immutable, it is sad news to those that are resolved in\nwickedness, or careless of returning to that duty he requires. Sinners\nmust not expect that God will alter his will, make a breach upon his\nnature, and violate his own word to gratify their lusts. No, it is not\nreasonable God should dishonor himself to secure them, and cease to be\nGod, that they may continue to be wicked, by changing his own nature,\nthat they may be unchanged in their vanity. God is the same; goodness\nis as amiable in his sight, and sin as abominable in his eyes now, as\nit was at the beginning of the world. Being the same God, he is the\nsame enemy to the wicked as the same friend to the righteous. He is\nthe same in knowledge, and cannot forget sinful acts. He is the same\nin will, and cannot approve of unrighteous practices. Goodness cannot\nbut be alway the object of his love, and wickedness cannot but be\nalway the object of his hatred: and as his aversion to sin is alway\nthe same, so as he hath been in his judgments upon sinners, the same\nhe will be still; for the same perfection of immutability belongs\nto his justice for the punishment of sin, as to his holiness for his\ndisaffection to sin. Though the covenant of works was changeable by\nthe crime of man violating it, yet it was unchangeable in regard of\nGod\u2019s justice vindicating it, which is inflexible in the punishment of\nthe breaches of his law. The law had a preceptive part, and a minatory\npart: when man changed the observation of the precept, the righteous\nnature of God could not null the execution of the threatening; he\ncould not, upon the account of this perfection, neglect his just word,\nand countenance the unrighteous transgression. Though there were no\nmore rational creatures in being but Adam and Eve, yet God subjected\nthem to that death he had assured them of: and from this immutability\nof his will, ariseth the necessity of the suffering of the Son of\nGod for the relief of the apostate creature. His will in the second\ncovenant is as unchangeable as that in the first, only repentance is\nsettled as the condition of the second, which was not indulged in the\nfirst; and without repentance, the sinner must irrevocably perish, or\nGod must change his nature: there must be a change in man; there can\nbe none in God; his bow is bent, his arrows are ready, if the wicked\ndo not turn (Ps. vii. 11). There is not an atheist, an hypocrite, a\nprofane person, that ever was upon the earth, but God\u2019s soul abhorred\nhim as such, and the like he will {a354} abhor forever; while any\ntherefore continue so, they may sooner expect the heavens should roll\nas they please, the sun stand still at their order, the stars change\ntheir course at their beck, than that God should change his nature,\nwhich is opposite to profaneness and vanity; \u201cWho hath hardened\nhimself against him, and hath prospered?\u201d (Job ix. 4.)\n\n_Use 2._ Of comfort. The immutability of a good God is a strong ground\nof consolation. Subjects wish a good prince to live forever, as being\nloth to change him, but care not how soon they are rid of an oppressor.\nThis unchangeableness of God\u2019s will shows him as ready to accept any\nthat come to him as ever he was; so that we may with confidence make\nour address to him, since he cannot change his affections to goodness.\nThe fear of change in a friend hinders a full reliance upon him; an\nassurance of stability encourages hope and confidence. This attribute\nis the strongest prop for faith in all our addresses; it is not a\nsingle perfection, but the glory of all those that belong to his\nnature; for he is unchangeable in his love (Jer. xxxi. 3), in his\ntruth (Ps. cxvii. 2). The more solemn revelation of himself in this\nname, Jehovah, which signifies chiefly his eternity and immutability,\nwas to support the Israelites\u2019 faith in expectation of a deliverance\nfrom Egypt, that he had not retracted his purpose, and his promise\nmade to Abraham for giving Canaan to his posterity (Exod. iii. 14\u201217).\nHerein is the basis and strength of all his promises; therefore,\nsaith the Psalmist, \u201cThose that know thy name, will put their trust\nin thee\u201d (Ps. ix. 10): those that are spiritually acquainted with\nthy name, Jehovah, and have a true sense of it upon their hearts,\nwill put their trust in thee. His goodness could not be distrusted,\nif his unchangeableness were well apprehended and considered. All\ndistrust would fly before it, as darkness before the sun; it only\ngets advantage of us when we are not well grounded in his name; and\nif ever we trusted God, we have the same reason to trust him forever:\n(Isa. xxvi. 4) \u201cTrust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah\nis everlasting strength;\u201d or, as it is in the Hebrew, \u201ca Rock of\nAges,\u201d that is, perpetually unchangeable. We find the traces of God\u2019s\nimmutability in the creatures. He has, by his peremptory decree, set\nbounds to the sea: \u201cHitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here\nshall thy proud waves be stayed\u201d (Job xxxviii. 11). Do we fear the sea\noverflowing us in this island? No, because of his fixed decree. And\nis not his promise in his Word as unchangeable as his word concerning\ninanimate things, as good a ground to rest upon?\n\n1. The covenant stands unchangeable. Mutable creatures break their\nleagues and covenants, and snap them asunder like Samson\u2019s cords, when\nthey are not accommodated to their interests. But an unchangeable God\nkeeps his: \u201cThe mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but\nmy kindness shall not depart from thee, nor shall the covenant of my\npeace be removed\u201d (Isa. liv. 10). The heaven and earth shall sooner\nfall asunder, and the strongest and firmest parts of the creation\ncrumble to dust, sooner than one iota of my covenant shall fail. It\ndepends upon the unchangeableness of his will and the unchangeableness\nof his word, and, therefore, is called \u201cthe immutability of his\ncounsel\u201d (Heb. vi. 17). It is the {a355} fruit of the everlasting\npurpose of God; whence the apostle links purpose and grace together\n(2 Tim. i. 9). A covenant with a nation may be changeable, because\nit may not be built upon the eternal purpose of God, \u201cto put his fear\nin the heart;\u201d but with respect to the creature\u2019s obedience. Thus\nGod chose Jerusalem as the place wherein he would \u201cdwell forever\u201d\n(Ps. cxxxii. 14), yet he threatens to depart from them when they had\nbroken covenant with him; \u201cand the glory of the Lord went up from the\nmidst of the city to the mountain on the east side\u201d (Ezek. xi. 33).\nThe covenant of grace doth not run, \u201cI will be your God if you\nwill be my people;\u201d but \u201cI will be their God, and they shall be my\npeople\u201d (Hos. ii. 19, &c.) \u201cI will betroth thee to me forever; I will\nsay, Thou art my people, and they shall say, Thou art my God.\u201d His\neverlasting purpose is, to write his laws in the hearts of the elect.\nHe puts a condition to his covenant of grace, the condition of faith,\nand he resolves to work that condition in the hearts of the elect;\nand, therefore, believers have two immutable pillars for their support,\nstronger than those erected by Solomon at the porch of the temple\n(1 Kings vii. 21), called Jakin and Boaz, to note the firmness of\nthat building dedicated to God; these are election, or the standing,\ncounsel of God, and the covenant of grace. He will not revoke the\ncovenant, and blot the names of his elect out of the book of life.\n\n2. Perseverance is ascertained. It consists not with the majesty of\nGod to call a person effectually to himself to\u2011day, to make him fit\nfor his eternal love, to give him faith, and take away that faith\nto\u2011morrow. His effectual call is the fruit of his eternal election,\nand that counsel hath no other foundation but his constant and\nunchangeable will; a foundation that stands sure, and, therefore,\ncalled the foundation of God, and not of the creature; \u201cthe foundation\nof God stands sure, the Lord knows who are his\u201d (2 Tim. ii. 19). It\nis not founded upon our own natural strength; it may be then subject\nto change, as all the products of nature are. The fallen angels had\ncreated grace in their innocency, but lost it by their fall. Were this\nthe foundation of the creature, it might soon be shaken; since man,\nafter his revolt, can ascribe nothing constant to himself, but his own\ninconstancy. But the foundation is not in the infirmity of nature, but\nthe strength of grace, and of the grace of God, who is immutable, who\nwants not virtue to be able, nor kindness to be willing, to preserve\nhis own foundation.[631] To what purpose doth our Saviour tell his\ndisciples their names \u201cwere written in heaven\u201d (Luke x. 20), but to\nmark the infallible certainty of their salvation by an opposition to\nthose things which perish, and have their \u201cnames written in the earth\u201d\n(Jer. xvii. 23); or upon the sand, where they may be defaced? And why\nshould Christ order his disciples to rejoice that their names were\nwritten in heaven, if God were changeable to blot them out again? or\nwhy should the apostle assure us, that though God had rejected the\ngreatest part of the Jews, he had not, therefore, rejected his people\nelected according to his purpose and immutable counsel; because there\nare none of the elect of God but will come to salvation? For, saith\nhe, the \u201celection hath obtained it\u201d (Rom. xi. 7); that is, {a356}\nall those that are of the election have obtained it, and the others\nare hardened. Where the seal of sanctification is stamped, it is a\ntestimony of God\u2019s election, and that foundation shall stand sure:\n\u201cThe foundation of the Lord stands sure, having this seal, the Lord\nknows who are his;\u201d that is the foundation, the \u201cnaming the name of\nChrist,\u201d or believing in Christ, and \u201cdeparting from iniquity,\u201d is the\nseal.[632] As it is impossible when God calls those things that are\nnot, but that they should spring up into being and appear before him;\nso it is impossible but that the seed of God, by his eternal purpose,\nshould be brought to a spiritual life, and that calling cannot be\nretracted; for that \u201cgift and calling is without repentance\u201d (Rom.\nxi. 29). And when repentance is removed from God in regard of some\nworks, the immutability of those works is declared; and the reason of\nthat immutability is their pure dependence on the eternal favor and\nunchangeable grace of God \u201cpurposed in himself\u201d (Eph. i. 9, 11), and\nnot upon the mutability of the creature. Hence their happiness is not\nas patents among men, _quam diu bene se gesserint_, so long as they\nbehave themselves well; but they have a promise that they shall behave\nthemselves so as never wholly to depart from God (Jer. xxxii. 40): \u201cI\nwill make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away\nfrom them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts,\nthat they shall not depart from me.\u201d God will not turn from them, to\ndo them good, and promiseth that they shall not turn from him forever,\nor forsake him. And the bottom of it is the everlasting covenant,\nand, therefore, believing and sealing for security are linked together\n(Eph. i. 13). And when God doth inwardly teach us his law, he puts\nin a will not to depart from it: (Ps. cxix. 102) \u201cI have not departed\nfrom thy judgments;\u201d what is the reason? \u201cFor thou hast taught me.\u201d\n\n3. By this eternal happiness is insured. This is the inference made\nfrom the eternity and unchangeableness of God in the verse following\nthe text (ver. 28): \u201cThe children of thy servants shall continue,\nand their seed shall be established before thee.\u201d This is the sole\nconclusion drawn from those perfections of God solemnly asserted\nbefore. The children which the prophets and apostles have begotten\nto thee, shall be totally delivered from the relics of their apostasy,\nand the punishment due to them, and rendered partakers of immortality\nwith thee, as sons to dwell in their Father\u2019s house forever. The\nSpirit begins a spiritual life here, to fit for an immutable life in\nglory hereafter, where believers shall be placed upon a throne that\ncannot be shaken, and possess a crown that shall not be taken off\ntheir heads forever.\n\n_Use 3._ Of exhortation. 1. Let a sense of the changeableness and\nuncertainty of all other things beside God, be upon us. There are as\nmany changes as there are figures in the world. The whole fashion of\nthe world is a transient thing; every man may say as Job, \u201cChanges and\nwar are against me\u201d (Job x. 17). Lot chose the plain of Sodom, because\nit was the richer soil. He was but a little time there before he was\ntaken prisoner, and his substance made the spoil of his enemies. That\nis again restored; but a while after, fire from {a357} heaven devours\nhis wealth, though his person was secured from the judgment by a\nspecial Providence. We burn with a desire to settle ourselves, but\nmistake the way, and build castles in the air, which vanish like\nbubbles of soap in water. And, therefore,\n\n(1.) Let not our thoughts dwell much upon them. Do but consider those\nsouls that are in the possession of an unchangeable God, that behold\nhis never\u2011fading glory! Would it not be a kind of hell to them to have\ntheir thoughts starting out to these things, or find any desire in\nthemselves to the changeable trifles of the earth? Nay, have we not\nreason to think that they cover their faces with shame, that ever\nthey should have such a weakness of spirit when they were here below,\nas to spend more thoughts upon them than were necessary for this\npresent life; much more that they should at any time value and court\nthem above an unchangeable good? Do they not disdain themselves that\nthey should ever debase the immutable perfections of God, as to have\nneglecting thoughts of him at any time, for the entertainment of such\na mean and inconstant rival?\n\n(2.) Much less should we trust in them, or rejoice in them. The best\nthings are mutable, and things of such a nature are not fit objects\nof confidence. Trust not in riches, they have their wanes as well as\nincreases; they rise sometimes like a torrent, and flow in upon men,\nbut resemble also a torrent in as sudden a fall and departure, and\nleave nothing but slime behind them. Trust not in honor; all the honor\nand applause in the world is no better than an inheritance of wind,\nwhich the pilot is not sure of, but shifts from one corner to another,\nand stands not perpetually in the same point of the heavens. How, in\na few ages did the house of David, a great monarch, and a man after\nGod\u2019s own heart, descend to a mean condition, and all the glory of\nthat house shut up in the stock of a carpenter? David\u2019s sheep\u2011hook\nwas turned into a sceptre, and the sceptre by the same hand of\nProvidence turned into a hatchet in Joseph his descendant. Rejoice not\nimmoderately in wisdom; that, and learning languish with age. A wound\nin the head may impair that which is the glory of man. If an organ\nbe out of frame, folly may succeed, and all a man\u2019s prudence be wound\nup in an irrecoverable dotage. Nebuchadnezzar was no fool, yet, by a\nsudden hand of God, he became not only a fool or a madman, but a kind\nof brute. Rejoice not in strength; that decays, and a mighty man may\nlive to see his strong arm withered, and a grasshopper to become a\nburthen (Eccles. xii. 5): \u201cThe strong men shall bow themselves, and\nthe grinders shall cease because they are few\u201d (ver. 3): nor rejoice\nin children; they are like birds upon a tree, that make a little\nchirping music, and presently fall into the fowler\u2019s net. Little\ndid Job expect such sad news as the loss of all his progeny at a\nblow, when the messenger knocked at his gate; and such changes happen\noftentimes when our expectations of comfort, and a contentment in them,\nare at the highest. How often doth a string crack when the musician\nhath wound it up to a just height for a tune, and all his pains and\ndelight marred in a moment! Nay, all these things change while we\nare using them, like ice that melts between our fingers, {a358}\nand flowers that wither while we are smelling to them. The apostle\ngave them a good title when he called them \u201cuncertain riches,\u201d and\nthought it a strong argument to dissuade them from trusting in them\n(1 Tim. vi. 17). The wealth of the merchant depends upon the winds\nand waves, and the revenue of the husbandman upon the clouds; and\nsince they depend upon those things which are used to express the\nmost changeableness, they can be no fit object for trust. Besides,\nGod sometimes kindles a fire under all a man\u2019s glory, which doth\ninsensibly consume it (Isa. x. 16); and while we have them, the fear\nof losing them renders us not very happy in the fruition of them;\nwe can scarce tell whether they are contentments or no, because\nsorrow follows them so close at the heels. It is not an unnecessary\nexhortation for good men; the best men have been apt to place too\nmuch trust in them. David thought himself immutable in his prosperity,\nand such thoughts could not be without some immoderate outlets of\nthe heart to them, and confidences in them; and Job promised himself\nto die in his nest, and \u201cmultiply his days as the sand,\u201d without\nany interruption (Job xxix. 18, 19, &c.); but he was mistaken and\ndisappointed. Let me add this: trust not in men, who are as inconstant\nas anything else, and often change their most ardent affections into\nimplacable hatred; and though their affections may not be changed, the\npower to help you may. Haman\u2019s friends, that depended on him one day,\nwere crest\u2011fallen the next, when their patron was to exchange his\nchariot of state for an ignominious gallows.\n\n(3.) Prefer an immutable God before mutable creatures. Is it not\na horrible thing to see what we are, and what we possess, daily\ncrumbling to dust, and in a continual flux from us, and not seek\nout something that is permanent, and always abide the same, for our\nportion? In God, or Wisdom, which is Christ, there is substance (Prov.\nviii. 21), in which respect he is opposed to all the things in the\nworld, that are but shadows, that are shorter or longer, according\nto the motion of the sun; mutable also, by every little body that\nintervenes. God is subject to no decay within, to no force without;\nnothing in his own nature can change him from what he is, and there\nis no power above can hinder him from being what he will to the soul.\nHe is an ocean of all perfection: he wants nothing without himself to\nrender him blessed, which may allure him to a change. His creatures\ncan want nothing out of him to make them happy, whereby they may be\nenticed to prefer anything before him. If we enjoy other things, it is\nby God\u2019s donation, who can as well withdraw them as bestow them; and\nit is but a reasonable, as well as a necessary thing, to endeavor the\nenjoyment of the immutable Benefactor, rather than his revocable gifts.\nIf the creatures had a sufficient virtue in themselves to ravish\nour thoughts and engross our souls; yet when we take a prospect of a\nfixed and unchangeable Being, what beauty, what strength have any of\nthose things to vie with him? How can they bear up and maintain their\ninterest against a lively thought and sense of God? All the glory of\nthem would fly before him like that of the stars before the sun. They\nwere once nothing, they may be nothing again; as their own nature\nbrought {a359} them not out of nothing, so their nature secures them\nnot from being reduced to nothing. What an unhappiness is it to have\nour affections set upon that which retains something of its _non esse_\nwith its _esse_, its not being with its being; that lives indeed, but\nin a continual flux, and may lose that pleasurableness to\u2011morrow which\ncharms us to\u2011day?\n\n2. This doctrine will teach us patience under such providences as\ndeclare his unchangeable will. The rectitude of our wills consists in\nconformity to the Divine, as discovered in his words, and manifested\nin his providence, which are the effluxes of his immutable will. The\ntime of trial is appointed by his immutable will (Dan. xi. 35); it\nis not in the power of the sufferer\u2019s will to shorten it, nor in the\npower of the enemies\u2019 will to lengthen it. Whatsoever doth happen hath\nbeen decreed by God (Eccles. vi. 10), \u201cThat which hath been is named\nalready;\u201d therefore to murmur or be discontented is to contend with\nGod, who is mightier than we, to maintain his own purposes. God doth\nact all things conveniently for that immutable end intended by himself,\nand according to the reason of his own will, in the true point of time\nmost proper for it and for us, not too soon or too slow, because he is\nunchangeable in knowledge and wisdom. God doth not act anything barely\nby an immutable will, but by an immutable wisdom, and an unchangeable\nrule of goodness; and, therefore, we should not only acquiesce in what\nhe works, but have a complacency in it; and by having our wills thus\nknitting themselves with the immutable will of God, we attain some\ndegree of likeness to him in his own unchangeableness. When, therefore,\nGod hath manifested his will in opening his decree to the world by his\nwork of providence, we must cease all disputes against it, and, with\nAaron hold our peace, though the affliction be very smart (Rev. x. 3).\n\u201cAll flesh must be silent before God\u201d (Zech. ii. 13); for whatsoever\nis his counsel shall stand, and cannot be recalled. All struggling\nagainst it is like a brittle glass contending with a rock; for \u201cif\nhe cut off and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?\u201d\n(Job xi. 10.) Nothing can help us, if he hath determined to afflict\nus, as nothing can hurt us, if he hath determined to secure us. The\nmore clearly God hath evidenced this or that to be his will, the more\nsinful is our struggling against it. Pharaoh\u2019s sin was the greater\nin keeping Israel, by how much the more God\u2019s miracles had been\ndemonstrations of his settled will to deliver them. Let nothing snatch\nour hearts to a contradiction to him, but let us fear and give glory\nto him, when the hour of judgment which he hath appointed is come (Rev.\nxiv. 7); that is, comply with the unchangeable will of his precept,\nthe more he declares the immutable will of his providence. We must not\nthink God must disgrace his nature and change his proceedings for us;\nbetter the creature should suffer, than God be impaired in any of his\nperfections. If God changed his purpose he would change his nature.\nPatience is the way to perform the immutable will of God, and a means\nto attain a gracious immutability for ourselves by receiving the\npromise (Heb. x. 36), \u201cYe have need of patience, that after ye have\ndone the will of God, ye might receive the promise.\u201d\n\n{a360} 3. This doctrine will teach us to imitate God in this\nperfection, by striving to be immovable in goodness. God never goes\nback from himself; he finds nothing better than himself for which he\nshould change; and can we find anything better than God, to allure\nour hearts to a change from him? The sun never declines from the\necliptic line, nor should we from the paths of holiness. A steadfast\nobedience is encouraged by an unchangeable God to reward it (1 Cor.\nxv. 58): \u201cBe steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work\nof the Lord, knowing that your labor shall not be in vain in the\nLord.\u201d Unsteadfastness is the note of a hypocrite (Ps. lxxviii. 37):\nsteadfastness in that which is good is the mark of a saint; it is the\ncharacter of a righteous person to \u201ckeep the truth\u201d (Isa. xxvi. 2).\nAnd it is as positively said that \u201che that abides not in the doctrine\nof Christ hath not God\u201d (2 John, 9); but he that doth, \u201chath both\nthe Father and the Son.\u201d So much of uncertainty, so much of nature,\nso much of firmness in duty, so much of grace. We can never honor\nGod unless we finish his work; as Christ did not glorify God but in\nfinishing the work God gave him to do (John xvii. 4). The nearer the\nworld comes to an end, the more is God\u2019s immutability seen in his\npromises and predictions, and the more must our unchangeableness\nbe seen in our obedience (Heb. x. 23, 25): \u201cLet us hold fast the\nprofession of our faith without wavering, and so much the more as\nyou see the day approaching.\u201d The christian Jews were to be the more\ntenacious of their faith, the nearer they saw the day approaching, the\nday of Jerusalem\u2019s destruction prophesied of by Daniel (Dan. ix. 26),\nwhich accomplishment must be a great argument to establish the\nchristian Jews in the profession of Christ to be the Messiah, because\nthe destruction of the city was not to be before the cutting off the\nMessiah. Let us be, therefore, constant in our profession and service\nof God, and not suffer ourselves to be driven from him by the ill\nusage, or flattered from him by the caresses of the world.\n\n(1.) It is reasonable. If God be unchangeable in doing us good, it is\nreason we should be unchangeable in doing him service. If he assure\nus that he is our God, our \u201cI Am,\u201d he would also that we should be his\npeople; his we are. If he declare himself constant in his promises,\nhe expects we should be so in our obedience. As a spouse, we should\nbe unchangeably faithful to him as a Husband; as subjects, have an\nunchangeable allegiance to him as our Prince. He would not have us\nfaithful to him for an hour or a day, but \u201cto the death\u201d (Rev. ii. 10);\nand it is reason we should be his, and if we be his children, imitate\nhim in his constancy of his holy purposes.\n\n(2.) It is our glory and interest. To be a reed shaken with every wind\nis no commendation among men, and it is less a ground of praise with\nGod. It was Job\u2019s glory that he held fast his integrity (Job i. 22):\n\u201cIn all this Job sinned not;\u201d in all this,\u2015\u2015which whole cities and\nkingdoms would have thought ground enough of high exclamations against\nGod, and also against the temptation of his wife,\u2015\u2015he retained his\nintegrity (Job ii. 9): \u201cDost thou still retain thy integrity?\u201d The\ndevil, who by God\u2019s permission stripped him {a361} of his goods and\nhealth, yet could not strip him of his grace. As a traveller, when the\nwind and snow beats in his face, wraps his cloak more closely about\nhim to preserve that and himself. Better we had never made profession,\nthan afterwards to abandon it; such a withering profession serves\nfor no other use than to aggravate the crime, if any of us fly like a\ncoward, or revolt like a traitor; what profit will it be to a soldier,\nif he hath withstood many assaults, and turn his back at last? If we\nwould have God crown us with an immutable glory, we must crown our\nbeginnings with a happy perseverance (Rev. ii. 10): \u201cBe faithful to\nthe death, and I will give thee a crown of life;\u201d not as though this\nwere the cause to merit it, but a necessary condition to possess it:\nconstancy in good is accompanied with an immutability of glory.\n\n(3.) By an unchangeable disposition to good, we should begin the\nhappiness of heaven upon earth. This is the perfection of blessed\nspirits, those that are nearest to God as angels and glorified souls,\nthey are immutable; not, indeed, by nature, but by grace; yet not only\nby a necessity of grace, but a liberty of will: grace will not let\nthem change; and that grace doth animate their wills that they would\nnot change; an immutable God fills their understandings and affections,\nand gives satisfaction to their desires. The saints when they were\nbelow, tried other things, and found them deficient; but now they\nare so fully satisfied with the beatific vision, that if Satan should\nhave an entrance among the angels and sons of God, it is not likely\nhe should have any influence upon them; he could not present to their\nunderstandings anything that could either at the first glance, or upon\na deliberate view, be preferable to what they enjoy and are fixed in.\nWell, then, let us be immovable in the knowledge and love of God. It\nis the delight of God to see his creatures resemble him in what they\nare able. Let not our affections to him be as Jonah\u2019s gourd, growing\nup in one night and withering the next. Let us not only fight a good\nfight, but do so till we have finished our course, and imitate God\nin an unchangeableness of holy purposes; and to that purpose, examine\nourselves daily what fixedness we have arrived unto; and to prevent\nany temptation to a revolt, let us often possess our minds with\nthoughts of the immutability of God\u2019s nature and will, which, like\nfire under water, will keep a good matter boiling up in us, and make\nit both retain and increase its heat.\n\n(4.) Let this doctrine teach us to have recourse to God, and aim at a\nnear conjunction with him. When our spirits begin to flag, and a cold\naguish temper is drawing upon us, let us go to him who can only fix\nour hearts, and furnish us with a ballast to render them steadfast.\nAs he is only immutable in his nature, so he is the only principle\nof immutability, as well as being in the creature. Without his grace,\nwe shall be as changeable in our appearances as the chameleon, and in\nour turnings as the wind. When Peter trusted in himself, he changed to\nthe worse; it was his Master\u2019s recourse to God for him that preserved\nin him a reducing principle, which changed him again for the better,\nand fixed him in it (Luke xxii. 32). It will be our interest to be in\nconjunction with him, that moves not about with the heavens, nor is\nturned by the force of nature, nor {a362} changed by the accidents in\nthe world; but sits in the heavens, moving all things by his powerful\narm, according to his infinite skill. While we have him for our God,\nwe have his immutability as well as any other perfection of his nature\nfor our advantage; the nearer we come to him, the more stability we\nshall have in ourselves; the further from him, the more liable to\nchange. The line that is nearest to the place where it is first fixed,\nis least subject to motion; the further it is stretched from it, the\nweaker it is, and more liable to be shaken. Let us also affect those\nthings which are nearest to him in this perfection; the righteousness\nof Christ that shall never wear out, and the graces of the Spirit that\nshall never burn out; by this means, what God is infinitely by nature,\nwe shall come to be finitely immutable by grace, as much as the\ncapacity of a creature can contain.\n\n\n\n\n{a363}                      DISCOURSE VII.\n\n                        ON GOD\u2019S OMNIPRESENCE.\n\n  JEREMIAH xxiii. 24.\u2015\u2015Can any hide himself in secret places, that\n    I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and\n    earth? saith the Lord.\n\n\nTHE occasion of this discourse begins ver. 16, where God admonisheth\nthe people, not to hearken to the words of the false prophets which\nspake a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the\nLord. They made the people vain by their insinuations of peace, when\nGod had proclaimed war and calamity; and uttered the dreams of their\nfancies, and not the visions of the Lord; and so turned the people\nfrom the expectation of the evil day which God had threatened (ver.\n17): \u201cThey say still unto them that despise me, The Lord hath said,\nYe shall have peace: and they say unto every one that walks after the\nimagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.\u201d And they\ninvalidate the prophecies of those whom God had sent, ver. 18: \u201cWho\nhath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and heard\nhis word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?\u201d Who hath stood in\nthe counsel of the Lord? Are they acquainted with the secrets of God\nmore than we? Who have the word of the Lord, if we have not? Or, it\nmay be a continuation of God\u2019s admonition: believe not those prophets;\nfor who of them have been acquainted with the secrets of God? or by\nwhat means should they learn his counsel? No; assure yourselves \u201ca\nwhirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind;\nit shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked\u201d (ver. 19). A\nwhirlwind shall come from Babylon; it is just at the door, and shall\nnot be blown over; it shall fall with a witness upon the wicked people\nand the deceiving prophets, and sweep them together into captivity.\nFor (ver. 20), \u201cThe anger of the Lord shall not return, until he\nhave executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart.\u201d\nMy fury shall not be a childish fury, that quickly languisheth, but\nshall accomplish whatsoever I threaten; and burn so hot, as not to be\ncool, till I have satisfied my vengeance; \u201cin the latter days ye shall\nconsider it perfectly\u201d (ver. 20), when the storm shall beat upon you,\nyou shall then know that the calamities shall answer the words you\nhave heard. When the conqueror shall waste your grounds, demolish your\nhouses, and manacle your hands, then shall you consider it, and have\nthe wishes of fools, that you had had your eyes in your heads before;\nyou shall then know the falseness of your guides, and the {a364} truth\nof my prophets, and discern who stood in the counsel of the Lord, and\nsubscribe to the messages I have sent you.\n\nSome understand this not only of the Babylonish captivity, but\nrefer it to the time of Christ, and the false doctrine of men\u2019s own\nrighteousness in opposition to the righteousness of God; understanding\nthis verse to be partly a threatening of wrath, which shall end in\nan advantage to the Jews, who shall in the latter time consider the\nfalseness of their notions about a legal righteousness, and so make\nit a promise; they shall then know the intent of the Scripture, and in\nthe latter days, the latter end of the world, when time shall be near\nthe rolling up, they shall reflect upon themselves; they shall \u201clook\nupon Him whom they have pierced;\u201d and till these latter days, they\nshall be hardened, and believe nothing of evangelical truths. Now\nGod denieth that he sent those prophets (ver. 21): \u201cI have not sent\nthese prophets, yet they ran; I have not spoken to them, yet they\nprophesied.\u201d They have intruded themselves without a commission from\nme, whatsoever their brags are. The reason to prove it is (ver. 22),\n\u201cIf they had stood in my counsel,\u201d if they had been instructed, and\ninspired by me, \u201cthey would have caused my people to hear my words;\u201d\nthey would have regulated themselves according to my word, \u201cand have\nturned them from their evil way;\u201d _i. e._ endeavored to shake down\ntheir false confidences of peace, and make them sensible of their\nfalse notions of me, and my ways. Now because those false prophets\ncould not be so impudent as to boast that they prophesied in the name\nof God, when they had not commission from him, unless they had some\nsecret sentiment, that they and their intentions were hid from the\nknowledge and eye of God; he adds (ver. 33), \u201cAm I a God at hand,\nand not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places, that\nI shall not see him?\u201d Have I not the power of seeing and knowing what\nthey do, what they design, what they think? Why should I not have\nsuch a power, since I fill heaven and earth by my essence? \u201cAm I a\nGod at hand, and not a God afar off?\u201d He excludes here the doctrine\nof those that excluded the providence of God from extending itself to\nthe inferior things of the earth; which error was ancient, as ancient\nas the time of Job, as appears by their opinion, that God\u2019s eyes were\nhood\u2011winked and muffled by the thickness of the clouds, and could not\npierce through their dark and dense body (Job xxii. 14): \u201cThick clouds\nare a covering to him, that he seeth not.\u201d\n\nSome refer it to time.[633] Do you imagine me a God new framed like\nyour idols, beginning a little time ago, and not existing before the\nfoundation of the world; yea, from eternity? a God afar off, further\nthan your acutest understandings can reach? I am of a longer standing,\nand you ought to know my majesty. But it rather refers to place\nthan time. Do you think I do not behold everything in the earth, as\nwell as in heaven? Am I locked up within the walls of my palace, and\ncannot peep out to behold the things done in the world? or that am I\nso linked to pleasure in the place of my glory, as earthly kings are\nin their courts, that I have no mind or leisure {a365} to take notice\nof the carriages of men upon earth? God doth not say, He was afar off,\nbut only gives an account of the inward thoughts of their minds, or\nat least of the language expressed by their actions. The interrogation\ncarries in it a strong affirmation, and assures us more of God\u2019s care,\nand the folly of men in not considering it. \u201cAm I a God at hand, and\nnot a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places?\u201d (Heb.) In\nhiddenesses, in the deepest cells. What! are you besotted by your base\nlusts, that you think me a God careless, ignorant, blind, that I can\nsee nothing, but as a purblind man, what is very near my eye? Are\nyou so out of your wits, that you imagine you can deceive me? Do\nnot all your behaviors speak such a sentiment to lie secret in your\nheart, though not formed into a full conception, yet testified by\nyour actions? No, you are much mistaken; it is impossible but that\nI should see and know all things, since I am present with all things,\nand am not at a greater distance from the things on earth than from\nthe things in heaven; for I fill all that vast fabric which is divided\ninto those two parts of heaven and earth; and he that hath such an\ninfinite essence, cannot be distant, cannot be ignorant; nothing\ncan be far from his eyes, since everything is so near to his essence.\nSo that it is an elegant expression of the omniscience of God, and\na strong argument for it. He asserts, first, the universality of his\nknowledge; but lest they should mistake, and confine his presence only\nto heaven, he adds, That he \u201cfills heaven and earth.\u201d I do not see\nthings so, as if I were in one place, and the things seen in another,\nas it is with man; but whatsoever I see, I see not without myself,\nbecause every corner of heaven and earth is filled by me. He that\nfills all, must needs see and know all. And indeed, men that question\nthe knowledge of God, would be more convinced by the doctrine of his\nimmediate presence with them. And this seems to be the design and\nmanner of arguing in this place. Nothing is remote from my knowledge,\nbecause nothing is distant from my presence.\n\n_I fill heaven and earth_: he doth not say, \u201cI am in heaven and earth,\n\u201d but I _fill_ heaven and earth; _i. e._ say some, with my knowledge,\nothers, with my authority or my power.[634] But,\n\n1. The word _filling_ cannot properly be referred to the act of\nunderstanding and will. A presence by knowledge is to be granted, but\nto say such a presence fills a place is an improper speech: knowledge\nis not enough to constitute a presence. A man at London knows there is\nsuch a city as Paris, and knows many things in it; can he be concluded,\ntherefore, to be present in Paris, or fill any place there, or be\npresent with the things he knows there? If I know anything to be\ndistant from me, how can it be present with me? For by knowing it to\nbe distant, I know it not to be present. Besides, filling heaven and\nearth is distinguished here from knowing or seeing: his presence is\nrendered as an argument to prove his knowledge. Now a proposition,\nand the proof of that proposition, are distinct, and not the same. It\ncannot be imagined that God should prove _idem per idem_, as we say;\nfor what would be the import of the speech then? I know all things,\nI see all things, because {a366} I know and see all things.[635] The\nHoly Ghost here accommodates himself to the capacity of men; because\nwe know that a man sees and knows that which is done, where he is\ncorporally present; so he proves that God knows all things that are\ndone in the most secret caverns of the heart, because he is everywhere\nin heaven and earth, as light is everywhere in the air, and air\neverywhere in the world. Hence the schools use the term _repletive_\nfor the presence of God.\n\n2. Nor by filling of heaven and earth is meant his authority and\npower. It would be improperly said of a king, that in regard of\nthe government of his kingdom, is everywhere by his authority, that\nhe fills all the cities and countries of his dominions. \u201cI, do not\nI fill?\u201d[636] That \u201cI\u201d notes the essence of God, as distinguished\naccording to our capacity, from the perfections pertaining to his\nessence, and is in reason better referred to the substance of God,\nthan to those things we conceive as attributes in him. Besides, were\nit meant only of his authority or power, the argument would not run\nwell. I see all things, because my authority and power fills heaven\nand earth. Power doth not always rightly infer knowledge, no, not in\na rational agent. Many things in a kingdom are done by the authority\nof the king, that never arrive to the knowledge of the king. Many\nthings in us are done by the power of our souls, which yet we have not\na distinct knowledge of in our understandings. There are many motions\nin sleep, by the virtue of the soul informing the body, that we have\nnot so much as a simple knowledge of in our minds. Knowledge is not\nrightly inferred from power, or power from knowledge. By filling\nheaven and earth is meant, therefore, a filling it with his essence.\nNo place can be imagined that is deprived of the presence of God; and\ntherefore when the Scripture anywhere speaks of the presence of God,\nit joins heaven and earth together: He so fills them, that there is no\nplace without him. We do not say a vessel is full so long as there is\nany space to contain more. Not a part of heaven, nor a part of earth,\nbut the whole heaven, the whole earth, at one and the same time. If he\nwere only in one part of heaven, or one part of earth; nay, if there\nwere any part of heaven, or any part of earth void of him, he could\nnot be said to fill them. \u201cI fill heaven and earth,\u201d not a part of\nme fills one place, and another part of me fills another, but I, God,\nfill heaven and earth; I am whole God filling the heaven, and whole\nGod, filling the earth. I fill heaven, and yet fill earth; I fill\nearth, and yet fill heaven, and fill heaven and earth at one and the\nsame time. \u201cGod fills his own works,\u201d a heathen philosopher saith.[637]\n\nI. Here is then a description of God\u2019s presence. 1. By power,\n\u201cAm I not a God afar off?\u201d a God in the extension of his arm. 2. By\nknowledge, \u201cShall I not see them?\u201d 3. By essence; as an undeniable\nground for inferring the two former: \u201cI fill heaven and earth.\u201d\n\n_Doctrine._ God is essentially everywhere present in heaven and\nearth. If God be, he must be somewhere; that which is nowhere, is\nnothing. Since God is, he is in the world; not in one part of it;\nfor {a367} then he were circumscribed by it: if in the world, and\nonly there, though it be a great space, he were also limited. Some\ntherefore said, \u201cGod was everywhere, and nowhere.\u201d[638] Nowhere,\n_i. e._ not bounded by any place, nor receiving from any place\nanything for his preservation or sustainment. He is everywhere,\nbecause no creature, either body or spirit, can exclude the presence\nof his essence; for he is not only near, but in everything (Acts\nxvii. 28): \u201cIn him we live, and move, and have our being.\u201d Not absent\nfrom anything, but so present with them, that they live and move in\nhim, and move more in God, than in the air or earth wherein they are;\nnearer to us than our flesh to our bones, than the air to our breath;\nhe cannot be far from them that live, and have every motion in him.\nThe apostle doth not say, By him, but in him, to show the inwardness\nof his presence. As eternity is the perfection whereby he hath neither\nbeginning nor end, immutability is the perfection whereby he hath\nneither increase nor diminution, so immensity or omnipresence is that\nwhereby he hath neither bounds nor limitation. As he is in all time,\nyet so as to be above time; so is he in all places, yet so as to be\nabove limitation by any place. It was a good expression of a heathen\nto illustrate this, \u201cThat God is a sphere or circle, whose centre\nis everywhere, and circumference nowhere.\u201d His meaning was, that\nthe essence of God was indivisible; _i. e._ could not be divided. It\ncannot be said, here and there the lines of it terminate; it is like\na line drawn out in infinite spaces, that no point can be conceived\nwhere its length and breadth ends. The sea is a vast mass of waters;\nyet to that it is said, \u201cHitherto shalt thou go, and no further.\u201d\nBut it cannot be said of God\u2019s essence, hitherto it reaches, and no\nfurther; here it is, and there it is not. It is plain, that God is\nthus immense, because he is infinite; we have reason and Scripture\nto assent to it, though we cannot conceive it. We know that God is\neternal, though eternity is too great to be measured by the short line\nof a created understanding. We cannot conceive the vastness and glory\nof the heavens, much less that which is so great, as to fill heaven\nand earth, yea (1 Kings viii. 27), \u201cnot to be contained in the heaven\nof Heavens.\u201d Things are said to be present, or in a place,\n\n1. Circumscriptive, as circumscribed. This belongs to things that\nhave quantity, as bodies that are encompassed by that place wherein\nthey are; and a body fills but one particular space wherein it is, and\nthe space is commensurate to every part of it, and every member hath a\ndistinct place. The hand is not in the same particular space that the\nfoot or head is.\n\n2. Definitive, which belongs to angels and spirits, which are said to\nbe in a point, yet so as that they cannot be said to be in another at\nthe same time.\n\n3. _Repletive_, filling all places. This belongs only to God: as he\nis not measured by time, so he is not limited by place. A body or\nspirit, because finite, fills but one space; God, because infinite,\nfills all, yet so as not to be contained in them, as wine and water\nis in a vessel. He is from the height of the heavens to the bottom\nof the deeps, in {a368} every point of the world, and in the whole\ncircle of it, yet not limited by it, but beyond it. Now this hath\nbeen acknowledged by the wisest in the world. Some indeed had other\nnotions of God. The more ignorant sort of the Jews confined him to the\ntemple.[639] And God intimates, that they had such a thought when he\nasserts his presence in heaven and earth, in opposition to the temple\nthey built as his house, and the place of his rest.[640] And the\nidolaters among them, thought their gods might be at a distance from\nthem, which Elias intimates in the scoff he puts upon them (1 Kings\nxviii. 17), \u201cCry aloud, for he is a god,\u201d meaning Baal; \u201ceither he is\ntalking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey;\u201d and they followed\nhis advice, and cried louder (ver. 28), whereby it is evident, they\nlooked not on it as a mock, but as a truth. And the Syrians called the\nGod of Israel the God of the hills, as though his presence were fixed\nthere, and not in the valleys (1 Kings xx. 23); and their own gods in\nthe valleys, and not in the mountains; they fancied every god to have\na particular dominion and presence in one place and not in another,\nand bounded the territories of their gods as they did those of their\nprinces.[641] And some thought him tied to and shut up in their\ntemples and groves wherein they worshipped him.[642] Some of them\nthought God to be confined to heaven, and therefore sacrificed upon\nthe highest mountains, that the steam might ascend nearer heaven,\nand their praises be heard better in those places which were nearest\nto the habitation of God. But the wiser Jews acknowledged it, and\ntherefore called God place,[643] whereby they denoted his immensity;\nhe was not contained in any place; every part of the world subsists by\nHim: he was a place to himself, greater than anything made by Him. And\nthe wiser heathens acknowledged it also. One calls God a mind passing\nthrough the universal nature of things;[644] another, that He was an\ninfinite and immense air;[645] another, that it is as natural to think\nGod is everywhere, as to think that God is: hence they called God the\nsoul of the world; that as the soul is in every part of the body to\nquicken it, so is God in every part of the world to support it. And\nthere are some resemblances of this in the world, though no creature\ncan fully resemble God in any one perfection; for then it would not\nbe a creature, but God. But air and light are some resemblances of it:\nair is in all the spaces of the world, in the pores of all bodies, in\nthe bowels of the earth, and extends itself from the lowest earth to\nthe highest regions; and the heavens themselves are probably nothing\nelse but a refined kind of air; and light diffuseth itself through\nthe whole air, and every part of it is truly light, as every part of\nthe air is truly air; and though they seem to be mingled together,\nyet they are distinct things, and not of the same essence; so is the\nessence of God in the whole world, not by diffusion as air or light,\nnot mixed with any creature, but remaining distinct from the essence\nof any created being. Now, when this hath been owned by men instructed\nonly in the school of nature, it is a greater {a369} shame to any\nacquainted with the Scripture to deny. For the understanding of this,\nthere shall be some propositions premised in general.\n\n_Prop. I._ This is negatively to be understood. Our knowledge\nof God is most by withdrawing from him, or denying to him in our\nconceptions any weaknesses or imperfections in the creature. As the\ninfiniteness of God is a denial of limitation of being, so immensity\nor omnipresence is a denial of limitation of place: and when we say,\nGod is _totus_ in every place, we must understand it thus; that he is\nnot everywhere by parts, as bodies are, as air and light are; He is\neverywhere, _i. e._ his nature hath no bounds; he is not tied to any\nplace, as the creature is, who, when he is present in one place, is\nabsent from another. As no place can be without God, so no place can\ncompass and contain him.\n\n_Prop. II._ There is an influential omnipresence of God.\n\n1. Universal with all creatures. He is present with all things by\nhis authority, because all things are subject to him: by his power,\nbecause all things are sustained by him: by his knowledge, because all\nthings are naked before him. He is present in the world, as a king is\nin all parts of his kingdom regally present: providentially present\nwith all, since his care extends to the meanest of his creatures. His\npower reacheth all, and his knowledge pierceth all. As everything in\nthe world was created by God, so everything in the world is preserved\nby God; and since preservation is not wholly distinct from creation,\nit is necessary God should be present with everything while he\npreserves it, as well as present with it when he created it. \u201cThou\npreservest man and beast\u201d (Ps. xxxvi. 6). \u201cHe upholds all things by\nthe word of his power\u201d (Heb. i. 3). There is a virtue sustaining every\ncreature, that it may not fall back into that nothing from whence\nit was elevated by the power of God. All those natural virtues we\ncall the principles of operation, are fountains springing from his\ngoodness and power; all things are acted and managed by him, as\nwell as preserved by him; and in this sense God is present with all\ncreatures; for whatsoever acts another, is present with that which\nit acts, by sending forth some virtue and influence whereby it acts:\nif free agents do not only live, but move in him and by him (Acts\nxvii. 28), much more are the motions of other natural agents by\na virtue communicated to them, and upheld in them in the time of\ntheir acting. This virtual presence of God is evident to our sense,\na presence we feel; his essential presence is evident in our reason.\nThis influential presence may be compared to that of the sun, which\nthough at so great a distance from the earth, is present in the air\nand earth by its light, and within the earth by its influence in\nconcocting those metals which are in the bowels of it, without being\nsubstantially either of them. God is thus so intimate with every\ncreature, that there is not the least particle of any creature, but\nthe marks of his power and goodness are seen in it, and his goodness\ndoth attend them, and is more swift in its effluxes than the breakings\nout of light from the sun, which yet are more swift than can be\ndeclared; but to say he is in the world only by his virtue, is to\nacknowledge only the effects of his power and wisdom in the world,\n{a370} that his eye sees all, his arm supports all, his goodness\nnourisheth all, but himself and his essence at a distance from\nthem;[646] and so the soul of man according to its measure would have\nin some kind a more excellent manner of presence in the body, than\nGod according to the infiniteness of his Being with his creatures;\nfor that doth not only communicate life to the body, but is actually\npresent with it, and spreads its whole essence through the body and\nevery member of it. All grant, that God is efficaciously in every\ncreek of the world; but some say he is only substantially in heaven.\n\n2. Limited to such subjects that are capacitated for this or\nthat kind of presence. Yet it is an omnipresence, because it is\na presence in all the subjects capacitated for it; thus there is\na special providential presence of God with some in assisting them\nwhen he sets them on work as his instruments for some special service\nin the world. As with Cyrus (Isa. xlv. 2), \u201cI will go before thee;\u201d\nand with Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander, whom he protected and directed\nto execute his counsels in the world; such a presence Judas and\nothers[647] that shall not enjoy his glorious presence, had in\nthe working of miracles in the world. Besides,[648] as there is an\neffective presence of God with all creatures, because he produced\nthem and preserves them, so there is an objective presence of God with\nrational creatures, because he offers himself to them to be known and\nloved by them. He is near to wicked men in the offers of his grace,\n\u201cCall ye upon him while he is near\u201d (Isa. lv. 6); besides, there is a\ngracious presence of God with his people in whom he dwells and makes\nhis abode, as in a temple consecrated to him by the graces of the\nSpirit. \u201cWe will come\u201d (John xiv. 23), _i. e._ the Father and the Son,\nand make our abode with him. He is present with all by the presence\nof his Divinity, but only in his saints by a presence of a gracious\nefficacy; he walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks, and hath\ndignified the congregation of his people with the title of Jehovah\nShammah, \u201cthe Lord is there\u201d (Ezek. xlviii. 35): \u201cin Salem is his\ntabernacle, and his dwelling\u2011place in Sion\u201d (Ps. lxxvi. 2). As he\nfilled the tabernacle, so he doth the church with the signs of his\npresence; this is not the presence wherewith he fills heaven and\nearth. His Spirit is not bestowed upon all to reside in their hearts,\nenlighten their minds, and bedew them with refreshing comforts. When\nthe Apostle speaks of God being \u201cabove all and through all\u201d (Eph.\niv. 6), above all in his majesty, through all in his providence;\nhe doth not appropriate that as he doth what follows, \u201cand in you\nall;\u201d in you all by a special grace; as God was specially present\nwith Christ by the grace of union, so he is specially present\nwith his people by the grace of regeneration. So there are several\nmanifestations of his presence; he hath a presence of glory in heaven,\nwhereby he comforts the saints; a presence of wrath in hell, whereby\nhe torments the damned; in heaven he is a God spreading his beams of\nlight; in hell, a God distributing his strokes of justice; by the one\nhe fills heaven; by the other he fills hell; by his providence and\nessence he fills both heaven and earth.\n\n{a371} _Prop. III._ There is an essential presence of God in the\nworld. He is not only everywhere by his power upholding the creatures,\nby his wisdom understanding them, but by his essence containing them.\nThat anything is essentially present anywhere, it hath from God; God\nis therefore much more present everywhere, for he cannot give that\nwhich he hath not.\n\n1. He is essentially present in all places.[649] It is as reasonable\nto think the essence of God to be everywhere as to be always.\nImmensity is as rational as eternity. That indivisible essence which\nreaches through all times may as well reach through all places. It is\nmore excellent to be always than to be everywhere; for to be always in\nduration is intrinsical; to be everywhere is intrinsic. If the greater\nbelongs to God, why not the less? As all times are a moment to his\neternity, so all places are as a point to his essence. As he is larger\nthan all time, so he is vaster than all place. The nations of the\nworld are to him \u201cas the dust of the balance\u201d or \u201cdrop of a bucket\u201d\n(Isa. xl. 15). \u201cThe nations are accounted as the small dust.\u201d The\nessence of God may well be thought to be present everywhere with\nthat which is no more than a grain of dust to him, and in all those\nisles, which, if put together, \u201care a very little thing\u201d in his hand.\nTherefore, saith a learned Jew,[650] if a man were set in the highest\nheavens he would not be nearer to the essence of God than if he were\nin the centre of the earth. Why may not the presence of God in the\nworld be as noble as that of the soul in the body, which is generally\ngranted to be essentially in every part of the body of man, which is\nbut a little world, and animates every member by its actual presence,\nthough it exerts not the same operation in every part?[651] The world\nis less to the Creator than the body to the soul, and needs more the\npresence of God than the body needs the presence of the soul. That\nglorious body of the sun visits every part of the habitable earth\nin twenty\u2011four hours by its beams, which reaches the troughs of the\nlowest valleys as well as the pinnacles of the highest mountains;\nmust we not acknowledge in the Creator of this sun an infinite greater\nproportion of presence? Is it not as easy, with the essence of God,\nto overspread the whole body of heaven and earth as it is for the sun\nto pierce and diffuse itself through the whole air, between it and the\nearth, and send up its light also as far to the regions above? Do we\nnot see something like it in sounds and voices? Is not the same sound\nof a trumpet, or any other musical instrument, at the first breaking\nout of a blast, in several places within such a compass at the same\ntime? Doth not every ear that hears it receive alike the whole sound\nof it? And fragrant odors, scented in several places at the same time,\nin the same manner; and the organ proper for smelling takes in the\nsame in every person within the compass of it. How far is the noise\nof thunder heard alike to every ear in places something distant from\none another! And do we daily find such a manner of presence in those\nthings of so low a concern, and not imagine a kind of presence of God\ngreater than all those? Is the sound of thunder, the voice of God as\nit is called, everywhere in such a compass? and shall not the essence\nof {a372} an infinite God be much more everywhere? Those that would\nconfine the essence of God only to heaven, and exclude it from the\nearth, run into great inconveniences. It may be demanded whether he\nbe in one part of the heavens or in the whole vast body of them. If\nin one part of them, his essence is bounded; if he moves from that\npart he is mutable, for he changes a place wherein he was, for another\nwherein he was not. If he be always fixed in one part of the heavens,\nsuch a notion would render him little better than a living statue.[652]\nIf he be in the whole heaven, why cannot his essence possess a greater\nspace than the whole heavens, which are so vast? How comes he to be\nconfined within the compass of that, since the whole heaven compasseth\nthe earth? If he be in the whole heaven he is in places farther\ndistant one from another than any part of the earth can be from the\nheavens; since the earth is like a centre in the midst of a circle,\nit must be nearer to every part of the circle than some parts of the\ncircle can be to one another. If, therefore, his essence possesses the\nwhole heavens, no reason can be rendered why he doth not also possess\nthe earth, since also the earth is but a little point in comparison of\nthe vastness of the heavens: if, therefore, he be in every part of the\nheavens, why not in every part of the earth? The Scripture is plain\n(Ps. cxxxix. 7\u20129), \u201cWhither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither\nshall I fly from thy presence? If I ascend up to heaven, thou art\nthere; if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there; if I take\nthe wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,\neven there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall uphold me.\n\u201d If he be in heaven, earth, hell, sea, he fills all places with his\npresence. His presence is here asserted in places the most distant\nfrom one another. All the places then between heaven and earth are\npossessed by his presence. It is not meant of his knowledge, for that\nthe Psalmist had spoken of before (ver. 2, 3), \u201cThou understandest\nmy thoughts afar off; thou art acquainted with all my ways:\u201d besides,\n\u201cthou art there;\u201d not thy wisdom or knowledge, but thou, thy essence,\nnot only thy virtue. For, having before spoken of his omniscience, he\nproves that such knowledge could not be in God, unless he were present\nin his essence in all places, so as to be excluded from none. He fills\nthe depths of hell, the extension of the earth, and the heights of\nthe heavens. When the Scripture mentions the power of God only, it\nexpresseth it by hand or arm; but when it mentions the Spirit of God,\nand doth not intend the Third Person in the Trinity, it signifies\nthe nature and essence of God. And so here, when he saith, \u201cWhither\nshall I go from thy Spirit?\u201d he adds, exegetically, \u201cWhither shall\nI fly from thy presence?\u201d or (Heb.) \u201cface: \u201d and the face of God in\nScripture signifies the essence of God (Exod. xxxiii. 20, 23); \u201cThou\ncanst not see my face,\u201d and \u201cMy face shall not be seen.\u201d The effects\nof his power, wisdom, and providence are seen, which are his back\nparts, but not his face. The effects of his power and wisdom are seen\nin the world, but his essence is invisible; and this the Psalmist\nelegantly expresseth, Had I wings endued with as much quickness as the\nfirst dawnings of the morning light, or the first darts of any {a373}\nsunbeam that spreads itself through the hemisphere, and passeth many\nmiles in as short a space as I can think a thought, I should find\nthy presence in all places before me, and could not fly out of the\ninfinite compass of thy essence.\n\n2. \u201cHe is essentially present with all creatures.\u201d If he be in all\nplaces, it follows that he is with all creatures in those places;\nas he is in heaven, so he is with all angels; as he is in hell, so\nhe is with all devils: as he is in the earth and sea, he is with all\ncreatures inhabiting those elements; as his essential presence was the\nground of the first being of things by creation, so it is the ground\nof the continued being of things by conservation; as his essential\npresence was the original, so it is the support of the existence of\nall the creatures. What are all those magnificent expressions of his\ncreative virtue, but testimonies of his essential presence at the\nlaying the foundation of the world (Isa. xl. 12), \u201cwhen he measured\nthe waters in the hollow of his hand, meted out heaven with the span,\nand comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the\nmountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?\u201d He sets forth the\npower and majesty of God in the creation and preservation of things,\nand every expression testifies his presence with them. The waters that\nwere upon the face of the earth at first were no more than a drop in\nthe palm of a man\u2019s hand, which in every part is touched by his hand;\nand thus he is equally present with the blackest devils, as well as\nthe brightest angels; with the lowest dust, as well as with the most\nsparkling sun. He is equally present with the damned and the blessed,\nas he is an infinite Being, but not in regard of his goodness and\ngrace. He is equally present with the good and the bad, with the\nscoffing Athenians, as well as the believing apostles, in regard of\nhis essence, but not in regard of the breathing of his divine virtues\nupon them to make them like himself (Acts xvii. 27). \u201cHe is not far\nfrom every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our\nbeing.\u201d The apostle includes all; he tells them they should seek the\nLord; the Lord that they were to seek, is God essentially considered.\nWe are, indeed, to seek the perfections of God, that glitter in his\nworks, but to the end that they should direct us to the seeking of\nGod himself in his own nature and essence;[653] and, therefore, what\nfollows, \u201cIn him we live,\u201d is to be understood, not of his power and\ngoodness, perfections of his nature, distinguished according to our\nmanner of conception from his essence, but of the essential presence\nof God with his creatures. If he had meant it of his efficacy in\npreserving us, it had not been any proof of his nearness to us. Who\nwould go about to prove the body or substance of the sun to be near us\nbecause it doth warm and enlighten us, when our sense evidenceth the\ndistance of it? We live in the beams of the sun, but we cannot be said\nto live in the sun, which is so far distant from us. The expression\nseems to be more emphatical than to intend any less than his essential\npresence; but we live in him not only as the efficient cause of our\nlife, but as the foundation sustaining our lives and motions, as if he\nwere like air, diffused round about us; and we move in him, as Austin\nsaith, as a sponge in the {a374} sea, not containing him, but being\ncontained by him. He compasseth all, is encompassed by none; he fills\nall, is comprehended by none. The Creator contains the world, the\nworld contains not the Creator; as the hollow of the hand contains the\nwater, the water in the hollow of the hand contains not the hand; and\ntherefore some have chose to say, rather, that the world is in God, it\nlives and moves in him, than that God is in the world. If all things\nthus live and move in him, then he is present with everything that\nhath life and motion; and as long as the devils and damned have life,\nand motion, and being, so long is he with them; for whatsoever lives\nand moves, lives and moves in him. This essential presence is,\n\n(1.) Without any mixture. I fill heaven and earth; not, I am mixed\nwith heaven and earth: his essence is not mixed with the creatures;\nit remains entire in itself. The sponge retains the nature of a sponge,\nthough encompassed by the sea, and moving in it; and the sea still\nretains its own nature. God is most simple; his essence therefore is\nnot mixed with anything. The light of the sun is present with the air,\nbut not mixed with it; it remains light, and the air remains air; the\nlight of the sun is diffused through all the hemisphere, it pierceth\nall transparent bodies, it seems to mix itself with all things, yet\nremains unmixed and undivided; the light remains light, and the air\nremains air; the air is not light, though it be enlightened. Or, take\nthis similitude: When many candles are lighted up in a room, the light\nis all together, yet not mixed with one another; every candle hath a\nparticular light belonging to it, which may be separated in a moment,\nby removing one candle from another; but if they were mixed, they\ncould not be separated, at least so easily. God is not formally one\nwith the world, or with any creature in the world by his presence in\nit; nor can any creature in the world, no, not the soul of man, or an\nangel, come to be essentially one with God, though God be essentially\npresent with it.\n\n(2.) The essential presence is without any division of himself. \u201cI\nfill heaven and earth,\u201d not part in heaven, and part in earth; I fill\none as well as the other: one part of his essence is not in one place,\nand another part of his essence in another place, he would then be\nchangeable; for that part of his essence which were now in this place,\nhe might alter it to another, and place that part of his essence which\nwere in another place to this; but he is undivided everywhere. As his\neternity is one indivisible point, though in our conception we divide\nit into past, present, and to come, so the whole world is as a point\nto him, in regard of place, as before was said; it is as a small dust,\nand grain of dust: it is impossible that one part of his essence can\nbe separated from another, for he is not a body, to have one part\nseparable from another. The light of the sun cannot be cut into parts,\nit cannot be shut into any place and kept there, it is entire in\nevery place. Shall not God, who gives the light that power, be much\nmore present himself? Whatsoever hath parts is finite, but God is\ninfinite, therefore hath no parts of his essence. Besides, if there\nwere such a division of his being, he would not be the most simple and\nuncompounded being, but would be made up of various parts; he would\nnot be a Spirit, for parts are evidences of composition; {a375} and\nit could not be said that God is here or there, but only a part of God\nhere, and a part of God there. But he fills heaven and earth; he is\nas much a God in the earth beneath as in heaven above (Deut. iv. 39);\nentirely in all places, not by scraps and fragments of his essence.\n\n(3.) This essential presence is not by multiplication. For that which\nis infinite cannot multiply itself, or make itself more or greater\nthan it was.\n\n(4.) This essential presence is not by extension or diffusion, as a\npiece of gold may be beaten out to cover a large compass of ground;\nno, if God should create millions of worlds he would be in them all,\nnot by stretching out his being, but by the infiniteness of his being;\nnot by a new growth of his being, but by the same essence he had from\neternity: upon the same reasons mentioned before, his simplicity and\nindivisibility.\n\n(5.) But totally. There is no space, not the least, wherein God is not\nwholly, according to his essence, and wherein his whole substance doth\nnot exist; not a part of heaven can be designed wherein the Creator\nis not wholly; as he is in one part of heaven, he is in every part of\nheaven. Some kind of resemblance we may have from the water of the sea,\nwhich fills the great space of the world, and is diffused through all;\nyet the essence of water is in every drop of water in the sea, as much\nas the whole; and the same quality of water, though it comes short\nin quantity; and why shall we not allow God a nobler way of presence\nwithout diffusion, as is in that? or take this resemblance; since God\nlikens himself to light in the Scripture, \u201che covereth himself with\nlight.\u201d[654] A crystal globe hung up in the air hath light all about\nit, all within it, every part is pierced by it, wherever you see\nthe crystal you see the light; the light in one part of the crystal\ncannot be distinguished from the light in the other part; and the\nwhole essence of light is in every part; and shall not God be as much\npresent with his creatures, as one creature can be with another?[655]\nGod is totally everywhere by his own simple substance.\n\n_Prop. IV._ God is present beyond the world. He is within and above\nall places, though places should be infinite in number; as he was\nbefore and beyond all time, so he is above and beyond all place; being\nfrom eternity before any real time, he must also be without as well\nas within any real space; if God were only confined to the world, he\nwould be no more infinite in his essence than the world is in quantity;\nas a moment cannot be conceived from eternity, wherein God was not in\nbeing, so a space cannot be conceived in the mind of man, wherein God\nis not present; he is not contained in the world nor in the heavens\n(1 Kings viii. 27). \u201cBut will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold,\nthe heaven of heavens cannot contain thee.\u201d Solomon wonders that God\nshould appoint a temple to be erected to him upon the earth, when he\nis not contained in the vast circuit of the heavens; his essence is\nnot straitened in the limits of any created work; he is not contained\nin the heavens, _i. e._ in the manner that he is there; but he is\nthere in his essence, and therefore cannot be contained {a376} there\nin his essence. If it should be meant only of his power and providence,\nit would conclude also for his essence; if his power and providence\nwere infinite, his essence must be so too; for the infiniteness of his\nessence is the ground of the infiniteness of his power. It can never\nenter into any thought, that a finite essence can have an infinite\npower, and that an infinite power can be without an infinite essence;\nit cannot be meant of his providence, as if Solomon should say, the\nheaven of heavens cannot contain thy providence; for naming the heaven\nof heavens, that which encircles and bounds the other parts of the\nworld, he could not suppose a providence to be exercised where there\nwas no object to exercise it about; as no creature is mentioned to be\nbeyond the uttermost heaven, which he calls here the heaven of heavens:\nbesides, to understand it of his providence, doth not consist with\nSolomon\u2019s admiration: he wonders that God, that hath so immense an\nessence, should dwell in a temple made with hands; he could not so\nmuch wonder at his providence in those things that immediately concern\nhis worship. Solomon plainly asserts this of God, That he was so far\nfrom being bounded within the rich wall of the temple, which with so\nmuch cost he had framed for the glory of his name, that the richer\npalace of the heaven of heavens could not contain him; it is true,\nit could not contain his power and wisdom, because his wisdom could\ncontrive other kind of worlds, and his power erect them. But doth the\nmeaning of that wise king reach no farther than this? Will the power\nand wisdom of God reside on the earth? He was too wise to ask such\na question, since every object that his eyes met with in the world\nresolved him, that the wisdom and power of God dwelt upon the earth,\nand glittered in everything he had created; and reason would assure\nhim that the power that had framed this world, was able to frame any\nmore; but Solomon, considering the immensity of God\u2019s essence, wonders\nthat God should order a house to be built for him, as if he wanted\nroofs and coverings, and habitation, as bodily creatures do. Will God\nindeed dwell in a temple, who hath an essence so immense as not to be\ncontained in the heaven of heavens? It is not the heaven of heavens\nthat can contain him, his substance. Here he asserts the immensity of\nhis essence, and his presence not only in the heaven, but beyond the\nheavens; he that is not contained in the heavens, as a man is in a\nchamber, is without, and above, and beyond the heavens; it is not said,\nthey do not contain him, but it is impossible they should contain him;\nthey cannot contain him. It is impossible, then, but that he should\nbe above them; he that is without the compass of the world, is not\nbounded by the limits of the world, as his power is not limited by\nthe things he hath made, but can create innumerable worlds, so can his\nessence be in innumerable spaces; for as he hath power enough to make\nmore worlds, so he hath essence enough to fill them, and therefore\ncannot be confined to what he hath already created; innumerable\nworlds cannot be a sufficient place to contain God; he can only be\na sufficient place to himself;[656] He that was before the world,\nand place, and all things, was to himself a world, a place, and\neverything:[657] He is really out {a377} of the world in himself,\nas he was in himself before the creation of the world: as because\nGod was before the foundation of the world, we conclude his eternity;\nso because he is without the bounds of the world, we conclude his\nimmensity, and from thence his omnipresence. The world cannot be said\nto contain him, since it was created by him; it cannot contain him\nnow, who was contained by nothing before the world was: as there was\nno place to contain him before the world was, there can be no place\nto contain him since the world was. God might create more worlds,\ncircular and round as this, and those could not be so contiguous,\nbut some spaces would be left between; as, take three round balls,\nlay them as close as you can to one another, there will be some spaces\nbetween; none would say but God would be in these spaces, as well\nas in the world he had created, though there were nothing real and\npositive in those spaces: why should we then exclude God from those\nimaginary spaces without the world? God might also create many worlds,\nand separate them by distances, that they might not touch one another,\nbut be at a great distance from one another; and would not God fill\nthem as well as he doth this? if so, he must also fill the spaces\nbetween them; for if he were in all those worlds, and not in the\nspaces between those worlds, his essence would be divided; there would\nbe gaps in it, his essence would be cut into parts, and the distance\nbetween every part of his essence, would be as great as the space\nbetween each world. The essence of God may be conceived then well\nenough to be in all those infinite spaces where he can erect new\nworlds.\n\nI shall give one place more to prove both these propositions, viz.\nthat God is essentially in every part of the world, and essentially\nabove ours without the world (Isa. lxvi. 1): \u201cThe heaven is my throne,\nand the earth is my footstool.\u201d He is essentially in every part of the\nworld; he is in heaven and earth at the same time, as a man is upon\nhis throne and his footstool. God describes himself in a human shape,\naccommodated to our capacity; as if he had his head in heaven, and his\nfeet on earth. Doth not his essence then, fill all intermediate spaces\nbetween heaven and earth? As when the head of a man is in the upper\npart of a room, and his feet upon the floor, his body fills up the\nspace between the head and his feet: this is meant of the essence\nof God; it is a similitude drawn from kings sitting upon the throne,\nand not their power and authority, but the feet of their persons\nare supported by the footstool; so here it is not meant only of the\nperfections of God, but the essence of God. Besides, God seems to tax\nthem with an erroneous conceit they had, as though his essence were\nin the temple, and not in any part of the world; therefore God makes\nan opposition between heaven and earth, and the temple: \u201cWhere is\nthe house that you built unto me? and where is the place of my rest?\u201d\nHad he understood it only of his providence, it had not been anything\nagainst their mistake; for they granted his providence to be not only\nin the temple, but in all parts of the world. \u201cWhere is the house that\nyou build to me;\u201d to Me, not to my power or providence, but think to\ninclude Me within those walls. Again, it shows God to be above the\nheavens, if the heavens be his throne; he sits upon them, and is above\nthem, as {a378} kings are above the thrones on which they sit. So it\ncannot be meant of his providence, because no creature being without\nthe sphere of the heavens, there is nothing of the power and the\nprovidence of God visible there, for there is nothing for him to\nemploy his providence about; for providence supposeth a creature\nin actual being; it must be therefore meant of his essence, which\nis above the world and in the world. And the like proof you may\nsee (Job. xi. 7, 8), \u201cIt is as high as heaven, what canst thou do?\ndeeper than hell, what canst thou know? the measure thereof is longer\nthan the earth, and broader than the sea.\u201d Where he intends the\nunsearchableness of God\u2019s wisdom, but proves it by the infiniteness\nof his essence, (Heb.) \u201che is the height of the heavens,\u201d he is the\ntop of all the heavens; so that, when you have begun at the lowest\npart, and traced him through all the creatures, you will find his\nessence filling all the creatures, to be at the top of the world,\nand infinitely beyond it.\n\n_Prop. V._ This is the property of God, incommunicable to any\ncreature. As no creature can be eternal and immutable, so no creature\ncan be immense, because it cannot be infinite; nothing can be of an\ninfinite nature, and therefore nothing of an immense presence but God.\nIt cannot be communicated to the human nature of Christ, though in\nunion with the Divine;[658] some indeed argue, that Christ in regard\nof his human nature is everywhere, because he sits at the right hand\nof God, and the right hand of God is everywhere. His sitting at the\nright hand of God signifies his exaltation, and cannot with any reason,\nbe extended to such a kind of arguing. \u201cThe hearts of kings are in the\nhand of God;\u201d are the hearts of kings everywhere, because God\u2019s hand\nis everywhere? The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God; is\nthe soul, therefore, of every righteous man everywhere in the world?\nThe right hand of God is from eternity; is the humanity of Christ,\ntherefore, from eternity, because it sits at the right hand of God?\nThe right hand of God made the world; did the humanity of Christ,\ntherefore, make heaven and earth? the humanity of Christ must then be\nconfounded with his divinity; be the same with it, not united to it.\nAll creatures are distinct from their Creator, and cannot inherit\nthe properties essential to his nature, as eternity, immensity,\nimmutability, omnipresence, omniscience; no angel, no soul, no\ncreature can be in all places at once; before they can be so they\nmust be immense, and so must cease to be creatures, and commence God;\nthis is impossible.\n\nII. Reasons to prove God\u2019s essential presence. _Reason I._ Because\nhe is infinite. As he is infinite, he is everywhere; as he is simple,\nhis whole essence is everywhere: for, in regard of his infiniteness,\nhe hath no bounds; in regard of his simplicity, he hath no parts: and,\ntherefore, those that deny God\u2019s omnipresence, though they pretend to\nown him infinite, must really conceive him finite.\n\n1. God is infinite in his perfections. None can set bounds to\nterminate the greatness and excellency of God (Ps. cxlv. 3): \u201cHis\ngreatness is unsearchable,\u201d Sept. \u03bf\u1f50\u03ba \u1f14\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c0\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2, there is no end,\nno limitation. What hath no end is infinite; his power is infinite\n(Job v. 9): {a379} \u201cwhich doth great things and unsearchable;\u201d\u2015\u2015no end\nof those things he is able to do. His wisdom infinite (Ps. cxlvii. 5);\nhe understands all things past, present, and to come; what is\nalready made, what is possible to be made. His duration infinite\n(Job xxxvi. 26): \u201cThe number of his years cannot be searched out,\u201d\n\u1f00\u03c0\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2. To make a finite thing of nothing is an argument of an\ninfinite virtue. Infinite power can only extract something out of the\nbarren womb of nothing; but all things were drawn forth by the word\nof God, the heavens, and all the host of them; the sun, moon, stars,\nthe rich embellishments of the world, appeared in being \u201cat the\nbreath of his mouth\u201d (Ps. xxxiii. 6). The author, therefore, must be\ninfinite; and since nothing is the cause of God, or of any perfection\nin him,\u2015\u2015since he derives not his being, or the least spark of his\nglorious nature, from anything without him,\u2015\u2015he cannot be limited\nin any part of his nature by anything without him; and, indeed, the\ninfiniteness of his power and his other perfections is asserted by\nthe prophet, when he tells us that \u201cthe nations are as a drop of a\nbucket, or the dust of the balance, and less than nothing and vanity\u201d\n(Isa. xl. 15, 17), they are all so in regard of his power, wisdom, &c.\nConceive what a little thing a grain of dust or sand is to all the\ndust that may be made by the rubbish of a house: what a little thing\nthe heap of the rubbish of a house is to the vast heap of the rubbish\nof a whole city, such an one as London; how little that, also, would\nbe to the dust of a whole empire; how inconsiderable that, also,\nto the dust of one quarter of the world, Europe or Asia; how much\nless that, still, to the dust of the whole world! The whole world\nis composed of an unconceivable number of atoms, and the sea of an\nunconceivable number of drops; now what a little grain of dust is in\ncomparison to the dust of the whole world\u2015\u2015a drop of water from the\nsea, to all the drops remaining in the sea\u2015\u2015that is the whole world to\nGod. Conceive it still less, a mere nothing, yet is it all less than\nthis in comparison of God; there can be nothing more magnificently\nexpressive of the infiniteness of God to a human conception, than\nthis expression of God himself in the prophet. In the perfection of\na creature, something still may be thought greater to be added to it;\nbut God containing all perfections in himself formally, if they be\nmere perfections, and eminently, if they be but perfections in the\ncreature, mixed with imperfection, nothing can be thought greater,\nand therefore every one of them is infinite.\n\n2. If his perfections be infinite, his essence must be so. How God\ncan have infinite perfections, and a finite essence, is unconceivable\nby a human or angelical understanding; an infinite power, an infinite\nwisdom, an infinite duration, must needs speak an infinite essence;\nsince the infiniteness of his attributes is grounded upon the\ninfiniteness of his essence: to own infinite perfections in a finite\nsubject is contradictory. The manner of acting by his power, and\nknowing by his wisdom, cannot exceed the manner of being by his\nessence. His perfections flow from his essence, and the principle must\nbe of the same rank with what flows from it; and, if we conceive his\nessence to be the cause of his perfections, it is utterly impossible\nthat an infinite effect should arise from a finite cause: but, indeed,\nhis {a380} perfections are his essence; for though we conceive the\nessence of God as the subject, and the attributes of God as faculties\nand qualities in that subject, according to our weak model, who\ncannot conceive of an infinite God without some manner of likeness to\nourselves\u2015\u2015who find understanding, and will, and power in us distinct\nfrom our substance; yet truly and really there is no distinction\nbetween his essence and attributes; one is inseparable from the other.\nHis power and wisdom are his essence; and therefore to maintain God\ninfinite in the one, and finite in the other, is to make a monstrous\ngod, and have an unreasonable notion of the Deity; for there would be\nthe greatest disproportion in his nature, since there is no greater\ndisproportion can possibly be between one thing and another than there\nis between finite and infinite. God must not only then be compounded,\nbut have parts of the greatest distance from one another in nature;\nbut God, being the most simple being without the least composition,\nboth must be equally infinite: if, then, his essence be not infinite,\nhis power and wisdom cannot be infinite, which is both against\nscripture and reason. Again, how should his essence be finite, and\nhis perfections be infinite, since nothing out of himself gave them\neither the one or the other?[659] Again, either the essence can be\ninfinite, or it cannot; if it cannot, there must be some cause of\nthat impossibility; that can be nothing without him, because nothing\nwithout him can be as powerful as himself, much less too powerful for\nhim; nothing within him can be an enemy to his highest perfection;\nsince he is necessarily what he is, he must be necessarily the\nmost perfect being, and therefore necessarily infinite, since to be\nsomething infinitely is a greater perfection than to be something\nthing finitely:[660] if he can be infinite he is infinite, otherwise\nhe could be greater than he is, and so more blessed and more perfect\nthan he is, which is impossible: for being the most perfect Being, to\nwhom nothing can be added, he must needs be infinite.\n\n3. If, therefore, God have an infinite essence, he hath an infinite\npresence. An infinite essence cannot be contained in a finite place,\nas those things which are finite have a bounded space wherein they are;\nso that which is infinite hath an unbounded space; for, as finiteness\nspeaks limitedness, so infiniteness speaks unboundedness; and if\nwe grant to God an infinite duration, there is no difficulty in\nacknowledging an infinite presence: indeed, the infiniteness of God is\na property belonging to him in regard of time and place; he is bounded\nby no place, and limited to no time. Again, infinite essence may as\nwell be everywhere, as infinite power reaches everything; it may as\nwell be present with every being, as infinite power in its working may\nbe present with nothing to bring it into being. Where God works by his\npower, he is present in his essence; because his power and his essence\ncannot be separated; and therefore his power, wisdom, goodness, cannot\nbe anywhere where his essence is not: his essence cannot be severed\nfrom his power, nor his power from his essence; for the power of\nGod is nothing but God acting, and the wisdom of God nothing but God\nknowing. As the power of God {a381} is always, so is his essence\u2015\u2015as\nthe power of God is everywhere, so is his essence: whatsoever God is,\nhe is alway, and everywhere. To confine him to a place, is to measure\nhis essence; as to confine his actions, is to limit his power; his\nessence being no less infinite than his power and his wisdom, can be\nno more bounded than his power and wisdom; but they are not separable\nfrom his essence, yea, they are his essence. If God did not fill the\nwhole world, he would be determined to some place, and excluded from\nothers; and so his substance would have bounds and limits, and then\nsomething might be conceived greater than God; for we may conceive\nthat a creature may be made by God of so vast a greatness as to fill\nthe whole world, for the power of God is able to make a body that\nshould take up the whole space between heaven and earth, and reach\nto every corner of it. But nothing can be conceived by any creature\ngreater than God; he exceeds all things, and is exceeded by none. God,\ntherefore, cannot be included in heaven, nor included in the earth;\ncannot be contained in either of them; for, if we should imagine\nthem vaster than they are, yet still they would be finite; and if his\nessence were contained in them, it could be no more infinite than the\nworld which contains it, as water is not of a larger compass than the\nvessel which contains it. If the essence of God were limited, either\nin the heavens or earth, it must needs be finite, as the heaven and\nearth are; but there is no proportion between finite and infinite; God,\ntherefore, cannot be contained in them. If there were an infinite body,\nthat must be everywhere; certainly, then, an infinite Spirit must be\neverywhere; unless we will account him finite, we can render no reason\nwhy he should not be in one creature as well as in another. If he\nbe in heaven, which is his creature, why can he not be in the earth,\nwhich is as well his creature as the heavens?\n\n_Reason II._ Because of the continual operation of God in the world.\nThis was one reason which made the heathen believe that there was an\ninfinite Spirit in the vast body of the world, acting in everything,\nand producing those admirable motions which we see everywhere in\nnature: that cause which acts in the most perfect manner, is also in\nthe most perfect manner present with its effects.\n\nGod preserves all, and therefore is in all; the apostle thought\nit a good induction (Acts xvii. 27), \u201cHe is not far from us, for in\nhim we live.\u201d _For_ being as much as _because_, shows, that from his\noperation he concluded his real presence with all: it is not, His\nvirtue is not far from every one of us, but He, his substance, himself;\nfor, none that acknowledge a God will deny the absence of the virtue\nof God from any part of the world. He works in everything, everything\nlives and works in him; therefore he is present with all:[661] or\nrather, if things live, they are in God, who gives them life. If\nthings live, God is in them, and gives them life; if things move, God\nis in them, and gives them motion; if things have any being, God is in\nthem, and gives them being; if God withdraws himself, they presently\nlose their being, and therefore some have compared the creature to\nthe impression of a seal upon the water, that cannot be preserved\nbut by the presence of the seal. As his presence was actual {a382}\nwith what he created, so his presence is actual with what preserves,\nsince creation and preservation do so little differ; if God creates\nthings by his essential presence, by the same he supports them; if\nhis substance cannot be disjoined from his preserving power, his power\nand wisdom cannot be separated from his essence; where there are the\nmarks of the one, there is the presence of the other; for it is by his\nessence that he is powerful and wise; no man can distinguish the one\nfrom the other in a simple being; God doth not preserve and act things\nby a virtue diffused from him. It may be demanded whether that virtue\nbe distinct from God; if it be not, it is then the essence of God; if\nit be distinct it is a creature, and then it may be asked, how that\nvirtue which preserves other things, is preserved itself; it must\nbe ultimately resolved into the essence of God, or else there must\nbe a running _in infinitum_: or else,[662] is that virtue of God a\nsubstance, or not? Is it endued with understanding, or not? If it hath\nunderstanding, how doth it differ from God? If it wants understanding,\ncan any imagine that the support of the world, the guidance of all\ncreatures, the wonders of nature, can be wrought, preserved, managed\nby a virtue that hath nothing of understanding in it? If it be not\na substance, it can much less be able to produce such excellent\noperations as the preserving all the kinds of things in the world,\nand ordering them to perform such excellent ends; this virtue is,\ntherefore, God himself\u2015\u2015the infinite power and wisdom of God; and\ntherefore, wheresoever the effects of these are seen in the world, God\nis essentially present: some creatures, indeed, act at a distance by a\nvirtue diffused. But such a manner of acting comes from a limitedness\nof nature, that such a nature cannot be everywhere present and extend\nits substance to all parts. To act by a virtue, speaks the subject\nfinite, and it is a part of indigence: kings act in their kingdoms by\nministers and messengers, because they cannot act otherwise; but God\nbeing infinitely perfect, works all things in all immediately (1 Cor.\nxii. 6). Illumination, sanctification, grace, &c., are the immediate\nworks of God in the heart, and immediate agents are present with\nwhat they do: it is an argument of the greater perfection of a being,\nto know things immediately, which are done in several places, than\nto know them at the second hand by instruments; it is no less a\nperfection to be everywhere, rather than to be tied to one place\nof action, and to act in other places by instruments, for want of a\npower to act immediately itself. God, indeed, acts by means and second\ncauses in his providential dispensations in the world, but this is\nnot out of any defect of power to work all immediately himself; but he\nthereby accommodates his way of acting to the nature of the creature,\nand the order of things which he hath settled in the world. And when\nhe works by means, he acts with those means, in those means, sustains\ntheir faculties and virtues in them, concurs with them by his power;\nso that God\u2019s acting by means doth rather strengthen his essential\npresence than weaken it, since there is a necessary dependence of the\ncreatures upon the Creator in their being and acting; and what they\nare, they are by the power of God; what they act, they act in the\npower of God, concurring {a383} with them; they have their motion in\nhim as well as their being: and where the power of God is, his essence\nis, because they are inseparable; and so this omnipresence ariseth\nfrom the simplicity of the nature of God; the more vast anything is,\nthe less confined. All that will acknowledge God so great, as to be\nable to work all things by his will, without an essential presence,\ncannot imagine him upon the same reason, so little as to be contained\nin, and bounded by any place.\n\n_Reason III._ Because of his supreme perfection. No perfection is\nwanting to God; but an unbounded essence is a perfection; a limited\none is an imperfection. Though it be a perfection in a man to be wise,\nyet it is an imperfection that his wisdom cannot rule all the things\nthat concern him; though it be a perfection to be present in a place\nwhere his affairs lie, yet is it an imperfection that he cannot be\npresent everywhere in the midst of all his concerns; if any man could\nbe so, it would be universally owned as a prime perfection in him\nabove others: is that which would be a perfection in man to be denied\nto God?[663] as that which hath life is more perfect than that which\nhath not life; and that which hath sense is more perfect than that\nwhich hath only life as the plants have; and what hath reason, is more\nperfect than that which hath only life and sense, as the beasts have;\nso what is everywhere, is more perfect than that which is bounded in\nsome narrow confines: if a power of motion be more excellent than to\nbe bed\u2011rid, and swiftness in a creature be a more excellent endowment\nthan to be slow and snail\u2011like, then to be everywhere without\nmotion, is inconceivably a greater excellency than to be everywhere\nsuccessively by motion. God sets forth his readiness to help his\npeople and punish his enemies, or his omnipresence, by swiftness, or\n\u201cflying upon the wings of the wind\u201d (Ps. xviii. 10): the wind is in\nevery part of the air, where it blows; it cannot be said that it is\nin this or that point of the air where you feel it, so as to exclude\nit from another part of the air where you are not; it seems to possess\nall at once. If the Divine essence had any bounds of place, it would\nbe imperfect, as well as if it had bounds of time; where anything hath\nlimitation, it hath some defect in being; and therefore if God were\nconfined or concluded, he would be as good as nothing in regard of\ninfiniteness. Whence should this restraint arise? there is no power\nabove him to restrain him to a certain space; if so, then he would\nnot be God, but that power which restrained him would be God: not from\nhis own nature, for the being everywhere implies no contradiction to\nhis nature; if his own nature determined him to a certain place, then\nif he removed from that place, he would act against his nature; to\nconceive any such thing of God is highly absurd. It cannot be thought\nGod should voluntarily impose any such restraint or confinement upon\nhimself; this would be to deny himself a perfection he might have; if\nGod have not this perfection, it is either because it is inconsistent\nwith his nature; or, because he cannot have it; or, because he will\nnot. The former cannot be; for if he hath impressed upon air and\nlight a resemblance of his excellency, to diffuse themselves and fill\nso vast a space, is such an excellency {a384} inconsistent with the\nCreator more than the creature? whatsoever perfection the creature\nhath, is eminently in God. \u201cUnderstand, O ye brutish among the people:\nand ye fools, when will you be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he\nnot hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? he that teacheth\nman knowledge, shall not he know?\u201d (Ps. xciv. 8, 9.) By the same\nreason he that hath given such a power to those creatures, air and\nlight, shall not he be much more filling all spaces of the world? It\nis so clear a rule, that the Psalmist fixes a folly and brutishness\nupon those that deny it; it is not therefore inconsistent with\nhis nature, it were not then a perfection but an imperfection; but\nwhatsoever is an excellency in creatures, cannot in a way of eminency\nbe an imperfection in God; if it be then a perfection, and God want it,\nit is because he cannot have it; where, then, is his power? How can he\nbe then the fountain of his own Being? If he will not, where is his\nlove to his own nature and glory? since no creature would deny that to\nitself which it can have, and is an excellency to it; God, therefore,\nhath not only a power or fitness to be everywhere, but he is actually\neverywhere.\n\n_Reason IV._ Because of his immutability. If God did not fill all\nthe spaces of heaven and earth, but only possess one, yet it must\nbe acknowledged that God hath a power to move himself to another. It\nwere absurd to fix God in a part of the heavens, like a star in an\norb, without a power of motion to another place. If he be therefore\nessentially in heaven, may he not be upon the earth if he please, and\ntransfer his substance from one place to another? to say he cannot,\nis to deny him a perfection which he hath bestowed upon his creatures;\nthe angels, his messengers, are sometimes in heaven, sometimes on\nthe earth; the eagles, meaner creatures, are sometimes in the air\nout of sight, sometimes upon the earth. If he doth move, therefore,\nand recede from one place and settle in another, doth he not declare\nhimself mutable by changing places?\u2015\u2015by being where he was not before,\nand in not being where he was before? He would not fill heaven and\nearth at once, but successively; no man can be said to fill a room,\nthat moves from one part of a room to another; if therefore any in\ntheir imaginations stake God to the heavens, they render him less than\nhis creatures; if they allow him a power of motion from one place to\nanother, they conceive him changeable; and in either of them they own\nhim no greater than a finite and limited Being; limited to heaven, if\nthey fix him there; limited to that space to which they imagine him\nto move.\n\n_Reason V._ Because of his omnipotency. The Almightiness of God is\na notion settled in the minds of all,\u2015\u2015that God can do whatsoever\nhe pleases, everything that is not against the purity of his nature,\nand doth not imply a contradiction in itself; he can therefore\ncreate millions of worlds greater than this; and millions of heavens\ngreater than this heaven he hath already created; if so, he is then\nin inconceivable spaces beyond this world, for his essence is not\nless narrower than his power; and his power is not to be thought of\na further extent than his essence; he cannot be excluded therefore\nfrom those vast spaces where his power may fix those worlds if he\nplease; if so, it is no wonder that he should fill this {a385} world:\nand there is no reason to exclude God from the narrow space of this\nworld, that is not contained in infinite spaces beyond the world.\nGod is wheresoever he hath a power to act; but he hath a power to act\neverywhere in the world, everywhere out of the world; he is therefore\neverywhere in the world, everywhere out of the world. Before this\nworld was made, he had a power to make it in the space where now it\nstands; was he not then unlimitedly where the world now is, before\nthe world received a being by his powerful word? Why should he not\nthen be in every part of the world now? Can it be thought that God who\nwas immense before, should, after he had created the world, contract\nhimself to the limits of one of his creatures, and tie himself to a\nparticular place of his own creation, and be less after his creation\nthan he was before? This might also be prosecuted by an argument from\nhis eternity. What is eternal in duration, is immense in essence; the\nsame reason which renders him eternal, renders him immense; that which\nproves him to be always, will prove him to be everywhere.\n\nIII. The third thing is, Propositions for the further clearing this\ndoctrine from any exceptions.\n\n1. This truth is not weakened by the expressions in Scripture, where\nGod is said to dwell in heaven and in the temple.\n\n(1.) He is indeed said to sit in heaven (Ps. ii. 4), and to dwell\non high (Ps. cxiii. 5), but he is nowhere said to dwell only in\nthe heavens, as confined to them. It is the court of his majestical\npresence, but not the prison of his essence: for when we are told that\n\u201cthe heaven is his throne,\u201d we are told with the same breath that the\n\u201cearth is his footstool\u201d (Isa. lxvi. 1). He dwells on high, in regard\nof the excellency of his nature, but he is in all places, in regard of\nthe diffusion of his presence. The soul is essentially in all parts of\nthe body, but it doth not exert the same operations in all; the more\nnoble discoveries of it are in the head and heart. In the head where\nit exerciseth the chiefest senses for the enriching the understanding;\nin the heart, where it vitally resides, and communicates life and\nmotion to the rest of the body. It doth not understand with the foot\nor toe, though it be in all parts of the body it informs; and so\nGod may be said to dwell in heaven, in regard of the more excellent\nand majestic representations of himself, both to the creatures that\ninhabit the place, as angels and blessed spirits, and also in those\nmarks of his greatness which he hath planted before, those spiritual\nnatures which have a nobler stamp of God upon them, and those\nexcellent bodies, as sun and stars, which, as so many tapers, light us\nto behold his glory (Ps. xix. 1), and astonish the minds of men when\nthey gaze upon them. It is his court, where he hath the most solemn\nworship from his creatures, all his courtiers attending there with\na pure love and glowing zeal. He reigns there in a special manner,\nwithout any opposition to his government; it is, therefore, called\nhis \u201choly dwelling place\u201d (2 Chron. iii. 27). The earth hath not that\ntitle, since sin cast a stain and a ruining curse upon it. The earth\nis not his throne, because his government is opposed: but heaven is\nnone of Satan\u2019s precinct, and the rule of God is uncontradicted by\nthe inhabitants of it. It is from thence also he hath {a386} given\nthe greatest discoveries of himself; thence he sends the angels his\nmessengers, his Son upon Redemption, his Spirit for sanctification.\nFrom heaven his gifts drop down upon our heads, and his grace upon\nour hearts (James iii. 17). From thence the chiefest blessings of\nearth descend. The motions of the heavens fatten the earth; and the\nheavenly bodies are but stewards to the earthly comforts for man by\ntheir influence. Heaven is the richest, vastest, most steadfast, and\nmajestic part of the visible creation. It is there where he will at\nlast manifest himself to his people in a full conjunction of grace and\nglory, and be forever open to his people in uninterrupted expressions\nof goodness, and discoveries of his presence, as a reward of their\nlabor and service; and in these respects it may peculiarly be called\nhis throne. And this doth no more hinder his essential presence in\nall parts of the earth, than it doth his gracious presence in all the\nhearts of his people. God is in heaven, in regard of the manifestation\nof his glory; in hell, by the expressions of his justice; in the earth,\nby the discoveries of his wisdom, power, patience, and compassion; in\nhis people, by the monuments of his grace; and in all, in regard of\nhis substance.\n\n(2.) He is said also to dwell in the ark and temple. It is called\n(Ps. xxvi. 8) \u201cthe habitation of his house, and the place where his\nhonor dwells;\u201d and to dwell in Jerusalem as in his holy mountain,\n\u201cThe mountain of the Lord of Hosts\u201d (Zech. viii. 3), in regard of\npublishing his oracles, answering their prayers, manifesting more of\nhis goodness to the Israelites, than to any other nation in the world;\nerecting his true worship among them, which was not settled in any\npart of the world besides: and his worship is principally intended in\nthat psalm. The ark is the place where his honor dwells. The worship\nof God is called the glory of God; \u201cThey changed the glory of God into\nan image made like to corruptible man\u201d (Rom. i. 23), _i. e._, they\nchanged the worship of God into idolatry; and to that also doth the\nplace in Zechariah refer. Now, because he is said to dwell in heaven,\nis he essentially only there? Is he not as essentially in the temple\nand ark as he is in heaven, since there are as high expressions of\nhis habitation there as of his dwelling in heaven? If he dwell only\nin heaven, how came he to dwell in the temple? both are asserted in\nScripture, one as much as the other. If his dwelling in heaven did not\nhinder his dwelling in the ark, it could as little hinder the presence\nof his essence on the earth. To dwell in heaven, and in one part of\nthe earth at the same time, is all one as to dwell in all parts of\nheaven, and all parts of earth. If he were in heaven, and in the ark\nand temple, it was the same essence in both, though not the same kind\nof manifestation of himself. If by his dwelling in heaven he meant\nhis whole essence, why is it not also to be meant by his dwelling in\nthe ark? It was not, sure, part of his essence that was in heaven,\nand part of his essence that was on earth; his essence would then be\ndivided; and can it be imagined that he should be in heaven and the\nark at the same time, and not in the spaces between? Could his essence\nbe split into fragments, and a gap made in it, that two distant spaces\nshould be filled by him, and all between be empty of him, so that\nGod\u2019s being said {a387} to dwell in heaven, and in the temple, is so\nfar from impairing the truth of this doctrine, that it more confirms\nand evidences it.\n\n2. Nor do the expressions of God\u2019s coming to us, or departing from\nus, impair this doctrine of his omnipresence. God is said to hide his\nface from his people (Ps. x. 1); to be far from the wicked; and the\nGentiles are said to be afar off, viz. from God (Prov. xv. 29; Eph.\nii. 17), and upon the manifestation of Christ made near. These must\nnot be understood of any distance or nearness of his essence, for that\nis equally near to all persons and things; but of some other special\nway and manifestation of his presence. Thus, God is said to be in\nbelievers by love, as they are in him (1 John iv. 15); \u201cHe that abides\nin love, abides in God, and God in him.\u201d He that loves, is in the\nthing beloved; and when two love one another, they are in one another.\nGod is in a righteous man by a special grace, and far from the wicked\nin regard of such special works; and God is said to be in a place by\na special manifestation, as when he was in the bush (Exod. iii.), or\nmanifesting his glory upon Mount Sinai (Exod. xxiv. 16); \u201cThe glory\nof the Lord abode about Mount Sinai.\u201d God is said to hide his face\nwhen he withdraws his comforting presence, disturbs the repose of our\nhearts, flasheth terror into our consciences, when he puts men under\nthe smart of the cross; as though he had ordered his mercy utterly\nto depart from them, or when he doth withdraw his special assisting\nprovidence from us in our affairs; so he departed from Saul, when he\nwithdrew his direction and protection from him in the concerns of his\ngovernment (1 Sam. xvi. 14); \u201cThe Spirit of the Lord departed from\nSaul,\u201d _i. e._ the spirit of government. God may be far from us in\none respect, and near to us in another; far from us in regard of\ncomfort, yet near to us in regard of support, when his essential\npresence continues the same: this is a necessary consequent upon the\ninfiniteness of God, the other is an act of the will of God; so he was\nsaid to forsake Christ, in regard of his obscuring his glory from his\nhuman nature, and inflicting his wrath, though he was near to him in\nregard of his grace, and preserved him from contracting any spot in\nhis sufferings. We do not say the sun is departed out of the heavens\nwhen it is bemisted; it remains in the same part of the heavens,\npasses on its course, though its beams do not reach us by reason of\nthe bar between us and it. The soul is in every part of the body, in\nregard of its substance, and constantly in it, though it doth not act\nso sprightly and vigorously at one time as at another in one and the\nsame member, and discover itself so sensibly in its operations; so\nall the various effects of God towards the sons of men, are but divers\noperations of one and the same essence. He is far from us, or near\nto us, as he is a judge or a benefactor. When he comes to punish, it\nnotes not the approach of his essence, but the stroke of his justice;\nwhen he comes to benefit, it is not by a new access of his essence,\nbut an efflux of his grace: he departs from us when he leaves us to\nthe frowns of his justice; he comes to us when he encircles us in\nthe arms of his mercy; but he was equally present with us in both\ndispensations, in regard of his essence. And, likewise, God is said to\ncome down (Gen. xi. 5, \u201cAnd the Lord came down to see the city\u201d), when\nhe doth some signal and wonderful {a388} works which attract the minds\nof men to the acknowledgment of a Supreme Power and Providence in the\nworld, who judged God absent and careless before.\n\n3. Nor is the essential presence of God with all creatures any\ndisparagement to him. Since it was no disparagement to create the\nheaven and the earth, it is no disparagement to him to fill them; if\nhe were essentially present with them when he created them, it is no\ndishonor to him to be essentially present with them to support them;\nif it were his glory to create them by his essence, when they were\nnothing, can it be his disgrace to be present by his essence, since\nthey are something, and something good, and very good in his eye (Gen.\ni. 31)? God saw every thing, and behold it was very good, or mighty\ngood; all ordered to declare his goodness, wisdom, power, and to make\nhim adorable to man, and therefore took complacency in them. There is\na harmony in all things, a combination in them for those glorious ends\nfor which God created them; and is it a disgrace for God to be present\nwith his own harmonious composition? Is it not a musician\u2019s glory to\ntouch with his fingers the treble, the least and tenderest string,\nas well as the strongest and greatest bass? Hath not everything some\nstamp of God\u2019s own being upon it, since he eminently contains in\nhimself the perfections of all his works? Whatsoever hath being, hath\na footstep of God upon it, who is all being; everything in the earth\nis his footstool, having a mark of his foot upon it; all declare the\nbeing of God, because they had their being from God; and will God\naccount it any disparagement to him to be present with that which\nconfirms his being, and the glorious perfections of his nature, to\nhis intelligent creatures? The meanest things are not without their\nvirtues, which may boast God\u2019s being the Creator of them, and rank\nthem in the midst of his works of wisdom as well as power. Doth God\ndebase himself to be present by his essence, with the things he hath\nmade, more than he doth to know them by his essence? Is not the least\nthing known by him? How? not by a faculty or act distinct from his\nessence, but by his essence itself. How is anything disgraceful to the\nessential presence of God, that is not disgraceful to his knowledge\nby his essence? Besides, would God make anything that should be an\ninvincible reason to him to part with his own infiniteness, by a\ncontraction of his own essence into a less compass than before? it\nwas immense before, it had no bounds; and would God make a world\nthat he would be ashamed to be present with, and continue it to the\ndiminution and lessening of himself, rather than annihilate it to\navoid the disparagement? This were to impeach the wisdom of God, and\ncast a blemish upon his infinite understanding, that he knows not\nthe consequences of his work, or is well contented to be impaired in\nthe immensity of his own essence by it. No man thinks it a dishonor\nto light, a most excellent creature, to be present with a toad or\nserpent; and though there be an infinite disproportion between light,\na creature, and the Father of lights, the Creator: yet God, being a\nSpirit, knows how to be with bodies as if they were not bodies;[664]\nand being {a389} jealous of his own honor, would not, could not do any\nthing that might impair it.\n\n4. Nor will it follow, That because God is essentially everywhere,\nthat everything is God. God is not everywhere by any conjunction,\ncomposition or mixture with anything on earth. When light is in every\npart of a crystal globe, and encircles it close on every side, do they\nbecome one? No; the crystal remains what it is, and the light retains\nits own nature; God is not in us as a part of us, but as an efficient\nand preserving cause; it is not by his essential presence, but his\nefficacious presence, that he brings any person into a likeness to his\nown nature; God is so in his essence with things, as to be distinct\nfrom them, as a cause from the effect; as a Creator different from\nthe creature, preserving their nature, not communicating his own; his\nessence touches all, is in conjunction with none; finite and infinite\ncannot be joined; he is not far from us, therefore near to us; so near\nthat we live and move in him (Acts xvii. 28). Nothing is God because\nit moves in him, any more than a fish in the sea, is the sea, or a\npart of the sea, because it moves in it. Doth a man that holds a thing\nin the hollow of his hand, transform it by that action, and make it\nlike his hand?[665] The soul and body are more straitly united, than\nthe essence of God is, by his presence, with any creature. The soul is\nin the body as a form in matter, and from their union doth arise a man;\nyet in this near conjunction, both body and soul remain distinct; the\nsoul is not the body, nor the body the soul; they both have distinct\nnatures and essences; the body can never be changed into a soul,\nnor the soul into a body; no more can God into the creature, or the\ncreature into God. Fire is in heated iron in every part of it, so that\nit seems to be nothing but fire; yet is not fire and iron the same\nthing. But such a kind of arguing against God\u2019s omnipresence, that if\nGod were essentially present, everything would be God, would exclude\nhim from heaven as well as from earth. By the same reason, since they\nacknowledge God essentially in heaven, the heaven where he is should\nbe changed into the nature of God; and by arguing against his presence\nin earth, upon this ground they run such an inconvenience, that they\nmust own him to be nowhere, and that which is nowhere is nothing.\nDoth the earth become God, because God is essentially there, any more\nthan the heavens, where God is acknowledged by all to be essentially\npresent? Again, if where God is essentially, that must be God; then\nif they place God in a point of the heavens, not only that point must\nbe God, but all the world; because if that point be God, because God\nis there, then the point touched by that point must be God, and so\nconsequently as far as there are any points, touched by one another.\nWe live and move in God, so we live and move in the air; we are no\nmore God by that, than we are mere air because we breathe in it,\nand it enters into all the pores of our body; nay, where there was a\nstraiter union of the divine nature to the human in our Saviour, yet\nthe nature of both was distinct, and the humanity was not changed into\nthe divinity, nor the divinity into the humanity.\n\n5. Nor doth it follow, that because God is everywhere, therefore\n{a390} a creature may be worshipped without idolatry. Some of the\nheathens who acknowledged God\u2019s omnipresence, abused it to the\ncountenancing idolatry; because God was resident in everything,\nthey thought everything might be worshipped; and some have used it\nas an argument against this doctrine; the best doctrines may by men\u2019s\ncorruption be drawn out into unreasonable and pernicious conclusions.\nHave you not met with any, that from the doctrine of God\u2019s free mercy,\nand our Saviour\u2019s satisfactory death, have drawn poison to feed\ntheir lusts, and consume their souls?\u2015\u2015a poison composed by their own\ncorruption, and not offered by those truths. The Apostle intimates\nto us, that some did, or at least were ready to be more lavish in\nsinning, because God was abundant in grace;[666] \u201cShall we continue\nin sin, that grace may abound?\u201d when he prevents an objection that he\nthought might be made by some: but as to this case, since though God\nbe present in everything, yet everything retains its nature distinct\nfrom the nature of God; therefore it is not to have a worship due to\nthe excellency of God. As long as anything remains a creature, it is\nonly to have the respect from us, which is due to it in the rank of\ncreatures. When a prince is present with his guard, or if he should go\narm in arm with a peasant, is, therefore, the veneration and honor due\nto the prince to be paid to the peasant, or any of his guard? Would\nthe presence of the prince excuse it, or would it not rather aggravate\nit? He acknowledged such a person equal to me, by giving him my rights,\neven in my sight. Though God dwelt in the temple, would not the\nIsraelites have been accounted guilty of idolatry had they worshipped\nthe images of the cherubims, or the ark, or the altar, as objects of\nworship, which were erected only as means for his service? Is there\nnot as much reason to think God was as essentially present in the\ntemple as in heaven, since the same expressions are used of the one\nand the other? The sanctuary is called the glorious high throne (Jer.\nxvii. 13); and he is said to dwell between the cherubims (Ps. lxxx. 1),\n_i. e._ the two cherubims that were at the two ends of the mercy seat,\nappointed by God as the two sides of his throne in the sanctuary\n(Exod. xxv. 18), where he was to dwell (ver. 8), and meet, and commune,\nwith his people (ver. 22). Could this excuse Manasseh\u2019s idolatry\nin bringing in a carved image into the house of God (1 Chron.\nxxxiii. 7)? had it been a good answer to the charge, God is present\nhere, and therefore everything may be worshipped as God? If he be only\nessentially in heaven, would it not be idolatry to direct a worship\nto the heavens, or any part of it as a due object, because of the\npresence of God there? Though we look up to the heavens, where we pray\nand worship God, yet heaven is not the object of worship; the soul\nabstracts God from the creature.\n\n6. Nor is God denied by being present with those creatures which seem\nfilthy to us. Nothing is filthy in the eye of God as his creature; he\ncould never else have pronounced all good; whatsoever is filthy to us,\nyet, as it is a creature, it owes itself to the power of God: his\nessence is no more defiled by being present with it, than his {a391}\npower by producing it: no creature is foul in itself, though it may\nseem so to us. Doth not an infant lie in a womb of filthiness and\nrottenness? yet is not the power of God present with it, in working\nit curiously in the lower parts of the earth? Are his eyes defiled by\nseeing the substance when it is yet imperfect? or his hand defiled by\nwriting every member in his book (Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16)? Have not the\nvilest and most noisome things excellent medicinal virtues? How are\nthey endued with them? How are those qualities preserved in them?\nby anything without God, or no? Every artificer looks with pleasure\nupon the work he hath wrought with art and skill. Can his essence be\ndefiled by being present with them, any more than it was in giving\nthem such virtues, and preserving them in them? God measures the\nheavens and the earth with his hand; is his hand defiled by the evil\ninfluences of the planets, or the corporeal impurities of the earth?\nNothing can be filthy in the eye of God but sin, since everything else\nowes its being to him. What may appear deformed and unworthy to us,\nis not so to the Creator; he sees beauty where we see deformity; finds\ngoodness where we behold what is nauseous to us. All creatures being\nthe effects of his power, may be the objects of his presence. Can any\nplace be more foul than hell, if you take it either for the hell of\nthe damned, or for the grave where there is rottenness? yet there\nhe is (Ps. cxxxix. 8). When Satan appeared before God, and God spake\nwith him (Job i. 7), could God contract any impurity by being present\nwhere that filthy spirit was, more impure than any corporeal, noisome,\nand defiling thing can be? No; God is purity to himself in the midst\nof noisomeness; a heaven to himself in the midst of hell. Whoever\nheard of a sunbeam stained by shining upon a quagmire, any more than\nsweetened by breaking into a perfumed room?[667] Though the light\nshines upon pure and impure things, yet it mixes not itself with\neither of them; so though God be present with devils and wicked\nmen, yet without any mixture; he is present with their essence to\nsustain it and support it; not in their defection, wherein lies their\ndefilement, and which is not a physical, but a moral evil; bodily\nfilth can never touch an incorporeal substance. Spirits are not\npresent with us in the same manner that one body is present with\nanother; bodies can by a touch only, defile bodies. Is the glory of\nan angel stained by being in a coal\u2011mine? or could the angel that came\ninto the lion\u2019s den to deliver Daniel, be any more disturbed by the\nstench of the place, than he could be scratched by the paws, or torn\nby the teeth, of the beasts (Dan. vi. 22)? Their spiritual nature\nsecures them against any infection when they are ministering spirits\nto persecuted believers in their nasty prisons (Acts xii. 7). The soul\nis straitly united with the body, but it is not made white or black\nby the whiteness or blackness of its habitation. Is it infected by\nthe corporeal impurities of the body, while it continually dwells in\na sea of filthy pollution? If the body be cast into a common shore, is\nthe soul defiled by it? Can a diseased body derive a contagion to the\nspirit that animates it? Is it not often the purer by grace, the more\nthe body is infected by nature? Hezekiah\u2019s spirit was scarce ever more\nfervent {a392} with God, than when the sore, which some think to be\na plague sore, was upon him (Isa. xxxviii. 3). How can any corporeal\nfilth impair the purity of the divine essence? It may as well be said,\nthat God is not present in battles and fights for his people (Joshua\nxxiii. 10), because he would not be disturbed by the noise of cannons,\nand clashing of swords, as that he is not present in the world because\nof the ill scents. Let us therefore conclude this with the expression\nof a learned man of our own:[668] \u201cTo deny the omnipresence of God,\nbecause of ill scented places, is to measure God rather by the nicety\nof sense, than by the sagacity of reason.\u201d\n\nIV. _Use._ First, of information.\n\n1. Christ hath a divine nature. As eternity and immutability, two\nincommunicable properties of the divine nature, are ascribed to\nChrist, so also is this of omnipresence or immensity (John iii. 13):\n\u201cNo man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,\neven the Son of Man which is in heaven.\u201d Not which was, but which\nis. He comes from heaven by incarnation, and remains in heaven by\nhis divinity. He was, while he spake to Nicodemus, locally on earth,\nin regard of his humanity; but in heaven according to his deity, as\nwell as upon earth in the union of his divine and human nature. He\ndescended upon earth, but he left not heaven; he was in the world\nbefore he came in the flesh (John i. 10): \u201cHe was in the world, and\nthe world was made by him.\u201d He was in the world, as the \u201clight that\nenlightens every man that comes into the world.\u201d In the world as God,\nbefore he was in the world as man. He was then in the world as man,\nwhile he discoursed with Nicodemus; yet so, that he was also in heaven\nas God. No creature but is bounded in place, either circumscribed\nas body, or determined as spirit to be in one space, so as not to be\nin another at the same time; to leave a place where they were, and\npossess a place where they were not. But Christ is so on earth, that\nat the same time he is in heaven; he is therefore infinite. To be\nin heaven and earth at the same moment of time, is a property solely\nbelonging to the Deity, wherein no creature can be a partner with him.\nHe was in the world before he came to the world, and \u201cthe world was\nmade by him\u201d (John i. 10). His coming was not as the coming of angels,\nthat leave heaven, and begin to be on earth, where they were not\nbefore; but such a presence as can be ascribed only to God, who fills\nheaven and earth. Again, if all things were made by him, then he was\npresent with all things which were made; for where there is a presence\nof power, there is also a presence of essence, and therefore he is\nstill present; for the right and power of conservation follows the\npower of creation. And, according to this divine nature, he promiseth\nhis presence with his church (Matt. xviii. 20): \u201cThere am I in the\nmidst of them:\u201d and (Matt. xxviii. 20), \u201cI am with you alway, even to\nthe end of the world,\u201d _i. e._ by his divinity: for he had before told\nthem (Matt. xxvi. 11), that they were not to have him alway with them,\n_i. e._ according to his humanity; but in his Divine nature he is\npresent with, and walks in the midst of, the golden candlesticks. If\nwe understand it of a presence by his Spirit in the midst of {a393}\nthe church, doth it invalidate his essential presence? No; he is no\nless than the Spirit whom he sends; and therefore as little confined\nas the Spirit is, who dwells in every believer: and this may also\nbe inferred from John x. 30: \u201cMy father and I are one;\u201d not one by\nconsent, though that be included, but one in power: for he speaks\nnot of their consent, but of their joint power in keeping his people.\nWhere there is a unity of essence, there is a unity of presence.\n\n2. Here is a confirmation of the spiritual nature of God. If he were\nan infinite body, he could not fill heaven and earth, but with the\nexclusion of all creatures. Two bodies cannot be in the same space;\nthey may be near one another, but not in any of the same points\ntogether. A body bounded he hath not, for that would destroy his\nimmensity; he could not then fill heaven and earth, because a body\ncannot be at one and the same time in two different spaces; but God\ndoth not fill heaven at one time, and the earth at another, but both\nat the same time. Besides a limited body cannot be said to fill the\nwhole earth, but one particular space in the earth at a time. A body\nmay fill the earth with its virtue, as the sun, but not with its\nsubstance. Nothing can be everywhere with a corporeal weight and mass;\nbut God being infinite, is not tied to any part of the world, but\npenetrates all, and equally acts by his infinite power in all.\n\n3. Here is an argument for providence. His presence is mentioned in\nthe text, in order to his government of the affairs of the world. Is\nhe everywhere, to be unconcerned with everything? Before the world\nhad a being, God was present with himself; since the world hath\na being, he is present with his creatures, to exercise his wisdom\nin the ordering, as he did his power in the production of them.\nAs the knowledge of God is not a bare contemplation of a thing, so\nhis presence is not a bare inspection into a thing. Were it an idle\ncareless presence, it were a presence to no purpose, which cannot\nbe imagined of God. Infinite power, goodness, and wisdom, being\neverywhere present with his essence, are never without their exercise.\nHe never manifests any of his perfections, but the manifestation is\nfull of some indulgence and benefit to his creatures. It cannot be\nsupposed God should neglect those things, wherewith he is constantly\npresent in a way of efficiency and operation. He is not everywhere\nwithout acting everywhere. \u201cWherever his essence is, there is a power\nand virtue worthy of God everywhere dispensed.\u201d[669] He governs by\nhis presence what he made by his power; and is present as an agent\nwith all his works. His power and essence are together, to preserve\nthem while he pleases, as his power and his essence were together,\nto create them when he saw good to do it. Every creature hath a stamp\nof God, and his presence is necessary to keep the impression standing\nupon the creature. As all things are his works, they are the objects\nof his cares; and the wisdom he employed in framing them will not\nsuffer him to be careless of them. His presence with them engageth\nhim in honor not to be a negligent Governor. {a394} His immensity fits\nhim for government; and where there is a fitness, there is an exercise\nof government, where there are objects for the exercise of it. He is\nworthy to have the universal rule of the world; he can be present in\nall places of his empire; there is nothing can be done by any of his\nsubjects, but in his sight. As his eternity renders him King alway, so\nhis immensity renders him King everywhere. If he were only present in\nheaven, it might occasion a suspicion that he minded only the things\nof heaven, and had no concern for things below that vast body; but if\nhe be present here, his presence hath a tendency to the government of\nthose things with which he is present. We are all in him as fish in\nthe sea; and he bears all creatures in the womb of his providence, and\nthe arms of his goodness. It is most certain that his presence with\nhis people is far from being an idle one; for when he promises to be\nwith them, he adds some special cordial, as, \u201cI will be with thee,\nand bless thee\u201d (Gen. xxvi. 3.) \u201cI am with thee, and I will strengthen\nthee\u201d (Jer. xv. 20.) \u201cI will help thee, I will uphold thee\u201d (Isa. xli.\n10, 14.) Infinite goodness will never countenance a negligent presence.\n\n4. The omniscience of God is inferred from hence. If God be present\neverywhere, he must needs know what is done everywhere. It is for this\nend he proclaims himself a God filling heaven and earth, in the text,\n\u201cCan any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him, saith\nthe Lord? I have heard what the prophets say, that prophesy lies in\nmy name: if I fill heaven and earth, the most secret thing cannot be\nhid from my sight.\u201d An intelligent being cannot be everywhere present,\nand more intimate in everything, than it can be in itself; but he\nmust know what is done without, what is thought within. Nothing can be\nobscure to Him who is in every part of the world, in every part of his\ncreatures. Not a thought can start up but in his sight, who is present\nin the souls and minds of everything. How easy is it with him, to\nwhose essence the world is but a point, to know and observe everything\ndone in this world, as any of us can know what is done in one point of\nplace where we are present! If light were an understanding being, it\nwould behold and know everything done where it diffuseth itself. God\nis light (as light in a crystal glass all within it, all without it),\nand is not ignorant of what is done within and without; no ignorance\ncan be fastened upon him who hath an universal presence. Hence, by the\nway, we may take notice of the wonderful patience of God, who bears\nwith so many provocations; not from a principal of ignorance, for he\nbears with sins that are committed near him in his sight, sins that\nhe sees, and cannot but see.\n\n5. Hence may be inferred the incomprehensibility of God. He that\nfills heaven and earth cannot be contained in anything; he fills\nthe understandings of men, the understandings of angels, but is\ncomprehended by neither; it is a rashness to think to find out any\nbounds of God; there is no measuring of an infinite Being; if it were\nto be measured it were not infinite; but because it is infinite, it is\nnot to be measured. God sits above the cherubims {a395} (Ezek. x. 1),\nabove the fulness, above the brightness, not only of a human, but a\ncreated understanding. Nothing is more present than God, yet nothing\nmore hid; he is light, and yet obscurity;[670] his perfections are\nvisible, yet unsearchable; we know there is an infinite God, but\nit surpasseth the compass of our minds; we know there is no number\nso great, but another may be added to it; but no man can put it in\npractice, without losing himself in a maze of figures. What is the\nreason we comprehend not many, nay, most things in the world? partly\nfrom the excellency of the object, and partly from the imperfection of\nour understandings. How can we then comprehend God, who exceeds all,\nand is exceeded by none; contains all, and is contained by none; is\nabove our understanding, as well as above our sense? as considered in\nhimself infinite; as considered in comparison with our understandings,\nincomprehensible; who can, with his eye, measure the breadth, length\nand depth of the sea, and at one cast, view every dimension of the\nheavens? God is greater, and we cannot know him (Job xxxvi. 26); he\nfills the understanding as he fills heaven and earth; yet is above the\nunderstanding as he is above heaven and earth. He is known by faith,\nenjoyed by love, but comprehended by no mind. God is not contained in\nthat one syllable, God; by it we apprehend an excellent and unlimited\nnature; himself only understands himself, and can unveil himself.\n\n6. How wonderful is God, and how nothing are creatures! \u201cAscribe\nthe greatness to our God\u201d (Deut. xxxiii. 3); he is admirable in the\nconsideration of his power, in the extent of his understanding, and no\nless wonderful in the immensity of his essence: that, as Austin saith,\nhe is in the world, yet not confined to it; he is out of the world,\nyet not debarred from it; he is above the world, yet not elevated\nby it; he is below the world, yet not depressed by it; he is above\nall, equalled by none; he is in all, not because he needs them, but\nthey stand in need of him; this, as well as eternity, makes a vast\ndisproportion between God and the creature: the creature is bounded\nby a little space, and no space is so great as to bound the Creator.\nBy this we may take a prospect of our own nothingness: as in the\nconsideration of God\u2019s holiness we are minded of our own impurity;\nand in the thoughts of his wisdom have a view of our own folly; and\nin the meditation of his power, have a sense of our weakness; so his\nimmensity should make us, according to our own nature, appear little\nin our own eyes. What little, little, little things are we to God!\nless than an atom in the beams of the sun; poor drops to a God that\nfills heaven and earth, and yet dare we to strut against him, and\ndash ourselves against a rock? If the consideration of ourselves in\ncomparison with others, be apt to puff us up, the consideration of\nourselves in comparison with God, will be sufficient to pull us down.\nIf we consider him in the greatness of his essence, there is but\nlittle more proportion between him and us, than between being and\nnot being, than between a drop and the ocean. How should we never\nthink of God without a holy admiration of his greatness, {a396} and a\ndeep sense of our own littleness! and as the angels cover their faces\nbefore him, with what awe should creeping worms come into his sight!\nand since God fills heaven and earth with his presence, we should fill\nheaven and earth with his glory; for this end he created angels to\npraise him in heaven, and men to worship him on earth, that the places\nhe fills with his presence may be filled with his praise: we should be\nswallowed up in admiration of the immensity of God, as men are at the\nfirst sight of the sea, when they behold a mass of waters, without\nbeholding the bounds and immense depth of it.\n\n7. How much is this attribute of God forgotten or contemned! We\npretend to believe him to be present everywhere, and yet many live\nas if he were present nowhere.\n\n(1.) It is commonly forgotten, or not believed. All the extravagances\nof men may be traced to the forgetfulness of this attribute as\ntheir spring. The first speech Adam spake in paradise after his fall,\ntestified his unbelief of this (Gen. iii. 10); \u201cI heard thy voice in\nthe garden, and I hid myself;\u201d his ear understood the voice of God,\nbut his mind did not conclude the presence of God; he thought the\ntrees could shelter him from Him whose eye was present in the minutest\nparts of the earth; he that thought after his sin, that he could hide\nhimself from the presence of his justice, thought before that he could\nhide himself from the presence of his knowledge; and being deceived in\nthe one, he would try what would be the fruit of the other. In both he\nforgets, if not denies, this attribute; either corrupt notions of God,\nor a slight belief of what in general men assent unto, gives birth to\nevery sin. In all transgressions there is something of atheism; either\ndenying the being of God, or a dash upon some perfection of God;\u2015\u2015a\nnot believing his holiness to hate it, his truth that threatens, his\njustice to punish it, and his presence to observe it. Though God be\nnot afar off in his essence, he is \u201cafar off in the apprehension of\nthe sinner.\u201d[671] There is no wicked man, but if he be an atheist, he\nis a heretic; and to gratify his lust, will fancy himself to be out of\nthe presence of his Judge. His reason tells him, God is present with\nhim, his lust presseth him to embrace the season of sensual pleasure;\nhe will forsake his reason, and prove a heretic, that he may be an\nundisturbed sinner; and sins doubly, both in the error of his mind,\nand the vileness of his practice; he will conceit God with those in\nJob, \u201cveiled with thick clouds\u201d (Job xxii. 14), and not able to pierce\ninto the lower world, as if his presence and cares were confined to\ncelestial things, and the earth were too low a sphere for his essence\nto reach, at least with any credit. It is forgotten by good men, when\nthey fear too much the designs of their enemies; \u201cFear not, for I\nam with thee\u201d (Isa. xliii. 5). If the presence of God be enough to\nstrengthen against fear, then the prevailing of fear issues from our\nforgetfulness of it.\n\n(2.) This attribute of God\u2019s omnipresence is for the most part\ncontemned. When men will commit that in the presence of God which\nthey would be afraid or ashamed to do before the eye of man, men do\nnot practice that modesty before God as before men. He that {a397}\nwould restrain his tongue out of fear of men\u2019s eye, will not restrain\neither tongue or hands out of fear of God\u2019s. What is the language\nof this, but that God is not present with us, or his presence ought\nto be of less regard with us, and influence upon us, than that of a\ncreature?[672] Ask the thief why he dares to steal? will he not answer,\n\u201cNo eye sees him?\u201d Ask the adulterer why he strips himself of his\nchastity, and invades the rights of another? will he not answer (Job\nxxiv. 15), \u201cNo eye sees me?\u201d He disguiseth himself to be unseen by\nman, but slights the all\u2011seeing eye of God. If only a man know them,\nthey are in terror of the shadow of death; they are planet\u2011struck,\nbut stand unshaken at the presence of God (Job xxiv. 17). Is not this\nto account God as limited as man\u2015\u2015as ignorant, as absenting, as if\nGod were something less than those things which restrain us? \u2019Tis a\ndebasing God below a creature. If we can forbear sin from an awe of\nthe presence of man, to whom we are equal in regard of nature, or from\nthe presence of a very mean man, to whom we are superior in regard of\ncondition, and not forbear it because we are within the ken of God, we\nrespect him not only as our inferior, but inferior to the meanest man\nor child of his creation, in whose sight we would not commit the like\naction: it is to represent him as a sleepy, negligent, or careless\nGod; as though anything might be concealed from him, before whom\nthe least fibres of the heart are anatomised and open, who sees as\nplainly midnight as noon\u2011day sins (Heb. iv. 13). Now this is a high\naggravation of sin: to break a king\u2019s laws, in his sight, is more bold\nthan to violate them behind his back; as it was Haman\u2019s offence when\nhe lay upon Esther\u2019s bed, to force the queen before the king\u2019s face.\nThe least iniquity receives a high tincture from this; and no sin can\nbe little that is an affront in the face of God, and casting the filth\nof the creature before the eyes of his holiness: as if a wife should\ncommit adultery before her husband\u2019s face, or a slave dishonor his\nmaster, and disobey his commands in his presence. And hath it not\noften been thus with us? have we not been disloyal to God in his sight,\nbefore his eyes, those pure eyes that cannot behold iniquity without\nanger and grief? (Isa. lxv. 12), \u201cYe did evil before my eyes.\u201d Nathan\nchargeth this home upon David (2 Sam. xii. 9), \u201cThou hast despised the\ncommandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight;\u201d and David, in his\nrepentance, reflects upon himself for it (Ps. li. 4); \u201cAgainst thee,\nthee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.\u201d I observed\nnot thy presence, I neglected thee while thy eye was upon me. And this\nconsideration should sting our hearts in all our confessions of our\ncrimes. Men will be afraid of the presence of others, whatsoever they\nthink in their heart. How unworthily do we deal with God, in not\ngiving him so much as an eye\u2011service, which we do man!\n\n8. How terrible should the thoughts of this attribute be to\nsinners! How foolish is it, to imagine any hiding\u2011place from the\nincomprehensible God, who fills and contains all things, and is\npresent in every point of the world![673] When men have shut the door,\nand {a398} made all darkness within, to meditate or commit a crime,\nthey cannot in the most intricate recesses be sheltered from the\npresence of God. If they could separate themselves from their own\nshadows, they could not avoid his company, or be obscured from his\nsight.[674] Hypocrites cannot disguise their sentiments from him; he\nis in the most secret nook of their hearts. No thought is hid, no lust\nis secret, but the eye of God beholds this, and that, and the other.\nHe is present with our heart when we imagine, with our hands when we\nact. We may exclude the sun from peeping into our solitudes, but not\nthe eyes of God from beholding our actions. \u201cThe eyes of the Lord\nare in every place, beholding the evil and good\u201d (Prov. xv. 3). He\nlies in the depths of our souls, and sees afar off our designs before\nwe have conceived them. He is in the greatest darkness, as well as\nthe clearest light; in the closest thought of the mind, as well as\nthe openest expressions. Nothing can be hid from him, no, not in the\ndarkest cells or thickest walls. \u201cHe compasseth our path wherever we\nare\u201d (Ps. cxxxix. 3), and \u201cis acquainted with all our ways.\u201d He is\nas much present with wicked men to observe their sins, as he is to\ndetest them. Where he is present in his essence, he is present in his\nattributes: his holiness to hate, and his justice to punish, if he\nplease to speak the word. It is strange men should not be mindful\nof this, when their very sins themselves might put them in mind of\nhis presence. Whence hast thou the power to act? who preserves thy\nbeing, whereby thou art capable of committing that evil? Is it not\nhis essential presence that sustains us, and his arm that supports\nus? and where can any man fly from his presence? Not the vast regions\nof heaven could shelter a sinning angel from his eye: how was Adam\nferreted out of his hiding\u2011places in paradise? Nor can we find the\ndepths of the sea a sufficient covering to us. If we were with Jonah,\ncloseted up in the belly of a whale; if we had the \u201cwings of the\nmorning,\u201d as quick a motion as the light at the dawning of the day,\nthat doth in an instant surprise and overpower the regions of darkness,\nand could pass to the utmost parts of the earth or hell, there we\nshould find him, there his eye would be upon us, there would his hand\nlay hold of us, and lead us as a conqueror triumphing over a captive\n(Ps. cxxxix. 8\u201210). Nay, if we could leap out of the compass of heaven\nand earth, we should find as little reserves from him: he is without\nthe world in those infinite spaces which the mind of man can imagine.\nIn regard of his immensity, nothing in being can be distant from him,\nwheresoever it is.\n\nSecond, _Use_ is for comfort. That God is present everywhere, is as\nmuch a comfort to a good man, as it is a terror to a wicked one. He\nis everywhere for his people, not only by a necessary perfection of\nhis nature, but an immense diffusion of his goodness. He is in all\ncreatures as their preserver: in the damned, as their terror; in his\npeople, as their protector. He fills hell with his severity, heaven\nwith his glory, his people with his grace. He is with his people\nas light in darkness, a fountain in a garden, as manna in the ark.\nGod is in the world as a spring of preservation; in the church as\nhis {a399} cabinet, his spring of grace and consolation. A man is\npresent sometimes in his field, but more delightfully in his garden.\nA vine yard, as it hath more of cost, so more of care, and a watchful\npresence of the owner (Isa. xxvii. 3); \u201cI, the Lord, do keep it,\u201d viz.\nhis vineyard; \u201cI will water it every moment, lest any hurt it: I will\nkeep it night and day.\u201d As there is a presence of essence, which is\nnatural, so there is a presence of grace, which is federal: a presence\nby covenant; \u201cI will not leave thee, I will be with thee.\u201d This latter\ndepends upon the former; for, take away the immensity of God, and\nyou leave no foundation for his universal gracious presence with his\npeople in all their emergencies, in all their hearts. And, therefore,\nwhere he is present in his essence, he cannot be absent in his grace,\nfrom them that fear him. It is from his filling heaven and earth he\nproves his knowledge of the designs of the false prophets; and from\nthe same topic may as well be inferred the employment of his power and\ngrace for his people.\n\n1. The omnipresence of God is a comfort in all violent temptations.\nNo fiery dart can be so present with us, as God is present both with\nthat and the marksman. The most raging devils cannot be so near us, as\nGod is to us and them. He is present with his people to relieve them,\nand present with the devil to manage him to his own holy purposes: so\nhe was with Job, defeating his enemies, and bringing him triumphantly\nout of those pressing trials. This presence is such a terror, that\nwhatsoever the devil can despoil us of, he must leave this untouched.\nHe might scratch the apostle with a thorn (2 Cor. xii. 7, 9), but\nhe could not rifle him of the presence of divine grace, which God\npromised him. He must prevail so far as to make God cease to be God,\nbefore he can make him to be distant from us; and while this cannot\nbe, the devils and men can no more hinder the emanations of God to the\nsoul, than a child can cut off the rays of the sun from embellishing\nthe earth. It is no mean support for a good man, at any time, buffeted\nby a messenger of Satan, to think God stands near him, and behold\nhow ill he is used. It would be a satisfaction to a king\u2019s favorite,\nin the midst of the violence some enemies might use to him upon a\nsurprise, to understand that the king who loves him stands behind\na curtain, and through a hole sees the injuries he suffers: and were\nthe devil as considering as he is malicious, he could not but be in\ngreat fear at God\u2019s being in the generation of the righteous, as his\nserpentine seed is (Prov. iii. 6): \u201cThey were in great fear, for God\nis in the generation of the righteous.\u201d\n\n2. The omnipresence of God is a comfort in sharp afflictions. Good\nmen have a comfort in this presence in their nasty prisons, oppressing\ntribunals; in the overflowing waters or scorching flames he is still\nwith them (Isa. xliii. 2); and many times by his presence keeps\nthe bush from consuming, when it seems to be all in a flame. In\nafflictions God shows himself most present, when friends are most\nabsent: \u201cWhen my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord shall\ntake me up\u201d (Ps. xxvii. 10), then God will stoop and gather me into\nhis protection; or, (Heb.) \u201cshall gather me,\u201d alluding to those tribes\nthat were to bring up the rear in the Israelites\u2019 march, to take\ncare that {a400} none were left behind, and exposed to famine or wild\nbeasts, by reason of some disease that disenabled them to keep pace\nwith their brethren. He that is the sanctuary of his people in all\ncalamities, is more present with them to support them, than their\nadversaries can be present with them to afflict them (Psal. xlvi. 2),\na present help in the time of trouble; He is present with all things\nfor this end; though his presence be a necessary presence in regard of\nthe immensity of his nature, yet the end of this presence in regard\nthat it is for the good of his people, is a voluntary presence. It is\nfor the good of man he is present in the lower world, and principally\nfor the good of his people, for whose sake he keeps up the world (2\nChron. xvi. 9). \u201cHis eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth,\nto show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect\ntowards him.\u201d If he doth not deliver good men from afflictions, he\nwill be so present as to manage them in them, as that his glory shall\nissue from them, and their grace be brightened by them.[675] What a\nman was Paul when he was lodged in a prison, or dragged to the courts\nof judicature, when he was torn with rods, or laden with chains! then\ndid he show the greatest miracles, made the judge tremble upon the\nbench, and brake the heart, though not the prison, of the jailor;\nso powerful is the presence of God in the pressures of his people.\nThis presence outweighs all other comforts, and is more valuable\nto a Christian than barns of corn, or cellars of wine can be to a\ncovetous man (Ps. iv. 7): it was this presence was David\u2019s cordial\nin the mutinying of his soldiers (1 Sam. xxx. 6). What a comfort is\nthis in exile, or a forced desertion of our habitations! Good men may\nbe banished from their country, but never from the presence of their\nProtector; ye cannot say of any corner of the earth, or of any dungeon\nin a prison, God is not here; if you were cast out of your country\na thousand miles off, you are not out of God\u2019s precinct; his arm is\nthere to cherish the good, as well as to drag out the wicked; it is\nthe same God, the same presence in every country, as well as the same\nsun, moon, and stars; and were not God everywhere, yet he could not be\nmeaner than his creature the sun in the firmament, which visits every\npart of the habitable world in twenty\u2011four hours.\n\n3. The omnipresence of God is a comfort in all duties of worship. He\nis present to observe, and present to accept our petitions, and answer\nour suits. Good men have not only the essential presence, which is\ncommon to all, but his gracious presence; not only the presence that\nflows from his nature, but that which flows from his promise; his\nessential presence makes no difference between this and that man in\nregard of spirituals, without this in conjunction with it; his nature\nis the cause of the presence of his essence; his will engaged by his\ntruth is the cause of the presence of his grace. He promised to meet\nthe Israelites in the place where he should set his name, and in all\nplaces where he doth record it (Exod. xx. 4). \u201cIn all places where\nI record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee;\u201d in\nevery place where I shall manifest the special presence of my divinity.\nIn all places, hands may be lifted up, without doubting of his ability\nto hear; he dwells in the contrite hearts, wherever {a401} it is\nmost in the exercise of contrition; which is usually in times of\nspecial worship (Isa. lvii. 15), and that to revive and refresh them.\nHabitation notes a special presence, though he dwell in the highest\nheavens in the sparklings of his glory, he dwells also in the lowest\nhearts in the beams of his grace; as none can expel him from his\ndwelling in heaven, so none can reject him from his residence in the\nheart. The tabernacle had his peculiar presence fixed to it (Levit.\nxxvi. 11); his soul should not abhor them, as they are washed by\nChrist, though they are loathsome by sin: in a greater dispensation\nthere cannot be a less presence, since the church under the New\nTestament is called the temple of the Lord, wherein he will both dwell\nand walk (2 Cor. vi. 6); or, I will indwell in them; as if he should\nsay, I will dwell in and in them; I will dwell in them by grace, and\nwalk in them by exciting their graces; he will be more intimate with\nthem than their own souls, and converse with them as the living God,\n_i. e._ as a God that hath life in himself, and life to convey to them\nin their converse with him; and show his spiritual glory among them\nin a greater measure than in the temple, since that was but a heap\nof stones, and the figure of the Christian church the mystical body\nof his Son. His presence is not less in the substance than it was in\nthe shadow; this presence of God in his ordinances, is the glory of a\nchurch, as the presence of a king is the glory of a court, the defence\nof it, too, as a wall of fire (Zech. ii. 5); alluding to the fire\ntravellers in a wilderness made to fright away wild beasts. It is\nnot the meanness of the place of worship can exclude him; the second\ntemple was not so magnificent as the first of Solomon\u2019s erecting, and\nthe Jews seemed to despond of so glorious a presence of God in the\nsecond, as they had in the first, because they thought it not so good\nfor the entertainment of Him that inhabits eternity; but God comforts\nthem against this conceit again and again (Hag. ii. 3, 4): \u201cbe strong,\nbe strong, be strong, I am with you;\u201d the meanness of the place shall\nnot hinder the grandeur of my presence, no matter what the room is,\nso it be the presence\u2011chamber of the king, wherein he will favor\nour suits; he can everywhere slide into our souls with a perpetual\nsweetness, since he is everywhere, and so, intimate with every one\nthat fears him. If we should see God on earth in his amiableness, as\nMoses did, should we not be encouraged by his presence, to present our\nrequests to him, to echo out our praises of him? and have we not as\ngreat a ground now to do it, since he is as really present with us, as\nif he were visible to us? he is in the same room with us, as near to\nus as our souls to our bodies, not a word but he hears, not a motion\nbut he sees, not a breath but he perceives; he is through all, he is\nin all.\n\n4. The omnipresence of God is a comfort in all special services. God\nnever puts any upon a hard task, but he makes promises to encourage\nthem and assist them, and the matter of the promise is that of his\npresence; so he did assure the prophets of old when he set them\ndifficult tasks, and strengthened Moses against the face of Pharaoh,\nby assuring him \u201che would be with his mouth\u201d (Exod. iv. 12); and\nwhen Christ put his apostles upon a contest with the whole world, to\npreach a gospel that would be foolishness to the Greeks, {a402} and\na stumbling block to the Jews, he gives them a cordial only composed\nof his presence (Matt. xxviii. 20), I will be with you; it is this\npresence scatters by its light the darkness of our spirits; it is\nthis that is the cause of what is done for his glory in the world; it\nis this that mingles itself with all that is done for his honor; it is\nthis from whence springs all the assistance of his creatures, marked\nout for special purposes.\n\n5. This presence is not without the special presence of all his\nattributes. Where his essence is, his perfections are, because they\nare one with his essence; yea, they are his essence, though they\nhave their several degrees of manifestation. As in the covenant, he\nmakes over himself, not a part of himself, but his whole deity; so in\npromising of his presence, he means not a part of it, but the whole,\nthe presence of all the excellencies of his nature to be manifested\nfor our good. It is not a piece of God is here and another parcel\nthere, but God in his whole essence and perfections; in his wisdom to\nguide us, his power to protect and support us, his mercy to pity us,\nhis fulness to refresh us, and his goodness to relieve us: he is ready\nto sparkle out in this or that perfection, as the necessities of his\npeople require, and his own wisdom directs for his own honor; so that\nbeing not far from us in an excellency of his nature, we can quickly\nhave recourse to him upon any emergency; so that if we are miserable,\nwe have the presence of his goodness; if we want direction, we have\nthe presence of his wisdom; if we are weak, we have the presence of\nhis power; and should we not rejoice in it, as a man doth in the\npresence of a powerful, wealthy, and compassionate friend?\n\nThird, _Use._ Of Exhortation.\n\n1. Let us be much in the actual thoughts of this truth. How should\nwe enrich our understandings with the knowledge of the excellency of\nGod, whereof this is none of the least; nor hath less of honey in its\nbowels, though it be more terrible to the wicked than the presence\nof a lion; it is this that makes all other excellencies of the divine\nnature sweet. What would grace, wisdom, power, signify at a distance\nfrom us? Let us frame in our minds a strong idea of it; it is this\nmakes so great a difference between the actions of one man and another;\none maintains actual thoughts of it, another doth not: though all\nbelieve it as a perfection pertaining to the infiniteness of his\nessence. David, or rather a greater than David, had God always before\nhim; there was no time, no occasion, wherein he did not stir up some\nlively thoughts of him (Ps. xvi. 8). Let us have right notions of it;\nimagine not God as a great King, sitting only in his majesty in heaven;\nacting all by his servants and ministers. This, saith one,[676] is\na childish and unworthy conceit of God, and may in time bring such\na conceiver by degrees to deny his providence; the denial of this\nperfection is an axe at the root of religion; if it be not deeply\nimprinted in the mind, personal religion grows faint and feeble.\nWho would fear that God that is not imagined to be a witness of his\nactions? Who would worship a God at a distance both from the worship\nand the worshipper?[677] Let us believe this truth, {a403} but not\nwith an idle faith, as if we did not believe it. Let us know, that as\nwheresoever the fish moves, it is in the water; wheresoever the bird\nmoves, it is in the air; so wheresoever we move, we are in God. As\nthere is not a moment but we are under his mercy, so there is not a\nmoment that we are out of his presence. Let us therefore look upon\nnothing, without thinking who stands by, without reflecting upon him\nin whom it lives, moves and hath its being. When you view a man, you\nfix your eyes upon his body, but your mind upon that invisible part\nthat acts every member by life and motion, and makes them fit for your\nconverse. Let us not bound our thoughts to the creatures we see, but\npierce through the creature to that boundless God we do not see: we\nhave continual remembrances of his presence; the light, whereby we see,\nand the air, whereby we live, give us perpetual notices of it, and\nsome weak resemblance; why should we forget it? yea, what a shame is\nour unmindfulness of it, when every cast of our eye, every motion of\nour lungs, jogs us to remember it? Light is in every part of the air,\nin every part of the world, yet not mixed with any, both remain entire\nin their own substance. Let us not be worse than some of the heathens,\nwho pressed this notion upon themselves for the spiriting their\nactions with virtue, that all places were full of God. This was the\nmeans Basil used to prescribe, upon a question asked him, How shall we\ndo to be serious? mind God\u2019s presence. How shall we avoid distractions\nin service? think of God\u2019s presence. How shall we resist temptation?\noppose to them the presence of God.[678]\n\n(1.) This will be a shield against all temptations. God is present,\nis enough to blunt the weapons of hell; this will secure us from a\nready compliance with any base and vile attractives, and curb that\nheadstrong principle in our nature, that would join hands with them;\nthe thoughts of this would, like the powerful presence of God with\nthe Israelites, take off the wheels from the chariots of our sensitive\nappetites, and make them perhaps move slower, at least, towards a\ntemptation. How did Peter fling off the temptation which had worsted\nhim, upon a look from Christ! The actuated faith of this would\nstifle the darts of Satan, and fire us with an anger against his\nsolicitations, as strong as the fire that inflames the darts. Moses\u2019\nsight of Him that was invisible, strengthened him against the costly\npleasures and luxuries of a prince\u2019s court (Heb. xi. 27). We are\nutterly senseless of a Deity, if we are not moved with this item\nfrom our consciences, God is present. Had our first parents actually\nconsidered the nearness of God to them, when they were tempted to eat\nof the forbidden fruit, they had not probably been so easily overcome\nby the temptation. What soldier would be so base as to revolt under\nthe eye of a tender and obliging general? or what man so negligent of\nhimself, as to rob a house in the sight of a judge? Let us consider\nthat God is as near to observe us, as the devil to solicit us, yea,\nnearer; the devil stands by us, but God is in us; we may have a\nthought the devil knows not, but not a thought but God is actually\npresent with, as our souls are with the thoughts they think; nor\ncan any creature attract our heart, if our minds were fixed on that\ninvisible presence {a404} that contributes to that excellency, and\nsustains it, and considered that no creature could be so present with\nus as the Creator is.\n\n(2.) It will be a spur to holy actions. What man would do an unworthy\naction, or speak an unhandsome word, in the presence of his prince?\nThe eye of the general inflames the spirit of a soldier. Why did David\nkeep God\u2019s testimonies (Ps. cxix. 168)? because he considered that\nall his ways were before him; because he was persuaded his ways were\npresent with God; God\u2019s precepts should be present with him. The same\nwas the cause of Job\u2019s integrity (Job xxxi. 4): \u201cDoth he not see my\nways?\u201d To have God in our eye is the way to be sincere (Gen. xvii. 1);\n\u201cwalk before me\u201d as in my sight, \u201cand be thou perfect.\u201d Communion with\nGod consists chiefly in an ordering our ways as in the presence of him\nthat is invisible. This would make us spiritual, raised and watchful\nin all our passions, if we considered that God is present with us\nin our shops, in our chambers, in our walks, and in our meetings, as\npresent with us as with the angels in heaven; who, though they have\na presence of glory above us, yet have not a greater measure of his\nessential presence than we have. What an awe had Jacob upon him when\nhe considered God was present in Bethel (Gen. xxviii. 16, 17)! If\nGod should appear visibly to us when we were alone, should we not be\nreverend and serious before him? God is everywhere about us, he doth\nencompass us with his presence. Should not God\u2019s seeing us have the\nsame influence upon us as our seeing God? He is not more essentially\npresent if he should so manifest himself to us, than when he doth\nnot. Who would appear besmeared in the presence of a great person? or\nnot be ashamed to be found in his chamber in a nasty posture by some\nvisitant? Would not a man blush to be catched about some mean action,\nthough it were not an immoral crime? If this truth were impressed upon\nour spirits, we should more blush to have our souls daubed with some\nloathsome lust; swarms of sin, like Egyptian lice and frogs, creeping\nabout our heart in his sight. If the most sensual man be ashamed to\ndo a dishonest action in the sight of a grave and holy man, one of\ngreat reputation for wisdom and integrity, how much more should we\nlift up ourselves in the ways of God, who is infinite and immense, is\neverywhere, and infinitely superior to man, and more to be regarded!\nWe could not seriously think of his presence but there would pass some\nintercourse between us; we should be putting up some petition upon\nthe sense of our indigence, or sending up our praises to him upon the\nsense of his bounty. The actual thoughts of the presence of God is the\nlife and spirit of all religion; we could not have sluggish spirits\nand a careless watch if we considered that his eye is upon us all the\nday.\n\n(3.) It will quell distractions in worship. The actual thoughts of\nthis would establish our thoughts, and pull them back when they begin\nto rove: the mind could not boldly give God the slip if it had lively\nthoughts of it; the consideration of this would blow off all the\nfroth that lies on the top of our spirits. An eye, taken up with the\npresence of one object, is not at leisure to be filled with another:\nhe that looks intently upon the sun, shall have nothing for a while\nbut the sun in his eye. Oppose to every intruding thought {a405} the\nidea of the Divine omnipresence, and put it to silence by the awe of\nhis Majesty. When the master is present, scholars mind their books,\nkeep their places, and run not over the forms to play with one another;\nthe master\u2019s eye keeps an idle servant to his work, that otherwise\nwould be gazing at every straw, and prating to every passenger. How\nsoon would the remembrance of this dash all extravagant fancies out of\ncountenance, just as the news of the approach of a prince would make\nthe courtiers bustle up themselves, huddle up their vain sports, and\nprepare themselves for a reverent behavior in his sight! We should not\ndare to give God a piece of our heart when we apprehended him present\nwith the whole: we should not dare to mock one that we knew were more\ninwards with us than we are with ourselves, and that beheld every\nmotion of our mind, as well as action of our body.\n\n2. Let us endeavor for the more special and influential presence\nof God. Let the essential presence of God be the ground of our awe,\nand his gracious influential presence the object of our desire. The\nheathen thought themselves secure if they had their little petty\nhousehold gods with them in their journeys: such seem to be the images\nRachel stole from her father (Gen. xxxi. 19) to company her travel\nwith their blessings: she might not at that time have cast off all\nrespect to those idols, in the acknowledgment of which she had been\neducated from her infancy; and they seem to be kept by her till God\ncalled Jacob to Bethel, after the rape of Dinah (Gen. xxxv. 4), when\nJacob called for the strange gods, and hid them under the oak. The\ngracious presence of God we should look after, in our actions, as\ntravellers, that have a charge of money or jewels, desire to keep\nthemselves in company that may protect them from highwaymen that would\nrifle them. Since we have the concerns of the eternal happiness of our\nsouls upon our hands, we should endeavor to have God\u2019s merciful and\npowerful presence with us in all our ways (Ps. xiv. 5); \u201cIn all thy\nways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths:\u201d acknowledge him\nbefore any action, by imploring; acknowledge him after, by rendering\nhim the glory; acknowledge his presence before worship, in worship,\nafter worship: it is this presence makes a kind of heaven upon earth;\ncauseth affliction to put off the nature of misery. How much will the\npresence of the sun outshine the stars of lesser comforts, and fully\nanswer the want of them! The ark of God going before us, can only make\nall things successful. It was this led the Israelites over Jordan,\nand settled them in Canaan. Without this we signify nothing: though\nwe live without this, we cannot be distinguished forever from devils;\nhis essential presence they have; and if we have no more, we shall be\nno better. It is the enlivening fructifying presence of the sun that\nrevives the languishing earth; and this only can repair our ruined\nsoul. Let it be, therefore, our desire, that as he fills heaven and\nearth by his essence, he may fill our understandings and wills by his\ngrace, that we may have another kind of presence with us than animals\nhave in their brutish state, or devils in their chains: his essential\npresence maintains our beings, but his gracious presence confers and\ncontinues a happiness.\n\n\n\n\n{a406}                     DISCOURSE VIII.\n\n                         ON GOD\u2019S KNOWLEDGE.\n\n  Psalm cxlvii. 5.\u2015\u2015Great is our Lord, and of great power; his\n    understanding is infinite.\n\n\nIt is uncertain who was the author of this psalm, and when it was\npenned; some think after the return from the Babylonish captivity.\nIt is a psalm of praise, and is made up of matter of praise from the\nbeginning to the end: God\u2019s benefits to the church, his providence\nover his creatures, and the essential excellency of his nature.\n\nThe psalmist doubles his exhortation to praise God (ver. 1), \u201cPraise\nye the Lord, sing praise to our God;\u201d to praise him from his dominion\nas \u201cLord,\u201d from his grace and mercy as \u201cour God;\u201d from the excellency\nof the duty itself, \u201cit is good, it is comely:\u201d some read it comely,\nsome lovely, or desirable, from the various derivations of the word.\nNothing doth so much delight a gracious soul, as an opportunity\nof celebrating the perfections and goodness of the Creator. The\nhighest duties a creature can render to the Creator are pleasant\nand delightful in themselves; \u201cit is comely.\u201d Praise is a duty that\naffects the whole soul. The praise of God is a decent thing; the\nexcellency of God\u2019s nature deserves it, and the benefits of God\u2019s\ngrace requires it. It is comely when done as it ought to be, with the\nheart as well as with the voice; a sinner sings ill, though his voice\nbe good; the soul in it is to be elevated above earthly things. The\nfirst matter of praise is God\u2019s erecting and preserving his church\n(ver. 2): \u201cThe Lord doth build up Jerusalem, he gathers together\nthe outcasts of Israel.\u201d The walls of demolished Jerusalem are now\nre\u2011edified; God hath brought back the captivity of Jacob, and reduced\nhis people from their Babylonish exile, and those that were dispersed\ninto strange regions, he hath restored to their habitations. Or, it\nmay be prophetic of the calling of the Gentiles, and the gathering\nthe outcasts of the spiritual Israel, that were before as without God\nin the world, and strangers to the covenant of promise. Let God be\npraised, but especially for building up his church, and gathering the\nGentiles, before counted as outcasts (Isa. xi. 12); he gathers them\nin this world to the faith, and hereafter to glory.\n\n_Obs. 1._ From the two first verses, observe: 1. All people are\nunder God\u2019s care; but he has a particular regard to his church. This\nis the signet on his hand, as a bracelet upon his arm; this is his\ngarden which he delights to dress; if he prunes it, it is to purge\nit; {a407} if he digs about his vine, and wounds the branches, it is\nto make it beautiful with new clusters, and restore it to a fruitful\nvigor. 2. All great deliverances are to be ascribed to God, as the\nprincipal Author, whosoever are the instruments. The Lord doth build\nup Jerusalem, he gathers together the outcasts of Israel. This great\ndeliverance from Babylon is not to be ascribed to Cyrus or Darius,\nor the rest of our favorers; it is the Lord that doth it; we had his\npromise for it, we have now his performance. Let us not ascribe that\nwhich is the effect of his truth, only to the good will of men; it\nis God\u2019s act, not by might, nor by power, nor by weapons of war, or\nstrength of horses, but by the Spirit of the Lord. He sent prophets\nto comfort us while we were exiles; and now he hath stretched out his\nown arm to work our deliverance according to his word; blind man looks\nso much upon instruments, that he hardly takes notice of God, either\nin afflictions or mercies, and this is the cause that robs God of so\nmuch prayer and praise in the world. (ver. 3.) \u201cHe heals the broken\nin heart, and binds up their wounds.\u201d He hath now restored those who\nhad no hope but in his word; he hath dealt with them as a tender and\nskilful chirurgeon; he hath applied his curing plasters, and dropped\nin his sovereign balsams; he hath now furnished our fainting hearts\nwith refreshing cordials, and comforted our wounds with strengthening\nligatures. How gracious is God, that restores liberty to the captives,\nand righteousness to the penitent! Man\u2019s misery is the fittest\nopportunity for God to make his mercy illustrious in itself, and most\nwelcome to the patient. He proceeds (ver. 4), wonder not that God\ncalls together the outcasts, and singles them out from every corner\nfor a return; why can he not do this, as well as tell the number\nof the stars, and call them all by their names? There are none of\nhis people so despicable in the eye of man, but they are known and\nregarded by God; though they are clouded in the world, yet they are\nthe stars of the world; and shall God number the inanimate stars in\nthe heavens, and make no account of his living stars on the earth? No,\nwherever they are dispersed, he will not forget them; however they are\nafflicted, he will not despise them; the stars are so numerous, that\nthey are innumerable by man; some are visible and known by men; others\nlie more hid and undiscovered in a confused light, as those in the\nmilky way; man cannot see one of them distinctly. God knows all his\npeople. As he can do what is above the power of man to perform, so\nhe understands what is above the skill of man to discover; shall man\nmeasure God by his scantiness? Proud man must not equal himself to God,\nnor cut God as short as his own line. He tells the number of the stars,\nand calls them all by their names. He hath them all in his list, as\ngenerals the names of their soldiers in their muster\u2011roll, for they\nare his host, which he marshals in the heavens, as in Isaiah xl. 26,\nwhere you have the like expression; he knows them more distinctly\nthan man can know anything, and so distinctly, as to call \u201cthem all\nby their names.\u201d He knows their names, that is, their natural offices,\ninfluences the different degrees of heat and light, their order and\nmotion; and all of them, the least glimmering star, as well as the\nmost glaring planet: this, man cannot do; \u201cTell the {a408} stars\nif thou be able to number them\u201d (Gen. xv. 5), saith God to Abraham,\nwhom Josephus represents as a great astronomer: \u201cYea, they cannot be\nnumbered\u201d (Jer. xxxiii. 22); and the uncertainty of the opinions of\nmen, evidenceth their ignorance of their number; some reckoning 1022;\nothers 1025; others 1098; others 7000, beside those that by reason\nof their mixture of light with one another, cannot be distinctly\ndiscerned, and others, perhaps so high, as not to be reached by the\neye of man. To impose names on things, and names according to their\nnatures, is both an argument of power and dominion, and of wisdom\nand understanding: from the imposition of names upon the creatures by\nAdam, the knowledge of Adam is generally concluded; and it was also\na fruit of that dominion God allowed him over the creatures. Now he\nthat numbers and names the stars that seem to lie confused among one\nanother, as well as those that appear to us in an unclouded night,\nmay well be supposed accurately to know his people, though lurking in\nsecret caverns, and know those that are fit to be instruments of their\ndeliverance; the one is as easy to him as the other; and the number of\nthe one as distinctly known by him as the multitude of the other. \u201cFor\ngreat is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite\u201d\n(ver. 5). He wants not knowledge to know the objects, nor power to\neffect his will concerning them. Of great power, \u05e8\u05d1 \u05db\u05d5\u05d7. Much power,\nplenteous in power; so the word \u05e8\u05d1, is rendered (Ps. v. 15), \u05e8\u05d1 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3,\na multitude of power, as well as a multitude of mercy; a power that\nexceeds all created power and understanding. His understanding is\ninfinite. You may not imagine, how he can call all the stars by name,\nthe multitude of the visible being so great, and the multitude of the\ninvisible being greater; but you must know, that as God is Almighty,\nso he is omniscient; and as there is no end of his power, so no\naccount can exactly be given of his understanding; his understanding\nis infinite, \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05de\u05e1\u05e4\u05e8. No number or account of it; and so the same words\nare rendered, \u201ca nation strong, and without number\u201d (Joel i. 6): no\nend of his understanding: (Syriac) no measure, no bounds. His essence\nis infinite, and so is his power and understanding; and so vast is\nhis knowledge, that we can no more comprehend it, than we can measure\nspaces that are without limits, or tell the minutes or hours of\neternity. Who, then, can fathom that whereof there is no number, but\nwhich exceeds all, so that there is no searching of it out? He knows\nuniversals, he knows particulars: we must not take understanding here,\nas noting a faculty, but the use of the understanding in the knowledge\nof things, and the judgment, \u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4, in the consideration of them, and\nso it is often used. In the verse there is a description of God.\n1. In his essence, \u201cgreat is our Lord.\u201d 2. In his power of \u201cgreat\npower.\u201d 3. In his knowledge, \u201chis understanding is infinite:\u201d his\nunderstanding is his eye, and his power is his arm. Of his infinite\nunderstanding I am to discourse.\n\n_Doctrine._ God hath an infinite knowledge and understanding. All\nknowledge. Omnipresence, which before we spake of, respects his\nessence; omniscience respects his understanding, according to our\n{a409} manner of conception. This is clear in Scripture; hence God\nis called a God of knowledge (Sam. ii. 3), \u201cthe Lord is a God of\nknowledge,\u201d (_Heb._) knowledges, in the plural number, of all kind\nof knowledge; it is spoken there to quell man\u2019s pride in his own\nreason and parts; what is the knowledge of man but a spark to the\nwhole element of fire, a grain of dust, and worse than nothing, in\ncomparison of the knowledge of God, as his essence is in comparison\nof the essence of God? All kind of knowledge. He knows what angels\nknow, what man knows, and infinitely more; he knows himself, his own\noperations, all his creatures, the notions and thoughts of them; he is\nunderstanding above understanding, mind above mind, the mind of minds,\nthe light of lights; this the Greek word, \u0398\u03b5\u1f78\u03c2, signifies in the\netymology of it, of \u0398\u03b5\u03af\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9, to _see_, to contemplate; and \u03b4\u03b1\u03af\u03bc\u03c9\u03bd of\n\u03b4\u03b1\u03af\u03c9, _scio_. The names of God signify a nature, viewing and piercing\nall things; and the attribution of our senses to God in Scripture, as\nhearing and seeing, which are the senses whereby knowledge enters into\nus, signifies God\u2019s knowledge.\n\n1. The notion of God\u2019s knowledge of all things lies above the ruins\nof nature; it was not obliterated by the fall of man. It was necessary\noffending man was to know that he had a Creator whom he had injured,\nthat he had a Judge to try and punish him; since God thought fit to\nkeep up the world, it had been kept up to no purpose, had not this\nnotion been continued alive in the minds of men; there would not have\nbeen any practice of his laws, no bar to the worst of crimes. If men\nhad thought they had to deal with an ignorant Deity, there could be no\npractice of religion. Who would lift up his eyes, or spread his hands\ntowards heaven, if he imagined his devotion were directed to a God as\nblind as the heathens imagined fortune? To what boot would it be for\nthem to make heaven and earth resound with their cries, if they had\nnot thought God had an eye to see them, and an ear to hear them? And\nindeed the very notion of a God at the first blush, speaks him a Being\nendued with understanding; no man can imagine a Creator void of one\nof the noblest perfections belonging to those creatures, that are the\nflower and cream of his works.\n\n2. Therefore all nations acknowledge this, as well as the existence\nand being of God. No nation but had their temples, particular\nceremonies of worship, and presented their sacrifices, which they\ncould not have been so vain as to do, without an acknowledgment of\nthis attribute. This notion of God\u2019s knowledge owed not its rise to\ntradition, but to natural implantation; it was born and grew up with\nevery rational creature. Though the several nations and men of the\nworld agreed not in one kind of deity, or in their sentiments of his\nnature or other perfections, some judging him clothed with a fine and\npure body, others judging him an uncompounded spirit, some fixing him\nto a seat in the heavens, others owning his universal presence in all\nparts of the world; yet they all agreed in the universality of his\nknowledge, and their own consciences reflecting their crimes, unknown\nto any but themselves, would keep this notion in some vigor, whether\nthey would or no. Now this being implanted in the minds of all men by\nnature, cannot be false, for nature imprints {a410} not in the minds\nof all men an assent to a falsity. Nature would not pervert the reason\nand minds of men. Universal notions of God are from original, not\nlapsed nature, and preserved in mankind in order to a restoration from\na lapsed state. The heathens did acknowledge this: in all the solemn\ncovenants, solemnized with oaths and the invocation of the name of\nGod, this attribute was supposed.[679] They confessed knowledge to\nbe peculiar to the Deity; _scientia deorum vita_, saith Cicero. Some\ncalled him \u039d\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2, _mens_, mind, pure understanding, without any note,\n\u1f18\u03c0\u03cc\u03c0\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, the inspector of all. As they called him life, because he was\nthe author of life, so they called him _intellectus_, because he was\nthe author of all knowledge and understanding in his creatures; and\none being asked, whether any man could be hid from God? no, saith\nhe, not so much as thinking.[680] Some call him the eye of the world;\nand the Egyptians represented God by an eye on the top of a sceptre,\nbecause God is all eye, and can be ignorant of nothing.\n\nAnd the same nation made eyes and ears of the most excellent metals,\nconsecrating them to God, and hanging them up in the midst of their\ntemples, in signification of God\u2019s seeing and hearing all things;\nhence they called God light, as well as the Scripture, because all\nthings are visible to him.\n\nFor the better understanding of this, we will enquire, I. What kind\nof knowledge or understanding there is in God. II. What God knows.\nIII. How God knows things. IV. The proof that God knows all things.\nV. The use of all to ourselves.\n\nI. What kind of understanding or knowledge there is in God. The\nknowledge of God in Scripture hath various names, according to the\nvarious relations or objects of it: in respect of present things, it\nis called knowledge or sight; in respect of things past, remembrance;\nin respect of things future, or to come, it is called foreknowledge,\nor prescience (1 Pet. i. 2); in regard of the universality of\nthe objects, it is called omniscience; in regard to the simple\nunderstanding of things, it is called knowledge; in regard of acting\nand modelling the ways of acting, it is called wisdom and prudence\n(Eph. i. 8). He must have knowledge, otherwise he could not be wise;\nwisdom is the flower of knowledge, and knowledge is the root of wisdom.\nAs to what this knowledge is, if we know what knowledge is in man, we\nmay apprehend what it is in God, removing all imperfection from it,\nand ascribing to him the most eminent way of understanding; because\nwe cannot comprehend God, but as he is pleased to condescend to us\nin his own ways of discovery, that is, under some way of similitude\nto his perfectest creatures, therefore we have a notion of God by\nhis understanding and will; understanding, whereby he conceives\nand apprehends things; will, whereby he extends himself in acting\naccording to his wisdom, and whereby he doth approve or disapprove;\nyet we must not measure his understanding by our own, or think it to\nbe of so gross a temper as a created mind; that he hath eyes of flesh,\nor sees or knows as man {a411} sees (Job x. 4). We can no more measure\nhis knowledge by ours than we can measure his essence by our essence.\nAs he hath an incomprehensible essence, to which ours is but as a drop\nof a bucket, so he hath an incomprehensible knowledge, to which ours\nis but as a grain of dust, or mere darkness: his thoughts are above our\nthoughts, as the heavens are above the earth. The knowledge of God is\nvariously divided by the schools, and acknowledged by all divines.\n\n1. A knowledge _visionis et simplicis intelligenti\u00e6_; the one we may\ncall a sight, the other an understanding; the one refers to sense, the\nother to the mind. (1.) A knowledge of vision or sight. Thus God knows\nhimself and all things that really were, are, or shall be in time;\nall those things which he hath decreed to be, though they are not yet\nactually sprung up in the world, but lie couchant in their causes.\n(2.) A knowledge of intelligence or simple understanding. The object\nof this is not things that are in being, or that shall by any decree\nof God ever be existent in the world, but such things as are possible\nto be wrought by the power of God, though they shall never in the\nleast peep up into being, but lie forever wrapt up in darkness and\nnothing.[681] This also is a necessary knowledge to be allowed to God,\nbecause the object of this knowledge is necessary. The possibility\nof more creatures than ever were or shall be, is a conclusion that\nhath a necessary truth in it; as it is necessary that the power of God\ncan produce more creatures, though it be not necessary that it should\nproduce more creatures, so it is necessary that whatsoever the power\nof God can work, is possible to be. And as God knows this possibility,\nso he knows all the objects that are thus possible; and herein doth\nmuch consist the infiniteness of his knowledge, as shall be shown\npresently. These two kinds of knowledge differ; that of vision, is of\nthings which God hath decreed to be, though they are not yet; that of\nintelligence is of things which never shall be; yet they may be, or\nare possible to be, if God please to will and order their being; one\nrespects things that shall be, the other, things that may be, and\nare not repugnant to the nature of God to be. The knowledge of vision\nfollows the act of God\u2019s will, and supposeth an act of God\u2019s will\nbefore, decreeing things to be. (If we could suppose any first or\nsecond in God\u2019s decree, we might say God knew them as possible before\nhe decreed them; he knew them as future, because he decreed them.)\nFor without the will of God decreeing a thing to come to pass, God\ncannot know that it will infallibly come to pass. But the knowledge of\nintelligence stands without any act of his will, in order to the being\nof those things he knows; he knows possible things only in his power;\nhe knows other things both in his power as able to effect them, and\nin his will, as determining the being of them; such knowledge we must\ngrant to be in God, for there is such a kind of knowledge in man;\nfor man doth not only know and see what is before his eyes in this\nworld, but he may have a conception of many more worlds, and many more\ncreatures, which he knows are possible to the power of God.\n\n2. There is a speculative and practical knowledge in God. (1.) A\n{a412} speculative knowledge is, when the truth of a thing is known\nwithout a respect to any working or practical operation. The knowledge\nof things possible is in God only speculative,[682] and some say God\u2019s\nknowledge of himself is only speculative, because there is nothing\nfor God to work in himself: and though he knows himself, yet this\nknowledge of himself doth not terminate there, but flowers into a\nlove of himself, and delight in himself; yet this love of himself, and\ndelight in himself, is not enough to make it a practical knowledge,\nbecause it is natural, and naturally and necessarily flows from the\nknowledge of himself and his own goodness: he cannot but love himself,\nand delight in himself, upon the knowledge of himself. But that which\nis properly practice, is where there is a dominion over the action,\nand it is wrought not naturally and necessarily, but in a way of\nfreedom and counsel. As when we see a beautiful flower or other thing,\nthere ariseth a delight in the mind; this no man will call practice,\nbecause it is a natural affection of the will, arising from the virtue\nof the object, without any consideration of the understanding in a\npractical manner by counselling, commanding, &c. (2.) A practical\nknowledge: which tends to operation and practice, and is the principle\nof working about things that are known; as the knowledge an artificer\nhath in an art or mystery. This knowledge is in God: the knowledge\nhe hath of the things he hath decreed, is such a kind of knowledge;\nfor it terminates in the act of creation, which is not a natural and\nnecessary act, as the loving himself, and delighting in himself is,\nbut wholly free: for it was at his liberty whether he would create\nthem or no; this is called discretion (Jer. x. 12): \u201cHe hath stretched\nout the heavens by his discretion.\u201d Such also is his knowledge of\nthe things he hath created, and which are in being, for it terminates\nin the government of them for his own glorious ends. It is by this\nknowledge \u201cthe depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down their\ndew\u201d (Prov. iii. 20). This is a knowledge whereby he knows the essence,\nqualities, and properties of what he creates and governs in order to\nhis own glory, and the common good of the world over which he resides;\nso that speculative knowledge is God\u2019s knowledge of himself and things\npossible; practical knowledge is his knowledge of his creatures and\nthings governable; yet in some sort this practical knowledge is not\nonly of things that are made, but of things which are possible, which\nGod might make, though he will not: for as he knows that they can\nbe created, so he knows how they are to be created, and how to be\ngoverned, though he never will create them. This is a practical\nknowledge: for it is not requisite to constitute a knowledge practical,\nactually to act, but that the knowledge in itself be referable to\naction.[683]\n\n3. There is a knowledge of approbation, as well as apprehension.\nThis the Scripture often mentions. Words of understanding are used to\nsignify the acts of affection. This knowledge adds to the simple act\nof the understanding, the complacency and pleasure of the will, and\nis improperly knowledge, because it belongs to the will, and not to\nthe understanding; only it is radically in the understanding, because\naffection implies knowledge: men cannot approve of {a413} that which\nthey are ignorant of. Thus knowledge is taken (Amos iii. 2), \u201cYou only\nhave I known of all the families of the earth;\u201d and (2 Tim. ii. 19),\n\u201cThe Lord knows who are his,\u201d that is, he loves them; he doth not\nonly know them, but acknowledges them for his own. It notes, not\nonly an exact understanding, but a special care of them; and so is\nthat to be understood (Gen. i.), \u201cGod saw every thing that he had\nmade, and behold it was very good:\u201d that is, he saw it with an eye\nof approbation, as well as apprehension. This is grounded upon God\u2019s\nknowledge of vision, his sight of his creatures; for God doth not love\nor delight in anything but what is actually in being, or what he hath\ndecreed to bring into being. On the contrary, also, when God doth not\napprove, he is said not to know (Matt. xxv. 12), \u201cI know you not,\u201d\nand (Matt. vii. 23), \u201cI never knew you;\u201d he doth not approve of their\nworks. It is not an ignorance of understanding, but an ignorance of\nwill; for while he saith he never knew them, he testifies that he did\nknow them, in rendering the reason of his disapproving them, because\nhe knows all their works: so he knows them, and doth not know them\nin a different manner: he knows them so as to understand them, but\nhe doth not know them so as to love them. We must, then, ascribe an\nuniversal knowledge to God. If we deny him a speculative knowledge,\nor knowledge of intelligence, we destroy his Deity, we make him\nignorant of his own power: if we deny him practical knowledge, we\ndeny ourselves to be his creatures; for, as his creatures, we are the\nfruits of this, his discretion, discovered in creation: if we deny\nhis knowledge of vision, we deny his governing dominion. How can he\nexercise a sovereign and uncontrollable dominion, that is ignorant\nof the nature and qualities of the things he is to govern? If he had\nnot knowledge he could make no revelation; he that knows not cannot\ndictate; we could then have no Scripture. To deny God knowledge, is\nto dash out the Scripture, and demolish the Deity. God is described in\nZech. iii. 9, \u201cwith seven eyes,\u201d to show his perfect knowledge of all\nthings, all occurrences in the world; and the cherubims, or whatsoever\nis meant by the wings, are described to be full of eyes, both \u201cbefore\nand behind\u201d (Ezek. i. 18), round about them; much more is God all\neye, all ear, all understanding. The sun is a natural image of God;\nif the sun had an eye, it would see; if it had an understanding, it\nwould know all visible things; it would see what it shines upon, and\nunderstand what it influenceth, in the most obscure bowels of the\nearth. Doth God excel his creature, the sun, in excellency and beauty,\nand not in light and understanding? certainly more than the sun excels\nan atom or grain of dust. We may yet make some representation of this\nknowledge of God by a lower thing, a picture, which seems to look\nupon every one, though there be never so great a multitude in the\nroom where it hangs; no man can cast his eye upon it, but it seems to\nbehold him in particular, and so exactly, as if there were none but\nhim upon whom the eye of it were fixed; and every man finds the same\ncast of it: shall art frame a thing of that nature, and shall not the\nGod of art and all knowledge, be much more in reality than that is\nin imagination? Shall not God have a far greater capacity to behold\neverything in {a414} the world, which is infinitely less to him than\na wide room to a picture?\n\nII. The second thing, What God knows; how far his understanding\nreaches.\n\n1. God knows himself, and only knows himself. This is the first and\noriginal knowledge, wherein he excels all creatures. No man doth\nexactly know himself; much less doth he understand the full nature\nof a spirit; much less still the nature and perfections of God; for\nwhat proportion can there be between a finite faculty and an infinite\nobject? Herein consists the infiniteness of God\u2019s knowledge, that he\nknows his own essence, that he knows that which is unknowable to any\nelse. It doth not so much consist in knowing the creatures, which he\nhath made, as in knowing himself, who was never made. It is not so\nmuch infinite, because he knows all things which are in the world, or\nthat shall be; or things that he can make, because the number of them\nis finite; but because he hath a perfect and comprehensive knowledge\nof his own infinite perfections.[684] Though it be said that angels\n\u201csee his face\u201d (Matt. xviii. 10), that sight notes rather their\nimmediate attendance, than their exact knowledge; they see some signs\nof his presence and majesty, more illustrious and express than ever\nappeared to man in this life; but the essence of God is invisible to\nthem, hid from them in the secret place of eternity; none knows God\nbut himself (1 Cor. ii. 11): \u201cWhat man knows the things of a man save\nthe spirit of a man? so the things of God knows no man but the Spirit\nof God; the Spirit of God searches the deep things of God;\u201d searcheth,\nthat is, exactly knows, thoroughly understands, as those who have\ntheir eyes in every chink and crevice, to see what lies hid there; the\nword search notes not an inquiry, but an exact knowledge, such as men\nhave of things upon a diligent scrutiny: as when God is said to search\nthe heart and the reins, it doth not signify a precedent ignorance,\nbut an exact knowledge of the most intimate corners of the hearts\nof men. As the conceptions of men are unknown to any but themselves,\nso the depths of the divine essence, perfections, and decrees, are\nunknown to any but to God himself; he only knows what he is, and\nwhat he knows, what he can do, and what he hath decreed to do. For\nfirst, if God did not know himself, he would not be perfect. It is\nthe perfection of a creature to know itself, much more a perfection\nbelonging to God. If God did not comprehend himself, he would want an\ninfinite perfection, and so would cease to be God, in being defective\nin that which intellectual creatures in some measure possess. As\nGod is the most perfect being, so he must have the most perfect\nunderstanding: if he did not understand himself, he would be under the\ngreatest ignorance, because he would be ignorant of the most excellent\nobject. Ignorance is the imperfection of the understanding; and\nignorance of one\u2019s self is a greater imperfection than ignorance of\nthings without. If God should know all things without himself, and not\nknow himself, he would not have the most perfect knowledge, because he\nwould not have the knowledge of the best {a415} of objects. Secondly,\nWithout the knowledge of himself, he could not be blessed. Nothing can\nhave any complacency in itself, without knowledge of itself. Nothing\ncan in a rational manner enjoy itself, without understanding itself.\nThe blessedness of God consists not in the knowledge of anything\nwithout him, but in the knowledge of himself and his own excellency,\nas the principle of all things; if, therefore, he did not perfectly\nknow himself and his own happiness, he could not enjoy a happiness;\nfor to be, and not to know to be, is as if a thing were not. \u201cHe\nis God, blessed forever\u201d (Rom. ix. 5.), and therefore forever had a\nknowledge of himself. Thirdly, Without the knowledge of himself, he\ncould create nothing. For he would be ignorant of his own power, and\nhis own ability; and he that doth not know how far his power extends,\ncould not act: if he did not know himself, he could know nothing; and\nhe that knows nothing, can do nothing; he could not know an effect to\nbe possible to him, unless he knew his own power as a cause. Fourthly,\nWithout the knowledge of himself, he could govern nothing. He could\nnot, without the knowledge of his own holiness and righteousness,\nprescribe laws to men, nor without a knowledge of his own nature\norder himself a manner of worship suitable to it. All worship must be\ncongruous to the dignity and nature of the object worshipped: he must\ntherefore know his own authority, whereby worship was to be enacted;\nhis own excellency, to which worship was to be suited; his own glory,\nto which worship was to be directed. If he did not know himself,\nhe did not know what to punish, because he would not know what was\ncontrary to himself: not knowing himself, he would not know what was a\ncontempt of him, and what an adoration of him; what was worthy of God,\nand what was unworthy of him. In fine, he could not know other things,\nunless he knew himself; unless he knew his own power, he could not\nknow how he created things; unless he knew his own wisdom, he could\nnot know the beauty of his works; unless he knew his own glory, he\ncould not know the end of his works; unless he knew his own holiness,\nhe could not know what was evil; and unless he knew his own justice,\nhe could not know how to punish the crimes of his offending creatures.\nAnd, therefore,\n\n(1.) God knows himself, because his knowledge, with his will, is\nthe cause of all other things that can fall under his cognizance:\nhe knows himself first, before he can know any other thing; that is,\nfirst according to our conceptions; for, indeed, God knows himself and\nall other things at once; he is the first truth, and therefore is the\nfirst object of his own understanding. There is nothing more excellent\nthan himself, and therefore nothing more known to him than himself. As\nhe is all knowledge, so he hath in himself the most excellent object\nof knowledge. To understand, is properly to know one\u2019s self. No object\nis so intelligible to God as God is to himself, nor so intimately and\nimmediately joined with his understanding as himself; for his\nunderstanding is his essence, himself.\n\n(2.) He knows himself by his own essence. He knows not himself and his\nown power by the effect, because he knows himself {a416} from eternity,\nbefore there was a world, or any effect of his power extant. It is not\na knowledge by the cause, for God hath no cause; nor a knowledge of\nhimself by any species, or anything from without: if it were anything\nfrom without himself, that must be created or uncreated; if uncreated\nit would be God; and so we must either own many Gods, or own it to\nbe his essence, and so not distinct from himself: if created, then\nhis knowledge of himself would depend upon a creature: he could not,\nthen, know himself from eternity, but in time, because nothing can\nbe created from eternity, but in time. God knows not himself by any\nfaculty, for there is no composition in God; he is not made up of\nparts, but is a simple being; some, therefore, have called God, not\n_intellectus_, understanding, because that savors of a faculty, but\n_intellectio_, intellection: God is all act in the knowledge of\nhimself and his knowledge of other things.\n\n(3.) God, therefore, knows himself perfectly, comprehensively. Nothing\nin his own nature is concealed from him; he reflects upon everything\nthat he is.[685] There is a positive comprehension, so God doth not\ncomprehend himself; for what is comprehended hath bounds, and what is\ncomprehended by itself is finite to itself; and there is a negative\ncomprehension\u2015\u2015God so comprehends himself; nothing in his own nature\nis obscure to him, unknown by him; for there is as great a perfection\nin the understanding of God to know, as there is in the divine nature\nto be known. The understanding of God, and the nature of God, are both\ninfinite, and so equal to one another: his understanding is equal to\nhimself; he knows himself so well, that nothing can be known by him\nmore perfectly than himself is known to himself. He knows himself\nin the highest manner, because nothing is so proportioned to the\nunderstanding of God as himself. He knows his own essence, goodness,\npower; all his perfections, decrees, intentions, acts, the infinite\ncapacity of his own understanding, so that nothing of himself is in\nthe dark to himself: and, in this respect, some use this expression,\nthat the infiniteness of God is in a manner finite to himself, because\nit is comprehended by himself. Thus God transcends all creatures; thus\nhis understanding is truly infinite, because nothing but himself is\nan infinite object for it: what angels may understand of themselves\nperfectly I know not, but no creature in the world understands himself.\nMan understands not fully the excellency and parts of his own nature;\nupon God\u2019s knowledge of himself depends the comfort of his people,\nand the terror of the wicked: this is also a clear argument for\nhis knowledge of all other things without himself; he that knows\nhimself, must needs know all other things less than himself, and which\nwere made by himself; when the knowledge of his own immensity and\ninfiniteness is not an object too difficult for him, the knowledge\nof a finite and limited creature, in all his actions, thoughts,\ncircumstances, cannot be too hard for him: since he knows himself,\nwho is infinite, he cannot but know whatsoever is finite. This is the\nfoundation of all his other knowledge; the knowledge of everything\npresent, past, {a417} and to come, is far less than the knowledge\nof himself. He is more incomprehensible in his own nature, than all\nthings created, or that can be created, put together can be. If he,\nthen, have a perfect comprehensive knowledge of his own nature, any\nknowledge of all other things is less than the knowledge of himself;\nthis ought to be well considered by us, as the fountain whence all his\nother knowledge flows.\n\n2. Therefore God knows all other things, whether they be possible,\npast, present, or future; whether they be things that he can do,\nbut will never do, or whether they be things that he hath done, but\nare not now; things that are now in being, or things that are not\nnow existing, that lie in the womb of their proper and immediate\ncauses.[686] If his understanding be infinite, he then knows all\nthings whatsoever that can be known, else his understanding would\nhave bounds, and what hath limits is not infinite, but finite. If\nhe be ignorant of any one thing that is knowable, that is a bound to\nhim, it comes with an exception, a _but_, God knows all things _but_\nthis; a bar is then set to his knowledge. If there were anything, any\nparticular circumstance in the whole creation or non\u2011creation, and\npossible to be known by him, and yet were unknown to him, he could not\nbe said to be omniscient; as he would not be Almighty if any one thing,\nthat implied not a repugnancy to his nature, did transcend his power.\n\nFirst, All things possible. No question but God knows what he could\ncreate, as well as what he hath created; what he would not create,\nas well as what he resolved to create; he knew what he would not\ndo before he willed to do it; this is the next thing which declares\nthe infiniteness of his understanding; for, as his power is infinite,\nand can create innumerable worlds and creatures, so is his knowledge\ninfinite, in knowing innumerable things possible to his power.\nPossibles are infinite; that is, there is no end of what God can do,\nand therefore no end of what God doth know; otherwise his power would\nbe more infinite than his knowledge: if he knew only what is created,\nthere would be an end of his understanding, because all creatures may\nbe numbered, but possible things cannot be reckoned up by any creature.\nThere is the same reason of this in eternity; when never so many\nnumbers of years are run out, there is still more to come, there\nstill wants an end; and when millions of worlds are created, there\nis no more an end of God\u2019s power than of eternity. Thus there is no\nend of his understanding; that is, his knowledge is not terminated\nby anything. This the Scripture gives us some account of: God knows\nthings that are not, \u201cfor he calls things that are not as if they\nwere\u201d (Rom. iv. 17); he calls things that are not, as if they were in\nbeing; what he calls is not unknown to him: if he knows things that\nare not, he knows things that may never be; as he knows things that\nshall be, because he wills them, so he knows things that might be,\nbecause he is able to effect them: he knew that the inhabitants of\nKeilah would betray David to Saul if he remained in that place (1 Sam.\nxxiii. 11); he knew what they would do upon that occasion, though it\nwas never done; as he knew what was in {a418} their power and in their\nwills, so he must needs know what is within the compass of his own\npower; as he can permit more than he doth permit so he knows what\nhe can permit, and what, upon that permission, would be done by his\ncreatures; so God knew the possibility of the Tyrians\u2019 repentance,\nif they had had the same means, heard the same truths, and beheld the\nsame miracles which were offered to the ears, and presented to the\neyes of the Jews (Matt. xi. 21). This must needs be so, because,\n\n1. Man knows things that are possible to him, though he will never\neffect them. A carpenter knows a house in the model he hath of it\nin his head, though he never build a house according to that model.\nA watch\u2011maker hath the frame of a watch in his mind, which he will\nnever work with his instruments; man knows what he could do, though he\nnever intends to do it.[687] As the understanding of man hath a virtue,\nthat where it sees one man it may imagine thousands of men of the same\nshape, stature, form, parts; yea, taller, more vigorous, sprightly,\nintelligent, than the man he sees; because it is possible such a\nnumber may be. Shall not the understanding of God much more know what\nhe is able to effect, since the understanding of man can know what\nhe is never able to produce, yet may be produced by God, viz. that he\nwho produced this man which I see, can produce a thousand exactly like\nhim? If the Divine understanding did not know infinite things, but\nwere confined to a certain number, it may be demanded whether God can\nunderstand anything farther than that number, or whether he cannot?\nIf he can, then he doth actually understand all those things which he\nhath a power to understand; otherwise there would be an increase of\nGod\u2019s knowledge, if it were actually now, and not before, and so he\nwould be more perfect than he was before; if he cannot understand them,\nthen he cannot understand what a human mind can understand; for our\nunderstandings can multiply numbers _in infinitum_; and there is no\nnumber so great, but a man can still add to it: we must suppose the\ndivine understanding more excellent in knowledge. God knows all that\na man can imagine, though it never were, nor never shall be; he must\nneeds know whatsoever is in the power of man to imagine or think,\nbecause God concurs to the support of the faculty in that imagination;\nand though it may be replied, an atheist may imagine that there\nis no God, a man may imagine that God can lie, or that he can be\ndestroyed; doth God know therefore that he is not? or that he can\nlie, or cease to be? No, he knows he cannot; his knowledge extends\nto things possible, not to things impossible to himself; he knows\nit as imaginable by man, not as possible in itself; because it is\nutterly impossible, and repugnant to the nature of God,[688] since he\neminently contains in himself all things possible, past, present, and\nto come; he cannot know himself without knowing them.\n\n2. God knowing his own power, knows whatsoever is in his power to\neffect. If he knows not all things possible, he could not know the\nextent of his own power, and so would not know himself, as a cause\nsufficient for more things than he hath created. How can he {a419}\ncomprehend himself, who comprehends not all effluxes of things\npossible that may come from him, and be wrought by him? How can he\nknow himself as a cause, if he know not the objects and works which he\nis able to produce?[689] Since the power of God extends to numberless\nthings, his knowledge also extends to numberless objects; as if\na unit is, could see the numbers it could produce, it would see\ninfinite numbers: for a unit, as it were, all number. God knowing the\nfruitfulness of his own virtue, knows a numberless multitude of things\nwhich he can do, more than have been done, or shall be done by him;\nhe therefore knows innumerable worlds, innumerable angels, with higher\nperfections, than any of them which he hath created have: so that if\nthe world should last many millions of years, God knows that he can\nevery day create another world more capacious than this; and having\ncreated an inconceivable number, he knows he could still create more:\nso that he beholds infinite worlds, infinite numbers of men, and other\ncreatures in himself, infinite kinds of things, infinite species, and\nindividuals under those kinds, even as many as he can create, if his\nwill did order and determine it; for not being ignorant of his own\npower, he cannot be ignorant of the effects wherein it may display\nand discover itself. A comprehensive knowledge of his own power doth\nnecessarily include the objects of that power; so he knows whatsoever\nhe could effect, and whatsoever he could permit, if he pleased to do\nit. If God could not understand more than he hath created, he could\nnot create more than he hath created: for it cannot be conceived how\nhe can create anything that he is ignorant of; what he doth not know,\nhe cannot do: he must know also the extent of his own goodness, and\nhow far anything is capable to partake of it: so much therefore, as\nany detract from the knowledge of God, they detract from his power.\n\n3. It is further evident that God knows all possible things, because\nhe knew those things which he has created, before they were created,\nwhen they were yet in a possibility. If God knew things before they\nwere created, he knew them when they were in a possibility, and not\nin actual reality. It is absurd to imagine that his understanding did\nlackey after the creatures, and draw knowledge from them after they\nwere created. It is absurd to think that God did create, before he\nknew what he could or would create. If he knew those things he did\ncreate when they were possible, he must know all things which he can\ncreate, and therefore all things that are possible. To conclude this,\nwe must consider that this knowledge is of another kind than his\nknowledge of things that are or shall be. He sees possible things as\npossible, not as things that ever are or shall be. If he saw them as\nexisting or future, and they shall never be, this knowledge would be\nfalse, there would be a deceit in it, which cannot be. He knows those\nthings not in themselves, because they are not, nor in their causes,\nbecause they shall never be: he knows them in his own power, not in\nhis will: he understands them as able to produce them, not as willing\nto effect them. Things possible he knows only in his power; things\nfuture he knows both in his power and his {a420} will, as he is both\nable and determined in his own good pleasure to give being to them.\nThose that shall never come to pass, he knows only in himself as a\nsufficient cause; those things that shall come into being, he knows\nin himself as the efficient cause, and also in their immediate second\ncauses. This should teach us to spend our thoughts in the admiration\nof the excellency of God, and the divine knowledge; his understanding\nis infinite.\n\nSecondly, God knows all things past. This is an argument used by God\nhimself to elevate his excellency above all the commonly adored idols\n(Isa. xli. 22): \u201cLet them show the former things, what they be, that\nwe may consider them, and know the latter end of them.\u201d He knows them\nas if they were now present, and not past: for indeed in his eternity\nthere is nothing past or future to his knowledge. This is called\nremembrance, in Scripture, as when God remembered Rachel\u2019s prayer for\na child (Gen. xxx. 22), and he is said to put tears into his bottle,\nand write them in his book of accompts, which signifies the exact\nand unerring knowledge in God of the minute circumstances past in\nthe world; and this knowledge is called a book of remembrance (Mal.\niii. 16), signifying the perpetual presence of things past, before\nhim. There are two elegant expressions, signifying the certainty\nand perpetuity of God\u2019s knowledge of sins past (Job xiv. 17), \u201cMy\ntransgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity;\u201d\na metaphor, taken from men that put up in a bag the money they would\ncharily keep, tie the bag, sew up the holes, and bind it hard, that\nnothing may fall out; or a vessel, wherein they reserve liquors, and\ndaub it with pitch and glutinous stuff, that nothing may leak out, but\nbe safely kept till the time of use; or else, as some think, from the\nbags attornies carry with them, full of writings, when they are to\nmanage a cause against a person. Thus we find God often in Scripture\ncalling to men\u2019s minds their past actions, upbraiding them with their\ningratitude, wherein he testifies his remembrance of his own past\nbenefits and their crimes. His knowledge in this regard hath something\nof infinity in it, since though the sins of all men that have been\nin the world are finite in regard of number, yet when the sins of one\nman in thoughts, words, and deeds, are numberless in his own account,\nand perhaps in the count of any creature, the sins of all the vast\nnumbers of men that have been, or shall be, are much more numberless,\nit cannot be less than infinite knowledge that can make a collection\nof them, and take a survey of them all at once. If past things had\nnot been known by God, how could Moses have been acquainted with the\noriginal of things? How could he have declared the former transactions,\nwherein all histories are silent but the Scripture? How could he know\nthe cause of man\u2019s present misery so many ages after, wherewith all\nphilosophy was unacquainted? How could he have writ the order of the\ncreation, the particulars of the sin of Adam, the circumstances of\nCain\u2019s murder, the private speech of Lamech to his wives, if God had\nnot revealed them? And how could a revelation be made, if things past\nwere forgotten by him? Do we not remember many things done among men,\nas well as by ourselves, and reserve the forms of divers things in\nour minds, which {a421} rise as occasions are presented to draw them\nforth? And shall not God much more, who hath no cloud of darkness upon\nhis understanding? A man that makes a curious picture, hath the form\nof it in his mind before he made it; and if the fire burn it, the form\nof it in his mind is not destroyed by the fire, but retained in it.\nGod\u2019s memory is no less perfect than his understanding. If he did not\nknow things past, he could not be a righteous Governor, or exercise\nany judicial act in a righteous manner; he could not dispense rewards\nand punishments, according to his promises and threatenings, if things\nthat were past could be forgotten by him; he could not require that\nwhich is past (Eccles. iii. 15), if he did not remember that which is\npast. And though God be said to forget in Scripture, and not to know\nhis people, and his people pray to him to remember them, as if he\nhad forgotten them (Ps. cxix. 49), this is improperly ascribed to\nGod.[690] As God is said to repent, when he changes things according\nto his counsel beyond the expectation of men, so he is said to forget,\nwhen he defers the making good his promise to the godly, or his\nthreatenings to the wicked; this is not a defect of memory belonging\nto his mind, but an act of his will. When he is said to remember his\ncovenant, it is to will grace according to his covenant; when he is\nsaid to forget his covenant, it is to intercept the influences of it,\nwhereby to punish the sin of his people; and when he is said not to\nknow his people, it is not an absolute forgetfulness of them, but\nwithdrawing from them the testimonies of his kindness, and clouding\nthe signs of his favor; so God in pardon is said to forget sin, not\nthat he ceaseth to know it, but ceaseth to punish it. It is not to be\nmeant of a simple forgetfulness, or a lapse of his memory, but of a\njudicial forgetfulness; so when his people in Scripture pray, Lord,\nremember thy word unto thy servant, no more is to be understood but,\nLord, fulfil thy word and promise to thy servant.\n\nThirdly, He knows things present (Heb. iv. 13): \u201cAll things are\nnaked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do;\u201d this\nis grounded upon the knowledge of himself; it is not so difficult\nto know all creatures exactly, as to know himself, because they are\nfinite, but himself is infinite; he knows his own power, and therefore\neverything through which his omnipotence is diffused, all the acts\nand objects of it; not the least thing that is the birth of his power,\ncan be concealed from him; he knows his own goodness, and therefore\nevery object upon which the warm beams of his goodness strike; he\ntherefore knows distinctly the properties of every creature, because\nevery property in them is a ray of his goodness; he is not only the\nefficient, but the exemplary cause; therefore as he knows all that\nhis power hath wrought, as he is the efficient, so he knows them in\nhimself as the pattern; as a carpenter can give an account of every\npart and passage in a house he hath built, by consulting the model in\nhis own mind, whereby he built it. \u201cHe looked upon all things after\nhe had made them, and pronounced them good\u201d (Gen. i. 3), full of\na natural goodness he had endowed them with: he did not ignorantly\npronounce them so, and call them good, {a422} whether he knew them or\nnot; and therefore he knows them in particular, as he knew them all\nin their first presence. Is there any reason he should be ignorant of\neverything now present in the world, or that anything that derives an\nexistence from him as a free cause, should be concealed from him? If\nhe did not know things present in their particularities, many things\nwould be known by man, yea, by beasts, which the infinite God were\nignorant of; and if he did not know all things present, but only\nsome, it is possible for the most blessed God to be deceived and be\nmiserable: ignorance is a calamity to the understanding: he could\nnot prescribe laws to his creatures, unless he knew their natures to\nwhich those laws were to be suited: no, not natural ordinances to the\nsun, moon, and heavenly bodies, and inanimate creatures, unless he\nknew the vigor and virtue in them, to execute those ordinances; for\nto prescribe laws above the nature of things, is inconsistent with\nthe wisdom of government; he must know how far they were able to obey;\nwhether the laws were suited to their ability: and for his rational\ncreatures, whether the punishments annexed to the law were proper, and\nsuited to the transgression of the creature.\n\n1. He knows all creatures from the highest to the lowest, the least\nas well as the greatest. He knows the ravens and their young ones\n(Job xxxviii. 41); the drops of rain and dew which he hath begotten\n(Job xxxviii. 29); every bird in the air, as well as any man doth what\nhe hath in a cage at home (Ps. l. 11): \u201cI know all the fowls in the\nmountains, and the wild beasts in the field;\u201d which some read creeping\nthings. The clouds are numbered in his wisdom (Job xxxviii. 37); every\nworm in the earth, every drop of rain that falls upon the ground, the\nflakes of snow, and the knots of hail, the sands upon the sea\u2011shore,\nthe hairs upon the head; it is no more absurd to imagine that God\nknows them, than that God made them; they are all the effects of his\npower, as well as the stars which he calls by their names, as well\nas the most glorious angel and blessed spirit; he knows them as well\nas if there were none but them in particular for him to know; the\nleast things were framed by his art as well as the greatest; the\nleast things partake of his goodness as well as the greatest; he knows\nhis own arts, and his own goodness, and therefore all the stamps and\nimpressions of them upon all his creatures; he knows the immediate\ncauses of the least, and therefore the effects of those causes.\nSince his knowledge is infinite, it must extend to those things\nwhich are at the greatest distance from him, to those which approach\nnearest to not being; since he did not want power to create, he\ncannot want understanding to know everything he hath created, the\ndispositions, qualities, and virtues of the minutest creature. Nor\nis the understanding of God embased, and suffers a diminution by the\nknowledge of the vilest and most inconsiderable things. Is it not\nan imperfection to be ignorant of the nature of anything? and can\nGod have such a defect in his most perfect understanding? Is the\nunderstanding of man of an impurer alloy by knowing the nature of\nthe rankest poisons? by understanding a fly, or a small insect? or\nby considering the deformity of a toad? Is it not generally counted a\nnote of a dignified mind to be able to discourse of the {a423} nature\nof them? Was Solomon, who knew all from the cedar to the hyssop,\ndebased by so rich a present of wisdom from his Creator? Is any\nglass defiled by presenting a deformed image? Is there anything more\nvile than the \u201cimaginations, which are only evil, and continually?\u201d\nDoth not the mind of man descend to the mud of the earth, play the\nadulterer or idolater with mean objects, suck in the most unclean\nthings? yet God knows these in all their circumstances, in every\nappearance, inside and outside. Is there anything viler than some\nthoughts of men? than some actions of men? their unclean beds and\ngluttonous vomiting, and Luciferian pride? yet do not these fall under\nthe eye of God, in all their nakedness? The Second Person\u2019s taking\nhuman nature, though it obscured, yet it did not disparage the Deity,\nor bring any disgrace to it. Is gold the worse for being formed into\nthe image of a fly? doth it not still retain the nobleness of the\nmetal? When men are despised for descending to the knowledge of mean\nand vile things, it is because they neglect the knowledge of the\ngreater, and sin in their inquiries after lesser things, with a\nneglect of that which concerns more the honor of God and the happiness\nof themselves; to be ambitious of such a knowledge, and careless of\nthat of more concern, is criminal and contemptible. But God knows the\ngreatest as well as the least; mean things are not known by him to\nexclude the knowledge of the greater; nor are vile things governed by\nhim to exclude the order of the better. The deformity of objects known\nby God doth not deform him, nor defile him; he doth not view them\nwithout himself, but within himself, wherein all things in their ideas\nare beautiful and comely: our knowledge of a deformed thing is not\na deforming of our understanding, but is beautiful in the knowledge,\nthough it be not in the object; nor is there any fear that the\nunderstanding of God should become material by knowing material things,\nany more than our understandings lose their spirituality by knowing\nthe nature of bodies; it is to be observed, therefore, that only\nthose senses of men, as seeing, hearing, smelling, which have those\nqualities for their objects that come nearest the nature of spiritual\nthings, as light, sounds, fragrant odors, are ascribed to God in\nScripture; not touching or tasting, which are senses that are not\nexercised without a more immediate commerce with gross matter; and\nthe reason may be, because we should have no gross thoughts of God,\nas if he were a body, and made of matter, like the things he knows.\n\n2. As he knows all creatures, so God knows all the actions of\ncreatures. He counts in particular all the ways of men. \u201cDoth he not\nsee all my ways, and count all my steps\u201d (Job xxxi. 4)? He \u201ctells\u201d\ntheir \u201cwanderings,\u201d as if one by one (Ps. lvi. 8). \u201cHis eyes are upon\nall the ways of man, and he sees all his goings\u201d (Job xxxiv. 21); a\nmetaphor taken from men, when they look wistly, with fixed eyes upon\na thing, to view it in every circumstance, whence it comes, whether\nit goes, to observe every little motion of it. God\u2019s eye is not a\nwandering, but a fixed eye; and the ways of man are not only \u201cbefore\nhis eyes,\u201d but he doth exactly \u201cponder them\u201d (Prov. v. 21); as one\nthat will not be ignorant of the least mite in them, but weigh and\nexamine them by the standard of his law; he may as well know {a424}\nthe motions of our members, as the hairs of our heads; the smallest\nactions before they be, whether civil, natural, or religious, fall\nunder his cognizance; what meaner than a man carrying a pitcher, yet\nour Saviour foretels it (Luke xxii. 10); God knows not only what men\ndo, but what they would have done, had he not restrained them; what\nAbimelech would have done to Sarah, had not God put a bar in his way\n(Gen. xx. 6); what a man that is taken away in his youth would have\ndone, had he lived to a riper age; yea, he knows the most secret words\nas well as actions; the words spoken by the king of Israel in his\nbed\u2011chamber, were revealed to Elisha (2 Kings vi. 12); and indeed, how\ncan any action of man be concealed from God? Can we view the various\nactions of a heap of ants, or a hive of bees in a glass, without\nturning our eyes; and shall not God behold the actions of all men in\nthe world, which are less than bees or ants in his sight, and more\nvisible to him than an ant\u2011hill or bee\u2011hive can be to the acutest eye\nof man?\n\n3. As God knows all the actions of creatures, so he knows all the\nthoughts of creatures. The thoughts are the most closeted acts of man,\nhid from men and angels, unless disclosed by some outward expressions;\nbut God descends into the depths and abysses of the soul, discerns the\nmost inward contrivances; nothing is impenetrable to him; the sun doth\nnot so much enlighten the earth, as God understands the heart; all\nthings are as visible to him, as flies and motes enclosed in a body\nof transparent crystal; this man naturally allows to God. Men often\nspeak to God by the motions of their minds and secret ejaculations,\nwhich they would not do, if it were not naturally implanted in them,\nthat God knows all their inward motions; the Scripture is plain and\npositive in this, \u201cHe tries the heart and the reins\u201d (Ps. vii. 9), as\nmen, by the use of fire, discern the drossy and purer parts of metals.\nThe secret intentions and aims, the most lurking affections seated\nin the reins; he knows that which no man, no angel, is able to know,\nwhich a man himself knows not, nor makes any particular reflection\nupon; yea, \u201che weighs the Spirit\u201d (Prov. xvi. 2); he exactly numbers\nall the devices and inclinations of men, as men do every piece of\ncoin they tell out of a heap. \u201cHe discerns the thoughts and intents of\nthe heart\u201d (Heb. iv. 12); all that is in the mind, all that is in the\naffections, every stirring and purpose; \u201cso that not one thought can\nbe withheld from him\u201d (Job xlii. 2); yea, \u201cHell and destruction are\nbefore him, much more then the hearts of the children of men\u201d (Prov.\nxv. 11); he works all things in the bowels of the earth, and brings\nforth all things out of that treasure, say some; but more naturally,\nGod knows the whole state of the dead, all the receptacles and graves\nof their bodies, all the bodies of men consumed by the earth, or\ndevoured by living creatures; things that seem to be out of all being;\nhe knows the thoughts of the devils and damned creatures, whom he hath\ncast out of his care forever into the arms of his justice, never more\nto cast a delightful glance towards them; not a secret in any soul\nin hell (which he hath no need to know, because he shall not judge\nthem by any of the thoughts they now have, since they were condemned\nto punishment) is hid from him; much more is he acquainted with the\n{a425} thoughts of living men, the counsels of whose hearts are yet\nto be manifested, in order to their trial and censure; yea, he knows\nthem before they spring up into actual being (Ps. cxxxix. 2): \u201cThou\nunderstandest my thoughts afar off;\u201d my thoughts, that is, every\nthought; though innumerable thoughts pass through me in a day, and\nthat in the source and fountain, when it is yet in the womb, before\nit is our thought; if he knows them before their existence, before\nthey can be properly called ours, much more doth he know them when\nthey actually spring up in us: he knows the tendency of them; where\nthe bird will light when it is in flight; he knows them exactly, he\nis therefore called a \u201cdiscerner\u201d or criticiser \u201cof the heart\u201d (Heb.\niv. 12), as a critic discerns every letter, point, and stop; he is\nmore intimate with us than our souls with our bodies, and hath more\nthe possession of us than we have of ourselves; he knows them by an\ninspection into the heart, not by the mediation of second causes, by\nthe looks or gestures of men, as men may discern the thoughts of one\nanother. (1.) God discerns all good motions of the mind and will.\nThese he puts into men, and needs must God know his own act; he knew\nthe son of \u201cJeroboam to have some good thing in him towards the Lord\nGod of Israel\u201d (1 Kings xiv. 13); and the integrity of David and\nHezekiah; the freest motions of the will and affections to him: \u201cLord,\nthou knowest that I love thee,\u201d saith Peter (John xxi. 17). Love\ncan be no more restrained, than the will itself can; a man may make\nanother to grieve and desire, but none can force another to love.\n(2.) God discerns all the evil motions of the mind and will; \u201cEvery\nimagination of the heart\u201d (Gen. vi. 5); the vanity of \u201cmen\u2019s thoughts\u201d\n(Ps. xciv. 11); their inward darkness, and deceitful disguises.\nNo wonder that God, who fashioned the heart, should understand the\nmotions of it (Ps. xxxiii. 13, 15): \u201cHe looks from heaven and beholds\nall the children of men; he fashioneth their hearts alike, and\nconsiders all their works.\u201d Doth any man make a watch, and yet be\nignorant of its motion? Did God fling away the key to this secret\ncabinet, when he framed it, and put off the power of unlocking it\nwhen he pleased? He did not surely frame it in such a posture as that\nanything in it should be hid from his eye; he did not fashion it to be\nprivileged from his government; which would follow if he were ignorant\nof what was minted and coined in it. He could not be a Judge to\npunish men, if the inward frames and principles of men\u2019s actions were\nconcealed from him; an outward action may glitter to an outward eye,\nyet the secret spring be a desire of applause, and not the fear and\nlove of God. If the inward frames of the heart did lie covered from\nhim in the secret recesses of the heart; those plausible acts, which\nin regard of their principles, would merit a punishment, would meet\nwith a reward; and God should bestow happiness where he had denounced\nmisery. As without the knowledge of what is just, he could not be a\nwise Lawgiver, so without the knowledge of what is inwardly committed,\nhe could not be a righteous Judge: acts that are rotten in the spring,\nmight be judged good by the fair color and appearance. This is the\nglory of God at the last day, \u201cto manifest the secrets of all hearts\u201d\n(1 Cor. iv. 5); and the prophet Jeremiah links {a426} the power\nof judging and the prerogative of trying the hearts together (Jer.\nxi. 20): \u201cBut thou, O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that\ntriest the reins and the heart;\u201d and (Jer. xvii. 10): \u201cI, the Lord,\nsearch the heart, I try the reins;\u201d to what end? even to \u201cgive every\nman according to his way, and according to the fruit of his doings.\u201d\nAnd, indeed, his binding up the whole law with that command of not\ncoveting, evidenceth that he will judge men by the inward affections\nand frames of their hearts. Again, God sustains the mind of man in\nevery act of thinking; in him we have not only the principle of life,\nbut every motion, the motion of our minds as well as of our members:\n\u201cIn him we live and move,\u201d &c. (Acts xvii. 28). Since he supports\nthe vigor of the faculty in every act, can he be ignorant of those\nacts which spring from the faculty, to which he doth at that instant\ncommunicate power and ability? Now this knowledge of the thoughts of\nmen is,\n\n1st. An incommunicable property, belonging only to the Divine\nunderstanding. Creatures, indeed, may know the thoughts of others\nby divine revelation, but not by themselves; no creature hath a key\nimmediately to open the minds of men, and see all that lodgeth there;\nno creature can fathom the heart by the line of created knowledge.[691]\nDevils may have a conjectural knowledge, and may guess at them, by the\nacquaintance they have with the disposition and constitution of men,\nand the images they behold in their fancies; and by some marks which\nan inward imagination may stamp upon the brain, blood, animal spirits,\nface, &c. But the knowing the thoughts merely as thought, without any\nimpression by it, is a royalty God appropriates to himself, as the\nmain secret of his government, and a perfection declarative of his\nDeity, as much as any else (Jer. xvii. 9, 10): \u201cThe heart of man is\ndesperately wicked, who can know it?\u201d yes, there is one, and but one,\n\u201cI, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins.\u201d \u201cMan looks on the\noutward appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart\u201d (1 Sam. xvi. 7);\nwhere God is distinguished by this perfection from all men whatsoever,\nothers may know by revelation, as Elisha did what was in Gehazi\u2019s\nheart (2 Kings, v. 26). But God knows a man more than any man knows\nhimself; what person upon earth understands the windings and turnings\nof his own heart, what reserves it will have, what contrivances, what\ninclinations? all which God knows exactly.\n\n2d. God acquires no new knowledge of the thoughts and hearts by the\ndiscovery of them in the actions. He would then be but equal in this\npart of knowledge to his creature; no man or angel but may thus arrive\nto the knowledge of them; God were then excluded from an absolute\ndominion over the prime work of his lower creation; he would have made\na creature superior in this respect to himself, upon whose will to\ndiscover, his knowledge of their inward intentions should depend; and\ntherefore when God is said to search the heart, we must not understand\nit as if God were ignorant before, and was fain to make an exact\nscrutiny and inquiry, before he attained what he desired to know; but\nGod condescends to our capacity in the expression of his own knowledge,\nsignifying that his {a427} knowledge is as complete as any man\u2019s\nknowledge can be of the designs of others, after he hath sifted them\nby a strict and thorough examination, and wrung out a discovery of\ntheir intentions; that he knows them as perfectly as if he had put\nthem upon the rack, and and forced them to make a discovery of their\nsecret plottings. Nor must we understand that in Gen. xxii. 12, where\nGod saith, after Abraham had stretched out his hand to sacrifice his\nson, \u201cNow I know that thou fearest God,\u201d as though God was ignorant\nof Abraham\u2019s gracious disposition to him; did Abraham\u2019s drawing his\nknife furnish God with a new knowledge? no, God knew Abraham\u2019s pious\ninclinations before (Gen. xviii. 19): \u201cI know him, that he will\ncommand his children after him,\u201d &c. Knowledge is sometimes taken\nfor approbation; then the sense will be, Now I approve this fact\nas a testimony of thy fear of me, since thy affection to thy Isaac\nis extinguished by the more powerful flame of affection to my will\nand command; I now accept thee, and count thee a meet subject of my\nchoicest benefits: or, Now I know, that is, I have made known and\nmanifested the faith of Abraham to himself and to the world: thus Paul\nuses the word know (1 Cor. ii. 2): \u201cI have determined to know nothing;\u201d\nthat is, to declare and teach nothing, to make known nothing but\nChrist crucified: or else, Now I know, that is, I have an evidence\nand experiment in this noble fact, that thou fearest me. God often\ncondescends to our capacity in speaking of himself after the manner of\nmen, as if he had (as men do) known the inward affections of others by\ntheir outward actions.\n\n4. God knows all the evils and sins of creatures. (1.) God knows all\nsin. This follows upon the other. If he knows all the actions and\nthoughts of creatures, he knows also all the sinfulness in those acts\nand thoughts. This Zophar infers from God\u2019s punishing men (Job xi. 11);\nfor he knows vain man, he sees his wickedness also; he knows every man,\nand sees the wickedness of every man; he looks down from heaven, and\nbeholds not only the filthy persons, but what is filthy in them (Psal.\nxiv. 2, 3), all nations in the world, and every man of every nation;\nnone of their iniquity is hid from his eyes; he searches Jerusalem\nwith candles (Jer. xvi. 17). God follows sinners step by step, with\nhis eye, and will not leave searching out till he hath taken them; a\nmetaphor taken from one that searches all chinks with a candle, that\nnothing can be hid from him. He knows it distinctly in all the parts\nof it, how an adulterer rises out of his bed to commit uncleanness,\nwhat contrivances he had, what steps he took, every circumstance in\nthe whole progress; not only evil in the bulk, but every one of the\nblacker spots upon it, which may most aggravate it. If he did not know\nevil, how could he permit it, order it, punish it, or pardon it? Doth\nhe permit he knows not what? order to his own holy ends what he is\nignorant of? punish or pardon that which he is uncertain whether it\nbe a crime or no? \u201cCleanse me,\u201d saith David, \u201cfrom my secret faults\u201d\n(Ps. xix. 12), secret in regard of others, secret in regard of himself;\nhow could God cleanse him from that whereof he was ignorant? He knows\nsins before they are committed, much more when they are in act; he\nforeknew the idolatry and apostacy of the Jews; {a428} what gods they\nwould serve, in what measure they would provoke him, and violate his\ncovenant (Deut. xxxi. 20, 21); he knew Judas\u2019 sin long before Judas\u2019\nactual existence, foretelling it in the Psalms; and Christ predicts\nit before he acted it. He sees sins future in his own permitting will;\nhe sees sins present in his own supporting act. As he knows things\npossible to himself, because he knows his own power, so he knows\nthings practicable by the creature, because he knows the power and\nprinciples of the creature.[692] This sentiment of God is naturally\nwritten in the fears of sinners, upon lightning, thunder, or some\nprodigious operation of God in the world; what is the language of them,\nbut that he sees their deeds, hears their words, knows the inward\nsinfulness of their hearts; that he doth not only behold them as a\nmere spectator, but considers them as a just judge. And the poets say,\nthat the sins of men leaped into heaven, and were writ in parchments\nof Jupiter,[693] _scelus in terram geritur, in c\u0153lo scribitur_:\nsin is acted on earth, and recorded in heaven. God indeed doth not\nbehold evil with the approving eye; he knows it not with a practical\nknowledge to be the author of it, but with a speculative knowledge,\nso as to understand the sinfulness of it; or a knowledge _simplicis\nintelligenti\u00e6_, of simple intelligence, as he permits them, not\npositively wills them; he knows them not with a knowledge of assent to\nthem, but dissent from them. Evil pertains to a dissenting act of the\nmind, and an aversive act of the will; and what though evil formerly\ntaken, hath no distinct conception, because it is a privation; a\ndefect hath no being, and all knowledge is by the apprehension of\nsome being; would not this lie as strongly against our own knowledge\nof sin? Sin is a privation of the rectitude due to an act; and who\ndoubts man\u2019s knowledge of sin? by his knowing the act, he knows the\ndeficiency of the act; the subject of evil hath a being, and so hath\na conception in the mind; that which hath no being cannot be known\nby itself, or in itself; but will it follow that it cannot be known\nby its contrary? as we know darkness to be a privation of light, and\nfolly to be a privation of wisdom. God knows good all by himself,\nbecause he is the sovereign good; is it strange then, that he should\nknow all evil, since all evil is in some natural good. (2.) The manner\nof God\u2019s knowing evil is not so easily known. And indeed, as we cannot\ncomprehend the essence of God, though it is easily intelligible that\nthere is such a Being, so we can as little comprehend the manner\nof God\u2019s knowledge, though we cannot but conclude him to be an\nintelligent Being, a pure understanding, knowing all things. As God\nhath a higher manner of being than his creatures, so he hath another\nand higher manner of knowing; and we can as little comprehend the\nmanner of his knowing, as we can the manner of his being. But as to\nthe manner, doth not God know his own law? and shall he not know how\nmuch any action comes short of his rule? he cannot know his own rule\nwithout knowing all the deviations from it. He knows his own holiness,\nand shall he not see how any action is contrary to the holiness of his\nown {a429} nature? Doth not God know everything that is true? and is\nit not true that this or that is evil? and shall God be ignorant of\nany truth? How doth God know that he cannot lie, but by knowing his\nown veracity? How doth God know that he cannot die, but by knowing\nhis own immutability? and by knowing those, he knows what a lie is,\nhe knows what death is; so if sin never had been, if no creature had\never been, God would have known what sin was, because he knows his\nown holiness; because he knew what law was fit to be appointed to\nhis creatures if he should create them, and that that law might be\ntransgressed by them. God knows all good, all goodness in himself; he\ntherefore hath a foundation in himself to know all that comes short\nof that goodness, that is opposite to that holiness: as if light\nwere capable of understanding, it would know darkness only by knowing\nitself; by knowing itself, it would know what is contrary to itself.\nGod knows all created goodness which he hath planted in the creature;\nhe knows then all defects from this goodness, what perfection an act\nis deprived of; what is opposite to that goodness, and that is evil.\nAs we know sickness by health, discord by harmony, blindness by sight,\nbecause it is a privation of sight, whosoever knows one contrary knows\nthe other; God knows unrighteousness by the idea which he hath of\nrighteousness, and sees an act deprived of that rectitude and goodness\nwhich ought to be in it; he knows evil because he knows the causes\nwhence evil proceeds.[694] A painter knows a picture of his own\nframing, and if any one dashes any base color upon it, shall not he\nalso know that? God by his hand painted all creatures, impressed upon\nman the fair stamp and color of his own image; the devil defiles it;\nman daubs it. Doth not God, that knows his own work, know how this\npiece is become different from his work? Doth not God, that knows\nhis creatures\u2019 goodness, which himself was the fountain of, know the\nchange of this goodness? Yea, he knew before, that the devil would sow\ntares where he had sown wheat; and therefore that controversy of some\nin the schools, whether God knew evil by its opposition to created\nor uncreated goodness, is needless. We may say God knows sin as it\nis opposite to created goodness, yet he knows it radically by his\nown goodness, because he knows the goodness he hath communicated to\nthe creature by his own essential goodness in himself. To conclude\nthis head: The knowledge of sin doth not bespot the holiness of God\u2019s\nnature; for the bare knowledge of a crime doth not infect the mind\nof man with the filth and pollution of that crime, for then every man\nthat knows an act of murder committed by another, would, by that bare\nknowledge, be tainted with his sin; yea, and a judge that condemns a\nmalefactor, may as well condemn himself if this were so: the knowledge\nof sins infects not the understandings that knows them, but only the\nwill that approves them. It is no discredit to us to know evil, in\norder to pass a right judgment upon it; so neither can it be to God.\n\nFourthly, God knows all future things, all things to come. The\ndifferences of time cannot hinder a knowledge of all things by him,\nwho is before time, above time, that is not measured by hours, or\n{a430} days, or years; if God did not know them, the hindrance must\nbe in himself, or in the things themselves, because they are things to\ncome: not in himself; if it did, it must arise from some impotency in\nhis own nature, and so we render him weak; or from an unwillingness\nto know, and so we render him lazy, and an enemy to his own perfection;\nfor, simply considered, the knowledge of more things is a greater\nperfection than the knowledge of a few; and if the knowledge of a\nthing includes something of perfection, the ignorance of a thing\nincludes something of imperfection. The knowledge of future things is\na greater perfection than not to know them, and is accounted among men\na great part of wisdom, which they call foresight; it is then surely\na greater perfection in God to know future things, than to be ignorant\nof them. And would God rather have something of imperfection than be\npossessor of all perfection? Nor doth the hindrance lie in the things\nthemselves, because their futurition depends upon his will; for as\nnothing can actually be without his will, giving it existence, so\nnothing can be future without his will, designing the futurity of it.\nCertainly if God knows all things possible, which he will not do, he\nmust know all things future, which he is not only able, but resolved\nto do, or resolved to permit. God\u2019s perfect knowledge of himself,\nthat is, of his own infinite power and concluding will, necessarily\nincludes a foreknowledge of what he is able to do, and what he will do.\nAgain, if God doth not know future things, there was a time when God\nwas ignorant of most things in the world; for before the deluge he was\nmore ignorant than after; the more things were done in the world, the\nmore knowledge did accrue to God, and so the more perfection; then the\nunderstanding of God was not perfect from eternity, but in time; nay,\nis not perfect yet, if he be ignorant of those things which are still\nto come to pass; he must tarry for a perfection he wants, till those\nfuturities come to be in act, till those things which are to come,\ncease to be future, and begin to be present. Either God knows them,\nor desires to know them; if he desires to know them and doth not,\nthere is something wanting to him; all desire speaks an absence of the\nobject desired, and a sentiment of want in the person desiring: if he\ndoth not desire to know them, nay, if he doth not actually know them,\nit destroys all providence, all his government of affairs; for his\nprovidence hath a concatenation of means with a prospect of something\nthat is future: as in Joseph\u2019s case, who was put into the pit, and\nsold to the Egyptians in order to his future advancement, and the\npreservation both of his father and his envious brethren. If God did\nnot know all the future inclinations and actions of men, something\nmight have been done by the will of Potiphar, or by the free\u2011will of\nPharaoh, whereby Joseph might have been cut short of his advancement,\nand so God have been interrupted in the track and method of his\ndesigned providences. He that hath decreed to govern man for that\nend he hath designed him, knows all the means before, whereby he will\ngovern him, and therefore hath a distinct and certain knowledge of all\nthings; for a confused knowledge is an imperfection in government; it\nis in this the infiniteness of his understanding is more seen than in\nknowing things past or present; his {a431} eyes are a flame of fire\n(Rev. i. 14), in regard of the penetrating virtue of them into things\nimpenetrable by any else. To make it further appear that God knows all\nthings future, consider,\n\n1. Everything which is the object of God\u2019s knowledge without himself\nwas once only future. There was a moment when nothing was in being\nbut himself: he knew nothing actually past, because nothing was\npast; nothing actually present, because nothing had any existence but\nhimself; therefore only what was future. And why not everything that\nis future now, as well as only what was future and to come to pass\njust at the beginning of the creation? God indeed knows everything\nas present, but the things themselves known by him were not present,\nbut future; the whole creation was once future, or else it was from\neternity; if it begun in time, it was once future in itself, else it\ncould never have begun to be. Did not God know what would be created\nby him, before it was created by him?[695] Did he create he knew not\nwhat, and knew not before, what he should create? Was he ignorant\nbefore he acted, and in his acting, what his operation would tend to?\nor did he not know the nature of things, and the ends of them, till\nhe had produced them and saw them in being? Creatures, then, did not\narise from his knowledge, but his knowledge from them; he did not\nthen will that his creatures should be, for he had then willed what\nhe knew not, and knew not what he willed; they, therefore, must be\nknown before they were made, and not known because they were made; he\nknew them to make them, and he did not make them to know them; By the\nsame reason that he knew what creatures should be before they were,\nhe knows still what creatures shall be before they are;[696] for all\nthings that are, were in God, not really in their own nature, but in\nhim as a cause; so the earth and heavens were in him, as a model is\nin the mind of a workman, which is in his mind and soul, before it be\nbrought forth into outward act.\n\n2. The predictions of future things evidence this. There is not a\nprophecy of any thing to come, but is a spark of his foreknowledge,\nand bears witness to the truth of this assertion, in the punctual\naccomplishment of it; this is a thing challenged by God as his own\npeculiar, wherein he surmounts all the idols that man\u2019s inventions\nhave godded in the world (Isa. xli. 21, 22): Let them bring them forth\n(speaking of the idols) and show us what shall happen, or declare us\nthings to come: show the things that are to come hereafter, that we\nmay know that you are gods. Such a fore\u2011knowledge of things to come,\nis here ascribed to God by God himself, as a distinction of him from\nall false gods; such a knowledge, that if any could prove that they\nwere possessors of, he would acknowledge them gods as well as himself:\n\u201cthat we may know that you are gods.\u201d He puts his Deity to stand or\nfall upon this account, and this should be the point which should\ndecide the controversy, whether he or the heathen idols were the true\nGod; the dispute is managed by this medium,\u2015\u2015He that knows things to\ncome, is God; I know things to come, _ergo_, I am God; the idols know\nnot things to come, therefore they are not gods; God submits the being\nof his Deity to this trial. If God know {a432} things to come no more\nthan the heathen idols, which were either devils or men, he would\nbe, in his own account, no more a God than devils or men, no more\na God than the pagan idols he doth scoff at for this defect. If the\nheathen idols were to be stripped of their deity for want of this\nforeknowledge of things to come, would not the true God also fall from\nthe same excellency if he were defective in knowledge? He would, in\nhis own judgment, no more deserve the title and character of a God\nthan they. How could he reproach them for that, if it were wanting\nin himself? It cannot be understood of future things in their causes,\nwhen the effects necessarily arise from such causes, as light from\nthe sun, and heat from the fire: many of these men know; more of\nthem angels and devils know: if God, therefore, had not a higher and\nfarther knowledge than this, he would not by this be proved to be God\nany more than angels and devils, who know necessary effects in their\ncauses. The devils, indeed, did predict some things in the heathen\noracles; but God is differenced from them here by the infiniteness\nof his knowledge, in being able to predict things to come that they\nknew not, or things in their particularities, things that depended\non the liberty of man\u2019s will, which the devils could lay no claim to\na certain knowledge of. Were it only a conjectural knowledge that is\nhere meant, the devils might answer, they can conjecture, and so their\ndeity was as good as God\u2019s; for, though God might know more things,\nand conjecture nearer to what would be, yet still it would be but\nconjectural, and therefore not a higher kind of knowledge than what\nthe devils might challenge. How much, then, is God beholden to the\nSocinians for denying the knowledge of all future things to him, upon\nwhich here he puts the trial of his Deity? God asserts his knowledge\nof things to come, as a manifest evidence of his Godhead; those that\ndeny, therefore, the argument that proves it, deny the conclusion too;\nfor this will necessarily follow, that if he be God, because he knows\nfuture things then he that doth not know future things is not God;\nand if God knows not future things but only by conjecture, then there\nis no God, because a certain knowledge, so as infallibly to predict\nthings to come, is an inseparable perfection of the Deity: it was,\ntherefore, well said of Austin, that it was as high a madness to deny\nGod to be, as to deny him the foreknowledge of things to come. The\nwhole prophetic part of Scripture declares this perfection of God;\nevery prophet\u2019s candle was lighted at this torch; they could not have\nthis foreknowledge of themselves; why might not many other men have\nthe same insight, if it were nature? It must be from some superior\nAgent; and all nations owned prophecy as a beam from God, a fruit of\nDivine illumination.[697] Prophecy must be totally expunged if this be\ndenied; for the subjects of prophecy are things future, and no man is\nproperly a prophet but in prediction. Now prediction is nothing but\nforetelling, and things foretold are not yet come, and the foretelling\nof them supposeth them not to be yet, but that they shall be in time;\nseveral such predictions we have in Scripture, the event whereof\nhath been certain. The years of famine in Egypt foretold that he\nwould order second causes for bringing that judgment upon them; the\ncaptivity {a433} of his people in Babylon, the calling of the Gentiles,\nthe rejection of the Jews. Daniel\u2019s revelation of Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s\ndream; that prince refers to God as the revealer of secrets (Dan.\nii. 47). By the same reason that he knows one thing future by himself,\nand by the infiniteness of his knowledge before any causes of them\nappear, he doth know all things future.\n\n3. Some future things are known by men; and we must allow God a\ngreater knowledge than any creature. Future things in their causes\nmay be known by angels and men, (as I said before); whosoever knows\nnecessary causes, and the efficacy of them, may foretell the effects;\nand when he sees the meeting and concurrence of several causes\ntogether, he may presage what the consequent effect will be of such\na concurrence: so physicians foretel the progress of a disease, the\nincrease or diminution of it by natural signs; and astronomers foretel\neclipses by their observation of the motion of heavenly bodies, many\nyears before they happen;[698] can they be hid from God, with whom\nare the reasons of all things?[699] An expert gardener, by knowing\nthe root in the depth of winter, can tell what flowers and what fruit\nit will bear, and the month when they will peep out their heads;\nand shall not God much more, that knows the principles of all his\ncreatures, and is exactly privy to all their natures and qualities,\nknow what they will be, and what operations shall be from those\nprinciples? Now, if God did know things only in their causes, his\nknowledge would not be more excellent than the knowledge of angels and\nmen, though he might know more than they of the things that will come\nto pass, from every cause singly, and from the concurrence of many.\nNow, as God is more excellent in being than his creature, so he is\nmore excellent in the objects of his knowledge, and the manner of his\nknowledge; well, then, shall a certain knowledge of something future,\nand a conjectural knowledge of many things, be found among men? and\nshall a determinate and infallible knowledge of things to come be\nfound nowhere, in no being? If the conjecture of future things savours\nof ignorance, and God knows them only by conjecture, there is, then,\nno such thing in being as a perfect intelligent Being, and so no God.\n\n4. God knows his own decree and will, and therefore must needs know\nall future things. If anything be future, or to come to pass, it\nmust be from itself or from God: not from itself, then it would be\nindependent and absolute: if it hath its futurity from God, then God\nmust know what he hath decreed to come to pass; those things that are\nfuture, in necessary causes, God must know, because he willed them to\nbe causes of such effects; he, therefore, knows them, because he knows\nwhat he willed. The knowledge of God cannot arise from the things\nthemselves, for then the knowledge of God would have a cause without\nhim; and knowledge, which is an eminent perfection, would be conferred\nupon him by his creatures. But as God sees things possible in the\nglass of his own power, so he sees things future in the glass of\nhis own will; in his effecting will, if he hath decreed to produce\nthem; in his permitting will, as he hath decreed to suffer them and\ndispose of them; nothing can pass out of the rank of {a434} things\nmerely possible into the order of things future, before some act of\nGod\u2019s will hath passed for its futurition.[700] It is not from the\ninfiniteness of his own nature, simply considered, that God knows\nthings to be future;[701] for as things are not future because God is\ninfinite (for then all possible things should be future), so neither\nis any thing known to be future only because God is infinite, but\nbecause God hath decreed it; his declaration of things to come,\nis founded upon his appointment of things to come.[702] In Isaiah\nxliv. 7, it is said, \u201cAnd who, as I, shall call and declare it, since\nI appointed the ancient people, and the things that are coming?\u201d[703]\nNothing is created or ordered in the world but what God decreed to\nbe created and ordered. God knows his own decree, and therefore all\nthings which he hath decreed to exist in time; not the minutest part\nof the world could have existed without his will, not an action can\nbe done without his will; as life, the principle, so motion, the fruit\nof that life, is by and from God; as he decreed life to this or that\nthing, so he decreed motion as the effect of life, and decreed to\nexert his power in concurring with them, for producing effects natural\nfrom such causes; for without such a concourse they could not have\nacted anything, or produced anything; and therefore as for natural\nthings, which we call necessary causes, God foreseeing them all\nparticularly in his own decree, foresaw also all effects which must\nnecessarily flow from them, because such causes cannot but act when\nthey are furnished with all things necessary for action: he knows his\nown decrees, and therefore necessarily knows what he hath decreed, or\nelse we must say things come to pass whether God will or no, or that\nhe wills he knows not what; but this cannot be, for \u201cknown unto God\nare all his works, from the beginning of the world\u201d (Acts xv. 18). Now\nthis necessarily flows from that principle first laid down, that God\nknows himself, since nothing is future without God\u2019s will; if God did\nnot know future things, he would not know his own will; for as things\npossible could not be known by him, unless he knew the fulness of his\nown power, so things future could not be known by his understanding,\nunless he knew the resolves of his own will. Thus the knowledge of God\ndiffers from the knowledge of men;[704] God\u2019s knowledge of his works\nprecedes his works; man\u2019s knowledge of God\u2019s works follows his works,\njust as an artificer\u2019s knowledge of a watch, instrument, or engine,\nwhich he would make, is before his making of it; he knows the motion\nof it, and the reason of those motions before it is made, because he\nknows what he hath determined to work; he knows not those motions from\nthe consideration of them after they were made, as the spectator doth,\nwho, by viewing the instrument after it is made, gains a knowledge\nfrom the sight and the consideration of it, till he understands the\nreason of the whole; so we know things from the consideration of them\nafter we see them in being, and therefore we know not future things:\nbut God\u2019s knowledge doth not arise from things because they are, but\nbecause he wills them to be; and therefore he knows everything that\nshall be, because it {a435} cannot be without his will, as the Creator\nand maintainer of all things; knowing his own substance, he knows all\nhis works.\n\n5. If God did not know all future things, he would be mutable in his\nknowledge. If he did not know all things that ever were or are to be,\nthere would be upon the appearance of every new object, an addition\nof light to his understanding, and therefore such a change in him as\nevery new knowledge causes in the mind of a man, or as the sun works\nin the world upon its rising every morning, scattering the darkness\nthat was upon the face of the earth; if he did not know them before\nthey came, he would gain a knowledge by them when they came to pass,\nwhich he had not before they were effected; his knowledge would be\nnew according to the newness of the objects, and multiplied according\nto the multitude of the objects. If God did know things to come as\nperfectly as he knew things present and past, but knew those certainly,\nand the others doubtfully and conjecturally, he would suffer some\nchange, and acquire some perfection in his knowledge, when those\nfuture things should cease to be future, and become present; for he\nwould know it more perfectly when it were present, than he did when\nit was future, and so there would be a change from imperfection to a\nperfection; but God is every way immutable. Besides, that perfection\nwould not arise from the nature of God, but from the existence and\npresence of the thing; but who will affirm that God acquires any\nperfection of knowledge from his creatures, any more than he doth of\nbeing? he would not then have that knowledge, and consequently that\nperfection from eternity, as he had when he created the world, and\nwill not have a full perfection of the knowledge of his creature till\nthe end of the world, nor of immortal souls, which will certainly act\nas well as live to eternity; and so God never was, nor ever will be,\nperfect in knowledge; for when you have conceived millions of years,\nwherein angels and souls live and act, there is still more coming than\nyou can conceive, wherein they will act. And if God be always changing\nto eternity, from ignorance to knowledge, as those acts come to be\nexerted by his creatures, he will not be perfect in knowledge, no, not\nto eternity, but will always be changing from one degree of knowledge\nto another; a very unworthy conceit to entertain of the most blessed,\nperfect, and infinite God! Hence, then, it follows, that\n\n(1.) God foreknows all his creatures. All kinds which he determined\nto make; all particulars that should spring out of every species; the\ntime when they should come forth of the womb; the manner how; \u201cIn thy\nBook all my members were written\u201d (Ps. cxxxix. 16). Members is not in\nthe _Heb._ whence some refer all, to all living creatures whatsoever,\nand all the parts of them which God did foresee; he knew the number\nof creatures with all their parts; they were written in the book\nof his foreknowledge; the duration of them, how long they shall\nremain in being, and act upon the stage; he knows their strength, the\nlinks of one cause with another, and what will follow in all their\ncircumstances, and the series and combinations of effects with their\ncauses. The duration of everything is foreknown, because determined\n(Job. xiv. 5); \u201cseeing his days {a436} are determined, the number\nof his months are with thee; thou hast appointed his bounds, that\nhe cannot pass;\u201d bounds are fixed, beyond which none shall reach; he\nspeaks of days and months, not of years, to give us notice of God\u2019s\nparticular foreknowledge of everything, of every day, month, year,\nhour of a man\u2019s life.\n\n(2.) All the acts of his creatures are foreknown by him. All natural\nacts, because he knows their causes; voluntary acts I shall speak of\nafterwards.\n\n(3.) This foreknowledge was certain. For it is an unworthy notion of\nGod to ascribe to him a conjectural knowledge; if there were only a\nconjectural knowledge, he could but conjecturally foretel anything;\nand then it is possible the events of things might be contrary to his\npredictions. It would appear then that God were deceived and mistaken,\nand then there could be no rule of trying things, whether there were\nfrom God or no; for the rule God sets down to discern his words from\nthe words of false prophets, is the event and certain accomplishment\nof what is predicted (Deut. xviii. 21) to that question, \u201cHow shall\nwe know whether God hath spoken or no?\u201d he answers, that \u201cif the thing\ndoth not come to pass, the Lord hath not spoken.\u201d If his knowledge\nof future things were not certain, there were no stability in this\nrule, it would fall to the ground: we never yet find God deceived\nin any prediction, but the event did answer his forerevelation; his\nforeknowledge, therefore, is certain and infallible. We cannot make\nGod uncertain in his knowledge, but we must conceive him fluctuating\nand wavering in his will; but if his will be not yea and nay, but yea,\nhis knowledge is certain, because he doth certainly will and resolve.\n\n(4.) This foreknowledge was from eternity. Seeing he knows things\npossible in his power, and things future in his will; if his power and\nresolves were from eternity, his knowledge must be so too, or else we\nmust make him ignorant of his own power, and ignorant of his own will\nfrom eternity; and consequently not from eternity blessed and perfect.\nHis knowledge of possible things must run parallel with his power,\nand his knowledge of future things run parallel with his will. If\nhe willed from eternity, he knew from eternity what he willed; but\nthat he did will from eternity, we must grant, unless we would render\nhim changeable, and conceive him to be made in time of not willing,\nwilling. The knowledge God hath in time, was always one and the same,\nbecause his understanding is his proper essence, and of an immutable\nnature.[705] And indeed the actual existence of a thing is not simply\nnecessary to its being perfectly known; we may see a thing that is\npast out of being, when it doth actually exist; and a carpenter may\nknow the house he is to build, before it be built, by the model of\nit in his own mind; much more we may conceive the same of God whose\ndecrees were before the foundation of the world;[706] and to be before\ntime was, and to be from eternity, hath no difference. As God in his\nbeing exceeds all beginning of time, so doth his knowledge all motions\nof time.\n\n(5.) God foreknows all things as present with him from eternity. As\nhe knows mutable things with an immutable and firm knowledge, {a437}\nso he knows future things with a present knowledge;[707] not that the\nthings which are produced in time, were actually and really present\nwith him in their own beings from eternity; for then they could not\nbe produced in time; had they a real existence, then they would not be\ncreatures, but God; and had they actual being, then they could not be\nfuture, for future speaks a thing to come that is not yet. If things\nhad been actually present with him, and yet future, they had been made\nbefore they were made, and had a being before they had a being; but\nthey were all present to his knowledge as if they were in actual being,\nbecause the reason of all things that were to be made, was present\nwith him. The reason of the will of God that they shall be, was\nequally eternal with him, wherein he saw what, and when, and how he\nwould create things, how he would govern them, to what ends he would\ndirect them.[708] Thus all things are present to God\u2019s knowledge,\nthough in their own nature they may be past or future, not in\n_esse reali_, but in _esse intelligibili_, objectively, not actually\npresent;[709] for as the unchangeableness and infiniteness of God\u2019s\nknowledge of changeable and finite things, doth not make the things\nhe knows immutable and infinite, so neither doth the eternity of his\nknowledge make them actually present with him from eternity; but all\nthings are present to his understanding, because he hath at once a\nview of all successions of times; and his knowledge of future things\nis as perfect as of present things, or what is past; it is not a\ncertain knowledge of present things, and an uncertain knowledge of\nfuture, but his knowledge of one is as certain and unerring as his\nknowledge of the other;[710] as a man that beholds a circle with\nseveral lines from the centre, beholds the lines as they are joined\nin the centre, beholds them also as they are distant and severed from\none another, beholds them in their extent and in their point all at\nonce, though they may have a great distance from one another. He saw\nfrom the beginning of time to the last minute of it, all things coming\nout of their causes, marching in their order according to his own\nappointment; as a man may see a multitude of ants, some creeping one\nway, some another, employed in several businesses for their winter\nprovision. The eye of God at once runs through the whole circle of\ntime; as the eye of man upon a tower sees all the passengers at once,\nthough some be past, some under the tower, some coming at a farther\ndistance. \u201cGod,\u201d saith Job, \u201clooks to the end of the earth, and sees\nunder the whole heaven\u201d (Job xxviii. 24); the knowledge of God is\nexpressed by sight in Scripture, and futurity to God is the same\nthing as distance to us; we can with a perspective\u2011glass make things\nthat are afar off appear as if they were near; and the sun, so many\nthousand miles distant from us, to appear as if it were at the end of\nthe glass: why, then, should future things be at so great a distance\nfrom God\u2019s knowledge, when things so far from us may be made to\napproach so near to us? God considers all things in his own simple\nknowledge, as if they were now acted; and therefore some have\nchosen to call the knowledge of things to come, not prescience, or\nforeknowledge, but knowledge; {a438} because God sees all things in\none instant, _scienti\u00e2 nunquam deficientis instanti\u00e6_.[711] Upon this\naccount, things that are to come, are set down in Scripture as present,\nand sometimes as past (Isa. ix. 6): \u201cUnto us a child is born,\u201d though\nnot yet born; so of the sufferings of Christ (Isa. liii. 4, &c.): \u201cHe\nhath borne our griefs, he was wounded for our transgressions, he was\ntaken from prison,\u201d &c., not shall be; and (Ps. xxii. 18): \u201cthey part\nmy garments among them,\u201d as if it were present; all to express the\ncertainty of God\u2019s foreknowledge, as if things were actually present\nbefore him.\n\n(6.) This is proper to God, and incommunicable to any creature.\nNothing but what is eternal can know all things that are to come.\nSuppose a creature might know things that are to come, after he is\nin being, he cannot know things simply as future, because there were\nthings future before he was in being. The devils know not men\u2019s hearts,\ntherefore cannot foretel their actions with any certainty; they\nmay indeed have a knowledge of some things to come, but it is only\nconjectural, and often mistaken; as the devil was in his predictions\namong the heathen, and in his presage of \u201cJob\u2019s cursing God to his\nface\u201d upon his pressing calamities (Job i. 11). Sometimes, indeed,\nthey have a certain knowledge of something future by the revelation\nof God, when he uses them as instruments of his vengeance, or for\nthe trial of his people, as in the case of Job, when he gave him a\ncommission to strip him of his goods; or, as the angels have, when\nhe uses them as instruments of the deliverance of his people.\n\n(7.) Though this be certain, that God foreknows all things and\nactions, yet the manner of his knowing all things before they come, is\nnot so easily resolved. We must not, therefore, deny this perfection\nin God, because we understand not the manner how he hath the knowledge\nof all things. It were unworthy for us to own no more of God than we\ncan perfectly conceive of him; we should then own no more of him than\nthat he doth exist. \u201cCanst thou,\u201d saith Job, \u201cby searching, find out\nGod? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?\u201d (Job xi. 7).\nDo we not see things unknown to inferior creatures, to be known to\nourselves? Irrational creatures do not apprehend the nature of a man,\nnor what we conceived of them when we look upon them; nor do we know\nwhat they fancy of us when they look wistly upon us; for ought as I\nknow, we understand as little the manner of their imaginations, as\nthey do of ours; and shall we ascribe a darkness in God as to future\nthings, because we are ignorant of them, and of the manner how he\nshould know them?[712] shall we doubt whether God doth certainly know\nthose things which we only conjecture? As our power is not the measure\nof the power of God, so neither is our knowledge the judge of the\nknowledge of God, no better nor so well as an irrational nature can be\nthe judge of our reason. Do we perfectly know the manner how we know?\nshall we therefore deny that we know anything? We know we have such a\nfaculty which we call understanding, but doth any man certainly know\nwhat it is? and because he doth not, shall he deny that which is plain\nand evident to him? {a439} Because we cannot ascertain ourselves of\nthe causes of the ebbing and flowing of the sea, of the manner how\nminerals are engendered in the earth, shall we therefore deny that\nwhich our eyes convince us of? And this will be a preparation to the\nlast thing.\n\nFifthly, God knows all future contingencies, that is, God knows all\nthings that shall accidentally happen, or, as we say, by chance; and\nhe knows all the free motions of men\u2019s wills that shall be to the\nend of the world. If all things be open to him (Heb. iv. 13), then\nall contingencies are, for they are in the number of things; and as,\naccording to Christ\u2019s speech, those things that are impossible to\nman, are possible to God, so those things which are unknown to man,\nare known to God; because of the infinite fulness and perfection of\nthe divine understanding. Let us see what a contingent is. That is\ncontingent which we commonly call accidental, as when a tile falls\nsuddenly upon a man\u2019s head as he is walking in the street; or when\none letting off a musket at random shoots another he did not intend to\nhit; such was that arrow whereby Ahab was killed, shot by a soldier at\na venture (1 Kings xxii. 39); this some call a mixed contingent, made\nup partly of necessity, and partly of accident; it is necessary the\nbullet, when sent out of the gun, or arrow out of the bow, should fly\nand light somewhere; but it is an accident that it hits this or that\nman, that was never intended by the archer. Other things, as voluntary\nactions, are purely contingents, and have nothing of necessity in\nthem; all free actions that depend upon the will of man, whether to\ndo, or not to do, are of this nature, because they depend not upon a\nnecessary cause, as burning doth upon the fire, moistening upon water,\nor as descent or falling down is necessary to a heavy body; for those\ncannot in their own nature do otherwise; but the other actions depend\nupon a free agent, able to turn to this or that point, and determine\nhimself as he pleases. Now we must know, that what is accidental in\nregard of the creature, is not so in regard of God; the manner of\nAhab\u2019s death was accidental, in regard of the hand by which he was\nslain, but not in regard of God who foretold his death, and foreknew\nthe shot, and directed the arrow; God was not uncertain before of\nthe manner of his fall, nor hovered over the battle to watch for\nan opportunity to accomplish his own prediction; what may be or not\nbe, in regard of us, is certain in regard of God; to imagine that\nwhat is accidental to us, is so to God, is to measure God by our\nshort line. How many events following upon the results of princes in\ntheir counsels, seem to persons, ignorant of those counsels, to be a\nhaphazard, yet were not contingencies to the prince and his assistants,\nbut foreseen by him as certainly to issue so as they do, which\nthey knew before would be the fruit of such causes and instruments\nthey would knit together! That may be necessary in regard of God\u2019s\nforeknowledge, which is merely accidental in regard of the natural\ndisposition of the immediate causes which do actually produce it;\ncontingent in its own nature, and in regard of us, but fixed in\nthe knowledge of God. One illustrates it by this similitude;[713] a\nmaster sends two servants to one and the same place, two several ways,\nunknown to one another; {a440} they meet at the place which their\nmaster had appointed them; their meeting is accidental to them, one\nknows not of the other, but it was foreseen by the master that they\nshould so meet; and that in regard of them it would seem a mere\naccident, till they came to explain the business to one another; both\nthe necessity of their meeting, in regard of their master\u2019s order, and\nthe accidentalness of it in regard of themselves, were in both their\ncircumstances foreknown by the master that employed them. For the\nclearing of this, take it in this method.\n\n1. It is an unworthy conceit of God in any to exclude him from the\nknowledge of these things.\n\n(1.) It will be a strange contracting of him to allow him no greater\na knowledge than we have ourselves. Contingencies are known to us\nwhen they come into act, and pass from futurity to reality; and when\nthey are present to us, we can order our affairs accordingly; shall we\nallow God no greater a measure of knowledge than we have, and make him\nas blind as ourselves, not to see things of that nature before they\ncome to pass? Shall God know them no more? Shall we imagine God knows\nno otherwise than we know? and that he doth, like us, stand gazing\nwith admiration at events? man can conjecture many things; is it fit\nto ascribe the same uncertainty to God, as though he, as well as we,\ncould have no assurance till the issue appear in the view of all? If\nGod doth not certainly foreknow them, he doth but conjecture them;\nbut a conjectural knowledge is by no means to be fastened on God;\nfor that is not knowledge, but guess, and destroys a Deity by making\nhim subject to mistake; for he that only guesseth, may guess wrong;\nso that this is to make God like ourselves, and strip him of an\nuniversally acknowledged perfection of omniscience. A conjectural\nknowledge, saith one,[714] is as unworthy of God as the creature is\nunworthy of omniscience. It is certain man hath a liberty to act many\nthings this or that way as he pleases; to walk to this or that quarter,\nto speak or not to speak; to do this or that thing, or not to do it;\nwhich way a man will certainly determine himself, is unknown before to\nany creature, yea, often at the present to himself, for he may be in\nsuspense; but shall we imagine this future determination of himself is\nconcealed from God? Those that deny God\u2019s foreknowledge in such cases,\nmust either say, that God hath an opinion that a man will resolve\nrather this way than that; but then if a man by his liberty determine\nhimself contrary to the opinion of God, is not God then deceived?\nand what rational creature can own him for a God that can be deceived\nin anything? or else they must say that God is at uncertainty,\nand suspends his opinion without determining it any way; then he\ncannot know free acts till they are done; he would then depend\nupon the creature for his information; his knowledge would be every\ninstant increased, as things, he knew not before, came into act;\nand since there are every minute an innumerable multitude of various\nimaginations in the minds of men, there would be every minute an\naccession of new knowledge to God which he had not before; besides,\nthis knowledge would be mutable according to the wavering and {a441}\nweathercock resolutions of men, one while standing to this point,\nanother while to that, if he depended upon the creature\u2019s\ndetermination for his knowledge.\n\n(2.) If the free acts of men were unknown before to God, no man\ncan see how there can be any government of the world by him. Such\ncontingencies may happen, and such resolves of men\u2019s free\u2011wills\nunknown to God, as may perplex his affairs, and put him upon new\ncounsels and methods for attaining those ends which he settled at\nthe first creation of things; if things happen which God knows not\nof before, this must be the consequence; where there is no foresight,\nthere is no providence; things may happen so sudden, if God be\nignorant of them, that they may give a check to his intentions and\nscheme of government, and put him upon changing the whole model of it.\nHow often doth a small intervening circumstance, unforeseen by man,\ndash in pieces a long meditated and well\u2011formed design! To govern\nnecessary causes, as sun and stars, whose effects are natural and\nconstant in themselves, is easy to be imagined; but how to govern the\nworld that consists of so many men of free\u2011will, able to determine\nthemselves to this or that, and which have no constancy in themselves,\nas the sun and stars have, cannot be imagined; unless we will allow\nin God as great a certainty of foreknowledge of the designs and\nactions of men, as there is inconstancy in their resolves. God must\nbe altering the methods of his government every day, every hour, every\nminute, according to the determinations of men, which are so various\nand changeable in the whole compass of the world in the space of one\nminute; he must wait to see what the counsels of men will be, before\nhe could settle his own methods of government; and so must govern\nthe world according to their mutability, and not according to any\ncertainty in himself. But his counsel is stable in the midst of\nmultitudes of free devices in the heart of man (Prov. xix. 21), and\nknowing them all before, orders them to be subservient to his own\nstable counsel. If he cannot know what to\u2011morrow will bring forth in\nthe mind of a man, how can he certainly settle his own determination\nof governing him? His decrees and resolves must be temporal, and\narise _pro re nata_, and he must alway be in counsel what he should do\nupon every change of men\u2019s minds. This is an unworthy conceit of the\ninfinite majesty of heaven, to make his government depend upon the\nresolves of men, rather than their resolves upon the design of God.\n\n2. It is therefore certain, that God doth foreknow the free and\nvoluntary acts of man. How could he else order his people to ask of\nhim things to come, in order to their deliverance, such things as\ndepended upon the will of man, if he foreknew not the motions of their\nwill (Isa. xlv. 11)?\n\n(1.) Actions good or indifferent depending upon the liberty of man\u2019s\nwill as much as any whatsoever. Several of these he hath foretold; not\nonly a person to build up Jerusalem was predicted by him, but the name\nof that person, Cyrus (Isa. xliv. 28). What is more contingent, or is\nmore the effect of the liberty of man\u2019s will, than the names of their\nchildren? Was not the destruction of the Babylonish empire foretold,\nwhich Cyrus undertook, not by any {a442} compulsion, but by a free\ninclination and resolve of his own will? And was not the dismission\nof the Jews into their own country a voluntary act in that conqueror?\nIf you consider the liberty of man\u2019s will, might not Cyrus as well\nhave continued their yoke, as have struck off their chains, and kept\nthem captive, as well as dismissed them? Had it not been for his own\ninterest, rather to have strengthened the fetters of so turbulent a\npeople, who being tenacious of their religion and laws different from\nthat professed by the whole world, were like to make disturbances more\nwhen they were linked in a body in their own country, than when they\nwere transplanted and scattered into the several parts of his empire?\nIt was in the power of Cyrus (take him as a man) to choose one or the\nother; his interest invited him to continue their captivity, rather\nthan grant their deliverance; yet God knew that he would willingly\ndo this rather than the other; he knew this which depended upon the\nwill of Cyrus; and why may not an infinite God foreknow the free acts\nof all men, as well as of one? If the liberty of Cyrus\u2019 will was no\nhindrance to God\u2019s certain and infallible foreknowledge of it, how\ncan the contingency of any other thing be a hindrance to him? for\nthere is the same reason of one and all; and his government extends\nto every village, every family, every person, as well as to kingdoms\nand nations. So God foretold, by his prophet, not only the destruction\nof Jeroboam\u2019s altar, but the name of the person that should be the\ninstrument of it (1 Kings xiii. 2), and this about 300 years before\nJosiah\u2019s birth. It is a wonder that none of the pious kings of Judah,\nin detestation of idolatry, and hopes to recover again the kingdom\nof Israel, had in all that space named one of their sons by that name\nof Josiah, in hopes that that prophecy should be accomplished by him;\nthat Manasseh only should do this, who was the greatest imitator of\nJeroboam\u2019s idolatry among all the Jewish kings, and indeed went beyond\nthem; and had no mind to destroy in another kingdom what he propagated\nin his own. What is freer than the imposition of a name? yet this he\nforeknew, and this Josiah was Manasseh\u2019s son (2 Kings xxi. 26). Was\nthere anything more voluntary than for Pharaoh to honor the butler\nby restoring him to his place, and punish the baker by hanging him\non a gibbet? yet this was foretold (Gen. xl. 8). And were not all the\nvoluntary acts of men, which were the means of Joseph\u2019s advancement,\nforeknown by God, as well as his exaltation, which was the end he\naimed at by those means? Many of these may be reckoned up. Can all\nthe free acts of man surmount the infinite capacity of the Divine\nunderstanding? If God singles out one voluntary action in man as\ncontingent as any, and lying among a vast number of other designs\nand resolutions, both antecedent and subsequent, why should he not\nknow the whole mass of men\u2019s thoughts and actions, and pierce into\nall that the liberty of man\u2019s will can effect? why should he not know\nevery grain, as well as one that lies in the midst of many of the same\nkind? And since the Scripture gives so large an account of contingents,\npredicted by God, no man can certainly prove that anything is\nunforeknown to him. It is as reasonable to think he knows every\ncontingent, as that he knows some that lie as much hid from the eye of\nany creature, {a443} since there is no more difficulty to an infinite\nunderstanding to know all, than to know some.[715] Indeed, if we deny\nGod\u2019s foreknowledge of the voluntary actions of men, we must strike\nourselves off from the belief of scripture predictions that yet remain\nunaccomplished, and will be brought about by the voluntary engagements\nof men, as the ruin of antichrist, &c. If God foreknows not the\nsecret motions of man\u2019s will, how can he foretel them? if we strip\nhim of this perfection of prescience, why should we believe a word of\nscripture predictions? all the credit of the word of God is torn up by\nthe roots. If God were uncertain of such events, how can we reconcile\nGod\u2019s declaration of them to his truth; and his demanding our belief\nof them to his goodness? Were it good and righteous in God to urge\nus to the belief of that he were uncertain of himself, how could\nhe be true in predicting things he were not sure of? or good, in\nrequiring credit to be given to that which might be false? This would\nnecessarily follow, if God did not foreknow the motions of men\u2019s wills,\nwhereby many of his predictions were fulfilled, and some remain yet to\nbe accomplished.\n\n(2.) God foreknows the voluntary sinful motions of men\u2019s wills.\nFirst, God had foretold several of them. Were not all the minute\nsinful circumstances about the death of our blessed Redeemer, as the\npiercing him, giving him gall to drink, foretold, as well as the not\nbreaking his bones, and parting his garments? What were those but the\nfree actions of men, which they did willingly without any constraint?\nand those foretold by David, Isaiah, and other prophets; some above a\nthousand, some eight hundred, and some more, some fewer years before\nthey came to pass; and the events punctually answered the prophesies.\nMany sinful acts of men, which depended upon their free will, have\nbeen foretold. The Egyptians\u2019 voluntary oppressing Israel (Gen.\nxv. 13); Pharaoh\u2019s hardening his heart against the voice of Moses\n(Exod. iii. 19); that Isaiah\u2019s message would be in vain to the people\n(Isa. vi. 9); that the Israelites would be rebellious after Moses\u2019\ndeath, and turn idolaters (Deut. xxxi. 16); Judas\u2019 betraying of our\nSaviour, a voluntary action (John vi. _ult._); he was not forced to\ndo what he did, for he had some kind of repentance for it; and not\nviolence, but voluntariness falls under repentance. Second, His truth\nhad depended upon this foresight. Let us consider that in Gen. xv. 16,\n\u201cBut in the fourth generation they shall come hither again;\u201d that is,\nthe posterity of Abraham shall come into Canaan, for the iniquity of\nthe Amorites is not yet full.[716] God makes a promise to Abraham,\nof giving his posterity the land of Canaan, not presently, but in\nthe fourth generation; if the truth of God be infallible in the\nperformance of his promise, his understanding is as infallible in the\nforesight of the Amorites\u2019 sin; the fullness of their iniquity was to\nprecede the Israelites\u2019 possession. Did the truth of God depend upon\nan uncertainty? did he make the promise hand over head (as we say)?\nHow could he, with any wisdom and truth, {a444} assure Israel of the\npossession of the land in the fourth generation, if he had not been\nsure that the Amorites would fill up the measure of their iniquities\nby that time? If Abraham had been a Socinian, to deny God\u2019s knowledge\nof the free acts of men, had he not a fine excuse for unbelief? What\nwould his reply have been to God? Alas, Lord, this is not a promise\nto be relied upon, the Amorites\u2019 iniquity depends upon the acts\nof their free will, and such thou canst have no knowledge of; thou\ncanst see no more than a likelihood of their iniquity being full, and\ntherefore there is but a likelihood of thy performing thy promise,\nand not a certainty! Would not this be judged not only a saucy, but\na blasphemous answer? And upon these principles the truth of the\nmost faithful God had been dashed to uncertainty and a peradventure.\nThird, God provided a remedy for man\u2019s sin, and therefore foresaw the\nentrance of it into the world by the fall of Adam. He had a decree\nbefore the foundation of the world, to manifest his wisdom in the\ngospel by Jesus Christ, an \u201ceternal purpose in Jesus Christ\u201d (Eph.\niii. 11), and a decree of election past before the foundation of the\nworld;\u2015\u2015a separation of some to redemption, and forgiveness of sin in\nthe blood of Christ, in whom they were from eternity chosen, as well\nas in time accepted in Christ (Eph. i. 4, 6, 7), which is called a\n\u201cpurpose in himself\u201d (ver. 9); had not sin entered, there had been\nno occasion for the death of the Son of God, it being everywhere\nin Scripture laid upon that score;\u2015\u2015a decree for the shedding\nof blood, supposed a decree for the permission of sin, and a\ncertain foreknowledge of God, that it would be committed by man.\nAn uncertainty of foreknowledge, and a fixedness of purpose, are\nnot consistent in a wise man, much less in the only wise God. God\u2019s\npurpose to manifest his wisdom to men and angels in this way might\nhave been defeated, had God had only a conjectural foreknowledge\nof the fall of man; and all those solemn purposes of displaying\nhis perfections in those methods had been to no purpose;[717] the\nprovision of a remedy supposed a certainty of the disease. If a\nsparrow fall not to the ground without the will of God, how much less\ncould such a deplorable ruin fall upon mankind, without God\u2019s will\npermitting it, and his knowledge foreseeing it? It is not hard to\nconceive how God might foreknow it?[718] he indeed decreed to create\nman in an excellent state; the goodness of God could not but furnish\nhim with a power to stand; yet in his wisdom he might foresee that\nthe devil would be envious to man\u2019s happiness, and would, out of\nenvy, attempt his subversion. As God knew of what temper the faculties\nwere he had endued man with, and how far they were able to endure the\nassaults of a temptation, so he also foreknew the grand subtelties of\nSatan, how he would lay his mine, and to what point he would drive his\ntemptation; how he would propose and manage it, and direct his battery\nagainst the sensitive appetite, and assault the weakest part of the\nfort; might he not foresee that the efficacy of the temptation would\nexceed the measure of the resistance; cannot God know how far the\nmalice of Satan would extend, what shots he would, according to his\nnature, use, how high he would charge his temptation without his\npowerful restraint, {a445} as well as an engineer judge how many shots\nof a cannon will make a breach in a town, and how many casks of powder\nwill blow up a fortress, who never yet built the one, nor founded\nthe other? We may easily conclude God could not be deceived in the\njudgment of the issue and event, since he knew how far he would let\nSatan loose, how far he would permit man to act; and since he dives\nto the bottom of the nature of all things, he foresaw that Adam was\nendued with an ability to stand; as he foresaw that Benhadad might\nnaturally recover of his disease; but he foresaw also that Adam would\nsink under the allurements of the temptation, as he foresaw that\nHazael would let Benhadad live (2 Kings viii. 10). Now since the whole\nrace of mankind lies in corruption, and is subject to the power of\nthe devil (1 John iii. 18), may not God, that knows that corruption\nin every man\u2019s nature, and the force of every man\u2019s spirit, and what\nevery particular nature will incline him to upon such objects proposed\nto him, and what the reasons of the temptation will be, know also the\nissues? is there any difficulty in God\u2019s foreknowing this, since man\nknowing the nature of one he is well acquainted with, can conclude\nwhat sentiments he will have, and how he will behave himself upon\npresenting this or that object to him? If a man that understands the\ndisposition of his child or servant, knows before what he will do upon\nsuch an occasion, may not God much more, who knows the inclination of\nall his creatures, and from eternity run with his eyes over all the\nworks he intended? Our wills are in the number of causes; and since\nGod knows our wills, as causes, better than we do ourselves, why\nshould he be ignorant of the effects? God determines to give grace to\nsuch a man, not to give it to another, but leave him to himself, and\nsuffer such temptations to assault him; now God knowing the corruption\nof man in the whole mass, and in every part of it, is it not easy\nfor him to foreknow what the future actions of the will will be, when\nthe tinder and fire meet together, and how such a man will determine\nhimself, both us to the substance and manner of the action? Is it\nnot easy for him to know how a corrupted temper and a temptation will\nsuit? God is exactly privy to all the gall in the hearts of men, and\nwhat principles they will have, before they have a being. He \u201cknows\ntheir thoughts afar off\u201d (Ps. cxxxix. 2), as far off as eternity, as\nsome explain the words, and thoughts are as voluntary as anything;\nhe knows the power and inclinations of men in the order of second\ncauses; he understands the corruption of men, as well as \u201cthe poison\nof dragons, and the venom of asps;\u201d this is \u201claid up in store with\nhim, and sealed among his treasures\u201d (Deut. xxxii. 33, 34): among\nthe treasures of his foreknowledge, say some. What was the cruelty of\nHazael, but a free act? yet God knew the frame of his heart, and what\nacts of murder and oppression would spring from that bitter fountain,\nbefore Hazael had conceived them in himself (2 Kings viii. 12), as a\nman that knows the minerals through which the waters pass, may know\nwhat relish they will have before they appear above the earth, so our\nSaviour knew how Peter would deny him; he knew what quantity of powder\nwould serve for such a battery, in what measure he would let loose\nSatan, {a446} how far he would leave the reins in Peter\u2019s hands, and\nthen the issue might easily be known; and so in every act of man, God\nknows in his own will what measure of grace he will give, to determine\nthe will to good, and what measure of grace he will withdraw from such\na person, or not give to him; and, consequently, how far such a person\nwill fall or not. God knows the inclinations of the creature; he knows\nhis own permissions, what degrees of grace he will either allow him,\nor keep from him, according to which will be the degree of his sin.\nThis may in some measure help our conceptions in this, though, as\nwas said before, the manner of God\u2019s foreknowledge is not so easily\nexplicable.\n\n(3.) God\u2019s foreknowledge of man\u2019s voluntary actions doth not\nnecessitate the will of man. The foreknowledge of God is not deceived,\nnor the liberty of man\u2019s will diminished. I shall not trouble you with\nany school distinctions, but be as plain as I can, laying down several\npropositions in this case.\n\n_Prop. I._ It is certain all necessity doth not take away liberty,\nindeed a compulsive necessity takes away liberty, but a necessity\nof immutability removes not liberty from God; why should, then, a\nnecessity of infallibility in God remove liberty from the creature?\nGod did necessarily create the world, because he decreed it; yet\nfreely, because his will from eternity stood to it, he freely decreed\nit and freely created it, as the apostle saith in regard of God\u2019s\ndecrees, \u201cWho hath been his counsellor\u201d (Rom. xi. 34)? so in regard of\nhis actions I may say, Who hath been his compeller? he freely decreed,\nand he freely created. Jesus Christ necessarily took our flesh,\nbecause he had covenanted with God so to do, yet he acted freely and\nvoluntarily according to that covenant, otherwise his death had not\nbeen efficacious for us. A good man doth naturally, necessarily, love\nhis children, yet voluntarily: it is part of the happiness of the\nblessed to love God unchangeably, yet freely, for it would not be\ntheir happiness if it were done by compulsion. What is done by force\ncannot be called felicity, because there is no delight or complacency\nin it; and, though the blessed love God freely, yet, if there were\na possibility of change, it would not be their happiness, their\nblessedness would be damped by their fear of falling from this love,\nand consequently from their nearness to God, in whom their happiness\nconsists: God foreknows that they will love him forever, but are they\ntherefore compelled forever to love him? If there were such a kind\nof constraint, heaven would be rendered burdensome to them, and so\nno heaven. Again, God\u2019s foreknowledge of what he will do, doth not\nnecessitate him to do: he foreknew that he would create a world, yet\nhe freely created a world. God\u2019s foreknowledge doth not necessitate\nhimself; why should it necessitate us more than himself? We may\ninstance in ourselves: when we will a thing, we necessarily use our\nfaculty of will; and when we freely will any thing, it is necessary\nthat we freely will; but this necessity doth not exclude, but include,\nliberty; or, more plainly, when a man writes or speaks, whilst he\nwrites or speaks, those actions are necessary, because to speak and be\nsilent, to write and not to write, at the same time, are impossible;\nyet our writing {a447} or speaking doth not take away the power not\nto write or to be silent at that time if a man would be so; for he\nmight have chose whether he would have spoke or writ. So there is\na necessity of such actions of man, which God foresees; that is, a\nnecessity of infallibility, because God cannot be deceived, but not\na coactive necessity, as if they were compelled by God to act thus or\nthus.\n\n_Prop. II._ No man can say in any of his voluntary actions that\nhe ever found any force upon him. When any of us have done anything\naccording to our wills, can we say we could not have done the contrary\nto it? were we determined to it in our own intrinsic nature, or did we\nnot determine ourselves? did we not act either according to our reason,\nor according to outward allurements? did we find anything without us,\nor within us, that did force our wills to the embracing this or that?\nWhatever action you do, you do it because you judge it fit to be done,\nor because you will do it. What, though God foresaw that you would do\nso, and that you would do this or that, did you feel any force upon\nyou? did you not act according to your nature? God foresees that you\nwill eat or walk at such a time; do you find anything that moves you\nto eat, but your own appetite? or to walk, but your own reason and\nwill? If prescience had imposed any necessity upon man, should we not\nprobably have found some kind of plea from it in the mouth of Adam?\nhe knew as much as any man ever since knew of the nature of God, as\ndiscoverable in creation; he could not in innocence fancy an ignorant\nGod, a God that knew nothing of future things; he could not be so\nignorant of his own action, but he must have perceived a force upon\nhis will, had there been any; had he thought that God\u2019s prescience\nimposed any necessity upon him, he would not have omitted the plea,\nespecially when he was so daring as to charge the providence of God\nin the gift of the woman to him, to be the cause of his crime (Gen.\niii. 12.) How come his posterity to invent new charges against God,\nwhich their father Adam never thought of, who had more knowledge than\nall of them? He could find no cause of his sin but the liberty of his\nown will; he charges it, not upon any necessity from the devil, or\nany necessity from God; nor doth he allege the gift of the woman as a\nnecessary cause of his sin, but an occasion of it, by giving the fruit\nto him. Judas knew that our Saviour did foreknow his treachery, for he\nhad told him of it in the hearing of his disciples (John xiii. 21\u201226),\nyet he never charged the necessity of his crime upon the foreknowledge\nof his Master; if Judas had not done it freely, he had had no reason\nto repent of it; his repentance justifies Christ from imposing any\nnecessity upon him by that foreknowledge. No man acts anything, but\nhe can give an account of the motives of his action; he cannot father\nit upon a blind necessity; the will cannot be compelled, for then it\nwould cease to be the will: God doth not root up the foundations of\nnature, or change the order of it, and make men unable to act like\nmen, that is, as free agents. God foreknows the actions of irrational\ncreatures; this concludes no violence upon their nature, for we find\ntheir actions to be according to their nature, and spontaneous.\n\n{a448} _Prop. III._ God\u2019s foreknowledge is not, simply considered, the\ncause of anything. It puts nothing into things, but only beholds them\nas present, and arising from their proper causes. The knowledge of God\nis not the principle of things, or the cause of their existence, but\ndirective of the action; nothing is because God knows it, but because\nGod wills it, either positively or permissively; God knows all things\npossible; yet, because God knows them they are not brought into actual\nexistence, but remain still only as things possible; knowledge only\napprehends a thing, but acts nothing; it is the rule of acting, but\nnot the cause of acting; the will is the immediate principle, and\nthe power the immediate cause; to know a thing is not to do a thing,\nfor then we may be said to do everything that we know: but every man\nknows those things which he never did, nor never will do; knowledge\nin itself is an apprehension of a thing, and is not the cause of it.\nA spectator of a thing is not the cause of that thing which he sees,\nthat is, he is not the cause of it, as he beholds it. We see a man\nwrite, we know before that he will write at such a time; but this\nforeknowledge is not the cause of his writing. We see a man walk, but\nour vision of him brings no necessity of walking upon him; he was free\nto walk or not to walk.[719] We foreknow that death will seize upon\nall men, we foreknow that the seasons of the year will succeed one\nanother, yet is not our foreknowledge the cause of this succession\nof spring after winter, or of the death of all men, or any man? We\nsee one man fighting with another; our sight is not the cause of\nthat contest, but some quarrel among themselves, exciting their own\npassions. As the knowledge of present things imposeth no necessity\nupon them while they are acting, and present, so the knowledge of\nfuture things imposeth no necessity upon them while they are coming.\nWe are certain there will be men in the world to\u2011morrow, and that the\nsea will ebb and flow; but is this knowledge of ours the cause that\nthose things will be so? I know that the sun will rise to\u2011morrow, it\nis true that it shall rise; but it is not true that my foreknowledge\nmakes it to rise. If a physician prognosticates, upon seeing the\nintemperances and debaucheries of men, that they will fall into such\na distemper, is his prognostication any cause of their disease, or of\nthe sharpness of any symptoms attending it? The prophet foretold the\ncruelty of Hazael before he committed it; but who will say that the\nprophet was the cause of his commission of that evil? And thus the\nforeknowledge of God takes not away the liberty of man\u2019s will, no more\nthan a foreknowledge that we have of any man\u2019s actions takes away his\nliberty. We may upon our knowledge of the temper of a man, certainly\nforeknow, that if he falls into such company, and get among his cups,\nhe will be drunk; but is this foreknowledge the cause that he is\ndrunk? No; the cause is the liberty of his own will, and not resisting\nthe temptation. God purposes to leave such a man to himself and his\nown ways; and man being so left, God foreknows what will be done\nby him according to that corrupt nature which is in him; though the\ndecree of God of leaving a {a449} man to the liberty of his own will\nbe certain, yet the liberty of man\u2019s will as thus left, is the cause\nof all the extravagances he doth commit. Suppose Adam had stood, would\nnot God certainly have foreseen that he would have stood? yet it would\nhave been concluded that Adam had stood, not by any necessity of God\u2019s\nforeknowledge, but by the liberty of his own will. Why should then\nthe foreknowledge of God add more necessity to his falling than to\nhis standing? And though it be said sometimes in Scripture, that\nsuch a thing was done \u201cthat the Scripture might be fulfilled,\u201d as\nJohn xii. 38, \u201cthat the saying of Esais might be fulfilled, Lord,\nwho hath believed our report?\u201d the word _that_ doth not infer that\nthe prediction of the prophet was the cause of the Jews\u2019 belief, but\ninfers this, that the prediction was manifested to be true by their\nunbelief, and the event answered the prediction; this prediction\nwas not the cause of their sin, but their foreseen sin was the cause\nof this prediction; and so the particle that is taken (Ps. li. 6),\n\u201cAgainst thee, thee only have I sinned, that thou mightest be\njustified,\u201d &c.; the justifying God was not the end and intent of\nthe sin, but the event of it upon his acknowledgment.[720]\n\n_Prop. IV._ God foreknows things, because they will come to pass;\nbut things are not future, because God knows them. Foreknowledge\npresupposeth the object which is foreknown; a thing that is to come to\npass is the object of the Divine knowledge, but not the cause of the\nact of divine knowledge; and though the foreknowledge of God doth in\neternity precede the actual presence of a thing which is foreseen as\nfuture, yet the future thing, in regard of its futurity, is as eternal\nas the foreknowledge of God: as the voice is uttered before it be\nheard, and a thing is visible before it be seen, and a thing knowable\nbefore it be known. But how comes it to be knowable to God? it must\nbe answered, either in the power of God as a thing possible, or in the\nwill of God as a thing future; he first willed, and then knew what he\nwilled; he knew what he willed to effect, and he knew what he willed\nto permit; as he willed the death of Christ by a determinate counsel,\nand willed the permission of the Jew\u2019s sin, and the ordering of the\nmalice of their nature to that end (Acts ii. 22). God decrees to make\na rational creature, and to govern him by a law; God decrees not to\nhinder this rational creature from transgressing his law; and God\nforesees that what he would not hinder, would come to pass. Man did\nnot sin because God foresaw him; but God foresaw him to sin, because\nman would sin. If Adam and other men would have acted otherwise, God\nwould have foreknown that they would have acted well; God foresaw\nour actions because they would so come to pass by the motion of our\nfreewill, which he would permit, which he would concur with, which he\nwould order to his own holy and glorious ends, for the manifestation\nof the perfection of his nature. If I see a man lie in a sink, no\nnecessity is inferred upon him from my sight to lie in that filthy\nplace, but there is a necessity inferred by him that lies there, that\nI should see him in that condition if I pass by, and cast my eye that\nway.\n\n_Prop. V._ God did not only foreknow our actions, but the manner\n{a450} of our actions. That is, he did not only know that we would do\nsuch actions, but that we would do them freely; he foresaw that the\nwill would freely determine itself to this or that; the knowledge of\nGod takes not away the nature of things; though God knows possible\nthings, yet they remain in the nature of possibility; and though\nGod knows contingent things, yet they remain in the nature of\ncontingencies; and though God knows free agents, yet they remain in\nthe nature of liberty. God did not foreknow the actions of man, as\nnecessary, but as free; so that liberty is rather established by this\nforeknowledge, than removed. God did not foreknow that Adam had not\na power to stand, or that any man hath not a power to omit such a\nsinful action, but that he would not omit it. Man hath a power to\ndo otherwise than that which God foreknows he will do. Adam was not\ndetermined by any inward necessity to fall, nor any man by any inward\nnecessity to commit this or that particular sin; but God foresaw that\nhe would fall, and fall freely; for he saw the whole circle of means\nand causes whereby such and such actions should be produced, and can\nbe no more ignorant of the motions of our wills, and the manner of\nthem, than an artificer can be ignorant of the motions of his watch,\nand how far the spring will let down the string in the space of an\nhour; he sees all causes leading to such events in their whole order,\nand how the free\u2011will of man will comply with this, or refuse that; he\nchanges not the manner of the creature\u2019s operation, whatsoever it be.\n\n_Prop. VI._ But what if the foreknowledge of God, and the liberty of\nthe will, cannot be fully reconciled by man? shall we therefore deny\na perfection in God to support a liberty in ourselves? Shall we rather\nfasten ignorance upon God, and accuse him of blindness, to maintain\nour liberty? That God doth foreknow everything, and yet that there\nis liberty in the rational creature, are both certain; but how fully\nto reconcile them, may surmount the understanding of man. Some truths\nthe disciples were not capable of bearing in the days of Christ; and\nseveral truths our understandings cannot reach as long as the world\ndoth last; yet, in the mean time, we must, on the one hand, take heed\nof conceiving God ignorant, and on the other hand, of imagining the\ncreature necessitated; the one will render God imperfect, and the\nother will seem to render him unjust, in punishing man for that sin\nwhich he could not avoid, but was brought into by a fatal necessity.\nGod is sufficient to render a reason of his own proceedings, and clear\nup all at the day of judgment; it is a part of man\u2019s curiosity, since\nthe fall, to be prying into God\u2019s secrets, things too high for him;\nwhereby he singes his own wings, and confounds his own understanding.\nIt is a cursed affectation that runs in the blood of Adam\u2019s posterity,\nto know as God, though our first father smarted and ruined his\nposterity in that attempt; the ways and knowledge of God are as much\nabove our thoughts and conceptions as the heavens are above the earth\n(Isa. lv. 9),[721] and so sublime, that we cannot comprehend them in\ntheir true and just greatness; his designs are so mysterious, and the\nways of his conduct so profound, that it is not possible to dive into\nthem. The force of our {a451} understandings is below his infinite\nwisdom, and therefore we should adore him with an humble astonishment,\nand cry out with the apostle (Rom. xi. 33): \u201cO the depth of the riches\nof the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments,\nand his ways past finding out!\u201d Whenever we meet with depths that we\ncannot fathom, let us remember that he is God, and we his creatures;\nand not be guilty of so great extravagance, as to think that a subject\ncan pierce into all the secrets of a prince, or a work understand all\nthe operations of the artificer. Let us only resolve not to fasten\nanything on God that is unworthy of the perfection of his nature,\nand dishonorable to the glory of his majesty; nor imagine that we\ncan ever step out of the rank of creatures to the glory of the Deity,\nto understand fully everything in his nature. So much for the second\ngeneral, what God knows.\n\nIII. The third is, how God knows all things. As it is necessary we\nshould conceive God to be an understanding being, else he could not be\nGod, so we must conceive his understanding to be infinitely more pure\nand perfect than ours in the act of it, else we liken him to ourselves,\nand debase him as low as his footstool.[722] As among creatures there\nare degrees of being and perfection, plants above earth and sand,\nbecause they have a power of growth, beasts above plants, because\nto their power of growth there is an addition of excellency of sense,\nrational creatures above beasts, because to sense there is added the\ndignity of reason. The understanding of man is more noble than all\nthe vegetative power of plants, or the sensative power of beasts:\nGod therefore must be infinitely more excellent in his understanding,\nand therefore in the manner of it. As man differs from a beast in\nregard of his knowledge, so doth God also from man, in regard of his\nknowledge. As God therefore is in being and perfection, infinitely\nmore above a man than a man is above a beast, the manner of his\nknowledge must be infinitely more above a man\u2019s knowledge, than the\nknowledge of a man is above that of a beast; our understanding can\nclasp an object in a moment that is at a great distance from our sense;\nour eye, by one elevated motion, can view the heavens; the manner of\nGod\u2019s understanding must be unconceivably above our glimmerings; as\nthe manner of his being is infinitely more perfect than all beings, so\nmust the manner of his understanding be infinitely more perfect than\nall created understandings.[723] Indeed, the manner of God\u2019s knowledge\ncan no more be known by us than his essence can be known by us; and\nthe same incapacity in man, which renders him unable to comprehend\nthe being of God, renders him as unable to comprehend the manner of\nGod\u2019s understanding. As there is a vast distance between the essence\nof God and our beings, so there is between the thoughts of God and\nour thoughts; the heavens are not so much higher than the earth, as\nthe thoughts of God are above the thoughts of men, yea, and of the\nhighest angel (Isa. lv. 8, 9), yet though we know not the manner of\nGod\u2019s knowledge, we know that he knows; as though we know not the\ninfiniteness of God, yet we know that he is infinite. It is God\u2019s\n{a452} sole prerogative to know himself, what he is; and it is equally\nhis prerogative to know how he knows; the manner of God\u2019s knowledge\ntherefore must be considered by us as free from those imperfections\nour knowledge is encumbered with. In general, God doth necessarily\nknow all things; he is necessarily omnipresent, because of the\nimmensity of his essence; so he is necessarily omniscient, because of\nthe infiniteness of his understanding. It is no more at the liberty\nof his will, whether he will know all things, than whether he will be\nable to create all things; it is no more at the liberty of his will,\nwhether he will be omniscient, than whether he will be holy; he can\nas little be ignorant, as he can be impure; he knows not all things,\nbecause he will know them, but because it is essential to his nature\nto know them. In particular,\n\n_Prop. I._ God knows by his own essence; that is, he sees the nature\nof things in the ideas of his own mind, and the events of things in\nthe decrees of his own will; he knows them not by viewing the things,\nbut by viewing himself; his own essence is the mirror and book,\nwherein he beholds all things that he doth ordain, dispose and execute;\nand so he knows all things in their first and original cause; which is\nno other than his own essence willing, and his own essence executing\nwhat he wills; he knows them in his power, as the physical principle;\nin his will, as the moral principle of things, as some speak. He\nborrows not the knowledge of creatures from the creatures, nor depends\nupon them for means of understanding, as we poor worms do, who are\nbeholden to the objects abroad to assist us with images of things,\nand to our senses to convey them into our minds; God would then\nacquire a perfection from those things which are below himself, and an\nexcellency from those things which are vile; his knowledge would not\nprecede the being of the creatures, but the creatures would be before\nthe act of his knowledge. If he understood by images drawn from the\ncreatures, as we do, there would be something in God which is not God,\nviz. the images of things drawn from outward objects: God would then\ndepend upon creatures for that which is more noble than a bare being;\nfor to be understanding, is more excellent than barely to be. Besides,\nif God\u2019s knowledge of his creatures were derived from the creatures\nby the impression of anything upon him, as there is upon us, he could\nnot know from eternity, because from eternity there was no actual\nexistence of anything but himself; and therefore there could not be\nany images shot out from anything, because there was not anything in\nbeing but God; as there is no principle of being to anything but by\nhis essence, so there is no principle of the knowledge of anything by\nhimself but his essence; if the knowledge of God were distinct from\nhis essence, his knowledge were not eternal, because there is nothing\neternal but his essence. His understanding is not a faculty in him as\nit is in us, but the same with his essence, because of the simplicity\nof his nature; God is not made up of various parts, one distinct from\nanother, as we are, and therefore doth not understand by a part of\nhimself, but by himself; so that to be, and to understand, is the\nsame with God; his essence is not one thing, and the power whereby he\nunderstands another; he would then be compounded, and not be {a453}\nthe most simple being. This is also necessary for the perfection of\nGod; for the more perfect and noble the way and manner of knowing\nis, the more perfect and noble is the knowledge. The perfection\nof knowledge depends upon the excellency of the medium whereby we\nknow. As a knowledge by reason, is a more noble way of knowing than\nknowledge by sense; so it is more excellent for God to know by his\nessence, than by anything without him, anything mixed with him; the\nfirst would render him dependent, and the other would demolish his\nsimplicity. Again, the natures of all things are contained in God,\nnot formally; for then the nature of the creatures would be God;\nbut eminently, \u201cHe that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that\nformed the eye, shall he not see?\u201d (Ps. xciv. 9.) He hath in himself\neminently the beauty, perfection, life and vigor of all creatures;\nhe created nothing contrary to himself, but everything with some\nfootsteps of himself in them; he could not have pronounced them\ngood, as he did, had there been anything in them contrary to his own\ngoodness; and therefore as his essence primarily represents itself,\nso it represents the creatures, and makes them known to him. As\nthe essence of God is eminently all things, so by understanding his\nessence, he eminently understands all things.[724] And therefore\nhe hath not one knowledge of himself, and another knowledge of the\ncreatures; but by knowing himself as the original and exemplary cause\nof all things, he cannot be ignorant of any creature which he is the\ncause of; so that he knows all things, not by an understanding of them,\nbut by an understanding of himself; by understanding his own power as\nthe efficient of them, his own will as the orderer of them, his own\ngoodness as the adorner and beautifier of them, his own wisdom as the\ndisposer of them, and his own holiness, to which many of their actions\nare contrary. As he sees all things possible in his own power, because\nhe is able to produce them; so he sees all things future in his own\nwill, decreeing to effect them, if they be good, or decreeing to\npermit them if they be evil.[725] In this class he sees what he will\ngive being to, and what he will suffer to fall into a deficiency,\nwithout looking out of himself, or borrowing knowledge from his\ncreatures; he knows all things in himself. And thus his knowledge is\nmore noble, and of a higher elevation than ours, or the knowledge of\nany creature can be; he knows all things by one comprehension of the\ncauses in himself.\n\n_Prop. II._ God knows all things by one act of intuition. This the\nschools call an intuitive knowledge. This follows upon the other; for\nif he know by his own essence, he knows all things by one act, there\nwould be otherwise a division in his essence, a first and a last, a\nnearness and a distance. As what he made, he made by one word; so what\nhe sees, he pierceth into by one glance from eternity to eternity: as\nhe wills all things by one act of his will, so he knows all things by\none act of his understanding: he knows not some things discursively\nfrom other things, nor knows one thing successively after another. As\nby one act he imparts essence to things; so by one act he knows the\nnature of things.\n\n1. He doth not know by discourse, as we do;\u2015\u2015that is, by deducing\n{a454} one thing from another, and from common notions drawing out\nother rational conclusions and arguing one thing from another, and\nspringing up various consequences from some principle assented to.\nBut God stands in no need of reasonings; the making inferences and\nabstracting things, would be stains in the infinite perfection of God;\nhere would be a mixture of knowledge and ignorance; while he knew\nthe principle, he would not know the consequence and conclusion,\ntill he had actually deduced it; one thing would be known after\nanother, and so he would have an ignorance, and then a knowledge; and\nthere would be different conceptions in God, and knowledge would be\nmultiplied according to the multitude of objects; as it is in human\nunderstandings. But God knows all things before they did exist, and\nnever was ignorant of them (Acts xv. 18): \u201cKnown unto God are all his\nworks from the beginning of the world.\u201d He therefore knows them all at\nonce; the knowledge of one thing was not before another, nor depended\nupon another, as it doth in the way of human reasoning.[726] Though,\nindeed, some make a virtual discourse in God; that is, though God\nhath a simple knowledge, yet it doth virtually contain a discourse by\nthe flowing of one knowledge from another; as from the knowledge of\nhis own power, he knows what things are possible to be made by him;\nand from the knowledge of himself, he passes to the knowledge of the\ncreatures; but this is only according to our conception, and because\nof our weakness they are apprehended as two distinct acts in God, one\nof which is the reason of another; as we say that one attribute is\nthe reason of another; as his mercy may be said to be the reason of\nhis patience; and his omnipresence to be the reason of the knowledge\nof present things done in the world. God, indeed, by one simple act,\nknows himself and the creatures; but when that act whereby he knows\nhimself, is conceived by us to pass to the knowledge of the creatures,\nwe must not understand it to be a new act, distinct from the other;\nbut the same act upon different terms or objects; such an order is in\nour understandings and conceptions, not in God\u2019s.\n\n2. Nor doth he know successively as we do: that is, not by drops,\none thing after another. This follows from the former; a knowledge of\nall things without discourse, is a knowledge without succession.[727]\nThe knowledge of one thing is not in God before another, one act of\nknowledge doth not beget another; in regard of the objects, one thing\nis before another, one year before another, one generation of men\nbefore another, one is the cause, the other is the effect; in the\ncreatures there is such a succession, and God knows there will be such\na succession; but there is no such order in God\u2019s knowledge, for he\nknows all those successions by one glance, without any succession of\nknowledge in himself. Man, in his view of things, must turn sometimes\nhis body, sometimes only his eyes, he cannot see all the contents\nof a letter at once; and though he beholds all the lines in the page\nof a book at once, and a whole country in a map, yet to know what is\ncontained in them, he must turn his eye from word to word, and line to\nline, and so spin out one thing after another by {a455} several acts\nand motions. We behold a great part of the sea at once,[728] but not\nall the dimensions of it; for to know the length of the sea, we move\nour eyes one way; to see the breadth of it, we turn our eyes another\nway; to behold the depth of it, we have another motion of them. And\nwhen we cast our eyes up to heaven, we seem to receive in an instant,\nthe whole extent of the hemisphere; yet there is but one object the\neye can attentively pitch upon, and we cannot distinctly view what\nwe see in a lump, without various motions of our eyes, which is not\ndone without succession of time.[729] And certainly the understanding\nof angels is bounded, according to the measure of their beings; so\nthat it cannot extend itself at one time, to a quantity of objects,\nto make a distinct application of them, but the objects must present\nthemselves one by one; but God is all eye, all understanding; as there\nis no succession in his essence, so there is none in his knowledge;\nhis understanding in the nature and in the act, is infinite, as it\nis in the text. He therefore sees, eternally and universally, all\nthings by one act, without any motion, much less various motions; the\nvarious changes of things, in their substance, qualities, places, and\nrelations, withdraw not anything from his eye, nor bring any new thing\nto his knowledge; he doth not upon consideration of present things\nturn his mind from past; or when he beholds future things turn his\nmind from present; but he sees them not one after another, but all\nat once and all together; the whole circle of his own counsels, and\nall the various lines drawn forth from the centre of his will, to\nthe circumference of his creatures; just as if a man were able in\none moment to read a whole library; or, as if you should imagine\na transparent crystal globe, hung up in the midst of a room, and\nso framed as to take in the images of all things in the room, the\nfret\u2011work in the ceiling, the inlaid parts of the floor and the\nparticular parts of the tapestry about it, the eye of a man would\nbehold all the beauty of the room at once in it. As the sun by one\nlight and heat frames sensible things, so God by one simple act knows\nall things; as he knows mutable things by an immutable knowledge,\nbodily things by a spiritual knowledge, so he knows many things by one\nknowledge (Heb. iv. 13): \u201cAll things are open and naked to him,\u201d more\nthan any one thing can be to us; and therefore he views all things\nat once, as well as we can behold and contemplate one thing alone.\nAs he is the Father of lights, a God of infinite understanding, there\nis no variableness in his mind, nor any shadow of turning of his\neye, as there is of ours, to behold various things (James i. 17); his\nknowledge being eternal, includes all times; there is nothing past or\nfuture with him, and therefore he beholds all things by one and the\nsame manner of knowledge, and comprehends all knowable things by one\nact, and in one moment. This must needs be so,\n\n(1.) Because of the eminency of God. God is above all, and therefore\ncannot but see the motions of all. He that sits in a theatre, or at\nthe top of a place, sees all things, all persons; by one aspect he\ncomprehends the whole circle of the place; whereas, he that sits below,\nwhen he looks before, he cannot see things behind; God {a456} being\nabove all, about all, in all, sees at once the motions of all. The\nwhole world, in the eye of God, is less than a point that divides one\nsentence from another in a book; as a cypher, a \u201cgrain of dust\u201d (Isa.\nxl. 15); so little a thing can be seen by man at once; and all things\nbeing as little in the eye of God, are seen at once by him. As all\ntime is but a moment to his eternity, so all things are but as a point\nto the immensity of his knowledge, which he can behold with more ease\nthan we can move or turn our eye.\n\n(2.) Because all the perfections of knowing are united in God.[730] As\nparticular senses are divided in man,\u2015\u2015by one he sees, by another he\nsmells, yet all those are united in one common sense, and this common\nsense comprehends all,\u2015\u2015so the various and distinct ways of knowledge\nin the creatures are all eminently united in God. A man when he\nsees a grain of wheat, understands at once all things that can in\ntime proceed from that seed; so God, by beholding his own virtue and\npower, beholds all things which shall in time be unfolded by him.\nWe have a shadow of this way of knowledge in our own understanding;\nthe sense only perceives a thing present, and one object only proper\nand suitable to it; as the eye sees color, the ear hears sounds; we\nsee this and that man, one time this, another minute that; but the\nunderstanding abstracts a notion of the common nature of man, and\nframes a conception of that nature wherein all men agree; and so in\na manner beholds and understands all men at once, by understanding the\ncommon nature of man, which is a degree of knowledge above the sense\nand fancy; we may then conceive an infinite vaster perfection in the\nunderstanding of God. As to know, is simply better than not to know at\nall; so to know by one act comprehensive, is a greater perfection than\nto know by divided acts, by succession to receive information, and to\nhave an increase or decrease of knowledge; to be like a bucket, always\ndescending into the well, and fetching water from thence. It is a\nman\u2019s weakness that he is fixed on one object only at a time; it is\nGod\u2019s perfection that he can behold all at once, and is fixed upon one\nno more than upon another.\n\n_Prop. III._ God knows all things independently. This is essential to\nan infinite understanding. He receives not his knowledge from anything\nwithout him; he hath no tutor to instruct him, or book to inform him:\n\u201cWho hath been his counsellor?\u201d saith the prophet (Isa. xl. 13); he\nhath no need of the counsels of others, nor of the instructions of\nothers. This follows upon the first and second propositions; if he\nknows things by his essence, then, as his essence is independent from\nthe creatures, so is his knowledge; he borrows not any images from the\ncreature; hath no species or pictures of things in his understanding,\nas we have; no beams from the creature strike upon him to enlighten\nhim, but beams from him upon the world; the earth sends not light\nto the sun, but the sun to the earth. Our knowledge, indeed, depends\nupon the object, but all created objects depend upon God\u2019s knowledge\nand will; we could not know creatures unless they were; but creatures\ncould not be unless God knew them. As nothing that he wills is the\ncause of his will, so {a457} nothing that he knows is the cause of his\nknowledge; he did not make things to know them, but he knows them to\nmake them: who will imagine that the mark of the foot in the dust is\nthe cause that the foot stands in this or that particular place? If\nhis knowledge did depend upon the things, then the existence of things\ndid precede God\u2019s knowledge of them: to say that they are the cause of\nGod\u2019s knowledge, is to say that God was not the cause of their being;\nand if he did create them, it was effected by a blind and ignorant\npower; he created he knew not what, till he had produced it. If\nhe be beholden for his knowledge to the creatures he hath made, he\nhad then no knowledge of them before he made them. If his knowledge\nwere dependent upon them, it could not be eternal, but must have a\nbeginning when the creatures had a beginning, and be of no longer\na date than since the nature of things was in actual existence; for\nwhatsoever is a cause of knowledge, doth precede the knowledge it\ncauses, either in order of time, or order of nature: temporal things,\ntherefore, cannot be the cause of that knowledge which is eternal. His\nworks could not be foreknown to him, if his knowledge commenced with\nthe existence of his works (Acts xv. 18): if he knew them before he\nmade them, he could not derive a knowledge from them after they were\nmade. He made all things in wisdom (Ps. civ. 24). How can this be\nimagined, if the things known where the cause of his knowledge, and\nso before his knowledge, and therefore before his action?[731] God\nwould not then be the first in the order of knowing agents, because\nhe would not act by knowledge, but act before he knew, and know\nafter he had acted; and so the creature which he made would be before\nthe act of his understanding, whereby he knew what he made. Again,\nsince knowledge is a perfection, if God\u2019s knowledge of the creatures\ndepended upon the creatures, he would derive an excellency from them,\nthey would derive no excellency from any idea in the Divine mind;\nhe would not be infinitely perfect in himself; if his perfection in\nknowledge were gained from anything without himself and below himself,\nhe would not be sufficient of himself, but be under an indigence,\nwhich wanted a supply from the things he had made, and could not\nbe eternally perfect till he had created and seen the effects of\nhis own power, goodness, and wisdom, to render him more wise and\nknowing in time than he was from eternity. Who can fancy such a God\nas this without destroying the Deity he pretends to adore? for if his\nunderstanding be perfected by something without him, why may not his\nessence be perfected by something without him; that, as he was made\nknowing by something without him, he might be made God by something\nwithout him? How could his understanding be infinite if it depended\nupon a finite object, as upon a cause? Is the majesty of God to be\ndebased to a mendicant condition, to seek for a supply from things\ninferior to himself? Is it to be imagined that a fool, a toad, a fly,\nshould be assistant to the knowledge of God? that the most noble being\nshould be perfected by things so vile; that the Supreme Cause of all\nthings should receive any addition of knowledge, and be determined in\nhis understanding, by the notion {a458} of things so mean? To conclude\nthis particular, all things depend upon his knowledge, his knowledge\ndepends upon nothing, but is as independent as himself and his own\nessence.\n\n_Prop. IV._ God knows all things distinctly. His understanding is\ninfinite in regard of clearness; \u201cGod is light, and in him is no\ndarkness at all\u201d (John i. 5); he sees not through a mist or cloud;\nthere is no blemish in his understanding, no mote or beam in his\neye, to render any thing obscure to him. Man discerns the surface and\noutside side of things; little or nothing of the essence of things;\nwe see the noblest thing but \u201cas in a glass darkly\u201d (1 Cor. xiii. 12);\nthe too great nearness, as well as the too great distance of a thing,\nhinders our sight; the smallness of a mote escapes our eye, and so our\nknowledge; also the weakness of our understanding is troubled with the\nmultitude of things, and cannot know many things but confusedly: but\nGod knows the forms and essence of things, every circumstance; nothing\nis so deep, but he sees to the bottom; he sees the mass, and sees the\nmotes of beings; his understanding being infinite, is not offended\nwith a multitude of things, or distracted with the variety of them;\nhe discerns every thing infinitely more clearly and perfectly than\nAdam or Solomon could any one thing in the circle of their knowledge;\nwhat knowledge they had, was from him; he hath, therefore, infinitely\na more perfect knowledge than they were capable in their natures to\nreceive a communication of. All things are open to him (Heb. iv. 13);\nthe least fibre, in its nakedness and distinct frame, is transparent\nto him, as, by the help of glasses, the mouth, feet, hands, of a small\ninsect, are visible to a man, which seem to the eye, without that\nassistance, one entire piece, not diversified into parts. All the\ncauses, qualities, natures, properties of things, are open to him; \u201che\nbrings out the host of heaven by number, and calleth them by names\u201d\n(Isa. xl. 26); he numbers the hairs of our heads: what more distinct\nthan number? Thus God beholds things in every unity, which makes up\nthe heap; he knows, and none else can, every thing in its true and\nintimate causes, in its original and intermediate causes; in himself,\nas the cause of every particular of their being, every property in\ntheir being. Knowledge by the causes is the most noble and perfect\nknowledge, and most suited to the infinite excellency of the Divine\nBeing; he created all things, and ordered them to a universal and\nparticular end; he, therefore, knows the essential properties of\nevery thing, every activity of their nature, all their fitness for\nthose distinct ends, to which he orders them, and for which he\ngoverns and disposeth them, and understands their darkest and most\nhidden qualities infinitely clearer than any eye can behold the clear\nbeams of the sun. He knows all things as he made them; he made them\ndistinctly, and therefore knows them distinctly, and that every\nindividual; therefore God is said (Gen. i. 31) to see every thing that\nhe had made; he took a review of every particular creature he had made,\nand upon his view pronounced it good. To pronounce that good, which\nwas not exactly known in every creek, in every mite of its nature,\nhad not consisted with his veracity; for every one that speaks truth\nignorantly, that knows not that he speaks truth, is a liar in speaking\n{a459} that which is true. God knows every act of his own will,\nwhether it be positive or permissive, and therefore every effect of\nhis will. We must needs ascribe to God a perfect knowledge; but a\nconfused knowledge cannot challenge that title. To know things only in\na heap is unworthy of the Divine perfection; for if God knows his own\nends in the creation of things, he knows distinctly the means whereby\nhe will bring them to those ends for which he hath appointed them: no\nwise man intends an end, without a knowledge of the means conducing to\nthat end; an ignorance, then, of any thing in the world, which falls\nunder the nature of a means to a Divine end (and there is nothing in\nthe world but doth), would be inconsistent with the perfection of God;\nit would ascribe to him a blind providence in the world. As there can\nbe nothing imperfect in his being and essence, so there can be nothing\nimperfect in his understanding and knowledge, and therefore not a\nconfused knowledge, which is an imperfection. \u201cDarkness and light\nare both alike to him\u201d (Ps. cxxxix. 12); he sees distinctly into the\none, as well as the other; what is darkness to us, is not so to him.\n\n_Prop. V._ God knows all things infallibly. His understanding is\ninfinite in regard of certainty; every tittle of what he knows is as\nfar from failing as what he speaks; our Saviour affirms the one (Matt.\nv. 18), and there is the same reason of the certainty of one as well\nas the other; his essence is the measure of his knowledge; whence it\nis as impossible that God should be mistaken in the knowledge of the\nleast thing in the world, as it is that he should be mistaken in his\nown essence; for, knowing himself comprehensively, he must know all\nothers things infallibly; since he is essentially omniscient, he is\nno more capable of error in his understanding than of imperfection in\nhis essence; his counsels are as unerring as his essence is perfect,\nand his knowledge as infallible as his essence is free from defect.\nAgain, since God knows all things with a knowledge of vision, because\nhe wills them, his knowledge must be as infallible as his purpose; now\nhis purpose will certainly be effected; \u201cwhat he hath thought shall\ncome to pass, and what he hath purposed shall stand\u201d (Isa. xiv. 24);\n\u201chis counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure\u201d (Isa.\nxlvi. 10). There may be interruptions of nature, the foundation of\nit may be out of course, but there can be no bar upon the Author of\nnature; he hath an infinite power to carry on and perfect the resolves\nof his own will; he can effect what he pleases by a word. Speech is\none of the least motions; yet when God said, \u201clet there be light,\nthere was light\u201d arising from darkness. No reason can be given why\nGod knows a thing to be, but because he infallibly wills it to be.\nAgain,[732] the schools make this difference between the knowledge\nof the good and bad angels, that the good are never deceived; for\nthat is repugnant to their blessed state; for deceit is an evil and\nan imperfection inconsistent with that perfect blessedness the good\nangels are possessed of; and would it not much more be a stain upon\nthe blessedness of that God, that is blessed forever, to be subject\nto deceit? His knowledge therefore is not an opinion, for an opinion\nis uncertain; a man knows not {a460} what to think, but leans to one\npart of the question proposed, rather than to the other. If things did\nnot come to pass therefore as God knows them, his knowledge would be\nimperfect; and since he knows by his essence, his essence also would\nbe imperfect, if God were exposed to any deceit in his knowledge;\nhe knows by himself, who is the highest truth; and therefore it is\nimpossible he should err in his understanding.\n\n_Prop. VI._ God knows immutably. His understanding else could not be\ninfinite; everything and every act that is mutable, is finite, it hath\nits bounds; for there is a term from which it changeth, and a term to\nwhich it changes.[733] There is a change in the understanding, when\nwe gain the knowledge of a thing, which was unknown to us before; or\nwhen we actually consider a thing which we did not know before, though\nwe had the principles of the knowledge of it; or, when we know that\ndistinctly, which we before knew confusedly. None of these can be\nascribed to God without a manifest disparagement of his infiniteness.\nOur knowledge indeed is alway arriving to us or flowing from us; we\npass from one degree to another; from worse to better, or from better\nto worse; but God loses nothing by the ages that are run, nor will\ngain anything by the ages that are to come. If there were a variation\nin the knowledge of God, by the daily and hourly changes in the world,\nhe would grow wiser than he was, he was not then perfectly wise\nbefore. A change in the objects known, infers not any change in the\nunderstanding exercised about them; the wheel moves round, the spokes\nthat are lowest are presently highest, and presently return to be low\nagain; but the eye that beholds them changes not with the motions of\nthe wheels. God\u2019s knowledge admits no more of increase or decrease,\nthan his essence doth; since God knows by his essence, and the essence\nof God is God himself, his knowledge must be void of any change. The\nknowledge of possible things, arising from the knowledge of his own\npower, cannot be changed unless his power be changed, and God become\nweak and impotent; the knowledge of future things cannot be changed,\nbecause that knowledge ariseth from his will, which is irreversible,\n\u201cthe counsel of the Lord that shall stand\u201d (Prov. xix. 21); so that\nif God can never decay into weakness, and never turn to inconstancy,\nthere can be no variation of his knowledge. He knows what he can do,\nand he knows what he will do; and both these being immutable, his\nknowledge must, consequently, be so too. It was not necessary that\nthis or that creature should be, and therefore it was not necessary\nthat God should know this or that creature with a knowledge of vision;\nbut after the will of God had determined the existence of this or that\ncreature, his knowledge being then determined to this or that object,\ndid necessarily continue unchangeable. God, therefore, knows no more\nnow than he did before; and at the end of the world, he shall know\nno more than he doth now; and from eternity, he knows no less than\nhe doth now, and shall do to eternity. Though things pass into being\nand out of being, the knowledge of God doth not vary with them, for\nhe knows them as well before they were, as when {a461} they are, and\nknows them as well when they are past, as when they are present.\n\n_Prop. VII._ God knows all things perpetually, _i. e._ in act. Since\nhe knows by his essence, he always knows, because his essence never\nceaseth, but is a pure act; so that he doth not know only in habit,\nbut in act. Men that have the knowledge of some art or science, have\nit always in habit, though when they are asleep they have it not in\nact: a musician hath the habit of music, but doth not so much as think\nof it when his senses are bound up. But God is an unsleepy eye;[734]\nhe never slumbers nor sleeps; he never slumbers, in regard of his\nprovidence, and therefore never slumbers in regard of his knowledge.\nHe knows not himself, nor any other creature more perfectly at one\ntime than at another; he is perpetually in the act of knowing, as the\nsun is in the act of shining; the sun never ceased to shine in one or\nother part of the world, since it was first fixed in the heavens; nor\nGod to be in the act of knowledge, since he was God; and therefore\nsince he always was, and always will be God, he always was and always\nwill be in the act of knowledge; always knowing his own essence, he\nmust alway actually know what hath been gone and ceased from being,\nand what shall come and arise into being; as a watchmaker knows what\nwatch he intends to make, and after he hath made it, though it be\nbroken to pieces, or consumed by the fire, he still knows it, because\nhe knows the copy of it in his own mind. Some, therefore, in regard\nof this perpetual act of the Divine knowledge, have called God not\n_intellectus_, but the intellection of intellections; we have no\nproper English word to express the act of the understanding; as his\npower is co\u2011eternal with him, so is his knowledge; all times past,\npresent, and to come, are embraced in the bosom of his understanding;\nhe fixed all things in their seasons, that nothing new comes to him,\nnothing old passes from him.[735] What is done in a thousand years,\nis actually present with his knowledge, as what is done in one day,\nor in one watch in the night, is with ours; since a \u201cthousand years\nare no more to God than a day,\u201d or a \u201cwatch in the night\u201d is to us\n(Ps. xc. 4). God is in the highest degree of being, and therefore\nin the highest degree of understanding. Knowledge is one of the most\nperfect acts in any creature. God therefore hath all actual, as well\nas essential and habitual knowledge; his understanding is infinite.\n\nIV. The fourth general is, Reasons to prove this.\n\n_Reason 1._ God must know what any creature knows, and more than any\ncreature knows. There is nothing done in the world but is known by\nsome creature or other; every action is at least known by the person\nthat acts, and therefore known by the Creator, who cannot be exceeded\nby any of the creatures, or all of them together; and every creature\nis known by him, since every creature is made by him.[736] And as\nGod works all things by an infinite power, so he knows all things\nby an infinite understanding. First, the perfection of God requires\nthis.[737] All perfections that include no essential defect, are\nformally in God; but knowledge includes no essential defect {a462} in\nitself, therefore it is in God. Knowledge in itself is desirable, and\nan excellency; ignorance is a defect; it is impossible that the least\ngrain of defect can be found in the most perfect Being. Since God is\nwise, he must be knowing; for wisdom must have knowledge for the basis\nof it. A creature can no more be wise without knowledge, than he can\nbe active without strength. Now God is \u201conly wise\u201d (Rom. xvi. 27);\nand, therefore, only knowing in the highest degree of knowledge,\nincomprehensibly beyond all degrees of knowledge, because infinite.\nAgain, the more spiritual anything is, the more understanding it\nis. The dull body understands nothing; sense perceives, but the\nunderstanding faculty is seated in the soul, which is of a spiritual\nnature, which knows things that are present, remembers things that\nare past, foresees many things to come. What is the property of a\nspiritual nature, must be, in a most eminent manner, in the supreme\nspirit of the world; that is, in the highest degree of spirituality,\nand most remote from any matter. Again, nothing can enjoy other things,\nbut by some kind of understanding them; God hath the highest enjoyment\nof himself, of all things he hath created, of all the glory that\naccrues to him by them; nothing of perfection and blessedness can\nbe wanting to him. Felicity doth not consist with ignorance, and all\nimperfect knowledge is a degree of ignorance: God, therefore, doth\nperfectly know himself, and all things from whence he designs any\nglory to himself. The most noble manner of acting must be ascribed to\nGod, as being the most noble and excellent Being; to act by knowledge\nis the most excellent manner of acting; God hath, therefore, not only\nknowledge, but the most excellent manner of knowledge; for as it is\nbetter to know than to be ignorant, so it is better to know in the\nmost excellent manner, than to have a mean and low kind of knowledge;\nhis knowledge, therefore, must be every way as perfect as his essence,\ninfinite as well as that. An infinite nature must have an infinite\nknowledge: a God ignorant of anything cannot be counted infinite, for\nhe is not infinite to whom any degree of perfection is wanting.\n\n_Reason 2._ All the knowledge in any creature is from God. And you\nmust allow God a greater and more perfect knowledge than any creature\nhath, yea, than all creatures have. All the drops of knowledge\nany creature hath, come from God; and all the knowledge in every\ncreature, that ever was, is, or shall be, in the whole mass, was\nderived from him. If all those several drops in particular creatures,\nwere collected into one spirit, into one creature, it would be an\nunconceivable knowledge, yet still lower than what the Author of all\nthat knowledge hath; for God cannot give more knowledge than he hath\nhimself; nor is the creature capable of receiving so much knowledge\nas God hath. As the creature is incapable of receiving so much power\nas God hath, for then it would be almighty, so it is incapable of\nreceiving so much knowledge as God hath, for then it would be God.\nNothing can be made by God equal to him in anything; if anything could\nbe made as knowing as God, it would be eternal as God, it would be\nthe cause of all things as God. The knowledge that we poor worms have,\nis an argument God uses for {a463} the asserting the greatness of his\nown knowledge (Ps. xciv. 10): \u201cHe that teaches man knowledge, shall\nnot he know?\u201d Man hath here knowledge ascribed to him; the author of\nthis knowledge is God; he furnished him with it, and therefore doth\nin a higher manner possess it, and much more than can fall under the\ncomprehension of any creature; as the sun enlightens all things, but\nhath more light in itself than it darts upon the earth or the heavens:\nand shall not God eminently contain all that knowledge he imparts to\nthe creatures, and infinitely more exact and comprehensive?\n\n_Reason 3._ The accusations of conscience evidence God\u2019s knowledge of\nall actions of his creatures. Doth not conscience check for the most\nsecret sins, to which none are privy but a man\u2019s self, the whole world\nbeside being ignorant of his crime? Do not the fears of another Judge\ngall the heart? If a judgment above him be feared, an understanding\nabove him discerning their secrets is confessed by those fears; whence\ncan those horrors arise, if there be not a superior that understands\nand records the crime? What perfection of the Divine Being can this\nrelate unto, but omniscience? What other attribute is to be feared, if\nGod were defective in this? The condemnation of us by our own hearts,\nwhen none in the world can condemn us, renders it legible, that there\nis One \u201cgreater than our hearts\u201d in respect of knowledge, who \u201cknoweth\nall things\u201d (1 John iii. 20). Conscience would be a vain principle,\nand stingless without this; it would be an easy matter to silence\nall its accusations, and mockingly laugh in the face of its severest\nfrowns. What need any trouble themselves, if none knows their crimes\nbut themselves? Concealed sins, gnawing the conscience, are arguments\nof God\u2019s omniscience of all present and past actions.\n\n_Reason 4._ God is the first cause of everything, every creature is\nhis production. Since all creatures, from the highest angel to the\nlowest worm, exist by the power of God, if God understands his own\npower and excellency, nothing can be hid from him, that was brought\nforth by that power, as well as nothing can be unknown to him, that\nthat power is able to produce. \u201cIf God knows nothing besides himself,\nhe may then believe there is nothing besides himself; we shall then\nfancy a God miserably mistaken: if he knows nothing besides himself,\nthen things were not created by him, or not understandingly and\nvoluntarily created, but dropped from him before he was aware.\u201d[738]\nTo think that the First Cause of all should be ignorant of those\nthings he is the cause of, is to make him not a voluntary, but natural\nagent, and therefore necessary; and then that the creature came from\nhim as light from the sun, and moisture from the water; this would be\nan absurd opinion of the world\u2019s creation; if God be a voluntary agent,\nas he is, he must be an intelligent agent. The faculty of will is\nnot in any creature, without that of understanding also. If God be an\nintelligent agent, his knowledge must extend as far as his operation,\nand every object of his operation, unless we imagine God hath lost his\nmemory, in that long tract of time since the first creation of them.\nAn artificer cannot be ignorant of his own work: if God knows himself,\nhe knows himself to be a {a464} cause; how can he know himself to be\na cause, unless he know the effects he is the cause of? One relation\nimplies another; a man cannot know himself to be a father, unless\nhe hath a child, because it is a name of relation, and in the notion\nof it refers to another. The name of cause is a name of relation,\nand implies an effect; if God therefore know himself in all his\nperfections, as the cause of things, he must know all his acts,\nwhat his wisdom contrived, what his counsel determined, and what\nhis power effected. The knowledge of God is to be supposed in a free\ndetermination of himself; and that knowledge must be perfect, both\nof the object, act, and all the circumstances of it. How can his will\nfreely produce anything that was not first known in his understanding?\nFrom this the prophet argues the understanding of God, and the\nunsearchableness of it, because he is the \u201cCreator of the ends of\nthe earth\u201d (Isa. xl. 28), and the same reason David gives of God\u2019s\nknowledge of him, and of everything he did, and that afar off, because\nhe was formed by him (Ps. cxxxix. 2, 15, 16). As the perfect making of\nthings only belongs to God: so doth the perfect knowledge of things;\nit is as absurd to think, that God should be ignorant of what he hath\ngiven being to; that he should not know all the creatures and their\nqualities, the plants and their virtues; as that a man should not\nknow the letters that are formed by him in writing. Everything bears\nin itself the mark of God\u2019s perfection; and shall not God know the\nrepresentation of his own virtue?\n\n_Reason 5._ Without this knowledge, God could no more be the\nGovernor, than he could be the Creator of the world. Knowledge is\nthe basis of providence; to know things, is before the government\nof things; a practical knowledge cannot be without a theoretical\nknowledge. Nothing could be directed to its proper end, without the\nknowledge of the nature of it, and its suitableness to answer that\nend for which it is intended. As everything, even the minutest, falls\nunder the conduct of God, so everything falls under the knowledge of\nGod. A blind coachman is not able to hold the reins of his horses,\nand direct them in right paths: since the providence of God is about\nparticulars, his knowledge must be about particulars; he could not\nelse govern them in particular; nor could all things be said to depend\nupon him in their being and operations. Providence depends upon the\nknowledge of God, and the exercise of it upon the goodness of God;\nit cannot be without understanding and will; understanding, to know\nwhat is convenient, and will to perform it. When our Saviour therefore\nspeaks of providence, he intimates these two in a special manner,\n\u201cYour heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things\u201d (Matt.\nvi. 32), and goodness, in Luke xi. 13. The reason of providence is so\njoined with omniscience, that they cannot be separated. What a kind of\nGod would he be that were ignorant of those things that were governed\nby him! The ascribing this perfection to him, asserts his providence;\nfor it is as easy for one that knows all things, to look over the\nwhole world, if writ with monosyllables, in every little particular of\nit; as it is with a man to take a view of one letter in an alphabet.\nAgain, if God were not omniscient, how could he reward the good, and\npunish the evil? the {a465} works of men are either rewardable or\npunishable; not only according to their outward circumstances, but\ninward principles and ends, and the degrees of venom lurking in the\nheart.[739] The exact discerning of these, without a possibility to\nbe deceived, is necessary to pass a right and infallible judgment upon\nthem, and proportion the censure and punishment to the crime: without\nsuch a knowledge and discerning, men would not have their due; nay, a\njudgment just for the matter, would be unjust in the manner, because\nunjustly past, without an understanding of the merit of the cause.\nIt is necessary therefore that the Supreme Judge of the world should\nnot be thought to be blindfold, when he distributes his rewards and\npunishments, and muffle his face when he passes his sentence. It\nis necessary to ascribe to him the knowledge of men\u2019s thoughts and\nintentions; the secret wills and aims; the hidden works of darkness in\nevery man\u2019s conscience, because every man\u2019s work is to be measured by\nthe will and inward frame. It is necessary that he should perpetually\nretain all those things in the indelible and plain records of his\nmemory, that there may not be any work without a just proportion of\nwhat is due to it. This is the glory of God, to discover the secrets\nof all hearts at last, as 1 Cor. iv. 5, \u201cThe Lord shall bring to light\nthe hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels\nof all hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.\u201d This\nknowledge fits him to be a judge; the reason why the ungodly shall not\nstand in judgment, is because God knows their ways, which is implied\nin his knowing the way of the righteous (Ps. i. 5, 6). I now proceed\nto the use.\n\n_Use I._ is of information or instruction. If God hath all knowledge;\nthen,\n\n_Instruct. 1._ Jesus Christ is not a mere creature. The two titles of\nwonderful Counsellor, and mighty God, are given him in conjunction\n(Isa. ix. 6), not only the Angel of the covenant, as he is called\n(Malach. iii. 1), or the executor of his counsels, but a counsellor,\nin conjunction with him in counsel as well as power: this title is\nsuperior to any title given to any of the prophets in regard of their\npredictions; and therefore I should take it rather as the note of his\nperfect understanding, than of his perfect teaching and discovering;\nas Calvin doth. He is not only the revealer of what he knows, so were\nthe prophets according to their measures; but the counsellor of what\nhe revealed, having a perfect understanding of all the counsels of God,\nas being interested in them, as the mighty God. He calls himself by\nthe peculiar title of God, and declares that he will manifest himself\nby this prerogative to all the churches (Rev. ii. 23): \u201cAnd all the\nchurches shall know that I am he which searches the reins and hearts,\u201d\nthe most hidden operations of the minds of men, that lie locked up\nfrom the view of all the world besides. And this was no new thing\nto Him, after his ascension; for the same perfection he had in the\ntime of his earthly flesh (Luke vi. 8), he knew their thoughts; his\neyes are therefore compared (Cant. v. 12) to doves\u2019 eyes, which are\nclear and quick; and to a flame of fire (Rev. i. 14), not only heat\nto consume his enemies, but light to discern {a466} their contrivances\nagainst the church; he pierceth by his knowledge, into all parts, as\nfire pierceth into the closest particle of iron, and separates between\nthe most united parts of metals; and some tell us, he is called a Roe,\nfrom the perspicacity of his sight, as well as from the swiftness of\nhis motion.\n\n1. He hath a perfect knowledge of the Father; he knows the Father, and\nnone else knows the Father; angels know God, men know God, but Christ\nin a peculiar manner knows the Father; no man knows the Son but the\nFather; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son (Matt. xi. 27);\nhe knows so, as that he learns not from any other; he doth perfectly\ncomprehend him, which is beyond the reach of any creature, with the\naddition of all the divine virtue; not because of any incapacity in\nGod to reveal, but the incapacity of the creature to receive; finite\nis incapable of being made infinite, and therefore incapable of\ncomprehending infinite; so that Christ cannot be _Deus factus_, made\nof a creature a God, to comprehend God; for then of finite he would\nbecome infinite, which is a contradiction. As the Spirit is God,\nbecause he searches the deep things of God (1 Cor. ii. 10), that is\ncomprehends them,[740] as the spirit of a man doth the things of a man\n(now the spirit of man understands what it thinks, and what it wills),\nso the Spirit of God understands what is in the understanding of God,\nand what is in the will of God. He hath an absolute knowledge ascribed\nto him, and such as could not be ascribed to anything but a divinity:\nnow if the Spirit knows the deep things of God, and takes from Christ\nwhat he shows to us of him (John xvi. 15), he cannot be ignorant of\nthose things himself; he must know the depths of God, that affords\nus that Spirit, that is not ignorant of any of the counsels of the\nFather\u2019s will; since he comprehends the Father, and the Father him,\nhe is in himself infinite; for God whose essence is infinite, is\ninfinitely knowable; but no created understanding can infinitely know\nGod. The infiniteness of the object hinders it from being understood\nby anything that is not infinite. Though a creature should understand\nall the works of God, yet it cannot be therefore said to understand\nGod himself: as though I may understand all the volitions and motions\nof my soul, yet it doth not follow that therefore I understand the\nwhole nature and substance of my soul; or if a man understood all the\neffects of the sun, that therefore he understands fully the nature\nof the sun. But Christ knows the Father, he lay in the bosom of the\nFather, was in the greatest intimacy with him (John i. 18), and from\nthis intimacy with him, he saw him and knew him; so he knows God\nas much as he is knowable; and therefore knows him perfectly as the\nFather knows himself by a comprehensive vision; this is the knowledge\nof God wherein properly the infiniteness of his understanding appears:\nand our Saviour uses such expressions which manifest his knowledge to\nbe above all created knowledge, and such a manner of knowledge of the\nFather, as the Father hath of him.\n\n2. Christ knows all creatures. That knowledge which comprehends God,\ncomprehends all created things as they are in God; it is a knowledge\nthat sinks to the depths of his will, and therefore extends {a467} to\nall the acts of his will in creation and providence; by knowing the\nFather he knows all things that are contained in the virtue, power,\nand will of God; \u201cwhatsoever the Father doth, that the Son doth\u201d (John\nv. 19). As the Father therefore knows all things he is the cause of,\nso doth the Son know all things he is the worker of; as the perfect\nmaking of all things belongs to both, so doth the perfect knowledge of\nall things belong to both; where the action is the same, the knowledge\nis the same. Now the Father did not create one thing and Christ\nanother; \u201cbut all things were created by him, and for him, all things\nboth in heaven and earth\u201d (Col. i. 16): as he knows himself as the\ncause of all things, and the end of all things, he cannot be ignorant\nof all things that were effected by him, and are referred to him; he\nknows all creatures in God, as he knows the essence of God, and knows\nall creatures in themselves, as he knows his own acts and the fruits\nof his power; those things must be in his knowledge that were in his\npower; all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God are hid in\nhim (Col. ii. 3). Now it is not the wisdom of God to know in part, and\nbe in part ignorant. He cannot be ignorant of anything, since there is\nnothing but what was made by him (John i. 3), and since it is less to\nknow than create; for we know many things which we cannot make.[741]\nIf he be the Creator, he cannot but be the discerner of what he made;\nthis is a part of wisdom belonging to an artificer, to know the nature\nand quality of what he makes. Since he cannot be ignorant of what he\nfurnished with being, and with various endowments, he must know them\nnot only universally, but particularly.\n\n3. Christ knows the heart and affections of men. Peter scruples not\nto ascribe to him this knowledge, among the knowledge of all other\nthings (John xxi. 17). \u201cLord thou knowest all things, thou knowest\nthat I love thee.\u201d From Christ\u2019s knowledge of all things, he concludes\nhis knowledge of the inward frames and dispositions of men. To search\nthe heart is the sole prerogative of God (1 Kings viii. 39), for thou,\neven thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men: shall we\ntake _only_ here with a limitation, as some that are no friends to the\nDeity of Christ would, and say, God only knows the hearts of men from\nhimself, and by his own infinite virtue? Why may we not take _only_\nin other places with a limitation, and make nonsense of it, as Ps.\nlxxxvi. 10, \u201cThou art God alone.\u201d Is it to be understood that God\nis God alone from himself, but other gods may be made by him, and so\nthere may be numberless infinites? As God is God alone, so that none\ncan be God but himself; so he alone knows all the hearts of all the\nchildren of men, and none but he can know them; this knowledge is from\nhis nature. The reason why God knows the hearts of men, is rendered\nin the Scripture double, because he created them, and because he is\npresent everywhere (Ps. xxxiii. 13, 15),[742] these two are by the\nconfession of Christians and Pagans universally received as the proper\ncharacters of divinity, whereby the Deity is distinguished from all\ncreatures. Now when Christ ascribes this to himself, and that with\nsuch an emphasis, that nothing greater than that could be urged, as he\ndoth (Rev. ii. 23), we must conclude that he is of the same essence\nwith {a468} God, one with him in his nature, as well as one with him\nin his attributes. God only knows the hearts of the children of men;\nthere is the unity of God: Christ searches the hearts and reins; there\nis a distinction of persons in a oneness of essence; he knows the\nhearts of all men, not only of those that were with him in the time\nof the flesh, that have been, and shall be, since his ascension; but\nof those that lived and died before his coming; because he is to be\nthe Judge of all that lived before his humiliation on earth, as well\nas after his exaltation in heaven. It pertains to him, as a Judge, to\nknow distinctly the merits of the cause of which he is to judge; and\nthis excellency of searching the hearts is mentioned by himself with\nrelation to his judicial proceeding, \u201cI will give to every one of\nyou according to your works.\u201d And though a creature may know what\nis in a man\u2019s heart, if it be revealed to him, yet such a knowledge\nis a knowledge only by report, not by inspection; yet this latter is\nascribed to Christ (John ii. 24, 25): \u201che knew all men, and needed\nnot that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man:\u201d he\nlooked into their hearts. The Evangelist, to allay the amazement of\nmen at his relation of our Saviour\u2019s knowledge of the inward falsity\nof those that made a splendid profession of him, doth not say the\nFather revealed it to him, but intimates it to be an unseparable\nproperty of his nature. No covering was so thick as to bound his eye;\nno pretence so glittering as to impose upon his understanding. Those\nthat made a profession of him, and could not be discerned by the eye\nof man from his faithfulest attendants, were in their inside known\nto him plainer than their outside was to others; and, therefore, he\ncommitted not himself to them, though they seemed to be persuaded to\na real belief in his name, because of the power of his miracles, and\nwere touched with an admiration of him, as some great prophet, and,\nperhaps, declared him to be the Messiah (ver. 23).\n\n4. He had a foreknowledge of the particular inclinations of men,\nbefore those distinct inclinations were in actual being in them.\nThis is plainly asserted, John vi. 64: \u201cBut there are some of you\nthat believe not; for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that\nbelieved not, and who should betray him.\u201d When Christ assured them,\nfrom the knowledge of the hearts of his followers, that some of them\nwere void of that faith they professed, the Evangelist, to stop their\namazement that Christ should have such a power and virtue, adds, that\nhe \u201cknew from the beginning;\u201d that he had not only a present knowledge,\nbut a foreknowledge, of every one\u2019s inclination; he knew, not only\nnow and then what was in the hearts of his disciples, but from the\nbeginning, of any one\u2019s giving up their names to him; he knew whether\nit were a pretence or sincere; he knew who should betray him; and\nthere was no man\u2019s inward affection but was foreseen by him.[743]\n\u201cFrom the beginning,\u201d whether we understand it from the beginning\nof the world, as when Christ saith, concerning divorces, \u201cFrom the\nbeginning it was not so,\u201d that is, from the beginning of the world,\nfrom the beginning of the law of nature; or, from the beginning of\ntheir attending him, as it is taken, Luke i. 2; he had a certain\nprescience of the inward dispositions {a469} of men\u2019s hearts, and\ntheir succeeding sentiments; he foreknew the treacherous heart of\nJudas in the midst of his splendid profession, and discerned his\nresolution in the root, and his thought in the confused chaos of\nhis natural corruption; he knew how it would spring up before it did\nspring up, before Judas had any distinct and formal conception of\nit himself, or before there was any actual preparation to a resolve.\nPeter\u2019s denial was not unknown to him, when Peter had a present\nresolution, and no question spake it in the present sincerity of his\nsoul, \u201cnever to forsake him;\u201d he foreknew what would be the result\nof that poison which lurked in Peter\u2019s nature, before Peter himself\nimagined anything of it; he discerned Peter\u2019s apostatizing heart, when\nPeter resolved the contrary: our Saviour\u2019s prediction was accomplished,\nand Peter\u2019s valiant resolution languished into cowardice. Shall we\nthen conclude our blessed Saviour a creature, who perfectly and only\nknew the Father, who knew all creatures; who had all the treasures\nof wisdom and knowledge who knew the inward motions of men\u2019s hearts\nby his own virtue, and had, not only a present knowledge, but a\nprescience of them?\n\n_Instruct. 2._ The second instruction from this position, That\nGod hath an infinite knowledge and understanding. Then there is a\nprovidence exercised by God in the world, and that about everything.\nAs providence infers omniscience as the guide of it, so omniscience\ninfers providence as the end of it. What exercise would there be of\nthis attribute, but in the government of the world? To this, this\ninfinite perfection refers (Jer. xvii. 10), \u201cI the Lord search the\nheart, I try the reins, to give every man according to his ways, and\naccording to the fruit of his doings.\u201d He searches the heart to reward,\nhe rewards every man according to the rewardableness of his actions;\nhis government, therefore, extends to every man in the world; there\nis no heart but he searches, therefore no heart but he governs; to\nwhat purpose, else, would be this knowledge of all his creatures?\nfor a mere contemplation of them? No. What pleasure can that be to\nGod, who knows himself, who is infinitely more excellent than all his\ncreatures? Doth he know them to neglect all care of them? this must\nbe either out of sloth; but how incompatible is laziness to a pure and\ninfinite activity! or out of majesty; but it is no less for the glory\nof his majesty to conduct them, than it was for the glory of his power\nto erect them into being. He that counts nothing unworthy of his arms\nto make, nothing unworthy of his understanding to know, why should he\ncount anything unworthy of his wisdom to govern? If he knows them to\nneglect them, it must be because he hath no will to it, or no goodness\nfor it; either of these would be a stain upon God; to want goodness\nis to be evil, and to want will is to be negligent and scornful, which\nare inconsistent with an infinite, active goodness. Doth a father\nneglect providing for the wants of the family which he knows? or a\nphysician, the cure of that disease he understands? God is omniscient,\nhe therefore sees all things; he is good, he doth not therefore\nneglect anything, but conducts it to the end he appointed it. There is\nnothing so little that can escape his knowledge, and therefore nothing\nso little but falls under his providence; nothing so sublime as to be\n{a470} above his understanding, and therefore nothing can be without\nthe compass of his conduct; nothing can escape his eye, and therefore\nnothing can escape his care; nothing is known to him in vain, as\nnothing was made by him in vain; there must be acknowledged, therefore,\nsome end of this knowledge of all his creatures.\n\n_Instruct. 3._ Hence, then, will follow the certainty of a day of\njudgment. To what purpose can we imagine this attribute of omniscience,\nso often declared and urged in Scripture to our consideration, but\nin order to a government of our practice, and a future trial? Every\nperfection of the Divine nature hath sent out brighter rays in the\nworld than this of his infinite knowledge. His power hath been seen in\nthe being of the world, and his wisdom in the order and harmony of the\ncreatures; his grace and mercy hath been plentifully poured out in his\nmission of a Redeemer, and his justice hath been elevated by the dying\ngroans of the Son of God upon the cross. But hath his omniscience yet\nmet with a glory proportionable to that of his other perfections? All\nthe attributes of God that have appeared in some beautiful glimmerings\nin the world, wait for a more full manifestation in glory, as\nthe creatures do for the \u201cmanifestation of the sons of God\u201d (Rom.\nviii. 19); but especially this, since it hath been less evidenced than\nothers, and as much, or more, abused than any; it expects, therefore,\na public righting in the eye of the world. There have been, indeed,\nsome few sparks of this perfection sensibly struck out now and then\nin the world in some horrors of conscience, which have made men\nbecome their own accusers of unknown crimes, in bringing out hidden\nwickedness to a public view by various providences. This hath also\nbeen the design of sprinklings of judgments upon several generations,\nas (Ps. xc. 8), \u201cWe are consumed by thy anger, and by thy wrath we are\ntroubled; thou hast set our iniquities before thee, and our secret\nsins in the light of thy countenance.\u201d The word \u05e2\u05dc\u05d5\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 signifies youth,\nas well as secret, _i. e._, sins committed long ago, and that with\nsecrecy. By this he hath manifested that secret sins are not hid from\nhis eye. Though inward terrors and outward judgments have been let\nloose to worry men into a belief of this, yet the corruptions of men\nwould still keep a contrary notion in their minds, that \u201cGod hath\nforgotten, that he hides his face from transgression, and will not\nregard their impiety\u201d (Ps. x. 11). There must, therefore, be a time\nof trial for the public demonstration of this excellency, that it may\nreceive its due honor, by a full testimony that no secrecy can be a\nshelter from it. As his justice, which consists in giving every one\nhis due, could not be glorified, unless men were called to an account\nfor their actions, so neither would his omniscience appear in its\nillustrious colors, without such a manifestation of the secret motions\nof men\u2019s hearts, and of villanies done under lock and key, when none\nwere conscious to them, but the committers of them. Now the last\njudgment is the time appointed for the \u201copening of the books\u201d (Dan.\nvii. 10). The book of God\u2019s records, and conscience the counterpart,\nwere never fully opened and read before, only now and then some pages\nturned to, in particular judgments; and out of those \u201cbooks shall men\nbe judged according to their works\u201d {a471} (Rev. xx. 12). Then shall\nthe defaced sins be brought, with all their circumstances, to every\nman\u2019s memory; the counsels of men\u2019s hearts fled far from their present\nremembrance, all the habitual knowledge they had of their own actions,\nshall, by God\u2019s knowledge of them, be excited to an actual review;\nand their works not only made manifest to themselves, but notorious\nto the world: all the words, thoughts, deeds of men, shall be brought\nforth into the light of their own minds by the infinite light of\nGod\u2019s understanding reflecting on them. His knowledge renders him an\nunerring witness, as well as his justice \u201ca swift witness\u201d (Mal. iii.\n5); a swift witness, because he shall, without any circuit, or length\nof speech, convince their consciences, by an inward illumination of\nthem, to take notice of the blackness and deformity of their hearts\nand works. In all judgments God is somewhat known to be the searcher\nof hearts; the time of judgment is the time of his remembrance (Hos.\nviii. 13): \u201cNow will he remember their iniquity, and visit their\nsins;\u201d but the great instant, or now, of the full glorifying it, is\nthe grand day of account. This attribute must have a time for its\nfull discovery; and no time can be fit for it but a time of a general\nreckoning. Justice cannot be exercised without omniscience; for as\njustice is a giving to every one his due, so there must be knowledge\nto discern what is due to every man; the searching the heart is in\norder to the rewarding the works.\n\n_Instruct. 4._ This perfection in God gives us ground to believe a\nresurrection. Who can think this too hard for his power, since not\nthe least atom of the dust of our bodies can escape his knowledge? An\ninfinite understanding comprehends every mite of a departed carcase;\nthis will not appear impossible, nor irrational, to any, upon a\nserious consideration, of this excellency in God. The body is perished,\nthe matter of it hath been since clothed with different forms and\nfigures; part of it hath been made the body of a worm, part of it\nreturned to the dust that hath been blown away by the wind; part of it\nhath been concocted in the bodies of canibals, fish, ravenous beasts;\nthe spirits have evaporated into air, part of the blood melted into\nwater; what, then, is the matter of the body annihilated? is that\nwholly perished? no; the foundation remains, though it hath put on\na variety of forms; the body of Abel, the first man that died, nor\nthe body of Adam, are not, to this day, reduced to nothing; indeed,\nthe quantity and the quality of those bodies have been lost by various\nchanges they have past through since their dissolution; but the\nmatter, or substance of them, remains entire, and is not capable\nto be destroyed by all those transforming alterations, in so long\na revolution of time. The body of a man in his infancy and his old\nage, if it were Methuselah\u2019s, is the same in the foundation in those\nmultitude of years; though the quantity of it be altered, the quality\ndifferent; though the color and other things be changed in it, the\nmatter of this body remains the same among all the alterations after\ndeath. And can it be so mixed with other natures and creatures, as\nthat it is past finding out by an infinite understanding? Can any\nparticle of this matter escape the eye of Him that makes and beholds\nall those various {a472} alterations, and where every mite of the\nsubstance of those bodies is particularly lodged, so as that he\ncannot compact it together again for a habitation of that soul, that\nmany a year before fled from it?[744] Since the knowledge of God is\ninfinite, and his providence extensive over the least as well as the\ngreatest parts of the world, he must needs know the least as well\nas the greatest of his creatures in their beginning, progress, and\ndissolution; all the forms through which the bodies of all creatures\nroll, the particular instants of time, and the particular place when\nand where those changes are made, they are all present with him; and,\ntherefore, when the revolution of time allotted by him for the reunion\nof souls and deceased bodies is come, it cannot be doubted but, out\nof the treasures of his knowledge, he can call forth every part of\nthe matter of the bodies of men, from the first to the last man that\nexpired, and strip it of all those forms and figures which it shall\nthen have, to compact it to be a lodging for that soul which before\nit entertained; and though the bodies of men have been devoured by\nwild beasts in the earth, and fish in the sea, and been lodged in the\nstomachs of barbarous men\u2011eaters, the matter is not lost. There is but\nlittle of the food we take that is turned into the substance of our\nown bodies; that which is not proper for nourishment, which is the\ngreatest part, is separated, and concocted, and rejected; whatsoever\nobjections are made, are answered by this attribute. Nothing hinders a\nGod of infinite knowledge from discerning every particle of the matter,\nwheresoever it is disposed; and since he hath an eye to discern, and\na hand to recollect and unite, what difficulty is there in believing\nthis article of the christian faith? he that questions this revealed\ntruth of the resurrection of the body, must question God\u2019s omniscience\nas well as his omnipotence and power.\n\n_Instruct. 5._ What semblance of reason is there to expect a\njustification in the sight of God by anything in ourselves? Is there\nany action done by any of us, but upon a scrutiny we may find flaws\nand deficiency in it? What then? shall not this perfection of God\ndiscern them? the motes that escape our eyes cannot escape his (1 John\niii. 20): \u201cGod is greater than our hearts, and knows all things;\u201d so\nthat it is in vain for any man to flatter himself with the rectitude\nof any work, or enter into any debate with him who can bring a\nthousand articles against us, out of his own infinite records, unknown\nto us, and unanswerable by us. If conscience, a representative or\ncounterpart of God\u2019s omniscience in our own bosoms, find nothing done\nby us, but in a copy short of the original, and beholds, if not blurs,\nyet imperfections in the best actions, God must much more discern\nthem; we never knew a copy equally exact with the original. If our\nown conscience be as a thousand witnesses, the knowledge of God is as\nmillions of witnesses against us; if our corruption be so great, and\nour holiness so low, in our own eyes, how much greater must the one,\nand how much meaner must the other, appear in the eyes of God? God\nhath an unerring eye to see, as well as an unspotted holiness to hate,\nand an unbribable justice to punish; he wants no more understanding\nto know the shortness of our actions, {a473} than he doth holiness\nto enact, and power to execute, his laws; nay, suppose we could\nrecollect many actions, wherein there were no spot visible to us, the\nconsideration of this attribute should scare us from resting upon any\nor all of them, since it is the Lord that, by a piercing eye, sees and\njudges according to the heart, and not according to appearance. The\nleast crookedness of a stick, not sensible to an acute eye, yet will\nappear when laid to the line; and the impurity of a counterfeit metal\nbe manifest when applied to the touchstone; so will the best action\nof any mere man in the world, when it comes to be measured in God\u2019s\nknowledge by the straight line of his law. Let every man, therefore,\nas Paul, though he should know nothing by himself, think not himself\ntherefore justified; since it is the Lord, who is of an infinite\nunderstanding, that judgeth (1 Cor. iv. 4). A man may be justified in\nhis own sight, \u201cbut not any living man can be justified in the sight\nof God\u201d (Ps. cxliii. 2); in his sight, whose eye pierceth into our\nunknown secrets and frames: it was, therefore, well answered of a good\nman upon his death bed, being asked \u201cWhat he was afraid of?\u201d \u201cI have\nlabored,\u201d saith he, \u201cwith all my strength to observe the commands\nof God; but since I am a man, I am ignorant whether my works are\nacceptable to God, since God judges in one manner, and I in another\nmanner.\u201d Let the consideration therefore of this attribute, make us\njoin with Job in his resolution (Job ix. 21): \u201cThough we were perfect,\nyet would we not know our own souls.\u201d I would not stand up to plead\nany of my virtues before God. Let us, therefore, look after another\nrighteousness, wherein the exact eye of the Divine omniscience, we are\nsure, can discern no stain or crookedness.\n\n_Instruct. 6._ What honorable and adoring thoughts ought we to\nhave of God for this perfection! Do we not honor a man that is able\nto predict? do we not think it a great part of wisdom? Have not all\nnations regarded such a faculty as a character and a mark of divinity?\nThere is something more ravishing in the knowledge of future things,\nboth to the person that knows them, and the person that hears them,\nthan there is in any other kind of knowledge; whence the greatest\nprophets have been accounted in the greatest veneration, and men\nhave thought it a way to glory, to divine and predict. Hence it was\nthat the devils and pagan oracles gained so much credit; upon this\nfoundation were they established, and the enemies of mankind owned\nfor a true God;\u2015\u2015I say, from the prediction of future things, though\ntheir oracles were often ambiguous, many times false; yet those poor\nheathens framed many ingenious excuses to free their adored gods\nfrom the charge of falsity and imposture: and shall we not adore\nthe true God, the God of Israel, the God blessed for ever, for this\nincommunicable property, whereby he flies above the wings of the wind,\nthe understandings of men and cherubims?[745] Consider how great it\nis to know the thoughts and intentions, and works of one man, from\nthe beginning to the end of his life; to foreknow all these before\nthe being of this man, when he was lodged afar off in the loins of his\nancestors, yea, of Adam; how much greater is it to foreknow and know\nthe thoughts and {a474} works of three or four men, of a whole village\nor neighborhood! It is greater still to know the imaginations and\nactions of such a multitude of men as are contained in London, Paris,\nor Constantinople; how much greater still to know the intentions\nand practices, the clandestine contrivances of so many millions that\nhave, do, or shall swarm in all quarters of the world, every person\nof them having millions of thoughts, desires, designs, affections,\nand actions! Let this attribute, then, make the blessed God honorable\nin our eyes, and adorable in all our affections; especially since it\nis an excellency which hath so lately discovered itself, in bringing\nto light the hidden things of darkness, in opening, and in part\nconfounding, the wicked devices of bloody men. Especially let us\nadore God for it, and admire it in God, since it is so necessary a\nperfection, that without it the goodness of God had been impotent,\nand could not have relieved us; for what help can a distressed person\nexpect from a man of the sweetest disposition and the strongest arm,\nif the eyes which should discover the danger, and direct the defence\nand rescue, were closed up by blindness and darkness? Adore God for\nthis wonderful perfection.\n\n_Instruct. 7._ In the consideration of this excellent attribute, what\nlow thoughts should we have of our own knowledge, and how humble ought\nwe to be before God! There is nothing man is more apt to be proud of\nthan his knowledge; it is a perfection he glories in; but if our own\nknowledge of the little outside and barks of things puffs us up, the\nconsideration of the infiniteness of God\u2019s knowledge should abate the\ntumor: as our beings are nothing in regard to the infiniteness of his\nessence, so our knowledge is nothing in regard of the vastness of his\nunderstanding. We have a spark of being, but nothing to the heat of\nthe sun; we have a drop of knowledge, but nothing to the Divine ocean.\nWhat a vain thing is it for a shallow brook to boast of its streams\nbefore a sea, whose depths are unfathomable! As it is a vanity to\nbrag of our strength, when we remember the power of God, and of our\nprudence, when we glance upon the wisdom of God, so it is no less a\nvanity to boast of our knowledge, when we think of the understanding\nand knowledge of God. How hard is it for us to know anything![746]\nToo much noise deafens us, and too much light dazzles us; too much\ndistance alienates the object from us, and too much nearness bars up\nour sight from beholding it. When we think ourselves to be near the\nknowledge of a thing, as a ship to the haven, a puff of wind blows\nus away, and the object which we desired to know eternally flies from\nus; we burn with a desire of knowledge, and yet are oppressed with\nthe darkness of ignorance; we spend our days more in dark Egypt, than\nin enlightened Goshen. In what narrow bounds is all the knowledge of\nthe most intelligent persons included![747] How few understand the\nexact harmony of their own bodies, the nature of the life they have\nin common with other animals! Who understands the nature of his own\nfaculties, how he knows, and how he wills; how the understanding\nproposeth, and how the will embraceth; how his spiritual soul is\nunited to his material body; what the nature is of the operation of\n{a475} our spirits? Nay, who understands the nature of his own body,\nthe offices of his senses, the motion of his members, how they come to\nobey the command of the will, and a thousand other things? What a vain,\nweak, and ignorant thing is man, when compared with God! yet there is\nnot a greater pride to be found among devils, than among ignorant men,\nwith a little, very little, flashy knowledge. Ignorant man is as proud\nas if he knew as God. As the consideration of God\u2019s omniscience should\nrender him honorable in our eyes, so it should render us vile in our\nown. God, because of his knowledge, is so far from disdaining his\ncreatures, that his omniscience is a minister to his goodness. No\nknowledge that we are possessed of should make us swell with too high\na conceit of ourselves, and a disdain of others. We have infinitely\nmore of ignorance than knowledge. Let us therefore remember, in all\nour thoughts of God, that he is God, and we are men; and therefore\nought to be humble, as becomes men, and ignorant and foolish men,\nto be; as weak creatures should lie low before an Almighty God, and\nimpure creatures before a holy God, false creatures before a faithful\nGod, finite creatures before an infinite God, so should ignorant\ncreatures before an all\u2011knowing God. All God\u2019s attributes teach\nadmiring thoughts of God, and low thoughts of ourselves.\n\n_Instruct. 8._ It may inform us how much this attribute is injured\nin the world. The first error after Adam\u2019s eating the forbidden\nfruit was the denial of this, as well as the omnipresence of God,\n(Gen. iii. 10,) \u201cI heard thy voice in the garden, and I hid myself;\u201d\nas if the thickness of the trees could screen him from the eye of\nhis Creator. And after Cain\u2019s murder, this is the first perfection he\naffronts, (Gen. iv. 9), \u201cWhere is Abel, thy brother?\u201d saith God. How\nroundly doth he answer, \u201cI know not!\u201d as if God were as weak as man,\nto be put off with a lie. Man doth as naturally hate this perfection\nas much as he cannot naturally but acknowledge it; he wishes God\nstripped of this eminency, that he might be incapable to be an\ninspector of his crimes, and a searcher of the closets of his heart.\nIn wishing him deprived of this, there is a hatred of God himself; for\nit is a loathing an essential property of God, without which he would\nbe a pitiful Governor of the world. What a kind of God should that\nbe, of a sinner\u2019s wishing, that had wanted eyes to see a crime, and\nrighteousness to punish it! The want of the consideration of this\nattribute, is the cause of all sin in the world (Hos. vii. 2), \u201cThey\nconsider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness;\u201d\nthey speak not to their hearts, or make any reflection upon the\ninfiniteness of my knowledge; it is a high contempt of God, as if he\nwere an idol, a senseless stock or stone; in all evil practices this\nis denied. We know God sees all things, yet we live and walk as if he\nknew nothing. We call him omniscient, and live as if he were ignorant;\nwe say he is all eye, yet act as if he were wholly blind.\n\nIn particular, this attribute is injured, by invading the peculiar\nrights of it, by presuming on it, and by a practical denial of it.\nFirst, By invading the peculiar rights of it. 1. By invocation of\ncreatures. Praying to saints, by the Romanists, is a disparagement\n{a476} to this divine excellency; he that knows all things, is only\nfit to have the petitions of men presented to him; prayer supposeth\nan omniscient Being, as the object of it; no other being but God\nought to have that honor acknowledged to it; no understanding but\nhis is infinite; no other presence but his is everywhere; to implore\nany deceased creature for a supply of our wants, is to own in them a\nproperty of the Deity, and make them deities that were but men; and\nincrease their glory by a diminution of God\u2019s honor, in ascribing\nthat perfection to creatures which belongs only to God. Alas! they\nare so far from understanding the desires of our souls, that they\nknow not the words of our lips: it is against reason to address our\nsupplications to them that neither understand us nor discern us (Isa.\nlxiii. 16), \u201cAbraham is ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledges us\nnot.\u201d The Jews never called upon Abraham, though the covenant was made\nwith him for the whole seed; not one departed saint for the whole four\nthousand years, between the creation of the world, and the coming of\nChrist, was ever prayed to by the Israelites, or ever imagined to have\na share in God\u2019s omniscience: so that to pray to St. Peter, St. Paul,\nmuch less to St. Roch, St. Swithin, St. Martin, St. Francis, &c. is\nsuch a superstition, that hath no footing in the Scripture. To desire\nthe prayers of the living, with whom we have a communion, who can\nunderstand and grant our desires, is founded upon a mutual charity;\nbut to implore persons that are absent, at a great distance from us,\nwith whom we have not, nor know how to have, any commerce, supposeth\nthem, in their departure, to have put off humanity, and commenced gods,\nand endued with some part of the Divinity to understand our petitions;\nwe are, indeed, to cherish their memories, consider their examples,\nimitate their graces, and observe their doctrines; we are to follow\nthem as saints, but not elevate them as gods, in ascribing to them\nsuch a knowledge, which is the only necessary right of their and our\ncommon Creator.[748] As the invocation of saints mingles them with\nChrist, in the exercise of his office, so it sets them equal with\nGod in the throne of his omniscience, as if they had as much credit\nwith God as Christ, by way of mediation, and as much knowledge of\nmen\u2019s affairs as God himself. Omniscience is peculiar to God, and\nincommunicable to any creature; it is the foundation of all religion,\nand therefore one of the choicest acts of it; viz. prayer and\ninvocation. To direct our vows and petitions to any one else, is to\ninvade the peculiarity of this perfection in God, and to rank some\ncreatures in a partnership with him in it.\n\n2. This attribute is injured by curiosity of knowledge; especially\nof future things, which God hath not discovered in natural causes,\nor supernatural revelation. It is a common error of men\u2019s spirits\nto aspire to know what God would have hidden, and to pry into Divine\nsecrets; and many men are more willing to remain without the knowledge\nof those things which may, with a little industry, be attained,\nthan be divested of the curiosity of inquiring into those things\nwhich are above their reach; it is hence that some have laid aside\nthe study of the common remedies of nature to find out the {a477}\nphilosopher\u2019s stone, which scarce any ever yet attempted but sunk in\nthe enterprise.[749] From this inclination to know the most abstruse\nand difficult things, it is that the horrors of magic and vanities of\nastrology have sprung, whereby men have thought to find, in a commerce\nwith devils and the jurisdiction of the stars, the events of their\nlives, and the disposal of states and kingdoms. Hence, also, arose\nthose multitudes of ways of divination, invented among the heathen,\nand practised too commonly in these ages of the world. This is an\ninvasion of God\u2019s prerogative, to whom secret things belong (Deut.\nxxix. 29); \u201cSecret things belong unto the Lord our God, but revealed\nthings belong to us and our children.\u201d It is an intolerable boldness\nto attempt to fathom those, the knowledge whereof God hath reserved\nto himself, and to search that which God will have to surpass our\nunderstandings, whereby we more truly envy God a knowledge superior\nto our own, than we, in Adam, imagined that he envied us. Ambition is\nthe greatest cause of this; ambition to be accounted some great thing\namong men, by reason of a knowledge estranged from the common mass of\nmankind, but more especially that soaring pride to be equal with God,\nwhich lurks in our nature ever since the fall of our first parents:\nthis is not yet laid aside by men, though it was the first thing that\nembroiled the world with the wrath of God. Some think a curiosity\nof knowledge was the cause of the fall of devils; I am sure it was\nthe fall of Adam, and is yet the crime of his posterity; had he been\ncontented to know what God had furnished him with, neither he nor his\nposterity had smarted under the venom of the serpent\u2019s breath. All\ncurious and bold inquiries into things not revealed are an attempt\nupon the throne of God, and are both sinful and pernicious, like\nto glaring upon the sun, where, instead of a greater acuteness, we\nmeet with blindness, and too dearly buy our ignorance in attempting\na superfluous knowledge. As God\u2019s knowledge is destined to the\ngovernment of the world, so should ours be to the advantage of the\nworld, and not degenerate into vain speculations.\n\n3. This attribute is injured by swearing by creatures. To swear\nby the name of God, in a righteous cause,[750] when we are lawfully\ncalled to it by a superior power, or for the necessary decision of\nsome controversy, for the ends of charity and justice, is an act\nof religion, and a part of worship, founded upon, and directed to,\nthe honor of this attribute; by it we acknowledge the glory of his\ninfallible knowledge of all things; but to swear by false gods, or by\nany creature, is blasphemous; it sets the creature in the place of God,\nand invests it in that which is the peculiar honor of the Divinity;\nfor when any swear truly, they intend the invocation of an infallible\nWitness, and the bringing an undoubted testimony for what they do\nassert: while, any, therefore, swear by a creature, or a false god,\nthey profess that that creature, or that which they esteem to be a god,\nis an infallible witness, which to be is only the right of God; they\nattribute to the creature that which is the property of God alone, to\nknow the heart, and to be a witness whether they speak true or no: and\nthis was accounted, by all nations, the true design {a478} of an oath.\nAs to swear falsely is a plain denial of the all\u2011knowledge of God, so\nto swear by any creature is to set the creature upon the throne of God,\nin ascribing that perfection to the creature which sovereignly belongs\nto the Creator; for it is not in the power of any to witness to the\ntruth of the heart, but of him that is the searcher of hearts.\n\n4. We sin against this attribute by censuring the hearts of others.\nAn open crime, indeed, falls under our cognizance, and therefore under\nour judgment; for whatsoever falls under the authority of man to be\npunished, falls under the judgment of man to be censured, as an act\ncontrary to the law of God; yet, when a censure is built upon the evil\nof the act which is obvious to the view, if we take a step farther to\njudge the heart and state, we leave the revealed rule of the law, and\nambitiously erect a tribunal equal with God\u2019s, and usurp a judicial\npower, pertaining only to the Supreme Governor of the world, and\nconsequently pretend to be possessed of the perfection of omniscience,\nwhich is necessary to render him capable of the exercise of that\nsovereign authority: for it is in respect of his dominion that God\nhath the supreme right to judge; and in respect of his knowledge\nthat he hath an incommunicable capacity to judge. In an action\nthat is doubtful, the good or evil whereof depends only upon God\u2019s\ndetermination, and wherein much of the judgment depends upon the\ndiscerning the intention of the agent, we cannot judge any man without\na manifest invasion of God\u2019s peculiar right: such actions are to be\ntried by God\u2019s knowledge, not by our surmises; God only is the master\nin such cases, to whom a person stands or falls (Rom. xiv. 4). \u2019Till\nthe true principle and ends of an action be known by the confession\nof the party acting it, a true judgment of it is not in our power.\nPrinciples and ends lie deep and hid from us; and it is intolerable\npride to pretend to have a joint key with God to open that cabinet\nwhich he hath reserved to himself. Besides the violation of the rule\nof charity in misconstruing actions which may be great and generous in\ntheir root and principle, we invade God\u2019s right, as if our ungrounded\nimaginations and conjectures were in joint commission with this\nsovereign perfection; and thereby we become usurping judges of\nevil thoughts (James ii. 4). It is, therefore, a boldness worthy to\nbe punished by the judge, to assume to ourselves the capacity and\nauthority of him who is the only Judge: for as the execution of the\nDivine law, for the inward violation of it, belongs only to God, so is\nthe right of judging a prerogative belonging only to his omniscience;\nhis right is, therefore, invaded, if we pretend to a knowledge of it.\nThis humor of men the apostle checks, when he saith (1 Cor. iv. 5),\n\u201cHe that judgeth me is the Lord; therefore judge nothing before the\ntime, until the Lord come, who will manifest the counsels of all\nhearts.\u201d It is not the time yet for God to erect the tribunal for the\ntrial of men\u2019s hearts, and the principles of their actions; he hath\nreserved the glorious discovery of this attribute for another season:\nwe must not, therefore, presume to judge of the counsels of men\u2019s\nhearts till God hath revealed them by opening the treasures of his\nown knowledge; much less are we to judge any man\u2019s final condition.\nManasseh may sacrifice to devils, {a479} and unconverted Paul tear\nthe church in pieces; but God had mercy on them, and called them. The\nactions may be censured, not the state, for we know not whom God may\ncall. In censuring men, we may doubly imitate the devil, in a false\naccusation of the brethren, as well as in an ambitious usurpation of\nthe rights of God.\n\nSecondly, This perfection is injured by presuming upon it, or\nmaking an ill use of it. As in the neglect of prayer for the supply of\nmen\u2019s wants, because God knows them already, so that that which is an\nencouragement to prayer, they make the reason of restraining it before\nGod. Prayer is not to administer knowledge to God, but to acknowledge\nthis admirable perfection of the Divine nature. If God did not know,\nthere were indeed no use of prayer; it would be as vain a thing to\nsend up our prayers to heaven, as to implore the senseless statue,\nor picture of a prince, for a protection. We pray because God knows:\nfor though he knows our wants with a knowledge of vision, yet he\nwill not know them with a knowledge of supply, till he be sought unto\n(Matt. vi. 32, 33; vii. 11.) All the excellencies of God are ground of\nadoration; and this excellency is the ground of that part of worship\nwe call prayer. If God be to be worshipped, he is to be called upon:\ninvocations of his name in our necessities is a chief act of worship;\nwhence the temple, the place of solemn worship, was not called the\nhouse of sacrifice, but the house of prayer. Prayer was not appointed\nfor God\u2019s information, as if he were ignorant, but for the expression\nof our desires; not to furnish him with a knowledge of what we want,\nbut to manifest to him, by some rational sign convenient to our nature,\nour sense of that want, which he knows by himself. So that prayer is\nnot designed to acquaint God with our wants, but to express the desire\nof a remedy of our wants. God knows our wants, but hath not made\npromises barely to our wants, but to our asking, that his omniscience\nin hearing, as well as his sufficiency in supplying, may have a\nsensible honor in our acknowledgments and receipts. It is therefore an\nill use of this excellency of God to neglect prayer to him as needless,\nbecause he knows already.\n\nThirdly. This perfection of God is wronged by a practical denial\nof it. It is the language of every sin, and so God takes it when he\ncomes to reckon with men for their impieties. Upon this he charges\nthe greatness of the iniquity of Israel, the overflowing of blood in\nthe land, and the perverseness of the city: \u201cThey say, the Lord hath\nforsaken the earth, and the Lord sees not\u201d (Ezek. ix. 9): they deny\nhis eyes to see, and his resolution to punish.\n\n1. It will appear, in forbearing sin from a sense of man\u2019s knowledge,\nnot of God\u2019s. Open impieties are refrained because of the eye of man,\nbut secret sins are not checked because of the eye of God. Wickedness\nis committed in darkness, that is restrained in light, as if darkness\nwere as great a clog to God\u2019s eyes as it is to ours; as though his\neyes were muffled with the curtains of the night (Job xxii. 14.) This,\nit is likely, was at the root of Jonah\u2019s flight; he might have some\nsecret thought that his Master\u2019s eye could not follow him, as though\nthe close hatches of a ship could secure him from the knowledge of\nGod, as well as the sides of a ship {a480} could from the dashing of\nthe waves. What lies most upon the conscience when it is graciously\nwounded, is least regarded or contemned when it is basely inclined.\nDavid\u2019s heart smote him not only for his sin in the gross, but as\nparticularly cirumstantiated by the commission of it in the sight of\nGod (Ps. li. 4): \u201cAgainst thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this\nevil in thy sight.\u201d None knew the reason of Uriah\u2019s death but myself,\nand because others knew it not, I neglected any regard to this Divine\neye. When Jacob\u2019s sons used their brother Joseph so barbarously, they\ntook care to hide it from their father, but cast away all thoughts\nof God, from whom it could not be concealed. Doth not the presence of\na child bridle a man from the act of a longed\u2011for sin, when the eye\nof God is of no force to restrain him, as if God\u2019s knowledge were of\nless value than the sight of a little boy or girl, as if a child only\ncould see, and God were blind? He that will forbear an unworthy action\nfor fear of an informer, will not forbear it for God; as if God\u2019s\nomniscience were not as full an intelligencer to him, as man can be\nan informer to a magistrate. As we acknowledge the power of men seeing\nus when we are ashamed to commit a filthy action in their view, so\nwe discover the power of God seeing us, when we regard not what we do\nbefore the light of his eyes. Secret sins are more against God than\nopen: open sins are against the law; secret sins are against the law,\nand this prime perfection of his nature. The majesty of God is not\nonly violated, but the omniscience of God disowned, who is the only\nwitness; we must, in all of them, either imagine him to be without\neyes to behold us, or without an arm of justice to punish us. And\noften it is, I believe, in such cases, that if any thoughts of God\u2019s\nknowledge strike upon men, they quickly damp them, lest they should\nbegin to know what they fear, and fear that they might not eat their\npleasant sinful morsels.\n\n2. It appears in partial confessions of sin before God. As by a free,\nfull, and ingenious confession, we offer a due glory to this attribute,\nso by a feigned and curtailed confession, we deny him the honor of\nit: for, though by any confession we in part own him to be a Sovereign\nand Judge, yet by a half and pared acknowledgment, we own him to be\nno more than a humane and ignorant one. Achan\u2019s full confession gave\nGod the glory of his omniscience, manifested in the discovery of his\nsecret crime. \u201cAnd Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee,\nglory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him\u201d (Joshua\nvii. 19). And so (Ps. l. 23): \u201cWhoso offereth praise glorifieth me,\u201d\nor confession, as the word signifieth, in which sense I would rather\ntake it, referring to this attribute, which God seems to tax sinners\nwith the denial of (ver. 21), telling them that he would open the\nrecords of their sins before them, and indict them particularly for\nevery one. If, therefore, you would glorify this attribute, which\nshall one day break open your consciences, offer to me a sincere\nconfession. When David speaks of the happiness of a pardoned man,\nhe adds, \u201cin whose spirit there is no guile,\u201d[751] not meaning a\nsincerity in general, but an ingenuity in confessing. To excuse, or\nextenuate sin, is to deny God the {a481} knowledge of the depths of\nour deceitful hearts: when we will mince it rather than aggravate it;\nlay it upon the inducements of others, when it was the free act of our\nown wills, study shifts to deceive our Judge; this is to speak lies of\nhim, as the expression is (Hos. vii. 13), as though he were a God easy\nto be cheated, and knew no more than we were willing to declare. What\ndid Saul\u2019s transferring his sin from himself to the people (1 Sam. xv.\n15), but charge God with a defect in this attribute? When man could\nnot be like God, in his knowledge, he would fancy a God like to him\nin his ignorance, and imagine a possibility of hiding himself from his\nknowledge. And all men tread, more or less, in their father\u2019s steps,\nand are fruitful to devise distinctions to disguise errors in doctrine,\nand excuses to palliate errors in practice: this crime Job removes\nfrom himself, when he speaks of several acts of his sincerity (Job\nxxxi. 33): \u201cIf I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding my\niniquity in my bosom:\u201d I hid not any of my sins in my own conscience,\nbut acknowledged God a witness to them, and gave him the glory of his\nknowledge by a free confession. I did not conceal it from God as Adam\ndid, or as men ordinarily do; as if God could understand no more of\ntheir secret crimes than they will let him, and had no more sense of\ntheir faults than they would furnish him with. As the first rise of\nconfession is the owning of this attribute (for the justice of God\nwould not scare men, nor the holiness of God awe them, without a sense\nof his knowledge of their iniquities), so to drop out some fragments\nof confession, discover some sins, and conceal others, is a plain\ndenial of the extensiveness of the Divine knowledge.\n\n3. It is discovered by putting God off with an outside worship. Men\nare often flatterers of God, and think to bend him by formal glavering\ndevotions, without the concurrence of their hearts; as though he could\nnot pierce into the darkness of the mind, but did as little know us\nas one man knows another. There are such things as feigned lips (Ps.\nxvii. 1), a contradiction between the heart and the tongue, a clamor\nin the voice, and scoffing in the soul; a crying out to God, thou art\nmy Father, the guide of my youth, and yet speaking and doing evil to\nthe utmost of our power (Jer. iii. 4, 5). As if God could be imposed\nupon by fawning pretences; and like old Isaac, take Jacob for Esau,\nand be cozened by the smell of his garments: as if he could not\ndiscern the negro heart under an angel\u2019s garb. Thus Ephraim, the\nten tribes, apostatized from the true religion, would go with their\nflocks and their herds to seek the Lord (Hos. v. 6), would sacrifice\nmultitudes of sheep and heifers, which was the main outside of the\nJewish religion; only with their flocks and their herds, not with\ntheir hearts, with those inward qualifications of deep humiliation\nand repentance for sin; as though outside appearances limited God\u2019s\nobservation, whereas God had told them before (ver. 3), that he \u201cknew\nEphraim, and Israel was not hid from him.\u201d Thus to do is to put a\ncheat upon God, and think to blind his all\u2011seeing eye, and therefore\nit is called deceit (Ps. lxxviii. 36). They did flatter him with their\nmouths. The word \u05e4\u05ea\u05d4 signifies to deceive, as well as to flatter; not\nthat they, or any else, can deceive {a482} God, but it implies an\nendeavor to deceive him, by a few dissembling words and gestures, or\nan imagination that God was satisfied with bare professions, and would\nnot concern himself in a further inquisition. This is an unworthy\nconceit of God, to fancy that we can satisfy for inward sins, and\navert approaching judgments, by external offerings, by a loud voice\nwith a false heart, as if God (like children) would be pleased with\nthe glittering of an empty shell, or the rattling of stones, the\nchinkling of money, a mere voice and crying, without inward frames\nand intentions of service.\n\n4. In cherishing multitudes of evil thoughts. No man but would blush\nfor shame, if the base, impure, slovenly thoughts, either in or out\nof duties of worship, were visible to the understanding of man; how\ndiligent would he be to curb his luxuriant and unworthy fancies, as\nwell as bite in his words! but when we give the reins to the motions\nof our hearts, and suffer them to run at random without a curb, it is\nan evidence we are not concerned for their falling under the notice of\nthe eye of God; and it argues a very weak belief of this perfection,\nor scarce any belief at all. Who can think any man\u2019s heart, possessed\nwith a sense of this infinite excellency, that suffers his mind, in\nhis meditations on God, to wander into every sty, and be picking up\nstones upon a dunghill? What doth it intimate, but that those thoughts\nare as invisible, or unaudible to God, as they are to men without the\ngarments of words?[752] When a man thinks of obscene things, his own\nnatural notions, if revived, would tell him that God discerns what he\nthinks, that the depths of his heart are open to him: and the voice of\nthose notions are\u2015\u2015deface those vain imaginations out of your minds.\nBut what is done? Men cast away rational light, muster up conceits\nthat God sees them not, knows them not, and so sink into the puddle\nof their sordid imaginations, as though they remained in darkness to\nGod. I might further instance. _In omissions of prayer_, which arise\nsometimes from a flat atheism: who will call upon a God, that believes\nno such Being? or from partial atheism, either a denial of God\u2019s\nsufficiency to help, or of his omniscience to know, as if God were\nlike the statue of Jupiter in Crete, framed without ears. _In the\nhypocritical pretences of men, to exempt them from the service God\ncalls them to._ When men pretend one thing and intend another: this\nlurks in the veins sometimes of the best men; sometimes it ariseth\nfrom the fear of man; when men are more afraid of the power of man,\nthan of dissembling with the Almighty, it will pretend a virtue\nto cover a secret wile, and choose the tongue of the crafty as the\nexpression in Job (ch. xv. 5). The case is plain in Moses, who, when\nordered to undertake an eminent service, pretends a want of eloquence,\nand an ungrateful \u201cslowness of speech\u201d (Exod. iv. 10). This generous\nsoul, that before was not afraid to discover himself in the midst of\nEgypt for his countrymen, answers sneakingly to God, and would veil\nhis carnal fear with a pretence of insufficiency and humility; \u201cWho\nam I, that I should go unto Pharaoh\u201d (Exod. iii. 11)? He could not well\nallege an inability to go to Pharaoh, since he had had an education\nin the Egyptian learning, which rendered him capable to appear\n{a483} at court. God at last uncaseth him, and shews it all to be\na dissimulation, and whatsoever was the pretence, fear lay at the\nbottom. He was afraid of his life upon his appearance before Pharaoh,\nfrom whose face he had fled upon the slaying the Egyptians; which God\nintimates to him (Exod. iv. 19), \u201cGo, and return into Egypt, for all\nthe men are dead which sought thy life.\u201d What doth this carriage speak,\nbut as if God\u2019s eye were not upon our inward parts, as though we could\nlock him out of our hearts, that cannot be shut out from any creek of\nthe hearts of men and angels?\n\n_Use II._ is of comfort. It is a ground of great comfort under\nthe present dispensation wherein we are; we have heard the doctrinal\npart, and God hath given us the experimental part of it in his special\nprovidence this day, upon the stage of the world.[753] And, blessed be\nGod, that he hath given us a ground of comfort, without going out of\nour ordinary course to fetch it, whereby it seems to be peculiarly of\nGod\u2019s ordering for us.\n\n1. It is a comfort in all the clandestine contrivances of men\nagainst the church. His eyes pierce as far as the depths of hell. Not\none of his church\u2019s adversaries lies in a mist; all are as plain as\nthe stars which he numbers: \u201cMine adversaries are all before thee\u201d (Ps.\nlxix. 19), more exactly known to thee than I can recount them. It is\na prophecy of Christ, wherein Christ is brought in speaking to God of\nhis own and the church\u2019s enemies: he comforts himself with this, that\nGod hath his eye upon every particular person among his adversaries:\nhe knows where they repose themselves, when they go out to consult,\nand when they come in with their resolves. He discerns all the rage\nthat spirits their hearts, in what corner it lurks, how it acts;\nall the disorders, motions of it, and every object of that rage; he\ncannot be deceived by the closest and subtlest person. Thus God speaks\nconcerning Sennacherib and his host against Jerusalem (Isa. xxxvii. 28,\n29). After he had spoke of the forming of his church, and the weakness\nof it, he adds, \u201cBut I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy\ncoming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me, and\nthy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in\nthy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back,\u201d &c.\nHe knows all the methods of the counsels, the stages they had laid,\nthe manner of the execution of their designs, all the ways whither\nthey turned themselves, and would use them no better than men do\ndevouring fish and untamed beasts, with a hook in the nose, and a\nbridle in the mouth. Those statesmen (in Isa. xxix. 15) thought their\ncontrivances too deep for God to fathom, and too close for God to\nfrustrate; \u201cthey seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord;\nsurely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the\npotter\u2019s clay,\u201d of no more force and understanding than a potter\u2019s\nvessel, which understands not its own form wrought by the artificer,\nnor the use it is put to by the buyer and possessor; or shall be\nesteemed as a potter\u2019s vessel, that can be as easily flung back into\nthe mass from whence it was taken, as preserved in the figure it is\nnow endued with. No secret designer is shrouded from God\u2019s sight, or\n{a484} can be sheltered from God\u2019s arm; he understands the venom of\ntheir hearts better than we can feel it, and discovers their inward\nfury more plainly than we can see the sting or teeth of a viper when\nthey are opened for mischief; and to what purpose doth God know and\nsee them, but in order to deliver his people from them in his own due\ntime? \u201cI know their sorrow, and am come down to deliver them\u201d (Exod.\niii. 7, 8). The walls of Jerusalem are continually before him; he\nknows, therefore, all that would undermine and demolish them; none can\nhurt Zion by any ignorance or inadvertency in God. It is observable,\nthat our Saviour, assuming to himself a different title in every\nepistle to the seven churches, doth particularly ascribe to himself\nthis of knowledge and wrath in that to Thyatira, an emblem or\ndescription of the Romish state (Rev. ii. 18): \u201cAnd unto the angel of\nthe church of Thyatira write, These things, saith the Son of God, who\nhath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet like fine brass.\u201d\nHis eyes, like a flame of fire, are of a piercing nature, insinuating\nthemselves into all the pores and parts of the body they encounter\nwith, and his feet like brass, to crush them with, is explained (ver.\n23), \u201cI will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall\nknow that I am he which searches the reins and the heart, and I will\ngive to every one of you according to your works.\u201d He knows every\ndesign of the Romish party, designed by that church of Thyatira.[754]\nJezebel, there, signifies a whorish church; such a church as shall\nact as Jezebel, Ahab\u2019s wife, who was not only a worshipper of idols,\nbut propagated idolatry in Israel, slew the prophets, persecuted\nElijah, murdered Naboth, the name whereof signifies prophecy, seized\nupon his possession. And if it be said that (ver. 19) this church was\ncommended for her works, faith, patience, it is true Rome did at first\nstrongly profess Christianity, and maintained the interest of it, but\nafterwards fell into the practice of Jezebel, and committed spiritual\nadultery: and is she to be owned for a wife, that now plays the harlot,\nbecause she was honest and modest at her first marriage? And though\nshe shall be destroyed, yet not speedily (ver. 22); \u201cI will cast her\ninto a bed,\u201d seems to intimate the destruction of Jezebel, not to\nbe at once and speedily, but in a lingering way, and by degrees, as\nsickness consumes a body.[755]\n\n2. This perfection of God fits him to be a special object of trust.\nIf he were forgetful, what comfort could we have in any promise?\nHow could we depend upon him, if he were ignorant of our state? His\ncompassion to pity us, his readiness to relieve us, his power to\nprotect and assist us, would be insignificant, without his omniscience\nto inform his goodness, and direct the arm of his power. This\nperfection is, as it were, God\u2019s office of intelligence: as you go to\nyour memorandum\u2011book to know what you are to do, so doth God to his\nomniscience; this perfection is God\u2019s eye, to acquaint him with the\nnecessities of his church, and directs all his other attributes in\ntheir exercise for and about his people. You may depend upon his mercy\n{a485} that hath promised, and upon his truth to perform; upon his\nsufficiency to supply you, and his goodness to relieve you, and his\nrighteousness to reward you; because he hath an infinite understanding\nto know you and your wants, you and your services. And without this\nknowledge of his, no comfort could be drawn from any other perfection;\nnone of them could be a sure nail to hang our hopes and confidence\nupon. This is that the church alway celebrated (Ps. cv. 7): \u201cHe hath\nremembered his covenant forever, and the word which he hath commanded\nto a thousand generations;\u201d and (ver. 42), \u201cHe remembered his holy\npromise;\u201d \u201cAnd he remembered for them his covenant\u201d (Ps. cvi. 45).\nHe remembers and understands his covenant, therefore his promise to\nperform it, and therefore our wants to supply them.\n\n3. And the rather, because God knows the persons of all his own.\nHe hath in his infinite understanding, the exact number of all the\nindividual persons that belong to him (2 Tim. ii. 19): \u201cThe Lord\nknows them that are his.\u201d He knows all things, because he hath created\nthem; and he knows his people because he hath not only made them,\nbut also chose them; he could no more choose he knew not what, than\nhe could create he knew not what; and he knows them under a double\ntitle; of creation as creatures, in the common mass of creation; as\nnew creatures by a particular act of separation. He cannot be ignorant\nof them in time, whom he foreknew from eternity; his knowledge in time\nis the same he had from eternity; he foreknew them that he intended\nto give the grace of faith unto; and he knows them after they believe,\nbecause he knows his own act, in bestowing grace upon them, and his\nown mark and seal wherewith he hath stamped them. No doubt but he\nthat \u201ccalls the stars of heaven by their names\u201d (Ps. clxvii. 4), knows\nthe number of those living stars that sparkle in the firmament of his\nchurch. He cannot be ignorant of their persons, when he numbers the\nhairs of their heads, and hath registered their names in the book of\nlife. As he only had an infinite mercy to make the choice, so he only\nhath an infinite understanding to comprehend their persons. We only\nknow the elect of God by a moral assurance in the judgment of charity,\nwhen the conversation of men is according to the doctrine of God. We\nhave not an infallible knowledge of them, we may be often mistaken;\nJudas, a devil, may be judged by man for a saint, till he be stripped\nof his disguise. God only hath an infallible knowledge of them, he\nknows his own records, and the counterparts in the hearts of his\npeople; none can counterfeit his seal, nor can any rase it out. When\nthe church is either scattered like dust by persecution, or overgrown\nwith superstition and idolatry, that there is scarce any grain of true\nreligion appearing, as in the time of Elijah, who complained that he\nwas left alone, as if the church had been rooted out of that corner of\nthe world (1 Kings xix. 14, 18); yet God knew that he had a number fed\nin a cave, and had reserved seven thousand men that had preserved the\npurity of his worship, and not bowed their knee to Baal.[756] Christ\nknew his sheep, as well as he is known of them; yea, better than\nthey can know him (John x. 14). History acquaints us, that Cyrus had\nso {a486} vast a memory, that he knew the name of every particular\nsoldier in his army, which consisted of divers nations; shall it be\ntoo hard for an infinite understanding to know every one of that host\nthat march under his banners? may he not as well know them, as know\nthe number, qualities, influences, of those stars which lie concealed\nfrom our eye, as well as those that are visible to our sense? Yes,\nhe knows them, as a general to employ them, as a shepherd to preserve\nthem; he knows them in the world to guard them, and he knows them when\nthey are out of the world to gather them, and cull out their bodies,\nthough wrapped up in a cloud of the putrified carcases of the wicked.\nAs he knew them from all eternity to elect them, so he knows them\nin time to clothe their persons with righteousness, to protect their\npersons in calamity, according to his good pleasure, and at last to\nraise and reward them according to his promise.\n\n4. We may take comfort from hence, that our sincerity cannot be\nunknown to an infinite understanding. Not a way of the righteous is\nconcealed from him, and, therefore, \u201cthey shall stand in judgment\nbefore him\u201d (Ps. i. 6): \u201cThe Lord knows the way of the righteous;\u201d\nhe knows them to observe them, and he knows them to reward them. How\ncomfortable is it to appeal to this attribute of God for our integrity,\nwith Hezekiah (2 Kings xx. 3)! \u201cRemember, Lord, how I have walked\nbefore thee in truth, and with a perfect heart.\u201d Christ himself is\nbrought in in this prophetical psalm, drawing out the comfort of this\nattribute (Ps. xl. 9): \u201cI have not restrained my lips, O Lord, thou\nknowest;\u201d meaning his faithfulness in declaring the righteousness of\nGod. Job follows the same steps, \u201cAlso now behold, my record is in\nheaven, and my witness is on high\u201d (Job xvi. 19); my innocence hath\nthe testimony of men, but my greatest support is in the records of God.\nAlso now, or, besides the testimony of my own heart, I have another\nwitness in heaven, that knows the heart, and can only judge of the\nprinciples of my actions, and clear me from the scorns of my friends\nand the accusations of men, with a justification of my innocence; he\nrepeats it twice, to take the greater comfort in it. God knows that\nwe do that in the simplicity of our hearts, which may be judged by men\nto be done for unworthy and sordid ends: he knows not only the outward\naction, but the inward affection, and praises that which men often\ndispraise, and writes down that with an _Euge!_ \u201cWell done, good and\nfaithful servant,\u201d which men daub with their severest censures (Rom.\nii. 29). How refreshing is it to consider, that God never mistakes\nthe appearance for reality, nor is led by the judgment of man!\nHe sits in heaven, and laughs at their follies and censures. If\nGod had no sounder and no more piercing a judgment than man, woe\nbe to the sincerest souls that are often judged hypocrites by some.\nWhat a happiness is it for integrity to have a judge of infinite\nunderstanding, who will one day wipe off the dirt of worldly\nreproaches! Again, God knows the least dram of grace and righteousness\nin the hearts of his people, though but as a smoking flax, or the\nleast bruise of a saving conviction (Matt. xii. 20), and knows it so\nas to cherish it; he knows that work he hath begun, and never hath\nhis eye off from it to abandon it.\n\n{a487} 5. The consideration of this excellent perfection in God may\ncomfort us in our secret prayers, sighs, and works. If God were not\nof infinite understanding to pierce into the heart, what comfort hath\na poor creature that hath a scantiness of expressions but a heart in\na flame? If God did not understand the heart, faith and prayer, which\nare eternal works, would be in vain. How could he give that mercy\nour hearts plead for if he were ignorant of our inward affections?\nHypocrites might scale heaven by lofty expressions, and a sincere\nsoul come short of the happiness he is prepared for, for want of\nflourishing gifts. Prayer is an eternal work; words are but the\ngarment of prayer; meditation is the body, and affection the soul and\nlife of prayer; \u201cGive ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation\u201d\n(Ps. v. 1). Prayer is a rational act; an act of the mind, not the act\nof a parrot: prayer is an act of the heart, though the speaking prayer\nis the work of the tongue; now God gives ear to the words, but he\nconsiders the meditation of the frame of the heart. Consideration is\na more exact notice than hearing; the act only of the ear. Were not\nGod of an infinite understanding, and omniscient, he might take fine\nclothes, a heap of garments, for the man himself, and be put off by\nglittering words, without a spiritual frame. What matter of rejoicing\nis it that we call not upon a deaf and ignorant idol, but on one that\nlistens to our secret petitions, to give them a dispatch, that knows\nour desires afar off, and from the infiniteness of his mercy, joined\nwith his omniscience, stands ready to give us a return? Hath he not\na book of remembrance for them that fear him, and for their sighs and\nejaculations to him, as well as their discourses of him, (Mal. iii.\n16); and not only what prayers they utter, but what gracious and holy\nthoughts they have of him that thought upon his name? Though millions\nof supplications be put up at the same time, yet they have all a\ndistinct file (as I may say) in an infinite understanding, which\nperceives and comprehends them all. As he observes millions of sins\ncommitted at the same time, by a vast number of persons, to record\nthem in order to punishment, so he distinctly discerns an infinite\nnumber of cries, at the same moment, to register them in order to an\nanswer. A sigh cannot escape an infinite understanding, though crowded\namong a mighty multitude of cries from others, or covered with many\nunwelcome distractions in ourselves, no more than a believing touch\nfrom the woman that had the bloody issue could be concealed from\nChrist, and be undiscerned from the press of the thronging multitudes:\nour groans are as audible and intelligible to him as our words, and\nhe knows what is the mind of his own Spirit, though expressed in no\nplainer language than sobs and heavings (Rom. viii. 27). Thus David\ncheers up himself under the neglects of his friends (Ps. xxxviii. 9);\n\u201cLord, my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee.\u201d\nNot a groan of a panting spirit shall be lost, till God hath lost\nhis knowledge; not a petition forgotten while God hath a record, nor a\ntear dried while God hath a bottle to reserve it in (Ps. lvi. 8). Our\nsecret works are also known and observed by him; not only our outward\nlabor, but our inward love in it (Heb. vi. 10). If, with Isaac, we\ngo privately into the field to meditate, or secretly \u201ccast {a488} our\nbread upon the waters,\u201d he keeps his eye upon us to reward us, and\nreturns the fruit into our own bosoms (Matt. vi. 4, 6); yea, though\nit be but a cup of cold water, from an inward spring of love, given\nto a disciple, \u201cHe sees your works, and your labor, and faith, and\npatience\u201d in working them (Rev. ii. 2); all the marks of your industry,\nand strength of your intentions, and will be as exact at last, in\norder to a due praise, as to open sins, in order to a just recompense\n(1 Cor. iv. 5).\n\n6. The consideration of this excellent attribute affords comfort\nin the afflictions of good men. He knows their pressures, as well\nas hears their cries (Exod. iii. 7). His knowledge comes not by\ninformation from us; but his compassionate listening to our cries\nsprings from his own inspection into our sorrows; he is affected with\nthem, before we make any discovery of them; he is not ignorant of the\nbest season, when they may be usefully inflicted, and when they may be\nprofitably removed. The tribulation and poverty of his church is not\nunknown to him (Rev. ii. 8, 9); \u201cI know thy works and tribulation,\u201d\n&c. He knows their works, and what tribulation they meet with for\nhim; he sees their extremities, when they are toiling against the wind\nand tide of the world (Mark vi. 48); yea, the natural exigencies of\nthe multitude are not neglected by him; he discerns to take care of\nthem. Our Saviour considered the three days\u2019 fasting of his followers,\nand miraculously provides a dish for them in the wilderness. No\ngood man is ever out of God\u2019s mind, and therefore never out of his\ncompassionate care: his eye pierceth into their dungeons, and pities\ntheir miseries. Joseph may forget his brethren, and the disciples\nnot know Christ, when he walks upon the midnight waves and turbulent\nsea,[757] but a lion\u2019s den cannot obscure a Daniel from his sight,\nnor the depths of the whale\u2019s belly bury Jonah from the Divine\nunderstanding: he discerns Peter in his chains, and Stephen under the\nstones of martyrdom; he knows Lazarus under his tattered rags, and\nAbel wallowing in his blood; his eye and knowledge goes along with his\npeople, when they are transplanted into foreign countries, and sold\nfor slaves into the islands of the Grecians, \u201cfor he will raise them\nout of the place\u201d (Joel iii. 6, 7). He would defeat the hopes of the\npersecutors, and applaud the patience of his people. He knows his\npeople in the tabernacle of life, and in the valley of the shadow of\ndeath (Ps. xxiii). He knows all penal evils, because he commissions\nand directs them. He knows the instruments, because they are his sword\n(Ps. xvii. 13); and he knows his gracious sufferer because he hath his\nmark. He discerns Job in his anguish, and the devil in his malice. By\nthe direction of this attribute he orders calamities, and rescues from\nthem. \u201cThou hast seen it, for thou beholdest mischief and spite\u201d (Ps.\nx. 14). That is the comfort of the psalmist, and the comfort of every\nbeliever, and the ground of committing themselves to God under all the\ninjustice of men.\n\n7. It is a comfort in all our infirmities. As he knows our sins to\ncharge them, so he knows the weakness of our nature to pity us. As\nhis infinite understanding may scare us, because he knows our {a489}\ntransgressions, so it may relieve us, because he knows our natural\nmutability in our first creation; \u201che knows our frame, he remembers\nthat we are dust\u201d (Ps. ciii. 14). \u2019Tis the reason of the precedent\nverses why he removes our transgression from us, why he is so backward\nin punishing, so patient in waiting, so forward in pitying; Why? He\ndoth not only remember our sins, but remember our frame of forming;\nwhat brittle, though clear glasses we were by creation, how easy to be\ncracked! He remembers our impotent and weak condition by corruption;\nwhat a sink we have of vain imaginations that remain in us after\nregeneration; he doth not only consider that we were made according\nto his image, and therefore able to stand, but that we were made\nof dust and weak matter, and had a sensitive soul, like that of\nbeasts, as well as an intellectual nature, like that of angels, and\ntherefore liable to follow the dictates of it, without exact care\nand watchfulness. If he remembered only the first, there would be no\nissue but indignation; but the consideration of the latter moves his\ncompassion. How miserable should we be for want of this perfection in\nthe Divine nature, whereby God remembers and reflects upon his past\nact in our first frame, and the mindfulness of our condition excites\nthe motion of his bowels to us! Had he lost the knowledge how he first\nframed us, did he not still remember the mutability of our nature, as\nwe were formed and stamped in his mint, how much more wretched would\nour condition be than it is! If his remembrance of our original be one\nground of his pity, the sense of his omniscience should be a ground of\nour comfort in the stirring of our infirmities: he remembers we were\nbut dust when he made us, and yet remembers we are but dust while he\npreserves and forbears us.\n\n8. It is some comfort in the fears of some lurking corruption in our\nhearts. We know by this whither to address ourselves for the search\nand discovery of it: perhaps some blessings we want are retarded; some\ncalamities we understand not the particular cause of, are inflicted;\nsome petitions we have put up, hang too long for an answer; and the\nchariot wheels of Divine goodness move slow, and are long in coming.\nLet us beg the aid of this attribute to open to us the remoras, to\ndiscover what base affection there is that retards the mercies we\nwant, or attracts the affliction we feel, or bars the door against the\nreturn of our supplications. What our dim sight cannot discover, the\nclear eye of God can make visible to us (Job x. 2): \u201cShow me wherefore\nthou contendest with me.\u201d As in want of pardon, we particularly plead\nhis mercy, and in our desires for the performance of his promise,\nwe argue with him from his faithfulness, so in the fear of any\ninsincerity or hidden corruption we should implore his omniscience:\nfor as God is a God in covenant, our God, our God in the whole of his\nnature, so the perfections of his nature are employed in their several\nstations, as assistances of his creatures. This was David\u2019s practice\nand comfort, after that large meditation, on the omniscience and\nomnipresence of God, he turns his thoughts of it into petitions for\nthe employment of it in the concerns of his soul, and begs a mercy\nsuitable to the glory of this perfection (Ps. cxxxix. 23): \u201cSearch me,\nO God, and try my heart, {a490} try me, and know my thoughts;\u201d dive\nto the bottom (ver. 24), \u201cand see if there be any wicked way in me,\nand lead me in the way everlasting.\u201d His desire is not barely that\nGod should know him, for it would be senseless to beg of God that\nhe should have mercy, or faithfulness, or power, or knowledge in\nhis nature; but he desires the exercise of this attribute, in the\ndiscovery of himself to himself, in order to his sight of any wicked\nway, and humiliation for it, and reformation of it, in order to his\nconduct to everlasting life. As we may appeal to this perfection to\njudge us when the sincerity of our actions is censured by others,\nso we may implore it to search us when our sincerity is questioned\nby ourselves, that our minds may be enlightened by a beam from his\nknowledge, and the little thieves may be pulled out of their dens in\nour hearts by the hand of his power. In particular, it is our comfort\nthat we can, and our necessity that we must address particularly to\nthis, when we engage solemnly in a work of self\u2011examination; that\nwe may have a clearer eye to direct us than our own, that we may not\nmistake brass for gold, or counterfeit graces for true; that nothing\nthat is filthy and fit to be cast out, may escape our sight, and\npreserve its station. And we need not question the laying at the\ndoor of this neglect (viz. not calling in this attribute to our aid,\nwhose proper office it is, as I may so say, to search and inquire)\nall the mistakes, ill success, and fruitlessness of our endeavors\nin self\u2011examination, because we would engage in it in the pitiful\nstrength of our own dimness, and not in the light of God\u2019s countenance,\nand the assistance of his eye, which can discern what we cannot see,\nand discover that to us which we cannot manifest to ourselves. It is\na comfort to a learner of an art to have a skilful eye to overlook his\nwork, and inform him of the defects. Beg the help of the eye of God in\nall your searches and self\u2011examinations.\n\n9. The consideration of this attribute is comfortable in our\nassurances of, and reflections upon, the pardon of sin, or seeking\nof it. As God punishes men for sin according to his knowledge of them,\nwhich is greater than the knowledge their own consciences have of\nthem, so he pardons according to his knowledge: he pardons not only\naccording to our knowledge, but according to his own; he is greater\nthan any man\u2019s heart, to condemn for that which a man is at present\nignorant of; and greater than our hearts, to pardon that which is\nnot at present visible to us; he knows that which the most watchful\nconscience cannot take a survey of: if God had not an infinite\nunderstanding of us, how could we have a perfect and full pardon from\nhim? It would not stand with his honor to pardon he knew not what. He\nknows what crimes we have to be pardoned, when we know not all of them\nourselves, that stand in need of a gracious remission; his omniscience\nbeholds every sin to charge it upon our Saviour. If he knows our sins\nthat are black, he knows every mite of Christ\u2019s righteousness which\nis pure, and the utmost extent of his merits, as well as the demerit\nof our iniquities. As he knows the filth of our sin, he also knows\nthe covering of our Saviour: he knows the value of the Redeemer\u2019s\nsufferings, and exactly understands every plea in the intercession of\nour Advocate. {a491} Though God knows our sins _oculo indice_, yet he\ndoth not see them _oculo judice_, with a judicial eye: his omniscience\nstirs not up his justice to revenge, but his mercy to pity. His\ninfinite understanding of what Christ hath done, directs him to disarm\nhis justice, and sound an alarm to his bowels. As he understands\nbetter than we what we have committed, so he understands better than\nwe what our Saviour hath merited; and his eye directs his hand in the\nblotting out guilt, and applying the remedy.\n\n_Use III._ shall be to sinners, to humble them, and put them upon\nserious consideration. This attribute speaks terrible things to a\nprofligate sinner. Basil thinks that the ripping open the sins of the\ndamned to their faces by this perfection of God, is more terrible than\ntheir other torments in hell. God knows the persons of wicked men, not\none is exempted from his eye; he sees all the actions of men, as well\nas he knows their persons (Job xi. 11): \u201cHe knows vain men, he sees\nwickedness also\u201d (Job xxxiv. 21): \u201cHis eye is upon all their goings.\u201d\nHe hears the most private whispers (Ps. cxxxix. 4), the scope, manner,\ncircumstance of speaking, he knows it altogether: he understands all\nour thoughts, the first bubblings of that bitter spring (Ps. cxxxix.\n2); the quickest glances of the fancy, the closest musings of the mind,\nand the abortive wouldings or wishes of the will, the language of the\nheart, as well as the language of the tongue; not a foolish thought,\nor an idle word, not a wanton glance, or a dishonest action, not a\nnegligent service, or a distracting fancy, but is more visible to him,\nthan the filth of a dunghill can be to any man by the help of a sun\nbeam. How much better would it be for desperate sinners to have their\ncrimes known to all the angels in heaven, and men upon earth, and\ndevils in hell, than that they should be known to their Sovereign,\nwhose laws they have violated, and to their Judge, whose righteousness\nobligeth him to revenge the injury!\n\n1. Consider what a poor refuge is secrecy to a sinner. Not the\nmists of a foggy day, nor the obscurity of the darkest night, not\nthe closest curtains, nor the deepest dungeon, can hide any sin\nfrom the eye of God. Adam is known in his thickets, and Jonah in his\ncabin. Achan\u2019s wedge of gold is discerned by him, though buried in the\nearth, and hooded with a tent. Shall Sarah be unseen by him, when she\nmockingly laughs behind the door? Shall Gehazi tell a lie, and comfort\nhimself with an imagination of his master\u2019s ignorance, as long as God\nknows it? Whatsoever works men do, are not hid from God, whether done\nin the darkness or daylight, in the midnight darkness, or the noon\u2011day\nsun: he is all eye to see, and he hath a great wrath to punish. The\nwheels of Ezekiel are full of eyes: a piercing eye to behold the\nsinner, and a swift wheel of wrath to overtake him. God is light, and\nof all things light is most difficultly kept out. The secretest sins\nare set in the light of his countenance (Ps. xc. 8), as legible to him,\nas if written with a sun\u2011beam; more visible to him than the greatest\nprint to the sharpest eye. The fornications of the Samaritan woman,\nperhaps known only to her own conscience, were manifest to Christ\n(John iv. 16.) There is nothing so secretly done, but there is an\ninfallible witness to prepare {a492} a charge. Though God be invisible\nto us, we must not imagine we are so to him; it is a vanity, therefore,\nto think that we can conceal ourselves from God, by concealing the\nnotions of God from our sense and practice. If men be as close from\nthe eyes of all men, as from those of the sun, yea, if they could\nseparate themselves from their own shadow, they could not draw\nthemselves from God\u2019s understanding: how, then, can darkness shelter\nus, or crafty artifices defend us? With what shame will sinners be\nfilled, when God, who hath traced their steps, and writ their sins in\na book, shall make a repetition of their ways, and unveil the web of\ntheir wickedness!\n\n2. What a dreadful consideration is this to the juggling\nhypocrite, that masks himself with an appearance of piety? An infinite\nunderstanding judges not according to veils and shadows, but according\nto truth; \u201cHe judges not according to appearance\u201d (1 Sam. xvi. 7). The\noutward comeliness of a work imposeth not on him, his knowledge, and\ntherefore his estimations are quite of another nature than those of\nmen. By this perfection God looks through the veil, and beholds the\nlitter of abominations in the secrets of the soul; the true quality\nand principle of every work, and judges of them as they are, and not\nas they appear. Disguised pretexts cannot deceive him; the disguises\nare known afar off, before they are weaved; he pierceth into the\ndepths of the most abstruse wills; all secret ends are dissected\nbefore him; every action is naked in its outside, and open in its\ninside; all are as clear to him as if their bodies were of crystal;\nso that if there be any secret reserves, he will certainly reprove us\n(Job xiii. 10). We are often deceived; we may take wolves for sheep,\nand hypocrites for believers; for the eyes of men are no better\nthan flesh, and dive no further than appearance; but an infinite\nunderstanding, that fathoms the secret depths of the heart, is too\nknowing to let a dream pass for a truth, or mistake a shadow for\na body. Though we call God Father all our days, speak the language\nof angels, or be endowed with the gifts of miracles, he can discern\nwhether we have his mark upon us; he can espy the treason of Judas\nin a kiss; Herod\u2019s intent of murdering under a specious pretence of\nworship; a Pharisee\u2019s fraud under a broad phylactery; a ravenous wolf\nunder the softness of a sheep\u2019s skin; and the devil in Samuel\u2019s mantle,\nor when he would shroud himself among the sons of God (Job i. 6, 7).\nAll the rooms of the heart, and every atom of dust in the least chink\nof it, is clear to his eye; he can strip sin from the fairest excuses,\npierce into the heart with more ease than the sun can through the\nthinnest cloud or vapor; and look through all Ephraim\u2019s ingenuous\ninventions to excuse his idolatry (Hos. v. 3). Hypocrisy, then,\nis a senseless thing, since it cannot escape unmasking, by an\ninfinite understanding. As all our force cannot stop his arm, when\nhe is resolved to punish, so all our sophistry cannot blind his\nunderstanding, when he comes to judge. Woe to the hypocrite, for God\nsees him; all his juggling is open and naked to infinite understanding.\n\n3. Is it not also a senseless thing to be careless of sins committed\nlong ago? The old sins forgotten by men, stick fast in an infinite\n{a493} understanding: time cannot rase out that which hath been known\nfrom eternity. Why should they be forgotten many years after they\nwere acted, since they were foreknown in an eternity before they were\ncommitted, or the criminal capable to practise them? Amalek must pay\ntheir arrears of their ancient unkindness to Israel in the time of\nSaul, though the generation that committed them were rotten in their\ngraves (1 Sam. xv. 2). Old sins are written in a book, which lies\nalways before God; and not only our own sins, but the sins of our\nfathers, to be requited upon their posterity.[758] What a vanity\nis it then to be regardless of the sins of an age that went before\nus! because they are in some measure out of our knowledge, are they\ntherefore blotted out of God\u2019s remembrance? Sins are bound up with him,\nas men do bonds, till they resolve to sue for the debt; the iniquity\nof Ephraim is bound up (Hos. xiii. 12). As his foreknowledge extends\nto all acts that shall be done, so his remembrance extends to all acts\nthat have been done. We may as well say, God foreknows nothing that\nshall be done to the end of the world, as that he forgets anything\nthat hath been done from the beginning of the world. The former ages\nof the world are no further distant from him than the latter. God hath\na calendar (as it were) or an account book of men\u2019s sins ever since\nthe beginning of the world, what they did in their childhood, what in\ntheir youth, what in their manhood, and what in their old age: he hath\nthem in store among his treasures (Deut. xxxii. 34): he hath neither\nlost his understanding to know them, nor his resolution to revenge\nthem: as it follows, \u201cto me vengeance belongs\u201d (ver. 35). He intends\nto enrich his justice with a glorious manifestation, by rendering\na due recompense. And it is to be observed, that God doth not only\nnecessarily remember them, but sometimes binds himself by an oath to\ndo it (Amos viii. 7); \u201cThe Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob,\nSurely I will never forget any of their works.\u201d Or, in the Hebrew, \u201cIf\nI ever forget any of their works;\u201d that is, let me not be accounted\na God forever, if I do forget; let me lose my godhead, if I lose\nmy remembrance. It is not less a misery to the wicked, than it is\na comfort to the godly, that their record is in heaven.\n\n4. Let it be observed, that this infinite understanding doth exactly\nknow the sins of men; he knows so as to consider. He doth not only\nknow them, but intently behold them (Ps. xi. 4): \u201cHis eyelids try the\nchildren of men,\u201d a metaphor taken from men that contract the eyelids,\nwhen they would wistly and accurately behold a thing; it is not a\ntransient and careless look (Ps. x. 14): \u201cThou hast seen it;\u201d thou\nhast intently beheld it, as the word properly signifies: he beholds\nand knows the actions of every particular man, as if there were none\nbut he in the world; and doth not only know, but ponder (Prov. v. 21),\nand consider their works (Ps. xxxiii. 15); he is not a bare spectator,\nbut a diligent observer (1 Sam. ii. 3); \u201cBy him actions are weighed:\u201d\nto see what degree of good or evil there is in them, what there is to\nblemish them, what to advantage them, what the quality and quantity of\nevery action is. Consideration takes in every {a494} circumstance of\nthe considered object: notice is taken of the place where, the minute\nwhen, the mercy against which it is committed; the number of them is\nexact in God\u2019s book: \u201cThey have tempted me now these ten times\u201d (Numb.\nxiv. 22), against the demonstrations of my glory in Egypt and the\nwilderness. The whole guilt in every circumstance is spread before him:\nhis knowledge of men\u2019s sins is not confused; such an imperfection an\ninfinite understanding cannot be subject to: it is exact, for iniquity\nis marked before him (Jer. ii. 22).\n\n5. God knows men\u2019s miscarriage so as to judge. This use his\nomniscience is put to, to maintain his sovereign authority in the\nexercise of his justice. His notice of the sins of men is in order to\na just retribution (Ps. x. 14): \u201cThou hast seen mischief to requite\nit with thy hand.\u201d The eye of his knowledge directs the hand of his\njustice; and no sinful action that falls under his cognizance, but\nwill fall under his revenge; they can as little escape his censure as\nthey can his knowledge: he is a witness in his omniscience, that he\nmay be a judge in his righteousness; he knows the hearts of the wicked,\nso as to hate their works, and testify his abhorrency of that which\nis of high value with men (Luke xvi. 15). Sin is not preserved in\nhis understanding, or written down in his book to be moth\u2011eaten as\nan old manuscript, but to be opened one day, and copied out in the\nconsciences of men: he writes them to publish them, and sets them\nin the light of his countenance, to bring them to the light of their\nconsciences. What a terrible consideration is it, to think that the\nsins of a day are upon record in an infallible understanding, much\nmore the sins of a week; what a number, then, do the sins of a month,\na year, ten or forty years, arise to! How many actions against charity,\nagainst sincerity! what an infinite number is there of them, all bound\nup in the court rolls of God\u2019s omniscience, in order to a trial, to\nbe brought out before the eyes of men! Who can seriously consider all\nthose bonds, reserved in the cabinet of God\u2019s knowledge, to be sued\nout against the sinner in due time, without an inexpressible horror?\n\n_Use IV._ is of exhortation. Let us have a sense of God\u2019s knowledge\nupon our hearts. All wickedness hath a spring from a want of due\nconsideration and sense of it. David concludes it so (Ps. lxxxvi. 14),\n\u201cthe proud rose against him, and violent men sought after his soul,\nbecause they did not set God before them.\u201d They think God doth not\nknow, and therefore care not what, nor how they act. When the fear\nof this attribute is removed, a door is opened to all impiety.\nWhat is there so villanous, but the minds of men will attempt to\nact? What reverence of a Deity can be left, when the sense of his\ninfinite understanding is extinguished? What faith could there be in\njudgments in witnesses? How would the foundations of human society be\noverturned; the pillars upon which commerce stands, be utterly broken\nand dissolved! What society can be preserved, if this be not truly\nbelieved, and faithfully stuck to! But how easily would oaths be\nswallowed and quickly violated, if the sense of this perfection were\nrooted out of the minds of men! What fear could they have of calling\nto witness a Being they imagine blind and ignorant? {a495} Men\nsecretly imagine, that God knows not, or soon forgets, and then make\nbold to sin against him (Ezek. viii. 12). How much does it therefore\nconcern us to cherish and keep alive the sense of this? \u201cIf God writes\nus upon the palms of his hands,\u201d as the expression is, to remember us,\nlet us engrave him upon the tables of our hearts to remember him. It\nwould be a good motto to write upon our minds, God knows all, he is of\ninfinite understanding.\n\n1. This would give check to much iniquity. Can a man\u2019s conscience\neasily and delightfully swallow that which he is sensible falls under\nthe cognizance of God, when it is hateful to the eyes of his holiness,\nand renders the actor odious to him? \u201cDoth he not see my ways, and\ncount all my steps,\u201d saith Job (xxxi. 4)? To what end doth he fix\nthis consideration? To keep him from wanton glances; temptations have\nno encouragement to come near him, that is constantly armed with the\nthoughts that his sin is booked in God\u2019s omniscience. If any impudent\ndevil hath the face to tempt us, we should not have the impudence to\njoin issue with him under the sense of an infinite understanding. How\nfruitless would his wiles be against this consideration! How easily\nwould his snares be cracked by one sensible thought of this! This doth\nSolomon prescribe to allay the heat of carnal imaginations (Prov. v.\n20, 21). It were a useful question to ask, at the appearance of every\ntemptation, at the entrance upon every action, as the church did in\ntemptations to idolatry (Ps. xliv. 21): \u201cShall not God search this out,\nfor he knows the secrets of the heart?\u201d His understanding comprehends\nus more than our consciences can our acts, or our understanding our\nthoughts. Who durst speak treason against a prince, if he were sure\nhe heard him, or that it would come to his knowledge? A sense of God\u2019s\nknowledge of wickedness in the first motion, and inward contrivance,\nwould bar the accomplishment and execution. The consideration of God\u2019s\ninfinite understanding would cry _stand_ to the first glances of the\nheart to sin.\n\n2. It would make us watchful over our hearts and thoughts. Should we\nharbor any unworthy thoughts in our cabinet, if our heads and hearts\nwere possessed with this useful truth, that God knows everything which\ncomes into our minds (Ezek. xi. 5)? We should as much blush at the\nrising of impure thoughts before the understanding of God, as at the\ndiscovery of unworthy actions to the knowledge of men, if we lived\nunder a sense, that not a thought of all those millions, which flutter\nabout our minds, can be concealed from him. How watchful and careful\nshould we be of our hearts and thoughts!\n\n3. It would be a good preparation to every duty. This consideration\nshould be the preface to every service; the Divine understanding\nknows how I now act. This would engage us to serious intention, and\nquell wandering and distracting fancies. Who would come before God,\nwith a careless and ignorant soul, under a sense of his infinite\nunderstanding, and prerogative of searching the heart? \u201cO thou that\nsittest in heaven!\u201d was a consideration the psalmist had at the\nbeginning of his prayer (Ps. cxxiii. 1): whereby he testifies not only\nan apprehension of the majesty and power of God, but of his {a496}\nomniscience; as one sitting above, beholds all that is below; would we\noffer to God such raw and undigested petitions? would there be so much\nflatness in our services? should our hearts so often give us the slip?\nwould any hang down their heads like a bulrush, by an affected or\ncounterfeit humility, while the heart is filled with pride, if we did\nactuate faith in this attribute? No; our prayers would be more sound,\nour devotions more vigorous, our hearts more close, our spirits like\nthe chariots of Aminadab, more swift in their motions: everything\nwould be done by us with all our might, which would be very feeble\nand faint, if we conceived God to be of a finite understanding like\nourselves. Let us therefore, before every duty, not draw, but open the\ncurtains between God and our souls, and think that we are going before\nhim that sees us, before him that knows us (Gen. xvi. 12). And the\nstronger impressions of the Divine knowledge are upon our minds, the\nbetter would our preparation be for, and the more active our frames in\nevery service: and certainly we may judge of the suitableness of our\npreparations, by the strength of such impressions upon us.\n\n4. This would tend to make us sincere in our whole course. This\nprescription David gave to Solomon, to maintain a soundness and\nhealth of spirit in his walk before God (1 Chron. xxviii. 9): \u201cAnd\nthou, Solomon, my son, know the God of thy fathers, and serve him\nwith a perfect heart, for the Lord understands all the imaginations\nof the thoughts.\u201d Josephus gives this reason for Abel\u2019s holiness,\nthat he believed God was ignorant of nothing.[759] As the doctrine of\nomniscience is the foundation of all religion, so the impression of\nit would promote the practice of all religion. When all our ways are\nimagined by us to be before the Lord, we shall then keep his precepts\n(Ps. cxix. 168). And we can never be perfect or sincere till we \u201cwalk\nbefore God\u201d (Gen. xvii. 1); as under the eye of God\u2019s knowledge. What\nwe speak, what we think, what we act, is in his sight; he knows every\nplace where we are, everything that we do, as well as Christ knew\nNathaniel under the fig\u2011tree. As he is too powerful to be vanquished,\nso he is too understanding to be deceived; the sense of this would\nmake us walk with as much care, as if the understanding of all men did\ncomprehend us and our actions.\n\n5. The consideration of this attribute would make us humble. How\ndejected would a person be if he were sure all the angels in heaven\nand men upon earth, did perfectly know his crimes, with all their\naggravations! But what is created knowledge to an infinite and just\ncensuring understanding! When we consider that he knows our actions,\nwhereof there are multitudes, and our thoughts, whereof there are\nmillions; that he views all the blessings bestowed upon us; all the\ninjuries we have returned to him; that he exactly knows his own bounty,\nand our ingratitude; all the idolatry, blasphemy, and secret enmity\nin every man\u2019s heart against him; all tyrannical oppressions, hidden\nlusts, omissions of necessary duties, violations of plain precepts,\nevery foolish imagination, with all the circumstances of them, and\nthat perfectly in their full anatomy, every mite of unworthiness and\nwickedness in every circumstance; and {a497} add to this his knowledge,\nthe wonders of his patience, which are miraculous upon the score of\nhis omniscience, that he is not as quick in his revenge as he is in\nhis understanding, but is so far from inflicting punishment, that\nhe continues his former benefits, arms not his justice against us,\nbut solicits our repentance, and waits to be gracious with all this\nknowledge of our crimes; should not the consideration of this melt\nour hearts into humiliation before him, and make us earnest in begging\npardon and forgiveness of him? Again, do we not all find a worm in\nour best fruit, a flaw in our soundest duties? Shall any of us vaunt,\nas if God beheld only the gold, and not any dross; as if he knew one\nthing only, and not another? If we knew something by ourselves to\ncheer us, do we not also know something, yea, many things, to condemn\nus, and therefore to humble us? Let the sense of God\u2019s infinite\nknowledge, therefore, be an incentive and argument for more\nhumiliation in us. If we know enough to render ourselves vile in our\nown eyes, how much more doth God know to render us vile in his!\n\n6. The consideration of this excellent perfection should make us to\nacquiesce in God, and rely upon him in every strait. In public, in\nprivate; he knows all cases, and he knows all remedies; he knows the\nseasons of bringing them, and he knows the seasons of removing them,\nfor his own glory. What is contingent in respect of us, and of our\nforeknowledge, and in respect of second causes, is not so in regard\nof God\u2019s, who hath the knowledge of the futurition of all things;\nhe knows all causes in themselves, and, therefore, knows what every\ncause will produce, what will be the event of every counsel and of\nevery action. How should we commit ourselves to this God of infinite\nunderstanding, who knows all things, and foreknows everything;\nthat cannot be forced through ignorance to take new counsel, or be\nsurprised with anything that can happen to us! This use the Psalmist\nmakes of it (Ps. x. 14): \u201cThou hast seen it, the poor committeth\nhimself unto thee.\u201d Though \u201csome trust in chariots and horses\u201d (Ps.\nxx. 7), some in counsels and counsellors, some in their arms and\ncourage, and some in mere vanity and nothing; yet, let us remember\nthe name and nature of the Lord our God, his divine perfections, of\nwhich this of his infinite understanding and omniscience is none of\nthe least, but so necessary, that without it he could not be God, and\nthe whole world would be a mere chaos and confusion.\n\n\n\n\n{a498}                      DISCOURSE IX.\n\n                        ON THE WISDOM OF GOD.\n\n  ROMANS xvi. 27.\u2015\u2015To God only wise be glory, through Jesus Christ,\n    for ever. Amen.\n\n\nTHIS chapter being the last of this Epistle, is chiefly made up of\ncharitable and friendly salutations and commendations of particular\npersons, according to the earliness and strength of their several\ngraces, and their labor of love for the interest of God and his people.\nIn verse 17, he warns them not to be drawn aside from the gospel\ndoctrine, which had been taught them, by the plausible pretences and\ninsinuations which the corrupters of the doctrine and rule of Christ\nnever want from the suggestions of their carnal wisdom. The brats of\nsoul\u2011destroying errors may walk about the world in a garb and disguise\nof good words and fair speeches, as it is in the 18th verse; by \u201cgood\nwords and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.\u201d And for\ntheir encouragement to a constancy in the gospel doctrine, he assures\nthem, that all those that would dispossess them of truth, to possess\nthem with vanity, are but Satan\u2019s instruments, and will fall under the\nsame captivity and yoke with their principal (ver. 18); \u201cThe God of\npeace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.\u201d Whence, observe,\n\n1. All corrupters of divine truth, and troublers of the church\u2019s\npeace, are no better than devils. Our Saviour thought the name, Satan,\na title merited by Peter, when he breathed out an advice, as an axe\nat the root of the gospel, the death of Christ, the foundation of all\ngospel truth; and the apostle concludes them under the same character,\nwhich hinder the superstructure, and would mix their chaff with his\nwheat (Matt. xvi. 23), \u201cGet thee behind me, Satan.\u201d It is not, Get\nthee behind me, Simon, or, Get thee behind me, Peter; but \u201cGet thee\nbehind me, Satan; thou art an offence to me.\u201d Thou dost oppose thyself\nto the wisdom, and grace, and authority of God, to the redemption of\nman, and to the good of the world. As the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of\ntruth, so is Satan the spirit of falsehood: as the Holy Ghost inspires\nbelievers with truth, so doth the devil corrupt unbelievers with error.\nLet us cleave to the truth of the gospel, that we may not be counted\nby God as part of the corporation of fallen angels, and not be barely\nreckoned as enemies of God, but in league with the greatest enemy to\nhis glory in the world.\n\n2. The Reconciler of the world will be the Subduer of Satan. The God\nof peace sent the Prince of peace to be the restorer of his rights,\nand the hammer to beat in pieces the usurper of them. As a {a499} God\nof truth, he will make good his promise; as a God of peace, he will\nperfect the design his wisdom hath laid, and begun to act. In the\nsubduing Satan, he will be the conqueror of his instruments: he saith\nnot, God shall bruise your troublers and heretics, but Satan: the fall\nof a general proves the rout of the army. Since God, as a God of peace,\nhath delivered his own, he will perfect the victory, and make them\ncease from bruising the heel of his spiritual seed.\n\n3. Divine evangelical truth shall be victorious. No weapon formed\nagainst it shall prosper: the head of the wicked shall fall as low\nas the feet of the godly. The devil never yet blustered in the world,\nbut he met at last with a disappointment: his fall hath been like\nlightning, sudden, certain, vanishing.\n\n4. Faith must look back as far as the foundation promise. \u201cThe God\nof peace shall bruise,\u201d &c. The apostle seems to allude to the first\npromise (Gen. ii. 15),\u2015\u2015a promise that hath vigor to nourish the\nchurch in all ages of the world: it is the standing cordial; out\nof the womb of this promise all the rest have taken their birth.\nThe promises of the Old Testament were designed for those under the\nNew, and the full performance of them is to be expected, and will be\nenjoyed by them. It is a mighty strengthening to faith, to trace the\nfootsteps of God\u2019s truth and wisdom, from the threatening against the\nserpent in Eden, to the bruise he received in Calvary, and the triumph\nover him upon Mount Olivet.\n\n5. We are to confide in the promise of God, but leave the season of\nits accomplishment to his wisdom. He will \u201cbruise Satan under your\nfeet,\u201d therefore do not doubt it; and shortly, therefore, wait for it.\nShortly it will be done, that is, quickly, when you think it may be a\ngreat way off; or shortly, that is, seasonably, when Satan\u2019s rage is\nhottest. God is the best judge of the seasons of distributing his own\nmercies, and darting out his own glory: it is enough to encourage our\nwaiting, that it will be, and that it will be shortly; but we must not\nmeasure God\u2019s shortly by our minutes.\n\nThe apostle after this, concludes with a comfortable prayer, that\nsince they were liable to many temptations to turn their backs upon\nthe doctrine which they had learned; yet he desires God, who had\nbrought them to the knowledge of his truth, would confirm them in the\nbelief of it, since it was the gospel of Christ, his dear Son, and\na mystery he had been chary of and kept in his own cabinet, and now\nbrought forth to the world in pursuance of the ancient prophesies, and\nnow had published to all nations for that end that it might be obeyed;\nand concludes with a doxology, a voice of praise, to Him, who was only\nwise to effect his own purposes (ver. 25, 26, 27), \u201cNow to him that\nis of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching\nof Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was\nkept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by\nthe Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the\neverlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.\n\u201d This doxology is interlaced with many comforts for the Romans. He\nexplains the causes of this glory to God, power, and wisdom; power to\nestablish the Romans in grace, which includes his will. This he proves\nfrom a {a500} divine testimony, viz., the gospel; the gospel committed\nto him, and preached by him, which he commends, by calling it the\npreaching of Christ; and describes it, for the instruction and comfort\nof the church from the adjuncts, the obscurity of it under the Old\nTestament, and the clearness of it under the New. It was hid from\nthe former ages, and kept in silence; not simply and absolutely, but\ncomparatively and in part; because in the Old Testament, the doctrine\nof salvation by Christ was confined to the limits of Judea, preached\nonly to the inhabitants of that country: to them he gave \u201chis statutes\nand his judgments, and dealt not so magnificently with any nation\u201d (Ps.\ncxlvii. 19, 20); but now he causes it to spring with greater majesty\nout of those narrow bounds, and spread its wings about the world.\nThis manifestation of the gospel he declares, 1. from the subject, All\nnations. 2. From the principal efficient cause of it, The commandment\nand order of God. 3. The instrumental cause, The prophetic Scriptures.\n4. From the end of it, The obedience of faith.[760]\n\n_Observ. 1._ The glorious attributes of God bear a comfortable\nrespect to believers. Power and wisdom are here mentioned as two props\nof their faith; his power here includes his goodness. Power to help,\nwithout will to assist, is a dry chip. The apostle mentions not God\u2019s\npower simply and absolutely considered, for that of itself is no more\ncomfort to men, then it is to devils; but, as considered in the gospel\ncovenant, his power, as well as his other perfections, are ingredients\nin that cordial of God\u2019s being our God. We should never think of the\nexcellencies of the Divine nature, without considering the duties they\ndemand, and gathering the honey they present.\n\n_Observ. 2._ The stability of a gracious soul depends upon the\nwisdom as well as the power of God. It would be a disrepute to\nthe Almightiness of God if that should be totally vanquished which\nwas introduced by his mighty arm, and rooted in the soul by an\nirresistible grace. It would speak a want of strength to maintain\nit, or a change of resolution, and so would be no honor to the wisdom\nof his first design. It is no part of the wisdom of an artificer, to\nlet a work wherein he determined to shew the greatness of his skill,\nbe dashed in pieces, when he hath power to preserve it. God designed\nevery gracious soul for a piece of his workmanship (Eph. ii. 10). What,\nto have the skill of his grace defeated? If any soul which he hath\ngraciously conquered should be wrested from him, what could be thought\nbut that his power is enfeebled? If deserted by him, what could be\nimagined, but that he repented of his labor, and altered his counsel,\nas if rashly undertaken? These Romans were rugged pieces, and lay in a\nfilthy quarry, when God came first to smooth them; for so the apostle\nrepresents them with the rest of the heathen (Rom. i. 19); and would\nhe throw them away, or leave them to the power of his enemy, after\nall his pains he had taken with them to fit them for his building? Did\nhe not foresee the designs of Satan against them, what stratagems he\nwould use to defeat his purposes and strip him of the honor of his\nwork; and would God so gratify his enemy, and disgrace his own wisdom?\nThe {a501} deserting of what hath been acted is a real repentance, and\nargues an imprudence in the first resolve and attempt. The gospel is\ncalled the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. iii. 10); the fruit of it, in\nthe heart of any person, which is a main design of it, hath a title to\nthe same character; and shall this grace, which is the product of this\ngospel, and therefore the birth of manifold wisdom, be suppressed? It\nis at God\u2019s hand we must seek our fixedness and establishment, and act\nfaith upon these two attributes of God. Power is no ground to expect\nstability, without wisdom interesting the agent in it, and finding\nout and applying the means for it. Wisdom is naked without power to\nact, and power is useless without wisdom to direct. They are these two\nexcellencies of the Deity the apostle here pitches the hope and faith\nof the converted Romans upon for their stability.\n\n_Observ. 3._ Perseverance of believers in grace is a gospel\ndoctrine. \u201cAccording to my gospel,\u201d my gospel ministerially, according\nto that gospel doctrine I have taught you in this epistle (for, as\nthe prophets were comments upon the law, so are the epistles upon the\ngospel), this very doctrine he had discoursed of (Rom. viii. 38, 39),\nwhere he tells them, that neither death nor life, the terrors of a\ncruel death, or the allurements of an honorable and pleasant life, nor\nprincipalities and powers, with all their subtelty and strength, nor\nthe things we have before us, nor the promises of a future felicity,\nby either angels in heaven or devils in hell, not the highest angel,\nnor the deepest devil, is able to separate us, us Romans, \u201cfrom the\nlove of God which is in Christ Jesus.\u201d So that, according to my gospel,\nmay be according to that declaration of the gospel, which I have made\nin this epistle, which doth not only promise the first creating grace,\nbut the perfecting and crowning grace; for not only the being of grace,\nbut the health, liveness, and perpetuity of grace is the fruit of the\nnew covenant (Jer. xxxii. 40.)\n\n_Observ. 4._ That the gospel is the sole means of a Christian\u2019s\nestablishment; \u201cAccording to my gospel,\u201d that is, by my gospel. The\ngospel is the instrumental cause of our spiritual life; it is the\ncause also of the continuance of it; it is the seed whereby we were\nborn, and the milk whereby we are nourished (1 Pet. i. 23); it is\nthe \u201cpower of God to salvation\u201d (1 Pet. ii. 2), and therefore to all\nthe degrees of it (John xvii. 17); \u201cSanctify them by thy truth,\u201d or\nthrough thy truth; by or through his truth he sanctifies us, and by\nthe same truth he establisheth us. The first sanctification, and the\nprogress of it, the first lineaments, and the last colors, are wrought\nby the gospel. The gospel, therefore, ought to be known, studied,\nand considered by us. It is the charter of our inheritance, and the\nsecurity for our standing. The law acquaints us with our duty, but\ncontributes nothing to our strength and settlement.\n\n_Observ. 5._ The gospel is nothing else but the revelation of Christ\n(ver. 25); \u201cAccording to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ;\u201d\nthe discovery of the mystery of redemption and salvation in and by him.\nIt is _genitivus objecti_, that preaching wherein Christ is declared\nand set out, with the benefits accruing by him. This is the privilege,\nthe wisdom of God reserved for the latter times, which the Old\nTestament church had only under a veil.\n\n{a502} _Observ. 6._ It is a part of the excellency of the gospel\nthat it had the Son of God for its publisher: \u201cThe preaching of Jesus\nChrist.\u201d It was first preached to Adam, in Paradise, by God; and\nafterwards published by Christ in person, to the inhabitants of Judea.\nIt was not the invention of man, but copied from the bosom of the\nFather by him that lay in his bosom. The gospel we have, is the\nsame which our Saviour himself preached when he was in the world:\nhe preached it not to the Romans, but the same gospel he preached\nis transmitted to the Romans. It, therefore, commands our respect;\nwhoever slights it, it is as much as if he slighted Jesus Christ\nhimself, were he in person to sound it from his own lips. The validity\nof a proclamation is derived from the authority of the prince that\ndictates it and orders it; yet the greater the person that publisheth\nit, the more dishonor is cast upon the authority of the prince that\nenjoins it, if it be contemned. The everlasting God ordained it, and\nthe eternal Son published it.\n\n_Observ. 7._ The gospel was of an eternal resolution, though of\na temporary revelation (ver. 25); \u201cAccording to the revelation of\nthe mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.\u201d It is an\neverlasting gospel; it was a promise \u201cbefore the world began\u201d (Titus\ni. 2). It was not a new invention, but only kept secret among the\narcana, in the breast of the Almighty. It was hidden from angels, for\nthe depths of it are not yet fully made known to them; their desire\nto look into it, speaks yet a deficiency in their knowledge of it\n(1 Peter, i. 12). It was published in paradise, but in such words as\nAdam did not fully understand: it was both discovered and clouded in\nthe smoke of sacrifices: it was wrapped up in a veil under the law,\nbut not opened till the death of the Redeemer: it was then plainly\nsaid to the cities of Judah, \u201cBehold! your God comes!\u201d The whole\ntransaction of it between the Father and the Son, which is the spirit\nof the gospel, was from eternity; the creation of the world was\nin order to the manifestation of it. Let us not, then, regard the\ngospel as a novelty; the consideration of it, as one of God\u2019s cabinet\nrarities, should enhance our estimation of it. No traditions of men,\nno inventions of vain wits, that pretend to be wiser than God, should\nhave the same credit with that which bears date from eternity.\n\n_Observ. 8._ That divine truth is mysterious; \u201cAccording to the\nrevelation of the mystery, Christ manifested in the flesh.\u201d The whole\nscheme of godliness is a mystery. No man or angel could imagine how two\nnatures so distant as the Divine and human should be united; how the\nsame person should be criminal and righteous; how a just God should\nhave a satisfaction, and sinful man a justification; how the sin should\nbe punished, and the sinner saved. None could imagine such a way of\njustification as the apostle in this epistle declares: it was a mystery\nwhen hid under the shadows of the law, and a mystery to the prophets\nwhen it sounded from their mouths; they searched it, without being able\nto comprehend it (1 Peter, i. 10, 11.) If it be a mystery, it is humbly\nto be submitted to: mysteries surmount human reason. The study of\nthe gospel must not be with a yawning and careless frame. Trades, you\n{a503} call mysteries, are not learned sleeping and nodding: diligence\nis required; we must be disciples at God\u2019s feet. As it had God for\nthe author, so we must have God for the teacher of it; the contrivance\nwas his, and the illumination of our minds must be from him. As God\nonly manifested the gospel, so he can only open our eyes to see the\nmysteries of Christ in it. In verse 26 we may observe,\n\n1. The Scriptures of the Old Testament verify the substance of the New,\nand the New doth evidence the authority of the Old, by the Scriptures\nof the prophets made known. The Old Testament credits the New, and\nthe New illustrates the Old. The New Testament is a comment upon the\nprophetic part of the Old. The Old shews the promises and predictions\nof God, and the New shews the performance. What was foretold in the Old,\nis fulfilled in the New; the predictions are cleared by the events. The\npredictions of the Old are divine, because they are above the reason\nof man to foreknow; none but an infinite knowledge could foretel\nthem, because none but an infinite wisdom could order all things for\nthe accomplishment of them. The Christian religion hath, then, the\nsurest foundation, since the Scriptures of the prophets, wherein it\nis foretold, are of undoubted antiquity, and owned by the Jews and\nmany heathens, which are and were the great enemies of Christ. The Old\nTestament is therefore to be read for the strengthening of our faith.\nOur blessed Saviour himself draws the streams of his doctrine from\nthe Old Testament: he clears up the promise of eternal life, and the\ndoctrine of the resurrection, from the words of the covenant, \u201cI am\nthe God of Abraham,\u201d &c. (Matt. xxii. 32.) And our apostle clears up\nthe doctrine of justification by faith from God\u2019s covenant with Abraham\n(Rom. iv.) It must be read, and it must be read as it is writ: it was\nwrit to a gospel end, it must be studied with a gospel spirit. The\nOld Testament was writ to give credit to the New, when it should be\nmanifested in the world. It must be read by us to give strength to\nour faith, and establish us in the doctrine of Christianity. How many\nview it as a bare story, an almanack out of date, and regard it as a\ndry bone, without sucking from it the evangelical marrow! Christ is,\nin Genesis, Abraham\u2019s seed; in David\u2019s psalms and the prophets, the\nMessiah and Redeemer of the world.\n\n2. Observe, The antiquity of the gospel is made manifest by the\nScriptures of the prophets. It was of as ancient a date as any prophecy:\nthe first prophecy was nothing else but a gospel charter; it was not\nmade at the incarnation of Christ, but made manifest. It then rose\nup to its meridian lustre, and sprung out of the clouds, wherewith\nit was before obscured. The gospel was preached to the ancients by\nthe prophets, as well as to the Gentiles by the apostles (Heb. iv. 2);\n\u201cUnto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them.\u201d To them first,\nto us after; to them indeed more cloudy, to us more clear; but they\nas well as we, were evangelized, as the word signifies. The covenant\nof grace was the same in the writings of the prophets, and the\ndeclarations of the evangelists and apostles. Though by our Saviour\u2019s\nincarnation, the gospel light was clearer, and by his ascension, the\neffusions of the Spirit {a504} fuller and stronger; yet the believers\nunder the Old Testament, saw Christ in the swaddling bands of legal\nceremonies, and the lattice of prophetical writings; they could not\nelse offer one sacrifice, or read one prophecy with a faith of the\nright stamp. Abraham\u2019s justifying faith had Christ for its object,\nthough it was not so explicit as ours, because the manifestation was\nnot so clear as ours.\n\n3. All truth is to be drawn from Scripture. The apostle refers them\nhere to the gospel and the prophets: the Scripture is the source of\ndivine knowledge; not the traditions of men, nor reason separate from\nScripture. Whosoever brings another doctrine, coins another Christ;\nnothing is to be added to what is written, nothing detracted from it.\nHe doth not send us for truth, to the puddles of human inventions, to\nthe enthusiasms of our brain; not to the See of Rome, no, nor to the\ninstructions of angels; but the writings of the prophets, as they clear\nup the declarations of the apostles. The church of Rome is not made\nhere the standard of truth: but the Scriptures of the prophets are to\nbe the touch\u2011stone to the Romans, for the trial of the truth of the\ngospel.\n\n4. How great is the goodness of God! The borders of grace are\nenlarged to the Gentiles, and not hid under the skirts of the Jews.\nHe that was so long the God of the Jews, is now also manifest to be\nthe God of the Gentiles: the gospel is now made known to all nations,\naccording to the commandment of the everlasting God. Not only in a\nway of common providence, but special grace; in calling them to the\nknowledge of himself, and a justification of them by faith, he hath\nbrought strangers to him, to the adoption of children, and lodged them\nunder the wings of the covenant, that were before alienated from him\nthrough the universal corruption of nature. Now he hath manifested\nhimself a God of truth, mindful of his promise in blessing all nations\nin the seed of Abraham. The fury of devils, and the violence of men\ncould not hinder the propagation of the gospel: its light hath been\ndispersed as far as that of the sun; and that grace that founded in the\nGentile\u2019s ears, hath bent many of their hearts to the obedience of it.\n\n5. Observe that libertinism and licentiousness find no encouragement\nin the gospel. It was made known to all nations for the obedience of\nfaith. The goodness of God is published, that our enmity to him may\nbe parted with. Christ\u2019s righteousness is not offered to us to be put\non, that we may roll more warmly in our lusts. The doctrine of grace\ncommands us to give up ourselves to Christ, to be accepted through him,\nand to be ruled by him. Obedience is due to God, as a sovereign lord in\nhis law; and it is due out of gratitude, as he is a God of grace in the\ngospel. The discovery of a further perfection in God weakens not the\nright of another, nor the obligation of the duty the former attribute\nclaims at our hands. The gospel frees us from the curse, but not from\nthe duty and service: \u201cWe are delivered from the hands of our enemies,\nthat we might serve God in holiness and righteousness\u201d (Luke i. 74).\n\u201cThis is the will of God\u201d in the gospel, \u201ceven our sanctification.\u201d\nWhen a prince strikes off a malefactor\u2019s chains, though he deliver\nhim from the punishment of his crime, he frees him not from the duty\nof {a505} a subject: his pardon adds a greater obligation than his\nprotection did before, while he was loyal. Christ\u2019s righteousness gives\nus a title to heaven; but there must be a holiness to give us a fitness\nfor heaven.\n\n6. Observe, that evangelical obedience, or the obedience of Faith, is\nonly acceptable to God. Obedience of faith; _genitivus speciei_, noting\nthe kind of obedience God requires; an obedience springing from faith,\nanimated and influenced by faith. Not obedience of faith, as though\nfaith were the rule, and the law were abrogated; but to the law as a\nrule, and from faith as a principle. There is no true obedience before\nfaith (Heb. xi. 6.) \u201cWithout faith it is impossible to please God;\u201d\nand therefore without faith impossible to obey him. A good work cannot\nproceed from a defiled mind and conscience; and without faith every\nman\u2019s mind is darkened, and his conscience polluted (Tit. i. 15). Faith\nis the band of union to Christ, and obedience is the fruit of union;\nwe cannot bring forth fruit without being branches (John xv. 4, 5),\nand we cannot be branches without believing. Legitimate fruit follows\nupon marriage to Christ, not before it (Rom. vii. 4). \u201cThat you should\nbe married to another, even to him that is raised from the dead, that\nyou should bring forth fruit unto God.\u201d All fruit before marriage is\nbastard, and bastards were excluded from the sanctuary. Our persons\nmust be first accepted in Christ, before our services can be acceptable;\nthose works are not acceptable where the person is not pardoned. Good\nworks flow from a pure heart; but the heart cannot be pure before faith.\nAll the good works reckoned up in the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews\nwere from this spring; those heroes first believed and then obeyed. By\nfaith Abel was righteous before God, without it his sacrifice had been\nno better than Cain\u2019s: by faith Enoch pleased God, and had a divine\ntestimony to his obedience before his translation; by faith Abraham\noffered up Isaac, without which he had been no better than a murderer.\nAll obedience hath its root in faith, and is not done in our own\nstrength, but in the strength and virtue of another, of Christ, whom\nGod hath set forth as our head and root.\n\n7. Observe, faith and obedience are distinct, though inseparable:\n\u201cThe obedience of faith.\u201d Faith, indeed, is obedience to a gospel\ncommand, which enjoins us to believe; but it is not all our\nobedience. Justification and sanctification are distinct acts of\nGod; justification respects the person, sanctification the nature;\njustification is first in order of nature, and sanctification follows:\nthey are distinct, but inseparable; every justified person hath a\nsanctified nature, and every sanctified nature supposeth a justified\nperson. So faith and obedience are distinct: faith as the principle,\nobedience as the product; faith as the cause, obedience as the effect;\nthe cause and the effect are not the same. By faith we own Christ as\nour Lord: by obedience we regulate ourselves according to his command.\nThe acceptance of the relation to him as a subject, precedes the\nperformance of our duty: by faith we receive his law, and by obedience\nwe fulfil it. Faith makes us God\u2019s children (Gal. iii. 26). Obedience\nmanifests us to be Christ\u2019s disciples (John xv. 8). Faith is {a506}\nthe touchstone of obedience; the touchstone, and that which is tried\nby it, are not the same. But though they are distinct, yet they are\ninseparable. Faith and obedience are joined together; obedience follows\nfaith at the heels. Faith purifies the heart, and a pure heart cannot\nbe without pure actions. Faith unites us to Christ, whereby we partake\nof his life; and a living branch cannot be without fruit in its season,\nand \u201cmuch fruit\u201d (John xv. 5), and that naturally from a \u201cnewness of\nspirit\u201d (Rom. vii. 9); not constrained by the rigors of the law, but\ndrawn forth from a sweetness of love; for faith works by love. The\nlove of God is the strong motive, and love to God is the quickening\nprinciple; as there can be no obedience without faith, so no\nfaith without obedience. After all this, the apostle ends with the\ncelebration of the wisdom of God; \u201cTo God only wise, be glory, through\nJesus Christ forever.\u201d The rich discovery of the gospel cannot be\nthought of, by a gracious soul, without a return of praise to God, and\nadmiration of his singular wisdom.\n\n_Wise God._ His power before, and his wisdom here, are mentioned in\nconjunction (in which his goodness is included, as interested in his\nestablishing power) as the ground of all the glory and praise God hath\nfrom his creatures.\n\n_Only wise._ As Christ saith (Matt. xix. 17), \u201cNone is good, but God;\u201d\nso the apostle saith, None wise, but God. As all creatures are unclean\nin regard of his purity, so they are all fools in regard of his wisdom;\nyea, the glorious angels themselves (Job iv. 18). Wisdom is the royalty\nof God; the proper dialect of all his ways and works. No creature can\nlay claim to it; he is so wise, that he is wisdom itself.\n\n_Be glory, through Jesus Christ._ As God is only known in and by\nChrist, so he must be only worshipped and celebrated in and through\nChrist. In him we must pray to him, and in him we must praise him. As\nall mercies flow from God through Christ to us, so all our duties are\nto be presented to God through Christ. In the Greek, _verbatim_, it\nruns thus: \u201cTo the alone wise God, through Jesus Christ, to him be\nglory forever.\u201d But we must not understand it, as if God were wise by\nJesus Christ, but that thanks is to be given to God through Christ;\nbecause in and by Christ God hath revealed his wisdom to the world.\nThe Greek hath a repetition of the article \u1fa7, and expressed in the\ntranslation, \u201cTo him be glory.\u201d Beza expungeth this article, but\nwithout reason, for \u1fa7 is as much as \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1ff7, \u201cto him;\u201d and joining\nthis, \u201cthe only wise God\u201d with ver. 25, \u201cto him that is of power to\nestablish you;\u201d reading it thus, \u201cTo him that is of power to establish\nyou, the only wise God,\u201d leaving the rest in a parenthesis, it runs\nsmoothly, \u201cto him be glory, through Jesus Christ,\u201d And Crellius, the\nSocinian, observes, that this article \u1fa7, which some leave out, might\nbe industriously inserted by the apostle, to shew that the glory we\nascribe to God is also given to Christ. We may observe, that neither in\nthis place, nor any where in Scripture, is the Virgin Mary, or any of\nthe saints, associated with God or Christ in the glory ascribed to them.\n\nIn the words there is, 1. An appropriation of wisdom to God, and\n{a507} a remotion of it from all creatures; \u201conly wise God.\u201d 2. A\nglorifying him for it. The point I shall insist upon is, That wisdom is\na transcendant excellency of the Divine nature. We have before spoken\nof the knowledge of God, and the infiniteness of it; the next attribute\nis the wisdom of God. Most confound the knowledge and wisdom of God\ntogether; but there is a manifest distinction between them in our\nconception. I shall handle it thus: I. Shew what wisdom is. Then\nlay down, II. Some propositions about the wisdom of God. And shew,\nIII. That God is wise, and only wise. IV. Wherein his wisdom appears.\nV. The Use.\n\nI. What wisdom is. Wisdom, among the Greeks, first signified an\neminent perfection in any art or mystery; so a good statuary, engraver,\nor limner, was called wise, as having an excellent knowledge in his\nparticular art. But afterwards the title of wise was appropriated\nto those that devoted themselves to the contemplation of the highest\nthings that served for a foundation to speculative sciences.[761] But\nordinarily we count a man a wise man, when he conducts his affairs\nwith discretion, and governs his passions with moderation, and carries\nhimself with a due proportion and harmony in all his concerns. But in\nparticular, wisdom consists,\n\n1. In acting for a right end. The chiefest part of prudence is in\nfixing a right end, and in choosing fit means, and directing them to\nthat scope; to shoot at random is a mark of folly. As he is the wisest\nman that hath the noblest end and fittest means, so God is infinitely\nwise; as he is the most excellent being, so he hath the most excellent\nend. As there is none more excellent than himself, nothing can be his\nend but himself; as he is the cause of all, so he is the end of all;\nand he puts a true bias into all the means he useth to hit the mark\nhe aims at: \u201cOf him, and through him, and to him, are all things\u201d\n(Rom. xi. 36).\n\n2. Wisdom consists in observing all circumstances for action. He is\ncounted a wise man that lays hold of the fittest opportunities to bring\nhis designs about, that hath the fullest foresight of all the little\nintrigues which may happen in a business he is to manage, and times\nevery part of his action in an exact harmony with the proper minutes of\nit. God hath all the circumstances of things in one entire image before\nhim; he hath a prospect of every little creek in any design. He sees\nwhat second causes will act, and when they will act this or that; yea,\nhe determines them to such and such acts; so that it is impossible he\nshould be mistaken, or miss of the due season of bringing about his own\npurposes. As he hath more goodness than to deceive any, so he hath more\nunderstanding than to be mistaken in any thing. Hence the time of the\nincarnation of our blessed Saviour is called the fulness of time, the\nproper season for his coming. Every circumstance about Christ was timed\naccording to the predictions of God; even so little a thing as not\nparting his garment, and the giving him gall and vinegar to drink;\nand all the blessings he showers down upon his people, according to\nthe covenant of grace, are said to come \u201cin his season\u201d (Ezek. xxxiv.\n25, 26).\n\n{a508} 3. Wisdom consists in willing and acting according to the\nright reason, according to a right judgment of things. We can never\ncount a wilful man a wise man; but him only that acts according to\na right rule, when right counsels are taken and vigorously executed.\nThe resolves and ways of God are not mere will, but will guided by the\nreason and counsel of his own infinite understanding (Eph. i. 11); \u201cWho\nworks all things according to the counsel of his own will.\u201d The motions\nof the Divine will are not rash, but follow the proposals of the Divine\nmind; he chooses that which is fittest to be done, so that all his\nworks are graceful, and all his ways have a comeliness and decorum in\nthem. Hence all his ways are said to be \u201cjudgment\u201d (Deut. xxxii. 4),\nnot mere will. Hence it appears, that wisdom and knowledge are two\ndistinct perfections. Knowledge hath its seat in the speculative\nunderstanding, wisdom in the practical. Wisdom and knowledge are\nevidently distinguished as two several gifts of the Spirit in man\n(1 Cor. xii. 8); \u201cTo one is given, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom;\nto another, the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit.\u201d Knowledge is\nan understanding of general rules, and wisdom is a drawing conclusions\nfrom those rules in order to particular cases. A man may have the\nknowledge of the whole Scripture, and have all learning in the treasury\nof his memory, and yet be destitute of skill to make use of them\nupon particular occasions, and untie those knotty questions which\nmay be proposed to him, by a ready application of those rules. Again,\nknowledge and wisdom may be distinguished, in our conception, as two\ndistinct perfections in God: the knowledge of God is his understanding\nof all things; his wisdom is the skilful resolving and acting of\nall things. And the apostle, in his admiration of him, owns them as\ndistinct; \u201cO the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge\nof God\u201d (Rom. xi. 33)! Knowledge is the foundation of wisdom, and\nantecedent to it; wisdom the superstructure upon knowledge: men may\nhave knowledge without wisdom, but not wisdom without knowledge;\naccording to our common proverb, \u201cThe greatest clerks are not the\nwisest men.\u201d All practical knowledge is founded in speculation, either\n_secundum rem_, as in a man; or, _secundum rationem_, as in God.\nThey agree in this, that they are both acts of the understanding; but\nknowledge is the apprehension of a thing, and wisdom is the appointing\nand ordering of things. Wisdom is the splendor and lustre of knowledge\nshining forth in operations, and is an act both of understanding and\nwill; understanding in counselling and contriving, will in resolving\nand executing: counsel and will are linked together (Eph. i. 11).\n\nII. The second thing is to lay down some propositions in general,\nconcerning the wisdom of God.\n\nFirst, There is an essential and a personal wisdom of God. The\nessential wisdom, is the essence of God; the personal wisdom is the Son\nof God. Christ is called Wisdom by himself (Luke vii. 35). The wisdom\nof God by the apostle (1 Cor. i. 24). The wisdom I speak of belongs\nto the nature of God, and is considered a necessary perfection. The\npersonal wisdom is called so, because he opens to us the secrets of God.\nIf the Son were that wisdom whereby the {a509} Father is wise, the Son\nwould be also the essence whereby the Father is God. If the Son were\nthe wisdom of the Father, whereby he is essentially wise, the Son would\nbe the essence of the Father, and the Father would have his essence\nfrom the Son, since the wisdom of God is the essence of God; and so\nthe Son would be the Father, if the wisdom and power of the Father were\noriginally in the Son.\n\nSecondly, Therefore the wisdom of God is the same with the essence\nof God. Wisdom in God is not a habit added to his essence, as it is\nin man, but it is his essence. It is like the splendor of the sun,\nthe same with the sun itself; or like the brightness of crystal, which\nis not communicated to it by anything else, as the brightness of a\nmountain is by the beam of the sun, but it is one with the crystal\nitself. It is not a habit superadded to the Divine essence; that\nwould be repugnant to the simplicity of God, and speak him compounded\nof divers principles; it would be contrary to the eternity of his\nperfections: if he be eternally wise, his wisdom is his essence; for\nthere is nothing eternal but the essence of God. As the sun melts some\nthings, and hardens others; blackens some things, and whitens others,\nand produceth contrary qualities in different subjects, yet it is\nbut one and the same quality in the sun, which is the cause of those\ncontrary operations; so the perfections of God seem to be diverse in\nour conceptions, yet they are but one and the same in God.[762] The\nwisdom of God, is God acting prudently; as the power of God, is God\nacting powerfully; and the justice of God, is God acting righteously;\nand therefore it is more truly said, that God is wisdom, justice, truth,\npower, than that he is wise, just, true, &c. as if he were compounded\nof substance and qualities. All the operations of God proceed from\none simple essence; as all the operations of the mind of man, though\nvarious, proceed from one faculty of understanding.\n\nThirdly, Wisdom is the property of God alone: He is \u201conly wise.\u201d It\nis an honor peculiar to him. Upon the account that no man deserved\nthe title of wise, but that it was a royalty belonging to God,[763]\nPythagoras would not be called \u03a3\u03cc\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2, a title given to their learned\nmen, but \u03a6\u03b9\u03bb\u03cc\u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2. The name philosopher arose out of a respect to this\ntranscendent perfection of God.\n\n1. God is \u201conly wise\u201d _necessarily_. As he is necessarily God, so he\nis necessarily wise; for the notion of wisdom is inseparable from the\nnotion of a Deity. When we say, God is a Spirit, is true, righteous,\nwise; we understand that he is transcendently these, by an intrinsic\nand absolute necessity, by virtue of his own essence, without the\nefficiency of any other, or any efficiency in and by himself. God doth\nnot make himself wise, no more than he makes himself God. As he is a\nnecessary Being in regard of his life, so he is necessarily wise in\nregard of his understanding. Synesius saith, that God is essentiated,\n\u03bf\u1f50\u03c3\u03b9\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9, by his understanding. He places the substance of God in\nunderstanding and wisdom: wisdom is the first vital operation of God.\nHe can no more be unwise than he can be untrue; for folly in the mind\nis much the same with falsity in speech. Wisdom among men is gained\nby age and experience, furthered by instructions and exercise; but the\nwisdom of {a510} God is his nature. As the sun cannot be without light,\nwhile it remains a sun, and as eternity cannot be without immortality,\nso neither can God be without wisdom. As he only hath immortality\n(1 Tim. vi. 16), not arbitrarily, but necessarily; so he only hath\nwisdom: not because he will be wise, but because he cannot but be wise.\nHe cannot but contrive counsels, and exert operations, becoming the\ngreatness and majesty of his nature.\n\n2. Therefore \u201conly wise\u201d _originally_. God is \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u03b4\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03cc\u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2.\nMen acquire wisdom by the loss of their fairest years; but his wisdom\nis the perfection of the Divine nature, not the birth of study, or the\ngrowth of experience, but as necessary, as eternal, as his essence. He\ngoes not out of himself to search wisdom: he needs no more the brains\nof creatures in the contrivance of his purposes, than he doth their arm\nin the execution of them. He needs no counsel, he receives no counsel\nfrom any (Rom. xi. 34): \u201cWho hath been his counsellor?\u201d and (Isa. xl.\n14) \u201cWith whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, or taught him\nin the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him\nthe path of understanding?\u201d He is the only Fountain of wisdom to others;\nangels and men have what wisdom they have, by communication from him.\nAll created wisdom is a spark of the Divine light, like that of the\nstars borrowed from the sun. He that borrows wisdom from another, and\ndoth not originally possess it in his own nature, cannot properly be\ncalled wise. As God is the only Being, in regard that all other beings\nare derived from him, so he is only wise, because all other wisdom\nflows from him. He is the spring of wisdom to all; none the original\nof wisdom to him.\n\n3. Therefore \u201conly wise\u201d _perfectly_. There is no cloud upon his\nunderstanding. He hath a distinct and certain knowledge of all things\nthat can fall under action; as he hath a perfect knowledge without\nignorance, so he hath a beautiful wisdom without mole or wart. Men are\nwise, yet have not an understanding so vast as to grasp all things,\nnor a perspicacity so clear, as to penetrate into the depths of all\nbeing. Angels have more delightful and lively sparks of wisdom, yet so\nimperfect, that in regard of the wisdom of God they are charged with\nfolly (Job iv. 18). Their wisdom as well as their holiness is veiled in\nthe presence of God. It vanisheth, as the glowing of a fire doth before\nthe beauty of the sun, or as the light of a candle in the midst of a\nsunshine contracts itself, and none of its rays are seen, but in the\nbody of the flame. The angels are not perfectly wise, because they are\nnot perfectly knowing: the gospel, the great discovery of God\u2019s wisdom,\nwas hid from them for ages.\n\n4. Therefore \u201conly wise\u201d _universally_. Wisdom in one man is of one\nsort, in another of another sort; one is a wise tradesman, another\na wise statesman, and another a wise philosopher: one is wise in the\nbusiness of the world, another is wise in divine concerns. One hath not\nso much of plenty of one sort, but he may have a scantiness in another;\none may be wise for invention, and foolish in execution; an artificer\nmay have skill to frame an engine, and not skill to use it. The ground\nthat is fit for olives may not be fit {a511} for vines; that will\nbear one sort of grain and not another. But God hath an universal\nwisdom, because his nature is wise; it is not limited, but hovers over\neverything, shines in every being. His executions are as wise as his\ncontrivances: he is wise in his resolves, and wise in his ways: wise\nin all the varieties of his works of creation, government, redemption.\nAs his will wills all things, and his power effects all things, so\nhis wisdom is the universal director of the motions of his will, and\nthe executions of his power: as his righteousness is the measure of\nthe matter of his actions, so his wisdom is the rule that directs the\nmanner of his actions. The absolute power of God is not an unruly power:\nhis wisdom orders all things, so that nothing is done but what is fit\nand convenient, and agreeable to so excellent a Being: as he cannot do\nan unjust thing because of his righteousness, so he cannot do an unwise\nact, because of his infinite wisdom. Though God be not necessitated\nto any operation without himself, as to the creation of anything, yet\nsupposing he will act, his wisdom necessitates him to do that which is\ncongruous, as his righteousness necessitates him to do that which is\njust: so that though the will of God be the principle, yet his wisdom\nis the rule of his actions. We must, in our conceiving of the order,\nsuppose wisdom antecedent to will: none that acknowledges a God can\nhave such an impious thought as to affix temerity and rashness to\nany of his proceedings. All his decrees are drawn out of the infinite\ntreasury of wisdom in himself.[764] He resolves nothing about any of\nhis creatures without reason; but the reason of his purposes is in\nhimself, and springs from himself, and not from the creatures: there\nis not one thing that he wills but \u201che wills by counsel, and works by\ncounsel\u201d (Eph. i. 11). Counsel writ down every line, every letter, in\nhis eternal Book; and all the orders are drawn out from thence by his\nwisdom and will: what was illustrious in the contrivance, glitters\nin the execution. His understanding and will are infinite; what is\ntherefore the act of his will, is the result of his understanding, and\ntherefore rational. His understanding and will join hands; there is no\ncontest in God, will against mind, and mind against will; they are one\nin God, one in his resolves, and one in all his works.\n\n5. Therefore he is \u201conly wise\u201d _perpetually_. As the wisdom of man\nis got by ripeness of age, so it is lost by decay of years; it is\ngot by instruction, and lost by dotage. The perfectest minds, when\nin the wane, have been darkened with folly: Nebuchadnezzar, that was\nwise for a man, became as foolish as a brute. But the Ancient of Days\nis an unchangeable possessor of prudence; his wisdom is a mirror of\nbrightness, without a defacing spot. It was \u201cpossessed by him in the\nbeginning of his ways, before his works of old\u201d (Prov. viii. 22),\nand he can never be dispossessed of it in the end of his works. It\nis inseparable from him: the being of his Godhead may as soon cease\nas the beauty of his mind; \u201cwith him is wisdom\u201d (Job xii. 13); it is\ninseparable from him; therefore, as durable as his essence. It is a\nwisdom infinite, and therefore without increase or decrease in itself.\nThe experience of so many ages in the government {a512} of the world\nhath added nothing to the immensity of it, as the shining of the sun\nsince the creation of the world hath added nothing to the light of that\nglorious body. As ignorance never darkens his knowledge, so folly never\ndisgraces his prudence. God infatuates men, but neither men nor devils\ncan infatuate God; he is unerringly wise; his counsel doth not vary and\nflatter; it is not one day one counsel, and another day another, but\nit stands like an immovable rock, or a mountain of brass. \u201cThe counsel\nof the Lord stands forever, and the thoughts of his heart to all\ngenerations\u201d (Ps. xxxiii. 11).\n\n6. He is only wise _incomprehensibly_. \u201cHis thoughts are deep\u201d\n(Ps. xcii. 5); \u201cHis judgments unsearchable, his ways past finding out\u201d\n(Rom. xi. 33): depths that cannot be fathomed; a splendor more dazzling\nto our dim minds than the light of the sun to our weak eyes. The wisdom\nof one man may be comprehended by another, and over\u2011comprehended; and\noften men are understood by others to be wiser in their actions than\nthey understand themselves to be; and the wisdom of one angel may be\nmeasured by another angel of the same perfection. But as the essence,\nso the wisdom of God is incomprehensible to any creature; God is\nonly comprehended by God. The secrets of wisdom in God are double to\nthe expressions of it in his works (Job xi. 6, 7): \u201cCanst thou, by\nsearching, find out God?\u201d There is an unfathomable depth in all his\ndecrees, in all his works; we cannot comprehend the reason of his works,\nmuch less that of his decrees, much less that in his nature; because\nhis wisdom, being infinite as well as his power, can no more act to the\nhighest pitch than his power. As his power is not terminated by what he\nhath wrought, but he could give further testimonies of it, so neither\nis his wisdom, but he could furnish us with infinite expressions and\npieces of his skill. As in regard of his immensity he is not bounded\nby the limits of place; in regard of his eternity, not measured by the\nminutes of time; in regard of his power, not terminated with this or\nthat number of objects; so, in regard of his wisdom, he is not confined\nto this or that particular mode of working; so that in regard of the\nreason of his actions, as well as the glory and majesty of his nature,\nhe dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. vi. 16); and whatsoever we\nunderstand of his wisdom in creation and providence, is infinitely less\nthan what is in himself and his own unbounded nature. Many things in\nScripture are declared chiefly to be the acts of the Divine will, yet\nwe must not think that they were acts of mere will without wisdom,\nbut they are represented so to us, because we are not capable of\nunderstanding the infinite reason of its acts: his sovereignty is more\nintelligible to us than his wisdom. We can better know the commands of\na superior, and the laws of a prince, than understand the reason that\ngave birth to those laws. We may know the orders of the Divine will,\nas they are published, but not the sublime reason of his will. Though\nelection be an act of God\u2019s sovereignty, and he hath no cause from\nwithout to determine him, yet his infinite wisdom stood not silent\nwhile mere dominion acted. Whatsoever God doth, he doth wisely, as well\nas sovereignly; though that wisdom which lies in the secret places of\nthe Divine Being be as incomprehensible to us as the effects of his\n{a513} sovereignty and power in the world are visible, God can give\na reason of his proceeding, and that drawn from himself, though we\nunderstand it not. The causes of things visible lie hid from us. Doth\nany man know how to distinguish the seminal virtue of a small seed from\nthe body of it, and in what nook and corner that lies, and what that\nis that spreads itself in so fair a plant, and so many flowers? Can we\ncomprehend the justice of God\u2019s proceedings in the prosperity of the\nwicked, and the afflictions of the godly? Yet as we must conclude them\nthe fruits of an unerring righteousness, so we must conclude all his\nactions the fruits of an unspotted wisdom, though the concatenation of\nall his counsels is not intelligible to us; for he is as essentially\nand necessarily wise, as he is essentially and necessarily good and\nrighteous. God is not only so wise that nothing more wise can be\nconceived, but he is more wise than can be imagined; something greater\nin all his perfections than can be comprehended by any creature. It is\na foolish thing, therefore, to question that which we cannot comprehend;\nwe should adore it instead of disputing against it; and take it for\ngranted, that God would not order anything, were it not agreeable to\nthe sovereignty of his wisdom, as well as that of his will. Though\nthe reason of man proceed from the wisdom of God, yet there is more\ndifference between the reason of man, and the wisdom of God, than\nbetween the light of the sun, and the feeble shining of the glow\u2011worm;\nyet we presume to censure the ways of God, as if our purblind reason\nhad a reach above him.\n\n7. God is \u201conly wise\u201d _infallibly_. The wisest men meet with rubs\nin the way, that make them fall short of what they aim at; they often\ndesign, and fail; then begin again; and yet all their counsels end in\nsmoke, and none of them arrive at perfection. If the wisest angels lay\na plot, they may be disappointed; for though they are higher and wiser\nthan man, yet there is One higher and wiser than they, that can check\ntheir projects. God always compasseth his end, never fails of anything\nhe designs and aims at; all his undertakings are counsel and will; as\nnothing can resist the efficacy of his will, so nothing can countermine\nthe skill of his counsel: \u201cThere is no wisdom, nor understanding,\nnor counsel against the Lord\u201d (Prov. xxi. 30). He compasseth his ends\nby those actions of men and devils, wherein they think to cross him;\nthey shoot at their own mark, and hit his. Lucifer\u2019s plot, by divine\nwisdom, fulfilled God\u2019s purpose against Lucifer\u2019s mind. The counsel of\nredemption by Christ, the end of the creation of the world, rode into\nthe world upon the back of the serpent\u2019s temptation. God never mistakes\nthe means, nor can there be any disappointments to make him vary his\ncounsels, and pitch upon other means than what before he had ordained.\nHis \u201cword that goeth forth of his mouth shall not return to him void,\nbut it shall accomplish that which he pleases, and it shall prosper in\nthe thing whereto he sent it\u201d (Isa. lv. 11). What is said of his word,\nis true of his counsel; it shall prosper in the thing for which it is\nappointed; it cannot be defeated by all the legions of men and devils;\nfor \u201cas he thinks, so shall it come to pass; and as he hath purposed,\nso shall it stand; the Lord hath purposed, and who shall {a514}\ndisannul it\u201d (Isa. xiv. 24, 27)? The wisdom of the creature is a drop\nfrom the wisdom of God, and is like a drop to the ocean, and a shadow\nto the sun; and, therefore, is not able to meet the wisdom of God,\nwhich is infinite and boundless. No wisdom is exempted from mistakes,\nbut the Divine: he is wise in all his resolves, and never \u201ccalls back\nhis words\u201d and purposes (Isa. xxxi. 2).\n\nIII. The third general is to prove that God is wise. This is ascribed\nto God in Scripture (Dan. ii. 20); \u201cWisdom and might are his;\u201d wisdom\nto contrive, and power to effect. Where should wisdom dwell, but in\nthe head of a Deity? and where should power triumph, but in the arm of\nOmnipotency?[765] All that God doth, he doth artificially, skilfully;\nwhence he is called the \u201cBuilder of the heavens\u201d (Heb. xi. 10),\n\u03a4\u03b5\u03c7\u03bd\u03af\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 an artifical and curious builder, a builder by art: and\nthat word (Prov. viii. 30) meant of Christ; \u201cThen I was by him as one\nbrought up with him;\u201d some render it, Then I was the curious artificer;\nand the same word, is translated, a cunning workman (Cant. vii. 5). For\nthis cause, counsel is ascribed to God;[766] not properly, for counsel\nimplies something of ignorance, or irresolution, antecedent to the\nconsultation, and a posture of will afterwards, which was not before.\nCounsel is, properly, a laborious deliberation, and a reasoning of\nthings; an invention of means for the attainment of the end, after a\ndiscussing and reasoning of all the doubts which arise, _pro re nat\u00e2_,\nabout the matter in counsel. But God hath no need to deliberate in\nhimself what are the best means to accomplish his ends: he is never\nignorant or undetermined what course he should take, as men are before\nthey consult. But it is an expression, in condescension to our capacity,\nto signify that God doth nothing but with reason and understanding,\nwith the highest prudence and for the most glorious ends, as men do\nafter consultation and the weighing of every foreseen circumstance.\nThough he acts all things sovereignly by his will, yet he acts all\nthings wisely by his understanding; and there is not a decree of his\nwill but he can render a satisfactory reason for, in the face of men\nand angels. As he is the cause of all things, so he hath the highest\nwisdom for the ordering of all things. If wisdom among men be the\nknowledge of divine and human things, God must be infinitely wise,\nsince knowledge is most radiant in him; he knows what angels and men do\nand infinitely more; what is known by them obscurely, is known by him\nclearly; what is known by man after it is done, was known by God before\nit was wrought. By his wisdom, as much as by anything, he infinitely\ndiffers from all his creatures, as by wisdom man differs from a brute.\nWe cannot frame a notion of God, without conceiving him infinitely wise.\nWe should render him very inconsiderable, to imagine him furnished\nwith an infinite knowledge, and not have an infinite wisdom to make\nuse of that knowledge, or to fancy him with a mighty power destitute\nof prudence. Knowledge without prudence, is an eye without motion;\nand power without discretion, is an arm without a head; a hand to act,\nwithout {a515} understanding to contrive and model; a strength to act,\nwithout reason to know how to act: it would be a miserable notion of\na God, to fancy him with a brutish and unguided power. The heathens,\ntherefore, had, and could not but have, this natural notion of God.\nPlato, therefore, calls him _Mens_;[767] and Cleanthes used to call God\nReason; and Socrates thought the title of \u03a3\u03bf\u03c6\u03cc\u03c2 too magnificent to be\nattributed to anything else but God alone.\n\nArguments to prove that God is wise.\u2015\u2015_Reason 1._ God could not be\ninfinitely perfect without wisdom. A rational nature is better than an\nirrational nature. A man is not a perfect man without reason; how can\nGod without it be an infinitely perfect God? Wisdom is the most eminent\nof all virtues; all the other perfections of God without this, would be\nas a body without an eye, a soul without understanding. A Christian\u2019s\ngraces want their lustre, when they are destitute of the guidance\nof wisdom: mercy is a feebleness, and justice a cruelty; patience a\ntimorousness, and courage a madness, without the conduct of wisdom; so\nthe patience of God would be cowardice, his power an oppression, his\njustice a tyranny, without wisdom as the spring and holiness as the\nrule. No attribute of God could shine with a due lustre and brightness\nwithout it. Power is a great perfection, but wisdom a greater.[768]\nWisdom may be without much power, as in bees and ants; but power is a\ntyrranical thing without wisdom and righteousness. The pilot is more\nvaluable because of his skill, than the galley slave because of his\nstrength; and the conduct of a general more estimable than the might\nof a private soldier. Generals are chosen more by their skill to guide,\nthan their strength to act; what a clod is a man without prudence;\nwhat a nothing would God be without it! This is the salt that gives\nrelish to all other perfections in a creature; this is the jewel in\nthe ring of all the excellencies of the Divine nature, and holiness is\nthe splendor of that jewel. Now God being the first Being, possesses\nwhatsoever is most noble in any being. If therefore wisdom, which\nis the most noble perfection in any creature, were wanting to God,\nhe would be deficient in that which is the highest excellency. God\nbeing the living God, as he is frequently termed in Scripture, he hath\ntherefore the most perfect manner of living, and that must be a pure\nand intellectual life; being essentially living, he is essentially in\nthe highest degree of living. As he hath an infinite life above all\ncreatures, so he hath an infinite intellectual life, and therefore\nan infinite wisdom; whence some have called God, not _sapientem_, but\n_super sapientem_,[769] not only wise, but above all wisdom.\n\n_Reason 2._ Without infinite wisdom he could not govern the world.\nWithout wisdom in forming the matter, which was made by Divine power,\nthe world could have been no other than a chaos; and without wisdom\nin government, it could have been no other than a heap of confusion;\nwithout wisdom the world could not have been created in the posture it\nis. Creation supposeth a determination of the will putting power upon\nacting; the determination of the will supposeth {a516} the counsel\nof the understanding, determining the will: no work, but supposeth\nunderstanding as well as will in a rational agent. As without skill\nthings could not be created, so without it things cannot be governed.\nReason is a necessary perfection to him that presides over all things:\nwithout knowledge there could not be in God a foundation for government,\nand without wisdom there could not be an exercise of government; and\nwithout the most excellent wisdom, he could not be the most excellent\ngovernor. He could not be an universal governor, without a universal\nwisdom; nor the sole governor without an unimitable wisdom; nor an\nindependent governor without an original and independent wisdom; nor a\nperpetual governor without an incorruptible wisdom. He would not be the\nLord of the world in all points, without skill to order the affairs of\nit. Power and wisdom are foundations of all authority and government;\nwisdom to know how to rule and command; power to make those commands\nobeyed: no regular order could issue out without the first, nor could\nany order be enforced without the second. A feeble wisdom, and a\nbrutish power, seldom or never produce any good effect. Magistracy\nwithout wisdom, would be a frantic power, a rash conduct; like a strong\narm when the eye is out, it strikes it knows not what, and leads it\nknows not whither. Wisdom without power, would be like a great body\nwithout feet,[770] like the knowledge of a pilot that hath lost his arm,\nwho, though he knows the rule of navigation, and what course to follow\nin his voyage, yet cannot manage the helm: but when those two, wisdom\nand power, are linked together, there ariseth from both a fitness for\ngovernment. There is wisdom to propose an end, and both wisdom and\npower employ means that conduct to that end. And therefore when God\ndemonstrates to Job his right of government, and the unreasonableness\nof Job\u2019s quarrelling with his proceedings, he chiefly urgeth upon him\nthe consideration of those two excellencies of his nature, power and\nwisdom, which are expressed in his works (chap. xxxviii.\u2012xli.) A prince\nwithout wisdom, is but a title without a capacity to perform the office;\nno man without it is fit for government; nor could God without wisdom\nexercise a just dominion in the world. He hath, therefore, the highest\nwisdom, since he is the universal governor. That wisdom which is able\nto govern a family, may not be able to govern a city; and that wisdom\nwhich governs a city, may not be able to govern a nation or kingdom,\nmuch less a world. The bounds of God\u2019s government being greater than\nany, his wisdom for government must needs surmount the wisdom of\nall. And though the creatures be not in number actually infinite,\nyet they cannot be well governed, but by One endowed with infinite\ndiscretion.[771] Providential government can be no more without\ninfinite wisdom, than infinite wisdom can be without Providence.\n\n_Reason 3._ The creatures working for an end, without their own\nknowledge, demonstrate the wisdom of God that guides them. All things\nin the world work for some end; the ends are unknown to them, though\nmany of their ends are visible to us. As there was some prime cause,\nwhich by his power inspired them with their several {a517} instincts;\nso there must be some supreme wisdom, which moves and guides them to\ntheir end. As their being manifests his power that endowed them, so the\nacting according to the rules of their nature, which they themselves\nunderstand not, manifests his wisdom in directing them. Everything\nthat acts for an end, must know that end, or be directed by another to\nattain that end. The arrow doth not know who shoots it, or to what end\nit is shot, or what mark is aimed at; but the archer that puts it in,\nand darts it out of the bow, knows. A watch hath a regular motion, but\nneither the spring, nor the wheels that move, know the end of their\nmotion; no man will judge a wisdom to be in the watch, but in the\nartificer that disposed the wheels and spring, by a joint combination\nto produce such a motion for such an end. Doth either the sun that\nenlivens the earth, or the earth that travels with the plant, know\nwhat plant it produceth in such a soil, what temper it should be of,\nwhat fruit it should bear, and of what color? What plant knows its\nown medicinal qualities, its own beautiful flowers, and for what use\nthey are ordained? When it strikes up its head from the earth, doth it\nknow what proportion of them there will be? yet it produceth all these\nthings in a state of ignorance. The sun warms the earth, concocts the\nhumors, excites the virtue of it, and cherishes the seeds which are\ncast into her lap, yet all unknown to the sun or the earth. Since,\ntherefore, that nature, that is the immediate cause of those things\ndoth not understand its own quality, nor operation, nor the end of\nits action, that which thus directs them must be conceived to have an\ninfinite wisdom. When things act by a rule they know not, and move for\nan end they understand not, and yet work harmoniously together for an\nend, that all of them, we are sure, are ignorant of, it mounts up our\nminds to acknowledge the wisdom of that Supreme Cause that hath ranged\nall these inferior causes in their order, and imprinted upon them\nthe laws of their motions according to the ideas in his own mind, who\norders the rule by which they act, and the end for which they act, and\ndirects every motion according to their several natures, and therefore\npossessed with infinite wisdom in his own nature.\n\n_Reason 4._ God is the fountain of all wisdom in the creatures, and,\ntherefore, is infinitely wise himself. As he hath a fulness of being in\nhimself, because the streams of being are derived to other things from\nhim, so he hath a fulness of wisdom, because he is the spring of wisdom\nto angels and men. That being must be infinitely wise from whence all\nother wisdom derives its original; for nothing can be in the effect,\nwhich is not eminently in the cause; the cause is alway more perfect\nthan the effect. If, therefore, the creatures are wise, the Creator\nmust be much more wise. If the Creator were destitute of wisdom, the\ncreature would be much more perfect than the Creator. If you consider\nthe wisdom of the spider in her web, which is both her house and\nnet; the artifice of the bee in her comb, which is both her chamber\nand granary; the provision of the pismire in her repositories for\ncorn,\u2015\u2015the wisdom of the Creator is illustrated by them: whatsoever\nexcellency you see in any creature, is an image of some excellency in\nGod. The skill of the artificer is visible in {a518} the fruits of his\nart; a workman transcribes his spirit in the work of his hands. But\nthe wisdom of rational creatures, as men, doth more illustrate it; all\narts among men are the rays of Divine wisdom shining upon them, and,\nby a common gift of the Spirit, enlightening their minds to curious\ninventions, as (Prov. viii. 12): \u201cI, wisdom, find out the knowledge of\nwitty inventions;\u201d that is, I give a faculty to men to find them out;\nwithout my wisdom all things would be buried in darkness and ignorance:\nwhatsoever wisdom there is in the world, it is but a shadow of the\nwisdom of God, a small rivulet derived from him, a spark leaping\nout from uncreated wisdom (Isa. liv. 16): \u201cHe created the smith that\nbloweth the coals in the fire, and makes the instruments.\u201d The skill to\nuse those weapons in warlike enterprises is from him: \u201cI have created\nthe waster to destroy;\u201d it is not meant of creating their persons, but\ncommunicating to them their art; he speaks it there to expel fear from\nthe church of all warlike preparations against them; he had given men\nthe skill to form and use weapons, and could as well strip them of it,\nand defeat their purposes. The art of husbandry is a fruit of divine\nteaching (Isa. xxviii. 24, 25). If those lower kinds of knowledge, that\nare common to all nations, and easily learned by all, are discoveries\nof Divine wisdom, much more the nobler sciences, intellectual and\npolitical wisdom (Dan. ii. 21): \u201cHe gives wisdom to the wise, and\nknowledge to them that know understanding;\u201d speaking of the more\nabstruse parts of knowledge, \u201cThe inspiration of the Almighty gives\nunderstanding\u201d (Job xxxii. 8). Hence the wisdom which Solomon expressed\nin the harlot\u2019s case (1 Kings iii. 28), was, in the judgment of all\nIsrael, the wisdom of God; that is, a fruit of Divine wisdom, a beam\ncommunicated to him from God. Every man\u2019s soul is endowed, more or\nless, with those noble qualities; the soul of every man exceeds that\nof a brute; if the streams be so excellent, the fountain must be fuller\nand clearer. The first Spirit must infinitely more possess what other\nspirits derive from him by creation; were the wisdom of all the angels\nin heaven, and men on earth, collected in one spirit, it must be\ninfinitely less than what is in the spring; for no creature can be\nequal to the Creator. As the highest creature already made, or that we\ncan conceive may be made by infinite power, would be infinitely below\nGod in the notion of a creature, so it would be infinitely below God in\nthe notion of wise.\n\nIV. The fourth thing is, wherein the wisdom of God appears. It appears,\n1st, In creation. 2dly, In government. 3dly, In redemption.\n\nFirst, In creation. As in a musical instrument there is first the\nskill of the workman in the frame, then the skill of the musician in\nstringing it proper for such musical notes as he will express upon\nit, and after that the tempering of the strings, by various stops,\nto a delightful harmony, so is the wisdom of God seen in framing\nthe world, then in tuning it, and afterwards in the motion of the\nseveral creatures. The fabric of the world is called the wisdom of God\n(1 Cor. i. 21): \u201cAfter that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom\nknew not God;\u201d _i. e._, by the creation the world knew not God. The\nframing cause is there put for the effect and the work framed; because\n{a519} the Divine wisdom stepped forth in the creatures, to a public\nappearance, as if it had presented itself in a visible shape to\nman, giving instructions in and by the creatures, to know and adore\nhim. What we translate (Gen. i. 1) \u201cIn the beginning God created the\nheaven and the earth,\u201d the Targum expresseth, \u201cIn wisdom God created\nthe heaven and the earth.\u201d Both bear a stamp of this perfection on\nthem;[772] and when the apostle tells the Romans (Rom. i. 20) \u201cThe\ninvisible things of God were clearly understood by the things that are\nmade,\u201d the word he uses is \u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03ae\u03bc\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9 not \u1f14\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2; this signifies a work\nof labor, but \u03c0\u03bf\u03af\u03b7\u03bc\u03b1 a work of skill, or a poem. The whole creation is\na poem, every species a stanza, and every individual creature a verse\nin it. The creation presents us with a prospect of the wisdom of God,\nas a poem doth the reader with the wit and fancy of the composer: \u201cBy\nwisdom he created the earth\u201d (Prov. iii. 19), \u201cand stretched out the\nheavens by discretion\u201d (Jer. x. 12). There is not anything so mean, so\nsmall, but glitters with a beam of Divine skill; and the consideration\nof them would justly make every man subscribe to that of the psalmist,\n\u201cO Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them\nall\u201d (Ps. civ. 24). All, the least as well as the greatest, and the\nmeanest as well as the noblest; even those creatures which seem ugly\nand deformed to us, as toads, &c., because they fall short of those\nperfections which are the dowry of other animals: in these there is\na footstep of Divine wisdom, since they were not produced by him at\nrandom, but determined to some particular end, and designed to some\nusefulness, as parts of the world in their several natures and stations.\nGod could never have had a satisfaction in the review of his works, and\npronounced them good or comely, as he did (Gen. i. 31), had they not\nbeen agreeable to that eternal original copy in his own mind. It is\nsaid he was refreshed, _viz._ with that review (Exod. xxxi. 17), which\ncould not have been, if his piercing eye had found any defect in any\nthing which had sprung out of his hand, or an unsuitableness to that\nend for which he created them. He seems to do as a man that hath made\na curious and polite work, with exact care to peer about every part\nand line, if he could perceive any imperfection in it, to rectify the\nmistake: but no defect was found by the infinitely wise God upon this\nsecond examination. This wisdom of the creation appears, 1. In the\nvariety. 2. In the beauty. 3. The fitness of every creature for its\nuse. 4. The subordination of one creature to another, and the joint\nconcurrence of all to one common end.\n\n1. In the variety (Ps. civ. 24): \u201cO Lord, how manifold are thy works!\u201d\nHow great a variety is there of animals and plants, with a great\nvariety of forms, shapes, figurations, colors, various smells, virtues,\nand qualities! and this rarity is produced from one and the same matter,\nas beasts and plants from the earth (Gen. i. 11, 24): \u201cLet the earth\nbring forth living creatures; and the earth brought forth grass, and\nthe herb yielding seed after his kind:\u201d such diversity of fowl and fish\nfrom the water (Gen. i. 20): \u201cLet the waters bring forth abundantly\nthe moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly;\u201d such a\nbeautiful and active variety from so dull a matter {a520} as the earth;\nso solid a variety from so fluid a matter as the water; so noble a\npiece as the body of man, with such variety of members fit to entertain\na more excellent soul as a guest, from so mean a matter as the dust of\nthe ground (Gen. ii. 7). This extraction of such variety of forms out\nof one single and dull matter, is the chemistry of Divine wisdom. It is\na greater skill to frame noble bodies of vile matter, as varieties of\nprecious vessels of clay and earth, than of a nobler matter, as gold\nand silver. Again, all those varieties propagate their kind in every\nparticular and quality of their nature, and uniformly bring forth exact\ncopies according to the first pattern God made of the kind (Gen. i. 11,\n12, 24). Consider, also, how the same piece of ground is garnished with\nplants and flowers of several virtues, fruits, colors, scents, without\nour being able to perceive any variety in the earth that breeds them,\nand not so great a difference in the roots that bear them. Add to this\nthe diversities of birds of different colors, shapes, notes, consisting\nof various parts, wings like oars, to cut the air, and tails as the\nrudder of a ship, to guide their motion. How various, also, are the\nendowments of the creatures! some have vegetation, and the power of\ngrowth; others have the addition of sense, and others the excellency of\nreason; something wherein all agree, and something wherein all differ;\nvariety in unity, and unity in variety: the wisdom of the workman had\nnot been so conspicuous had there been only one degree of goodness: the\ngreatest skill is seen in the greatest variety. The comeliness of the\nbody is visible in the variety of members, and their usefulness to\none another. What an inform thing had man been had he been all ear,\nor all eye! If God had made all the stars to be suns, it would have\nbeen a demonstration of his power, but, perhaps, less of his wisdom:\nno creatures, with the natures they now have, could have continued in\nbeing under so much heat: there was no less wisdom went to the frame\nof the least, than to the greatest creature. It speaks more art in a\nlimner to paint a landscape exactly, than to draw the sun, though the\nsun be a more glorious body. I might instance also, in the different\ncharacters and features imprinted upon the countenances of men and\nwomen, the differences of voices and statures, whereby they are\ndistinguished from one another: these are the foundations of order and\nof human society, and administration of justice. What confusion would\nhave been, if a grown\u2011up son could not be known from his father, the\nmagistrate from the subject, the creditor from the debtor, the innocent\nfrom the criminal! The laws God hath given to mankind could not have\nbeen put in execution: this variety speaks the wisdom of God.\n\n2. The wisdom of the creation appears in the beauty, and order, and\nsituation of the several creatures (Eccles. iii. 11): \u201cHe hath made\neverything beautiful in his time.\u201d As their being was a fruit of Divine\npower, so their order is a fruit of Divine wisdom. All creatures are\nas members in the great body of the world, proportioned to one another,\nand contributing to the beauty of the whole; so that if the particular\nforms of everything, the union of all for the composition of the\nworld, and the laws which are established in the order of nature\nfor its conservation, be considered, it would ravish us {a521} with\nan admiration of God.[773] All the creatures are so many pictures\nor statues, exactly framed by line (Ps. xix. 4): \u201cTheir line is\ngone through all the earth;\u201d their \u201cline,\u201d a measuring line, or a\ncarpenter\u2019s rule, whereby he proportions several pieces to be exactly\nlinked and coupled together. \u201cTheir line,\u201d that is, their harmonious\nproportion, and the instruction from it, is gone forth through all the\nearth. Upon the account of this harmony, some of the ancient heathens\nframed the images of their gods with musical instruments in their hands,\nsignifying that God wrought all things in a due proportion.[774] The\nheavens speak this wisdom in their order. The revolutions of the sun\nand moon determine the seasons of the year, and make day and night in\norderly succession. The stars beautify the heavens, and influence the\nearth, and keep their courses (Judges v. 20). They keep their stations\nwithout interfering with one another; and though they have rolled about\nfor so many ages, they observe their distinct laws, and in the variety\nof their motions have not disturbed one another\u2019s functions. The sun is\nset as the heart in the midst of this great body, to afford warmth to\nall: and had it been set lower, it had long since turned the earth into\nflame and ashes: had it been placed higher, the earth would have wanted\nthe nourishment and refreshment necessary for it. Too much nearness\nhad ruined the earth by parching heat, and too great a distance had\ndestroyed the earth by starving it with cold.[775] The sun hath also\nits appointed motion; had it been fixed without motion, half of the\nearth had been unprofitable; there had been a perpetual darkness in\na moiety of it; nothing had been produced for nourishment, and so it\nhad been rendered uninhabitable: but now, by its motion, it visits all\nthe climates of the world, runs its circuit, so that \u201cnothing is hid\nfrom the heat thereof,\u201d (Ps. xix. 6). It imparts its virtue to every\ncorner of the world in its daily and yearly visits. Had it been fixed,\nthe fruits of the earth under it had been parched and destroyed before\ntheir maturity; but all those inconveniences are provided against by\nthe perpetual motion of the sun. This motion is orderly; it makes its\ndaily course from east to west, its yearly motion from north to south:\nit goes to the north, till it comes to the point God hath set it, and\nthen turns back to the south, and gains some point every day: it never\nriseth nor sets in the same place one day, where it did the day before.\nThe world is never without its light; some see it rising the same\nmoment we see it setting.[776] The earth also speaks the Divine wisdom;\nit is the pavement of the world, as the heaven is the ceiling of\nfretwork. It is placed lowermost, as being the heaviest body, and fit\nto receive the weightiest matter, and provided as an habitation proper\nfor those creatures which derive the matter of their bodies from it,\nand partake of its earthly nature; and garnished with other creatures\nfor the profit or pleasure of man.[777] The sea also speaks the same\nDivine wisdom. \u201cHe strengthened the fountains of the deep, and gave the\nsea a decree that it should not pass his {a522} command\u201d (Prov. viii.\n28, 29). He hath given it certain bounds that it should not overflow\nthe earth (Job xxviii. 11). It contains itself in the situation\nwherein God hath placed it, and doth not transgress its bounds. What\nif some part of a country, a little spot, hath been overflowed by it,\nand groaned under its waves? yet for the main, it retains the same\nchannels wherein it was at first lodged. All creatures are clothed\nwith an outward beauty, and endowed with an inward harmony; there is an\nagreement in all parts of this great body; every one is beautiful and\norderly; but the beauty of the world results from all of them disposed\nand linked together.\n\n3. This wisdom is seen in the fitness of everything for its end, and\nthe usefulness of it. Divine wisdom is more illustrious in the fitness\nand usefulness of this great variety, than in the composure of their\ndistinct parts: as the artificer\u2019s skill is more eminent in fitting\nthe wheels, and setting them in order for their due motion, than in\nthe external fabric of the materials which compose the clock. After the\nmost diligent inspection, there can be found nothing in the creation\nunprofitable; nothing but is capable of some service, either for the\nsupport of our bodies, recreation of our senses, or moral instruction\nof our minds: not the least creature but is formed, and shaped, and\nfurnished with members and parts, in a due proportion for its end\nand service in the world; nothing is superfluous, nothing defective.\nThe earth is fitted in its parts;[778] the valleys are appointed for\ngranaries, the mountains to shadow them from the scorching heat of the\nsun; the rivers, like veins, carry refreshment to every member of this\nbody; plants and trees thrive on the face of the earth, and metals are\nengendered in the bowels of it, for materials for building, and other\nuses for the service of man. \u201cThere he causes the grass to grow for the\ncattle and herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food\nout of the earth\u201d (Ps. civ. 14). The sea is fitted for use; it is a\nfish pond for the nourishment of man; a boundary for the dividing of\nlands and several dominions: it joins together nations far distant:\na great vessel for commerce (Ps. civ. 26), \u201cthere go the ships.\u201d It\naffords vapors to the clouds, wherewith to water the earth, which the\nsun draws up, separating the finer from the salter parts, that the\nearth may be fruitful without being burdened with barrenness by the\nsalt. The sea hath also its salt, its ebbs, and floods; the one as\nbrine, the other as motion, to preserve it from putrefaction, that it\nmay not be contagious to the rest of the world. Showers are appointed\nto refresh the bodies of living creatures, to open the womb of the\nearth, and \u201cwater the ground to make it fruitful\u201d (Ps. civ. 3). The\nclouds, therefore, are called the chariots of God; he rides in them\nin the manifestation of his goodness and wisdom. Winds are fitted to\npurify the air, to preserve it from putrefaction, to carry the clouds\nto several parts, to refresh the parched earth, and assist her fruits:\nand also to serve for the commerce of one nation with another by\nnavigation.[779] God, in his wisdom and goodness, \u201cwalks upon the\nwings of the wind\u201d (Ps. civ. 3). Rivers[780] are appointed to bathe the\nground, and render it fresh and lively; {a523} they fortify cities, are\nthe limits of countries, serve for commerce; they are the watering\u2011pots\nof the earth, and the vessels for drink for the living creatures that\ndwell upon the earth. God cut those channels for the wild asses, the\nbeasts of the desert, which are his creatures as well as the rest (Ps.\nciv. 10, 12, 13). Trees are appointed for the habitations of birds,\nshadows for the earth, nourishment for the creatures, materials for\nbuilding, and fuel for the relief of man against cold. The seasons of\nthe year have their use; the winter makes the juice retire into the\nearth, fortifies plants, and fixes their roots: it moistens the earth\nthat was dried before by the heat of summer, and cleanseth and prepares\nit for a new fruitfulness. The spring calls out the sap in new leaves\nand fruit. The summer consumes the superfluous moisture, and produceth\nnourishment for the inhabitants of the world.[781] The day and night\nhave also their usefulness: the day gives life to labor, and is a guide\nto motion and action (Ps. civ. 24), \u201cThe sun ariseth, man goeth forth\nto his labor until the evening.\u201d It warms the air, and quickens nature;\nwithout day the world would be a chaos, an unseen beauty. The night\nindeed casts a veil upon the bravery of the earth, but it draws the\ncurtains from that of heaven; though it darkens below, it makes us see\nthe beauty of the world above, and discovers to us a glorious part of\nthe creation of God, the tapestry of heaven, and the motions of the\nstars, hid from us by the eminent light of the day. It procures a truce\nfrom labor, and refresheth the bodies of creatures, by recruiting the\nspirits which are scattered by watching. It prevents the ruin of life,\nby a reparation of what was wasted in the day. It takes from us the\nsight of flowers and plants, but it washeth their face with dews for\na new appearance next morning. The length of the day and night is not\nwithout a mark of wisdom; were they of a greater length, as the length\nof a week or month, the one would too much dry, and the other too\nmuch moisten; and for want of action, the members would be stupified.\nThe perpetual succession of day and night is an evidence of the Divine\nwisdom in tempering the travel and rest of creatures. Hence, the\npsalmist tells us (Ps. lxxxiv. 16, 17), \u201cThe day is thine, and the\nnight is thine; thou hast prepared the light of the sun, and made\nsummer and winter;\u201d _i. e._ they are of God\u2019s framing, not without\na wise counsel and end. Hence, let us ascend to the bodies of living\ncreatures, and we shall find every member fitted for use. What a\ncuriosity is there in every member! Every one fitted to a particular\nuse in their situation, form, temper, and mutual agreement for the good\nof the whole: the eye to direct; the ear to receive directions from\nothers; the hands to act; the feet to move. Every creature hath members\nfitted for that element wherein it resides; and in the body, some parts\nare appointed to change the food into blood, others to refine it, and\nothers to distribute and convey it to several parts for the maintenance\nof the whole: the heart to mint vital spirits for preserving life,\nand the brain to coin animal spirits for life and motion; the lungs\nto serve for the cooling the heart, which else would be parched as the\nground in summer. The motion of the members of the body by one act of\nthe will, and also without the will by a {a524} natural instinct, is\nan admirable evidence of Divine skill in the structure of the body; so\nthat well might the psalmist cry out (Ps. cxxxix. 14), \u201cI am fearfully\nand wonderfully made!\u201d But how much more of this Divine perfection is\nseen in the soul! A nature, furnished with a faculty of understanding\nto judge of things, to gather in things that are distant, and to\nreason and draw conclusions from one thing to another, with a memory\nto treasure up things that are past, with a will to apply itself so\nreadily to what the mind judges fit and comely, and fly so speedily\nfrom what it judges ill and hurtful. The whole world is a stage; every\ncreature in it hath a part to act, and a nature suited to that part and\nend it is designed for; and all concur in a joint language to publish\nthe glory of Divine wisdom; they have a voice to proclaim the \u201cglory\nof God\u201d (Ps. xix. 1, 3). And it is not the least part of God\u2019s skill,\nin framing the creatures so, that upon man\u2019s obedience, they are the\nchannels of his goodness; and upon man\u2019s disobedience, they can, in\ntheir natures, be the ministers of his justice for the punishing of\noffending creatures.\n\n4. This wisdom is apparent in the linking of all these useful parts\ntogether, so that one is subordinate to the other for a common end. All\nparts are exactly suited to one another, and every part to the whole,\nthough they are of different natures, as lines distant in themselves,\nyet they meet in one common centre, the good and the preservation of\nthe universe; they are all jointed together, as the word translated\n_framed_ (Heb. xi. 2) signifies; knit by fit hands and ligaments to\ncontribute mutual beauty, strength, and assistance to one another;\nlike so many links of a chain coupled together, that though there be\na distance in place, there is a unity in regard of connection and end,\nthere is a consent in the whole (Hos. ii. 21, 22). \u201cThe heavens hear\nthe earth; and the earth hears the corn, and the wine, and the oil.\u201d\nThe heavens communicate their qualities to the earth, and the earth\nconveys them to the fruits she bears.[782] The air distributes light,\nwind and rain to the earth; the earth and the sea render to the\nair exhalations and vapors, and altogether charitably give to the\nplants and animals that which is necessary for their nourishment and\nrefreshment. The influences of the heavens animate the earth; and the\nearth affords matter, in part, for the influences it receives from\nthe regions above. Living creatures are maintained by nourishment;\nnourishment is conveyed to them by the fruits of the earth; the fruits\nof the earth are produced by means of rain and heat; matter for rain\nand dew is raised by the heat of the sun; and the sun by its motion\ndistributes heat and quickening virtue to all parts of the earth. So\ncolors are made for the pleasure of the eye, sounds for the delight\nof the ear; light is formed, whereby the eye may see the one, and air\nto convey the species of colors to the eye, and sound to the ear; all\nthings are like the wheels of a watch compacted: and though many of\nthe creatures be endowed with contrary qualities, yet they are joined\nin a marriage\u2011knot for the public security, and subserviency to the\npreservation and order of the universe; as the variety of strings upon\nan instrument, sending forth various and distinct sounds, are tempered\ntogether, for the framing excellent and {a525} delightful airs. In\nthis universal conspiring of the creatures together to one end, is the\nwisdom of the Creator apparent; in tuning so many contraries as the\nelements are, and preserving them in their order, which if once broken,\nthe whole frame of nature would crack, and fall in pieces; all are so\ninterwoven and inlaid together, by the Divine workmanship, as to make\nup one entire beauty in the whole fabric: as every part in the body of\nman hath a distinct comeliness, yet there is besides, the beauty of the\nwhole, that results from the union of divers parts exactly fashioned to\none another, and linked together.\n\nBy the way, _Use_. How much may we see of the perfection of God in\neverything that presents itself to our eyes! And how should we be\nconvinced of our unworthy neglect of ascending to him with reverend\nand admiring thoughts, upon the prospect of the creatures! What dull\nscholars are we, when every creature is our teacher, every part of the\ncreature a lively instruction! Those things that we tread under our\nfeet, if used by us according to the full design of their creation,\nwould afford rich matter, not only for our heads, but our hearts. As\ngrace doth not destroy nature, but elevate it, so neither should the\nfresher and fuller discoveries of Divine wisdom in redemption deface\nall our thoughts of his wisdom in creation. Though the greater light\nof the sun obscures the lesser sparkling of the stars, yet it gives\nway in the night to the discovery of them, that God may be seen, known,\nand considered, in all his works of wonder, and miracles of nature. No\npart of Scripture is more spiritual than the Psalms; none filled with\nclearer discoveries of Christ in the Old Testament; yet how often do\nthe penmen consider the creation of God, and find their meditations\non him to be sweet, as considered in his works (Ps. civ. 34)! \u201cMy\nmeditation of him shall be sweet.\u201d When? why, after a short history\nof the goodness and wisdom of God in the frame of the world, and the\nspecies of the creatures.\n\nSecondly. The wisdom of God appears in his government of his\ncreatures. The regular motion of the creatures speaks for this\nperfection, as well as the exact composition of them. If the\nexquisiteness of the frame conducts us to the skill of the Contriver,\nthe exactness of their order, according to his will and law, speaks\nno less the wisdom of the Governor. It cannot be thought that a rash\nand irrational power presides over a world so well disposed: the\ndisposition of things hath no less characters of skill, than the\ncreation of them. No man can hear an excellent lesson upon a lute,\nbut must presently reflect upon the art of the person that touches it.\nThe prudence of man appears in wrapping up the concerns of a kingdom\nin his mind, for the well\u2011ordering of it; and shall not the wisdom of\nGod shine forth, as he is the director of the world? I shall omit his\ngovernment of inanimate creatures, and confine the discourse to his\ngovernment of man, as rational, as sinful, as restored.\n\n1st. In his government of man as a rational creature.\n\n1. In the law he gives to man. Wisdom framed it, though will\nenacted it. The will of God is the rule of righteousness to us, but\nthe wisdom of God is the foundation of that rule of righteousness which\nhe prescribes us. The composure of a musician is the rule {a526} of\nsinging to his scholars; yet the consent and harmony in that composure\nderives not itself from his will, but from his understanding; he would\nnot be a musician if his composures were contrary to the rules of true\nharmony: so the laws of men are composed by wisdom, though they are\nenforced by will and authority.[783] The moral law, which was the law\nof nature, the law imprinted upon Adam, is so framed as to secure the\nrights of God as supreme, and the rights of men in their distinctions\nof superiority and equality: it is therefore called \u201choly and good\u201d\n(Rom. vii. 12); holy, as it prescribes our duty to God in his worship;\ngood, as it regulates the offices of human life, and preserves the\ncommon interest of mankind.\n\n(1.) It is suited to the nature of man. As God hath given a law of\nnature, a fixed order to inanimate creatures, so he hath given a law of\nreason to rational creatures: other creatures are not capable of a law\ndifferencing good and evil, because they are destitute of faculties and\ncapacities to make distinction between them. It had not been agreeable\nto the wisdom of God to propose any moral law to them, who had neither\nunderstanding to discern, nor will to choose. It is therefore to be\nobserved, that whilst Christ exhorted others to the embracing his\ndoctrine, yet he exhorted not little children, though he took them in\nhis arms, because, though they had faculties, yet they were not come to\nsuch a maturity as to be capable of a rational instruction. But there\nwas a necessity for some command for the government of man; since God\nhad made him a rational creature, it was not agreeable to his wisdom to\ngovern him as a brute, but as a rational creature, capable of knowing\nhis precepts, and voluntarily walking in them; and without a law,\nhe had not been capable of any exercise of his reason in services\nrespecting God. He therefore gives him a law, with a covenant annexed\nto it, whereby man is obliged to obedience, and secured of a reward.\nThis was enforced with severe penalties, death, with all the horrors\nattending it, to deter him from transgression (Gen. ii. 17); wherein\nis implied a promise of continuance of life, and all its felicities,\nto allure him to a mindfulness of his obligation. So perfect a hedge\ndid Divine wisdom set about him, to keep him within the bounds of that\nobedience, which was both his debt and security, that wheresoever he\nlooked, he saw either something to invite him, or something to drive\nhim to the payment of his duty, and perseverance in it. Thus the law\nwas exactly framed to the nature of man; man had twisted in him a\ndesire of happiness; the promise was suited to cherish this natural\ndesire. He had also the passion of fear; the proper object of this\nwas any thing destructive to his being, nature, and felicity; this\nthe threatening met with. In the whole it was accommodated to man as\nrational; precepts to the law in his mind, promises to the natural\nappetite, threatenings to the most prevailing affection, and to the\nimplanted desires of preserving both his being and happiness in that\nbeing. These were rational motives, fitted to the nature of Adam, which\nwas above the life God had given plants, and the sense he had given\nanimals. The command given man in innocence was suited to his strength\nand power. God gave him not {a527} any command but what he had ability\nto observe: and since we want not power to forbear an apple in our\ncorrupted and impotent state, he wanted not strength in his state of\nintegrity. The wisdom of God commanded nothing but what was very easy\nto be observed by him, and inferior to his natural ability. It had\nbeen both unjust and unwise to have commanded him to fly up to the sun,\nwhen he had not wings; or stop the course of the sea, when he had not\nstrength.\n\n(2.) It is suited to the happiness and benefit of man. God\u2019s laws\nare not an act of mere authority respecting his own glory, but of\nwisdom and goodness respecting man\u2019s benefit. They are perfective\nof man\u2019s nature, conferring a wisdom upon him, \u201crejoicing his heart,\nenlightening his eyes\u201d (Ps. xix. 7, 8), affording him both a knowledge\nof God and of himself. To be without a law, is for men to be as beasts,\nwithout justice and without religion: other things are for the good\nof the body, but the laws of God for the good of the soul; the more\nperfect the law, the greater the benefit. The laws given to the Jews\nwere the honor and excellency of that nation (Deut. i. 8); \u201cWhat nation\nis there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous?\u201d\nThey were made statesmen in the judicial law, ecclesiastics in the\nceremonial, honest men in the second table, and divine in the first.\nAll his laws are suited to the true satisfaction of man, and the good\nof human society. Had God framed a law only for one nation, there would\nhave been the characters of a particular wisdom; but now an universal\nwisdom appears, in accommodating his law, not only to this or that\nparticular society or corporation of men, but to the benefit of all\nmankind, in the variety of climates and countries wherein they live;\neverything that is disturbing to human society is provided against;\nnothing is enjoined but what is sweet, rational, and useful: it orders\nus not to attempt anything against the life of our neighbor, the honor\nof his bed, propriety in his goods, and the clearness of his reputation;\nand, if well observed, would alter the face of the world, and make it\nlook with another hue. The world would be altered from a brutish to\na human world; it would change lions and wolves, men of lion\u2011like and\nwolfish disposition, into reason and sweetness. And because the whole\nlaw is summed up in love, it obligeth us to endeavor the preservation\nof one another\u2019s beings, the favoring of one another\u2019s interests, and\nincreasing the goods, as much as justice will permit, and keeping up\none another\u2019s credits, because love, which is the soul of the law,\nis not shown by a cessation from action, but signifies an ardor, upon\nall occasions, in doing good. I say, were this law well observed, the\nworld would be another thing than it is: it would become a religious\nfraternity; the voice of enmity, and the noise of groans and cursings,\nwould not be heard in our streets; peace would be in all borders;\nplenty of charity in the midst of cities and countries; joy and singing\nwould sound in all habitations. Man\u2019s advantage was designed in God\u2019s\nlaws, and doth naturally result from the observance of them. God so\nordered them, by his wisdom, that the obedience of man should draw\nforth his goodness, and prevent those smarting judgments which were\nnecessary {a528} to reduce the creature to order that would not\nvoluntarily continue in the order God had appointed. The laws of men\nare often unjust, oppressive, cruel, sometimes against the law of\nnature; but an universal wisdom and righteousness glitters in the\nDivine law; there is nothing in it but is worthy of God, and useful for\nthe creature; so that we may well say, with Job, \u201cWho teaches like God\u201d\n(Job xxxvi. 22)? or as some render it, \u201cWho is a lawgiver like God?\u201d\nWho can say to him, Thou hast wrought iniquity or folly among men?\nHis precepts were framed for the preservation of man in that rectitude\nwherein he was created, in that likeness to God wherein he was first\nmade, that there might be a correspondence between the integrity of\nthe creature and the goodness of his Creator, by the obedience of man;\nthat man might exercise his faculties in operation worthy of him, and\nbeneficial to the world.\n\n(3.) The wisdom of God is seen in suiting his laws to the consciences\nas well as the interests of all mankind (Rom. ii. 14); \u201cThe Gentiles\ndo, by nature, the things contained in the law;\u201d so great an affinity\nthere is between the wise law and the reason of man. There is a natural\nbeauty emerging from them, and darting upon the reasons and consciences\nof men, which dictates to them that this law is worthy to be observed\nin itself. The two main principles of the law, the love and worship\nof God, and doing as we would be done by, have an indelible impression\nin the consciences of all men, in regard of the principle, though they\nare not suitably expressed in the practice. Were there no law outwardly\npublished, yet every man\u2019s conscience would dictate to him that God was\nto be acknowledged, worshipped, loved, as naturally as his reason would\nacquaint him that there was such a being as God. This suitableness of\nthem to the consciences of men is manifest, in that the laws of the\nbest governed nations among the heathen have had an agreement with them.\nNothing can be more exactly composed, according to the rules of right\nand exact reason, than this; no man but approves of something in it,\nyea, of the whole, when he exerciseth that dim reason which he hath.\nSuppose any man, not an absolute atheist, he cannot but acknowledge\nthe reasonableness of worshipping God. Grant him to be a spirit, and it\nwill presently appear absurd to represent him by any corporeal image,\nand derogate from his excellency by so mean a resemblance; with the\nsame easiness he will grant a reverence due to the name of God; that\nwe must not serve our turn of him, by calling him to witness to a lie\nin a solemn oath; that as worship is due to him, so is some stated time\na circumstance necessary to the performance of that worship. And as\nto the second table, will any man, in his right reason, quarrel with\nthat command that engageth his inferiors to honor him, that secures\nhis being from a violent murder, and his goods from unjust rapine? and\nthough, by the fury of his lusts, he break the laws of wedlock himself,\nyet he cannot but approve of that law, as it prohibits every man\nfrom doing him the like injury and disgrace. The suitableness of the\nlaw to the consciences of men is further evidenced by those furious\nreflections, and strong alarms of conscience, upon a transgression\nof it, {a529} and that in all parts of the world, more or less, in all\nmen; so exactly hath Divine wisdom fitted the law to the reason and\nconsciences of men, as one tally to another: indeed, without such an\nagreement, no man\u2019s conscience could have any ground for a hue and cry;\nnor need any man be startled with the records of it. This manifests the\nwisdom of God in framing his laws so that the reasons and consciences\nof all men do, one time or other, subscribe to it. What governor in the\nworld is able to make any law distinct from this revealed by God, that\nshall reach all places, all persons, all hearts? We may add to this the\nextent of his commands, in ordering goodness at the root, not only in\naction, but affection; not only in the motion of the members, but the\ndisposition of the soul; which suiting a law to the inward frame of man,\nis quite out of the compass of the wisdom of any creature.\n\n(4.) His wisdom is seen in the encouragements he gives for the\nstudying and observing his will (Ps. xix. 11); \u201cIn keeping thy\ncommandments there is great reward.\u201d The variety of them; there is\nnot any particular genius in man but may find something suitable to\nwin upon him in the revealed will of God. There is a strain of reason\nto satisfy the rational; of eloquence, to gratify the fanciful; of\ninterest, to allure the selfish; of terror, to startle the obstinate.\nAs a skilful angler stores himself with baits, according to the\nappetites of the sorts of fish he intends to catch, so in the word\nof God there are varieties of baits, according to the varieties of\nthe inclinations of men; threatenings to work upon fear; promises to\nwork upon love; examples of holy men set out for imitation; and those\nplainly; neither his threatenings nor his promises are dark, as the\nheathen oracles; but peremptory, as becomes a sovereign lawgiver;\nand plain, as was necessary for the understanding of a creature.\nAs he deals graciously with men in exhorting and encouraging them,\nso he deals wisely herein, by taking away all excuse from them if\nthey ruin the interest of their souls, by denying obedience to their\nSovereign. Again, the rewards God proposeth are accommodated, not to\nthe brutish parts of man, his carnal sense and fleshly appetite, but\nto the capacity of a spiritual soul, which admits only of spiritual\ngratifications; and cannot, in its own nature, without a sordid\nsubjection to the humors of the body, be moved by sensual proposals.\nGod backs his precepts with that which the nature of man longed for,\nand with spiritual delights, which can only satisfy a rational appetite;\nand thereby did as well gratify the noblest desires in man, as oblige\nhim to the noblest service and work.[784] Indeed, virtue and holiness\nbeing perfectly amiable, ought chiefly to affect our understandings,\nand by them draw our wills to the esteem and pursuit of them. But\nsince the desire of happiness is inseparable from the nature of man,\nas impossible to be disjoined as an inclination to descend to be\nsevered from heavy bodies, or an instinct to ascend from light and\nairy substances; God serves himself of the inclination of our natures\nto happiness, to enjender in us an esteem and affection to the holiness\nhe doth require. He proposeth the enjoyment of a supernatural good\nand everlasting glory, as a bait to that insatiable {a530} longing\nour natures have for happiness, to receive the impression of holiness\ninto our souls. And, besides, he doth proportion rewards according the\ndegrees of men\u2019s industry, labor, and zeal for him; and weighs out a\nrecompense, not only suited to, but above the service. He that improves\nfive talents, is to be ruler over five cities; that is, a greater\nproportion of honor and glory than another (Luke xix. 17, 18); as a\nwise father excites the affection of his children to things worthy of\npraise, by varieties of recompenses according to their several actions.\nAnd it was the wisdom of the steward, in the judgment of our Saviour,\nto give every one the \u201cportion that belonged to him\u201d (Luke xii. 42).\nThere is no part of the word wherein we meet not with the will and\nwisdom of God, varieties of duties, and varieties of encouragement,\nmingled together.\n\n(5.) The wisdom of God is seen in fitting the revelations of his will\nto aftertimes, and for the preventing of the foreseen corruptions of\nmen. The whole revelation of the mind of God is stored with wisdom in\nthe words, connexion, sense; it looks backwards to past, and forwards\nto ages to come: a hidden wisdom lies in the bowels of it, like gold\nin a mine. The Old Testament was so composed, as to fortify the New,\nwhen God should bring it to light. The foundations of the gospel were\nlaid in the law: the predictions of the Prophets, and figures of the\nlaw, were so wisely framed, and laid down in such clear expressions,\nas to be proofs of the authority of the New Testament, and convictions\nof Jesus\u2019 being the Messiah (Luke xxiv. 14). Things concerning Christ\nwere written in Moses, the Prophets, and Psalms; and do, to this day,\nstare the Jews so in the face, that they are fain to invent absurd\nand nonsensical interpretations to excuse their unbelief, and continue\nthemselves in their obstinate blindness. And in pursuance of the\nefficacy of those predictions, it was a part of the wisdom of God to\nbring forth the translation of the Old Testament, (by the means of\nPtolomy, king of Egypt, some hundreds of years before the coming of\nChrist) into the Greek language, the tongue then most known in the\nworld; and why? to prepare the Gentiles, by the reading of it, for that\ngracious call he intended them, and for the entertainment of the gospel,\nwhich some few years after was to be published among them; that, by\nreading the predictions so long before made, they might more readily\nreceive the accomplishment of them in their due time. The Scripture is\nwritten in such a manner, as to obviate errors foreseen by God to enter\ninto the church. It may be wondered, why the universal particle should\nbe inserted by Christ, in the giving the cup in the supper, which\nwas not in the distributing the bread (Matt. xxvi. 27): \u201cDrink ye all\nof it;\u201d not at the distributing the bread, \u201cEat you all of it;\u201d and\nMark, in his relation, tells us, \u201cThey all drank of it\u201d (Mark xi. 23).\nThe church of Rome hath been the occasion of discovering to us the\nwisdom of our Saviour, in inserting that particle _all_, since they\nwere so bold to exclude the communicants from the cup by a trick\nof concomitancy. Christ foresaw the error, and therefore put in a\nlittle word to obviate a great invasion: and the Spirit of God hath\nparticularly left upon record that particle, as we may reasonably\nsuppose to such a purpose. And so, in the description {a531} of\nthe \u201cblessed Virgin\u201d (Luke i. 27), there is nothing of her holiness\nmentioned, which is with much diligence recorded of Elizabeth (ver. 6):\n\u201cRighteous, walking in all the commandments of God, blameless;\u201d\nprobably to prevent the superstition which God foresaw would arise in\nthe world. And we do not find more undervaluing speeches uttered by\nChrist to any of his disciples, in the exercise of his office, than to\nher, except to Peter. As when she acquainted him with the want of wine\nat the marriage in Cana, she receives a slighting answer: \u201cWoman, what\nhave I to do with thee\u201d (John ii. 4)? And when one was admiring the\nblessedness of her that bare him, he turns the discourse another way,\nto pronounce a blessedness rather belonging to them that \u201chear the word\nof God, and keep it\u201d (Luke xi. 27, 28); in a mighty wisdom to antidote\nhis people against any conceit of the prevalency of the Virgin over him\nin heaven, in the exercise of his mediatory office.\n\n2. As his wisdom appears in his government by his laws, so it\nappears in the various inclinations and conditions of men. As there\nis a distinction of several creatures, and several qualities in them,\nfor the common good of the world, so among men there are several\ninclinations and several abilities, as donatives from God, for the\ncommon advantage of human society; as several channels cut out from\nthe same river run several ways, and refresh several soils, one man is\nqualified for one employment, another marked out by God for a different\nwork, yet all of them fruitful to bring in a revenue of glory to God,\nand a harvest of profit to the rest of mankind. How unuseful would the\nbody be, if it had but \u201cone member\u201d (1 Cor. xii. 19)! How unprovided\nwould a house be, if it had not vessels of dishonor as well as of\nhonor! The corporation of mankind would be as much a chaos, as the\nmatter of the heavens and the earth was, before it was distinguished by\nseveral forms breathed into it at the creation. Some are inspired with\na particular genius for one art, some for another; every man hath a\ndistinct talent. If all were husbandmen, where would be the instruments\nto plough and reap? If all were artificers, where would they have\ncorn to nourish themselves? All men are like vessels, and parts in\nthe body, designed for distinct offices and functions for the good\nof the whole, and mutually return an advantage to one another. As the\nvariety of gifts in the church is a fruit of the wisdom of God, for the\npreservation and increase of the church, so the variety of inclinations\nand employments in the world is a fruit of the wisdom of God, for the\npreservation and subsistence of the world by mutual commerce. What\nthe apostle largely discourseth of the former, in 1 Cor. xii. may be\napplied to the other. The various conditions of men is also a fruit\nof Divine wisdom. Some are rich, and some poor; the rich have as much\nneed of the poor, as the poor have of the rich; if the poor depend upon\nthe rich for their livelihood, the rich depend upon the poor for their\nconveniences. Many arts would not be learned by men, if poverty did\nnot oblige them to it; and many would faint in the learning of them, if\nthey were not thereunto encouraged by the rich. The poor labor for the\nrich, as the earth sends vapors into the vaster and fuller air; and the\nrich return advantages again to the poor, as the clouds {a532} do the\nvapors in rain upon the earth. As meat would not afford a nourishing\njuice without bread, and bread without other food would immoderately\nfill the stomach, and not be well digested, so the rich would be\nunprofitable in the commonwealth without the poor, and the poor would\nbe burdensome to a commonwealth without the rich. The poor could not\nbe easily governed without the rich, nor the rich sufficiently and\nconveniently provided for without the poor. If all were rich, there\nwould be no objects for the exercise of a noble part of charity: if all\nwere poor, there were no matter for the exercise of it. Thus the Divine\nwisdom planted various inclinations, and diversified the conditions of\nmen for the public advantages of the world.\n\n2dly. God\u2019s wisdom appears, in the government of men, as fallen and\nsinful; or, in the government of sin. After the law of God was broke,\nand sin invaded and conquered the world, divine wisdom had another\nscene to act in, and other methods of government were necessary. The\nwisdom of God is then seen in ordering those jarring discords, drawing\ngood out of evil, and honour to himself out of that which in its own\nnature tended to the supplanting of his glory. God being a sovereign\ngood, would not suffer so great an evil to enter, but to serve himself\nof it for some greater end, for all his thoughts are full of goodness\nand wisdom. Now, though the permission of sin be an act of his\nsovereignty, and the punishment of sin be an act of his justice, yet\nthe ordination of sin to good, is an act of his wisdom, whereby he doth\ndispose the evil, overrules the malice, and orders the events of it to\nhis own purposes. Sin in itself is a disorder, and therefore God doth\nnot permit sin for itself; for in its own nature it hath nothing of\namiableness, but he wills it for some righteous end, which belongs to\nthe manifestation of his glory, which is his aim in all the acts of his\nwill; he wills it not as sin, but as his wisdom can order it to some\ngreater good than was before in the world, and make it contribute to\nthe beauty of the order he intends. As a dark shadow is not delightful\nand pleasant in itself, nor is drawn by a painter for any amiableness\nthere is in the shadow itself, but as it serves to set forth that\nbeauty which is the main design of his art, so the glorious effects\nwhich arise from the entrance of sin into the world, are not from the\ncreatures evil, but the depths of divine wisdom. Particularly,\n\n1. God\u2019s wisdom is seen in the bounding of sin; as it is said of the\nwrath of man, it shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath God doth\nrestrain (Ps. lxxvi. 10). He sets limits to the boiling corruption of\nthe heart, as he doth to the boisterous waves of the sea; \u201cHitherto\nshalt thou go, and no further.\u201d As God is the rector of the world, he\ndoth so restrain sin, so temper and direct it, as that human society is\npreserved, which else would be overflown with a deluge of wickedness,\nand ruin would be brought upon all communities. The world would be a\nshambles, a brothel\u2011house, if God, by his wisdom and goodness, did not\nset bars to that wickedness which is in the hearts of men: the whole\nearth would be as bad as hell. Since the heart of man is a hell of\ncorruption, by that the souls of all men would be excited to the acting\nthe worst villanies; since {a533} \u201cevery thought of the heart of man\nis only evil, and that continually\u201d (Gen. vi. 5). If the wisdom of God\ndid not stop these floodgates of evil in the hearts of men, it would\noverflow the world, and frustrate all the gracious designs he carries\non among the sons of men. Were it not for this wisdom, every house\nwould be filled with violence, as well as every nature is with sin.\nWhat harm would not strong and furious beasts do, did not the skill of\nman tame and bridle them? How often hath Divine wisdom restrained the\nviciousness of human nature, and let it run, not to that point they\ndesigned, but to the end he purposed! Laban\u2019s fury, and Esau\u2019s enmity\nagainst Jacob, were pent in within bounds for Jacob\u2019s safety, and their\nhearts overruled from an intended destruction of the good man, to a\nperfect amity (Gen. xxxi. 29, and xxxii.)\n\n2. God\u2019s wisdom is seen in the bringing glory to himself out of sin.\n\n(1.) Out of sin itself. God erects the trophies of honor upon\nthat which is a natural means to hinder and deface it. His glorious\nattributes are drawn out to our view, upon the occasion of sin, which\notherwise had lain hid in his own Being. Sin is altogether black and\nabominable; but by the admirable wisdom of God, he hath drawn out\nof the dreadful darkness of sin the saving beams of his mercy, and\ndisplayed his grace in the incarnation and passion of his Son for the\natonement of sin. Thus he permitted Adam\u2019s fall, and wisely ordered\nit, for a fuller discovery of his own nature, and a higher elevation\nof man\u2019s good, that \u201cas sin reigned to death, so might grace reign\nthrough righteousness to eternal life, by Jesus Christ\u201d (Rom. v. 21).\nThe unbounded goodness of God could not have appeared without it. His\ngoodness in rewarding innocent obedience would have been manifested;\nbut not his mercy, in pardoning rebellious crimes. An innocent creature\nis the object of the rewards of grace, as the standing angels are under\nthe beams of grace; but not under the beams of mercy, because they\nwere never sinful, and, consequently, never miserable. Without sin\nthe creature had not been miserable: had man remained innocent, he\nhad not been the subject of punishment; and without the creature\u2019s\nmisery, God\u2019s mercy in sending his Son to save his enemies, could not\nhave appeared. The abundance of sin is a passive occasion for God to\nmanifest the abundance of his grace. The power of God in the changing\nthe heart of a rebellious creature, had not appeared, had not sin\ninfected our nature. We had not clearly known the vindictive justice\nof God, had no crime been committed; for that is the proper object of\nDivine wrath. The goodness of God could never have permitted justice to\nexercise itself upon an innocent creature, that was not guilty either\npersonally or by imputation (Ps. xi. 7), \u201cThe righteous Lord loveth\nrighteousness, his countenance doth uphold the upright.\u201d Wisdom is\nillustrious hereby. God suffered man to fall into a mortal disease, to\nshew the virtue of his own restoratives to cure sin, which in itself\nis incurable by the art of any creature. And otherwise this perfection,\nwhereby God draws good out of evil, had been utterly useless, and would\nhave been destitute of an object wherein to discover itself. Again,\nwisdom, in ordering a rebellious head\u2011strong world to its own ends, is\ngreater than the ordering an {a534} innocent world, exactly observant\nof his precepts, and complying with the end of the creation. Now,\nwithout the entrance of sin, this wisdom had wanted a stage to act\nupon. Thus God raised the honor of this wisdom, while man ruined the\nintegrity of his nature; and made use of the creature\u2019s breach of his\ndivine law, to establish the honor of it in a more signal and stable\nmanner, by the active and passive obedience of the Son of his bosom.\nNothing serves God so much, as an occasion of glorifying himself, as\nthe entrance of sin into the world; by this occasion God communicates\nto us the knowledge of those perfections of his nature, which had else\nbeen folded up from us in an eternal night; his justice had lain in\nthe dark, as having nothing to punish; his mercy had been obscure, as\nhaving none to pardon; a great part of his wisdom had been silent, as\nhaving no such object to order.\n\n(2.) His wisdom appears, in making use of sinful instruments. He uses\nthe malice and enmity of the devil to bring about his own purposes, and\nmakes the sworn enemy of his honor contribute to the illustrating of it\nagainst his will. This great craftsmaster he took in his own net, and\ndefeated the devil by the devil\u2019s malice; by turning the contrivances\nhe had hatched and accomplished against man, against himself. He\nused him as a tempter, to grapple with our Saviour in the wilderness,\nwhereby to make him fit to succor us; and as the god of this world, to\nconspire the wicked Jews to crucify him, whereby to render him actually\nthe Redeemer of the world, and so make him an ignorant instrument of\nthat divine glory he designed to ruin. It is more skill to make a\ncurious piece of workmanship with ill\u2011conditioned tools, than with\ninstruments naturally fitted for the work: it is no such great wonder\nfor a limner to draw an exact piece with a fit pencil and suitable\ncolors, as to begin and perfect a beautiful work with a straw and\nwater, things improper for such a design.[785] This wisdom of God is\nmore admirable and astonishing than if a man were able to rear a vast\npalace by fire, whose nature is to consume combustible matter not to\nerect a building. To make things serviceable contrary to their own\nnature, is a wisdom peculiar to the Creator of Nature. God\u2019s making use\nof devils, for the glory of his name, and the good of his people, is a\nmore amazing piece of wisdom than his goodness in employing the blessed\nangels in his work. To promise, that the world, (which includes the god\nof the world), and death, and things present, let them be as evil as\nthey will, should be ours, that is, for our good, and for his glory,\nis an act of goodness; but to make them serviceable to the honor of\nChrist, and the good of his people, is a wisdom that may well raise our\nhighest admirations: they are for believers, as they are for the glory\nof Christ, and as Christ is for the glory of God (1 Cor. iii. 22). To\nchain up Satan wholly, and frustrate his wiles, would be an argument\nof Divine goodness; but to suffer him to run his risk, and then improve\nall his contrivances for his own glorious and gracious ends and\npurposes, manifests, besides his power and goodness, his wisdom also.\nHe uses the sins of evil instruments for the glory of his justice (Isa.\nx. 5\u20127). Thus he served {a535} himself of the ambition and covetousness\nof the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Romans, for the correction of his\npeople, and punishment of his rebels, just as the Roman magistrates\nused the fury of lions and other wild beasts, in their theatres, for\nthe punishment of criminals: the lions acted their natural temper in\ntearing those that were exposed to them for a prey; but the intent of\nthe magistrates was to punish their crimes. the lions with their rage,\nthat they had from their natures; but served themselves of that natural\nrage to execute justice.\n\n(3.) God\u2019s wisdom is seen in bringing good to the creature out of sin.\nHe hath ordered sin to such an end as man never dreamt of, the devil\nnever imagined, and sin in its own nature could never attain. Sin in\nits own nature tends to no good, but that of punishment, whereby the\ncreature is brought into order. It hath no relation to the creature\u2019s\ngood in itself, but to the creature\u2019s mischief: but God, by an act\nof infinite wisdom, brings good out of it to the creature, as well as\nglory to his name, contrary to the nature of the crime, the intention\nof the criminal, and the design of the tempter. God willed sin, that\nis, he willed to permit it, that he might communicate himself to the\ncreature in the most excellent manner. He willed the permission of\nsin, as an occasion to bring forth the mystery of the incarnation and\npassion of our Saviour; as he permitted the sin of Joseph\u2019s brethren,\nthat he might use their evil to a good end. He never, because of his\nholiness, wills sin as an end; but in regard of his wisdom he wills to\npermit it as a means and occasion; and thus, to draw good out of those\nthings which are in their own nature most contrary to good, is the\nhighest pitch of wisdom.\n\n[1.] The redemption of man in so excellent a way, was drawn from\nthe occasion of sin. The greatest blessing that ever the world was\nblessed with, was ushered in by contraieties, by the lust and irregular\naffection of man; the first promise of the Redeemer by the fall of Adam\n(Gen. iii. 15), and the bruising the heel of that promised Seed, by the\nblackest tragedy acted by wicked rebels, the treachery of Judas, and\nthe rage of the Jews; the highest good hath been brought forth by the\ngreatest wickedness. As God out of the chaos of rude and indigested\nmatter framed the first creation; so from the sins of men, and malice\nof Satan, he hath erected the everlasting scheme of honor in a new\ncreation of all things by Jesus Christ. The devil inspired man, to\ncontent his own fury in the death of Christ; and God ordered it to\naccomplish his own design of redemption in the passion of the Redeemer;\nthe devil had his diabolical ends, and God overpowers his actions to\nserve his own divine ends. The person that betrayed him was admitted\nto be a spectator of the most private actions of our Saviour, that\nhis innocence might be justified; to shew, that he was not afraid to\nhave his enemies judges of his most retired privacies. While they all\nthought to do their own wills, Divine wisdom orders them to do God\u2019s\nwill (Acts ii. 23): \u201cHim, being delivered by the determinate counsel\nand foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have\ncrucified and slain.\u201d And wherein the crucifiers of {a536} Christ\nsinned, in shedding the richest blood, upon their repentance they found\nthe expiation of their crimes, and the discovery of a superabundant\nmercy. Nothing but the blood was aimed at by them: the best blood was\nshed by them; but infinite Wisdom makes the cross the scene of his own\nrighteousness, and the womb of man\u2019s recovery. By the occasion of man\u2019s\nlapsed state, there was a way open to raise man to a more excellent\ncondition than that whereinto he was put by creation: and the depriving\nman of the happiness of an earthly paradise, in a way of justice, was\nan occasion of advancing him to a heavenly felicity, in a way of grace.\nThe violation of the old covenant occasionally introduced a better: the\nloss of the first integrity ushered in a more stable righteousness, an\neverlasting righteousness (Dan. ix. 24). And the falling of the first\nhead was succeeded by one whose standing could not but be eternal. The\nfall of the devil was ordered by infinite Wisdom, for the good of that\nbody from which he fell. It is supposed by some, that the devil was the\nchief angel in heaven, the head of all the rest; and that he falling,\nthe angels were left as a body without a head; and after he had\npolitically beheaded the angels, he endeavored to destroy man, and rout\nhim out of paradise; but God takes the opportunity to set up his Son,\nas the head of angels and men. And thus whilst the devil endeavored to\nspoil the corporation of angels, and make them a body contrary to God,\nGod makes angels and men one body under one head, for his service.\nThe angels in losing a defectible head, attained a more excellent and\nglorious Head in another nature, which they had not before; though of\na lower nature in his humanity, yet of a more glorious nature in his\ndivinity: from whence many suppose they derive their confirming grace,\nand the stability of their standing. \u201cAll things in heaven and earth\nare gathered together in Christ\u201d (Eph i. 10), \u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03ba\u03b5\u03c6\u03b1\u03bb\u03b1\u03b9\u03ce\u03c3\u03b1\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9, all\nunited in him, and reduced under one head: that though our Saviour be\nnot properly their Redeemer, for redemption supposeth captivity, yet in\nsome sense he is their Head and Mediator: so that now the inhabitants\nof heaven and earth are but one family (Eph. iii. 15). And the\ninnumerable company of angels are parts of that heavenly and triumphant\nJerusalem, and that general assembly, whereof Jesus Christ is Mediator\n(Heb. xii. 22, 29).\n\n[2.] The good of a nation often, by the skill of Divine wisdom, is\npromoted by the sins of some men. The patriarchs\u2019 selling Joseph to the\nMidianites (Gen. xxxvii. 28), was without question a sin, and a breach\nof natural affection; yet, by God\u2019s wise ordination, it proved the\nsafety of the whole church of God in the world, as well as the Egyptian\nnation (Gen. xlv. 5, 8; l. 20). The Jews\u2019 unbelief was a step whereby\nthe Gentiles arose to the knowledge of the gospel; as the setting of\nthe sun in one place is the rising of it in another (Matt. xxii. 9).\nHe uses the corruptions of men instrumentally to propogate his gospel:\nhe built up the true church by the preaching of some out of envy\n(Phil. i. 15), as he blessed Israel out of the mouth of a false prophet\n(Numb. xxiii.) How often have the heresies of men been the occasion of\nclearing up the truth of God, and fixing the more lively impressions\nof it on {a537} the hearts of believers! Neither Judah nor Tamar, in\ntheir lust, dreamt of a stock for the Redeemer; yet God gave a son\nfrom that unlawful bed, whereof \u201cChrist came according to the flesh\u201d\n(Gen. xxxviii. 29, compared with Matt. i. 3). Jonah\u2019s sin was probably\nthe first and remote occasion of the Ninevites giving credit to his\nprophecy; his sin was the cause of his punishment, and his being flung\ninto the sea might facilitate the reception of his message, and excite\nthe Ninevites\u2019 repentance, whereby a cloud of severe judgment was blown\naway from them. It is thought by some, that when Jonah passed through\nthe streets of Nineveh, with his proclamation of destruction, he might\nbe known by some of the mariners of that ship, from whence he was cast\noverboard into the sea, and might, after their voyage, be occasionally\nin that city, the metropolis of the nation, and the place of some\nof their births; and might acquaint the people, that this was the\nsame person they had cast into the sea, by his own consent, for his\nacknowledged running from the presence of the Lord: for that he had\ntold them (Jonah i. 10); and the mariner\u2019s prayer (ver. 14) evidenced\nit; whereupon they might conclude his message worthy of belief, since\nthey knew from such evidences, that he had sunk into the bowels of the\nwaters, and now saw him safe in their streets, by a deliverence unknown\nto them; and that therefore that power that delivered him, could\neasily verify his word in the threatened judgment. Had Jonah gone at\nfirst, without committing that sin, and receiving that punishment, his\nmessage had not been judged a divine prediction, but a fruit of some\nenthusiastic madness; his sin upon this account was the first occasion\nof averting a judgment from so great a city.\n\n[3.] The good of the sinner himself is sometimes promoted by Divine\nwisdom ordering the sin. As God had not permitted sin to enter upon\nthe world, unless to bring glory to himself by it; so he would not let\nsin remain in the little world of a believer\u2019s heart, if he did not\nintend to order it for his good. What is done by man, to his damage\nand disparagement, is directed by Divine wisdom to his advantage; not\nthat it is the intent of the sin, or the sinner; but it is the event of\nthe sin, by the ordination of Divine wisdom and grace. As without the\nwisdom of God permitting sin to enter into the world, some attributes\nof God had not been experimentally known, so some graces could not have\nbeen exercised; for where had there been an object for that noble zeal,\nin vindicating the glory of God, had it not been invaded by an enemy?\nThe intenseness of love to him could not have been so strong, had\nwe not an enemy to hate for his sake. Where had there been any place\nfor that noble part of charity in holy admonitions and compassion\nto the souls of our neighbors, and endeavors to reduce them out of\na destructive, to a happy path? Humility would not have had so many\ngrounds for its growth and exercise, and holy sorrow had no fuel. And\nas without the appearance of sin there had been no exercise of the\npatience of God, so without afflictions, the fruits of sin, there had\nbeen no ground for the exercise of the patience of a christian, one\nof the noblest parts of valor. Now sin being evil, and such as cannot\nbut be evil, hath no respect in itself to any {a538} good, and cannot\nwork a gracious end, or anything profitable to the creature; nay it is\na hindrance to any good, and, therefore, what good comes from it, is\naccidental; occasioned, indeed, by sin, but efficiently caused by the\nover\u2011ruling wisdom of God, taking occasion thereby to display itself\nand the Divine goodness.\n\n1. The sins and corruptions remaining in the heart of man, God orders\nfor good; and there are good effects by the direction of his wisdom and\ngrace, as the soul respects God.\n\n(1.) God often brings forth a sensibleness of the necessity of\ndependence on him. The nurse often lets the child slip, that it may the\nbetter know who supports it, and may not be too venturous and confident\nof its own strength. Peter would trust in habitual grace, and God\nsuffers him to fall, that he might trust more in assisting grace (Matt.\nxxvi. 35): \u201cThough I should die with thee, yet I will not deny thee.\u201d\nGod leaves sometimes the brightest souls in eclipse, to manifest that\ntheir holiness, and the preservation of it, depend upon the darting\nout his beams upon them. As the falls of men are the effects of their\ncoldness and remissness in acts of faith and repentance, so the fruit\nof these falls is often a running to him for refuge, and a deeper\nsensibleness where their security lies. It makes us lower our swelling\nsails, and come under the lee and protection of Divine grace. When the\npleasures of sin answer not the expectations of a revolted creature,\nhe reflects upon his former state, and sticks more close to God, when\nbefore God had little of his company (Hos. ii. 7): \u201cI will return to\nmy first husband, for then it was better with me than now.\u201d As God\nmakes the sins of men sometimes an occasion of their conversion, so he\nsometimes makes them an occasion of a further conversion. Onesimus run\nfrom Philemon, and was met with by Paul, who proved an instrument of\nhis conversion (Philem. 10): \u201cMy son, Onesimus, whom I have begotten\nin my bonds.\u201d His flight from his master was the occasion of his\nregeneration by Paul, a prisoner. The falls of believers God orders to\ntheir further stability; he that is fallen for want of using his staff,\nwill lean more upon it to preserve himself from the like disaster. God,\nby permitting the lapses of men, doth often make them despair of their\nown strength to subdue their enemies, and rely upon the strength of\nChrist, wherein God hath laid up power for us, and so becomes stronger\nin that strength which God hath ordained for them. We are very apt to\ntrust in ourselves, and have confidence in our own worth and strength;\nand God lets loose corruptions to abate this swelling humor. This was\nthe reason of the apostle Paul\u2019s \u201cthorn in the flesh\u201d (2 Cor. xii. 7);\nwhether it were a temptation, or corruption, or sickness, that he might\nbe sensible of his own inability, and where the sufficiency of grace\nfor him was placed. He that is in danger of drowning, and hath the\nwaves come over his head, will, with all the might he hath, lay hold\nupon anything near him, which is capable to save him. God lets his\npeople sometimes sink into such a condition, that they may lay the\nfaster hold on him who is near to all that call upon him.\n\n(2.) God hereby raiseth higher estimations of the value and virtue of\nthe blood of Christ. As the great reason why God permitted sin {a539}\nto enter into the world, was to honor himself in the Redeemer, so the\ncontinuance of sin, and the conquests it sometimes makes in renewed\nmen, are to honor the infinite value and virtue of the Redeemer\u2019s merit,\nwhich God, from the beginning, intended to magnify: the value of it, in\ntaking off so much successive guilt; and the virtue of it, in washing\naway so much daily filth. The wisdom of God hereby keeps up the credit\nof imputed righteousness, and manifests the immense treasure of the\nRedeemer\u2019s merit to pay such daily debts. Were we perfectly sanctified,\nwe should stand upon our own bottom, and imagine no need of the\ncontinual and repeated imputation of the righteousness of Christ for\nour justification: we should confide in inherent righteousness, and\nslight imputed. If God should take off all remainders of sin, as well\nas the guilt of it, we should be apt to forget that we are fallen\ncreatures, and that we had a Redeemer; but the relics of sin in us mind\nus of the necessity of some higher strength to set us right: they mind\nus both of our own misery, and the Redeemer\u2019s perpetual benefit. God,\nby this, keeps up the dignity and honor of our Saviour\u2019s blood to the\nheight, and therefore sometimes lets us see, to our own cost, what\nfilth yet remains in us for the employment of that blood, which we\nshould else but little think of, and less admire. Our gratitude is so\nsmall to God as well as man, that the first obligations are soon forgot\nif we stand not in need of fresh ones successively to second them; we\nshould lose our thankful remembrance of the first virtue of Christ\u2019s\nblood in washing us, if our infirmities did not mind us of fresh\nreiterations and applications of it. Our Saviour\u2019s office of advocacy\nwas erected especially for sins committed after a justified and renewed\nstate (1 John ii. 1). We should scarce remember we had an Advocate,\nand scarce make use of him without some sensible necessity; but our\nremainders of sin discover our impotency, and an impossibility for us\neither to expiate our sin, or conform to the law, which necessitates\nus to have recourse to that person whom God hath appointed to make up\nthe breaches between God and us. So the apostle wraps up himself in the\ncovenant of grace and his interest in Christ, after his conflict with\nsin (Rom. vii. _ult._), \u201cI thank God, through Jesus Christ.\u201d Now, after\nsuch a body of death, a principle within me that sends up daily steams,\nyet as long as I serve God with my mind, as long as I keep the main\ncondition of the covenant, \u201cthere is no condemnation\u201d (Rom. viii. 1):\nChrist takes my part, procures my acceptance, and holds the band\nof salvation firm in his hands. The brightness of Christ\u2019s grace\nis set off by the darkness of our sin. We should not understand the\nsovereignty of his medicines, if there were no relics of sin for him to\nexercise his skill upon: the physician\u2019s art is most experimented, and\ntherefore most valued in relapses, as dangerous as the former disease.\nAs the wisdom of God brought our Saviour into temptation, that he might\nhave compassion to us, so it permits us to be overcome by temptation,\nthat we might have due valuations of him.\n\n(3.) God hereby often engageth the soul to a greater industry for his\nglory. The highest persecutors, when they have become converts have\nbeen the greatest champions for that cause they both hated and {a540}\noppressed. The apostle Paul is such an instance of this, that it needs\nno enlargement. By how much they have failed of answering the end of\ntheir creation in glorifying God, by so much the more they summon up\nall their force for such an end, after their conversion; to restore\nas much as they can of that glory to God, which they, by their sin,\nhad robbed him of. Their sins, by the order of Divine wisdom, prove\nwhetstones to sharpen the edge of their spirits for God. Paul never\nremembered his persecuting fury, but he doubled his industry for the\nservice of God, which before he trampled under his feet. The further\nwe go back, the greater leap many times we take forward. Our Saviour,\nafter his resurrection, put Peter upon the exercise of that love to him,\nwhich had so lately shrunk his head out of suffering (John xxi. 15\u201217);\nand no doubt, but the consideration of his base denial, together with\na reflection upon a gracious pardon, engaged his ingenuous soul to\nstronger and fiercer flames of affection. A believer\u2019s courage for God\nis more sharpened oftentimes by the shame of his fall: he endeavors to\nrepair the faults of his ingratitude and his disingenuity by larger and\nstronger steps of obedience; as a man in a fight, having been foiled by\nhis enemy, reassumes new courage by his fall, and is many times obliged\nto his foil, both for his spirit and his victory. A gracious heart will,\nupon the very motions to sin, double its vigor, as well as by good ones:\nit is usually more quickened, both in its motion to God and for God, by\nthe temptations and motions to sin which run upon it. This is another\ngood the wisdom of God brings forth from sin.\n\n(4.) Again, humility towards God is another good Divine wisdom brings\nforth from the occasion of sin. By this God beats down all good opinion\nof ourselves. Hezekiah was more humbled by his fall into pride, than by\nall the distress he had been in by Sennacherib\u2019s army (2 Chron. xxxii.\n26). Peter\u2019s confidence before his fall, gave way to an humble modesty\nafter it; you see his confidence (Mark xiv. 24). \u201cThough all should be\noffended in thee, yet will not I;\u201d and you have the mark of his modesty\n(John xxi. 17). It is not then, Lord, I will love thee to the death,\nI will not start from thee; but, \u201cLord, thou knowest that I love thee:\u201d\nI cannot assure myself of anything after this miscarriage; but, Lord,\nthou knowest there is a principle of love in me to thy name. He was\nashamed, that himself who appeared such a pillar, should bend as meanly\nas a shrub to a temptation. The reflection upon sin lays a man as low\nas hell in his humiliation, as the commission of sin did in the merit.\nWhen David comes to exercise repentance for his sin, he begins it from\nthe well\u2011head of sin (Ps. li. 5), his original corruption, and draws\ndown the streams of it to the last commission; perhaps he did not so\nseriously humble himself for the sin of his nature all his days, so\nmuch as at that time; at least, we have not such evidences of it. And\nHezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart; not only for the\npride of his act (2 Chron. xxxii. 26), but for the pride in the heart,\nwhich was the spring of that pride in act, in showing his treasures to\nthe Babylonish ambassadors. God lets sin continue in the hearts of the\nbest in this world, and sometimes gives the reins to Satan, and {a541}\na man\u2019s own corruption, to keep up a sense of the ancient sale we made\nof ourselves to both.\n\n2. In regard of ourselves. Herein is the wonder of Divine wisdom, that\nGod many times makes a sin, which meritoriously fits us for hell, a\nprovidential occasion to fit us for heaven; when it is an occasion of a\nmore humble faith and believing humility, and an occasion of a thorough\nsanctification and growth in grace, which prepares us for a state of\nglory.\n\n(1.) He makes use of one sin\u2019s breaking out to discover more; and so\nbrings us to a self\u2011abhorrency and indignation against sin, the first\nstep towards heaven. Perhaps David, before his gross fall, thought he\nhad no hypocrisy in him. We often find him appealing to God for his\nintegrity, and desiring God to try him, if any guile could be found in\nhis heart, as if he could find none himself; but his lapse into that\ngreat wickedness makes him discern much falseness in his soul, when\nhe desires God to renew a right spirit within him, and speaks of truth\nin the inward parts (Ps. li. 6, 10). The stirring of corruption makes\nall the mud at the bottom appear, which before a soul did not suspect.\nNo man would think there were so great a cloud of smoke contained in\na little stick of wood, were it not for the powerful operation of the\nfire, that both discovers and separates it. Job, that cursed the day of\nhis birth, and uttered many impatient expressions against God upon the\naccount of his own integrity; upon his recovery from his affliction,\nand God\u2019s close application of himself, was wrought to a greater\nabhorrency of himself than ever we read he was exercised in before (Job\nxlii. 6). The hostile acts of sin increase the soul\u2019s hatred of it; and\nthe deeper our humiliations are for it, the stronger impressions of\nabhorrency are made upon us.\n\n(2.) He often orders it, to make conscience more tender, and the soul\nmore watchful. He that finds by his calamity his enemy to have more\nstrength against him than he suspected, will double his guards, and\nquicken his diligence against him. A being overtaken by some sin, is,\nby the wisdom of God, disposed to make us more fearful of cherishing\nany occasion to inflame it, and watchful against every motion and start\nof it. By a fall, the soul hath more experience of the deceitfulness\nof the heart; and by observing its methods, is rendered better able to\nwatch against them. It is our ignorance of the devices of Satan, and\nour own hearts, that makes us obnoxious to their surprises. A fall\ninto one sin is often a prevention of more which lay in wait for us;\nas the fall of a small body into an ambush prevents the design of the\nenemy upon a greater: as God suffers heresies in the church, to try\nour faith, so he suffers sins to remain, and sometimes to break out, to\ntry our watchfulness. This advantage he brings from them, to steel our\nresolutions against the same sins, and quicken our circumspection for\nthe future against new surprises by a temptation. David\u2019s sin was ever\nbefore him (Ps. li. 3), and made his conscience cry, Blood, blood! upon\nevery occasion: he refused the water of the well of Bethlehem (2 Sam.\nxxiii. 16, 17), because it was gained with the hazard of lives: he\ncould endure nothing that had the taste of blood {a542} in it. Our\nfear of a thing depends much upon a trial of it: a child will not\nfear too near approaches to the fire till he feels the smart of it.\nMortification doth not wholly suppress the motions of sin, though it\ndoth the resolutions to commit it; but that there will be a proneness\nin the relics of it, to entice a man into those faults, which, upon\nsight of their blemishes, cost him so many tears; as great sicknesses,\nafter the cure, are more watched, and the body humored, that a man\nmight not fall from the craziness they have left in him, which he is\napt to do if relapses are not provided against. A man becomes more\ncareful of anything that may contribute to the resurrection of an\nexpired disease.\n\n(3.) God makes it an occasion of the mortification of that sin which\nwas the matter of the fall. The liveliness of one sin, in a renewed\nman, many times is the occasion of the death of it. A wild beast, while\nkept close in a den, is secure in its life, but when it breaks out to\nrapine, it makes the master resolve to prevent any further mischief by\nthe death of it. The impetuous stirring of a humor, in a disease, is\nsometimes critical, and a prognostic of the strength of nature against\nit, whereby the disease loses its strength, by its struggling, and\nmakes room for health to take place by degrees. One sin is used by\nGod for the destruction both of itself and others, as the flesh of a\nscorpion cures the biting of it. It sometimes, by wounding us, loseth\nits sting, and, like the bee, renders itself incapable of a second\nrevenge. Peter, after his gross denial, never denied his Master\nafterwards. The sin that lay undiscovered, is, by a fall, become\nvisible, and so more obvious to a mortifying stroke. The soul lays the\nfaster hold on Christ and the promise, and goes out against that enemy,\nin the name of that Lord of Hosts, of which he was too negligent before;\nand, therefore, as he proves more strong, so more successful: he hath\nmore strength, because he hath less confidence in himself, and more in\nGod, the prime strength of his soul. As it was with Christ, so it is\nwith us; while the devil was bruising his heel, he was bruising his\nhead; and while the devil is bruising our heel, the God of peace and\nwisdom is sometimes bruising his head, both in us and for us, so that\nthe strugglings of sin are often as the faint groans or bitings of a\nbeast that is ready to expire. It is just with a man, sometimes, as\nwith a running fountain that hath mud at the bottom, when it is stirred\nthe mud tinctures and defiles it all over; yet some of that mud hath a\nvent with the streams which run from it, so that, when it is re\u2011settled\nat the bottom, it is not so much in quantity as it was before. God, by\nhis wisdom, weakens the sin by permitting it to stir and defile.\n\n(4.) Sometimes Divine wisdom makes it an occasion to promote a\nsanctification in all parts of the soul. As the working of one\nill\u2011humor in the body is an occasion of cashiering, not only that, but\nthe rest, by a sound purge; as a man, that is a little cold, doth not\nthink of the fire, but if he slips with one foot into an icy puddle,\nhe hastens to the fire, whereby not only that part, but all the rest\nreceive a warmth and strength upon that occasion; or, as if a person\nfall into the mire, his clothes are washed, and by that means cleansed,\nnot only from the filth at present contracted, but from the {a543}\nformer spots that were before unregarded. God, by his wisdom, brings\nsecret sins to a discovery, and thereby cleanseth the soul of them.\nDavid\u2019s fall might be ordered as an answer to his former petition\n(Ps. xix. 12): \u201cCleanse thou me from my secret sins;\u201d and as he did\nearnestly pray after his fall, so no doubt but he endeavored a thorough\nsanctification (Ps. li. 7); \u201cPurge me, wash me;\u201d and that he meant\nnot only a sanctification from that single sin, but from all, root and\nbranch, is evident by that complaint of the flaw in his nature (ver. 5):\nthe dross and chaff which lies in the heart is hereby discovered, and\nan opportunity administered of throwing it out, and searching all the\ncorners of the heart to discover where it lay. As God sometimes takes\noccasion from one sin to reckon with men, in a way of justice, for\nothers, so he sometimes takes occasion, from the commission of one sin,\nto bring out all the actions against the sinner, to make him, in a way\nof gracious wisdom, set more cordially upon the work of sanctification.\nA great fall sometimes hath been the occasion of a man\u2019s conversion.\nThe fall of mankind occasioned a more blessed restoration; and the\nfalls of particular believers ofttimes occasion a more extensive\nsanctification. Thus the only wise God makes poisons in nature to\nbecome medicines in a way of grace and wisdom.\n\n(5.) Hereby the growth in grace is furthered. It is a wonder of Divine\nwisdom, to subtract sometimes grace from a person, and let him fall\ninto sin, thereby to occasion the increase of habitual grace in him,\nand to augment it by those ways that seemed to depress it. By making\nsins an occasion of a more vigorous acting, the contrary grace, the\nwisdom of God, makes our corruptions, in their own nature destructive,\nto become profitable to us. Grace often breaks out more strongly\nafterwards, as the sun doth with its heat, after it hath been masked\nand interrupted with a mist: they often, through the mighty working of\nthe Spirit, make us more humble, and \u201chumility fits us to receive more\ngrace from God\u201d (James iv. 6). How doth faith, that sunk under the\nwaves, lift up its head again, and carry the soul out with a greater\nliveliness! What ardors of love, what floods of repenting tears, what\nseverity of revenge, what horrors at the remembrance of the sin, what\ntremblings at the appearance of a second temptation! so that grace\nseems to be awakened to a new and more vigorous life (2 Cor. vii. 11).\nThe broken joint is many times stronger in the rupture than it was\nbefore. The luxuriancy of the branches of corruption is an occasion\nof purging, and purging is with a design to make grace more fruitful\n(John xv. 2); \u201cHe purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.\u201d Thus\nDivine wisdom doth both sharpen and brighten us by the dust of sin,\nand ripen and mellow the fruits of grace by the dung of corruption.\nGrace grows the stronger by opposition, as the fire burns hottest and\nclearest when it is most surrounded by a cold air; and our natural heat\nreassumes a new strength by the coldness of the winter. The foil under\na diamond, though an imperfection in itself, increaseth the beauty and\nlustre of the stone. The enmity of man was a commendation of the grace\nof God: it occasioned the {a544} breaking out of the grace of God upon\nus; and is an occasion, by the wisdom and grace of God, of the increase\nof grace many times in us. How should the consideration of God\u2019s\nincomprehensible wisdom, in the management of evil, swallow us up in\nadmiration! who brings forth such beauty, such eminent discoveries\nof himself, such excellent good to the creature, out of the bowels of\nthe greatest contrarieties, making dark shadows serve to display and\nbeautify, to our apprehensions, the Divine glory! If evil were not in\nthe world, men would not know what good is; they would not behold the\nlustre of Divine wisdom, as without night we could not understand the\nbeauty of the day. Though God is not the author of sin, because of\nhis holiness, yet he is the administrator of sin by his wisdom, and\naccomplisheth his own purposes, by the iniquities of his enemies, and\nthe lapses and infirmities of his friends. Thus much for the second,\nthe government of man in his lapsed state, and the government of sin,\nwherein the wisdom of God doth wonderfully appear.\n\n3dly. The wisdom of God appears in the government of man in his\nconversion and return to him. If there be a counsel in framing the\nlowest creature, and in the minutest passages of providence, there\nmust needs be a higher wisdom in the government of the creature to a\nsupernatural end, and framing the soul to be a monument of his glory.\nThe wisdom of God is seen with more admirations, and in more varieties,\nby the angels, in the church than in the creation (Eph. iii. 10);\nthat is, in forming a church out of the rubbish of the world, out of\ncontrarieties and contradictions to him, which is greater than the\nframing a celestial and elementary world out of a rude chaos. The most\nglorious bodies in the world, even those of the sun, moon, and stars,\nhave not such stamps of Divine skill upon them as the soul of man; nor\nis there so much of wisdom in the fabric and faculties of that, as in\nthe reduction of a blind, wilful, rebellious soul, to its own happiness,\nand God\u2019s glory (Eph. i. 11, 12); \u201cHe worketh all things according to\nthe counsel of his own will, that we should be for the praise of his\nglory.\u201d If all things, then this, which is none of the least of his\nworks; to the praise of the glory of his goodness in his work, and to\nthe praise of the rule of his work, his counsel, in both the act of\nhis will, and the act of his wisdom. The restoring of the beauty of the\nsoul, and its fitness for its true end, speaks no less wisdom than the\nfirst draught of it in creation: and the application of redemption, and\nbringing forth the fruits of it, is as well an act of his prudence, as\nthe contrivance was of his counsel. Divine wisdom appears,\n\n1. In the subjects of conversion. His goodness reigns in the very dust,\nand he erects the walls and ornaments of his temple from the clay and\nmud of the world. He passes over the wise, and noble, and mighty, that\nmay pretend some grounds of boasting in their own natural or acquired\nendowments; and pitches upon the most contemptible materials, wherewith\nto build a spiritual tabernacle for himself (1 Cor. i. 26, 27), \u201cthe\nfoolish, and weak things of the world;\u201d those that are naturally most\nunfit for it, and most refractory to it. Herein lies the skill of an\narchitect, to render the most knotty, {a545} crooked, and inform pieces,\nby his art, subservient to his main purpose and design. Thus God hath\nordered, from the beginning of the world, contrary tempers, various\nhumors, diverse nations, as stones of several natures, to be a building\nfor himself, fitly framed together, and to be his own family (1 Cor.\niii. 9). Who will question the skill that alters a black jet into a\nclear crystal, a glow\u2011worm into a star, a lion into a lamb, and a swine\ninto a dove? The more intricate and knotty any business is, the more\neminent is any man\u2019s ability and prudence, in untying the knots and\nbringing it to a good issue. The more desperate the disease, the more\nadmirable is the physician\u2019s skill in the cure. He pitches upon men for\nhis service, who have natural dispositions to serve him in such ways as\nhe disposeth of them, after their conversion: so Paul was naturally a\nconscientious man; what he did against Christ was from the dictates of\nan erroneous conscience, soaked in the Pharisaical interpretations of\nthe Jewish law: he had a strain of zeal to prosecute what his depraved\nreason and conscience did inform him in. God pitches upon this man,\nand works him in the fire for his service. He alters not his natural\ndisposition, to make him of a constitution and temper contrary to\nwhat he was before; but directs it to another object, claps in another\nbias into the bowl, and makes his ill\u2011governed dispositions move in\na new way of his own appointment, and guides that natural heat to the\nservice of that interest which he was before ambitious to extirpate;\nas a high\u2011mettled horse, when left to himself, creates both disturbance\nand danger, but under the conduct of a wise rider, moves regularly; not\nby a change of his natural fierceness, but a skilful management of the\nbeast to the rider\u2019s purpose.\n\n2. In the means of conversion. The prudence of man consists in the\ntiming the executions of his counsels; and no less doth the wisdom of\nGod consist in this. As he is a God of judgment or wisdom, he waits to\nintroduce his grace into the soul in the fittest season. This attribute,\nPaul, in the story of his own conversion, puts a particular remark\nupon, which he doth not upon any other; in that catalogue he reckons\nup (1 Tim. i. 17), \u201cNow, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible,\nthe only wise God, be honor and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.\u201d A most\nsolemn doxology, wherein wisdom sits upon the throne above all the rest,\nwith a special Amen to the glory of it, which refers to the timing\nof his mercy so to Paul, as made most for the glory of his grace, and\nthe encouragement of others from him as the pattern. God took him at\na time when he was upon the brink of hell; when he was ready to devour\nthe new\u2011born infant church at Damascus; when he was armed with all the\nauthority from without, and fired with all the zeal from within, for\nthe prosecution of his design: then God seizeth upon him, and runs him\nin a channel for his own honor, and his creatures\u2019 happiness. It is\nobservable[786] how God set his eye upon Paul all along in his furious\ncourse, and lets him have the reins, without putting out his hand\nto bridle him; yet no motion he could take, but the eye of God runs\nalong with him: he suffered him to kick against the pricks of miracles,\nand the convincing discourse of Stephen at his martyrdom. {a546}\nThere were many that voted for Stephen\u2019s death, as the witnesses that\nflung the stones first at him; but they are not named, only Saul, who\ntestified his approbation as well as the rest, and that by watching\nthe witnesses\u2019 clothes while they were about that bloody work (Acts\nvii. 58); \u201cthe witnesses laid their clothes at a young man\u2019s feet,\nnamed Saul.\u201d Again, though multitudes were consenting to his death,\nyet (Acts viii. 1) Saul only is mentioned. God\u2019s eye is upon him, yet\nhe would not at that time stop his fury. He goes on further, and makes\n\u201chavoc of the church\u201d (Acts viii. 3). He had surely many more complices,\nbut none are named (as if none regarded with any design of grace) but\nSaul: yet God would not reach out his hand to change him, but eyes him,\nwaiting for a fitter opportunity, which in his wisdom he did foresee.\nAnd, therefore (Acts ix. 1) the Spirit of God adds a _yet_; \u201cSaul yet\nbreathing out threatenings.\u201d It was not God\u2019s time yet, but it would\nbe shortly. But, when Saul was putting in execution his design against\nthe church of Damascus, when the devil was at the top of his hopes, and\nSaul in the height of his fury, and the Christians sunk into the depth\nof their fears, the wisdom of God lays hold of the opportunity, and by\nPaul\u2019s conversion at this season, defeats the devil, disappoints the\nhigh priests, shields his people, discharges their fears, by pulling\nSaul out of the devil\u2019s hands, and forming Satan\u2019s instruments to a\nholy activity against him.\n\n3. The wisdom of God appears in the manner of conversion. So great\na change God makes, not by a destruction, but with a preservation of,\nand suitableness to nature. As the devil tempts us, not by offering\nviolence to our natures, but by proposing things convenient to our\ncorrupt natures, so doth God solicit us to a return by proposals suited\nto our faculties. As he doth in nature convey nourishment to men, by\nmeans of the fruits of the earth, and produceth the fruits of the earth\nby the influences of heaven; the influences of heaven do not force the\nearth, but excite that natural virtue and strength which is in it. So\nGod produceth grace in the soul by the means of the word, fitted to the\ncapacity of man, as man, and proportioned to his rational faculties,\nas rational. It would be contrary to the wisdom of God to move man\nlike a stone, to invert the order and privilege of that nature which\nhe settled in creation; for then God would in vain have given man\nunderstanding and will: because, without moving man according to those\nfaculties, they would remain unprofitable and unuseful in man.[787]\nGod doth not reduce us to himself, as logs, by a mere force, or as\nslaves forced by a cudgel, to go forth to that place, and do that\nwork which they have no stomach to: but he doth accommodate himself\nto those foundations he hath laid in our nature, and guides us in a\nway agreeable thereunto, by an action as sweet as powerful; clearing\nour understandings of dark principles, whereby we may see his truth,\nour own misery, and the seat of our happiness; and bending our wills\naccording to this light, to desire and move conveniently to this\nend of our calling; efficaciously, yet agreeably; powerfully, yet\nwithout imposing on our natural faculties; sweetly, without violence,\nin ordering the {a547} means; but effectually, without failing, in\naccomplishing the end.[788] And therefore the Scripture calleth it,\nteaching (John vi. 45), alluring (Hos. ii. 15), calling us to seek the\nLord (Ps. xxvii. 8). Teaching is an act of wisdom; alluring, an act of\nlove; calling, an act of authority: but none of them argue a violent\nconstraint. The principle that moves the will is supernatural; but the\nwill, as a natural faculty, concurs in the act or motion. God doth not\nact in this in a way of absolute power, without an infinite wisdom,\nsuiting himself to the nature of the things he acts upon: he doth\nnot change the physical nature, though he doth the moral. As in the\ngovernment of the world, he doth not make heavy things ascend, nor\nlight things descend, ordinarily, but guides their motions according\nto their natural qualities: so God doth not strain the faculties\nbeyond their due pitch. He lets the nature of the faculty remain, but\nchanges the principle in it: the understanding remains understanding,\nand the will remains will. But where there was before folly in the\nunderstanding, he puts in a spirit of wisdom; and where there was\nbefore a stoutness in the will, he forms it to a pliableness to his\noffers. He hath a key to fit every ward in the lock, and opens the will\nwithout injuring the nature of the will. He doth not change the soul\nby an alteration of the faculties, but by an alteration of something\nin them: not by an inroad upon them, or by mere power, or a blind\ninstinct, but by proposing to the understanding something to be known,\nand informing it of the reasonableness of his precepts, and the innate\ngoodness and excellency of his offers, and by inclining the will to\nlove and embrace what is proposed. And things are proposed under those\nnotions, which usually move our wills and affections. We are moved by\nthings as they are good, pleasant, profitable; we entertain things as\nthey make for us, and detest things as they are contrary to us. Nothing\naffects us but under such qualities, and God suits his encouragements\nto these natural affections which are in us: his power and wisdom go\nhand in hand together; his power to act what his wisdom orders, and his\nwisdom to conduct what his power executes. He brings men to him in ways\nsuited to their natural dispositions. The stubborn he tears like a lion,\nthe gentle he wins like a turtle, by sweetness; he hath a hammer to\nbreak the stout, and a cord of love to draw the more pliable tempers:\nhe works upon the more rational in a way of gospel reason; upon the\nmore ingenuous in a way of kindness, and draws them by the cords of\nlove. The wise men were led to Christ by a star, and means suited to\nthe knowledge and study that those eastern nations used, which was much\nin astronomy: he worketh upon others by miracles accommodated to every\none\u2019s sense, and so proportions the means according to the nature of\nthe subjects he works upon.\n\n4. The wisdom of God is apparent in his discipline and penal evils. The\nwisdom of human governments is seen in the matter of their laws, and in\nthe penalties of their laws, and in the proportion of the punishment to\nthe offence, and in the good that redounds from the punishment either\nto the offender, or to the community. The wisdom of God is seen in the\npenalty of death upon the transgression {a548} of his law; both in that\nit was the greatest evil that man might fear, and so was a convenient\nmeans to keep him in his due bound, and also in the proportion of it\nto the transgression. Nothing less could be in a wise justice inflicted\nupon an offender for a crime against the highest Being and the Supreme\nExcellency: but this hath been spoken of before in the wisdom of his\nlaws. I shall only mention some few; it would be too tedious to run\ninto all.\n\n(1.) His wisdom appears in judgments, in the suiting them to the\nqualities of persons, and nature of sins. He deviseth evil (Jer. xviii.\n11); his judgments are fruits of counsel. \u201cHe also is wise, and will\nbring evil\u201d (Isa. xxxi. 2),\u2015\u2015evil suitable to the person offending,\nand evil suitable to the offence committed: as the husbandman doth\nhis threshing instruments to the grain: he hath a rod for the cummin,\na tenderer seed, and a flail for the harder; so hath God greater\njudgments for the obdurate sinner, and lighter for those that have\nsomething of tenderness in their wickedness (Isa. xxviii. 27, 29):\n\u201cBecause he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working;\u201d so some\nunderstand the place, \u201cWith the froward, he will show himself froward.\u201d\nHe proportions punishment to the sin, and writes the cause of the\njudgment in the forehead of the judgment itself. Sodom burned in lust,\nand was consumed by fire from heaven. The Jews sold Christ for thirty\npence; and at the taking of Jerusalem, thirty of them were sold\nfor a penny. So Adonibezek cut off the thumbs and great toes of\nothers, and he is served in the same kind (Judges i. 7). The Babel\nbuilders designed an indissoluble union, and God brings upon them an\nunintelligible confusion. And in Exod. ix. 9, the ashes of the furnace\nwhere the Israelites burnt the Egyptian bricks, sprinkled towards\nheaven, brought boils upon the Egyptian bodies, that they might feel in\ntheir own, what pain they had caused in the Israelites\u2019 flesh; and find,\nby the smart of the inflamed scab, what they had made the Israelites\nendure. The waters of the river Nilus are turned into blood, wherein\nthey had stifled the breath of the Israelites\u2019 infants: and at last the\nprince, and the flower of their nobility, are drowned in the Red Sea.\nIt is part of the wisdom of justice to proportion punishment to the\ncrime, and the degrees of wrath to the degrees of malice in the sin.\nAfflictions also are wisely proportioned: God, as a wise physician,\nconsiders the nature of the humor and strength of the patient, and\nsuits his medicines both to the one and the other (1 Cor. x. 13).\n\n(2.) In the seasons of punishments and afflictions. He stays till sin\nbe ripe, that his justice may appear more equitable, and the offender\nmore inexcusable (Dan. ix. 14); he watches upon the evil to bring it\nupon men; to bring it in the just season and order for his righteous\nand gracious purpose; his righteous purpose on the enemies, and his\ngracious purpose on his people. Jerusalem\u2019s calamity came upon them,\nwhen the city was full of people at the solemnity of the passover,\nthat he might mow down his enemies at once, and time their destruction\nto such a moment wherein they had timed the crucifixion of his Son. He\nwatched over the clouds of his judgments, and kept them from pouring\ndown, till his people, the Christians, were provided for, and had\ndeparted out of the city to the {a549} chambers and retiring places\nGod had provided for them. He made not Jerusalem the shambles of his\nenemies, till he had made Pella, and other places, the arks of his\nfriends. As Pliny tells us, \u201cThe providence of God holds the sea in a\ncalm for fifteen days, that the halcyons, little birds that frequent\nthe shore, may build their nests, and hatch up their young.\u201d The\njudgment upon Sodom was suspended for some hours, till Lot was secured.\nGod suffered not the church to be invaded by violent persecutions, till\nshe was established in the faith: he would not expose her to so great\ncombats, while she was weak and feeble, but gave her time to fortify\nherself, to be rendered more capable of bearing up under them.[789] He\nstifled all the motions of passion the idolaters might have for their\nsuperstition, till religion was in such a condition, as rather to\nbe increased and purified, than extinguished by opposition. Paul was\nsecured from Nero\u2019s chains, and the nets of his enemies, till he had\nbroke off the chain of the devil from many cities of the Gentiles, and\ncatched them by the net of the gospel out of the sea of the world. Thus\nthe wisdom of God is seen in the seasons of judgments and afflictions.\n\n(3.) It is apparent in the gracious issue of afflictions and penal\nevils. It is a part of wisdom to bring good out of evil of punishment,\nas well as to bring good out of sin. The church never was so like\nto heaven, as when it was most persecuted by hell: the storms often\ncleansed it and the lance often made it more healthful. Job\u2019s integrity\nhad not been so clear, nor his patience so illustrious, had not the\ndevil been permitted to afflict him. God, by his wisdom, outwits Satan;\nwhen he by his temptations intends to pollute us and buffet us, God\norders it to purify us; he often brings the clearest light out of the\nthickest darkness, makes poisons to become medicines. Death itself, the\ngreatest punishment in this life, and the entrance into hell in its own\nnature, he hath by his wise contrivance, made to his people the gate of\nheaven, and the passage into immortality.[790] Penal evils in a nation\noften end in a public advantage: troubles and wars among a people\nare many times not destroying, but medicinal, and cure them of that\ndegeneracy, luxury, and effeminateness, they contracted by a long peace.\n\n(4.) This wisdom is evident in the various ends which God brings about\nby afflictions. The attainment of various ends by one and the same\nmeans, is the fruit of the agent\u2019s prudence. By the same affliction,\nthe wise God corrects sometimes for some base affection, excites some\nsleepy grace, drives out some lurking corruption, refines the soul, and\nruins the lust; discovers the greatness of a crime, the vanity of the\ncreature, and the sufficiency in himself. The Jews bind Paul, and by\nthe judge he is sent to Rome; while his mouth is stopped in Judea, it\nis opened in one of the greatest cities of the world, and his enemies\nunwittingly contribute to the increase of the knowledge of Christ\nby those chains, in that city (Acts xxviii. 31) that triumphed over\nthe earth. And his afflictive bonds added courage and resolution to\nothers (Phil. i. 14): \u201cMany waxing confident by my bonds;\u201d which could\nnot in their own nature produce such an effect, but by the order and\ncontrivance of Divine wisdom: {a550} in their own nature, they would\nrather make them disgust the doctrine he suffered for, and cool their\nzeal in the propagating of it, for fear of the same disgrace and\nhardship they saw him suffer.[791] But the wisdom of God changed the\nnature of these fetters, and conducted them to the glory of his name,\nthe encouragement of others, the increase of the gospel, and the\ncomfort of the apostle himself (Phil. i. 12, 13, 18). The sufferings\nof Paul at Rome confirmed the Philippians, a people at a distance from\nthence, in the doctrine they had already received at his hands. Thus\nGod makes sufferings sometimes, which appear like judgments, to be\nlike the viper on Paul\u2019s hand (Acts xxviii. 6), a means to clear up\ninnocence, and procure favor to the doctrine among those barbarians.\nHow often hath he multiplied the church by death and massacres, and\nincreased it by those means used to annihilate it!\n\n(5.) The Divine wisdom is apparent in the deliverances he affords to\nother parts of the world, as well as to his church. There are delicate\ncomposures, curious threads in his webs, and he works them like an\nartificer: a goodness wrought for them, curiously wrought (Ps. xxxi.\n19), [1.] In making the creatures subservient in their natural order\nto his gracious ends and purposes. He orders things in such a manner,\nas not to be necessitated to put forth an extraordinary power in\nthings, which some part of the creation might accomplish. Miraculous\nproductions would speak his power; but the ordering the natural course\nof things, to occasion such effects they were never intended for, is\none part of the glory of his wisdom. And that his wisdom may be seen\nin the course of nature, he conducts the motions of creatures, and\nacts them in their own strength; and doth that by various windings and\nturnings of them, which he might do in an instant by his power, in a\nsupernatural way. Indeed, sometimes he hath made invasions on nature,\nand suspended the order of their natural laws for a season, to show\nhimself the absolute Lord and Governor of nature: yet if frequent\nalterations of this nature were made, they would impede the knowledge\nof the nature of things, and be some bar to the discovery and glory\nof his wisdom, which is best seen by moving the wheels of inferior\ncreatures in an exact regularity to his own ends. He might, when his\nlittle church in Jacob\u2019s family was like to starve in Canaan, have, for\ntheir preservation, turned the stones of the country into bread; but\nhe sends them down to Egypt to procure corn, that a way might be opened\nfor their removal into that country; the truth of his prediction in\ntheir captivity accomplished, and a way made after the declaration\nof his great name, Jehovah, both in the fidelity of his word and\nthe greatness of his power, in their deliverance from that furnace\nof affliction. He might have struck Goliath, the captain of the\nPhilistine\u2019s army, with a thunderbolt from heaven, when he blasphemed\nhis name, and scared his people; but he useth the natural strength of\na stone, and the artificial motion of a sling, by the arm of David,\nto confront the giant, and thereby to free Judea from the ravage of\na potent enemy. He might have delivered the Jews from Babylon by as\nstrange miracles as he used in their deliverance from Egypt: he {a551}\nmight have plagued their enemies, gathered his people into a body, and\nprotected them by the bulwark of a cloud and a pillar of fire, against\nthe assaults of their enemies. But he uses the differences between the\nPersians and those of Babylon, to accomplish his ends. How sometimes\nhath the veering about of the wind on a sudden been the loss of a navy,\nwhen it hath been put upon the point of victory, and driven back the\ndestruction upon those which intended it for others! and the accidental\nstumbling, or the natural fierceness of a horse, flung down a general\nin the midst of a battle, where he hath lost his life by the throng,\nand his death hath brought a defeat to his army, and deliverance to the\nother party, that were upon the brink of ruin! Thus doth the wisdom of\nGod link things together according to natural order, to work out his\nintended preservation of a people. [2.] In the season of deliverance.\nThe timing of affairs is a part of the wisdom of man, and an eminent\npart of the wisdom of God. It is in due season he sends the former\nand the latter rain, when the earth is in the greatest indigence,\nand when his influences may most contribute to the bringing forth and\nripening the fruit. The dumb creatures have their meat from him in due\nseason (Ps. civ. 27): and in his due season have his darling people\ntheir deliverance. When Paul was upon his journey to Damascus with\na persecuting commission, he is struck down for the security of the\nchurch in that city. The nature of the lion is changed in due season,\nfor the preservation of the lambs from worrying. The Israelites are\nmiraculously rescued from Egypt, when their wits were at a loss, when\ntheir danger to human understanding was unavoidable; when earth and\nsea refused protection, then the wisdom and power of heaven stepped\nin to effect that which was past the skill of the conductors of that\nmultitude. And when the lives of the Jews lay at the stake, and their\nnecks were upon the block at the mercy of their enemies\u2019 swords by\nan order from Shushan, not only a reprieve, but a triumph, arrives to\nthe Jews, by the wisdom of God guiding the affair, whereby of persons\ndesigned to execution, they are made conquerors, and have opportunity\nto exercise their revenge instead of their patience, proving triumphers\nwhere they expected to be sufferers (Esth. viii. 9). How strangely doth\nGod, by secret ways, bow the hearts of men and the nature of things\nto the execution of that which he designs, notwithstanding all the\nresistance of that which would traverse the security of his people!\nHow often doth he trap the wicked in the work of their own hands, make\ntheir confidence to become their ruin, and ensnare them in those nets\nthey wrought and laid for others (Ps. ix. 16)! \u201cThe wicked is snared in\nthe work of his own hands. He scatters the proud in the imagination of\ntheir hearts\u201d (Luke i. 51), in the height of their hopes, when their\ndesigns have been laid so deep in the foundation, and knit and cemented\nso close in their superstructure, that no human power or wisdom could\nrase them down: he hath then disappointed their projects, and befooled\ntheir craft. How often hath he kept back the fire, when it hath been\nready to devour; broke the arrows when they have been prepared in the\nbow; turned the spear into the bowels of the bearers, and wounded them\nat the very instant they were ready to wound {a552} others! [3.] In\nsuiting instruments to his purpose. He either finds them fit, or makes\nthem on a sudden fit for his gracious ends. If he hath a tabernacle to\nbuild, he will fit a Bezaleel and an Aholiab with the spirit of wisdom\nand understanding in all cunning workmanship (Exod. xxxi. 3, 6). If\nhe finds them crooked pieces, he can, like a wise architect, make them\nstraight beams for the rearing his house, and for the honor of his\nname. He sometimes picks out men according to their natural tempers,\nand employs them in his work. Jehu, a man of a furious temper, and\nambitious spirit, is called out for the destruction of Ahab\u2019s house.\nMoses, a man furnished with all Egyptian wisdom, fitted by a generous\neducation, prepared also by the affliction he met with in his flight,\nand one who had had the benefit of conversation with Jethro, a man of\nmore than an ordinary wisdom and goodness, as appears by his prudent\nand religious counsel; this man is called out to be the head and\ncaptain of an oppressed people, and to rescue them from their bondage,\nand settle the first national church in the world. So Elijah, a\nhigh\u2011spirited man, of a hot and angry temper, one that slighted the\nfrowns, and undervalued the favor of princes, is set up to stem the\ntorrent of Israelitish idolatry. So Luther, a man of the same temper,\nis drawn out by the same wisdom to encounter the corruptions in the\nchurch, against such opposition, which a milder temper would have sunk\nunder. The earth, in Rev. xii. 16, is made an instrument to help the\nwoman: when the grandees of that age transferred the imperial power\nupon Constantine, who became afterwards a protecting and nursing father\nto the church, an end which many of his favorers never designed, nor\never dreamt of: but God, by his infinite wisdom, made these several\ndesigns, like several arrows shot at rovers, meet in one mark to which\nhe directed them, viz., in bringing forth an instrument to render peace\nto the world and security and increase to his church.\n\nIII. The wisdom of God doth wonderfully appear in redemption. His\nwisdom in creature ravisheth the eye and understanding; his wisdom\nin government doth no less affect a curious observer of the links and\nconcatenation of the means; but his wisdom in redemption mounts the\nmind to a greater astonishment. The works of creation are the footsteps\nof his wisdom; the work of redemption is the face of his wisdom. A man\nis better known by the features of his face, than by the prints of his\nfeet. We, with \u201copen face,\u201d or a revealed face, \u201cbeholding the glory of\nthe Lord\u201d (2 Cor. iii. 18). Face, there, refers to God, not to us; the\nglory of God\u2019s wisdom is now open, and no longer covered and veiled by\nthe shadows of the law. As we behold the light glorious as scattered\nin the air before the appearance of the sun, but more gloriously in the\nface of the sun when it begins its race in our horizon. All the wisdom\nof God in creation, and government in his variety of laws, was like\nthe light the three first days of the creation, dispersed about the\nworld; but the fourth day it was more glorious, when all gathered into\nthe body of the sun (Gen. i. 4, 16). So the light of Divine wisdom\nand glory was scattered about the world, and so more obscure, till the\nfourth divine day of the world, about the four thousandth year, it was\ngathered into one body, the Sun of Righteousness, and so shone {a553}\nout more gloriously to men and angels. All things are weaker the\nthinner they are extended, but stronger the more they are united and\ncompacted in one body and appearance. In Christ, in the dispensation\nby him, as well as his person, were \u201chid all the treasures of wisdom\nand knowledge\u201d (Coloss. ii. 3). Some doles of wisdom were given out\nin creation, but the treasures of it opened in redemption, the highest\ndegrees of it that ever God did exert in the world. Christ is therefore\ncalled the \u201cwisdom of God,\u201d as well as the \u201cpower of God\u201d (1 Cor.\ni. 24); and the gospel is called the \u201cwisdom of God.\u201d Christ is the\nwisdom of God principally, and the gospel instrumentally, as it is the\npower of God instrumentally to subdue the heart to himself. This is\nwrapped up in the appointing Christ as Redeemer, and opened to us in\nthe revelation of it by the gospel.\n\n1. It is a hidden wisdom. In this regard God is said, in the text, to\nbe only wise: and it is said to be a \u201chidden wisdom\u201d (1 Tim. i. 17),\nand \u201cwisdom in a mystery\u201d (1 Cor. ii. 7), incomprehensible to the\nordinary capacity of an angel, more than the obstruse qualities of the\ncreatures are to the understanding of man. No wisdom of men or angels\nis able to search the veins of this mine, to tell all the threads of\nthis web, or to understand all the lustre of it; they are as far from\nan ability fully to comprehend it, as they were at first to contrive it.\nThat wisdom that invented it can only comprehend it. In the uncreated\nunderstanding only there is a clearness of light without any shadow of\ndarkness. We come as short of full apprehensions of it, as a child doth\nof the counsel of the wisest prince. It is so hidden from us, that,\nwithout revelation, we could not have the least imagination of it; and\nthough it be revealed to us, yet, without the help of an infiniteness\nof understanding, we cannot fully fathom it: it is such a tractate of\ndivine wisdom, that the angels never before had seen the edition of it,\ntill it was published to the world (Eph. iii. 10): \u201cto the intent that\nnow unto principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known\nby the church the manifold wisdom of God.\u201d Now made known to them,\nnot before; and now made known to them \u201cin the heavenly places.\u201d They\nhad not the knowledge of all heavenly mysteries, though they had the\npossession of heavenly glory: they knew the prophecies of it in the\nword, but attained not a clear interpretation of those prophecies till\nthe things that were prophesied of came upon the stage.\n\n2. Manifold wisdom: so it is called. As manifold as mysterious: variety\nin the mystery, and mystery in every part of the variety. It was not\none single act, but a variety of counsels met in it; a conjunction of\nexcellent ends and excellent means. The glory of God, the salvation of\nman, the defeat of the apostate angels, the discovery of the blessed\nTrinity in their nature, operations, their combined and distinct acts\nand expressions of goodness. The means are the conjunction of two\nnatures, infinitely distinct from one another; the union of eternity\nand time, of mortality and immortality: death is made the way to\nlife, and shame the path to glory. The weakness of the cross is the\nreparation of man, and the creature is made wise by the \u201cfoolishness of\npreaching;\u201d fallen man grows rich by {a554} the poverty of the Redeemer,\nand man is filled by the emptiness of God; the heir of hell made a son\nof God, by God\u2019s taking upon him the \u201cform of a servant;\u201d the son of\nman advanced to the highest degree of honor, by the Son of God becoming\nof \u201cno reputation.\u201d It is called (Eph. i. 8) \u201cabundance of wisdom and\nprudence.\u201d Wisdom, in the eternal counsel, contriving a way; prudence,\nin the temporary revelation, ordering all affairs and occurrences\nin the world for the attaining the end of his counsel. Wisdom refers\nto the mystery; prudence, to the manifestation of it in fit ways and\nconvenient seasons. Wisdom, to the contrivance and order; prudence,\nto the execution and accomplishment. In all things God acted as became\nhim, as a wise and just Governor of the world (Heb. ii. 10). Whether\nthe wisdom of God might not have found out some other way, or whether\nhe were, in regard of the necessity and naturalness of his justice,\nlimited to this, is not the question; but that it is the best and\nwisest way for the manifestation of his glory, is out of question.\n\nThis wisdom will appear in the different interests reconciled by it:\nin the subject, the second person in the Trinity, wherein they were\nreconciled: in the two natures, wherein he accomplished it; whereby\nGod is made known to man in his glory, sin eternally condemned, and\nthe repenting and believing sinner eternally rescued: the honor and\nrighteousness of the law vindicated both in the precept and penalty:\nthe devil\u2019s empire overthrown by the same nature he had overturned,\nand the subtilty of hell defeated by that nature he had spoiled:\nthe creature engaged in the very act to the highest obedience and\nhumility, that, as God appears as a God upon his throne, the creature\nmight appear in the lowest posture of a creature, in the depths of\nresignation and dependence: the publication of this made in the gospel,\nby ways congruous to the wisdom which appeared in the execution of his\ncounsel, and the conditions of enjoying the fruit of it, most wise and\nreasonable.\n\n1. The greatest different interests are reconciled, justice in\npunishing, and mercy in pardoning. For man had broken the law, and\nplunged himself into a gulf of misery: the sword of vengeance was\nunsheathed by justice, for the punishment of the criminal; the bowels\nof compassion were stirred by mercy, for the rescue of the miserable.\nJustice severely beholds the sin, and mercy compassionately reflects\nupon the misery. Two different claims are entered by those concerned\nattributes: justice votes for destruction, and mercy votes for\nsalvation. Justice would draw the sword, and drench it in the blood of\nthe offender; mercy would stop the sword, and turn it from the breast\nof the sinner. Justice would edge it, and mercy would blunt it. The\narguments are strong on both sides.\n\n(1.) Justice pleads. I arraign, before thy tribunal, a rebel, who was\nthe glorious work of thy hands, the centre of thy rich goodness, and a\ncounterpart of thy own image; he is indeed miserable, whereby to excite\nthy compassion; but he is not miserable, without being criminal. Thou\ndidst create him in a state, and with ability to be otherwise: the\nriches of thy bounty aggravate the blackness {a555} of his crime. He\nis a rebel, not by necessity, but will. What constraint was there upon\nhim to listen to the counsels of the enemy of God? What force could\nthere be upon him, since it is without the compass of any creature to\nwork upon, or constrain the will? Nothing of ignorance can excuse him;\nthe law was not ambiguously expressed, but in plain words, both as to\nprecept and penalty; it was writ in his nature in legible characters:\nhad he received any disgust from thee after his creation, it would not\nexcuse his apostasy, since, as a Sovereign, thou wert not obliged to\nthy creature. Thou hadst provided all things richly for him; he was\ncrowned with glory and honor: thy infinite power had bestowed upon him\nan habitation richly furnished, and varieties of servants to attend\nhim. Whatever he viewed without, and whatever he viewed within himself,\nwere several marks of thy Divine bounty, to engage him to obedience:\nhad there been some reason of any disgust, it could not have balanced\nthat kindness which had so much reason to oblige him: however, he\nhad received no courtesy from the fallen angel, to oblige him to turn\ninto his camp. Was it not enough, that one of thy creatures would have\nstripped thee of the glory of heaven, but this also must deprive thee\nof thy glory upon earth, which was due from him to thee as his Creator?\nCan he charge the difficulty of the command? No: it was rather below,\nthan above his strength. He might rather complain that it was no higher,\nwhereby his obedience and gratitude might have a larger scope, and a\nmore spacious field to move in than a precept so light; so easy, as\nto abstain from one fruit in the garden. What excuse can he have, that\nwould prefer the liquorishness of his sense before the dictates of his\nreason, and the obligations of his creation? The law thou didst set\nhim was righteous and reasonable; and shall righteousness and reason be\nrejected by the supreme and infallible reason, because the rebellious\ncreature hath trampled upon it? What! must God abrogate his holy law,\nbecause the creature hath slighted it? What reflection will this be\nupon the wisdom that enacted it, and upon the equity of the command\nand sanction of it? Either man must suffer, or the holy law be\nexpunged, and forever out of date. And is it not better man should\neternally smart under his crime, than any dishonorable reflections\nof unrighteousness be cast upon the law, and of folly, and want\nof foresight upon the Lawgiver? Not to punish, would be to approve\nthe devil\u2019s lie, and justify the creature\u2019s revolt. It would be a\ncondemnation of thy own law as unrighteous, and a sentencing thy own\nwisdom as imprudent. Better man should forever bear the punishment of\nhis offence, than God bear the dishonor of his attributes: better man\nshould be miserable than God should be unrighteous, unwise, false,\nand tamely bear the denial of his sovereignty. But what advantage\nwould it be to gratify mercy by pardoning the malefactor? Besides the\nirreparable dishonor to the law, the falsifying thy veracity in not\nexecuting the denounced threatenings, he would receive encouragement by\nsuch a grace to spurn more at thy sovereignty, and oppose thy holiness\nby running on in a course of sin with hopes of impunity. If the\ncreature be restored, it cannot be expected that he that hath fared so\nwell, after the {a556} breach of it, should be very careful of a future\nobservance: his easy readmission would abet him in the repetition of\nhis offence, and thou shalt soon find him cast off all moral dependence\non thee. Shall he be restored without any condition, or covenant? He\nis a creature not to be governed without a law, and a law is not to\nbe enacted without a penalty. What future regard will he have to thy\nprecept, or what fear will he have of thy threatening, if his crime be\nso lightly past over? Is it the stability of thy word? What reason will\nhe have to give credit to that, which he hath found already disregarded\nby thyself? Thy truth in future threatenings will be of no force with\nhim, who hath experienced thy laying it aside in the former. It is\nnecessary, therefore, that the rebellious creature should be punished\nfor the preservation of the honor of the law, and the honor of the\nLawgiver, with all those perfections that are united in the composure\nof it.\n\n(2.) Mercy doth not want a plea. It is true, indeed, the sin of man\nwants not its aggravations: he hath slighted thy goodness, and accepted\nthy enemy as his counsellor; but it was not a pure act of his own, as\nthe devil\u2019s revolt was: he had a tempter, and the devil had none: he\nhad, I acknowledge, an understanding to know thy will, and a power\nto obey it; yet he was mutable, and had a capacity to fall. It was no\ndifficult task that was set him, nor a hard yoke that was laid upon him;\nyet he had a brutish part, as well as a rational, and sense as well as\nsoul; whereas the fallen angel was a pure intellectual spirit. Did God\ncreate the world to suffer an eternal dishonor, in letting himself be\noutwitted by Satan, and his work wrested out of his hands? Shall the\nwork of eternal counsel presently sink into irreparable destruction,\nand the honor of an almighty and wise work be lost in the ruin of the\ncreature? This would seem contrary to the nature of thy goodness, to\nmake man only to render him miserable: to design him in his creation\nfor the service of the devil, and not for the service of his Creator.\nWhat else could be the issue, if the chief work of thy hand, defaced\npresently after the erecting, should forever remain in this marred\ncondition? What can be expected upon the continuance of his misery, but\na perpetual hatred, and enmity of thy creature against thee? Did God\nin creation design his being hated, or his being loved by his creature?\nShall God make a holy law, and have no obedience to that law from that\ncreature whom it was made to govern? Shall the curious workmanship of\nGod, and the excellent engravings of the law of nature in his heart,\nbe so soon defaced, and remain in that blotted condition forever? This\nfall thou couldst not but in the treasures of thy infinite knowledge\nforesee. Why hadst thou goodness then to create him in an integrity,\nif thou wouldst not have mercy to pity him in misery? Shall thy enemy\nforever trample upon the honor of thy work, and triumph over the glory\nof God, and applaud himself in the success of his subtilty? Shall thy\ncreature only passively glorify thee as an avenger, and not actively\nas a compassionater? Am not I a perfection of thy nature as well as\njustice? Shall justice engross all, and I never come into view? It is\nresolved already, that the fallen angels shall be no subjects for me\nto exercise myself upon; {a557} and I have now less reason than before\nto plead for them: they fell with a full consent of will, without any\nmotion from another; and not content with their own apostasy they envy\nthee, and thy glory upon earth, as well as in heaven, and have drawn\ninto their party the best part of the creation below. Shall Satan\nplunge the whole creation in the same irreparable ruin with himself?\nIf the creature be restored, will he contract a boldness in sin by\nimpurity? Hast thou not a grace to render him ingenuous in obedience,\nas well as a compassion to recover him from misery? What will hinder,\nbut that such a grace, which hath established the standing angels,\nmay establish this recovered creature? If I am utterly excluded from\nexercising myself on men, as I have been from devils, a whole species\nis lost; nay, I can never expect to appear upon the stage: if thou wilt\nquite ruin him by justice, and create another world, and another man,\nif he stand, thy bounty will be eminent, yet there is no room for mercy\nto act, unless by the commission of sin, he exposeth himself to misery;\nand if sin enter into another world, I have little hopes to be heard\nthen, if I am rejected now. Worlds will be perpetually created by\ngoodness, wisdom, and power; sin entering into these worlds, will be\nperpetually punished by justice; and mercy, which is a perfection of\nthy nature, will forever be commanded silence, and lie wrapt up in an\neternal darkness. Take occasion now, therefore, to expose me to the\nknowledge of thy creature, since without misery, mercy can never set\nfoot into the world. Mercy pleads, if man be ruined, the creation is\nin vain; justice pleads, if man be not sentenced, the law is in vain;\ntruth backs justice, and grace abets mercy. What shall be done in this\nseeming contradiction? Mercy is not manifested, if man be not pardoned;\njustice will complain, if man be not punished.\n\n(3.) An expedient is found out, by the wisdom of God, to answer\nthese demands, and adjust the differences between them. The wisdom of\nGod answers, I will satisfy your pleas. The pleas of justice shall be\nsatisfied in punishing, and the pleas of mercy shall be received in\npardoning. Justice shall not complain for want of punishment, nor mercy\nfor want of compassion. I will have an infinite sacrifice to content\njustice; and the virtue and fruit of that sacrifice shall delight mercy.\nHere shall justice have punishment to accept, and mercy shall have\npardon to bestow. The rights of both are preserved, and the demands of\nboth amicably accorded in punishment and pardon, by transferring the\npunishment of our crimes upon a surety, exacting a recompense from his\nblood by justice, and conferring life and salvation upon us by mercy\nwithout the expense of one drop of our own. Thus is justice satisfied\nin its severities, and mercy in its indulgences. The riches of grace\nare twisted with the terrors of wrath. The bowels of mercy are wound\nabout the flaming sword of justice, and the sword of justice protects\nand secures the bowels of mercy. Thus is God righteous without being\ncruel, and merciful without being unjust; his righteousness inviolable,\nand the world recoverable. Thus is a resplendent mercy brought forth\nin the midst of all the curses, confusions, and wrath threatened to\nthe offender. This is the admirable temperament found out by the wisdom\n{a558} of God: his justice is honored in the sufferings of man\u2019s surety;\nand his mercy is honored in the application of the propitiation to\nthe offender (Rom. iii. 24, 25): \u201cBeing justified freely by his grace,\nthrough the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: whom God hath set\nforth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his\nrighteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the\nforbearance of God.\u201d Had we in our persons been sacrifices to justice,\nmercy had forever been unknown; had we been solely fostered by mercy,\njustice had forever been secluded; had we, being guilty, been absolved,\nmercy might have rejoiced, and justice might have complained; had we\nbeen solely punished, justice would have triumphed, and mercy grieved.\nBut by this medium of redemption, neither hath ground of complaint;\njustice hath nothing to charge, when the punishment is inflicted; mercy\nhath whereof to boast when the surety is accepted. The debt of the\nsinner is transferred upon the surety, that the merit of the surety may\nbe conferred upon the sinner; so that God now deals with our sins in\na way of consuming justice, and with our persons in a way of relieving\nmercy. It is highly better, and more glorious, than if the claim of one\nhad been granted, with the exclusion of the demand of the other; it had\nthen been either an unrighteous mercy, or a merciless justice; it is\nnow a righteous mercy, and a merciful justice.\n\n2. The wisdom of God appears in the subject or person wherein these\nwere accorded; the Second Person is the blessed Trinity. There was a\ncongruity in the Son\u2019s undertaking and effecting it rather than any\nother person, according to the order of the persons, and the several\nfunctions of the persons, as represented in Scripture. The Father,\nafter creation, is the lawgiver, and presents man with the image\nof his own holiness and the way to his creatures\u2019 happiness; but\nafter the fall, man was too impotent to perform the law, and too\npolluted to enjoy a felicity. Redemption was then necessary; not\nthat it was necessary for God to redeem man, but it was necessary\nfor man\u2019s happiness that he should be recovered. To this the Second\nPerson is appointed, that by communion with him, man might derive\na happiness, and be brought again to God. But since man was blind\nin his understanding, and an enemy in his will to God, there must be\nthe exerting of a virtue to enlighten his mind, and bend his will to\nunderstand, and accept of this redemption; and this work is assigned\nto the Third Person, the Holy Ghost.\n\n(1.) It was not congruous that the Father should assume human nature,\nand suffer in it for the redemption of man. He was first in order; he\nwas the lawgiver, and therefore to be the judge. As lawgiver, it was\nnot convenient he should stand in the stead of the law\u2011breaker; and as\njudge, it was as little convenient he should be reputed a malefactor.\nThat he who had made a law against sin denounced a penalty upon the\ncommission of sin, and whose part it was actually to punish the sinner,\nshould become sin for the wilful transgressor of his law. He being the\nrector, how could he be an advocate and intercessor to himself? How\ncould he be the judge and the sacrifice? a judge, and yet a mediator\nto himself? If he had been the sacrifice, there must be some person\nto examine the validity {a559} of it, and pronounce the sentence of\nacceptance. Was it agreeable that the Son should sit upon a throne of\njudgment, and the Father stand at the bar, and be responsible to the\nSon? That the Son should be in the place of a governor, and the Father\nin the place of the criminal? That the Father should be bruised (Isa.\nliii. 10) by the Son, as the Son was by the Father (Zech. xiii. 70)?\nthat the Son should awaken a sword against the Father, as the Father\ndid against the Son? That the Father should be sent by the Son, as the\nSon was by the Father (Gal. iv. 4)? The order of the persons in the\nblessed Trinity had been inverted and disturbed. Had the Father been\nsent, he had not been first in order; the sender is before the person\nsent: as the Father begets, and the son is begotten (John i. 14), so\nthe Father sends, and the son is sent. He whose orders is to send,\ncannot properly send himself.\n\n(2.) Nor was it congruous that the Spirit should be sent upon this\naffair. If the Holy Ghost had been sent to redeem us, and the Son to\napply that redemption to us, the order of the Persons had also been\ninverted; the Spirit, then, who was third in order, had been second\nin operation. The Son would then have received of the Spirit, as the\nSpirit doth now of Christ, \u201cand shew it unto us\u201d (John i. 15). As the\nSpirit proceeded from the Father and the Son, so the proper function\nand operation of it was in order after the operations of the Father\nand the Son. Had the Spirit been sent to redeem us, and the Son sent by\nthe Father, and the Spirit to apply that redemption to us, the Son in\nhis acts had proceeded from the Father and the Spirit; the Spirit, as\nsender, had been in order before the Son; whereas, the Spirit is called\n\u201cthe Spirit of Christ,\u201d as sent by Christ from the \u201cFather\u201d (Gal.\niv. 6; John xv. 27). But as the order of the works, so the order of\nthe Persons is preserved in their several operations. Creation, and a\nlaw to govern the creature, precedes redemption. Nothing, or that which\nhath no being, is not capable of a redeemed being. Redemption supposeth\nthe existence and the misery of a person redeemed. As creation precedes\nredemption, so redemption precedes the application of it. As redemption\nsupposeth the being of the creature, so application of redemption\nsupposeth the efficacy of redemption. According to the order of these\nworks, is the order of the operations of the Three Persons. Creation\nbelongs to the Father, the first person; redemption, the second work,\nis the function of the Son, the second person; application, the third\nwork, is the office of the Holy Ghost, the third person. The Father\norders it, the Son acts it, the Holy Ghost applies it. He purifies our\nsouls to understand, believe, and love these mysteries. He forms Christ\nin the womb of the soul, as he did the body of Christ in the womb of\nthe Virgin. As the Spirit of God moved upon the waters, to garnish\nand adorn the world, after the matter of it was formed (Gen. i. 2),\nso he moves upon the heart, to supple it to a compliance with Christ,\nand draws the lineaments of the new creation in the soul, after the\nfoundation is laid. The Son pays the price that was due from us to\nGod, and the Spirit is the earnest of the promises of life and glory\npurchased by the merit of that {a560} death.[792] It is to be observed,\nthat the Father, under the dispensation of the law, proposed the\ncommands, with the promises and threatenings, to the understandings of\nmen; and Christ, under the dispensation of grace, when he was upon the\nearth, proposeth the gospel as the means of salvation, exhorts to faith\nas the condition of salvation; but it was neither the functions of the\none or the other to display such an efficacy in the understanding and\nwill to make men believe and obey; and, therefore, there were such few\nconversions in the time of Christ, by his miracles. But this work was\nreserved for the fuller and brighter appearance of the Spirit, whose\noffice it was to convince the world of the necessity of a Redeemer,\nbecause of their lost condition; of the person of the Redeemer, the Son\nof God; of the sufficiency and efficacy of redemption, because of his\nrighteousness and acceptation by the Father. The wisdom of God is seen\nin preparing and presenting the objects, and then in making impression\nof them upon the subject he intends. And thus is the order of the Three\nPersons preserved.\n\n(3.) The Second Person had the greatest congruity in this work. He by\nwhom God created the world was most conveniently employed in restoring\nthe defaced world (John i. 4): who more fit to recover it from its\nlapsed state than he that had erected it in its primitive state (Heb.\ni. 2)? He was the light of men in creation, and therefore it was most\nreasonable he should be the light of men in redemption. Who fitter to\nreform the Divine image than he that first formed it? Who fitter to\nspeak for us to God than he who was the Word (John i. 1)? Who could\nbetter intercede with the Father than he who was the only begotten and\nbeloved Son? Who so fit to redeem the forfeited inheritance as the\nHeir of all things? Who fitter and better to prevail for us to have\nthe right of children than he that possessed it by nature? We fell from\nbeing the sons of God, and who fitter to introduce us into an adopted\nstate than the Son of God? Herein was an expression of the richer grace,\nbecause the first sin was immediately against the wisdom of God, by an\nambitious affectation of a wisdom equal to God, that that person, who\nwas the wisdom of God, should be made a sacrifice for the expiation of\nthe sin against wisdom.\n\n3. The wisdom of God is seen in the two natures of Christ, whereby\nthis redemption was accomplished. The union of the two natures was the\nfoundation of the union of God and the fallen creature.\n\n1st. The union itself is admirable: \u201cThe Word is made flesh\u201d (John\ni. 14), one \u201cequal with God in the form of a servant\u201d (Phil. ii. 7).\nWhen the apostle speaks of \u201cGod manifested in the flesh,\u201d he speaks\n\u201cthe wisdom of God in a mystery\u201d (1 Tim. iii. 16); that which is\nincomprehensible to the angels, which they never imagined before it\nwas revealed, which perhaps they never knew till they beheld it. I am\nsure, under the law, the figures of the cherubims were placed in the\nsanctuary, with their \u201cfaces looking towards the propitiatory,\u201d in a\nperpetual posture of contemplation and admiration (Exod. xxxvii. 9),\nto which the apostle alludes (1 Pet. i. 12). Mysterious {a561} is the\nwisdom of God to unite finite and infinite, almightiness and weakness,\nimmortality and mortality, immutability, with a thing subject to\nchange; to have a nature from eternity, and yet a nature subject to\nthe revolutions of time; a nature to make a law, and a nature to be\nsubjected to the law; to be God blessed forever, in the bosom of his\nFather, and an infant exposed to calamities from the womb of his mother:\nterms seeming most distant from union, most uncapable of conjunction,\nto shake hands together, to be most intimately conjoined; glory and\nvileness, fulness and emptiness, heaven and earth; the creature with\nthe Creator; he that made all things, in one person with a nature that\nis made; Immanuel, God, and man in one; that which is most spiritual to\npartake of that which is carnal flesh and blood (Heb. ii. 14); one with\nthe Father in his Godhead, one with us in his manhood; the Godhead to\nbe in him in the fullest perfection, and the manhood in the greatest\npurity; the creature one with the Creator, and the Creator one with the\ncreature. Thus is the incomprehensible wisdom of God declared in the\n\u201cWord being made flesh.\u201d\n\n2d. In the manner of this union. A union of two natures, yet\nno natural union. It transcends all the unions visible among\ncreatures:[793] it is not like the union of stones in a building, or\ntwo pieces of timber fastened together, which touch one another only in\ntheir superficies and outside, without any intimacy with one another.\nBy such a kind of union God would not be a man: the Word could not so\nbe made flesh. Nor is it a union of parts to the whole, as the members\nand the body; the members are parts, the body is the whole; for the\nwhole results from the parts, and depends upon the parts: but Christ,\nbeing God, is independent upon anything. The parts are in order of\nnature before the whole, but nothing can be in order of nature before\nGod. Nor is it as the union of two liquors, as when wine and water are\nmixed together, for they are so incorporated as not to be distinguished\nfrom one another; no man can tell which particle is wine, and which is\nwater. But the properties of the Divine nature are distinguishable from\nthe properties of the human. Nor is it as the union of the soul and\nbody, so as that the Deity is the form of the humanity, as the soul is\nthe form of the body: for as the soul is but a part of the man, so the\nDivinity would be then but a part of the humanity; and as a form, or\nthe soul, is in a state of imperfection, without that which it is to\ninform, so the Divinity of Christ would have been imperfect till it\nhad assumed the humanity, and so the perfection of an eternal Deity\nwould have depended on a creature of time. This union of two natures\nin Christ is incomprehensible: and it is a mystery we cannot arrive\nto the top of, how the Divine nature, which is the same with that of\nthe Father and the Holy Ghost, should be united to the human nature,\nwithout its being said that the Father and the Holy Ghost were united\nto the flesh; but the Scripture doth not encourage any such notion; it\nspeaks only of the Word, the person of the Word being made flesh, and\nin his being made flesh, distinguisheth him from the Father, as \u201cthe\n{a562} only begotten of the Father\u201d (John i. 14). The person of the Son\nwas the term of this union.\n\n(1.) This union doth not confound the properties of the Deity and\nthose of the humanity. They remain distinct and entire in each other.\nThe Deity is not changed into flesh, nor the flesh transformed into God:\nthey are distinct, and yet united; they are conjoined, and yet unmixed:\nthe dues of either nature are preserved. It is impossible that the\nmajesty of the Divinity can receive an alteration. It is as impossible\nthat the meanness of the humanity can receive the impressions of the\nDeity, so as to be changed into it, and a creature be metamorphosed\ninto the Creator, and temporary flesh become eternal, and finite mount\nup into infinity: as the soul and body are united, and make one person,\nyet the soul is not changed into the perfections of the body, nor the\nbody into the perfections of the soul. There is a change made in the\nhumanity, by being advanced to a more excellent union, but not in the\nDeity, as a change is made in the air, when it is enlightened by the\nsun, not in the sun, which communicates that brightness to the air.\nAthanasius makes the burning bush to be a type of Christ\u2019s incarnation\n(Exod. iii. 2): the fire signifying the Divine nature, and the bush the\nhuman. The bush is a branch springing up from the earth, and the fire\ndescends from heaven; as the bush was united to the fire, yet was not\nhurt by the flame, nor converted into fire, there remained a difference\nbetween the bush and the fire, yet the properties of the fire shined\nin the bush, so that the whole bush seemed to be on fire. So in the\nincarnation of Christ, the human nature is not swallowed up by the\nDivine, nor changed into it, nor confounded with it, but so united,\nthat the properties of both remain firm: two are so become one, that\nthey remain two still: one person in two natures, containing the\nglorious perfections of the Divine, and the weaknesses of the human.\nThe \u201cfulness of the Deity dwells bodily in Christ\u201d (Col. ii. 9).\n\n(2.) The Divine nature is united to every part of the humanity.\nThe whole Divinity to the whole humanity; so that no part but may\nbe said to be the member of God, as well as the blood is said to be\nthe \u201cblood of God\u201d (Acts xx. 28). By the same reason, it may be said,\nthe hand of God, the eye of God, the arm of God. As God is infinitely\npresent everywhere, so as to be excluded from no place, so is the Deity\nhypostatically everywhere in the humanity, not excluded from any part\nof it; as the light of the sun in every part of the air; as a sparkling\nsplendor in every part of the diamond. Therefore, it is concluded,\nby all that acknowledge the Deity of Christ, that when his soul was\nseparated from the body, the Deity remained united both to soul and\nbody, as light doth in every part of a broken crystal.\n\n(3.) Therefore, perpetually united (Col. ii. 9). The \u201cfulness of\nthe Godhead dwells in him bodily.\u201d It dwells in him, not lodges in\nhim, as a traveller in an inn: it resides in him as a fixed habitation.\nAs God describes the perpetuity of his presence in the ark by his\nhabitation or dwelling in it (Exod. xxix. 44), so doth the apostle the\ninseparable duration of the Deity in the humanity, and the indissoluble\nunion of the humanity with the Deity. It was united on earth; {a563}\nit remains united in heaven. It was not an image or an apparition, as\nthe tongues wherein the Spirit came upon the apostles, were a temporary\nrepresentation, not a thing united perpetually to the person of the\nHoly Ghost.\n\n(4.) It was a personal union. It was not an union of persons, though\nit was a personal union; so Davenant expounds (Col. ii. 9), Christ did\nnot take the person of man, but the nature of man into subsistence with\nhimself. The body and soul of Christ were not united in themselves, had\nno subsistence in themselves, till they were united to the person of\nthe Son of God. If the person of a man were united to him, the human\nnature would have been the nature of the person so united to him, and\nnot the nature of the Son of God (Heb. ii. 14, 16), \u201cForasmuch then as\nthe children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise\ntook part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had\nthe power of death, that is, the devil. For verily he took not on him\nthe nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.\u201d He took\nflesh and blood to be his own nature, perpetually to subsist in the\nperson of the \u039b\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, which must be by a personal union, or no way: the\nDeity united to the humanity, and both natures to be one person. This\nis the mysterious and manifold wisdom of God.\n\n3d. The end of this union.\n\n(1.) He was hereby fitted to be a Mediator. He hath something like to\nman, and something like to God. If he were in all things only like to\nman, he would be at a distance from God: if he were in all things only\nlike to God, he would be at a distance from man. He is a true Mediator\nbetween mortal sinners and the immortal righteous One. He was near to\nus by the infirmities of our nature, and near to God by the perfections\nof the Divine; as near to God in his nature, as to us in ours; as\nnear to us in our nature, as he is to God in the Divine. Nothing that\nbelongs to the Deity, but he possesses; nothing that belongs to the\nhuman nature, but he is clothed with. He had both the nature which had\noffended, and that nature which was offended: a nature to please God,\nand a nature to pleasure us: a nature, whereby he experimentally knew\nthe excellency of God, which was injured, and understood the glory due\nto him, and consequently the greatness of the offence, which was to be\nmeasured by the dignity of his person: and a nature whereby he might be\nsensible of the miseries contracted by, and endure the calamities due\nto the offender, that he might both have compassion on him, and make\ndue satisfaction for him. He had two distinct natures capable of the\naffections and sentiments of the two persons he was to accord; he was a\njust judge of the rights of the one, and the demerit of the other.[794]\nHe could not have this full and perfect understanding if he did not\npossess the perfections of the one, and the qualities of the other;\nthe one fitted him for \u201cthings appertaining to God\u201d (Heb. v. 1),\nand the other furnished him with a sense of the \u201cinfirmities of man\u201d\n(Heb. iv. 15).\n\n(2.) He was hereby fitted for the working out the happiness of man.\nA Divine nature to communicate to man, and a human nature {a564} to\ncarry up to God. [1.] He had a nature whereby to suffer for us, and a\nnature whereby to be meritorious in those sufferings. A nature to make\nhim capable to bear the penalty, and a nature to make his sufferings\nsufficient for all that embraced him. A nature, capable to be exposed\nto the flames of Divine wrath, and another nature, incapable to be\ncrushed by the weight, or consumed by the heat of it: a human nature\nto suffer, and stand a sacrifice in the stead of man; a Divine nature\nto sanctify these sufferings, and fill the nostrils of God with a sweet\nsavor, and thereby atone his wrath: the one to bear the stroke due to\nus, and the other to add merit to his sufferings for us. Had he not\nbeen man, he could not have filled our place in suffering; and could\nhe otherwise have suffered, his sufferings had not been applicable to\nus; and had he not been God, his sufferings had not been meritoriously\nand fruitfully applicable. Had not his blood been the blood of God,\nit had been of as little advantage as the blood of an ordinary man,\nor the blood of the legal sacrifices (Heb. ix. 12). Nothing less than\nGod could have satisfied God for the injury done by man. Nothing less\nthan God could have countervailed the torments due to the offending\ncreature. Nothing less than God could have rescued us out of the hands\nof the jailor, too powerful for us. [2.] He had, therefore, a nature\nto be compassionate to us, and victorious for us. A nature sensibly\nto compassionate us, and another nature, to render those compassions\neffectual for our relief; he had the compassions of our nature to pity\nus, and the patience of the Divine nature to bear with us. He hath the\naffections of a man to us, and the power of a God for us: a nature to\ndisarm the devil for us, and another nature to be insensible of the\nworking of the devil in us, and against us. If he had been only God, he\nwould not have had an experimental sense of our misery; and if he had\nbeen only man, he could not have vanquished our enemies; had he been\nonly God, he could not have died; and had he been only man, he could\nnot have conquered death. [3.] A nature efficaciously to instruct us.\nAs man, he was to instruct us sensibly; as God, he was to instruct us\ninfallibly. A nature, whereby he might converse with us, and a nature,\nwhereby he might influence us in those converses. A human mouth to\nminister instruction to man, and a Divine power to imprint it with\nefficacy. [4.] A nature to be a pattern to us. A pattern of grace as\nman, as Adam was to have been to his posterity:[795] a Divine nature\nshining in the human, the image of the invisible God in the glass\nof our flesh, that he might be a perfect copy for our imitation (Col.\ni. 15), \u201cThe image of the invisible God, and the first\u2011born of every\ncreature\u201d in conjunction. The virtues of the Deity are sweetened and\ntempered by the union with the humanity, as the beams of the son are by\nshining through a colored glass, which condescends more to the weakness\nof our eye. Thus the perfections of the invisible God, breaking through\nthe first\u2011born of every creature, glittering in Christ\u2019s created state,\nbecame more sensible for contemplation by our mind, and more imitiable\nfor conformity in our practice. [5.] A nature to be a ground of\nconfidence in our approach to God. A nature wherein we may behold him,\nand wherein we may approach {a565} to him. A nature for our comfort,\nand a nature for our confidence. Had he been only man, he had been too\nfeeble to assure us; and had he been only God, he had been too high\nto attract us: but now we are allured by his human nature, and assured\nby his Divine, in our drawing near to heaven. Communion with God\nwas desired by us, but our guilt stifled our hopes, and the infinite\nexcellency of the Divine nature would have damped our hopes of speeding;\nbut since these two natures, so far distant, are met in a marriage\u2011knot,\nwe have a ground of hope, nay, an earnest, that the Creator and\nbelieving creature shall meet and converse together. And since our sins\nare expatiated by the death of the human nature in conjunction with\nthe Divine, our guilt, upon believing, shall not hinder us from this\ncomfortable approach. Had he been only man, he could not have assured\nus an approach to God: had he been only God, his justice would not have\nadmitted us to approach to him; he had been too terrible for guilty\npersons, and too holy for polluted persons to come near to him: but by\nbeing made man, his justice is tempered, and by his being God and man,\nhis mercy is ensured. A human nature he had, one with us, that we\nmight be related to God, as one with him. [6.] A nature to derive all\ngood to us. Had he not been man, we had had no share or part in him:\na satisfaction by him had not been imputed to us. If he were not God,\nhe could not communicate to us divine graces and eternal happiness;\nhe could not have had power to convey so great a good to us, had he\nbeen only man; and he could not have done it, according to the rule of\ninflexible righteousness, had he been only God. As man, he is the way\nof conveyance; as God, he is the spring of conveyance. From this grace\nof union, and the grace of unction, we find rivers of waters flowing\nto make glad the city of God. Believers are his branches, and draw sap\nfrom him, as he is their root in his human nature, and have an endless\nduration of it from his Divine. Had he not been man, he had not been\nin a state to obey the law; had he not been God as well as man, his\nobedience could not have been valuable to be imputed to us. How should\nthis mystery be studied by us, which would afford us both admiration\nand content! Admiration, in the incomprehensibleness of it; contentment,\nin the fitness of the Mediator. By this wisdom of God we receive the\nprops of our faith, and the fruits of joy and peace. Wisdom consists\nin choosing fit means, and conducting them in such a method, as may\nreach with good success the variety of marks which are aimed at. Thus\nhath the wisdom of God set forth a Mediator, suited to our wants,\nfitted for our supplies, and ordered so the whole affair by the union\nof these two natures in the person of the Redeemer, that there could be\nno disappointment, by all the bustle hell and hellish instruments could\nraise against it.\n\n4. The wisdom of God is seen in this way of redemption, in vindicating\nthe honor and righteousness of the law, both as to precept and penalty.\nThe first and irreversible design of the law was obedience. The penalty\nof the law had only entrance upon transgression. Obedience was the\ndesign, and the penalty was added to enforce the observance of the\nprecept (Gen. ii. 17): \u201cThou shalt not eat;\u201d there is the precept:\n\u201cIn the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die;\u201d {a566} there is the\npenalty. Obedience was our debt to the law, as creatures; punishment\nwas due from the law to us, as sinners: we are bound to endure the\npenalty for our first transgression, but the penalty did not cancel\nthe bond of future obedience; the penalty had not been incurred\nwithout transgressing the precept; yet the precept was not abrogated\nby enduring the penalty. Since man so soon revolted, and by this revolt\nfell under the threatening, the justice of the law had been honored\nby man\u2019s sufferings, but the holiness and equity of the law had been\nhonored by man\u2019s obedience. The wisdom of God finds out a medium to\nsatisfy both: the justice of the law is preserved in the execution of\nthe penalty; and the holiness of the law is honored in the observance\nof the precept. The life of our Saviour is a conformity to the precept,\nand his death is a conformity to the penalty; the precepts are exactly\nperformed, and the curse punctually executed, by a voluntary observing\nthe one, and a voluntary undergoing the other. It is obeyed, as if it\nhad not been transgressed, and executed as if it had not been obeyed.\nIt became the wisdom, justice, and holiness of God, as the Rector of\nthe world, to exact it (Heb. ii. 10), and it became the holiness of the\nMediator to \u201cfulfil all the righteousness of the law\u201d (Rom. viii. 3;\nMatt. iii. 15). And thus the honor of the law was vindicated in all\nthe parts of it. The transgression of the law was condemned in the\nflesh of the Redeemer, and the righteousness of the law was fulfilled\nin his person: and both these acts of obedience, being counted as\none righteousness, and imputed to the believing sinner, render him a\nsubject to the law, both in its perceptive and minatory part. By Adam\u2019s\nsinful acting we were made sinners, and by Christ\u2019s righteous acting\nwe are made righteous (Rom. v. 19): \u201cAs by one man\u2019s disobedience\nmany were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made\nrighteous.\u201d The law was obeyed by him, that the righteousness of it\nmight be fulfilled in us (Rom. viii. 4). It is not fulfilled in us, or\nin our actions, by inherency, but fulfilled in us by imputation of that\nrighteousness which was exactly fulfilled by another. As he died for us,\nand rose again for us, so he lived for us. The commands of the law were\nas well observed for us, as the threatenings of the law were endured\nfor us. This justification of a sinner, with the preservation of the\nholiness of the law in truth, in the inward parts, in sincerity of\nintention, as well as conformity in action, is the wisdom of God, the\ngospel wisdom which David desires to know (Ps. li. 6): \u201cThou desirest\ntruth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me\nto know wisdom;\u201d or, as some render it, \u201cthe hidden things of wisdom.\u201d\nNot an inherent wisdom in the acknowledgments of his sin, which he had\nconfessed before, but the wisdom of God in providing a medicine, so as\nto keep up the holiness of the law in the observance of it in truth,\nand the averting the judgment due to the sinner. In and by this way\nmethodized by the wisdom of God, all doubts and troubles are discharged.\nNaturally, if we take a view of the law to behold its holiness and\njustice, and then of our hearts, to see the contrariety in them to the\ncommand, and the pollution repugnant to its holiness; and after this,\ncast our eyes upward, and beholding a flaming sword, edged with curses\nand wrath; {a567} is there any matter, but that of terror, afforded by\nany of these? But when we behold, in the life of Christ, a conformity\nto the mandatory part of the law, and in the cross of Christ, a\nsustaining the minatory part of the law, this wisdom of God gives a\nwell\u2011grounded and rational dismiss to all the horrors that can seize\nupon us.\n\n5. The wisdom of God in redemption is visible in manifesting two\ncontrary affections at the same time, and in one act: the greatest\nhatred of sin, and the greatest love to the sinner. In this way he\npunishes the sin without ruining the sinner, and repairs the ruins of\nthe sinner without indulging the sin. Here is eternal love and eternal\nhatred; a condemning the sin to what it merited, and an advancing the\nsinner to what he could not expect. Herein is the choicest love and\nthe deepest hatred manifested: an implacableness against the sin, and\na placableness to the sinner. His hatred of sin hath been discovered\nin other ways: in punishing the devil without remedy; sentencing man\nto an expulsion from paradise, though seduced by another; in accursing\nthe serpent, an irrational creature, though but a misguided instrument.\nThe whole tenor of his threatenings declare his loathing of sin,\nand the sprinklings of his judgments in the world, and the horrible\nexpectations of terrified consciences confirm it. But what are all\nthese testimonies to the highest evidence that can possibly be given\nin the sheathing the sword of his wrath in the heart of his Son? If\na father should order his son to take a mean garb below his dignity,\norder him to be dragged to prison, seem to throw off all affection of\na father for the severity of a judge, condemn his son to a horrible\ndeath, be a spectator of his bleeding condition, withhold his hand from\nassuaging his misery, regard it rather with joy than sorrow, give him a\nbitter cup to drink, and stand by to see him drink it off to the bottom,\ndregs and all, and flash frowns in his face all the while; and this\nnot for any fault of his own, but the rebellion of some subjects he\nundertook for, and that the offenders might have a pardon sealed by the\nblood of the son, the sufferer: all this would evidence his detestation\nof the rebellion, and his affection to the rebels; his hatred to their\ncrime, and his love to their welfare. This did God do. He \u201cdelivered\nChrist up for our offences\u201d (Rom. viii. 32); the Father gave him the\ncup (John xviii. 18); the Lord bruised him with pleasure (Isa. liii.\n10), and that for sin. He transferred upon the shoulders of his Son\nthe pain we had merited, that the criminal might be restored to the\nplace he had forfeited. He hates the sin so as to condemn it forever,\nand wrap it up in the curse he had threatened; and loves the sinner,\nbelieving and repenting, so as to mount him to an expectation of a\nhappiness exceeding the first estate, both in glory and perpetuity.\nInstead of an earthly paradise, lays the foundation of an heavenly\nmansion, brings forth a weight of glory from a weight of misery,\nseparates the comfortable light of the sun from the scorching heat\nwe had deserved at his hands. Thus hath God\u2019s hatred of sin been\nmanifested. He is at eternal defiance with sin, yet nearer in alliance\nwith the sinner than he was before the revolt; as if man\u2019s miserable\nfall had endeared him to the Judge. This is the wisdom {a568} and\nprudence of \u201cgrace wherein God hath abounded\u201d (Eph. i. 9): a wisdom in\ntwisting the happy restoration of the broken amity, with an everlasting\ncurse upon that which made the breach, both upon sin the cause, and\nupon Satan the seducer to it. Thus is hatred and love, in their highest\nglory, manifested together: hatred to sin, in the death of Christ, more\nthan if the torments of hell had been undergone by the sinner; and love\nto the sinner, more than if he had, by an absolute and simple bounty,\nbestowed upon him the possession of heaven; because the gift of his\nSon, for such an end, is a greater token of his boundless affections,\nthan a re\u2011instating man in paradise. Thus is the wisdom of God seen in\nredemption, consuming the sin, and recovering the sinner.\n\n6. The wisdom of God is evident in overturning the devil\u2019s empire by\nthe nature he had vanquished, and by ways quite contrary to what that\nmalicious spirit could imagine. The devil, indeed, read his own doom\nin the first promise, and found his ruin resolved upon, by the means\nof the \u201cSeed of the woman;\u201d but by what seed was not so easily known\nto him.[796] And the methods whereby it was to be brought about was\na mystery kept secret from the malicious devils, since it was not\ndiscovered to the obedient angels. He might know, from Isa. liii.,\nthat the Redeemer was assured to divide the spoil with the strong, and\nrescue a part of the lost creation out of his hands; and that this was\nto be effected by making his soul an offering for sin: but could he\nimagine which way his soul was to be made such an offering? He shrewdly\nsuspected Christ, just after his inauguration into his office by\nbaptism, to be the Son of God: but did he ever dream that the Messiah,\nby dying as a reputed malefactor, should be a sacrifice for the\nexpiation of the sin the devil had introduced by his subtilty? Did he\never imagine a cross should dispossess him of his crown, and that dying\ngroans should wrest the victory out of his hands? He was conquered by\nthat nature he had cast headlong into ruin: a woman, by his subtilty,\nwas the occasion of our death; and a woman, by the conduct of the only\nwise God, brings forth the Author of our life, and the Conqueror of our\nenemies. The flesh of the old Adam had infected us, and the flesh of\nthe new Adam cures us (1 Cor. xv. 21): \u201cBy man came death; by man also\ncame the resurrection from the dead.\u201d We are killed by the old Adam,\nand raised by the new; as among the Israelites, a fiery serpent gave\nthe wound, and a brazen serpent administers the cure. The nature that\nwas deceived bruiseth the deceiver, and raiseth up the foundations of\nhis kingdom. Satan is defeated by the counsels he took to secure his\npossession, and loses the victory by the same means whereby he thought\nto preserve it. His tempting the Jews to the sin of crucifying the\nSon of God, had a contrary success to his tempting Adam to eat of the\ntree. The first death he brought upon Adam, ruined us, and the death he\nbrought by his instruments upon the second Adam, restored us. By a tree,\nif one may so say, he had triumphed over the world, and by the fruit of\na tree, one hanging upon a tree, he is discharged of his {a569} power\nover us (Heb. ii. 14): \u201cThrough death he destroyed Him that had the\npower of death.\u201d And thus the devil ruins his own kingdom while he\nthinks to confirm and enlarge it; and is defeated by his own policy,\nwhereby he thought to continue the world under his chains, and deprive\nthe Creator of the world of his purposed honor. What deeper counsel\ncould he resolve upon for his own security, than to be instrumental in\nthe death of him, who was God, the terror of the devil himself, and to\nbring the Redeemer of the world to expire with disgrace in the sight of\na multitude of men? Thus did the wisdom of God shine forth in restoring\nus by methods seemingly repugnant to the end he aimed at, and above\nthe suspicion of a subtle devil, whom he intended to baffle. Could\nhe imagine that we should be healed by stripes, quickened by death,\npurified by blood, crowned by a cross, advanced to the highest honor\nby the lowest humility, comforted by sorrows, glorified by disgrace,\nabsolved by condemnation, and made rich by poverty? That the sweetest\nhoney should at once spring out of the belly of a dead lion, the lion\nof the tribe of Judah, and out of the bosom of the living God? How\nwonderful is this wisdom of God! that the Seed of the woman, born of a\nmean virgin, brought forth in a stable, spending his days in affliction,\nmisery, and poverty, without any pomp and splendor, passing some\ntime in a carpenter\u2019s shop, with carpenter\u2019s tools (Mark vi. 6), and\nafterwards exposed to a horrible and disgraceful death, should, by\nthis way, pull down the gates of hell, subvert the kingdom of the\ndevil, and be the hammer to break in pieces that power, which he had so\nlong exercised over the world! Thus became he the author of our life,\nby being bound for a while in the chains of death, and arrived to a\nprincipality over the most malicious powers, by being a prisoner for\nus, and the anvil of their rage and fury.\n\n7. The wisdom of God appears, in giving us this way the surest ground\nof comfort, and the strongest incentive to obedience. The rebel is\nreconciled, and the rebellion shamed; God is propitiated, and the\nsinner sanctified, by the same blood. What can more contribute to our\ncomfort and confidence, than God\u2019s richest gift to us? What can more\nenflame our love to him, than our recovery from death by the oblation\nof his Son to misery and death for us? It doth as much engage our duty\nas secure our happiness. It presents God glorious and gracious, and\ntherefore every way fit to be trusted in regard of the interest of his\nown glory in it, and in regard of the effusions of his grace by it. It\nrenders the creature obliged in the highest manner, and so awakens his\nindustry to the strictest and noblest obedience. Nothing so effectual\nas a crucified Christ to wean us from sin, and stifle all motions of\ndespair; a means, in regard of the justice signalized in it, to make\nman to hate the sin which had ruined him; and a means, in regard of the\nlove expressed to make him delight in that law he had violated (2 Cor.\nv. 14, 15). The love of Christ, and therefore the love of God expressed\nin it, constrains us no longer to live to ourselves.\n\n(1.) It is a ground of the highest comfort and confidence in God.\n{a570} Since he hath given such an evidence of his impartial truth to\nhis threatening for the honor of his justice, we need not question but\nhe will be as punctual to his promise for the honor of his mercy. It is\na ground of confidence in God, since he hath redeemed us in such a way\nas glorifies the steadiness of his veracity, as well as the severity of\nhis justice; we may well trust him for the performance of his promise,\nsince we have experience of the execution of his threatening; his\nmerciful truth will as much engage him to accomplish the one, as his\njust truth did to inflict the other. The goodness which shone forth\nin weaker rays in the creation, breaks out with stronger beams in\nredemption. And the mercy which before the appearance of Christ was\nmanifested in some small rivulets, diffuseth itself like a boundless\nocean. That God, that was our Creator, is our Redeemer, the repairer\nof our breaches, and the restorer of our paths to dwell in. And the\nplenteous redemption from all iniquity, manifested in the incarnation\nand passion of the Son of God, is much more a ground of hope in the\nLord than it was in past ages, when it could not be said, \u201cThe Lord\nhath, but the Lord shall, redeem Israel from all his iniquities\u201d (Ps.\ncxxx. 8). It is a full warrant to cast ourselves into his arms.\n\n(2.) An incentive to obedience.\n\n[1.] The commands of the gospel require the obedience of the creature.\nThere is not one precept in the gospel which interferes with any rule\nin the law, but strengthens it, and represents it in its true exactness:\nthe heat to scorch us is allayed, but the light to direct us is not\nextinguished. Not the least allowance to any sin is granted; not the\nleast affection to any sin is indulged. The law is tempered by the\ngospel, but not nulled and cast out of doors by it: it enacts that\nnone but those that are sanctified, shall be glorified; that there must\nbe grace here, if we expect glory hereafter; that we must not presume\nto expect an admittance to the vision of God\u2019s face unless our souls\nbe clothed with a robe of holiness (Heb. xii. 14). It requires an\nobedience to the whole law in our intention and purpose, and an\nendeavor to observe it in our actions; it promotes the honor of God,\nand ordains a universal charity among men; it reveals the whole counsel\nof God, and furnisheth men with the holiest laws.\n\n[2.] It presents to us the exactest pattern for our obedience. The\nredeeming person is not only a propitiation for the sin, but a pattern\nto the sinner (1 Pet. ii. 21). The conscience of man, after the fall\nof Adam, approved of the reason of the law, but by the corruption\nof nature man had no strength to perform the law. The possibility of\nkeeping the law, by human nature, is evidenced by the appearance and\nlife of the Redeemer, and an assurance given that it shall be advanced\nto such a state as to be able to observe it: we aspire to it in this\nlife, and have hopes to attain it in a future; and, while we are here,\nthe actor of our redemption is the copy for our imitation. The pattern\nto imitate is greater than the law to be ruled by. What a lustre did\nhis virtues cast about the world! How attractive are his graces! With\nwhat high examples for all duties has he furnished us out of the copy\nof his life!\n\n[3.] It presents us with the strongest motives to obedience (Tit. ii.\n11, 12): {a571} \u201cThe grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness.\u201d\nWhat chains bind us faster and closer than love? Here is love to our\nnature in his incarnation; love to us, though enemies, in his death\nand passion; encouragements to obedience by the proffers of pardon\nfor former rebellions. By the disobedience of man, God introduceth\nhis redeeming grace, and engageth his creature to more ingenuous and\nexcellent returns than his innocent state could oblige him to. In his\ncreated state he had goodness to move him, he hath the same goodness\nnow to oblige him as a creature, and a greater love and mercy to oblige\nhim as a repaired creature; and the terror of justice is taken off,\nwhich might envenom his heart as a criminal. In his revolted state\nhe had misery to discourage him; in his redeemed state he hath love\nto attract him. Without such a way, black despair had seized upon the\ncreature exposed to a remediless misery, and God would have had no\nreturns of love from the best of his earthly works; but if any sparks\nof ingenuity be left, they will be excited by the efficacy of this\nargument. The willingness of God to receive returning sinners, is\nmanifested in the highest degree; and the willingness of a sinner to\nreturn to him in duty hath the strongest engagements. He hath done as\nmuch to encourage our obedience, as to illustrate his glory. We cannot\nconceive what could be done greater for the salvation of our souls, and\nconsequently what could have been done, more to enforce our observance.\nWe have a Redeemer, as man, to copy it to us, and as God, to perfect us\nin it. It would make the heart of any to tremble to wound him that hath\nprovided such a salve for our sores, and to make grace a warrant for\nrebellion\u2015\u2015motives capable to form rocks into a flexibleness. Thus is\nthe wisdom of God seen in giving us a ground to the surest confidence,\nand furnishing us with incentives to the greatest obedience, by the\nhorrors of wrath, death and sufferings of our Saviour.\n\n8. The wisdom of God is apparent in the condition he hath settled for\nthe enjoying the fruits of redemption: and this is faith, a wise and\nreasonable condition and the concomitants of it\u2015\u2015\n\n(1.) In that it is suited to man\u2019s lapsed state and God\u2019s glory.\nInnocence is not required here; that had been a condition impossible\nin its own nature after the fall. The rejecting of mercy is now only\ncondemning, where mercy is proposed. Had the condition of perfection in\nworks been required, it had rather been a condemnation than redemption.\nWorks are not demanded, whereby the creature might ascribe anything\nto himself, but a condition, which continues in man a sense of his\napostasy, abates all aspiring pride, and makes the reward of grace,\nnot of debt; a condition, whereby mercy is owned, and the creature\nemptied; flesh silenced in the dust, and God set upon his throne of\ngrace and authority; the creature brought to the lowest debasement,\nand Divine glory raised to the highest pitch. The creature is brought\nto acknowledge mercy, and seal to justice; to own the holiness of God,\nin the hatred of sin; the justice of God, in the punishment of sin; and\nthe mercy of God, in the pardoning of sin: a condition that despoils\nnature of all its pretended excellency; beats down the glory of man at\nthe foot of God (1 Cor. i. 29, 31). It subjects the reason and will of\nman to the wisdom and authority {a572} of God; it brings the creature\nto an unreserved submission and entire resignation. God is made the\nsovereign cause of all; the creature continued in his emptiness, and\nreduced to a greater dependence upon God than by a creation; depending\nupon him for a constant influx, for an entire happiness: a condition\nthat renders God glorious in the creature, and the fallen creature\nhappy in God; God glorious in his condescension to man, and man happy\nin his emptiness before God. Faith is made the condition of man\u2019s\nrecovery, that \u201cthe lofty looks of man might be humbled, and the\nhaughtiness of man be pulled down\u201d (Isa. ii. 11); that every towering\nimagination might be levelled (2 Cor. x. 5). Man must have all from\nwithout doors; he must not live upon himself, but upon another\u2019s\nallowance. He must stand to the provision of God, and be a perpetual\nsuitor at his gates.\n\n(2.) A condition opposite to that which was the cause of the fall.\nWe fell from God by an unbelief of the threatening; he recovers us by\na belief of the promise; by unbelief we laid the foundation of God\u2019s\ndishonor; by faith, therefore, God exalts the glory of his free grace.\nWe lost ourselves by a desire of self\u2011dependence, and our return\nis ordered by way of self\u2011emptiness. It is reasonable we should be\nrestored in a way contrary to that whereby we fell; we sinned by a\nrefusal of cleaving to God; it is a part of Divine wisdom to restore\nus in a denial of our own righteousness and strength.[797] Man having\nsinned by pride, the wisdom of God humbles him (saith one) at the very\nroot of the tree of knowledge, and makes him deny his own understanding,\nand submit to faith, or else, forever to lose his desired felicity.\n\n(3.) It is a condition suited to the common sentiment and custom\nof the world. There is more of belief than reason in the world. All\ninstructors and masters in sciences and arts, require, first a belief\nin their disciples, and a resignation of their understandings and wills\nto them. And it is the wisdom of God to require that of man, which his\nown reason makes him submit to another which is his fellow\u2011creature. He,\ntherefore, that quarrels with the condition of faith, must quarrel with\nall the world, since belief is the beginning of all knowledge;[798]\nyea, and most of the knowledge in the world, may rather come under the\ntitle of belief, than of knowledge; for what we think we know this day,\nwe may find from others such arguments as may stagger our knowledge,\nand make us doubt of that we thought ourselves certain of before: nay,\nsometimes we change our opinions ourselves without any instructor,\nand see a reason to entertain an opinion quite contrary to what we\nhad before. And if we found a general judgment of others to vote\nagainst what we think we know, it would make us give the less credit\nto ourselves and our own sentiments. All knowledge in the world is\nonly a belief, depending upon the testimony or arguings of others; for,\nindeed, it may be said of all men, as in Job (viii. 9), \u201cWe are but of\nyesterday, and know nothing.\u201d Since, therefore, belief is so universal\na thing in the world, the wisdom of God requires that of us which\nevery man must count reasonable, or render himself utterly ignorant of\nanything. It is a condition that is common to all religions. All {a573}\nreligions are founded upon a belief: unless men did believe future\nthings, they would not hope nor fear. A belief and resignation was\nrequired in all the idolatries in the world; so that God requires\nnothing but what a universal custom of the world gives its suffrage to\nthe reasonableness of: indeed, justifying faith is not suited to the\nsentiments of men; but that faith which must precede justifying, a\nbelief of the doctrine, though not comprehended by reason, is common to\nthe custom of the world.[799] It is no less madness not to submit our\nreason to faith, than not to regulate our fancies by reason.\n\n(4.) This condition of faith and repentance is suited to the\nconscience of men. The law of nature teaches us, that we are bound to\nbelieve every revelation from God, when it is made known to us: and\nnot only to assent to it as true, but embrace it as good. This nature\ndictates, that we are as much obliged to believe God, because of his\ntruth, as to love him, because of his goodness. Every man\u2019s reason\ntells him, he cannot obey a precept, nor depend upon a promise, unless\nhe believes both the one and the other. No man\u2019s conscience but will\ninform him, upon hearing the revelation of God concerning his excellent\ncontrivance of redemption, and the way to enjoy it, that it is very\nreasonable he should strip off all affections to sin, lie down in\nsorrow, and bewail what he hath done amiss against so tender a God.\nCan you expect that any man that promises you a great honor or a rich\ndonative, should demand less of you than to trust his word, bear an\naffection to him, and return him kindness? Can any less be expected\nby a prince than obedience from a pardoned subject, and a redeemed\ncaptive? If you have injured any man in his body, estate, reputation,\nwould you not count it a reasonable condition for the partaking of\nhis clemency and forgiveness, to express a hearty sorrow for it,\nand a resolution not to fall into the like crime again? Such are the\nconditions of the gospel, suited to the consciences of men.\n\n(5.) The wisdom of God appears, in that this condition was only\nlikely to attain the end. There are but two common heads appointed by\nGod,\u2015\u2015Adam and Christ: by one we are made a living soul, by the other\na quickening spirit: by the one we are made sinners, by the other we\nare made righteous. Adam fell as a head, and all his members, his whole\nissue and posterity, fell with him, because they proceeded from him\nby natural generation. But since the second Adam cannot be our head\nby natural generation, there must be some other way of engrafting us\nin him, and uniting us to him as our Head, which must be moral and\nspiritual; this cannot rationally be conceived to be by any other way\nthan what is suitable to a reasonable creature, and, therefore, must\nbe by an act of the will, consent and acceptance, and owning the terms\nsettled for an admission to that union. And this is that we properly\ncall faith, and, therefore, called a receiving of him (John i. 12).\n\n[1.] Now this condition of enjoying the fruits of redemption could not\nbe a bare knowledge; for that is but only an act of the understanding,\nand doth not in itself include the act of the will, and so would have\nunited only one faculty to him, not the whole soul: but {a574} faith\nis an act both of the understanding and will too; and principally of\nthe will, which doth presuppose an act of the understanding: for there\ncannot be a persuasion in the will, without a proposition from the\nunderstanding. The understanding must be convinced of the truth and\ngoodness of a thing, before the will can be persuaded to make any\nmotion towards it; and, therefore, all the promises, invitations,\nand proffers, are suited to the understanding and will; to the\nunderstanding in regard of knowledge, to the will in regard of appetite;\nto the understanding as true, to the will as good; to the understanding\nas practical, and influencing the will.\n\n[2.] Nor could it be an entire obedience. That, as was said before,\nwould have made the creature have some matter of boasting, and this\nwas not suitable to the condition he was sunk into by the fall.\nBesides, man\u2019s nature being corrupted, was rendered incapable to obey,\nand unable to have one thought of a due obedience (2 Cor. iii. 5).\nWhen man turned from God, and upon that was turned out of paradise,\nhis return was impossible by any strength of his own; his nature was\nas much corrupted as his re\u2011entrance into paradise was prohibited.\nThat covenant, whereby he stood in the garden, required a perfection of\naction and intention in the observance of all the commands of God: but\nhis fall had cracked his ability to recover happiness by the terms and\ncondition of an entire obedience; yet man being a person governable by\na law, and capable of happiness by a covenant, if God would restore him,\nand enter into a covenant with him, we must suppose it to have some\ncondition, as all covenants have. That condition could not be works,\nbecause man\u2019s nature was polluted. Indeed, had God reduced man\u2019s\nbody to the dust, and his soul to nothing, and framed another man,\nhe might have governed him by a covenant of works: but that had not\nbeen the same man that had revolted, and upon his revolt was stained\nand disabled. But suppose God had, by any transcendent grace, wholly\npurified him from the stain of his former transgression, and restored\nto him the strength and ability he had lost, might he not as easily\nhave rebelled again? And so the condition would never have been\naccomplished, the covenant never have been performed, and happiness\nnever have been enjoyed. There must be some other condition then in\nthe covenant God would make for man\u2019s security. Now faith is the most\nproper for receiving the promise of pardon of sin: belief of those\npromises is the first natural reflection that a malefactor can make\nupon a pardon offered him, and acceptance of it is the first consequent\nfrom that belief. Hence is faith entitled a persuasion of, and\nembracing the promises (Heb. xi. 13), and a receiving the atonement\n(Rom. v. 11). Thus the wisdom of God is apparent in annexing such a\ncondition to the covenant, whereby man is restored, as answers the end\nof God for his glory, the state, conscience, and necessity of man, and\nhad the greatest congruity to his recovery.\n\n9. This wisdom of God is manifest in the manner of the publishing and\npropagating this doctrine of redemption.\n\n(1.) In the gradual discoveries of it. Flashing a great light in the\nface of a sudden is amazing; should the sun glare in our eye in all\nits brightness on a sudden, after we have been in a thick darkness,\n{a575} it would blind us, instead of comforting us: so great a work\nas this must have several digestions. God first reveals of what seed\nthe Redeeming Person should be, \u201cthe Seed of the woman\u201d (Gen. iii. 15);\nthen of what nation (Gen. xxvi. 4); then of what tribe (Gen. xlix.\n12),\u2015\u2015of the tribe of Judah; then of what family,\u2015\u2015the family of David;\nthen what works he was to do, what sufferings to undergo. The first\npredictions of our Saviour were obscure. Adam could not well see the\nredemption in the promise for the punishment of death which succeeded\nin the threatening; the promise exercised his faith, and the obscurity\nand bodily death, his humility. The promise made to Abraham was\nclearer than the revelations made before, yet he could not tell how\nto reconcile his redemption with his exile. God supported his faith\nby the promise, and exercised his humility by making him a pilgrim,\nand keeping him in a perpetual dependence upon him in all his motions.\nThe declarations to Moses are brighter than those to Abraham: the\ndelineations of Christ by David, in the Psalms, more illustrious\nthan the former: and all those exceeded by the revelations made to\nthe prophet Isaiah, and the other prophets, according as the age did\napproach wherein the Redeemer was to enter into his office. God wrapped\nup this gospel in a multitude of types and ceremonies fitted to the\ninfant state of the church (Gal. iv. 3). An infant state is usually\naffected with sensible things; yet all those ceremonies were fitted\nto that great end of the gospel, which he would bring forth in time to\nthe world. And the wisdom of God in them would be amazing, if we could\nunderstand the analogy between every ceremony in the law and the thing\nsignified by it: as it cannot but affect a diligent reader to observe\nthat little account of them we have by the apostle Paul, sprinkled in\nhis epistles, and more largely in that to the Hebrews. As the political\nlaws of the Jews flowed from the depth of the moral law, so their\nceremonial did from the depth of evangelical counsels, and all of\nthem had a special relation to the honor of God, and the debasing\nthe creature. Though God formed the mass and matter of the world at\nthe first creation at once, yet his wisdom took six days time for the\ndisposing and adorning it. The more illustrious truths of God are not\nto be comprehended on a sudden by the weakness of men. Christ did not\ndeclare all truths to his disciples in the time of his life, because\nthey were not able at that present to bear them (John xvi. 12): \u201cYe\ncannot bear them now;\u201d some were reserved for his resurrection, others\nfor the coming of the Spirit, and the full discovery of all kept back\nfor another world. This doctrine God figured out in the law, oracled\nby the prophets, and unveiled by Christ and his apostles.\n\n(2.) The wisdom of God appeared in using all proper means to render the\nbelief of it easy.\n\n[1.] The most minute things that were to be transacted were predicted\nin the ancient foregoing age, long before the coming of the Redeemer.\nThe vinegar and gall offered to him upon the cross, the parting his\ngarments, the not breaking of his bones, the piercing of his hands and\nfeet, the betraying of him, the slighting of him by the multitude, all\nwere exactly painted and represented in variety of figures. There was\nlight enough to good men not to mistake {a576} him, and yet not so\nplain as to hinder bad men from being serviceable to the counsels of\nGod in the crucifying of him when he came.\n\n[2.] The translation of the Old Testament from the private language of\nthe Jews, into the most public language of the world; that translation\nwhich we call Septuagint, from Hebrew into Greek, some years before\nthe coming of Christ, that tongue being most diffused at that time,\nby reason of the Macedonian empire, raised by Alexander, and the\nuniversity of Athens, to which other nations resorted for learning\nand education. This was a preparation for the sons of Japhet to \u201cdwell\nin the tents of Shem.\u201d By this was the entertainment of the gospel\nfacilitated; when they compared the prophesies of the Old Testament\nwith the declarations of the New, and found things so long predicted\nbefore they were transacted in the public view.\n\n[3.] By ordering concurrent testimonies, as to matter of fact, that\nthe matter of fact was not deniable. That there was such a person as\nChrist, that his miracles were stupendous, that his doctrine did not\nincline to sedition, that he affected not worldly applause, that he\ndid suffer at Jerusalem, was acknowledged by all; not a man among the\ngreatest enemies of Christians was found that denied the matter of fact.\nAnd this great truth, that Christ is the Messiah and Redeemer, hath\nbeen with universal consent owned by all the professors of Christianity\nthroughout the world: whatever bickerings there have been among them\nabout some particular doctrines, they all centred in that truth of\nChrist\u2019s being the Redeemer. The first publication of this doctrine was\nsealed by a thousand miracles, and so illustrious, that he was an utter\nstranger to the world that was ignorant of them.\n\n[4.] In keeping up some principles and opinions in the world to\nfacilitate the belief of this, or render men inexcusable for rejecting\nof it. The incarnation of the son of God could not be so strange to\nthe world, if we consider the general belief of the appearances[800]\nof their gods among them; that the Epicureans and others, that denied\nany such appearances, were counted atheists.[801] And Pythagoras was\nesteemed to be one, not of the inferior genii and lunar demons, but one\nof the higher gods, who appeared in a human body, for the curing and\nrectifying mortal life;[802] and himself tells Abaris, the Scythian,\nthat he was \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03cc\u03bc\u03bf\u03c1\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2, that he \u201ctook the flesh of man,\u201d that\nmen might not be astonished at him, and in a fright fly from his\ninstructions. It was not therefore accounted an irrational thing\namong them, that God should be incarnate: but, indeed, the great\nstumbling\u2011block was a crucified God. But had they known the holy and\nrighteous nature of God, the malice of sin, the universal corruption of\nhuman nature, the first threatening, and the necessity of vindicating\nthe honor of the law, and clearing the justice of God, the notion of\nhis crucifixion would not have appeared so incredible, since they\nbelieved the possibility of an incarnation.\n\nAnother principle was that universal one of sacrifices for\nexpiation, and rendering God propitious to man, and was practised among\n{a577} all nations. I remember not any wherein this custom did not\nprevail; for it did even among those people where the Jews, as being\nno trading nation, had not any commerce; and also in America, found out\nin these latter ages. It was not a law of nature; no man can find any\nsuch thing written in his own heart, but a tradition from Adam. Now\nthat among the loss of so many other doctrines that were handed down\nfrom Adam to his immediate posterity, as, in particular, that of the\n\u201cSeed of the woman,\u201d which one would think a necessary appendix to that\nof sacrificing, this latter should be preserved as a fragment of an\nancient tradition, seems to be an act of Divine wisdom, to prepare\nmen for the entertainment of the doctrine of the great Sacrifice for\nthe expiation of the sin of the world. And as the apostle forms his\nargument from the Jewish sacrifices, in the epistle to the Hebrews,\nfor the convincing them of the end of the death of Christ, so did the\nancient fathers make use of this practice of the heathen to convince\nthem of the same doctrine.\n\n[5.] The wisdom of God appeared in the time and circumstances of the\nfirst solemn publication of the gospel by the apostles at Jerusalem.\nThe relation you may read in Acts ii. 1\u201212. The Spirit was given to the\napostles on the day of Pentecost; a time wherein there were multitudes\nof Jews from all nations, not only near, but remote, that heard the\ngreat things of God spoken in the several languages of those nations\nwhere their habitations were fixed, and that by twelve illiterate\nmen, that two or three hours before knew no language but that of\ntheir native country. It was the custom of the Jews, that dwelt among\nother nations, at a distance from Jerusalem, to assemble together at\nJerusalem at the feast of Pentecost: and God pitched upon this season,\nthat there might be witnesses of this miracle in many parts of the\nworld: there were some of every nation under heaven (ver. 5); that is,\nof that known part of the world, so saith the text. Fourteen several\nnations are mentioned; and proselytes as well as Jews by birth. They\nare called \u201cdevout men,\u201d men of conscience, whose testimony would carry\nweight with it among their neighbors at their return, because of their\nreputation by their religious carriage. Again, this was not heard and\nseen by some of them at one time, and some at another, by some one\nhour, by others the next successively,[803] but altogether, in a solemn\nassembly, that the testimony of so many witnesses at a time, might be\nmore valid, and the truth of the doctrine appear more illustrious and\nundeniable. And it must needs be astonishing to them, to hear that\nperson magnified in so miraculous a manner, who had so lately been\ncondemned by their countrymen as a malefactor. Wisdom consists in\nthe timing of things. And in this circumstance doth the wisdom of God\nappear, in furnishing the apostles with the Spirit at such a time, and\nbringing forth such a miracle, as the gift of tongues, on a sudden,\nthat every nation might hear in their own language the wonder of\nredemption, and as witnesses at their returns into their own countries,\nreport it to others; that the credit they had, in their several places,\nmight facilitate the belief and entertainment of the gospel, when\nthe apostles, or others, should arrive to those several charges\nand dioceses {a578} appointed for them to preach the gospel in. Had\nthis miracle been wrought in the presence only of the inhabitants of\nJudea, that understood only their own language, or one or two of the\nneighboring tongues, it had been counted by them rather a madness than\na miracle. Or had they understood all the tongues which they spoke,\nthe news of it had spread no further than the limits of their own\nhabitations, and had been confined within the narrow bounds of the land\nof Judea. But now it is carried to several remote nations, where any\nof those auditors then assembled had their residence. As God chose the\ntime of the Passover for the death of Christ, that there might be the\ngreatest number of the inhabitants of the country, as witnesses of the\nmatter of fact, the innocence and sufferings of Christ, so he chose the\ntime of Pentecost for the first publishing the value and end of this\nblood to the world. Thus the evangelical law was given in a confluence\nof people from all parts and nations, because it was a covenant with\nall nations: and the variety of languages spoken by a company of poor\nGalileans, bred up at the lake of Tiberias, and in poor corners of\nCanaan, without the instructions of men for so great a skill, might\nwell evidence to the hearers, that God that brought the confusion of\nlanguages first at Babel, did only work that cure of them, and combine\nall together at Jerusalem.\n\n(3.) The wisdom of God is seen in the instruments he employed in the\npublishing the gospel. He did not employ philosophers, but fishermen;\nused not acquired arts, but infused wisdom and courage. This treasure\nwas put into, and preserved in earthen vessels, that the wisdom, as\nwell as the power of God, might be magnified. The weaker the means are\nwhich attain the end, the greater is the skill of the conductor of them.\nWise princes choose men of most credit, interest, wisdom, and ability,\nto be ministers of their affairs, and ambassadors to others. But what\nwere these that God chose for so great a work, as the publishing a new\ndoctrine to the world? What was their quality but mean, what was their\nauthority without interest? What was their ability, without eminent\nparts for so great a work, but what Divine grace in a special manner\nendowed them with? Nay, what was their disposition to it? as dull and\nunwieldy. Witness the frequent rebukes for their slow\u2011heartedness,\nfrom their Master, when he conversed in the flesh with them. And one of\nthe greatest of them, so fond of the Jewish ceremonies and Pharisaical\nprinciples, wherein he had been more than ordinarily principled, that\nhe hated the Christian religion to extirpation, and the professors of\nit to death; by those ways which were out of the road of human wisdom,\nand would be accounted the greatest absurdity to be practised by men\nthat have a repute for discretion, did God advance his wisdom (1 Cor.\ni. 25): \u201cThe foolishness of God is wiser than man.\u201d By this means it\nwas indisputably evidenced to unbiassed minds, that the doctrine was\ndivine. It could not rationally be imagined, that instruments destitute\nof all human advantages, should be able to vanquish the world, confound\nJudaism, overturn heathenism, chase away the devils, strip them of\ntheir temples, alienate the minds of men from their several religions,\nwhich had been rooted in them by education, and established by a long\nsuccession. It could not, I {a579} say, reasonably be imagined to be\nwithout a supernatural assistance, an heavenly and efficacious working:\nwhereas, had God taken a course agreeable to the prudence of man, and\nused those that had been furnished with learning, tipped with eloquence,\nand armed with human authority, the doctrines would have been thought\nto have been of a human invention, and to be some subtle contrivance\nfor some unworthy and ambitious end: the nothingness and weakness\nof the instruments manifest them to be conducted by a Divine power,\nand declare the doctrine itself to be from heaven. When we see such\nfeeble instruments proclaiming a doctrine repugnant to flesh and blood,\nsounding forth a crucified Christ to be believed in, and trusted on,\nand declaiming against the religion and worship under which the Roman\nempire had long flourished; exhorting them to the contempt of the\nworld, preparation for afflictions, denying themselves, and their own\nhonors, by the hopes of an unseen reward, things so repugnant to flesh\nand blood; and these instruments concurring in the same story, with\nan admirable harmony in all parts, and sealing this doctrine with\ntheir blood; can we upon all this, ascribe this doctrine to a human\ncontrivance, or fix any lower author of it than the wisdom of heaven?\nIt is the wisdom of God that carries on his own designs in methods most\nsuitable to his own greatness, and different from the customs and modes\nof men, that less of humanity, and more of divinity might appear.\n\n(4.) The wisdom of God appears in the ways and manner, as well as in\nthe instruments of its propagation, by ways seemingly contrary. You\nknow how God had sent the Jews into captivity in Babylon, and though he\nstruck off their chains, and restored them to their country, yet many\nof them had no mind to leave a country wherein they had been born and\nbred. The distance from the place of the original of their ancestors,\nand their affection to the country wherein they were born, might\nhave occasioned their embracing the idolatrous worship of the place.\nAfterwards the persecutions of Antiochus scattered many of the Jews for\ntheir security into other nations; yet a great part, and perhaps the\ngreatest, preserved their religion, and by that were obliged to come\nevery year to Jerusalem to offer, and so were present at the effusion\nof the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and were witnesses of the\nmiraculous effects of it. Had they not been dispersed by persecution,\nhad they not resided in several countries, and been acquainted with\ntheir languages, the gospel had not so easily been diffused into\nseveral countries of the world. The first persecutions also raised\nagainst the church, propagated the gospel; the scattering of the\ndisciples enflamed their courage, and dispersed the doctrine (Acts viii.\n3), according to the prophecy of Daniel (xii. 4): \u201cMany should run to\nand fro, and knowledge should be increased.\u201d The flights and hurryings\nof men should enlarge the territories of the gospel. There was not a\ntribunal, but the primitive Christians were cited to; not a horrible\npunishment, but was inflicted upon them. Treated they were, as the\ndregs and offals of mankind, as the common enemies of the world; yet\nthe flames of the martyrs brightened the doctrine, and the captivity of\nits professors made way for the throne of its empire. The imprisonment\nof {a580} the ark was the downfall of Dagon. Religion grew stronger\nby sufferings, and Christianity taller by injuries. What can this be\nascribed to, but the conduct of a wisdom superior to that of men and\ndevils, defeating the methods of human and hellish policy; thereby\nmaking the \u201cwisdom of this world foolishness with God\u201d (1 Cor. iii. 19)?\n\nV. The _Use 1._ Of Information. If wisdom be an excellency of the\nDivine nature; then,\n\n1. Christ\u2019s Deity may hence be asserted. Wisdom is the emphatical\ntitle of Christ in Scripture (Prov. viii. 12, 13, 31), where wisdom\nis brought in speaking as a distinct person; ascribing counsel, and\nunderstanding, and the knowledge of witty inventions to itself. He is\ncalled also the power of God, and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. i. 24).\nAnd the ancients generally understood that place (Col. ii. 3), \u201cIn him\nare hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,\u201d as an assertion of\nthe Godhead of Christ, in regard of the infiniteness of his knowledge;\nreferring wisdom to his knowledge of divine things; and knowledge to\nhis understanding of all human things. But the natural sense of the\nplace seems to be this, that all wisdom and knowledge is displayed by\nChrist in the gospel; and the words, \u1f10\u03bd \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1ff7, refer either to Christ,\nor the mystery of God spoken of, (ver. 2). But the Deity of Christ,\nin regard of infinite wisdom, may be deduced from his creation of\nthings, and his government of things; both which are ascribed to him in\nScripture. The first ascribed to him (John i. 3): \u201cAll things were made\nby him;\u201d and (ver. 27), \u201cWithout him was not any thing made, that was\nmade.\u201d The second (John v. 22): \u201cThe Father hath committed all judgment\nto the Son;\u201d and both put together (Col. ii. 16, 17). Now since he hath\nthe government of the world, he hath the perfections necessary to so\ngreat a work. As the creation of the world, which is ascribed to him,\nrequires an infinite power, so the government of the world requires an\ninfinite wisdom. That he hath the knowledge of the hearts of men, was\nproved in handling the omniscience of God. That knowledge would be to\nlittle purpose without wisdom to order the motions of men\u2019s hearts,\nand conduct all the qualities and actions of creatures, to such an\nend as is answerable to a wise government; we cannot think so great an\nemployment can be without an ability necessary for it. The government\nof men and angels is a great part of the glory of God; and if God\nshould entrust the greatest part of his glory in hands unfit for so\ngreat a trust, it would be an argument of weakness in God, as it is in\nmen, to pitch upon unfit instruments for particular charges; since God\nhath therefore committed to him his greatest glory, the conduct of all\nthings for the highest end, he hath a wisdom requisite for so great an\nend, which can be no less than infinite. If then Christ were a finite\nperson, he would not be capable of an infinite communication; he could\nnot be a subject wherein infinite wisdom could be lodged; for the\nterms finite and infinite are so distant, that they cannot commence\none another; finite can never be changed into infinite, no more than\ninfinite can into finite.\n\n2. Hence we may assert the right and fitness of God for the\ngovernment {a581} of the world, as he is the wisest Being. Among men,\nthose who are excellent in judgment, are accounted fittest to preside\nover, and give orders to others; the wisest in a city are most capable\nto govern a city; or at least, though ignorant men may bear the title,\nyet the advice of the soundest and skilfullest heads should prevail\nin all public affairs: we see in nature, that the eye guides the body,\nand the mind directs the eye. Power and wisdom are the two arms of\nauthority; wisdom knows the end, and directs the means; power executes\nthe means designed for such an end.[804] The more splendid and strong\nthose are in any, the more authority results from thence, for the\nconduct of others that are of an inferior orb; now God being infinitely\nexcellent in both, his ability and right to the management of the world\ncannot be suspected; the whole world is but one commonwealth, whereof\nGod is the monarch. Did the government of the world depend upon the\nelection of men and angels, where could they pitch, or where would they\nfind perfections capable of so great a work, but in the Supreme Wisdom?\nHis wisdom hath already been apparent in those laws, whereby he formed\nthe world into a civil society, and the Israelites into a commonwealth.\nThe one suited to the consciences and reasons of all his subjects, and\nthe other suited to the genius of that particular nation, drawn out of\nthe righteousness of the moral law, and applicable to all cases that\nmight arise among them in their government; so that Moses asserts,\nthat the wisdom apparent in their laws enacted by God, as their chief\nmagistrate, would render them famous among other nations, in regard of\ntheir wisdom, as well as their righteousness (Deut. iv. 6, 7, 9). Also,\nthis perfection doth evidence, that God doth actually govern the world.\nIt would not be a commendable thing for a man to make a curious piece\nof clock\u2011work, and take no care for the orderly motion of it. Would God\ndisplay so much of his skill in framing the heaven and earth, and none\nin actual guidance of them to their particular and universal ends? Did\nhe lay the foundation in order, and fit every stone in the building,\nmake all things in weight and measure, to let them afterwards run at\nhap\u2011hazard? Would he bring forth his power to view in the creation,\nand let a more glorious perfection lie idle, when it had so large a\nfield to move in? Infinite wisdom is inconsistent with inactivity.\nAll prudence doth illustrate itself in untying the hardest knots, and\ndisposing the most difficult affairs to a happy and successful issue.\nAll those various arts and inventions among men which lend their\nassisting hand to one another, and those various employments their\nseveral geniuses lead them to, whereby they support one another\u2019s\nwelfare, are beams and instincts of Divine wisdom in the government\nof the world. He that \u201cmade all things in wisdom\u201d (Ps. civ. 24), would\nnot leave his works to act and move only according to their own folly,\nand idly behold them jumble together, and run counter to that end he\ndesigned them for; we must not fancy Divine wisdom to be destitute of\nactivity.\n\n3. Here we may see a ground of God\u2019s patience. The most impotent\npersons are the most impatient, when unforeseen emergencies {a582}\narise; or at events expected by them, when their feeble prudence was\nnot a sufficient match to contest with them, or prevent them. But the\nwiser any man is, the more he bears with those things which seem to\ncross his intentions, because he knows he grasps the whole affair, and\nis sure of attaining the end he proposeth to himself; yet, as a finite\nwisdom can have but a finite patience, so an infinite wisdom possesses\nan infinite patience. The wise God intends to bring glory to himself,\nand good to some of his creatures, out of the greatest evils that can\nhappen in the world, he beholds no exorbitant afflictions and monstrous\nactions, but what he can dispose to a good and glorious end, even to\n\u201cwork together for good to them that love God\u201d (Rom. viii. 28); and,\ntherefore, doth not presently fall foul upon the actors, till he hath\nwrought out that temporary glory to himself, and good to his people\nwhich he designs. The times of ignorance God winked at, till he had\nbrought his Son into the world, and manifested his wisdom in redemption,\nand when this was done he presseth men to a \u201cspeedy repentance\u201d (Acts\nxvii. 30); that, as he forbore punishing their crimes, in order to\nthe displaying his wisdom in the designed redemption; so when he had\neffected it, they must forbear any longer abusing his patience.\n\n4. Hence appears the immutability of God in his decrees. He is not\ndestitute of a power and strength to change his own purposes, but his\ninfinite perfection of wisdom is a bar to his laying aside his eternal\nresolves and forming new ones (Isa. xlvi. 10); he resolves the end from\nthe beginning, and his counsel stands; stands immovable, because it\nis his counsel. It is an impotent counsel, that is subject to a daily\nthwarting itself. Inconstant persons are accounted, by men, destitute\nof a due measure of prudence. If God change his mind it is either for\nthe better or the worse; if for the better, he was not wise in his\nformer purpose; if for the worse, he is not wise in his present resolve.\nNo alteration can be without a reflection of weakness upon the former\nor present determination. God must either cease to be as wise as he was\nbefore, or begin to be wiser than he was before the change, which to\nthink or imagine is to deny a Deity. If any man change his resolution,\nhe is apprehensive of a flaw in his former purpose, and finds an\ninconvenience in it, which moves him to such a change, which must be\neither for want of foresight in himself, or want of a due consideration\nof the object of his counsel, neither of which can be imagined of God\nwithout a denial of the Deity. No, there are no blots and blemishes in\nhis purposes and promises. Repentance, indeed, is an act of wisdom in\nthe creature, but it presupposeth folly in his former actions, which\nis inconsistent with infinite perfection. Men are often too rash in\npromising; and, therefore, what they promise in haste, they perform at\nleisure, or not at all: they consider not before they vow, and make\nafter\u2011inquiries, whether they had best stand to it. The only wise God\nneeds not any after\u2011game: as he is sovereignly wise, he sees no cause\nof reversing anything, and wants not expedients for his own purpose;\nand as he is infinitely powerful, he hath no superior to hinder him\nfrom executing his will, and making his people enjoy the effects of his\nwisdom. If he had a recollection of thoughts, as man hath, and {a583}\nand saw a necessity to mend them, he were not infinitely wise in his\nfirst decrees: as in creation he looked back upon the several pieces of\nthat goodly frame he had erected, and saw them so exact that he did not\ntake up his pencil again to mend any particle of the first draught, so\nhis promises are made with such infinite wisdom and judgment, that what\nhe writes is irreversible and forever, as the decrees of the Medes and\nPersians. All the words of God are eternal because they are the births\nof righteousness and judgment (Hos. ii. 19); \u201cI will betroth thee to\nme forever, in righteousness and judgment.\u201d He is not of a wavering\nand flitting discretion: if he threatens, he wisely considers what he\nthreatens; if he promises, he wisely considers what he promises; and\ntherefore is immutable in both.\n\n5. Hence it follows that God is a fit object for our trust and\nconfidence: for God being infinitely wise, when he promises anything,\nhe sees everything which may hinder, and everything which may promote\nthe execution of it, so that he cannot discover anything afterwards\nthat may move him to take up after\u2011thoughts: he hath more wisdom than\nto promise anything hand over head, or anything which he knows he\ncannot accomplish. Though God, as true, be the object of our trust,\nyet God, as wise, is the foundation of our trust. We trust him in his\npromise; the promise was made by mercy, and it is performed by truth;\nbut wisdom conducts all means to the accomplishment of it. There are\nmany men, whose honesty we can confide in, but whose discretion we are\ndiffident of: but there is no defect, either of the one or the other,\nwhich may scare us from a depending upon God in our concerns. The words\nof man\u2019s wisdom the apostle entitles \u201centicing\u201d (1 Cor. ii. 4), in\nopposition to the words of God\u2019s wisdom, which are firm, stable, and\nundeniable demonstrations. As the power of God is an encouragement\nof trust, because he is able to effect, so the wisdom of God comes\ninto the rank of those attributes which support our faith. To put a\nconfidence in him, we must be persuaded, not only that he is ignorant\nof nothing in the world, but that he is wise to manage the whole course\nof nature, and dispose of all his creatures, for the bringing his\npurposes and his promises to their designed perfection.\n\n6. Hence appears the necessity of a public review of the management\nof the world, and of a day of judgment. As a day of judgment may be\ninferred from many attributes of God, as his sovereignty, justice,\nomniscience, &c., so, among the rest, from this of wisdom. How much\nof this perfection will lie unveiled and obscure, if the sins of men\nbe not brought to view, whereby the ordering the unrighteous actions\nof men, by his directing and over\u2011ruling hand of providence, in\nsubserviency to his own purposes and his people\u2019s good, may appear in\nall its glory! Without such a public review, this part of wisdom will\nnot be clearly visible; how those actions, which had a vile foundation\nin the hearts and designs of men, and were formed there to gratify some\nbase lust, ambition, and covetousness, &c. were, by a secret wisdom\npresiding over them, conducted to amazing ends. It is a part of Divine\nwisdom to right itself, and convince men of the reasonableness of its\nlaws, and the unreasonableness of their contradictions {a584} to it.\nThe execution of the sentence is an act of justice, but the conviction\nof the reasonableness of the sentence is an act of wisdom, clearing up\nthe righteousness of the proceeding; and this precedes, and the other\nfollows (Jude 15); \u201cTo convince all that are ungodly of all their\nungodly deeds.\u201d That wisdom which contrived satisfaction, as well as\nthat justice which required it, is concerned in righting the law which\nwas enacted by it. The wisdom of a sovereign Lawgiver is engaged not\nto see his law vilified and trampled on, and exposed to the lusts and\naffronts of men, without being concerned in vindicating the honor of\nit. It would appear a folly to enact and publish it, if there were\nnot a resolution to right and execute it. The wisdom of God can no\nmore associate iniquity and happiness together, than the justice of\nGod can separate iniquity from punishment. It would be defective,\nif it did always tamely bear the insolences of offenders, without a\ntime of remark of their crimes, and a justification of the precept,\nrebelliously spurned at. He would be unwise, if he were unjust;\nunrighteousness hath no better a title in Scripture than that of\nfolly. It is no part of Wisdom to give birth to those laws which he\nwill always behold ineffectual, and neither vindicate his law by a due\nexecution of the penalty, nor right his own authority, contemned in\nthe violation of his law, by a just revenge: besides, what wisdom would\nit be for the Sovereign Judge to lodge such a spokesman for himself as\nconscience in the soul of man, if it should be alway found speaking,\nand at length be found false in all that it speaks? There is, therefore,\nan apparent prospect of the day of account, from the consideration of\nthis perfection of the Divine nature.\n\n7. Hence we have a ground for a mighty reverence and veneration of the\nDivine Majesty. Who can contemplate the sparklings of this perfection\nin the variety of the works of his hands, and the exact government of\nall his creatures, without a raised admiration of the excellency of his\nBeing, and a falling flat before him, in a posture of reverence to so\ngreat a Being? Can we behold so great a mass of matter, digested into\nseveral forms, so exact a harmony and temperament in all the creatures,\nthe proportions of numbers and measures, and one creature answering\nthe ends and designs of another, the distinct beauties of all, the\nperpetual motion of all things without checking one another; the\nvariety of the nature of things, and all acting according to their\nnature with an admirable agreement, and all together, like different\nstrings upon an instrument, emitting divers sounds, but all reduced to\norder in one delightful lesson;\u2015\u2015I say, can we behold all this without\nadmiring and adoring the Divine wisdom, which appears in all? And\nfrom the consideration of this, let us pass to the consideration of\nhis wisdom in redemption, in reconciling divided interests, untying\nhard knots, drawing one contrary out of another; and we must needs\nacknowledge that the wisdom of all the men on earth, and angels in\nheaven, is worse than nothing and vanity in comparison of this vast\nOcean. And as we have a greater esteem for those that invent some\nexcellent artificial engines, what reverence ought we to have for\nhim that hath stamped an unimitable wisdom upon all his works! Nature\norders {a585} us to give honor to our superiors in knowledge, and\nconfide in their counsels; but none ought to be reverenced as much\nas God, since none equals him in wisdom.\n\n8. If God be infinitely wise, it shows us the necessity of our address\nto him, and invocation of his Name. We are subject to mistakes, and\noften overseen; we are not able rightly to counsel ourselves. In some\ncases, all creatures are too short\u2011sighted to apprehend them, and too\nignorant to give advice proper for them, and to contrive remedies for\ntheir ease; but with the Lord there is counsel (Jer. xxxii. 19), \u201cHe is\ngreat in counsel, and mighty in working;\u201d great in counsel to advise us,\nmighty in working to assist us. We know not how to effect a design, or\nprevent an expected evil. We have an infinite Wisdom to go to, that is\nevery way skilful to manage any business we desire, to avert any evil\nwe fear, to accomplish anything we commit into his hands. When we know\nnot what to resolve, he hath a counsel to \u201cguide us\u201d (Ps. lxxiii. 24).\nHe is not more powerful to effect what is needful, than wise to direct\nwhat is fitting. All men stand in need of the help of God, as one man\nstands in need of the assistance of other men, and will not do anything\nwithout advice; and he that takes advice, deserves the title of a wise\nman, as well as he that gives advice. But no man needs so much the\nadvice of another man, as all men need the counsel and assistance\nof God: neither is any man\u2019s wit and wisdom so far inferior to the\nprudence and ability of an angel, as the wisdom of the wisest man and\nthe most sharp\u2011sighted angel, is inferior to the infinite wisdom of God.\nWe see, therefore, that it is best for us to go to the fountain, and\nnot content ourselves with the streams; to beg advice from a wisdom\nthat is infinite and infallible, rather than from that which is finite\nand fallible.\n\n_Use 2._ If wisdom be the perfection of the Divine Majesty, how\nprodigious is the contempt of it in the world? In general, all sin\nstrikes at this attribute, and is in one part or other a degrading\nof it: the first sin directed its venom against this. As the devils\nendeavored to equal their Creator in power, so man endeavored to equal\nhim in wisdom: both indeed scorned to be ruled by his order; but man\nevidently exalted himself against the wisdom of God, and aspired to be\na sharer with him in his infinite knowledge; would not let him be the\nonly wise God, but cherished an ambition to be his partner. Just as\nif a beam were able to imagine it might be as bright as the sun; or a\nspark fancy it could be as full fraught with heat as the whole element\nof fire. Man would not submit to the infinite wisdom of God in the\nprohibition of one single fruit in the garden, when by the right of\nhis sovereign authority, he might have granted him only the use of\none. All presumptuous sins are of this nature; they are, therefore,\ncalled reproaches of God (Num. xv. 30), \u201cthe soul that doth ought\npresumptuously, reproacheth the Lord.\u201d All reproaches are either for\nnatural, moral, or intellectual defects. All reproaches of God must\nimply either a weakness or unrighteousness in God: if unrighteousness,\nhis holiness is denied; if weakness, his wisdom is blemished. In\ngeneral, all sin strikes at this perfection two ways.\n\n{a586} 1. As it defaceth the wise workmanship of God. Every sin is a\ndeforming and blemishing our own souls, which, as they are the prime\ncreatures in the lower world, so they have greater characters of Divine\nwisdom in the fabric of them: but this image of God is ruined and\nbroken by sin. Though the spoiling of it be a scorn of his holiness, it\nis also an affront to his wisdom; for though his power was the cause of\nthe production of so fair a piece, yet his wisdom was the guide of his\npower, and his holiness the pattern whereby he wrought it. His power\neffected it, and his holiness was exemplified in it; but his wisdom\ncontrived it. If a man had a curious clock or watch, which had cost him\nmany years pains and the strength of his skill to frame it; for another,\nafter he had seen and considered it, to trample upon it, and crush it\nin pieces, would argue a contempt of the artificer\u2019s skill. God hath\nshown infinite art in the creation of man; but sin unbeautifies man,\nand ravisheth his excellency. It cuts and slasheth the image of God\nstamped by divine wisdom, as though it were an object only of scorn\nand contempt. The sinner in every sin acts, as if he intended to put\nhimself in a better posture, and in a fairer dress, than the wisdom of\nGod hath put him in by creation.\n\n2. In the slighting his laws. The laws of God are highly\nrational; they are drawn from the depths of the Divine understanding,\nwherein there is no unclearness, and no defect. As his understanding\napprehends all things in their true reason, so his will enjoins all\nthings for worthy and wise ends. His laws are contrived by his wisdom\nfor the happiness of man, whose happiness, and the methods to it, he\nunderstands better than men or angels can do. His laws being the orders\nof the wisest understanding, every breach of his law is a flying in\nthe face of his wisdom. All human laws, though they are enforced by\nsovereign authority, yet they are, or ought to be, in the composing of\nthem, founded upon reason, and should be particular applications of the\nlaw of nature to this or that particular emergency. The laws of God,\nthen, who is _summa ratio_, are the birth of the truest reason; though\nthe reason of every one of them may not be so clear to us. Every law,\nthough it consists in an act of the will, yet doth pre\u2011suppose an act\nof the understanding. The act of the Divine understanding in framing\nthe law, must be supposed to precede the act of his will in commanding\nthe observance of that law. So every sin against the law, is not only\nagainst the will of God commanding, but the reason of God contriving,\nand a cleaving to our own reason, rather than the understanding or\nmind of God: as if God had mistaken in making his law, and we had more\nunderstanding to frame a better, and more conducing to our happiness:\nas if God were not wise enough to govern us, and prescribe what we\nshould do, and what we should avoid; as if he designed not our welfare\nbut our misfortune. Whereas, the precepts of God are not tyrannical\nedicts, or acts of mere will, but the fruits of counsel; and, therefore,\nevery breach of them is a real declamation against his discretion and\njudgment, and preferring our own imaginations, or the suggestions of\nthe devil, as our rule, before the results of Divine counsel. While we\nacknowledge {a587} him wise in our opinion, we speak him foolish by our\npractice; when, instead of being guided by him, we will guide ourselves.\nNo man will question, but it is a controlling Divine wisdom, to make\nalterations in his precepts; dogmatically, either to add some of\ntheir own, or expunge any of his: and is it not a crime of the like\nreflection to alter them practically? When we will observe one part\nof the law, and not another part; but pick and choose where we please\nourselves, as our humors and carnal interest prompt us; it is to charge\nthat part of the law with folly, which we refuse to conform unto. The\nmore cunning any man is in sin, the more his sin is against Divine\nwisdom, as if he thought to outwit God. He that receives the promises\nof God, and the \u201ctestimony of Christ, sets to his seal, that God\nis true\u201d (John iii. 33). By the like strength of argument, it will\nundeniably follow, that he that refuseth obedience to his precepts,\nsets to his seal that God is foolish. Were they not rational, God would\nnot enjoin them; and if they are rational, we are enemies to infinite\nwisdom, by not complying with them. If infinite prudence hath made the\nlaw, why is not every part of it observed; if it were not made with\nthe best wisdom, why is any part of it observed? If the defacing of\nhis image be any sin, as being a defaming his wisdom in creation, the\nbreaking his law is no less a sin, as being a disgracing his wisdom in\nhis administration. \u2019Tis upon this account, likely, that the Scripture\nso often counts sinners fools, since it is certainly inexcusable folly\nto contradict undeniable and infallible Wisdom; yet this is done in the\nleast sin: and as he that breaks one tittle of the law, is deservedly\naccounted guilty of the breach of the whole (James ii. 10), so he that\ndespiseth the least stamp of wisdom in the minutest part of the law,\nis deservedly counted as a contemner of it, in the frame of the whole\nstatute\u2011book. But, in particular, the wisdom of God is affronted and\ninvaded.\n\n(1.) By introducing new rules and modes of worship, different\nfrom Divine institutions. Is not this a manifest reflection on this\nperfection of God, as though he had not been wise enough to provide\nfor his own honor, and model his own service, but stood in need of our\ndirections, and the _caprichios_ of our brains? Some have observed,\nthat it is a greater sin in worship to do that we should not, than to\nomit what we should perform.[805] The one seems to be out of weakness,\nbecause of the high exactness of the law; and the other out of\nimpudence, accusing the wisdom of God of imperfection, and controlling\nit in its institutions. At best, it seems to be an imputation of\nhuman bashfulness to the Supreme Sovereign; as if he had been ashamed\nto prescribe all that was necessary to his own honor, but had left\nsomething to the ingenuity and gratitude of men. Man has, ever since\nthe foolish conceit of his old ancestor Adam, presumed he could be\nas wise as God; and if he who was created upright entertained such\nconceits, much more doth man now, under a mass of corruption, so\ncapable to foment them. This hath been the continual practice of men;\nnot so much to reject what once they had received as Divine, but add\nsomething of their own inventions to it. The {a588} heathens renounced\nnot the sacrificing of beasts for the expiation of their offences\n(which the old world had received by tradition from Adam, and the\nnew world, after the deluge, from Noah). But they had blended that\ntradition with rites of their own, and offered creatures unclean in\nthemselves, and not fit to be offered to an infinitely pure Being; for\nthe distinction of clean and unclean was as ancient as Noah (Gen. viii.\n20), yea, before (Gen. vii. 2). So the Jews did not discard what they\nhad received from God, as circumcision, the Passover, and sacrifices;\nbut they would mix a heap of heathenish rites with the ceremonies of\nDivine ordination, and practise things which he had not commanded,\nas well as things which he had enjoined them. And, therefore, it is\nobservable, that when God taxeth them with sin, he doth not say, they\nbrought in those things which he had forbidden into his worship; but\nthose things which he had not commanded, and had given no order for, to\nintimate, that they were not to move a step without his rule (Jer. vii.\n31): \u201cThey have built the high palaces of Tophet, which I commanded\nthem not, neither came it into my heart;\u201d and (Levit. x. 1); Nadab\u2019s\nand Abihu\u2019s strange fire was not commanded; so charging them with\nimpudence and rashness in adding something of their own, after he\nhad revealed to them the manner of his service, as if they were as\nwise as God. So loth is man to acknowledge the supremacy of Divine\nunderstanding, and be sensible of his own ignorance. So after the\ndivulging of the gospel, the corruptors of religion did not fling off,\nbut preserved the institutions of God, but painted and patched them up\nwith pagan ceremonies; imposed their own dreams with as much force as\nthe revelations of God. Thus hath the papacy turned the simplicity of\nthe gospel into pagan pomp, and religion into politics; and revived\nthe ceremonial law, and raked some limbs of it out of the grave, after\nthe wisdom of God had rung her knell, and honorably interred her; and\nsheltered the heathenish superstitions in christian temples, after the\npower of the gospel had chased the devils, with all their trumpery,\nfrom their ancient habitations. Whence should this proceed, but from a\npartial atheism, and a mean deceit of the Divine wisdom? As though God\nhad not understanding enough to prescribe the form of his own worship;\nand not wisdom enough to support it, without the crutches of human\nprudence. Human prudence is too low to parallel Divine wisdom; it is\nan incompetent judge of what is fit for an infinite Majesty. It is\nsufficiently seen in the ridiculous and senseless rights among the\nheathens; and the cruel and devilish ones fetched from them by the\nJews. What work will human wisdom make with divine worship, when it\nwill presume to be the director of it, as a mate with the wisdom of\nGod! Whence will it take its measures, but from sense, humor and fancy?\nas though what is grateful and comely to a depraved reason, were as\nbeautiful to an unspotted and Infinite Mind. Do not such tell the world,\nthat they were of God\u2019s cabinet council, since they will take upon them\nto judge, as well as God, what is well\u2011pleasing to him? Where will it\nhave the humility to stop, if it hath the presumption to add any one\nthing to revealed modes of worship? How did God tax the Israelites with\nmaking idols \u201caccording to their own understanding\u201d {a589} (Hos. xiii.\n2)! imagining their own understandings to be of a finer make, and a\nperfecter mould than their Creator\u2019s; and that they had fetched more\nlight from the chaos of their own brains, than God had from eternity in\nhis own nature. How slight will the excuse be, God hath not forbidden\nthis, or that, when God shall silence men with the question, Where,\nor when did I command this, or that? There was no addition to be\nmade under the law to the meanest instrument God had appointed in\nhis service. The sacred perfume was not to have one ingredient more\nput into it, than what God had prescribed in the composition; nor was\nany man upon pain of death to imitate it; nor would God endure that\nsacrifices should be consumed with any other fire than that which came\ndown from heaven. So tender is God of any invasions of his wisdom and\nauthority. In all things of this nature, whatsoever voluntary humility\nand respect to God they may be disguised with, there is a swelling\nof the fleshly mind against infinite understanding, which the apostle\nnauseates (Col. ii. 18). Such mixtures have not been blessed by God: as\nGod never prospered the mixtures of several kinds of creatures, to form\nand multiply a new species, as being a dissatisfaction with his wisdom\nas Creator; so he doth not prosper mixtures in worship, as being a\nconspiracy against his wisdom as a Lawgiver. The destruction of the\nJews was judged by some of their doctors to be, for preferring human\ntraditions before the written word; which they ground on (Isaiah\nxxix. 33): \u201cTheir fear for me was taught by the precepts of men.\u201d\nThe injunctions of men were the rule of their worship, and not the\nprescripts of my law.[806] To conclude, such as make alterations in\nreligion, different from the first institution, are intolerable busy\nbodies, that will not let God alone with his own affairs. Vain man\nwould be wiser than his Maker, and be dabbling in that which is His\nsole prerogative.\n\n2. In neglecting means instituted by God. When men have risings of\nheart against God\u2019s ordinances, \u201cthey reject the counsel of the Lord\nagainst themselves,\u201d or, in themselves (Luke vii. 30), \u1f20\u03b8\u03ad\u03c4\u03b7\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd.\nThey disannulled the wisdom of God, the spring of his ordinances. All\nneglects are disregards of Divine prescriptions, as impertinent and\nunavailable to that end for which they were appointed, as not being\nsuited to the common dictates of reason; sometimes out of a voluntary\nhumility, such as Peter\u2019s was, when he denied Christ\u2019s condescension\nto wash his feet (John xiii. 8), and thereby judged of the comeliness\nof his Master\u2019s intention and action. Such as continually neglect the\ngreat institution of the Lord\u2019s supper, out of a sense of unworthiness,\nare in the same rank with Peter, and do, as well as he, fall under the\nblame and reproof of Christ. Men would be saved, and use the means,\nbut either means of their own appointment, or not at all the means of\nGod\u2019s ordering.[807] They would have God\u2019s wisdom and will condescend\nto theirs, and not theirs conformed to God\u2019s; as if our blind judgments\nwere fittest to make the election of the paths to happiness. Like\nNaaman, who, when he was ordered {a590} by the prophet, for the cure\nof his leprosy, to \u201cwash seven times in Jordan,\u201d would be the prophet\u2019s\ndirector, and have him touch him with his hand; as if a patient, sick\nof a desperate disease, should prescribe to his skilful physician what\nremedies he should order for his cure, and make his own infirm reason,\nor his gust and palate, the rule, rather than the physician\u2019s skill.\nMen\u2019s inquiries are, \u201cWho will show us any good?\u201d They rather fasten\nupon any means than that which God hath ordained.[808] We invert the\norder Divine wisdom hath established, when we would have God save us in\nour own way, not in his. It is the same thing as if we would have God\nnourish us without bread, and cure our disease without medicines, and\nincrease our wealth without our industry, and cherish our souls without\nhis word and ordinances. It is to demand of him an alteration of his\nmethods, and a separation of that which he hath by his eternal judgment\njoined together. Therefore for a man to pray to God to save him when he\nwill not use the means he hath appointed for salvation, when he slights\nthe word, which is the instrument of salvation, is a contempt of the\nwisdom of Divine institutions. Also in omissions of prayer. When we\nconsult not with God upon emergent occasions, we trust more to our\nown wisdom than God\u2019s, and imply that we stand not in need of his\nconduct, but have ability to direct ourselves, and accomplish our ends\nwithout his guidance. Not seeking God is, by the prophet, taxed to be\na reflection upon this perfection of God (Isa. xxxi. 1, 2): \u201cThey look\nnot to the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord\u201d &c. And the like\ncharge he brings against them (Hos. viii. 9): \u201cThey are gone up to\nAssyria, a wild ass alone by himself, not consulting God.\u201d\n\n3. In censuring God\u2019s revelations and actions, if they be not\naccording to our schemes: when we will not submit to his plain will\nwithout penetrating into the unrevealed reason of it, nor adore his\ncounsels without controlling them, as if we could correct both law\nand gospel, and frame a better method of redemption than that of God\u2019s\ncontriving. Thus men slighted the wisdom of God in the gospel, because\nit did not agree with that philosophical wisdom and reason they had\nsucked in by education from their masters (1 Cor. i. 21, 22), contrary\nto their practice in their superstitious worship, where the oracles\nthey thought divine were entertained with reverence, not with dispute,\nand though ambiguous, were not counted ridiculous by the worshipper.\nHow foolish is man in this wherein he would be accounted wise! Adam,\nin innocence, was unfit to control the doctrine of God when the eye of\nhis reason was clear; and much more are we, since the depravation of\nour natures. The revelations of God tower above reason in its purity,\nmuch more above reason in its mud and earthiness. The rays of Divine\nwisdom are too bright for our human understandings, much more for our\nsinful understandings. It is base to set up reason, a finite principle,\nagainst an infinite wisdom; much baser to set up a depraved and\npurblind reason against an all\u2011seeing and holy wisdom. If we would have\na reason for all that God speaks, and all that God acts, our wisdom\nmust become infinite as his, or his wisdom become finite as {a591}\nours. All the censures of God\u2019s revelations arise from some prejudicate\nopinions, or traditional maxims, that have enthroned themselves in\nour minds, which are made the standard whereby to judge the things of\nGod, and receive or reject them as they agree with, or dissent from,\nthose principles (Col. ii. 8). Hence it was that the philosophers,\nin the primitive times, were the greatest enemies to the gospel: and\nthe contempt of Divine wisdom, in making reason the supreme judge of\nDivine revelation, was the fruitful mother of the heresies in all ages\nspringing up in the church, and especially of that Socinianism, that\ndaily insinuates itself into the minds of men. This is a wrong to\nthe wisdom of God. He that censures the words or actions of another,\nimplies that he is, in his censure, wiser than the person censured\nby him. It is as insupportable to determine the truth of God\u2019s plain\ndictates by our reason, as it is to measure the suitableness or\nunsuitableness of his actions by the humor of our will. We may sooner\nthink to span the sun, or grasp a star, or see a gnat swallow a\nLeviathan, than fully understand the debates of eternity. To this we\nmay refer too curious inquiries into Divine methods, and \u201cintruding\ninto those things which are not revealed\u201d (Col. ii. 18). It is to\naffect a wisdom equal with God, and an ambition to be of his cabinet\ncouncil. We are not content to be creatures, that is, to be every way\nbelow God; below him in wisdom, as well as power.\n\n4. In prescribing God\u2019s method of acting. When we pray for a thing\nwithout a due submission to God\u2019s will; as if we were his counsellors,\nyea his tutors, and not his subjects, and God were bound to follow our\nhumors, and be swayed according to the judgment of our ignorance; when\nwe would have such a mercy which God thinks not fit to give, or have\nit in this method, which God designs to convey through another channel.\nThus we would have the only wise God take his measures from our\npassions; such a controlling of God was Jonah\u2019s anger about a gourd\n(chap. iv. 1): \u201cIt displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.\u201d\nWe would direct Him how to dispose of us; as though he, that had\ninfinite wisdom to contrive and rear the excellent fabric of the world,\nhad not wisdom enough, without our discretions, to place us in a sphere\nproper for his own ends, and the use he intends us in the universe.\nAll the speeches of men (would I had been in such an office, had\nsuch a charge; would I had such a mercy, in such a method, or by such\ninstruments,) are entrenchments upon God\u2019s wise disposal of affairs.\nThis imposing upon God is a hellish disposition, and in hell we find\nit. The rich man in hell, that pretends some charity for his brethren\non earth, would direct God a way to prevent their ruin, by sending one\nfrom the dead to school them, as a more effectual means than \u201cMoses\nand the prophets\u201d (Luke xvi. 29, 30). It is a temper also to be found\non earth; what else was the language of Saul\u2019s saving the Amalekites\u2019\ncattle against the plain command of God (1 Sam. xv. 15)? As if God in\nhis fury had overshot himself and overlooked his altar, in depriving it\nof so great a booty for its service; as if it were an unwise thing in\nGod, to lose the prey of so many stately cattle, that might make the\naltar smoke with their entrails, and serve to expiate the sins of the\npeople; and therefore he would rectify that which he {a592} thought\nto be an oversight in God, and so magnifies his own prudence and\ndiscretion above the Divine. We will not let God act as he thinks fit,\nbut will be directing him, and \u201cteaching him knowledge\u201d (Job. xxi. 22).\nAs if God were a statue, an idol, that had eyes and saw not, hands,\nbut acted not; and could be turned as an image may be, to what quarter\nof the heaven we please ourselves. The wisdom of God is unbiassed; he\norders nothing but what is fittest for his end, and we would have our\nshallow brains the bias of God\u2019s acting. And will not God resent such\nan indignity, as a reflection upon his wisdom as well as authority,\nwhen we intimate that we have better heads than he, and that he comes\nshort of us in understanding?\n\n5. In murmuring and impatience. One demands a reason, why he hath\nthis or that cross? Why he hath been deprived of such a comfort, lost\nsuch a venture, languisheth under such a sickness, is tormented with\nsuch pains, oppressed by tyrannical neighbors, is unsuccessful in such\ndesigns? In these, and such like, the wisdom of God is questioned and\ndefamed. All impatience is a suspicion, if not a condemnation of the\nprudence of God\u2019s methods, and would make human feebleness and folly\nthe rule of God\u2019s dealing with his creatures. This is a presuming\nto instruct God, and a reproving him for unreasonableness in his\nproceedings, when his dealings with us do not exactly answer our\nfancies and wishes; as if God, who made the world in wisdom, wanted\nskill for the management of his creatures in it (Job xl. 2): \u201cShall he\nthat contends with the Almighty, instruct him? he that reproveth God,\nlet him answer it.\u201d We that are not wise enough to know ourselves,\nand what is needful for us; presume to have wit enough to guide God in\nhis dealing with us. The wisdom of God rendered Job more useful to the\nworld by his afflictions, in making him a pattern of patience, than if\nhe had continued him in a confluence of all worldly comforts, wherein\nhe had been beneficial only in communicating his morsels to his poor\nneighbors. All murmuring is a fastening error upon unerring Wisdom.\n\n6. In pride and haughtiness of spirit. No proud man, but sets his\nheart \u201cas the heart of God\u201d (Ezek. xxviii. 2, 3). The wisdom of God\nhath given to men divers offices, set them in divers places; some have\nmore honorable charges, some meaner. Not to give that respect their\noffices and places call for, is to quarrel with the wisdom of God, and\noverturn the rank and order wherein he hath placed things. It is unfit\nwe should affront God in the disposal of his creatures, and intimate to\nhim by our carriage, that he had done more wisely in placing another,\nand that he hath done foolishly in placing this or that man in such\na charge. Sometimes men are unworthy the place they fill; they may be\nset there in judgment to themselves and others: but the wisdom of God\nin his management of things, is to be honored and regarded. It is an\ninfringing the wisdom of God, when we have a vain opinion of ourselves,\nand are blind to others. When we think ourselves monarchs, and treat\nothers as worms or flies in comparison of us. He who would reduce all\nthings to his own honor, perverts the order of the world, and would\nconstitute another {a593} order than what the wisdom of God hath\nestablished; and move them to an end contrary to the intention of God,\nand charges God with want of discretion and skill.\n\n7. Distrust of God\u2019s promise is an impeachment of his wisdom.\n\nA secret reviling of it, as if he had not taken due consideration\nbefore he past his word; or a suspicion of his power, as if he could\nnot accomplish his word. We trust the physician\u2019s skill with our bodies,\nand the lawyer\u2019s counsel with our estates; but are loath to rely upon\nGod for the concerns of our lives. If he be wise to dispose of us, why\ndo we distrust him? If we distrust him, why do we embrace an opinion\nof wisdom? Unbelief also is a contradiction to the wisdom of God in\nthe gospel, &c., but that I have already handled in a discourse of the\nnature of unbelief.\n\n_Use 3._ Of comfort. God hath an infinite wisdom, to conduct us in\nour affairs, rectify us in our mistakes, and assist us in our straits.\nIt is an inestimable privilege to have a God in covenant with us; so\nwise, to communicate all good, to prevent all evil; who hath infinite\nways to bring to pass his gracious intentions towards us. \u201cHow\nunsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out\u201d (Rom.\nxi. 33)! His judgments or decrees are incomprehensibly wise, and the\nways of effecting them are as wise as his resolves effected by them.\nWe can as little search into his methods of acting, as we can into his\nwisdom of resolving; both his judgments and ways are unsearchable.\n\n1. Comfort in all straits and afflictions. There is a wisdom in\ninflicting them, and a wisdom in removing them. He is wise to suit\nhis medicines to the humor of our disease, though he doth not to the\nhumor of our wills: he cannot mistake the nature of our distemper, or\nthe virtue of his own physic. Like a skilful physician, he sometimes\nprescribes bitter potions, and sometimes cheering cordials, according\nto the strength of the malady, and necessity of the patient, to reduce\nhim to health. As nothing comes from him, but what is for our good, so\nnothing is acted by him in a rash and temerarious way. His wisdom is as\ninfinite as his goodness; and as exact in managing, as his goodness is\nplentiful in streaming out to us. He understands our griefs, weighs our\nnecessities, and no remedies are beyond the reach of his contrivance.\nWhen our feeble wits are bewildered in a maze, and at the end of their\nline for a rescue, the remedies unknown to us are not unknown to God.\nWhen we know not how to prevent a danger, the wise God hath a thousand\nblocks to lay in the way; when we know not how to free ourselves from\nan oppressive evil, he hath a thousand ways of relief. He knows how\nto time our crosses, and his own blessings. The heart of a wise God,\nas well as the heart of a wise man, discerns both time and judgment\n(Eccles. viii. 5). There is as much judgment in sending them, as\njudgment in removing them. How comfortable is it to think, that our\ndistresses, as well as our deliverances, are the fruits of infinite\nwisdom! Nothing is done by him too soon or too slow; but in the true\npoint of time, with all its due circumstances, most conveniently for\nhis glory and our good. How wise is God to bring the glory of our\nsalvation out of the depths of a seeming ruin. {a594} and make the\nevils of affliction subservient to the good of the afflicted.\n\n2. In temptations, his wisdom is no less employed in permitting\nthem, than in bringing them to a good issue. His wisdom in leading\nour Saviour to be tempted of the devil, was to fit him for our succor;\nand his wisdom in suffering us to be tempted, is to fit us for his\nown service, and our salvation. He makes a thorn in the flesh to be an\noccasion of a refreshing grace to the spirit, and brings forth cordial\ngrapes from those pricking brambles, and magnifies his grace by his\nwisdom, from the deepest subtilties of hell. Let Satan\u2019s intentions be\nwhat they will, he can be for him at every turn, to outwit him in his\nstratagems, to baffle him in his enterprises; to make him instrumental\nfor our good, where he designs nothing but our hurt. The Lord hath his\nmethods of deliverance from him (2 Pet. ii. 9). \u201cThe Lord knows how to\ndeliver the godly out of temptation.\u201d\n\n3. In denials, or delays of answers of prayer. He is gracious to hear;\nbut he is wise to answer in an acceptable time, and succor us in a day\nproper for our salvation (2 Cor. vi. 2). We have partial affections to\nourselves, ignorance is natural to us (Rom. viii. 26). We ask we know\nnot what, because we ask out of ignorance. God grants what he knows,\nwhat is fit for him to do, and fit for us to receive; and the exact\nseason wherein it is fittest for him to bestow a mercy. As God would\nhave us bring forth our fruit in season, so he will send forth his\nmercies in season. He is wise to suit his remedy to our condition, to\ntime it so, as that we shall have an evident prospect of his wisdom\nin it; that more of Divine skill, and less of human, may appear in the\nissue. He is ready at our call; but he will not answer, till he see\nthe season fit to reach out his hand. He is wise to prove our faith,\nto humble us under the sense of our own unworthiness, to wet our\naffections, to set a better estimate on the blessings prayed for, and\nthat he may double the blessing, as we do our devotion: but when his\nwisdom sees us fit to receive his goodness, he grants what we stand in\nneed of. He is wise to choose the fittest time, and faithful to give\nthe best covenant mercy.\n\n4. In all evils threatened to the church by her enemies. He hath\nknowledge to foresee them, and wisdom to disappoint them (Job. v. 13);\n\u201cHe taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the\nfroward is carried headlong.\u201d The church hath the wisdom of God, to\nenter the lists with the policy of hell. He defeated the serpent in\nthe first net he laid, and brought a glorious salvation out of hell\u2019s\nrubbish, and is yet as skilful to disappoint the after\u2011game of the\nserpentine brood. The policy of hell, and the subtilty of the world,\nare no better than folly with God (1 Cor. iii. 19). All creatures are\nfools, as creatures, in comparison with the Creator. The angels he\nchargeth with folly, much more us sinners. Depraved understandings are\nnot fit mates for a pure and unblemished mind. Pharaoh, with his wisdom,\nfinds a grave in the sea; and Ahitophel\u2019s plots are finished in his\nown murder. He breaks the enemies by his power, and orders them by his\nskill to be a feast to his people (Ps. lxxiv. 14); \u201cThou breakest the\nhead of the leviathan, and gavest {a595} him to be meat to the people\nin the wilderness.\u201d The spoils of the Egyptians\u2019 carcasses, cast upon\nthe shore, served the Israelites\u2019 necessities (or were as meat to them);\nas being a deliverance the church might feed upon in all ages, in a\nwilderness condition, to maintain their faith, the vital principle of\nthe soul. There is a wisdom superior to the subtilties of men, which\nlaughs at their follies, and \u201chath them in derision\u201d (Ps. ii. 4).\n\u201cThere is no wisdom or counsel against the Lord\u201d (Prov. xxi. 30). You\nnever question the wisdom of an artist to use his file, when he takes\nit into his hand. Wicked instruments are God\u2019s axes and files; let him\nalone, he hath skill enough to manage them: God hath too much affection\nto destroy his people, and wisdom enough to beautify them by the worst\ntools he uses. He can make all things conspire to a perfect harmony for\nhis own ends, and his people\u2019s good, when they see no way to escape a\ndanger feared, or attain a blessing wanted.\n\n_Use 4._ For Exhortation. 1. Meditate on the wisdom of God in creation\nand government. How little do we think of God when we behold his works!\nOur sense dwells upon the surface of plants and animals, beholds the\nvariety of their colors, and the progress in their motion; our reason\nstudies the qualities of them; our spirits seldom take a flight to the\nDivine wisdom which framed them. Our senses engross our minds from God,\nthat we scarce have a thought free to bestow upon the Maker of them,\nbut only on the by. The constancy of seeing things that are common\nstifles our admiration of God, due upon the sight of them. How seldom\ndo we raise our souls as far as heaven, in our views of the order of\nthe world, the revolutions of the seasons, the nature of the creatures\nthat are common among us, and the mutual assistance they give to\neach other! Since God hath manifested himself in them, to neglect the\nconsideration of them is to neglect the manifestation of God, and the\nway whereby he hath transmitted something of his perfections to our\nunderstanding. It renders men inexcusably guilty of not glorifying\nof God (Rom. i. 19, 20). We can never neglect the meditation of the\ncreatures, without a blemish cast upon the Creator\u2019s wisdom. As every\nriver can conduct us to the sea, so every creature points us to an\nocean of infinite wisdom. Not the minutest of them, but rich tracts of\nthis may be observed in them, and a due sense of God result from them.\nThey are exposed to our view, that something of God may be lodged\nin our minds; that, as our bodies extract their quintessence for our\nnourishment, so our minds may extract a quintessence for the Maker\u2019s\npraise. Though God is principally to be praised, in and for Christ,\nyet, as grace doth not rase out the law of nature, so the operations\nof grace put not the dictates of nature to silence, nor suspend the\nhomage due to God upon our inspection of his works. God hath given full\ntestimonies of this perfection in the heavenly bodies, dispersing their\nlight, and distributing their influences to every part of the world;\nin framing men into societies, giving them various dispositions for\nthe preservation of governments; making some wise for counsel, others\nmartial for action; changing old empires, and raising new. Which way\nsoever we cast our eyes, we shall find frequent occasions to cry out,\n\u201cO the depth {a596} of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge\nof God\u201d (Rom. xi. 33)! To this purpose, we must not only look upon\nthe bulk and outside of his works, but consider from what principles\nthey were raised, in what order disposed, and the exact symmetry and\nproportion of their parts. When a man comes into a city or temple, and\nonly considers the surface of the buildings, they will amaze his sense,\nbut not better his understanding, unless he considers the methods of\nthe work, and the art whereby it was erected.\n\n(1.) This was an end for which they were created. God did not make the\nworld for man\u2019s use only, but chiefly for his own glory; for man\u2019s use\nto enjoy his creatures, and for his own glory to be acknowledged in his\ncreatures, that we may consider his art in framing them, and his skill\nin disposing them, and not only gaze upon the glass without considering\nthe image it represents, and acquainting ourselves whose image it is.\nThe creatures were not made for themselves, but for the service of the\nCreator, and the service of man. Man was not made for himself, but for\nthe service of the Lord that created him. He is to consider the beauty\nof the creation, that he may thereby glorify the Creator. He knows in\npart their excellency; the creatures themselves do not. If, therefore,\nman be idle and unobservant of them, he deprives God of the glory\nof his wisdom, which he should have by his creatures. The inferior\ncreatures themselves cannot observe it. If man regard it not, what\nbecomes of it? his glory can only be handed to him by man. The other\ncreatures cannot be active instruments of his glory, because they\nknow not themselves, and therefore cannot render him an active praise.\nMan is, therefore, bound to praise God for himself, and for all his\ncreatures, because he only knows himself, and the perfections of the\ncreatures, and the Author both of himself and them. God created such\nvariety, to make a report of himself to us; we are to receive the\nreport, and to reflect it back to him. To what purpose did he make so\nmany things, not necessary, for the support and pleasure of our lives,\nbut that we should behold him in them, as well as in the other? We\ncannot behold the wisdom of God in his own essence, and eternal ideas,\nbut by the reflection of it in the creatures: as we cannot steadily\nbehold the sun with our eye, but either through a glass, or by\nreflection of the image of it in the water. God would have us meditate\non his perfections; he therefore chose the same day wherein he\nreviewed his work and rested from it, to be celebrated by man for the\ncontemplation of him (Gen. ii. 2, 3), that we should follow his example,\nand rejoice, as himself did, in the frequent reviews of his wisdom\nand goodness in them. In vain would the creatures afford matter for\nthis study, if they were wholly neglected. God offers something to our\nconsideration in every creature. Shall the beams of God shine round\nabout us, and strike our eyes, and not affect our minds? Shall we be\nlike ignorant children, that view the pictures, or point to the letters\nin a book, without any sense and meaning? How shall God have the homage\ndue to him from his works, if man hath no care to observe them? The\n148th Psalm is an exhortation to this. The view of them should often\nextract from us a wonder of the like nature of {a597} that of David\u2019s\n(Ps. civ. 24): \u201cO Lord, how wonderful are thy works, in wisdom hast\nthou made them all!\u201d The world was not created to be forgotten, nor man\ncreated to be unobservant of it.\n\n(2.) If we observe not the wisdom of God in the views of the creatures,\nwe do no more than brutes. To look upon the works of God in the world,\nis no higher an act than mere animals perform. The glories of heaven,\nand beauties of the earth, are visible to the sense of beasts and\nbirds. A brute beholds the motion of a man, as it may see the wheels\nof a clock, but understands not the inward springs of motion; the end\nfor which we move, or the soul that acts us in our motion; much less\nthat Invisible Power which presides over the creatures, and conducts\ntheir motion. If a man do no more than this, he goes not a step beyond\na brutish nature, and may very well acknowledge himself with Asaph, a\nfoolish and ignorant beast before God (Ps. lxxiii. 22). The world is\nviewed by beasts, but the Author of it to be contemplated by man. Since\nwe are in a higher rank than beasts, we owe a greater debt than beasts;\nnot only to enjoy the creatures, as they do, but behold God in the\ncreatures, which they cannot do. The contemplation of the reason of\nGod in his works, is a noble and suitable employment for a rational\ncreature: we have not only sense to perceive them, but souls to mind\nthem. The soul is not to be without its operation: where the operation\nof sense ends, the work of the soul ought to begin. We travel over\nthem by our senses, as brutes; but we must pierce further by our\nunderstandings, as men, and perceive and praise Him that lies invisible\nin his visible manufactures. Our senses are given us as servants to the\nsoul, and our souls bestowed upon us for the knowledge and praise of\ntheir and our common Creator.\n\n(3.) This would be a means to increase our humility. We should then\nflag our wings, and vail our sails, and acknowledge our own wisdom\nto be as a drop to the ocean, and a shadow to the sun. We should have\nmean thoughts of the nothingness of our reason, when we consider the\nsublimity of the Divine wisdom. Who can seriously consider the sparks\nof infinite skill in the creature, without falling down at the feet of\nthe Divine Majesty, and acknowledge himself a dark and foolish creature\n(Ps. viii. 4, 5)? When the Psalmist considered the heavens, the moon,\nand stars, and God\u2019s ordination and disposal of them, the use that\nresults from it is, \u201cWhat is man, that thou art mindful of him?\u201d We\nshould no more think to mate him in prudence, or set up the spark of\nour reason to vie with the sun. Our reason would more willingly submit\nto the revelation, when the characters of Divine wisdom are stamped\nupon it, when we find his wisdom in creation incomprehensible to us.\n\n(4.) It would help us in our acknowledgments of God, for his goodness\nto us. When we behold the wisdom of God in creatures below us, and how\nignorant they are of what they possess, it will cause us to reflect\nupon the deeper impressions of wisdom in the frame of our own bodies\nand souls, an excellency far superior to theirs; this would make us\nadmire the magnificence of his wisdom and goodness, sound forth his\npraise for advancing us in dignity above other works of his hands,\nand stamping on us, by infinite art, {a598} a nobler image of himself.\nAnd by such a comparison of ourselves with the creatures below us, we\nshould be induced to act excellently, according to the nature of our\nsouls; not brutishly, according to the nature of the creatures God hath\nput under our feet.\n\n(5.) By the contemplation of the creatures, we may receive some\nassistance in clearing our knowledge in the wisdom of redemption.\nThough they cannot of themselves inform us of it, yet since God hath\nrevealed his redeeming grace, they can illustrate some particulars of\nit to us. Hence the Scripture makes use of the creatures, to set forth\nthings of a higher orb to us: our Saviour is called a Sun, a Vine, and\na Lion; the Spirit likened to a dove, fire, and water. The union of\nChrist and his church, is set forth by the marriage union of Adam and\nEve. God hath placed in corporeal things the images of spiritual, and\nwrapped up in his creating wisdom the representations of his redeeming\ngrace: whence some call the creatures, natural types of what was to be\ntransacted in a new formation of the world, and allusions to what God\nintended in and by Christ.\n\n(6.) The meditation of God\u2019s wisdom in the creatures is, in part, a\nbeginning of heaven upon earth. No doubt but there will be a perfect\nopening of the model of Divine wisdom. Heaven is for clearing what is\nnow obscure, and a full discovering of what seems at present intricate\n(Ps. xxxvi. 9): \u2018In his light shall we see light:\u2019 all the light in\ncreation, government, and redemption. The wisdom of God in the new\nheavens, and the new earth, would be to little purpose, if that also\nwere not to be regarded by the inhabitants of them. As the saints are\nto be restored to the state of Adam, and higher; so they are to be\nrestored to the employment of Adam, and higher: but his employment\nwas, to behold God in the creatures. The world was so soon depraved,\nthat God had but little joy in, and man but little knowledge of his\nworks. And since the wisdom of God in creation is so little seen by\nour ignorance here, would not God lose much of the glory of it, if the\nglorified souls should lose the understanding of it above? When their\ndarkness shall be expelled, and their advantages improved; when the eye\nthat Adam lost shall be fully restored, and with a greater clearness;\nwhen the creature shall be restored to its true end, and reason to its\ntrue perfection (Rom. viii. 21, 22); when the fountains of the depths\nof nature and government shall be opened, knowledge shall increase,\nand according to the increase of our knowledge, shall the admiration\nof Divine wisdom increase also. The wisdom of God in creation was\nnot surely intended to lie wholly unobserved in the greatest part\nof it; but since there was so little time for the full observation\nof it, there will be a time wherein the wisdom of God shall enjoy\na resurrection, and be fully contemplated by his understanding and\nglorified creature.\n\n_Exhort. 2._ Study and admire the wisdom of God in redemption. This is\nthe duty of all Christians. We are not called to understand the great\ndepth of philosophy; we are not called to a skill in the intricacies of\ncivil government, or understand all the methods of physic; but we are\ncalled to be Christians, that is, studiers of Divine {a599} evangelical\nwisdom. There are first principles to be learned; but not those\nprinciples to be rested in without a further progress (Heb. vi. 1):\n\u201cTherefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go\non to perfection.\u201d Duties must be practised, but knowledge is not to be\nneglected. The study of Gospel mysteries, the harmony of Divine truths,\nthe sparkling of Divine wisdom, in their mutual combination to the\ngreat ends of God\u2019s glory and man\u2019s salvation, is an incentive to duty,\na spur to worship, and particularly to the greatest and highest part\nof worship, that part which shall remain in heaven; the admiration and\npraise of God, and delight in him. If we acquaint not ourselves with\nthe impressions of the glory of Divine wisdom in it, we shall not much\nregard it as worthy our observance in regard of that duty. The gospel\nis a mystery; and, as a mystery, hath something great and magnificent\nin it worthy of our daily inspection; we shall find fresh springs\nof new wonders, which we shall be invited to adore with a religious\nastonishment. It will both raise and satisfy our longings. Who can come\nto the depths of \u201cGod manifested in the flesh?\u201d How amazing is it, and\nunworthy of a slight thought, that the death of the Son of God should\npurchase the happy immortality of a sinful creature, and the glory\nof a rebel be wrought by the ignominy of so great a person! that our\nMediator should have a nature whereby to covenant with his Father, and\na nature whereby to be a Surety for the creature! How admirable is it,\nthat the fallen creature should receive an advantage by the forfeiture\nof his happiness! How mysterious is it, that the Son of God should\nbow down to death upon a cross for the satisfaction of justice; and\nrise triumphantly out of the grave, as a declaration, that justice\nwas contented and satisfied! that he should be exalted to heaven to\nintercede for us; and at last return into the world to receive us, and\ninvest us with a glory forever with himself! Are these things worthy\nof a careless regard, or a blockish amazement? What understanding\ncan pierce into the depths of the divine doctrine of the incarnation\nand birth of Christ; the indissoluble union of the two natures? What\ncapacity is able to measure the miracles of that wisdom, found in the\nwhole draught and scheme of the gospel? Doth it not merit, then, to be\nthe object of our daily meditation? How comes it to pass, then, that\nwe are so little curious to concern our thoughts in those wonders,\nthat we scarce taste or sip of these delicacies? that we busy ourselves\nin trifles, and consider what we shall eat, and in what fashion we\nshall be dressed; please ourselves with the ingeniousness of a lace\nor feather; admire a moth\u2011eaten manuscript, or some half\u2011worn piece\nof antiquity, and think our time ill\u2011spent in the contemplating\nand celebrating that wherein God hath busied himself, and eternity\nis designed for the perpetual expressions of? How inquisitive\nare the blessed angels! with what vigor do they renew their daily\ncontemplations of it, and receive a fresh contentment from it; still\nlearning, and still inquiring (1 Pet. i. 12)! Their eye is never off\nthe mercy\u2011seat; they strive to see the bottom of it, and employ all the\nunderstanding they have to conceive the wonders of it. Shall the angels\nbe ravished with it, and bend themselves {a600} down to study it, who\nhave but little interest in it in comparison of us, for whom it was\nboth contrived and dispensed;\u2015\u2015and shall not our pains be greater\nfor this hidden treasure? Is not that worthy the study of a rational\ncreature, that is worthy the study of the angelical? There must indeed\nbe pains; it is expressed by \u201cdigging\u201d (Prov. ii. 4). A lazy arm will\nnot sink to the depth of a mine. The neglect of meditating on it is\ninexcusable, since it hath the title and character of the wisdom of God.\nThe ancient prophets searched into it, when it was folded up in shadows,\nwhen they saw only the fringes of Wisdom\u2019s garment (1 Pet. i. 10);\nand shall not we, since the sun hath mounted up in our horizon, and\nsensibly scattered the light of the knowledge of this and the other\nperfections of God? As the Jewish sabbath was appointed to celebrate\nthe perfections of God, discovered in creation, so is the Christian\nsabbath appointed to meditate on, and bless God, for the discovery of\nhis perfections in redemption. Let us, therefore, receive it according\nto its worth: let it be our only rule to walk by. It is worthy to\nbe valued above all other counsels; and we should never think of it\nwithout the doxology of the apostle, \u201cTo the only wise God be glory\nthrough Jesus Christ, for ever!\u201d that our speculations may end in\naffectionate admirations, and thanksgivings, for that which is so full\nof wonders. What a little prospect should we have had of God, and the\nhappiness of man, had not his wisdom and goodness revealed these things\nto us! The gospel is a marvellous light, and should not be regarded\nwith a stupid ignorance, and pursued with a duller practice.\n\n_Exhort. 3._ Let none of us be proud of, or trust in our own wisdom.\nMan, by affecting wisdom out of the way of God, got a crack in his\nhead, which hath continued five thousand years and upwards, and ever\nsince our own wisdom and \u201cknowledge hath perverted us\u201d (Isa. xlvii. 10).\nTo be guided by this, is to be under the conduct of a blind leader,\nand follow a traitor and enemy to God and ourselves. Man\u2019s prudence\noften proves hurtful to him: he often accomplisheth his ruin, while\nhe designs his establishment; and finds his fall, where he thought to\nsettle his fortune: such bad eyes hath human wisdom often in its own\naffairs. Those that have been heightened with a conceit of their own\ncunning, have at last proved the greatest fools. God delights to make\n\u201cfoolish the wisdom of this world\u201d (1 Cor. i. 20). Thus God writ folly\nupon the crafty brains of Ahithophel, and simplicity upon the subtle\nprojects of Herod against our Saviour; and the devil, the prince of\ncarnal wisdom, was befooled into a furthering our redemption by his own\nprojects to hinder it. Carnal policy, against the prescripts of Divine\nwisdom, never prospers: it is like an _ignis fatuus_, which leads men\nout of the way of duty, and out of the way of security, and perverts\nthem into the mire and dangerous precipices. When Jeroboam would coin\na religion to serve his interest of state, he tore up the foundations\nboth of his kingdom and family. The way the Jews took to prevent a\nfresh invasion of the Romans, by the crucifying Christ, brought the\njudgment more swift upon them (John xi. 48). There is no man ruined\nhere, or damned hereafter, but by his own wisdom and will. (Prov. iii.\n5, 7), \u201cThe fear of the Lord, and departure from evil, are inconsistent\nwith an {a601} overweening conceit of our own wisdom;\u201d and leaning to\nour own understanding, is inconsistent with a trusting in the Lord with\nall our hearts. It is as much a deifying ourselves, to trust to our\nown wit, as it is a deifying the creature to affect or confide in it,\nsuperior to God or equally with him. The true way to wisdom is to be\nsensible of our own folly (1 Cor. iii. 18), \u201cIf any man be wise, let\nhim become a fool.\u201d He that distrusts his own guidance, will more\nsecurely and successfully follow the counsel of another in whom he\nconfides. The more water, or any other liquor, is poured out of a\nvessel, the more air enters. The more we distrust our own wisdom, the\nmore capable we are of the conduct of God\u2019s. Had Jehoshaphat relied\nupon his own policy, he might have found a defeat when he met with a\ndeliverance; but he disowned his own skill and strength in telling God,\n\u201cWe know not what to do, but our eyes are upon thee\u201d (2 Chron. xx. 12).\nLet us, therefore, with Agur, disesteem our own understanding to esteem\nDivine. Human prudence is like a spider\u2019s web, easily blown away, and\nswept down by the besom of some unexpected revolution. God, by his\ninfinite wisdom, can cross the wisdom of man, and make a man\u2019s own\nprudence hang in his own light. (Isa. xxix. 14), \u201cThe understanding\nof their prudent men shall be hid.\u201d\n\n_Exhort. 4._ Seek to God for wisdom. The wisdom we have by nature,\nis like the weeds the earth brings forth without tillage. Our wisdom\nsince the fall, is the wisdom of the serpent, without the innocency of\nthe dove: it flows from self\u2011love, runs into self\u2011interest. It is the\nwisdom of the flesh, and a prudence to manage means for the contending\nour lusts. Our best wisdom is imperfect, a mere nothing and vanity,\nin comparison of the Divine, as our beings are in comparison of his\nessence. We must go to God for a holy and innocent wisdom, and fill\nour cisterns from a pure fountain. The wisdom that was the glory of\nSolomon, was the donation of the Most High. (James i. 5), \u201cIf any\nman want wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,\nand upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.\u201d The faculty of\nunderstanding is from God by nature; but a heavenly light to direct\nthe understanding is from God by grace. Children have an understanding,\nbut stand in need of wise masters to rectify it, and form judicious\nnotions in it. \u201cThere is a spirit in man, but the inspiration of the\nAlmighty gives him understanding\u201d (Job xxxii. 8). We must beg of God,\nwisdom. The gospel is the wisdom of God; the concerns of it great\nand mysterious, not to be known without a \u201cnew understanding\u201d (1 John\nv. 20). A new understanding is not to be had but from the Creator of\nthe first. The Spirit of God is the \u201csearcher of the deep things of\nGod;\u201d the revealer of them to us, and the enlightener of our minds\nto apprehend them; and, therefore, called a \u201cSpirit of wisdom and\nrevelation\u201d (Eph. i. 17). Christ is made wisdom to us, as well as\nrighteousness; not only by imputation, but effusion.[809] Seek to God,\ntherefore, for that wisdom which is like the sun, and not that worldly\nwisdom which is like a shadow: for that wisdom whose effects are not so\noutwardly glorious, but inwardly sweet, seek it from him, and seek it\nin {a602} his word, that is, the transcript of Divine wisdom; \u201cthrough\nhis precepts understanding is to be had\u201d (Ps. cxix. 104). As the wisdom\nof men appears in their laws, so doth the wisdom of God in his statutes.\nBy this means we arrive to a heavenly sagacity. If these be rejected,\nwhat wisdom can there be in us? a dream and conceit only (Jer. viii):\n\u201cThey have rejected the word of the Lord, and what wisdom is in them?\u201d\nWho knows how to order any concerns as he ought, or any one faculty\nof his soul? Therefore, desire God\u2019s direction in outward concerns, in\npersonal, family, in private and public. He hath not only a wisdom for\nour salvation, but for our outward direction. He doth not only guide\nus in the one, and leave Satan to manage us in the other. Those that\ngo with Saul to a witch of Endor, go to hell for craft, and prefer the\nwisdom of the hostile serpent before the holy counsel of a faithful\nCreator. If you want health in your body, you advise with a physician;\nif direction for your estate, you resort to a lawyer; if passage for a\nvoyage, you address to a pilot; why not much more yourselves, your all,\nto a wise God? As Pliny said, concerning a wise man, \u201cO, Sir, how many\nCatos are there in that wise person!\u201d how much more wisdom than men or\nangels possess, is infinitely centered in the wise God!\n\n_Exhort. 5._ Submit to the wisdom of God in all cases. What else was\ninculcated in the first precept, forbidding man to eat of the fruit of\nthe \u201ctree of knowledge of good and evil,\u201d but that he should take heed\nof the swelling of his mind against the wisdom of God? It is a wisdom\nincomprehensible to flesh and blood; we should adore it in our minds,\nand resign up ourselves to it in our practice. How unreasonable are\nrepinings against God, whereby a creature\u2019s ignorance indicts and\njudges a Creator\u2019s prudence! Were God weak in wisdom, and only mighty\nin power, we might suspect his conduct. Power without wisdom and\ngoodness is an unruly and ruinous thing in the world. But God being\ninfinite in one, as well as the other, we have no reason to be jealous\nof him, and repine against his methods; why should we quarrel with\nhim that we are not as high, or as wealthy as others; that we have not\npresently the mercy we want? If he be wise, we ought to stay his time,\nand wait his leisure, because \u201che is a God of judgment\u201d (Isa. xxx. 18).\nPresume not to shorten the time which his discretion hath fixed; it\nis a folly to think to do it. By impatience we cannot hasten relief;\nwe alienate him from us by debasing him to stand at our bar, disturb\nourselves, lose the comfort of our lives, and the sweetness of his\nmercy. Submission to God we are in no case exempted from, because\nthere is no case wherein God doth not direct all the acts of his will\nby counsel. Whatsoever is drawn by a straight rule must be right and\nstraight; the rule that is right in itself, is the measure of the\nstraightness of everything else; whatsoever is wrought in the world by\nGod, must be wise, good, righteous; because God is essentially wisdom,\ngoodness, and righteousness.\n\n(1.) Submit to God, in his revelations. 1. Measure them not by reason:\nthe truths of the gospel must be received with a self\u2011emptiness and\nannihilation of the creature. If our reason seems to lift up itself\nagainst revelation, because it finds no testimony for it in its {a603}\nown light, consider how crazy it is in natural and obvious things,\nand therefore sure it is not strong enough to enter into the depths\nof Divine wisdom: the wisdom of God in the gospel is too great an ocean\nto be contained or laved out by a cockleshell. It were not infinite,\nif it were not beyond our finite reach; our reason must as well stoop\nto his wisdom, as our wills to his sovereignty. How great a vanity is\nit for a glow\u2011worm to boast that it is as full of light as the sun in\nthe firmament! for reason to leave its proper sphere, is to fall into\nconfusion, and thicken its own darkness. We should settle ourselves\nin the belief of the Scripture, and confirm ourselves by a meditation\non those many undeniable arguments for its Divine authority,\u2015\u2015the\nfulfilling of its predictions, the antiquity of the writing, the\nholiness of the precepts, the heavenliness of the doctrine, the\nglorious effects it hath produced, and doth yet produce, different\nfrom human methods of success; and submit our reason to the voice of so\nhigh a majesty. 2. Not to be too curiously inquisitive into what is not\nrevealed. There is something hid in whatsoever is revealed. We know the\nSon of God was begotten from eternity, but how he was begotten, we are\nignorant. We know there is a union of the Divine nature with the human,\nand that the fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily; but the\nmanner of its inhabitation we are in a great part ignorant of. We know\nthat God hath chosen some and refused others, and that he did it with\ncounsel; but the reason why he chose this man and not that, we know not;\nwe can refer it to nothing but God\u2019s sovereign pleasure. It is revealed\nthat there will be a day wherein God shall judge the world; but the\nparticular time is not revealed. We know that God created the world in\ntime; but why he did not create the world millions of years before, we\nare ignorant of, and our reasons would be bewildered in their too much\ncuriosity. If we ask why he did not create it before, we may as well\nask why he did create it then? And may not the same question be asked,\nif the world had been created millions of years before it was? That he\ncreated it in six days, and not in an instant, is revealed; but why he\ndid not do it in a moment, since we are sure he was able to do it, is\nnot revealed. Are the reasons of a wise man\u2019s proceedings hid from us?\nand shall we presume to dive into the reason of the proceedings of an\nonly wise God, which he hath judged not expedient to discover to us?\nSome sparks of his wisdom he hath caused to issue out, to exercise and\ndelight our minds; others he keeps within the centre of his own breast;\nwe must not go about to unlock his cabinet. As we cannot reach to the\nutmost lines of his power, so we cannot grasp the intimate reasons\nof his wisdom. We must still remember, that which is finite can never\nbe able to comprehend the reasons, motives, and methods of that which\nis infinite. It doth not become us to be resty, because God hath\nnot admitted us into the debates of eternity. We are as little to\nbe curious at what God hath hid, as to be careless of what God hath\nmanifested. Too great an inquisitiveness beyond our line, is as much a\nprovoking arrogance, as a blockish negligence of what is revealed, is\na slighting ingratitude.\n\n(2.) Submit to God in his precepts and methods. Since they are {a604}\nthe results of infinite wisdom, disputes against them are not tolerable;\nwhat orders are given out by infallible Wisdom are to be entertained\nwith respect and reverence, though the reason of them be not visible\nto our purblind minds. Shall God have less respect from us than earthly\nprinces, whose laws we observe without being able to pierce into the\nexact reason of them all? Since we know he hath not a will without an\nunderstanding, our observance of him must be without repining; we must\nnot think to mend our Creator\u2019s laws, and presume to judge and condemn\nhis righteous statutes. If the flesh rise up in opposition, we must\ncross its motions, and silence its murmurings; his will should be an\nacceptable will to us, because it is a wise will in itself. God hath no\nneed to impose upon us and deceive us; he hath just and righteous ways\nto attain his glory and his creatures\u2019s good. To deceive us, would be\nto dishonor himself, and contradict his own nature. He cannot impose\nfalse injurious precepts, or unavailable to his subjects\u2019 happiness;\nnot false, because of his truth; not injurious, because of his\ngoodness; not vain, because of his wisdom. Submit, therefore, to him\nin his precepts, and in his methods too. The honor of his wisdom, and\nthe interest of our happiness, call for it. Had Noah disputed with\nGod about building an ark, and listened to the scoffs of the senseless\nworld, he had perished under the same fate, and lost the honor of a\npreacher and worker of righteousness. Had not the Israelites been their\nown enemies, if they had been permitted to be their own guides, and\nreturned to the Egyptian bondage and furnaces, instead of a liberty\nand earthly felicity in Canaan? Had our Saviour gratified the Jews by\ndescending from the cross, and freeing himself from the power of his\nadversaries, he might have had that faith from them which they promised\nhim; but it had been a faith to no purpose, because without ground;\nthey might have believed him to be the Son of God, but he could not\nhave been the Saviour of the world. His death, the great ground and\nobject of faith, had been unaccomplished; they had believed a God\npardoning without a consent to his justice, and such a faith could not\nhave rescued them from falling into eternal misery. The precepts and\nmethods of Divine wisdom must be submitted to.\n\n(3.) Submit to God in all crosses and revolutions. Infinite Wisdom\ncannot err in any of his paths, or step the least hair\u2019s breadth from\nthe way of righteousness: there is the understanding of God in every\nmotion; an eye in every wheel, the wheel that goes over us and crusheth\nus. We are led by fancy more than reason: we know no more what we ask,\nor what is fit for us, than the mother of Zebedee\u2019s children did, when\nshe petitioned Christ for her sons\u2019 advancement, when he came into his\ntemporal kingdom (Matt. xx. 22): the things we desire might pleasure\nour fancy or appetite, but impair our health: one man complains for\nwant of children, but knows not whether they may prove comforts or\ncrosses: another for want of health, but knows not whether the health\nof his body may not prove the disease of his soul. We might lose in\nheavenly things, if we possess in earthly things what we long for. God,\nin regard of his infinite wisdom, is fitter to carve out a condition\nthan we ourselves; our shallow reason and self\u2011love, would wish for\nthose things that {a605} are injurious to God, to ourselves, to the\nworld; but God always chooses what is best for his glory, and what\nis best for his creatures, either in regard to themselves, or as they\nstand in relation to him, or to others, as parts of the world. We are\nin danger from our self\u2011love, in no danger in complying with God\u2019s\nwisdom: when Rachel would die, if she had no children, she had children,\nbut death with one of them (Gen. xxx. 1). Good men may conclude,\nthat whatsoever is done by God in them, or with them, is best and\nfittest for them; because by the covenant which makes over God to them,\nas their God, the conduct of his wisdom is assured to them as well\nas any other attribute: and, therefore, as God in every transaction\nappears as their God, so he appears as their wise Director, and by\nthis wisdom he extracts good out of evil, makes the affliction which\ndestroys our outward comforts consume our inward defilements; and the\nwaves which threatened to swallow up the vessel, to cast it upon the\nshore: and when he hath occasion to manifest his anger against his\npeople, his wisdom directs his wrath. In judgment he hath \u201ca work to\ndo upon Zion;\u201d and when that work is done, he punishes the fruit of the\n\u201cstout heart of the king of Assyria\u201d (Isa. x. 12); as in the answers of\nprayer he doth give oftentimes \u201cabove what we ask or think\u201d (Eph. iii.\n20), so in outward concerns he doth above what we can expect, or by\nour short\u2011sightedness, conclude will be done. Let us, therefore, in all\nthings, frame our minds to the Divine Wisdom, and say with the Psalmist\n(Ps. xlvii. 4): \u201cThe Lord shall choose our inheritance and condition\nfor us.\u201d\n\n_Exhort. 6._ Censure not God in any of his ways. Can we understand the\nfull scope of Divine wisdom in creation, which is perfected before our\neyes? Can we, by a rational knowledge, walk over the whole surface of\nthe earth, and wade through the sea? Can we understand the nature of\nthe heavens? Are all, or most, or the thousandth part of the particles\nof Divine skill, known by us, yea, or any of them thoroughly known? How\ncan we, then, understand his deeper methods in things that are but of\nyesterday, that we have not had a time to view? We should not be too\nquick, or too rash, in our judgments of him: the best that we attain to,\nis but feeble conjectures at the designs of God. As there is something\nhid in whatsoever is revealed in his word, so there is something\ninaccessible to us in his works, as well as in his nature and Majesty.\nIn our Saviour\u2019s act in washing his disciples\u2019 feet, he checked Peter\u2019s\ncontradiction (John xiii. 7): \u201cWhat I do, thou knowest not now, but\nthou shalt know hereafter.\u201d God were not infinitely wise if the reason\nof all his acts were obvious to our shallowness. He is no profound\nstatesman, whose inward intention can be sounded by vulgar heads at\nthe first act he starts in his designed method. The wise God is, in\nthis, like wise men, that have not breasts like glasses of crystal, to\ndiscover all that they intend. There are \u201csecrets of wisdom above our\nreach\u201d (Job xi. 6); nay, when we see all his acts, we cannot see all\nthe draughts of his skill in them. An unskilful hearer of a musical\nlesson may receive the melody with his ear, and understand not the\nrarities of the composition as it was wrought by the musician\u2019s mind.\nUnder the Old Testament there was more of Divine power, {a606} and\nless of his wisdom apparent in his acts: as his laws, so his acts, were\nmore fitted to their sense. Under the New Testament there is more of\nwisdom, and less of power; as his laws, so his acts, are more fitted\nto a spiritual mind; wisdom is less discernible than power. Our wisdom,\ntherefore, in this case, as it doth other things, consists in silence\nand expectation of the end and event of a work. We owe that honor to\nGod that we do to men wiser than ourselves, to imagine he hath reason\nto do what he doth, though our shallowness cannot comprehend it. We\nmust suffer God to be wiser than ourselves, and acknowledge that there\nis something sovereign in his ways not to be measured by the feeble\nreed of our weak understandings. And, therefore, we should acquiesce\nin his proceedings; take heed we be not found slanderers of God, but\nbe adorers instead of censurers; and lift up our heads in admiration of\nhim and his ways, instead of citing him to answer it at our bar. Many\nthings in the first appearance may seem to be rash and unjust, which,\nin the issue, appear comely and regular. If it had been plainly spoke\nbefore that the Son of God should die, that a most holy person should\nbe crucified, it would have seemed cruel to expose a son to misery;\nunjust to inflict punishment upon one that was no criminal; to join\ntogether exact goodness and physical evil; that the sovereign should\ndie for the malefactor, and the observer of the law for the violators\nof it. But when the whole design is unravelled, what an admirable\nconnexion is there of justice and mercy, love and wisdom, which before\nwould have appeared absurd to the muddied reason of man! We see the\ngardener pulling up some delightful flowers by the roots, digging up\nthe earth, overwhelming it with dung; an ignorant person would imagine\nhim wild, out of his wits, and charge him with spoiling his garden: but\nwhen the spring is arrived, the spectator will acknowledge his skill\nin his former operations. The truth is, the whole design and methods\nof God are not to be judged by us in this world; the full declaration\nof the whole contexture is reserved for the other world, to make up a\npart of good men\u2019s happiness in the amazing views of Divine wisdom, as\nwell as the other perfections of his nature. We can no more perfectly\nunderstand his wisdom than we can his mercy and justice, till we see\nthe last lines of all drawn, and the full expressions of them; we\nshould therefore be sober and modest in the consideration of God\u2019s\nways; \u201chis judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out.\u201d\nThe riches of his wisdom are past our counting, his depths not to\nbe fathomed, yet they are depths of righteousness and equity; though\nthe full manifestation of that equity, the grounds and methods of his\nproceedings are unknown to us. As we are too short fully to know God,\nso we are too ignorant fully to comprehend the acts of God: since he\nis a God of judgment, we should wait till we see the issue of his works\n(Isa. xxx. 18). And in the meantime, with the apostle in the text, give\nhim the glory of all, in the same expressions, \u201cTo the only wise God be\nglory, through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n{b1}              THE EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD\n\n\n                           STEPHEN CHARNOCK\n\n\n                          TWO VOLUMES IN ONE\n\n                               Volume 2\n\n{b2}\n\n\n\n\n{b3}                     CONTENTS OF VOL. II.\n\n\n                             DISCOURSE X.\n\n                         ON THE POWER OF GOD.\n\n  JOB xxvi. 14.\u2015\u2015Lo! these are parts of his ways: but how little\n    a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who\n    can understand?                                              b5\n\n\n                             DISCOURSE XI.\n\n                        ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD.\n\n  EXODUS xv. 11.\u2015\u2015Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?\n    Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,\n    doing wonders?                                             b108\n\n\n                            DISCOURSE XII.\n\n                        ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD.\n\n  MARK x. 18.\u2015\u2015And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?\n    There is none good but one, that is, God.                  b209\n\n\n                            DISCOURSE XIII.\n\n                          ON GOD\u2019S DOMINION.\n\n  PSALM ciii. 19.\u2015\u2015The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens:\n    and his kingdom ruleth over all.                           b356\n\n\n                            DISCOURSE XIV.\n\n                          ON GOD\u2019S PATIENCE.\n\n  NAHUM i. 3.\u2015\u2015The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and\n    will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the\n    whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his\n    feet.                                                      b472\n\n\n  INDEX.                                                       b525\n\n    OF TEXTS.                                                  b541\n\n{b4}\n\n\n\n\n{b5}                       DISCOURSE X.\n\n                         ON THE POWER OF GOD.\n\n  JOB xxvi. 14.\u2015\u2015Lo! these are parts of his ways: but how little a\n    portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can\n    understand?\n\n\nBILDAD had, in the foregoing chapter, entertained Job with a\ndiscourse of the dominion and power of God, and the purity of his\nrighteousness, whence he argues an impossibility of the justification\nof man in his presence, who is no better than a worm. Job, in this\nchapter, acknowledges the greatness of God\u2019s power, and descants more\nlargely upon it than Bildad had done; but doth preface it with a kind\nof ironical speech, as if he had not acted a friendly part, or spake\nlittle to the purpose, or the matter in hand: the subject of Job\u2019s\ndiscourse was the worldly happiness of the wicked, and the calamities\nof the godly: and Bildad reads him a lecture, of the extent of God\u2019s\ndominion, the number of his armies, and the unspotted rectitude of\nhis nature, in comparison of which the purest creatures are foul\nand crooked. Job, therefore, from ver. 1\u20124, taxeth him in a kind of\nscoffing manner, that he had not touched the point, but rambled from\nthe subject in hand, and had not applied a salve proper to this sore\n(ver. 2): \u201cHow hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest\nthou the arm of him that hath no strength?\u201d &c.; your discourse is\nso impertinent, that it will neither strengthen a weak person, nor\ninstruct a simple one.[810] But since Bildad would take up the argument\nof God\u2019s power, and discourse so short of it, Job would show that he\nwanted not his instructions in that kind, and that he had more distinct\nconceptions of it than his antagonist had uttered: and therefore\nfrom ver. 5 to the end of the chapter, he doth magnificently treat\nof the power of God in several branches. And (ver. 5) he begins with\nthe lowest. \u201cDead things are formed from under the waters, and the\ninhabitants thereof:\u201d You read me a lecture of the power of God in\nthe heavenly host: indeed it is visible there, yet of a larger extent;\nand monuments of it are found in the lower parts. What do you think of\nthose dead things under the earth and waters, of the corn that dies,\nand by the moistening influences of the clouds, springs up again with\na numerous progeny and increase for the nourishment of man? What do you\nthink of those varieties of metals and minerals conceived in the bowels\nof the earth; those pearls and riches in the depths of the waters,\nmidwifed by this power of God? Add to these those more prodigious\ncreatures in the {b6} sea, the inhabitants of the waters, with their\nvastness and variety, which are all the births of God\u2019s power; both in\ntheir first creation by his mighty voice, and their propagation by his\ncherishing providence. Stop not here, but consider also that his power\nextends to hell; either the graves the repositories of all the crumbled\ndust that hath yet been in the world (for so hell is sometimes taken\nin Scripture: ver. 6, \u201cHell is naked before him, and destruction hath\nno covering.\u201d) The several lodgings of deceased men are known to him:\nno screen can obscure them from his sight, nor their dissolution be\nany bar to his power, when the time is come to compact those mouldered\nbodies to entertain again their departed souls, either for weal or woe.\nThe grave, or hell, the place of punishment, is naked before him; as\ndistinctly discerned by him, as a naked body in all its lineaments by\nus, or a dissected body is in all its parts by a skilful eye.\n\nDestruction hath no covering; none can free himself from the power of\nhis hand. Every person in the bowels of hell; every person punished\nthere is known to him, and feels the power of his wrath. From the lower\nparts of the world he ascends to the consideration of the power of God\nin the creation of heaven and earth; \u201cHe stretches out the north over\nthe empty places\u201d (ver. 7). The north, or the north pole, over the air,\nwhich, by the Greeks, was called void or empty, because of the tenuity\nand thinness of that element; and he mentions here the north, or north\npole, for the whole heaven, because it is more known and apparent than\nthe southern pole. \u201cAnd hangs the earth upon nothing:\u201d the massy and\nweighty earth hangs like a thick globe in the midst of a thin air,\nthat there is as much air on the one side of it, as on the other. The\nheavens have no prop to sustain them in their height, and the earth\nhath no basis to support it in its place. The heavens are as if you saw\na curtain stretched smooth in the air without any hand to hold it; and\nthe earth is as if you saw a ball hanging in the air without any solid\nbody to under\u2011prop it, or any line to hinder it from falling; both\nstanding monuments of the omnipotence of God. He then takes notice of\nhis daily power in the clouds; \u201cHe binds up the waters in his thick\nclouds, and the cloud is not rent under them\u201d (ver. 8). He compacts\nthe waters together in clouds, and keeps them by his power in the air\nagainst the force of their natural gravity and heaviness, till they are\nfit to flow down upon the earth, and perform his pleasure in the places\nfor which he designs them. \u201cThe cloud is not rent under them;\u201d the thin\nair is not split asunder by the weight of the waters contained in the\ncloud above it. He causes them to distil by drops, and strains them,\nas it were, through a thin lawn, for the refreshment of the earth; and\nsuffers them not to fall in the whole lump, with a violent torrent,\nto waste the industry of man, and bring famine upon the world, by\ndestroying the fruits of the earth. What a wonder it would be to see\nbut one entire drop of water hang itself but one inch above the ground,\nunless it be a bubble which is preserved by the air enclosed within it!\nWhat a wonder would it be to see a gallon of water contained in a thin\ncobweb as strongly as in a vessel {b7} of brass! Greater is the wonder\nof Divine power in those thin bottles of heaven, as they are called\n(Job xxxviii. 37); and therefore called his clouds here, as being daily\ninstances of his omnipotence: that the air should sustain those rolling\nvessels, as it should seem, weightier than itself; that the force of\nthis mass of waters should not break so thin a prison, and hasten to\nits proper place, which is below the air: that they should be daily\nconfined against their natural inclination, and held by so slight\na chain; that there should be such a gradual and successive falling\nof them, as if the air were pierced with holes like a gardener\u2019s\nwatering\u2011pot, and not fall in one entire body to drown or drench\nsome parts of the earth. These are hourly miracles of Divine power,\nas little regarded as clearly visible. He proceeds (ver. 9), \u201cHe\nholds back the face of his throne, and spreads the clouds upon it.\u201d\nThe clouds are designed as curtains to cover the heavens, as well\nas vessels to water the earth (Ps. cxlvii. 8). As a tapestry curtain\nbetween the heavens, the throne of God (Isa. lxvi. 1), and the earth\nhis footstool: the heavens are called his throne, because his power\ndoth most shine forth there, and magnificently declare the glory of God;\nand the clouds are as a screen between the scorching heat of the sun,\nand the tender plants of the earth, and the weak bodies of men. From\nhence he descends to the sea, and considers the Divine power apparent\nin the bounding of it (ver. 10); \u201cHe hath compassed the waters with\nbounds, till the day and night come to an end.\u201d This is several times\nmentioned in Scripture as a signal mark of Divine strength (Job xxxviii.\n8; Prov. viii. 27). He hath measured a place for the sea, and struck\nthe limits of it as with a compass, that it might not mount above\nthe surface of the land, and ruin the ends of the earth\u2019s creation;\nand this, while day and night have their mutual turns, till he shall\nmake an end of time by removing the measures of it. The bounds of the\ntumultuous sea are, in many places, as weak as the bottles of the upper\nwaters; the one is contained in thin air, and the other restrained by\nweak sands, in many places, as well as by stubborn rocks in others;\nthat, though it swells, foams, roars, and the waves, encouraged and\negged on by strong winds, come like mountains against the shore; they\noverflow it not, but humble themselves when they come near to those\nsands, which are set as their lists and limits, and retire back to the\nwomb that brought them forth, as if they were ashamed and repented of\ntheir proud invasion: or else it may be meant of the tides of the sea,\nand the stated time God hath set it for its ebbing and flowing, till\nnight and day come to an end;[811] both that the fluid waters should\ncontain themselves within due bounds, and keep their perpetually\norderly motion, are amazing arguments of Divine power. He passes on to\nthe consideration of the commotions in the air and earth, raised and\nstilled by the power of God; \u201cThe pillars of heaven tremble, and are\nastonished at his reproof.\u201d By pillars of heaven are not meant angels,\nas some think, but either the air, called the pillars of heaven in\nregard of place, as it continues and knits together the parts of the\nworld, as pillars do the upper and nether parts of a building: as\nthe lowest parts of the earth are {b8} called the foundations of the\nearth, so the lowest parts of the heaven may be called the pillars of\nheaven:[812] or else by that phrase may be meant mountains, which seem,\nat a distance, to touch the sky, as pillars do the top of a structure;\nand so it may be spoken, according to vulgar capacity, which imagines\nthe heavens to be sustained by the two extreme parts of the earth,\nas a convex body, or to be arched by pillars; whence the Scripture,\naccording to common apprehensions, mentions the ends of the earth, and\nthe utmost parts of the heavens, though they have properly no end, as\nbeing round. The power of God is seen in those commotions in the air\nand earth, by thunders, lightnings, storms, earthquakes, which rack\nthe air, and make the mountains and hills tremble as servants before a\nfrowning and rebuking master. And as he makes motions in the earth and\nair, so is his power seen in their influences upon the sea; \u201cHe judges\nthe sea with his power, and by his understanding he smites through\nthe proud\u201d (ver. 12). At the creation he put the waters into several\nchannels, and caused the dry land to appear barefaced for a habitation\nfor man and beasts; or rather, he splits the sea by storms, as though\nhe would make the bottom of the deep visible, and rakes up the sands\nto the surface of the waters, and marshals the waves into mountains\nand valleys. After that, \u201che smites through the proud,\u201d that is,\nhumbles the proud waves, and, by allaying the storm, reduceth them to\ntheir former level: the power of God is visible, as well in rebuking,\nas in awakening the winds; he makes them sensible of his voice, and,\naccording to his pleasure, exasperates or calms them. The \u201cstriking\nthrough the proud\u201d here, is not, probably, meant of the destruction\nof the Egyptian army, for some guess that Job died that year,[813]\nor about the time of the Israelites coming out of Egypt; so that this\ndiscourse here, being in the time of his affliction, could not point at\nthat which was done after his restoration to his temporal prosperity.\nAnd now, at last, he sums up the power of God, in the chiefest of his\nworks above, and the greatest wonder of his works below (ver. 13);\n\u201cBy his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed\nthe crooked serpent,\u201d &c. The greater and lesser lights, sun, moon,\nand stars, the ornaments and furniture of heaven; and the whale, a\nprodigious monument of God\u2019s power, often mentioned in Scripture to\nthis purpose, and, in particular, in this book of Job (ch. xli.); and\ncalled by the same name of crooked serpent (Isa. xxvii. 1), where it\nis applied, by way of metaphor, to the king of Assyria or Egypt, or\nall oppressors of the church. Various interpretations there are of this\ncrooked serpent: some understanding that constellation in heaven which\nastronomers call the dragon; some that combination of weaker stars,\nwhich they call the galaxia, which winds about the heavens: but it is\nmost probable that Job, drawing near to a conclusion of his discourse,\njoins the two greatest testimonies of God\u2019s power in the world, the\nhighest heavens, and the lowest leviathan, which is here called a bar\nserpent,[814] in regard of his strength and hardness, as mighty men are\ncalled bars in Scripture (Jer. li. 30); \u201cHer bars are broken things.\u201d\nAnd in regard of this power of God {b9} in the creation of this\ncreature, it is particularly mentioned in the catalogue of God\u2019s works\n(Gen. i. 21); \u201cAnd God created great whales;\u201d all the other creatures\nbeing put into one sum, and not particularly expressed. And now he\nmakes use of this lecture in the text, \u201cLo, these are parts of his ways;\nbut how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power\nwho can understand?\u201d This is but a small landscape of some of his works\nof power; the outsides and extremities of it; more glorious things are\nwithin his palaces: though those things argue a stupendous power of the\nCreator, in his works of creation and providence, yet they are nothing\nto what may be declared of his power. And what may be declared, is\nnothing to what may be conceived; and what may be conceived, is nothing\nto what is above the conceptions of any creature. These are but little\ncrumbs and fragments of that Infinite Power, which is, in his nature,\nlike a drop in comparison of the mighty ocean; a hiss or whisper in\ncomparison of a mighty voice of thunder.[815] This, which I have spoken,\nis but like a spark to the fiery region, a few lines, by the by, a drop\nof speech.\n\n_The thunder of his power._ Some understand it of thunder literally,\nfor material thunder in the air: \u201cThe thunder of his power,\u201d that is,\naccording to the Hebrew dialect, \u201chis powerful thunder.\u201d This is not\nthe sense; the nature of thunder in the air doth not so much exceed\nthe capacity of human understanding; it is, therefore, rather to be\nunderstood metaphorically, \u201cthe thunder of his power,\u201d that is, the\ngreatness and immensity of his power, manifested in the magnificent\nmiracles of nature, in the consideration whereof men are astonished,\nas if they had heard an unusual clap of thunder. So thunder is used\n(Job xxxix. 25), \u201cThe thunder of the captains;\u201d that is, strength and\nforce of the captains of an army: and (ver. 19), God, speaking to Job\nof a horse, saith, \u201cHast thou clothed his neck with thunder?\u201d that is,\nstrength: and thunder being a mark of the power of God, some of the\nheathen have called God by the name of a Thunderer.[816] As thunder\npierceth the lowest places, and alters the state of things, so doth\nthe power of God penetrate into all things whatsoever; the thunder of\nhis power, that is, the greatness of his power; as \u201cthe strength of\nsalvation\u201d (Ps. xx. 6), that is, a mighty salvation.\n\n_Who can understand?_ Who is able to count all the monuments of\nhis power? How doth this little, which I have spoken of, exceed\nthe capacity of our understanding, and is rather the matter of our\nastonishment, than the object of our comprehensive knowledge. The power\nof the greatest potentate, or the mightiest creature, is but of small\nextent: none but have their limits; it may be understood how far they\ncan act, in what sphere their activity is bounded: but when I have\nspoken all of Divine power that I can, when you have thought all that\nyou can think of it, your souls will prompt you to {b10} conceive\nsomething more beyond what I have spoken, and what you have thought.\nHis power shines in everything, and is beyond everything. There is\ninfinitely more power lodged in his nature, not expressed to the world.\nThe understanding of men and angels, centred in one creature, would\nfall short of the perception of the infiniteness of it. All that can\nbe comprehended of it, are but little fringes of it, a small portion.\nNo man ever discoursed, or can, of God\u2019s power, according to the\nmagnificence of it. No creature can conceive it; God himself only\ncomprehends it; God himself is only able to express it. Man\u2019s power\nbeing limited, his line is too short to measure the incomprehensible\nomnipotence of God. \u201cThe thunder of his power who can understand?\u201d\nthat is, none can. The text is a lofty declaration of the Divine power,\nwith a particular note of attention, _Lo!_ I. In the expressions of\nit, in the works of creation and providence, _Lo, these are his ways_;\nways and works excelling any created strength, referring to the little\nsummary of them he had made before. II. In the insufficiency of these\nways to measure his power, _But how little a portion is heard of him_.\nIII. In the incomprehensibleness of it, _The thunder of his power,\nwho can understand?_ _Doctrine._ Infinite and incomprehensible power\npertains to the nature of God, and is expressed, in part, in his works;\nor, though there be a mighty expression of Divine power in his works,\nyet an incomprehensible power pertains to his nature. \u201cThe thunder of\nhis power, who can understand?\u201d\n\nHis power glitters in all his works, as well as his wisdom (Ps. lxii.\n11): \u201cTwice have I heard this, that power belongs unto God.\u201d In the\nlaw and in the prophets, say some; but why power twice, and not mercy,\nwhich he speaks of in the following verse? he had heard of power twice,\nfrom the voice of creation, and from the voice of government. Mercy was\nheard in government after man\u2019s fall, not creation; innocent man was\nan object of God\u2019s goodness, not of his mercy, till he made himself\nmiserable; power was expressed in both; or, twice have I heard that\npower belongs to God, that is, it is a certain and undoubted truth,\nthat power is essential to the Divine nature. It is true, mercy is\nessential, justice is essential; but power more apparently essential,\nbecause no acts of mercy, or justice, or wisdom, can be exercised by\nhim without power; the repetition of a thing confirms the certainty\nof it. Some observe, that God is called Almighty seventy times in\nScripture.[817] Though his power be evident in all his works, yet he\nhath a power beyond the expression of it in his works, which, as it is\nthe glory of his nature, so it is the comfort of a believer. To which\npurpose the apostle expresseth it by an excellent paraphrasis for the\nhonor of the Divine nature (Eph. iii. 20): \u201cNow unto him that is able\nto do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, unto him\nbe glory in the churches.\u201d We have reason to acknowledge him Almighty,\nwho hath a power of acting above our power of understanding. Who could\nhave imagined such a powerful operation in the propagation of the\ngospel, and the conversion of the Gentiles, which the apostle seems to\nhint at in that place? His power is expressed by \u201chorns in his hands\u201d\n(Hab. iii. 4); {b11} because all the works of his hands are wrought\nwith Almighty strength. Power is also used as a name of God (Mark xiv.\n62): \u201cThe Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power,\u201d that is, at\nthe right hand of God; God and power are so inseparable, that they are\nreciprocated. As his essence is immense, not to be confined in place;\nas it is eternal, not to be measured by time; so it is Almighty, not\nto be limited in regard of action.\n\n1. It is ingenuously illustrated by some by a unit;[818] all\nnumbers depend upon it; it makes numbers by addition, multiplies them\nunexpressibly; when one unit is removed from a number, how vastly doth\nit diminish it! It gives perfection to all other numbers, it receives\nperfection from none. If you add a unit before 100, how doth it\nmultiply it to 1,100! If you set a unit before 20,000,000, it presently\nmakes the number swell up to 120,000,000; and so powerful is a unit,\nby adding it to numbers, that it will infinitely enlarge them to such\na vastness, that shall transcend the capacity of the best arithmetician\nto count them. By such a meditation as this, you may have some prospect\nof the power of that God who is only unity; the beginning of all things,\nas a unit is the beginning of all numbers; and can perform as many\nthings really, as a unit can numerically; that is, can do as much\nin the making of creatures, as a unit can do in the multiplying of\nnumbers. The omnipotence of God was scarce denied by any heathen that\ndid not deny the being of a God; and that was Pliny, and that upon weak\narguments.\n\n2. Indeed we cannot have a conception of God, if we conceive him\nnot most powerful, as well as most wise; he is not a God that cannot\ndo what he will, and perform all his pleasure. If we imagine him\nrestrained in his power, we imagine him limited in his essence; as\nhe hath an infinite knowledge to know what is possible, he cannot be\nwithout an infinite power to do what is possible; as he hath a will to\nresolve what he sees good, so he cannot want a power to effect what he\nsees good to decree; as the essence of a creature cannot be conceived\nwithout that activity that belongs to his nature; as when you conceive\nfire, you cannot conceive it without a power of burning and warming;\nand when you conceive water, you cannot conceive it without a power of\nmoistening and cleansing: so you cannot conceive an infinite essence\nwithout an infinite power of activity; and therefore a heathen could\nsay, \u201cIf you know God, you know he can do all things;\u201d and therefore,\nsaith Austin, \u201cGive me not only a Christian, but a Jew; not only a Jew,\nbut a heathen, that will deny God to be Almighty.\u201d A Jew, a heathen,\nmay deny Christ to be omnipotent, but no heathen will deny God to\nbe omnipotent, and no devil will deny either to be so: God cannot be\nconceived without some power, for then he must be conceived without\naction. Whose, then, are those products and effects of power, which are\nvisible to us in the world? to whom do they belong? who is the Father\nof them? God cannot be conceived without a power suitable to his nature\nand essence. If we imagine him to be of an infinite essence, we must\nimagine him to be of an infinite power and strength.\n\n{b12} In particular, I shall show\u2015\u2015I. The nature of God\u2019s power.\nII. Reasons to prove that God must needs be powerful. III. How his\npower appears in creation, in government, in redemption. IV. The Use.\n\nI. What this power is; or the nature of it.\n\n1. Power sometimes signifies authority: and a man is said to be\nmighty and powerful in regard of his dominion, and the right he hath\nto command multitudes of other persons to take his part; but power\ntaken for strength, and power taken for authority, are distinct things,\nand may be separated from one another. Power may be without authority;\nas in successful invasions, that have no just foundation. Authority\nmay be without power; as in a just prince, expelled by an unjust\nrebellion, the authority resides in him, though he be overpowered, and\nis destitute of strength to support and exercise that authority. The\npower of God is not to be understood of his authority and dominion,\nbut his strength to act; and the word in the text properly signifies\nstrength.[819]\n\n2. This power is divided ordinarily into absolute and ordinate.\nAbsolute, is that power whereby God is able to do that which he will\nnot do, but is possible to be done; ordinate, is that power whereby God\ndoth that which he hath decreed to do, that is, which he hath ordained\nor appointed to be exercised;[820] which are not distinct powers, but\none and the same power. His ordinate power is a part of his absolute;\nfor if he had not a power to do every thing that he could will, he\nmight not have the power to do everything that he doth will. The object\nof his absolute power is all things possible; such things that imply\nnot a contradiction, such that are not repugnant in their own nature to\nbe done, and such as are not contrary to the nature and perfections of\nGod to be done. Those things that are repugnant in their own nature to\nbe done are several, as to make a thing which is past not to be past.\nAs, for example, the world is created; God could have chose whether\nhe would create the world, and after it is created he hath power to\ndissolve it; but after it was created, and when it is dissolved, it\nwill be eternally true, that the world was created, and that it was\ndissolved; for it is impossible, that that which was once true, should\never be false: if it be true that the world was created, it will\nforever be true that it was created, and cannot be otherwise. And also,\nif it be once true that God hath decreed, it is impossible in its own\nnature to be true that God hath not decreed. Some things are repugnant\nto the nature and perfections of God; as it is impossible for his\nnature to die and perish; impossible for him, in regard of truth, to\nlie and deceive. But of this hereafter; only at present to understand\nthe object of God\u2019s absolute power to be things possible, that is,\npossible in nature; not by any strength in themselves, or of themselves;\nfor nothing hath no strength, and everything is nothing before it comes\ninto being;[821] so God, by his absolute power, might have prevented\nthe sin of the fallen angels, and so have preserved them in their first\nhabitation. He might, by his absolute power, have restrained the devil\nfrom tempting of Eve, or restrained her and Adam from swallowing {b13}\nthe bait, and joining hands with the temptation. By his absolute power,\nGod might have given the reins to Peter to betray his Master, as well\nas to deny him; and employed Judas in the same glorious and successful\nservice, wherein he employed Paul. By his absolute power, he might have\ncreated the world millions of years before he did create it, and can\nreduce it into its empty nothing this moment. This the Baptist affirms,\nwhen he tells us, \u201cThat God is able of these stones (meaning the stones\nin the wilderness, and not the people which came out to him out of\nJudea, which were children of Abraham) to raise up children to Abraham\u201d\n(Matt. iii. 9); that is, there is a possibility of such a thing there\nis no contradiction in it, but that God is able to do it if he please.\nBut now the object of his ordinate power, is all things ordained by\nhim to be done, all things decreed by him; and because of the Divine\nordination of things, this power is called ordinate; and what is thus\nordained by him he cannot but do, because of his unchangeableness. Both\nthose powers are expressed (Matt. xxvi. 53, 54), \u201cMy Father can send\ntwelve legions of angels,\u201d there is his absolute power; \u201cbut how then\nshall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?\u201d there is his\nordinate power. As his power is free from any act of his will, it is\ncalled absolute; as it is joined with an act of his will, it is called\nordinate. His absolute power is necessary, and belongs to his nature;\nhis ordinate power is free, and belongs to his will;\u2015\u2015a power guided\nby his will,\u2015\u2015not, as I said before, that they are two distinct powers,\nboth belonging to his nature, but the latter is the same with the\nformer, only it is guided by his will and wisdom.\n\n3. It follows, then, that the power of God is that ability and\nstrength, whereby he can bring to pass whatsoever he please; whatsoever\nhis infinite wisdom can direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity\nof his will can resolve. Power, in the primary notion of it, doth not\nsignify an act, but an ability to bring a thing into act; it is power,\nas able to act before it doth actually produce a thing: as God had an\nability to create before he did create, he had power before he acted\nthat power without. Power notes the principle of the action, and,\ntherefore, is greater than the act itself. Power exercised and diffused,\nin bringing forth and nursing in its particular objects without, is\ninconceivably less than that strength which is infinite in himself, the\nsame with his essence, and is indeed himself: by his power exercised\nhe doth whatsoever he actually wills; but by the power in his nature,\nhe is able to do whatsoever he is able to will. The will of creatures\nmay be, and is more extensive than their power; and their power more\ncontracted and shortened than their will: but, as the prophet saith,\n\u201cHis counsel shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure\u201d (Isa. xlvi.\n10). His power is as great as his will, that is, whatsoever can fall\nwithin the verge of his will, falls within the compass of his power.\nThough he will never actually will this or that, yet supposing he\nshould will it, he is able to perform it: so that you must, in your\nnotion of Divine power, enlarge it further than to think God can only\ndo what he hath resolved to do; but that he hath as infinite a capacity\nof power to act, as he hath an infinite capacity of will to resolve.\nBesides, this power is of that {b14} nature, that he can do whatsoever\nhe pleases without difficulty, without resistance; it cannot be checked,\nrestrained, frustrated.[822] As he can do all things possible in regard\nof the object, he can do all things easily in regard of the manner of\nacting: what in human artificers is knowledge, labor, industry, that in\nGod is his will; his will works without labor; his works stand forth as\nhe wills them. Hands and arms are ascribed to him for our conceptions,\nbecause our power of acting is distinct from our will; but God\u2019s power\nof acting is not really distinct from his will; it is sufficient to\nthe existence of a thing that God wills it to exist; he can act what he\nwill only by his will, without any instruments. He needs no matter to\nwork upon, because he can make something from nothing; all matter owes\nitself to his creative power: he needs no time to work in, for he can\nmake time when he pleases to begin to work: he needs no copy to work by;\nhimself is his own pattern and copy in his works. All created agents\nwant matter to work upon, instruments to work with, copies to work by;\ntime to bring either the births of their minds, or the works of their\nhands, to perfection: but the power of God needs none of these things,\nbut is of a vast and incomprehensible nature, beyond all these. As\nnothing can be done without the compass of it, so itself is without\nthe compass of every created understanding.\n\n4. This power is of a distinct conception from the wisdom and will of\nGod. They are not really distinct, but according to our conceptions.\nWe cannot discourse of Divine things, without observing some proportion\nof them with human, ascribing unto God the perfections, sifted from\nthe imperfections of our nature. In us there are three orders\u2015\u2015of\nunderstanding, will, power; and, accordingly, three acts, counsel,\nresolution, execution; which, though they are distinct in us, are not\nreally distinct in God. In our conceptions, the apprehension of a thing\nbelongs to the understanding of God; determination, to the will of God;\ndirection, to the wisdom of God; execution, to the power of God. The\nknowledge of God regards a thing as possible, and as it may be done;\nthe wisdom of God regards a thing as fit, and convenient to be done;\nthe will of God resolves that it shall be done; the power of God is\nthe application of his will to effect what it hath resolved. Wisdom\nis a fixing the being of things, the measures and perfections of their\nseveral beings; power is a conferring those perfections and beings\nupon them. His power is his ability to act, and his wisdom is the\ndirector of his action: his will orders, his wisdom guides, and his\npower effects. His will as the spring, and his power as the worker,\nare expressed (Ps. cxv. 3). \u201cHe hath done whatsoever he pleased. He\ncommanded, and they were created\u201d (Ps. cxl. 5); and all three expressed\n(Eph. i. 11), \u201cWho works all things according to the counsel of his\nown will:\u201d so that the power of God is a perfection, as it were,\nsubordinate to his understanding and will, to execute the results of\nhis wisdom, and the orders of his will; to his wisdom as directing,\nbecause he works skilfully; to his will as moving and applying, because\nhe works voluntarily and freely. The exercise of his power depends upon\nhis will: his will is the supreme cause of everything {b15} that stands\nup in time, and all things receive a being as he wills them. His power\nis but will perpetually working, and diffusing itself in the season his\nwill hath fixed from eternity; it is his eternal will in perpetual and\nsuccessive springs and streams in the creatures; it is nothing else but\nthe constant efficacy of his omnipotent will. This must be understood\nof his ordinate power; but his absolute power is larger than his\nresolving will: for though the Scripture tells us, \u201cHe hath done\nwhatsoever he will,\u201d yet it tells us not, that he hath done whatsoever\nhe could: he can do things that he will never do. Again, his power is\ndistinguished from his will in regard of the exercise of it, which is\nafter the act of his will: his will was conversant about objects, when\nhis power was not exercised about them. Creatures were the objects of\nhis will from eternity, but they were not from eternity the effects of\nhis power. His purpose to create was from eternity, but the execution\nof his purpose was in time. Now this execution of his will we call\nhis ordinate power: his wisdom and his will are supposed antecedent\nto his power, as the counsel and resolve; as the cause precedes the\nperformance of the purpose as the effect. Some[823] distinguish his\npower from his understanding and will, in regard that his understanding\nand will are larger than his absolute power; for God understands sins,\nand wills to permit them, but he cannot himself do any evil or unjust\naction, nor have a power of doing it. But this is not to distinguish\nthat Divine power, but impotence; for to be unable to do evil is the\nperfection of power; and to be able to do things unjust and evil, is\na weakness, imperfection, and inability. Man indeed wills many things\nthat he is not able to perform, and understands many things that he is\nnot able to effect; he understands much of the creatures, something of\nsun, moon, and stars; he can conceive many suns, many moons, yet is not\nable to create the least atom: but there is nothing that belongs to\npower but God understands, and is able to effect. To sum this up, the\nwill of God is the root of all, the wisdom of God is the copy of all,\nand the power of God is the framer of all.\n\n5. The power of God gives activity to all the other perfections of\nhis nature, and is of a larger extent and efficacy, in regard of its\nobjects, than some perfections of his nature. I put them both together.\n\n(1.) It contributes life and activity to all the other perfections of\nhis nature. How vain would be his eternal counsels, if power did not\nstep in to execute them! His mercy would be a feeble pity, if he were\ndestitute of power to relieve; and his justice a slighted scarecrow,\nwithout power to punish; his promises an empty sound, without power\nto accomplish them. As holiness is the beauty, so power is the life\nof all his attributes in their exercise; and as holiness, so power, is\nan adjunct belonging to all, a term that may be given to all. God hath\na powerful wisdom to attain his ends without interruption: he hath\na powerful mercy to remove our misery; a powerful justice to lay all\nmisery upon offenders: he hath a powerful truth to perform his promises;\nan infinite power to bestow rewards, and inflict penalties. It is\nto this purpose power is first put {b16} in the two things which the\nPsalmist had heard (Ps. lxii. 11, 12). \u201cTwice have I heard,\u201d or two\nthings have I heard; first power, then mercy and justice, included in\nthat expression, \u201cThou renderest to every man according to his work:\u201d\nin every perfection of God he heard of power. This is the arm, the\nhand of the Deity, which all his other attributes lay hold on, when\nthey would appear in their glory; this hands them to the world: by\nthis they act, in this they triumph. Power framed every stage for their\nappearance in creation, providence, redemption.\n\n(2.) It is of a larger extent, in regard of its objects, than\nsome other attributes. Power doth not alway suppose an object,\nbut constitutes an object. It supposeth an object in the act of\npreservation, but it makes an object in the act of creation; but\nmercy supposeth an object miserable, yet doth not make it so. Justice\nsupposeth an object criminal, but doth not constitute it so: mercy\nsupposeth him miserable, to relieve him; justice supposeth him criminal,\nto punish him: but power supposeth not a thing in real existence,\nbut as possible; or rather, it is from power that any thing hath a\npossibility, if there be no repugnancy in the nature of the thing.\nAgain, power extends further than either mercy or justice. Mercy hath\nparticular objects, which justice shall not at last be willing to\npunish; and justice hath particular objects, which mercy at last shall\nnot be willing to refresh: but power doth, and alway will, extend to\nthe objects of both mercy and justice. A creature, as a creature, is\nneither the object of mercy nor justice, nor of rewarding goodness: a\ncreature, as innocent, is the object of rewarding goodness; a creature,\nas miserable, is the object of compassionate mercy; a creature, as\ncriminal, is the object of revenging justice: but all of them the\nobjects of power, in conjunction with those attributes of goodness,\nmercy, and justice, to which they belong. All the objects that mercy,\nand justice, and truth, and wisdom, exercise themselves about, hath a\npossibility and an actual being from this perfection of Divine power.\nIt is power first frames a creature in a capacity of nature for mercy\nor justice, though it doth not give an immediate qualification for the\nexercise of either. Power makes man a rational creature, and so confers\nupon him a nature mutable, which may be miserable by its own fault,\nand punishable by God\u2019s justice; or pitiable by God\u2019s compassion, and\nrelievable by God\u2019s mercy: but it doth not make him sinful, whereby\nhe becomes miserable and punishable. Again, power runs through all the\ndegrees of the states of a creature. As a thing is possible, or may\nbe made, it is the object of absolute power; as it is factibile, or\nordered to be made, it is the object of ordinate power: as a thing is\nactually made, and brought into being, it is the object of preserving\npower. So that power doth stretch out its arms to all the works of God,\nin all their circumstances, and at all times. When mercy ceaseth to\nrelieve a creature, when justice ceaseth to punish a creature, power\nceaseth not to preserve a creature. The blessed in heaven, that are\nout of the reach of punishing justice, are forever maintained by power\nin that blessed condition: the damned in hell, that are cast out of\nthe {b17} bosom of entreating mercy, are forever sustained in those\nremediless torments by the Arm of Power.\n\n6. This power is originally and essentially in the nature of God, and\nnot distinct from his essence. It is originally and essentially in God.\nThe strength and power of great kings is originally in their people,\nand managed and ordered by the authority of the prince for the common\ngood. Though a prince hath authority in his person to command, yet\nhe hath not sufficient strength in his person, without the assistance\nof others, to make his commands to be obeyed. He hath not a single\nstrength in his own person to conquer countries and kingdoms, and\nincrease the number of his subjects: he must make use of the arms of\nhis own subjects, to overrun other places, and yoke them under his\ndominion: but the power of all things that ever were, are, or shall be,\nis originally and essentially in God. It is not derived from any thing\nwithout him, as the power of the greatest potentates in the world is:\ntherefore (Ps. lxii. 11) it is said, \u201cPower belongs unto God,\u201d that is,\nsolely and to none else. He hath a power to make his subjects, and as\nmany as he pleases; to create worlds, to enjoin precepts, to execute\npenalties, without calling in the strength of his creatures to his aid.\nThe strength that the subjects of a mortal prince have, is not derived\nto them from the prince, though the exercise of it for this or that\nend, is ordered and directed by the authority of the prince: but what\nstrength soever any thing hath to act as a means, it hath from the\npower of God as Creator, as well as whatsoever authority it hath to act\nis from God, as a Rector and Governor of the world. God hath a strength\nto act without means, and no means can act any thing without his power\nand strength communicated to them. As the clouds, in ver. 8, before\nthe text, are called God\u2019s clouds, \u201chis clouds:\u201d so all the strength\nof creatures may be called, and truly is, God\u2019s strength and power in\nthem: a drop of power shot down from heaven, originally only in God.\nCreatures have but a little mite of power; somewhat communicated to\nthem, somewhat kept and reserved from them, of what they are capable\nto possess. They have limited natures, and therefore a limited sphere\nof activity. Clothes can warm us, but not feed us; bread can nourish\nus, but not clothe us. One plant hath a medicinal quality against\none disease, another against another; but God is the possessor of\nuniversal power, the common exchequer of this mighty treasure. He acts\nby creatures, as not needing their power, but deriving power to them:\nwhat he acts by them, he could act himself without them: and what they\nact as from themselves, is derived to them from him through invisible\nchannels. And hence it will follow, that because power is essentially\nin God, more operations of God are possible than are exerted. And as\npower is essentially in God, so it is not distinct from his essence. It\nbelongs to God in regard of the inconceivable excellency and activity\nof his essence.[824] And omnipotent is nothing but the Divine essence\nefficacious _ad extra_. It is his essence as operative, and the\nimmediate principle of operation: as the power of enlightening in the\nsun, and the power of heating in the fire, are not things distinct {b18}\nfrom the nature of them; but the nature of the sun bringing forth light,\nand the nature of the fire bringeth forth heat. The power of acting is\nthe same with the substance of God, though the action from that power\nbe terminated in the creature. If the power of God were distinct from\nhis essence, he were then compounded of substance and power, and would\nnot be the most simple being. As when the understanding is informed\nin several parts of knowledge, it is skilled in the government of\ncities and countries, it knows this or that art: it learns mathematics,\nphilosophy; this, or that science. The understanding hath a power to\ndo this; but this power, whereby it learns those excellent things,\nand brings forth excellent births, is not a thing distinct from\nthe understanding itself; we may rather call it the understanding\npowerful, than the power of the understanding; and so we may rather\nsay, God powerful, than say, the power of God; because his power is\nnot distinct from his essence. From both these, it will follow, that\nthis omnipotence is incommunicable to any creature; no creature can\ninherit it, because it is a contradiction for any creature to have the\nessence of God. This omnipotence is a peculiar right of God, wherein no\ncreature can share with him. To be omnipotent is to be essentially God.\nAnd for a creature to be omnipotent, is for a creature to be its own\nCreator. It being therefore the same with the essence of the Godhead,\nit cannot be communicated to the humanity of Christ, as the Lutherans\nsay it is, without the communication of the essence of the Godhead;\nfor then the humanity of Christ would not be humanity, but Deity. If\nomnipotence were communicated to the humanity of Christ, the essence of\nGod were also communicated to his humanity, and then eternity would be\ncommunicated. His humanity then was not given him in time; his humanity\nwould be uncompounded, that is, his body would be no body, his soul no\nsoul. Omnipotence is essentially in God; it is not distinct from the\nessence of God, it is his essence, omnipotent, able to do all things.\n\n7. Hence it follows, that this power is infinite (Eph. i. 19);\n\u201cWhat is the exceeding greatness of his power,\u201d &c. \u201caccording to the\nworking of his mighty power.\u201d God were not omnipotent, unless his power\nwere infinite; for a finite power is a limited power, and a limited\npower cannot effect everything that is possible. Nothing can be too\ndifficult for the Divine power to effect; he hath a fullness of power,\nan exceeding strength, above all human capacities; it is a \u201cmighty\npower\u201d (Eph. i. 19), \u201cable to do above all that we can ask or think\u201d\n(Eph. iii. 20): that which he acts, is above the power of any creature\nto act. Infinite power consists in the bringing things forth from\nnothing. No creature can imitate God in this prerogative of power. Man\nindeed can carve various forms, and erect various pieces of art, but\nfrom pre\u2011existent matter. Every artificer hath the matter brought to\nhis hand, he only brings it forth in a new figure. Chemists separate\none thing from another, but create nothing, but sever those things\nwhich were before compacted and crudled together: but when God speaks a\npowerful word, nothing begins to be something: things stand forth from\nthe womb of nothing, and obey his mighty command, and take what forms\nhe {b19} is pleased to give them. The creating one thing, though never\nso small and minute, as the least fly, cannot be but by an infinite\npower; much less can the producing of such variety we see in the world.\nHis power is infinite, in regard it cannot be resisted by anything that\nhe hath made; nor can it be confined by anything he can will to make.\n\u201cHis greatness is unsearchable\u201d (Ps. cxlv. 3). It is a greatness, not\nof quantity, but quality. The greatness of his power hath no end: it\nis a vanity to imagine any limits can be affixed to it, or that any\ncreature can say, \u201cHitherto it can go, and no further.\u201d It is above all\nconception, all inquisition of any created understanding. No creature\never had, nor ever can have, that strength of wit and understanding, to\nconceive the extent of his power, and how magnificently he can work.\n\nFirst, His essence is infinite. As in a finite subject there is a\nfinite virtue, so in an infinite subject there must be an infinite\nvirtue. Where the essence is limited, the power is so:[825] where the\nessence is unlimited, the power knows no bounds.[826] Among creatures,\nthe more excellency of being and form anything hath, the more activity,\nvigor, and power it hath, to work according to its nature. The sun hath\na mighty power to warm, enlighten, and fructify, above what the stars\nhave; because it hath a vaster body, more intense degrees of light,\nheat, and vigor. Now, if you conceive the sun made much greater than it\nis, it would proportionably have greater degrees of power to heat and\nenlighten than it hath now: and were it possible to have an infinite\nheat and light, it would infinitely heat and enlighten other things;\nfor everything is able to act according to the measures of its being:\ntherefore, since the essence of God is unquestionably infinite, his\npower of acting must be so also. His power (as was said before) is one\nand the same with his essence: and though the knowledge of God extends\nto more objects than his power, because he knows all evils of sin,\nwhich because of his holiness he cannot commit, yet it is as infinite\nas his knowledge, because it is as much one with his essence, as his\nknowledge and wisdom is: for as the wisdom or knowledge of God is\nnothing but the essence of God, _knowing_, so the power of God is\nnothing but the essence of God, _able_.\n\nThe objects of Divine power are innumerable. The objects of Divine\npower are not essentially infinite; and therefore we must not measure\nthe infiniteness of Divine power by an ability to make an infinite\nbeing; because there is an incapacity in any created thing to be\ninfinite; for to be a creature and to be infinite; to be infinite\nand yet made, is a contradiction. To be infinite, and to be God, is\none and the same thing. Nothing can be infinite but God; nothing but\nGod is infinite. But the power of God is infinite, because it can\nproduce infinite effects, or innumerable things, such as surpass the\narithmetic of a creature; nor yet doth the infiniteness consist simply\nin producing innumerable effects; for that a finite cause can produce.\nFire can, by its finite and limited heat, burn numberless combustible\nthings and parcels; and the understanding of man hath an infinite\nnumber of thoughts and acts of intellection, {b20} and thoughts\ndifferent from one another. Who can number the imaginations of his\nfancy, and thoughts of his mind, the space of one month or year? much\nless of forty or an hundred years; yet all these thoughts are about\nthings that are in being, or have a foundation in things that are\nin being. But the infiniteness of God\u2019s power consists in an ability\nto produce infinite effects, formally distinct, and diverse from\none another; such as never had being, such as the mind of man cannot\nconceive: \u201cAble to do above what we can think\u201d (Eph. iii. 20). And\nwhatsoever God hath made, or is able to make, he is able to make in\nan infinite manner, by calling them to stand forth from nothing. To\nproduce innumerable effects of distinct natures, and from so distant\na term as nothing, is an argument of infinite power. Now, that the\nobjects of Divine power are innumerable, appears, because God can do\ninfinitely more than he hath done, or will do. Nothing that God hath\ndone can enfeeble or dull his power; there still resides in him an\nability beyond all the settled contrivances of his understanding and\nresolves of his will, which no effects which he hath wrought can drain\nand put to a stand. As he can raise stones to be children to Abraham\n(Matt. iii. 9); so with the same mighty word, whereby he made one world,\nhe can make infinite numbers of worlds to be the monuments of his glory.\nAfter the prophet Jeremiah (ch. xxxii. 17), had spoke of God\u2019s power\nin creation, he adds, \u201cAnd there is nothing too hard for thee.\u201d For\none world that he hath made, he can create millions: for one star which\nhe hath beautified the heavens with, he could have garnished it with\na thousand, and multiplied, if he had pleased, every one of those into\nmillions, \u201cfor he can call things that are not\u201d (Rom. iv. 17); not\nsome things, but all things possible. The barren womb of nothing can\nno more resist his power now to educe a world from it, than it could\nat first: no doubt, but for one angel which he hath made, he could\nmake many worlds of angels. He that made one with so much ease, as\nby a word, cannot want power to make many more, till he wants a word.\nThe word that was not too weak to make one, cannot be too weak to make\nmultitudes. If from one man he hath, in a way of nature, multiplied\nso many in all ages of the world, and covered with them the whole face\nof the earth; he could, in a supernatural way, by one word, multiply\nas many more. \u201cIt is the breath of the Almighty that gives life\u201d\n(Job. xxxiii. 4). He can create infinite species and kinds of creatures\nmore than he hath created, more variety of forms: for since there is\nno searching of his greatness, there is no conceiving the numberless\npossible effects of his power. The understanding of man can conceive\nnumberless things possible to be, more than have been or shall be.\nAnd shall we imagine, that a finite understanding of a creature hath\na greater omnipotency to conceive things possible, than God hath to\nproduce things possible? When the understanding of man is tired in\nits conceptions, it must still be concluded, that the power of God\nextends, not only to what can be conceived, but infinitely beyond the\nmeasures of a finite faculty. \u201cTouching the Almighty, we cannot find\nhim out; he is excellent in power and in judgment\u201d (Job xxxvi. 23).\nFor the understanding of man, {b21} in its conceptions of more kind of\ncreatures, is limited to those creatures which are: it cannot, in its\nown imagination, conceive anything but what hath some foundation in and\nfrom something already in being. It may frame a new kind of creature,\nmade up of a lion, a horse, an ox; but all those parts whereof its\nconception is made, have distinct beings in the world, though not in\nthat composition as his mind mixes and joins them; but no question\nbut God can create creatures that have no resemblance with any kind\nof creatures yet in being. It is certain that if God only knows those\nthings which he hath done, and will do, and not all things possible to\nbe done by him, his knowledge were finite; so if he could do no more\nthan what he hath done, his power would be finite.\n\n(1.) Creatures have a power to act about more objects than they\ndo. The understanding of man can frame from one principle of truth,\nmany conclusions and inferences more than it doth. Why cannot, then,\nthe power of God frame from one first matter, an infinite number of\ncreatures more than have been created? The Almightiness of God in\nproducing real effects, is not inferior to the understanding of man\nin drawing out real truths. An artificer that makes a watch, supposing\nhis life and health, can make many more of a different form and motion;\nand a limner can draw many draughts, and frame many pictures with a new\nvariety of colors, according to the richness of his fancy. If these can\ndo so, that require a pre\u2011existent matter framed to their hands, God\ncan much more, who can raise beautiful structures from nothing. As long\nas men have matter, they can diversify the matter, and make new figures\nfrom it; so long as there is nothing, God can produce out of that\nnothing whatsoever he pleases. We see the same in inanimate creatures.\nA spark of fire hath a vast power in it: it will kindle other things,\nincrease and enlarge itself; nothing can be exempt from the active\nforce of it. It will alter, by consuming or refining, whatsoever you\noffer to it. It will reach all, and refuse none; and by the efficacious\npower of it, all those new figures which we see in metals, are brought\nforth; when you have exposed to it a multitude of things, still add\nmore, it will exert the same strength; yea, the vigor is increased\nrather than diminished. The more it catcheth, the more fiercely and\nirresistibly it will act; you cannot suppose an end of its operation,\nor a decrease of its strength, as long as you can conceive its duration\nand continuance: this must be but a weak shadow of that infinite power\nwhich is in God. Take another instance, in the sun: it hath power every\nyear to produce flowers and plants from the earth; and is as able to\nproduce them now, as it was at the first lighting it and rearing it in\nthat sphere wherein it moves. And if there were no kind of flowers and\nplants now created, the sun hath a power residing in it, ever since its\nfirst creation, to afford the same warmth to them for the nourishing\nand bringing them forth. Whatsoever you can conceive the sun to be able\nto do in regard of plants, that can God do in regard of worlds; produce\nmore worlds than the sun doth plants every year, without weariness,\nwithout languishment. The sun is able to influence more things than\nit doth, and produce {b22} numberless effects; but it doth not do so\nmuch as it is able to do, because it wants matter to work upon. God,\ntherefore, who wants no matter, can do much more than he doth; he can\neither act by second causes if there were more, or make more second\ncauses if he pleased.\n\n(2.) God is the most free agent. Every free agent can do more than he\nwill do. Man being a free creature, can do more than ordinarily he doth\nwill to do. God is most free, as being the spring of liberty in other\ncreatures; he acts not by a necessity of nature, as the waves of the\nsea, or the motions of the wind; and, therefore, is not determined to\nthose things which he hath already called forth into the world. If God\nbe infinitely wise in contrivance, he could contrive more than he hath,\nand therefore, can effect more than he hath effected. He doth not act\nto the extent of his power upon all occasions. It is according to his\nwill that he works (Eph. i.). It is not according to his work that\nhe wills; his work is an evidence of his will, but not the rule of\nhis will. His power is not the rule of his will, but his will is the\ndisposer of his power, according to the light of his infinite wisdom,\nand other attributes that direct his will; and therefore his power\nis not to be measured by his actual will. No doubt, but he could in a\nmoment have produced that world which he took six days\u2019 time to frame;\nhe could have drowned the old world at once, without prolonging the\ntime till the revolution of forty days; he was not limited to such\na term of time by any weakness, but by the determination of his own\nwill. God doth not do the hundred thousandth part of what he is able\nto do, but what is convenient to do, according to the end which he hath\nproposed to himself. Jesus Christ, as man, could have asked legions of\nangels; and God, as a sovereign, could have sent them (Matt. xxvi. 53).\nGod could raise the dead every day if he pleased, but he doth not:\nhe could heal every diseased person in a moment, but he doth not. As\nGod can will more than he doth actually will, so he can do more than\nhe hath actually done; he can do whatsoever he can will; he can will\nmore worlds, and therefore can create more worlds. If God hath not\nability to do more than he will do, he then can do no more than what he\nactually hath done; and then it will follow, that he is not a free, but\na natural and necessary agent, which cannot be supposed of God.\n\nSecond. This power is infinite in regard of action. As he can produce\nnumberless objects above what he hath produced, so he could produce\nthem more magnificently than he hath made them. As he never works to\nthe extent of his power in regard of things, so neither in regard of\nthe manner of acting; for he never acts so but he could act in a higher\nand perfecter manner.\n\n(1.) His power is infinite in regard of the independency of action:\nhe wants no instrument to act. When there was nothing but God, there\nwas no cause of action but God; when there was nothing in being but\nGod, there could be no instrumental cause of the being of anything.\nGod can perfect his action without dependence on any thing;[827] and to\nbe simply independent, is to be simply infinite. In {b23} this respect\nit is a power incommunicable to any creature, though you conceive a\ncreature in higher degrees of perfection than it is. A creature cannot\ncease to be dependent, but it must cease to be a creature; to be a\ncreature and independent, are terms repugnant to one another.\n\n(2.) But the infiniteness of Divine power consists in an ability to\ngive higher degrees of perfection to everything which he hath made. As\nhis power is infinite extensive, in regard of the multitude of objects\nhe can bring into being, so it is infinite intensive, in regard of the\nmanner of operation, and the endowments he can bestow upon them.[828]\nSome things, indeed, God doth so perfect, that higher degrees of\nperfection cannot be imagined to be added to them.[829] As the humanity\nof Christ cannot be united more gloriously than to the person of the\nSon of God, a greater degree of perfection cannot be conferred upon\nit. Nor can the souls of the blessed have a nobler object of vision\nand fruition than God himself, the infinite Being: no higher than\nthe enjoyment of himself can be conferred upon a creature, _respectu\ntermini_. This is not want of power; he cannot be greater, because he\nis greatest; not better, because he is best; nothing can be more than\ninfinite. But as to the things which God hath made in the world, he\ncould have given them other manner of being than they have. A human\nunderstanding may improve a thought or conclusion; strengthen it with\nmore and more force of reason; and adorn it with richer and richer\nelegancy of language: why, then, may not the Divine providence produce\na world more perfect and excellent than this? He that makes a plain\nvessel, can embellish it more, engrave more figures upon it, according\nto the capacity of the subject: and cannot God do so much more with\nhis works? Could not God have made this world of a larger quantity,\nand the sun of a greater bulk and proportionable strength, to influence\na bigger world? so that this world would have been to another that God\nmight have made, as a ball or a mount, this sun as a star to another\nsun that he might have kindled. He could have made every star a sun,\nevery spire of grass a star, every grain of dust a flower, every soul\nan angel. And though the angels be perfect creatures, and inexpressibly\nmore glorious than a visible creature, yet who can imagine God so\nconfined, that he cannot create a more excellent kind, and endow those\nwhich he hath made with excellency of a higher rank than he invested\nthem with at the first moment of their creation? Without question God\nmight have given the meaner creatures more excellent endowments, put\nthem into another order of nature for their own good and more diffusive\nusefulness in the world. What is made use of by the prophet (Mal. ii.\n15) in another case, may be used in this: \u201cYet had he a residue of\nSpirit.\u201d The capacity of every creature might have been enlarged by\nGod; for no work of his in the world doth equal his power, as nothing\nthat he hath framed doth equal his wisdom. The same matter which is the\nmatter of the body of a beast, is the matter of a plant and flower; is\nthe matter of the body of a man; and so was capable of a higher form\nand higher perfections, than God hath been pleased {b24} to bestow upon\nit. And he had power to bestow that perfection on one part of matter\nwhich he denied to it, and bestowed on another part. If God cannot make\nthings in a greater perfection, there must be some limitation of him:\nhe cannot be limited by another, because nothing is superior to God. If\nlimited by himself, that limitation is not from a want of power, but a\nwant of will. He can, by his own power, raise stones to be children to\nAbraham (Matt. iii. 9): he could alter the nature of the stones, form\nthem into human bodies, dignify them with rational souls, inspire those\nsouls with such graces that may render them the children of Abraham.\nBut for the more fully understanding the nature of this power, we may\nobserve,\n\n[1.] That though God can make everything with a higher degree of\nperfection, yet still within the limits of a finite being. No creature\ncan be made infinite, because no creature can be made God. No creature\ncan be so improved as to equal the goodness and perfection of God;[830]\nyet there is no creature but we may conceive a possibility of its being\nmade more perfect in that rank of a creature than it is: as we may\nimagine a flower or plant to have greater beauty and richer qualities\nimparted to it by Divine power, without rearing it so high as to the\ndignity of a rational or sensitive creature. Whatsoever perfections\nmay be added by God to a creature, are still finite perfections; and a\nmultitude of finite excellences can never amount to the value and honor\nof infinite: as if you add one number to another as high as you can,\nas much as a large piece of paper can contain, you can never make\nthe numbers really infinite, though they may be infinite in regard\nof the inability of any human understanding to count them. The finite\ncondition of the creature suffers it not to be capable of an infinite\nperfection. God is so great, so excellent, that it is his perfection\nnot to have any equal; the defect is in the creature, which cannot be\nelevated to such a pitch; as you can never make a gallon measure to\nhold the quantity of a butt, or a butt the quantity of a river, or a\nriver the fulness of the sea.\n\n[2.] Though God hath a power to furnish every creature with greater\nand nobler perfections than he hath bestowed upon it, yet he hath\nframed all things in the perfectest manner, and most convenient to\nthat end for which he intended them. Everything is endowed with the\nbest nature and quality suitable to God\u2019s end in creation, though not\nin the best manner for itself.[831] In regard of the universal end,\nthere cannot be a better; for God himself is the end of all things,\nwho is the Supreme Goodness. Nothing can be better than God, who could\nnot be God if he were not superlatively best, or _optimus_; and he\nhath ordered all things for the declaration of his goodness or justice,\naccording to the behaviors of his creatures. Man doth not consider what\nstrength or power he can put forth in the means he useth to attain such\nan end, but the suitableness of them to his main design, and so fits\nand marshals them to his grand purpose. Had God only created things\nthat are most excellent, he had created only angels and men; how, then,\nwould his wisdom have {b25} been conspicuous in other works in the\nsubordination and subserviency of them to one another? God therefore\ndetermined his power by his wisdom: and though his absolute power could\nhave made every creature better, yet his ordinate power, which in every\nstep was regulated by his wisdom, made everything best for his designed\nintention.[832] A musician hath a power to wind up a string on a lute\nto a higher and more perfect note in itself, but in wisdom he will not\ndo it, because the intended melody would be disturbed thereby if it\nwere not suited to the other strings on the instrument; a discord would\nmar and taint the harmony which the lutenist designed. God, in creation,\nobserved the proportions of nature: he can make a spider as strong as\na lion; but according to the order of nature which he hath settled,\nit is not convenient that a creature of so small a compass should be\nas strong as one of a greater bulk. The absolute power of God could\nhave prepared a body for Christ as glorious as that he had after his\nresurrection; but that had not been agreeable to the end designed\nin his humiliation: and, therefore, God acted most perfectly by his\nordinate power, in giving him a body that wore the livery of our\ninfirmities. God\u2019s power is alway regulated by his wisdom and will;\nand though it produceth not what is most perfect in itself, yet what\nis most perfect and decent in relation to the end he fixed. And so in\nhis providence, though he could rack the whole frame of nature to bring\nabout his ends in a more miraculous way and astonishment to mortals,\nyet his power is usually and ordinarily confined by his will to act in\nconcurrence with the nature of the creatures, and direct them according\nto the laws of their being, to such ends which he aims at in their\nconduct, without violencing their nature.\n\n[3.] Though God hath an absolute power to make more worlds, and\ninfinite numbers of other creatures, and to render every creature a\nhigher mark of his power, yet in regard of his decree to the contrary,\nhe cannot do it. He hath a physical power, but after his resolve to the\ncontrary, not a moral power: the exercise of his power is subordinate\nto his decree, but not the essence of his power. The decree of God\ntakes not away any power from God, because the power of God is his\nown essence, and incapable of change; and is as great physically and\nessentially after his decree, as it was before; only his will hath put\nin a bar to the demonstration of all that power which he is able to\nexercise.[833] As a prince that can raise 100,000 men for an invasion,\nraises only 20 or 30,000; he here, by his order, limits his power, but\ndoth not divest himself of his authority and power to raise the whole\nnumber of the forces of his dominions if he pleases: the power of God\nhath more objects than his decree hath; but since it is his perfection\nto be immutable, and not to change his decree, he cannot morally put\nforth his power upon all those objects, which, as it is essentially in\nhim, he hath ability to do. God hath decreed to save those that believe\nin Christ, and to judge unbelievers to everlasting perdition: he cannot\nmorally damn the first, or save the latter; yet he hath not divested\nhimself of his absolute power to {b26} save all or damn all.[834] Or\nsuppose God hath decreed not to create more worlds than this we are now\nin, doth his decree weaken his strength to create more if he pleased?\nHis not creating more is not a want of strength, but a want of will: it\nis an act of liberty, not an act of impotency. As when a man solemnly\nresolves not to walk in such a way, or come at such a place, his\nresolution deprives him not of his natural strength to walk thither,\nbut fortifies his will against using his strength in any such motion\nto that place. The will of God hath set bounds to the exercise of his\npower, but doth not infringe that absolute power which still resides\nin his nature: he is girded about with more power than he puts forth\n(Ps. lxv. 6).\n\n[4.] As the power of God is infinite in regard of his essence, in\nregard of the objects, in regard of action, so, fourthly, in regard\nof duration. The apostle calls it \u201can eternal power\u201d (Rom. i. 20). His\neternal power is collected and concluded from the things that are made:\nthey must needs be the products of some Being which contains truly in\nitself all power, who wrought them without engines, without instruments;\nand, therefore, this power must be infinite, and possessed of an\nunalterable virtue of acting. If it be eternal, it must be infinite,\nand hath neither beginning nor end; what is eternal hath no bounds. If\nit be eternal, and not limited by time, it must be infinite, and not\nto be restrained by any finite object: his power never begun to be,\nnor ever ceaseth to be; it cannot languish; men are fain to unbend\nthemselves, and must have some time to recruit their tired spirits:\nbut the power of God is perpetually vigorous, without any interrupting\nqualm (Isa. xl. 28): \u201cHast thou not known, hast thou not heard,\nthat the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the\nearth, fainteth not, neither is weary?\u201d That might which suffered no\ndiminution from eternity, but hatched so great a world by brooding\nupon nothing, will not suffer any dimness or decrease to eternity. This\npower being the same with his essence, is as durable as his essence,\nand resides for ever in his nature.\n\n8. The eighth consideration, for the right understanding of this\nattribute, the impossibility of God\u2019s doing some things, is no\ninfringing of his almightiness, but rather a strengthening of it. It\nis granted that some things God cannot do; or, rather, as Aquinas and\nothers, it is better to say, such things cannot be done, than to say\nthat God cannot do them; to remove all kind of imputation or reflection\nof weakness on God,[835] and because the reason of the impossibility of\nthose things is in the nature of the things themselves.\n\n1. Some things are impossible in their own nature. Such are all\nthose things which imply a contradiction; as for a thing to be, and not\nto be at the same time; for the sun to shine, and not to shine at the\nsame moment of time; for a creature to act, and not to act at the same\ninstant: one of those parts must be false; for if it be true that the\nsun shines this moment, it must be false to say it doth not shine. So\nit is impossible that a rational creature can be without reason: \u2019Tis\na contradiction to be a rational creature, and yet want that which is\nessential to a rational creature. So it is impossible that the will of\nman can be compelled, because liberty is the essence of the {b27} will;\nwhile it is will it cannot be constrained; and if it be constrained,\nit ceaseth to be will. God cannot at one time act as the author of the\nwill and the destroyer of the will.[836] It is impossible that vice\nand virtue, light and darkness, life and death, should be the same\nthing. Those things admit not of a conception in any understanding.\nSome things are impossible to be done, because of the incapability of\nthe subject; as for a creature to be made infinite, independent, to\npreserve itself without the Divine concourse and assistance. So a brute\ncannot be taken into communion with God, and to everlasting spiritual\nblessedness, because the nature of a brute is incapable of such an\nelevation: a rational creature only can understand and relish spiritual\ndelights, and is capable to enjoy God, and have communion with him.\nIndeed, God may change the nature of a brute, and bestow such faculties\nof understanding and will upon it, as to render it capable of such a\nblessedness; but then it is no more a brute, but a rational creature:\nbut, while it remains a brute, the excellency of the nature of God doth\nnot admit of communion with such a subject; so that this is not for\nwant of power in God, but because of a deficiency in the creature: to\nsuppose that God could make a contradiction true, is to make himself\nfalse, and to do just nothing.\n\n2. Some things are impossible to the nature and being of God. As\nto die, implies a flat repugnance to the nature of God; to be able to\ndie, is to be able to be cashiered out of being. If God were able to\ndeprive himself of life, he might then cease to be: he were not then\na necessary, but an uncertain, contingent being, and could not be said\nonly to have immortality, as he is (1 Tim. vi. 16). He cannot die who\nis life itself, and necessarily existent; he cannot grow old or decay,\nbecause he cannot be measured by time: and this is no part of weakness,\nbut the perfection of power. His power is that whereby he remains\nforever fixed in his own everlasting being. That cannot be reckoned as\nnecessary to the omnipotence of God which all mankind count a part of\nweakness in themselves: God is omnipotent, because he is not impotent;\nand if he could die, he would be impotent, not omnipotent: death is the\nfeebleness of nature. It is undoubtedly the greatest impotence to cease\nto be: who would count it a part of omnipotency to disenable himself,\nand sink into nothing and not being? The impossibility for God to\ndie is not a fit article to impeach his omnipotence; this would be\na strange way of arguing: a thing is not powerful, because it is not\nfeeble, and cannot cease to be powerful, for death is a cessation of\nall power. God is almighty in doing what he will, not in suffering\nwhat he will not.[837] To die is not an active, but a passive power; a\ndefect of a power: God is of too noble a nature to perish. Some things\nare impossible to that eminency of nature which he hath above all\ncreatures; as to walk, sleep, feed, these are imperfections belonging\nto bodies and compounded natures. If he could walk, he were not\neverywhere present: motion speaks succession. If he could increase,\nhe would not have been perfect before.\n\n3. Some things are impossible to the glorious perfections of God.\nGod cannot do anything unbecoming his holiness and goodness; {b28} any\nthing unworthy of himself, and against the perfections of his nature.\nGod can do whatsoever he can will. As he doth actually do whatsoever\nhe doth actually will, so it is possible for him to do whatsoever it\nis possible for him to will. He doth whatsoever he will, and can do\nwhatsoever he can will; but he cannot do what he cannot will: he cannot\nwill any unrighteous thing, and therefore cannot do any unrighteous\nthing. God cannot love sin, this is contrary to his holiness; he cannot\nviolate his word, this is a denial of his truth; he cannot punish\nan innocent, this is contrary to his goodness; he cannot cherish an\nimpenitent sinner, this is an injury to his justice; he cannot forget\nwhat is done in the world, this is a disgrace to his omniscience; he\ncannot deceive his creature, this is contrary to his faithfulness: none\nof these things can be done by him, because of the perfection of his\nnature. Would it not be an imperfection in God to absolve the guilty,\nand condemn the innocent? Is it congruous to the righteous and holy\nnature of God, to command murder and adultery; to command men not\nto worship him, but to be base and unthankful? These things would be\nagainst the rules of righteousness; as, when we say of a good man, he\ncannot rob or fight a duel, we do not mean that he wants a courage for\nsuch an act, or that he hath not a natural strength and knowledge to\nmanage his weapon as well as another, but he hath a righteous principle\nstrong in him which will not suffer him to do it; his will is settled\nagainst it: no power can pass into act unless applied by the will; but\nthe will of God cannot will anything but what is worthy of him, and\ndecent for his goodness.\n\n(1.) The Scripture saith it is impossible for God to lie\n(Heb. vi. 18); and God cannot deny himself because of his faithfulness\n(2 Tim. ii. 13). As he cannot die, because he is life itself; as he\ncannot deceive, because he is goodness itself; as he cannot do an\nunwise action, because he is wisdom itself, so he cannot speak a false\nword, because he is truth itself. If he should speak anything as true,\nand not know it, where is his infinite knowledge and comprehensiveness\nof understanding? If he should speak anything as true, which he\nknows to be false, where is his infinite righteousness? If he should\ndeceive any creature, there is an end of his perfection of fidelity\nand veracity. If he should be deceived himself, there is an end of his\nomniscience; we must then fancy him to be a deceitful God, an ignorant\nGod, that is, no God at all. If he should lie, he would be God and no\nGod; God upon supposition, and no God, because not the first truth.[838]\nAll unrighteousness is weakness, not power; it is a defection from\nright reason, a deviation from moral principles, and the rule of\nperfect action, and ariseth from a defect of goodness and power: it\nis a weakness, and not omnipotence, to lose goodness: God is light; it\nis the perfection of light not to become darkness, and a want of power\nin light, if it should become darkness:[839] his power is infinitely\nstrong, so is his wisdom infinitely clear, and his will infinitely pure:\nwould it not be a part of weakness to have a disorder in himself, and\nthese perfections shock one against another? Since all perfections are\nin God, in the most sovereign {b29} height of perfection, nothing can\nbe done by the infiniteness of one against the infiniteness of the\nother. He would then be unstable in his own perfections, and depart\nfrom the infinite rectitude of his own will, if he should do an evil\naction. Again,[840] what is an argument of greater strength, than to\nbe utterly ignorant of infirmity? God is omnipotent because he cannot\ndo evil, and would not be omnipotent if he could; those things would\nbe marks of weakness, and not characters of majesty. Would you count\na sweet fountain impotent because it cannot send forth bitter streams?\nor the sun weak, because it cannot diffuse darkness as well as light\nin the air? There is an inability arising from weakness, and an ability\narising from perfection: it is the perfection of angels and blessed\nspirits, that they cannot sin; and it would be the imperfection of God,\nif he could do evil.\n\n(2.) Hence it follows, that it is impossible that a thing past should\nnot be past. If we ascribe a power to God, to make a thing that is past\nnot to be past, we do not truly ascribe power to him, but a weakness;\nfor it is to make God to lie, as though God might not have created man,\nyet, after he had created Adam, though he should presently have reduced\nAdam to his first nothing, yet it would be forever true that Adam was\ncreated, and it would forever be false that Adam never was created: so,\nthough God may prevent sin, yet when sin hath been committed, it will\nalway be true that sin was committed; it will never be true to say\nsuch a creature that did sin, did not sin; his sin cannot be recalled:\nthough God, by pardon, take off the guilt of Peter\u2019s denying our\nSaviour, yet it will be eternally true that Peter did deny him. It is\nrepugnant to the righteousness and truth of God to make that which was\nonce true to become false, and not true; that is, to make a truth to\nbecome a lie, and a lie to become a truth. This is well argued from Heb.\nvi. 18: \u201cIt is impossible for God to lie.\u201d The apostle argues, that\nwhat God had promised and sworn will come to pass, and cannot but come\nto pass.[841] Now, if God could make a thing past not to be past, this\nconsequence would not be good, for then he might make himself not to\nhave promised, not to have sworn, after he hath promised and sworn; and\nso, if there were a power to undo that which is past, there would be no\nfoundation for faith, no certainty of revelation. It cannot be asserted,\nthat God hath created the world; that God hath sent his Son to die;\nthat God hath accepted his death for man. These might not be true, if\nit were possible, that that which hath been done, might be said never\nto have been done: so that what any may imagine to be a want of power\nin God, is the highest perfection of God, and the greatest security to\na believing creature that hath to do with God.\n\n4. Some things are impossible to be done, because of God\u2019s ordination.\nSome things are impossible, not in their own nature, but in regard\nof the determined will of God: so God might have destroyed the world\nafter Adam\u2019s fall, but it was impossible; not that God wanted power to\ndo it, but because he did not only decree from eternity to create the\nworld, but did also decree to redeem the world {b30} by Jesus Christ,\nand erected the world in order to the manifestation of his \u201cglory in\nChrist\u201d (Eph. i. 4, 5). The choice of some in Christ was \u201cbefore the\nfoundation of the world.\u201d Supposing that there was no hindrance in the\njustice of God to pardon the sin of Adam after his fall, and to execute\nno punishment on him, yet in regard of God\u2019s threatening, that in the\nday he eat of the forbidden fruit he should die, it was impossible:\nso, though it was possible that the cup should pass from our blessed\nSaviour, that is, possible in its own nature, yet it was not possible\nin regard of the determination of God\u2019s will, since he had both decreed\nand published his will to redeem man by the passion and blood of his\nSon. These things God, by his absolute power, might have done; but\nupon the account of his decree, they were impossible, because it is\nrepugnant to the nature of God to be mutable: it is to deny his own\nwisdom which contrived them, and his own will which resolved them, not\nto do that which he had decreed to do. This would be a diffidence in\nhis wisdom, and a change of his will. The impossibility of them is no\nresult of a want of power, no mark of an imperfection, of feebleness\nand impotence; but the perfection of immutability and unchangeableness.\nThus have I endeavored to give you a right notion of this excellent\nattribute of the power of God, in as plain terms as I could, which may\nserve us for a matter of meditation, admiration, fear of him, trust\nin him, which are the proper uses we should make of this doctrine of\nDivine power. The want of a right understanding of this doctrine of the\nDivine power hath caused many to run into mighty absurdities; I have,\ntherefore, taken the more pains to explain it.\n\nII. The second thing I proposed, is the reasons to prove God to be\nomnipotent. The Scripture describes God by this attribute of power\n(Ps. cxv. 3): \u201cHe hath done whatsoever he pleased.\u201d It sometimes sets\nforth his power in a way of derision of those that seem to doubt of it.\nWhen Sarah doubted of his ability to give her a child in her old age\n(Gen. xviii. 14), \u201cIs anything too hard for the Lord?\u201d They deserve\nto be scoffed, that will despoil God of his strength, and measure him\nby their shallow models. And when Moses uttered something of unbelief\nof this attribute, as if God were not able to feed 600,000 Israelites,\nbesides women and children, which he aggravates by a kind of imperious\nscoff; \u201cShall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice\nthem? Or, shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them?\u201d\n&c. (Numb. xi. 22). God takes him up short (ver. 23): \u201cIs the Lord\u2019s\nhand waxed short?\u201d What! can any weakness seize upon my hand? Can I\ndraw out of my own treasures what is needful for a supply? The hand\nof God is not at one time strong, and another time feeble. Hence it is\nthat we read of the hand and arm of God, an outstretched arm; because\nthe strength of a man is exerted by his hand and arm; the power of God\nis called the arm of his power, and the right hand of his strength.\nSometimes, according to the different manifestation of it, it is\nexpressed by finger, when a less power is evidenced; by hand, when\nsomething greater; by arm, when more mighty than the former. Since God\nis eternal, without limits of time, he is also Almighty, {b31} without\nlimits of strength. As he cannot be said to be more in being now than\nhe was before, so he is neither more nor less in strength than he was\nbefore: as he cannot cease to be so, so he cannot cease to be powerful,\nbecause he is eternal. His eternity and power are linked together as\nequally demonstrable (Rom. i. 20); God is called the God of gods _El\nElohim_ (Dan. xi. 36); the Mighty of mighties, whence all mighty\npersons have their activity and vigor: he is called the Lord of Hosts,\nas being the Creator and Conductor of the heavenly militia.\n\n_Reason 1._ The power that is in creatures demonstrates a greater and\nan unconceivable power in God. Nothing in the world is without a power\nof activity according to its nature: no creature but can act something.\nThe sun warms and enlightens everything: it sends its influences\nupon the earth, into the bowels of the earth, into the depths of the\nsea: all generations owe themselves to its instrumental virtue. How\npowerful is a small seed to rise into a mighty tree with a lofty top,\nand extensive branches, and send forth other seeds, which can still\nmultiply into numberless plants! How wonderful is the power of the\nCreator, who hath endowed so small a creature as a seed, with so\nfruitful an activity! Yet this is but the virtue of a limited nature.\nGod is both the producing and preserving cause of all the virtue in any\ncreature, in every creature. The power of every creature belongs to him\nas the Fountain, and is truly his power in the creature. As he is the\nfirst Being, he is the original of all being; as he is the first Good,\nhe is the spring of all goodness; as he is the first Truth, he is the\nsource of all truth; so, as he is the first Power, he is the fountain\nof all power.\n\n1. He, therefore, that communicates to the creature what power it hath,\ncontains eminently much more power in himself. (Ps. xciv. 10), \u201cHe that\nteaches man knowledge, shall not he know?\u201d So he that gives created\nbeings power, shall not he be powerful? The first Being must have as\nmuch power as he hath given to others: he could not transfer that upon\nanother, which he did not transcendently possess himself. The sole\ncause of created power cannot be destitute of any power in himself.\nWe see that the power of one creature transcends the power of another.\nBeasts can do the things that plants cannot do; besides the power of\ngrowth, they have a power of sense and progressive motion. Men can do\nmore than beasts; they have rational souls to measure the earth and\nheavens, and to be repositories of multitudes of things, notions, and\nconclusions. We may well imagine angels to be far superior to man: the\npower of the Creator must far surmount the power of the creature, and\nmust needs be infinite: for if it be limited, it is limited by himself\nor by some other; if by some other, he is no longer a Creator, but\na creature; for that which limits him in his nature, did communicate\nthat nature to him; not by himself, for he would not deny himself any\nnecessary perfection: we must still conclude a reserve of power in him,\nthat he that made these can make many more of the same kind.\n\n2. All the power which is distinct in the creatures, must be united in\nGod. One creature hath a strength to do this, another to do that; every\ncreature is as a cistern filled with a particular and limited {b32}\npower, according to the capacity of its nature, from this fountain;\nall are distinct streams from God. But the strength of every creature,\nthough distinct in the rank of creatures, is united in God the centre,\nwhence those lines were drawn, the fountain whence those streams\nwere derived. If the power of one creature be admirable, as the power\nof an angel, which the Psalmist saith (Ps. ciii. 20), \u201cexcelleth in\nstrength;\u201d how much greater must the power of a legion of angels be!\nHow inconceivably superior the power of all those numbers of spiritual\nnatures, which are the excellent works of God! Now, if all this\nparticular power, which is in every angel distinct, were compacted\nin one angel, how would it exceed our understanding, and be above our\npower to form a distinct conception of it! What is thus divided in\nevery angel, must be thought united in the Creator of angels, and far\nmore excellent in him. Everything is in a more noble manner in the\nfountain, than in the streams which distil and descend from it. He that\nis the Original of all those distinct powers, must be the seat of all\npower without distinction: in him is the union of all without division;\nwhat is in them as a quality, is in him as his essence. Again, if all\nthe powers of several creatures, with all their principal qualities and\nvigors, both of beasts, plants, and rational creatures, were united in\none subject; as if one lion had the strength of all the lions that ever\nwere; or, if one elephant had the strength of all the elephants that\never were; nay, if one bee had all the power of motion and stinging\nthat all bees ever had, it would have a vast strength; but if the\nstrength of all those thus gathered into one of every kind should be\nlodged in one sole creature, one man, would it not be a strength too\nbig for our conception? Or, suppose one cannon had all the force of all\nthe cannons that ever were in the world, what a battery would it make,\nand, as it were, shake the whole frame of heaven and earth! All this\nstrength must be much more incomprehensible in God; all is united in\nhim. If it were in one individual created nature, it would still be\nbut a finite power in a finite nature: but in God it is infinite and\nimmense.\n\n_Reason 2._ If there were not an incomprehensible power in God, he\nwould not be infinitely perfect. God is the first Being; it can only\nbe said of him, _Est_, he is. All other things are nothing to him;\n\u201cless than nothing and vanity\u201d (Isa. xl. 17), and \u201creputed as nothing\u201d\n(Dan. iv. 35). All the inhabitants of the earth, with all their wit and\nstrength, are counted as if they were not; just in comparison with Him\nand his being, as a little mote in the sun\u2011beams: God, therefore, is\na pure Being. Any kind of weakness whatsoever is a defect, a degree of\nnot being; so far as anything wants this or that power, it may be said\nnot to be. Were there anything of weakness in God, any want of strength\nwhich belonged to the perfection of a nature, it might be said of God,\nHe is not this or that, he wants this or that perfection of Being, and\nso he would not be a pure Being, there would be something of not being\nin him. But God being the first Being, the only original Being, he is\ninfinitely distant from not being, and therefore infinitely distant\nfrom anything of weakness. Again, if God can know whatsoever is\npossible to be done by him, and cannot do it, there would be something\nmore in his knowledge {b33} than in his power.[842] What would then\nfollow? That the essence of God would be in some regard greater than\nitself, and less than itself, because his knowledge and his power\nare his essence; his power as much his essence as his knowledge: and\ntherefore, in regard of his knowledge, his essence would be greater;\nin regard of his power, his essence would be less; which is a thing\nimpossible to be conceived in a most perfect Being. We must understand\nthis of those things which are properly and in their own nature\nsubjected to the Divine knowledge; for otherwise God knows more than he\ncan do, for he knows sin, but he cannot act it, because sin belongs not\nto power but weakness; and sin comes under the knowledge of God, not in\nitself and its own nature, but as it is a defect from God, and contrary\nto good, which is the proper object of Divine knowledge. He knows it\nalso not as possible to be done by himself, but as possible to be done\nby the creature. Again, if God were not omnipotent, we might imagine\nsomething more perfect than God:[843] for if we bar God from any\none thing which in its own nature is possible, we may imagine a being\nthat can do that thing, one that is able to effect it; and so imagine\nan agent greater than God, a being able to do more than God is able\nto do, and consequently a being more perfect than God: but no being\nmore perfect than God can be imagined by any creature. Nothing can be\ncalled most perfect, if anything of activity be wanting to it. Active\npower follows the perfection of a thing, and all things are counted\nmore noble by how much more of efficacy and virtue they possess. We\ncount those the best and most perfect plants, that have the greatest\nmedicinal virtue in them, and power of working upon the body for the\ncure of distempers. God is perfect of himself, and therefore most\npowerful of himself. If his perfection in wisdom and goodness be\nunsearchable, his power, which belongs to perfection, and without which\nall the other excellencies of his nature were insignificant, and could\nnot show themselves, (as was before evidenced,) must be unsearchable\nalso. It is by the title of Almighty he is denominated, when declared\nto be unsearchable to perfection (Job xi. 7): \u201cCanst thou by searching\nfind out God, canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?\u201d This\nwould be limited and searched out, if he were destitute of an active\nability to do whatsoever he pleased to do, whatsoever was possible to\nbe done. As he hath not a perfect liberty of will, if he could not will\nwhat he pleased; so he would not have a perfect activity, if he could\nnot do what he willed.\n\n_Reason 3._ The simplicity of God manifests it. Every substance, the\nmore spiritual it is, the more powerful it is. All perfections are more\nunited in a simple, than in a compounded being. Angels, being spirits,\nare more powerful than bodies. Where there is the greatest simplicity,\nthere is the greatest unity; and where there is the greatest unity,\nthere is the greatest power. Where there is a composition of a faculty\nand a member, the member or organ may be weakened and rendered unable\nto act, though the power doth still reside in the faculty. As a man,\nwhen his arm or hand is cut off or broke, he hath the faculty of motion\nstill; but he hath lost {b34} that instrument that part whereby he\ndid manifest and put forth that motion: but God being a pure spiritual\nnature, hath no members, no organs to be defaced or impaired. All\nimpediments of actions arise either from the nature of the thing that\nacts, or from something without it. There can be no hindrance to God to\ndo whatsoever he pleases; not in himself, because he is the most simple\nbeing, hath no contrariety in himself, is not composed of divers things;\nand it cannot be from anything without himself, because nothing is\nequal to him, much less superior. He is the greatest, the Supreme: all\nthings were made by him, depend upon him, nothing can disappoint his\nintentions.\n\n_Reason 4._ The miracles that have been in the world evidence the\npower of God. Extraordinary productions have awakened men from their\nstupidity, to the acknowledgment of the immensity of Divine power.\nMiracles are such effects as have been wrought without the assistance\nand co\u2011operation of natural causes, yea, contrary and besides the\nordinary course of nature, above the reach of any created power.\nMiracles have been; and saith Bradwardine,[844] to deny that ever\nsuch things were, is uncivil: it is inhuman to deny all the histories\nof Jews and Christians; whosoever denies miracles, must deny all\npossibility of miracles, and so must imagine himself fully skilled in\nthe extent of Divine power. How was the sun suspended from its motion\nfor some hours (Josh. x. 13); \u201cthe dead raised from the grave;\u201d those\nreduced from the brink of it, that had been brought near to it by\nprevailing diseases; and this by a word speaking? How were the famished\nlions bridled from exercising their rage upon Daniel, exposed to them\nfor a prey (Dan. vi. 22)? the activity of the fire curbed for the\npreservation of the three children (Dan. iii. 15)? which proves a Deity\nmore powerful than all creatures. No power upon earth can hinder the\noperation of the fire upon combustible matter, when they are united,\nunless by quenching the fire, or removing the matter: but no created\npower can restrain the fire, so long as it remains so, from acting\naccording to its nature. This was done by God in the case of the three\nchildren, and that of the burning bush (Exod. iii. 2). It was as much\nmiraculous that the bush should not consume, as it was natural that\nit should burn by the efficacy of the fire upon it. No element is so\nobstinate and deaf, but it hears and obeys his voice, and performs\nhis orders, though contrary to its own nature: all the violence of the\ncreature is suspended as soon as it receives his command. He that gave\nthe original to nature, can take away the necessity of nature;[845]\nhe presides over creatures, but is not confined to those laws he hath\nprescribed to creatures. He framed nature, and can turn the channels\nof nature according to his own pleasure. Men dig into the bowels of\nnature, search into all the treasures of it, to find medicines to cure\na disease, and after all their attempts it may prove labor in vain:\nbut God, by one act of his will, one word of his mouth, overturns the\nvictory of death, and rescues from the most desperate diseases.[846]\nAll the miracles which were wrought by the apostles, either speaking\nsome words or touching with the hand, {b35} were not effected by any\nvirtue inherent in their words or in their touches; for such virtue\ninherent in any created finite subject would be created and finite\nitself, and consequently were incapable to produce effects which\nrequired an infinite virtue, as miracles do which are above the power\nof nature. So when our Saviour wrought miracles, it was not by any\nquality resident in his human nature, but by the sole power of his\nDivinity. The flesh could only do what was proper to the flesh; but the\nDeity did what was proper to the Deity. \u201cGod alone doth wonders\u201d (Ps.\ncxxxvi. 4): excluding every other cause from producing those things. He\nonly doth those things which are above the power of nature, and cannot\nbe wrought by any natural causes whatsoever. He doth not hereby put his\nomnipotence to any stress: it is as easy with him to turn nature out\nof its settled course, as it was to place it in that station it holds,\nand appoint it that course it runs. All the works of nature are indeed\nmiracles and testimonies of the power of God producing them, and\nsustaining them: but works above the power of nature, being novelties\nand unusual, strike men with a greater admiration upon their appearance,\nbecause they are not the products of nature, but the convulsions of\nit. I might also add as an argument, the power of the mind of man to\nconceive more than hath been wrought by God in the world. And God can\nwork whatsoever perfection the mind of man can conceive: otherwise\nthe reaches of a created imagination and fancy would be more extensive\nthan the power of God. His power, therefore, is far greater than the\nconception of any intellectual creature; else the creature would be\nof a greater capacity to conceive than God is to effect. The creature\nwould have a power of conception above God\u2019s power of activity; and\nconsequently a creature, in some respect greater than himself. Now\nwhatsoever a creature can conceive possible to be done, is but finite\nin its own nature; and if God could not produce what being a created\nunderstanding can conceive possible to be done, he would be less than\ninfinite in power, nay, he could not go to the extent of what is finite.\nBut I have touched this before; that God can create more than he hath\ncreated, and in a more perfect way of being, as considered simply in\nthemselves.\n\nIII. The third general thing is to declare, how the power of God\nappears in Creation, in Government, in Redemption.\n\nFIRST, In CREATION. With what majestic lines doth God set for his power,\nin the giving being and endowments to all the creatures in the world\n(Job xxxviii.)! All that is in heaven and earth is his, and shows the\ngreatness of his power, glory, victory, and majesty (1 Chron. xxix. 11).\nThe heaven being so magnificent a piece of work, is called emphatically,\n\u201cthe firmament of his power\u201d (Ps. cl. 1); his power being more\nconspicuous and unavailed in that glorious arch of the world. Indeed,\n\u201cGod exalts by his power\u201d (Job xxxvi. 22), that is, exalts himself\nby his power in all the works of his hands; in the smallest shrub,\nas well as the most glorious sun. All his works of nature are truly\nmiracles, though we consider them not, being blinded with two frequent\nand customary a sight of them; yet, in the neglect of all the rest, the\nview {b36} of the heavens doth more affect us with astonishment at the\nmight of God\u2019s arm: these declare his glory, and \u201cthe firmament showeth\nhis handy work\u201d (Ps. xix. 1). And the Psalmist peculiarly calls them\nhis heavens, and the work of his fingers (Ps. viii. 3): these were\nimmediately created by God, whereas many other things in the world\nwere brought into being by the power of God, yet by the means of the\ninfluence of the heavens.\n\n1. His power is the first thing evident in the story of the creation.\n\u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth\u201d (Gen. i. 1).\nThere is no appearance of anything in this declaratory preface, but of\npower: the characters of wisdom march after in the distinct formation\nof things, and animating them with suitable qualities for an universal\ngood. By heaven and earth, is meant the whole mass of the creatures:\nby heaven, all the airy region, with all the host of it; by the earth,\nis meant, all that which makes the entire inferior globe.[847] The Jews\nobserve, that in the first of Genesis, in the whole chapter, unto the\nfinishing the work in six days, God is called \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd, which is a name\nof Power, and that thirty\u2011two times in that chapter; but after the\nfinishing the six days\u2019 work, he is called \u05d4\u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd, which, according to\ntheir notion, is a name of goodness and kindness: his power is first\nvisible in framing the world, before his goodness is visible in the\nsustaining and preserving it. It was by this name of Power and Almighty\nthat he was known in the first ages of the world, not by his name,\nJehovah (Exod. vi. 3): \u201cAnd I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,\nby the name of God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah was I not known\nto them.\u201d Not but that they were acquainted with the name, but did not\nexperience the intent of the name, which signified his truth in the\nperformance of his promises; they knew him by that name as promising,\nbut they knew him not by that name, as performing. He would be known\nby his name Jehovah, true to his word, when he was about to effect\nthe deliverance from Egypt; a type of the eternal redemption, wherein\nthe truth of God, in performing of his first promise, is gloriously\nmagnified. And hence it is that God is called Almighty more in the\nbook of Job than in all the Scripture besides, I think about thirty\u2011two\ntimes, and Jehovah but once, which is Job xii. 9, unless in Job xxxviii.\nwhen God is introduced speaking himself; which is an argument of Job\u2019s\nliving before the deliverance from Egypt, when God was known more by\nhis works of creation than by the performance of his promises, before\nthe name Jehovah was formally published. Indeed, this attribute of his\neternal power, is the first thing visible and intelligible upon the\nfirst glance of the eye upon the creatures (Rom. i. 20). Bring a man\nout of the cave where he hath been nursed, without seeing anything out\nof the confines of it, and let him lift up his eyes to the heavens,\nand take a prospect of that glorious body, the sun, then cast them down\nto the earth, and behold the surface of it, with its green clothing;\nthe first notion which will start up in his mind from that spring\nof wonders, is that of power, which he will at first adore with a\nreligious astonishment. The wisdom of God in them is not so presently\napparent, till after a more {b37} exquisite consideration of his works\nand knowledge of the properties of their natures, the conveniency of\ntheir situations, and the usefulness of their functions, and the order\nwherein they are linked together for the good of the universe.\n\n2. By this creative power God is often distinguished from all the idols\nand false gods in the world. And by this title he sets forth himself\nwhen he would act any great and wonderful work in the world (Ps. cxxxv.\n5, 6): \u201cHe is great above all gods,\u201d for \u201che hath done whatsoever he\npleased in heaven and in earth.\u201d Upon this is founded all the worship\nhe challengeth in the world, as his peculiar, glory (Rev. iv. 11):\n\u201cThou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, honor, and power, for thou\nhast created all things.\u201d And (Rev. x. 6) \u201cI have made the earth, and\ncreated man upon it.\u201d \u201cI, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens,\nand all their host have I commanded\u201d (Isa. xlv. 12). What is the issue\n(ver. 16)? \u201cThey shall be ashamed and confounded, all of them, that are\nmakers of idols.\u201d And the weakness of idols is expressed by this title.\n\u201cThe gods that have not made the heavens and the earth\u201d (Jer. x. 11).\n\u201cThe portion of Jacob is not like them, for he is the former of all\nthings\u201d (ver. 16). What is not that God able to do, that hath created\nso great a world? How doth the power of God appear in creation?\n\n1st. In making the world of nothing. When we say, the world was made\nof nothing, we mean, that there was no matter existent for God to work\nupon, but what he raised himself in the first act of creation. In this\nregard, the power of God in creation surmounts his power in providence.\nCreation supposeth nothing, providence supposeth something in being.\nCreation intimates a creature making, providence speaks a thing already\nmade, and capable of government, and in government. God uses second\ncauses to bring about his purposes.\n\n1. The world was made of nothing. The earth which is described as the\nfirst matter, without any form or ornament, without any distinction or\nfigures, was of God\u2019s forming in the bulk, before he did adorn it with\nhis pencil (Gen. i. 1, 2). God, in the beginning, creating the heaven\nand the earth, includes two things: First. That those were created\nin the beginning of time, and before all other things. Secondly. That\nGod begun the creation of the world from those things.[848] Therefore\nbefore the heavens and the earth there was nothing absolutely created,\nand therefore no matter in being before an act of creation passed upon\nit. It could not be eternal, because nothing can be eternal but God;\nit must therefore have a beginning. If it had a beginning from itself,\nthen it was before it was. If it acted in the making itself before it\nwas made, then it had a being before it had a being; for that which\nis nothing, can act nothing: the action of anything supposeth the\nexistence of the thing which acts. It being made, it was not before\nit was made; for to be made is to be brought into being. It was made,\nthen, by another, and that Maker is God. It is necessary that the First\nOriginal of things was from nothing: when we see one thing to arise\nfrom another, we must suppose an original of the first of each kind; as,\nwhen we see {b38} a tree spring up from a seed, we know that seed came\nout of the bowels of another tree; it had a parent, it had a master; we\nmust come to some first, or else we run into an endless maze: we must\ncome to some first tree, some first seed that had no cause of the same\nkind, no matter of it, but was mere nothing. Creation doth suppose a\nproduction from nothing; because, if you suppose a thing without any\nreal or actual existence, it is not capable of any other production\nthan from nothing: nothing must be supposed before the world, or we\nmust suppose it eternal, and that is to deny it to be a creature, and\nmake it God.[849] The creation of spiritual substances, such as angels\nand souls, evince this; those things that are purely spiritual, and\nconsist not of matter, cannot pretend to any original from matter, and\ntherefore they rose up from nothing. If spiritual things arose from\nnothing, much more may corporeal, because they are of a lower nature\nthan spiritual; and he that can create a higher nature of nothing,\ncan create an inferior nature of nothing. As bodily things are more\nimperfect than spiritual, so their creation may be supposed easier than\nthat of spiritual. There was as little need of any matter to be wrought\nto his hands, to contrive into this visible fabric, as there was to\nerect such an excellent order as the glorious cherubims.\n\n2. This creation of things from nothing speaks an infinite power.\nThe distance between nothing and being hath been alway counted so\ngreat, that nothing but an Infinite Power can make such distances meet\ntogether, either for nothing to pass into being, or being to return to\nnothing. To have a thing arise from nothing, was so difficult a text\nto those that were ignorant of the Scripture, that they knew not how\nto fathom it, and therefore laid it down as a certain rule, that of\nnothing, nothing is made; which is true of a created power, but not of\nan uncreated and Almighty Power. A greater distance cannot be imagined\nthan that which is between nothing and something; that which hath no\nbeing, and that which hath; and a greater power cannot be imagined than\nthat which brings something out of nothing. We know not how to conceive\na nothing, and afterwards a being from that nothing; but we must\nremain swallowed up in admiration of the Cause that gives it being, and\nacknowledge it to be without any bounds and measures of greatness and\npower.[850] The further anything is from being, the more immense must\nthat power be which brings it into being: it is not conceivable that\nthe power of all the angels in one can give being to the smallest spire\nof grass. To imagine, therefore, so small a thing as a bee, a fly,\na grain of corn, or an atom of dust, to be made of nothing, would\nstupefy any creature in the consideration of it, much more to behold\nthe heavens, with all the troop of stars; the earth, with all its\nembroidery; and the sea, with all her inhabitants of fish; and man, the\nnoblest creature of all, to arise out of the womb of mere emptiness.\nIndeed, God had not acted as an almighty Creator, if he had stood in\nneed of any materials but of his own framing: it had been as much as\nhis Deity was worth, if he had not had all within the compass of his\nown power that was necessary to operation; if he must have been {b39}\nbeholden to something without himself, and above himself, for matter to\nwork upon: had there been such a necessity, we could not have imagined\nhim to be omnipotent, and, consequently, not God.\n\n3. In this the power of God exceeds the power of all natural and\nrational agents. Nature, or the order of second causes, hath a vast\npower; the sun generates flies and other insects, but of some matter,\nthe slime of the earth or a dunghill; the sun and the earth bring\nforth harvests of corn, but from seed first sown in the earth; fruits\nare brought forth, but from the sap of the plant; were there no seed\nor plants in the earth, the power of the earth would be idle, and\nthe influence of the sun insignificant; whatsoever strength either\nof them had in their nature, must be useless without matter to work\nupon. All the united strength of nature cannot produce the least thing\nout of nothing; it may multiply and increase things, by the powerful\nblessing God gave it at the first erecting of the world, but it cannot\ncreate. The word which signifies _creation_, used in Gen. i. 1, is not\nascribed to any second cause, but only to God; a word, in that sense,\nas incommunicable to anything else as the action it signifies. Rational\ncreatures can produce admirable pieces of art from small things, yet\nstill out of matter created to their hands. Excellent garments may\nbe woven, but from the entrails of a small silkworm. Delightful and\nmedicinal spirits and essences may be extracted, by ingenious chemists,\nbut out of the bodies of plants and minerals. No picture can be drawn\nwithout colors; no statue engraven without stone; no building erected\nwithout timber, stones, and other materials: nor can any man raise\na thought without some matter framed to his hands, or cast into him.\nMatter is, by nature, formed to the hands of all artificers; they\nbestow a new figure upon it, by the help of instruments, and the\nproduct of their own wit and skill, but they create not the least\nparticle of matter; when they want it, they must be supplied or else\nstand still, as well as nature, for none of them, or all together, can\nmake the least mite or atom: and when they have wrought all that they\ncan, they will not want some to find a flaw and defect in their work.\nGod, as a Creator, hath the only prerogative to draw what he pleases\nfrom nothing, without any defect, without any imperfection: he can\nraise what matter he please; ennoble it with what form he pleases. Of\nnothing, nothing can be made, by any created agent: but the omnipotent\nArchitect of the world is not under the same necessity, nor is limited\nto the same rule, and tied by so short a tedder as created nature, or\nan ingenious, yet feeble artificer.\n\n2d. It appears, in raising such variety of creatures from this\nbarren womb of nothing, or from the matter which he first commanded to\nappear out of nothing. Had there been any pre\u2011existent matter, yet the\nbringing forth such varieties and diversities of excellent creatures,\nsome with life, some with sense, and others with reason superadded\nto the rest, and those out of indisposed and undigested matter, would\nargue an infinite power resident in the first Author of this variegated\nfabric. From this matter he formed that glorious sun, which every day\ndisplays its glory, scatters its beams, clears the air, ripens our\nfruits, and maintains the propagation of creatures in {b40} the world.\nFrom this matter he lighted those torches which he set in the heaven to\nqualify the darkness of the night: from this he compacted those bodies\nof light, which, though they seem to us as little sparks, as if they\nwere the glow\u2011worms of heaven, yet some of them exceed in greatness\nthis globe of the earth on which we live: and the highest of them hath\nso quick a motion, that some tell us they run, in the space of every\nhour, 42,000,000 of leagues. From the same matter he drew the earth\non which we walk; from thence he extracted the flowers to adorn it,\nthe hills to secure the valleys, and the rocks to fortify it against\nthe inundations of the sea; and on this dull and sluggish element he\nbestowed so great a fruitfulness, to maintain, feed, and multiply so\nmany seeds of different kinds, and conferred upon those little bodies\nof seeds a power to multiply their kinds, in conjunction with the\nfruitfulness of the earth, to many thousands. From this rude matter,\nthe slime or dust of the earth, he kneaded the body of man, and wrought\nso curious a fabric, fit to entertain a soul of a heavenly extraction,\nformed by the breath of God (Gen. ii. 7). He brought light out of thick\ndarkness, and living creatures, fish and fowl, out of inanimate waters\n(Gen. i. 20), and gave a power of spontaneous motion to things arising\nfrom that matter which had no living motion. To convert one thing into\nanother, is an evidence of infinite power, as well as creating things\nof nothing; for the distance between life and not life is next to\nthat which is between being and not being. God first forms matter\nout of nothing, and then draws upon, and from this indisposed chaos,\nmany excellent portraitures. Neither earth nor sea were capable of\nproducing living creatures without an infinite power working upon it,\nand bringing into it such variety and multitude of forms; and this is\ncalled, by some, mediate creation, as the producing the chaos, which\nwas without form and void, is called immediate creation. Is not the\npower of the potter admirable in forming, out of tempered clay, such\nvarieties of neat and curious vessels, that, after they are fashioned\nand past the furnace, look as if they were not of any kin to the matter\nthey are formed of? and is it not the same with the glass\u2011maker, that,\nfrom a little melted jelly of sand and ashes, or the dust of flint, can\nblow up so pure a body as glass, and in such varieties of shapes? and\nis not the power of God more admirable, because infinite in speaking\nout so beautiful a world out of nothing, and such varieties of living\ncreatures from matter utterly indisposed, in its own nature, for such\nforms?\n\n3d. And this conducts to a third thing, wherein the power of God\nappears, in that he did all this with the greatest ease and facility.\n\n1. Without instruments. As God made the world without the advice, so\nwithout the assistance, of any other: \u201cHe stretched forth the heavens\nalone, and spread abroad the earth by himself\u201d (Isa. xliv. 24). He had\nno engine, but his word; no pattern or model, but himself. What need\ncan he have of instruments, that is able to create what instruments\nhe pleases? Where there is no resistance in the object, where no\nneed of preparation or instrumental advantage in the agent; there the\nactual determination of the will is sufficient to a production. What\ninstrument need {b41} we to the thinking of a thought, or an act of\nour will? Men, indeed, cannot act anything without tools; the best\nartificer must be beholden to something else for his noblest works\nof art. The carpenter cannot work without his rule, and axe, and saw,\nand other instruments; the watch\u2011maker cannot act without his file\nand pliers; but in creation, there is nothing necessary to God\u2019s\nbringing forth a world, but a simple act of his will, which is both\nthe principal cause, and instrumental. He had no scaffolds to rear it,\nno engines to polish it, no hammers or mattocks to clod and work it\ntogether. It is a miserable error to measure the actions of an Infinite\nCause by the imperfect model of a finite, since, by his own \u201cpower and\nout\u2011stretched arm, he made the heaven and the earth\u201d (Jer. xxxii. 17).\nWhat excellency would God have in his work above others, if he needed\ninstruments, as feeble men do?[851] Every artificer is counted more\nadmirable, that can frame curious works with the less matter, fewer\ntools, and assistances. God uses instruments in his works of providence,\nnot for necessity, but for the display of his wisdom in the management\nof them; yet those instruments were originally framed by him without\ninstruments. Indeed, some of the Jews thought the angels were the\ninstruments of God in creating man, and that those words, \u201cLet us\nmake man in our own image\u201d (Gen. i. 26), were spoken to angels. But\ncertainly the Scripture, which denies God any counsellor in the model\nof creation (Isa. xl. 12\u201214), doth not join any instrument with him in\nthe operation, which is everywhere ascribed to himself \u201cwithout created\nassistance\u201d (Isa. xlv. 18). It was not to angels God spake in that\naffair; if so, man was made after the image of angels, if they were\ncompanions with God in that work; but it is everywhere said, that \u201cMan\nwas made after the image of God\u201d (Gen. i. 27). Again, the image wherein\nman was created, was that of dominion over the lower creatures, as\nappears ver. 26, which we find not conferred upon angels; and it is not\nlikely that Moses should introduce the angels, as God\u2019s privy counsel,\nof whose creation he had not mentioned one syllable. \u201cLet us make man,\u201d\nrather signifies the Trinity, and not spoken in a royal style, as some\nthink. Which of the Jewish kings wrote in the style, _We_? That was\nthe custom of later times; and we must not measure the language of\nScripture by the style of Europe, of a far later date than the penning\nthe history of the creation. If angels were his counsellors in the\ncreation of the material world, what instrument had he in the creation\nof angels? If his own wisdom were the director, and his own will the\nproducer of the one; why should we not think, that he acted by his sole\npower in the other? It is concluded by most, that the power of creation\ncannot be derived to any creature, it being a work of omnipotency;\nthe drawing something out from nothing, cannot be communicated without\na communication of the Deity itself. The educing things from nothing\nexceeds the capacity of any creature, and the creature is of too feeble\na nature to be elevated to so high a degree. It is very unreasonable\nto think, that God needed any such aid. If an instrument were necessary\nfor God to create the world, then he could {b42} not do it without\nthat instrument: if he could not, he were not then all\u2011sufficient\nin himself, if he depended upon anything without himself, for the\nproduction or consummation of his works. And it might be inquired, how\nthat instrument came into being; if it begun to be, and there was a\ntime when it was not, it must have its being from the power of God; and\nthen, why could not God as well create all things without an instrument,\nas create that instrument without an instrument? For there was no more\npower necessary to a producing the whole without instruments, than to\nproduce one creature without an instrument. No creature can, in its own\nnature, be an instrument of creation. If any such instrument were used\nby God, it must be elevated in a miraculous and supernatural way; and\nwhat is so an instrument, is, in effect, no instrument; for it works\nnothing by its own nature, but from an elevation by a superior nature,\nand beyond its own nature. All that power in the instrument is truly\nthe power of God, and not the power of the instrument; and, therefore,\nwhat God doth by an instrument, he could do as well without. If you\nshould see one apply straw to iron, for the cutting of it, and effect\nit, you would not call the straw an instrument in that action, because\nthere was nothing in the nature of the straw to do it. It was done\nwholly by some other force, which might have done it as well without\nthe straw as with it. The narrative of the creation in Genesis, removes\nany instrument from God. The plants which are preserved and propagated\nby the influence of the sun, were created the day before the sun, viz.\non the \u201cthird day,\u201d whereas, the light was collected into the body of\nthe sun on the \u201cfourth day\u201d (Gen. i. 11, 16); to show, that though the\nplants do instrumentally owe their yearly beauty and preservation to\nthe sun, yet they did not in any manner owe their creation to the\ninstrumental heat and vigor of it.\n\n2. God created the world by a word, by a simple act of his will. The\nwhole creation is wrought by a word; \u201cGod said, Let there be light;\u201d\nand \u201cGod said, Let there be a firmament.\u201d[852] Not that we should\nunderstand it of a sensible word, but understand it of a powerful order\nof his own will, which is expressed by the Psalmist in the nature of\na command (Ps. xxxiii. 9): \u201cHe spake, and it was done; he commanded,\nand it stood fast;\u201d and (Ps. cxlviii. 5), \u201cHe commanded, and they\nwere created.\u201d At the same instant that he willed them to stand forth,\nthey did stand forth. The efficacious command of the Creator was the\noriginal of all things: the insensibility of nothing obeyed the act\nof his will. Creation is therefore entitled a calling (Rom. iv. 17):\n\u201cHe calls those things which are not, as if they were.\u201d To create is\nno more with God, than to call; and what he calls, presents itself\nbefore him in the same posture that he calls it. He did with more ease\nmake a world, than we can form a thought. It is the same ease to him to\ncreate worlds, as to decree them; there needs no more than a resolve to\nhave things wrought at such a time, and they will be, according to his\npleasure. This will is his power; \u201cLet there be light,\u201d is the precept\nof his will; {b43} and \u201cthere was light,\u201d is the effect of his precept.\nBy a word, was the matter of the heavens and the earth framed; by a\nword, things separate themselves from the rude mass into their proper\nforms; by a word, light associates itself into one body, and forms a\nsun; by a word, are the heavens, as it were, bespangled with stars,\nand the earth dressed with flowers; by a word, is the world both ceiled\nand floored: one act of his will, formed the world, and perfected its\nbeauty. All the variety and several exploits of his power were not\ncaused by distinct words or acts of power. God uttered not distinct\nwords for distinct species; as, let there be an elephant, and let there\nbe a lion; but as he produced those various creatures out of one matter,\nso by one word. By one single command, those varieties of creatures,\nwith their clothing, ornaments, distinct notes, qualities, functions,\nwere brought forth (Gen. i. 11): by one word, all the seeds of the\nearth, with their various virtues: by one word, all the fish of the sea,\nand fowls of the air, in their distinct natures, instincts, colors (Gen.\ni. 20): by one word, all the beasts of the field, with their varieties\n(Gen. i. 24). Heaven and earth, spiritual and corporeal creatures,\nmortal and immortal, the greater and the less, visible and invisible,\nwere formed with the same ease:[853] a word made the least, and a word\nmade the greatest. It is as little difficulty to him to produce the\nhighest angel, as the lightest atom. It is enough for the existence\nof the stateliest cherubim, for God only to will his being. It was\nenough for the forming and fixing the sun, to will the compacting\nof light into one body. The creation of the soul of man is expressed\nby inspiration (Gen. ii. 7); to show, that it is as easy with God\nto create a rational soul, as for man to breathe.[854] Breathing is\nnatural to man, by a communication of God\u2019s goodness; and the creation\nof the soul is as easy to God, by virtue of his Almighty word. As there\nwas no proportion between nothing and being, so there was as little\nproportion between a word and such glorious effects. A mere voice,\ncoming from an Omnipotent will, was capable to produce such varieties,\nwhich angels and men have seen in all ages of the world, and this\nwithout weariness. What labor is there in willing? what pain could\nthere be in speaking a word? (Isa. xl. 28), \u201cThe Creator of the\nends of the earth is not weary.\u201d And though he be said to rest after\nthe creation, it is to be meant a rest from work, not a repose from\nweariness. So great is the power of God, that without any matter,\nwithout any instruments, he could create many worlds, and with the\nsame ease as he made this.\n\n4th. I might add also, the appearance of this power in the\ninstantaneous production of things. The ending of his word was not only\nthe beginning, but the perfection of every thing he spake into being;\nnot several words to several parts and members, but one word, one\nbreath of his mouth, one act of his will, to the whole species of the\ncreatures, and to every member in each individual. Heaven and earth\nwere created in a moment; six days went to their disposal; and that\ncomely order we observe in the world was the work of a week: the matter\nwas formed as soon as God had spoken the word; and in every part of\nthe creation, as soon as God spake the word, {b44} \u201cLet it be so\u201d (Gen.\ni.), the answer immediately is, \u201cIt was so;\u201d which notes the present\nstanding up of the creature according to the act of his will: and,\ntherefore,[855] one observes, that \u201cLet there be light, and there was\nlight;\u201d in the Hebrew are the same words, without any alteration of\nletter or point, only the conjunctive particle added, \u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d9\u05d4\u05d9 \u05d0\u05d5\u05e8, \u201cLet\nthere be light, and let there be light,\u201d to show, that the same instant\nof the speaking the Divine word, was the appearance of the creature: so\ngreat was the authority of his will.\n\nSECONDLY, We are to show God\u2019s power in the GOVERNMENT of the world. As\nGod decreed from eternity the creation of things in time, so he decreed\nfrom eternity the particular ends of creatures, and their operation\nrespecting those ends. Now, as there was need of his power to execute\nhis decree of creation, there is also need of his power to execute his\ndecree about the manner of government.[856] All government is an act of\nthe understanding, will, and power. Prudence to design belongs to the\nunderstanding; the election of the means belongs to the will; and the\naccomplishment of the whole is an act of power. It is a hard matter\nto determine which is most necessary: wisdom stands in as much need\nof power to perfect, as power doth of wisdom, to model and draw out\na scheme; though wisdom directs, power must effect. Wisdom and power\nare distinct things among men: a poor man in a cottage may have more\nprudence to advise, than a privy counsellor; and a prince more power\nto act, than wisdom to conduct. A pilot may direct though he be lame,\nand cannot climb the masts, and spread the sails: but God is wanting in\nnothing; neither in wisdom to design, nor in will to determine, nor in\npower to accomplish. His wisdom is not feeble, nor his power foolish:\na feeble wisdom could not act what it would, and a foolish power would\nact more than it should. The power expressed in his government is\nshadowed forth in the living creatures, which are God\u2019s instruments in\nit. It is said, \u201cEvery one of them had four faces\u201d (Ezek. i. 10); that\nof a man to signify wisdom; of a lion, eagle, the strongest among birds,\nto signify their courage and strength to perform their offices. This\npower is evident in the _natural_, _moral_, _gracious_ government.\nThere is a natural providence, which consists in the preservation of\nall things, propagation of them by corruptions and generations, and in\na co\u2011operation with them in their motions to attain their ends. Moral\ngovernment is of the hearts and actions of men. Gracious government, as\nrespecting the Church.\n\n_First_, His power is evident in _natural_ government.\n\n1. In preservation. God is the great Father of the world, to nourish\nit as well as create it.[857] Man and beast would perish if there were\nnot herbs for their food; and herbs would wither and perish, if the\nearth were not watered with fruitful showers. This some of the heathens\nacknowledged, in their worshipping God under the image of an ox, a\nuseful creature, by reason of its strength, to which we owe so much of\nour food in corn. Hence, God is styled the \u201cPreserver of man and beast\u201d\n(Ps. xxxvi. 6). Hence, the Jews called God,[858] _Place_; because he is\nthe subsistence of all things. By {b45} the same word whereby he gave\nbeing to things, he gives to them continuance and duration in being\nso much a term of time. As they were \u201ccreated by his word,\u201d they are\nsupported by his word (Heb. i. 3). The same powerful fiat, \u201cLet the\nearth bring forth grass\u201d (Gen. i. 11), when the plants peeped upon man\nout of nothing, is expressed every spring, when they begin to lift up\ntheir heads from their naked roots and winter graves. The resurrection\nof light every morning, the reviving the pleasure of all things to the\neye; the watering the valleys from the mountain springs; the curbing\nthe natural appetite of the waters from covering the earth; every\ndraught that the beasts drink, every lodging the fowls have, every\nbit of food for the sustenance of man and beast, is ascribed to the\n\u201copening of his hand,\u201d the diffusing of his power (Ps. civ. 27, &c.),\nas much as the first creation of things, and endowing them with their\nparticular nature: whence the plants, which are so serviceable, are\ncalled \u201cthe trees of the Lord\u201d (ver. 16), of Jehovah, that hath only\nbeing and power in himself. The whole Psalm is but the description of\nhis preserving, as the first of Genesis is of his creating power. It is\nby this power angels have so many thousand years remained in the power\nof understanding and willing. By this power things distant in their\nnatures have been joined together; a spiritual soul and a dusty body\nknit in a marriage knot. By this power the heavenly bodies have for\nso many ages rolled in their spheres, and the tumultuous elements have\npersisted in their order: by this hath the matter of the world been to\nthis day continued, and as capable of entertaining forms as it was at\nthe first creation. What an amazing sight would it be to see a man hold\na pillar of the Exchange upon one of his fingers? What is this to the\npower of God, \u201cwho holds the waters in the hollow of his hand, metes\nout the heaven with a span, and weighs the mountains in scales, and the\nhills in a balance\u201d (Isa. xl. 12)? The preserving the earth from the\nviolence of the sea is a plain instance of this power.[859] How is that\nraging element kept pent within those lists where he first lodged it;\ncontinues its course in its channel without overflowing the earth, and\ndashing in pieces the lower part of the creation? The natural situation\nof the water is to be above the earth, because it is lighter; and to\nbe immediately under the air, because it is heavier than that thinner\nelement. Who restrains this natural quality of it, but that God that\nfirst formed it? The word of command at first, \u201cHitherto shalt thou go,\nand no further,\u201d keeps those waters linked together in their den, that\nthey may not ravage the earth, but be useful to the inhabitants of it.\nAnd when once it finds a gap to enter, what power of earth can hinder\nits passage? How fruitless sometimes is all the art of man to send it\nto its proper channel, when once it hath spread its mighty waves over\nsome countries, and trampled part of the inhabited earth under its\nfeet? It hath triumphed in its victory, and withstood all the power of\nman to conquer its force. It is only the power of God that doth bridle\nit from spreading itself over the whole earth. And that his power might\nbe more manifest, he hath set but a weak and small bank against it.\nThough he hath bounded it in some places by {b46} mighty rocks, which\nlift up their heads above it, yet in most places by feeble sand. How\noften is it seen in every stormy motion, when the waves boil high and\nroll furiously, as if they would swallow up all the neighboring houses\nupon the shore; when they come to touch those sandy limits, they bow\ntheir heads, fall flat, and sink into the lap whence they were raised,\nand seem to foam with anger that they can march no further, but must\nsplit themselves at so weak an obstacle! Can the sand be thought to\nbe the cause of this? The weakness of it gives no footing to such a\nthought. Who can apprehend, that an enraged army should retire upon\nthe opposition of a straw in an infant\u2019s hand? Is it the nature of the\nwater? Its retirement is against the natural quality of it; pour but a\nlittle upon the ground, and you always see it spread itself. No cause\ncan be rendered in nature; it is a standing monument of the power of\nGod in the preservation of the world, and ought to be more taken notice\nof by us in this island, surrounded with it, than by some other\ncountries in the world.\n\n(1.) We find nothing hath power to preserve itself. Doth not every\ncreature upon earth require the assistance of some other for its\nmaintenance? \u201cCan the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow up\nwithout water\u201d (Job viii. 11)? Can man or beast maintain itself without\ngrain from the bowels of the earth? Would not every man tumble into\nthe grave, without the aid of other creatures to nourish him? Whence\ndo these creatures receive that virtue of supplying him nourishment,\nbut from the sun and earth? and whence do they derive that virtue, but\nfrom the Creator of all things? And should he but slack his hand, how\nsoon would they and all their qualities perish, and the links of the\nworld fall in pieces, and dash one another into their first chaos and\nconfusion! All creatures indeed have an appetite to preserve themselves;\nthey have some knowledge of the outward means for their preservation;\nso have irrational animals a natural instinct, as well as men have\nsome skill to avoid things that are hurtful, and apply things that are\nhelpful. But what thing in the world can preserve itself by an inward\ninflux into its own being? All things want such a power without God\u2019s\n_fiat_, \u201cLet it be so:\u201d nothing but is destitute of such a power for\nits own preservation, as much as it is of a power for its own creation.\nWere there any true power for such a work, what need of so many\nexternal helps from things of an inferior nature to that which is\npreserved by them? No created thing hath a power to preserve any\ndecayed being. Who can lay claim to such a virtue, as to recall a\nwithering flower to its former beauty, to raise the head of a drooping\nplant, or put life into a gasping worm when it is expiring; or put\nimpaired vitals into their former posture? Not a man upon earth, nor an\nangel in heaven, can pretend to such a virtue; they may be spectators,\nbut not assisters, and are, in this case, physicians of no value.\n\n(2.) It is, therefore, the same Power preserves things which at first\ncreated them. The creature doth as much depend upon God, in the first\ninstant of its being, for its preservation, as it did, when it was\nnothing, for its production and creation into being: as the continuance\nof a thought of our mind depends upon the power of our mind, {b47}\nas well as the first framing of that thought.[860] There is a little\ndifference between creating and preserving power, as there is between\nthe power of mine eye to begin an act of vision and continue that act\nof vision, as to cast my eye upon an object and continue it upon that\nobject: as the first act is caused by the eye, so the duration of\nthe act is preserved by the eye; shut the eye, and the act of vision\nperishes; divert the eye from that object, and that act of vision is\nexchanged for another. And, therefore, the preservation of things is\ncommonly called a continual creation: and certainly it is no less,\nif we understand it of a preservation by an inward influence into the\nbeing of things. It is one and the same action invariably continued,\nand obtaining its force every moment; the same action whereby he\ncreated them of nothing, and which every moment hath a virtue to\nproduce a thing out of nothing, if it were not yet extant in the world:\nit remains the same without any diminution throughout the whole time\nwherein anything doth remain in the world.[861] For all things would\nreturn to nothing, if God did not keep them up in the elevation and\nstate to which he at first raised them by his creative power (Acts\nxvii. 28): \u201cIn him we live, and move, and have our being.\u201d By him, or\nby the same Power whence we derived our being, are our lives maintained:\nas it was his Almighty Power whereby we were, after we had been nothing,\nso it is the same power whereby we now are, after he hath made us\nsomething. Certainly all things have no less a dependence on God\nthan light upon the sun, which vanisheth and hides its head upon the\nwithdrawing of the sun. And should God suspend that powerful Word,\nwhereby he erected the frame of the world, it would sink down to what\nit was, before he commanded it to stand up. There needs no new act of\npower to reduce things to nothing, but the cessation of that Omnipotent\ninflux. When the appointed time set them for their being comes to a\nperiod, they faint and bend down their heads to their dissolution; they\nreturn to their elements, and perish (Ps. civ. 29): \u201cThou hidest thy\nface, and they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die,\nand return to their dust.\u201d That which was nothing cannot remain on\nthis side nothing, but by the same Power that first called it out of\nnothing. As when God withdrew his concurring power from the fire, its\nquality ceased to act upon the three children: so if he withdraws his\nsustaining power from the creature, its nature will cease to be.\n\n2. It appears in propagation. That powerful word (Gen. i. 22, 23),\n\u201cIncrease and multiply,\u201d pronounced at the first creation, hath spread\nitself over every part of the world; every animal in the world, in\nthe formation of every one of them. From two of a kind, how great a\nnumber of individuals and single creatures have been multiplied, to\ncover the face of the earth in their continued successions! What a\nworld of plants spring up from the womb of a dry earth, moistened by\nthe influence of a cloud, and hatched by the beams of the sun! How\nadmirable an instance of his propagating power is it, that from a\nlittle seed a massy root should strike into the bowels of the earth, a\ntall body and thick branches, with leaves {b48} and flowers of various\ncolors, should break through the surface of the earth, and mount up\ntowards heaven, when in the seed you neither smell the scent, nor see\nany firmness of a tree, nor behold any of those colors which you view\nin the flowers that the ears produce! A power not to be imitated by any\ncreature. How astonishing is it, that a small seed, whereof many will\nnot amount to the weight of a grain, should spread itself into leaves,\nbark, fruit of a vast weight, and multiply itself into millions of\nseeds! What power is that, that from one man and woman hath multiplied\nfamilies, and from families, stocked the world with people! Consider\nthe living creatures, as formed in the womb of their several kinds;\nevery one is a wonder of power. The Psalmist instanceth in the\nforming and propagation of man (Ps. cxxxix. 14): \u201cI am fearfully\nand wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works.\u201d The forming of the\nparts distinctly in the womb, the bringing forth into the world every\nparticular member, is a roll of wonders, of power. That so fine a\nstructure as the body of man should be polished in \u201cthe lower parts\nof the earth,\u201d as he calls the womb (ver. 15), in so short a time,\nwith members of a various form and usefulness, each laboring in their\nseveral functions! Can any man give an exact account of the manner\n\u201chow the bones do grow in the womb\u201d (Eccles. xi. 5)? It is unknown\nto the father, and no less hid from the mother, and the wisest men\ncannot search out the depth of it. It is one of the secret works of an\nOmnipotent Power, secret in the manner, though open in the effect. So\nthat we must ascribe it to God, as Job doth, \u201cThine hands have made\nme and fashioned me together round about\u201d (Job x. 8). Thy hands which\nformed heaven, have formed every part, every member, and wrought me\nlike a mighty workman. The heavens are said to be the \u201cwork of God\u2019s\nhands,\u201d and man is here said to be no less. The forming and propagation\nof man from that earthy matter, is no less a wonder of power than the\nstructure of the world from a rude and indisposed matter. A heathen\nphilosopher descants elegantly upon it: \u201cDost thou understand (my son)\nthe forming of man in the womb; who erected that noble fabric? who\ncarved the eyes, the crystal windows of light, and the conductors of\nthe body; who bored the nostrils and ears, those loopholes of scents\nand sounds; who stretched out and knit the sinews and ligaments for\nthe fastening of every member; who cast the hollow veins, the channels\nof blood; set and strengthened the bones, the pillars and rafters of\nthe body; who digged the pores, the sinks to expel the filth; who made\nthe heart, the repository of the soul, and formed the lungs like a\npipe? What mother, what father, wrought these things? No, none but the\nAlmighty God, who made all things according to his pleasure; it is He\nwho propagates this noble piece from a pile of dust. Who is born by his\nown advice; who gives stature, features, sense, wit, strength, speech,\nbut God?\u201d[862] It is no less a wonder, that a little infant can live so\nlong in a dark sink, in the midst of filth, without breathing; and the\neduction of it out of the womb is no less a wonder than the forming,\nincrease, nourishment of it in that cell. A wonder, that the life of\nthe infant {b49} is not the death of the mother, or the life of the\nmother the death of the infant. This little creature when it springs\nup from such small beginnings by the power of God, grows up to be\none of the lords of the world, to have a dominion over the creatures,\nand propagates its kind in the same manner: all this is unaccountable\nwithout having recourse to the power of God in the government of the\ncreatures. And to add to this wonder, consider also what multitudes\nof formations and births there are at one time all over the world,\nin every of which the finger of God is at work; and it will speak an\nunwearied power. It is admirable in one man, more in a town of men,\nstill more in a greater and larger kingdom, a vaster world; there is a\nbirth for every hour in this city, were but 168 born in a week, though\nthe weekly bills mention more: what is this city to three kingdoms?\nwhat three kingdoms to a populous world? Eleven thousand and eighty\nwill make one for every minute in the week; what is this to the weekly\npropagation in all the nations of the universe, besides the generation\nof all the living creatures in that space, which are the works of God\u2019s\nfingers as well as man? What will be the result of this, but the notion\nof an unconceivable, unwearied Almightiness, always active, always\noperating?\n\n3. It appears in the motions of all creatures. \u201cAll things live and\nmove in him\u201d (Acts xvii. 28); by the same power that creatures have\ntheir beings, they have their motions: they have not only a being\nby his powerful command, but they have their minutely motion by his\npowerful concurrence. Nothing can act without the almighty influx of\nGod, no more than it can exist without the creative word of God. It is\ntrue indeed, the ordering of all motions to his holy ends, is an act\nof wisdom; but the motion itself, whereby those ends are attained, is\na work of his power.\n\n(1.) God, as the first cause, hath an influence into the motions of\nall second causes. As all the wheels in a clock are moved in their\ndifferent motions by the force and strength of the principal and\nprimary wheel; if there be any defect in that, or if that stand still,\nall the rest languish and stand idle the same moment. All creatures\nare his instruments, his engines, and have no spirit, but what he\ngives, and what he assists. Whatsoever nature works, God works in\nnature; nature is the instrument, God is the supporter, director,\nmover of nature; that which the prophet saith in another case, may be\nthe language of universal nature: \u201cLord, thou hast wrought all our work\nin us\u201d (Isa. xxvi. 12). They are works subjectively, efficiently, as\nsecond causes; God\u2019s works originally, concurrently. The sun moved not\nin the valley of Ajalon for the space of many hours, in the time of\nJoshua (Josh. x. 13); nor did the fire exercise its consuming quality\nupon the three children, in Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s furnace (Dan. iii. 25): he\nwithdrew not his supporting power from their being, for then they had\nvanished, but his influencing power from their qualities, whereby their\nmotion ceased, till he returned his influential concurrence to them;\nwhich evidenceth, that without a perpetual derivation of Divine power,\nthe sun could not run one stride or inch of its race, nor the fire\ndevour one grain of light chaff, or an inch of straw. Nothing without\nhis sustaining power can continue {b50} in being; nothing without\nhis co\u2011working power can exercise one mite of those qualities it\nis possessed of. All creatures are wound up by him, and his hand is\nconstantly upon them, to keep them in perpetual motion.\n\n(2.) Consider the variety of motions in a single creature. How many\nmotions are there in the vital parts of a man, or in any other animal,\nwhich a man knows not, and is unable to number! The renewed motion of\nthe lungs, the systoles and diastoles of the heart; the contractions\nand dilations of the heart, whereby it spouts out and takes in blood;\nthe power of concoction in the stomach; the motion of the blood in the\nveins, &c., all which were not only settled by the powerful hand of God,\nbut are upheld by the same, preserved and influenced in every distinct\nmotion by that power that stamped them with that nature. To every one\nof those there is not only the sustaining power of God holding up their\nnatures, but the motive power of God concurring to every motion; for\nif we move in him as well as we live in him, then every particle of our\nmotion is exercised by his concurring power, as well as every moment of\nour life supported by his preserving power. What an infinite variety of\nmotions is there in the whole world in universal nature, to all which\nGod concurs, all which he conducts, even the motions of the meanest\nas well as the greatest creatures, which demonstrate the indefatigable\npower of the governor! It is an Infinite Power which doth act in so\nmany varieties, whereby the soul forms every thought, the tongue speaks\nevery word, the body exerts every action. What an Infinite Power is\nthat which presides over the birth of all things, concurs with the\nmotion of the sap in the tree, rivers on the earth, clouds in the air,\nevery drop of rain, fleece of snow, crack of thunder! Not the least\nmotion in the world, but is under an actual influence of this Almighty\nMover. And lest any should scruple the concurrence of God to so many\nvarieties of the creature\u2019s motion, as a thing utterly inconceivable,\nlet them consider the sun, a natural image and shadow of the\nperfections of God; doth not the power of that finite creature extend\nitself to various objects at the same moment of time? How many insects\ndoth it animate, as flies, &c., at the same moment throughout the\nworld! How many several plants doth it erect at its appearance in the\nspring, whose roots lay mourning in the earth all the foregoing winter!\nWhat multitudes of spires of grass, and nobler flowers, doth it midwife\nin the same hour! It warms the air, melts the blood, cherishes living\ncreatures of various kinds, in distinct places, without tiring: and\nshall the God of this sun be less than his creature?\n\n(3.) And since I speak of the sun, consider the power of God in the\nmotion of it. The vastness of the sun is computed to be, at the least,\n166 times bigger than the earth, and its distance from the earth, some\ntell us, to be about 4,000,000 of miles;[863] whence it follows, that\nit is whirled about the world with that swiftness, that in the space\nof an hour it runs 1,000,000 of miles, which is as much as if it should\nmove round about the surface of the earth fifty times in one hour;\nwhich vastness exceeds the swiftness of a bullet shot out {b51} of a\ncannon, which is computed to fly not above three miles in a minute:[864]\nso that the sun runs further in one hour\u2019s space, than a bullet can in\n5,000, if it were kept in motion; so that if it were near the earth,\nthe swiftness of its motion would shatter the whole frame of the world,\nand dash it in pieces; so that the Psalmist may well say, \u201cIt runs a\nrace like a strong man\u201d (Ps. xix. 5). What an incomprehensible Power\nis that which hath communicated such a strength and swiftness to the\nsun, and doth daily influence its motion; especially since after all\nthose years of its motion, wherein one would think it should have spent\nitself, we behold it every day as vigorous as Adam did in Paradise,\nwithout limping, without shattering itself, or losing any thing of\nits natural spirits in its unwearied motion. How great must that power\nbe, which hath kept this great body so entire, and thus swiftly moves\nit every day! Is it not now an argument of omnipotency, to keep all\nthe strings of nature in tune; to wind them up to a due pitch for the\nharmony he intended by them; to keep things that are contrary from that\nconfusion they would naturally fall into; to prevent those jarrings\nwhich would naturally result from their various and snarling qualities;\nto preserve every being in its true nature; to propagate every kind\nof creature; order all the operations, even the meanest of them,\nwhen there are such innumerable varieties? But let us consider, that\nthis power of preserving things in their station and motion, and the\nrenewing of them, is more stupendous than that which we commonly call\nmiraculous. We call those miracles, which are wrought out of the track\nof nature, and contrary to the usual stream and current of it; which\nmen wonder at, because they seldom see them, and hear of them as things\nrarely brought forth in the world; when the truth is, there is more of\npower expressed in the ordinary station and motion of natural causes\nthan in those extraordinary exertings of power. Is not more power\nsignalized in that whirling motion of the sun every hour for so many\nages, than in the suspending of its motion one day, as it was in the\ndays of Joshua? That fire should continually ravage and consume, and\ngreedily swallow up every thing that is offered to it, seems to be\nthe effect of as admirable a power, as the stopping of its appetite\na few moments, as in the case of the three children. Is not the rising\nof some small seeds from the ground, with a multiplication of their\nnumerous posterity, an effect of as great a power, as our Saviour\u2019s\nfeeding many thousands with a few loaves, by a secret augmentation of\nthem?[865] Is not the chemical producing so pleasant and delicious a\nfruit as the grape, from a dry earth, insipid rain, and a sour vine,\nas admirable a token of Divine power, as our Saviour\u2019s turning water\ninto wine? Is not the cure of diseases by the application of a simple\ninconsiderable weed, or a slight infusion, as wonderful in itself, as\nthe cure of it by a powerful weed? What if it be naturally designed\nto heal; what is that nature, who gave that nature, who maintains that\nnature, who conducts it, co\u2011operates with it? Doth it work of itself,\nand by its own strength? why not then equally in all, in one as well as\nanother? {b52} Miracles, indeed, affect more, because they testify the\nimmediate operation of God, without the concurrence of second causes;\nnot that there is more of the power of God shining in them than in the\nother.\n\n_Secondly_, This power is evident in _moral_ government.\n\n1. In the restraint of the malicious nature of the devil. Since\nSatan hath the power of an angel, and the malice of a devil, what\nsafety would there be for our persons from destruction, what security\nfor our goods from rifling, by this invisible, potent, and envious\nspirit, if his power were not restrained, and his malice curbed, by\nOne more mighty than himself? How much doth he envy God the glory of\nhis creation; and man, the use and benefit of it! How desirous would\nhe be, in regard of his passion, how able in regard of his strength and\nsubtlety, to overthrow or infect all worship, but what was directed to\nhimself; to manage all things according to his lusts, turn all things\ntopsy\u2011turvy, plague the world, burn cities, houses, plunder us of\nthe supports of nature, waste kingdoms, &c.; if he were not held in a\nchain, as a ravenous lion, or a furious wild horse, by the Creator and\nGovernor of the world! What remedy could be used by man against the\nactivity of this unseen and swift spirit? The world could not subsist\nunder his malice; he would practise the same things upon all as he did\nupon Job, when he had got leave from his Governor; turn the swords of\nmen into one another\u2019s bowels; send fire from heaven upon the fruits\nof the earth and the cattle intended for the use of man; raise winds,\nto shake and tear our houses upon our heads; daub our bodies with\nscalbs and boils, and let all the humors in our blood loose upon us.\nHe that envied Adam a paradise, doth envy us the pleasure of enjoying\nits out\u2011works. If we were not destroyed by him, we should live in a\ncontinued vexation by spectrums and apparitions, affrighting sounds and\nnoise, as some think the Egyptians did in that three days\u2019 darkness: he\nwould be alway winnowing us, as he desired to winnow Peter (Luke xxii.\n31). But God over\u2011masters his strength, that he cannot move a hair\u2019s\nbreadth beyond his tedder; not only is he unable to touch an upright\nJob, but to lay his fingers upon one of the unbelieving Gadarenes\nforbidden and filthy swine without special license (Matt. viii. 31).\nWhen he is cast out of one place, he walks \u201cthrough dry places seeking\nrest\u201d (Luke xi. 24), new objects for his malicious designs,\u2015\u2015but\nfinding none, till God lets loose the reins upon him for a new\nemployment. Though Satan\u2019s power be great, yet God suffers him not to\ntempt as much as his diabolical appetite would, but as much as Divine\nwisdom thinks fit; and the Divine power tempers the other\u2019s active\nmalice, and gives the creature victory, where the enemy intended\nspoil and captivity. How much stronger is God, than all the legions of\nhell; as he that holds a \u201cstrong man\u201d (Luke xi. 22) from effecting his\npurpose, testifies more ability than his adversary! How doth he lock\nhim up for a \u201cthousand years\u201d (Rev. xx. 3) in a pound, which he cannot\nleap over! and this restraint is wrought partly by blinding the devil\nin his designs, partly by denying him concourse to his motion; as he\nhindered the active quality of the fire upon the three children, by\nwithdrawing {b53} his power, which was necessary to the motion of it;\nand his power is as necessary for the motion of the devil, as for that\nof any other creature: sometimes he makes him to confess him against\nhis own interest, as Apollo\u2019s oracle confessed.[866] And though\nwhen the devil was cast out of the possessed person, he publicly\nowned Christ to be the \u201cHoly one of God\u201d (Mark i. 24), to render him\nsuspected by the people of having commerce with the unclean spirits;\nyet this he could not do without the leave and permission of God, that\nthe power of Christ, in stopping his mouth and imposing silence upon\nhim, might be evidenced; and that it reaches to the gates of hell,\nas well as to the quieting of winds and waves. This is a part of\nthe strength, as well as the wisdom of God, that \u201cthe deceived and\nthe deceiver are his\u201d (Job xii. 16): wisdom to defeat, and power to\noverrule his most malicious designs, to his own glory.\n\n2. In the restraint of the natural corruption of men. Since the\n_impetus_ of original corruption runs in the blood, conveyed down from\nAdam to the veins of all his posterity, and universally diffused in all\nmankind; what wreck and havoc would it make in the world, if it were\nnot suppressed by this Divine power which presides over the hearts of\nmen! Man is so wretched by nature, that nothing but what is vile and\npernicious can drop from him. Man \u201cdrinks iniquity like water,\u201d being,\nby nature, \u201cabominable and filthy\u201d (Job xv. 16). He greedily swallows\nall matter for iniquity, everything suitable to the mire and poison in\nhis nature, and would sprout it out with all fierceness and insolence.\nGod himself gives us the description of man\u2019s nature (Gen. vi. 5),\nthat he hath not one good imagination at any time; and the apostle from\nthe Psalmist dilates and comments upon it (Rom. iii. 10, &c.) \u201cThere\nis none righteous; no, not one; their mouth is full of cursing and\nbitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood,\u201d &c. This corruption is\nequal in all, natural in all; it is not more poisonous or more fierce\nin one man, than in another. The root of all men is the same; all the\nbranches therefore do equally possess the villanous nature of the root.\nNo child of Adam can, by natural descent, be better than Adam, or have\nless of baseness, and vileness, and venom, than Adam. How fruitful\nwould this loathsome lake be in all kind of streams! What unbridled\nlicentiousness and headstrong fury would triumph in the world, if the\npower of God did not interpose itself to lock down the flood\u2011gates\nof it! What rooting up of human society would there be! how would the\nworld be drenched in blood, the number of malefactors be greater than\nthat of apprehenders and punishers! How would the prints of natural\nlaws be rased out of the heart, if God should leave human nature to\nitself! Who can read the first chapter of Romans, (verses 24 to 29),\nwithout acknowledging this truth? where there is a catalogue of those\nvillanies which followed upon God\u2019s pulling up the sluices, and letting\nthe malignity of their inward corruption have its natural course! If\nGod did not hold back the fury of man, his garden would be overrun, his\nvine rooted up; the inclinations of men would hurry them to the worst\nof wickedness. How great is that Power that curbs, bridles, or changes\n{b54} as many headstrong horses at once, and every minute, as there are\nsons of Adam upon the earth? The \u201cfloods lift up their waves; the Lord\non high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty\nwaves of the sea\u201d (Ps. xciii. 3, 4); that doth hush and pen in the\nturbulent passions of men.\n\n3. In the ordering and framing the hearts of men to his own ends. That\nmust be an Omnipotent hand that grasps and contains the hearts of all\nmen; the heart of the meanest person, as well as of the most towering\nangel, and turns them as he pleases, and makes them sometime ignorantly,\nsometime knowingly, concur to the accomplishment of his own purposes!\nWhen the hearts of men are so numerous, their thoughts so various\nand different from one another, yet he hath a key to those millions\nof hearts, and with infinite power, guided by as infinite wisdom, he\ndraws them into what channels he pleases, for the gaining his own ends.\nThough the Jews had imbrued their hands in the blood of our Saviour,\nand their rage was yet reeking\u2011hot against his followers, God bridled\ntheir fury in the church\u2019s infancy, till it had got some strength, and\ncast a terror upon them by the wonders wrought by the apostles (Acts ii.\n43): \u201cAnd fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were\ndone by the apostles.\u201d Was there not the same reason in the nature of\nthe works our Saviour wrought, to point them to the finger of God, and\ncalm their rage? Yet did not the power of God work upon their passions\nin those miracles, nor stop the impetuousness of the corruption\nresident in their hearts. Yet now those who had the boldness to attack\nthe Son of God and nail him to the cross, are frighted at the\nappearance of twelve unarmed apostles; as the sea seems to be afraid\nwhen it approacheth the bounds of the feeble sand. How did God bend the\nhearts of the Egyptians to the Israelites, and turn them to that point,\nas to lend their most costly vessels, their precious jewels, and rich\ngarments, to supply those whom they had just before tyranically loaded\nwith their chains (Exod. iii. 21, 22)! When a great part of an army\ncame upon Jehoshaphat, to dispatch him into another world, how doth God,\nin a trice, touch their hearts, and move them, by a secret instinct,\nat once to depart from him (1 Chron. xviii. 31)! as if you should\nsee a numerous sight of birds in a moment turn wing another way, by a\nsudden and joint consent. When he gave Saul a kingdom, he gave him a\nspirit fit for government, \u201cand gave him another heart\u201d (1 Sam. x. 9);\nand brought the people to submit to his yoke, who, a little before,\nwandered about the land upon no nobler employment than the seeking\nof asses. It is no small remark of the power of God, to make a number\nof strong and discontented persons, and desirous enough of liberty,\nto bend their necks under the yoke of government, and submit to the\nauthority of one, and that of their own nature, often weaker and\nunwiser than the most of them, and many times an oppressor and invader\nof their rights. Upon this account David calls God \u201chis fortress, tower,\nshield\u201d (Ps. cxliv. 2); all terms of strength in subduing the people\nunder him. It is the mighty hand of God that links princes and people\ntogether in the bands of government. The same hand that assuageth the\nwaves of the sea, suppresseth the tumults of the people.\n\n{b55} _Thirdly_, It appears in his _gracious_ and judicial government.\n\n1. In his gracious government. In the deliverance of his church: he\nis the \u201cstrength of Israel\u201d (1 Sam. xv. 29), and hath protected his\nlittle flock in the midst of wolves; and maintained their standing,\nwhen the strongest kingdoms have sunk, and the best jointed states have\nbeen broken in pieces; when judgments have ravaged countries, and torn\nup the mighty, as a tempestuous wind hath often done the tallest trees,\nwhich seemed to threaten heaven with their tops, and dare the storm\nwith the depth of their roots, when yet the vine and rose\u2011bushes have\nstood firm, and been seen in their beauty next morning. The state of\nthe church hath outlived the most flourishing monarchies, when there\nhath been a mighty knot of adversaries against her; when the bulls\nof Bashan have pushed her, and the whole tribe of the dragon have\nsharpened their weapons, and edged their malice; when the voice was\nstrong, and the hopes high to rase her foundation even with the ground;\nwhen hell hath roared; when the wit of the world hath contrived, and\nthe strength of the world hath attempted her ruin; when decrees have\nbeen passed against her, and the powers of the world armed for the\nexecution of them; when her friends have drooped and skulked in corners;\nwhen there was no eye to pity, and no hand to assist, help hath come\nfrom heaven; her enemies have been defeated; kings have brought gifts\nto her, and reared her; tears have been wiped off her cheeks, and her\nvery enemies, by an unseen power, have been forced to court her whom\nbefore they would have devoured quick. The devil and his armies have\nsneaked into their den, and the church hath triumphed when she hath\nbeen upon the brink of the grave. Thus did God send a mighty angel\nto be the executioner of Sennacherib\u2019s army, and the protector of\nJerusalem, who run his sword into the hearts of eighty thousand\n(2 Kings xix. 35), when they were ready to swallow up his beloved\ncity. When the knife was at the throats of the Jews, in Shushan (Esther\nviii.), by a powerful hand it was turned into the hearts of their\nenemies. With what an out\u2011stretched arm were the Israelites freed from\nthe Egyptian yoke (Deut. iv. 34)! When Pharaoh had mustered a great\narmy to pursue them, assisted with six hundred chariots of war, the Red\nSea obstructed their passage before, and an enraged enemy trod on their\nrear; when the fearful Israelites despaired of deliverance, and the\ninsolent Egyptian assured himself of his revenge, God stretches out his\nirresistible arm to defeat the enemy, and assist his people; he strikes\ndown the wolves, and preserves the flock. God restrained the Egyptian\nenmity against the Israelites till they were at the brink of the Red\nSea, and then lets them follow their humor, and pursue the fugitives,\nthat his power might more gloriously shine forth in the deliverance\nof the one, and the destruction of the other. God might have brought\nIsrael out of Egypt in the time of those kings that had remembered the\ngood service of Joseph to their country, but he leaves them till the\nreign of a cruel tyrant, suffers them to be slaves, that they might by\nhis sole power, be conquerors, which had had no appearance had there\nbeen a willing dismission of them at the first summons (Exod. ix. 16);\n\u201cIn very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to {b56} shew\nmy power, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.\u201d\nI have permitted thee to rise up against my people, and keep them in\ncaptivity, that thou mightest be an occasion for the manifestation of\nmy power in their rescue; and whilst thou art obstinate to enslave them,\nI will stretch out my arm to deliver them, and make my name famous\namong the Gentiles, in the wreck of thee and thy host in the Red Sea.\nThe deliverance of the church hath not been in one age, or in one part\nof the world, but God hath signalized his power in all kingdoms where\nshe hath had a footing: as he hath guided her in all places by one rule,\nanimated her by one spirit, so he hath protected her by the same arm of\npower. When the Roman emperors bandied all their force against her, for\nabout three hundred years, they were further from effecting her ruin at\nthe end than when they first attempted it; the church grew under their\nsword, and was hatched under the wings of the Roman eagle, which were\nspread to destroy her. The ark was elevated by the deluge, and the\nwaters the devil poured out to drown her did but slime the earth for\na new increase of her. She hath sometimes been beaten down, and, like\nLazarus, hath seemed to be in the grave for some days, that the power\nof God might be more visible in her sudden resurrection, and lifting up\nher head above the throne of her persecutors.\n\n2. In his judicial proceedings. The deluge was no small testimony\nof his power, in opening the cisterns of heaven, and pulling up the\nsluices of the sea. He doth but call for the waters of the sea, and\nthey \u201cpour themselves upon the face of the earth\u201d (Amos ix. 6.) In\nforty days\u2019 time the waters overtopped the highest mountains fifteen\ncubits (Gen. vii. 17\u201220); and by the same power he afterwards reduced\nthe sea to its proper channel, as a roaring lion into his den. A shower\nof fire from heaven, upon Sodom, and the cities of the plain, was a\nsignal display of his power, either in creating it on the sudden, for\nthe execution of his righteous sentence, or sending down the element of\nfire, contrary to its nature, which affects ascent, for the punishment\nof rebels against the light of nature. How often hath he ruined the\nmost flourishing monarchies, led princes away spoiled, and overthrown\nthe mighty, which Job makes an argument of his strength (Job xii. 13,\n14). Troops of unknown people, the Goths and Vandals, broke the Romans,\na warlike people, and hurled down all before them. They could not have\nhad the thought to succeed in such an attempt, unless God had given\nthem strength and motion for the executing his judicial vengeance upon\nthe people of his wrath. How did he evidence his power, by daubing the\nthrone of Pharaoh, and his chamber of presence, as well as the houses\nof his subjects, with the slime of frogs (Exod. viii. 3); turning their\nwaters into blood, and their dust into biting lice (Exod. vii. 20);\nraising his militia of locusts against them; causing a three days\u2019\ndarkness without stopping the motion of the sun; taking off their\nfirst\u2011born, the excellency of their strength, in a night, by the stroke\nof the angel\u2019s sword! He takes off the chariot wheels of Pharaoh, and\npresents him with a destruction where he expected a victory; brings\nthose waves over the heads of him and his host, which stood {b57}\nfirm as marble walls for the safety of his people; the sea is made to\nswallow them up, that durst not, by the order of their Governor, touch\nthe Israelites: it only sprinkled the one as a type of baptism, and\ndrowned the other as an image of hell. Thus he made it both a deliverer\nand a revenger, the instrument of an offensive and defensive war (Isa.\nxl. 23, 24); \u201cHe brings princes to nothing, and makes the judges of the\nearth as vanity.\u201d Great monarchs have, by his power, been hurled from\ntheir thrones and their sceptres, like Venice\u2011glasses, broken before\ntheir faces, and they been advanced that have had the least hopes\nof grandeur. He hath plucked up cedars by the roots, lopped off the\nbranches, and set a shrub to grow up in the place; dissolved rocks,\nand established bubbles (Luke i. 52): \u201cHe hath showed strength with his\narm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts;\nhe hath put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted them of low\ndegree.\u201d\u2015\u2015And these things he doth magnify his power in:\u2015\u2015\n\n(1.) By ordering the nature of creatures as he pleases. By restraining\ntheir force, or guiding their motions. The restraint of the destructive\nqualities of the creatures argues as great a power as the change of\ntheir natures, yea, and a greater. The qualities of creatures may be\nchanged by art and composition, as in the preparing of medicines; but\nwhat but a Divine Power could restrain the operation of the fire from\nthe three children, while it retained its heat and burning quality in\nNebuchadnezzar\u2019s furnace? The operation was curbed while its nature was\npreserved. All creatures are called his host, because he marshals and\nranks them as an army to serve his purposes. The whole scheme of nature\nis ready to favor men when God orders it, and ready to punish men when\nGod commissions it. He gave the Red Sea but a check, and it obeyed his\nvoice (Ps. cvi. 9): \u201cHe rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up;\u201d\nthe motion of it ceased, and the waters of it were ranged as defensive\nwalls, to secure the march of his people: and at the motion of the hand\nof Moses, the servant of the Lord, the sea recovered its violence, and\nthe walls that were framed came tumbling down upon the Egyptian\u2019s heads\n(Exod. xiv. 27). The Creator of nature is not led by the necessity of\nnature: he that settled the order of nature, can change or restrain the\norder of nature according to his sovereign pleasure. The most necessary\nand useful creatures he can use as instruments of his vengeance: water\nis necessary to cleanse, and by that he can deface a world; fire is\nnecessary to warm, and by that he can burn a Sodom: from the water\nhe formed the fowl (Gen. i. 21), and by that he dissolves them in the\ndeluge; fire or heat is necessary to the generation of creatures, and\nby that he ruins the cities of the plain. He orders all as he pleases,\nto perform every tittle and punctilio of his purpose. The sea observed\nhim so exactly, that it drowned not one Israelite, nor saved one\nEgyptian (Ps. cvi. 11). There was not one of them left. And to perfect\nthe Israelites\u2019 deliverance, he followed them with testimonies of his\npower above the strength of nature. When they wanted drink, he orders\nMoses to strike a rock, and the rock spouts a river, and a channel is\nformed for it to attend them in their journey. When they wanted bread,\nhe {b58} dressed manna for them in the heavens, and sent it to their\ntables in the desert. When he would declare his strength, he calls\nto the heavens to pour down righteousness, and to the earth to bring\nforth salvation (Isa. xlv. 8). Though God had created righteousness or\ndeliverance for the Jews in Babylon, yet he calls to the heavens and\nthe earth to be assistant to the design of Cyrus, whom he had raised\nfor that purpose, as he speaks in the beginning of the chapter (verses\n1\u20124). As God created man for a supernatural end, and all creatures\nfor man as their immediate end, so he makes them, according to\nopportunities, subservient to that supernatural end of man, for which\nhe created him. He that spans the heavens with his fist, can shoot all\ncreatures like an arrow, to hit what mark he pleases. He that spread\nthe heavens and the earth by a word, and can by a word fold them\nup more easily than a man can a garment (Heb. i. 12), can order the\nstreams of nature; cannot he work without nature as well as with it,\nbeyond nature, contrary to nature, that can, as it were, fillip nature\nwith his finger into that nothing whence he drew it; who can cast down\nthe sun from his throne, clap the distinguished parts of the world\ntogether, and make them march in the same order to their confusion, as\nthey did in their creation: who can jumble the whole frame together,\nand, by a word, dissolve the pillars of the world, and make the fabric\nlie in a ruinous heap?\n\n(2.) In effecting his purposes by small means: in making use of the\nmeanest creatures. As the power of God is seen in the creation of the\nsmallest creatures, and assembling so many perfections in the little\nbody of an insect, as an ant, or spider, so his power is not less\nmagnified in the use he makes of them. As he magnifies his wisdom,\nby using ignorant instruments, so he exalts his power, by employing\nweak instruments in his service: the meanness and imperfection of the\nmatter sets off the excellency of the workman; so the weakness of the\ninstrument is no foil to the power of the principal Agent. When God\nhath effected things by means in the Scripture, he hath usually brought\nabout his purposes by weak instruments. Moses, a fugitive from Egypt,\nand Aaron a captive in it, are the instruments of the Israelites\u2019\ndeliverance. By the motion of Moses\u2019 rod, he works wonders in the\ncourt of Pharaoh, and summons up his judgments against him. He brought\ndown Pharaoh\u2019s stomach for a while, by a squadron of lice and locusts,\nwherein Divine power was more seen, than if Moses had brought him to\nhis own articles by a multitude of warlike troops. The fall of the\nwalls of Jericho by the sound of rams\u2019 horns, was a more glorious\ncharacter of God\u2019s power, than if Joshua had battered it down with a\nhundred of warlike engines (Josh vi. 20). Thus the great army of the\nMidianites, which lay as grasshoppers upon the ground, were routed by\nGideon in the head of three hundred men; and Goliath, a giant, laid\nlevel with the ground by David, a stripling, by the force of a sling:\na thousand Philistines dispatched out of the world by the jaw\u2011bone of\nan ass in the hand of Samson. He can master a stout nation by an army\nof locusts, and render the teeth of those little insects as destructive\nas the teeth, yea, the strongest teeth, the cheek\u2011teeth, of a great\nlion (Joel i. 6, 7). The thunderbolt, which produces sometimes {b59}\ndreadful effects, is compacted of little atoms which fly in the air,\nsmall vapors drawn up by the sun, and mixed with other sulphurous\nmatter and petrifying juice. Nothing is so weak, but his strength can\nmake victorious; nothing so small, but by his power he can accomplish\nhis great ends by it; nothing so vile, but his might can conduct to his\nglory; and no nation so mighty, but he can waste and enfeeble by the\nmeanest creatures. God is great in power in the greatest things, and\nnot little in the smallest; his power in the minutest creatures which\nhe uses for his service, surmounts the force of our understanding.\n\nTHIRDLY. The power of God appears in REDEMPTION. As our Saviour\nis called the Wisdom of God, so he is called the Power of God (1 Cor.\ni. 24). The arm of Power was lifted up as high as the designs of Wisdom\nwere laid deep: as this way of redemption could not be contrived but by\nan Infinite Wisdom, so it could not be accomplished but by an Infinite\nPower. None but God could shape such a design, and none but God could\neffect it. The Divine Power in temporal deliverances, and freedom\nfrom the slavery of human oppressors, vails to that which glitters in\nredemption; whereby the devil is defeated in his designs, stripped of\nhis spoils, and yoked in his strength. The power of God in creation\nrequires not those degrees of admiration, as in redemption. In creation,\nthe world was erected from nothing; as there was nothing to act, so\nthere was nothing to oppose; no victorious devil was in that to be\nsubdued; no thundering law to be silenced; no death to be conquered;\nno transgression to be pardoned and rooted out; no hell to be shut; no\nignominious death upon the cross to be suffered. It had been, in the\nnature of the thing, an easier thing to Divine Power to have created\na new world than repaired a broken, and purified a polluted one. This\nis the most admirable work that ever God brought forth in the world,\ngreater than all the marks of his power in the first creation.\n\nAnd this will appear, I. In the Person redeeming. II. In the\npublication and propagation of the doctrine of redemption. III. In the\napplication of redemption.\n\nI. In the Person redeeming. _First_, In his conception.\n\n1. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin\n(Luke i. 35): \u201cThe Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of\nthe Highest shall overshadow thee:\u201d which act is expressed to be the\neffect of the infinite power of God; and it expresses the supernatural\nmanner of the forming the humanity of our Saviour, and signifies\nnot the Divine nature of Christ infusing itself into the womb of the\nvirgin; for the angel refers it to the manner of the operation of the\nHoly Ghost in the producing the human nature of Christ, and not to the\nnature assuming that humanity into union with itself. The Holy Ghost,\nor the Third Person in the Trinity, overshadowed the virgin, and by\na creative act framed the humanity of Christ, and united it to the\nDivinity. It is, therefore, expressed by a word of the same import with\nthat used in Gen. i. 2, \u201cThe Spirit moved upon the face of the waters,\u201d\nwhich signifies (as it were) a brooding upon the chaos, shadowing it\nwith his wings, as hens sit upon their eggs, to form them and hatch\nthem {b60} into animals; or else it is an allusion to the \u201ccloud which\ncovered the tent of the congregation, when the glory of the Lord filled\nthe tabernacle\u201d (Exod. xl. 34). It was not such a creative act as we\ncall immediate, which is a production out of nothing; but a mediate\ncreation, such as God\u2019s bringing things into form out of the first\nmatter, which had nothing but an obediential or passive disposition\nto whatsoever stamp the powerful wisdom of God should imprint upon\nit. So the substance of the Virgin had no active, but only a passive\ndisposition to this work: the matter of the body was earthy, the\nsubstance of the virgin; the forming of it was heavenly, the Holy\nGhost working upon that matter. And therefore when it is said, that\n\u201cshe was found with child of the Holy Ghost\u201d (Matt. i. 18), it is to be\nunderstood of the efficacy of the Holy Ghost, not of the substance of\nthe Holy Ghost. The matter was natural, but the manner of conceiving\nwas in a supernatural way, above the methods of nature. In reference\nto the active principle the Redeemer is called in the prophecy (Isa.\niv. 2), \u201cThe branch of the Lord,\u201d in regard of the Divine hand that\nplanted him: in respect to the passive principle, the fruit of the\nearth, in regard of the womb that bare him; and therefore said to be\n\u201cmade of a woman\u201d (Gal. iv. 4). That part of the flesh of the virgin\nwhereof the human nature of Christ was made, was refined and purified\nfrom corruption by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, as a skilful\nworkman separates the dross from the gold: our Saviour is therefore\ncalled, \u201cthat holy thing\u201d (Luke i. 35), though born of the virgin: he\nwas necessarily some way to descend from Adam. God, indeed, might have\ncreated his body out of nothing, or have formed it (as he did Adam\u2019s)\nout of the dust of the ground: but had he been thus extraordinarily\nformed, and not propagated from Adam, though he had been a man like\none of us, yet he would not have been of kin to us, because it would\nnot have been a nature derived from Adam, the common parent of us all.\nIt was therefore necessary to an affinity with us, not only that he\nshould have the same human nature, but that it should flow from the\nsame principle, and be propagated to him.[867] But now, by this way of\nproducing the humanity of Christ of the substance of the virgin, he was\nin Adam (say some) corporally, but not seminally; of the substance of\nAdam, or a daughter of Adam, but not of the seed of Adam: and so he\nis of the same nature that had sinned, and so what he did and suffered\nmay be imputed to us; which, had he been created as Adam, could not be\nclaimed in a legal and judicial way.\n\n2. It was not convenient he should be born in the common order of\nnature, of father and mother: for whosoever is so born is polluted.\n\u201cA clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean\u201d (Job xiv. 4). And\nour Saviour had been incapable of being a redeemer, had he been tainted\nwith the least spot of our nature, but would have stood in need of\nredemption himself. Besides, it had been inconsistent with the holiness\nof the Divine nature, to have assumed a tainted and defiled body. He\nthat was the fountain of blessedness to all nations, was not to be\nsubject to the curse of the law for himself; which he would have been,\nhad he been conceived in an ordinary {b61} way. He that was to overturn\nthe devil\u2019s empire, was not to be any way captive under the devil\u2019s\npower, as a creature under the curse; nor could he be able to break the\nserpent\u2019s head, had he been tainted with the serpent\u2019s breath. Again,\nsupposing that Almighty God by his divine power had so ordered the\nmatter, and so perfectly sanctified an earthly father and mother from\nall original spot, that the human nature might have been transmitted\nimmaculate to him, as well as the Holy Ghost did purge that part of the\nflesh of the virgin of which the body of Christ was made, yet it was\nnot convenient that that person, that was God blessed for ever as well\nas man, partaking of our nature, should have a conception in the same\nmanner as ours, but different, and in some measure conformable to the\ninfinite dignity of his person: which could not have been, had not\na supernatural power and a Divine person been concerned as an active\nprinciple in it; besides, such a birth had not been agreeable to the\nfirst promise, which calls him \u201cthe Seed of the woman\u201d (Gen. i. 15),\nnot of the man; and so the veracity of God had suffered some detriment:\nthe Seed of the woman only is set in opposition to the seed of the\nserpent.\n\n3. By this manner of conception the holiness of his nature is secured,\nand his fitness for his office is assured to us. It is now a pure and\nunpolluted humanity that is the temple and tabernacle of the Divinity:\nthe fulness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily, and dwells in him\nholily. His humanity is supernaturalized and elevated by the activity\nof the Holy Ghost, hatching the flesh of the virgin into man, as the\nchaos into a world. Though we read of some sanctified from the womb,\nit was not a pure and perfect holiness; it was like the light of fire\nmixed with smoke, an infused holiness accompanied with a natural taint:\nbut the holiness of the Redeemer by this conception, is like the light\nof the sun, pure, and without spot. The Spirit of holiness supplying\nthe place of a father in the way of creation. His fitness for his\noffice is also assured to us; for being born of the virgin, one of our\nnature, but conceived by the Spirit of a Divine person, the guilt of\nour sins may be imputed to him because of our nature, without the stain\nof sin inherent in him; because of his supernatural conception he is\ncapable, as one of kin to us, to bear our curse without being touched\nby our taint. By this means our sinful nature is assumed without sin\nin that nature which was assumed by him: \u201cflesh he hath, but not sinful\nflesh\u201d (Rom. viii. 3). Real flesh, but not really sinful, only by way\nof imputation. Nothing but the power of God is evident in this whole\nwork: by ordinary laws and the course of nature a virgin could not bear\na son: nothing but a supernatural and almighty grace could intervene to\nmake so holy and perfect a conjunction. The generation of others, in an\nordinary way, is by male and female: but the virgin is overshadowed by\nthe Spirit and power of the Highest.[868] Man only is the product of\nnatural generation; this which is born of the virgin is the holy thing,\nthe Son of God. In other generations, a rational soul is only united\nto a material body: but in this, the Divine nature is united with the\nhuman in one person by an indissoluble union.\n\n{b62} The _Second_ act of power in the person redeeming, is the union\nof the two natures, the Divine and human. The designing indeed of this\nwas an act of wisdom; but the accomplishing it was an act of power.\n\n1. There is in this redeeming person a union of two natures. He is\nGod and man in one person (Heb. i. 8, 9). \u201cThy throne, O God, is for\never and ever: God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of\ngladness,\u201d &c. The Son is called God, having a throne for ever and ever,\nand the unction speaks him man: the Godhead cannot be anointed, nor\nhath any fellows. Humanity and Divinity are ascribed to him (Rom. i. 3,\n4). \u201cHe was of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared\nto be the Son of God, by his resurrection from the dead.\u201d The Divinity\nand humanity are both prophetically joined (Zech. xii. 10), \u201cI will\npour out my Spirit;\u201d the pouring forth the Spirit is an act only of\nDivine grace and power. \u201cAnd they shall look upon me whom they have\npierced;\u201d the same person pours forth the Spirit as God, and is pierced\nas man. \u201cThe Word was made flesh\u201d (John i. 14). Word from eternity was\nmade flesh in time; Word and flesh in one person; a great God, and a\nlittle infant.\n\n2. The terms of this union were infinitely distant. What greater\ndistance can there be than between the Deity and humanity, between\nthe Creator and a creature? Can you imagine the distance between\neternity and time, Infinite Power and miserable infirmity, an immortal\nspirit and dying flesh, the highest Being and nothing? yet these are\nespoused. A God of unmixed blessedness is linked personally with a\nman of perpetual sorrows: life incapable to die, joined to a body\nin that economy incapable to live without dying first; infinite\npurity, and a reputed sinner; eternal blessedness with a cursed nature,\nAlmightiness and weakness, omniscience and ignorance, immutability\nand changeableness, incomprehensibleness and comprehensibility; that\nwhich cannot be comprehended, and that which can be comprehended; that\nwhich is entirely independent, and that which is totally dependent;\nthe Creator forming all things, and the creature made, met together to\na personal union; \u201cThe word made flesh\u201d (John i. 14), the eternal Son,\nthe \u201cSeed of Abraham\u201d (Heb. ii. 16). What more miraculous, than for God\nto become man, and man to become God? That a person possessed of all\nthe perfections of the Godhead, should inherit all the imperfections of\nthe manhood in one person, sin only excepted: a holiness incapable of\nsinning to be made sin; God blessed forever, taking the properties of\nhuman nature, and human nature admitted to a union with the properties\nof the Creator: the fulness of the Deity, and the emptiness of man\nunited together (Col. ii. 9); not by a shining of the Deity upon\nthe humanity, as the light of the sun upon the earth, but by an\ninhabitation or indwelling of the Deity in the humanity. Was there not\nneed of an Infinite Power to bring together terms so far asunder, to\nelevate the humanity to be capable of, and disposed for, a conjunction\nwith the Deity? If a clod of earth should be advanced to, and united\nwith the body of the sun, such an advance would evidence itself to be\na work of Almighty power: the clod hath nothing in its {b63} own nature\nto render it so glorious, no power to climb up to so high a dignity:\nhow little would such a union be, to that we are speaking of! Nothing\nless than an Incomprehensible Power could effect what an\nIncomprehensible Wisdom did project in this affair.\n\n3. Especially since the union is so strait. It is not such a union\nas is between a man and his house he dwells in, whence he goes out and\nto which he returns, without any alteration of himself or his house;\nnor such a union as is between a man and his garment, which both\ncommunicate and receive warmth from one another; nor such as is between\nan artificer and his instrument wherewith he works; nor such a union\nas one friend hath with another: all these are distant things, not one\nin nature, but have distinct substances. Two friends, though united by\nlove, are distinct persons; a man and his clothes, an artificer and his\ninstruments, have distinct subsistencies; but the humanity of Christ\nhath no subsistence, but in the person of Christ. The straitness of\nthis union is expressed, and may be somewhat conceived, by the union of\nfire with iron; \u201cfire pierceth through all the parts of iron, it unites\nitself with every particle, bestows a light, heat, purity, upon all\nof it; you cannot distinguish the iron from the fire, or the fire from\nthe iron, yet they are distinct natures; so the Deity is united to the\nwhole humanity, seasons it, and bestows an excellency upon it, yet the\nnatures still remain distinct. And as during that union of fire with\niron, the iron is incapable of rust or blackness, so is the humanity\nincapable of sin: and as the operation of fire is attributed to the\nred\u2011hot iron (as the iron may be said to heat, burn, and the fire may\nbe said to cut and pierce), yet the imperfections of the iron do not\naffect the fire; so in this mystery, those things which belong to the\nDivinity are ascribed to the humanity, and those things which belong to\nthe humanity, are ascribed to the Divinity, in regard of the person in\nwhom those natures are united: yet the imperfections of the humanity\ndo not hurt the Divinity.\u201d[869] The Divinity of Christ is as really\nunited with the humanity, as the soul with the body; the person was\none, though the natures were two; so united, that the sufferings of\nthe human nature were the sufferings of that person, and the dignity\nof the Divine was imputed to the human, by reason of that unity of both\nin one person; hence the blood of the human nature is said to be the\n\u201cblood of God\u201d (Acts xx. 28). All things ascribed to the Son of God,\nmay be ascribed to this man; and the things ascribed to this man, may\nbe ascribed to the Son of God, as this man is the Son of God, eternal,\nAlmighty; and it may be said, \u201cGod suffered, was crucified,\u201d &c., for\nthe person of Christ is but one, most simple; the person suffered, that\nwas God and Man united, making one person.[870]\n\n4. And though the union be so strait, yet without confusion of the\nnatures, or change of them into one another. The two natures of Christ\nare not mixed, as liquors that incorporate with one another when they\nare poured into a vessel; the Divine nature is not turned into the\nhuman, nor the human into the Divine; one nature doth not swallow up\nanother, and make a third nature distinct from each {b64} of them.[871]\nThe Deity is not turned into the humanity, as air (which is next to\na spirit) may be thickened and turned into water, and water may be\nrarified into air by the power of heat boiling it. The Deity cannot\nbe changed, because the nature of it is to be unchangeable; it would\nnot be Deity, if it were mortal and capable of suffering. The humanity\nis not changed into the Deity, for then Christ could not have been a\nsufferer; if the humanity had been swallowed up into the Deity, it had\nlost its own distinct nature, and put on the nature of the Deity, and,\nconsequently, been incapable of suffering; finite can never, by any\nmixture, be changed into infinite, nor infinite into finite. This union,\nin this regard, may be resembled to the union of light and air, which\nare strictly joined; for the light passes through all parts of the air,\nbut they are not confounded, but remain in their distinct essences as\nbefore the union, without the least confusion with one another. The\nDivine nature remains as it was before the union, entire in itself;\nonly the Divine person assumes another nature to himself.[872] The\nhuman nature remains, as it would have done, had it existed separately\nfrom the \u039b\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, except that then it would have had a proper subsistence\nby itself, which now it borrows from its union with the \u039b\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2, or, word;\nbut that doth not belong to the constitution of its nature. Now let us\nconsider, what a wonder of power is all this: the knitting a noble soul\nto a body of clay, was not so great an exploit of Almightiness, as the\nespousing infinite and finite together. Man is further distant from God,\nthan man from nothing. What a wonder is it, that two natures infinitely\ndistant, should be more intimately united than anything in the world;\nand yet without any confusion! that the same person should have both a\nglory and a grief; an infinite joy in the Deity, and an inexpressible\nsorrow in the humanity! That a God upon a throne should be an infant in\na cradle; the thundering Creator be a weeping babe and a suffering man,\nare such expressions of mighty power, as well as condescending love,\nthat they astonish men upon earth, and angels in heaven.\n\n_Thirdly_, Power was evident in the progress of his life; in the\nmiracles he wrought. How often did he expel malicious and powerful\ndevils from their habitations; hurl them from their thrones, and make\nthem fall from heaven like lightning! How many wonders were wrought\nby his bare word, or a single touch! Sight restored to the blind,\nand hearing to the deaf; palsy members restored to the exercise of\ntheir functions; a dismiss given to many deplorable maladies; impure\nleprosies chased from the persons they had infected, and bodies\nbeginning to putrefy raised from the grave. But the mightiest argument\nof power was his patience; that He who was, in his Divine nature,\nelevated above the world, should so long continue upon a dunghill,\nendure the contradiction of sinners against himself, be patiently\nsubject to the reproaches and indignities of men, without displaying\nthat justice which was essential to the Deity; and, in especial manner,\ndaily merited by their provoking crimes. The patience of man under\ngreat affronts, is a greater argument of power, than the brawniness\nof his arm; a strength employed {b65} in the revenge of every injury,\nsignifies a greater infirmity in the soul, than there can be ability\nin the body.\n\n_Fourthly_, Divine power was apparent in his resurrection. The\nunlocking the belly of the whale for the deliverance of Jonas; the\nrescue of Daniel from the den of lions; and the restraining the fire\nfrom burning the three children, were signal declarations of his power,\nand types of the resurrection of our Saviour. But what are those to\nthat which was represented by them? That was a power over natural\ncauses, a curbing of beasts, and restraining of elements; but in\nthe resurrection of Christ, God exercised a power over himself,\nand quenched the flames of his own wrath, hotter than millions of\nNebuchadnezzar\u2019s furnaces; unlocked the prison doors, wherein the\ncurses of the law had lodged our Saviour, stronger than the belly and\nribs of a leviathan. In the rescue of Daniel and Jonas, God overpowered\nbeasts; and in this tore up the strength of the old serpent, and\nplucked the sceptre from the hand of the enemy of mankind. The work\nof resurrection, indeed, considered in itself, requires the efficacy\nof an Almighty power; neither man nor angel can create new dispositions\nin a dead body, to render it capable of lodging a spiritual soul; nor\ncan they restore a dislodged soul, by their own power, to such a body.\nThe restoring a dead body to life requires an infinite power, as well\nas the creation of the world; but there was in the resurrection of\nChrist, something more difficult than this; while he lay in the grave\nhe was under the curse of the law, under the execution of that dreadful\nsentence, \u201cThou shalt die the death.\u201d His resurrection was not only the\nre\u2011tying the marriage knot between his soul and body, or the rolling\nthe stone from the grave; but a taking off an infinite weight, the sin\nof mankind, which lay upon him. So vast a weight could not be removed\nwithout the strength of an Almighty arm. It is, therefore, not to an\nordinary operation, but an operation with power (Rom. i. 4), and such a\npower wherein the glory of the Father did appear (Rom. vi. 4); \u201cRaised\nup from the dead by the glory of the Father,\u201d that is, the glorious\npower of God. As the Eternal generation is stupendous, so is his\nresurrection, which is called, a new begetting of him (Acts xiii. 33).\nIt is a wonder of power, that the Divine and human nature should be\njoined; and no less wonder that his person should surmount and rise up\nfrom the curse of God, under which he lay. The apostle, therefore, adds\none expression to another, and heaps up a variety, signifying thereby\nthat one was not enough to represent it (Eph. i. 19); \u201cExceeding\ngreatness of power, and working of mighty power, which he wrought in\nChrist when he raised him from the dead.\u201d It was an hyperbole of power,\nthe excellency of the mightiness of his strength: the loftiness of the\nexpressions seems to come short of the apprehension he had of it in his\nsoul.\n\nII. This power appears in the publication and propagation of the\ndoctrine of redemption. The Divine power will appear, if you consider,\n1. The nature of the doctrine. 2. The instruments employed in it.\n3. The means they used to propagate it. 4. The success they had.\n\n1. The nature of the doctrine. (1.) It was contrary to the common\n{b66} received reason of the world. The philosophers, the masters of\nknowledge among the Gentiles, had maxims of a different stamp from\nit. Though they agreed in the being of a God, yet their notions of his\nnature were confused and embroiled with many errors; the unity of God\nwas not commonly assented unto; they had multiplied deities according\nto the fancies they had received from some of a more elevated wit and\nrefined brain than others. Though they had some notion of mediators,\nyet they placed in those seats their public benefactors, men that had\nbeen useful to the world, or their particular countries, in imparting\nto them some profitable invention. To discard those, was to charge\nthemselves with ingratitude to them, from whom they had received signal\nbenefits, and to whose mediation, conduct, or protection, they ascribed\nall the success they had been blessed with in their several provinces,\nand to charge themselves with folly for rendering an honor and worship\nto them so long. Could the doctrine of a crucified Mediator, whom they\nhad never seen, that had conquered no country for them, never enlarged\ntheir territories, brought to light no new profitable invention for\nthe increase of their earthly welfare, as the rest had done, be thought\nsufficient to balance so many of their reputed heroes? How ignorant\nwere they in the foundations of the true religion! The belief of a\nProvidence was staggering; nor had they a true prospect of the nature\nof virtue and vice; yet they had a fond opinion of the strength of\ntheir own reason, and the maxims that had been handed down to them by\ntheir predecessors, which Paul (1 Tim. vi. 20) entitles, a \u201cscience\nfalsely so called,\u201d either meant of the philosophers or the Gnostics.\nThey presumed that they were able to measure all things by their own\nreason; whence, when the apostle came to preach the doctrine of the\nGospel at Athens, the great school of reason in that age, they gave him\nno better a title than that of a babbler (Acts xvii. 18), and openly\nmocked him (ver. 32); a seed gatherer,[873] one that hath no more\nbrain or sense than a fellow that gathers up seeds that are spilled\nin a market, or one that hath a vain and empty sound, without sense or\nreason, like a foolish mountebank; so slightly did those rationalists\nof the world think of the wisdom of heaven. That the Son of God should\nveil himself in a mortal body, and suffer a disgraceful death in\nit, were things above the ken of reason. Besides, the world had a\ngeneral disesteem of the religion of the Jews, and were prejudiced\nagainst anything that came from them; whence the Romans, that used to\nincorporate the gods of other conquered nations in their capital, never\nmoved to have the God of Israel worshipped among them. Again, they\nmight argue against it with much fleshly reason: here is a crucified\nGod, preached by a company of mean and ignorant persons, what reason\ncan we have to entertain this doctrine, since the Jews, who, as they\ntell us, had the prophecies of him, did not acknowledge him? Surely,\nhad there been such predictions, they would not have crucified, but\ncrowned their King, and expected from him the conquest of the earth\nunder their power. What reason have we to entertain him, whom his\nown nation, among whom he lived, with whom he conversed {b67} so\nunanimously, by the vote of the rulers as well as the rout, rejected?\nIt was impossible to conquer minds possessed with so many errors, and\napplauding themselves in their own reason, and to render them capable\nof receiving revealed truths without the influence of a Divine power.\n\n(2.) It was contrary to the customs of the world. The strength of\ncustom in most men, surmounts the strength of reason, and men commonly\nare so wedded to it, that they will be sooner divorced from anything\nthan the modes and patterns received from their ancestors. The\nendeavoring to change customs of an ancient standing, hath begotten\ntumults and furious mutinies among nations, though the change would\nhave been much for their advantage. This doctrine struck at the root\nof the religion of the world, and the ceremonies, wherein they had been\neducated from their infancy, delivered to them from their ancestors,\nconfirmed by the customary observance of many ages, rooted in their\nminds and established by their laws (Acts xviii. 13); \u201cThis fellow\npersuadeth us to worship God contrary to the law;\u201d against customs, to\nwhich they ascribed the happiness of their states, and the prosperity\nof their people, and would put, in the place of this religion they\nwould abolish, a new one instituted by a man, whom the Jews had\ncondemned, and put to death upon a cross, as an impostor, blasphemer,\nand seditious person. It was a doctrine that would change the customs\nof the Jews, who were intrusted with the oracles of God. It would\nbury forever their ceremonial rites, delivered to them by Moses, from\nthat God, who had, with a mighty hand, brought them out of Egypt,\nconsecrated their law with thunders and lightnings from Mount Sinai, at\nthe time of its publication, backed it with severe sanctions, confirmed\nit by many miracles, both in the wilderness and their Canaan, and had\ncontinued it for so many hundred years. They could not but remember\nhow they had been ravaged by other nations, and judgments sent upon\nthem when they neglected and slighted it; and with what great success\nthey were followed when they valued and observed it; and how they had\nabhorred the Author of this new religion, who had spoken slightly of\ntheir traditions, till they put him to death with infamy. Was it an\neasy matter to divorce them from that worship, upon which were entailed,\nas they imagined, their peace, plenty, and glory, things of the dearest\nregard with mankind? The Jews were no less devoted to their ceremonial\ntraditions than the heathen were to their vain superstitions. This\ndoctrine of the gospel was of that nature, that the state of religion,\nall over the earth, must be overturned by it; the wisdom of the Greeks\nmust vail to it, the idolatry of the people must stoop to it, and the\nprofane customs of men must moulder under the weight of it. Was it\nan easy matter for the pride of nature to deny a customary wisdom, to\nentertain a new doctrine against the authority of their ancestors, to\ninscribe folly upon that which hath made them admired by the rest of\nthe world? Nothing can be of greater esteem with men, than the credit\nof their lawgivers and founders, the religion of their fathers, and\nprosperity of themselves: hence the minds of men were sharpened against\nit. The Greeks, the {b68} wisest nation, slighted it as foolish; the\nJews, the religious nation, stumbled at it, as contrary to the received\ninterpretations of ancient prophecies and carnal conceits of an earthly\nglory. The dimmest eye may behold the difficulty to change custom, a\nsecond nature: it is as hard as to change a wolf into a lamb, to level\na mountain, stop the course of the sun, or change the inhabitants of\nAfrica into the color of Europe. Custom dips men in as durable a dye as\nnature. The difficulties of carrying it on against the Divine religion\nof the Jew, and rooted custom of the Gentiles, were unconquerable by\nany but an Almighty power. And in this the power of God hath appeared\nwonderfully.\n\n(3.) It was contrary to the sensuality of the world, and the lusts of\nthe flesh. How much the Gentiles were overgrown with base and unworthy\nlusts at the time of the publication of the gospel, needs no other\nmemento than the apostle\u2019s discourse (Rom. i.). As there was no error\nbut prevailed upon their minds, so there was no brutish affection\nbut was wedded to their hearts. The doctrine proposed to them was not\neasy; it flattered not the sense, but checked the stream of nature. It\nthundered down those three great engines whereby the devil had subdued\nthe world to himself: \u201cthe lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and\nthe pride of life:\u201d not only the most sordid affections of the flesh,\nbut the more refined gratifications of the mind: it stripped nature\nboth of devil and man; of what was commonly esteemed great and virtuous.\nThat which was the root of their fame, and the satisfaction of their\nambition, was struck at by this axe of the gospel. The first article of\nit ordered them to deny themselves, not to presume upon their own worth;\nto lay their understandings and wills at the foot of the cross, and\nresign them up to one newly crucified at Jerusalem: honors and wealth\nwere to be despised, flesh to be tamed, the cross to be borne, enemies\nto be loved, revenge not to be satisfied, blood to be spilled, and\ntorments to be endured for the honor of One they never saw, nor ever\nbefore heard of; who was preached with the circumstances of a shameful\ndeath, enough to affright them from the entertainment: and the report\nof a resurrection and glorious ascension were things never heard of\nby them before, and unknown in the world, that would not easily enter\ninto the belief of men: the cross, disgrace, self\u2011denial, were only\ndiscoursed of in order to the attainment of an invisible world, and\nan unseen reward, which none of their predecessors ever returned to\nacquaint them with; a patient death, contrary to the pride of nature,\nwas published as the way to happiness and a blessed immortality: the\ndearest lusts were to be pierced to death for the honor of this new\nLord. Other religions brought wealth and honor; this struck them\noff from such expectations, and presented them with no promise of\nanything in this life, but a prospect of misery; except those inward\nconsolations to which before they had been utter strangers, and had\nnever experimented. It made them to depend not upon themselves, but\nupon the sole grace of God. It decried all natural, all moral idolatry,\nthings as dear to men as the apple of their eyes. It despoiled them of\nwhatsoever the mind, will, and affections of men, naturally lay claim\nto, and glory in. It pulled {b69} self up by the roots, unmanned carnal\nman, and debased the principle of honor and self\u2011satisfaction, which\nthe world counted at that time noble and brave. In a word, it took them\noff from themselves, to act like creatures of God\u2019s framing; to know no\nmore than he would admit them, and do no more than he did command them.\nHow difficult must it needs be to reduce men, that placed all their\nhappiness in the pleasures of this life, from their pompous idolatry\nand brutish affections, to this mortifying religion! What might the\nworld say? Here is a doctrine will render us a company of puling\nanimals: farewell generosity, bravery, sense of honor, courage in\nenlarging the bounds of our country, for an ardent charity to the\nbitterest of our enemies. Here is a religion will rust our swords,\ncanker our arms, dispirit what we have hitherto called virtue, and\nannihilate what hath been esteemed worthy and comely among mankind.\nMust we change conquest for suffering, the increase of our reputation\nfor self\u2011denial, the natural sentiment of self\u2011preservation for\naffecting a dreadful death? How impossible was it that a crucified\nLord, and a crucifying doctrine should be received in the world without\nthe mighty operation of a divine power upon the hearts of men! And in\nthis also the almighty power of God did notably shine forth.\n\n2. Divine power appeared in the instruments employed for the\npublishing and propagating the gospel; who were (1.) Mean and\nworthless in themselves: not noble and dignified with an earthly\ngrandeur, but of a low condition, meanly bred: so far from any splendid\nestates, that they possessed nothing but their nets; without any credit\nand reputation in the world; without comeliness and strength; as unfit\nto subdue the world by preaching, as an army of hares were to conquer\nit by war: not learned doctors, bred up at the feet of the famous\nRabbins at Jerusalem, whom Paul calls \u201cthe princes of the world\u201d (1 Cor.\nii. 8); nor nursed up in the school of Athens, under the philosophers\nand orators of the time: not the wise men of Greece, but the fishermen\nof Galilee; naturally skilled in no language but their own, and no more\nexact in that than those of the same condition in any other nation:\nignorant of everything but the language of their lakes, and their\nfishing trade; except Paul, called some time after the rest to that\nemployment: and after the descent of the Spirit, they were ignorant and\nunlearned in everything but the doctrine they were commanded to publish;\nfor the council, before whom they were summoned, proved them to be\nso, which increased their wonder at them (Acts iv. 13). Had it been\npublished by a voice from heaven, that twelve poor men, taken out of\nboats and creeks, without any help of learning, should conquer the\nworld to the cross, it might have been thought an illusion against all\nthe reason of men; yet we know it was undertaken and accomplished by\nthem. They published this doctrine in Jerusalem, and quickly spread\nit over the greatest part of the world. Folly outwitted wisdom, and\nweakness overpowered strength. The conquest of the east by Alexander\nwas not so admirable as the enterprise of these poor men. He attempted\nhis conquest with the hands of a warlike nation, though, indeed, but a\nsmall number of thirty thousand {b70} against multitudes, many hundred\nthousands of the enemies; yet an effeminate enemy; a people inured to\nslaughter and victory attacked great numbers, but enfeebled by luxury\nand voluptuousness. Besides, he was bred up to such enterprises, had a\nlearned education under the best philosopher, and a military education\nunder the best commander, and a natural courage to animate him. These\ninstruments had no such advantage from nature; the heavenly treasure\nwas placed in those earthen vessels, as Gideon\u2019s lamps in empty\npitchers (Judges vii. 16), that the excellency, or hyperbole, of the\npower, might be of God (2 Cor. iv. 7), and the strength of his arm be\ndisplayed in the infirmity of the instruments. They were destitute of\nearthly wisdom, and therefore despised by the Jews, and derided by the\nGentiles; the publishers were accounted madmen, and the embracers fools.\nHad they been men of known natural endowments, the power of God had\nbeen veiled under the gifts of the creature.\n\n(2.) Therefore a Divine power suddenly spirited them, and fitted\nthem for so great a work. Instead of ignorance, they had the knowledge\nof the tongues; and they that were scarce well skilled in their own\ndialect, were instructed on the sudden to speak the most flourishing\nlanguages in the world, and discourse to the people of several nations\nthe great things of God (Acts ii. 11). Though they were not enriched\nwith any worldly wealth, and possessed nothing, yet they were so\nsustained that they wanted nothing in any place where they came; a\ntable was spread for them in the midst of their bitterest enemies.\nTheir fearfulness was changed into courage, and they that a few days\nbefore skulked in corners for fear of the Jews (John xx. 19), speak\nboldly in the name of that Jesus, whom they had seen put to death by\nthe power of the rulers and the fury of the people: they reproach them\nwith the murder of their Master, and outbrave that great people in the\nmidst of their temple, with the glory of that person they had so lately\ncrucified (Acts ii. 23; iii. 13). Peter, that was not long before\nqualmed at the presence of a maid, was not daunted at the presence of\nthe council, that had their hands yet reeking with the blood of his\nMaster; but being filled with the Holy Ghost, seems to dare the power\nof the priests and Jewish governors, and is as confident in the council\nchamber, as he had been cowardly in the high\u2011priest\u2019s hall (Acts iv. 9),\n&c., the efficacy of grace triumphing over the fearfulness of nature.\nWhence should this ardor and zeal, to propagate a doctrine that had\nalready borne the scars of the peoples\u2019 fury be, but from a mighty\nPower, which changed those hares into lions, and stripped them of\ntheir natural cowardice to clothe them with a Divine courage; making\nthem in a moment both wise and magnanimous, alienating them from any\nconsultations with flesh and blood? As soon as ever the Holy Ghost\ncame upon them as a mighty rushing wind, they move up and down for the\ninterest of God; as fish, after a great clap of thunder, are roused,\nand move more nimbly on the top of the water; therefore, that which did\nso fit them for this undertaking, is called by the title of \u201cpower from\non high\u201d (Luke xxiv. 49).\n\n3. The Divine power appears in the means whereby it was propagated.\n\n{b71} (1.) By means different from the methods of the world. Not\nby force of arms, as some religions have taken root in the world.\nMahomet\u2019s horse hath trampled upon the heads of men, to imprint an\nAlcoran in their brains, and robbed men of their goods to plant their\nreligion. But the apostles bore not this doctrine through the world\nupon the points of their swords; they presented a bodily death where\nthey would bestow an immortal life. They employed not troops of men in\na warlike posture, which had been possible for them after the gospel\nwas once spread; they had no ambition to subdue men unto themselves,\nbut to God; they coveted not the possessions of others; designed not to\nenrich themselves; invaded not the rights of princes, nor the liberties\nand properties of the people: they rifled them not of their estates,\nnor scared them into this religion by a fear of losing their worldly\nhappiness. The arguments they used would naturally drive them from\nan entertainment of this doctrine, rather than allure them to be\nproselytes to it: their design was to change their hearts, not their\ngovernment; to wean them from the love of the world, to a love of a\nRedeemer; to remove that which would ruin their souls. It was not to\nenslave them, but ransom them; they had a warfare, but not with carnal\nweapons, but such as were \u201cmighty through God for the pulling down\nstrongholds\u201d (2 Cor. x. 4); they used no weapons but the doctrine they\npreached. Others that have not gained conquests by the edge of the\nsword and the stratagems of war, have extended their opinions to others\nby the strength of human reason, and the insinuations of eloquence.\nBut the apostles had as little flourish in their tongues, as edge upon\ntheir swords: their preaching was \u201cnot with the enticing words of man\u2019s\nwisdom\u201d (1 Cor. ii. 4); their presence was mean, and their discourses\nwithout varnish; their doctrine was plain, a \u201ccrucified Christ;\u201d a\ndoctrine unlaced, ungarnished, untoothsome to the world; but they had\nthe demonstration of the Spirit, and a mighty power for their companion\nin the work. The doctrine they preached, viz. the death, resurrection\nand ascension of Christ, are called the powers, not of this world, but\n\u201cof the world to come\u201d (Heb. vi. 5). No less than a supernatural power\ncould conduct them in this attempt, with such weak methods in human\nappearance.\n\n(2.) Against all the force, power, and wit of the world. The\ndivision in the eastern empire, and the feeble and consuming state of\nthe western, contributed to Mahomet\u2019s success.[874] But never was Rome\nin a more flourishing condition: learning, eloquence, wisdom, strength,\nwere at the highest pitch. Never was there a more diligent watch\nagainst any innovations; never was that state governed by more severe\nand suspicious princes, than at the time when Tiberius and Nero held\nthe reins. No time seemed to be more unfit for the entrance of a new\ndoctrine than that age, wherein it begun to be first published; never\ndid any religion meet with that opposition from men. Idolatry hath been\noften settled without any contest; but this hath suffered the same fate\nwith the institutor of it, and endured the contradictions of sinners\nagainst itself: and those that published it, were not only without any\nworldly prop, but exposed {b72} themselves to the hatred and fury, to\nthe racks and tortures, of the strongest powers on earth. It never set\nfoot in any place, but the country was in an uproar (Acts xix. 28);\nswords were drawn to destroy it; laws made to suppress it; prisons\nprovided for the professors of it; fires kindled to consume them, and\nexecutioners had a perpetual employment to stifle the progress of it.\nRome, in its conquest of countries, changed not the religion, rites,\nand modes of their worship: they altered their civil government, but\nleft them to the liberty of their religion, and many times joined with\nthem in the worship of their peculiar gods; and sometime imitated them\nat Rome, instead of abolishing them in the cities they had subdued.\nBut all their councils were assembled, and their force was bandied\n\u201cagainst the Lord, and against his Christ;\u201d and that city that kindly\nreceived all manner of superstitions, hated this doctrine with an\nirreconcileable hatred. It met with reproaches from the wise, and fury\nfrom the potentates; it was derided by the one as the greatest folly,\nand persecuted by the other as contrary to God and mankind; the one\nwere afraid to lose their esteems by the doctrine, and the other to\nlose their authority by a sedition they thought a change of religion\nwould introduce. The Romans, that had been conquerors of the earth,\nfeared intestine commotions, and the falling asunder the links of their\nempire: scarce any of their first emperors, but had their swords dyed\nred in the blood of the Christians. The flesh with all its lusts, the\nworld with all its flatteries, the statesmen with all their craft, and\nthe mighty with all their strength, joined together to extirpate it:\nthough many members were taken off by the fires, yet the church not\nonly lived, but flourished, in the furnace. Converts were made by the\ndeath of martyrs; and the flames which consumed their bodies, were the\noccasion of firing men\u2019s hearts with a zeal for the profession of it.\nInstead of being extinguished, the doctrine shone more bright, and\nmultiplied under the sickles that were employed to cut it down. God\nordered every circumstance so, both in the persons that published it,\nthe means whereby, and the time when, that nothing but his power might\nappear in it, without anything to dim and darken it.\n\n4. The Divine power was conspicuous in the great success it had under\nall these difficulties. Multitudes were prophesied of to embrace it;\nwhence the prophet Isaiah, after the prophecy of the death of Christ\n(Isa. liii.), calls upon the church to enlarge her tents, and \u201clengthen\nout her cords\u201d to receive those multitudes of children that should call\nher mother (Isa. liv. 2, 3); for she should \u201cbreak forth on the right\nhand and on the left, and her seed should inherit the Gentiles!\u201d the\nidolaters and persecutors should list their names in the muster\u2011roll of\nthe church. Presently, after the descent of the Holy Ghost from heaven\nupon the apostles, you find the hearts of three thousand melted by a\nplain declaration of this doctrine; who were a little before so far\nfrom having a favorable thought of it, that some of them at least,\nif not all, had expressed their rage against it, in voting for the\ncondemning and crucifying the Author of it (Acts ii. 41, 42): but in a\nmoment they were so altered, that they breathe out affections instead\nof fury; neither the {b73} respect they had to their rulers, nor the\nhonor they bore to their priests; not the derisions of the people,\nnor the threatening of punishment, could stop them from owning it in\nthe face of multitudes of discouragements. How wonderful is it that\nthey should so soon, and by such small means, pay a reverence to the\nservants, who had none for the Master! that they should hear them\nwith patience, without the same clamor against them as against Christ,\n\u201cCrucify them, crucify them!\u201d but, that their hearts should so suddenly\nbe inflamed with devotion to him dead, whom they so much abhorred when\nliving. It had gained footing not in a corner of the world, but in the\nmost famous cities; in Jerusalem, where Christ had been crucified; in\nAntioch, where the name of Christians first began; in Corinth, a place\nof ingenious arts; and Ephesus, the seat of a noted idol. In less\nthan twenty years, there was never a province of the Roman empire, and\nscarce any part of the known world, but was stored with the professors\nof it. Rome, that was the metropolis of the idolatrous world, had\nmultitudes of them sprinkled in every corner, whose \u201cfaith was spoken\nof throughout the world\u201d (Rom. i. 8). The court of Nero, that monster\nof mankind, and the cruelest and sordidest tyrant that ever breathed,\nwas not empty of sincere votaries to it; there were \u201csaints in C\u00e6sar\u2019s\nhouse\u201d while Paul was under Nero\u2019s chain (Phil. iv.): and it maintained\nits standing, and flourished in spite of all the force of hell, two\nhundred and fifty years before any sovereign prince espoused it. The\npotentates of the earth had conquered the lands of men, and subdued\ntheir bodies; these vanquished hearts and wills, and brought the most\nbeloved thoughts under the yoke of Christ: so much did this doctrine\novermaster the consciences of its followers, that they rejoiced more\nat their yoke, than others at their liberty; and counted it more a\nglory to die for the honor of it, than to live in the profession of\nit. Thus did our Saviour reign and gather subjects in the midst of his\nenemies; in which respect, in the first discovery of the gospel, he is\ndescribed as \u201ca mighty Conqueror\u201d (Rev. vi. 2), and still conquering\nin the greatness of his strength. How great a testimony of his power\nis it, that from so small a cloud should rise so glorious a sun,\nthat should chase before it the darkness and power of hell; triumph\nover the idolatry, superstition, and profaneness of the world! This\nplain doctrine vanquished the obstinacy of the Jews, baffled the\nunderstanding of the Greeks, humbled the pride of the grandees, threw\nthe devil not only out of bodies, but hearts; tore up the foundation\nof his empire, and planted the cross, where the devil had for many\nages before established his standard. How much more than a human force\nis illustrious in this whole conduct! Nothing in any age of the world\ncan parallel it: it being so much against the methods of nature, the\ndisposition of the world, and (considering the resistance against it)\nseems to surmount even the works of creation. Never were there, in\nany profession, such multitudes, not of bedlams, but men of sobriety,\nacuteness, and wisdom, that exposed themselves to the fury of the\nflames, and challenged death in the most terrifying shapes for the\nhonor of this doctrine. To conclude, this should be often meditated\nupon to form our understandings to a {b74} full assent to the gospel,\nand the truth of it; the want of which consideration of power, and\nthe customariness of an education in the outward profession of it, is\nthe ground of all the profaneness under it, and apostasy from it; the\ndisesteem of the truth it declares, and the neglect of the duties it\nenjoins. The more we have a prospect and sense of the impressions of\nDivine power in it, the more we shall have a reverence of the Divine\nprecepts.\n\nIII. The third thing is, the power of God appears in the application\nof redemption, as well as in the Person redeeming, and the publication\nand propagation of the doctrine of redemption: 1. In the planting grace.\n2. In the pardon of sin. 3. In the preserving grace.\n\nFirst, In the planting grace. There is no expression which the\nSpirit of God hath thought fit in Scripture to resemble this work\nto, but argues the exerting of a Divine power for the effecting of it.\nWhen it is expressed by light, it is as much as the power of God in the\ncreating the sun; when by regeneration, it is as much as the power of\nGod in forming an infant, and fashioning all the parts of a man; when\nit is called resurrection, it is as much as the rearing of a body again\nout of putrified matter; when it is called creation, it is as much as\nerecting a comely world out of mere nothing, or an inform and uncomely\nmass. As we could not contrive the death of Christ for our redemption,\nso we cannot form our souls to the acceptation of it; the infinite\nefficacy of grace is as necessary for the one, as the infinite wisdom\nof God was for laying the platform of the other. It is by his power we\nhave whatsoever pertains to godliness as well as life (2 Pet. i. 3);\nhe puts his fingers upon the handle of the lock, and turns the heart\nto what point he pleases; the action whereby he performs this, is\nexpressed by a word of force; \u201cHe hath snatched us from the power of\ndarkness:\u201d[875] the action whereby it is performed manifests it. In\nreference to this power, it is called creation, which is a production\nfrom nothing; and conversion is a production from something more\nincapable of that state, than mere nothing is of being. There is\ngreater distance between the terms of sin and righteousness, corruption\nand grace, than between the terms of nothing and being; the greater\nthe distance is, the more power is required to the producing any thing.\nAs in miracles, the miracle is the greater, where the change is the\ngreater; and the change is the greater, where the distance is the\ngreater. As it was a more signal mark of power to change a dead man\nto life, than to change a sick man to health; so that the change here\nbeing from a term of a greater distance, is more powerful than the\ncreation of heaven and earth. Therefore, whereas creation is said to\nbe wrought by his hands, and the heavens by his fingers, or his word;\nconversion is said to be wrought by his arm (Isa. liii. 1). In creation,\nwe had an earthly; by conversion, a heavenly state: in creation,\nnothing is changed into something; in conversion, hell is transformed\ninto heaven, which is more than the turning nothing into a glorious\nangel. In that thanksgiving of our Saviour, for the revelation of the\nknowledge of himself to babes, the simple of the world, he gives {b75}\nthe title to his Father, of \u201cLord of heaven and earth\u201d (Matt. xi. 5);\nintimating it to be an act of his creative and preserving power; that\npower whereby he formed heaven and earth, hath preserved the standing,\nand governed the motions of all creatures from the beginning of the\nworld. It is resembled to the most magnificent act of divine power that\nGod ever put forth, viz. that \u201cin the resurrection of our Saviour\u201d (Eph.\ni. 19); wherein there was more than an ordinary impression of might.\nIt is not so small a power as that whereby we speak with tongues, or\nwhereby Christ opened the mouths of the dumb, and the ears of the deaf,\nor unloosed the cords of death from a person. It is not that power\nwhereby our Saviour wrought those stupendous miracles when he was in\nthe world: but that power which wrought a miracle that amazed the most\nknowing angels, as well as ignorant man; the taking off the weight of\nthe sin of the world from our Saviour, and advancing him in his human\nnature to rule over the angelic host, making him head of principalities\nand powers; as much as to say, as great as all that power which is\ndisplayed in our redemption, from the first foundation to the last\nline in the superstructure. It is, therefore, often set forth with an\nemphasis, as \u201cExcellency of power\u201d (2 Cor. iv. 7), and \u201cGlorious power\u201d\n(2 Pet. i. 3): \u201cto glory and virtue,\u201d we translate it, but it is \u03b4\u03b9\u1f70\n\u03b4\u03cc\u03be\u03b7\u03c2, through glory and virtue, that is, by a glorious virtue or\nstrength.\n\nThe instrument whereby it is wrought, is dignified with the title of\npower. The gospel which God useth in this great affair is called \u201cThe\npower of God to salvation\u201d (Rom. i. 16), and the \u201cRod of his strength\u201d\n(Ps. cx. 2); and the day of the gospel\u2019s appearance in the heart is\nemphatically called, \u201cThe day of power\u201d (ver. 3); wherein he brings\ndown strong\u2011holds and towering imaginations. And, therefore, the angel\nGabriel, which name signifies the power of God, was always sent upon\nthose messages which concerned the gospel, as to Daniel, Zacharias,\nMary.[876] The gospel is the power of God in a way of instrumentality,\nbut the almightiness of God is the principal in a way of efficiency.\nThe gospel is the sceptre of Christ; but the power of Christ is the\nmover of that sceptre. The gospel is not as a bare word spoken, and\nproposing the thing; but as backed with a higher efficacy of grace;\nas the sword doth instrumentally cut, but the arm that wields it gives\nthe blow, and makes it successful in the stroke. But this gospel is the\npower of God, because he edgeth this by his own power, to surmount all\nresistance, and vanquish the greatest malice of that man he designs to\nwork upon. The power of God is conspicuous,\n\n1. In turning the heart of man against the strength of the\ninclinations of nature. In the forming of man of the dust of the\nground; as the matter contributed nothing to the action whereby\nGod formed it, so it had no principle of resistance contrary to the\ndesign of God; but in converting the heart, there is not only wanting\na principle of assistance from him in this work, but the whole strength\nof corrupt nature is alarmed to combat against the power of his grace.\nWhen the gospel is presented, the understanding is not only ignorant of\nit, but the will perverse against it; the one doth not relish, and the\n{b76} other doth not esteem, the excellency of the object. The carnal\nwisdom in the mind contrives against it, and the rebellious will puts\nthe orders in execution against the counsel of God, which requires the\ninvincible power of God to enlighten the dark mind, to know what it\nslights; and the fierce will, to embrace what it loathes. The stream of\nnature cannot be turned, but by a power above nature; it is not all the\ncreated power in heaven and earth can change a swine into a man, or a\nvenomous toad into an holy and illustrious angel. Yet this work is not\nso great, in some respect, as the stilling the fierceness of nature,\nthe silencing the swelling waves in the heart, and the casting out\nthose brutish affections which are born and grow up with us. There\nwould be no, or far less, resistance in a mere animal, to be changed\ninto a creature of a higher rank, than there is in a natural man to\nbe turned into a serious Christian. There is in every natural man a\nstoutness of heart, a stiff neck, unwillingness to good, forwardness\nto evil; Infinite Power quells this stoutness, demolisheth these\nstrongholds, turns this wild ass in her course, and routs those armies\nof turbulent nature against the grace of God. To stop the floods of the\nsea is not such an act of power, as to turn the tide of the heart. This\npower hath been employed upon every convert in the world; what would\nyou say, then, if you knew all the channels in which it hath run since\nthe days of Adam? If the alteration of one rocky heart into a pool of\nwater be a wonder of power, what then is the calming and sweetening\nby his word those 144,000 of the tribes of Israel, and that numberless\nmultitude of all nations and people that shall stand \u201cbefore the\nthrone\u201d (Rev. vii. 9), which were all naturally so many raging seas?\nNot one converted soul from Adam to the last that shall be in the end\nof the world, but is a trophy of the Divine conquest. None were pure\nvolunteers, nor listed themselves in his service, till he put forth his\nstrong arm to draw them to him. No man\u2019s understanding, but was chained\nwith darkness, and fond of it; no man but had corruption in his will,\nwhich was dearer to him than anything else which could be proposed\nfor his true happiness. These things are most evident in Scripture and\nexperience.\n\n2. As it is wrought against the inclinations of nature, so\nagainst a multitude of corrupt habits rooted in the souls of men. A\ndistemper in its first invasion may more easily be cured, than when\nit becomes chronical and inveterate. The strength of a disease, or\nthe complication of many, magnifies the power of the physician, and\nefficacy of the medicine that tames and expels it. What power is that\nwhich hath made men stoop, when natural habits have been grown giants\nby custom; when the putrefaction of nature hath engendered a multitude\nof worms; when the ulcers are many and deplorable; when many cords,\nwherewith God would have bound the sinner, have been broken, and (like\nSampson) the wicked heart hath gloried in its strength, and grown more\nproud, that it hath stood like a strong fort against those batteries,\nunder which others have fallen flat; every proud thought, every evil\nhabit captivated, serves for matter of triumph to the \u201cpower of God\u201d\n(2 Cor. x. 5). What resistance will a multitude of them make, when\none of them is enough {b77} to hold the faculty under its dominion,\nand intercept its operations? So many customary habits, so many old\nnatures, so many different strengths added to nature, every one of\nthem standing as a barricado against the way of grace; all the errors\nthe understanding is possessed with, think the gospel folly; all the\nvices the will is filled with, count it the fetter and band. Nothing so\ncontrary to man, as to be thought a fool; nothing so contrary to man,\nas to enter into slavery. It is no easy matter to plant the cross of\nChrist upon a heart guided by many principles against the truth of it,\nand biased by a world of wickedness against the holiness of it. Nature\nrenders a man too feeble and indisposed, and custom renders a man more\nweak and unwilling to change his hue (Jer. xiii. 23). To dispossess man\nthen of his self\u2011esteem and self\u2011excellency; to make room for God in\nthe heart, where there was none but for sin, as dear to him as himself;\nto hurl down the pride of nature; to make stout imaginations stoop to\nthe cross; to make desires of self\u2011advancement sink into a zeal for the\nglorifying of God, and an overruling design for his honor, is not to\nbe ascribed to any but an outstretched arm wielding the sword of the\nSpirit. To have a heart full of the fear of God, that was just before\nfilled with a contempt of him; to have a sense of his power, an eye to\nhis glory, admiring thoughts of his wisdom, a faith in his truth, that\nhad lower thoughts of him and all his perfections, than he had of a\ncreature; to have a hatred of his habitual lusts, that had brought him\nin much sensitive pleasure; to loath them as much as he loved them;\nto cherish the duties he hated; to live by faith in, and obedience to,\nthe Redeemer, who was before so heartily under the conduct of Satan\nand self; to chase the acts of sin from his members, and the pleasing\nthoughts of sin from his mind; to make a stout wretch willingly fall\ndown, crawl upon the ground, and adore that Saviour whom before he\nout\u2011dared, is a triumphant act of Infinite Power that can subdue all\nthings to itself, and break those multitudes of locks and bolts that\nwere upon us.\n\n3. Against a multitude of temptations and interests. The temptations\nrich men have in this world are so numerous and strong, that the\nentrance of one of them into the kingdom of heaven, that is, the\nentertainment of the gospel, is made by our Saviour an impossible thing\nwith men, and procurable only by the power of God (Luke xviii. 24\u201226).\nThe Divine strength only can separate the world from the heart, and the\nheart from the world. There must be an incomprehensible power to chase\naway the devil, that had so long, so strong a footing in the affections;\nto render the soil he had sown with so many tares and weeds, capable\nof good grain; to make spirits, that had found the sweetness of worldly\nprosperity, wrapt up all their happiness in it, and not only bent down,\nbut\u2015\u2015as it were\u2015\u2015buried in earth and mud, to be loosened from those\nbeloved cords, to disrelish the earth for a crucified Christ; I say,\nthis must be the effect of an almighty power.\n\n4. The manner of conversion shews no less the power of God. There is\nnot only an irresistible force used in it, but an agreeable sweetness.\nThe power is so efficacious, that nothing can vanquish it; and so sweet,\nthat none did ever complain of it. The Almighty {b78} virtue displays\nitself invincibly, yet without constraint; compelling the will without\noffering violence to it, and making it cease to be will: not forcing it,\nbut changing it: not dragging it, but drawing it; making it will where\nbefore it nilled; removing the corrupt nature of the will, without\ninvading the created nature and rights of the faculty; not working in\nus against the physical nature of the will, but working it \u201cto will\u201d\n(Phil. ii. 13). This work is therefore called creation, resurrection,\nto shew its irresistible power; it is called illumination, persuasion,\ndrawing, to shew the suitableness of its efficacy to the nature of\nthe human faculties: it is a drawing with cords, which testifies\nan invincible strength; but, with cords of love, which testifies\na delightful conquest. It is hard to determine whether it be more\npowerful than sweet, or more sweet than powerful. It is no mean part\nof the power of God to twist together victory and pleasure; to give\na blow as delightful as strong, as pleasing to the sufferer, as it is\nsharp to the sinner.\n\nSecondly, The power of God, in the application of redemption, is\nevident in the pardoning a sinner.\n\n1. In the pardon itself. The power of God is made the ground of\nhis patience; or the reason why he is patient, is, because he would\n\u201cshew his power\u201d (Rom. ix. 22). It is a part of magnanimity to pass by\ninjuries: as weaker stomachs cannot concoct the tougher food, so weak\nminds cannot digest the harder injuries: he that passes over a wrong is\nsuperior to his adversary that does it. When God speaks of his own name\nas merciful, he speaks first of himself as powerful (Exod. xxxiv. 6),\n\u201cThe Lord, The Lord God,\u201d that is, The Lord, the strong Lord, Jehovah,\nthe strong Jehovah. Let the power of my Lord be great, saith Moses,\nwhen he prays for the forgiveness of the people:[877] the word _jigdal_\nis written with a great _jod_, or a _jod_ above the other letters.\nThe power of God in pardoning is advanced beyond an ordinary strain,\nbeyond the creative strength. In the creation, he had power over the\ncreatures; in this, power over himself: in creation, not himself, but\nthe creatures were the object of his power; in that, no attribute of\nhis nature could article against his design. In the pardon of a sinner,\nafter many overtures made to him and refused by him, God exerciseth a\npower over himself; for the sinner hath dishonored God, provoked his\njustice, abused his goodness, done injury to all those attributes which\nare necessary to his relief: it was not so in creation, nothing was\nincapable of disobliging God from bringing it into being. The dust,\nwhich was the matter of Adam\u2019s body, needed only the extrinsic power\nof God to form it into a man, and inspire it with a living soul: it\nhad not rendered itself obnoxious to Divine justice, nor was capable to\nexcite any disputes between his perfections. But after the entrance of\nsin, and the merit of death, thereby there was a resistance in justice\nto the free remission of man: God was to exercise a power over himself,\nto answer his justice, and pardon the sinner; as well as a power over\nthe creature, to reduce the run away and rebel. Unless we have recourse\nto the infiniteness of God\u2019s power, the infiniteness of our guilt will\nweigh us down: we must consider not only that we {b79} have a mighty\nguilt to press us, but a mighty God to relieve us. In the same act of\nhis being our righteousness, he is our strength: \u201cIn the Lord have I\nrighteousness and strength\u201d (Isa. xlv. 24).\n\n2. In the sense of pardon. When the soul hath been wounded with the\nsense of sin, and its iniquities have stared it in the face, the\nraising the soul from a despairing condition, and lifting it above\nthose waters which terrified it, to cast the light of comfort, as well\nas the light of grace, into a heart covered with more than an Egyptian\ndarkness, is an act of his infinite and creating power (Isa. lvii. 19);\n\u201cI create the fruit of the lips; Peace.\u201d Men may wear out their lips\nwith numbering up the promises of grace and arguments of peace, but\nall will signify no more, without a creative power, than if all men and\nangels should call to that white upon the wall to shine as splendidly\nas the sun. God only can create Jerusalem, and every child of Jerusalem\na rejoicing (Isa. xlv. 18). A man is no more able to apply to himself\nany word of comfort, under the sense of sin, than he is able to convert\nhimself, and turn the proposals of the word into gracious affections in\nhis heart. To restore the joy of salvation, is, in David\u2019s judgment, an\nact of sovereign power, equal to that of creating a clean heart (Ps. li.\n10, 12). Alas! it is a state like to that of death; as infinite power\ncan only raise from natural death, so from a spiritual death; also from\na comfortless death: \u201cIn his favor there is life;\u201d in the want of his\nfavor there is death. The power of God hath so placed light in the sun,\nthat all creatures in the world, all the torches upon earth, kindled\ntogether, cannot make it day, if that doth not rise; so all the angels\nin heaven, and men upon earth, are not competent chirurgeons for a\nwounded spirit. The cure of our spiritual ulcers, and the pouring in\nbalm, is an act of sovereign creative power: it is more visible in\nsilencing a tempestuous conscience than the power of our Saviour was\nin the stilling the stormy winds and the roaring waves. As none but\ninfinite power can remove the guilt of sin, so none but infinite power\ncan remove the despairing sense of it.\n\nThirdly, This power is evident in the preserving grace. As the\nprovidence of God is a manifestation of his power in a continued\ncreation, so the preservation of grace is a manifestation of his power\nin a continued regeneration. To keep a nation under the yoke, is an act\nof the same power that subdued it. It is this that strengthens men in\nsuffering against the fury of hell (Col. i. 13); it is this that keeps\nthem from falling against the force of hell\u2015\u2015the Father\u2019s hand (John x.\n29). His strength abates and moderates the violence of temptations; his\nstaff sustains his people under them; his might defeats the power of\nSatan, and bruiseth him under a believer\u2019s feet. The counter\u2011workings\nof indwelling corruption, the reluctances of the flesh against the\nbreathings of the spirit, the fallacy of the senses, and the rovings\nof the mind, have ability quickly to stifle and extinguish grace, if\nit were not maintained by that powerful blast that first imbreathed it.\nNo less power is seen in perfecting it, than was in planting it (2 Pet.\ni. 3); no less in fulfilling the work of faith, than in engrafting\nthe word of faith (2 Thess. i. 11). The apostle well understood the\nnecessity and efficacy of it in the preservation of faith, {b80} as\nwell as in the first infusion, when he expresses himself in those terms\nof a greatness or hyperbole of power, \u201cHis mighty power,\u201d or the power\nof his might (Eph. i. 19). The salvation he bestows, and the strength\nwhereby he effects it, are joined together in the prophet\u2019s song (Isa.\nxii. 2): \u201cThe Lord is my strength and my salvation.\u201d And indeed, God\ndoth more magnify his power in continuing a believer in the world, a\nweak and half\u2011rigged vessel, in the midst of so many sands whereon it\nmight split, so many rocks whereon it might dash, so many corruptions\nwithin, and so many temptations without, than if he did immediately\ntransport him into heaven, and clothe him with a perfect sanctified\nnature.\u2015\u2015To conclude, what is there, then, in the world which is\ndestitute of notices of Divine power? Every creature affords us the\nlesson; all acts of Divine government are the marks of it. Look into\nthe word, and the manner of its propagation instructs us in it; your\nchanged natures, your pardoned guilt, your shining comfort, your\nquelled corruptions, the standing of your staggering graces, are\nsufficient to preserve a sense, and to prevent a forgetfulness, of\nthis great attribute, so necessary for your support, and conducing so\nmuch to your comfort.\n\n_Use I._ Of information and instruction.\n\n_Instruct. 1._ If incomprehensible and infinite power belongs to\nthe nature of God, then Jesus Christ hath a divine nature, because\nthe acts of power proper to God are ascribed to him. This perfection\nof omnipotence doth unquestionably pertain to the Deity, and is an\nincommunicable property, and the same with the essence of God: he,\ntherefore, to whom this attribute is ascribed, is essentially God. This\nis challenged by Christ, in conjunction with eternity (Rev. i. 8); \u201cI\nam Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which\nis, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.\u201d This the Lord\nChrist speaks of himself. He who was equal with God, proclaims himself\nby the essential title of the Godhead, part of which he repeats again\n(ver. 11), and this is the person which \u201cwalks in the midst of the\nseven golden candlesticks,\u201d the person that \u201cwas dead and now lives\u201d\n(ver. 17, 18), which cannot possibly be meant of the Father, the First\nPerson, who can never come under the denomination of having been dead.\nBeing, therefore, adorned with the same title, he hath the same Deity;\nand though his omnipotence be only positively asserted (ver. 8), yet,\nhis eternity being asserted (ver. 11, 17), it inferreth his immense\npower; for he that is eternal, without limits of time, must needs be\nconceived powerful, without any dash of infirmity. Again, when he is\nsaid to be a child born, and a son given, in the same breath he is\ncalled the Mighty God (Isa. ix. 6). It is introduced as a ground of\ncomfort to the church, to preserve their hopes in the accomplishment of\nthe promises made to them before. They should not imagine him to have\nonly the infirmity of a man, though he was veiled in the appearance of\na man. No, they should look through the disguise of his flesh, to the\nmight of his Godhead. The attribute of mighty is added to the title of\nGod, because the consideration of power is most capable to sustain the\ndrooping church in such a condition, and to prop up her hopes. It is\nupon this account he saith of himself, \u201cWhatsoever things the {b81}\nFather doth, those also doth the Son likewise\u201d (John v. 19). In the\ncreation of heaven, earth, sea, and the preservation of all creatures,\nthe Son works with the same will, wisdom, virtue, power, as the Father\nworks: not as two may concur in an action in a different manner, as\nan agent and an instrument, a carpenter and his tools, but in the same\nmanner of operation, \u1f41\u03bc\u03bf\u03af\u03c9\u03c2, which we translate likeness, which doth\nnot express so well the emphasis of the word. There is no diversity of\naction between us; what the Father doth, that I do by the same power,\nwith the same easiness in every respect; there is the same creative,\nproductive, conservative power in both of us; and that not in one work\nthat is done, _ad extra_, but in all, in whatsoever the Father doth. In\nthe same manner, not by a delegated, but natural and essential power,\nby one undivided operation and manner of working.\n\n1st. The creation, which is a work of Omnipotence, is more than once\nascribed to him. This he doth own himself; the creation of the earth,\nand of man upon it; the stretching out the heavens by his hands, and\nthe forming of \u201call the hosts of them by his command\u201d (Isa. xlv. 12).\nHe is not only the Creator of Israel, the church (ver. 12), but of the\nwhole world, and every creature on the face of the earth, and in the\nglories of the heavens; which is repeated also ver. 18, where, in this\nact of creation, he is called God himself, and speaks of himself in\nthe term Jehovah; and swears by himself (ver. 23). What doth he swear?\n\u201cThat unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear.\u201d\nIs this Christ? Yes, if the apostle may be believed, who applies\nit to him (Rom. xiv. 11) to prove the appearance of all men before\nthe judgment\u2011seat of Christ, whom the prophet calls (ver. 15) \u201ca God\nthat hides himself;\u201d and so he was a hidden God when obscured in our\nfleshly infirmities. He was in conjunction with the Father when the sea\nreceived his decree, and the foundations of the earth were appointed;\nnot as a spectator, but as an artificer, for so the word in Prov.\nviii. 30, signifies, \u201cas one brought up with him;\u201d it signifies also,\n\u201ca cunning workman\u201d (Cant. vii. 1). He was the east, or the sun, from\nwhence sprang all the light of life and being to the creature; so the\nword \u05e7\u05d3\u05dd (ver. 22), which is translated, \u201cbefore his works of old,\u201d is\nrendered by some, and signifies the east as well as before: but if it\nnotes only his existence before, it is enough to prove his Deity. The\nScripture doth not only allow him an existence before the world, but\nexalts him as the cause of the world: a thing may precede another that\nis not the cause of that which follows; a precedency in age doth not\nentitle one brother, or thing, the cause of another: but our Saviour is\nnot only ancienter than the world, but is the Creator of the world (Heb.\ni. 10, 11). \u201cWho laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens\nare the work of his hands.\u201d So great an eulogy cannot be given to one\ndestitute of omnipotence; since the distance between being and not\nbeing is so vast a gulf that cannot be surmounted and stepped over,\nbut by an Infinite Power: he is the first and the last, that called\nthe \u201cgenerations from the beginning\u201d (Isa. xli. 4), and had an almighty\nvoice to call them out of nothing. In which regard he is called the\n\u201ceverlasting Father\u201d (Isa. ix. 6), as being the efficient {b82} of\ncreation; as God is called the Father of the rain, or as father is\ntaken for the inventor of an art; as Jubal, the first framer and\ninventor of music, is called \u201cthe father of such as handle the harp\u201d\n(Gen. iv. 21). And that Person is said to \u201cmake the sea, and form the\ndry land by his hands\u201d (Ps. xcv. 5, 6) against whom we are exhorted not\nto harden our hearts, which is applied to Christ by the apostle (Heb.\niii. 8); in ver. 6, he is called \u201ca great King,\u201d and \u201ca great God our\nMaker.\u201d The places wherein the creation is attributed to Christ, those\nthat are the antagonists of his Deity, would evade by understanding\nthem of the new, or evangelical, not of the first, old material\ncreation: but what appearance is there for such a sense? Consider,\n\n(1.) That of Heb. i. 10, 11, it is spoken of that earth and heavens\nwhich were in the beginning of time; it is that earth shall perish,\nthat heaven that shall be folded up, that creation that shall grow old\ntowards a decay; that is, only the visible and material creation: the\nspiritual shall endure forever; it grows not old to decay, but grows up\nto a perfection; it sprouts up to its happiness, not to its detriment.\nThe same Person creates that shall destroy, and the same world is\ncreated by him that shall be destroyed by him, as well as it subsisted\nby virtue of his omnipotency.\n\n(2.) Can that also (Heb. i. 2), \u201cBy whom also he made the worlds,\u201d\nspeaking of Christ, bear the same plea? It was the same Person by whom\n\u201cGod spake to us in these last times,\u201d the same Person which he hath\nconstituted \u201cHeir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds:\u201d\nand the particle _also_, intimates it to be a distinct act from his\nspeaking or prophetical office, whereby he restored and new created\nthe world, as well as the rightful foundation God had to make him\n\u201cHeir of all things.\u201d It refers likewise, not to the time of Christ\u2019s\nspeaking upon earth, but to something past, and something different\nfrom the publication of the gospel: it is not \u201cdoth make,\u201d which had\nbeen more likely if the apostle had meant only the new creation; but\n\u201chath made,\u201d[878] referring to time long since past, something done\nbefore his appearance upon earth as a Prophet: \u201cBy whom also he made\nthe worlds,\u201d or ages, all things subjected to, or measured by time;\nwhich must be meant according to the Jewish phrase of this material\nvisible world: so they entitle God in their Liturgy, the \u201cLord of Ages,\u201d\nthat is, the Lord of the world, and all ages and revolutions of the\nworld, from the creation to the last period of time. If anything were\nin being before this frame of heaven and earth, and within the compass\nof time, it received being and duration from the Son of God. The\napostle would give an argument to prove the equity of making him Heir\nof all things as Mediator, because he was the framer of all things\nas God. He may well be the Heir or Lord of angels as well as men, who\ncreated angels as well as men: all things were justly under his power\nas Mediator, since they derived their existence from him as Creator.\n\n(3.) But what evasion can there be for that (Col. i. 16)? \u201cBy him were\nall things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, whether\nthey be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, {b83} all\nthings were created by him and for him.\u201d He is said to be the Creator\nof material and visible things, as well as spiritual and invisible;\nof things in heaven, which needed no restoration, as well as things on\nearth, which were polluted by sin, and stood in need of a new creation.\nHow could the angels belong to the new creation, who had never put off\nthe honor and purity of the first? Since they never divested themselves\nof their original integrity, they could not be reinvested with that\nwhich they never lost. Besides, suppose the holy angels be one way\nor other reduced as parts of the new creation, as being under the\nmediatory government of our Saviour, as their Head, and in regard of\ntheir confirmation by him in that happy state. In what manner shall the\ndevils be ranked among new creatures? They are called principalities\nand powers as well as the angels, and may come under the title of\nthings invisible: that they are called principalities and powers is\nplain (Eph. vi. 12): \u201cFor we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but\nagainst principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of\nthis world; against spiritual wickedness in high places.\u201d Good angels\nare not there meant, for what war have believers with them, or they\nwith believers? They are the guardians of them, since Christ hath taken\naway the enmity between our Lord and theirs, in whose quarrel they\nwere engaged against us: and since the apostle, speaking of \u201call things\ncreated by him,\u201d expresseth it so, that it cannot be conceived he\nshould except anything; how come the finally impenitent and unbelievers,\nwhich are things in earth, and visible, to be listed here in the roll\nof new creatures? None of these can be called new creatures, because\nthey are subjected to the government of Christ; no more than the earth\nand sea, and the animals in it, are made new creatures, because they\nare all under the dominion of Christ and his providential government.\nAgain, the apostle manifestly makes the creation he here speaks of,\nto be the material, and not the new creation; for that he speaks of\nafterwards as a distinct act of our Lord Jesus, under the title of\nReconciliation (Col. i. 20, 21), which was the restoration of the world,\nand the satisfying for that curse that lay upon it. His intent is here\nto show that not an angel in heaven, nor a creature upon earth, but was\nplaced in their several degrees of excellency by the power of the Son\nof God, who, after that act of creation, and the entrance of sin, was\nthe \u201creconciler\u201d of the world through the blood of his cross.\n\n(4.) There is another place as clear (John i. 3): \u201cAll things were\nmade by him, and without him was nothing made that was made.\u201d The\ncreation is here ascribed to him; affirmatively, \u201cAll things were made\nby him;\u201d negatively, there was nothing made without him: and the words\nare emphatical, \u03bf\u1f50\u03b4\u1f72 \u1f15\u03bd, not one thing; excepting nothing; including\ninvisible things, as well as things conspicuous to sense only,\nmentioned in the story of the creation (Gen. i.); not only the entire\nmass, but the distinct parcels, the smallest worm and the highest angel,\nowe their original to him. And if not _one_ thing, then the matter\nwas not created to his hands; and his work consisted not only in the\nforming things from that matter: if that _one_ thing of matter were\nexcepted, a chief thing were excepted; if {084} _not one thing_ were\nexcepted, then he created something of nothing, because spirits, as\nangels and souls, are not made of any pre\u2011existing or fore\u2011created\nmatter. How could the evangelist phrase it more extensively and\ncomprehensively? This is a character of Omnipotency; to create the\nworld, and everything in it, of nothing, requires an infinite virtue\nand power. If all things were created by Him, they were not created\nby him as man, because himself, as man, was not in being before the\ncreation; if all things were made by him, then himself was not made,\nhimself was not created; and to be existent without being made, without\nbeing created, is to be unboundedly omnipotent. And if we understand it\nof the new creation, as they do that will not allow him an existence in\nhis Deity before his humanity, it cannot be true of that; for how could\nhe regenerate Abraham, make Simeon and Anna new creatures, who \u201cwaited\nfor the salvation of Israel,\u201d and form John Baptist, and fill him with\nthe Holy Ghost, even from the womb (Luke i. 15), who belonged to the\nnew creation, and was to prepare the way, if Christ had not a being\nbefore him? The evangelist alludes to, and explains the history of\nthe creation, in the beginning, and acquaints us what was meant by\nGod, said so often, _viz._ the eternal Word, and describes him in\nhis creative power, manifested in the framing the world, before he\ndescribes him in his incarnation, when he came to lay the foundation of\nthe restoration of the world (John i. 14), \u201cThe Word was made flesh;\u201d\nthis Word who was \u201cwith God, who was God, who made all things,\u201d and\ngave being to the most glorious angels and the meanest creature without\nexception; this Word, in time, \u201cwas made flesh.\u201d\n\n(5.) The creation of things mentioned in these Scriptures cannot be\nattributed to him as an instrument. As if when it is said, \u201cGod created\nall things by him, and by him made the worlds,\u201d we were to understand\nthe Father to be the agent, and the Son to be a tool in his Father\u2019s\nhand, as an axe in the hand of a carpenter, or a file in the hand of\na smith, or a servant acting by command as the organ of his master.\nThe preposition _per_, or \u03b4\u03b9\u03ac, doth not always signify an instrumental\ncause: when it is said, that the apostle gave the Thessalonians a\ncommand \u201cby Jesus Christ\u201d (1 Thess. iv. 2), was Christ the instrument,\nand not the Lord of that command the apostle gave? The immediate\noperation of Christ dwelling in the apostles, was that whereby they\ngave the commands to their disciples. When we are called \u201cby God\u201d\n(1 Cor. i. 9), is he the instrumental, or principal cause of our\neffectual vocation? And can the will of God be the instrument of\nputting Paul into the apostleship, or the sovereign cause of investing\nhim with that dignity, when he calls himself an \u201cApostle by the will\nof God\u201d (Eph. i. 3)? And when all things are said to be through God,\nas well as of him, must he be counted the instrumental cause of his\nown creation, counsels, and judgments (Rom. xi. 36)? When we \u201cmortify\nthe deeds of the body through the Spirit\u201d (Rom. viii. 13), or keep the\n\u201ctreasure of the word by the Holy Ghost\u201d (2 Tim. i. 14), is the Holy\nGhost of no more dignity in such acts than an instrument? Nor doth the\ngaining a thing by a person make him a mere instrument or inferior; as\nwhen a man gains his right in a way of justice against his adversary\nby the magistrate, {b85} is the judge inferior to the suppliant? If the\nWord were an instrument in creation, it must be a created or uncreated\ninstrument: if created, it could not be true what the Evangelist saith,\nthat \u201call things were made by him,\u201d since himself, the principal thing,\ncould not be made by himself: if uncreated, he was God, and so acted\nby a Divine omnipotency, which surmounts an instrumental cause. But,\nindeed, an instrument is impossible in creation, since it is wrought\nonly by an act of the Divine will. Do we need any organ to an act\nof volition? The efficacious will of the Creator is the cause of the\noriginal of the body of the world, with its particular members and\nexact harmony. It was formed \u201cby a word, and established by a command\u201d\n(Ps. xxxiii. 9); the beauty of the creation stood up at the precept\nof his will. Nor was the Son a partial cause; as when many are said to\nbuild a house, one works one part, and another frames another part: God\ncreated all things by the immediate operation of the Son, in the unity\nof essence, goodness, power, wisdom; not an extrinsic, but a connatural\ninstrument. As the sun doth illustrate all things by his light, and\nquickens all things by his heat, so God created the worlds by Christ,\nas he was the \u201cbrightness or splendor of his glory, the exact image of\nhis person;\u201d which follows the declaration of his making the worlds by\nhim (Heb. i. 3, 4), to show, that he acted not as an instrument, but\none in essential conjunction with him, as light and brightness with\nthe sun. But suppose he did make the world as a kind of instrument,\nhe was then before the world, not bounded by time; and eternity cannot\nwell be conceived belonging to a Being without omnipotency. He is the\nEnd, as well as the Author, of the creatures (Col. i. 16); not only\nthe principle which gave them being, but the sea, into whose glory they\nrun and dissolve themselves, which consists not with the meanness of an\ninstrument.\n\n2d. As creation, so preservation, is ascribed to Him (Col. i. 17). \u201cBy\nhim all things consist.\u201d As he preceded all things in his eternity, so\nhe establishes all things by his omnipotency, and fixes them in their\nseveral centres, that they sink not into that nothing from whence\nhe fetched them. By him they flourish in their several beings, and\nobserve the laws and orders he first appointed: that power of his which\nextracted them from insensible nothing, upholds them in their several\nbeings with the same facility as he spake being into them, even \u201cby the\nword of his power\u201d (Heb. i. 3), and by one creative continued voice,\ncalled all generations, from the beginning to the period of the world\n(Isa. xli. 4), and causes them to flourish in their several seasons.\nIt is \u201cby him kings reign, and princes decree justice,\u201d and all things\nare confined within the limits of government. All which are acts of an\nInfinite Power.\n\n3d. Resurrection is also ascribed to Him. The body crumbled to\ndust, and that dust blown to several quarters of the world, cannot be\ngathered in its distinct parts, and new formed for the entertainment\nof the soul, without the strength of an infinite arm. This he will do,\nand more; change the vileness of an earthly body into the glory of an\nheavenly one; a dusty flesh into a spiritual body, which is an argument\nof a power invincible, to which all things cannot but stoop; {b86} for\nit is by such an operation, which testifies an ability \u201cto subdue all\nthings to himself\u201d (Phil. iii. 21), especially when he works it with\nthe same ease as he did the creation, by the power of his voice. (John\nv. 28), \u201cAll that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall\ncome forth:\u201d speaking them into a restored life from insensible dust,\nas he did into being from an empty nothing. The greatest acts of\npower are owned to belong to creation, preservation, resurrection.\nOmnipotence, therefore, is his right; and, therefore, a Deity cannot be\ndenied to him that inherits a perfection essential to none but God, and\nimpossible to be entrusted in, or managed by the hands of any creatures.\nAnd this is no mean comfort to those that believe in him: he is, in\nregard of his power, \u201cthe horn of salvation;\u201d so Zacharias sings of him\n(Luke i. 69). Nor could there be any more mighty found out upon whom\nGod could have \u201claid our help\u201d (Ps. lxxxix. 19). No reason, therefore,\nto doubt his ability to save to the utmost, who hath the power of\ncreation, preservation, and resurrection in his hands. His promises\nmust be accomplished, since nothing can resist him: he hath power to\nfulfil his word, and bring all things to a final issue, because he is\nAlmighty: by his outstretched arm in the deliverance of his Israel from\nEgypt, (for it was his arm, 1 Cor. x.) he showed that he was able to\ndeliver us from spiritual Egypt. The charge of Mediator to expiate\nsin, vanquish hell, form a church, conduct and perfect it, are not\nto be effected by a person of less ability than infinite. Let this\nalmightiness of His be the bottom, wherein to cast and fix the anchor\nof our hopes.\n\n_Instruct. 2._ Hence may be inferred the Deity of the Holy Ghost.\nWorks of omnipotency are ascribed to the Spirit of God: by the motion\nof the wings of this Spirit, as a bird over her eggs, was that rude and\nunshapen mass hatched into a comely world.[879] The stars,\u2015\u2015or perhaps\nthe angels, are meant by the \u201cgarnishing of the heavens\u201d in the verse\nbefore the text,\u2015\u2015were brought forth in their comeliness and dignity,\nas the ornaments of the upper world, by this Spirit; \u201cBy his Spirit he\nhath garnished the heavens.\u201d To this Spirit Job ascribes the formation\nboth of the body and soul, under the title of Almighty (Job xxxiii. 4),\n\u201cThe Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty\nhath given me life.\u201d Resurrection, another work of omnipotency, is\nattributed to him (Rom. viii. 11). The conception of our Saviour in\nthe womb; the miracles that he wrought, were by the power of the Spirit\nin him. Power is a title belonging to him, and sometimes both are put\ntogether (1 Thess. i. 5, and other places). And that great power of\nchanging the heart, and sanctifying a polluted nature, a work greater\nthan creation, is frequently acknowledged in the Scripture to be\nthe peculiar act of the Holy Ghost. The Father, Son, Spirit, are one\nprinciple in creation, resurrection, and all the works of omnipotence.\n\n_Instruct. 3._ Inference from the doctrine. The blessedness of God\nis hence evidenced. If God be Almighty, he can want nothing; all want\nspeaks weakness. If he doth what he will, he cannot be miserable;\nall misery consists in those things which happen contrary to our\nwill. There is nothing can hinder his happiness, because nothing {b87}\ncan resist his power. Since he is omnipotent, nothing can hurt him,\nnothing can strip him of what he hath, of what he is.[880] If he can\ndo whatsoever he will, he cannot want anything that he wills. He is as\nhappy, as great, as glorious, as he will; for he hath a perfect liberty\nof will to will, and a perfect power to attain what he will; his will\ncannot be restrained, nor his power meted. It would be a defect in\nblessedness, to will what he were not able to do: sorrow is the result\nof a want of power, with a presence of will. If he could will anything\nwhich he could not effect, he would be miserable, and no longer God:\nhe can do whatsoever he pleases, and therefore can want nothing that\npleases him.[881] He cannot be happy, the original of whose happiness\nis not in himself: nothing can be infinitely happy, that is limited and\nbounded.\n\n_Instruct. 4._ Hence is the ground for the immutability of God. As he\nis incapable of changing his resolves, because of his infinite wisdom,\nso he is incapable of being forced to any change, because of his\ninfinite power. Being almighty, he can be no more changed from power to\nweakness; than, being all\u2011wise, he can be changed from wisdom to folly;\nor, being omniscient, from knowledge to ignorance. He cannot be altered\nin his purposes, because of his wisdom; nor in the manner and method of\nhis actions, because of his infinite strength. Men, indeed, when their\ndesigns are laid deepest, and their purposes stand firmest, yet are\nforced to stand still, or change the manner of the execution of their\nresolves, by reason of some outward accidents that obstruct them in\ntheir course; for, having not wisdom to foresee future hindrances, they\nhave not power to prevent them, or strength to remove them, when they\nunexpectedly interpose themselves between their desire and performance;\nbut no created power has strength enough to be a bar against God. By\nthe same act of his will that he resolves a thing, he can puff away any\nimpediments that seem to rise up against him. He that wants no means\nto effect his purposes, cannot be checked by anything that riseth up to\nstand in his way; heaven, earth, sea, the deepest places, are too weak\nto resist his will (Ps. cxxxv. 6). The purity of the angels will not,\nand the devil\u2019s malice cannot, frustrate his will; the one voluntarily\nobeys the beck of his hand, and the other is vanquished by the power\nof it. What can make him change his purposes; who (if he please) can\ndash the earth against the heavens in the twinkling of an eye, untying\nthe world from its centre, clap the stars and elements together into\none mass, and blow the whole creation of men and devils into nothing?\nBecause he is almighty, therefore he is immutable.\n\n_Instruct. 5._ Hence is inferred the providence of God, and his\ngovernment of the world. His power, as well as his wisdom, gives him\na right to govern: nothing can equal him, therefore nothing can share\nthe command with him; since all things are his works, it is fittest\nthey should be under his order: he that frames a work, is fittest to\nguide and govern it. God hath the most right to govern, because he hath\nknowledge to direct his power, and power to execute the results of his\nwisdom: he knows what is convenient to order, {b88} and hath strength\nto effect what he orders. As his power would be oppressive without\ngoodness and wisdom, so his goodness and wisdom would be fruitless\nwithout power. An artificer that hath lost his hands may direct, but\ncannot make an engine: a pilot that hath lost his arms may advise the\nway of steerage, but cannot hold the helm; something is wanting in\nhim to be a complete governor: but since both counsel and power are\ninfinite in God, hence results an infinite right to govern, and an\ninfinite fitness, because his will cannot be resisted, his power cannot\nbe enfeebled or diminished; he can quicken and increase the strength of\nall means as he pleases. He can hold all things in the world together,\nand preserve them in those functions wherein he settled them, and\nconduct them to those ends for which he designed them. Every artificer,\nthe more excellent he is, and the more excellency of power appears in\nhis work, is the more careful to maintain and cherish it. Those that\ndeny Providence, do not only ravish from him the bowels of his goodness,\nbut strip him of a main exercise of his power, and engender in men a\nsuspicion of weariness and feebleness in him; as though his strength\nhad been spent in making them, that none is left to guide them. They\nwould make him headless in regard of his wisdom, and bowelless in\nregard of his goodness, and armless in regard of his strength. If he\ndid not, or were not able to preserve and provide for his creatures,\nhis power in making them would be, in a great part, an invisible power;\nif he did not preserve what he made, and govern what he preserves, it\nwould be a kind of strange and rude power, to make, and suffer it to be\ndashed in pieces at the pleasure of others. If the power of God should\nrelinquish the world, the life of things would be extinguished, the\nfabric would be confounded, and fall into a deplorable chaos. That\nwhich is composed of so many various pieces, could not maintain its\nunion, if there were not a secret virtue binding them together and\nmaintaining those varieties of links. Well, then, since God is not only\nso good, that he cannot will anything but what is good; so wise, that\nhe cannot err or mistake; but also so able, that he cannot be defeated\nor mated; he hath every way a full ability to govern the world: where\nthose three are infinite, the right and fitness resulting from thence\nis unquestionable: and, indeed, to deny God this active part of his\npower, is to render him weak, foolish, cruel, or all.\n\n_Instruct. 6._ Here is a ground for the worship of God. Wisdom and\npower are the grounds of the respect we give to men; they being both\ninfinite in God, are the foundation of a solemn honor to be returned\nto him by his creatures. If a man makes a curious engine, we honor him\nfor his skill; if another vanquish a vigorous enemy, we admire him for\nhis strength: and shall not the efficacy of God\u2019s power in creation,\ngovernment, redemption, enflame us with a sense of the honor of his\nname and perfections? We admire those princes that have vast empires,\nnumerous armies, that have a power to conquer their enemies, and\npreserve their own people in peace. How much more ground have we to pay\na mighty reverence to God, who, without trouble and weariness, made and\nmanages this vast empire of the world by a word and beck! What sensible\n{b89} thoughts have we of the noise of thunder, the power of the sun,\nthe storms of the sea! These things that have no understanding have\nstruck men with such a reverence, that many have adored them as gods.\nWhat reverence and adoration doth this mighty power, joined with an\ninfinite wisdom in God, demand at our hands! All religion and worship\nstands especially upon two pillars, goodness, and power in God; if\neither of these were defective, all religion would faint away. We can\nexpect no entertainment with him without goodness, nor any benefit\nfrom him without power. This God prefaceth to the command to worship\nhim, the benefit his goodness had conferred upon them, and the\npowerful manner of conveyance of it to them (2 Kings xvii. 36): \u201cThe\nLord brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power, and an\nout\u2011stretched arm; him shall you fear, and him shall you worship,\nand to him shall you do sacrifice.\u201d Because this attribute is a main\nfoundation of prayer, the Lord\u2019s Prayer is concluded with a doxology of\nit, \u201cFor thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.\u201d As he is rich,\npossessing all blessings; so he is powerful, to confer all blessings\non us, and make them efficacious to us. The Jews repeat many times\nin their prayers, some say an hundred times, \u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd, \u201cThe King of\nthe world;\u201d it is both an awe and an encouragement.[882] We could not,\nwithout consideration of it, pray in faith of success; nay, we could\nnot pray at all, if his power were defective to help us, and his\nmercy too weak to relieve us. Who would solicit a lifeless, or lie\na prostrate suppliant, to a feeble arm? Upon this ability of God, our\nSaviour built his petitions (Heb. v. 7): \u201cHe offered up strong cries\nunto Him that was able to save him from death.\u201d Abraham\u2019s faith hung\nupon the same string (Rom. iv. 21), and the captived church supplicates\nGod to act according to the greatness of his power (Ps. lxxix. 11).\nIn all our addresses this is to be eyed and considered; God is able to\nhelp, to relieve, to ease me, let my misery be never so great, and my\nstrength never so weak (Matt. viii. 2): \u201cIf thou wilt, thou canst make\nme clean,\u201d was the consideration the leper had when he came to worship\nChrist; he was clear in his power, and therefore worshipped him, though\nhe was not equally clear in his will. All worship is shot wrong that\nis not directed to, and conducted by, the thoughts of this attribute,\nwhose assistance we need. When we beg the pardon of our sins, we should\neye mercy and power; when we beg his righting us in any case where\nwe are unjustly oppressed, we do not eye righteousness without power;\nwhen we plead the performance of his promise, we do not regard his\nfaithfulness only without the prop of his power. As power ushers in all\nthe attributes of God in their exercise and manifestation in the world,\nso should it be the butt our eyes should be fixed upon in all our\nacts of worship: as without his power his other attributes would be\nuseless, so without due apprehensions of his power our prayers will be\nfaithless and comfortless. The title in the Lord\u2019s prayer directs us\nto a prospect both of his goodness and power; his goodness in the word\nFather, his greatness, excellency, and power, in the word Heaven. The\nheedless consideration of the infiniteness of this perfection {b90}\nroots up piety in the midst of us, and makes us so careless in worship.\nDid we more think of that Power that raised the world out of nothing,\nthat orders all creatures by an act of his will, that performed so\ngreat an exploit as that of our redemption, when masterless sin had\ntriumphed over the world, we should give God the honor and adoration\nwhich so great an excellency challengeth and deserves at our hands,\nthough we ourselves had not been the work of his hands, or the\nmonuments of his strength; how could any creature engross to itself\nthat reverence from us which is due to the powerful Creator, of whom\nit comes infinitely short in strength as well as wisdom?\n\n_Instruct. 7._ From this we have a ground for the belief of the\nresurrection. God aims at the glory of his power, as well as the glory\nof any other attribute. Moses else would not have culled out this as\nthe main argument, in his pleading with God, for the sheathing the\nsword which he began to draw out against them in the wilderness (Numb.\nxiv. 16): \u201cThe nations will say, Because the Lord was not able to bring\nthese people into the land which he sware to them,\u201d &c. As the finding\nout the particulars of the dust of our bodies discovers the vastness\nof his knowledge, so to raise them will manifest the glory of his power\nas much as creation; bodies that have mouldered away into multitudes\nof atoms, been resolved into the elements, passed through varieties\nof changes, been sometimes the matter to lodge the form of a plant, or\nbeen turned into the substance of a fish or fowl, or vapored up into a\ncloud, and been part of that matter which hath compacted a thunder\u2011bolt,\ndisposed of in places far distant, scattered by the winds, swallowed\nand concocted by beasts; for these to be called out from their\ndifferent places of abode, to meet in one body, and be restored to\ntheir former consistency, in a marriage union, in the \u201ctwinkling of an\neye\u201d (1 Cor. xv. 22), it is a consideration that may justly amaze us,\nand our shallow understandings are too feeble to comprehend it. But\nis it not credible, since all the disputes against it may be silenced\nby reflections on Infinite Power, which nothing can oppose, for which\nnothing can be esteemed too difficult to effect, which doth not imply\na contradiction in itself? It was no less amazing to the blessed virgin\nto hear a message that she should conceive a Son without knowing a\nman; but she is quickly answered, by the angel, with a \u201cNothing is\nimpossible to God\u201d (Luke i. 34, 37). The distinct parts off our bodies\ncannot be hid from his all\u2011seeing eye, wherever they are lodged,\nand in all the changes they pass through, as was discoursed when the\nOmniscience of God was handled; shall, then, the collection of them\ntogether be too hard for his invincible power and strength, and the\nuniting all those parts into a body, with new dispositions to receive\ntheir several souls, be too big and bulky for that Power which never\nyet was acquainted with any bar? Was not the miracle of our Saviour\u2019s\nmultiplying the loaves, suppose it had not been by a new creation, but\na collection of grain from several parts, very near as stupendous as\nthis? Had any one of us been the only creatures made just before the\nmatter of the world, and beheld that inform chaos covered with a thick\ndarkness, mentioned Gen. i. 2, would not {b91} the report, that from\nthis dark deep, next to nothing, should be raised such a multitude of\ncomely creatures, with such innumerable varieties of members, voices,\ncolors, motions, and such numbers of shining stars, a bright sun, one\nuniform body of light from this darkness, that should, like a giant,\nrejoice to run a race, for many thousands of years together, without\nstop or weariness; would not all these have seemed as incredible as the\ncollection of scattered dust? What was it that erected the innumerable\nhost of heaven, the glorious angels, and glittering stars, for aught\nwe know more numerous than the bodies of men, but an act of the Divine\nwill? and shall the power that wrought this sink under the charge of\ngathering some dispersed atoms, and compacting them into a human body?\nCan you tell how the dust of the ground was kneaded by God into the\nbody of man, and changed into flesh, skin, hair, bones, sinews, veins,\narteries, and blood, and fitted for so many several activities, when a\nhuman soul was breathed into it?[883] Can you imagine how a rib, taken\nfrom Adam\u2019s side, a lifeless bone, was formed into head, hands, feet,\neyes? Why may not the matter of men, which have been, be restored, as\nwell as that which was not, be first erected? Is it harder to repair\nthose things which were, than to create those things which were not? Is\nthere not the same Artificer? Hath any disease or sickliness abated his\npower? Is the Ancient of Days grown feeble? or shall the elements, and\nother creatures, that alway yet obeyed his command, ruffle against his\nraising voice, and refuse to disgorge those remains of human bodies\nthey have swallowed up in their several bowels? Did the whole world,\nand all the parts of it, rise at his word? and shall not some parts of\nthe world, the dust of the dead, stand up out of the graves at a word\nof the same mighty efficacy? Do we not annually see those marks of\npower which may stun our incredulity in this concern? Do you see in\na small acorn, or little seed, any such sights, as a tree with body,\nbark, branches, leaves, flowers, fruit\u2015\u2015where can you find them? Do you\nknow the invisible corners where they lurk in that little body? And yet\nthese you afterwards view rising up from this little body, when sown\nin the ground, that you could not possibly have any prospect of when\nyou rolled it in your hand, or opened its bowels. And why may not all\nthe particulars of our bodies, however disposed as to their distinct\nnatures invisibly to us, remain distinct, as well as if you mingle a\nthousand seeds together? they will come up in their distinct kinds, and\npreserve their distinct virtues. Again, is not the making heaven and\nearth, the union of the Divine and human nature, eternity and infirmity,\nto make a virgin conceive a Son, bear the Creator, and bring forth the\nRedeemer, to form the blood of God of the flesh of a virgin, a greater\nwork than the calling together and uniting the scattered parts of our\nbodies, which are all of one nature and matter? And since the power of\nGod is manifested in pardoning innumerable sins, is not the scattering\nour transgressions, as far as the east is from the west, as the\nexpression is, Ps. ciii. 12, and casting such numbers into the depths\nof the sea, which is God\u2019s power over himself, a greater argument of\n{b92} might than the recalling and repairing the atoms of our bodies\nfrom their various receptacles? It is not hard for them to believe this\nof the resurrection, that have been sensible of the weight and force\nof their sins, and the power of God in pardoning and vanquishing that\nmighty resistance which was made in their hearts against the power of\nhis renewing and sanctifying grace. The consideration of the infinite\npower of God is a good ground of the belief of the resurrection.\n\n_Instruct. 8._ Since the power of God is so great and incomprehensible,\nhow strange is it that it should be contemned and abused by the\ncreatures as it is! The power of God is beaten down by some, outraged\nby others, blasphemed by many, under their sufferings. The stripping\nGod of the honor of his creation, and the glory of his preservation of\nthe world, falls under this charge: thus do they that deny his framing\nthe world alone, or thought the first matter was not of God\u2019s creation,\nand such as fancied an evil principle, the author of all evil, as God\nis the author of all good, and so exempt from the power of God, that\nit could not be vanquished by him. These things have formerly found\ndefenders in the world; but they are, in themselves, ridiculous and\nvain, and have no footing in common reason, and are not worthy of\ndebate in a christian auditory.\n\nIn general, all idolatry in the world did arise from the want of\na due notion of this Infinite Power. The heathen thought one God was\nnot sufficient for the managing all things in the world, and therefore\nthey feigned several gods, that had several charges; as Ceres presided\nover the fruits of the earth; Esculapius over the cure of distempers;\nMercury for merchandise and trade; Mars for war and battles; Apollo and\nMinerva for learning and ingenious arts; and Fortune for casual things.\nWhence doth the other sort of idolatry, the adoring our bags and gold,\nour dependencies on, and trusting in, creatures for help arise, but\nfrom ignorance of God\u2019s power, or mean and slender apprehensions of it?\nFirst, there is a contempt of it. Secondly, An abuse of it.\n\n1. It is contemned in every sin, especially in obstinacy in sin. All\nsin whatsoever is built upon some false notion or monstrous conception\nof one or other of God\u2019s perfections, and in particular of this. It\nincludes a secret and lurking imagination, that we are able to grapple\nwith Omnipotence, and enter the lists with Almightiness; what else can\nbe judged of the apostle\u2019s expression (1 Cor. x. 22), \u201cDo we provoke\nthe Lord to jealousy; are we stronger than he?\u201d Do we think we have\nan arm too powerful for that justice we provoke, and can repel that\nvengeance we exasperate? Do we think we are an even match for God, and\nare able to despoil him of his Divinity? To despise his will, violate\nhis order, practise what he forbids with a severe threatening, and\npawns his power to make it good, is to pretend to have an arm like God,\nand be able to thunder with a voice equal or superior to him, as the\nexpression is (Job xl. 9). All security in sin is of this strain; when\nmen are not concerned at Divine threatenings, nor staggered in their\nsinful race, they intimate, that the declarations of Divine Power are\nbut vain\u2011glorious boastings; that God is not so strong and able as he\n{b93} reports himself to be; and therefore they will venture it, and\ndare him to try, whether the strength of his arm be as forcible as\nthe words of his mouth are terrible in his threats; this is to believe\nthemselves Creators, not creatures. We magnify God\u2019s power in our wants,\nand debase it in our rebellions; as though Omnipotence were only able\nto supply our necessities, and unable to revenge the injuries we offer\nhim.\n\n2. This power is contemned in distrust of God. All distrust is founded\nin a doubting of his truth, as if he would not be as good as his word;\nor of his omniscience, as if he had not a memory to retain his word;\nor of his power, as if he could not be as great as his word. We measure\nthe infinite power of God by the short line of our understandings,\nas if infinite strength were bounded within the narrow compass of our\nfinite reason; as if he could do no more than we were able to do. How\nsoon did those Israelites lose the remembrance of God\u2019s outstretched\narm, when they uttered that atheistical speech (Ps. lxxviii. 19), \u201cCan\nGod furnish a table in the wilderness?\u201d As if he that turned the dust\nof Egypt into lice, for the punishment of their oppressors, could not\nturn the dust of the wilderness into corn, for the support of their\nbodies! As if he that had miraculously rebuked the Red Sea, for their\nsafety, could not provide bread, for their nourishment! Though they had\nseen the Egyptians with lost lives in the morning, in the same place\nwhere their lives had been miraculously preserved in the evening, yet\nthey disgrace that experimental power, by opposing to it the stature\nof the Anakims, the strength of their cities, and the height of their\nwalls (Numb. xiii. 32). And (Numb. xiv. 3). \u201cWherefore hath the Lord\nbrought us into this land to fall by the sword?\u201d As though the giants\nof Canaan were too strong for Him, for whom they had seen the armies of\nEgypt too weak. How did they contract the almightiness of God into the\nlittleness of a little man, as if he must needs sink under the sword\nof a Canaanite? This distrust must arise either from a flat atheism, a\ndenial of the being of God, or his government of the world; or unworthy\nconceits of a weakness in him, that he had made creatures too hard for\nhimself; that he were not strong enough to grapple with those mighty\nAnakims, and give them the possession of Canaan against so great a\nforce. Distrust of him implies either that he was always destitute of\npower, or that his power is exhausted by his former works, or that it\nis limited, and near a period: it is to deny him to be the Creator that\nmoulded heaven and earth. Why should we, by distrust, put a slight upon\nthat power which he hath so often expressed, and which, in the minutest\nworks of his hands, surmount the force of the sharpest understanding?\n\n3. It is contemned in too great a fear of man, which ariseth from a\ndistrust of Divine power. Fear of man is a crediting the might of man\nwith a disrepute of the arm of God, it takes away the glory of his\nmight, and renders the creature stronger than God; and God more feeble\nthan a mortal; as if the arm of man were a rod of iron, and the arm\nof God a brittle reed. How often do men tremble at the threatenings\nand hectorings of ruffians, yet will stand as stakes {b94} against\nthe precepts and threatenings of God, as though he had less power to\npreserve us, than enemies had to destroy? With what disdain doth God\nspeak to men infected with this humor (Isa. li. 12, 13)? \u201cWho art\nthou, that art afraid of a man that shall die, and the Son of man that\nshall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath\nstretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth;\nand hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the\noppressor?\u201d To fear man that is as grass, that cannot think a thought\nwithout a Divine concourse, that cannot breathe, but by a Divine power,\nnor touch a hair without license first granted from heaven; this is\nforgetfulness, and consequently a slight of that Infinite Power, which\nhath been manifested in founding the earth and garnishing the heavens.\nAll fear of man, in the way of our duty, doth in some sort thrust out\nthe remembrance, and discredit the great actions of the Creator. Would\nnot a mighty prince think it a disparagement to him, if his servant\nshould decline his command for fear of one of his subjects? and hath\nnot the great God just cause to think himself disgraced by us, when\nwe deny him obedience for fear of a creature: as though he had but\nan infant ability too feeble to bear us out in duty, and incapable to\nbalance the strength of an arm of flesh?\n\n4. It is contemned by trusting in ourselves, in means, in man, more\nthan in God. When in any distress we will try every creature refuge,\nbefore we have recourse to God; and when we apply ourselves to him,\nwe do it with such slight and perfunctory frames, and with so much\ndespondency, as if we despaired either of his ability or will to help\nus; and implore him with cooler affections than we solicit creatures:\nor, when in a disease we depend upon the virtue of the medicine, the\nability of the physician, and reflect not upon that power that endued\nthe medicine with that virtue, and supports the quality in it, and\nconcurs to the operation of it. When we depend upon the activity of\nthe means, as if they had power originally in themselves, and not\nderivatively; and do not eye the power of God animating and assisting\nthem. We cannot expect relief from anything with a neglect of God, but\nwe render it in our thoughts more powerful than God: we acknowledge\na greater fulness in a shallow stream, than in an eternal spring; we\ndo, in effect, depose the true God, and create to ourselves a new one;\nwe assert, by such a kind of acting, the creature, if not superior,\nyet equal with God, and independent on him. When we trust in our own\nstrength, without begging his assistance; or boast of our own strength,\nwithout acknowledging his concurrence, as the Assyrian; \u201cBy the\nstrength of my hand have I done this; I have put down the inhabitants\nlike a valiant man\u201d (Isa. x. 13). It is, as if the axe should boast\nitself against him that hews therewith, and thinks itself more mighty\nthan the arm that wields it (ver. 15), when we trust in others more\nthan in God. Thus God upbraids those by the prophet, that sought help\nfrom Egypt, telling them (Isa. xxxi. 3), \u201cThe Egyptians were men, and\nnot gods;\u201d intimating, that by their dependence on them, they rendered\nthem gods and not men, and advanced them from the state of creatures\nto that of almighty {b95} deities. It is to set a pile of dust, a heap\nof ashes, above Him that created and preserves the world. To trust\nin a creature, is to make it as infinite as God; to do that which is\nimpossible in itself to be done. God himself cannot make a creature\ninfinite, for that were to make him God. It is also contemned when we\nascribe what we receive to the power of instruments, and not to the\npower of God. Men, in whatsoever they do for us, are but the tools\nwhereby the Creator works. Is it not a disgrace to the limner to admire\nhis pencil, and not himself; to the artificer, to admire his file and\nengines, and not his power? \u201cIt is not I,\u201d saith Paul, \u201cthat labor, but\nthe grace, the efficacious grace of God, which is in me.\u201d Whatsoever\ngood we do is from him, not from ourselves; to ascribe it to ourselves,\nor to instruments, is to overlook and contemn his power.\n\n5. Unbelief of the gospel is a contempt and disowning Divine power.\nThis perfection hath been discovered in the conception of Christ,\nthe union of the two natures, his resurrection from the grave, the\nrestoration of the world, and the conversion of men, more than in the\ncreation of the world: then what a disgrace is unbelief to all that\npower that so severely punished the Jews for the rejecting the gospel:\nturned so many nations from their beloved superstitions; humbled the\npower of princes and the wisdom of philosophers; chased devils from\ntheir temples by the weakness of fishermen; planted the standard of\nthe gospel against the common notions and inveterate customs of the\nworld! What a disgrace is unbelief to this power which hath preserved\nChristianity from being extinguished by the force of men and devils,\nand kept it flourishing in the midst of sword, fire, and executioners;\nthat hath made the simplicity of the gospel overpower the eloquence\nof orators, and multiplied it from the ashes of martyrs, when it was\ndestitute of all human assistances! Not heartily to believe and embrace\nthat doctrine, which hath been attended with such marks of power, is\na high reflection upon this Divine perfection, so highly manifested in\nthe first publication, propagation, and preservation of it.\n\nSecondly, The power of God is abused, as well as contemned.\n1. When we make use of it to justify contradictions. The doctrine of\ntransubstantiation is an abuse of this power. When the maintainers of\nit cannot answer the absurdities alleged against it, they have recourse\nto the power of God. It implies a contradiction, that the same body\nshould be on earth and in heaven at the same instant of time; that it\nshould be at the right hand of God, and in the mouth and stomach of a\nman; that it should be a body of flesh, and yet bread to the eye and\nto the taste; that it should be visible and invisible, a glorious body,\nand yet gnawn by the teeth of a creature; that it should be multiplied\nin a thousand places, and yet an entire body in every one, where there\nis no member to be seen, no flesh to be tasted; that it should be above\nus in the highest heavens, and yet within us in our lower bowels; such\ncontradictions as these are an abuse of the power of God. Again, we\nabuse this power when we believe every idle story that is reported,\nbecause God is able to make it so if he pleased. We may as well believe\n\u00c6sop\u2019s Fables to be true, that birds spake, and beasts reasoned,\nbecause the power of {b96} God can enable such creatures to such\nacts. God\u2019s power is not the rule of our belief of a thing without\nthe exercise of it in matter of fact, and the declaration of it upon\nsufficient evidence.\n\n2. The power of God is abused by presuming on it, without using\nthe means he hath appointed. When men sit with folded arms, and make\na confidence in his power a glorious title to their idleness and\ndisobedience, they would have his strength do all, and his precept\nshould move them to do nothing; this is a trust of his power against\nhis command, a pretended glorifying his power with a slight of his\nsovereignty. Though God be almighty, yet, for the most part, he\nexerciseth his might in giving life and success to second causes and\nlawful endeavors. When we stay in the mouth of danger, without any call\nordering us to continue, and against a door of providence opened for\nour rescue, and sanctuary ourselves in the power of God without any\npromise, without any providence conducting us; this is not to glorify\nthe Divine might, but to neglect it, in neglecting the means which his\npower affords to us for our escape; to condemn it to our humors, to\nwork miracles for us according to our wills, and against his own.[884]\nGod could have sent a worm to be Herod\u2019s executioner when he sought the\nlife of our Saviour, or employed an angel from heaven to have tied his\nhands or stopped his breath, and not put Joseph upon a flight to Egypt\nwith our Saviour; yet had it not been an abuse of the power of God,\nfor Joseph to have neglected the precept, and slighted the means God\ngave him for the preserving his own life and that of the child\u2019s?\nChrist himself, when the Jews consulted to destroy him, presumed not\nupon the power of God to secure him, but used ordinary means for his\npreservation, by walking no more openly, but retiring himself into a\ncity near the wilderness till the hour was come, and the call of his\nFather manifest (John xi. 53, 54). A rash running upon danger, though\nfor the truth itself, is a presuming upon, and consequently an abuse\nof, this power; a proud challenging it to serve our turns against the\nauthority of his will, and the force of his precept; a not resting in\nhis ordinate power, but demanding his absolute power to pleasure our\nfollies and presumptions; concluding and expecting more from it than\nwhat is authorized by his will.\n\n_Instruct. 9._ If infinite power be a peculiar property of God, how\nmiserable will all wicked rebels be under this power of God! Men may\nbreak his laws, but not impair his arm; they may slight his word, but\ncannot resist his power. If he swear that he will sweep a place with\nthe besom of destruction, \u201cas he hath thought, so shall it come to pass;\nand as he hath purposed, so shall it stand,\u201d (Isa. xiv. 23, 24). Rebels\nagainst an earthly prince may exceed him in strength, and be more\npowerful than their sovereign; none can equal God, much less exceed\nhim. As none can exercise an act of hostility against him without his\npermissive will, so none can struggle from under his hand without his\npositive will. He hath an arm not to be moved, a hand not to be wrung\naside. God is represented on his throne like a \u201cjasper stone\u201d (Rev. iv.\n3), as one of invincible power when he comes to judge; the jasper is a\nstone which withstands the {b97} greatest force.[885] Though men resist\nthe order of his laws, they cannot the sentence of their punishment,\nnor the execution of it. None can any more exempt themselves from the\narm of his strength, than they can from the authority of his dominion.\nAs they must bow to his sovereignty, so must they sink under his force.\nA prisoner in this world may make his escape, but a prisoner in the\nworld to come cannot (Job x. 7). \u201cThere is none that can deliver out of\nthine hand.\u201d \u201cThere is none to deliver when he tears in pieces\u201d (Ps. l.\n22). His strength is uncontrollable; hence his throne is represented as\na \u201cfiery flame\u201d (Dan. vii. 9). As a spark of fire hath power to kindle\none thing after another, and increase till it consumes a forest, a city,\nswallow up all combustible matter till it consumes a world, and many\nworlds, if they were in being, what power hath the tree to resist the\nfire, though it seems mighty, when it outbraves the winds? What man,\nto this day, hath been able to free himself from that chain of death\nGod clapped upon him for his revolt? And if he be too feeble to rescue\nhimself from a temporal, much less from an eternal death. The devils\nhave, to this minute, groaned under the pile of wrath, without any\nsuccess in delivering themselves by all their strength, which much\nsurmounts all the strength of mankind, nor have they any hopes to work\ntheir rescue to eternity. How foolish is every sinner! Can we poor\nworms strut it out against Infinite Power? We cannot resist the meanest\ncreatures when God commissions them, and puts a sword into their hands.\nThey will not, no, not the worms, be startled at the glory of a king,\nwhen they have the Creator\u2019s warrant to be his executioners (Acts xii.\n23). Who can withstand him, when he commands the waves and inundations\nof the sea to leap over the shore; when he divides the ground in\nearthquakes, and makes it gape wide to swallow the inhabitants of it;\nwhen the air is corrupted to breed pestilences; when storms and showers,\nunseasonably falling, putrify the fruits of the earth; what created\npower can mend the matter, and, with a prevailing voice, say to him,\nWhat dost thou? There are two attributes God will make glister in\nhell to the full; his wrath and his power (Rom. ix. 22): \u201cWhat if God,\nwilling to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with\nmuch long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction?\u201d If\nit were mere wrath, and no power to second it, it were not so terrible;\nbut it is wrath and power: both are joined together. It is not only a\nsharp sword, but a powerful arm; and not only that, for then it were\nwell for the damned creature. To have many sharp blows, and from a\nstrong arm, this may be without putting forth the highest strength a\nman hath; but in this God makes it his design to make his power known\nand conspicuous; he takes the sword, as it were, in both hands, that\nhe may show the strength of his arm in striking the harder blow; and\ntherefore the apostle calls it (2 Thess. i. 9) \u201cthe glory of his power,\u201d\nwhich puts a sting into his wrath; and it is called (Rev. xix. 15)\n\u201cthe fierceness of the wrath of the Almighty.\u201d God will do it in\nsuch a manner as to make men sensible of his almightiness in every\nstroke. {b98} How great must that vengeance be, that is backed by all\nthe strength of God! When there will be a powerful wrath, without a\npowerful compassion; when all his power shall be exercised in punishing,\nand not the least mite of it exercised in pitying; how irresistible\nwill be the load of such a weighty hand! How can the dust of the\nbalance break the mighty bars, or get out of the lists of a powerful\nvengeance, or hope for any grain of comfort? O, that every obstinate\nsinner would think of this, and consider his unmeasurable boldness\nin thinking himself able to grapple with Omnipotence! What force can\nany have to resist the presence of Him, before whom rocks melt, and\nthe heavens, at length, shall be shrivelled up as a parchment by the\nlast fire! As the light of God\u2019s face is too dazzling to be beheld\nby us, so the arm of his power is too mighty to be opposed by us.\nHis almightiness is above the reach of our potsherd strength, as his\ninfiniteness is above the capacity of our purblind understanding. God\nwere not omnipotent, if his power could be rendered ineffectual by any.\n\n_Use II._ A second use of this point, from the consideration of the\ninfinite power of God, is of comfort. As Omnipotence is an ocean that\ncannot be fathomed, so the comforts from it are streams that cannot\nbe exhausted. What joy can be wanting to him that finds himself folded\nin the arms of Omnipotence? This perfection is made over to believers\nin the covenant, as well as any other attribute; \u201cI am the Lord, your\nGod;\u201d therefore, that power, which is as essential to the Godhead as\nany other perfection of his nature, is, in the rights and extent of it,\nassured unto you. Nay, may we not say, it is made over more than any\nother, because it is that which animates every other perfection; and is\nthe Spirit that gives them motion and appearance in the world. If God\nhad expressed himself in particular, as, \u201cI am a true God, a wise God,\na loving God, a righteous God, I am yours;\u201d what would all, or any\nof those, have signified, unless the other also had been implied, as,\n\u201cI am an almighty God, I am your God?\u201d In God\u2019s making over himself\nin any particular attribute, this of his power is included in every\none, without which, all his other grants would be insignificant. It\nis a comfort that power is in the hands of God; it can never be better\nplaced, for he can never use his power to injure his confiding creature;\nif it were in our own hands, we might use it to injure ourselves. It is\na power in the hands of an indulgent Father, not a hard\u2011hearted tyrant;\nit is a just power; \u201cHis right hand is full of righteousness\u201d (Ps.\nxlviii. 10); because of his righteousness he can never use it ill, and\nbecause of his wisdom he can never use it unseasonably. Men that have\nstrength, often misplace the actings of it, because of their folly;\nand sometimes employ it to base ends, because of their wickedness;\nbut this power in God is always awakened by goodness, and conducted by\nwisdom; it is never exercised by self\u2011will and passion, but according\nto the immutable rule of his own nature, which is righteousness. How\ncomfortable is it to think, that you have a God that can do what he\npleases; nothing so difficult but he can effect, nothing so strong but\nhe can overrule! You need not dread men, since you have One to restrain\nthem; nor fear devils, {b99} since you have One to chain them; no\ncreature but is acted by this power; no creature but must fall upon the\nwithdrawing of this power. It was not all laid out in creation; it is\nnot weakened by his preservation of things; he yet hath a fullness of\npower, and a residue of Spirit; for whom should that eternal arm of the\nLord be displayed, and that incomprehensible thunder of his power be\nshot out, but for those for whose sake and for whose comfort it is\nrevealed in his word? In particular,\n\n1. Here is comfort in all afflictions and distresses. Our evils can\nnever be so great to oppress us, as his power is great to deliver us.\nThe same power that brought a world out of a chaos, and constituted,\nand hath hitherto preserved, the regular motion of the stars, can bring\norder out of our confusions, and light out of our darkness. When our\nSaviour was in the greatest distress, and beheld the face of his Father\nfrowning, while he was upon the cross, in his complaint to him, he\nexerciseth faith upon his power (Matt. xxvii. 46): \u201cEli, Eli: My God,\nmy God, why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d that this, My strong, my strong; El,\nis a name of power, belonging to God; he comforts himself in his power,\nwhile he complains of his frowns. Follow his pattern, and forget not\nthat power that can scatter the clouds, as well as gather them together.\nThe Psalmist\u2019s support in his distress, was in the creative power of\nGod (Ps. cxxi. 2): \u201cMy help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and\nearth.\u201d\n\n2. It is comfort in all strong and stirring corruptions and\nmighty temptations. It is by this we may arm ourselves, and \u201cbe strong\nin the power of his might\u201d (Eph. vi. 10); by this we may conquer\nprincipalities and powers, as dreadful as hell, but not so mighty as\nheaven; by this we may triumph over lusts within, too strong for an\narm of flesh; by this the devils that have possessed us may be cast\nout; the battered walls of our souls may be repaired; and the sons\nof Anak laid flat. That power that brought light out of darkness, and\nover\u2011mastered the deformity of the chaos, and set bounds to the ocean,\nand dried up the Red Sea by a rebuke, can quell the tumults in our\nspirits, and level spiritual Goliahs by his word. When the disciples\nheard that terrifying speech of our Saviour, concerning rich men, that\nit was \u201ceasier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than\nfor a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God\u201d (Matt. xix. 24), to\nentertain the gospel, which commanded self\u2011denial; and that, because\nof the allurements of the world, and the strong habits in their soul;\nChrist refers them to the power of God (ver. 26), who could expel those\nill habits, and plant good ones: \u201cWith men this is impossible, but\nwith God all things are possible.\u201d There is no resistance, but he can\nsurmount; no strong\u2011hold, but he can demolish; no tower, but he can\nlevel.\n\n3. It is comfort from hence, that all promises shall be performed.\nGoodness is sufficient to make a promise, but power is necessary to\nperform a promise. Men that are honest, cannot often make good their\nwords, because something may intervene that may shorten their ability:\nbut nothing can disable God, without diminishing his godhead. He\nhath an infiniteness of power to accomplish his word, as well as an\ninfiniteness of goodness to make and utter his word. {b100} That might\nwhereby he made heaven and earth, and his keeping truth forever, are\njoined together (Ps. cxlvi. 5, 6); his Father\u2019s faithfulness, and\nhis creative power are linked together. It is upon this basis the\ncovenant, and every part of it, is established, and stands as firm as\nthe almightiness of God, whereby he sprung up the earth, and reared\nthe heavens. \u201cNo power can resist his will\u201d (Rom. ix. 19); \u201cWho can\ndisannul his purpose, and turn back his hand when it is stretched out\u201d\n(Isa. xiv. 27)? His word is unalterable, and his power is invincible.\nHe could not deceive himself, for he knew his own strength when he\npromised: no unexpected event can change his resolution, because\nnothing can happen without the compass of his foresight. No created\nstrength can stop him in his action, because all creatures are ready\nto serve him at his command; not the devils in hell, nor all the wicked\nmen on earth, since he hath strength to restrain them, and an arm\nto punish them. What can be too hard for Him that created heaven and\nearth? Hence it was, that when God promised anything anciently to his\npeople, he used often the name of the Almighty, the Lord that created\nheaven and earth, as that which was an undeniable answer to any\nobjection, against anything that might be made against the greatness\nand stupendousness of any promise; by that name, in all his works of\ngrace, was he known to them (Exod. vi. 3). When we are sure of his\nwill, we need not question his strength, since he never over\u2011engaged\nhimself above his ability. He that could not be resisted by anything in\ncreation, nor vanquished by devils in redemption, can never want power\nto glorify his faithfulness in his accomplishment of whatsoever he hath\npromised.\n\n4. From this infiniteness of power in God, we have ground of\nassurance for perseverance. Since conversion is resembled to the works\nof creation and resurrection, two great marks of his strength, he doth\nnot surely employ himself in the first of changing the heart, to let\nany created strength baffle that power which he began and intends to\nglorify. It was this might that struck off the chain, and expelled\nthat strong one that possessed you. What, if you are too weak to keep\nhim out of his lost possession, will God lose the glory of his first\nstrength, by suffering his foiled adversary to make a re\u2011entry, and\nregain his former usurpation? His out\u2011stretched arm will not do less\nby his spiritual, than it did by his national Israel: it guarded them\nall the way to Canaan, and left them not to shift for themselves after\nhe had struck off the fetters of Egypt, and buried their enemies in\nthe Red Sea (Deut. i. 31). This greatness of the Father, above all,\nour Saviour makes the ground of believers\u2019 continuance forever, against\nthe blasts of hell and engines of the world (John x. 29). \u201cMy Father\nis greater than all, and none is able to pluck them out of my Father\u2019s\nhands.\u201d Our keeping is not in our own weak hands, but in the hands of\nHim who is mighty to save. That power of God keeps us which intends\nour salvation. In all fears of falling away, shelter yourselves in\nthe power of God: \u201cHe shall be holden up,\u201d saith the apostle, speaking\nconcerning one weak in faith; and no other reason is rendered by him\nbut this, \u201cFor God is able to make him to stand\u201d (Rom. xiv. 4).\n\n{b101} 5. From this attribute of the infinite power of God, we have\na ground of comfort in the lowest estate of the church. Let the state\nof the church be never so deplorable, the condition never so desperate,\nthat Power that created the world, and shall raise the bodies of\nmen, can create a happy state for the church, and raise her from an\noverwhelming grave; though the enemies trample upon her, they cannot\nupon the arm that holds her, which by the least motion of it, can\nlift her up above the heads of her adversaries, and make them feel the\nthunder of that Power that none can understand: by the \u201cblast of God\nthey perish, and by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed\u201d (Job\niv. 9); they \u201cshall be scattered as chaff before the wind.\u201d If once\nhe \u201cdraw his hand out of his bosom,\u201d all must fly before him, or sink\nunder him (Ps. lxxiv. 11): and when there is \u201cnone to help, his own arm\nsustains him, and brings salvation, and his fury doth uphold him\u201d (Isa.\nlxiii. 5). What if the church totter under the underminings of hell?\nWhat if it hath a sad heart and wet eyes? In what a little moment can\nhe make the night turn into day, and make the Jews, that were preparing\nfor death in Shushan, triumph over the necks of their enemies, and\nmarch in one hour with swords in their hands, that expected the last\nhour \u201cropes about their necks\u201d (Esth. ix. 1, 5)? If Israel be pursued\nby Pharaoh, the sea shall open its arms to protect them: if they\nbe thirsty, a rock shall spout out water to refresh them: if they\nbe hungry, heaven shall be their granary for manna: if Jerusalem be\nbesieged, and hath not force enough to encounter Sennacherib, an angel\nshall turn the camp into an Aceldema, a field of blood. His people\nshall not want deliverances, till God want a power of working miracles\nfor their security: he is more jealous of his power, than the church\ncan be of her safety. And if we should want other arguments to press\nhim, we may implore him by virtue of his power: for when there is\nnothing in the church as a motive to him to save it, there is enough\nin his own name, and \u201cthe illustration of his power\u201d (Ps. cvi. 8). Who\ncan grapple with the omnipotency of that God, who is jealous of, and\nzealous for, the honor of it? And therefore God, for the most part,\ntakes such opportunities to deliver, wherein his almightiness may be\nmost conspicuous, and his counsels most admirable. He awakened not\nhimself to deliver Israel, till they were upon the brink of the Red Sea;\nnor to rescue the three children, till they were in the fiery furnace;\nnor Daniel, till he was in the lion\u2019s den. It is in the weakness of his\ncreature that his strength is perfected, not in a way of addition of\nperfectness to it, but in a way of manifestation of the perfection of\nit; as it is the perfection of the sun to shine and enlighten the world,\nnot that the sun receives an increase of light by the darting of his\nbeams, but discovers his glory to the admiration of men, and pleasure\nof the world. If it were not for such occasions, the world would not\nregard the mightiness of God, nor know what power were in him. It\ntraverses the stage in its fulness and liveliness upon such occasions,\nwhen the enemies are strong, and their strength edged with an intense\nhatred, and but little time between the contrivance and execution. It\nis a great comfort that the lowest distresses of the church are a fit\nscene for the discovery of this attribute, and that the {b102} glory\nof God\u2019s omnipotence, and the church\u2019s security, are so straitly linked\ntogether. It is a promise that will never be forgotten by God, and\nought never to be forgotten by us, that \u201cin this mountain the hand of\nthe Lord shall rest\u201d (Isa. xxv. 10); that is, the power of the Lord\nshall abide; and Moab \u201cshall be trodden under him, even as straw is\ntrodden down for the dunghill.\u201d And the \u201cplagues of Babylon shall come\nin one day, death, and mourning, and famine; for strong is the Lord\nwho judgeth her\u201d (Rev. xviii. 8).\n\n_Use III._ The third use is for exhortation.\n\n1. Meditate on this power of God, and press it often upon your minds.\nWe conclude many things of God that we do not practically suck the\ncomfort of, for want of deep thoughts of it, and frequent inspection\ninto it. We believe God to be true, yet distrust him; we acknowledge\nhim powerful, yet fear the motion of every straw. Many truths, though\nassented to in our understandings, are kept under hatches by corrupt\naffections, and have not their due influence, because they are not\nbrought forth into the open air of our souls by meditation. If we\nwill but search our hearts, we shall find it is the power of God we\noften doubt of. When the heart of Ahaz and his subjects trembled at\nthe combination of the Syrian and Israelitish kings against him, for\nwant of a confidence in the power of God, God sends his prophet with\ncommission to work a miraculous sign at his own choice, to rear up his\nfainting heart; and when he refused to ask a sign out of diffidence\nof that almighty Power, the prophet complains of it as an affront to\nhis Master (Isa. vii. 12, 13). Moses, so great a friend of God, was\novertaken with this kind of unbelief, after all the experiments of\nGod\u2019s miraculous acts in Egypt; the answer God gives him manifests this\nto be at the core: \u201cIs the Lord\u2019s hand waxed short\u201d (Numb. xi. 23)? For\nwant of actuated thoughts of this, we are many times turned from our\nknown duty by the blast of a creature; as though man had more power to\ndismay us, than God hath to support us in his commanded way. The belief\nof God\u2019s power is one of the first steps to all religion; without\nsettled thoughts of it, we cannot pray lively and believingly for the\nobtaining the mercies we want, or the averting the evils we fear; we\nshould not love him, unless we are persuaded he hath a power to bless\nus; nor fear him, unless we were persuaded of his power to punish\nus. The frequent thoughts of this would render our faith more stable,\nand our hopes more stedfast; it would make us more feeble to sin,\nand more careful to obey. When the virgin staggered at the message of\nthe angel, that she should \u201cbear a Son,\u201d he, in his answer, turns her\nto the creative power of God (Luke i. 35), \u201cThe power of the Highest\nshall overshadow thee;\u201d which seems to be in allusion to the Spirit\u2019s\nmoving upon the face of the deep, and bringing a comely world out of\na confused mass. Is it harder for God to make a virgin conceive a Son\nby the power of his Spirit, than to make a world? Why doth he reveal\nhimself so often under the title of Almighty, and press it upon us,\nbut that we should press it upon ourselves? And shall we be forgetful\nof that which everything about us, everything within us, is a mark of?\nHow come we by a power of seeing and hearing, a faculty, and act of\nunderstanding {b103} and will, but by this power framing us, this power\nassisting us? What though the thunder of his power cannot be understood,\nno more can any other perfection of his nature; shall we, therefore,\nseldom think of it? The sea cannot be fathomed, yet the merchant\nexcuseth not himself from sailing upon the surface of it. We cannot\nglorify God without due consideration of this attribute; for his power\nis his glory as much as any other, and called both by the name of glory\n(Rom. vi. 4), speaking of Christ\u2019s resurrection by the glory of the\nFather; and also \u201cthe riches of his glory\u201d (Eph. iii. 16). Those that\nhave strong temptations in their course and over\u2011pressing corruptions\nin their hearts, have need to think of it out of interest, since\nnothing but this can relieve them. Those that have experimented the\nworking of it in their new creation, are obliged to think of it out of\ngratitude. It was this mighty power over himself that gave rise to all\nthat pardoning grace already conferred, or hereafter expected; without\nit our souls had been consumed, the world overturned; we could not\nhave expected a happy heaven, but have lain yelling in an eternal hell,\nhad not the power of his mercy exceeded that of his justice, and his\ninfinite power executed what his infinite wisdom had contrived for our\nredemption. How much also should we be raised in our admirations of\nGod, and ravish ourselves in contemplating that might that can raise\ninnumerable worlds in those infinite imaginary spaces without this\nglobe of heaven and earth, and exceed inconceivably what he hath done\nin the creation of this?\n\n2. From the pressing the consideration of this upon ourselves, let us\nbe induced to trust God upon the account of his power. The main end of\nthe revelation of his power to the patriarchs, and of the miraculous\noperations of it in Egypt, was to induce them to an entire reposing\nthemselves in God: and the Psalmist doth scarce speak of the Divine\nOmnipotence without making this inference from it; and scarce exhorts\nto a trust in God, but backs it with a consideration of his power in\ncreation, it being the chief support of the soul (Ps. cxlvi. 1): \u201cHappy\nis he whose hope is in the Lord his God, which made heaven and earth,\nthe sea, and all that therein is.\u201d That Power is invincible that drew\nthe world out of nothing: nothing can happen to us harder than the\nmaking the world without the concurrence of instruments: no difficulty\ncan nonplus that strength, that hath drawn all things out of nothing,\nor out of a confused matter next to nothing: no power can rifle what we\ncommit to him (2 Tim. i. 12). He is all power, above the reach of all\npower; all other powers in the world flowing from him, or depending on\nhim, he is worthy to be trusted, since we know him true, without ever\nbreaking his word; and Omnipotent, never failing of his purpose; and\na confidence in it is the chief act whereby we can glorify this power,\nand credit his arm. A strong God, and a weak faith in omnipotence,\ndo not suit well together. Indeed, we are more engaged to a trust in\nDivine power than the ancient patriarchs were; they had the verbal\ndeclaration of his power, and many of them little other evidence of\nit, than in the creation of the world; and their faith in God being\nestablished in this first discovery of his omnipotence, drew out\nitself further to believe, that whatsoever God promised by his word, he\n{b104} was able to perform, as well as the creation of the world out of\nnothing; which seems to be the intendment of the apostle (Heb. xi. 3);\nnot barely to speak of the creation of the world by God, which was a\nthing the Hebrews understood well enough from their ancient oracles;\nbut to show the foundation of the patriarch\u2019s faith, _viz._ God making\nthe world by his Word, and what use they made of the discovery of his\npower in that, to lead them to believe the promise of God concerning\nthe Seed of the woman to be brought into the world. But we have\nnot only the same foundation, but superadded demonstrations of this\nattribute in the conception of our Saviour, the union of the two\nnatures, the glorious redemption, the propagation of the gospel, and\nthe new creation of the world. They relied upon the naked power of God,\nwithout those more illustrious appearances of it, which have been in\nthe ages since, and arrived to their notice; we have the wonderful\neffects of that which they had but obscure expectations of.\n\n(1.) Consider, trust in God can never be without taking in God\u2019s power\nas a concurrent foundation with his truth. It is the main ground of\ntrust, and so set forth in the prophet (Isa. xxvi. 4); \u201cTrust ye in the\nLord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.\u201d And\nthe faith of the ancients so recommended (Heb. xi.), had this chiefly\nfor its ground; and the faith in gospel times is called a \u201ctrusting\non his arm\u201d (Isa. li. 5.) All the attributes of God are the objects\nof our veneration, but they do not equally contribute to the producing\ntrust in our hearts; his eternity, simplicity, infiniteness, ravish\nand astonish our minds when we consider them; but there is no immediate\ntendency in their nature to allure us to a confidence in him, no, not\nin an innocent state, much less in a lapsed and revolted condition: but\nthe other perfections of his nature, as his holiness, righteousness,\nmercy, are amiable to us in regard of the immediate operations of them\nupon and about the creature, and so have something in their own nature\nto allure us to repose ourselves in him; but yet those cannot engage\nto an entire trust in him without reflecting upon his ability, which\ncan only render those useful and successful to the creature.[886] For\nwhatsoever bars stand in the way of his holy, righteous, and merciful\nproceedings towards his creatures, are not overmastered by those\nperfections, but by that strength of his which can only relieve us\nin concurrence with the other attributes. How could his mercy succor\nus without his arm, or his wisdom guide us without his hand, or his\ntruth perform promises to us without his strength? As no attribute\ncan act without it, so in our addresses to him upon the account of\nany particular perfection in the Godhead according to our indigency,\nour eye must be perpetually fixed upon this of his power, and our\nfaith would be feeble and dispirited without eyeing this: without this,\nhis holiness, which hates sin, would not be regarded; and his mercy,\npitying a grieving sinner, would not be valued. As this power is the\nground of a wicked man\u2019s fear, so it is the ground of a good man\u2019s\ntrust. This was that which was the principal support of Abraham, not\nbarely his promise, but his ability to make it good (Rom. iv. 21);\n{b105} and when he was commanded to sacrifice Isaac, the ability of\nGod to raise him up again (Heb. xi. 19). All faith would droop, and be\nin the mire, without leaning upon this; all those attributes which we\nconsider as moral in God, would have no influence upon us without this,\nwhich we consider physically in God. Though we value the kindness men\nmay express to us in our distresses, yet we make them not the objects\nof our confidence, unless they have an ability to act what they express.\nThere can be no trust in God without an eye to his power.\n\n(2.) Sometimes the power of God is the sole object of trust. As when\nwe have no promise to assure us of his will, we have nothing else to\npitch upon but his ability; and that not his absolute power, but his\nordinate, in the way of his providence; we must not trust in it so\nas to expect he should please our humor with fresh miracles, but rest\nupon his power, and leave the manner to his will. Asa, when ready to\nconflict with the vast Ethiopian army, pleaded nothing else but this\npower of God (2 Chron. xiv. 11). And the three children, who had no\nparticular promise of deliverance (that we read of) stuck to God\u2019s\nability to preserve them against the king\u2019s threatening, and owned\nit in the face of the king, yet with some kind of inward intimations\nin their own spirits, that he would also deliver them (Dan. iii. 17).\n\u201cOur God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery\nfurnace.\u201d And accordingly the fire burnt the cords that tied them,\nwithout singeing any thing else about them. But when this power\nhath been exercised upon like occasions, it is a precedent he hath\ngiven us to rest upon. Precedents in law are good pleas, and strong\nencouragements to the client to expect success in his suit. \u201cOur\nfathers trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them,\u201d saith David (Ps.\nxxii. 4). And Jehoshaphat, in a case of distress (2 Chron. xx. 7), \u201cArt\nnot thou our God, that didst drive out the inhabitants of this land\nbefore thy people Israel?\u201d When we have not any statute law and promise\nto plead, we may plead his power, together with the former precedents\nand act of it. The centurion had nothing else to act his faith upon but\nthe power of Christ, and some evidences of it in the miracles reported\nof him; but he is silent in the latter, and casts himself only upon the\nformer, acknowledging that Christ had the same command over diseases,\nas himself had over his soldiers (Matt. viii. 10). And our Saviour,\nwhen he receives the petition of the blind men, requires no more of\nthem in order to a cure, but a belief of his ability to perform it\n(Matt. ix. 28). \u201cBelieve you that I am able to do this?\u201d His will is\nnot known but by revelation, but his power is apprehended by reason,\nas essentially and eternally linked with the notion of a God. God also\nis jealous of the honor of this attribute; and since it is so much\nvirtually discredited, he is pleased when any do cordially own it, and\nentirely resign themselves to the assistance of it. Well, then, in all\nduties where faith is particularly to be acted, forget not this as the\nmain prop of it: do you pray for a flourishing and triumphing grace?\nConsider him \u201cas able to make all grace to abound in you\u201d (2 Cor. ix.\n8). Do you want comfort and reviving under your contritions and godly\nsorrow? Consider him, as he declares himself, {b106} \u201cthe high and\nlofty One\u201d (Isa. lvii. 15). Are you under pressing distresses? take\nEliphaz\u2019s advice to Job, when he tells him what he himself would do if\nhe were in his case (Job v. 8), \u201cI would seek unto God, and unto God\nwould I commit my cause:\u201d but observe under what consideration (ver. 9)\nas to one \u201cthat doth great things, and unsearchable; marvellous things\nwithout number.\u201d When you beg of him the melting your rocky hearts, the\ndashing in pieces your strong corruptions, the drawing his beautiful\nimage in your soul, the quickening your dead hearts, and reviving your\ndrooping spirits, and supplying your spiritual wants, consider him as\none \u201cable to do abundantly,\u201d not only \u201cabove what you can ask,\u201d but\n\u201cabove what you can think\u201d (Eph. iii. 20). Faith will be spiritless,\nand prayer will be lifeless, if power be not eyed by us in those things\nwhich cannot be done without an arm of Omnipotence.\n\n3. This doctrine teacheth us humility and submission. The vast\ndisproportion between the mightiness of God, and the meanness of\na creature, inculcates the lesson of humility in his presence. How\nbecoming is humility under a mighty hand (1 Pet. v. 6)! What is an\ninfant in a giant\u2019s hand, or a lamb in a lion\u2019s paw? Submission to\nirresistible power is the best policy, and the best security; this\ngratifies and draws out goodness, whereas murmuring and resistance\nexasperates and sharpens power. We sanctify his name, and glorify his\nstrength, by falling down before it; it is an acknowledgment of his\ninvisible strength, and our inability to match it. How low should we\ntherefore lie before him, against whose power our pride and murmuring\ncan do no good, who can out\u2011wrestle us in our contests, and alway\novercome when he judges (Rom. iii. 4)!\n\n4. This doctrine teacheth us not to fear the pride and force of man.\nHow unreasonable is it to fear a limited, above an unbounded power!\nHow unbecoming is the fear of man in him, who hath an interest in a\nstrength able to curb the strongest devils! Who would tremble at the\nthreats of a dwarf, that hath a mighty and watchful giant for his\nguard? If God doth but arise, his enemies are scattered (Ps. lxviii.\n1): the least motion makes them fly before him: it is no difficult\nthing for Him, that made them by a word, to unmake their designs, and\nshiver them in pieces by the breath of his mouth: \u201cHe brings princes to\nnothing, and makes the judges of the earth vanity; they wither when he\nblows upon them, and their stock shall not take root in the earth. He\ncan command a whirlwind to take them away as stubble\u201d (Isa. xl. 23, 24);\nyea, with the \u201cshaking of his hand he makes servants to become rulers\nof those that were their masters\u201d (Zech. ii. 9). Whole nations are no\nmore in his hands than a \u201cmorning cloud,\u201d or the \u201cdew upon the ground,\u201d\nor \u201cthe chaff before the wind,\u201d or the smoke against the motion of the\nair, which, though it appear out of a chimney like a black invincible\ncloud, is quickly dispersed, and becomes invisible (Hos. xiii. 3). How\ninconsiderable are the most mighty to this strength, which can puff\naway a whole world of proud grasshoppers, and a whole sky of daring\nclouds! He that by his word masters the rage of the sea, can overrule\nthe pride and power of men. Where is the fury of the oppressor? It\ncannot overleap the bounds he hath set it, nor march an inch {b107}\nbeyond the point he hath prescribed it. Fear not the confederacies of\nman, but \u201csanctify the Lord of hosts; let him be your fear, and let him\nbe your dread\u201d (Isa. viii. 13). To fear men is to dishonor the name of\nGod, and regard him as a feeble Lord, and not as the Lord of hosts, who\nis mighty in strength, so that they that harden themselves against him\nshall not prosper.\n\n5. Therefore this doctrine teacheth us the fear of God. The prophet\nJeremiah counts it as an impossible thing for men to be destitute of\nthe fear of God, when they seriously consider his name to be great and\nmighty (Jer. x. 6, 7): \u201cThou art great, and thy name is great in might:\nwho would not fear thee, O thou King of nations?\u201d Shall we not tremble\nat his presence, who hath placed the \u201csand for the bound of the sea by\na perpetual decree;\u201d that though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet\nthey cannot prevail (Jer. v. 22). He can arm the weakest creature for\nour destruction, and disarm the strongest creatures which appear for\nour preservation. He can command a hair, a crumb, a kernel, to go awry,\nand strangle us. He can make the heavens brass over our head, stop\nclose the bottles of the clouds, and make the fruit of the fields droop,\nwhen there is a small distance to the harvest; he can arm men\u2019s wit,\nwealth, hands, against themselves; he can turn our sweet morsels into\nbitter, and our own consciences into devouring lions; he can root\nup cities by moles, and conquer the proudest by lice and worms. The\nomnipotence of God is not only the object of a believer\u2019s trust, but\na believer\u2019s fear. It is from the consideration of this power only,\nthat our Saviour presses his disciples, whom he entitles his friends,\nto fear God; which lesson he presses by a double repetition, and with\na kind of asseveration, without rendering any other reason than this of\nthe ability of God to cast into hell (Luke xii. 5). We are to fear Him\nbecause he can; but bless his goodness because he will not. In regard\nof his omnipotence, he is to be reverenced, not only by mortal men,\nbut by the blessed angels, who are past the fear of any danger by his\npower, being confirmed in a happy state by his unalterable grace: when\nthey adore him for his holiness, they reverence him for his power with\ncovered faces: the title of the \u201cLord of hosts\u201d is joined in their\nreverential praise with that of his holiness (Isa. vi. 3), \u201cHoly, holy,\nholy is the Lord of hosts.\u201d How should we adore that Power which can\npreserve us, when devils and men conspire to destroy us! How should\nwe stand in awe of that Power which can destroy us, though angels\nand men should combine to preserve us! The parts of his ways which\nare discovered, are sufficient motives to an humble and reverential\nadoration: but who can fear and adore him according to the vastness of\nhis power, and his excellent greatness, since \u201cthe thunder of his power\nwho can understand?\u201d\n\n\n\n\n{b108}                       DISCOURSE XI.\n\n                        ON THE HOLINESS OF GOD.\n\n  EXODUS xv. 11.\u2015\u2015Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?\n    Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises,\n    doing wonders?\n\n\nTHIS verse is one of the loftiest descriptions of the majesty and\nexcellency of God in the whole Scripture.[887] It is a part of Moses\u2019\n\u1f18\u03c0\u03b9\u03bd\u03af\u03ba\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd, or \u201ctriumphant song,\u201d after a great and real, and a typical\nvictory; in the womb of which all the deliverances of the church were\ncouched. It is the first song upon holy record, and it consists of\ngratulatory and prophetic matter; it casts a look backward to what God\ndid for them in their deliverance from Egypt; and a look forward to\nwhat God shall do for the church in future ages. That deliverance was\nbut a rough draught of something more excellent to be wrought towards\nthe closing up of the world; when his plagues shall be poured out\nupon the anti\u2011christian powers, which should revive the same song of\nMoses in the church, as fitted so many ages before for such a scene\nof affairs (Rev. xv. 2, 3). It is observed, therefore, that many words\nin this song are put in the future tense, noting a time to come; and\nthe very first word, ver. 1, \u201cThen sang Moses and the children of\nIsrael this song;\u201d \u05d9\u05e9\u05d9\u05e8, shall sing; implying, that it was composed and\ncalculated for the celebrating some greater action of God\u2019s, which was\nto be wrought in the world.[888] Upon this account, some of the Jewish\nrabbins, from the consideration of this remark, asserted the doctrine\nof the resurrection to be meant in this place; that Moses and those\nIsraelites should rise again to sing the same song, for some greater\nmiracles God should work, and greater triumphs he should bring forth,\nexceeding those wonders at their deliverance from Egypt.\n\nIt consists of, 1. A preface (ver. 1); \u201cI will sing unto the\nLord.\u201d[889] 2. An historical narration of matter of fact (ver. 3, 4),\n\u201cPharaoh\u2019s chariots and his host hath he cast into the Red Sea;\u201d which\nhe solely ascribes to God (ver. 6), \u201cThy right hand, O Lord, is become\nglorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the\nenemy;\u201d which he doth prophetically, as respecting something to be done\nin after\u2011times; or further for the completing of that deliverance; or,\nas others think, respecting their entering into Canaan; for the words,\nin these two verses, are put in the future tense. The manner of the\ndeliverance is described (ver. 8); \u201cThe floods stood upright {b109} as\nan heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.\u201d In the\n9th verse, he magnifies the victory from the vain glory and security\nof the enemy; \u201cThe enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will\ndivide the spoil,\u201d &c. And ver. 16, 17, He prophetically describes\nthe fruit of this victory, in the influence it shall have upon those\nnations, by whose confines they were to travel to the promised land;\n\u201cFear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thy arm they\nshall be as still as a stone, till thy people pass over which thou hast\npurchased.\u201d The phrase of this and the 17th and 18th verses, seems to\nbe more magnificent than to design only the bringing the Israelites\nto the earthly Canaan; but seems to respect the gathering his redeemed\nones together, to place them in the spiritual sanctuary which he had\nestablished, wherein the Lord should reign forever and ever, without\nany enemies to disturb his royalty; \u201cThe Lord shall reign forever and\never\u201d (ver. 18). The prophet, in the midst of his historical narrative,\nseems to be in an ecstasy, and breaks out in a stately exaltation of\nGod in the text.\n\n_Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? &c._ Interrogations\nare, in Scripture, the strongest affirmations or negations; it is\nhere a strong affirmation of the incomparableness of God, and a strong\ndenial of the worthiness of all creatures to be partners with him in\nthe degrees of his excellency; it is a preference of God before all\ncreatures in holiness, to which the purity of creatures is but a shadow\nin desert of reverence and veneration, he being \u201cfearful in praises.\u201d\nThe angels cover their faces when they adore him in his particular\nperfections.\n\n_Amongst the gods._ Among the idols of the nations, say some;\nothers say,[890] it is not to be found that the Heathen idols are ever\ndignified with the title of \u201cstrong or mighty,\u201d as the word translated\ngods, doth import; and therefore understand it of the angels, or other\npotentates of the world; or rather inclusively, of all that are noted\nfor, or can lay claim to, the title of strength and might upon the\nearth or in heaven. God is so great and majestic, that no creature can\nshare with him in his praise.\n\n_Fearful in praises._ Various are the interpretations of this\npassage: to be \u201creverenced in praises;\u201d his praise ought to be\ncelebrated with a religious fear. Fear is the product of his mercy\nas well as his justice; \u201cHe hath forgiveness that he may be feared\u201d\n(Ps. cxxx. 4). Or, \u201cfearful in praises;\u201d whom none can praise without\namazement at the considerations of his works. None can truly praise\nhim without being affected with astonishment at his greatness.[891]\nOr, \u201cfearful in praises;\u201d whom no mortal can sufficiently praise,\nsince he is above all praise.[892] Whatsoever a human tongue can speak,\nor an angelical understanding think of the excellency of his nature\nand the greatness of his works, falls short of the vastness of the\nDivine perfection. A creature\u2019s praises of God are as much below the\ntranscendent eminency of God, as the meanness of a creature\u2019s being\nis below the eternal fulness of the Creator. Or, rather, \u201cfearful,\u201d or\nterrible, \u201cin praises;\u201d that is, in the matter of thy praise: and the\nlearned Rivet concurs with me in {b110} this sense. The works of God,\ncelebrated in this song, were terrible; it was the miraculous overthrow\nof the strength and flower of a mighty nation; his judgments were\nsevere, as well as his mercy was seasonable. The word \u05e0\u05d5\u05e8\u05d0 signifies\nglorious and illustrious, as well as terrible and fearful. No man can\nhear the praise of thy name, for those great judicial acts, without\nsome astonishment at thy justice, the stream, and thy holiness,\nthe spring of those mighty works. This seems to be the sense of the\nfollowing words, \u201cdoing wonders:\u201d fearful in the matter of thy praise;\nthey being wonders which thou hast done among us and for us.\n\n_Doing wonders._ Congealing the waters by a wind, to make them stand\nlike walls for the rescue of the Israelites; and melting them by a\nwind, for the overthrow of the Egyptians, are prodigies that challenge\nthe greatest adorations of that mercy which delivered the one, and that\njustice which punished the other; and of the arm of that power whereby\nhe effected both his gracious and righteous purposes.\n\nWhence observe, that the judgments of God upon his enemies, as well\nas his mercies to his people, are matters of praise. The perfections\nof God appear in both. Justice and mercy are so linked together in his\nacts of providence, that the one cannot be forgotten whilst the other\nis acknowledged. He is never so terrible as in the assemblies of his\nsaints, and the deliverance of them (Ps. lxxxix. 7). As the creation\nwas erected by him for his glory; so all the acts of his government\nare designed for the same end: and his creatures deny him his due, if\nthey acknowledge not his excellency in whatsoever dreadful, as well\nas pleasing garbs, it appears in the world. His terror as well as his\nrighteousness appears, when he is a God of salvation (Ps. lxv. 5).\n\u201cBy terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our\nsalvation.\u201d But the expression I pitch upon in the text to handle, is\n_glorious in holiness_. He is magnified or honorable in holiness; so\nthe word \u05e0\u05d0\u05d3\u05e8 is translated (Isa. xlii. 21). \u201cHe will magnify the law,\nand make it honorable.\u201d Thy holiness hath shone forth admirably in\nthis last exploit, against the enemies and oppressors of thy people.\nThe holiness of God is his glory, as his grace is his riches: holiness\nis his crown, and his mercy is his treasure. This is the blessedness\nand nobleness of his nature; it renders him glorious in himself, and\nglorious to his creatures, that understand any thing of this lovely\nperfection. Holiness is a glorious perfection belonging to the nature\nof God. Hence he is in Scripture styled often the Holy One, the Holy\nOne of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel; and oftener entitled Holy, than\nAlmighty, and set forth by this part of his dignity more than by any\nother. This is more affixed as an epithet to his name than any other:\nyou never find it expressed, His mighty name, or His wise name; but His\ngreat name, and most of all, His holy name. This is his greatest title\nof honor; in this doth the majesty and venerableness of his name appear.\nWhen the sinfulness of Sennacherib is aggravated, the Holy Ghost takes\nthe rise from this attribute (2 Kings xix. 22). \u201cThou hast lift up\nthine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel;\u201d not against\nthe wise, mighty, &c., but against the Holy One of Israel, as that\nwherein the majesty of God was most illustrious. It {b111} is upon this\naccount he is called light, as impurity is called darkness; both in\nthis sense are opposed to one another: he is a pure and unmixed light,\nfree from all blemish in his essence, nature, and operations.\n\n1. Heathens have owned it. Proclus calls him, the undefiled Governor of\nthe world.[893] The poetical transformations of their false gods, and\nthe extravagancies committed by them, was\u2015\u2015in the account of the wisest\nof them\u2015\u2015an unholy thing to report and hear.[894] And some vindicate\nEpicurus from the atheism wherewith he was commonly charged; that he\ndid not deny the being of God, but those adulterous and contentious\ndeities the people worshipped, which were practices unworthy and\nunbecoming the nature of God.[895] Hence they asserted, that virtue was\nan imitation of God, and a virtuous man bore a resemblance to God: if\nvirtue were a copy from God, a greater holiness must be owned in the\noriginal. And when some of them were at a loss how to free God from\nbeing the author of sin in the world, they ascribe the birth of sin to\nmatter, and run into an absurd opinion, fancying it to be uncreated,\nthat thereby they might exempt God from all mixture of evil; so sacred\nwith them was the conception of God, as a Holy God.\n\n2. The absurdest heretics have owned it. The Maniches and Marchionites,\nthat thought evil came by necessity, yet would salve God\u2019s being the\nauthor of it, by asserting two distinct eternal principles, one the\noriginal of evil, as God was the fountain of good: so rooted was the\nnotion of this Divine purity, that none would ever slander goodness\nitself with that which was so disparaging to it.[896]\n\n3. The nature of God cannot rationally be conceived without it.\nThough the power of God be the first rational conclusion, drawn from\nthe sight of his works, wisdom the next, from the order and connexion\nof his works, purity must result from the beauty of his works: that God\ncannot be deformed by evil, who hath made every thing so beautiful in\nits time. The notion of a God cannot be entertained without separating\nfrom him whatsoever is impure and bespotting both in his essence\nand actions. Though we conceive him infinite in Majesty, infinite in\nessence, eternal in duration, mighty in power, and wise and immutable\nin his counsels; merciful in his proceedings with men, and whatsoever\nother perfections may dignify so sovereign a Being, yet if we conceive\nhim destitute of this excellent perfection, and imagine him possessed\nwith the least contagion of evil, we make him but an infinite monster,\nand sully all those perfections we ascribed to him before; we rather\nown him a devil than a God. It is a contradiction to be God and to\nbe darkness, or to have one mote of darkness mixed with his light. It\nis a less injury to him to deny his being, than to deny the purity of\nit; the one makes him no god, the other a deformed, unlovely, and a\ndetestable god. Plutarch said not amiss, That he should count himself\nless injured by that man, that should deny that there was such a man as\nPlutarch, than by him that should affirm that there was such {b112} a\none indeed, but he was a debauched fellow, a loose and vicious person.\nIt is a less wrong to God to discard any acknowledgments of his being,\nand to count him nothing, than to believe him to exist, but imagine\na base and unholy Deity: he that saith, God is not holy, speaks much\nworse than he that saith, There is no God at all. Let these two things\nbe considered.\n\nI. If any, this attribute hath an excellency above his other\nperfections. There are some attributes of God we prefer, because of our\ninterest in them, and the relation they bear to us: as we esteem his\ngoodness before his power, and his mercy whereby he relieves us, before\nhis justice whereby he punisheth us; as there are some we more delight\nin, because of the goodness we receive by them; so there are some that\nGod delights to honor, because of their excellency.\n\n1. None is sounded out so loftily, with such solemnity, and so\nfrequently by angels that stand before his throne, as this. Where do\nyou find any other attribute trebled in the praises of it, as this\n(Isa. vi. 3)? \u201cHoly, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth\nis full of his glory;\u201d and (Rev. iv. 8), \u201cThe four beasts rest not day\nand night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,\u201d &c. His power\nor sovereignty, as Lord of hosts, is but once mentioned, but with a\nternal repetition of his holiness. Do you hear, in any angelical song,\nany other perfection of the Divine Nature thrice repeated? Where do\nwe read of the crying out Eternal, eternal, eternal; or, Faithful,\nfaithful, faithful, Lord God of Hosts? Whatsoever other attribute is\nleft out, this God would have to fill the mouths of angels and blessed\nspirits for ever in heaven.\n\n2. He singles it out to swear by (Ps. lxxxix. 35): \u201cOnce have I sworn\nby my holiness, that I will not lie unto David:\u201d and (Amos iv. 2), \u201cThe\nLord will swear by his holiness:\u201d he twice swears by his holiness; once\nby his power (Isa. lxii. 8); once by all, when he swears by his name\n(Jer. xliv. 26). He lays here his holiness to pledge for the assurance\nof his promise, as the attribute most dear to him, most valued by\nhim, as though no other could give an assurance parallel to it in this\nconcern of an everlasting redemption which is there spoken of: he that\nswears, swears by a greater than himself; God having no greater than\nhimself, swears by himself: and swearing here by his holiness, seems\nto equal that single one to all his other attributes, as if he were\nmore concerned in the honor of it, than of all the rest. It is as if he\nshould have said, Since I have not a more excellent perfection to swear\nby, than that of my holiness, I lay this to pawn for your security, and\nbind myself by that which I will never part with, were it possible for\nme to be stripped of all the rest. It is a tacit imprecation of himself,\nIf I lie unto David, let me never be counted holy, or thought righteous\nenough to be trusted by angels or men. This attribute he makes most of.\n\n3. It is his glory and beauty. Holiness is the honor of the creature;\nsanctification and honor are linked together (1 Thess. iv. 4); much\nmore is it the honor of God; it is the image of God in the creature\n(Eph. iv. 24). When we take the picture of a man, we draw the most\nbeautiful part, the face, which is a member of the greatest excellency.\nWhen God would be drawn to the life, as much {b113} as can be, in the\nspirit of his creatures, he is drawn in this attribute, as being the\nmost beautiful perfection of God, and most valuable with him. Power\nis his hand and arm; omniscience, his eye; mercy, his bowels; eternity,\nhis duration; his holiness is his beauty (2 Chron. xx. 21);\u2015\u2015\u201cshould\npraise the beauty of holiness.\u201d In Ps. xxvii. 4, David desires \u201cto\nbehold the beauty of the Lord, and inquire in his holy temple;\u201d that\nis, the holiness of God manifested in his hatred of sin in the daily\nsacrifices. Holiness was the beauty of the temple (Isa. xlvi. 11);\nholy and beautiful house are joined together; much more the beauty of\nGod that dwelt in the sanctuary. This renders him lovely to all his\ninnocent creatures, though formidable to the guilty ones. A heathen\nphilosopher could call it the beauty of the Divine essence, and say,\nthat God was not so happy by an eternity of life, as by an excellency\nof virtue.[897] And the angels\u2019 song intimate it to be his glory\n(Isa. vi. 3); \u201cThe whole earth is full of thy glory;\u201d that is, of his\nholiness in his laws, and in his judgments against sin, that being the\nattribute applauded by them before.\n\n4. It is his very life. So it is called (Eph. iv. 18), \u201cAlienated\nfrom the life of God,\u201d that is, from the holiness of God: speaking of\nthe opposite to it, the uncleanness and profaneness of the Gentiles. We\nare only alienated from that which we are bound to imitate; but this is\nthe perfection alway set out as the pattern of our actions, \u201cBe ye holy,\nas I am holy;\u201d no other is proposed as our copy; alienated from that\npurity of God, which is as much as his life, without which he could not\nlive. If he were stripped of this, he would be a dead God, more than by\nthe want of any other perfection. His swearing by it intimates as much;\nhe swears often by his own life; \u201cAs I live, saith the Lord:\u201d so he\nswears by his holiness, as if it were his life, and more his life than\nany other. Let me not live, or let me not be holy, are all one in his\noath. His Deity could not outlive the life of his purity.\n\nII. As it seems to challenge an excellency above all his other\nperfections, so it is the glory of all the rest. As it is the glory\nof the Godhead, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead.\nAs his power is the strength of them, so his holiness is the beauty\nof them. As all would be weak, without almightiness to back them, so\nall would be uncomely without holiness to adorn them. Should this be\nsullied, all the rest would lose their honor and their comfortable\nefficacy: as, at the same instant that the sun should lose its light,\nit would lose its heat, its strength, its generative and quickening\nvirtue. As sincerity is the lustre of every grace in a Christian, so is\npurity the splendor of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is\na holy justice; his wisdom a holy wisdom; his arm of power a holy arm\n(Ps. xcviii. 1); his truth or promise a holy promise (Ps. cv. 42).\nHoly and true go hand in hand (Rev. vi. 10). His name, which signifies\nall his attributes in conjunction, is holy (Ps. ciii. 1); yea, he is\n\u201crighteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works\u201d (Ps. cxlv. 17):\nit is the rule of all his acts, the source of all his punishments. If\nevery attribute of the Deity were a distinct member, purity would be\nthe form, the soul, the spirit to animate them. Without it, his {b114}\npatience would be an indulgence to sin, his mercy a fondness, his wrath\na madness, his power a tyranny, his wisdom an unworthy subtilty. It\nis this gives a decorum to all. His mercy is not exercised without it,\nsince he pardons none but those that have an interest, by union, in the\nobedience of a Mediator, which was so delightful to his infinite purity.\nHis justice, which guilty man is apt to tax with cruelty and violence\nin the exercise of it, is not acted out of the compass of this rule.\nIn acts of man\u2019s vindictive justice there is something of impurity,\nperturbation, passion, some mixture of cruelty; but none of these fall\nupon God in the severest acts of wrath. When God appears to Ezekiel,\nin the resemblance of fire, to signify his anger against the house\nof Judah for their idolatry, \u201cfrom his loins downward\u201d there was \u201cthe\nappearance of fire;\u201d but, from the loins upward, \u201cthe appearance of\nbrightness, as the color of amber\u201d (Ezek. viii. 2). His heart is clear\nin his most terrible acts of vengeance; it is a pure flame, wherewith\nhe scorcheth and burns his enemies: he is holy in the most fiery\nappearance. This attribute, therefore, is never so much applauded, as\nwhen his sword hath been drawn, and he hath manifested the greatest\nfierceness against his enemies. The magnificent and triumphant\nexpression of it in the text, follows just upon God\u2019s miraculous defeat\nand ruin of the Egyptian army: \u201cThe sea covered them; they sank as lead\nin the mighty waters:\u201d then it follows, \u201cWho is like unto thee, O Lord,\nglorious in holiness?\u201d And when it was so celebrated by the seraphims\n(Isa. vi. 3), it was when the \u201cposts moved, and the house was filled\nwith smoke\u201d (ver. 4), which are signs of anger (Ps. xviii. 7, 8).\nAnd when he was about to send Isaiah upon a message of spiritual and\ntemporal judgments, that he would make the \u201cheart of that people fat,\nand their ears heavy, and their eyes shut; waste their cities without\ninhabitant, and their houses without man, and make the land desolate\u201d\n(ver. 9\u201212): and the angels which here applaud him for his holiness,\nare the executioners of his justice, and here called seraphims, from\nburning or fiery spirits, as being the ministers of his wrath. His\njustice is part of his holiness, whereby he doth reduce into order\nthose things that are out of order. When he is consuming men by his\nfury, he doth not diminish, but manifest purity (Zeph. iii. 5); \u201cThe\njust Lord is in the midst of her; he will do no iniquity.\u201d Every action\nof his is free from all tincture of evil. It is also celebrated with\npraise, by the four beasts about his throne, when he appears in a\ncovenant garb with a rainbow about his throne, and yet with thunderings\nand lightnings shot against his enemies (Rev. iv. 8, compared with\nver. 3, 5), to show that all his acts of mercy, as well as justice,\nare clear from any stain. This is the crown of all his attributes, the\nlife of all his decrees, the brightness of all his actions: nothing\nis decreed by him, nothing is acted by him, but what is worthy of the\ndignity, and becoming the honor, of this attribute.\n\nFor the better understanding this attribute, observe, I. The nature\nof this holiness. II. The demonstration of it. III. The purity of his\nnature in all his acts about sin. IV. The use of all to ourselves.\n\nI. The nature of Divine holiness _in general_. The holiness of\nGod _negatively_, is a perfect and unpolluted freedom from all evil.\nAs we {b115} call gold pure that is not embased by any dross, and\nthat garment clean that is free from any spot, so the nature of\nGod is estranged from all shadow of evil, all imaginable contagion.\n_Positively_, It is the rectitude or integrity of the Divine nature,\nor that conformity of it, in affection and action, to the Divine will,\nas to his eternal law, whereby he works with a becomingness to his own\nexcellency, and whereby he hath a delight and complacency in everything\nagreeable to his will, and an abhorrency of everything contrary\nthereunto. As there is no darkness in his understanding, so there is no\nspot in his will: as his mind is possessed with all truth, so there is\nno deviation in his will from it. He loves all truth and goodness; he\nhates all falsity and evil. In regard of his righteousness, he loves\nrighteousness (Ps. xi. 7); \u201cThe righteous Lord loveth righteousness,\u201d\nand \u201chath no pleasure in wickedness\u201d (Ps. v. 4). He values purity in\nhis creatures, and detests all impurity, whether inward or outward. We\nmay, indeed, distinguish the holiness of God from his righteousness in\nour conceptions: holiness is a perfection absolutely considered in the\nnature of God; righteousness, a perfection, as referred to others, in\nhis actions towards them and upon them.[898]\n\n_In particular_, this property of the Divine nature is, 1. An essential\nand necessary perfection: he is essentially and necessarily holy. It\nis the essential glory of his nature: his holiness is as necessary as\nhis being; as necessary as his omniscience: as he cannot but know what\nis right, so he cannot but do what is just. His understanding is not\nas created understanding, capable of ignorance as well as knowledge;\nso his will is not as created wills, capable of unrighteousness, as\nwell as righteousness. There can be no contradiction or contrariety in\nthe Divine nature, to know what is right, and to do what is wrong; if\nso, there would be a diminution of his blessedness, he would not be\na God alway blessed, \u201cblessed forever,\u201d as he is (Rom. ix. 5). He is\nas necessarily holy, as he is necessarily God; as necessarily without\nsin, as without change. As he was God from eternity, so he was holy\nfrom eternity. He was gracious, merciful, just in his own nature, and\nalso holy; though no creature had been framed by him to exercise his\ngrace, mercy, justice, or holiness upon.[899] If God had not created\na world, he had, in his own nature, been Almighty, and able to create\na world. If there never had been anything but himself, yet he had been\nomniscient, knowing everything that was within the verge and compass of\nhis infinite power; so he was pure in his own nature, though he never\nhad brought forth any rational creature whereby to manifest this purity.\nThese perfections are so necessary, that the nature of God could not\nsubsist without them. And the acts of those, _ad intra_, or within\nhimself, are necessary; for being omniscient in nature, there must be\nan act of knowledge of himself and his own nature. Being infinitely\nholy, an act of holiness in infinitely loving himself, must necessarily\nflow from this perfection.[900] As the Divine will cannot but be\nperfect, so it cannot be wanting to render the highest love to itself,\nto its goodness, to the Divine nature, which is due to him. Indeed,\nthe acts of those, _ad extra_, {b116} are not necessary, but upon a\ncondition. To love righteousness, without himself, or to detect sin, or\ninflict punishment for the committing of it, could not have been, had\nthere been no righteous creature for him to love, no sinning creature\nfor him to loathe, and to exercise his justice upon, as the object of\npunishment. Some attributes require a condition to make the acts of\nthem necessary; as it is at God\u2019s liberty, whether he will create a\nrational creature, or no; but when he decrees to make either angel or\nman, it is necessary, from the perfection of his nature, to make them\nrighteous. It is at God\u2019s liberty whether he will speak to man, or no;\nbut if he doth, it is impossible for him to speak that which is false,\nbecause of his infinite perfection of veracity. It is at his liberty\nwhether he will permit a creature to sin; but if he sees good to suffer\nit, it is impossible but that he should detest that creature that\ngoes cross to his righteous nature. His holiness is not solely an act\nof his will, for then he might be unholy as well as holy; he might\nlove iniquity and hate righteousness; he might then command that which\nis good, and afterwards command that which is bad and unworthy; for\nwhat is only an act of his will, and not belonging to his nature, is\nindifferent to him. As the positive law he gave to Adam, of not eating\nthe forbidden fruit, was a pure act of his will, he might have given\nhim liberty to eat of it, if he had pleased, as well as prohibited him.\nBut what is moral and good in its own nature, is necessarily willed by\nGod, and cannot be changed by him, because of the transcendent eminency\nof his nature, and righteousness of his will. As it is impossible for\nGod to command his creature to hate him, or to dispense with a creature\nfor not loving him,\u2015\u2015for this would be to command a thing intrinsically\nevil, the highest ingratitude, the very spirit of all wickedness, which\nconsists in the hating God,\u2015\u2015yet, though God be thus necessarily holy,\nhe is not so by a bare and simple necessity, as the sun shines, or\nthe fire burns; but by a free necessity, not compelled thereunto, but\ninclined from the fulness of the perfection of his own nature and will;\nso as by no means he can be unholy, because he will not be unholy; it\nis against his nature to be so.\n\n2. God is only absolutely holy; \u201cThere is none holy as the Lord\u201d\n(1 Sam. ii. 2); it is the peculiar glory of his nature; as there is\nnone good but God, so none holy but God. No creature can be essentially\nholy, because mutable; holiness is the substance of God, but a quality\nand accident in a creature. God is infinitely holy, creatures finitely\nholy. He is holy from himself, creatures are holy by derivation from\nhim. He is not only holy, but holiness; holiness in the highest degree,\nis his sole prerogative. As the highest heaven is called the heaven\nof heavens, because it embraceth in its circle all the heavens, and\ncontains the magnitude of them, and hath a greater vastness above\nall that it encloseth, so is God the Holy of holies; he contains the\nholiness of all creatures put together, and infinitely more. As all\nthe wisdom, excellency, and power of the creatures if compared with\nthe wisdom, excellency, and power of God, is but folly, vileness, and\nweakness; so the highest created purity, if set in parallel with God,\nis but impurity and uncleanness (Rev. xv. 4): \u201cThou only art holy.\u201d It\nis like the light {b117} of a glow\u2011worm to that of the sun (Job xiii.\n15); \u201cThe heavens are not pure in his sight, and his angels he charged\nwith folly\u201d (Job iv. 18). Though God hath crowned the angels with an\nunspotted sanctity, and placed them in a habitation of glory, yet, as\nillustrious as they are, they have an unworthiness in their own nature\nto appear before the throne of so holy a God; their holiness grows dim\nand pale in his presence. It is but a weak shadow of that Divine purity,\nwhose light is so glorious, that it makes them cover their faces out of\nweakness to behold it, and cover their feet out of shame in themselves.\nThey are not pure in his sight, because, though they love God (which\nis a principle of holiness) as much as they can, yet, not so much as\nhe deserves; they love him with the intensest degree, according to\ntheir power; but not with the intensest degree, according to his own\namiableness; for they cannot infinitely love God, unless they were as\ninfinite as God, and had an understanding of his perfections equal with\nhimself, and as immense as his own knowledge. God, having an infinite\nknowledge of himself, can only have an infinite love to himself, and,\nconsequently, an infinite holiness without any defect; because he\nloves himself according to the vastness of his own amiableness, which\nno finite being can. Therefore, though the angels be exempt from\ncorruption and soil, they cannot enter into comparison with the purity\nof God, without acknowledgment of a dimness in themselves. Besides,\nhe charges them with folly, and puts no trust in them; because they\nhave the power of sinning, though not the act of sinning; they have a\npossible folly in their own nature to be charged with. Holiness is a\nquality separable from them, but it is inseparable from God. Had they\nnot at first a mutability in their nature, none of them could have\nsinned, there had been no devils; but because some of them sinned, the\nrest might have sinned. And though the standing angels shall never be\nchanged, yet they are still changeable in their own nature, and their\nstanding is due to grace, not to nature; and though they shall be for\never preserved, yet they are not, nor ever can be, immutable by nature,\nfor then they should stand upon the same bottom with God himself; but\nthey are supported by grace against that changeableness of nature which\nis essential to a creature; the Creator only hath immortality, that\nis, immutability (1 Tim. iii. 16). It is as certain a truth, that no\ncreature can be naturally immutable and impeccable, as that God cannot\ncreate anything actually polluted and imperfect. It is as possible\nthat the highest creature may sin, as it is possible that it may be\nannihilated; it may become not holy, as it may become not a creature,\nbut nothing. The holiness of a creature may be reduced into nothing,\nas well as his substance; but the holiness of the Creator cannot be\ndiminished, dimmed, or overshadowed (James i. 17): \u201cHe is the Father\nof lights, with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning.\u201d It is\nas impossible his holiness should be blotted, as that his Deity should\nbe extinguished: for whatsoever creature hath essentially such or such\nqualities, cannot be stripped of them, without being turned out of\nits essence. As a man is essentially rational; and if he ceaseth to be\nrational, he ceaseth to be {b118} man. The sun is essentially luminous;\nif it should become dark in its own body, it would cease to be the\nsun. In regard to this absolute and only holiness of God, it is thrice\nrepeated by the seraphims (Isa. vi. 3). The three\u2011fold repetition\nof a word notes the certainty or absoluteness of the thing, or the\nirreversibleness of the resolve; as (Ezek. xxi. 27), \u201cI will overturn,\noverturn, overturn,\u201d notes the certainty of the judgment; also, (Rev.\nviii. 8), \u201cWoe, woe, woe;\u201d three times repeated, signifies the same.\nThe holiness of God is so absolutely peculiar to him, that it can no\nmore be expressed in creatures, than his omnipotence, whereby they\nmay be able to create a world; or his omniscience, whereby they may be\ncapable of knowing all things, and knowing God as he knows himself.\n\n3. God is so holy, that he cannot possibly approve of any evil done by\nanother, but doth perfectly abhor it; it would not else be a glorious\nholiness (Ps. v. 3). \u201cHe hath no pleasure in wickedness.\u201d He doth not\nonly love that which is just, but abhor, with a perfect hatred, all\nthings contrary to the rule of righteousness. Holiness can no more\napprove of sin than it can commit it: to be delighted with the evil in\nanother\u2019s act, contracts a guilt, as well as the commission of it; for\napprobation of a thing is a consent to it. Sometimes the approbation\nof an evil in another is a more grievous crime than the act itself, as\nappears in Rom. i. 32, who knowing the judgment of God, \u201cnot only do\nthe same, but have pleasure in them that do it;\u201d where the \u201cnot only\u201d\nmanifests it to be a greater guilt to take pleasure in them. Every sin\nis aggravated by the delight in it; to take pleasure in the evil of\nanother\u2019s action, shows a more ardent affection and love to sin, than\nthe committer himself may have. This, therefore, can as little fall\nupon God, as to do an evil act himself; yet, as a man may be delighted\nwith the consequences of another\u2019s sin, as it may occasion some public\ngood, or private good to the guilty person, as sometimes it may be an\noccasion of his repentance, when the horridness of a fact stares him in\nthe face, and occasions a self\u2011reflection for that, and other crimes,\nwhich is attended with an indignation against them, and sincere remorse\nfor them; so God is pleased with those good things his goodness and\nwisdom bring forth upon the occasion of sin. But in regard of his\nholiness, he cannot approve of the evil, whence his infinite wisdom\ndrew forth his own glory, and his creature\u2019s good. His pleasure is not\nin the sinful act of the creature, but in the act of his own goodness\nand skill, turning it to another end than what the creature aimed at.\n\n(1.) He abhors it necessarily. Holiness is the glory of the Deity,\ntherefore necessary. The nature of God is so holy, that he cannot but\nhate it (Hab. i. 13): \u201cThou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and\ncanst not look on iniquity:\u201d he is more opposite to it than light to\ndarkness, and, therefore, it can expect no countenance from him. A love\nof holiness cannot be without a hatred of everything that is contrary\nto it. As God necessarily loves himself, so he must necessarily hate\neverything that is against himself: and as he loves himself for his\nown excellency and holiness, he must necessarily detest whatsoever\nis repugnant to his holiness, because of the evil of it. Since he\nis infinitely good, he cannot but love goodness, as it is {b119} a\nresemblance to himself, and cannot but abhor unrighteousness, as being\nmost distant from him, and contrary to him. If he have any esteem for\nhis own perfections, he must needs have an implacable aversion to all\nthat is so repugnant to him, that would, if it were possible, destroy\nhim, and is a point directed, not only against his glory, but against\nhis life. If he did not hate it, he would hate himself: for since\nrighteousness is his image, and sin would deface his image; if he did\nnot love his image, and loathe what is against his image, he would\nloathe himself, he would be an enemy to his own nature. Nay, if it were\npossible for him to love it, it were possible for him not to be holy,\nit were possible then for him to deny himself, and will that he were no\nGod, which is a palpable contradiction.[901] Yet this necessity in God\nof hating sin, is not a brutish necessity, such as is in mere animals,\nthat avoid, by a natural instinct, not of choice, what is prejudicial\nto them; but most free, as well as necessary, arising from an infinite\nknowledge of his own nature, and of the evil nature of sin, and the\ncontrariety of it to his own excellency, and the order of his works.\n\n(2.) Therefore intensely. Nothing do men act for more than their glory.\nAs he doth infinitely, and therefore perfectly know himself, so he\ninfinitely, and therefore perfectly knows what is contrary to himself,\nand, as according to the manner and measure of his knowledge of himself,\nis his love to himself, as infinite as his knowledge, and therefore\ninexpressible and unconceivable by us: so, from the perfection of\nhis knowledge of the evil of sin, which is infinitely above what any\ncreature can have, doth arise a displeasure against it suitable to that\nknowledge. In creatures the degrees of affection to, or aversion from\na thing, are suited to the strength of their apprehensions of the good\nor evil in them. God knows not only the workers of wickedness, but the\nwickedness of their works (Job xi. 11), for \u201che knows vain men, he sees\nwickedness also.\u201d The vehemency of this hatred is expressed variously\nin Scripture; he loathes it so, that he is impatient of beholding it;\nthe very sight of it affects him with detestation (Hab. i. 13); he\nhates the first spark of it in the imagination (Zech. viii. 17); with\nwhat variety of expressions doth he repeat his indignation at their\npolluted services (Amos v. 21, 22); \u201cI hate, I detest, I despise, I\nwill not smell, I will not regard; take away from me the noise of thy\nsongs, I will not hear!\u201d So, (Isa. i. 14), \u201cMy soul hates, they are a\ntrouble to me, I am weary to bear them.\u201d It is the abominable thing\nthat he hates (Jer. xliv. 4); he is vexed and fretted at it (Isa. lxiii.\n10; Ezek. xvi. 33). He abhors it so, that his hatred redounds upon the\nperson that commits it. (Ps. v. 5), \u201cHe hates all workers of iniquity.\u201d\nSin is the only primary object of his displeasure: he is not displeased\nwith the nature of man as man, for that was derived from him; but with\nthe nature of man as sinful, which is from the sinner himself. When\na man hath but one object for the exercise of all his anger, it is\nstronger than when diverted to many objects: a mighty torrent, when\ndiverted into many streams, is weaker than when it comes in a full body\nupon one place only. The infinite anger and hatred of {b120} God, which\nis as infinite as his love and mercy, has no other object, against\nwhich he directs the mighty force of it, but only unrighteousness. He\nhates no person for all the penal evils upon him, though they were more\nby ten thousand times than Job was struck with, but only for his sin.\nAgain, sin being only evil, and an unmixed evil, there is nothing in\nit that can abate the detestation of God, or balance his hatred of it;\nthere is not the least grain of goodness in it, to incline him to the\nleast affection to any part of it. This hatred cannot but be intense;\nfor as the more any creature is sanctified, the more is he advanced in\nthe abhorrence of that which is contrary to holiness; therefore, God\nbeing the highest, most absolute and infinite holiness, doth infinitely,\nand therefore intensely, hate unholiness; being infinitely righteous,\ndoth infinitely abhor unrighteousness; being infinitely true, doth\ninfinitely abhor falsity, as it is the greatest and most deformed evil.\nAs it is from the righteousness of his nature that he hath a content\nand satisfaction in righteousness (Ps. xi. 7), \u201cThe righteous Lord\nloveth righteousness;\u201d so it is from the same righteousness of his\nnature, that he detests whatsoever is morally evil: as his nature\ntherefore is infinite, so must his abhorrence be.\n\n(3.) Therefore universally, because necessarily and intensely. He doth\nnot hate it in one, and indulge it in another, but loathes it wherever\nhe finds it; not one worker of iniquity is exempt from it (Ps. v. 5):\n\u201cThou hatest all workers of iniquity.\u201d For it is not sin, as in this\nor that person, or as great or little; but sin, as sin is the object\nof his hatred; and, therefore, let the person be never so great, and\nhave particular characters of his image upon him, it secures him not\nfrom God\u2019s hatred of any evil action he shall commit. He is a jealous\nGod, jealous of his glory (Exod. xx. 5); a metaphor, taken from jealous\nhusbands, who will not endure the least adultery in their wives, nor\nGod the least defection of man from his law. Every act of sin is a\nspiritual adultery, denying God to be the chief good, and giving that\nprerogative by that act to some vile thing. He loves it no more in his\nown people than he doth in his enemies; he frees them not from his rod,\nthe testimony of his loathing their crimes: whosoever sows iniquity,\nshall reap affliction. It might be thought that he affected their dross,\nif he did not refine them, and loved their filth, if he did not cleanse\nthem; because of his detestation of their sin, he will not spare them\nfrom the furnace, though because of love to their persons in Christ,\nhe will exempt them from Tophet. How did the sword ever and anon drop\ndown upon David\u2019s family, after his unworthy dealing in Uriah\u2019s case,\nand cut off ever and anon some of the branches of it? He doth sometimes\npunish it more severely in this life in his own people, than in others.\nUpon Jonah\u2019s disobedience a storm pursues him, and a whale devours him,\nwhile the profane world lived in their lusts without control. Moses,\nfor one act of unbelief, is excluded from Canaan, when greater sinners\nattained that happiness. It is not a light punishment, but a vengeance\nhe takes on their inventions (Ps. xcix. 8), to manifest that he hates\nsin as sin, and not because the worst persons commit it. Perhaps, had a\nprofane man touched the ark, the hand of God had {b121} not so suddenly\nreached him; but when Uzzah, a man zealous for him, as may be supposed\nby his care for the support of the tottering ark, would step out of\nhis place, he strikes him down for his disobedient action, by the side\nof the ark, which he would indirectly (as not being a Levite) sustain\n(2 Sam. vi. 7). Nor did our Saviour so sharply reprove the Pharisees,\nand turn so short from them as he did from Peter, when he gave a\ncarnal advice, and contrary to that wherein was to be the greatest\nmanifestation of God\u2019s holiness, _viz._ the death of Christ (Matt. xvi.\n23). He calls him Satan, a name sharper than the title of the devil\u2019s\nchildren wherewith he marked the Pharisees, and given (besides him) to\nnone but Judas, who made a profession of love to him, and was outwardly\nranked in the number of his disciples. A gardener hates a weed the more\nfor being in the bed with the most precious flowers. God\u2019s hatred is\nuniversally fixed against sin, and he hates it as much in those whose\npersons shall not fall under his eternal anger, as being secured in\nthe arms of a Redeemer, by whom the guilt is wiped off, and the filth\nshall be totally washed away: though he hates their sin, and cannot but\nhate it, yet he loves their persons, as being united as members to the\nMediator and mystical Head. A man may love a gangrened member, because\nit is a member of his own body, or a member of a dear relation, but\nhe loathes the gangrene in it more than in those wherein he is not so\nmuch concerned. Though God\u2019s hatred of believers\u2019 persons is removed\nby faith in the satisfactory death of Jesus Christ, yet his antipathy\nagainst sin was not taken away by that blood; nay, it was impossible\nit should. It was never designed, nor had it any capacity to alter the\nunchangeable nature of God, but to manifest the unspottedness of his\nwill, and his eternal aversion to anything that was contrary to the\npurity of his Being, and the righteousness of his laws.\n\n(4.) Perpetually: this must necessarily follow upon the others. He\ncan no more cease to hate impurity than he can cease to love holiness:\nif he should in the least instant approve of anything that is filthy,\nin that moment he would disapprove of his own nature and being; there\nwould be an interruption in his love of himself, which is as eternal as\nit is infinite. How can he love any sin which is contrary to his nature,\nbut for one moment, without hating his own nature, which is essentially\ncontrary to sin? Two contraries cannot be loved at the same time; God\nmust first begin to hate himself before he can approve of any evil\nwhich is directly opposite to himself. We, indeed, are changed with a\ntemptation, sometimes bear an affection to it, and sometimes testify an\nindignation against it; but God is always the same without any shadow\nof change, and \u201cis angry with the wicked every day\u201d (Ps. vii. 11),\nthat is, uninterruptedly in the nature of his anger, though not in the\neffects of it. God indeed may be reconciled to the sinner, but never to\nthe sin; for then he should renounce himself, deny his own essence and\nhis own divinity, if his inclinations to the love of goodness, and his\naversion from evil, could be changed, if he suffered the contempt of\nthe one, and encouraged the practice of the other.\n\n4. God is so holy, that he cannot but love holiness in others. {b122}\nNot that he owes anything to his creature, but from the unspeakable\nholiness of his nature, whence affections to all things that bear a\nresemblance of him do flow; as light shoots out from the sun, or any\nglittering body: it is essential to the infinite righteousness of his\nnature to love righteousness wherever he beholds it (Ps. xi. 7): \u201cThe\nrighteous Lord loveth righteousness.\u201d He cannot, because of his nature,\nbut love that which bears some agreement with his nature, that which\nis the curious draught of his own wisdom and purity: he cannot but\nbe delighted with a copy of himself: he would not have a holy nature,\nif he did not love holiness in every nature: his own nature would be\ndenied by him, if he did not affect everything that had a stamp of his\nown nature upon it. There was indeed nothing without God, that could\ninvite him to manifest such goodness to man, as he did in creation:\nbut after he had stamped that rational nature with a righteousness\nconvenient for it, it was impossible but that he should ardently\nlove that impression of himself, because he loves his own Deity, and\nconsequently all things which are any sparks and images of it: and\nwere the devils capable of an act of righteousness, the holiness of his\nnature would incline him to love it, even in those dark and revolted\nspirits.\n\n5. God is so holy, that he cannot positively will or encourage\nsin in any. How can he give any encouragement to that which he cannot\nin the least approve of, or look upon without loathing, not only the\ncrime, but the criminal? Light may sooner be the cause of darkness than\nholiness itself be the cause of unholiness, absolutely contrary to it:\nit is a contradiction, that he that is the Fountain of good should be\nthe source of evil; as if the same fountain should bubble up both sweet\nand bitter streams, salt and fresh (James iii. 11); since whatsoever\ngood is in man acknowledges God for its author, it follows that men are\nevil by their own fault. There is no need for men to be incited to that\nto which the corruption of their own nature doth so powerfully bend\nthem. Water hath a forcible principle in its own nature to carry it\ndownward; it needs no force to hasten the motion: \u201cGod tempts no man,\nbut every man is drawn away by his own lust\u201d (James i. 13, 14). All\nthe preparations for glory are from God (Rom. ix. 23); but men are said\nto \u201cbe fitted to destruction\u201d (ver. 22); but God is not said to fit\nthem; they, by their iniquities, fit themselves for ruin, and he, by\nhis long\u2011suffering, keeps the destruction from them for awhile.\n\n(1.) God cannot command any unrighteousness. As all virtue is summed\nup in a love to God, so all iniquity is summed up in an enmity to God:\nevery wicked work declares a man an enemy to God (Col. i. 21): \u201cenemies\nin your minds by wicked works.\u201d If he could command his creature\nanything which bears an enmity in its nature to himself, he would then\nimplicitly command the hatred of himself, and he would be, in some\nmeasure, a hater of himself: he that commands another to deprive him\nof his life, cannot be said to bear any love to his own life. God\ncan never hate himself, and therefore cannot command anything that is\nhateful to him and tends to a hating of him, and driving the creature\nfurther from him; in that very moment that God should command such a\nthing, he would cease to be {b123} good. What can be more absurd to\nimagine, than that Infinite Goodness should enjoin a thing contrary to\nitself, and contrary to the essential duty of a creature, and order him\nto do anything that bespeaks an enmity to the nature of the Creator,\nor a deflouring and disparaging his works? God cannot but love himself,\nand his own goodness; he were not otherwise good; and, therefore,\ncannot order the creature to do anything opposite to this goodness,\nor anything hurtful to the creature itself, as unrighteousness is.\n\n(2.) Nor can God secretly inspire any evil into us. It is as much\nagainst his nature to incline the heart to sin as it is to command\nit: as it is impossible but that he should love himself, and therefore\nimpossible to enjoin anything that tends to a hatred of himself; by the\nsame reason it is as impossible that he should infuse such a principle\nin the heart, that might carry a man out to any act of enmity against\nhim. To enjoin one thing, and incline to another, would be an argument\nof such insincerity, unfaithfulness, contradiction to itself, that it\ncannot be conceived to fall within the compass of the Divine nature\n(Deut. xxxii. 4), who is a \u201cGod without iniquity,\u201d because \u201ca God\nof truth\u201d and sincerity, \u201cjust and right is he.\u201d To bestow excellent\nfaculties upon man in creation, and incline him, by a sudden impulsion,\nto things contrary to the true end of him, and induce an inevitable\nruin upon that work which he had composed with so much wisdom and\ngoodness, and pronounced good with so much delight and pleasure, is\ninconsistent with that love which God bears to the creature of his own\nframing: to incline his will to that which would render him the object\nof his hatred, the fuel for his justice, and sink him into deplorable\nmisery, it is most absurd, and unchristian\u2011like to imagine.\n\n(3.) Nor can God necessitate man to sin. Indeed sin cannot be\ncommitted by force; there is no sin but is in some sort voluntary;\nvoluntary in the root, or voluntary in the branch; voluntary by\nan immediate act of the will, or voluntary by a general or natural\ninclination of the will. That is not a crime to which a man is\nviolenced, without any concurrence of the faculties of the soul to that\nact; it is indeed not an act, but a passion; a man that is forced is\nnot an agent, but a patient under the force: but what necessity can\nthere be upon man from God, since he hath implanted such a principle\nin him, that he cannot desire anything but what is good, either really\nor apparently; and if a man mistakes the object, it is his own fault;\nfor God hath endowed him with reason to discern, and liberty of will\nto choose upon that judgment. And though it is to be acknowledged that\nGod hath an absolute sovereign dominion over his creature, without any\nlimitation, and may do what he pleases, and dispose of it according\nto his own will, as a \u201cpotter doth with his vessel\u201d (Rom. ix. 21);\naccording as the church speaks (Isa. lxiv. 8), \u201cWe are the clay, and\nthou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand;\u201d yet he cannot\npollute any undefiled creature by virtue of that sovereign power,\nwhich he hath to do what he will with it; because such an act would be\ncontrary to the foundation and right of his dominion, which consists in\nthe excellency of his nature, his immense wisdom, and unspotted purity;\nif God should therefore do {b124} any such act, he would expunge the\nright of his dominion by blotting out that nature which renders him fit\nfor that dominion, and the exercise of it.[902] Any dominion which is\nexercised without the rules of goodness, is not a true sovereignty, but\nan insupportable tyranny. God would cease to be a rightful Sovereign if\nhe ceased to be good; and he would cease to be good, if he did command,\nnecessitate, or by any positive operation, incline inwardly the heart\nof a creature directly to that which were morally evil, and contrary to\nthe eminency of his own nature. But that we may the better conceive of\nthis, let us trace man in his first fall, whereby he subjected himself\nand all his posterity to the curse of the law and hatred of God; we\nshall find no footsteps, either of precept, outward force, or inward\nimpulsion.[903] The plain story of man\u2019s apostasy dischargeth God\nfrom any interest in the crime as an encouragement, and excuseth\nhim from any appearance of suspicion, when he showed him the tree\nhe had reserved, as a mark of his sovereignty, and forbad him to eat\nof the fruit of it; he backed the prohibition with the threatening\nthe greatest evil, _viz._ death; which could be understood to imply\nnothing less than the loss of all his happiness; and in that couched\nan assurance of the perpetuity of his felicity, if he did not,\nrebelliously, reach forth his hand to take and \u201ceat of the fruit\u201d (Gen.\nii. 16, 17). It is true God had given that fruit an excellency, \u201ca\ngoodness for food, and a pleasantness to the eye\u201d (Gen. iii. 6). He had\ngiven man an appetite, whereby he was capable of desiring so pleasant\na fruit; but God had, by creation, arranged it under the command of\nreason, if man would have kept it in its due obedience; he had fixed a\nsevere threatening to bar the unlawful excursions of it; he had allowed\nhim a multitude of other fruits in the garden, and given him liberty\nenough to satisfy his curiosity in all, except this only. Could there\nbe anything more obliging to man, to let God have his reserve of that\none tree, than the grant of all the rest; and more deterring from any\ndisobedient attempt than so strict a command, spirited with so dreadful\na penalty? God did not solicit him to rebel against him; a solicitation\nto it, and a command against it, were inconsistent. The devil assaults\nhim, and God permitted it, and stands, as it were, a spectator of the\nissue of the combat. There could be no necessity upon man to listen to,\nand entertain the suggestions of the serpent; he had a power to resist\nhim, and he had an answer ready for all the devil\u2019s arguments, had\nthey been multiplied to more than they were; the opposing the order\nof God had been a sufficient confutation of all the devil\u2019s plausible\nreasonings; that Creator, who hath given me my being, hath ordered me\nnot to eat of it. Though the pleasure of the fruit might allure him,\nyet the force of his reason might have quelled the liquorishness of\nhis sense; the perpetual thinking of, and sounding out, the command\nof God, had silenced both Satan and his own appetite; had disarmed the\ntempter, and preserved his sensitive part in its due subjection. What\ninclination can we suppose there could be from the Creator, when, upon\nthe very first offer of the temptation, Eve opposes to the tempter\nthe prohibition and threatening of God, and strains it to a higher peg\nthan we find God had {b125} delivered it in? For in Gen. ii. 17, it is,\n\u201cYou shall not eat of it;\u201d but she adds (Gen. iii. 3), \u201cNeither shall\nyou touch it;\u201d which was a remark that might have had more influence\nto restrain her. Had our first parents kept this fixed upon their\nunderstandings and thoughts, that God had forbidden any such act as the\neating of the fruit, and that he was true to execute the threatening\nhe had uttered, of which truth of God they could not but have a natural\nnotion, with what ease might they have withstood the devil\u2019s attack,\nand defeated his design! And it had been easy with them, to have kept\ntheir understandings by the force of such a thought, from entertaining\nany contrary imagination. There is no ground for any jealousy of any\nencouragements, inward impulsions, or necessity from God in this affair.\nA discharge of God from this first sin will easily induce a freedom\nof him from all other sins which follow upon it. God doth not then\nencourage, or excite, or incline to sin. How can he excite to that\nwhich, when it is done, he will be sure to condemn? How can he be a\nrighteous Judge to sentence a sinner to misery for a crime acted by\na secret inspiration from himself? Iniquity would deserve no reproof\nfrom him, if he were any way positively the author of it. Were God\nthe author of it in us, what is the reason our own consciences accuse\nus for it, and convince us of it? that, being God\u2019s deputy, would not\naccuse us of it, if the sovereign power by which it acts, did incline\nus to it. How can he be thought to excite to that which he hath enacted\nsuch severe laws to restrain, or incline man to that which he hath\nso dreadfully punished in his Son, and which it is impossible but the\nexcellency of his nature must incline him eternally to hate? We may\nsooner imagine, that a pure flame shall engender cold, and darkness\nbe the offspring of a sunbeam, as imagine such a thing as this. \u201cWhat\nshall we say, is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.\u201d The\napostle execrates such a thought (Rom. ix. 14).\n\n6. God cannot act any evil, in or by himself. If he cannot approve\nof sin in others, nor excite any to iniquity, which is less, he cannot\ncommit evil himself, which is greater; what he cannot positively will\nin another, can never be willed in himself; he cannot do evil through\nignorance, because of his infinite knowledge; nor through weakness,\nbecause of his infinite power; nor through malice, because of his\ninfinite rectitude. He cannot will any unjust thing, because, having an\ninfinitely perfect understanding, he cannot judge that to be true which\nis false; or that to be good which is evil: his will is regulated by\nhis wisdom. If he could will any unjust and irrational thing, his will\nwould be repugnant to his understanding; there would be a disagreement\nin God, will against mind, and will against wisdom; he being the\nhighest reason, the first truth, cannot do an unreasonable, false,\ndefective action. It is not a defect in God that he cannot do evil, but\na fulness and excellency of power; as it is not a weakness in the light,\nbut the perfection of it, that it is unable to produce darkness; \u201cGod\nis the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness\u201d (James i. 17).\nNothing pleases him, nothing is acted by him, but what is beseeming\nthe infinite excellency of his own nature; the voluntary necessity\nwhereby God cannot be unjust, {b126} renders him a God blessed forever;\nhe would hate himself for the chief good, if, in any of his actions,\nhe should disagree with his goodness. He cannot do any unworthy thing,\nnot because he wants an infinite power, but because he is possessed\nof an infinite wisdom, and adorned with an infinite purity; and being\ninfinitely pure, cannot have the least mixture of impurity. As if you\ncan suppose fire infinitely hot, you cannot suppose it to have the\nleast mixture of coldness; the better anything is, the more unable it\nis to do evil; God being the only goodness, can as little be changed\nin his goodness as in his essence.\n\nII. The next inquiry is, The proof that God is holy, or the\nmanifestation of it. Purity is as requisite to the blessedness of God,\nas to the being of God; as he could not be God without being blessed,\nso he could not be blessed without being holy. He is called by the\ntitle of Blessed, as well as by that of holy (Mark xiv. 61); \u201cArt thou\nthe Christ, the son of the Blessed?\u201d Unrighteousness is a misery and\nturbulency in any spirit wherein it is; for it is a privation of an\nexcellency which ought to be in every intellectual being, and what can\nfollow upon the privation of an excellency but unquietness and grief,\nthe moth of happiness? An unrighteous man, as an unrighteous man, can\nnever be blessed, though he were in a local heaven. Had God the least\nspot upon his purity, it would render him as miserable in the midst of\nhis infinite sufficiency, as iniquity renders a man in the confluence\nof his earthly enjoyments. The holiness and felicity of God are\ninseparable in him. The apostle intimates that the heathen made\nan attempt to sully his blessedness, when they would liken him to\ncorruptible, mutable, impure man (Rom. i. 23, 25): \u201cThey changed the\nglory of the incorruptible God into an image, made like to corruptible\nman;\u201d and after, he entitles God a \u201cGod blessed forever.\u201d The gospel\nis therefore called, \u201cThe glorious gospel of the blessed God\u201d (1 Tim.\ni. 11), in regard of the holiness of the gospel precepts, and in\nregard of the declaration of the holiness of God in all the streams\nand branches, wherein his purity, in which his blessedness consists,\nis as illustrious as any other perfection of the Divine Being. God hath\nhighly manifested this attribute in the state of nature; in the legal\nadministration; in the dispensation of the gospel. His wisdom, goodness,\nand power, are declared in creation; his sovereign authority in his\nlaw; his grace and mercy in the gospel, and his righteousness in all.\nSuitable to this threefold state, may be that eternal repetition of his\nholiness in the prophecy (Isa. vi. 3); holy, as Creator and Benefactor;\nholy, as Lawgiver and Judge; holy, as Restorer and Redeemer.\n\nFirst, His holiness appears, as he is Creator, in framing man in a\nperfect uprightness. Angels, as made by God, could not be evil; for\nGod beheld his own works with pleasure, and could not have pronounced\nthem all good, had some been created pure, and others impure; two moral\ncontrarieties could not be good. The angels had a first estate, wherein\nthey were happy (Jude 6); and had they not left their own habitation\nand state, they could not have been miserable. But, because the\nScripture speaks only of the creation of man, we will consider, that\nthe human nature was well strung and {b127} tuned by God, according\nto the note of his own holiness (Eccles. vii. 29); \u201cGod hath made\nman upright:\u201d he had declared his power in other creatures, but would\ndeclare in his rational creature, what he most valued in himself; and,\ntherefore, created him upright, with a wisdom which is the rectitude\nof the mind, with a purity which is the rectitude of the will and\naffections. He had declared a purity in other creatures, as much as\nthey were capable of, viz. in the exact tuning them to answer one\nanother. And that God, who so well tuned and composed other creatures,\nwould not make man a jarring instrument, and place a cracked creature\nto be Lord of the rest of his earthly fabric. God, being holy, could\nnot set his seal upon any rational creature, but the impression would\nbe like himself, pure and holy also; he could not be created with\nan error in his understanding; that had been inconsistent with the\ngoodness of God to his rational creature; if so, the erroneous motion\nof the will, which was to follow the dictates of the understanding,\ncould not have been imputed to him as his crime, because it would\nhave been, not a voluntary, but a necessary effect of his nature; had\nthere been an error in the first wheel, the error of the next could\nnot have been imputed to the nature of that, but to the irregular\nmotion of the first wheel in the engine. The sin of men and angels,\nproceeded not from any natural defect in their understandings, but\nfrom inconsideration; he that was the author of harmony in his other\ncreatures, could not be the author of disorder in the chief of his\nworks. Other creatures were his footsteps, but man was his image (Gen.\ni. 26, 27): \u201cLet us make man in our image, after our likeness;\u201d which,\nthough it seems to imply no more in that place, than an image of his\ndominion over the creatures, yet the apostle raises it a peg higher,\nand gives us a larger interpretation of it (Col. iii. 10): \u201cAnd have\nput on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of\nHim that created him;\u201d making it to consist in a resemblance to his\nrighteousness. Image, say some, notes the form, as man was a spirit\nin regard of his soul; likeness, notes the quality implanted in his\nspiritual nature; the image of God was drawn in him, both as he was a\nrational, and as he was a holy creature. The creatures manifested the\nbeing of a superior power, as their cause, but the righteousness of\nthe first man evidenced, not only a sovereign power, as the donor of\nhis being, but a holy power, as the pattern of his work. God appeared\nto be a holy God in the righteousness of his creature, as well as an\nunderstanding God in the reason of his creature, while he formed him\nwith all necessary knowledge in his mind and all necessary uprightness\nin his will. The law of love to God, with his whole soul, his whole\nmind, his whole heart and strength, was originally written upon his\nnature; all the parts of his nature were framed in a moral conformity\nwith God, to answer this law, and imitate God in his purity, which\nconsists in a love of himself, and his own goodness and excellency.\nThus doth the clearness of the stream point us to the purer fountain,\nand the brightness of the beam evidence a greater splendor in the sun\nwhich shot it out.\n\nSecondly, His holiness appears in his laws, as he is a Lawgiver and a\nJudge. Since man was bound to be subject to God, as a creature, {b128}\nand had a capacity to be ruled by the law, as an understanding and\nwilling creature; God gave him a law, taken from the depths of his holy\nnature, and suited to the original faculties of man. The rules which\nGod hath fixed in the world, are not the resolves of bare will, but\nresult particularly from the goodness of his nature; they are nothing\nelse but the transcripts of his infinite detestation of sin, as he is\nthe unblemished governor of the world. This being the most adorable\nproperty of his nature, he hath impressed it upon that law which he\nwould have inviolably observed as a perpetual rule for our actions,\nthat we may every moment think of this beautiful perfection. God can\ncommand nothing but what hath some similitude with the rectitude of his\nown nature; all his laws, every paragraph of them, therefore, scent of\nthis, and glitter with it (Deut. iv. 8): \u201cWhat nation hath statutes and\njudgments so righteous as all this law I set before you this day?\u201d and,\ntherefore, they are compared to fine gold, that hath no speck or dross\n(Ps. xix. 10).\n\nThis purity is evident\u2015\u20151. In the moral law, or law of nature. 2. In\nthe ceremonial law. 3. In the allurements annexed to it, for keeping\nit, and the affrightments to restrain from the breaking of it. 4. In\nthe judgments inflicted for the violation of it.\n\n1. In the moral law: which is therefore dignified with the title of\nHoly, twice in one verse (Rom. vii. 12): \u201cWherefore, the law is holy,\nand the commandment is holy, just, and good;\u201d it being the express\nimage of God\u2019s will, as our Saviour was of his person, and bearing a\nresemblance to the purity of his nature. The tables of this law were\nput into the ark, that, as the mercy seat was to represent the grace\nof God, so the law was to represent the holiness of God (Ps. xix. 1).\nThe Psalmist, after he had spoken of the glory of God in the heavens,\nwherein the power of God is exposed to our view, introduceth the law,\nwherein the purity of God is evidenced to our minds (ver. 7, 8, &c.):\n\u201cPerfect, pure, clean, righteous,\u201d are the titles given to it. It is\nclearer in holiness than the sun is in brightness; and more mighty in\nitself, to command the conscience, than the sun is to run its race. As\nthe holiness of the Scripture demonstrates the divinity of its Author;\nso the holiness of the law doth the purity of the Lawgiver.\n\n(1.) The purity of this law is seen in the matter of it. It prescribes\nall that becomes a creature towards God, and all that becomes one\ncreature towards another of his own rank and kind. The image of God is\ncomplete in the holiness of the first table, and the righteousness of\nthe second; which is intimated by the apostle (Eph. iv. 24), the one\nbeing the rule of what we owe to God, the other being the rule of what\nwe owe to man: there is no good but it enjoins, and no evil but it\ndisowns. It is not sickly and lame in any part of it; not a good action,\nbut it gives it its due praise; and not an evil action, but it sets a\ncondemning mark upon. The commands of it are frequently in Scripture\ncalled judgments, because they rightly judge of good and evil; and are\na clear light to inform the judgment of man in the knowledge of both.\nBy this was the understanding of David enlightened to know every false\nway, and to \u201chate it\u201d (Ps. cxix. 104). There is no case can happen,\nbut may meet with a determination from it; it teaches men the noblest\nmanner of living a {b129} life like God himself; honorably for the\nLawgiver, and joyfully for the subject. It directs us to the highest\nend; sets us at a distance from all base and sordid practices; it\nproposeth light to the understanding, and goodness to the will. It\nwould tune all the strings, set right all the orders of mankind: it\ncensures the least mote, countenanceth not any stain in the life. Not\na wanton glance can meet with any justification from it (Matt. v. 28);\nnot a rash anger but it frowns upon (ver. 22). As the Lawgiver wants\nnothing as an addition to his blessedness, so his law wants nothing as\na supplement to its perfection (Deut. iv. 2). What our Saviour seems\nto add, is not an addition to mend any defects, but a restoration of\nit from the corrupt glosses, wherewith the Scribes and Pharisees had\neclipsed the brightness of it: they had curtailed it, and diminished\npart of its authority, cutting off its empire over the least evil, and\nleft its power only to check the grosser practices. But Christ restores\nit to the due extent of its sovereignty, and shows it those dimensions\nin which the holy men of God considered it as \u201cexceeding broad\u201d (Ps.\ncxix. 96), reaching to all actions, all motions, all circumstances\nattending them; full of inexhaustible treasures of righteousness.\nAnd though this law, since the fall, doth irritate sin, it is no\ndisparagement, but a testimony to the righteousness of it; which\nthe apostle manifests by his \u201cWherefore\u201d (Rom. vii. 8), \u201csin, taking\noccasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence;\u201d\nand repeating the same sense (ver. 11), subjoins a \u201cWherefore\u201d (ver.\n12), \u201cWherefore the law is holy.\u201d The rising of men\u2019s sinful hearts\nagainst the law of God, when it strikes with its preceptive and\nminatory parts upon their consciences, evidenceth the holiness of the\nlaw and the Lawgiver. In its own nature it is a directing rule, but\nthe malignant nature of sin is exasperated by it; as an hostile quality\nin a creature will awaken itself at the appearance of its enemy. The\npurity of this beam, and transcript of God, bears witness to a greater\nclearness and beauty in the sun and original. Undefiled streams\nmanifest an untainted fountain.\n\n(2.) It is seen in the manner of its precepts. As it prescribes all\ngood, and forbids all evil, so it doth enjoin the one, and banish the\nother as such. The laws of men command virtuous things; not as virtuous\nin themselves, but as useful for human society; which the magistrate\nis the conservator of, and the guardian of justice.[904] The laws\nof men contain not all the precepts of virtue, but only such as are\naccommodated to their customs, and are useful to preserve the ligaments\nof their government. The design of them is not so much to render the\nsubjects good men, as good citizens: they order the practice of those\nvirtues that may strengthen civil society, and discountenance those\nvices only which weaken the sinews of it: but God, being the guardian\nof universal righteousness, doth not only enact the observance of all\nrighteousness, but the observance of it as righteousness. He commands\nthat which is just in itself, enjoins virtues as virtues, and prohibits\nvices as vices: as they are profitable or injurious to ourselves, as\nwell as to others. Men command temperance and justice; not as virtues\nin themselves, but as they prevent {b130} disorder and confusion in a\ncommonwealth; and forbid adultery and theft, not as vices in themselves,\nbut as they are intrenchments upon property; not as hurtful to the\nperson that commits them, but as hurtful to the person against whose\nright they are committed. Upon this account, perhaps, Paul applauds the\nholiness of the law of God in regard of its own nature, as considered\nin itself, more than he doth the justice of it in regard of man, and\nthe goodness and conveniency of it to the world (Rom. vii. 12); the law\nis holy twice, and just and good but once.\n\n(3.) In the spiritual extent of it. The most righteous powers of the\nworld do not so much regard in their laws what the inward affections\nof their subjects are: the external acts are only the objects of their\ndecrees, either to encourage them if they be useful, or discourage\nthem if they be hurtful to the community. And, indeed, they can do no\nother, for they have no power proportioned to inward affections, since\nthe inward disposition falls not under their censure; and it would\nbe foolish for any legislative power to make such laws, which it is\nimpossible for it to put in execution. They can prohibit the outward\nacts of theft and murder, but they cannot command the love of God, the\nhatred of sin, the contempt of the world; they cannot prohibit unclean\nthoughts, and the atheism of the heart. But the law of God surmounts in\nrighteousness all the laws of the best\u2011regulated commonwealths in the\nworld: it restrains the licentious heart, as well as the violent hand;\nit damps the very first bubblings of corrupt nature, orders a purity in\nthe spring, commands a clean fountain, clean streams, clean vessels. It\nwould frame the heart to an inward, as well as the life to an outward\nrighteousness, and make the inside purer than the outside. It forbids\nthe first belchings of a murderous or adulterous intention: it obligeth\na man as a rational creature, and therefore exacts a conformity of\nevery rational faculty, and of whatsoever is under the command of them.\nIt commands the private closet to be free from the least cobweb, as\nwell as the outward porch to be clean from mire and dirt. It frowns\nupon all stains and pollutions of the most retired thoughts: hence the\napostle calls it a \u201cspiritual law\u201d (Rom. vii. 14), as not political,\nbut extending its force further than the frontiers of the man; placing\nits ensigns in the metropolis of the heart and mind, and curbing with\nits sceptre the inward motions of the spirit, and commanding over the\nsecrets of every man\u2019s breast.\n\n(4.) In regard of the perpetuity of it. The purity and perpetuity of\nit are linked together by the Psalmist (Ps. xix. 9): \u201cThe fear of the\nLord is clean, enduring for ever;\u201d the fear of the Lord, that is, that\nlaw which commands the fear and worship of God, and is the rule of\nit. And, indeed, God values it at such a rate, that rather than part\nwith a tittle, or let the honor of it lie in the dust, he would not\nonly let \u201cheaven and earth pass away,\u201d but expose his Son to death\nfor the reparation of the wrong it had sustained. So holy it is, that\nthe holiness and righteousness of God cannot dispense with it, cannot\nabrogate it, without despoiling himself of his own being: it is a\ncopy of the eternal law. Can he ever abrogate the command of love to\nhimself, without showing some contempt {b131} of his own excellency and\nvery being? Before he can enjoin a creature not to love him, he must\nmake himself unworthy of love, and worthy of hatred; this would be the\nhighest unrighteousness, to order us to hate that which is only worthy\nof our highest affections. So God cannot change the first command, and\norder us to worship many gods; this would be against the excellency and\nunity of God: for God cannot constitute another God, or make anything\nworthy of an honor equal with himself.[905] Those things that are good,\nonly because they are commanded, are alterable by God: those things\nthat are intrinsically and essentially good, and therefore commanded,\nare unalterable as long as the holiness and righteousness of God stand\nfirm. The intrinsic goodness of the moral law, the concern God hath\nfor it; the perpetuity of the precepts of the first table, and the care\nhe hath had to imprint the precepts of the second upon the minds and\nconsciences of men, as the Author of nature for the preservation of the\nworld, manifests the holiness of the Lawmaker and Governor.\n\n2. His holiness appears in the ceremonial law: in the variety of\nsacrifices for sin, wherein he writ his detestation of unrighteousness\nin bloody characters. His holiness was more constantly expressed in\nthe continual sacrifices, than in those rarer sprinklings of judgments\nnow and then upon the world; which often reached, not the worst, but\nthe most moderate sinners, and were the occasions of the questioning\nof the righteousness of his providence both by Jews and Gentiles.\nIn judgments his purity was only now and then manifest: by his long\npatience, he might be imagined by some reconciled to their crimes, or\nnot much concerned in them; but by the morning and evening sacrifice\nhe witnessed a perpetual and uninterrupted abhorrence of whatsoever\nwas evil. Besides those, the occasional washings and sprinklings upon\nceremonial defilements, which polluted only the body, gave an evidence,\nthat everything that had a resemblance to evil, was loathsome to him.\nAdd, also, the prohibitions of eating such and such creatures that were\nfilthy; as the swine that wallowed in the mire, a fit emblem for the\nprofane and brutish sinner; which had a moral signification, both of\nthe loathsomeness of sin to God, and the aversion themselves ought to\nhave to everything that was filthy.\n\n3. This holiness appears in the allurements annexed to the law for\nkeeping it, and the affrightments to restrain from the breaking of\nit. Both promises and threatenings have their fundamental root in the\nholiness of God, and are both branches of this peculiar perfection. As\nthey respect the nature of God, they are declarations of his hatred of\nsin, and his love of righteousness; the one belong to his threatenings,\nthe other to his promises; both join together to represent this divine\nperfection to the creature, and to excite to an imitation in the\ncreature. In the one, God would render sin odious, because dangerous,\nand curb the practice of evil, which would otherwise be licentious;\nin the other, he would commend righteousness, and excite a love of\nit, which would otherwise be cold. By there God suits the two great\naffections of men, fear and hope; {b132} both the branches of self\u2011love\nin man: the promises and threatenings are both the branches of holiness\nin God. The end of the promises is the same with the exhortation the\napostle concludes from them (2 Cor. vii. 1); \u201cHaving these promises,\nlet us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,\nperfecting holiness in the fear of God.\u201d As the end of precept is to\ndirect, the end of threatenings is to deter from iniquity, so that the\npromises is to allure to obedience. Thus God breathes out his love to\nrighteousness in every promise; his hatred of sin in every threatening.\nThe rewards offered in the one, are the smiles of pleased holiness;\nand the curses thundered in the other, are the sparklings of enraged\nrighteousness.\n\n4. His holiness appears in the judgment inflicted for the violation\nof this law. Divine holiness is the root of Divine justice, and Divine\njustice is the triumph of Divine holiness. Hence both are expressed in\nScripture by one word of righteousness, which sometimes signifies the\nrectitude of the Divine nature, and sometimes the vindicative stroke of\nhis arm (Ps. ciii. 6); \u201cThe Lord executeth righteousness and judgment\nfor all that are oppressed.\u201d So (Dan. ix. 7) \u201cRighteousness (that is,\njustice) belongs to thee.\u201d The vials of his wrath are filled from his\nimplacable aversion to iniquity. All penal evils shower down upon the\nheads of wicked men, spread their root in, and branch out from, this\nperfection. All the dreadful storms and tempests in the world are blown\nup by it. Why doth he \u201crain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible\ntempest!\u201d Because \u201cthe righteous Lord loveth righteousness\u201d (Ps. xi.\n6, 7). And, as was observed before, when he was going about the\ndreadfulest work that ever was in the world, the overturning the Jewish\nstate, hardening the hearts of that unbelieving people, and cashiering\na nation, once dear to him, from the honor of his protection; his\nholiness, as the spring of all this, is applauded by the seraphims (Isa.\nvi. 3, compared with ver. 9\u201211), &c. Impunity argues the approbation\nof a crime, and punishment the abhorrency of it. The greatness of\nthe crime, and the righteousness of the Judge, are the first natural\nsentiments that arise in the minds of men upon the appearance of Divine\njudgments in the world, by those that are near them;[906] as, when\nmen see gibbets erected, scaffolds prepared, instruments of death\nand torture provided, and grievous punishments inflicted, the first\nreflection in the spectator is the malignity of the crime, and the\ndetestation the governors are possessed with.\n\n(1.) How severely hath he punished his most noble creatures for it!\nThe once glorious angels, upon whom he had been at greater cost than\nupon any other creatures, and drawn more lively lineaments of his own\nexcellency, upon the transgression of his law, are thrown into the\nfurnace of justice, without any mercy to pity them (Jude 6). And though\nthere were but one sort of creatures upon the earth that bore his image,\nand were only fit to publish and keep up his honor below the heavens,\nyet, upon their apostasy, though upon a temptation from a subtle and\ninsinuating spirit, the man, with all his posterity, is sentenced to\nmisery in life, and death at {b133} last; and the woman, with all her\nsex, have standing punishments inflicted on them, which, as they begun\nin their persons, were to reach as far as the last member of their\nsuccessive generations. So holy is God, that he will not endure a\nspot in his choicest work. Men, indeed, when there is a crack in an\nexcellent piece of work, or a stain upon a rich garment, do not cast it\naway; they value it for the remaining excellency, more than hate it for\nthe contracted spot; but God saw no excellency in his creature worthy\nregarding, after the image of that which he most esteemed in himself\nwas defaced.\n\n(2.) How detestable to him are the very instruments of sin! For the\nill use the serpent, an irrational creature, was put to by the devil,\nas an instrument in the fall of man, the whole brood of those animals\nare cursed (Gen. iii. 14), \u201ccursed above all cattle, and above every\nbeast of the field.\u201d Not only the devil\u2019s head is threatened to be\nfor ever bruised, and, as some think, rendered irrecoverable upon this\nfurther testimony of his malice in the seduction of man, who, perhaps,\nwithout this new act, might have been admitted into the arms of mercy,\nnotwithstanding his first sin; \u201cthough the Scripture gives us no\naccount of this, only this is the only sentence we read of pronounced\nagainst the devil, which puts him into an irrecoverable state by a\nmortal bruising of his head.\u201d But, I say, he is not only punished,\nbut the organ, whereby he blew in his temptation, is put into a worse\ncondition than it was before. Thus God hated the sponge, whereby\nthe devil deformed his beautiful image: thus God, to manifest his\ndetestation of sin, ordered the beast, whereby any man was slain, to\nbe slain as well as the malefactor (Lev. xx. 15). The gold and silver\nthat had been abused to idolatry, and were the ornaments of images,\nthough good in themselves, and incapable of a criminal nature, were\nnot to be brought into their houses, but detested and abhorred by them,\nbecause they were cursed, and an abomination to the Lord. See with what\nloathing expressions this law is enjoined to them (Deut. vii. 25, 26).\nSo contrary is the holy nature of God to every sin, that it curseth\neverything that is instrumental in it.\n\n(3.) How detestable is everything to him that is in the sinner\u2019s\npossession! The very earth, which God had made Adam the proprietor of,\nwas cursed for his sake (Gen. iii. 17, 18). It lost its beauty, and\nlies languishing to this day; and, notwithstanding the redemption by\nChrist, hath not recovered its health, nor is it like to do, till the\ncompleting the fruits of it upon the children of God (Rom. viii. 20\u201222).\nThe whole lower creation was made subject to vanity, and put into pangs,\nupon the sin of man, by the righteousness of God detesting his offence.\nHow often hath his implacable aversion from sin been shown, not only\nin his judgments upon the offender\u2019s person, but by wrapping up, in\nthe same judgment, those which stood in a near relation to them! Achan,\nwith his children and cattle, are overwhelmed with stones, and burned\ntogether (Josh. vii. 24, 25). In the destruction of Sodom, not only\nthe grown malefactors, but the young spawn, the infants, at present\nincapable of the same wickedness, and their cattle, were burned up\nby the same fire from heaven; and the place where their habitations\nstood, is, at this day, {b134} partly a heap of ashes, and partly an\ninfectious lake, that chokes any fish that swims into it from Jordan,\nand stifles, as is related, by its vapor, any bird that attempts to\nfly over it. O, how detestable is sin to God, that causes him to turn\na pleasant land, as the \u201cgarden of the Lord\u201d (as it is styled Gen.\nxiii. 10), into a lake of sulphur; to make it, both in his word and\nworks, as a lasting monument of his abhorrence of evil!\n\n(4.) What design hath God in all these acts of severity and\nvindictive justice, but to set off the lustre of his holiness? He\ntestifies himself concerned for those laws, which he hath set as hedges\nand limits to the lusts of men; and, therefore, when he breathes forth\nhis fiery indignation against a people, he is said to get himself\nhonor: as when he intended the Red Sea should swallow up the Egyptian\narmy (Exod. xiv. 17, 18), which Moses, in his triumphant song, echoes\nback again (Exod. xv. 1): \u201cThou hast triumphed gloriously;\u201d gloriously\nin his holiness, which is the glory of his nature, as Moses himself\ninterprets it in the text. When men will not own the holiness of\nGod, in a way of duty, God will vindicate it in a way of justice\nand punishment. In the destruction of Aaron\u2019s sons, that were\nwill\u2011worshippers, and would take strange fire, \u201csanctified\u201d and\n\u201cglorified\u201d are coupled (Lev. x. 3): he glorified himself in that act,\nin vindicating his holiness before all the people, declaring that he\nwill not endure sin and disobedience. He doth therefore, in this life,\nmore severely punish the sins of his people, when they presume upon\nany act of disobedience, for a testimony that the nearness and dearness\nof any person to him shall not make him unconcerned in his holiness,\nor be a plea for impurity. The end of all his judgments is to witness\nto the world his abominating of sin. To punish and witness against\nmen, are one and the same thing (Micah i. 2): \u201cThe Lord shall witness\nagainst you;\u201d and it is the witness of God\u2019s holiness (Hos. v. 5):\n\u201cAnd the pride of Israel doth testify to his face:\u201d one renders it the\nexcellency of Israel, and understands it of God: the word \u05d2\u05d0\u05d5\u05df, which is\nhere in our translation, \u201cpride,\u201d is rendered \u201cexcellency\u201d (Amos viii.\n7): \u201cThe Lord God hath sworn by his excellency;\u201d which is interpreted\n\u201choliness\u201d (Amos iv. 2): \u201cThe Lord God hath sworn by his holiness.\u201d\nWhat is the issue or end of this swearing by \u201choliness,\u201d and of his\n\u201cexcellency\u201d testifying against them? In all those places you will find\nthem to be sweeping judgments: in one, Israel and Ephraim shall \u201cfall\nin their iniquity;\u201d in another, he will \u201ctake them away with hooks,\u201d\nand \u201ctheir posterity with fish\u2011hooks;\u201d and in another, he would \u201cnever\nforget any of their works.\u201d He that punisheth wickedness in those he\nbefore used with the greatest tenderness, furnisheth the world with\nan undeniable evidence of the detestableness of it to him. Were not\njudgments sometimes poured out upon the world, it would be believed\nthat God were rather an approver than an enemy to sin. To conclude,\nsince God hath made a stricter law to guide men, annexed promises above\nthe merit of obedience to allure them, and threatenings dreadful enough\nto affright men from disobedience, he cannot be the cause of sin, nor\na lover of it. How can he be the author of that which he so severely\nforbids; or love that which he delights to punish; or be fondly\nindulgent to any evil, when he {b135} hates the ignorant instruments\nin the offences of his reasonable creatures?\n\nThirdly. The holiness of God appears in our restoration. It is in the\nglass of the gospel we behold the \u201cglory of the Lord\u201d (2 Cor. iii. 18);\nthat is, the glory of the Lord, into whose image we are changed; but\nwe are changed into nothing, as the image of God, but into holiness:\nwe bore not upon us by creation, nor by regeneration, the image of\nany other perfection: we cannot be changed into his omnipotence,\nomniscience, &c., but into the image of his righteousness. This is the\npleasing and glorious sight the gospel mirror darts in our eyes. The\nwhole scene of redemption is nothing else but a discovery of judgment\nand righteousness (Isa. i. 27): \u201cZion shall be redeemed with judgment,\nand her converts with righteousness.\u201d\n\n1. This holiness of God appears in the manner of our restoration, viz.\nby the death of Christ. Not all the vials of judgments, that have, or\nshall be poured out upon the wicked world, nor the flaming furnace of\na sinner\u2019s conscience, nor the irreversible sentence pronounced against\nthe rebellious devils, nor the groans of the damned creatures, give\nsuch a demonstration of God\u2019s hatred of sin, as the wrath of God let\nloose upon his Son. Never did Divine holiness appear more beautiful\nand lovely, than at the time our Saviour\u2019s countenance was most marred\nin the midst of his dying groans. This himself acknowledges in that\nprophetical psalm (xxii. 1, 2), when God had turned his smiling face\nfrom him, and thrust his sharp knife into his heart, which forced that\nterrible cry from him, \u201cMy God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?\u201d\nHe adores this perfection of holiness (ver. 3), \u201cBut thou art holy;\u201d\nthy holiness is the spring of all this sharp agony, and for this thou\ninhabitest, and shalt forever inhabit, the praises of all thy Israel.\nHoliness drew the veil between God\u2019s countenance and our Saviour\u2019s\nsoul. Justice indeed gave the stroke, but holiness ordered it. In this\nhis purity did sparkle, and his irreversible justice manifested that\nall those that commit sin are worthy of death; this was the perfect\nindex of his \u201crighteousness\u201d (Rom. iii. 25), that is, of his holiness\nand truth; then it was that God that is holy, was \u201csanctified in\nrighteousness\u201d (Isa. v. 16). It appears the more, if you consider,\n\n(1.) The dignity of the Redeemer\u2019s person. One that had been from\neternity; had laid the foundations of the world; had been the object of\nthe Divine delight: he that was God blessed forever, become a curse; he\nwho was blessed by angels, and by whom God blessed the world, must be\nseized with horror; the Son of eternity must bleed to death! When did\never sin appear so irreconcileable to God? Where did God ever break out\nso furiously in his detestation of iniquity? The Father would have the\nmost excellent person, one next in order to himself, and equal to him\nin all the glorious perfections of his nature (Phil. ii. 6), die on a\ndisgraceful cross, and be exposed to the flames of Divine wrath, rather\nthan sin should live, and his holiness remain forever disparaged by the\nviolations of his law.\n\n(2.) The near relation he stood in to the Father. He was his \u201cown Son\nthat he delivered up\u201d (Rom. viii. 32); his essential image, as dearly\nbeloved by him as himself; yet he would abate nothing of his hatred of\nthose sins imputed to one so dear to him, and who {b136} never had done\nanything contrary to his will. The strong cries uttered by him could\nnot cause him to cut off the least fringe of this royal garment, nor\npart with a thread the robe of his holiness was woven with. The torrent\nof wrath is opened upon him, and the Father\u2019s heart beats not in the\nleast notice of tenderness to sin, in the midst of his Son\u2019s agonies.\nGod seems to lay aside the bowels of a father, and put on the garb\nof an irreconcileable enemy,[907] upon which account, probably, our\nSaviour in the midst of his passion gives him the title of God; not\nof Father, the title he usually before addressed to him with, (Matt.\nxxvii. 46), \u201cMy God, my God;\u201d not, My Father, my Father; \u201cwhy hast\nthou forsaken me?\u201d He seems to hang upon the cross like a disinherited\nson, while he appeared in the garb and rank of a sinner. Then was his\nhead loaded with curses, when he stood under that sentence of \u201cCursed\nis every one that hangs upon a tree\u201d (Gal. iii. 13), and looked as one\nforlorn and rejected by the Divine purity and tenderness. God dealt\nnot with him as if he had been one in so near a relation to him. He\nleft him not to the will only of the instruments of his death; he would\nhave the chiefest blow himself of bruising of him (Isa. liii. 10):\n\u201cIt pleased the Lord to bruise him:\u201d the Lord, because the power of\ncreatures could not strike a blow strong enough to satisfy and secure\nthe rights of infinite holiness. It was therefore a cup tempered and\nput into his hands by his Father; a cup given him to drink. In other\njudgments he lets out his wrath against his creatures; in this he lets\nout his wrath, as it were, against himself, against his Son, one as\ndear to him as himself. As in his making creatures, his power over\nnothing to bring it into being appeared; but in pardoning sin he hath\npower over himself; so in punishing creatures, his holiness appears\nin his wrath against creatures, against sinners by inherency; but by\npunishing sin in his Son, his holiness sharpens his wrath against him\nwho was his equal, and only a reputed sinner; as if his affection to\nhis own holiness surmounted his affection to his Son: for he chose\nto suspend the breakings out of his affections to his Son, and see\nhim plunged in a sharp and ignominious misery, without giving him any\nvisible token of his love, rather than see his holiness lie groaning\nunder the injuries of a transgressing world.\n\n(3.) The value he puts upon his holiness appears further, in the\nadvancement of this redeeming person, after his death. Our Saviour\nwas advanced, not barely for his dying, but for the respect he had\nin his death to this attribute of God (Heb. i. 9): \u201cThou hast loved\nrighteousness, and hated iniquity: therefore God, even thy God, hath\nanointed thee with the oil of gladness,\u201d &c. By righteousness is meant\nthis perfection, because of the opposition of it to iniquity. Some\nthink \u201ctherefore\u201d to be the final cause; as if this were the sense,\n\u201cThou art anointed with the oil of gladness, that thou mightest love\nrighteousness and hate iniquity.\u201d But the Holy Ghost seeming to speak\nin this chapter not only of the Godhead of Christ but of his exaltation;\nthe doctrine whereof he had begun in ver. 3, and prosecutes in the\nfollowing verses, I would rather understand \u201ctherefore,\u201d for \u201cthis\ncause, or reason, hath God anointed thee;\u201d not \u201cto {b137} this end.\u201d\nChrist indeed had an unction of grace, whereby he was fitted for\nhis mediatory work; he had also an unction of glory, whereby he was\nrewarded for it. In the first regard, it was a qualifying him for his\noffice; in the second regard, it was a solemn inaugurating him in his\nroyal authority. And the reason of his being settled upon a \u201cthrone\nfor ever and ever,\u201d is, \u201cbecause he loved righteousness.\u201d He suffered\nhimself to be pierced to death, that sin, the enemy of God\u2019s purity,\nmight be destroyed, and the honor of the law, the image of God\u2019s\nholiness, might be repaired and fulfilled in the fallen creature. He\nrestored the credit of Divine holiness in the world, in manifesting,\nby his death, God an irreconcileable enemy to all sin; in abolishing\nthe empire of sin, so hateful to God, and restoring the rectitude of\nnature, and new framing the image of God in his chosen ones. And God\nso valued this vindication of his holiness, that he confers upon him,\nin his human nature, an eternal royalty and empire over angels and men.\nHoliness was the great attribute respected by Christ in his dying, and\nmanifested in his death; and for his love to this, God would bestow\nan honor upon his person, in that nature wherein he did vindicate the\nhonor of so dear a perfection. In the death of Christ, he showed his\nresolution to preserve its rights; in the exaltation of Christ, he\nevinced his mighty pleasure for the vindication of it; in both, the\ninfinite value he had for it, as dear to him as his life and glory.\n\n(4.) It may be farther considered, that in this way of redemption,\nhis holiness in the hatred of sin seems to be valued above any other\nattribute. He proclaims the value of it above the person of his Son;\nsince the Divine nature of the Redeemer is disguised, obscured, and\nvailed, in order to the restoring the honor of it. And Christ seems\nto value it above his own person, since he submitted himself to the\nreproaches of men, to clear this perfection of the Divine nature, and\nmake it illustrious in the eyes of the world. You heard before, at the\nbeginning of the handling this argument, it was the beauty of the Deity,\nthe lustre of his nature, the link of all his attributes, his very life;\nhe values it equal with himself, since he swears by it, as well as by\nhis life; and none of his attributes would have a due decorum without\nit; it is the glory of power, mercy, justice, and wisdom, that they are\nall holy; so that though God had an infinite tenderness and compassion\nto the fallen creature, yet it should not extend itself in his relief\nto the prejudice of the rights of his purity: he would have this\ntriumph in the tenderness of his mercy, as well as the severities\nof his justice. His mercy had not appeared in its true colors, nor\nattained a regular end, without vengeance on sin. It would have been\na compassion that would, in sparing the sinner, have encouraged the\nsin, and affronted holiness in the issues of it: had he dispersed his\ncompassions about the world, without the regard to his hatred of sin,\nhis mercy had been too cheap, and his holiness had been contemned; his\nmercy would not have triumphed in his own nature, whilst his holiness\nhad suffered; he had exercised a mercy with the impairing his own glory;\nbut now, in this way of redemption, the rights of both are secured,\nboth have their due lustre: the odiousness of sin is equally {b138}\ndiscovered with the greatest of his compassions; an infinite abhorrence\nof sin, and an infinite love to the world, march hand in hand together.\nNever was so much of the irreconcileableness of sin to him set forth,\nas in the moment he was opening his bowels in the reconciliation of\nthe sinner. Sin is made the chiefest mark of his displeasure, while\nthe poor creature is made the highest object of Divine pity. There\ncould have been no motion of mercy, with the least injury to purity\nand holiness. In this way mercy and truth, mercy to the misery of the\ncreature, and truth to the purity of the law, \u201chave met together;\u201d the\nrighteousness of God, and the peace of the sinner, \u201chave kissed each\nother\u201d (Ps. lxxxv. 10).\n\n2. The holiness of God in his hatred of sin appears in our\njustification, and the conditions he requires of all that would\nenjoy the benefit of redemption. His wisdom hath so tempered all the\nconditions of it, that the honor of his holiness is as much preserved,\nas the sweetness of his mercy is experimented by us; all the conditions\nare records of his exact purity, as well as of his condescending grace.\nOur justification is not by the imperfect works of creatures, but by\nan exact and infinite righteousness, as great as that of the Deity\nwhich had been offended: it being the righteousness of a Divine person,\nupon which account it is called the righteousness of God; not only in\nregard of God\u2019s appointing it, and God\u2019s accepting it, but as it is\na righteousness of that person that was God, and is God. Faith is the\ncondition God requires to justification; but not a dead, but an active\nfaith, such a \u201cfaith as purifies the heart\u201d (James ii. 20; Acts xv. 9).\nHe calls for repentance, which is a moral retracting our offences,\nand an approbation of contemned righteousness and a violated law;\nan endeavor to gain what is lost, and to pluck out the heart of that\nsin we have committed. He requires mortification, which is called\ncrucifying; whereby a man would strike as full and deadly a blow at\nhis lusts, as was struck at Christ upon the cross, and make them as\ncertainly die, as the Redeemer did. Our own righteousness must be\ncondemned by us, as impure and imperfect: we must disown everything\nthat is our own, as to righteousness, in reverence to the holiness of\nGod, and the valuation of the righteousness of Christ. He hath resolved\nnot to bestow the inheritance of glory without the root of grace. None\nare partakers of the Divine blessedness that are not partakers of the\nDivine nature: there must be a renewing of his image before there be\na vision of his face (Heb. xii. 14). He will not have men brought only\ninto a relative state of happiness by justification, without a real\nstate of grace by sanctification; and so resolved he is in it, that\nthere is no admittance into heaven of a starting, but a persevering\nholiness (Rom. ii. 7), \u201ca patient continuance in well\u2011doing:\u201d patient,\nunder the sharpness of affliction, and continuing, under the pleasures\nof prosperity. Hence it is that the gospel, the restoring doctrine,\nhath not only the motives of rewards to allure to good, and the danger\nof punishments to scare us from evil, as the law had; but they are set\nforth in a higher strain, in a way of stronger engagement; the rewards\nare heavenly, and the punishments eternal: and more powerful motives\nbesides, from the choicer expressions of God\u2019s love in the death of his\nSon. The whole design of {b139} it is to reinstate us in a resemblance\nto this Divine perfection; whereby he shows what an affection he hath\nto this excellency of his nature, and what a detestation he hath of\nevil, which is contrary to it.\n\n3. It appears in the actual regeneration of the redeemed souls, and a\ncarrying it on to a full perfection. As election is the effect of God\u2019s\nsovereignty, our pardon the fruit of his mercy, our knowledge a stream\nfrom his wisdom, our strength an impression of his power; so our purity\nis a beam from his holiness. The whole work of sanctification, and the\npreservation of it, our Saviour begs for his disciples of his Father,\nunder this title (John xvii. 11, 17): \u201cHoly Father, keep them through\nthy own name,\u201d and \u201csanctify them through thy truth;\u201d as the proper\nsource whence holiness was to flow to the creature: as the sun is\nthe proper fountain whence light is derived, both to the stars above,\nand the bodies here below. Whence He is not only called Holy, but the\nHoly One of Israel (Isa. xliii. 15), \u201cI am the Lord your Holy One, the\nCreator of Israel:\u201d displaying his holiness in them, by a new creation\nof them as his Israel. As the rectitude of the creature at the first\ncreation was the effect of his holiness, so the purity of the creature,\nby a new creation, is a draught of the same perfection. He is called\nthe Holy One of Israel more in Isaiah, that evangelical prophet, in\nerecting Zion, and forming a people for himself, than in the whole\nScripture besides. As he sent Jesus Christ to satisfy his justice\nfor the expiation of the guilt of sin, so he sends the Holy Ghost for\nthe cleansing of the filth of sin, and overmastering the power of it:\nHimself is the fountain, the Son is the pattern, and the Holy Ghost the\nimmediate imprinter of this stamp of holiness upon the creature. God\nhath such a value for this attribute, that he designs the glory of this\nin the renewing the creature, more than the happiness of the creature;\nthough the one doth necessarily follow upon the other, yet the one\nis the principal design, and the other the consequent of the former:\nwhence our salvation is more frequently set forth, in Scripture,\nby a redemption from sin, and sanctification of the soul, than by a\npossession of heaven.[908] Indeed, as God could not create a rational\ncreature, without interesting this attribute in a special manner,\nso he cannot restore the fallen creature without it. As in creating\na rational creature, there must be holiness to adorn it, as well\nas wisdom to form the design, and power to effect it; so in the\nrestoration of the creature, as he could not make a reasonable creature\nunholy, so he cannot restore a fallen creature, and put him in a\nmeet posture to take pleasure in him, without communicating to him a\nresemblance of himself. As God cannot be blessed in himself without\nthis perfection of purity, so neither can a creature be blessed without\nit. As God would be unlovely to himself without this attribute, so\nwould the creature be unlovely to God, without a stamp and mark of it\nupon his nature. So much is this perfection one with God, valued by him,\nand interested in all his works and ways!\n\nIII. The third thing I am to do, is to lay down some proposition in\nthe defence of God\u2019s holiness in all his acts, about, or concerning\n{b140} sin. It was a prudent and pious advice of Camero, not to be too\nbusy and rash in inquiries and conclusions about the reason of God\u2019s\nprovidence in the matter of sin. The Scripture hath put a bar in the\nway of such curiosity, by telling us, that the ways of God\u2019s wisdom and\nrighteousness in his judgments are \u201cunsearchable\u201d (Rom. xi. 33): much\nmore the ways of God\u2019s holiness, as he stands in relation to sin, as a\nGovernor of the world; we cannot consider those things without danger\nof slipping: our eyes are too weak to look upon the sun without being\ndazzled: too much curiosity met with a just check in our first parent.\nTo be desirous to know the reason of all God\u2019s proceedings in the\nmatter of sin, is to second the ambition of Adam, to be as wise as God,\nand know the reason of his actings equally with himself. It is more\neasy, as the same author saith, to give an account of God\u2019s providence\nsince the revolt of man, and the poison that hath universally seized\nupon human nature, than to make guesses at the manner of the fall\nof the first man. The Scripture hath given us but a short account of\nthe manner of it, to discourage too curious inquiries into it. It is\ncertain that God made man upright; and when man sinned in paradise, God\nwas active in sustaining the substantial nature and act of the sinner\nwhile he was sinning, though not in supporting the sinfulness of the\nact: he was permissive in suffering it: he was negative in withholding\nthat grace which might certainly have prevented his crime, and\nconsequently his ruin; though he withheld nothing that was sufficient\nfor his resistance of that temptation wherewith he was assaulted. And\nsince the fall of man, God, as a wise governor, is directive of the\nevents of the transgression, and draws the choicest good out of the\nblackest evil, and limits the sins of men, that they creep not so far\nas the evil nature of men would urge them to; and as a righteous Judge,\nhe takes away the talent from idle servants, and the light from wicked\nones, whereby they stumble and fall into crimes, by the inclinations\nand proneness of their own corrupt natures, leaves them to the bias of\ntheir own vicious habits, denies that grace which they have forfeited,\nand have no right to challenge, and turns their sinful actions into\npunishments, both to the committers of them and others.\n\n_Prop. I._ God\u2019s holiness is not chargeable with any blemish for\nhis creating man in a mutable state. It is true, angels and men were\ncreated with a changeable nature; as though there was a rich and\nglorious stamp upon them by the hand of God, yet their natures were not\nincapable of a base and vile stamp from some other principle: as the\nsilver which bears upon it the image of a great prince, is capable of\nbeing melted down, and imprinted with no better an image than that of\nsome vile and monstrous beast. Though God made man upright, yet he was\ncapable of seeking \u201cmany inventions\u201d (Eccl. vii. 29); yet the hand of\nGod was not defiled by forming man with such a nature. It was suitable\nto the wisdom of God to give the rational creature, whom he had\nfurnished with a power of acting righteously, the liberty of choice,\nand not fix him in an unchangeable state without a trial of him in his\nnatural; that if he did obey, his obedience might be the more valuable;\nand if he did freely offend, his offence might be more inexcusable.\n\n{b141} 1. No creature can be capable of immutability by nature.\nMutability is so essential to a creature, that a creature cannot be\nsupposed without it; you must suppose it a Creator, not a creature, if\nyou allow it to be of an immutable nature. Immutability is the property\nof the Supreme Being. God \u201conly hath immortality\u201d (1 Tim. vi. 16);\nimmortality, as opposed not only to a natural, but to a sinful death;\nthe word _only_ appropriates every sort of immortality to God, and\nexcludes every creature, whether angel or man, from a partnership with\nGod in this by nature. Every creature, therefore, is capable of a death\nin sin. \u201cNone is good but God,\u201d and none is naturally free from change\nbut God, which excludes every creature from the same prerogative;\nand certainly, if one angel sinned, all might have sinned, because\nthere was the same root of mutability in one as well as another. It\nis as possible for a creature to be a Creator, as for a creature to\nhave naturally an incommunicable property of the Creator. All things,\nwhether angels or men, are made of nothing, and therefore, capable of\ndefection;[909] because a creature being made of nothing, cannot be\ngood, _per essentiam_, or essentially good, but by participation from\nanother. Again, every rational creature, being made of nothing, hath a\nsuperior which created him and governs him, and is capable of a precept;\nand, consequently, capable of disobedience as well as obedience to the\nprecept, to transgress it, as well as obey it. God cannot sin, because\nhe can have no superior to impose a precept on him. A rational creature,\nwith a liberty of will and power of choice, cannot be made by nature\nof such a mould and temper, but he must be as well capable of choosing\nwrong, as of choosing right; and, therefore, the standing angels, and\nglorified saints, though they are immutable, it is not by nature that\nthey are so, but by grace, and the good pleasure of God; for though\nthey are in heaven, they have still in their nature a remote power\nof sinning, but it shall never be brought into act, because God will\nalways incline their wills to love him, and never concur with their\nwills to any evil act. Since, therefore, mutability is essential to a\ncreature as a creature, this changeableness cannot properly be charged\nupon God as the author of it; for it was not the term of God\u2019s creating\nact, but did necessarily result from the nature of the creature, as\nunchangeableness doth result from the essence of God. The brittleness\nof a glass is no blame to the art of him that blew up the glass into\nsuch a fashion; that imperfection of brittleness is not from the\nworkman, but the matter; so, though unchangeableness be an imperfection,\nyet it is so necessary a one, that no creature can be naturally without\nit; besides, though angels and men were mutable by creation, and\ncapable to exercise their wills, yet they were not necessitated to evil,\nand this mutability did not infer a necessity that they should fall,\nbecause some angels, which had the same root of changeableness in their\nnatures with those that fell, did not fall, which they would have done,\nif capableness of changing, and necessity of changing, were one and the\nsame thing.\n\n2. Though God made the creature mutable, yet he made him not {b142}\nevil. There could be nothing of evil in him that God created after\nhis own image, and pronounced \u201cgood\u201d (Gen. i. 27, 31). Man had an\nability to stand, as well as a capacity to fall: he was created with\na principal of acting freely, whereby he was capable of loving God as\nhis chief good, and moving to him as his last end; there was a beam\nof light in man\u2019s understanding to know the rule he was to conform\nto, a harmony between his reason and his affections, an original\nrighteousness: so that it seemed more easy for him to determine his\nwill to continue in obedience to the precept, than to swerve from it;\nto adhere to God as his chief good, than to listen to the charms of\nSatan. God created him with those advantages, that he might with more\nfacility have kept his eyes fixed upon the Divine beauty, than turn\nhis back upon it, and with greater ease have kept the precept God gave\nhim, than have broken it. The very first thought darted, or impression\nmade, by God, upon the angelical or human nature, was the knowledge of\nhimself as their Author, and could be no more than such whereby both\nangels and men might be excited to a love of that adorable Being, that\nhad framed them so gloriously out of nothing; and if they turned their\nwills and affections to another object it was not by the direction\nof God, but contrary to the impression God had made upon them, or\nthe first thought he flashed into them. They turned themselves to the\nadmiring their own excellency, or affecting an advantage distinct from\nthat which they were to look for only from God (1 Tim. iii. 6). Pride\nwas the cause of the condemnation of the devil. Though the wills of\nangels and men were created mutable, and so were imperfect, yet they\nwere not created evil. Though they might sin, yet they might not sin,\nand, therefore, were not evil in their own nature. What reflection,\nthen, could this mutability of their nature be upon God? So far is it\nfrom any, that he is fully cleared, by storing up in the nature of man\nsufficient provision against his departure from him. God was so far\nfrom creating him evil, that he fortified him with a knowledge in his\nunderstanding, and a strength in his nature to withstand any invasion.\nThe knowledge was exercised by Eve, in the very moment of the serpent\u2019s\nassaulting her (Gen. iii. 3); Eve said to the serpent, \u201cGod hath said,\nye shall not eat of it:\u201d and had her thoughts been intent upon this,\n\u201cGod hath said,\u201d and not diverted to the motions of the sensitive\nappetite and liquorish palate, it had been sufficient to put by all\nthe passes the devil did, or could have made at her. So that you see,\nthough God made the creature mutable, yet he made him not evil. This\nclears the holiness of God.\n\n3. Therefore it follows, That though God created man changeable, yet\nhe was not the cause of his change by his fall. Though man was created\ndefectible, yet he was not determined by God influencing his will by\nany positive act to that change and apostasy. God placed him in a free\nposture, set life and happiness before him on the one hand, misery and\ndeath on the other; as he did not draw him into the arms of perpetual\nblessedness, so he did not drive him into the gulf of his misery.[910]\nHe did not incline him to evil. It was repugnant {b143} to the goodness\nof God to corrupt the righteousness of those faculties he had so lately\nbeautified him with. It was not likely he should deface the beauty of\nthat work he had composed with so much wisdom and skill. Would he, by\nany act of his own, make that bad, which, but a little before, he had\nacquiesced in as good? Angels and men were left to their liberty and\nconduct of their natural faculties; and if God inspired them with any\nmotions, they could not but be motions to good, and suited to that\nrighteous nature he had endued them with. But it is most probable\nthat God did not, in a supernatural way, act inwardly upon the mind\nof man, but left him wholly to that power, which he had, in creation,\nfurnished him with. The Scripture frees God fully from any blame in\nthis, and lays it wholly upon Satan, as the tempter, and upon man, as\nthe determiner of his own will (Gen. iii. 6); Eve \u201ctook of the fruit,\nand did eat;\u201d and Adam took from her of the fruit, \u201cand did eat.\u201d And\nSolomon (Eccles. vii. 29) distinguisheth God\u2019s work in the creation of\nman \u201cupright,\u201d from man\u2019s work in seeking out those ruining inventions.\nGod created man in a righteous state, and man cast himself into a\nforlorn state. As he was a mutable creature, he was from God; as he was\na changed and corrupted creature, it was from the devil seducing, and\nhis own pliableness in admitting. As silver, and gold, and other metals,\nwere created by God in such a form and figure, yet capable of receiving\nother forms by the industrious art of man; when the image of a man is\nput upon a piece of metal, God is not said to create that image, though\nhe created the substance with such a property, that it was capable of\nreceiving it; this capacity is from the nature of the metal by God\u2019s\ncreation of it, but the carving the figure of this or that man is not\nthe act of God, but the act of man. As images, in Scripture, are called\nthe work of men\u2019s hands, in regard of the imagery, though the matter,\nwood or stone, upon which the image was carved, was a work of God\u2019s\ncreative power. When an artificer frames an excellent instrument, and\na musician exactly tunes it, and it comes out of their hands without\na blemish, but capable to be untuned by some rude hand, or receive\na crack by a sudden fall, if it meet with a disaster, is either the\nworkman or musician to be blamed? The ruin of a house, caused by the\nwastefulness or carelessness of the tenant, is not to be imputed to the\nworkman that built it strong, and left it in a good posture.\n\n_Prop. II._ God\u2019s holiness is not blemished by enjoining man a law,\nwhich he knew he would not observe.\n\n1. The law was not above his strength. Had the law been impossible to\nbe observed, no crime could have been imputed to the subject, the fault\nhad lain wholly upon the Governor; the non\u2011observance of it had been\nfrom a want of strength, and not from a want of will. Had God commanded\nAdam to fly up to the sun, when he had not given him wings, Adam might\nhave a will to obey it, but his power would be too short to perform it.\nBut the law set him for a rule, had nothing of impossibility in it; it\nwas easy to be observed; the command was rather below, than above his\nstrength; and the sanction of it was more apt to restrain and scare him\nfrom the breach of it, than encourage any daring attempts against it;\nhe had as much {b144} power, or rather more, to conform to it, than\nto warp from it; and greater arguments and interest to be observant\nof it, than to violate it; his all was secured by the one, and his ruin\nascertained by the other. The commands of God are not grievous (1 John\nv. 3); from the first to the last command, there is nothing impossible,\nnothing hard to the original and created nature of man, which were all\nsummed up in a love to God, which was the pleasure and delight of man,\nas well as his duty, if he had not, by inconsiderateness, neglected the\ndictates and resolves of his own understanding. The law was suited to\nthe strength of man, and fitted for the improvement and perfection of\nhis nature; in which respect, the apostle calls it \u201cgood,\u201d as it refers\nto man, as well as \u201choly,\u201d as it refers to God (Rom. vii. 12). Now,\nsince God created man a creature capable to be governed by a law, and\nas a rational creature endued with understanding and will, not to be\ngoverned, according to his nature, without a law; was it congruous to\nthe wisdom of God to respect only the future state of man, which, from\nthe depth of his infinite knowledge, he did infallibly foresee would\nbe miserable, by the wilful defection of man from the rule? Had it been\nagreeable to the wisdom of God, to respect only this future state, and\nnot the present state of the creature; and therefore leave him lawless,\nbecause he knew he would violate the law? Should God forbear to act\nlike a wise governor, because he saw that man would cease to act like\nan obedient subject? Shall a righteous magistrate forbear to make just\nand good laws, because he foresees, either from the dispositions of his\nsubjects, their ill\u2011humor, or some circumstances which will intervene,\nthat multitudes of them will incline to break those laws, and fall\nunder the penalty of them? No blame can be upon that magistrate\nwho minds the rule of righteousness, and the necessary duty of his\ngovernment, since he is not the cause of those turbulent affections of\nmen, which he wisely foresees will rise up against his just edicts.\n\n2. Though the law now be above the strength of man, yet is not the\nholiness of God blemished by keeping it up. It is true, God hath been\ngraciously pleased to mitigate the severity and rigor of the law,\nby the entrance of the gospel; yet where men refuse the terms of the\ngospel, they continue themselves under the condemnation of the law,\nand are justly guilty of the breach of it, though they have no strength\nto observe it. The law, as I said before, was not above man\u2019s strength,\nwhen he was possessed of original righteousness, though it be above\nman\u2019s strength, since he was stripped of original righteousness. The\ncommand was dated before man had contracted his impotency, when he\nhad a power to keep it as well as to break it. Had it been enjoined\nto man only after the fall, and not before, he might have had a better\npretence to excuse himself, because of the impossibility of it; yet he\nwould not have had sufficient excuse, since the impossibility did not\nresult from the nature of the law, but from the corrupted nature of the\ncreature. It was \u201cweak through the flesh\u201d (Rom. viii. 3), but it was\npromulged when man had a strength proportioned to the commands of it.\nAnd now, since man hath unhappily made himself incapable of obeying it,\nmust God\u2019s holiness in his law be blemished for enjoining it? Must he\nabrogate those commands, and prohibit {b145} what before he enjoined,\nfor the satisfaction of the corrupted creature? Would not this be\nhis \u201cceasing to be holy,\u201d that his creature might be unblameably\nunrighteous? Must God strip himself of his holiness, because man will\nnot discharge his iniquity? He cannot be the cause of sin, by keeping\nup the law, who would be the cause of all the unrighteousness of\nmen, by removing the authority of it. Some things in the law that\nare intrinsically good in their own nature, are indispensable, and\nit is repugnant to the nature of God not to command them. If he were\nnot the guardian of his indispensable law, he would be the cause and\ncountenancer of the creatures\u2019 iniquity. So little reason have men to\ncharge God with being the cause of their sin, by not repealing his law\nto gratify their impotence, that he would be unholy if he did. God must\nnot lose his purity, because man hath lost his, and cast away the right\nof his sovereignty, because man hath cast away his power of obedience.\n\n3. God\u2019s foreknowledge that his law would not be observed, lays no\nblame upon him. Though the foreknowledge of God be infallible, yet\nit doth not necessitate the creature in acting. It was certain from\neternity, that Adam would fall, that men would do such and such actions,\nthat Judas would betray our Saviour; God foreknew all those things\nfrom eternity; but, it is as certain that this foreknowledge did not\nnecessitate the will of Adam, or any other branch of his posterity, in\nthe doing those actions that were so foreseen by God; they voluntarily\nrun into such courses, not by any impulsion. God\u2019s knowledge was not\nsuspended between certainty and uncertainty; he certainly foreknew that\nhis law would be broken by Adam; he foreknew it in his own decree of\nnot hindering him, by giving Adam the efficacious grace which would\ninfallibly have prevented it; yet Adam did freely break this law, and\nnever imagined that the foreknowledge of God did necessitate him to it;\nhe could find no cause of his own sin, but the liberty of his own will;\nhe charges the occasion of his sin upon the woman, and consequently\nupon God in giving the woman to him (Gen. iii. 12). He could not be so\nignorant of the nature of God, as to imagine him without a foresight\nof future things: since his knowledge of what was to be known of God\nby creation, was greater than any man\u2019s since, in all probability.\nBut, however, if he were not acquainted with the notion of God\u2019s\nforeknowledge, he could not be ignorant of his own act; there could\nnot have been any necessity upon him, any kind of constraint of him\nin his action, that could have been unknown to him; and he would not\nhave omitted a plea of so strong a nature, when he was upon his trial\nfor life or death; especially when he urgeth so weak an argument, to\nimpute his crime to God, as the gift of the woman; as if that which\nwas designed him for a help, were intended for his ruin. If God\u2019s\nprescience takes away the liberty of the creature, there is no such\nthing as a free action in the world (for there is nothing done but\nis foreknown by God, else we render God of a limited understanding),\nnor ever was, no, not by God himself, _ad extra_; for whatsoever he\nhath done in creation, whatsoever he hath done since the creation,\nwas foreknown by him: he resolved to do it, and, therefore, foreknew\nthat he would do it. Did God do it, {b146} therefore, necessarily,\nas necessity is opposed to liberty? As he freely decrees what he will\ndo, so he effects what he freely decreed. Foreknowledge is so far from\nintrenching upon the liberty of the will, that predetermination, which\nin the notion of it speaks something more, doth not dissolve it; God\ndid not only foreknow, but determine the suffering of Christ (Acts iv.\n27, 28). It was necessary, therefore, that Christ should suffer, that\nGod might not be mistaken in his foreknowledge, or come short of his\ndeterminate decree; but did this take away the liberty of Christ in\nsuffering? (Eph. v. 2): \u201cWho offered himself up to God;\u201d that is, by a\nvoluntary act, as well as designed to do it by a determinate counsel.\nIt did infallibly secure the event, but did not annihilate the liberty\nof the action, either in Christ\u2019s willingness to suffer, or the crime\nof the Jews that made him suffer. God\u2019s prescience is God\u2019s provision\nof things arising from their proper causes; as a gardener foresees\nin his plants the leaves and the flowers that will arise from them in\nthe spring, because he knows the strength and nature of their several\nroots which lie under ground; but his foresight of these things is not\nthe cause of the rise and appearance of those flowers. If any of us\nsee a ship moving towards such a rock or quicksand, and know it to be\ngoverned by a negligent pilot, we shall certainly foresee that the ship\nwill be torn in pieces by the rock, or swallowed up by the sands; but\nis this foresight of ours from the causes, any cause of the effect; or\ncan we from hence be said to be the authors of the miscarriage of the\nship, and the loss of the passengers and goods? The fall of Adam was\nforeseen by God to come to pass by the consent of his free will, in\nthe choice of the proposed temptation. God foreknew Adam would sin,\nand if Adam would not have sinned, God would have foreknown that he\nwould not sin. Adam might easily have detected the serpent\u2019s fraud,\nand made a better election; God foresaw that he would not do it; God\u2019s\nforeknowledge did not make Adam guilty or innocent: whether God had\nforeknown it or no, he was guilty by a free choice, and a willing\nneglect of his own duty. Adam knew that God foreknew that he might\neat of the fruit, and fall and die, because God had forbidden him; the\nforeknowledge that he would do it, was no more a cause of his action,\nthan the foreknowledge that he might do it. Judas certainly knew\nthat his Master foreknew that he would betray him, for Christ had\nacquainted him with it (John xiii. 21, 26); yet he never charged this\nforeknowledge of Christ with any guilt of his treachery.\n\n_Prop. III._ The holiness of God is not blemished by decreeing the\neternal rejection of some men. Reprobation, in its first notion, is\nan act of preterition, or passing by. A man is not made wicked by the\nact of God; but it supposeth him wicked; and so it is nothing else but\nGod\u2019s leaving a man in that guilt and filth wherein he beholds him.\nIn its second notion, it is an ordination, not to a crime, but to a\npunishment (Jude 4): \u201can ordaining to condemnation.\u201d And though it be\nan eternal act of God, yet, in order of nature, it follows upon the\nforesight of the transgression of man, and supposeth the crime. God\nconsiders Adam\u2019s revolt, and views the whole mass of his corrupted\nposterity, and chooses some to reduce to himself by {b147} his grace,\nand leaves others to lie sinking in their ruins. Since all mankind fell\nby the fall of Adam, and have corruption conveyed to them successively\nby that root, whereof they are branches; all men might justly be left\nwallowing in that miserable condition to which they are reduced by the\napostasy of their common head; and God might have passed by the whole\nrace of man, as well as he did the fallen angels, without any hope of\nredemption. He was no more bound to restore man, than to restore devils,\nnor bound to repair the nature of any one son of Adam; and had he dealt\nwith men as he dealt with the devils, they had had, all of them, as\nlittle just ground to complain of God; for all men deserved to be left\nto themselves, for all were concluded under sin; but God calls out some\nto make monuments of his grace, which is an act of the sovereign mercy\nof that dominion, whereby \u201che hath mercy on whom he will have mercy\u201d\n(Rom. ix. 18); others he passes by, and leaves them remaining in that\ncorruption of nature wherein they were born. If men have a power to\ndispose of their own goods, without any unrighteousness, why should not\nGod dispose of his own grace, and bestow it upon whom he pleases; since\nit is a debt to none, but a free gift to any that enjoy it? God is not\nthe cause of sin in this, because his operation about this is negative;\nit is not an action, but a denial of action, and therefore cannot\nbe the cause of the evil actions of men.[911] God acts nothing, but\nwithholds his power; he doth not enlighten their minds, nor incline\ntheir wills so powerfully, as to expel their darkness, and root out\nthose evil habits which possess them by nature. God could, if he would,\nsavingly enlighten the minds of all men in the world, and quicken their\nhearts with a new life by an invincible grace; but in not doing it,\nthere is no positive act of God, but a cessation of action. We may with\nas much reason say, that God is the cause of all the sinful actions\nthat are committed by the corporation of devils, since their first\nrebellion, because he leaves them to themselves, and bestows not a new\ngrace upon them,\u2015\u2015as say, God is the cause of the sins of those that he\noverlooks and leaves in that state of guilt wherein he found them. God\ndid not pass by any without the consideration of sin; so that this act\nof God is not repugnant to his holiness, but conformable to his justice.\n\n_Prop. IV._ The holiness of God is not blemished by his secret will\nto suffer sin to enter into the world. God never willed sin by his\npreceptive will. It was never founded upon, or produced by any word\nof his, as the creation was. He never said, Let there be sin under the\nheaven, as he said, \u201cLet there be water under the heaven.\u201d Nor doth\nhe will it by infusing any habit of it, or stirring up inclinations to\nit; no, \u201cGod tempts no man\u201d (James i. 13). Nor doth he will it by his\napproving will; it is detestable to him, nor ever can he be otherwise;\nhe cannot approve it either before commission or after.\n\n1. The will of God is in some sort concurrent with sin. He doth not\nproperly will it, but he wills not to hinder it, to which, by his\nomnipotence, he could put a bar. If he did positively will it, it might\nbe wrought by himself, and so could not be evil. If he did {b148} in\nno sort will it, it would not be committed by his creature; sin entered\ninto the world, either God willing the permission of it, or not willing\nthe permission of it. The latter cannot be said; for then the creature\nis more powerful than God, and can do that which God will not permit.\nGod can, if he be pleased, banish all sin in a moment out of the world:\nhe could have prevented the revolt of angels, and the fall of man;\nthey did not sin whether he would or no: he might, by his grace, have\nstepped in the first moment, and made a special impression upon them of\nthe happiness they already possessed, and the misery they would incur\nby any wicked attempt. He could as well have prevented the sin of the\nfallen angels, and confirmed them in grace, as of those that continued\nin their happy state: he might have appeared to man, informed him of\nthe issue of his design, and made secret impressions upon his heart,\nsince he was acquainted with every avenue to his will. God could have\nkept all sin out of the world, as well as all creatures from breathing\nin it; he was as well able to bar sin forever out of the world, as\nto let creatures lie in the womb of nothing, wherein they were first\nwrapped. To say God doth will sin as he doth other things, is to deny\nhis holiness; to say it entered without anything of his will, is to\ndeny his omnipotence. If he did necessitate Adam to fall, what shall\nwe think of his purity? If Adam did fall without any concern of God\u2019s\nwill in it, what shall we say of his sovereignty? The one taints his\nholiness, and the other clips his power. If it came without anything\nof his will in it, and he did not foresee it, where is his omniscience?\nIf it entered whether he would or no, where is his omnipotence (Rom.\nix. 19)? \u201cWho hath resisted his will?\u201d There cannot be a lustful act\nin Abimelech, if God will withhold his power (Gen. xx. 6); \u201cI withheld\nthee:\u201d nor a cursing word in Balaam\u2019s mouth, unless God give power\nto speak it (Numb. xxii. 38): \u201cHave I now any power at all to say\nanything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak.\u201d As\nno action could be sinful, if God had not forbidden it; so no sin could\nbe committed, if God did not will to give way to it.\n\n2. God doth not will directly, and by an efficacious will. He doth not\ndirectly will it, because he hath prohibited it by his law, which is\na discovery of his will: so that if he should directly will sin, and\ndirectly prohibit it, he would will good and evil in the same manner,\nand there would be contradictions in God\u2019s will: to will sin absolutely,\nis to work it (Ps. cxv. 3): \u201cGod hath done whatsoever he pleased.\u201d God\ncannot absolutely will it, because he cannot work it. God wills good by\na positive decree, because he hath decreed to effect it.[912] He wills\nevil by a private decree, because he hath decreed not to give that\ngrace which would certainly prevent it. God doth not will sin simply,\nfor that were to approve it, but he wills it, in order to that good\nhis wisdom will bring forth from it.[913] He wills not sin for itself,\nbut for the event. To will sin as sin, or as purely evil, is not in\nthe capacity of a creature, neither of man nor devil. The will of a\nrational creature cannot will anything but under the appearance of good,\nof some good in the sin itself, or some good in the issue of it. {b149}\nMuch more is this far from God, who, being infinitely good, cannot will\nevil as evil; and being infinitely knowing, cannot will that for good\nwhich is evil.[914] Infinite wisdom can be under no error or mistake:\nto will sin as sin, would be an unanswerable blemish on God; but to\nwill to suffer it in order to good, is the glory of his wisdom; it\ncould never have peeped up its head, unless there had been some decree\nof God concerning it. And there had been no decree of God concerning\nit, had he not intended to bring good and glory out of it. If God did\ndirectly will the discovery of his grace and mercy to the world, he did\nin some sort will sin, as that without which there could not have been\nany appearance of mercy in the world; for an innocent creature is not\nthe object of mercy, but a miserable creature: and no rational creature\nbut must be sinful before it be miserable.\n\n3. God wills the permission of sin. He doth not positively will sin,\nbut he positively wills to permit it. And though he doth not approve\nof sin, yet he approves of that act of his will, whereby he permits it.\nFor since that sin could not enter into the world without some concern\nof God\u2019s will about it, that act of his will that gave way to it, could\nnot be displeasing to him: God could never be displeased with his own\nact: \u201cHe is not as man, that he should repent\u201d (1 Sam. xv. 29). What\nGod cannot repent of, he cannot but approve of: it is contrary to the\nblessedness of God to disapprove of, and be displeased with any act\nof his own will. If he hated any act of his own will, he would hate\nhimself, he would be under a torture: every one that hates his own acts,\nis under some disturbance and torment for them. That which is permitted\nby him, is in itself, and in regard of the evil of it, hateful to him:\nbut as the prospect of that good which he aims at in the permission\nof it is pleasing to him, so that act of his will, whereby he permits\nit, is ushered in by an approving act of his understanding. Either God\napproved of the permission, or not; if he did not approve his own act\nof permission, he could not have decreed an act of permission. It is\ninconceivable that God should decree such an act which he detested,\nand positively will that which he hated. Though God hated sin, as being\nagainst his holiness, yet he did not hate the permission of sin, as\nbeing subservient by the immensity of his wisdom to his own glory. He\ncould never be displeased with that which was the result of his eternal\ncounsel, as this decree of permitting sin was, as well as any other\ndecree, resolved upon in his own breast. For as God acts nothing in\ntime, but what he decreed from eternity, so he permits nothing in\ntime but what he decreed from eternity to permit. To speak properly,\ntherefore, God doth not will sin, but he wills the permission of it,\nand this will to permit is active and positive in God.\n\n4. This act of permission is not a mere and naked permission, but\nsuch an one as is attended with a certainty of the event. The decrees\nof God to make use of the sin of man for the glory of his grace in the\nmission and passion of his Son, hung upon this entrance of sin. Would\nit consist with the wisdom of God to decree such great and stupendous\nthings, the event whereof should depend upon an uncertain foundation\nwhich he might be mistaken in? God would have {b150} sat in counsel\nfrom eternity to no purpose, if he had only permitted those things to\nbe done, without any knowledge of the event of this permission. God\nwould not have made such provision for redemption to no purpose, or an\nuncertain purpose, which would have been, if man had not fallen; or if\nit had been an uncertainty with God whether he would fall or no. Though\nthe will of God about sin was permissive, yet the will of God about\nthat glory he would promote by the defect of the creature, was positive;\nand, therefore, he would not suffer so many positive acts of his will\nto hang upon an uncertain event; and, therefore, he did wisely and\nrighteously order all things to the accomplishment of his great and\ngracious purposes.\n\n5. This act of permission doth not taint the holiness of God.\nThat there is such an act as permission, is clear in Scripture (Acts\nxiv. 16): \u201cWho in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own\nways.\u201d But that it doth not blemish the holiness of God, will appear,\n\n1st. From the nature of this permission.\n\n1. It is not a moral permission, a giving liberty of toleration by any\nlaw to commit sin with impunity; when, what one law did forbid, another\nlaw doth leave indifferent to be done or not, as a man sees good in\nhimself. As when there is a law made among men, that no man shall\ngo out of such a city or country without license; to go out without\nlicense is a crime by the law; but when that law is repealed by another,\nthat gives liberty for men to go and come at their pleasure, it doth\nnot make their going or coming necessary, but leaves those which were\nbefore bound, to do as they see good in themselves. Such a permission\nmakes a fact lawful, though not necessary; a man is not obliged to do\nit, but he is left to his own discretion to do as he pleases, without\nbeing chargeable with a crime for doing it. Such a permission there\nwas granted by God to Adam of eating of the fruits of the garden, to\nchoose any of them for food, except the tree of \u201cknowledge of good and\nevil.\u201d It was a precept to him, not to \u201ceat of the fruit of the tree\nof knowledge of good and evil;\u201d but the other was a permission, whereby\nit was lawful for him to feed upon any other that was most agreeable\nto his appetite: but there is not such a permission in the case of sin;\nthis had been an indulgence of it, which had freed man from any crime,\nand, consequently, from punishment; because, by such a permission by\nlaw, he would have had authority to sin if he pleased. God did not\nremove the law, which he had before placed as a bar against evil, nor\nceased that moral impediment of his threatening: such a permission as\nthis, to make sin lawful or indifferent, had been a blot upon God\u2019s\nholiness.\n\n2. But this permission of God, in the case of sin, is no more than the\nnot hindering a sinful action, which he could have prevented. It is not\nso much an action of God, as a suspension of his influence, which might\nhave hindered an evil act, and a forbearing to restrain the faculties\nof man from sin; it is, properly, the not exerting that efficacy\nwhich might change the counsels that are taken, and prevent the action\nintended; as when one man sees another ready to fall, and can preserve\nhim from falling by reaching out his hand, he permits {b151} him\nto fall, that is, he hinders him not from falling. So God describes\nhis act about Abimelech (Gen. xx. 6); \u201cI withheld thee from sinning\nagainst me, therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.\u201d If Abimelech\nhad sinned, he had sinned by God\u2019s permission; that is, by God\u2019s not\nhindering, or not restraining him by making any impressions upon him.\nSo that permission is only a withholding that help and grace, which, if\nbestowed, would have been an effectual remedy to prevent a crime; and\nit is rather a suspension, or cessation, than properly a permission,\nand sin may be said to be committed, not without God\u2019s permission,\nrather than by his permission. Thus, in the fall of man, God did not\nhold the reins strict upon Satan, to restrain him from laying the bait,\nnor restrain Adam from swallowing the bait: he kept to himself that\nefficacious grace which he might have darted out upon man to prevent\nhis fall. God left Satan to his malice of tempting, and Adam to his\nliberty of resisting, and his own strength, to use that sufficient\ngrace he had furnished him with, whereby he might have resisted and\novercome the temptation. As he did not drive man to it, so he did not\nsecretly restrain him from it. So, in the Jews crucifying our Saviour,\nGod did not imprint upon their minds, by his Spirit, a consideration\nof the greatness of the crime, and the horror of his justice due to it;\nand, being without those impediments, they run furiously, of their own\naccord, to the commission of that evil; as, when a man lets a wolf or\ndog out upon his prey, he takes off the chain which held them, and they\npresently act according to their natures.[915] In the fall of angels\nand men, God\u2019s act was leaving them to their own strength; in sins\nafter the fall, it is God\u2019s giving them up to their own corruption;\nthe first is a pure suspension of grace; the other hath the nature of\na punishment (Ps. lxxxi. 12): \u201cSo I gave them up to their own hearts\u2019\nlusts.\u201d The first object of this permissive will of God was to leave\nangels and men to their liberty, and the use of their free will, which\nwas natural to them,[916] not adding that supernatural grace which was\nnecessary, not that they should not at all sin, but that they should\ninfallibly not sin: they had a strength sufficient to avoid sin, but\nnot sufficient infallibly to avoid sin; a grace sufficient to preserve\nthem, but not sufficient to confirm them.\n\n3. Now this permission is not the cause of sin, nor doth blemish the\nholiness of God. It doth not intrench upon the freedom of men, but\nsupposeth it, establisheth it, and leaves man to it. God acted nothing,\nbut only ceased to act; and therefore could not be the efficient cause\nof man\u2019s sin. As God is not the author of good, but by willing and\neffecting it, so he is not the author of evil, but by willing and\neffecting it: but he doth not positively will evil, nor effect it by\nany efficacy of his own. Permission is no action, nor the cause of that\naction which is permitted; but the will of that person who is permitted\nto do such an action is the cause.[917] God can no more be said to\nbe the cause of sin, by suffering a creature to act as it will, than\nhe can be said to be the cause of the not being of any creature, by\ndenying it being, and letting it remain nothing; it is not from God\nthat it is nothing, it is nothing in itself. Though God be said {b152}\nto be the cause of creation, yet he is never by any said to be the\ncause of that nothing which was before creation. This permission of God\nis not the cause of sin, but the cause of not hindering sin. Man and\nangels had a physical power of sinning from God, as they were created\nwith freewill, and supported in their natural strength; but the moral\npower to sin was not from God; he counselled them not to it, laid no\nobligation upon them to use their natural power for such an end; he\nonly left them to their freedom, and not hindered them in their acting\nwhat he was resolved to permit.\n\n2d. The holiness of God is not tainted by this, because he was under no\nobligation to hinder their commission of sin. Ceasing to act, whereby\nto prevent a crime or mischief, brings not a person permitting it under\nguilt, unless where he is under an obligation to prevent it; but God,\nin regard of his absolute dominion, cannot be charged with any such\nobligation. One man, that doth not hinder the murder of another, when\nit is in his power, is guilty of the murder in part; but, it is to be\nconsidered, that he is under a tie by nature, as being of the same kind,\nand being the other\u2019s brother, by a communion of blood, also under\nan obligation of the law of charity, enacted by the common Sovereign\nof the world: but what tie was there upon God, since the infinite\ntranscendancy of his nature, and his sovereign dominion, frees him from\nany such obligation (Job ix. 12)? \u201cIf he takes away, who shall say,\nWhat dost thou?\u201d God might have prevented the fall of men and angels;\nhe might have confirmed them all in a state of perpetual innocency; but\nwhere is the obligation? He had made the creature a debtor to himself,\nbut he owed nothing to the creature. Before God can be charged with\nany guilt in this case, it must be proved, not only that he could, but\nthat he was bound to hinder it. No person can be justly charged with\nanother\u2019s fault, merely for not preventing it, unless he be bound to\nprevent it; else, not only the first sin of angels and man would be\nimputed to God, as the Author, but all the sins of men. He could not\nbe obliged by any law, because he had no superior to impose any law\nupon him; and it will be hard to prove that he was obliged, from his\nown nature, to prevent the entrance of sin, which he would use as an\noccasion to declare his own holiness, so transcendent a perfection of\nhis nature, more than ever it could have been manifested by a total\nexclusion of it, _viz._ in the death of Christ. He is no more bound,\nin his own nature, to preserve, by supernatural grace, his creature\nfrom falling, after he had framed him with a sufficient strength to\nstand, than he was obliged, in his own nature, to bring his creature\ninto being when it was nothing. He is not bound to create a rational\ncreature, much less bound to create him with supernatural gifts; though,\nsince God would make a rational creature, he could not but make him\nwith a natural uprightness and rectitude. God did as much for angels\nand men as became a wise governor: he had published his law, backed it\nwith severe penalties, and the creature wanted not a natural strength\nto observe and obey it. Had not man power to obey all the precepts\nof the law, as well as one? How was God bound to give him more grace,\nsince what he had already was enough to shield him, and keep up his\nresistance {b153} against all the power of hell? It had been enough to\nhave pointed his will against the temptation, and he had kept off the\nforce of it. Was there any promise past to Adam of any further grace\nwhich he could plead as a tie upon God? No such voluntary limit upon\nGod\u2019s supreme dominion appears upon record. Was anything due to man\nwhich he had not? anything promised him which was not performed?\nWhat action of debt, then, can the creature bring against God?\nIndeed, when man began to neglect the light of his own reason, and\nbecame inconsiderate of the precept, God might have enlightened his\nunderstanding by a special flash, a supernatural beam, and imprinted\nupon him a particular consideration of the necessity of his obedience,\nthe misery he was approaching to by his sin, the folly of any\napprehension of an equality in knowledge; he might have convinced\nhim of the falsity of the serpent\u2019s arguments, and uncased to him the\nvenom that lay under those baits. But how doth it appear that God was\nbound to those additional acts when he had already lighted up in him a\n\u201cspirit, which was the candle of the Lord\u201d (Prov. xx. 27), whereby he\nwas able to discern all, if he had attended to it. It was enough that\nGod did not necessitate man to sin, did not counsel him to it; that\nhe had given him sufficient warning in the threatening, and sufficient\nstrength in his faculties, to fortify him against temptation. He gave\nhim what was due to him as a creature of his own framing; he withdrew\nno help from him, that was due to him as a creature, and what was not\ndue he was not bound to impart. Man did not beg preserving grace of\nGod, and God was not bound to offer it, when he was not petitioned for\nit especially: yet if he had begged it, God having before furnished\nhim sufficiently, might, by the right of his sovereign dominion, have\ndenied it without any impeachment of his holiness and righteousness.\nThough he would not in such a case have dealt so bountifully with his\ncreature as he might have done, yet he could not have been impleaded,\nas dealing unrighteously with his creature. The single word that God\nhad already uttered, when he gave him his precept, was enough to oppose\nagainst all the devil\u2019s wiles, which tended to invalidate that word:\nthe understanding of man could not imagine that the word of God was\nvainly spoken; and the very suggestion of the devil, as if the Creator\nshould envy his creature, would have appeared ridiculous, if he had\nattended to the voice of his own reason. God had done enough for him,\nand was obliged to do no more, and dealt not unrighteously in leaving\nhim to act according to the principles of his nature. To conclude, if\nGod\u2019s permission of sin were enough to charge it upon God, or if God\nhad been obliged to give Adam supernatural grace, Adam, that had so\ncapacious a brain, could not be without that plea in his mouth, \u201cLord\nthou mightest have prevented it; the commission of it by me could not\nhave been without thy permission of it:\u201d or, \u201cThou hast been wanting\nto me, as the author of my nature.\u201d No such plea is brought by Adam\ninto the court, when God tried and cast him; no such pleas can have\nany strength in them. Adam had reason enough to know, that there was\nsufficient reason to overrule such a plea.\n\nSince the permission of sin casts no dirt upon the holiness of God,\n{b154} as I think hath been cleared, we may under this head consider\ntwo things more.\n\n1. That God\u2019s permission of sin is not so much as his restraint or\nlimitation of it. Since the entrance of the first sin into the world\nby Adam, God is more a hinderer than a permitter of it. If he hath\npermitted that which he could have prevented, he prevents a world more,\nthat he might, if he pleased, permit: the hedges about sin are larger\nthan the outlets; they are but a few streams that glide about the world,\nin comparison of that mighty torrent he dams up both in men and devils.\nHe that understands what a lake of Sodom is in every man\u2019s nature,\nsince the universal infection of human nature, as the apostle describes\nit (Rom. iii. 9, 10, &c.), must acknowledge, that if God should cast\nthe reins upon the necks of sinful men, they would run into thousands\nof abominable crimes, more than they do: the impression of all natural\nlaws would be rased out, the world would be a public stew, and a more\nbloody slaughter house; human society would sink into a chaos; no\nstarlight of commendable morality would be seen in it; the world would\nbe no longer an earth, but an hell, and have lain deeper in wickedness\nthan it doth. If God did not limit sin, as he doth the sea, and put\nbars to the waves of the heart, as well as those of the waters, and\nsay of them, \u201cHitherto you shall go, and no further;\u201d man hath such a\nfurious ocean in him, as would overflow the banks; and where it makes a\nbreach in one place, it would in a thousand, if God should suffer it to\nact according to its impetuous current. As the devil hath lust enough\nto destroy all mankind, if God did not bridle him; deal with every man\nas he did with Job, ruin their comforts, and deform their bodies with\nscabs; infect religion with a thousand more errors; fling disorders\ninto commonwealths, and make them as a fiery furnace, full of nothing\nbut flame; if he were not chained by that powerful arm, that might let\nhim loose to fulfil his malicious fury; what rapines, murders, thefts,\nwould be committed, if he did not stint him! Abimelech would not only\nlust after Sarah, but deflour her; Laban not only pursue Jacob, but\nrifle him; Saul not only hate David, but murder him; David not only\nthreaten Nabal, but root him up, and his family, did not God girdle in\nthe wrath of man:[918] a greater remainder of wrath is pent in, than\nflames out, which yet swells for an outlet. God may be concluded more\nholy in preventing men\u2019s sins, than the author of sin in permitting\nsome; since, were it not for his restraints by the pull\u2011back of\nconscience, and infused motions and outward impediments, the world\nwould swarm more with this cursed brood.\n\n2. His permission of sin is in order to his own glory, and a greater\ngood. It is no reflection upon the Divine goodness to leave man to his\nown conduct, whereby such a deformity as sin sets foot in the world;\nsince he makes his wisdom illustrious in bringing good out of evil,\nand a good greater than that evil he suffered to spring up.[919] God\ndid not permit sin, as sin, or permit it barely for itself. As sin\nis not lovely in its own nature, so neither is the permission of sin\nintrinsically good or amiable for itself, but for those ends aimed at\nin {b155} the permission of it. God permitted sin, but approved not\nof the object of that permission, sin; because that, considered in its\nown nature, is solely evil: nor can we think that God could approve\nof the act of permission, considered only in itself as an act; but as\nit respected that event which his wisdom would order by it. We cannot\nsuppose that God should permit sin, but for some great and glorious\nend: for it is the manifestation of his own glorious perfections he\nintends in all the acts of his will (Prov. xvi. 4), \u201cThe Lord hath\nmade all things for himself\u201d\u2015\u2015\u05e4\u05e2\u05dc hath wrought all things; which is not\nonly his act of creation, but ordination: \u201cfor himself,\u201d that is, for\nthe discovery of the excellency of his nature, and the communication\nof himself to his creature. Sin indeed, in its own nature, hath no\ntendency to a good end; the womb of it teems with nothing but monsters;\nit is a spurn at God\u2019s sovereignty, and a slight of his goodness: it\nboth deforms and torments the person that acts it; it is black and\nabominable, and hath not a mite of goodness in the nature of it. If it\nends in any good, it is only from that Infinite transcendency of skill,\nthat can bring good out of evil, as well as light out of darkness.\nTherefore God did not permit it as sin, but as it was an occasion for\nthe manifestation of his own glory. Though the goodness of God would\nhave appeared in the preservation of the world, as well as it did in\nthe creation of it, yet his mercy could not have appeared without the\nentrance of sin, because the object of mercy is a miserable creature;\nbut man could not be miserable as long as he remained innocent. The\nreign of sin opened a door for the reign and triumph of grace (Rom.\nv. 21), \u201cAs sin hath reigned unto death, so might grace reign through\nrighteousness to eternal life;\u201d without it, the bowels of mercy had\nnever sounded, and the ravishing music of Divine grace could never\nhave been heard by the creature. Mercy, which renders God so amiable,\ncould never else have beamed out to the world. Angels and men upon this\noccasion beheld the stirrings of Divine grace, and the tenderness of\nDivine nature, and the glory of the Divine persons in their several\nfunctions about the redemption of man, which had else been a spring\nshut up, and a fountain sealed; the song of glory to God, and good will\nto men in a way of redemption had never been sung by them. It appears\nin his dealing with Adam, that he permitted his fall, not only to show\nhis justice in punishing, but principally his mercy in rescuing; since\nhe proclaims to him first the promise of a Redeemer to \u201cbruise the\nserpent\u2019s head,\u201d before he settled the punishment he should smart under\nin the world (Gen. iii. 15\u201217). And what fairer prospect could the\ncreature have of the holiness of God, and his hatred of sin, than in\nthe edge of that sword of justice, which punished it in the sinner;\nbut glittered more in the punishment of a Surety so near allied to\nhim? Had not man been criminal, he could not have been punishable, nor\nany been punishable for him: and the pulse of Divine holiness could\nnot have beaten so quick, and been so visible, without an exercise of\nhis vindicative justice. He left man\u2019s mutable nature, to fall under\nrighteousness, that thereby he might commend the righteousness of his\nown nature (Rom. iii. 7). Adam\u2019s sin in its nature tended to the ruin\nof the world, and God takes an occasion {b156} from it for the glory of\nhis grace in the redemption of the world; he brings forth thereby a new\nscene of wonders from heaven, and a surprising knowledge on earth; as\nthe sun breaks out more strongly after a night of darkness and tempest.\nAs God in creation framed a chaos by his power, to manifest his wisdom\nin bringing order out of disorder, light out of darkness, beauty out\nof confusion and deformity, when he was able by a word to have made\nall creatures stand up in their beauty, without the precedency of a\nchaos; so God permitted a moral chaos to manifest a greater wisdom\nin the repairing a broken image, and restoring a deplorable creature,\nand bringing out those perfections of his nature, which had else been\nwrapt up in a perpetual silence in his own bosom. It was therefore very\ncongruous to the holiness of God to permit that which he could make\nsubservient for his own glory, and particularly for the manifestation\nof this attribute of holiness, which seems to be in opposition to such\na permission.[920]\n\n_Prop. V._ The holiness of God is not blemished by his concurrence\nwith the creature in the material part of a sinful act. Some to free\nGod from having any hand in sin, deny his concurrence to the actions of\nthe creature; because, if he concurs to a sinful action, he concurs to\nthe sin also: not understanding how there can be a distinction between\nthe act, and the sinfulness or viciousness of it; and how God can\nconcur to a natural action, without being stained by that moral evil\nwhich cleaves to it. For the understanding of this, observe,\n\n1. There is a concurrence of God to all the acts of the creature (Acts\nxvii. 28); \u201cin him we live, and move, and have our being.\u201d We depend\nupon God in our acting as well as in our being: there is as much an\nefficacy of God in our motion as in our production; as none have life\nwithout his power in producing it, so none have any operation without\nhis providence concurring with it. In him, or by him, that is, by his\nvirtue preserving and governing our motions, as well as by his power\nbringing us into being. Hence man is compared to an axe (Isa. x. 15),\nan instrument that hath no action, without the co\u2011operation of a\nsuperior agent handling it: and the actions of the second causes are\nascribed to God; the grass, that is, the product of the sun, rain, and\nearth, he is said to make to grow upon the mountains (Ps. cxlvii. 8);\nand the skin and flesh, which is by natural generation, he is said\nto clothe us with (Job x. 5), in regard of his co\u2011working with second\ncauses, according to their natures. As nothing can exist, so nothing\ncan operate without him; let his concurrence be removed, and the being\nand action of the creature cease; remove the sun from the horizon, or\na candle from a room, and the light which flowed from either of them\nceaseth. Without God\u2019s preserving and concurring power, the course\nof nature would sink, and the creation be in vain. All created things\ndepend upon God as agents, as well as beings, and are subordinate to\nhim in a way of action, as well as in a way of existing.[921] If God\nsuspend his influence from their action, they would cease to act, as\nthe fire did from {b157} burning the three children, as well as if God\nsuspend his influence from their being, they would cease to be. God\nsupports the nature whereby actions are wrought, the mind where actions\nare consulted, and the will where actions are determined, and the\nmotive\u2011power whereby actions are produced. The mind could not contrive,\nnor the hand act, a wickedness, if God did not support the power of the\none in designing, and the strength of the other in executing a wicked\nintention. Every faculty in its being, and every faculty in its motion,\nhath a dependence upon the influence of God. To make the creature\nindependent upon God in anything which speaks perfection, as action\nconsidered as action is, is to make the creature a sovereign being.\nIndeed, we cannot imagine the concurrence of God to the good actions\nof men since the fall, without granting a concurrence of God to evil\nactions; because there is no action so purely good but hath a mixture\nof evil in it, though it takes its denomination of good from the better\npart (Eccles. vii. 20), \u201cThere is no man that doth good, and sins not.\u201d\n\n2. Though the natural virtue of doing a sinful action be from God, and\nsupported by him, yet this doth not blemish the holiness of God; while\nGod concurs with them in the act, he instils no evil into men.\n\n(1.) No act, in regard of the substance of it, is evil. Most of the\nactions of our faculties, as they are actions, might have been in the\nstate of innocency. Eating is an act Adam would have used if he had\nstood firm, but not eating to excess. Worship was an act that should\nhave been performed to God in innocence, but not hypocritically. Every\naction is good by a physical goodness, as it is an act of the mind or\nhand, which have a natural goodness by creation; but every action is\nnot morally good: the physical goodness of the action depends on God,\nthe moral evil on the creature. There is no action, as a corporeal\naction, is prohibited by the law of God; but as it springs from an evil\ndisposition, and is tainted by a venomous temper of mind.[922] There\nis no action so bad, as attended with such objects and circumstances;\nbut if the objects and circumstances were changed, might be a brave\nand commendable action: so that the moral goodness or badness of an\nact is not to be esteemed from the substance of the act, which hath\nalways a physical goodness; but from the objects, circumstances, and\nconstitution of the mind in the doing of it. Worship is an act good\nin itself; but the worship of an image is bad in regard of the object.\nWere that act of worship directed to God that is paid to a statue, and\noffered up to him with a sincere frame of mind, it would be morally\ngood. The act, in regard of its substance, is the same in both,\nand considered as separated from the object to which the worship is\ndirected, hath the same real goodness in regard of the substance; but\nwhen you consider this action in relation to the different objects, the\none hath a moral goodness, and the other a moral evil. So in speaking:\nspeaking being a motion of the tongue in the forming of words, is an\nexcellency belonging to a reasonable creature; an endowment bestowed,\ncontinued, and supported by God. Now, if the same tongue {b158} forms\nwords whereby it curseth God this minute, and forms words whereby it\nblesses and praises God the next minute, the faculty of speaking is the\nsame, the motion of the tongue is the same in pronouncing the name of\nGod either in a way of cursing or blessing (James iii. 9, 10); it is\nthe \u201csame mouth that blesseth and curseth;\u201d and the motion of it is\nnaturally good in regard of the substance of the act in both; it is the\nuse of an excellent power God hath given, and which God preserves, in\nthe use of it. But the estimation of the moral goodness or evil is not\nfrom the act itself, but from the disposition of the mind. Once more:\nkilling, as an act is good; nor is it unlawful as an act; for if so,\nGod would never have commanded his people Israel to wage any war, and\njustice could not be done upon malefactors by the magistrate. A man\nwere bound to sacrifice his life to the fury of an invader, rather than\nsecure it by dispatching that of an enemy; but killing an innocent,\nor killing without authority, or out of revenge, is bad. It is not the\nmaterial part of the act, but the object, manner, and circumstance,\nthat makes it good or evil. It is no blemish to God\u2019s holiness to\nconcur to the substance of an action, without having any hand in the\nimmorality of it; because, whatsoever is real in the substance of the\naction might be done without evil. It is not evil as it is an act,\nas it is a motion of the tongue or hand, for then every motion of the\ntongue or hand would be evil.\n\n(2.) Hence it follows, that an act, as an act, is one thing, and\nthe viciousness another. The action is the efficacy of the faculty,\nextending itself to some outward object; but the sinfulness of an act\nconsists in a privation of that comeliness and righteousness which\nought to be in an action; in a want of conformity of the act with the\nlaw of God, either written in nature, or revealed in the Word.[923] Now,\nthe sinfulness of an action is not the act itself, but is considered in\nit as it is related to the law, and is a deviation from it; and so it\nis something cleaving to the action, and therefore to be distinguished\nfrom the act itself, which is the subject of the sinfulness. When\nwe say such an action is sinful, the action is the subject, and the\nsinfulness of the action is that which adheres to it. The action is not\nthe sinfulness, nor the sinfulness the action; they are distinguished\nas the member, and a disease in the member, the arm and the palsy in\nit: the arm is not the palsy, nor is the palsy the arm; but the palsy\nis a disease that cleaves to the arm: so sinfulness is a deformity that\ncleaves to an action. The evil of an action is not the effect of an\naction, nor attends it as it is an action, but as it is an action so\ncircumstantiated, and conversant about this or that object; for the\nsame action done by two several persons, may be good in one, and bad\nin the other; as when two judges are in joint commission for the trial\nof a malefactor, both upon the appearance of his guilt condemn him.\nThis action in both, considered as an action, is good; for it is an\nadjudging a man to death, whose crime deserves such a punishment. But\nthis same act, which is but one joint act of both, may be morally good\nin one judge, and morally evil in the other: morally good in him that\ncondemns him out of an unbiassed consideration {b159} of the demerit\nof his fact, obedience to the law, and conscious of the duty of his\nplace; and morally evil in the other, who hath no respect to those\nconsiderations, but joins in the act of condemnation, principally moved\nby some private animosity against the prisoner, and desire of revenge\nfor some injury he hath really received, or imagines that he hath\nreceived from him. The act in itself is the same materially in both;\nbut in one it is an act of justice, and in the other an act of murder,\nas it respects the principles and motives of it in the two judges; take\naway the respect of private revenge, and the action in the ill judge\nhad been as laudable as the action of the other. The substance of an\nact, and the sinfulness of an act, are separable and distinguishable;\nand God may concur with the substance of an act, without concurring\nwith the sinfulness of the act: as the good judge, that condemned\nthe prisoner out of conscience, concurred with the evil judge, who\ncondemned the prisoner out of private revenge; not in the principle and\nmotive of condemnation, but in the material part of condemnation. So\nGod assists in that action of a man wherein sin is placed, but not in\nthat which is the formal reason of sin, which is a privation of some\nperfection the action ought morally to have.\n\n(3.) It will appear further in this, that hence it follows that the\naction, and the viciousness of the action, may have two distinct causes.\nThat may be a cause of the one that is not the cause of the other,\nand hath no hand in the producing of it. God concurs to the act of the\nmind as it counsels, and to the external action upon that counsel, as\nhe preserves the faculty, and gives strength to the mind to consult,\nand the other parts to execute; yet he is not in the least tainted\nwith the viciousness of the action. Though the action be from God as\na concurrent cause, yet the ill quality of the action is solely from\nthe creature with whom God concurs. The sun and the earth concur to the\nproduction of all the plants that are formed in the womb of the one,\nand midwifed by the other. The sun distributes heat, and the earth\ncommunicates sap; it is the same heat dispersed by the one, and the\nsame juice bestowed by the other: it hath not a sweet juice for one,\nand a sour juice for another. This general influx of the sun and earth\nis not the immediate cause that one plant is poisonous, and another\nwholesome; but the sap of the earth is turned by the nature and quality\nof each plant: if there were not such an influx of the sun and earth,\nno plant could exert that poison which is in its nature; but yet the\nsun and earth are not the cause of that poison which is in the nature\nof the plant. If God did not concur to the motions of men, there could\nbe no sinful action, because there could be no action at all; yet this\nconcurrence is not the cause of that venom that is in the action, which\nariseth from the corrupt nature of the creature, no more than the sun\nand earth are the cause of the poison of the plant, which is purely the\neffect of its own nature upon that general influx of the sun and earth.\nThe influence of God pierceth through all subjects; but the action of\nman done by that influence is vitiated according to the nature of its\nown corruption. As the sun equally shines through all the quarrels in\nthe window; if the glass be bright and clear, there is a {b160} pure\nsplendor; if it be red or green, the splendor is from the sun; but the\ndiscoloring of that light upon the wall, is from the quality of the\nglass. But to be yet plainer: the soul is the image of God, and by the\nacts of the soul, we may come to the knowledge of the acts of God; the\nsoul gives motion to the body and every member of it, and no member\ncould move without a concurrent virtue of the soul; if a member be\nparalytic or gouty, whatsoever motion that gouty member hath, is\nderived to it from the soul; but the goutiness of the member was not\nthe act of the soul, but the fruit of ill humors in the body; the\nlameness of the member, and the motion of the member, have two distinct\ncauses; the motion is from one cause, and ill motion from another.[924]\nAs the member could not move irregularly without some ill humor or\ncause of that distemper, so it could not move at all without the\nactivity of the soul: so, though God concur to the act of understanding,\nwilling, and execution, why can he not be as free from the irregularity\nin all those, as the soul is free from the irregularity of the motion\nof the body, while it is the cause of the motion itself? There are\ntwo illustrations generally used in this case, that are not unfit; the\nmotion of the pen in writing is from the hand that holds it, but the\nblurs by the pen are from some fault in the pen itself: and the music\nof the instrument is from the hand that touches it, but the jarring\nfrom the faultiness of the strings; both are the causes of the motion\nof the pen and strings, but not the blurs or jarrings.\n\n(4.) It is very congruous to the wisdom of God, to move his creatures\naccording to their particular natures; but this motion makes him not\nthe cause of sin. Had our innocent nature continued, God had moved us\naccording to that innocent nature; but when the state was changed for\na corrupt one, God must either forbear all concourse, and so annihilate\nthe world, or move us according to that nature he finds in us. If he\nhad overthrown the world upon the entrance of sin, and created another\nupon the same terms, sin might have as soon defaced his second work,\nas it did the first; and then it would follow, that God would have been\nalway building and demolishing. It was not fit for God to cease from\nacting as a wise governor of his creature, because man did cease from\nhis loyalty as a subject. Is it not more agreeable to God\u2019s wisdom as\na governor, to concur with his creature according to his nature, than\nto deny his concurrence upon every evil determination of the creature?\nGod concurred with Adam\u2019s mutable nature in his first act of sin; he\nconcurred to the act, and left him to his mutability. If Adam had put\nout his hand to eat of any other unforbidden fruit, God would have\nsupported his natural faculty then, and concurred with him in his\nmotion. When Adam would put out his hand to take the forbidden fruit,\nGod concurred to that natural action, but left him to the choice of\nthe object, and to the use of his mutable nature: and when man became\napostate, God concurs with him according to that condition wherein he\nfound him, and cannot move him otherwise, unless he should alter that\nnature man had contracted. God moving the creature as he found him, is\nno cause of the ill {b161} motion of the creature: as when a wheel is\nbroken the space of a foot, it cannot but move ill in that part till\nit be mended. He that moves it, uses the same motion (as it is his act)\nwhich he would have done had the wheel been sound; the motion is good\nin the mover, but bad in the subject: it is not the fault of him that\nmoves it, but the fault of that wheel that is moved, whose breaches\ncame by some other cause. A man doth not use to lay aside his watch\nfor some irregularity, as long as it is capable of motion, but winds it\nup: why should God cease from concurring with his creature in its vital\noperations and other actions of his will, because there was a flaw\ncontracted in that nature, that came right and true out of his hand?\nAnd as he that winds up his disordered watch, is in the same manner the\ncause of its motion then, as he was when it was regular, yet, by that\nact of his, he is not the cause of the false motion of it, but that is\nfrom the deficiency of some part of the watch itself: so, though God\nconcurs to that action of the creature, whereby the wickedness of the\nheart is drawn out, yet is not God therefore as unholy as the heart.\n\n(5.) God hath one end in his concurrence, and man another in his\naction: so that there is a righteous, and often a gracious end in\nGod, when there is a base and unworthy end in man. God concurs to\nthe substance of the act; man produceth the circumstance of the act,\nwhereby it is evil. God orders both the action wherein he concurs, and\nthe sinfulness over which he presides, as a governor, to his own ends.\nIn Joseph\u2019s case, man was sinful, and God merciful; his brethren acted\n\u201cenvy,\u201d and God designed \u201cmercy\u201d (Gen. xlv. 4, 5). They would be rid\nof him as an eye\u2011sore, and God concurred with their action to make\nhim their preserver (Gen. l. 20), \u201cYe thought evil against me, but God\nmeant it unto good.\u201d God concurred to Judas his action of betraying our\nSaviour; he supported his nature while he contracted with the priests,\nand supported his members while he was their guide to apprehend him;\nGod\u2019s end was the manifestation of his choicest love to man, and Judas\u2019\nend was the gratification of his own covetousness. The Assyrian did a\ndivine work against Jerusalem, but not with a Divine end (Isa. x. 5\u20127).\nHe had a mind to enlarge his empire, enrich his coffers with the\nspoil, and gain the title of a conqueror; he is desirous to invade his\nneighbors, and God employs him to punish his rebels; but he means not\nso, nor doth his heart think so; he intended not as God intended. The\naxe doth not think what the carpenter intends to do with it. But God\nused the rapine of ambitious nature as an instrument of his justice;\nas the exposing malefactors to wild beasts was an ancient punishment,\nwhereby the magistrates intended the execution of justice, and to that\npurpose used the natural fierceness of the beasts to an end different\nfrom what those ravaging creatures aimed at. God concurred with Satan\nin spoiling Job of his goods, and scarifying his body; God gave Satan\nlicence to do it, and Job acknowledges it to be God\u2019s act (Job i.\n12\u201221); but their ends were different; God concurred with Satan for the\nclearing the integrity of his servant, when Satan aimed at nothing but\nthe provoking him to curse his Creator. The physician applies leeches\n{b162} to suck the superfluous blood, but the leeches suck to glut\nthemselves, without any regard to the intention of the physician, and\nthe welfare of the patient. In the same act where men intend to hurt,\nGod intends to correct; so that his concurrence is in a holy manner,\nwhile men commit unrighteous actions. A judge commands the executioner\nto execute the sentence of death, which he hath justly pronounced\nagainst a malefactor, and admonisheth him to do it out of love to\njustice; the executioner hath the authority of the judge for his\ncommission, and the protection of the judge for his security; the judge\nstands by to countenance and secure him in the doing of it; but if the\nexecutioner hath not the same intention as the judge, _viz._ a love to\njustice in the performance of his office, but a private hatred to the\noffender, the judge, though he commanded the fact of the executioner,\nyet did not command this error of his in it; and though he protects him\nin the fact, yet he owns not this corrupt disposition in him in the\ndoing what was enjoined him, as any act of his own.\n\nTo conclude this. Since the creature cannot act without God,\ncannot lift up a hand, or move his tongue, without God\u2019s preserving\nand upholding the faculty, and preserving the power of action, and\npreserving every member of the body in its actual motion, and in every\ncircumstance of its motion, we must necessarily suppose God to have\nsuch a way of concurrence as doth not intrench upon his holiness. We\nmust not equal the creature to God, by denying his dependence on him;\nnor must we imagine such a concurrence to the sinfulness of an act,\nas stains the Divine purity, which is, I think, sufficiently salved by\ndistinguishing the matter of the act from the evil adhering to it; for\nsince all evil is founded in some good, the evil is distinguishable\nfrom the good, and the deformity of the action from the action itself;\nwhich, as it is a created act, hath a dependence on the will and\ninfluence of God; and as it is a sinful act, is the product of the\nwill of the creature.\n\n_Prop. VI._ The holiness of God is not blemished by proposing objects\nto a man, which he makes use of to sin. There is no object proposed\nto man, but is directed by the providence of God, which influenceth\nall the motions in the world; and there is no object proposed to man,\nbut his active nature may, according to the goodness or badness of\nhis disposition, make a good or an ill use of. That two men, one of\na charitable, the other of a hard\u2011hearted disposition, meet with an\nindigent and necessitous object, is from the providence of God; yet\nthis indigent person is relieved by the one, and neglected by the other.\nThere could be no action in the world, but about some object; there\ncould be no object offered to us but by Divine Providence; the active\nnature of man would be in vain, if there were not objects about which\nit might be exercised. Nothing could present itself to man as an object,\neither to excite his grace, or awaken his corruption, but by the\nconduct of the Governor of the world. That David should walk upon the\nbattlements of his palace, and Bathsheba be in the bath at the same\ntime, was from the Divine Providence which orders all the affairs of\nthe world (2 Sam. xi. 7); and so some understand (Jer. vi. 21): \u201cThus\nsaith the Lord, I will lay {b163} stumbling\u2011blocks before this people,\nand the fathers and sons together shall fall upon them.\u201d Since they\nhave offered sacrifices without those due qualifications in their\nhearts, which were necessary to render them acceptable to me, I will\nlay in their way such objects, which their corruption will use ill to\ntheir farther sin and ruin; so (Ps. cv. 25), \u201cHe turned their heart\nto hate his people;\u201d that is, by the multiplying his people, he gave\noccasion to the Egyptians of hating them, instead of caressing them,\nas they had formerly done. But God\u2019s holiness is not blemished by this;\nfor,\n\n1. This proposing or presenting of objects invades not the liberty of\nany man. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, set in the midst\nof the garden of Eden, had no violent influence on man to force him\nto eat of it; his liberty to eat of it, or not, was reserved entire to\nhimself; no such charge can be brought against any object whatsoever.\nIf a man meet accidentally at a table with meat that is grateful to\nhis palate, but hurtful to the present temper of his body, doth the\npresenting this sort of food to him strip him of his liberty to decline\nit, as well as to feed of it? Can the food have any internal influence\nupon his will, and lay the freedom of it asleep whether he will or no?\nIs there any charm in that, more than in other sorts of diet? No; but\nit is the habit of love which he hath to that particular dish, the\ncuriosity of his fancy, and the strength of his own appetite, whereby\nhe is brought into a kind of slavery to that particular meat, and not\nanything in the food itself. When the word is proposed to two persons,\nit is embraced by the one, rejected by the other; is it from the word\nitself, which is the object, that these two persons perform different\nacts? The object is the same to both, but the manner of acting about\nthe object is not the same; is there any invasion of their liberty by\nit? Is the one forced by the word to receive it, and the other forced\nby the word to reject it? Two such contrary effects cannot proceed\nfrom one and the same cause; outward things have only an objective\ninfluence, not an inward; if the mere proposal of things did suspend or\nstrike down the liberty of man, no angels in heaven, no man upon earth,\nno, not our Saviour himself, could do anything freely, but by force;\nobjects that are ill used are of God\u2019s creation, and though they\nhave allurements in them, yet they have no compulsive power over the\nwill.[925] The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was\npleasing to the sight; it had a quality to allure; there had not else\nneeded a prohibition to bar the eating of it; but it could not have so\nmuch power to allure, as the Divine threatening to deter.\n\n2. The objects are good in themselves, but the ill use of them is\nfrom man\u2019s corruption. Bathsheba was, by God\u2019s providence, presented to\nDavid\u2019s sight, but it was David\u2019s disposition moved him to so evil an\nact; what if God knew that he would use that object ill? yet he knew\nhe had given him a power to refrain from any ill use of it; the objects\nare innocent, but our corruption poisons them. The same object hath\nbeen used by one to holy purposes and holy improvements, that hath been\nused by another to sinful ends; when a charitable object is presented\nto a good man, and a cruel man, one {b164} relieves him, the other\nreviles him; the object was rather an occasion to draw out the charity\nof one, as well as the other; but the refusing to reach out a helping\nhand, was not from the person in calamity, but the disposition of the\nrefuser to whom he was presented; it is not from the nature of the\nobject that men do good or evil, but from the disposition of the person;\nwhat is good in itself, is made bad by our corruption. As the same\nmeat which nourishes and strengthens a sound constitution, cherisheth\nthe disease of another that eats at the same table, not from any\nunwholesome quality in the food, but the vicious quality of the humors\nlodging in the stomach, which turn the diet into fuel for themselves,\nwhich in its own nature was apt to engender a wholesome juice. Some\nare perfected by the same things whereby others are ruined. Riches\nare used by some, not only for their own, but the advantage of others\nin the world; by others only for themselves, and scarcely so much\nas their necessities require. Is this the fault of the wealth, or\nthe dispositions of the persons, who are covetous instead of being\ngenerous? It is a calumny, therefore, upon God to charge him with the\nsin of man upon this account. The rain that drops from the clouds upon\nthe plants is sweet in itself, but when it moistens the root of any\nvenomous plant, it is turned into the juice of the plant, and becomes\nvenomous with it. The miracles that our Saviour wrought, were applauded\nby some, and envied by the Pharisees; the sin arose not from the nature\nof the miracles, but the malice of their spirits. The miracles were\nfitter in their own nature to have induced them to an adoration of our\nSaviour, than to excite so vile a passion against one that had so many\nmarks from heaven to dignify him, and proclaim him worthy of their\nrespect. The person of Christ was an object proposed to the Jews; some\nworship him, others condemn and crucify him, and according to their\nseveral vices and base ends they use this object. Judas to content\nhis covetousness, the Pharisees to glut their revenge, Pilate for his\nambition, to preserve himself in his government, and avoid the articles\nthe people might charge him with of countenancing an enemy to C\u00e6sar.\nGod at that time put into their minds a rational and true proposition\nwhich they apply to ill purposes.[926] Caiaphas said, that \u201cit was\nexpedient for one man to die for the people,\u201d which \u201che spake not of\nhimself\u201d (John xi. 50, 51). God put it into his mind; but he might have\napplied it better than he did, and considered, though the maxim was\ncommendable, whether it might justly be applied to Christ, or whether\nthere was such a necessity that he must die, or the nation be destroyed\nby the Romans. The maxim was sound and holy, decreed by God; but what\nan ill use did the high\u2011priest make of it to put Christ to death as a\nseditious person, to save the nation from the Roman fury!\n\n3. Since the natural corruption of men will use such objects ill,\nmay not God, without tainting himself, present such objects to them in\nsubserviency to his gracious decrees? Whatsoever God should present to\nmen in that state, they would make an ill use of; hath not God, then,\nthe sovereign prerogative to present what he pleases, and suppress\nothers? To offer that to them which may serve his {b165} holy purpose,\nand hide other things from them which are not so conducing to his\ngracious ends, which would be as much the occasions of exciting their\nsin, as the others which he doth bring forth to their view? The Jews,\nat the time of Christ, were of a turbulent and seditious humor; they\nexpected a Messiah, a temporal king, and would readily have embraced\nany occasion to have been up in arms to have delivered themselves from\nthe Roman yoke; to this purpose the people attempted once to make him\nking: and probably the expectation they had that he had such a design\nto head them, might be one reason of their \u201chosannas;\u201d because without\nsome such conceit it was not probable they should so soon change\ntheir note, and vote him to the cross in so short a time, after they\nhad applauded him as if he had been upon a throne; but their being\ndefeated of strong expectations, usually ended in a more ardent fury.\nThis turbulent and seditious humor God directs in another channel,\nsuppresseth all occurrences that might excite them to a rebellion\nagainst the Romans, which, if he had given way to, the crucifying\nChrist, which was God\u2019s design to bring about at that time, had not\nprobably been effected, and the salvation of mankind been hindered or\nstood at a stay for a time. God, therefore, orders such objects and\noccasions, that might direct this seditious humor to another channel,\nwhich would else have run out in other actions, which had not been\nconducing to the great design he had then in the world. Is it not the\nright of God, and without any blemish to his holiness, to use those\ncorruptions which he finds sown in the nature of his creature by the\nhand of Satan, and to propose such objects as may excite the exercise\nof them for his own service? Sure God hath as much right to serve\nhimself of the creature of his own framing, and what natures soever\nthey are possessed with, and to present objects to that purpose, as a\nfalconer hath to offer this or that bird to his hawk to exercise his\ncourage, and excite his ravenousness, without being termed the author\nof that ravenousness in the creature. God planted not those corruptions\nin the Jews, but finds them in those persons over whom he hath an\nabsolute sovereignty in the right of a Creator, and that of a Judge\nfor their sins: and by the right of that sovereignty may offer such\nobjects and occasions, which, though innocent in themselves, he knows\nthey will make use of to ill purposes, but which by the same decree\nthat he resolves to present such occasions to them, he also resolves\nto make use of them for his own glory. It is not conceivable by us\nwhat way that death of Christ, which was necessary for the satisfaction\nof Divine justice, could be brought about without ordering the evil\nof some men\u2019s hearts by special occasions to effect his purpose; we\ncannot suppose that Christ can be guilty of any crime that deserved\ndeath by the Jewish law; had he been so a criminal, he could not\nhave been a Redeemer: a perfect innocence was necessary to the design\nof his coming.[927] Had God himself put him to that death, without\nusing instruments of wickedness in it, by some remarkable hand from\nheaven, the innocence of his nature had been forever eclipsed, and\nthe voluntariness of his sacrifice had been obscured: the strangeness\nof such a judgment would have made his {b166} innocence incredible;\nhe could not reasonably have been proposed as an object of faith.\nWhat, to believe in one that was struck dead by a hand from heaven? The\npropagation of the doctrine of redemption had wanted a foundation; and\nthough God might have raised him again, the certainty of his death had\nbeen as questionable as his innocence in dying, had he not been raised.\nBut God orders everything so as to answer his own most wise and holy\nends, and maintain his truth, and the fulfilling the predictions of\nthe minutest concerns about them, and all this by presenting occasions\ninnocent in themselves, which the corruptions of the Jews took hold of,\nand whereby God, unknown to them, brought about his own decrees: and\nmay not this be conceived without any taint upon God\u2019s holiness? for\nwhen there are seeds of all sin in man\u2019s nature, why may not God hinder\nthe sprouting up of this or that kind of seed, and leave liberty to the\ngrowth of the other, and shut up other ways of sinning, and restrain\nmen from them, and let them loose to that temptation which he intends\nto serve himself of, hiding from them those objects which were not\nso serviceable to his purpose, wherein they would have sinned, and\noffer others, which he knew their corruption would use ill, and were\nserviceable to his ends; since the depravation of their natures would\nnecessarily hurry them to evil without restraining grace, as a scale\nwill necessarily rise up when the weight in it, which kept it down, is\ntaken away?\n\n_Prop. VII._ The holiness of God is not blemished by withdrawing his\ngrace from a sinful creature, whereby he falls into more sin. That God\nwithdraws his grace from men, and gives them up sometimes to the fury\nof their lusts, is as clear in Scripture, as anything (Deut. xxix. 4):\n\u201cYet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see,\nand ears to hear,\u201d &c. Judas was delivered to Satan after the sop,\nand put into his power, for despising former admonitions. He often\nleaves the reins to the devil, that he may use what efficacy he can\nin those that have offended the Majesty of God; he withholds further\ninfluences of grace, or withdraws what before he had granted them. Thus\nhe withheld that grace from the sons of Eli, that might have made their\nfather\u2019s pious admonitions effectual to them (1 Sam. ii. 25): \u201cThey\nhearkened not to the voice of their father, because the Lord would\nslay them.\u201d He gave grace to Eli to reprove them, and withheld that\ngrace from them, which might have enabled them against their natural\ncorruption and obstinacy to receive that reproof. But the holiness of\nGod is not blemished by this.\n\n1. Because the act of God in this is only negative.[928] Thus God is\nsaid to \u201charden\u201d men: not by positive hardening, or working anything\nin the creature, but by not working, not softening, leaving a man\nto the hardness of his own heart, whereby it is unavoidable by the\ndepravation of man\u2019s nature, and the fury of his passions, but that he\nshould be further hardened, and \u201cincrease unto more ungodliness,\u201d as\nthe expression is (2 Tim. ii. 19). As a man is said to give another his\nlife, when he doth not take it away when it lay at his mercy; so God\nis said to \u201charden\u201d a man, when he doth not {b167} mollify him when it\nwas in his power, and inwardly quicken him with that grace whereby he\nmight infallibly avoid any further provoking of him. God is said to\nharden men when he removes not from them the incentives to sin, curbs\nnot those principles which are ready to comply with those incentives,\nwithdraws the common assistances of his grace, concurs not with\ncounsels and admonitions to make them effectual; flasheth not in the\nconvincing light which he darted upon them before. If hardness follows\nupon God\u2019s withholding his softening grace, it is not by any positive\nact of God, but from the natural hardness of man. If you put fire\nnear to wax or rosin, both will melt; but when that fire is removed,\nthey return to their natural quality of hardness and brittleness; the\npositive act of the fire is to melt and soften, and the softness of\nthe rosin is to be ascribed to that; but the hardness is from the rosin\nitself, wherein the fire hath no influence, but only a negative act\nby a removal of it: so, when God hardens a man, he only leaves him to\nthat stony heart which he derived from Adam, and brought with him into\nthe world. All men\u2019s understandings being blinded, and their wills\nperverted in Adam, God\u2019s withdrawing his grace is but a leaving them\nto their natural pravity, which is the cause of their further sinning,\nand not God\u2019s removal of that special light he before afforded them, or\nrestraint he held over them. As when God withdraws his preserving power\nfrom the creature, he is not the efficient, but deficient cause of the\ncreature\u2019s destruction; so, in this case, God only ceaseth to bind and\ndam up that sin which else would break out.\n\n2. The whole positive cause of his hardness is from man\u2019s corruption.\nGod infuseth not any sin into his creatures, but forbears to infuse\nhis grace, and restrain their lusts, which, upon the removal of his\ngrace, work impetuously: God only gives them up to that which he knows\nwill work strongly in their hearts. And, therefore, the apostle wipes\noff from God any positive act in that uncleanness the heathens were\ngiven up to (Rom. i. 24, \u201cWherefore God gave them up to uncleanness,\nthrough the lusts of their own hearts.\u201d And, ver. 26, God gave them up\nto \u201cvile affections;\u201d but they were their own affections, none of God\u2019s\ninspiring,) by adding, \u201cthrough the lusts of their own hearts.\u201d God\u2019s\ngiving them up was the logical cause, or a cause by way of argument;\ntheir own lusts were the true and natural cause; their own they were,\nbefore they were given up to them, and belonging to none, as the author,\nbut themselves, after they were given up to them. The lust in the heart,\nand the temptation without, easily close and mix interests with one\nanother: as the fire in a coal pit will with the fuel, if the streams\nderived into it for the quenching it be dammed up: the natural passions\nwill run to a temptation, as the waters of a river tumble towards the\nsea. When a man that hath bridled in a high\u2011mettled horse from running\nout, gives him the reins; or a huntsman takes off the string that\nheld the dog, and lets him run after the hare,\u2015\u2015are they the immediate\ncause of the motion of the one, or the other?\u2015\u2015no, but the mettle\nand strength of the horse, and the natural inclination of the hound,\nboth which are left to their own motions to pursue their own natural\ninstincts. Man doth as naturally tend to sin as a stone to {b168}\nthe centre, or as a weighty thing inclines to a motion to the earth:\nit is from the propension of man\u2019s nature that he \u201cdrinks up iniquity\nlike water:\u201d and God doth no more when he leaves a man to sin, by\ntaking away the hedge which stopped him, but leave him to his natural\ninclination. As a man that breaks up a dam he hath placed, leaves\nthe stream to run in their natural channel; or one that takes away a\nprop from a stone to let it fall, leaves it only to that nature which\ninclines it to a descent; both have their motion from their own nature,\nand man is sin from his own corruption. The withdrawing the sunbeams\nis not the cause of darkness, but the shadiness of the earth; nor is\nthe departure of the sun the cause of winter, but the coldness of the\nair and earth, which was tempered and beaten back into the bowels of\nthe earth by the vigor of the sun, upon whose departure they return to\ntheir natural state: the sun only leaves the earth and air as it found\nthem at the beginning of the spring or the beginning of the day.[929]\nIf God do not give a man grace to melt him, yet he cannot be said to\ncommunicate to him that nature which hardens him, which man hath from\nhimself. As God was not the cause of the first sin of Adam, which was\nthe root of all other, so he is not the cause of the following sins,\nwhich, as branches, spring from that root; man\u2019s free\u2011will was the\ncause of the first sin, and the corruption of his nature by it the\ncause of all succeeding sins. God doth not immediately harden any man,\nbut doth propose those things, from whence the natural vice of man\ntakes an occasion to strengthen and nourish itself. Hence, God is said\nto \u201charden Pharaoh\u2019s heart\u201d (Exod. vii. 13), by concurring with the\nmagicians in turning their rods into serpents, which stiffened his\nheart against Moses, conceiving him by reason of that, to have no more\npower than other men, and was an occasion of his farther hardening:\nand Pharaoh is said to \u201charden himself\u201d (Exod. viii. 32); that is, in\nregard of his own natural passion.\n\n3. God is holy and righteous, because he doth not withdraw from man,\ntill man deserts him. To say, that God withdrew that grace from Adam,\nwhich he had afforded him in creation, or anything that was due to him,\ntill he had abused the gifts of God, and turned them to an end contrary\nto that of creation, would be a reflection upon the Divine holiness.\nGod was first deserted by man before man was deserted by God; and man\ndoth first contemn and abuse the common grace of God, and those relics\nof natural light, that \u201cenlighten every man that comes into the world\u201d\n(John i. 9); before God leaves him to the hurry of his own passions.\nEphraim was first joined to idols, before God pronounced the fatal\nsentence, \u201cLet him alone\u201d (Hos. iv. 17): and the heathens first changed\nthe glory of the incorruptible God, before God withdrew his common\ngrace from the corrupted creature (Rom. i. 23, 24); and they first\n\u201cserved the creature more than the Creator,\u201d before the Creator gave\nthem up to the slavish chains of their vile affections (ver. 25, 26).\nIsrael first cast off God before God cast off them; but then \u201che\ngave them up to their own hearts\u2019 lusts, and they walked in their own\ncounsels\u201d {b169} (Ps. lxxxi. 11, 12). Since sin entered into the world\nby the fall of Adam, and the blood of all his posterity was tainted,\nman cannot do anything that is formally good; not for want of faculties,\nbut for the want of a righteous habit in those faculties, especially in\nthe will; yet God discovers himself to man in the works of his hands;\nhe hath left in him footsteps of natural reason; he doth attend him\nwith common motions of his Spirit; corrects him for his faults with\ngentle chastisements. He is near unto all in some kind of instructions:\nhe puts many times providential bars in their way of sinning; but when\nthey will rush into it as the horse into the battle, when they will\nrebel against the light, God doth often leave them to their own course,\nsentence him that is \u201cfilthy to be filthy still\u201d (Rev. xxii. 11), which\nis a righteous act of God, as he is rector and governor of the world.\nMan\u2019s not receiving, or not improving what God gives, is the cause\nof God\u2019s not giving further, or taking away his own, which before\nhe had bestowed; this is so far from being repugnant to the holiness\nand righteousness of God, that it is rather a commendable act of his\nholiness and righteousness, as the rector of the world, not to let\nthose gifts continue in the hand of a man who abuses them contrary to\nhis glory. Who will blame a father, that, after all the good counsels\nhe hath given to his son to reclaim him, all the corrections he\nhath inflicted on him for his irregular practice, leaves him to his\nown courses, and withdraws those assistances which he scoffed at,\nand turned the deaf ear unto? Or, who will blame the physician for\ndeserting the patient, who rejects his counsel, will not follow his\nprescriptions, but dasheth his physic against the wall? No man will\nblame him, no man will say that he is the cause of the patient\u2019s death,\nbut the true cause is the fury of the distemper, and the obstinacy\nof the diseased person, to which the physician left him. And who can\njustly blame God in this case, who yet never denied supplies of grace\nto any that sincerely sought it at his hands; and what man is there\nthat lies under a hardness, but first was guilty of very provoking\nsins? What unholiness is it to deprive men of those assistances,\nbecause of their sin, and afterwards to direct those counsels and\npractices of theirs, which he hath justly given them up unto, to\nserve the ends of his own glory in his own methods?\n\n4. Which will appear further by considering, that God is not obliged to\ncontinue his grace to them. It was at his liberty whether he could give\nany renewing grace to Adam after his fall, or to any of his posterity:\nhe was at his own liberty to withhold it or communicate it: but, if he\nwere under any obligation then, surely he must be under less now, since\nthe multiplication of sin by his creatures: but, if the obligation\nwere none just after the fall, there is no pretence now to fasten any\nsuch obligation on God. That God had no obligation at first, hath been\nspoken to before; he is less obliged to continue his grace after a\nrepeated refusal, and a peremptory abuse, than he was bound to proffer\nit after the first apostasy. God cannot be charged with unholiness in\nwithdrawing his grace after we have received it, unless we can make it\nappear that his grace was a thing due to us, as we are his creatures,\nand as he is governor of the world. What prince looks upon himself as\nobliged to reside in any particular {b170} place of his kingdom? But\nsuppose he be bound to inhabit in one particular city, yet after the\ncity rebels against him, is he bound to continue his court there, spend\nhis revenue among rebels, endanger his own honor and security, enlarge\ntheir charter, or maintain their ancient privileges? Is it not most\njust and righteous for him to withdraw himself, and leave them to their\nown tumultuousness and sedition, whereby they should eat the fruit of\ntheir own doings? If there be an obligation on God as a governor, it\nwould rather lie on the side of justice to leave man to the power of\nthe devil whom he courted, and the prevalency of those lusts he hath\nso often caressed; and wrap up in a cloud all his common illuminations,\nand leave him destitute of all common workings of his Spirit.\n\n_Prop. VIII._ God\u2019s holiness is not blemished by his commanding those\nthings sometimes which seem to be against nature, or thwart some other\nof his precepts; as when God commanded Abraham with his own hand to\nsacrifice his son (Gen. xxii. 2), there was nothing of unrighteousness\nin it. God hath a sovereign dominion over the lives and beings of his\ncreatures, whereby as he creates one day, he might annihilate the next;\nand by the same right that he might demand the life of Isaac, as being\nhis creature, he might demand the obedience of Abraham, in a ready\nreturn of that to him, which he had so long enjoyed by his grant. It is\ntrue, killing is unjust when it is done without cause, and by a private\nauthority; but the authority of God surmounts all private and public\nauthority whatsoever. Our lives are due to him when he calls for them;\nand they are more than once forfeit to him by reason of transgression.\nBut, howsoever the case is, God commanded him to do it for the trial\nof his grace, but suffered him not to do it in favor to his ready\nobedience; but had Isaac been actually slain and offered, how had it\nbeen unrighteous in God, who enacts laws for the regulation of his\ncreature, but never intended them to the prejudice of the rights of his\nsovereignty? Another case is that of the Israelites borrowing jewels\nof the Egyptians, by the order of God (Exod. xi. 2, 3; xii. 36). Is not\nGod Lord of men\u2019s goods, as well as their lives? What have any, they\nhave not received? and that not as proprietors independent on God, but\nhis stewards; and may not he demand a portion of his steward to bestow\nupon his favorite? He that had power to dispose of the Egyptians\u2019 goods,\nhad power to order the Israelites to ask them. Besides, God acted the\npart of a just judge in ordering them their wages for their service in\nthis method, and making their task\u2011masters give them some recompense\nfor their unjust oppression so many years; it was a command from God,\ntherefore, rather for the preservation of justice (the basis of all\nthose laws which link human society), than any infringement of it.\nIt was a material recompense in part, though not a formal one in the\nintention of the Egyptians; it was but in part a recompense; it must\nneeds come short of the damage the poor captives had sustained by the\ntyranny of their masters, who had enslaved them contrary to the rules\nof hospitality; and could not make amends for the lives of the poor\ninfants of Israel, whom they had drowned in the river. He that might\nfor the unjust oppression of his people have taken away all their lives,\ndestroyed {b171} the whole nation, and put the Israelites into the\npossession of their lands, could, without any unrighteousness, dispose\nof part of their goods; and it was rather an act of clemency to leave\nthem some part, who had doubly forfeited all. Again, the Egyptians were\nas ready to lend by God\u2019s influence, as the Israelites were to ask by\nGod\u2019s order: and though it was a loan, God, as Sovereign of the world,\nand Lord of the earth, and the fulness thereof, alienated the property\nby assuming them to the use of the tabernacle, to which service, most,\nif not all of them, were afterwards dedicated. God, who is lawgiver,\nhath power to dispense with his own law, and make use of his own\ngoods, and dispose of them as he pleases; it is no unholiness in God to\ndispose of that which he hath a right unto. Indeed, God cannot command\nthat which is in its own nature intrinsically evil; as to command a\nrational creature not to love him, not to worship him, to call God to\nwitness to a lie; these are intrinsically evil; but for the disposing\nof the lives and goods of his creatures, which they have from him in\nright, and not in absolute propriety, is not evil in him, because there\nis no repugnancy in his own nature to such acts, nor is it anything\ninconsistent with the natural duty of a creature, and in such cases\nhe may use what instruments he please. The point was, that holiness is\na glorious perfection of the nature of God. We have showed the nature\nof this holiness in God; what it is; and we have demonstrated it, and\nproved that God is holy, and must needs be so; and also the purity of\nhis nature in all his acts about sin: let us now improve it by way of\nuse.\n\nIV. Is holiness a transcendent perfection belonging to the nature of\nGod? The first use shall be of instruction and information.\n\n_Inform. 1._ How great and how frequent is the contempt of this eminent\nperfection in the Deity! Since the fall, this attribute, which renders\nGod most amiable in himself, renders him most hateful to his apostate\ncreature. It is impossible that he that loves iniquity, can affect that\nwhich is irreconcileably contrary to the iniquity he loves. Nothing so\ncontrary to the sinfulness of man as the holiness of God, and nothing\nis thought of by the sinner with so much detestation. How do men\naccount that which is the most glorious perfection of the Divinity,\nunworthy to be regarded as an accomplishment of their own souls! and\nwhen they are pressed to an imitation of it, and a detestation of what\nis contrary to it, have the same sentiment in their heart which the\ndevil had in his language to Christ, Why art thou come to torment\nus before our time? What an enmity the world naturally hath to this\nperfection, I think is visible in the practice of the heathen, who\namong all their heroes which they deified, elevated none to that\ndignity among them for this or that moral virtue that came nearest to\nit, but for their valor or some usefulness in the concerns of this life.\n\u00c6sculapius was deified for his skill in the cure of diseases; Bacchus,\nfor the use of the grape; Vulcan, for his operations by fire; Hercules,\nfor his destroying of tyrants and monsters; but none for their mere\nvirtue; as if anything of purity were unworthy their consideration in\nthe frame of a Deity, when it is the glory of all other perfections;\nso essential it is, that when men reject the imitation of this, God\nregards it as a total rejection of himself, {b172} though they own all\nthe other attributes of his nature (Ps. lxxxi. 11): \u201cIsrael would none\nof me:\u201d why? because \u201cthey walked not in his ways\u201d (ver. 13); those\nways wherein the purity of the Divine nature was most conspicuous; they\nwould own him in his power, when they stood in need of a deliverance;\nthey would own him in his mercy, when they were plunged in distress;\nbut they would not imitate him in his holiness. This being the lustre\nof the Divine nature, the contempt of it is an obscuring all his other\nperfections, and a dashing a blot upon his whole escutcheon. To own\nall the rest, and deny him this, is to frame him as an unbeautiful\nmonster,\u2015\u2015a deformed power. Indeed, all sin is against this attribute;\nall sin aims in general at the being of God, but in particular at the\nholiness of his Being. All sin is a violence to this perfection; there\nis not an iniquity in the world, but directs its venomous sting against\nthe Divine purity; some sins are directed against his omniscience,\nas secret wickedness; some against his providence, as distrust; some\nagainst his mercy, as unbelief; some against his wisdom, as neglecting\nthe means instituted by him, censuring his ways and actings; some\nagainst his power, as trusting in means more than in God, and the\nimmoderate fear of men more than of God; some against his truth, as\ndistrusting his promise, or not fearing his threatening; but all agree\ntogether in their enmity against this, which is the peculiar glory of\nthe Deity: every one of them is a receding from the Divine image; and\nthe blackness of every one is the deeper, by how much the distance of\nit from the holiness of God is the greater. This contrariety to the\nholiness of God, is the cause of all the absolute atheism (if there be\nany such) in the world; what was the reason \u201cthe fool hath said in his\nheart, There is no God,\u201d but because the fool is \u201ccorrupt, and hath\ndone abominable work\u201d (Ps. xiv. 1)? If they believe the being of a\nGod, their own reason will enforce them to imagine him holy; therefore,\nrather than fancy a holy God, they would fain fancy none at all.\u2015\u2015In\nparticular,\n\n1. The holiness of God is injured, in unworthy representations of\nGod, and imaginations of him in our own minds. The heathen fell under\nthis guilt, and ascribed to their idols those vices which their own\nsensuality inclined them to, unworthy of a man, much more unworthy of a\nGod, that they might find a protection of their crimes in the practice\nof their idols. But is this only the notion of the heathens? may there\nnot be many among us whose love to their lusts, and desires of sinning\nwithout control, move them to slander God in their thoughts, rather\nthan reform their lives, and are ready to frame, by the power of their\nimaginative faculty, a God, not only winking, but smiling, at their\nimpurities? I am sure God charges the impieties of men upon this score,\nin that Psalm (l. 21) which seems to be a representation of the day of\njudgment, as some gather from ver. 6, when God sums up all together:\n\u201cThese things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that\nI was altogether such an one as thyself;\u201d not a detester, but approver\nof thy crimes: and the Psalmist seems to express God\u2019s loathing of\nsin in such a manner, as intimates it to be contrary to the ideas\nand resemblances men make of him in their minds (Ps. v. 4); \u201cFor thou\nart not a God that hast {b173} pleasure in wickedness;\u201d as we say, in\nvindication of a man, he is not such a man as you imagine him to be;\nthou art not such a God as the world commonly imagines thee to be, a\nGod taking pleasure in iniquity. It is too common for men to fancy God\nnot as he is, but as they would have him; strip him of his excellency\nfor their own security. As God made man after his image, man would\ndress God after his own modes, as may best suit the content of his\nlusts, and encourage him in a course of sinning; for, when they can\nframe such a notion of God, as if he were a countenancer of sin, they\nwill derive from thence a reputation to their crimes, commit wickedness\nwith an unbounded licentiousness, and crown their vices with the name\nof virtues, because they are so like to the sentiments of that God\nthey fancy: from hence (as the Psalmist, in the Psalm before mentioned)\nariseth that mass of vice in the world; such conceptions are the\nmother and nurse of all impiety. I question not but the first spring is\nsome wrong notion of God, in regard of his holiness: we are as apt to\nimagine God as we would have him, as the black Ethiopians were to draw\nthe image of their gods after their own dark hue, and paint him with\ntheir own color: as a philosopher in Theodoret speaks; If oxen and\nlions had hands, and could paint as men do, they would frame the images\nof their gods according to their own likeness and complexion. Such\nnotions of God render him a swinish being, and worse than the vilest\nidols adored by the Egyptians, when men fancy a God indulgent to their\nappetites and most sordid lusts.\n\n2. In defacing the image of God in our own souls. God, in the\nfirst draught of man, conformed him to his own image, or made him\nan image of himself; because we find that in regeneration this image\nis renewed (Eph. iv. 24); \u201cThe new man, which, after God, is created\nin righteousness and true holiness.\u201d He did not take angels for his\npattern, in the first polishing the soul, but himself. In defacing this\nimage we cast dirt upon the holiness of God, which was his pattern in\nthe framing of us, and rather choose to be conformed to Satan, who is\nGod\u2019s grand enemy, to have God\u2019s image wiped out of us, and the devil\u2019s\npictured in us: therefore, natural men, in an unregenerate state,\nmay justly be called devils, since our Saviour called the worst man,\nJudas, so (John vi. 1), and Peter, one of the best (Matt. xvi. 23):\nand if this title be given, by an infallible Judge, to one of the\nworst, and one of the best, it may, without wrong to any, be ascribed\nto all men that wallow in their sin, which is directly contrary to\nthat illustrious image God did imprint upon them. How often is it seen\nthat men control the light of their own nature, and stain the clearest\nbeams of that candle of the Lord in their own spirits, that fly in the\nface of their own consciences, and say to them, as Ahab to Micaiah,\nThou didst \u201cnever prophesy good to me;\u201d thou didst never encourage\nme in those things that are pleasing to the flesh; and use it at\nthe same rate as the wicked king did the prophet, \u201cimprison it in\nunrighteousness\u201d (Rom. i. 18), because it starts up in them sometimes\nsentiments of the holiness of God, which it represents in the soul of\nman! How jolly are many men when the exhalations of their sensitive\npart rise up to cloud the exactest principle of moral nature in\ntheir minds, and render the monstrous {b174} principles of the law of\ncorruption more lively! Whence ariseth the wickedness which hath been\ncommitted with an open face in the world, and the applause that hath\nbeen often given to the worst of villanies? Have we not known, among\nourselves, men to glory in their shame, and esteem that a most gentle\naccomplishment of man, which is the greatest blot upon his nature,\nand which, if it were upon God, would render him no God, but an impure\ndevil; so that to be a gentleman among us hath been the same as to be\nan incarnate devil; and to be a man, was to be no better, but worse,\nthan a brute? Vile wretches! is not this a contempt of Divine holiness,\nto kill that Divine seed which lies languishing in the midst of\ncorrupted nature; to cut up any sprouts of it as weeds unworthy to grow\nin their gardens, and cultivate what is the seed of hell; prefer the\nrotten fruits of Sodom, marked with a Divine curse, before those relics\nof the fruits of Eden, of God\u2019s own planting?\n\n3. The holiness of God is injured in charging our sin upon God.\nNothing is more natural to men, than to seek excuses for their sin,\nand transfer it from themselves to the next at hand, and rather than\nfail, shift it upon God himself; and if they can bring God into a\nsociety with them in sin, they will hug themselves in a security that\nGod cannot punish that guilt wherein he is a partner. Adam\u2019s children\nare not of a different disposition from Adam himself, who, after he was\narraigned and brought to his trial, boggles not at flinging his dirt\nin the face of God, his Creator, and accuseth him as if he had given\nhim the woman, not to be his help, but his ruin (Gen. iii. 12); \u201cAnd\nthe man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of\nthe tree, and I did eat.\u201d He never supplicates for pardon, nor seeks\na remedy, but reflects his crime upon God: Had I been alone, as I was\nfirst created, I had not eaten; but the woman, whom I received as a\nspecial gift from thee, hath proved my tempter and my bane. When man\ncould not be like God in knowledge, he endeavored to make God like him\nin his crime; and when his ambition failed of equalizing himself with\nGod, he did, with an insolence too common to corrupted nature, attempt,\nby the imputation of his sin, to equal the Divinity with himself. Some\nthink Cain had the same sentiment in his answer to God\u2019s demand where\nhis brother was (Gen. ii. 9); \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d Art not thou\nthe Keeper and Governor of the world? why didst not thou take care of\nhim, and hinder my killing him, and drawing this guilt upon myself, and\nterror upon my conscience? David was not behind, when, after the murder\nof Uriah, he sweeps the dirt from his own door to God\u2019s (2 Sam. xi. 25);\n\u201cThe sword devoureth one as well as another;\u201d fathering that solely\nupon Divine Providence which was his own wicked contrivance: though\nafterwards he is more ingenuous in clearing God, and charging himself\n(Ps. li. 4): \u201cAgainst thee, thee only have I sinned;\u201d and he clears God\nin his judgment too. It is too common for the \u201cfoolishness of man to\npervert his way;\u201d and then \u201chis heart frets against the Lord\u201d (Prov.\nxix. 3). He studies mischief, runs in a way of sin, and when he hath\nconjured up troubles to himself, by his own folly, he excuseth himself,\nand, with indignation, charges God as the author both of his sin and\nmisery, {b175} and sets his mouth against the heavens. It is a more\nhorrible thing to accuse God as a principal or accessary in our guilt,\nthan to conceive him to be a favorer of our iniquity; yet both are bad\nenough.\n\n4. The holiness of God is injured when men will study arguments from\nthe holy word of God to color and shelter their crimes. When men will\nseek for a shelter for their lies, in that of the midwives to preserve\nthe children, or in that of Rahab to save the spies, as if, because\nGod rewarded their fidelity, he countenanced their sin. How often is\nScripture wrested to be a plea for unbecoming practices, that God,\nin his word, may be imagined a patron for their iniquity? It is not\nunknown that some have maintained their quaffing and carousing (from\nEccles. viii. 11), \u201cThat a man hath no better thing under the sun than\nto eat, drink, and be merry:\u201d and their gluttony (from Matt. v. 11),\n\u201cThat which goes into the belly defiles not a man.\u201d The Jesuits\u2019 morals\nare a transcript of this. How often hath the Passion of our Saviour,\nthe highest expression of God\u2019s holiness, been employed to stain it,\nand encourage the most debauched practices! Grace hath been turned\ninto wantonness, and the abundance of grace been used as a blast to\nincrease the flames of sin, as if God had no other aim in that work\nof redemption, but to discover himself more indulgent to our sensual\nappetites, and by his severity with his Son, become more gracious\nto our lusts; this is to feed the roots of hell with the dews of\nheaven, to make grace a pander for the abuse of it, and to employ\nthe expressions of his holiness in his word to be a sword against the\nessential holiness of his nature: as if a man should draw an apology\nfor his treason out of that law that was made to forbid, not to protect,\nhis rebellion. Not the meanest instrument in the temple was to be\nalienated from the use it was by Divine order appointed to, nor was it\nto be employed in any common use; and shall the word of God, which is\nthe image of his holiness, be transferred by base interpretations to\nbe an advocate for iniquity? Such an ill use of his word reflects upon\nthat hand which imprinted those characters of purity and righteousness\nupon it: as the misinterpretation of the wholesome laws of a prince,\nmade to discourage debauchery, reflects upon his righteousness and\nsincerity in enacting them.\n\n5. The holiness of God is injured, when men will put up petitions\nto God to favor them in a wicked design. Such there are, and taxed by\nthe apostle (James iv. 3), \u201cYe ask amiss, that you may consume it upon\nyour lusts,\u201d who desired mercies from God, with an intent to make them\ninstruments of sin, and weapons of unrighteousness; as it is reported\nof a thief, that he always prayed for the success of his robbery.\nIt hath not been rare in the world to appoint fasts and prayers for\nsuccess in wars manifestly unjust, and commenced upon breaches of faith.\nMany covetous men petition God to prosper them in their unjust gain; as\nif the blessed God sat in his pure majesty upon a throne of grace, to\nespouse unjust practices, and make iniquity prosperous. There are such\nas \u201coffer sacrifice with an evil mind\u201d (Prov. xxi. 27), to barter with\nGod for a divine blessing to spirit a wicked contrivance. How great a\ncontempt of the holiness of God is this! How inexcusable would it be\nfor a favorite to address himself {b176} to a just prince with this\nlanguage: Sir, I desire a boon of such lands that lie near me, for an\naddition to my estate, that I may have supports for my debauchery, and\nbe able to play the villain more powerfully among my neighbors! Hereby\nhe implies that his prince is a friend to such crimes and wickedness\nhe intends his petition for. Is not this the language of many men\u2019s\nhearts in the immediate presence of God? The order of prayer runs thus,\n\u201cHallowed be thy name;\u201d first to have a deep sense of the holiness of\nthe Divine nature, and an ardent desire for the glory of it. This order\nis inverted by asking those things which are not agreeable to the will\nof God, not meet for us to ask, and not meet for God to give; or asking\nthings agreeable to the will of God, but with a wicked intention. This\nis, in effect, to desire God to strip himself of his holiness, and\ncommit sacrilege upon his own nature to gratify our lusts.\n\n6. The purity of God is contemned, in hating and scoffing at the\nholiness which is in a creature. Whoever looks upon the holiness\nof a creature as an unlovely thing, can have no good opinion of the\namiableness of Divine purity. Whosoever hates those qualities and\ngraces that resemble God in any person, must needs contemn the original\npattern, which is more eminent in God. If there be no comeliness in\na creature\u2019s holiness, to render it grateful to us, we should say\nof God himself, were he visible among us, with those in the prophet\n(Isa. liii.), \u201cThere is no beauty in him, that we should desire him.\u201d\nHoliness is beautiful in itself. If God be the most lovely Being, that\nwhich is a likeness to him, so far as it doth resemble him, must needs\nbe amiable, because it partakes of God; and, therefore, those that\nsee no beauty in an inferior holiness, but contemn it because it is a\npurity above them, contemn God much more. He that hates that which is\nimperfect merely for that excellency which is in it, doth much more\nhate that which is perfect, without any mixture or stain. Holiness\nbeing the glory of God, the peculiar title of the Deity, and from him\nderived unto the nature of a creature, he that mocks this in a person,\nderides God himself; and, when he cannot abuse the purity in the Deity,\nhe will do it in his image; as rebels that cannot wrong the king in his\nperson, will do it in his picture, and his subjects that are loyal to\nhim. He that hates the picture of a man, hates the person represented\nby it much more; he that hates the beams, hates the sun; the holiness\nof a creature is but a beam from that infinite Sun, a stream from\nthat eternal Fountain. Where there is a derision of the purity of any\ncreature, there is a greater reflection upon God in that derision, as\nhe is the Author of it. If a mixed and stained holiness be more the\nsubject of any man\u2019s scoffs than a great deal of sin, that person hath\na disposition more roundly to scoff at God himself, should he appear\nin that unblemished and unspotted purity which infinitely shines in his\nnature. O! it is a dangerous thing to scoff and deride holiness in any\nperson, though never so mean; such do deride and scoff at the most holy\nGod.\n\n7. The holiness of God is injured by our unprepared addresses to him,\nwhen, like swine, we come into the presence of God with all our mire\nreeking and steaming upon us. A holy God requires a holy worship; and\nif our best duties, having filth in every part, as {b177} performed\nby us, are unmeet for God, how much more unsuitable are dead and dirty\nduties to a living and immense holiness! Slight approaches and drossy\nframes speak us to have imaginations of God as of a slight and sottish\nbeing. This is worse than the heathens practised, who would purge their\nflesh before they sacrificed, and make some preparations in a seeming\npurity, before they would enter into their temples. God is so holy,\nthat were our services as refined as those of angels, we could not\npresent him with a service meet for his holy nature (Josh. xxiv. 19).\nWe contemn, then, this perfection, when we come before him without\ndue preparation; as if God himself were of an impure nature, and did\nnot deserve our purest thoughts in our applications to him; as if any\nblemished and polluted sacrifice were good enough for him, and his\nnature deserved no better. When we excite not those elevated frames\nof spirit which are due to such a being, when we think to put him off\nwith a lame and imperfect service, we worship him not according to the\nexcellency of his nature, but put a slight upon his majestic sanctity.\nWhen we nourish in our duties those foolish imaginations which\ncreep upon us; when we bring into, and continue our worldly, carnal,\ndebauched fancies in his presence, worse than the nasty servants, or\nbemired dogs, a man would blush to be attended with in his visits to a\nneat person. To be conversing with sordid sensualities, when we are at\nthe feet of an infinite God, sitting upon the throne of his holiness,\nis as much a contempt of him, as it would be of a prince, to bring a\nvessel full of nasty dung with us, when we come to present a petition\nto him in his royal robes; or as it would have been to God, if the high\npriest should have swept all the blood and excrements of the sacrifices\nfrom the foot of the altar into the Holy of holies, and heaped it up\nbefore the mercy\u2011seat, where the presence of God dwelt between the\ncherubims, and afterwards shovelled it up into the ark, to be lodged\nwith Aaron\u2019s rod and the pot of manna.\n\n8. God\u2019s holiness is slighted in depending upon our imperfect\nservices to bear us out before the tribunal of God. This is too\nordinary. The Jews were often infected with it (Rom. iii. 10), who,\nnot well understanding the enormity of their transgressions, the\ninterweaving of sin with their services, and the unspottedness of the\nDivine purity, mingled an opinion of merit with their sacrifices, and\nthought, by the cutting the throat of a beast, and offering it upon\nGod\u2019s altar, they had made a sufficient compensation to that holiness\nthey had offended. Not to speak of many among the Romanists who have\nthe same notion, thinking to make satisfaction to God by erecting an\nhospital, or endowing a church, as if this injured perfection could be\ncontented with the dregs of their purses, and the offering of an unjust\nmammon, more likely to mind God of the injury they have done him, than\ncontribute to the appeasing of him. But is it not too ordinary with\nmiserable men, whose consciences accuse them of their crimes, to rely\nupon the mumbling of a few formal prayers, and in the strength of\nthem, to think to stand before the tremendous tribunal of God, and\nmeet with a discharge upon this account from any accusation this Divine\nperfection can present against them? Nay, do not the best Christians\nsometimes {b178} find a principle in them, that makes them stumble\nin their goings forth to Christ, and glorifying the holiness of God\nin that method which he hath appointed? Sometimes casting an eye at\ntheir grace, and sticking awhile to this or that duty, and gazing at\nthe glory of the temple\u2011building, while they should more admire the\nglorious Presence that fills it. What is all this but a vilifying of\nthe holiness of the Divine nature, as though it would be well enough\ncontented with our impurities and imperfections, because they look\nlike a righteousness in our estimation? As though dross and dung,\nwhich are the titles the apostles gives to all the righteousness of a\nfallen creature (Phil. iii. 8), were valuable in the sight of God, and\nsufficient to render us comely before him. It is a blasphemy against\nthis attribute, to pretend that anything so imperfect, so daubed, as\nthe best of our services are, can answer to that which is infinitely\nperfect, and be a ground of demanding eternal life: it is at best, to\nset up a gilded Dagon, as a fit companion for the ark of his Holiness;\nour own righteousness as a suitable mate for the righteousness of\nGod: as if he had repented of the claim he made by the law to an exact\nconformity, and thrown off the holiness of his nature for the fondling\nof a corrupted creature. Rude and foolish notions of the Divine purity\nare clearly evidenced by any confidence in any righteousness of our own,\nthough never so splendid. It is a rendering the righteousness of God\nas dull and obscure as that of men; a mere outside, as their own; as\nblind as the heathens pictured their Fortune, that knew as little how\nto discern the nature and value of the offerings made to her, as to\ndistribute her gifts, as if it were all one to them, to have a dog or\na lamb presented in sacrifice. As if God did not well understand his\nown nature, when he enacted so holy a law, and strengthened it with so\nsevere a threatening; which must follow upon our conceit, that he will\naccept a righteousness lower than that which bears some suitableness to\nthe holiness of his own nature, and that of his law; and that he could\neasily be put off with a pretended and counterfeit service. What are\nthe services of the generality of men, but suppositions, that they\ncan bribe God to an indulgence of them in their sins, and by an oral\nsacrifice, cause him to divest himself of his hatred of their former\niniquities, and countenance their following practices. As the harlot,\nthat would return fresh to her uncleanness, upon the confidence that\nher peace offering had contented the righteousness of God (Prov. vii.\n14): as though a small service could make him wink at our sins, and\nlay aside the glory of his nature; when, alas! the best duties in the\nmost gracious persons in this life, are but as the steams of a spiced\ndung\u2011hill, a composition of myrrh and froth, since there are swarms of\ncorruptions in their nature, and secret sins that they need a cleansing\nfrom.\n\n9. It is a contemning the holiness of God, when we charge the law\nof God with rigidness. We cast dirt upon the holiness of God when we\nblame the law of God, because it shackles us, and prohibit our desired\npleasures; and hate the law of God, as they did the prophets, because\nthey did not prophesy smooth things; but called to them, to \u201cget\u201d them\n\u201cout of the way, and turn aside out {b179} of the path, and cause the\nHoly One of Israel to cease from before them\u201d (Isa. xxx. 10, 11). Put\nus no more in mind of the holiness of God, and the holiness of his law;\nit is a troublesome thing for us to hear of it: let him be gone from\nus, since he will not countenance our vices, and indulge our crimes;\nwe would rather hear there is a God, than you would tell us of a holy\none. We are contrary to the law, when we wish it were not so exact;\nand, therefore, contrary to the holiness of God, which set the stamp\nof exactness and righteousness upon it. We think him injurious to\nour liberty, when, by his precept he thwarts our pleasure; we wish\nit of another frame, more mild, more suitable to our minds: it is the\nsame, as if we should openly blame God for consulting with his own\nrighteousness, and not with our humors, before he settled his law; that\nhe should not have drawn from the depths of his righteous nature, but\nsquared it to accommodate our corruption. This being the language of\nsuch complaints, is a reproving God, because he would not be unholy,\nthat we might be unrighteous with impunity. Had the Divine law been\nsuited to our corrupt state, God must have been unholy to have complied\nwith his rebellious creature. To charge the law with rigidness, either\nin language or practice, is the highest contempt of God\u2019s holiness; for\nit is an implicit wish, that God were as defiled, polluted, disorderly,\nas our corrupted selves.\n\n10. The holiness of God is injured opinionatively. (1.) In the opinion\nof venial sins. The Romanists divide sins into venial and mortal:\nmortal, are those which deserve eternal death; venial, the lighter\nsort of sins, which rather deserve to be pardoned than punished; or if\npunished, not with an eternal, but temporal punishment. This opinion\nhath no foundation in, but is contrary to, Scripture. How can any sin\nbe in its own nature venial, when the due \u201cwages of every sin is death\u201d\n(Rom. vi. 23)? and he who \u201ccontinues not in every thing that the law\ncommands,\u201d falls under a \u201ccurse\u201d (Gal. iii. 10). It is a mean thought\nof the holiness and majesty of God to imagine, that any sin which\nis against an infinite majesty, and as infinite a purity both in\nthe nature of God and the law of God, should not be considered as\ninfinitely heinous. All sins are transgressions of the eternal law, and\nin every one the infinite holiness of God is some way slighted. (2.) In\nthe opinion of works of supererogation. That is, such works as are not\ncommanded by God, which yet have such a dignity and worth in their own\nnature, that the performers of them do not only merit at God\u2019s hands\nfor themselves, but fill up a treasure of merits for others, that come\nshort of fulfilling the precepts God hath enjoined. It is such a mean\nthought of God\u2019s holiness, that the Jews, in all the charges brought\nagainst them in Scripture, were never guilty of. And if you consider\nwhat pitiful things they are, which are within the compass of such\nworks, you have sufficient reason to bewail the ignorance of man,\nand the low esteem he hath of so glorious a perfection. The whipping\nthemselves often in a week, extraordinary watchings, fastings,\nmacerating their bodies, wearing a capuchin\u2019s habit, &c. are pitiful\nthings to give content to an Infinite Purity. As if the precept {b180}\nof God required only the inferior degrees of virtue, and the counsels\nthe more high and excellent; as if the law of God, which the Psalmist\ncounts \u201cperfect\u201d (Ps. xix. 7), did not command all good, and forbid\nall evil; as if the holiness of God had forgotten itself in the framing\nthe law, and made it a scanty and defective rule; and the righteousness\nof a creature were not only able to make an eternal righteousness, but\nsurmount it. As man would be at first as knowing as God, so some of\nhis posterity would be more holy than God; set up a wisdom against the\nwisdom of God, and a purity above the Divine purity. Adam was not so\npresumptuous; he intended no more than an equalling God in knowledge;\nbut those would exceed him in righteousness, and not only presume to\nrender a satisfaction for themselves to the holiness they have injured,\nbut to make a purse for the supply of others that are indigent, that\nthey may stand before the tribunal of God with a confidence in the\nimaginary righteousness of a creature. How horrible is it for those\nthat come short of the law of God themselves, to think that they can\nhave enough for a loan to their neighbors! An unworthy opinion.\n\n_Inform. 2._ It may inform us, how great is our fall from God, and how\ndistant we are from him. View the holiness of God, and take a prospect\nof the nature of man, and be astonished to see a person created in the\nDivine image, degenerated into the image of the devil. We are as far\nfallen from the holiness of God, which consists in a hatred of sin, as\nthe lowest point of the earth is from the highest point of the heavens.\nThe devil is not more fallen from the rectitude of his nature and\nlikeness to God, than we are; and that we are not in the same condition\nwith those apostate spirits, is not from anything in our nature, but\nfrom the mediation of Christ, upon which account God hath indulged\nin us a continuance of some remainders of that which Satan is wholly\ndeprived of. We are departed from our original pattern; we were created\nto live the \u201clife of God,\u201d that is, a life of \u201choliness;\u201d but now we\nare \u201calienated from the life of God\u201d (Eph. iv. 18), and of a beautiful\npiece we are become deformed, daubed over with the most defiling mud:\nwe \u201cwork uncleanness with greediness,\u201d according to our ability, as\ncreatures; as God doth work \u201choliness\u201d with affection and ardency,\naccording to his infiniteness, as Creator. More distant we are from\nGod by reason of sin, than the vilest creature, the most deformed toad,\nor poisonous serpent, is from the highest and most glorious angel. By\nforsaking our innocence, we departed from God as our original copy.\nThe apostle might well say (Rom. iii. 23), that by sin \u201cwe are come\nshort of the glory of God.\u201d Interpreters trouble themselves much about\nthat place, \u201cMan is come short of the glory of God,\u201d that is, of the\nholiness of God, which is the glory of the Divine nature, and was\npictured in the rational, innocent creature. By the \u201cglory of God,\u201d\nis meant the holiness of God; (as 1 Cor. iii. 18), \u201cBeholding, as in\na glass, the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from\nglory to glory;\u201d that is the glory of God in the text, into the image\nof which we are changed; but the Scripture speaks of no other image of\nGod, but that of holiness; \u201cwe are come short of the glory of God;\u201d of\nthe holiness of God, which is the glory of God; and {b181} the image\nof it, which was the glory of man. By sin, which is particular in\nopposition to the purity of God, man was left many leagues behind any\nresemblance to God; he stripped off that which was the glory of his\nnature, and was the only means of glorifying God as his Creator. The\nword \u1f51\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u1fe6\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9, the apostle uses, is very significant,\u2015\u2015postponed\nby sin an infinite distance from any imitation of God\u2019s holiness, or\nany appearance before him in a garb of nature pleasing to him. Let us\nlament our fall and distance from God.\n\n_Inform. 3._ All unholiness is vile, and opposite to the nature of God.\nIt is such a loathsome thing, that the \u201cpurity of God\u2019s eye is averse\nfrom beholding\u201d (Hab. i. 3). It is not said there, that he will not,\nbut he cannot, look on evil; there cannot be any amicableness between\nGod and sin, the natures of both are so directly and unchangeably\ncontrary to one another. Holiness is the life of God; it endures as\nlong as his life; he must be eternally averse from sin, he can live no\nlonger than he lives in the hatred and loathing of it. If he should for\none instant cease to hate it, he would cease to live. To be a holy God,\nis as essential to him, as to be a living God; and he would not be a\nliving God, but a dead God, if he were in the least point of time an\nunholy God. He cannot look on sin without loathing it; he cannot look\non sin but his heart riseth against it; it must needs be most odious\nto him, as that which is against the glory of his nature, and directly\nopposite to that which is the lustre and varnish of all his other\nperfections. It is the \u201cabominable thing which his soul hates\u201d (Jer.\nxliv. 4); the vilest terms imaginable are used to signify it. Do you\nunderstand the loathsomeness of a miry swine, or the nauseousness of\nthe vomit of a dog? these are emblems of sin (2 Peter ii. 22). Can you\nendure the steams of putrefied carcasses from an open sepulchre (Rom.\niii. 23)? is the smell of the stinking sweat or excrements of a body\ndelightful? the word \u1fe5\u03c5\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03af\u03b1 in James i. 21, signifies as much. Or is\nthe sight of a body overgrown with scabs and leprosy grateful to you?\nSo vile, so odious is sin, in the sight of God. It is no light thing,\nthen, to fly in the face of God; to break his eternal law; to dash both\nthe tables in pieces: to trample the transcript of God\u2019s own nature\nunder our feet; to cherish that which was inconsistent with his honor;\nto lift up our heels against the glory of his nature; to join issue\nwith the devil in stabbing his heart, and depriving him of his life.\nSin, in every part of it, is an opposition to the holiness of God, and\nconsequently an envying him a being and life, as well as a glory. If\nsin be such a thing, \u201cye that love the Lord, hate evil.\u201d\n\n_Inform. 4._ Sin cannot escape a due punishment. A hatred of\nunrighteousness, and consequently a will to punish it, is as essential\nto God as a love of righteousness. Since he is not as an heathen idol,\nbut hath eyes to see, and purity to hate every iniquity, he will have\nan infinite justice to punish whatsoever is against infinite holiness.\nAs he loves everything that is amiable, so he loathes everything that\nis filthy, and that constantly, without any change; his whole nature\nis set against it; he abhors nothing but this. It is not the devil\u2019s\nknowledge or activity that his hatred is terminated in, but the malice\nand unholiness of his nature; it is this only is the object of his\nseverity; {b182} it is in the recompense of this only that there can\nbe a manifestation of his justice. Sin must be punished; for,\n\n1. This detestation of sin must be manifested. How should we certainly\nknow his loathing of it, if he did not manifest, by some act, how\nungrateful it is to him? As his love to righteousness would not appear,\nwithout rewarding it; so his hatred of iniquity would be as little\nevidenced, without punishing it; his justice is the great witness\nto his purity. The punishment, therefore, inflicted on the wicked,\nshall be, in some respect, as great as the rewards bestowed upon the\nrighteous. Since the hatred of sin is natural to God, it is as natural\nto him to show, one time or other, his hatred of it. And since men\nhave a conceit that God is like them in impurity, there is a necessity\nof some manifestation of himself to be infinitely distant from those\nconceits they have of him (Ps. l. 21); \u201cI will reprove thee, and set\nthem in order before thine eyes.\u201d He would else encourage the injuries\ndone to his holiness, favor the extravagances of the creature, and\ncondemn, or at least slight, the righteousness both of his own nature,\nand his sovereign law. What way is there for God to manifest his hatred,\nbut by threatening the sinner? and what would this be but a vain\naffrightment, and ridiculous to the sinner, if it were never to be put\nin execution? There is an indissoluble connection between his hatred\nof sin, and punishment of the offender (Ps. xi. 5, 6); \u201cThe wicked, his\nsoul hates. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone,\u201d\n&c. He cannot approve of it without denying himself; and a total\nimpunity would be a degree of approbation. The displeasure of God\nis eternal and irreconcileable against sin; for sin being absolutely\ncontrary to his holy nature, he is eternally contrary to it; if there\nbe not, therefore, a way to separate the sin from the sinner, the\nsinner must lie under the displeasure of God; no displeasure can be\nmanifested without some marks of it upon the person that lies under\nthat displeasure. The holiness of God will right itself of the wrongs\ndone to it, and scatter the profaners of it at the greatest distance\nfrom him, which is the greatest punishment that can be inflicted; to be\nremoved far from the Fountain of Life is the worst of deaths; God can\nas soon lay aside his purity, as always forbear his displeasure against\nan impure person; it is all one not to hate it, and not to manifest his\nhatred of it.\n\n2. As his holiness is natural and necessary, so is the punishment\nof unholiness necessary to him. It is necessary that he should\nabominate sin, and therefore necessary he should discountenance it. The\nseverities of God against sin are not vain scare\u2011crows; they have their\nfoundation in the righteousness of his nature; it is because he is a\nrighteous and holy God, that he \u201cwill not forgive our transgressions\nand sins\u201d (Josh. xxiv. 19), that is, that he will punish them. The\nthrone of his \u201choliness is a fiery flame\u201d (Dan. vii. 9); there is both\na pure light and a scorching heat. Whatsoever is contrary to the nature\nof God, will fall under the justice of God; he would else violate his\nown nature, deny his own perfection, seem to be out of love with his\nown glory and life. He doth not hate it out of choice, but from the\nimmutable propension of his nature; it is not so free an act of his\nwill, as the creation of man and angels, which he might {b183} have\nforborne as well as effected. As the detestation of sin results from\nthe universal rectitude of his nature, so the punishment of sin follows\nupon that, as he is the righteous Governor of the world: it is as much\nagainst his nature not to punish it, as it is against his nature not\nto loathe it; he would cease to be holy if he ceased to hate it, and he\nwould cease to hate it if he ceased to punish it. Neither the obedience\nof our Saviour\u2019s life, nor the strength of his cries, could put a\nbar to the cup of his passion; God so hated sin, that when it was but\nimputed to his Son, without any commission of it, he would bring a hell\nupon his soul. Certainly if God could have hated sin without punishing\nit, his Son had never felt the smart of his wrath; his love to his\nSon had been strong enough to have caused him to forbear, had not\nthe holiness of his nature been stronger to move him to inflict a\npunishment according to the demerit of his sin. God cannot but be\nholy, and therefore cannot but be just, because injustice is a part\nof unholiness.\n\n3. Therefore there can be no communion between God and unholy spirits.\nHow is it conceivable, that God should hate the sin, and cherish the\nsinner, with all his filth in his bosom? that he should eternally\ndetest the crime, and eternally fold the sinner in his arms? Can less\nbe expected from the purity of his nature, than to separate an impure\nsoul, as long as it remains so? Can there be any delightful communion\nbetween those whose natures are contrary? Darkness and light may as\nsoon kiss each other, and become one nature: God and the devil may as\nsoon enter into an eternal league and covenant together. For God to\nhave pleasure in wickedness, and to admit evil to dwell with him, are\nequally impossible to his nature (Ps. v. 4): while he hates impurity,\nhe cannot have communion with an impure person. It may as soon be\nexpected, that God should hate himself, offer violence to his own\nnature, lay aside his purity as an abominable thing, and blot his own\nglory, as love an impure person, entertain him as his delight, and set\nhim in the same heaven and happiness with himself, and his holy angels.\nHe must needs loathe him, he must needs banish him from his presence,\nwhich is the greatest punishment. God\u2019s holiness and hatred of sin\nnecessarily infer the punishment of it.\n\n_Inform. 5._ There is, therefore, a necessity of the satisfaction of\nthe holiness of God by some sufficient mediator. The Divine purity\ncould not meet with any acquiescence in all mankind after the fall:\nsin was hated; the sinner would be ruined, unless some way were found\nout to repair the wrongs done to the holiness of God; either the sinner\nmust be condemned for ever, or some satisfaction must be made, that the\nholiness of the Divine nature might eternally appear in its full lustre.\nThat it is essential to the nature of God to hate all unrighteousness,\nas that which is absolutely repugnant to his nature, none do question.\nThat the justice of God is so essential to him, as that sin could not\nbe pardoned without satisfaction, some do question; though this latter\nseems rationally to follow upon the former.[930] That holiness is\nessential to the nature of God, is evident; because, else, God may\nas much be conceived without purity, as he might be {b184} conceived\nwithout the creating the sun or stars. No man can, in his right wits,\nframe a right notion of a Deity without purity. It would be less\nblasphemy against the excellency of God, to conceit him not knowing,\nthan to imagine him not holy: and, for the essentialness of his justice,\nJoshua joins both his holiness and his jealousy as going hand in hand\ntogether (Josh. xxiv. 19); \u201cHe is a holy God, he is a jealous God, he\nwill not forgive your sin.\u201d But consider only the purity of God, since\nit is contrary to sin, and, consequently, hating the sinner; the guilty\nperson cannot be reduced to God, nor can the holiness of God have any\ncomplacency in a filthy person, but as fire hath in stubble, to consume\nit. How the holy God should be brought to delight in man without a\n_salvo_ for the rights of his holiness, is not to be conceived without\nan impeachment of the nature of God. The law could not be abolished;\nthat would reflect, indeed, upon the righteousness of the Lawgiver: to\nabolish it, because of sin, would imply a change of the rectitude of\nhis nature. Must he change his holiness for the sake of that which was\nagainst his holiness, in a compliance with a profane and unrighteous\ncreature? This should engage him rather to maintain his law, than to\nnull it; and to abrogate his law as soon as he had enacted it, since\nsin stepped into the world presently after it, would be no credit\nto his wisdom. There must be a reparation made of the honor of God\u2019s\nholiness; by ourselves it could not be without condemnation; by another\nit could not be without a sufficiency in the person: no creature could\ndo it. All the creatures being of a finite nature, could not make\na compensation for the disparagements of Infinite Holiness. He must\nhave despicable and vile thoughts of this excellent perfection, that\nimagines that a few tears, and the glavering fawnings at the death of\na creature, can be sufficient to repair the wrongs, and restore the\nrights of this attribute. It must, therefore, be such a compensation\nas might be commensurate to the holiness of the Divine nature and\nthe Divine law, which could not be wrought by any, but Him that was\npossessed of a Godhead to give efficacy and exact congruity to it. The\nPerson designed and appointed by God for so great an affair, was \u201cone\nin the form of God, one equal with God,\u201d (Phil. ii. 6), who could not\nbe termed by such a title of dignity, if he had not been equal to God\nin the universal rectitude of the Divine nature, and therefore in his\nholiness. The punishment due to sin is translated to that person for\nthe righting Divine holiness, and the righteousness of that Person is\ncommunicated to the sinner for the pardon of the offending creature.\nIf the sinner had been eternally damned, God\u2019s hatred of sin had been\nevidenced by the strokes of his justice; but his mercy to a sinner had\nlain in obscurity. If the sinner had been pardoned and saved without\nsuch a reparation, mercy had been evident; but his holiness had hid its\nhead for ever in his own bosom. There was therefore a necessity of such\na way to manifest his purity, and yet to bring forth his mercy: that\nmercy might not alway sigh for the destruction of the creature, and\nthat holiness might not mourn for the neglect of its honor.\n\n_Inform. 6._ Hence it will follow, there is no justification of a\nsinner by any thing in himself. After sin had set foot in the world,\n{b185} man could present nothing to God acceptable to him, or bearing\nany proportion to the holiness of his law, till God set forth a Person,\nupon whose account the acceptation of our persons and services is\nfounded (Eph. i. 6), \u201cWho hath made us accepted in the Beloved.\u201d The\nInfinite purity of God is so glorious, that it shames the holiness\nof angels, as the light of the sun dims the light of the fire; much\nmore will the righteousness of fallen man, who is vile, and \u201cdrinks\nup iniquity like water,\u201d vanish into nothing in his presence. With\nwhat self\u2011abasement and abhorrence ought he to be possessed that comes\nas short of the angels in purity, as a dunghill doth of a star! The\nhighest obedience that ever was performed by any mere man, since lapsed\nnature, cannot challenge any acceptance with God, or stand before so\nexact an inquisition. What person hath such a clear innocence, and\nunspotted obedience in such a perfection, as in any degree to suit\nthe holiness of the Divine nature? (Ps. cxliii. 2): \u201cEnter not into\njudgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be\njustified.\u201d If God should debate the case simply with a man in his own\nperson, without respecting the Mediator, he were not able to \u201canswer\none of a thousand.\u201d Though we are his servants, as David was, and\nperform a sincere service, yet there are many little motes and dust of\nsin in the best works, that cannot lie undiscovered from the eye of his\nholiness; and if we come short in the least of what the law requires,\nwe are \u201cguilty of all\u201d (James ii. 10). So that \u201cIn thy sight shall no\nman living be justified;\u201d in the sight of thy infinite holiness, which\nhates the least spot; in the sight of thy infinite justice, which\npunishes the least transgression. God would descend below his own\nnature, and vilify both his knowledge and his purity, should he accept\nthat for a righteousness and holiness which is not so in itself; and\nnothing is so, which hath the least stain upon it contrary to the\nnature of God. The most holy saints in Scripture, upon a prospect of\nhis purity, have cast away all confidence in themselves; every flash\nof the Divine purity has struck them into a deep sense of their own\nimpurity and shame for it (Job xlii. 6), \u201cWherefore I abhor myself in\ndust and ashes.\u201d What can the language of any man be that lies under\na sense of infinite holiness and his own defilement in the least, but\nthat of the prophet (Isa. vi. 5), \u201cWoe is me, I am undone?\u201d And what is\nthere in the world can administer any other thought than this, unless\nGod be considered in Christ, \u201creconciling the world to himself?\u201d As\na holy God, so righted, as that he can dispense with the condemnation\nof a sinner, without dispensing with his hatred of sin; pardoning the\nsin in the criminal, because it hath been punished in the Surety. That\nrighteousness which God hath \u201cset forth\u201d for justification, is not\nour own, but a \u201crighteousness which is of God\u201d (Phil. iii. 9, 10), of\nGod\u2019s appointing, and of God\u2019s performing; appointed by the Father,\nwho is God, and performed by the Son, who is one with the Father; a\nrighteousness surmounting that of all the glorious angels, since it is\nan immutable one which can never fail, an \u201ceverlasting righteousness\u201d\n(Dan. ix. 24); a righteousness wherein the holiness of God can\nacquiesce, as considered in itself, because it is a righteousness of\none equal with God. As we {b186} therefore dishonor the Divine Majesty\nwhen we insist upon our own bemired righteousness for our justification\nas if \u201cmortal man were as just as God,\u201d and a \u201cman as pure as his\nMaker\u201d (Job iv. 17), so we highly honor the purity of his nature,\nwhen we charge ourselves with folly, acknowledge ourselves unclean,\nand accept of that righteousness which gives a full content to his\ninfinite purity. There can be no justification of a sinner by anything\nin himself.\n\n_Inform. 7._ If holiness be a glorious perfection of the Divine nature,\nthen the Deity of Christ might be argued from hence. He is indeed\ndignified with the title of the \u201cHoly One\u201d (Acts iii. 14, 16), a title\noften given to God in the Old Testament; and he is called the \u201cHoly of\nholies\u201d (Dan. ix. 24); but because the angels seemed to be termed \u201cHoly\nones\u201d (Dan. iv. 13, 17), and the most sacred place in the temple was\nalso called the \u201cHoly of holies,\u201d I shall not insist upon that. But you\nfind our Saviour particularly applauded by the angels, as \u201choly,\u201d when\nthis perfection of the Divine nature, together with the incommunicable\nname of God, are linked together, and ascribed to him (Isa. vi. 3):\n\u201cHoly, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; and the whole earth is full of\nhis glory;\u201d which the apostle interprets of \u201cChrist\u201d (John xii. 39, 41).\nIsaiah, again: \u201cHe hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts,\nthat they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their\nhearts, and be converted, and I should heal them.\u201d These things said\nIsaiah, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. He that Isaiah saw\nenvironed with the seraphims, in a reverential posture before his face,\nand praised as most holy by them, was the true and eternal God; such\nacclamations belong to none but the great Jehovah, God, blessed forever;\nbut, saith John, it was the \u201cglory of Christ\u201d that Isaiah saw in this\nvision; Christ, therefore, is \u201cGod blessed forever,\u201d of whom it was\nsaid, \u201cHoly, holy, holy Lord of Hosts.\u201d[931] The evangelist had been\nspeaking of Christ, the miracles which he wrought, the obstinacy of the\nJews against believing on him; his glory, therefore, is to be referred\nto the subject he had been speaking of. The evangelist was not speaking\nof the Father, but of the Son, and cites those words out of Isaiah; not\nto teach anything of the Father, but to show that the Jews could not\nbelieve in Christ. He speaks of him that had wrought so many miracles;\nbut Christ wrought those miracles: he speaks of him whom the Jews\nrefused to believe on; but Christ was the person they would not believe\non, while they acknowledged God. It was the glory of this person Isaiah\nsaw, and this person Isaiah spake of, if the words of the evangelist be\nof any credit. The angels are too holy to give acclamations belonging\nto God, to any but him that is God.\n\n_Inform. 8._ God is fully fit for the government of the world. The\nrighteousness of God\u2019s nature qualifies him to be Judge of the world;\nif he were not perfectly righteous and holy, he were incapable to\ngovern and judge the world (Rom. iii. 5): \u201cIf there be unrighteousness\nwith God, how shall he judge the world?\u201d \u201cGod will not do wickedly,\nneither will the Almighty pervert judgment\u201d (Job xxxiv. 12). {b187} How\ndespicable is a judge that wants innocence! As omniscience fits God to\nbe a judge, so holiness fits him to be a righteous judge (Ps. i. 6):\n\u201cThe Lord knows,\u201d that is, loves, \u201cthe way of the righteous; but the\nway of the ungodly shall perish.\u201d\n\n_Inform. 9._ If holiness be an eminent perfection of the Divine\nnature, the Christian religion is of a Divine extraction: it discovers\nthe holiness of God, and forms the creature to a conformity to him.\nIt gives us a prospect of his nature, represents him in the \u201cbeauty of\nholiness\u201d (Ps. cx. 3), more than the whole glass of the creation. It is\nin this evangelical glass the glory of the Lord is beheld, and rendered\namiable and imitable (2 Cor. iii. 18). It is a doctrine \u201caccording to\ngodliness\u201d (1 Tim. vi. 3), directing us to live the life of God; a life\nworthy of God, and worthy of our first creation by his hand. It takes\nus off from ourselves, fixeth us upon a noble end, points our actions,\nand the scope of our lives to God. It quells the monsters of sin,\ndiscountenanceth the motes of wickedness; and it is no mean argument\nfor the divinity of it, that it sets us no lower a pattern for our\nimitation, than the holiness of the Divine Majesty. God is exalted upon\nthe throne of his holiness in it, and the creature advanced to an image\nand resemblance of it (1 Pet. i. 16): \u201cBe ye holy, for I am holy.\u201d\n\n_Use 2._ The second use is for comfort. This attribute frowns upon\nlapsed nature, but smiles in the restorations made by the gospel. God\u2019s\nholiness, in conjunction with his justice, is terrible to a guilty\nsinner; but now, in conjunction with his mercy, by the satisfaction of\nChrist, it is sweet to a believing penitent. In the \u201cfirst covenant,\u201d\nthe purity of his nature was joined with the rigors of his justice;\nin the \u201csecond covenant,\u201d the purity of his nature is joined with the\nsweetness and tenderness of his mercy. In the one, justice flames\nagainst the sinner in the right of injured holiness; in the other,\nmercy yearns towards a believer, with the consent of righted holiness.\nTo rejoice in the holiness of God is the true and genuine spirit of a\nrenewed man: \u201cMy heart rejoiceth in the Lord;\u201d\u2015\u2015what follows?\u2015\u2015\u201cThere\nis none holy as the Lord\u201d (1 Sam. ii. 1, 2). Some perfections of the\nDivine nature are astonishing, some affrighting; but this may fill us\nboth with astonishment at it, and a joy in it.\n\n1. By covenant, we have an interest in this attribute, as well as any\nother. In that clause of \u201cGod\u2019s being our God,\u201d entire God with all his\nglory, all his perfections are passed over as a portion, and a gracious\nsoul is brought into union with God, as his God; not with a part of\nGod, but with God in the simplicity, extent, integrity of his nature;\nand therefore in this attribute. And, upon some account, it may seem\nmore in this attribute than in any other; for if he be our God, he is\nour God in his life and glory, and therefore in his purity especially,\nwithout which he could not live; he could not be happy and blessed.\nLittle comfort will it be to have a dead God, or a vile God, made over\nto us; and as, by this covenant, he is our Father, so he gives us his\nnature, and communicates his holiness in all his dispensations; and in\nthose that are severest, as well as those that are sweetest (Heb. xii.\n10): \u201cBut he corrects us for our profit, that we might be partakers of\nhis holiness.\u201d Not simply \u201cpartakers {b188} of holiness,\u201d but of \u201chis\nholiness;\u201d to have a portraiture of it in our nature, a medal of it in\nour hearts, a spark of the same nature with that immense splendor and\nflame in himself. The holiness of a covenant soul is a resemblance of\nthe holiness of God, and formed by it; as the picture of the sun in a\ncloud is a fruit of his beams, and an image of its author. The fulness\nof the perfection of holiness remains in the nature of God, as the\nfulness of the light doth in the sun; yet there are transmissions of\nlight from the sun to the moon, and it is a light of the same nature\nboth in the one and in the other. The holiness of a creature is nothing\nelse but a reflection of the Divine holiness upon it; and to make the\ncreature capable of it, God takes various methods, according to his\ncovenant grace.\n\n2. This attribute renders God a fit object for trust and dependence.\nThe notion of an unholy and unrighteous God, is an uncomfortable idea\nof him, and beats off our hands from laying any hold of him. It is upon\nthis attribute the reputation and honor of God in the world is built;\nwhat encouragement can we have to believe him, or what incentives\ncould we have to serve him, without the lustre of this in his nature?\nThe very thought of an unrighteous God is enough to drive men at the\ngreatest distance from him; as the honesty of a man gives a reputation\nto his word, so doth the holiness of God give credit to his promise. It\nis by this he would have us stifle our fears and fortify our trust (Isa.\nxli. 14): \u201cFear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help\nthee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:\u201d he\nwill be in his actions what he is in his nature. Nothing shall make him\ndefile his own excellency; unrighteousness is the ground of mutability;\nbut the promise of God doth never fail, because the rectitude of his\nnature doth never languish: were his attributes without the conduct\nof this, they would be altogether formidable. As this is the glory of\nall his other perfections, so this only renders him comfortable to a\nbelieving soul. Might we not fear his power to crush us, his mercy to\noverlook us, his wisdom to design against us, if this did not influence\nthem? What an oppression is power without righteousness in the hand of\na creature; destructive, instead of protecting! The devil is a mighty\nspirit, but not fit to be trusted, because he is an impure spirit.\nWhen God would give us the highest security of the sincerity of his\nintentions, he swears by this attribute (Ps. viii. 35): his holiness,\nas well as his truth, is laid to pawn for the security of his promise.\nAs we make God the judge between us and others, when we swear by him,\nso he makes his holiness the judge between himself and his people, when\nhe swears by it.\n\n(1.) It is this renders him fit to be confided in for the answer\nof our prayers. This is the ground of his readiness to give. \u201cIf you,\nbeing evil, know how to give good gifts, how much more shall your\nFather which is in heaven give good gifts to them that ask him\u201d (Matt.\nvii. 11)! Though the holiness of God be not mentioned, yet it is to\nbe understood; the emphasis lies on these words, \u201cif you, being evil:\u201d\nGod is then considered in a disposition contrary to this, which can\nbe nothing but his righteousness. If you that are unholy, and have so\nmuch corruption in you, to render you cruel, can bestow {b189} upon\nyour children the good things they want, how much more shall God,\nwho is holy, and hath nothing in him to check his mercifulness to\nhis creatures, grant the petitions of his supplicants! It was this\nattribute edged the fiduciary importunity of the souls under the altar,\nfor the revenging their blood unjustly shed upon the earth: \u201cHow long,\nO Lord, holy and true, dost thou not avenge our blood on them that\ndwell on the earth\u201d (Rev. vi. 10)? Let not thy holiness stand with\nfolded arms, as careless of the eminent sufferings of those that fear\nthee; we implore thee by the holiness of thy nature, and the truth of\nthy word.\n\n(2.) This renders him fit to be confided in for the comfort of our\nsouls in a broken condition. The reviving the hearts of the spiritually\nafflicted, is a part of the holiness of his nature; \u201cThus saith the\nhigh and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell\nin the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and\nhumble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble\u201d (Isa. lvii. 15).\nHe acknowledgeth himself the lofty One; they might therefore fear\nhe would not revive them; but he is also the holy One, and therefore\nhe will refresh them; he is not more lofty than he is holy; besides,\nthe argument of the immutability of his promise, and the might of\nhis power, here is the holiness of his nature moving him to pity his\ndrooping creature: his promise is ushered in with the name of power,\n\u201chigh and lofty One,\u201d to bar their distrust of his strength, and with a\ndeclaration of his holiness, to check any despair of his will: there is\nno ground to think I should be false to my word, or misemploy my power,\nsince that cannot be, because of the holiness of my name and nature.\n\n(3.) This renders him fit to be confided in for the maintenance of\ngrace, and protection of us against our spiritual enemies. What our\nSaviour thought an argument in prayer, we may well take as a ground of\nour confidence. In the strength of this he puts up his suit, when in\nhis mediatory capacity he intercedes for the preservation of his people\n(John xvii. 11); \u201cHoly Father, keep through thy own name those that\nthou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.\u201d \u201cHoly Father,\u201d not\nmerciful Father, or powerful, or wise Father, but \u201choly;\u201d and (ver. 25),\n\u201crighteous Father.\u201d Christ pleads that attribute for the performance of\nGod\u2019s word, which was laid to pawn when he passed his word: for it was\nby his holiness that he swore, that \u201chis seed should endure forever,\nand his throne as the sun before him\u201d (Ps. lxxxix. 36); which is meant\nof the perpetuity of the covenant which he made with Christ, and is\nalso meant of the preservation of the mystical seed of David, and the\nperpetuating his loving\u2011kindness to them (ver. 32, 33). Grace is an\nimage of God\u2019s holiness, and, therefore, the holiness of God is most\nproper to be used as an argument to interest and engage him in the\npreservation of it. In the midst of church\u2011provocations, he will not\nutterly extinguish, because he is the \u201cHoly One\u201d in the midst of her\n(Hos. xi. 9): nor in the midst of judgments will he condemn his people\nto death, because he is \u201ctheir Holy One\u201d (Hab. i. 12); but their\nenemies shall be ordained for judgment, and established for correction.\nOne prophet assures them in the name of the Lord, {b190} upon the\nstrength of this perfection; and the other, upon the same ground, is\nconfident of the protection of the church, because of God\u2019s holiness\nengaged in an inviolable covenant.\n\n3. _Comfort._ Since holiness is a glorious perfection of the nature\nof God, \u201che will certainly value every holy soul.\u201d It is of a greater\nvalue with him than the souls of all men in the world, that are\ndestitute of it: \u201cwicked men are the worst of vilenesses,\u201d mere dross\nand dunghill.[932] Purity, then, which is contrary to wickedness,\nmust be the most precious thing in his esteem; he must needs love\nthat quality which he is most pleased with in himself, as a father\nlooks with most delight upon the child which is possessed with those\ndispositions he most values in his own nature. \u201cHis countenance doth\nbehold the upright\u201d (Ps. xi. 7). He looks upon them with a full and\nopen face of favor, with a countenance clear, unmasked, and smiling\nwith a face full of delight. Heaven itself is not such a pleasing\nobject to him as the image of his own uncreated holiness in the created\nholiness of men and angels: as a man esteems that most which is most\nlike him, of his own generation, more than a piece of art, which is\nmerely the product of his wit or strength. And he must love holiness in\nthe creature, he would not else love his own image, and, consequently,\nwould undervalue himself. He despiseth the image the wicked bears (Ps.\nlxxiii. 20), but he cannot disesteem his own stamp on the godly; he\ncannot but delight in his own work, his choice work, the master\u2011piece\nof all his works, the new creation of things; that which is next to\nhimself, as being a Divine nature like himself (2 Pet. i. 4). When he\noverlooks strength, parts, knowledge, he cannot overlook this: he \u201csets\napart him that is godly for himself\u201d (Ps. iv. 3), as a peculiar object\nto take pleasure in; he reserves such for his own complacency, when\nhe leaves the rest of the world to the devil\u2019s power; he is choice\nof them above all his other works, and will not let any have so great\na propriety in them as himself. If it be so dear to him here in its\nimperfect and mixed condition, that he appropriates it as a peculiar\nobject for his own delight, how much more will the unspotted purity of\nglorified saints be infinitely pleasing to him! so, that he will take\nless pleasure in the material heavens than in such a soul. Sin only\nis detestable to God; and when this is done away, the soul becomes as\nlovely in his account, as before it was loathsome.\n\n4. It is comfort, upon this account, that \u201cGod will perfect holiness\nin every upright soul.\u201d We many times distrust God, and despond in\nourselves, because of the infinite holiness of the Divine nature, and\nthe dunghill corruption in our own; but the holiness of God engageth\nhim to the preservation of it, and, consequently, to the perfection\nof it, as appears by our Saviour\u2019s argument (John xvii. 11), \u201cHoly\nFather, keep through thy own name, those whom thou hast given me;\u201d\u2015\u2015to\nwhat end?\u2015\u2015\u201cthat they may be one as we are;\u201d one with us, in the\nresemblances of purity. And the holiness of the soul is used as an\nargument by the Psalmist (Ps. lxxxvi. 2), \u201cPreserve my soul, for\nI am holy;\u201d that is, I have an ardent desire to holiness: thou hast\nseparated me from the mass of the corrupted {b191} world, preserve\nand perfect me with the assembly of the glorified choir. The more holy\nany are, the more communicative they are; God being most holy, is most\ncommunicative of that which he most esteems in himself, and delights\nto see in his creature: he is, therefore, more ready to impart his\nholiness to them that beg for it, than to communicate his knowledge\nor his power. Though he were holy, yet he let Adam fall, who never\npetitioned his holiness to preserve him; he let him fall, to declare\nthe holiness of his own nature, which had wanted its due manifestation\nwithout it: but since that cannot be declared in a higher manner than\nit hath been already in the death of the Surety, that bore our guilt,\nthere is no fear he should cast the work out of his hands, since the\ndesign of the permission of man\u2019s apostasy, in the discovery of the\nperfections of his nature, has been fully answered. The \u201cfinishing the\ngood work he hath begun,\u201d hath a relation to the glory of Christ; and\nhis own glory in Christ to be manifested in the day of his appearing\n(Phil. i. 6), wherein the glory, both of his own holiness, and the\nholiness of the Mediator, are to receive their full manifestation. As\nit is a part of the holiness of Christ to \u201csanctify his church\u201d (Eph.\nv. 26, 27) till not a wrinkle or spot be left, so it is the part of\nGod not to leave that work imperfect which his holiness hath attempted\na second time to beautify his creature with. He will not cease exalting\nthis attribute, which is the believers\u2019 by the new covenant, till he\nutters that applauding speech of his own work (Cant. iv. 7), \u201cThou art\nall fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.\u201d\n\n_Use 3_, is for Exhortation. Is holiness an eminent perfection of the\nDivine nature? then\u2015\u2015\n\n_Exhort. 1._ Let us get and preserve right and strong apprehensions of\nthis Divine perfection. Without a due sense of it, we can never exalt\nGod in our hearts; and the more distinct conceptions we have of this,\nand the rest of his attributes, the more we glorify him. When Moses\nconsidered God as \u201chis strength and salvation,\u201d he would exalt him\n(Exod. xv. 2); and he could never break out in so admirable a doxology\nas that in the text, without a deep sense of the glory of his purity,\nwhich he speaks of with so much admiration. Such a sense will be of use\nto us.\n\n1. In promoting genuine convictions. A deep consideration of the\nholiness of God cannot but be followed with a deep consideration of our\nimpure and miserable condition by reason of sin: we cannot glance upon\nit without reflections upon our own vileness. Adam no sooner heard the\nvoice of a holy God in the garden, but he considered his own nakedness\nwith shame and fear (Gen. iii. 10); much less can we fix our minds\nupon it, but we must be touched with a sense of our own uncleanness.\nThe clear beams of the sun discover that filthiness in our garments\nand members, which was not visible in the darkness of the night.\nImpure metals are discerned by comparing them with that which is\npure and perfect in its kind. The sense of guilt is the first natural\nresult upon a sense of this excellent perfection; and the sense of the\nimperfection of our own righteousness is the next. Who can think of\nit, and reflect upon {b192} himself as an object fit for Divine love?\nWho can have a due thought of it, without regarding himself as stubble\nbefore a consuming fire? Who can, without a confusion of heart and face,\nglance upon that pure eye which beholds with detestation the foul motes,\nas well as the filthier and bigger spots? When Isaiah saw his glory,\nand heard how highly the angels exalted God for this perfection, he was\nin a cold sweat, ready to swoon, till a seraphim, with a coal from the\naltar, both purged and revived him (Isa. vi. 5, 7). They are sound and\ngenuine convictions, which have the prospect of Divine purity for their\nimmediate spring, and not a foresight of our own misery; when it is\nnot the punishment we have deserved, but the holiness we have offended,\nmost grates our hearts. Such convictions are the first rude draughts of\nthe Divine image in our spirits, and grateful to God, because they are\nan acknowledgment of the glory of this attribute, and the first mark\nof honor given to it by the creature. Those that never had a sense of\ntheir own vileness, were always destitute of a sense of God\u2019s holiness.\nAnd, by the way, we may observe, that those that scoff at any for\nhanging down the head under the consideration and conviction of sin\n(as is too usual with the world), scoff at them for having deeper\napprehensions of the purity of God than themselves, and consequently\nmake a mock of the holiness of God which is the ground of those\nconvictions; a sense of this would prevent such a damnable reproaching.\n\n2. A sense of this will render us humble in the possession of the\ngreatest holiness a creature were capable of. We are apt to be proud,\nwith the Pharisee, when we look upon others wallowing in the mire of\nbase and unnatural lusts: but let any clap their wings, if they can,\nin a vain boasting and exaltation, when they view the holiness of God.\nWhat torch, if it had reason, would be proud, and swagger in its own\nlight, if it compared itself with the sun? \u201cWho can stand before this\nholy Lord God?\u201d is the just reflection of the holiest person, as it\nwas of those (1 Sam. vi. 20) that had felt the marks of his jealousy\nafter their looking into the ark, though likely out of affection to\nit, and triumphant joy at its return. When did the angels testify, by\nthe covering of their faces, their weakness to bear the lustre of his\nmajesty, but when they beheld his glory? When did they signify, by\ntheir covering their feet, the shame of their own vileness, but when\ntheir hearts were fullest of the applaudings of this perfection (Isa.\nvi. 2, 3)? Though they found themselves without spot, yet not with\nsuch a holiness that they could appear either with their faces or feet\nunvailed and unmasked in the presence of God. Doth the immense splendor\nof this attribute engender shaming reflections in those pure spirits?\nWhat will it, what should it, do in us, that dwell in houses of clay,\nand creep up and down with that clay upon our backs, and too much of\nit in our hearts? The stars themselves, which appear beautiful in the\nnight, are masked at the awaking of the sun. What a dim light is that\nof a glow\u2011worm to that of the sun! The apprehensions of this made the\nelders humble themselves in the midst of their glory, by \u201ccasting down\ntheir crowns before his throne\u201d (Rev. iv. 8, 10); a metaphor {b193}\ntaken from the triumphing generals among the Romans, who hung up their\nvictorious laurels in the Capitol, dedicating them to their gods,\nacknowledging them their superiors in strength, and authors of their\nvictory. This self\u2011emptiness at the consideration of Divine purity, is\nthe note of the true church, represented by the twenty\u2011four elders, and\na note of a true member of the church; whereas boasting of perfection\nand merit is the property of the anti\u2011christian tribe, that have\nmean thoughts of this adorable perfection, and think themselves more\nrighteous than the unspotted angels. What a self\u2011annihilation is there\nin a good man, when the sense of Divine purity is most lively in him!\nyea, how detestable is he to himself! There is as little proportion\nbetween the holiness of the Divine Majesty, and that of the most\nrighteous creature, as there is between a nearness of a person that\nstands upon a mountain, to the sun, and of him that beholds him in a\nvale; one is nearer than the other, but it is an advantage not to be\nboasted of, in regard of the vast distance that is between the sun and\nthe elevated spectator.\n\n3. This would make us full of an affectionate reverence in all our\napproaches to God. By this perfection God is rendered venerable, and\nfit to be reverenced by his creature; and magnificent thoughts of it\nin the creature would awaken him to an actual reverence of the Divine\nmajesty (Ps. iii. 9): \u201cHoly and reverend is his name;\u201d a good opinion\nof this would engender in us a sincere respect towards him; we should\nthen \u201cserve the Lord with fear,\u201d as the expression is (Ps. ii. 11),\nthat is, be afraid to cast anything before him that may offend the eyes\nof his purity. Who would venture rashly and garishly into the presence\nof an eminent moralist, or of a righteous king upon his throne? The\nfixedness of the angels arose from the continual prospect of this. What\nif we had been with Isaiah when he saw the vision, and beheld him in\nthe same glory, and the heavenly choir in their reverential posture\nin the service of God; would it not have barred our wanderings, and\nstaked us down to our duty? Would not the fortifying an idea of it\nin our minds produce the same effect? It is for want of this we carry\nourselves so loosely and unbecomingly in the Divine presence, with the\nsame, or meaner, affections than those wherewith we stand before some\nvile creature that is our superior in the world; as though a piece of\nfilthy flesh were more valuable than this perfection of the Divinity.\nHow doth the Psalmist double his exhortation to men to sing praise to\nGod (Ps. xlvii. 6): \u201cSing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises\nunto our King, sing praises;\u201d because of his majesty, and the purity\nof his dominion! and (ver. 8), \u201cGod reigneth over the heathen, God\nsitteth upon the throne of his holiness.\u201d How would this elevate us\nin praise, and prostrate us in prayer, when we praise and pray with\nan understanding and insight of that nature we bless or implore; as he\nspeaks (ver. 7), \u201cSing ye praises with understanding.\u201d The holiness of\nGod in his government and dominion, the holiness of his nature, and the\nholiness of his precepts, should beget in us an humble respect in our\napproaches. The more we grow in a sense of this, the more shall we\nadvance in the true performance of all our duties. Those nations which\nadored the sun, had they at first seen his brightness wrapped {b194}\nand masked in a cloud, and paid a veneration to it, how would their\nadorations have mounted to a greater point, after they had seen it\nin its full brightness, shaking off those vails, and chasing away the\nmists before it! what a profound reverence would they have paid it,\nwhen they beheld it in its glory and meridian brightness![933] Our\nreverence to God in all our addresses to him will arrive to greater\ndegrees, if every act of duty be ushered in, and seasoned with the\nthoughts of God as sitting upon a throne of holiness; we shall have a\nmore becoming sense of our own vileness, a greater ardor to his service,\na deeper respect in his presence, if our understanding be more cleared,\nand possessed with notions of this perfection. Thus take a view of God\nin this part of his glory, before you fall down before his throne, and\nassure yourselves you will find your hearts and services quickened with\na new and lively spirit.\n\n4. A due sense of this perfection in God would produce in us a fear\nof God, and arm us against temptation and sin. What made the heathen\nso wanton and loose, but the representations of their gods as vicious?\nWho would stick at adulteries, and more prodigious lusts, that can\ntake a pattern for them from the person he adores for a deity? Upon\nwhich account Plato would have poets banished from his commonwealth,\nbecause, by dressing up their gods in wanton garbs in their poems,\nthey encouraged wickedness in the people. But if the thoughts of God\u2019s\nholiness were impressed upon us, we should regard sin with the same\neye, mark it with the same detestation in our measures, as God himself\ndoth. So far as we are sensible of the Divine purity, we should account\nsin vile as it deserves; we should hate it entirely, without a grain\nof love to it, and hate it perpetually (Ps. cxix. 104): \u201cThrough thy\nprecepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way.\u201d He\nlooks into God\u2019s statute\u2011book, and thereby arrives to an understanding\nof the purity of his nature, whence his hatred of iniquity commenced.\nThis would govern our motion, check our vices; it would make us tremble\nat the hissing of a temptation: when a corruption did but peep out, and\nput forth its head, a look to the Divine Purity would be attended with\na fresh convoy of strength to resist it. There is no such fortification,\nas to be wrapped up in the sense of this: this would fill us with an\nawe of God; we should be ashamed to admit any filthy thing into us,\nwhich we know is detestable to his pure eye. As the approach of a grave\nand serious man makes children hasten their trifles out of the way; so\nwould a consideration of this attribute make us cast away our idols,\nand fling away our ridiculous thoughts and designs.\n\n5. A due sense of this perfection would inflame us with a vehement\ndesire to be conformed to Him. All our desires would be ardent to\nregulate ourselves according to this pattern of holiness and goodness,\nwhich is not to be equalled; the contemplating it as it shines forth\nin the face of Christ, will \u201ctransform us into the same image\u201d (2 Cor.\niii. 19). Since our lapsed state, we cannot behold the holiness of God\nin itself without affrightment; nor is it an object of imitation, but\nas tempered in Christ to our view. When we cannot, without blinding\nourselves, look upon the sun in its brightness, we {b195} may behold it\nthrough a colored glass, whereby the lustre of it is moderated, without\ndazzling our eyes. The sense of it will furnish us with a greatness of\nmind, that little things will be contemned by us; motives of a greater\nalloy would have little influence upon us; we should have the highest\nmotives to every duty, and motives of the same strain which influence\nthe angels above. It would change us, not only into an angelical nature,\nbut a divine nature: we should act like men of another sphere; as if\nwe had received our original in another world, and seen with angels the\nravishing beauties of heaven. How little would the mean employments of\nthe world sink us into dirt and mud! How often hath the meditation of\nthe courage of a valiant man, or acuteness and industry of a learned\nperson, spurred on some men to an imitation of them, and transformed\nthem into the same nature! as the looking upon the sun imprints an\nimage of the sun upon our eye, that we seem to behold nothing but the\nsun a while after. The view of the Divine purity would fill us with\na holy generosity to imitate him, more than the examples of the best\nmen upon earth. It was a saying of a heathen, that \u201cif virtue were\nvisible, it would kindle a noble flame of love to it in the heart, by\nits ravishing beauty.\u201d Shall the infinite purity of the Author of all\nvirtue come short of the strength of a creature? Can we not render that\nvisible to us by frequent meditation, which, though it be invisible\nin his nature, is made visible in his law, in his ways, in his Son?\nIt would make us ready to obey him, since we know he cannot command\nanything that is sinful, but what is holy, just, and good: it would put\nall our affections in their due place, elevate them above the creature,\nand subject them to the Creator.\n\n6. It would make us patient and contented under all God\u2019s\ndispensations. All penal evils are the fruits of his holiness, as\nhe is Judge and Governor of the world: he is not an arbitrary Judge,\nnor doth any sentence pronounced, nor warrant for execution issue\nfrom him, but what bears upon it a stamp of the righteousness of his\nnature; he doth nothing by passion or unrighteousness, but according\nto the eternal law of his own unstained nature, which is the rule to\nhim in his works, the basis and foundation of his throne and sovereign\ndominion (Ps. lxxxix. 14): \u201cJustice,\u201d or righteousness, \u201cand judgment\nare the habitation of thy throne;\u201d upon these his sovereign power\nis established: so that there can be no just complaint or indictment\nbrought against any of his proceedings with men. How doth our Saviour,\nwho had the highest apprehensions of God\u2019s holiness, justify God in\nhis deepest distresses, when he cried, and was not answered in the\nparticular he desired, in that prophetic Psalm of him (Ps. xxii. 2, 3),\n\u201cI cry day and night, but thou hearest not!\u201d Thou seemest to be deaf\nto all my petitions, afar off \u201cfrom the words of my roaring; but thou\nart holy;\u201d I cast no blame upon thee: all thy dealings are squared\nby thy holiness: this is the only law to thee; in this I acquiesce.\nIt is part of thy holiness to hide thy face from me, to show thereby\nthy detestation of sin. Our Saviour adores the Divine purity in his\nsharpest agony, and a like sense of it would guide us in the same\nsteps to acknowledge and glorify it, in our greatest desertions and\nafflictions; especially since as they are the {b196} fruit of the\nholiness of his nature, so they are the means to impart to us clearer\nstamps of holiness, according to that in himself, which is the original\ncopy (Heb. xii. 10). He melts us down as gold, to fit us for the\nreceiving a new impression, to mortify the affections of the flesh, and\nclothe us with the graces of his Spirit. The due sense of this would\nmake us to submit to his stroke, and to wait upon him for a good issue\nof his dealings.\n\n_Exhort. 2._ Is holiness a perfection of the Divine nature? Is it the\nglory of the Deity? Then let us glorify this holiness of God. Moses\nglorifies it in the text, and glorifies it in a song, which was a copy\nfor all ages. The whole corporation of seraphims have their mouths\nfilled with the praises of it. The saints, whether militant on earth,\nor triumphant in heaven, are to continue the same acclamation, \u201cHoly,\nholy, holy, Lord God of hosts\u201d (Rev. iv. 8). Neither angels nor\nglorified spirits exalt at the same rate the power which formed them\ncreatures, nor goodness which preserves them in a blessed immortality,\nas they do holiness, which they bear some beams of in their own nature,\nand whereby they are capacitated to stand before His throne. Upon the\naccount of this, a debt of praise is demanded of all rational creatures\nby the Psalmist (Ps. xcix. 3), \u201cLet them praise thy great and terrible\nname, for it is holy.\u201d Not so much for the greatness of his Majesty, or\nthe treasures of his justice; but as they are considered in conjunction\nwith his holiness, which renders them beautiful; \u201cfor it is holy.\u201d\nGrandeur and majesty, simply in themselves, are not objects of\npraise, nor do they merit the acclamations of men, when destitute of\nrighteousness: this only renders everything else adorable; and this\nadorns the Divine greatness with an amiableness (Isa. xii. 6): \u201cGreat\nis the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee;\u201d and makes his might\nworthy of praise (Luke i. 49). In honoring this, which is the soul and\nspirit of all the rest, we give a glory to all the perfections which\nconstitute and beautify his nature: and without the glorifying this\nwe glorify nothing of them, though we should extol every other single\nattribute a thousand times. He values no other adoration of his\ncreatures, unless this be interested, nor accepts anything as a glory\nfrom them (Lev. x. 3) \u201cI will be sanctified in them that come near me,\nand I will be glorified:\u201d as if he had said, In manifesting my name\nto be holy, you truly, you only honor me. And as the Scripture seldom\nspeaks of this perfection without a particular emphasis, it teaches us\nnot to think of it without a special elevation of heart: by this act\nonly, while we are on earth, can we join consort with the angels in\nheaven; he that doth not honor it, delight in it, and in the meditation\nof it, hath no resemblance of it; he hath none of the image, that\ndelights not in the original. Everything of God is glorious, but this\nmost of all. If he built the world principally for anything, it was\nfor the communication of his goodness, and display of his holiness.\nHe formed the rational creature to manifest his holiness in that law\nwhereby he was to be governed: then deprive not God of the design of\nhis own glory. We honor this attribute,\n\n1. When we make it the ground of our love to God. Not because he is\ngracious to us, but holy in himself. As God honors it, {b197} in loving\nhimself for it, we should honor it, by pitching our affections upon him\nchiefly for it. What renders God amiable to himself, should render him\nlovely to all his creatures (Isa. xlii. 21): \u201cThe Lord is well pleased\nfor his righteousness\u2019 sake.\u201d If the hatred of evil be the immediate\nresult of a love to God, then the peculiar object or term of our love\nto God, must be that perfection which stands in direct opposition to\nthe hatred of evil (Ps. xcvii. 10): \u201cYe that love the Lord, hate evil.\u201d\nWhen we honor his holiness in every stamp and impression of it: his law,\nnot principally because of its usefulness to us, its accommodateness\nto the order of the world, but for its innate purity; and his people,\nnot for our interest in them, so much as for bearing upon them this\nglittering mark of the Deity, we honor then the purity of the Lawgiver,\nand the excellency of the Sanctifier.\n\n2. We honor it, when we regard chiefly the illustrious appearance of\nthis in his judgments in the world. In a case of temporal judgment,\nMoses celebrates it in the text; in a case of spiritual judgments, the\nangels applaud it in Isaiah. All his severe proceedings are nothing\nbut the strong breathings of this attribute. Purity is the flash of his\nrevenging sword. If he did not hate evil, his vengeance would not reach\nthe committers of it. He is a \u201crefiner\u2019s fire\u201d in the day of his anger\n(Mal. iii. 2). By his separating judgments, \u201che takes away the wicked\nof the earth like dross\u201d (Ps. cxix. 119). How is his holiness honored,\nwhen we take notice of his sweeping out the rubbish of the world; how\nhe suits punishment to sin, and discovers his hatred of the matter\nand circumstances of the evil, in the matter and circumstances of the\njudgment. This perfection is legible in every stroke of his sword; we\nhonor it when we read the syllables of it, and not by standing amazed\nonly at the greatness and severity of the blow, when we read how holy\nhe is in his most terrible dispensations: for as in them God magnifies\nthe greatness of his power, so he sanctifies himself; that is, declares\nthe purity of his nature as a revenger of all impiety (Ezek. xxxviii.\n22, 23); \u201cAnd I will plead against him with pestilence, and with blood:\nand I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the people\nthat are with him, an overflowing rain and great hailstones; fire, and\nbrimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself.\u201d\n\n3. We honor this attribute, when we take notice of it in every\naccomplishment of his promise, and every grant of a mercy. His truth\nis but a branch of his righteousness, a slip from this root. He is\nglorious in holiness in the account of Moses, because he \u201cled forth his\npeople whom he had redeemed\u201d (Exod. xv. 13); his people by a covenant\nwith their fathers, being the God of Moses, the God of Israel, and\nthe God of their fathers (ver. 2). \u201cMy God, and my father\u2019s God, I\nwill exalt thee.\u201d For what? for his faithfulness to his promise. The\nholiness of God, which Mary (Luke i. 49) magnifies, is summed up in\nthis, the help he afforded his servant Israel in the \u201cremembrance of\nhis mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever\u201d\n(ver. 54, 55). The certainty of his covenant mercy depends upon an\nunchangeableness of his holiness. What are \u201csure mercies,\u201d (Isa. lv. 3),\nare holy mercies in the Septuagint, {b198} and in Acts xiii. 34, which\nmakes that translation canonical. His nearness to answer us, when we\ncall upon him for such mercies, is a fruit of the holiness of his name\nand nature (Ps. clxv. 17). \u201cThe Lord is holy in all his works; the Lord\nis nigh to all them that call upon him.\u201d Hannah, after a return of\nprayer, sets a particular mark upon this, in her song (1 Sam. ii. 2);\n\u201cThere is none holy as the Lord;\u201d separated from all dross, firm to\nhis covenant, and righteous in it to his suppliants, that confide\nin him, and plead his word. When we observe the workings of this in\nevery return of prayer, we honor it; it is a sign the mercy is really\na return of prayer, and not a mercy of course, bearing upon it only the\ncharacters of a common providence. This was the perfection David would\nbless, for the catalogue of mercies in Ps. ciii. 1, &c.; \u201cBless his\nholy name.\u201d Certainly, one reason why sincere prayer is so delightful\nto him, is because it puts him upon the exercise of this his beloved\nperfection, which he so much delighteth to honor. Since God acts in all\nthose as the governor of the world, we honor him not, unless we take\nnotice of that righteousness which fits him for a governor, and is\nthe inward spring of all his motions (Gen. xviii. 25). \u201cShall not the\nJudge of all the earth do right?\u201d It was his design in his pity to\nIsrael, as well as the calamities he intended against the heathens, to\nbe \u201csanctified in them;\u201d that is, declared holy in his merciful as well\nas his judicial procedure (Ezek. xxxvi. 21, 23). Hereby God credits his\nrighteousness, which seemed to be forgotten by the one, and contemned\nby the other;[934] he removes, by this, all suspicion of unfaithfulness\nin him.\n\n4. We honor this attribute, when we trust his covenant, and promise\nagainst outward appearances. Thus our Saviour, in the prophecy of him\n(Ps. xxii. 2\u20124), when God seemed to bar up the gates of his palace\nagainst the entry of any more petitions, this attribute proves the\nsupport of the Redeemer\u2019s soul; \u201cBut thou art holy, O thou that\ninhabitest the praises of Israel:\u201d as it refers to what goes before,\nit has been twice explained; as it refers to what follows, it is a\nground of trust; \u201cThou inhabitest the praises of Israel:\u201d thou hast\nhad the praises of Israel for many ages, for thy holiness. How? \u201cOur\nfathers trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them;\u201d they honored\nthy holiness by their trust, and thou didst honor their faith by\na deliverance; thou always hadst a purity that would not shame nor\nconfound them. I will trust in thee as thou art holy, and expect the\nbreaking out of this attribute for my good as well as my predecessors;\n\u201cOur fathers trusted in thee,\u201d &c.\n\n5. We honor this attribute, when we show a greater affection to the\nmarks of his holiness in times of the greatest contempt of it. As the\nPsalmist (Ps. cxix. 126, 127); \u201cThey have made void thy law, therefore\nI love thy commandments above gold;\u201d while they spurn at the purity\nof thy law, I will value it above the gold they possess; I will esteem\nit as gold, because others count it as dross; by their scorn of it,\nmy love to it shall be the warmer; and my hatred of iniquity shall be\nthe sharper: the disdain of others should inflame us with a zeal and\nfortitude to appear in behalf of his despised honor. {b199} We honor\nthis holiness many other ways; by preparation for our addresses to him,\nout of a sense of his purity; when we imitate it: as He honors us by\n\u201cteaching us his statutes\u201d (Ps. cxix. 135), so we honor him by learning\nand observing them. When we beg of him to show himself a refiner of\nus, to make us more conformable to him in holiness, and bless him for\nany communication of it to us, it renders us beautiful and lovely in\nhis sight. To conclude: to honor it, is the way to engage it for us;\nto give it the glory of what it hath done, by the arm of power for\nour rescue from sin, and beating down our corruptions at his feet,\nis the way to see more of its marvellous works, and behold a clearer\nbrightness. As unthankfulness makes him withdraw his grace (Rom. i. 21,\n24), so glorifying him causes him to impart it. God honors men in the\nsame way they honor him; when we honor him by acknowledging his purity,\nhe will honor us by communicating of it to us. This is the way to\nderive a greater excellency to our souls.\n\n_Exhort. 3._ Since holiness is an eminent perfection of the Divine\nnature, let us labor after a conformity to God in this perfection. The\nnature of God is presented to us in the Scripture, both as a pattern to\nimitate, and a motive to persuade the creature to holiness (1 John iii.\n3; Matt. v. 48; Lev. xi. 44; 1 Pet. i. 15, 16). Since it is, therefore,\nthe nature of God, the more our natures are beautified with it, the\nmore like we are to the Divine nature. It is not the pattern of angels,\nor archangels, that our Saviour, or his apostle, proposeth for our\nimitation; but the original of all purity, God himself; the same that\ncreated us, to be imitated by us. Nor is an equal degree of purity\nenjoined us; though we are to be pure, and perfect, and merciful\nas God is, yet not essentially so; for that would be to command us\nan impossibility in itself; as much as to order us to cease to be\ncreatures, and commence gods. No creature can be essentially holy but\nby participation from the chief Fountain of Holiness; but we must have\nthe same kind of holiness, the same truth of holiness. As a short line\nmay be as straight as another, though it parallel it not in the immense\nlength of it; a copy may have the likeness of the original, though not\nthe same perfection; we cannot be good, without eyeing some exemplar\nof goodness as the pattern. No pattern is so suitable as that which is\nthe highest goodness and purity. That limner that would draw the most\nexcellent piece, fixes his eyes upon the most perfect pattern. He that\nwould be a good orator, or poet, or artificer, considers some person\nmost excellent in each kind, as the object of his imitation. Who so\nfit as God to be viewed as the pattern of holiness, in our intendment\nof, and endeavor after holiness? The Stoics, one of the best sects\nof philosophers, advised their disciples to pitch upon some eminent\nexample of virtue, according to which to form their lives; as Socrates,\n&c. But true holiness doth not only endeavor to live the life of a\ngood man, but chooses to live a divine life; as before the man was\n\u201calienated from the life of God\u201d (Eph. iv. 19), so, upon his return, he\naspires after the life of God. To endeavor to be like a good man is to\nmake one image like another; to set our clocks by other clocks, without\nregarding the sun: but true holiness consists in a likeness to the most\nexact sampler. God {b200} being the first purity, is the rule as well\nas the spring of all purity in the creature, the chief and first object\nof imitation. We disown ourselves to be his creatures, if we breathe\nnot after a resemblance to him in what he is imitable. There was in man,\nas created according to God\u2019s image, a natural appetite to resemble God:\nit was at first planted in him by the Author of his nature. The devil\u2019s\ntemptation of him by that motive to transgress the law, had been as\nan arrow shot against a brazen wall, had there not been a desire of\nsome likeness to his Creator engraven upon him (Gen. iii. 5): it would\nhave had no more influence upon him, than it could have had upon a\nmere animal. But man mistook the term; he would have been like God in\nknowledge, whereas, he should have affected a greater resemblance of\nhim in purity. O that we could exemplify God in our nature! Precepts\nmay instruct us more, but examples affect us more; one directs us, but\nthe other attracts us. What can be more attractive of our imitation,\nthan that which is the original of all purity, both in men and angels?\nThis conformity to him consists in an imitation of him,\n\n1. In his law. The purity of his nature was first visible in this\nglass; hence, it is called a \u201choly\u201d law (Rom. vii. 12); a \u201cpure\u201d\nlaw (Ps. xix. 8). Holy and pure, as it is a ray of the pure nature\nof the Lawgiver. When our lives are a comment upon his law, they are\nexpressive of his holiness: we conform to his holiness when we regulate\nourselves by his law, as it is a transcript of his holiness: we do not\nimitate it, when we do a thing in the matter of it agreeable to that\nholy rule, but when we do it with respect to the purity of the Lawgiver\nbeaming in it. If it be agreeable to God\u2019s will, and convenient for\nsome design of our own, and we do anything only with a respect to that\ndesign, we make not God\u2019s holiness discovered in the law our rule, but\nour own conveniency: it is not a conformity to God, but a conformity\nof our actions to _self_. As in abstinence from intemperate courses,\nnot because the holiness of God in his law hath prescribed it, but\nbecause the health of our bodies, or some noble contentments of life,\nrequire it; then it is not God\u2019s holiness that is our rule, but our\nown security, conveniency, or something else which we make a God to\nourselves. It must be a real conformity to the law: our holiness should\nshine as really in the practice, as God\u2019s purity doth in the precept.\nGod hath not a pretence of purity in his nature, but a reality: it is\nnot only a sudden boiling up of an admiration of him, or a starting\nwish to be like him, from some sudden impression upon the fancy,\nwhich is a mere temporary blaze, but a settled temper of soul, loving\neverything that is like him, doing things out of a firm desire to\nresemble his purity in the copy he hath set; not a resting in negatives,\nbut aspiring to positives; holy and harmless are distinct things: they\nwere distinct qualifications in our High Priest in his obedience to the\nlaw (Heb. vii. 26), so they must be in us.\n\n2. In his Christ. As the law is the transcript, so Christ is the\nimage of his holiness: the glory of God is too dazzling to be beheld\nby us: the acute eye of an angel is too weak to look upon that bright\nsun without covering his face: we are much too weak to take {b201} our\nmeasures from that purity which is infinite in his nature. But he hath\nmade his Son like us, that by the imitation of him in that temper, and\nshadow of human flesh, we may arrive to a resemblance of him (2 Cor.\niii. 18). Then there is a conformity to him, when that which Christ did\nis drawn in lively colors in the soul of a Christian; when, as he died\nupon the cross, we die to our sins; as he rose from the grave, we rise\nfrom our lusts; as he ascended on high, we mount our souls thither;\nwhen we express in our lives what shined in his, and exemplify in our\nhearts what he acted in the world, and become one with him, as he was\nseparate from sinners. The holiness of God in Christ is our ultimate\npattern: as we are not only to believe in Christ, but \u201cby Christ in\nGod\u201d (John xiv. 1), so we are not only to imitate Christ, but the\nholiness of God as discovered in Christ. And, to enforce this upon us,\nlet us consider,\n\n(1.) It is this only wherein he commands our imitation of him. We\nare not commanded to be mighty and wise, as God is mighty and wise: but\n\u201cbe holy, as I am holy.\u201d The declarations of his power are to enforce\nour subjection; those of his wisdom, to encourage our direction by him;\nbut this only to attract our imitation. When he saith, \u201cI am holy,\u201d\nthe immediate inference he makes, is, \u201cBe ye so too,\u201d which is not\nthe proper instruction from any other perfection.[935] Man was created\nby Divine power, and harmonized by Divine wisdom, but not after them,\nor according to them, as the true image; this was the prerogative\nof Divine holiness, to be the pattern of his rational creature:[936]\nwisdom and power were subservient to this, the one as the pencil,\nthe other as the hand that moved it. The condition of a creature is\ntoo mean to have the communications of the Divine essence; the true\nimpressions of his righteousness and goodness we are only capable of.\nIt is only in those moral perfections we are said to resemble God.\nThe devils, those impure and ruined spirits, are nearer to him in\nstrength and knowledge than we are; yet in regard of that natural and\nintellectual perfection, never counted like him, but at the greatest\ndistance from him, because at the greatest distance from his purity.\nGod values not a natural might, nor an acute understanding, nor\nvouchsafes such perfections the glorious title of that of his image.\nPlutarch saith, God is angry with those that imitate his thunder or\nlightning, his works of majesty, but delighted with those that imitate\nhis virtue.[937] In this only we can never incur any reproof from him,\nbut for falling short of him and his glory. Had Adam endeavored after\nan imitation of this, instead of that of Divine knowledge, he had\nescaped his fall, and preserved his standing; and had Lucifer wished\nhimself like God in this, as well as his dominion, he had still been\na glorious angel, instead of being now a ghastly devil: to reach after\na union with the Supreme Being, in regard of holiness, is the only\ngenerous and commendable ambition.\n\n(2.) This is the prime way of honoring God. We do not so glorify God by\nelevated admirations, or eloquent expressions, or pompous services of\nhim, as when we aspire to a conversing with him with unstained spirits,\nand live to him in living like him. The angels are {b202} not called\nholy for applauding his purity, but conforming to it. The more perfect\nany creature is in the rank of beings, the more is the Creator honored;\nas it is more for the honor of God to create an angel or man, than a\nmere animal; because there are in such clearer characters of Divine\npower and goodness, than in those that are inferior. The more perfect\nany creature is morally, the more is God glorified by that creature;\nit is a real declaration, that God is the best and most amiable Being;\nthat nothing besides him is valuable, and worthy to be object of our\nimitation. It is a greater honoring of him, than the highest acts of\ndevotion, and the most religious bodily exercise, or the singing this\nsong of Moses in the text, with a triumphant spirit; as it is more the\nhonor of a father to be imitated in his virtues by his son, than to\nhave all the glavering commendations by the tongue or pen of a vicious\nand debauched child. By this we honor him in that perfection which is\ndearest to him, and counted by him as the chiefest glory of his nature.\nGod seems to accept the glorifying this attribute, as if it were a real\naddition to that holiness which is infinite in his nature, and because\ninfinite, cannot admit of any increase: and, therefore, the word\nsanctified is used instead of glorified. (Isa. viii. 13), \u201cSanctify the\nLord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your\ndread.\u201d And (Isa. xxix. 23), \u201cThey shall sanctify the holy One of Jacob,\nand fear the God of Israel.\u201d This sanctification of God is by the\nfear of him, which signifies in the language of the Old Testament, a\nreverence of him, and a righteousness before him. He doth not say, when\nhe would have his power or wisdom glorified, Empower me or make me wise;\nbut when he would have his holiness glorified by the creature, it is,\nSanctify me; that is, manifest the purity of my nature by the holiness\nof your lives: but he expresseth it in such a term, as if it were an\naddition to this infinite perfection; so acceptable it is to him, as if\nit were a contribution from his creature for the enlarging an attribute\nso pleasing to him, and so glorious in his eye. It is, as much as in\nthe creature lies, a preserving the life of God, since this perfection\nis his life; and that he would as soon part with his life as part\nwith his purity. It keeps up the reputation of God in the world, and\nattracts others to a love of him; whereas, unworthy carriages defame\nGod in the eyes of men, and bring up an ill report of him, as if he\nwere such an one as those that profess him, and walk unsuitably to\ntheir profession, appear to be.\n\n(3.) This is the excellency and beauty of a creature. The title of\n\u201cbeauty\u201d is given to it in Ps. cx. 3; \u201cbeauties,\u201d in the plural number,\nas comprehending it in all other beauties whatsoever. What is a Divine\nexcellency cannot be a creature\u2019s deformity: the natural beauty of it\nis a representation of the Divinity; and a holy man ought to esteem\nhimself excellent in being such in his measure as his God is, and puts\nhis principal felicity in the possession of the same purity in truth.\nThis is the refined complexion of the angels that stand before his\nthrone. The devils lost their comeliness when they fell from it. It\nwas the honor of the human nature of our Saviour, not only to be united\nto the Deity, but to be sanctified by it. He was \u201cfairer than all the\nchildren of men,\u201d because he had a holiness above the children {b203}\nof men: \u201cgrace was poured into his lips\u201d (Ps. xlv. 2). It was the\njewel of the reasonable nature in paradise: conformity to God was\nman\u2019s original happiness in his created state; and what was naturally\nso, cannot but be immutably so in its own nature. The beauty of every\ncopied thing consists in its likeness to the original; everything hath\nmore of loveliness, as it hath greater impressions of its first pattern:\nin this regard holiness hath more of beauty on it than the whole\ncreation, because it partakes of a greater excellency of God than the\nsun, moon, and stars. No greater glory can be, than to be a conspicuous\nand visible image of the invisible, and holy, and blessed God. As this\nis the splendor of all the Divine attributes, so it is the flower of\nall a christian\u2019s graces, the crown of all religion: it is the glory\nof the Spirit. In this regard the king\u2019s daughter is said to be \u201call\nglorious within\u201d (Ps. xlv. 13). It is more excellent than the soul\nitself, since the greatest soul is but a deformed piece without it: a\n\u201cdiamond without lustre.\u201d[938] What are the noble faculties of the soul\nwithout it, but as a curious rusty watch, a delicate heap of disorder\nand confusion? It is impossible there can be beauty where there are\na multitude of \u201cspots and wrinkles\u201d that blemish a countenance (Eph.\nv. 27). It can never be in its true brightness but when it is perfect\nin purity; when it regains what it was possessed of by creation, and\ndispossessed of by the fall, and recovers its primitive temper. We\nare not so beautiful by being the work of God, as by having a stamp of\nGod upon us. Worldly greatness may make men honorable in the sight of\ncreeping worms. Soft lives, ambitious reaches, luxurious pleasures, and\na pompous religion, render no man excellent and noble in the sight of\nGod: this is not the excellency and nobility of the Deity which we are\nbound to resemble; other lines of a Divine image must be drawn in us to\nrender us truly excellent.\n\n(4.) It is our life. What is the life of God is truly the life of\na rational creature.[939] The life of the body consists not in the\nperfection of its members, and the integrity of its organs; these\nremain when the body becomes a carcass; but in the presence of the\nsoul, and its vigorous animation of every part to perform the distinct\noffices belonging to each of them. The life of the soul consists not in\nits being, or spiritual substance, or the excellency of its faculties\nof understanding and will, but in the moral and becoming operations of\nthem. The spirit is only \u201clife because of righteousness\u201d (Rom. viii.\n10). The faculties are turned by it, to acquit themselves in their\nfunctions, according to the will of God; the absence of this doth not\nonly deform the soul, but, in a sort, annihilate it, in regard of its\ntrue essence and end. Grace gives a Christian being, and a want of\nit is the want of a true being (1 Cor. xv. 10). When Adam divested\nhimself of his original righteousness, he came under the force of the\nthreatening, in regard of a spiritual death; every person is \u201cmorally\ndead while he lives\u201d an unholy life (1 Tim. v. 6). What life is to the\nbody, that is righteousness to the spirit; and the greater measure of\nholiness it hath, the more of life it hath, because it is in a {b204}\ngreater nearness, and partakes more fully of the fountain of life.\nIs not that the most worthy life, which God makes most account of,\nwithout which his life could not be a pleasant and blessed life, but a\nlife worse than death? What a miserable life is that of the men of the\nworld, that are carried, with greedy inclinations, to all manner of\nunrighteousness, whither their interests or their lusts invite them!\nThe most beautiful body is a carcass, and the most honorable person\nhath but a brutish life (Ps. xlix. 20); miserable creatures when their\nlife shall be extinct without a Divine rectitude, when all other things\nwill vanish as the shadows of the night at the appearance of the sun!\nHoliness is our life.\n\n(5.) It is this only fits us for communion with God. Since it is\nour beauty and our life, without it what communion can an excellent\nGod have with deformed creatures; a living God with dead creatures?\n\u201cWithout holiness none shall see God\u201d (Heb. xii. 14). The creature must\nbe stripped of his unrighteousness, or God of his purity, before they\ncan come together. Likeness is the ground of communion, and of delight\nin it: the opposition between God and unholy souls is as great as that\nbetween \u201clight and darkness\u201d (1 John i. 6). Divine fruition is not so\nmuch by a union of presence as a union of nature. Heaven is not so much\nan outward as an inward life; the foundation of glory is laid in grace;\na resemblance to God is our vital happiness, without which the vision\nof God would not be so much as a cloudy and shadowy happiness, but\nrather a torment than a felicity; unless we be of a like nature to God,\nwe cannot have a pleasing fruition of him. Some philosophers think that\nif our bodies were of the same nature with the heavens, of an ethereal\nsubstance, the nearness to the sun would cherish, not scorch us. Were\nwe partakers of a Divine nature, we might enjoy God with delight;\nwhereas, remaining in our unlikeness to him, we cannot think of him,\nand approach to him without terror. As soon as sin had stripped man\nof the image of God, he was an exile from the comfortable presence of\nGod, unworthy for God to hold any correspondence with: he can no more\ndelight in a defiled person than a man can take a toad into intimate\nconverse with him; he would hereby discredit his own nature, and\njustify our impurity. The holiness of a creature only prepares him for\nan eternal conjunction with God in glory. Enoch\u2019s walking with God was\nthe cause of his being so soon wafted to the place of a full fruition\nof him; he hath as much delight in such as in heaven itself; one is his\nhabitation as well as the other; the one is his habitation of glory,\nand the other is the house of his pleasure: if he dwell in Zion, it\nmust be a \u201choly mountain\u201d (Joel iii. 17), and the members of Zion must\nbe upheld in their rectitude and integrity before they be \u201cset before\nthe face of God forever\u201d (Ps. xli. 12). Such are styled his jewels, his\nportion, as if he lived upon them, as a man upon his inheritance. As\nGod cannot delight in us, so neither can we delight in God without\nit. We must purify ourselves \u201cas he is pure,\u201d if we expect to \u201csee him\nas he is,\u201d in the comfortable glory and beauty of his nature (1 John\niii. 2, 3), else the sight of God would be terrible and troublesome:\nwe cannot be satisfied with the likeness of God at the resurrection,\nunless we have a righteousness {b205} wherewith to \u201cbehold his face\u201d\n(Ps. xvii. 15). It is a vain imagination in any to think that heaven\ncan be a place of happiness to him, in whose eye the beauty of holiness\nwhich fills and adorns it, is an unlovely thing; or that any can have\na satisfaction in that Divine purity which is loathsome to him in the\nimitations of it. We cannot enjoy him, unless we resemble him; nor take\nany pleasure in him, if we were with him, without something of likeness\nto him. Holiness fits us for communion with God.\n\n(6.) We can have no evidence of our election and adoption without it.\nConformity to God, in purity, is the fruit of electing love (Eph. i. 4);\n\u201cHe hath chosen us that we should be holy.\u201d The goodness of the fruit\nevidenceth the nature of the root: this is the seal that assures us the\npatent is the authentic grant of the Prince. Whatsoever is holy, speaks\nitself to be from God; and whosoever is holy, speaks himself to belong\nto God. This is the only evidence that \u201cwe are born of God\u201d (1 John ii.\n29). The subduing our souls to him, the forming us into a resemblance\nto himself, is a more certain sign we belong to him, than if we had,\nwith Isaiah, seen his glory in the vision, with all his train of angels\nabout him. This justifies us to be the seed of God, when he hath, as it\nwere, taken a slip from his own purity, and engrafted it in our spirits:\nhe can never own us for his children without his mark, the stamp of\nholiness. The devil\u2019s stamp is none of God\u2019s badge. Our spiritual\nextraction from him is but pretended, unless we do things worthy of\nso illustrious a birth, and becoming the honor of so great a Father:\nwhat evidence can we else have of any child\u2011like love to God, since the\nproper act of love is to imitate the object of our affections? And that\nwe may be in some measure like to God in this excellent perfection.\n\n1st. Let us be often viewing and ruminating on the holiness of God,\nespecially as discovered in Christ. It is by a believing meditation\non him, that we are \u201cchanged into the same image\u201d (2 Cor. iii. 18).\nWe can think often of nothing that is excellent in the world, but\nit draws our faculties to some kind of suitable operation; and why\nshould not such an excellent idea of the holiness of God in Christ\nperfect our understandings, and awaken all the powers of our souls to\nbe formed to actions worthy of him? A painter employed in the limning\nsome excellent piece, has not only his pattern before his eyes, but his\neye frequently upon the pattern, to possess his fancy to draw forth an\nexact resemblance. He that would express the image of God, must imprint\nupon his mind the purity of his nature; cherish it in his thoughts,\nthat the excellent beauty of it may pass from his understanding to his\naffections, and from his affections to his practice. How can we arise\nto a conformity to God in Christ, whose most holy nature we seldom\nglance upon, and more rarely sink our souls into the depths of it by\nmeditation! Be frequent in the meditation of the holiness of God.\n\n2d. Let us often exercise ourselves in acts of love to God, because\nof this perfection. The more adoring thoughts we have of God, the more\ndelightfully we shall aspire to, and more ravishingly catch after,\nanything that may promote the more full draught of his Divine image in\nour hearts. What we intensely affect, we desire to {b206} be as near\nto as we can, and to be that very thing, rather than ourselves. All\nimitations of others arise from an intense love to their persons or\nexcellency. When the soul is ravished with this perfection of God, it\nwill desire to be united with it; to have it drawn in it, more than\nto have its own being continued to it: it will desire and delight\nin its own being, in order to this heavenly and spiritual work. The\nimpressions of the nature of God upon it, and the imitations of the\nnature of God by it, will be more desirable than any natural perfection\nwhatsoever. The will in loving is rendered like the object beloved;\nis turned into its nature,[940] and imbibes its qualities. The soul,\nby loving God, will find itself more and more transformed into the\nDivine image; whereas, slighted ensamples are never thought worthy of\nimitation.\n\n3d. Let us make God our end. Every man\u2019s mind forms itself to a\nlikeness to that which it makes its chief end. An earthly soul is as\ndrossy as the earth he gapes for; an ambitious soul is as elevated\nas the honor he reaches at; the same characters that are upon the\nthing aimed at, will be imprinted upon the spirit of him that aims at\nit. When God and his glory are made our end, we shall find a silent\nlikeness pass in upon us; the beauty of God will by degrees enter upon\nour souls.\n\n4th. In every deliberate action, let us reflect upon the Divine\npurity as a pattern. Let us examine whether anything we are prompted\nunto bear an impression of God upon it; whether it looks like a thing\nthat God himself would do in that case, were he in our natures and\nin our circumstances. See whether it hath the livery of God upon it,\nhow congruous it is to his nature; whether, and in what manner, the\nholiness of God can be glorified thereby; and let us be industrious\nin all this; for can such an imitation be easy which is resisted by\nthe constant assaults of the flesh, which is discouraged by our own\nignorance, and depressed by our faint and languishing desires after\nit? O! happy we, if there were such a heart in us!\n\n_Exhort. 4._ If holiness be a perfection belonging to the nature of\nGod; then, where there is some weak conformity to the holiness of God,\nlet us labor to grow up in it, and breathe after fuller measures of it.\nThe more likeness we have to him, the more love we shall have from him.\nCommunion will be suitable to our imitation; his love to himself in\nhis essence, will cast out beams of love to himself in his image. If\nGod loves holiness in a lower measure, much more will he love it in a\nhigher degree, because then his image is more illustrious and beautiful,\nand comes nearer to the lively lineaments of his own infinite purity.\nPerfection in anything is more lovely and amiable than imperfection in\nany state; and the nearer anything arrives to perfection, the further\nare those things separated from it which might cool an affection to it.\nAn increase in holiness is attended with a manifestation of his love\n(John xiv. 21): \u201cHe that hath my commandments, and keeps them, he it is\nthat loves me, and he shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him,\nand I will manifest myself to him.\u201d It is a testimony of love to God,\nand God will not be behind\u2011hand with the creature in kindness; {b207}\nhe loves a holy man for some resemblance to him in his nature; but when\nthere is an abounding in sanctified dispositions suitable to it, there\nis an increase of favor; the more we resemble the original, the more\nshall we enjoy the blessedness of that original: as any partake more of\nthe Divine likeness, they partake more of the Divine happiness.\n\n_Exhort. 5._ Let us carry ourselves holily, in a spiritual manner, in\nall our religious approaches to God (Ps. xciii. 5); \u201cHoliness becomes\nthy house, O Lord, for ever.\u201d This attribute should work in us a deep\nand reverential respect to God. This is the reason rendered why we\nshould \u201cworship at his footstool,\u201d in the lowest posture of humility\nprostrate before him, because \u201che is holy\u201d (Ps. xcix. 5). Shoes must\nbe put off from our feet (Exod. iii. 5), that is, lusts from our\naffections, everything that our souls are clogged and bemired with,\nas the shoe is with dirt. He is not willing we should offer to him an\nimpure soul, mired hearts, rotten carcasses, putrefied in vice, rotten\nin iniquity; our services are to be as free from profaneness, as the\nsacrifices of the law were to be free from sickliness or any blemish.\nWhatsoever is contrary to his purity, is abhorred by him, and unlovely\nin his sight; and can meet with no other success at his hands, but a\ndisdainful turning away both of his eye and ear (Isa. i. 15). Since he\nis an immense purity, he will reject from his presence, and from having\nany communion with him, all that which is not conformable to him; as\nlight chases away the darkness of the night, and will not mix with it.\nIf we \u201cstretch out\u201d our \u201chands towards him,\u201d we must \u201cput iniquity far\naway from us\u201d (Job xi. 13, 14); the fruits of all service will else\ndrop off to nothing. \u201cThen shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be\npleasant to the Lord:\u201d when? when the heart is purged by Christ sitting\nas a \u201cpurifier of silver\u201d (Mal. iii. 3, 4). Not all the incense of the\nIndies yield him so sweet a savor, as one spiritual act of worship from\na heart estranged from the vileness of the world, and ravished with an\naffection to, and a desire of imitating, the purity of his nature.\n\n_Exhort. 6._ Let us address for holiness to God, the fountain of it. As\nhe is the author of bodily life in the creature, so he is the author of\nhis own life, the life of God in the soul. By his holiness he makes men\nholy, as the sun by his light enlightens the air. He is not only the\nHoly One, but our Holy One (Isa. xliii. 15); \u201cThe Lord that sanctifies\nus\u201d (Levit. xx. 8). As he hath mercy to pardon us, so he hath holiness\nto purify us, the excellency of being a sun to comfort us, and a shield\nto protect us, giving \u201cgrace and glory\u201d (Ps. lxxiv. 11). Grace whereby\nwe may have communion with him to our comfort, and strength against our\nspiritual enemies for our defence; grace as our preparatory to glory,\nand grace growing up till it ripen in glory. He only can mould us into\na Divine frame; the great original can only derive the excellency of\nhis own nature to us. We are too low, too lame, to lift up ourselves\nto it; too much in love with our own deformity, to admit of this beauty\nwithout a heavenly power inclining our desires for it, our affections\nto it, our willingness to be partakers of it. He can as soon set the\nbeauty of holiness in {b208} a deformed heart, as the beauty of harmony\nin a confused mass, when he made the world. He can as soon cause the\nlight of purity to rise out of the darkness of corruption, as frame\nglorious spirits out of the insufficiency of nothing. His beauty doth\nnot decay; he hath as much in himself now as he had in his eternity;\nhe is as ready to impart it, as he was at the creation; only we must\nwait upon him for it, and be content to have it by small measures and\ndegrees. There is no fear of our sanctification, if we come to him as\na God of holiness, since he is a God of peace, and the breach made by\nAdam is repaired by Christ (1 Thess. v. 23): \u201cAnd the very God of peace\nsanctify you wholly,\u201d &c. He restores the sanctifying Spirit which\nwas withdrawn by the fall, as he is a God pacified, and his holiness\nrighted by the Redeemer. The beauty of it appears in its smiles upon\na man in Christ, and is as ready to impart itself to the reconciled\ncreature, as before justice was to punish the rebellious one. He loves\nto send forth the streams of this perfection into created channels,\nmore than any else. He did not design the making the creature so\npowerful as he might, because power is not such an excellency in his\nown nature, but as it is conducted and managed by some other excellency.\nPower is indifferent, and may be used well or ill, according as the\npossessor of it is righteous or unrighteous. God makes not the creature\nso powerful as he might, but he delights to make the creature that\nwaits upon him as holy as it can be; beginning it in this world, and\nripening it in the other. It is from him we must expect it, and from\nhim that we must beg it, and draw arguments from the holiness of his\nnature, to move him to work holiness in our spirits; we cannot have a\nstronger plea. Purity is the favorite of his own nature, and delights\nitself in the resemblances of it in the creature. Let us also go to God,\nto preserve what he hath already wrought and imparted. As we cannot\nattain it, so we cannot maintain it without him. God gave it Adam,\nand he lost it; when God gives it us, we shall lose it without his\ninfluencing and preserving grace; the channel will be without a stream,\nif the fountain do not bubble it forth; and the streams will vanish, if\nthe fountain doth not constantly supply them. Let us apply ourselves to\nhim for holiness, as he is a God glorious in holiness; by this we honor\nGod, and advantage ourselves.\n\n\n\n\n{b209}                      DISCOURSE XII.\n\n                        ON THE GOODNESS OF GOD.\n\n  MARK x. 18.\u2015\u2015And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?\n    There is none good but one, that is, God.\n\n\nTHE words are part of a reply of our Saviour to the young man\u2019s\npetition to him: a certain person came in haste, \u201crunning\u201d as being\neager for satisfaction, to entreat his directions, what he should do to\ninherit everlasting life; the person is described only in general (ver.\n17), \u201cThere came one,\u201d a certain man: but Luke describes him by his\ndignity (Luke xviii. 18), \u201cA certain ruler;\u201d one of authority among the\nJews. He desires of him an answer to a legal question, \u201cWhat he should\ndo?\u201d or, as Matthew hath it, \u201cWhat good thing shall I do, that I may\nhave eternal life\u201d (Matt. xix. 16)? He imagined everlasting felicity\nwas to be purchased by the works of the law; he had not the least\nsentiments of faith: Christ\u2019s answer implies, there was no hopes of the\nhappiness of another world by the works of the law, unless they were\nperfect, and answerable to every divine precept. He doth not seem to\nhave any ill, or hypocritical intent in his address to Christ; not to\ntempt him, but to be instructed by him. He seems to come with an ardent\ndesire, to be satisfied in his demand; he performed a solemn act of\nrespect to him, he kneeled to him, \u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c5\u03c0\u03b5\u03c4\u03ae\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2, prostrated himself\nupon the ground; besides, Christ is said (ver. 21) to love him, which\nhad been inconsistent with the knowledge Christ had of the hearts and\nthoughts of men, and the abhorrence he had of hypocrites, had he been\nonly a counterfeit in this question. But the first reply Christ makes\nto him, respects the title of \u201cGood Master,\u201d which this ruler gave him\nin his salutation.\n\n1st. Some think, that Christ hereby would draw him to an\nacknowledgment of him as God; you acknowledge me \u201cgood;\u201d how come you\nto salute me with so great a title, since you do not afford it to your\ngreatest doctors? Lightfoot, _in loc._ observes, that the title of\n_Rabbi bone_ is not in all the Talmud. You must own me to be God, since\nyou own me to be \u201cgood:\u201d goodness being a title only due, and properly\nbelonging, to the Supreme Being. If you take me for a common man, with\nwhat conscience can you salute me in a manner proper to God? since no\nman is \u201cgood,\u201d no, not one, but the heart of man is evil continually.\nThe Arians used this place, to back their denying the Deity of Christ:\nbecause, say they, he did not acknowledge himself \u201cgood,\u201d therefore he\ndid not acknowledge himself God. But he doth not here deny his Deity,\nbut reproves {b210} him for calling him good, when he had not yet\nconfessed him to be more than a man.[941] You behold my flesh, but\nyou consider not the fulness of my Deity; if you account me \u201cgood,\u201d\naccount me God, and imagine me not to be a simple and a mere man.[942]\nHe disowns not his own Deity, but allures the young man to a confession\nof it. Why callest thou me good, since thou dost not discover any\napprehensions of my being more than a man? Though thou comest with a\ngreater esteem to me than is commonly entertained of the doctors of the\nchair, why dost thou own me to be \u201cgood,\u201d unless thou own me to be God?\nIf Christ had denied himself in this speech to be \u201cgood,\u201d he had rather\nentertained this person with a frown and a sharp reproof for giving him\na title due to God alone, than have received him with that courtesy and\ncomplaisance as he did.[943] Had he said, there is none \u201cgood\u201d but the\nFather, he had excluded himself; but in saying, there is none \u201cgood\u201d\nbut God, he comprehends himself.\n\n2d. Others say, that Christ had no intention to draw him to an\nacknowledgment of his Deity, but only asserts his divine authority\nor mission from God. For which interpretation Maldonat calls Calvin\nan Arianizer.[944] He doth not here assert the essence of his Deity,\nbut the authority of his doctrine; as if he should have said, You do\nwithout ground give me the title of \u201cgood,\u201d unless you believe I have\na Divine commission for what I declare and act. Many do think me an\nimpostor, an enemy of God, and a friend to devils; you must firmly\nbelieve that I am not so, as your rulers report me, but that I am sent\nof God, and authorized by him; you cannot else give me the title of\ngood, but of wicked. And the reason they give for this interpretation,\nis, because it is a question, whether any of the apostles understood\nhim, at this time, to be God, which seems to have no great strength in\nit; since not only the devil had publicly owned him to be the \u201cHoly One\nof God\u201d (Luke iv. 34), but John the Baptist had borne record, that he\nwas the \u201cSon of God\u201d (John i. 32, 34); and before this time Peter had\nconfessed him openly, in the hearing of the rest of the disciples, that\nhe was \u201cthe Christ, the Son of the living God\u201d (Matt. xvi. 16). But I\nthink Par\u00e6us\u2019 interpretation is best, which takes in both those; either\nyou are serious or deceitful in this address; if you are serious, why\ndo you call me \u201cgood,\u201d and make bold to fix so great a title upon one\nyou have no higher thoughts of than a mere man? Christ takes occasion\nfrom hence, to assert God to be only and sovereignly \u201cgood:\u201d \u201cThere is\nnone good but God.\u201d[945] God only hath the honor of absolute goodness,\nand none but God merits the name of \u201cgood.\u201d A heathen could say much\nafter the same manner; All other things are far from the nature of good;\ncall none else good but God, for this would be a profane error: other\nthings are only good in opinion, but have not the true substance of\ngoodness: he is \u201cgood\u201d in a more excellent way than any creature can be\ndenominated \u201cgood.\u201d[946]\n\n1. God is only originally good, good of himself. All created goodness\nis a rivulet from this fountain, but Divine goodness hath {b211} no\nspring; God depends upon no other for his goodness; he hath it in, and\nof, himself: man hath no goodness from himself, God hath no goodness\nfrom without himself: his goodness is no more derived from another than\nhis being: if we were good by any external thing, that thing must be in\nbeing before him, or after him; if before him, he was not then himself\nfrom eternity; if after him, he was not good in himself from eternity.\nThe end of his creating things, then, was not to confer a goodness upon\nhis creatures, but to partake of a goodness from his creatures. God is\ngood by and in himself, since all things are only good by him; and all\nthat goodness which is in creatures, is but the breathing of his own\ngoodness upon them: they have all their loveliness from the same hand\nthey have their being from. Though by creation God was declared good,\nyet he was not made good by any, or by all the creatures. He partakes\nof none, but all things partake of him. He is so good, that he gives\nall, and receives nothing; only good, because nothing is good but by\nhim: nothing hath a goodness but from him.\n\n2. God only is infinitely good. A boundless goodness that knows no\nlimits, a goodness as infinite as his essence, not only good, but best;\nnot only good, but goodness itself, the supreme inconceivable goodness.\nAll things else are but little particles of God, small sparks from this\nimmense flame, sips of goodness to this fountain. Nothing that is good\nby his influence can equal him who is good by himself: derived goodness\ncan never equal primitive goodness. Divine goodness communicates itself\nto a vast number of creatures in various degrees; to angels, glorified\nspirits, men on earth, to every creature; and when it hath communicated\nall that the present world is capable of, there is still less displayed,\nthan left to enrich another world. All possible creatures are not\ncapable of exhausting the wealth, the treasures, that Divine bounty is\nfilled with.\n\n3. God is only perfectly good, because only infinitely good. He is\ngood without indigence, because he hath the whole nature of goodness,\nnot only some beams that may admit of increase of degree. As in him is\nthe whole nature of entity, so in him is the whole nature of excellency.\nAs nothing hath an absolute perfect being but God, so nothing hath an\nabsolutely perfect goodness but God; as the sun hath a perfection of\nheat in it, but what is warmed by the sun is but imperfectly hot, and\nequals not the sun in that perfection of heat wherewith it is naturally\nendued. The goodness of God is the measure and rule of goodness in\neverything else.\n\n4. God only is immutably good. Other things may be perpetually good by\nsupernatural power, but not immutably good in their own nature. Other\nthings are not so good, but they may be bad; God is so good, that he\ncannot be bad. It was the speech of a philosopher, that it was a hard\nthing to find a good man, yea, impossible; but though it were possible\nto find a good man, he would be good but for some moment, or a short\ntime: for though he should be good at this instant, it was above the\nnature of man to continue in a habit of goodness, without going awry\nand warping.[947] But \u201cthe goodness of God endureth forever\u201d (Ps.\nlii. 1). God always glitters in goodness, {b212} as the sun, which\nthe heathens called the visible image of the Divinity, doth with light.\nThere is not such a perpetual light in the sun as there is a fulness\nof goodness in God; \u201cno variableness\u201d in him, as he is the \u201cFather of\nLights\u201d (James i. 17).\n\nBefore I come to the doctrine, that is, the chief scope of the words,\nsome remarks may be made upon the young man\u2019s question and carriage:\n\u201cWhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d\n\n1. The opinion of gaining eternal life by the outward observation of\nthe law, will appear very unsatisfactory to an inquisitive conscience.\nThis ruler affirmed, and certainly did confidently believe, that he had\nfulfilled the law (ver. 20): \u201cAll this have I observed from my youth;\u201d\nyet he had not any full satisfaction in his own conscience; his heart\nmisgave, and started upon some sentiments in him, that something else\nwas required, and what he had done might be too weak, too short to\nshoot heaven\u2019s lock for him. And to that purpose he comes to Christ,\nto receive instructions for the piecing up whatsoever was defective.\nWhosoever will consider the nature of God, and the relation of a\ncreature, cannot with reason think, that eternal life was of itself\ndue from God as a recompense to Adam, had he persisted in a state of\ninnocence. Who can think so great a reward due, for having performed\nthat which a creature in that relation was obliged to do? Can any man\nthink another obliged to convey an inheritance of a thousand pounds per\nannum upon his payment of a few farthings, unless any compact appears\nto support such a conceit? And if it were not to be expected in the\nintegrity of nature, but only from the goodness of God, how can it be\nexpected since the revolt of man, and the universal deluge of natural\ncorruption? God owes nothing to the holiest creature; what he gives is\na present from his bounty, not the reward of the creature\u2019s merit. And\nthe apostle defies all creatures, from the greatest to the least, from\nthe tallest angel to the lowest shrub, to bring out any one creature\nthat hath first given to God (Rom. xi. 35); \u201cWho hath first given\nto him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?\u201d The duty of the\ncreature, and God\u2019s gift of eternal life, is not a bargain and sale.\nGod gives to the creature, he doth not properly repay; for he that\nrepays hath received something of an equal value and worth before.\nWhen God crowns angels and men, he bestows upon them purely what is\nhis own, not what is theirs by merit and and natural obligation: though\nindeed, what God gives by virtue of a promise made before, is, upon the\nperformance of the condition, due by gracious obligation. God was not\nindebted to man in innocence, but every man\u2019s conscience may now mind\nhim that he is not upon the same level as in the state of integrity;\nand that he cannot expect anything from God, as the salary of his merit,\nbut the free gift of Divine liberality. Man is obliged to the practice\nof what is good, both from the excellency of the Divine precepts, and\nthe duty he owes to God; and cannot, without some declaration from\nGod, hope for any other reward, than the satisfaction of having well\nacquitted himself.[948]\n\n2. It is the disease of human nature, since its corruption, to hope\nfor eternal life by the tenor of the covenant of works. Though this\n{b213} ruler\u2019s conscience was not thoroughly satisfied with what he had\ndone, but imagined he might, for all that, fall short of eternal life,\nyet he still hugs the imagination of obtaining it by doing (ver. 17);\n\u201cWhat shall I do, that I may inherit eternal life?\u201d This is natural\nto corrupted man. Cain thought to be accepted for the sake of his\nsacrifice; and, when he found his mistake, he was so weary of seeking\nhappiness by doing, that he would court misery by murdering. All men\nset too high a value upon their own services. Sinful creatures would\nfain make God a debtor to them, and be purchasers of felicity: they\nwould not have it conveyed to them by God\u2019s sovereign bounty, but by\nan obligation of justice upon the value of their works. The heathens\nthought God would treat men according to the merit of their services;\nand it is no wonder they should have this sentiment, when the Jews,\neducated by God in a wiser school, were wedded to that notion. The\nPharisees were highly fond of it: it was the only argument they used\nin prayer for Divine blessing. You have one of them boasting of his\nfrequency in fasting, and his exactness in paying his tithes (Luke\nxix. 12); as if God had been beholden to him, and could not, without\nmanifest wrong, deny him his demand. And Paul confesseth it to be his\nown sentiment before his conversion; he accounted this \u201crighteousness\nof the law gain to him\u201d (Phil. iii. 7); he thought, by this, to make\nhis market with God. The whole nation of the Jews affected it,[949]\ncompassing sea and land to make out a righteousness of their own, as\nthe Pharisees did to make proselytes. The Papists follow their steps,\nand dispute for justification by the merit of works, and find out\nanother key of works of supererogation, to unlock heaven\u2019s gate, than\nwhatever the Scripture informed us of. It is from hence, also, that men\nare so ready to make faith, as a work, the cause of our justification.\nMan foolishly thinks he hath enough to set up himself after he hath\nproved bankrupt, and lost all his estate. This imagination is born with\nus, and the best Christians may find some sparks of it in themselves,\nwhen there are springings up of joy in their hearts, upon the more\nclose performance of one duty than of another; as if they had wiped off\ntheir scores, and given God a satisfaction for their former neglects.\n\u201cWe have forsaken all, and followed thee,\u201d was the boast of his\ndisciples: \u201cWhat shall we have, therefore?\u201d was a branch of this root\n(Matt. xix. 27). Eternal life is a gift, not by any obligation of\nright, but an abundance of goodness; it is owing, not to the dignity\nof our works, but the magnificent bounty of the Divine nature, and\nmust be sued for by the title of God\u2019s promise, not by the title of\nthe creature\u2019s services. We may observe,\n\n3. How insufficient are some assents to Divine truth, and\nsome expressions of affection to Christ, without the practice of\nchristian precepts. This man addressed Christ with a profound respect,\nacknowledging him more than an ordinary person, with a more reverential\ncarriage than we read any of his disciples paid to him in the days of\nhis flesh; he fell down at his feet, kissed his knees, as the custom\nwas, when they would testify the great respect they had to any eminent\nperson, especially to their rabbins. All this some think to be {b214}\nincluded in the word \u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c5\u03c0\u03b5\u03c4\u03ae\u03c3\u03b1\u03c2.[950] He seems to acknowledge him the\nMessiah by giving him the title of \u201cGood,\u201d a title they did not give\nto their doctors of the chair; he breathes out his opinion, that he was\nable to instruct him beyond the ability of the law; he came with a more\nthan ordinary affection to him, and expectation of advantage from him,\nevident by his departing sad, when his expectations were frustrated by\nhis own perversity; it was a sign he had a high esteem of him from whom\nhe could not part without marks of his grief. What was the cause of his\nrefusing the instructions he pretended such an affection to receive?\nHe had possessions in the world. How soon do a few drops of worldly\nadvantages quench the first sparks of an ill\u2011grounded love to Christ!\nHow vain is a complimental and cringing devotion, without a supreme\npreference of God, and valuation of Christ above every outward\nallurement. We may observe this,\n\n4. We should never admit anything to be ascribed to us, which is\nproper to God. \u201cWhy callest thou me good? There is none good but one,\nthat is, God.\u201d If you do not acknowledge me God, ascribe not to me the\ntitle of Good. It takes off all those titles which fawning flatterers\ngive to men, \u201cmighty,\u201d \u201cinvincible\u201d to princes, \u201choliness\u201d to the\npope. We call one another good, without considering how evil; and wise,\nwithout considering how foolish; mighty, without considering how weak,\nand knowing, without considering how ignorant. No man, but hath more of\nwickedness than goodness; of ignorance than knowledge; of weakness than\nstrength. God is a jealous God of his own honor; he will not have the\ncreature share with him in his royal titles. It is a part of idolatry\nto give men the titles which are due to God; a kind of a worship of\nthe creature together with the Creator. Worms will not stand out, but\nassault Herod in his purple, when he usurps the prerogative of God, and\nprove stiff and invincible vindicators of their Creator\u2019s honor, when\nsummoned to arms by the Creator\u2019s word (Acts xii. 22, 23).\n\n_Doctrine._ The observation which I intend to prosecute, is this:\u2015\u2015Pure\nand perfect goodness is only the royal prerogative of God; goodness is\na choice perfection of the Divine nature. This is the true and genuine\ncharacter of God; he is good, he is goodness, good in himself, good\nin his essence, good in the highest degree, possessing whatsoever is\ncomely, excellent, desirable; the highest good, because first good:\nwhatsoever is perfect goodness, is God; whatsoever is truly goodness\nin any creature, is a resemblance of God.[951] All the names of God are\ncomprehended in this one of good. All gifts, all variety of goodness,\nare contained in him as one common good. He is the efficient cause\nof all good, by an overflowing goodness of his nature; he refers\nall things to himself, as the end, for the representation of his own\ngoodness; \u201cTruly God is good\u201d (Ps. lxxiii. 1). Certainly, it is an\nundoubted truth; it is written in his works of nature, and his acts of\ngrace (Exod. xxxiv. 6). \u201cHe is abundant in goodness.\u201d And every thing\nis a memorial, not of some few sparks, but of his greater goodness (Ps.\ncxlv. 7). This is often celebrated in the Psalms, and men invited more\nthan once, to sing forth the praises of it (Ps. cvii. 8, 15, 21, 31).\nIt may better be admired than {b215} sufficiently spoken of, or thought\nof, as it merits. It is discovered in all his works, as the goodness of\na tree in all its fruits; it is easy to be seen, and more pleasant to\nbe contemplated. In general,\n\n1. All nations in the world have acknowledged God good; \u03a4\u1f78 \u1f08\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u1f78\u03bd was\none of the names the Platonists expressed him by; and good and God, are\nalmost the same words in our language. All as readily consented in the\nnotion of his goodness, as in that of his Deity. Whatsoever divisions\nor disputes there were among them in the other perfections of God,\nthey all agreed in this without dispute, saith Synesius. One calls him\nVenus, in regard of his loveliness.[952] Another calls him \u1f18\u03c1\u03ce\u03c4\u03b1 love,\nas being the band which ties all things together.[953] No perfection\nof the Divine nature is more eminently, nor more speedily visible in\nthe whole book of the creation, than this. His greatness shines not\nin any part of it, where his goodness doth not as gloriously glister:\nwhatsoever is the instrument of his work, as his power; whatsoever is\nthe orderer of his work, as his wisdom; yet nothing can be adored as\nthe motive of his work, but the goodness of his nature. This only could\ninduce him to resolve to create: his wisdom then steps in, to dispose\nthe methods of what he resolved; and his power follows to execute,\nwhat his wisdom hath disposed, and his goodness designed. His power in\nmaking, and his wisdom in ordering, are subservient to his goodness;\nand this goodness, which is the end of the creation, is as visible to\nthe eyes of men, as legible to the understanding of men, as his power\nin forming them, and his wisdom in tuning them. And as the book of\ncreation, so the records of his government must needs acquaint them\nwith a great part of it, when they have often beheld him, stretching\nout his hand, to supply the indigent, relieve the oppressed, and punish\nthe oppressors, and give them, in their distresses, what might \u201cfill\ntheir hearts with food and gladness.\u201d It is this the apostle (Rom. i.\n20, 21), means by his Godhead, which he links with his eternity and\npower, as clearly seen in the things that are made, as in a pure glass,\n\u201cFor the invisible things of him from the creation of the world, are\nclearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his\neternal power and Godhead.\u201d The Godhead which comprehends the whole\nnature of God as discoverable to his creatures, was not known, yea,\nwas impossible to be known, by the works of creation. There had been\nnothing then reserved to be manifested in Christ: but his goodness,\nwhich is properly meant there by his Godhead, was as clearly visible\nas his power. The apostle upbraids them with their unthankfulness, and\nargues their inexcusableness, because the arm of his power in creation\nmade no due impression of fear upon their spirits, nor the beams of\nhis goodness wrought in them sufficient sentiments of gratitude. Their\nnot glorifying God, was a contempt of the former; and their not being\nthankful, was a slight of the latter. God is the object of honor,\nas he is powerful, and the object of thankfulness properly as he is\nbountiful. All the idolatry of the heathens, is a clear testimony of\ntheir common sentiment of the goodness of God: since the more eminently\nuseful any person was in some advantageous invention for the benefit\nof mankind, they thought he {b216} merited a rank in the number of\ntheir deities. The Italians esteemed Pythagoras a god, because he\nwas \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03b1\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03cc\u03c4\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2:[954] to be good and useful, was an approximation\nto the Divine nature. Hence it was, that when the Lystrians saw a\nresemblance of the Divine goodness in the charitable and miraculous\ncure of one of their crippled citizens, presently they mistook Paul\nand Barnabas for gods, and inferred from thence their right to divine\nworship, inquiring into nothing else but the visible character of\ntheir goodness and usefulness, to capacitate them for the honor of\na sacrifice (Acts xiv. 8\u201211). Hence it was, that they adored those\ncreatures that were a common benefit, as the sun and moon, which must\nbe founded upon a pre\u2011existent notion, not only of a Being, but of\nthe bounty and goodness of God, which was naturally implanted in them,\nand legible in all God\u2019s works. And the more beneficial anything was\nto them, and the more sensible advantages they received from it, the\nhigher station they gave it in the rank of their idols, and bestowed\nupon it a more solemn worship: an absurd mistake to think everything\nthat was sensibly good to them, to be God, clothing himself in such\na form to be adored by them. And upon this account the Egyptians\nworshipped God under the figure of an ox; and the East Indians, in some\nparts of their country, deify a heifer, intimating the goodness of God,\nas their nourisher and preserver, in giving them corn, whereof the ox\nis an instrument in serving for ploughing, and preparing the ground.\n\n2. The notion of goodness is inseparable from the notion of a God. We\ncannot own the existence of God, but we must confess also the goodness\nof his nature. Hence, the apostle gives to his goodness the title of\nhis Godhead, as if goodness and godhead were convertible terms (Rom.\ni. 20). As it is indissolubly linked with the being of a Deity, so\nit cannot be severed from the notion of it: we as soon undeify him\nby denying him good, as by denying him great: _Optimus_, _Maximus_,\nthe best, greatest, was the name whereby the Romans entitled Him. His\nnature is as good, as it is majestic; so doth the Psalmist join them\n(Ps. cxlv. 6, 7), \u201cI will declare my greatness; they shall abundantly\nutter the memory of thy great goodness.\u201d They considered his goodness\nbefore his greatness, in putting _Optimus_ before _Maximus_; greatness\nwithout sweetness, is an unruly and affrighting monster in the world;\nlike a vast turbulent sea, always casting out mire and dirt. Goodness\nis the brightness and loveliness of our majestical Creator. To fancy\na God without it, is to fancy a miserable, scanty, narrow\u2011hearted,\nsavage God, and so an unlovely, and horrible being: for he is not a\nGod that is not good; he is not a God that is not the highest good:\ninfinite goodness is more necessary to, and more straitly joined with\nan infinite Deity, than infinite power and infinite wisdom: we cannot\nconceive him God, unless we conceive him the highest good, having\nnothing superior to himself in goodness, as he hath nothing superior to\nhimself in excellency and perfection. No man can possibly form a notion\nof God in his mind, and yet form a notion of something better than God;\nfor whoever thinks anything better than God, fancieth a God {b217} with\nsome defect: by how much the better he thinks that thing to be, by so\nmuch the more imperfect he makes God in his thoughts. This notion of\nthe goodness of God was so natural, that some philosophers and others,\nbeing startled at the evil they saw in the world, fancied, besides\na good God, an evil principle, the author of all punishments in the\nworld. This was ridiculous; for those two must be of equal power, or\none inferior to the other; if equal, the good could do nothing, but the\nevil one would restrain him; and the evil one could do nothing, but the\ngood one would contradict him; so they would be always contending, and\nnever conquering: if one were inferior to the other, then there would\nbe nothing but what that superior ordered. Good, if the good one were\nsuperior; and nothing but evil, if the bad one were superior. In the\nprosecution of this, let us see.\n\nI. What this goodness is. II. Some propositions concerning the nature\nof it. III. That God is good. IV. The manifestation of it in creation,\nprovidence, and redemption. V. The use.\n\nI. What this goodness is. There is a goodness of being, which is the\nnatural perfection of a thing; there is the goodness of will, which\nis the holiness, and righteousness of a person; there is the goodness\nof the hand, which we call liberality, or beneficence, a doing good to\nothers.\n\n1. We mean not by this, the goodness of his essence, or the\nperfection of his nature. God is thus good, because his nature is\ninfinitely perfect; he hath all things requisite to the completing of a\nmost perfect and sovereign Being. All good meets in his essence, as all\nwater meets in the ocean. Under this notion all the attributes of God,\nwhich are requisite to so illustrious a Being, are comprehended. All\nthings that are, have a goodness of being in them, derived to them by\nthe power of God, as they are creatures; so the devil is good, as he is\na creature of God\u2019s making: he hath a natural goodness, but not a moral\ngoodness: when he fell from God, he retained his natural goodness as\na creature; because he did not cease to be, he was not reduced to that\nnothing, from whence he was drawn; but he ceased to be morally good,\nbeing stripped of his righteousness by his apostasy; as a creature,\nhe was God\u2019s work; as a creature, he remains still God\u2019s work; and,\ntherefore, as a creature, remains still good, in regard of his created\nbeing. The more of being anything hath, the more of this sort of\nnatural goodness it hath; and so the devil hath more of this natural\ngoodness than men have; because he hath more marks of the excellency\nof God upon him, in regard of the greatness of his knowledge, and the\nextent of his power, the largeness of his capacity, and the acuteness\nof his understanding, which are natural perfections belonging to the\nnature of an angel, though he hath lost his moral perfections. God\nis sovereignly and infinitely good in this sort of goodness. He is\nunsearchably perfect (Job xi. 7); nothing is wanting to his essence,\nthat is necessary to the perfection of it; yet this is not that which\nthe Scripture expresseth under the term of goodness, but a perfection\nof God\u2019s nature as related to us, and which he poureth forth upon all\nhis creatures, as goodness which flows from this natural perfection of\nthe Deity.\n\n{b218} 2. Nor is it the same with the blessedness of God, but something\nflowing from his blessedness. Were he not first infinitely blessed, and\nfull in himself, he could not be infinitely good and diffusive to us;\nhad he not an infinite abundance in his own nature, he could not be\noverflowing to his creatures; had not the sun a fulness of light in\nitself, and the sea a vastness of water, the one could not enrich the\nworld with its beams, nor the other fill every creek with its waters.\n\n3. Nor is it the same with the holiness of God. The holiness of God\nis the rectitude of his nature, whereby he is pure, and without spot\nin himself; the goodness of God is the efflux of his will, whereby he\nis beneficial to his creatures: the holiness of God is manifest in his\nrational creatures; but the goodness of God extends to all the works of\nhis hands. His holiness beams most in his law; his goodness reacheth to\neverything that had a being from him (Ps. cxlv. 9): \u201cThe Lord is good\nto all.\u201d And though he be said in the same Psalm (ver. 17) to be \u201choly\nin all his works,\u201d it is to be understood of his bounty, bountiful in\nall his works; the Hebrew word signifying both holy and liberal, and\nthe margin of the Bible reads it \u201cmerciful\u201d or \u201cbountiful.\u201d\n\n4. Nor is this goodness of God the same with the mercy of God. Goodness\nextends to more objects than mercy; goodness stretcheth itself out to\nall the works of his hands; mercy extends only to a miserable object;\nfor it is joined with a sentiment of pity, occasioned by the calamity\nof another. The mercy of God is exercised about those that merit\npunishment; the goodness of God is exercised upon objects that have\nnot merited anything contrary to the acts of his bounty. Creation is\nan act of goodness, not of mercy; providence in governing some part of\nthe world, is an act of goodness, not of mercy.[955] The heavens, saith\nAustin, need the goodness of God to govern them, but not the mercy of\nGod to relieve them; the earth is full of the misery of man, and the\ncompassions of God; but the heavens need not the mercy of God to pity\nthem, because they are not miserable; though they need the goodness and\npower of God to sustain them; because, as creatures, they are impotent\nwithout him. God\u2019s goodness extends to the angels, that kept their\nstanding, and to man in innocence, who in that state stood not in need\nof mercy. Goodness and mercy are distinct, though mercy be a branch\nof goodness; there may be a manifestation of goodness, though none of\nmercy. Some think Christ had been incarnate, had not man fallen: had\nit been so, there had been a manifestation of goodness to our nature,\nbut not of mercy, because sin had not made our natures miserable.\nThe devils are monuments of God\u2019s creating goodness, but not of his\npardoning compassions. The grace of God respects the rational creature;\nmercy the miserable creature; goodness all his creatures, brutes, and\nthe senseless plants, as well as reasonable man.\n\n5. By goodness, is meant the bounty of God. This is the notion of\ngoodness in the world; when we say a good man, we mean either a holy\nman in his life, or a charitable and liberal man in the management\n{b219} of his goods. A righteous man, and a good man, are distinguished\n(Rom. v. 7). \u201cFor scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet for\na good man one would even dare to die;\u201d for an innocent man, one as\ninnocent of the crime as himself would scarce venture his life; but for\na good man, a liberal, tender\u2011hearted man, that had been a common good\nin the place where he lived, or had done another as great a benefit\nas life itself amounts to, a man out of gratitude might dare to die.\n\u201cThe goodness of God is his inclination to deal well and bountifully\nwith his creatures.\u201d[956] It is that whereby he wills there should be\nsomething besides himself for his own glory. God is good himself, and\nto himself, _i. e._ highly amiable to himself; and, therefore, some\ndefine it a perfection of God, whereby he loves himself and his own\nexcellency; but as it stands in relation to his creatures, it is that\nperfection of God whereby he delights in his works, and is beneficial\nto them. God is the highest goodness, because he doth not act for\nhis own profit, but for his creatures\u2019 welfare, and the manifestation\nof his own goodness. He sends out his beams, without receiving any\naddition to himself, or substantial advantage from his creatures. It\nis from this perfection that he loves whatsoever is good, and that is\nwhatsoever he hath made, \u201cfor every creature of God is good\u201d (1 Tim.\niv. 4); every creature hath some communications from him, which cannot\nbe without some affection to them; every creature hath a footstep of\nDivine goodness upon it; God, therefore, loves that goodness in the\ncreature, else he would not love himself. God hates no creature, no,\nnot the devils and damned, as creatures; he is not an enemy to them,\nas they are the works of his hands; he is properly an enemy, that doth\nsimply and absolutely wish evil to another; but God doth not absolutely\nwish evil to the damned; that justice that he inflicts upon them, the\ndeserved punishment of their sin, is part of his goodness, as shall\nafterwards be shown.[957] This is the most pleasant perfection of the\nDivine nature; his creating power amazes us; his conducting wisdom\nastonisheth us; his goodness, as furnishing us with all conveniences,\ndelights us; and renders both his amazing power, and astonishing wisdom,\ndelightful to us. As the sun, by effecting things, is an emblem of\nGod\u2019s power; by discovering things to us, is an emblem of his wisdom;\nbut by refreshing and comforting us, is an emblem of his goodness;\nand without this refreshing virtue it communicates to us, we should\ntake no pleasure in the creatures it produceth, nor in the beauties\nit discovers. As God is great and powerful, he is the object of our\nunderstanding; but as good and bountiful, he is the object of our love\nand desire.\n\n6. The goodness of God comprehends all his attributes. All the acts of\nGod are nothing else but the effluxes of his goodness, distinguished by\nseveral names, according to the objects it is exercised about. As the\nsea, though it be one mass of water, yet we distinguish it by several\nnames, according to the shores it washeth, and beats upon; as the\nBritish and German Ocean, though all be one sea. When Moses longed\nto see his glory, God tells him, he would give him a prospect of his\ngoodness (Ex. xxxiii. 19): \u201cI will make {b220} all my goodness to pass\nbefore thee.\u201d His goodness is his glory and Godhead, as much as is\ndelightfully visible to his creatures, and whereby he doth benefit\nman: \u201cI will cause my goodness,\u201d or \u201ccomeliness,\u201d as Calvin renders it,\n\u201cto pass before thee;\u201d what is this, but the train of all his lovely\nperfections springing from his goodness? the whole catalogue of mercy,\ngrace, long\u2011suffering, abundance of truth, summed up in this one word\n(Ex. xxxiv. 6). All are streams from this fountain; he could be none of\nthis, were he not first good. When it confers happiness without merit,\nit is grace; when it bestows happiness against merit, it is mercy; when\nhe bears with provoking rebels, it is long\u2011suffering; when he performs\nhis promise, it is truth; when it meets with a person to whom it is\nnot obliged, it is grace; when he meets with a person in the world,\nto which he hath obliged himself by promise, it is truth;[958] when\nit commiserates a distressed person, it is pity; when it supplies an\nindigent person, it is bounty; when it succors an innocent person, it\nis righteousness; and when it pardons a penitent person, it is mercy;\nall summed up in this one name of goodness; and the Psalmist expresseth\nthe same sentiment in the same words (Ps. cxlv. 7, 8): \u201cThey shall\nabundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of\nthy righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow\nto anger, and of great mercy; the Lord is good to all, and his tender\nmercies are over his works.\u201d He is first good, and then compassionate.\nRighteousness is often in Scripture taken, not for justice, but\ncharitableness; this attribute, saith one,[959] is so full of God,\nthat it doth deify all the rest, and verify the adorableness of him.\nHis wisdom might contrive against us, his power bear too hard upon us;\none might be too hard for an ignorant, and the other too mighty for\nan impotent creature; his holiness would scare an impure and guilty\ncreature, but his goodness conducts them all for us, and makes them all\namiable to us; whatever comeliness they have in the eye of a creature,\nwhatever comfort they afford to the heart of a creature, we are obliged\nfor all to his goodness. This puts all the rest upon a delightful\nexercise; this makes his wisdom design for us, and this makes his power\nto act for us; this veils his holiness from affrighting us, and this\nspirits his mercy to relieve us: all his acts towards man, are but the\nworkmanship of this.[960] What moved him at first to create the world\nout of nothing, and erect so noble a creature as man, endowed with such\nexcellent gifts; was it not his goodness? what made him separate his\nSon to be a sacrifice for us, after we had endeavored to rase out the\nfirst marks of his favor; was it not a strong bubbling of goodness?\nWhat moves him to reduce a fallen creature to the due sense of his\nduty, and at last bring him to an eternal felicity; is it not, only\nhis goodness? This is the captain attribute that leads the rest to\nact. This attends them, and spirits them in all his ways of acting.\nThis is the complement and perfection of all his works; had it not\nbeen for this, which set all the rest on work, nothing of his wonders\nhad been seen in creation, nothing of his compassions had been seen in\nredemption.\n\n{b221} II. The second thing is, some propositions to explain the nature\nof this goodness.\n\n1. He is good by his own essence. God is not only good in his essence,\nbut good by his essence; the essence of \u201cevery created being is good;\u201d\nso the unerring God pronounced everything which he had made (Gen. i.\n31). The essence of the worst creatures, yea, of the impure and savage\ndevils, is good; but they are not good _per essentiam_, for then they\ncould not be bad, malicious, and oppressive. God is good, as he is God;\nand therefore good by himself, and from himself, not by participation\nfrom another; he made everything good, but none made him good; since\nhis goodness was not received from another, he is good by his own\nnature. He could not receive it from the things he created, they are\nlater than he; since they received all from him, they could bestow\nnothing on him; and no God preceded him, in whose inheritance and\ntreasures of goodness, he could be a successor; he is absolutely his\nown goodness, he needed none to make him good; but all things needed\nhim, to be good by him. Creatures are good by being made so by him, and\ncleaving to him; he is good without cleaving to any goodness without\nhim. Goodness is not a quality in him, but a nature; not a habit added\nto his essence, but his essence itself; he is not first God, and then\nafterwards good; but he is good as he is God; his essence, being one\nand the same, is formally and equally God and good.[961] \u0391\u1f50\u03c4\u03ac\u03b3\u03b1\u03b8\u03bf\u03bd,\n\u201cgood of himself,\u201d was one of the names the Platonists gave him. He\nis essentially good in his own nature, and not by any outward action\nwhich follows his essence. He is an independent Being, and hath nothing\nof goodness or happiness from anything without him, or anything he\ndoth act about. If he were not good by his essence, he could not be\neternally good, he could not be the first good; he would have something\nbefore him, from whence he derived that goodness wherewith he is\npossessed; nor could he be perfectly good, for he could not be equally\ngood to that from whom he derived his goodness; no star, no splendid\nbody, that derives light from the sun, doth equal that sun by which it\nis enlightened. Hence his goodness must be infinite, and circumscribed\nby no limits; the exercise of his goodness may be limited by himself;\nbut his goodness, the principle, cannot; for since his essence is\ninfinite, and his goodness is not distinguished from his essence, it is\ninfinite also; if it were limited, it were finite; he cannot be bounded\nby anything without him; if so, then he were not God, because he would\nhave something superior to him, to put bars in his way; if there were\nanything to fix him, it must be a good or evil being; good it cannot\nbe, for it is the property of goodness to encourage goodness, not to\nbound it; evil it cannot be, for then it would extinguish goodness,\nas well as limit it; it would not be content with the circumscribing\nit, without destroying it; for it is the nature of every contrary, to\nendeavor the destruction of its opposite. He is essentially good by his\nown essence; therefore, good of himself; therefore, eternally good; and\ntherefore, abundantly good.\n\n2. God is the prime and chief goodness. Being good _per se_, and\n{b222} by his own essence, he must needs be the chief goodness, in\nwhom there can be nothing but good, from whom there can proceed nothing\nbut good, to whom all good whatsoever must be referred, as the final\ncause of all good. As he is the chief Being, so he is the chief good;\nand as we rise by steps from the existence of created things, to\nacknowledge one Supreme Being, which is God, so we mount by steps from\nthe consideration of the goodness of created things, to acknowledge\none Infinite Ocean of sovereign goodness, whence the streams of\ncreated goodness are derived. When we behold things that partake of\ngoodness from another, we must acquiesce in one that hath goodness by\nparticipation from no other, but originally from himself, and therefore\nsupremely in himself above all other things: so that, as nothing\ngreater and more majestic can be imagined, so also nothing better and\nmore excellent can be conceived than God. Nothing can add to him, or\nmake him better than he is; nothing can detract from him, to make him\nworse; nothing can be added to him, nothing can be severed from him; no\ncreated good can render him more excellent; no evil, from any creature,\ncan render him less excellent; \u201cour goodness extends not to him\u201d (Ps.\nxvi. 2); \u201cwickedness may hurt a man, as we are, and our righteousness\nmay profit the son of man; but, if we be righteous, what give we to\nHim, or what receives he at our hands\u201d (Job xxxv. 7, 8)? as he hath no\nsuperior in place above him, so, being chief of all, he cannot be made\nbetter by any inferior to him. How can he be made better by any that\nhath from himself all that he hath? The goodness of a creature may be\nchanged, but the goodness of the Creator is immutable; he is always\nlike himself, so good that he cannot be evil, as he is so blessed that\nhe cannot be miserable. Nothing is good but God, because nothing is\nof itself but God; as all things, being from nothing, are nothing\nin comparison of God, so all things, being from nothing, are scanty\nand evil in comparison of God. If anything had been, _ex Deo_, God\nbeing the matter of it, it had been as good as God is; but since\nthe principle, whence all things were drawn, was nothing, though the\nefficient cause by which they were extracted from nothing was God, they\nare as nothing in goodness, and not estimable in comparison of God (Ps.\nlxxiii. 25): \u201cWhom have I in heaven but thee?\u201d &c. God is all good;\nevery creature hath a distinct variety of goodness: God distinctly\npronounced every day\u2019s work in the creation \u201cgood.\u201d Food communicates\nthe goodness of its nourishing virtue to our bodies; flowers the\ngoodness of their odors to our smell; every creature a goodness of\ncomeliness to our sight; plants the goodness of healing qualities\nfor our cure; and all derive from themselves a goodness of knowledge,\nobjectively to our understandings. The sun, by one sort of goodness,\nwarms us; metals enrich us; living creatures sustain us, and delight\nus by another; all those have distinct kinds of goodness, which are\neminently summed up in God, and are all but parts of his immense\ngoodness. It is he that enlightens us by his sun, nourisheth us by\nbread (Matt. iv. 4): \u201cIt is not by bread alone that we live, but by\nthe word of God.\u201d It is all but his own supreme goodness, conveyed to\nus through those varieties of conduit\u2011pipes. \u201cGod is all good;\u201d other\nthings are good in {b223} their kind; as, a good man, a good angel,\na good tree, a good plant; but God hath a good of all kinds eminently\nin his nature. He is no less all\u2011good, than he is almighty, and\nall\u2011knowing; as the sun contains in it all the light, and more light\nthan is in all the clearest bodies in the world, so doth God contain in\nhimself all the good, and more good than is in the richest creatures.\nNothing is good, but as it resembles him; as nothing is hot, but as it\nresembles fire, the prime subject of heat. God is omnipotent, therefore\nno good can be wanting to him. If he were destitute of any which he\ncould not have, he were not almighty: he is so good, that there is no\nmixture of anything which can be called not good in him; everything\nbesides him wants some good, which others have. Nothing can be so\nevil as God is good. There can be no evil but there is some mixture of\ngood with it; no nature so evil but there is some spark of goodness in\nit: but God is a good which hath no taint of evil; nothing can be so\nsupreme an evil as God is supreme goodness. He is only good, without\ncapacity of increase; he is all good, and unmixedly good; none good but\nGod: a goodness, like the sun, that hath all light, and no darkness.\nThat is the second thing; he is the supreme and chief goodness.\n\n3. This goodness is communicative. None so communicatively good as\nGod. As the notion of God includes goodness, so the notion of goodness\nincludes diffusiveness; without goodness he would cease to be a Deity,\nand without diffusiveness he would cease to be good. The being good is\nnecessary to the being God; for goodness is nothing else, in the notion\nof it, but a strong inclination to do good; either to find or make an\nobject, wherein to exercise itself, according to the propension of its\nown nature; and it is an inclination of communicating itself, not for\nits own interest, but the good of the object it pitcheth upon. Thus\nGod is good by nature; and his nature is not without activity; he acts\nconveniently to his own nature (Ps. cxix. 68): \u201cThou art good, and dost\ngood.\u201d And nothing accrues to him, by the communications of himself\nto others, since his blessedness was as great before the frame of any\ncreature as ever it was since the erecting of the world; so that the\ngoodness of Christ himself increaseth not the lustre of his happiness\n(Ps. xvi. 2): \u201cMy goodness extends not to thee.\u201d He is not of a\nniggardly and envious nature; he is too rich to have any cause to envy,\nand too good to have any will to envy; he is as liberal as he is rich,\naccording to the capacity of the object about which his goodness is\nexercised. The Divine goodness, being the supreme goodness, is goodness\nin the highest degree of activity; not an idle, enclosed, pent up\ngoodness, as a spring shut up, or a fountain sealed, bubbling up within\nitself, but bubbling out of itself: a fountain of gardens to water\nevery part of his creation; \u201cHe is an ointment poured forth\u201d (Cant. i.\n3): nothing spreads itself more than oil, and takes up a larger space\nwheresoever it drops. It may be no less said of the goodness of God,\nas it is of the fulness of Christ (Eph. i. 23); \u201cHe fills all in all:\u201d\nhe fills rational creatures with understanding, sensitive nature with\nvigor and motion, the whole world with beauty and sweetness. Every\ntaste, every touch of a creature, is a taste and {b224} touch of Divine\ngoodness. Divine goodness offers itself in one spark in this creature,\nin another spark in the other creature, and altogether make up a\ngoodness inconceivable by any creature. The whole mass, and extracted\nspirit of it, is infinitely short of the goodness of the Divine nature,\nimperfect shadows of that goodness which is in himself. Indeed, the\nmore excellent anything is, the more nobly it acts; how remotely doth\nlight, that excellent brightness of the creation, disperse itself! How\ndoth that glorious creature, which God hath set in the heavens, spread\nits wings over heaven and earth, roll itself about the world, cast\nits beams upward and downward, insinuate into all corners, pierce the\ndepths, and shoot up its rays into the heights, encircle the higher and\nlower creatures in its arms, reach out its communications to influence\neverything under the earth, as well as dart its beams of light and\nheat on things above, or upon the earth! \u201cNothing is hid from it\u201d (Ps.\nxix. 6); not from its power, nor from its sweetness. How communicative\nalso is water, a necessary and excellent creature! How active is it\nin a river, to nourish the living creatures engendered in its womb!\nrefresheth every shore it runs by; promotes the propagation of fruits\nfor the nourishment, and bestows a verdure upon the ground, for the\ndelight of man; and where it cannot reach the higher ground in its\nsubstance, it doth by its vapors, mounted up and concocted by the sun,\nand gently distilled upon the earth, for the opening its womb to bring\nforth its fruits. God is more prone to communicate himself, than the\nsun to spread its wings, or the earth to mount up its fruits, or the\nwater to multiply living creatures.[962] Goodness is his nature. Hence\nwere there internal communications of himself from eternity; diffusions\nof himself, without himself, in time, in the creation of the world,\nlike a full vessel running over. He created the world that he might\nimpart his goodness to something without him, and diffuse larger\nmeasures of his goodness, after he had laid the first foundation of\nit in his being; and therefore he created several sorts of creatures,\nthat they might be capable of various and distinct measures of his\nliberality, according to the distinct capacities of their nature, but\nimparted most to the rational creature, because that is only capable\nof an understanding to know him, and will to embrace him. He is the\nhighest goodness, and therefore a communicative goodness, and acts\nexcellently according to his nature.\n\n4. God is necessarily good. None is necessarily good but God; he\nis as necessarily good, as he is necessarily God. His goodness is as\ninseparable from his nature as his holiness. He is good by nature, not\nonly by will; as he is holy by nature, not only by will, he is good\nin his nature, and good in his actions; and as he cannot be bad in his\nnature, so he cannot be bad in his communications; he can no more act\ncontrary to this goodness in any of his actions, than he can un\u2011God\nhimself. It is not necessary that God should create a world; he was at\nhis own choice whether he would create or no; but when he resolves to\nmake a world, it is necessary that he should make it good, because he\nis goodness itself, and cannot act against his own nature. He could not\ncreate anything without goodness in the very {b225} act; the very act\nof creation, or communicating being to anything without himself, is in\nitself an act of goodness, as well as an act of power; had he not been\ngood in himself, nothing could have been endued with any goodness by\nhim. In the act of giving being, he is liberal; the being he bestows is\na displaying his own liberality; he could not confer what he needs not,\nand which could not be deserved, without being bountiful; since what\nwas nothing, could not merit to be brought into being, the very act\nof giving to nothing a being, was an act of choice goodness. He could\nnot create anything without goodness as the motive, and the necessary\nmotive; his goodness could not necessitate him to make the world, but\nhis goodness could only move him to resolve to make a world; he was not\nbound to erect and fashion it because of his goodness, but he could not\nframe it without his goodness as the moving cause. He could not create\nanything, but he must create it good. It had been inconsistent with\nthe supreme goodness of his nature, to have created only murderous,\nravenous, injurious creatures; to have created a bedlam rather than\na world: a mere heap of confusion would have been as inconsistent\nwith his Divine goodness, as with his Divine wisdom. Again, when\nhis goodness had moved him to make a creature, his goodness would\nnecessarily move him to be beneficial to his creature; not that this\nnecessity results from any merit in the creature, which he had framed;\nbut from the excellency and diffusiveness of his own nature, and\nhis own glory; the end for which he formed it, which would have\nbeen obscure, yea, nothing, without some degrees of his bounty. What\noccasion of acknowledgments and praise could the creature have for\nits being, if God had given him only a miserable being, while it was\ninnocent in action? The goodness of God would not suffer him to make a\ncreature, without providing conveniences for it, so long as he thought\ngood to maintain its being, and furnishing it with that which was\nnecessary to answer that end for which he created it; and his own\nnature would not suffer him to be unkind to his rational creature,\nwhile it was innocent. It had been injustice to inflict evil upon the\ncreature, that had not offended, and had no relation to an offending\ncreature; the nature of God could not have brought forth such an act:\nand, therefore, some say, that God, after he had created man, could\nnot presently annihilate him, and take away his life and being.[963]\nAs a sovereign, he might do it; as Almighty, he was able to do it, as\nwell as create him; but in regard of his goodness, he could not morally\ndo it: for had he annihilated man as soon as ever he had made him,\nhe had not made man for himself, and for his own glory; to be loved,\nworshipped, sought, and acknowledged by him. He would not then have\nbeen the end of man; he had created him in vain, and the world in vain,\nwhich he assures us he did not (Isa. xlv. 18, 19). And, certainly,\nif the gifts of God be without repentance, man could not have been\nannihilated after his creation, without repentance in God, without any\ncause, had not sin entered into the world. If God did not say to man,\nafter sin had made its entrance into the world, \u201cSeek ye me in vain,\u201d\nhe could not, because of his goodness, have said so to man in his\ninnocence. {b226} As God is necessarily mind, so he is necessarily will;\nas he is necessarily knowing, so he is necessarily loving. He could\nnot be blessed, if he did not know himself, and his own perfection;\nnor good, if he did not delight in himself, and his own perfections.\nAnd this goodness whereby he delights in himself, is the source of his\ndelight in his creatures, wherein he sees the footsteps of himself.\nIf he loves himself, he cannot but love the resemblance of himself,\nand the image of his own goodness. He loves himself, because he is the\nhighest goodness and excellency; and loves everything as it resembles\nhimself, because it is an efflux of his own goodness; and as he\ndoth necessarily love himself, and his own excellency, so he doth\nnecessarily love anything that resembles that excellency, which is the\nprimary object of his esteem. But,\n\n5. Though he be necessarily good, yet he is also freely good. The\nnecessity of the goodness of his nature hinders not the liberty of\nhis actions; the matter of his acting is not at all necessary, but the\nmanner of his acting in a good and bountiful way, is necessary, as well\nas free.[964] He created the world and man freely, because he might\nchoose whether he would create it, but he created them good necessarily,\nbecause he was first necessarily good in his nature, before he\nwas freely a Creator. When he created man, he freely gave him a\npositive law, but necessarily a wise and righteous law; because he was\nnecessarily wise, and righteous, before he was freely a Lawgiver. When\nhe makes a promise, he freely lets the word go out of his lips, but\nwhen he hath made it, he is necessarily a faithful performer; because\nhe was necessarily true and righteous in his nature, before he was\nfreely a promiser. God is necessarily good in his nature, but free in\nhis communications of it; to make him necessarily to communicate his\ngoodness in the first creation of the creature, would render him but\nimpotent, good without liberty and without will; if the communications\nof it be not free, the eternity of the world must necessarily be\nconcluded, which some anciently asserted from the naturalness of God\u2019s\ngoodness, making the world flow from God as light from the sun. God,\nindeed, is necessarily good, _affectiv\u00e9_ in regard of his nature,\nbut freely good, _affectiv\u00e9_, in regard of the effluxes of it to this\nor that particular subject he pitcheth on. He is not so necessarily\ncommunicative of his goodness as the sun of his light, or a tree of\nits cooling shade, that chooseth not its objects, but enlightens all\nindifferently, without any variation or distinction; this were to\nmake God of no more understanding than the sun, to shine not where it\npleaseth, but where it must. He is an understanding agent, and hath a\nsovereign right to choose his own subjects; it would not be a supreme\ngoodness, if it were not a voluntary goodness. It is agreeable to the\nnature of the highest good, to be absolutely free, to dispense his\ngoodness in what methods and measures he pleaseth, according to the\nfree determinations of his own will, guided by the wisdom of his mind,\nand regulated by the holiness of his nature. He is not to \u201cgive an\naccount of any of his matters\u201d (Job xxxiii. 13); \u201cHe will have mercy\non whom he will have mercy, and he will have compassion on whom he\nwill have compassion\u201d (Rom. ix. 15); {b227} and he will be good, to\nwhom he will be good; when he doth act, he cannot but act well, so it\nis necessary; yet he may act this good or that good, to this or that\ndegree, so it is free. As it is the perfection of his nature, it is\nnecessary; as it is the communication of his bounty, it is voluntary.\nThe eye cannot but see if it be open, yet it may glance upon this or\nthat color, fix upon this or that object, as it is conducted by the\nwill. God necessarily loves himself, because he is good, yet not by\nconstraint, but freedom; because his affection to himself is from a\nknowledge of himself. He necessarily loves his own image, because it\nis his image; yet freely, because not blindly, but from motions of\nunderstanding and will. What necessity could there be upon him, to\nresolve to communicate his goodness? It could not be to make himself\nbetter by it, for he had a goodness incapable of any addition; he\nconfers a goodness on his creatures, but reaps not a harvest of\ngoodness to his own essence from his creatures. What obligation could\nthere be from the creature, to confer a goodness on him to this or that\ndegree, for this or that duration? If he had not created a man, nor\nangel, he had done them no wrong; if he had given them only a simple\nbeing, he had manifested a part of his goodness, without giving them a\nright to challenge any more of him; if he had taken away their beings\nafter a time when he had answered his end, he had done them no injury:\nfor what law obliged him to enrich them, and leave them in that being\nwherein he had invested them, but his sole goodness? Whatever sparks\nof goodness any creature hath, are the free effusions of God\u2019s bounty,\nthe offspring of his own inclination to do well, the simple favor\nof the donor; not purchased, not merited by the creature. God is as\nunconstrained in his liberty, in all his communications, as infinite\nin his goodness, the fountain of them.\n\n6. This goodness is communicative with the greatest pleasure. Moses\ndesired to see his glory, God assures him he should see his goodness\n(Exod. xxxiii. 18, 19); intimating that his goodness is his glory, and\nhis glory his delight also. He sends not forth his blessings with an\nill will; he doth not stay till they are squeezed from him; he prevents\nmen with his blessings of goodness (Ps. xxi. 3); he is most delighted\nwhen he is most diffusive; and his pleasure in bestowing, is larger\nthan his creature\u2019s in possessing. He is not covetous of his own\ntreasures. He lays up his goodness in order to laying it out with a\ncomplacency wholly divine. The jealousy princes have of their subjects\nmakes them sparing of their gifts, for fear of giving them materials\nfor rebellion: God\u2019s foresight of the ill use men would make of his\nbenefits damped him not in bestowing his largesses. He is incapable\nof envy; his own happiness can no more be diminished, than it can be\nincreased. None can over\u2011top him in goodness, because nothing hath any\ngood but what is derived from him; his gifts are without repentance:\nsorrow hath no footing in him, who is infinitely happy, as well as\ninfinitely good. Goodness and envy are inconsistent. How unjustly, then,\ndid the devil accuse God! What God gives out of goodness, he gives with\njoy and gladness. He did not only will that we should be, but rejoice\nthat he had brought us into being; he rejoiced in his works (Ps. civ.\n31), {b228} and his wisdom stood by him, \u201cdelighting in the habitable\nparts of the earth\u201d (Prov. viii. 31). He beheld the world after\nits creation with a complacency, and still governs it with the same\npleasure wherewith he reviewed it. Infinite cheerfulness attends\ninfinite goodness. He would not give, if he had not a pleasure that\nothers should enjoy his goodness; since he is better than anything,\nand more communicative than anything; he is more joyful in giving out,\nthan the sun can be to run its race, in pouring forth light. He is said\nonly to repent, and grieve, when men answer not the obligations and\nends of his goodness; which would be their own felicity, as well as his\nglory. Though he doth not force greater degrees of his goodness upon\nthose that neglect it, yet he denies them not to those that solicit\nhim for it: it is always greater pleasure to him to impart upon the\nimportunities of the creatures, than it is to a mother to reach out\nher breast to her crying and longing infant. He is not wearied by the\nsolicitations of men; he is pleased with their prayers, because he\nis pleased with the imparting of his own goodness: he seems to be in\ntravail with it, longing to be delivered of it into the lap of his\ncreature. He is as much delighted with petitions for his liberality\nin bestowing his best goodness, as princes are weary of the craving\nof their subjects. None can be so desirous to squeeze those that are\nunder them, as God is delighted to enlarge his hand towards them.\nIt is the nature of his goodness to be glad of men\u2019s solicitations\nfor it, because they are significant valuations of it, and therefore\nfit occasions for him to bestow it. Since he doth not delight in the\nunhappiness of any of his creatures, he certainly delights in what may\nconduce unto their felicity. He doth with the same delight multiply\nthe effects of his goodness where his wisdom sees it convenient, as he\nbeheld the first\u2011fruits of his goodness with a complacency upon laying\nthe top\u2011stone of the creation.\n\n7. The displaying of this goodness was the motive and end of all\nhis works of creation and providence.[965] God being infinitely wise,\nwould not act without the highest reason, and for the highest end. The\nreason that induced him to create, must be of as great an eminency as\nhimself: the motive could not be taken without him, because there was\nnothing but himself in being; it must be taken, therefore, from within\nhimself, and from some one of those most excellent perfections whereby\nwe conceive him. But, upon the exact consideration of all of them,\nnone can seem to challenge that honor of being the motive of them, to\nresolve the setting forth any work, but his own goodness; this being\nthe first thing manifest in his creation, seems to be the first thing\nmoving him to a resolution to create. Wisdom may be considered as\ndirecting, power considered as acting, but it is natural to reflect\nupon goodness as moving the one to direct, and the other to act.\nPower was the principle of his action, wisdom the rule of his action,\ngoodness the motive of his action; principle and rule are awakened by\nthe motive, and subservient to the end. That which is the most amiable\nperfection in the Divine nature, and that which he first took notice\nof, as the footsteps of them, in the distinct view of every day\u2019s work,\nand the general view {b229} of the whole frame, seems to claim the\nbest right to be entitled the motive and end of his creation of things.\nGod could have no end but himself, because there was nothing besides\nhimself. Again, the end of every agent is that which he esteems good,\nand the best good for that kind of action: since nothing is to be\nesteemed good but God, nothing can be the ultimate end of God but\nhimself, and his own goodness. What a man wills chiefly is his end; but\nGod cannot will any other thing but himself as his end, because there\nis nothing superior to himself in goodness. He cannot will anything\nthat supremely serves himself and his own goodness as his end; for, if\nhe did, that which he wills must be superior to himself in goodness,\nand then he is not God; or inferior to him in goodness, and then he\nwould not be righteous, in willing that which is a lower good before\na higher. God cannot will anything as his end of acting, but himself,\nwithout undeifying himself. God\u2019s will being infinitely good, cannot\nmove for anything but what is infinitely good; and, therefore,\nwhatsoever God made, he made for himself (Prov. xvi. 4), that\nwhatsoever he made might bear a badge of this perfection upon it, and\nbe a discovery of his wonderful goodness: for the making things for\nhimself doth not signify any indigence in God, that he made anything\nto increase his excellency (for that is capable of no addition), but to\nmanifest his excellency. God possessing everything eminently in himself,\ndid not create the world for any need he had of it; finite things were\nunable to make any accession to that which is infinite. Man, indeed,\nbuilds a house to be a shelter to him against wind and weather, and\nmakes clothes to secure him from cold, and plants gardens for his\nrecreation and health. God is above all those little helps; he did not\nmake the world for himself in such a kind, but for himself, _i. e._\nthe manifestation of himself and the riches of his nature; not to make\nhimself blessed, but to discover his own blessedness to his creatures,\nand to communicate something of it to them. He did not garnish the\nworld with so much bounty, that he might live more happily than he did\nbefore, but that his rational creatures might have fit conveniences.\nAs the end for which God demands the performance of our duty is not for\nhis own advantage, but for our good (Deut. x. 13), so the end why he\nconferred upon us the excellency of such a being was for our good, and\nthe discovery of his goodness to us; for had not God created the world,\nhe had been wholly unknown to any but himself; he produced creatures,\nthat he might be known: as the sun shines not only to discover other\nthings, but to be seen itself in its beauty and brightness. God would\ncreate things, because he would be known in his glory and liberality;\nhence is it that he created intellectual creatures, because without\nthem the rest of the creation could not be taken notice of: it had been\nin some sort in vain; for no nature lower than an understanding nature,\nwas able to know the marks of God in the creation, and acknowledge him\nas God. In this regard, God is good above all creatures, because he\nintends only to communicate his goodness in creation, not to acquire\nany goodness, or excellency from them, as men do in their framing\nof things. God is all, and is destitute of nothing, and, therefore,\nnothing accrues to {b230} him by the creation, but the acknowledgment\nof his goodness. This goodness, therefore, must be the motive and end\nof all his works.\n\nIII. The third thing, that God is good.\n\n1. The more excellent anything is in nature, the more of goodness and\nkindness it hath. For we see more of love and kindness in creatures\nthat are endued with sense, to their descendants, than in plants, that\nhave only a principle of growth. Plants preserve their seeds whole that\nare enclosed in them; animals look to their young only after they are\ndropped from them; yet, after some time, take no more notice of them\nthan of a stranger that never had any birth from them. But man, that\nhath a higher principle of reason, cherisheth his offspring, and gives\nthem marks of his goodness while he lives, and leaves not the world at\nthe time of his death without some testimonies of it: much more must\nGod, who is a higher principle than sense or reason, be \u201cgood\u201d and\nbountiful to all his offspring. The more perfect anything is, the more\nit doth communicate itself. The sun is more excellent than the stars,\nand, therefore, doth more sensibly, more extensively, disperse its\nliberal beams than the stars do. And the better any man is, the more\ncharitable he is; God being the most excellent nature, having nothing\nmore excellent than himself, because nothing more ancient than himself,\nwho is the Ancient of Days: there is nothing, therefore, better and\nmore bountiful than himself.\n\n2. He is the cause of all created goodness; he must therefore\nhimself be the Supreme Good. What good is in the heavens, is the\nproduct of some Being above the earth; and those varieties of goodness\nin the earth, and several creatures, are somewhere in their fulness and\nunion: that, therefore, which possesses all those scattered goodnesses\nin their fulness, must be all good, all that good which is displayed\nin creatures; therefore sovereignly best. Whatsoever natural or\nmoral goodness there is in the world, in angels, or men, or inferior\ncreatures, is a line drawn from that centre, the bubblings of that\nfountain. God cannot but be better than all, since the goodness that\nis in creatures is the fruit of his own. If he were not good, he could\nproduce no good: he could not bestow what he had not. If the creature\nbe \u201cgood,\u201d as the apostle says \u201cevery creature is\u201d (1 Tim. iv. 4), he\nmust needs be better than all, because they have nothing but what is\nderived to them from him; and much more goodness than all, because\nfinite beings are not capable of receiving into them, and containing\nin themselves, all that goodness which is in an Infinite Being; when\nwe search for good in creatures, they come short of that satisfaction\nwhich is in God (Ps. iv. 6). As the certainty of a first principle of\nall things, is necessarily concluded from the being of creatures, and\nthe upholding and sustaining power and virtue of God is concluded from\nthe mutability of those things in the world; whence we infer, that\nthere must be some stable foundation of those tottering things, some\nfirm hinge upon which those changeable things do move, without which\nthere would be no stability in the kinds of things, no order, no\nagreement, or union among them: so from the goodness of everything, and\ntheir usefulness to us, we must conclude {b231} him good, who made all\nthose things. And since we find distinct goodnesses in the creature,\nwe must conclude that one principle whence they did flow, excels in the\nglory of goodness: all those little glimmerings of goodness which are\nscattered in the creatures, as the image in the glass, represent the\nface, posture, motion of him whose image it is, but not in the fulness\nof life and spirit, as in the original; it is but a shadow at the\nbest, and speaks something more excellent in the copy. As God hath an\ninfiniteness of being above them, so he hath a supremacy of goodness\nbeyond them: what they have, is but a participation from him; what he\nhath, must be infinitely supereminent above them. If anything be good\nby itself, it must be infinitely good, it would set itself no bounds;\nwe must make as many gods, as particulars of goodness in the world: but\nbeing good by the bounty of another, that from whence they flow must be\nthe chief goodness. It is God\u2019s excellency and goodness, which, like a\nbeam, pierceth all things: he decks spirits with reason, endues matter\nwith form, furnisheth everything with useful qualities.[966] As one\nbeam of the sun illustrates fire, water, earth; so one beam of God\nenlightens and endows minds, souls, and universal nature: nothing in\nthe world had its goodness from itself, any more than it had its being\nfrom itself. The cause must be richer than the effect.\n\nBut that which I intend is _the defence of this goodness_.\n\nFirst, The goodness of God is not impaired by suffering sin to enter\ninto the world, and man to fall thereby. It is rather a testimony\nof God\u2019s goodness, that he gave man an ability to be happy, than any\ncharge against his goodness, that he settled man in a capacity to be\nevil. God was first a benefactor to man, before man could be a rebel\nagainst God. May it not be inquired, whether it had not been against\nthe wisdom of God, to have made a rational creature with liberty, and\nnot suffer him to act according to the nature he was endowed with, and\nto follow his own choice for some time? Had it been wisdom to frame a\nfree creature, and totally to restrain that creature from following its\nliberty? Had it been goodness, as it were, to force the creature to be\nhappy against its will? God\u2019s goodness furnished Adam with a power to\nstand; was it contrary to his goodness, to leave Adam to a free use of\nthat power? To make a creature, and not let that creature act according\nto the freedom of his nature, might have been thought to have been\na blot upon his wisdom, and a constraint upon the creature, not to\nmake use of that freedom of his nature, which the Divine goodness had\nbestowed upon him. To what purpose did God make a law, to govern his\nrational creature, and yet resolve that creature should not have his\nchoice, whether he would obey it or no? Had he been really constrained\nto observe it, his observation of it could no more have been called\nobedience, than the acts of brutes that have a kind of natural\nconstraint upon them by the instinct of their nature, can be called\nobedience: in vain had God endowed a creature with so great and noble a\nprinciple as liberty. Had it been goodness in God, after he had {b232}\nmade a reasonable creature, to govern him in the same manner as he\ndoes brutes by a necessary instinct? It was the goodness of God to the\nnature of men and angels, to leave them in such a condition, to be able\nto give him a voluntary obedience, a nobler offering than the whole\ncreation could present him with; and shall this goodness be undervalued,\nand accounted mean, because man made an ill use of it, and turned it\ninto wantonness? As the unbelief of man doth not diminish the redeeming\ngrace of God (Rom. iii. 3), so neither doth the fall of man lessen the\ncreating goodness of God. Besides, why should the permission of sin\nbe thought more a blemish to his goodness, than the providing a way\nof redemption for the destroying the works of sin and the devil, be\njudged the glory of it, whereby he discovered a goodness of grace that\nsurpassed the bounds of nature? If this were a thing that might seem to\nobscure or deface the goodness of God, in the permission of the fall of\nangels and Adam, it was in order to bring forth a greater goodness in\na more illustrious pomp, to the view of the world (Rom. xi. 32): \u201cGod\nhath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.\u201d\nBut if nothing could be alleged for the defence of his goodness in\nthis, it were most comely for an ignorant creature not to impeach his\ngoodness, but adore him in his proceedings, in the same language the\napostle doth (ver. 33): \u201cO the depth of the riches both of the wisdom\nand knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways\npast finding out!\u201d\n\nSecondly, Nor is his goodness prejudiced, by not making all things the\nequal subjects of it.\n\n1. It is true all things are not subjects of an equal goodness. The\ngoodness of God is not so illustriously manifested in one thing as\nanother. In the creation he hath dropped goodness upon some, in giving\nthem beings and sense, and poured it upon others in endowing them with\nunderstanding and reason. The sun is full of light, but it hath a want\nof sense; brutes excel in the vigor of sense, but they are destitute\nof the light of reason; man hath a mind and reason conferred on him,\nbut he hath neither the acuteness of mind, nor the quickness of motion\nequal with an angel. In providence also he doth give abundance, and\nopens his hand to some; to others he is more sparing: he gives greater\ngifts of knowledge to some, while he lets others remain in ignorance;\nhe strikes down some, and raiseth others; he afflicts some with a\ncontinual pain, while he blesseth others with an uninterrupted health;\nhe hath chosen one nation wherein to set up his gospel sun, and leaves\nanother benighted in their own ignorance. \u201cKnown was God in Judea; they\nwere a peculiar people alone of all the nations of the earth\u201d (Deut.\nxiv. 2). He was not equally good to the angels: he held forth his\nhand to support some in their happy habitation, while he suffered\nothers to sink in irreparable ruin; and he is not so diffusive here\nof his goodness to his own as he will be in heaven. Here their sun is\nsometimes clouded, but there all clouds and shades will be blown away,\nand melted into nothing: instead of drops here, there will be above\nrivers of life. Is any creature destitute of the open marks of his\ngoodness, though all are not enriched with those signal characters\nwhich he vouchsafes to {b233} others? He that is unerring, pronounced\neverything good distinctly in its production, and the whole good in\nits universal perfection (Gen. i. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). Though he\nmade not all things equally good, yet he made nothing evil; and though\none creature in regard of its nature may be better than another, yet\nan inferior creature, in regard of its usefulness in the order of the\ncreation, may be better than a superior. The earth hath a goodness\nin bringing forth fruits, and the waters in the sea a goodness in\nmultiplying food. That any of us have a being is goodness; that we have\nnot so healthful a being as others is unequal, but not unjust goodness.\nHe is good to all, though not in the same degree: \u201cThe whole earth is\nfull of his mercy\u201d (Ps. cxix. 64). A good man is good to his cattle,\nto his servants; he makes a provision for all, but he bestows not those\nfloods of bounty upon them that he doth upon his children. As there\nare various gifts, but one Spirit (1 Cor. xii. 4), so there are various\ndistributions, but from one goodness; the drops, as well as the fuller\nstreams, are of the same fountain, and relish of the nature of it; and\nthough he do not make all men partake of the riches of his grace after\nthe corruption of their nature, is his goodness disgraced hereby? or\ndoth he merit the title of cruelty? Will any diminish the goodness of\na father for his not setting up his son after he hath foolishly and\nwilfully proved bankrupt; or not rather admire his liberality in giving\nhim so large a stock to trade with when he first set him up in the\nworld?\n\n2. The goodness of God to creatures, is to be measured by their\ndistinct usefulness to the common end. It were better for a toad or\nserpent to be a man, _i. e._ better for the creature itself, as it were\nadvanced to a higher degree of being, but not better for the universe:\nhe could have made every pebble a living creature, and every living\ncreature a rational one; but that he made everything as we see, it was\na goodness to the creature itself; but that he did not make it of a\nhigher elevation in nature, was a part of his goodness to the rational\ncreature. If all were rational creatures, there would have been wanting\ncreatures of an inferior nature for their conveniency; there would have\nwanted the manifestation of the variety and \u201cfulness of his goodness.\u201d\nHad all things in the world been rational creatures, much of that\ngoodness which he hath communicated to rational creatures would not\nhave appeared: how could man have showed his skill in taming and\nmanaging creatures more mighty than himself? What materials would there\nhave been to manifest the goodness of God, bestowed upon the reasonable\ncreatures for framing excellent works and inventions? Much of the\ngoodness of God had lain wrapt up from sense and understanding. All\nother things partake not of so great a goodness as man; yet they are\nso subservient to that goodness poured forth on man, that little of it\ncould have been seen without them. Consider man, every member in his\nbody hath a goodness in itself; but a greater goodness as referred to\nthe whole, without which the goodness of the more noble part would not\nbe manifested. The head is the most excellent member, and hath greater\nimpressions of Divine goodness upon it, in regard that it is the organ\nof understanding: {b234} were every member of the body a head, what a\ndeformed monster would man be! If he were all head, where would be feet\nfor motion, and arms for action? Man would be fit only for thought, and\nnot for exercise. The goodness of God in giving man so noble a part as\nthe head, could not be known without a tongue, whereby to express the\nconception of his mind; and without feet and hands whereby to act much\nof what he conceives, and determines, and execute the resolves of his\nwill; all those have a goodness in themselves, an honor, a comeliness\nfrom the goodness of God (1 Cor. xii. 22, 23), but not so great\na goodness as the nobler part: yet, if you consider them in their\nfunctions, and refer them to that excellent member which they serve,\ntheir inferior goodness is absolutely necessary to the goodness of the\nother; without which, the goodness of the head and understanding would\nlie in obscurity, be insignificant to the whole world, and, in a great\nmeasure, to the person himself that wants such members.\n\n3. \u201cThe goodness of God is more seen in this inequality.\u201d If God\nwere equally good to all, it would destroy commerce, unity, the\nlinks of human society, damp charity, and render that useless which\nis one of the noblest and delightfulest duties to be exercised here;\nit would cool prayer, which is excited by wants, and is a necessary\ndemonstration of the creature\u2019s dependence on God. But in this\ninequality every man hath enough in his enjoyments for praise, and\nin his wants, matter for his prayer. Besides the inequality of the\ncreature is the ornament of the world; what pleasure could a garden\nafford if there were but one sort of flowers, or one sort of plants?\nfar less than when there is variety to please the sight, and every\nother sense. Again, the freedom of Divine goodness, which is the glory\nof it, is evident hereby; had he been alike good to all, it would have\nlooked like a necessary, not a free act; but by the inequality, it\nis manifest that he doth not do it by a natural necessity as the sun\nshines, but by a voluntary liberty, as being the entire Lord, and free\ndisposer of his own goods; and that is the gift of the pleasure of his\nwill, as well as the efflux of his nature, that he hath not a goodness\nwithout wisdom, but a wisdom as rich as his bounty.\n\n4. The goodness of God could not be equally communicated to all,\nafter their settlement in their several beings,\u2015\u2015because they have not\na capacity in their natures for it: he doth bestow the marks of his\ngoodness according to that natural capacity of fitness he perceives in\nhis creatures; as the water of the sea fills every creek and gulf with\ndifferent measures, according to the compass each have to contain it;\nand as the sun doth disperse light to the stars above, and the places\nbelow, to some more, to some less, according to the measures of their\nreception. God doth not do good to all creatures according to the\ngreatness of his own power, and the extent of his own wealth, but\naccording to the capacity of the subject; not so much good as he can do,\nbut so much good as the creature can receive. The creature would sink,\nif God would pour out all his goodness upon it; as Moses would have\nperished, if God should have shown him all his glory (Exod. xxxiii.\n18, 20). He doth {b235} manifest more good to his reasonable creatures,\nbecause they are more capable of acknowledging, and setting forth his\ngoodness.\n\n5. God ought to be allowed the free disposal of his own goodness.\nIs not God the Lord of his own gifts; and will you not allow him the\nprivilege of having some more peculiar objects of his love and pleasure,\nwhich you allow without blame to man, and use yourself without any\nsense of a crime? Is a prince esteemed good, though he be not equally\nbountiful to all his servants, nor equally gracious in pardoning\nall his rebels; and shall the goodness of the great Sovereign of the\nworld be impeached, notwithstanding those mighty distributions of it,\nbecause he will act according to his own wisdom and pleasure, and not\naccording to men\u2019s fancies and humors? Must purblind reason be the\njudge and director how God shall dispose of his own, rather than his\nown infinite wisdom and sovereign will? Is God less good, because there\nare numberless nothings, which he is able to bring into being? He could\ncreate a world of more creatures than he hath done: doth he, therefore,\nwish evil to them, by letting them remain in that nothing from whence\nhe could draw them? No; but he denies that good to them, which he is\nable, if he pleased, to confer upon them. If God doth not give that\ngood to a creature which it wants by its own demerit, can he be said to\nwish evil to it; or, only to deny that goodness which the creature hath\nforfeited, and which is at God\u2019s liberty to retain or disperse?[967]\nThough God cannot but love his own image where he finds it, yet when\nthis image is lost, and the devil\u2019s image voluntary received, he may\nchoose whether he will manifest his goodness to such a one or no. Will\nyou not account that man liberal, that distributes his alms to a great\ncompany, though he rejects some? Much more will you account him good,\nif he rejects none that implore him, but dispenseth his doles to every\none upon their petition: and is he not good, because he will not bestow\na farthing upon those that address not themselves to him? God is so\ngood, that he denies not the best good to those that seek him: he\nhath promised life and happiness to them that do so. Is he less good,\nbecause he will not distribute his goodness to those that despise\nhim? Though he be good, yet his wisdom is the rule of dispensing his\ngoodness.\n\n6. The severe punishment of offenders, and the afflictions he inflicts\nupon his servants, are no violations of his goodness. The notion of\nGod\u2019s vindictive justice is as naturally inbred, and implanted in the\nmind of man, as that of his goodness, and those two sentiments never\nshocked one another. The heathen never thought him bad, because he was\njust; nor unrighteous, because he was good. God being infinitely good,\ncannot possibly intend or act anything but what is good: \u201cThou art good,\nand thou doest good;\u201d _i. e._ whatsoever thou dost is good, whatsoever\nit be, pleasant or painful to the creature (Ps. cxix. 68): punishments\nthemselves are not a moral evil in the person that inflicts, though\nthey are a natural evil in the person that suffers them.[968] In\nordering punishment to the wicked, good is added to evil; in ordering\nimpunity {b236} to the wicked, evil is added to evil. To punish\nwickedness is right, therefore good: to leave men uncontrolled in their\nwickedness, is unrighteous, and therefore bad. But, again, shall his\njustice in some few judgments in the world, impeach his goodness, more\nthan his wonderful patience to sinners is able to silence the calumnies\nagainst him? Is not his hand fuller of gracious doles, than of dreadful\nthunderbolts? Doth he not oftener seem forgetful of his justice, when\nhe pours out upon the guilty the streams of his mercy, than to be\nforgetful of his goodness, when he sprinkles in the world some drops\nof his wrath?\n\nFirst, God\u2019s judgments in the world, do not infringe his goodness; for,\n\n1. The justice of God is a part of the goodness of his nature.\nGod himself thought so, when he told Moses he would make all his\ngoodness pass before him (Exod. xxxiii. 19): he leaves not out in\nthat enumeration of the parts of it, his resolution, by no means to\nclear the guilty, but to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the\nchildren (Exod. xxxiv. 7). It is a property of goodness to hate evil,\nand, therefore, a property of goodness to punish it: it is no less\nrighteousness to give according to the deserts of a person in a way\nof punishment, than to reward a person that obeys his precepts in a\nway of recompense. Whatsoever is righteous is good; sin is evil; and,\ntherefore, whatsoever doth witness against it, is good; his goodness,\ntherefore, shines in his justice, for without being just he could not\nbe good. Sin is a moral disorder in the world: every sin is injustice:\ninjustice breaks God\u2019s order in the world; there is a necessity\ntherefore of justice to put the world in order. Punishment orders the\nperson committing the injury, who, when he will not be in the order\nof obedience, must be in the order of suffering for God\u2019s honor. The\ngoodness of all things which God pronounced so, consisted in their\norder and beneficial helpfulness to one another: when this order is\ninverted, the goodness of the creature ceaseth: if it be a bad thing\nto spoil this order, is it not a part of Divine goodness to reduce them\ninto order, that they may be reduced in some measure to their goodness?\nDo we ever account a governor less in goodness, because he is exact in\njustice, and punisheth that which makes a disorder in his government?\nand is it a diminution of the Divine goodness, to punish that which\nmakes a disorder in the world? As wisdom without goodness would be a\nserpentine craft, and issue in destruction; so goodness without justice\nwould be impotent indulgence, and cast things into confusion. When\nAbel\u2019s blood cried out for vengeance against Cain, it spake a good\nthing; Christ\u2019s blood speaking better things than the blood of Abel,\nimplies that Abel\u2019s blood spake a good thing; the comparative implies\na positive (Heb. xii. 24). If it were the goodness of that innocent\nblood to demand justice, it could not be a badness in the Sovereign\nof the world to execute it. How can God sustain the part of a good\nand righteous judge, if he did not preserve human society? and how\nwould it be preserved, without manifesting himself by public judgments\nagainst public wrongs? Is there not as great a necessity that goodness\nshould have instruments of judgment, as that there should be {b237}\nprisons, bridewells, and gibbets, in a good commonwealth? Did not the\nthunderbolts of God sometimes roar in the ears of men, they would sin\nwith a higher hand than they do, fly more in the face of God, make\nthe world as much a moral, as it was at first a natural chaos: the\ningenuity of men would be damped, if there were not something to work\nupon their fears, to keep them in their due order. Impunity of the\ninnocent person is worse than any punishment. It is a misery to want\nmedicines for the cure of a sharp disease; and a mark of goodness in\na prince to consult for the security of the political body, by cutting\noff a gangrened and corrupting member: and what prince would deserve\nthe noble title of good, if he did not restrain, by punishment, those\nevils which impair the public welfare? Is it not necessary that the\nexamples of sin, whereby others have been encouraged to wickedness,\nshould be made examples of justice, whereby the same persons and others\nmay be discouraged from what before they were greedily inclined unto?\nIs not a hatred of what is bad and unworthy, as much a part of Divine\ngoodness, as a love to what is excellent, and bears a resemblance to\nhimself? Could he possibly be accounted good, that should bear the same\ndegree of affection to a prodigious vice, as to a sublime virtue? and\nshould behave himself in the same manner of carriage to the innocent\nand culpable? could you account him good, if he did always with\npleasure behold evil, and perpetually suffer the oppressions of the\ninnocent under unpunished wickedness? How should we know the goodness\nof the Divine nature, and his affection to the goodness of his creature,\nif he did not by some acts of severity witness his implacable aversion\nagainst sin, and his care to preserve the good government of the world?\nIf corrupted creatures should always be exempt from the effects of\nhis indignation, he would declare himself not to be infinitely good,\nbecause he would not be really righteous. No man thinks it a natural\nvice in the sun, by the power of its scorching heat, to dry up and\nconsume the unwholesome vapors of the air; nor are the demonstrations\nof Divine justice any blots upon his goodness, since they are both for\nthe defence and glory of his holiness, and for the preservation of the\nbeauty and order of the world.\n\n2. Is it not part of the goodness of God to make laws, and annex\nthreatenings; and shall it be an impeachment of his goodness to support\nthem? The more severe laws are made for deterring evil, the better is\nthat prince accounted in making such provision for the welfare of the\ncommunity. The design of laws, and the design of upholding the honor of\nthose laws by the punishment of offenders, is to promote goodness and\nrestrain evil; the execution of those laws must be therefore pursuant\nto the same design of goodness which first settled them. Would it not\nbe contrary to goodness, to suffer that which was designed for the\nsupport of goodness, to be scorned and slighted? It would neither be\nprudence nor goodness, but folly and vice, to let laws, which were\nmade to promote virtue, be broken with impunity. Would not this be\nto weaken virtue, and give a new life and vigor to vice? Not only\nthe righteousness of the law itself, but the wisdom of the Lawgiver\nwould be exposed {b238} to contempt, if the violations of it remained\nuncontrolled, and the violence offered by men passed unpunished.\nNone but will acknowledge the Divine precepts to be the image of the\nrighteousness of God, and beneficial for the common good of the world\n(Rom. vii. 12): \u201cThe law is holy, just, and good,\u201d and so is every\nprecept of it; the law is for no other end, but to keep the creature\nin subjection to, and dependence on God; this dependence could not be\npreserved without a law, nor that law be kept in reputation, without\na penalty; nor would that penalty be significant without an execution.\nEvery law loseth the nature of a law, without a penalty; and the\npenalty loseth its vigor, without the infliction of it: how can those\nlaws attain their end, if the transgressions of them be not punished?\nWould not the wickedness of the men\u2019s hearts be encouraged by such a\nkind of uncomely goodness? and all the threatenings be to no other end,\nthan to engender vain and fruitless fears in the minds of men? Is it\ngood for the majesty of God to suffer itself to be trampled on by his\nvassals? to suffer men, by their rebellion, to level his law with the\nwickedness of their own hearts; and by impunity slight his own glory,\nand encourage their disobedience? Who would give any man, any prince,\nany father, that should do so, the name of a good governor? If it were\na fruit of Divine goodness to make laws, is it contrary to goodness\nto support the honor of them? It is every whit as rational and as good\nto vindicate the honor of his laws by justice, as at first to settle\nthem by authority; as much goodness to vindicate it from contempt, as\nat first to enact it; as it is as much wisdom to preserve a law, as\nat first to frame it: shall his precepts be thought by him unworthy\nof a support, that were not thought by him unworthy to be made? The\nsame reason of goodness that led him to enjoin them, will lead him\nto revenge them. Did evil appear odious to him, while he enacted this\nlaw; and would not his goodness, as well as his wisdom, appear odious\nto him, if he did never execute it? Would it not be a denial of his\nown goodness, to be led by the foolish and corrupt judgment of his\ncreatures, and slight his own law, because his rebels spurn at it?\nSince he valued it before they could actually contemn it, would he not\nmisjudge his own law and his own wisdom, discount from the true value\nof them, condemn his own acts, censure his precepts as unrighteous,\nand therefore evil and injurious? remove the differences between good\nand evil, look upon vice as virtue, and wickedness as righteousness,\nif he thought his commands unworthy a vindication? How can there be any\nsupport to the honor of his precepts, without sometimes executing the\nseverity of his threatenings? And as to his threatenings of punishment\nfor the breach of his laws, are they not designed to discourage\nwickedness, as the promises of reward were designed to encourage\ngoodness? Hath he not multiplied the one, to scare men from sin, as\nwell as the other, to allure men to obedience? Is not the same truth\nengaged to support the one, as well as the other; and how could he\nbe abundant in goodness, if he were not abundant in truth (Exod. xxxiv.\n6)? both are linked together; if he neglected his truth, he would\nbe out of love with his own goodness; since it cannot be manifested\nin performing the promises to the obedient, if {b239} it be not also\nmanifested in executing his threatenings upon the rebellious. Had not\nGod annexed threatenings to his laws, he would have had no care of\nhis own goodness. The order between God and the creature, wherein the\ndeclaration of his goodness consisted, might have been easily broken by\nhis creature; man would have freed himself from subjection to God; been\nunaccountable to him, had this consisted with that infinite goodness\nwhereby he loves himself, and loves his creatures. As therefore the\nannexing threatenings to his law, was a part of his goodness; the\nexecution of them is so far from being a blemish, that it is the\nhonor of his goodness. The rewards of obedience, and the punishment of\ndisobedience, refer to the same end, _viz._ the due manifestation of\nthe valuation of his own law, the glorifying his own goodness, which\nenjoined so beneficial a law for man, and the support of that goodness\nin the creatures, which by that law he demands righteously and kindly\nof them.\n\n3. Hence it follows, That not to punish evil, would be a want of\ngoodness to himself. The goodness of God is an indulgent goodness, in a\nway of wisdom and reason; not a fond goodness, in a way of weakness and\nfolly: would it not be a weakness, always to bear with the impenitent?\na want of expressing a goodness to goodness itself? Would not goodness\nhave more reason to complain, for a want of justice to rescue it,\nthan men have reason to complain, for the exercise of justice in\nthe vindication of it? If God established all things in order, with\ninfinite wisdom and goodness, and God silently beheld, forever, this\norder broken, would he not either charge himself with a want of power,\nor a want of will, to preserve the marks of his own goodness? Would\nit be a kindness to himself to be careless of the breaches of his own\norders? His throne would shake, yea, sink from under him, if justice,\nwhereby he sentenceth, and judgment, whereby he executes his sentence,\nwere not the supports of it (Ps. lxxxix. 14). \u201cJustice and judgment\nare the habitation of thy throne,\u201d \u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df, the stability or foundation of\nthy throne. So, Ps. xciii. 2. Man would forget his relation to God;\nGod would be unknown to be sovereign of the world, were he careless\nof the breaches of his own order (Ps. ix. 16). \u201cThe Lord is known by\nthe judgments which he executes;\u201d is it not a part of his goodness, to\npreserve the indispensable order between himself and his creatures? His\nown sovereignty, which is good, and the subjection of the creature to\nhim as sovereign, which is also good; the one would not be maintained\nin its due place, nor the other restrained in due limits, without\npunishment. Would it be a goodness in him to see goodness itself\ntrampled upon constantly, without some time or other appearing for\nthe relief of it? Is it not a goodness to secure his own honor,\nto prevent further evil? Is it not a goodness to discourage men by\njudgments, sometimes, from a contempt and ill use of his bounty; as\nwell as sometimes patiently to bear with them, and wait upon them for a\nreformation? Must God be bad to himself, to be kind to his enemies? And\nshall it be accounted an unkindness, and a mark of evil in him, not to\nsuffer himself to be always outraged and defied? The world is wronged\nby sin, as well as God is injured by it. How could God be good to\nhimself, if he righted not his {b240} own honor? or be a good governor\nof the world, if he did not sometimes witness against the injuries it\nreceives sometimes from the works of his hands? Would he be good to\nhimself, as a God, to be careless of his own honor? or good, as the\nRector of the world, and be regardless of the world\u2019s confusion? That\nGod should give an eternal good to that creature that declines its duty,\nand despiseth his sovereignty, is not agreeable to the goodness of his\nwisdom, or that of his righteousness. It is a part of God\u2019s goodness\nto love himself. Would he love his sovereignty, if he saw it daily\nslighted, without sometimes discovering how much he values the honor\nof it? Would he have any esteem for his own goodness, if he beheld it\ntrampled upon, without any will to vindicate it? Doth mercy deserve\nthe name of cruelty, because it pleads against a creature that hath so\noften abused it, and hath refused to have any pity exercised towards it\nin a righteous and regular way? Is sovereignty destitute of goodness,\nbecause it preserves its honor against one that would not have it reign\nover him? Would he not seem, by such a regardlessness, to renounce his\nown essence, undervalue and undermine his own goodness, if he had not\nan implacable aversion to whatsoever is contrary to it? If men turn\ngrace into wantonness, is it not more reasonable he should turn his\ngrace into justice? All his attributes, which are parts of his goodness,\nengage him to punish sin; without it, his authority would be vilified,\nhis purity stained, his power derided, his truth disgraced, his justice\nscorned, his wisdom slighted; he would be thought to have dissembled in\nhis laws; and be judged, according to the rules of reason, to be void\nof true goodness.\n\n4. Punishment is not the primary intention of God. It is his goodness\nthat he hath no mind to punish; and therefore he hath put a bar to\nevil, by his prohibitions and threatenings, that he might prevent sin,\nand, consequently, any occasions of severity against his creature.[969]\nThe principal intention of God, in his law, was to encourage goodness,\nthat he might reward it; and when, by the commission of evil, God is\nprovoked to punish, and takes the sword into his hand, he doth not act\nagainst the nature of his goodness, but against the first intention\nof his goodness in his precepts, which was to reward; as a good judge\nprincipally intends, in the exercise of his office, to protect good men\nfrom violence, and maintain the honor of the laws, yet, consequently,\nto punish bad men, without which the protection of the good would not\nbe secured, nor the honor of the law be supported; and a good judge, in\nthe exercise of his office, doth principally intend the encouragement\nof the good, and wisheth there were no wickedness that might occasion\npunishment; and, when he doth sentence a malefactor, in order to the\nexecution of him, he doth not act against the goodness of his nature,\nbut pursuant to the duty of his place, but wisheth he had no occasion\nfor such severity. Thus God seems to speak of himself (Isa. xxviii. 21);\nhe calls the act of his wrath his \u201cstrange work, his strange act;\u201d a\nwork, not against his nature, as the Governor of the world, but against\nhis first intention, as Creator, which was to manifest his goodness;\ntherefore he moves with a slow pace in those acts, {b241} brings out\nhis judgments with relentings of heart, and seems to cast out his\nthunderbolts with a trembling hand: \u201cHe doth not afflict willingly, nor\ngrieve the children of men\u201d (Lam. iii. 33); and therefore he \u201cdelights\nnot in the death of a sinner\u201d (Ezek. xxxiii. 11); not in death, as\ndeath; in punishment, as punishment; but as it reduceth the suffering\ncreature to the order of his precept, or reduceth him into order under\nhis power, or reforms others who are spectators of the punishment upon\na criminal of their own nature; God only hates the sin, not the sinner;\nhe desires only the destruction of the one, not the misery of the other;\nthe nature of a man doth not displease him, because it is a work of\nhis own goodness, but the nature of the sinner displeaseth him, because\nit is a work of the sinner\u2019s own extravagance.[970] Divine goodness\npitcheth not its hatred primarily upon the sinner, but upon the sin:\nbut since he cannot punish the sin without punishing the subject to\nwhich it cleaves, the sinner falls under his lash. Whoever regards a\ngood judge as an enemy to the malefactor, but as an enemy to his crime,\nwhen he doth sentence and execute him?\n\n5. Judgments in the world have a goodness in them, therefore they are\nno impeachments of the goodness of God.\n\n(1.) A goodness in their preparations. He sends not judgments without\ngiving warnings; his justice is so far from extinguishing his goodness,\nthat his goodness rather shines out in the preparations of his justice;\nhe gives men time, and sends them messengers, to persuade them to\nanother temper of mind, that he may change his hand, and exercise\nhis liberality where he threatened his severity. When the heathen had\npresages of some evil upon their persons or countries, they took them\nfor invitations to repentance, excited themselves to many acts of\ndevotion, implored his favor, and often experimented it. The Ninevites,\nupon the proclamation of the destruction of their city by Jonah, fell\nto petitioning him, whereby they signified, that they thought him good,\nthough he were just, and more prone to pity than severity; and their\nhumble carriage caused the arrows he had ready against them to drop\nout of his hands (Jonah iii. 9, 10). When he brandisheth his sword,\nhe wishes for some to stand in that gap, to mollify his anger, that\nhe might not strike the fatal blow (Ezek. xxxii. 30); \u201cI sought for\na man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap\nbefore me in the land, that I should not destroy it.\u201d He was desirous\nthat his creatures might be in a capacity to receive the marks of\nhis bounty.[971] This he signified, not obscurely, to Moses (Exod.\nxxxii. 10), when he spoke to him to let him alone, that his anger\nmight wax hot against the people, after they had made a golden calf and\nworshipped it. \u201cLet me alone,\u201d said God: not that Moses restrained him,\nsaith Chrysostom, who spake nothing to him, but stood silent before him,\nand knew nothing of the people\u2019s idolatry; but God would give him an\noccasion of praying for them, that he might exercise his mercy towards\nthem; yet in such a manner, that the people, being struck with a sense\nof their crime, and the horror of Divine justice, they might be amended\nfor the future, when they should understand that their death was not\naverted by their {b242} own merit or intercession, but by Moses, his\npatronage of them, and pleading for them; as we see sometimes masters\nand fathers angry with their servants and children, and preparing\nthemselves to punish them, but secretly wish some friend to intercede\nfor them, and take them out of their hands: there is a goodness shining\nin the preparations of his judgments.\n\n2. A goodness in the execution of them. They are good, as they shew\nGod disaffected to evil, and conduce to the glory of his holiness, and\ndeter others from presumptuous sins (Deut. x. 3): \u201cI will be glorified\nin all that draw near unto me;\u201d\u2015\u2015in his judgment upon Nadab and Abihu,\nthe sons of Aaron, for offering strange fire. By them God preserves\nthe excellent footsteps of his own goodness in his creation and his\nlaw, and curbs the licentiousness of men, and contains them within the\nbounds of their duty. \u201cThy judgments are good,\u201d saith the Psalmist (Ps.\ncxix. xxxix.); _i. e._ thy judicial proceedings upon the wicked; for\nhe desires God there to turn away, by some signal act, the reproach\nthe wicked cast upon him. Can there be any thing more miserable than\nto live in a world full of wickedness, and void of the marks of Divine\ngoodness and justice to repress it? Were there not judgments in the\nworld, men would forget God, be insensible of his government of the\nworld, neglect the exercises of natural and christian duties; religion\nwould be at its last gasp, and expire among them, and men would pretend\nto break God\u2019s precepts by God\u2019s authority. Are they not good, then,\nas they restrain the creature from further evils; affright others from\nthe same crimes which they were inclinable to commit? He strikes some,\nto reform others that are spectators; as Apollonius tamed pigeons by\nbeating dogs before them. Punishments are God\u2019s gracious warnings to\nothers, not to venture upon the crimes which they see attended with\nsuch judgments. The censers of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, were to be\nwrought into plates for a covering of the altar, to abide there as\na memento to others, not to approach to the exercise of the priestly\noffice without an authoritative call from God (Numb. xvi. 38, 40);\nand those judgments exercised in the former ages of the world, were\nintended by Divine goodness for warnings, even in evangelical times.\nLot\u2019s wife was turned into a pillar of salt, to prevent men from\napostasy; that use Christ himself makes of it, in the exhortation\nagainst \u201cturning back\u201d (Luke xvii. 32, 33). And (Ps. lviii. 10): \u201cThe\nrighteous shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.\u201d When God\nshall drench his sword in the blood of the wicked, the righteous shall\ntake occasion from thence, to purify themselves, and reform their ways,\nand look to the paths of their feet. Would not impunity be hurtful\nto the world, and men receive encouragement to sin, if severities\nsometimes did not bridle them from the practice of their inclinations?\nSometimes the sinner himself is reformed, and sometimes removed from\nbeing an example to others. Though thunder be an affrightening noise,\nand lightning a scaring flash, yet they have a liberal goodness in them,\nin shattering and consuming those contagious vapors which burden and\ninfect the air, and thereby render it more clear and healthful. Again,\nthere are few acts of Divine justice upon a people, but are in {b243}\nthe very execution of them attended with demonstrations of his goodness\nto others; he is a protector of his own, while he is a revenger on\nhis enemies; when he rides upon his horses in anger against some, his\nchariots are \u201cchariots of salvation\u201d to others (Hab. iii. 8). Terror\nmakes way for salvation; the overthrow of Pharaoh and the strength of\nhis nation, completed the deliverance of the Israelites. Had not the\nEgyptians met with their destruction, the Israelites had unavoidably\nmet with their ruin, against all the promises God had made to them,\nand to the defamation of his former justice, in the former plagues upon\ntheir oppressors. The death of Herod was the security of Peter, and the\nrest of the maliced christians. The gracious deliverance of good men\nis often occasioned by some severe stroke upon some eminent persecutor;\nthe destruction of the oppressor is the rescue of the innocent. Again,\nwhere is there a judgment but leaves more criminals behind than it\nsweeps away, that deserved to be involved in the same fate with the\nrest? More Egyptians were left behind to possess and enjoy the goodness\nof their fruitful land, than they were that were hurried into another\nworld by the overflowing waves; is not this a mark of goodness as\nwell as severity? Again, is it not a goodness in Him not to pour out\njudgments according to the greatness of his power? to go gradually to\nwork with those whom he might in a moment blow to destruction with one\nbreath of his mouth? Again, he sometimes exerciseth judgments upon some,\nto form a new generation for himself; he destroyed an old world, to\nraise a new one more righteous, as a man pulls down his old buildings\nto erect a sounder and more stately fabric. To sum up what hath been\nsaid in this particular; how could God be a friend to goodness, if\nhe were not an enemy to evil? how could he shew his enmity to evil,\nwithout revenging the abuse and contempt of his goodness? God would\nrather have the repentance of a sinner than his punishment; but the\nsinner would rather expose himself to the severest frowns of God, than\npursue those methods wherein he hath settled the conveyances of his\nkindness; \u201cYou will not come to me that you might have life,\u201d saith\nChrist. How is eternity of punishment inconsistent with the goodness of\nGod? nay, how can God be good without it? If wickedness always remain\nin the nature of man, is it not fit the rod should always remain on\nthe back of men? Is it a want of goodness that keeps an incorrigible\noffender in chains in a bridewell? While sin remains, it is fit it\nshould be punished; would not God else be an enemy to his own goodness,\nand shew favor to that which doth abuse it, and is contrary to it?\nHe hath threatened eternal flames to sinners, that he might the more\nstrongly excite them to a reformation of their ways, and a practice of\nhis precepts. In those threatenings he hath manifested his goodness;\nand can it be bad in him to defend what his goodness hath commanded,\nand execute what his goodness hath threatened? His truth is also a part\nof his goodness; for it is nothing but his goodness performing that\nwhich it obliged him to do. That is the first thing; severe judgments\nin the world are no impeachments of his goodness.\n\nSecondly, The afflictions God inflicts upon his servants, are no\n{b244} violations of his goodness. Sometimes God afflicts men for their\ntemporal and eternal good; for the good of their grace, in order to the\ngood of their glory; which is a more excellent good, than afflictions\ncan be an evil. The heathens reflected upon Ulysses\u2019 hardship, as\na mark of Jupiter\u2019s goodness and love to him, that his virtue might\nbe more conspicuous. By strong persecutions brought upon the church,\nher lethargy is cured, her chaff purged, the glorious fruit of the\ngospel brought forth in the lives of her children; the number of her\nproselytes multiply, and the strength of her weak ones is increased,\nby the testimonies of courage and constancy which the stronger present\nto them in their sufferings. Do these good effects speak a want of\ngoodness in God, who brings them into this condition? By those he cures\nhis people of their corruptions, and promotes their glory, by giving\nthem the honor of suffering for the truth, and raiseth their spirits\nto a divine pitch. The epistles of Paul to the Ephesians, Philippians,\nand Colossians, wrote by him while he was in Nero\u2019s chains, seem to\nhave a higher strain than some of those he wrote when he was at liberty.\nAs for afflictions, they are marks of a greater measure of fatherly\ngoodness than he discovers to those that live in an uninterrupted\nprosperity, who are not dignified with that glorious title of sons, as\nthose are that \u201che chasteneth\u201d (Heb. xii. 6, 7). Can any question the\ngoodness of the father that corrects his child to prevent his vice and\nruin, and breed him up to virtue and honor? It would be a cruelty in\na father leaving his child without chastisement, to leave him to that\nmisery an ill education would reduce him to: \u201cGod judges us that we\nmight not be condemned with the world\u201d (1 Cor. xi. 32). Is it not a\ngreater goodness to separate us from the world to happiness by his\nscourge, than to leave us to the condemnation of the world for our\nsins? Is it not a greater goodness to make us smart here, than to see\nus scorched hereafter? As he is our Shepherd, it is no part of his\nenmity or ill\u2011will to us, to make us feel sometimes the weight of his\nshepherd\u2019s crook, to reduce us from our struggling. The visiting our\ntransgressions with rods, and our iniquities with stripes, is one of\nthe articles of the covenant of grace, wherein the greatest lustre\nof his goodness appears (Ps. lxxxix. 33). The advantage and gain of\nour afflictions is a greater testimony of his goodness to us, than the\npain can be of his unkindness; the smart is well recompensed by the\naccession of clearer graces. It is rather a high mark of goodness, than\nan argument for the want of it, that he treats us as his children, and\nwill not suffer us to run into that destruction we are more ambitious\nof, than the happiness he hath prepared for us, and by afflictions he\nfits us for the partaking of, by \u201cimparting his holiness,\u201d together\nwith the inflicting his rod (Heb. xii. 10). That is the third thing,\nGod is good.\n\nIV. The fourth thing is the manifestation of this goodness in\n_Creation_, _Redemption_, and _Providence_.\n\n_First_, In _Creation_. This is apparent from what hath been said\nbefore, that no other attribute could be the motive of his creating,\nbut his goodness; his goodness was the cause that he made any thing,\nand his wisdom was the cause that he made every thing in {b245} order\nand harmony. He pronounced \u201cevery thing good,\u201d _i. e._ such as became\nhis goodness to bring forth into being, and rested in them more, as\nthey were stamps of his goodness, than as they were marks of his power,\nor beams of his wisdom. And if all creatures were able to answer to\nthis question, What that was which created them? the answer would be,\nAlmighty power, but employed by the motion of infinite goodness.[972]\nAll the varieties of creatures are so many apparitions of this goodness.\nThough God be one, yet he cannot appear as a God but in variety. As\nthe greatness of power is not manifest but in variety of works, and an\nacute understanding not discovered but in variety of reasonings, so an\ninfinite goodness is not so apparent as in variety of communications.\n\n1. The creation proceeds from goodness. It is the goodness of God to\nextract such multitudes of things from the depths of nothing. Because\nGod is good, things have a being; if he had not been good, nothing\ncould have been good; nothing could have imparted that which it\npossessed not; nothing but goodness could have communicated to things\nan excellency, which before they wanted. Being is much more excellent\nthan nothing. By this goodness, therefore, the whole creation was\nbrought out of the dark womb of nothing; this formed their natures,\nthis beautified them with their several ornaments and perfections,\nwhereby everything was enabled to act for the good of the common world.\nGod did not create things because he was a living Being, but because\nhe was a good Being. No creature brought forth anything in the world\nmerely because it is, but because it is good, and by a communicated\ngoodness fitted for such a production. If God had been the creating\nprinciple of things only as he was a living Being, or as he was an\nunderstanding Being, then all things should have partaken of life and\nunderstanding, because all things were to bear some characters of the\nDeity upon them. If by understanding, solely, God were the Creator of\nall things, all things should have borne the mark of the Deity upon\nthem, and should have been more or less understanding; but he created\nthings as he was good, and by goodness he renders all things more\nor less like himself: hence everything is accounted more noble, not\nin regard of its being, but in regard of the beneficialness of its\nnature. The being of things was not the end of God in creating, but the\ngoodness of their being. God did not rest from his works because they\nwere his works, _i. e._ because they had a being; but because they\nhad a good being (Gen. i.); because they were naturally useful to\nthe universe: nothing was more pleasing to him, than to behold those\nshadows and copies of his own goodness in his works.\n\n2. Creation was the first act of goodness without himself. When\nhe was alone from eternity, he contented himself with himself,\nabounding in his own blessedness, delighting in that abundance; he was\nincomprehensively rich in the possession of an unstained felicity.[973]\nThis creation was the first efflux of his goodness without himself:\nfor the work of creation cannot be called a work of mercy.[974] Mercy\nsupposeth a creature miserable, but that which hath no being is subject\n{b246} to no misery; for to be miserable supposeth a nature in being,\nand deprived of that good which belongs to the pleasure and felicity\nof nature; but since there was no being, there could be no misery.\nThe creation, therefore, was not an act of mercy, but an act of sole\ngoodness; and, therefore, it was the speech of an heathen, that when\nGod first set upon the creation of the world, he transformed himself\ninto love and goodness, \u0395\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f14\u03c1\u03c9\u03c4\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b2\u03bb\u1fc6\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b8\u03b5\u1f78\u03bd \u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\n\u03b4\u03b7\u03bc\u03b9\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b3\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd.[975] This led forth, and animated his power, the first\nmoment it drew the universe out of the womb of nothing. And,\n\n3. There is not one creature but hath a character of his goodness.\nThe whole world is a map to represent, and a herald to proclaim this\nperfection. It is as difficult not to see something of it in every\ncreature with the eye of our minds, as it is not to see the beams of\nthe shining sun with those off our bodies. \u201cHe is good to all\u201d (Ps.\ncxlv. 9); he is, therefore, good in all; not a drop of the creation,\nbut is a drop of his goodness. These are the colors worn upon the\nheads of every creature. As in every spark the light of the fire is\nmanifested, so doth every grain of the creation wear the visible badges\nof this perfection. In all the lights, the Father of Lights hath made\nthe riches of goodness apparent; no creature is silent in it; it is\nlegible to all nations in every work of his hands. That, as it is said\nof Christ (Ps. xl. 7), \u201cIn the volume of thy book it is written of me:\u201d\nIn the volume of the book of the Scripture it is written of me, and my\ngoodness in redemption: so it may be said of God, In the volume of the\nbook of the creature it is written of me, and my goodness in creation.\nEvery creature is a page in this book, whose \u201cline is gone through\nall the earth, and their words to the end of the world\u201d (Ps. xix. 4);\nthough, indeed, the less goodness in some is obscured by the more\nresplendent goodness he hath imparted unto others. What an admirable\npiece of goodness is it to communicate life to a fly! How should we\nstand gazing upon it, till we turn our eye inwards, and view our own\nframe, which is much more ravishing!\n\nBut let us see the goodness of God in the creation of man,\u2015\u2015_in the\nbeing and nature of man_. God hath, with a liberal hand, conferred upon\nevery creature the best being it was capable of in that station and\norder, and conducing to that end and use in the world he intended it\nfor. But when you have run over all the measures of goodness God hath\npoured forth upon other creatures, you will find a greater fulness\nof it in the nature of man, whom he hath placed in a more sublime\ncondition, and endued with choicer prerogatives, than other creatures:\nhe was made but little lower than the angels, and much more loftily\ncrowned with glory and honor than other creatures (Ps. viii. 5). Had it\nnot been for Divine goodness, that excellent creature had lain wrapt up\nin the abyss of nothing; or if he had called it out of nothing, there\nmight have been less of skill and less of goodness displayed in the\nforming of it, and a lesser kind of being imparted to it, than what he\nhath conferred.\n\n1. How much of goodness is visible in his body! God drew out some part\nof the dust of the ground, and copied out this perfection, as well as\nthat of his power, on that mean matter, by erecting it into {b247} the\nform of a man, quickening that earth by the inspiration of a \u201cliving\nsoul\u201d (Gen. ii. 7): of this matter he composed an excellent body, in\nregard of the majesty of the face, erectness of its stature, and grace\nof every part. How neatly hath he wrought this \u201ctabernacle of clay,\nthis earthly house,\u201d as the apostle calls it (2 Cor. v. 1)! a curious\nwrought piece of needle\u2011work, a comely artifice (Ps. cxxxix. 15), an\nembroidered case for an harmonious lute. What variety of members, with\na due proportion, without confusion, beautiful to sight, excellent\nfor use, powerful for strength! It hath eyes to conduct its motion, to\nserve in matter for the food, and delight of the understanding; ears to\nlet in the pleasure of sound, to convey intelligence of the affairs of\nthe world, and the counsels of heaven, to a more noble mind. It hath\na tongue to express and sound forth what the learned inhabitant in it\nthinks; and hands to act what the inward counsellor directs; and feet\nto support the fabric. It is tempered with a kindly heat, and an oily\nmoisture for motion, and endued with conveyances for air, to qualify\nthe fury of the heat, and nourishment to supply the decays of moisture.\nIt is a cabinet fitted by Divine goodness for the enclosing a rich\njewel; a palace made of dust, to lodge in it the viceroy of the world;\nan instrument disposed for the operations of the nobler soul which\nhe intended to unite to that refined matter. What is there in the\nsituation of every part, in the proportion of every member, in the\nusefulness of every limb and string to the offices of the body, and\nservice of the soul; what is there in the whole structure that doth\nnot inform us of the goodness of God?\n\n2. But what is this to that goodness which shines in the nature of the\nsoul? Who can express the wonders of that comeliness that is wrapped up\nin this mask of clay? A soul endued with a clearness of understanding\nand freedom of will: faculties no sooner framed, but they were able\nto produce the operation they were intended for; a soul that excelled\nthe whole world, that comprehended the whole creation; a soul that\nevidenced the extent of its skill in giving names to all that variety\nof creatures which had issued out of the hand of Divine Power (Gen.\nii. 19); a soul able to discover the nature of other creatures, and\nmanage and conduct their motions. In the ruins of a palace we may see\nthe curiosity displayed, and the cost expended in the building of it;\nin the ruins of this fallen structure, we still find it capable of a\nmighty knowledge; a reason able to regulate affairs, govern states,\norder more mighty and massy creatures, find out witty inventions; there\nis still an understanding to irradiate the other faculties, a mind\nto contemplate its own Creator, a judgment to discern the differences\nbetween good and evil, vice and virtue, which the goodness of God hath\nnot granted to any lower creature. These excellent faculties, together\nwith the power of self\u2011reflection, and the swiftness of the mind in\nrunning over the things of the creation, are astonishing gleams of the\nvast goodness of that Divine Hand which ennobled this frame. To the\nother creatures of this world, God had given out some small mites from\nhis treasury; but in the perfections of man, he hath opened the more\nsecret parts {b248} of his exchequer, and liberally bestowed those\ndoles, which he hath not expended upon the other creatures on earth.\n\n3. Besides this, he did not only make man so noble a creature in his\nframe, but \u201che made him after his own image in holiness.\u201d He imparted\nto him a spark of his own comeliness, in order to a communion with\nhimself in happiness, had man stood his ground in his trial, and used\nthose faculties well, which had been the gift of his Bountiful Creator:\nhe \u201cmade man after his image,\u201d after his own image (Gen. i. 26, 27);\nthat as a coin bears the image of the prince, so did the soul of man\nthe \u201cimage of God:\u201d not the image of angels, though the speech be in\nthe plural number: \u201cLet us make man.\u201d It is not to a creature, but to\na Creator; let \u201cus,\u201d that are his makers, make him in the image of his\nmakers. God created man, angels did not create him; God created man\nin his \u201cown\u201d image, not, therefore, in the image of angels: the nature\nof God, and the nature of angels, are not the same. Where, in the\nwhole Scripture, is man said to be made after the image of angels? God\nmade man not in the image of angels, to be conformed to them as his\nprototype, but in the image of the blessed God, to be conformed to the\nDivine nature: that as he was conformed to the image of his holiness,\nhe might also partake of the image of his blessedness, which, without\nit, could not be attained: for as the felicity of God could not be\nclear without an unspotted holiness, so neither can there be a glorious\nhappiness without purity in the creature; this God provided for in his\ncreation of man, giving him such accomplishments in those two excellent\npieces of soul and body, that nothing was wanting to him but his own\nwill, to instate him in an invariable felicity. He was possessed with\nsuch a nature by the hand of Divine Goodness, such a loftiness of\nunderstanding, and purity of faculties, that he might have been for\never happy as well as the standing angels: and he was placed in such a\ncondition, that moved the envy of fallen spirits; he had as much grace\nbestowed upon him, as was proportionable to that covenant God then made\nwith him: the tenor of which was, that his life should continue so long\nas his obedience, and his happiness endure so long as his integrity:\nand as God, by creation, had given him an integrity of nature, so he\nhad given him a power to persist in it, if he would. Herein is the\ngoodness of God displayed, that he made man after his own image.\n\n4. As to the life of man in this world, God, by an immense goodness,\ncopied out in him the whole creation, and made him an abridgment of\nthe higher and lower world,\u2015\u2015a little world in a greater one. The link\nof the two worlds, of heaven and earth, as the spiritual and corporeal\nnatures are united in him, the earth in the dust of his body, and the\nheavens in the crystal of his soul: he hath the upper springs of the\nlife of angels in his reason, and the nether springs of the life of\nanimals in his sense. God displayed those virtues in man, which he\nhad discovered in the rest of the lower creation; but, besides the\ncommunication which he had with earth in his nature, God gave him a\nparticipation with heaven in his spirit. A mere bodily being he hath\ngiven to the heavens, earth, elements; a vegetative life, or a life of\ngrowth, he hath vouchsafed to the plants of the ground: he {b249} hath\nstretched out his liberality more to animals and beasts, by giving\nthem sense. All these hath his goodness linked in man, being, life,\nsense, with a richer dole than any of those creatures have received in\na rational, intellectual life, whereby he approacheth to the nature of\nangels. This some of the Jews understood (Gen. ii. 7): \u201cGod breathed\ninto his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul,\u201d\n\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd, breath of lives, in the Hebrew; not one sort of life, but that\nvariety of lives which he had imparted to other creatures: all the\nperfections scattered in other creatures do unitedly meet in man: so\nthat Philo might well call him \u201cevery creature, the model of the whole\ncreation:\u201d his soul is heaven, and his body is earth.[976] So that the\nimmensity of his goodness to man, is as great as all that goodness you\nbehold in sensitive and intelligible things.\n\n5. All this was free goodness. God eternally possessed his own\nfelicity in himself, and had no need of the existence of anything\nwithout himself for his satisfaction. Man, before his being, could\nhave no good qualities to invite God to make him so excellent a fabric:\nfor, being nothing, he was as unable to allure and merit, as to bring\nhimself into being; nay, he created a multitude of men, who, he foresaw\nwould behave themselves in as ungrateful a manner, as if they had not\nbeen his creatures, but had bestowed that rich variety upon themselves\nwithout the hand of a superior Benefactor. How great is this goodness,\nthat hath made us models of the whole creation, tied together heaven\nand earth in our nature, when he might have ranked us among the lower\ncreatures of the earth, made us mere bodies as the stones, or mere\nanimals as the brutes, and denied us those capacious souls, whereby\nwe might both know him and enjoy him! What could man have been more,\nunless he had been the original, which was impossible? He could not\nbe greater than to be an image of the Deity, an epitome of the whole.\nWell may we cry out with the Psalmist (Ps. viii. 1, 4), \u201cO Lord, our\nLord, how excellent is thy name,\u201d the name of thy goodness, \u201cin all\nthe earth!\u201d How, more particularly in man! \u201cWhat is man that thou art\nmindful of him?\u201d What is a little clod of earth and dust, that thou\nshouldst ennoble him with so rich a nature, and engrave upon him such\ncharacters of thy immense Being?\n\n6. The goodness of God appears in the conveniences he provided for,\nand gave to man. As God gave him a being morally perfect in regard of\nrighteousness, so he gave him a being naturally perfect in regard of\ndelightful conveniences, which was the fruit of excellent goodness;\nsince there was no quality in man, to invite God to provide him so\nrich a world, nor to bestow upon him so comely a being.\n\n(1.) The world was made for man. Since angels have not need of anything\nin this world, and are above the conveniences of earth and air, it will\nfollow, that man, being the noblest creature on the earth, was the more\nimmediate end of the visible creation. All inferior things are made\nto be subservient to those that have a more excellent prerogative of\nnature; and, therefore, all things for man, who exceeds all the rest\nin dignity: as man was made for the honor of God, so the world was made\nfor the support and delight of man, {b250} in order to his performing\nthe service due from him to God. The empire God settled man in as his\nlieutenant over the works of his hands, when he gave him possession of\nparadise, is a clear manifestation of it: God put all things under his\nfeet, and gave him a deputed dominion over the rest of the creatures\nunder himself, as the absolute sovereign (Ps. viii. 6\u20128); \u201cThou madest\nhim to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all\nthings under his feet, all sheep and oxen; yea, and the beasts of\nthe field, the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea; yea, and\nwhatsoever passeth over the paths of the sea.\u201d What less is witnessed\nto by the calamity all creatures were subjected to by the corruption\nof man\u2019s nature? Then was the earth cursed, and a black cloud flung\nupon the beauty of the creation, and the strength and vigor of it\nlanguisheth to this day under the curse of God (Gen. ii. 17, 18), and\ngroans under that vanity the sin of man subjected it to (Rom. viii. 20,\n22). The treasons of man against God brought misery upon that which was\nframed for the use of man: as when the majesty of a prince is violated\nby the treason and rebellion of his subjects, all that which belongs to\nthem, and was, before the free gift of the prince to them, is forfeit;\ntheir habitations, palaces, cattle, all that belongs to them bear the\nmarks of his sovereign fury: had not the delicacies of the earth been\nmade for the use of man, they had not fallen under the indignation\nof God upon the sin of man. God crowned the earth with his goodness\nto gratify man; gave man a right to serve himself of the delightful\ncreatures he had provided (Gen. i. 28\u201230); yea, and after man had\nforfeited all by sin, and God had washed again the creature in a\ndeluge, he renews the creation, and delivers it again into the hand of\nman, binding all creatures to pay a respect to him, and recognise him\nas their Lord, either spontaneously, or by force; and commissions them\nall to fill the heart of man with \u201cfood and gladness\u201d (Gen. ix. 2, 3):\nand he loves all creatures as they conduce to the good of, and are\nserviceable to, his prime creature, which he set up for his own glory:\nand therefore, when he loves a person, he loves what belongs to him:\nhe takes care of Jacob and his cattle: of penitent Nineveh and their\ncattle (Jonah iv. 11): as when he sends judgments upon men he destroys\ntheir goods.\n\n(2.) God richly furnished the world for man. He did not only erect a\nstately palace for his habitation, but provided all kind of furniture\nas a mark of his goodness, for the entertainment of his creature, man:\nhe arched over his habitation with a bespangled heaven, and floored\nit with a solid earth, and spread a curious wrought tapestry upon the\nground where he was to tread, and seemed to sweep all the rubbish of\nthe chaos to the two uninhabitable poles. When at the first creation of\nthe matter the waters covered the earth, and rendered it uninhabitable\nfor man, God drained them into the proper channels he had founded for\nthem, and set a bound that they might not pass over, that they turn not\nagain to \u201ccover the earth\u201d (Gen. i. 9). They fled and hasted away to\ntheir proper stations (Ps. civ. 7\u20129), as if they were ambitious to deny\ntheir own nature, and content themselves with an imprisonment for the\nconvenient habitation of Him who was to be appointed Lord of the world.\nHe hath set up standing {b251} lights in the heaven, to direct our\nmotion, and to regulate the seasons: the sun was created, that man\nmight see to \u201cgo forth to his labor\u201d (Ps. civ. 22, 23): both sun and\nmoon, though set in the heaven, were formed to \u201cgive light\u201d on the\nearth (Gen. i. 15, 17). The air is his aviary, the sea and rivers\nhis fish\u2011ponds, the valleys his granary, the mountains his magazine;\nthe first afford man creatures for nourishment, the other metals for\nperfection: the animals were created for the support of the life of\nman; the herbs of the ground were provided for the maintenance of their\nlives; and gentle dews, and moistening showers, and, in some places,\nslimy floods appointed to render the earth fruitful, and capable to\noffer man and beast what was fit for their nourishment. He hath peopled\nevery element with a variety of creatures both for necessity and\ndelight; all furnished with useful qualities for the service of man.\nThere is not the most despicable thing in the whole creation but it is\nendued with a nature to contribute something for our welfare: either\nas food to nourish us when we are healthful; or as medicine to cure us\nwhen we are distempered; or as a garment to clothe us when we are naked,\nand arm us against the cold of the season; or as a refreshment when we\nare weary; or as a delight when we are sad: all serve for necessity or\nornament, either to spread our table, beautify our dwellings, furnish\nour closets, or store our wardrobes (Ps. civ. 24): \u201cThe whole earth\nis full of his riches.\u201d Nothing but by the rich goodness of God is\nexquisitely accommodated, in the numerous brood of things, immediately\nor mediately for the use of man; all, in the issue, conspire together\nto render the world a delightful residence for man; and, therefore,\nall the living creatures were brought by God to attend upon man after\nhis creation, to receive a mark of his dominion over them, by the\n\u201cimposition of their names\u201d (Gen. ii. 19, 20). He did not only give\nvariety of senses to man, but provided variety of delightful objects\nin the world for every sense; the beauties of light and colors for\nour eye, the harmony of sounds for our ear, the fragrancy of odors\nfor our nostrils, and a delicious sweetness for our palates: some have\nqualities to pleasure; all, everything, a quality to pleasure, one or\nother: he doth not only present those things to our view, as rich men\ndo in ostentation their goods, he makes us the enjoyers as well as the\nspectators, and gives us the use as well as the sight; and, therefore,\nhe hath not only given us the sight, but the knowledge of them: he\nhath set up a sun in the heavens, to expose their outward beauty\nand conveniences to our sight; and the candle of the Lord is in us,\nto expose their inward qualities and conveniences to our knowledge,\nthat we might serve ourselves of, and rejoice in, all this furniture\nwherewith he hath garnished the world, and have wherewithal to employ\nthe inquisitiveness of our reason, as well as gratify the pleasures\nof our sense; and, particularly, God provided for innocent man a\ndelightful mansion\u2011house, a place of more special beauty and curiosity,\nthe garden of Eden, a delightful paradise, a model of the beauties\nand pleasures of another world, wherein he had placed whatsoever might\ncontribute to the felicity of a rational and animal life, the life of\na creature composed of mire and dust, of sense and reason (Gen. ii. 9).\nBesides the other delicacies {b252} consigned, in that place, to the\nuse of man, there was a tree of life provided to maintain his being,\nand nothing denied, in the whole compass of that territory, but one\ntree, that of the knowledge of good and evil, which was no mark of\nan ill\u2011will in his Creator to him, but a reserve of God\u2019s absolute\nsovereignty, and a trial of man\u2019s voluntary obedience. What blur was it\nto the goodness of God, to reserve one tree for his own propriety, when\nhe had given to man, in all the rest, such numerous marks of his rich\nbounty and goodness? What Israel, after man\u2019s fall, enjoyed sensibly,\nNehemiah calls \u201cgreat goodness\u201d (Neh. ix. 25). How inexpressible, then,\nwas that goodness manifested to innocent man, when so small a part\nof it, indulged to the Israelites after the curse upon the ground,\nis called, as truly it merits, such great goodness! How can we pass\nthrough any part of this great city, and cast our eyes upon the\nwell\u2011furnished shops, stored with all kinds of commodities, without\nreflections upon this goodness of God starting up before our eyes in\nsuch varieties, and plainly telling us that he hath accommodated all\nthings for our use, suited things, both to supply our need, content a\nreasonable curiosity, and delight us in our aims at, and passage to,\nour supreme end!\n\n(3.) The goodness of God appears in the laws he hath given to man,\nthe covenant he hath made with him. It had not been agreeable to the\ngoodness of God to let a creature, governable by a law, be without a\nlaw to regulate him; his goodness then which had broke forth in the\ncreation, had suffered an eclipse and obscurity in his government. As\ninfinite goodness was the motive to create, so infinite goodness was\nthe motive of his government. And this appears,\n\n[1.] In the fitting the law to the nature of man. It was rather below\nthan above his strength; he had an integrity in his nature to answer\nthe righteousness of the precept. God created \u201cman upright\u201d (Eccles.\nvii. 29); his nature was suited to the law, and the law to his nature;\nit was not above his understanding to know it, nor his will to embrace\nit, nor his passions to be regulated by it. The law and his nature were\nlike to exact straight lines, touching one another in every part when\njoined together. God exacted no more by his law than what was written\nby nature in his heart: he had a knowledge by creation to observe the\nlaw of his creation, and he fell not for want of a righteousness in his\nnature: he was enabled for more than was commanded him, but wilfully\nindisposed to less than he was able to perform. The precepts were\neasy, not only becoming the authority of a sovereign to exact, but\nthe goodness of a father to demand, and the ingenuity of a creature\nand a son to pay. \u201cHis commands are not grievous\u201d (1 John v. 3); the\nobservance of them had filled the spirit of man with an extraordinary\ncontentment. It had been no less a pleasure and a delightful\nsatisfaction to have kept the law in a created state, than it is to\nkeep it in some measure in a renewed state. The renewed nature finds a\nsuitableness in the law to kindle a \u201cdelight\u201d (Ps. i. 2): it could not\nthen have anywise shook the nature of an upright creature, nor have\nbeen a burden too heavy for his shoulders to bear. Though he had not\na grace {b253} given him above nature, yet he had not a law given him\nthat surmounted his nature: it did not exceed his created strength,\nand was suited to the dignity and nobility of a rational nature. It was\na \u201cjust law\u201d (Rom. vii. 12), and, therefore, not above the nature of\nthe subject that was bound to obey it. And had it been impossible to\nbe observed, it had been unrighteous to be enacted: it had not been a\nmatter of Divine praise, and that seven times a day; as it is, \u201cSeven\ntimes a day do I praise thee, because of thy righteous judgments\u201d (Ps.\ncxix. 164). The law was so righteous, that Adam had every whit as much\nreason to bless God in his innocence for the righteousness of it, as\nDavid had with the relics of enmity against it: his goodness shines\nso much in his law, as merits our praise of him, as he is a sovereign\nLawgiver, as well as a gracious Benefactor, in the imparting to us a\nbeing.\n\n[2.] In fitting it for the happiness of man. For the satisfaction\nof his soul, which finds a reward in the very act of keeping it, (Ps.\ncxix. 165), \u201cGreat peace in the loving it;\u201d for the preservation of\nhuman society, wherein consists the external felicity of man. It had\nbeen inconsistent with the Divine goodness to enjoin man anything that\nshould be oppressive and uncomfortable. Bitterness cannot come from\nthat which is altogether sweet: goodness would not have obliged the\ncreature to anything, but what is not only free from damaging him, but\nwholly conducing to his welfare, and perfective of his nature. Infinite\nwisdom could not order anything but what was agreeable to infinite\ngoodness. As his laws are the most rational, as being the contrivance\nof infinite wisdom; so they are the best, as being the fruit of\ninfinite goodness. His laws are not only the acts of his sovereign\nauthority, but the effluxes of his loving\u2011kindness, and the conductors\nof man to an enjoyment of a greater bounty: he minds as well the\npromotion of his creatures\u2019 felicity, as the asserting his own\nauthority; as good princes make laws for their subjects\u2019 benefit\nas well as their own honor. What was said of a more difficult and\nburdensome law long after man\u2019s fall, may much more be said of the easy\nlaw of nature in the state of man\u2019s innocence, that it was \u201cfor our\ngood\u201d (Deut. x. 12, 13). He never pleaded with the Israelites for the\nobservation of his commands upon the account of his authority, so much\nas upon the score of their benefit by them (Deut. iv. 40; xii. 28). And\nwhen his precepts were broken, he seems sometimes to be more grieved\nfor men\u2019s impairing their own felicity by it, than for their violating\nhis authority: \u201cO, that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments, then\nhad thy peace been as a river!\u201d (Isa. xlviii. 18). Goodness cannot\nprescribe a thing prejudicial: whatsoever it enjoins, is beneficial to\nthe spiritual and eternal happiness of the rational creature: this was\nboth the design of the law given, and the end of the law. Christ, in\nhis answer to the young man\u2019s question, refers him to the moral law,\nwhich was the law of nature in Adam, as that whereby eternal life was\nto be gained: which evidenceth, that when the law was first given as\nthe covenant of works, it was for the happiness of man; and the end of\ngiving it was, that man might have eternal life by it: there would else\nbe no strength or truth in that answer of Christ {b254} to that Ruler.\nAnd, therefore, Stephen calls the law given by Moses, which was the\nsame with the law of nature in Adam, \u201cthe living oracles\u201d (Acts vii.\n38). He enjoined men\u2019s services to them not simply for his own glory,\nbut his glory in men\u2019s welfare: as if there were any being better than\nhimself, his goodness and righteousness would guide him to love that\nbetter than himself; because it is good and righteous to love that\nbest which is most amiable: so, if there were any that could do us\nmore good, and shower down more happiness upon us than himself, he\nwould be content we should obey that as sovereign, and steer our course\naccording to his laws: \u201cIf God be God, follow him; but if Baal, then\nfollow him\u201d (1 Kings xviii. 21). If the observance of the precepts of\nBaal be more beneficial to you; if you can advance your nature by his\nservice, and gain a more mighty crown of happiness than by mine, follow\nhim with all my heart: I never intended to enjoin you anything to\nimpair, but increase your happiness. The chief design of God in his law\nis the happiness of the subject; and obedience is intended by him as\na means for the attaining of happiness, as well as preserving his own\nsovereignty: this is the reason why he wished that Israel had walked in\nhis ways, \u201cthat their time might have endured forever\u201d (Ps. lxxxi. 13,\n15, 16). And by the same reason, this was his intendment in his law\ngiven to man, and his covenant made with man at the creation, that he\nmight be fed with the finest part of his bounty, and be satisfied with\nhoney out of the eternal Rock of Ages. To paraphrase his expression\nthere:\u2015\u2015The goodness of God appears further,\n\n[3.] In engaging man to obedience by promises and threatenings. A\nthreatening is only mentioned (Gen. ii. 17), but a promise is implied:\nif eternal death were fixed for transgression, eternal life was thereby\ndesigned for obedience: and that it was so, the answer of Christ to\nthe Ruler evidenceth, that the first intendment of the precept was the\neternal life of the subject, ordered to obey it.\n\n1st. God might have acted, in settling his law, only as a sovereign.\nThough he might have dealt with man upon the score of his absolute\ndominion over him as his creature, and signified his pleasure upon\nthe right of his sovereignty, threatening only a penalty if man\ntransgressed, without the promising a bountiful acknowledgment of\nhis obedience by a reward as a benefactor: yet he would treat with\nman in gentle methods, and rule him in a track of sweetness as well\nas sovereignty: he would preserve the rights of his dominion in the\nauthority of his commands, and honor the condescensions of his goodness\nin the allurements of a promise. He that might have solely demanded a\ncompliance with his will, would kindly article with him, to oblige him\nto observe him out of love to himself as well as duty to his Creator;\nthat he might have both the interest of avoiding the threatened evil\nto affright him, and the interest of attaining the promised good to\nallure him to obedience. How doth he value the title of Benefactor\nabove that of a Lord, when he so kindly solicits, as well as commands;\nand engageth to reward that obedience which he might have absolutely\nclaimed as his due, by enforcing fears of the severest penalty! {b255}\nHis sovereignty seems to stoop below itself for the elevation of his\ngoodness; and he is pleased to have his kindness more taken notice\nof than his authority. Nothing imported more condescension than his\nbringing forth his law in the nature of a covenant, whereby he seems\nto humble himself, and veil his superiority to treat with man as his\nequal, that the very manner of his treatment might oblige him in the\nrichest promises he made to draw him, and the startling threatenings\nhe pronounced to link him to his obedience: and, therefore, is it\nobservable, that when after the transgression of Adam God comes to deal\nwith him, he doth not do it in that thundering rigor, which might have\nbeen expected from an enraged sovereign, but in a gentle examination\n(Gen. iii. 11, 13): \u201cHast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded\nthee that thou shouldst not eat?\u201d To the woman, he said no more than,\n\u201cWhat is this that thou hast done?\u201d And in the Scripture we find, when\nhe cites the Israelites before him for their sin, he expostulates with\nthem not so much upon the absolute right he had to challenge their\nobedience, as upon the equity and reasonableness of his law which they\nhad transgressed; that by the same argument of sweetness, wherewith\nhe would attract them to their duty, he might shame them after their\noffence (Isa. i. 2; Ezek. xviii. 25).\n\n2d. By the threatenings he manifests his goodness as well as by his\npromises. He promises that he might be a rewarder, and threatens that\nhe might not be a punisher; the one is to elevate our hope, and the\nother to excite our fear, the two passions whereby the nature of man\nis managed in the world. He imprints upon man sentiments of a misery by\nsin, in his thundering commination, that he might engage him the more\nto embrace and be guided by the motives of sweetness in his gracious\npromises. The design of them was to preserve man in his due bounds,\nthat God might not have occasion to blow upon him the flames of his\njustice; to suppress those irregular passions, which the nature of man\n(though created without any disorder) was capable of entertaining upon\nthe appearance of suitable objects; and to keep the waves from swelling\nupon any turning wind, that so man, being modest in the use of the\ngoodness God had allowed him, might still be capable of fresh streams\nof Divine bounty, without ever falling under his righteous wrath for\nany transgression. What a prospect of goodness is in this proceeding,\nto disclose man\u2019s happiness to be as durable as his innocence; and set\nbefore a rational creature the extremest misery due to his crime, to\naffright him from neglecting his Creator, and making unworthy returns\nto his goodness! What could be done more by goodness to suit that\npassion of fear which was implanted in the nature of man, than to\nassure him he should not degenerate from the righteousness of his\nnature, and violate the authority of his Creator, without falling from\nhis own happiness, and sinking into the most deplorable calamity!\n\n3d. The reward he promised manifests yet further his goodness to man.\nIt was his goodness to intend a reward to man; no necessity could\noblige God to reward man, had he continued obedient in his created\nstate: for in all rewards which are truly merited, beside {b256} some\nkind of equality to be considered between the person doing service and\nthe person rewarding, and also between the act performed and the reward\nbestowed, there must also be considered the condition of the person\ndoing the service, that he is not obliged to do it as a duty, but is\nat his own choice whether to offer it or no. But man, being wholly\ndependent on God in his being and preservation, having nothing of his\nown, but what he had received from the hands of Divine bounty, his\nservice was due by the strongest obligation to God (1 Cor. iv. 7). But\nthere was no natural engagement on God to return a reward to him; for\nman could return nothing of his own but that only which he had received\nfrom his Creator. It must be pure goodness that gives a gracious reward\nfor a due debt, to receive his own from man, and return more than he\nhad received. A Divine reward doth far surmount the value of a rational\nservice. It was, therefore, a mighty goodness to stipulate with man,\nthat upon his obedience he should enjoy an immortality in that nature.\nThe article on man\u2019s part was obedience, which was necessarily just,\nand founded in the nature of man; he had been unjust, ungrateful, and\nviolated all laws of righteousness, had he committed any act unworthy\nof one that had been so great a subject of Divine liberality.[977]\nBut the article on God\u2019s part, of giving a perpetual blessedness\nto innocent man, was not founded upon rules of strict justice and\nrighteousness, for that would have argued God to be a debtor to man;\nbut that God cannot be to the work of his hands, that had received the\nmaterials of his being and acting from him, as the vessel doth from\nthe potter. But this was founded only on the goodness of the Divine\nnature, whereby he cannot but be kind to an innocent and holy creature.\nThe nature of God inclined him to it by the rules of goodness, but\nthe service of man could not claim it by the rules of justice without\na stipulation; so that the covenant whereby God obliged himself to\ncontinue the happiness of man upon the continuance of his obedience, in\nthe original of it, springs from pure goodness; though the performance\nof it, upon the fulfilling condition required in the creature, was\nfounded upon the rules of righteousness and truth, after Divine\ngoodness had brought it forth. God did create man for a reward and\nhappiness; now God\u2019s implanting in the nature of man a desire after\nhappiness, and some higher happiness than he had in creation invested\nhim in, doth evidence that God did not create man only for his own\nservice, but for his attaining a greater happiness. All rational\ncreatures are possessed with a principle of seeking after good, the\nhighest good, and God did not plant in man this principle in vain; it\nhad not been goodness to put this principle in man, if he had designed\nnever to bestow a happiness on man for his obedience: this had been\nrepugnant to the goodness and wisdom of God; and the Scripture doth\nvery emphatically express the felicity of man to be the design of\nGod in the first forming him and moulding him a creature, as well as\nworking him a new creature; \u201cHe that hath wrought us for the self\u2011same\nthing is God\u201d (2 Cor. v. 1, 5): he framed this earthly tabernacle for\na residence in an eternal habitation, {b257} and a better habitation\nthan an earthly paradise. What we expect in the resurrection, that very\nsame thing God did in creation intend us for; but since the corruption\nof our natures, we must undergo a dissolution of our bodies, and may\nhave just reason of a despondency, since sin hath seemed to change the\ncourse of God\u2019s bounty, and brought us under a curse. He hath given\nus the earnest of his Spirit, as an assurance that he will perform\nthat very self\u2011same thing, the conferring that happiness upon renewed\ncreatures for which he first formed man in creation, when he compacted\nhis earthly tabernacle of the dust of the ground, and reared it up\nbefore him.\n\n4th. It was a mighty goodness that God should give man an eternal\nreward. That an eternity of reward was promised, is implied in the\ndeath that was threatened upon transgression: whatsoever you conceive\nthe threatened death to be, either for nature, or duration upon\ntransgression; of the same nature and duration you must suppose the\nlife to be, which is implied upon his constancy in his integrity.\nAs sin would render him an eternal object of God\u2019s hatred, so his\nobedience would render him an eternally amiable object to his Creator,\nas the standing angels are preserved and confirmed in an entire\nfelicity and glory. Though the threatening be only expressed by God\n(Gen. ii. 17), yet the other is implied, and might easily be concluded\nfrom it by Adam. And one reason why God only expressed the threatening,\nand not the promise, was, because man might collect some hopes and\nexpectations of a perpetual happiness from that image of God which he\nbeheld in himself, and from the large provision he had made for him in\nthe world, and the commission given him to increase and multiply, and\nto rule as a lord over his other works; whereas he could not so easily\nhave imagined himself capable of being exposed to such an extraordinary\ncalamity as an eternal death, without some signification of it from God.\nIt is easily concludable, that eternal life was supposed to be promised,\nto be conferred upon him if he stood, as well as eternal death to be\ninflicted on him if he rebelled.[978] Now this eternal life was not\ndue to his nature, but it was a pure beam, and gift of Divine goodness;\nfor there was no proportion between man\u2019s service in his innocent\nestate, and a reward so great both for nature and duration: it was a\nhigher reward than can be imagined either due to the nature of man,\nor upon any natural right claimable by his obedience. All that could\nbe expected by him was but a natural happiness, not a supernatural:\nas there was no necessity upon the account of natural righteousness,\nso there was no necessity upon the account of the goodness of God to\nelevate the nature of man to a supernatural happiness, merely because\nhe created him: for though it be necessary for God, when he would\ncreate, in regard of his wisdom, to create for some end, yet it was\nnot necessary that end should be a supernatural end and happiness,\nsince a natural blessedness had been sufficient for man. And though\nGod, in creating angels and men intellectual and rational creatures,\ndid make them necessary for himself and his own glory, yet it was\nnot necessarily for him to {b258} order either angels or men to such\na felicity as consists in a clear vision, and so high a fruition,\nof himself: for all other things are made by him for himself, and\nyet not for the vision of himself, God might have created man only\nfor a natural happiness, according to the perfection of his natural\nfaculties, and had dealt bountifully with him, if he had never intended\nhim a supernatural blessedness and an eternal recompense: but what a\nlargeness of goodness is here, to design man, in his creation, for so\nrich a blessedness as an eternal life, with the fruition of himself! He\nhath not only given to man all things which are necessary, but designed\nfor man that which the poor creature could not imagine: he garnished\nthe earth for him, and garnished him for an eternal felicity, had he\nnot, by slighting the goodness of God, stripped himself of the present,\nand forfeited his future blessedness.\n\n_Secondly_, The manifestation of this goodness in _Redemption_. The\nwhole gospel is nothing but one entire mirror of Divine goodness: the\nwhole of redemption is wrapped up in that one expression of the angels\u2019\nsong (Luke ii. 14), \u201cGood\u2011will towards men.\u201d The angels sang but one\nsong before, which is upon record, but the matter of it seems to be\nthe wisdom of God chiefly in creation (Job xxxviii. 7; compare chap.\nix. 5, 6, 8, 9). The angels are there meant by the \u201cmorning stars;\u201d the\nvisible stars of heaven were not distinctly formed when the foundations\nof the earth were laid: and the title of the sons of God verifies it,\nsince none but creatures of understanding are dignified in Scripture\nwith that title. There they celebrate his wisdom in creation; here his\ngoodness in redemption, which is the entire matter of the song.\n\ni. Goodness was the spring of redemption. All and every part of it owes\nonly to this perfection the appearance of it in the world. This only\nexcited wisdom to bring forth from so great an evil as the apostasy\nof man, so great a good as the recovery of him. When man fell from\nhis created goodness, God would evidence that he could not fall from\nhis infinite goodness: that the greatest evil could not surmount\nthe ability of his wisdom to contrive, nor the riches of his bounty\nto present us a remedy for it. Divine Goodness would not stand by\na spectator, without being reliever of that misery man had plunged\nhimself into; but by astonishing methods it would recover him to\nhappiness, who had wrested himself out of his hands, to fling himself\ninto the most deplorable calamity: and it was the greater, since it\nsurmounted those natural inclinations, and those strong provocations\nwhich he had to shower down the power of his wrath. What could be the\nsource of such a procedure, but this excellency of Divine nature, since\nno violence could force him, nor was there any merit to persuade to\nsuch a restoration? This, under the name of his \u201clove,\u201d is rendered\nthe sole cause of the redeeming death of the Son: it was to commend his\nlove with the highest gloss, and in so singular a manner that had not\nits parallel in nature, nor in all his other works, and reaches in the\nbrightness of it beyond the manifested extent of any other attribute\n(Rom. v. 8). It must be only a miraculous goodness that induced him\nto expose the life of his Son to those difficulties in the world, and\ndeath upon the cross, {b259} for the freedom of sordid rebels: his\ngreat end was to give such a demonstration of the liberality of his\nnature, as might be attractive to his creature, remove its shakings and\ntremblings, and encourage its approaches to him. It is in this he would\nnot only manifest his love, but assume the name of \u201cLove.\u201d By this name\nthe Holy Ghost calls him, in relation to this good will manifested in\nhis Son (1 John iv. 8, 9), \u201cGod is love.\u201d In this is manifested the\nlove of God towards us, because that God sent his only\u2011begotten Son\ninto the world, that we might \u201clive through him.\u201d He would take the\nname he never expressed himself in before. He was Jehovah, in regard of\nthe truth of his promise; so he would be known of old: he is Goodness,\nin regard of the grandeur of his affection in the mission of his Son:\nand, therefore, he would be known by the name of Love now, in the days\nof the gospel.\n\nii. It was a pure goodness. He was under no obligation to pity our\nmisery, and repair our ruins: he might have stood to the terms of the\nfirst covenant, and exacted our eternal death, since we had committed\nan infinite transgression: he was under no tie to put off the robes\nof a judge for the bowels of a father, and erect a mercy\u2011seat above\nhis tribunal of justice.[979] The reparation of man had no necessary\nconnexion with his creation; it follows not, that because Goodness\nhad extracted us from nothing by a mighty power, that it must lift us\nout of wilful misery by a mighty grace. Certainly that God who had no\nneed of creating us, had far less need of redeeming us: for, since he\ncreated one world, he could have as easily destroyed it, and reared\nanother. It had not been unbecoming the Divine Goodness or Wisdom, to\nhave let man perpetually wallow in that sink wherein he had plunged\nhimself, since he was criminal by his own will, and, therefore,\nmiserable by his own fault: nothing could necessitate this reparation.\nIf Divine Goodness could not be obliged by the angelical dignity to\nrepair that nature, he is further from any obligation by the meanness\nof man to repair human nature. There was less necessity to restore man\nthan to restore the fallen angels. What could man do to oblige God to\na reparation of him, since he could not render him a recompense for his\ngoodness manifested in his creation? He must be much more impotent to\nrender him a debtor for the redemption of him from misery. Could it be\na salary for anything we had done? Alas! we are so far from meriting\nit, that by our daily demerits, we seem ambitious to put a stop to any\nfurther effusions of it: we could not have complained of him, if he had\nleft us in the misery we had courted, since he was bound by no law to\nbestow upon us the recovery we wanted. When the apostle speaks of the\ngospel of \u201credemption,\u201d he giveth it the title of the \u201cgospel of the\nblessed God\u201d (2 Tim. i. 11). It was the gospel of a God abounding in\nhis own blessedness, which received no addition by man\u2019s redemption;\nif he had been blessed by it, it had been a goodness to himself, as\nwell as to the creature: it was not an indigent goodness needing the\nreceiving anything from us; but it was a pure goodness, streaming out\nof itself, without bringing anything into itself for the perfection of\nit: there was no goodness in {b260} us to be the motive of his love,\nbut his goodness was the fountain of our benefit.\n\niii. It was a distinct goodness of the whole Trinity. In the creation\nof man we find a general consultation (Gen. i. 26), without those\ndistinct labors and offices of each person, and without those raised\nexpressions and marks of joy and triumph as at man\u2019s restoration. In\nthis there are distinct functions; the grace of the Father, the merit\nof the Son, and the efficacy of the Spirit. The Father makes the\npromise of redemption, the Son seals it with his blood, and the Spirit\napplies it. The Father adopts us to be his children, the Son redeems us\nto be his members, and the Spirit renews us to be his temples. In this\nthe Father testifies himself well\u2011pleased in a voice; the Son proclaims\nhis own delight to do the will of God, and the Spirit hastens, with\nthe wing of a dove, to fit him for his work, and afterwards, in his\napparition in the likeness of fiery tongues, manifests his zeal for\nthe propagation of the redeeming gospel.\n\niv. The effects of it proclaim His great goodness. It is by this we are\ndelivered from the corruption of our nature, the ruin of our happiness,\nthe deformity of our sins, and the punishment of our transgressions;\nhe frees us from the ignorance wherewith we were darkened and from the\nslavery wherein we were fettered. When he came to make Adam\u2019s process\nafter his crime, instead of pronouncing the sentence of death he had\nmerited, he utters a promise that man could not have expected; his\nkindness swells above his provoked justice, and, while he chaseth\nhim out of paradise, he gives him hopes of regaining the same, or a\nbetter habitation; and is, in the whole, more ready to prevent him\nwith the blessings of his goodness, than charge him with the horror\nof his crimes (Gen. iii. 15). It is a goodness that pardons us more\ntransgressions than there are moments in our lives, and overlooks\nas many follies as there are thoughts in our heart: he doth not only\nrelieve our wants, but restores us to our dignity. It is a greater\ntestimony of goodness to instate a person in the highest honors, than\nbarely to supply his present necessity: it is an admirable pity whereby\nhe was inclined to redeem us, and an incomparable affection whereby\nhe was resolved to exalt us. What can be desired more of him than his\ngoodness hath granted? He hath sought us out when we were lost, and\nransomed us when we were captives; he hath pardoned us when we were\ncondemned, and raised us when we were dead. In creation he reared\nus from nothing, in redemption he delivers our understanding from\nignorance and vanity, and our wills from impotence and obstinacy, and\nour whole man from a death worse than that nothing he drew us from by\ncreation.\n\nv. Hence we may consider the height of this goodness in redemption to\nexceed that in creation. He gave man a being in creation, but did not\ndraw him from inexpressible misery by that act. His liberality in the\ngospel doth infinitely surpass what we admire in the works of nature;\nhis goodness in the latter is more astonishing to our belief, than\nhis goodness in creation is visible to our eye. There is more of his\nbounty expressed in that one verse, \u201cSo God loved the world, that he\ngave his only begotten Son\u201d (John iii. 16), than {b261} there is in\nthe whole volume of the world: it is an incomprehensible _so_; a _so_\nthat all the angels in heaven cannot analyse; and few comment upon,\nor understand, the dimensions of this _so_. In creation he formed an\ninnocent creature of the dust of the ground; in redemption he restores\na rebellious creature by the blood of his Son: it is greater than that\ngoodness manifested in creation.\n\n1st. In regard of the difficulty in effecting it. In creation, mere\nnothing was vanquished to bring us into being; in redemption, sullen\nenmity was conquered for the enjoyment of our restoration; in creation,\nhe subdued a nullity to make us creatures; in redemption, his goodness\novercomes his omnipotent justice to restore us to felicity. A word from\nthe mouth of Goodness inspired the dust of men\u2019s bodies with a living\nsoul; but the blood of his Son must be shed, and the laws of natural\naffection seems to be overturned, to lay the foundation of our renewed\nhappiness. In the first, heaven did but speak, and the earth was formed;\nin the second, heaven itself must sink to earth, and be clothed with\ndusty earth, to reduce man\u2019s dust to its original state.\n\n2d. This goodness is greater than that manifested in creation, in\nregard of its cost. This was a more expensive goodness than what was\nlaid out in creation. \u201cThe redemption of one soul is precious\u201d (Ps.\nxlix. 8), much more costly than the whole fabric of the world, or as\nmany worlds as the understandings of angels in their utmost extent can\nconceive to be created. For the effecting of this, God parts with his\ndearest treasure, and his Son eclipses his choicest glory. For this,\nGod must be made man, Eternity must suffer death, the Lord of angels\nmust weep in a cradle, and the Creator of the world must hang like a\nslave; he must be in a manger in Bethlehem, and die upon a cross on\nCalvary; unspotted righteousness must be made sin, and unblemished\nblessedness be made a curse. He was at no other expense than the breath\nof his mouth to form man; the fruits of the earth could have maintained\ninnocent man without any other cost; but his broken nature cannot be\nhealed without the invaluable medicine of the blood of God. View Christ\nin the womb and in the manger, in his weary steps and hungry bowels,\nin his prostrations in the garden, and in his clodded drops of bloody\nsweat; view his head pierced with a crown of thorns, and his face\nbesmeared with the soldiers\u2019 slabber; view him in his march to Calvary,\nand his elevation on the painful cross, with his head hanged down,\nand his side streaming blood; view him pelted with the scoffs of the\ngovernors, and the derisions of the rabble; and see, in all this, what\ncost Goodness was at for man\u2019s redemption! In creation, his power made\nthe sun to shine upon us, and, in redemption, his bowels sent a Son to\ndie for us.\n\n3d. This goodness of God in redemption is greater than that\nmanifested in creation, in regard of man\u2019s desert of the contrary.\nIn the creation, as there was nothing without him to allure him to\nthe expressions of his bounty, so there was nothing that did damp the\ninclinations of his goodness: the nothing from whence the world was\ndrawn, could never merit, nor demerit a being, because it was nothing;\nas there was nothing to engage him, so there was nothing {b262} to\ndisoblige him; as his favor could not be merited, so neither could his\nanger be deserved. But in this he finds ingratitude against the former\nmarks of his goodness, and rebellion against the sweetness of his\nsovereignty,\u2015\u2015crimes unworthy of the dews of goodness, and worthy\nof the sharpest strokes of vengeance; and therefore the Scripture\nadvanceth the honor of it above the title of mere goodness, to that of\n\u201cgrace\u201d (Rom. i. 2; Titus ii. 11); because men were not only unworthy\nof a blessing, but worthy of a curse. An innocent nothing more\ndeserves creation, than a culpable creature deserves an exemption from\ndestruction. When man fell, and gave occasion to God to repent of his\ncreated work, his ravishing goodness surmounted the occasions he had of\nrepenting, and the provocations he had to the destruction of his frame.\n\n4th. It was a greater goodness than was expressed towards the angels.\n\n1. A greater goodness than was expressed towards the standing angels.\nThe Son of God did no more expose his life for the confirmation of\nthose that stood, than for the restoration of those that fell; the\ndeath of Christ was not for the holy angels, but for simple man; they\nneeded the grace of God to confirm them, but not the death of Christ to\nrestore or preserve them; they had a beloved holiness to be established\nby the powerful grace of God, but not any abominable sin to be blotted\nout by the blood of God; they had no debt to pay but that of obedience;\nbut we had both a debt of obedience to the precepts, and a debt of\nsuffering to the penalty, after the fall. Whether the holy angels were\nconfirmed by Christ, or no, is a question: some think they were, from\nColos. i. 20, where \u201cthings in heaven\u201d are said to be \u201creconciled;\u201d\nbut some think, that place signifies no more than the reconciliation\nof things in heaven, if meant of the angels, to things on earth,\nwith whom they were at enmity in the cause of their Sovereign; or\nthe reconciliation of things in heaven to God, is meant the glorified\nsaints, who were once in a state of sin, and whom the death of Christ\nupon the cross reached, though dead long before. But if angels were\nconfirmed by Christ, it was by him not as a slain sacrifice, but as a\nsovereign Head of the whole creation, appointed by God to gather all\nthings into one; which some think to be the intendment of Eph. i. 10,\nwhere all things, as well those in heaven, as those in earth, are said\nto be \u201cgathered together in one, in Christ.\u201d Where is a syllable in\nScripture of his being crucified for angels, but only for sinners? Not\nfor the confirmation of the one, but the reconciliation of the other;\nso that the goodness whereby God continued those blessed spirits in\nheaven, through the effusions of his grace, is a small thing to the\nrestoring us to our forfeited happiness, through the streams of Divine\nblood. The preserving a man in life is a little thing, and a smaller\nbenefit than the raising a man from death. The rescuing a man from\nan ignominious punishment, lays a greater obligation than barely to\nprevent him from committing a capital crime. The preserving a man\nstanding upon the top of a steep hill, is more easy than to bring\na crippled and phthisical man, from the bottom to the top. The\ncontinuance God gave to the angels, is not so signal a mark of {b263}\nhis goodness as the deliverance he gave to us; since they were not sunk\ninto sin, nor by any crime fallen into misery.\n\n2. His goodness in redemption is greater than any goodness expressed to\nthe fallen angels. It is the wonder of his goodness to us, that he was\nmindful of fallen man, and careless of fallen angels; that he should\nvisit man, wallowing in death and blood, with the dayspring from on\nhigh, and never turn the Egyptian darkness of devils into cheerful day;\nwhen they sinned, Divine thunder dashed them into hell; when man sinned,\nDivine blood wafts the fallen creature from his misery: the angels\nwallow in their own blood forever, while Christ is made partaker of\nour blood, and wallows in his blood, that we might not forever corrupt\nin ours; they tumbled down from heaven, and Divine goodness would not\nvouchsafe to catch them; man tumbles down, and Divine goodness holds\nout a hand drenched in the blood of Him, that was from the foundations\nof the world, to lift us up (Heb. ii. 16). He spared not those\ndignified spirits, when they revolted; and spared not punishing his\nSon for dusty man, when he offended; when he might as well forever have\nlet man lie in the chains wherein he had entangled himself, as them.\nWe were as fit objects of justice as they, and they as fit objects of\ngoodness as we; they were not more wretched by their fall than we; and\nthe poverty of our nature rendered us more unable to recover ourselves,\nthan the dignity of theirs did them; they were his Reuben, his\nfirst\u2011born; they were his might, and the beginning of his strength;\nyet those elder sons he neglected, to prefer the younger; they were the\nprime and golden pieces of creation, not laden with gross matter, yet\nthey lie under the ruins of their fall, while man, lead in comparison\nof them, is refined for another world. They seemed to be fitter objects\nof Divine goodness, in regard of the eminency of their nature above the\nhuman; one angel excelled in endowments of mind and spirit, vastness of\nunderstanding, greatness of power, all the sons of men; they were more\ncapable to praise him, more capable to serve him; and because of the\nacuteness of their comprehension, more able to have a due estimate of\nsuch a redemption, had it been afforded them; yet that goodness which\nhad created them so comely, would not lay itself out in restoring the\nbeauty they had defaced. The promise was of bruising the serpent\u2019s\nhead for us, not of lifting up the serpent\u2019s head with us; their nature\nwas not assumed, nor any command given them to believe or repent; not\none devil spared, not one apostate spirit recovered, not one of those\neminent creatures restored; every one of them hath only a prospect of\nmisery, without any glimpse of recovery; they were ruined under one sin,\nand we repaired under many. All His redeeming goodness was laid out\nupon man (Ps. cxliv. 3); \u201cWhat is man that thou takest knowledge of him;\nand the Son of man, that thou makest account of him?\u201d Making account of\nhim above angels; as they fell without any tempting them, so God would\nleave them to rise, without any assisting them. I know the schools\ntrouble themselves to find out the reasons of this peculiarity of grace\nto man, and not to them; because the whole human nature fell, but only\na part of the angelical; the one sinned by a seduction, and the other\n{b264} by a sullenness, without any tempter; every angel sinned by his\nown proper will, whereas Adam\u2019s posterity sinned by the will of the\nfirst man, the common root of all. God would deprive the devil of any\nglory in the satisfaction of his envious desire to hinder man from\nattainment and possession of that happiness which himself had lost.\nThe weakness of man below the angelical nature might excite the Divine\nmercy; and since all the things of the lower world were created for man,\nGod would not lose the honor of his works, by losing the immediate end\nfor which he framed them. And finally, because in the restoration of\nangels, there would have been only a restoration of one nature, that\nwas not comprehensive of the nature of inferior things; but after all\nsuch conjectures, man must sit down, and acknowledge Divine goodness\nto be the only spring, without any other motive. Since Infinite Wisdom\ncould have contrived a way for redemption for fallen angels, as well as\nfor fallen man, and restored both the one and the other; why might not\nChrist have assumed their nature as well as ours, into the unity of the\nDivine person, and suffered the wrath of God in their nature for them,\nas well as in his human soul for us? It is as conceivable that two\nnatures might have been assumed by the Son of God, as well as three\nsouls be in man distinct, as some think there are.\n\n3. To enhance this goodness yet higher; it was a greater goodness to us,\nthan was for a time manifested to Christ himself. To demonstrate his\ngoodness to man, in preventing his eternal ruin, he would for a while\nwithhold his goodness from his Son, by exposing his life as the price\nof our ransom; not only subjecting him to the derisions of enemies,\ndesertions of friends, and malice of devils, but to the inexpressible\nbitterness of his own wrath in his soul, as made an offering for sin.\nThe particle _so_ (John iii. 16), seems to intimate this supremacy of\ngoodness; He \u201cso loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.\u201d\nHe so loved the world, that he seemed for a time not to love his Son in\ncomparison of it, or equal with it. The person to whom a gift is given\nis, in that regard, accounted more valuable than the gift or present\nmade to him: thus God valued our redemption above the worldly happiness\nof the Redeemer, and sentenceth him to an humiliation on earth, in\norder to our exaltation in heaven; he was desirous to hear him groaning,\nand see him bleeding, that we might not groan under his frowns, and\nbleed under his wrath; he spared not him, that he might spare us;\nrefused not to strike him, that he might be well pleased with us;\ndrenched his sword in the blood of his Son, that it might not forever\nbe wet with ours, but that his goodness might forever triumph in our\nsalvation; he was willing to have his Son made man, and die, rather\nthan man should perish, who had delighted to ruin himself; he seemed to\ndegrade him for a time from what he was.[980] But since he could not be\nunited to any but to an intellectual creature, he could not be united\nto any viler and more sordid creature than the earthly nature of\nman: and when this Son, in our nature, prayed that the cup might pass\nfrom him, Goodness would not suffer it, to show how it valued {b265}\nthe manifestation of itself, in the salvation of man, above the\npreservation of the life of so dear a person.\n\nIn particular, wherein this goodness appears:\u2015\u2015\n\n1st. The first resolution to redeem, and the means appointed for\nredemption, could have no other inducement but Divine goodness. We\ncannot too highly value the merit of Christ; but we must not so much\nextend the merit of Christ, as to draw a value to eclipse the goodness\nof God; though we owe our redemption and the fruits of it to the death\nof Christ, yet we owe not the first resolutions of redemption, and\nassumption of our nature, the means of redemption, to the merit of\nChrist. Divine goodness only, without the association of any merit, not\nonly of man, but of the Redeemer himself, begat the first purpose of\nour recovery; he was singled out, and predestinated to be our Redeemer,\nbefore he took our nature to merit our redemption. \u201cGod sent his Son,\u201d\nis a frequent expression in the Gospel of St. John (John iii. 34; v. 24;\nxvii. 3). To what end did God send Christ, but to redeem? The purpose\nof redemption, therefore, preceded the pitching upon Christ as the\nmeans and procuring cause of it, _i. e._ of our actual redemption, but\nnot of the redeeming purpose; the end is always in intention before\nthe means.[981] \u201cGod so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten\nSon;\u201d the love of God to the world was first in intention, and the\norder of nature, before the will of giving his Son to the world. His\nintention of saving was before the mission of a Saviour; so that this\naffection rose, not from the merit of Christ, but the merit of Christ\nwas directed by this affection. It was the effect of it, not the\ncause. Nor was the union of our nature with his merited by him; all his\nmeritorious acts were performed in our nature; the nature, therefore,\nwherein he performed it, was not merited; that grace which was not,\ncould not merit what it was; he could not merit that humanity, which\nmust be assumed before he could merit anything for us, because all\nmerit for us must be offered in the nature which had offended. It is\ntrue \u201cChrist gave himself,\u201d but by the order of Divine goodness; he\nthat begat him, pitched upon him, and called him to this great work\n(Heb. v. 5); he is therefore called \u201cthe Lamb of God,\u201d as being set\napart by God to be a propitiating and appeasing sacrifice. He is the\n\u201cWisdom of God,\u201d since from the Father he reveals the counsel and order\nof redemption. In this regard he calls God \u201chis God\u201d in the prophet\n(Isa. xlix. 4), and in the evangelist (John xx. 17); though he was big\nwith affection for the accomplishment, yet he came not to do his \u201cown\nwill,\u201d but the will of Divine goodness; his own will it was, too, but\nnot principally, as being the first wheel in motion, but subordinate\nto the eternal will of Divine bounty. It was by the will of God that\nhe came, and by his will he drank the dreggy cup of bitterness. Divine\njustice laid \u201cupon him the iniquity of us all,\u201d but Divine goodness\nintended it for our rescue; Divine goodness singled him out, and set\nhim apart; Divine goodness invited him to it; Divine goodness commanded\nhim to effect it, and put a law into his heart, to bias him in the\nperforming of it; Divine goodness sent him, and Divine goodness moved\njustice to bruise him; and, after {b266} his sacrifice, Divine goodness\naccepted him, and caressed him for it. So earnest was it for our\nredemption, as to give out special and irreversible orders: death\nwas commanded to be endured by him for us, and life commanded to be\nimparted by him to us (John x. 16, 18). If God had not been the mover,\nbut had received the proposal from another, he might have heard it, but\nwas not bound to grant it; his sovereign authority, was not under any\nobligation to receive another\u2019s sponsion for the miserable criminal.\nAs Christ is the head of man, so \u201cGod is the head of Christ\u201d (1 Cor.\nxi. 3); he did nothing but by his directions, as he was not a Mediator,\nbut by the constitution of Divine goodness. As a \u201cliberal man deviseth\nliberal things\u201d (Isa. ii. 8), so did a bountiful God devise a bountiful\nact, wherein his kindness and love as a Saviour appeared: he was\npossessed with the resolutions to manifest his goodness in Christ, \u201cin\nthe beginning of his way\u201d (Prov. viii. 22, 23), before he descended\nto the act of creation. This intention of goodness preceded his making\nthat creature man, who, he foresaw, would fall, and, by his fall,\ndisjoint and entangle the whole frame of the world, without such a\nprovision.\n\n2d. In God\u2019s giving Christ to be our Redeemer, he gave the highest gift\nthat it was possible for Divine goodness to bestow. As there is not a\ngreater God than himself to be conceived, so there is not a greater\ngift for this great God to present to his creatures: never did God go\nfarther, in any of his excellent perfections, than this. It is such a\ndole that cannot be transcended with a choicer; he is, as it were, come\nto the last mite of his treasure; and though he could create millions\nof worlds for us, he cannot give a greater Son to us. He could abound\nin the expressions of his power, in new creations of worlds, which\nhave not yet been seen, and in the lustre of his wisdom in more stately\nstructures; but if he should frame as many worlds as there are mites\nof dust and matter in this, and make every one of them as bright\nand glorious as the sun, though his power and wisdom would be more\nsignalized, yet his goodness could not, since he hath not a choicer\ngift to bless those brighter worlds withal, than he hath conferred upon\nthis: nor can immense goodness contrive a richer means to conduct those\nworlds to happiness, than he hath both invented for this world, and\npresented it with. It cannot be imagined, that it can extend itself\nfarther than to give a gift equal with himself; a gift as dear to him\nas himself. His wisdom, had it studied millions of eternities (excuse\nthe expression, since eternity admits of no millions, it being an\ninterminable duration), it could have found out no more to give; this\ngoodness could have bestowed no more, and our necessity could not\nhave required a greater offering for our relief. When God intended, in\nredemption, the manifestation of his highest goodness, it could not be\nwithout the donation of the choicest gift; as, when he would insure our\ncomfort, he swears \u201cby himself,\u201d because he cannot swear \u201cby a greater\u201d\n(Heb. vi. 13): so, when we would insure our happiness, he gives us his\nSon, because he cannot give a greater, being equal with himself. Had\nthe Father given himself in person, he had given one first in order,\nbut not greater in essence and glorious perfections: it could have been\nno more than the life of God, and should then have been {b267} laid\ndown for us; and so it was now, since the human nature did not subsist\nbut in his Divine person.\n\n1. It is a greater gift than worlds, or all things purchased by him.\nWhat was this gift but \u201cthe image of his person, and the brightness of\nhis glory\u201d (Heb. i. 3)? What was this gift but one as rich as eternal\nblessedness could make him? What was this gift, but one that possessed\nthe fulness of earth, and the more immense riches of heaven? It is a\nmore valuable present, than if he presented us with thousands of worlds\nof angels and inferior creatures, because his person is incomparably\ngreater, not only than all conceivable, but inconceivable, creations;\nwe are more obliged to him for it, than if he had made us angels of\nthe highest rank in heaven, because it is a gift of more value than the\nwhole angelical nature, because he is an infinite person, and therefore\ninfinitely transcends whatsoever is finite, though of the highest\ndignity. The wounds of an Almighty God for us are a greater testimony\nof goodness, than if we had all the other riches of heaven and earth.\nThis perfection had not appeared in such an astonishing grandeur, had\nit pardoned us without so rich a satisfaction; that had been pardon\nto our sin, not a God of our nature. \u201cGod so loved the world\u201d that he\npardoned it, had not sounded so great and so good, as God so loved the\nworld, that he \u201cgave his only\u2011begotten Son.\u201d _Est aliquid in Christo\nformosius Servatore._ There is something in Christ more excellent and\ncomely than the office of a Saviour; the greatness of his person is\nmore excellent, than the salvation procured by his death: it was a\ngreater gift than was bestowed upon innocent Adam, or the holy angels.\nIn the creation, his goodness gave us creatures for our use: in our\nredemption, his goodness gives us what was dearest to him for our\nservice, our Sovereign in office to benefit us, as well as in a royalty\nto govern us.\n\n2. It was a greater gift, because it was his own Son, not an angel. It\nhad been a mighty goodness to have given one of the lofty seraphims; a\ngreater goodness to have given the whole corporation of those glorious\nspirits for us, those children of the Most High: but he gave that Son,\nwhom he commands \u201call the angels to worship\u201d (Heb. i. 6), and all men\nto adore, and pay the \u201clowest homage to\u201d (Ps. ii. 12); that Son that\nis to be honored by us, as we \u201chonor the Father\u201d (John v. 23); that Son\nwhich was his \u201cdelight\u201d (Prov. viii. 30); his delights in the Hebrew,\nwherein all the delights of the Father were gathered in one, as well as\nof the whole creation; and not simply a Son, but an only\u2011begotten Son,\nupon which Christ lays the stress with an emphasis (1 John iii. 16).\nHe had but one Son in heaven or earth, one Son from an unviewable\neternity, and that one Son he gave for a degenerate world; this son\nhe consecrated for \u201cevermore a Priest\u201d (Heb. vii. 28). \u201cThe word of\nthe oath makes the Son;\u201d the peculiarity of his Sonship heightens the\ngoodness of the Donor. It was no meaner a person that he gave to empty\nhimself of his glory, to fulfil an obedience for us, that we might\nbe rendered happy partakers of the Divine nature. Those that know\nthe natural affection of a father to a son, must judge the affection\nof God the Father to the Son infinitely greater, than the affection\nof an earthly {b268} father to the son of his bowels. It must be an\nunparalleled goodness, to give up a Son that he loved with so ardent\nan affection, for the redemption of rebels: abandon a glorious Son to\na dishonorable death, for the security of those that had violated the\nlaws of righteousness, and endeavored to pull the sovereign crown from\nhis head. Besides, being an only Son, all those affections centered\nin him, which in parents would have been divided among a multitude\nof children: so, then, as it was a testimony of the highest faith and\nobedience in \u201cAbraham to offer up his only\u2011begotten son to God\u201d (Heb.\nxi. 17); so it was the triumph of Divine goodness, to give so great,\nso dear a person, for so little a thing as man; and for such a piece\nof nothing and vanity, as a sinful world.\n\n3. And this Son given to rescue us by his death. It was a gift to us;\nfor our sakes he descended from his throne, and dwelt on earth; for our\nsakes he was \u201cmade flesh,\u201d and infirm flesh; for our sakes he was \u201cmade\na curse,\u201d and scorched in the furnace of his Father\u2019s wrath; for our\nsakes he went naked, armed only with his own strength, into the lists\nof that combat with the devils, that led us captive. Had he given\nhim to be a leader for the conquest of some earthly enemies, it had\nbeen a great goodness to display his banners, and bring us under his\nconduct; but he sent him to lay down his life in the bitterest and most\ninglorious manner, and exposed him to a cursed death for our redemption\nfrom that dreadful curse, which would have broken us to pieces, and\nirreparably have crushed us. He gave him to us, to suffer for us as\na man, and redeem us as a God; to be a sacrifice to expiate our sin\nby translating the punishment upon himself, which was merited by us.\nThus was he made low to exalt us, and debased to advance us, \u201cmade\npoor to enrich us\u201d (2 Cor. viii. 9); and eclipsed to brighten our\nsullied natures, and wounded, that he might be a physician for our\nlanguishments. He was ordered to taste the bitter cup of death, that we\nmight drink of the rivers of immortal life and pleasures: to submit to\nthe frailties of the human nature, that we might possess the glories\nof the divine: he was ordered to be a sufferer, that we might be no\nlonger captives; and to pass through the fire of Divine wrath, that\nhe might purge our nature from the dross it had contracted. Thus was\nthe righteous given for sin, the innocent for criminals, the glory\nof heaven for the dregs of earth, and the immense riches of a Deity\nexpended to restock man.\n\n4. And a Son that was exalted for what he had done for us by the order\nof Divine goodness. The exaltation of Christ was no less a signal mark\nof his miraculous goodness to us, than of his affection to him: since\nhe was obedient by Divine goodness to die for us, his advancement was\nfor his obedience to those orders. The name given to him \u201cabove every\nname\u201d (Phil. ii. 8, 9), was a repeated triumph of this perfection;\nsince his passion was not for himself, he was wholly innocent, but\nfor us who were criminal. His advancement was not only for himself as\nRedeemer, but for us as redeemed: Divine goodness centered in him, both\nin his cross and in his crown; for it was for the \u201cpurging our sins,\nhe sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high\u201d (Heb. i. 3): and\nthe whole blessed society {b269} of principalities and powers in heaven\nadmire this goodness of God, and ascribe to him \u201chonor, glory, and\npower\u201d for advancing the \u201cLamb slain\u201d (Rev. v. 11\u201213). Divine goodness\ndid not only give him to us, but gave him power, riches, strength, and\nhonor, for manifesting this goodness to us, and opening the passages\nfor its fuller conveyances to the sons of men. Had not God had thoughts\nof a perpetual goodness, he would not have settled him so near him, to\nmanage our cause, and testified so much affection to him on our behalf.\nThis goodness gave him to be debased for us, and ordered him to be\nenthroned for us: as it gave him to us bleeding, so it would give him\nto us triumphing; that as we have a share by grace in the merits of his\nhumiliation, we might partake also of the glories of his coronation;\nthat, from first to last, we may behold nothing but the triumphs of\nDivine goodness to fallen man.\n\n5. In bestowing this gift on us, Divine goodness gives whole God to\nus. Whatsoever is great and excellent in the Godhead, the Father gives\nus, by giving us his Son: the Creator gives himself to us in his Son\nChrist. In giving creatures to us, he gives the riches of earth; in\ngiving himself to us, he gives the riches of heaven, which surmount\nall understanding: it is in this gift he becomes our God, and passeth\nover the title of all that he is for our use and benefit, that every\nattribute in the Divine nature may be claimed by us; not to be imparted\nto us whereby we may be deified, but employed for our welfare, whereby\nwe may be blessed. He gave himself in creation to us in the image of\nhis holiness; but, in redemption, he gave himself in the image of his\nperson: he would not only communicate the goodness without him, but\nbestow upon us the infinite goodness of his own nature; that that which\nwas his own end and happiness might be our end and happiness, _viz._\nhimself. By giving his Son, he hath given himself; and in both gifts\nhe hath given all things to us. The Creator of all things is eminently\nall things: \u201cHe hath given all things into the hands of his Son\u201d (John\niii. 35); and, by consequence, given all things into the hands of his\nredeemed creatures, by giving them Him to whom he gave all things;\nwhatsoever we were invested in by creation, whatsoever we were deprived\nof by corruption, and more, he hath deposited in safe hands for our\nenjoyment: and what can Divine goodness do more for us? What further\ncan it give unto us, than what it hath given, and in that gift designed\nfor us?\n\n3d. This goodness is enhanced by considering the state of man in the\nfirst transgression, and since.\n\n1. Man\u2019s first transgression. If we should rip up every vein of that\nfirst sin, should we find any want of wickedness to excite a just\nindignation? What was there but ingratitude to Divine bounty, and\nrebellion against Divine sovereignty? The royalty of God was attempted;\nthe supremacy of Divine knowledge above man\u2019s own knowledge envied; the\nriches of goodness, whereby he lived and breathed, slighted. There is a\ndiscontent with God upon an unreasonable sentiment, that God had denied\na knowledge to him which was his right and due, when there should have\nbeen an humble acknowledgment of that unmerited goodness, which had not\nonly {b270} given him a being above other creatures, but placed him the\ngovernor and lord of those that were inferior to him. What alienation\nof his understanding was there from knowing God, and of his will from\nloving him! A debauch of all his faculties; a spiritual adultery, in\npreferring, not only one of God\u2019s creatures, but one of his desperate\nenemies, before him; thinking him a wiser counsellor than Infinite\nWisdom, and imagining him possessed with kinder affections to him than\nthat God who had newly created him. Thus he joins in league with hell\nagainst heaven, with a fallen spirit against his bountiful Benefactor,\nand enters into society with rebels that just before commenced a war\nagainst his and their common Sovereign: he did not only falter in, but\ncast off, the obedience due to his Creator; endeavored to purloin his\nglory, and actually murdered all those that were virtually in his loins.\n\u201cSin entered into the world\u201d by him, \u201cand death by sin, and passed\nupon all men\u201d (Rom. v. 12), taking them off from their subjection to\nGod, to be slaves to the damned spirits, and heirs of their misery:\nand, after all this, he adds a foul imputation on God, taxing him as\nthe author of his sin, and thereby stains the beauty of his holiness.\nBut, notwithstanding all this, God stops not up the flood\u2011gates of\nhis goodness, nor doth he entertain fiery resolutions against man, but\nbrings forth a healing promise; and sends not an angel upon commission\nto reveal it to him, but preaches it himself to this forlorn and\nrebellious creature (Gen. iii. 15).\n\n2. Could there be anything in this fallen creature to allure God\nto the expression of his goodness? Was there any good action in all\nhis carriage that could plead for a re\u2011admission of him to his former\nstate? Was there one good quality left, that could be an orator to\npersuade Divine goodness to such a gracious procedure? Was there any\nmoral goodness in man, after this debauch, that might be an object of\nDivine love? What was there in him, that was not rather a provocation\nthan an allurement? Could you expect that any perfection in God should\nfind a motive in this ungrateful apostate to open a mouth for him, and\nbe an advocate to support him, and bring him off from a just tribunal?\nor, after Divine goodness had begun to pity and plead for man, is\nit not wonderful that it should not discontinue the plea, after it\nfound man\u2019s excuse to be as black as his crime (Gen. iii. 12), and\nhis carriage, upon his examination, to be as disobliging as his first\nrevolt? It might well be expected, that all the perfections in the\nDivine nature would have entered into an association eternally to\ntreat this rebel according to his deserts. What attractives were there\nin a silly worm, much less in such complete wickedness, inexcusable\nenmity, infamous rebellion, to design a Redeemer for him, and such a\nperson as the Son of God to a fleshy body, an eclipse of glory, and an\nignominious cross? The meanness of man was further from alluring God to\nit, than the dignity of angels.\n\n3. Was there not a world of demerit in man, to animate grace as well\nas wrath against him? We were so far from deserving the opening any\nstreams of goodness, that we had merited floods of devouring wrath.\nWhat were all men but enemies to God in a high {b271} manner? Every\noffence was infinite, as being committed against a being of infinite\ndignity; it was a stroke at the very being of God, a resistance of all\nhis attributes; it would degrade him from the height and perfection of\nhis nature; it would not, by its good will, suffer God to be God. If he\nthat hates his brother is a murderer of his brother (1 John iii. 15),\nhe that hates his Creator is a murderer of the Deity, and every\n\u201ccarnal mind is enmity to God\u201d (Rom. viii. 7): every sin envies him\nhis authority, by breaking his precept; and envies him his goodness, by\ndefacing the marks of it: every sin comprehends in it more than men or\nangels can conceive: that God who only hath the clear apprehensions of\nhis own dignity, hath the sole clear apprehensions of sin\u2019s malignity.\nAll men were thus by nature: those that sinned before the coming of the\nRedeemer had been in a state of sin; those that were to come after him\nwould be in a state of sin by their birth, and be criminals as soon as\never they were creatures. All men, as well the glorified, as those in\nthe flesh at the coming of the Redeemer, and those that were to be born\nafter, were considered in a state of sin by God, when he bruised the\nRedeemer for them; all were filthy and unworthy of the eye of God; all\nhad employed the faculties of their souls, and the members of their\nbodies, which they enjoyed by his goodness, against the interest of\nhis glory. Every rational creature had made himself a slave to those\ncreatures over whom he had been appointed a lord, subjected himself\nas a servant to his inferior, and strutted as a superior against his\nliberal Sovereign, and by every sin rendered himself more a child of\nSatan, and enemy of God, and more worthy of the curses of the law, and\nthe torments of hell. Was it not, now, a mighty goodness that would\nsurmount those high mountains of demerit, and elevate such creatures\nby the depression of his Son? Had we been possessed of the highest\nholiness, a reward had been the natural effect of goodness. It was not\npossible that God should be unkind to a righteous and innocent creature;\nhis grace would have crowned that which had been so agreeable to him.\nHe had been a denier of himself, had he numbered innocent creatures in\nthe rank of the miserable; but to be kind to an enemy, to run counter\nto the vastness of demerit in man, was a superlative goodness, a\ngoodness triumphing above all the provocations of men, and pleas of\njustice: it was an abounding goodness of grace; \u201cwhere sin abounded,\ngrace did much more abound\u201d (Rom. v. 20), \u1f51\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b5\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03af\u03c3\u03c3\u03b5\u03c5\u03c3\u03b5\u03bd; it swelled\nabove the heights of sin, and triumphed more than all his other\nattributes.\n\n4. Man was reduced to the lowest condition. Our crimes had brought us\nto the lowest calamity; we were brought to the dust, and prepared for\nhell. Adam had not the boldness to request, and therefore we may judge\nhe had not the least hopes of pardon; he was sunk under wrath, and\ncould have expected no better an entertainment than the tempter, whose\nsolicitations he submitted to. We had cast the diadem from our heads,\nand lost all our original excellency; we were lost to our own happiness,\nand lost to our Creator\u2019s service, when he was so kind as to send his\nSon to seek us (Matt. xviii. 11), and so liberal as to expend his blood\nfor our cure and preservation. How great was that goodness that would\nnot abandon us in our misery, {b272} but remit our crimes, and rescue\nour persons, and ransom our souls by so great a price from the rights\nof justice, and horrors of hell, we were so fitted for?\n\n5. Every age multiplied provocations; every age of the world proved\nmore degenerate. The traditions, which were purer and more lively\namong Adam\u2019s immediate posterity, were more dark among his further\ndescendants; idolatry, whereof we have no marks in the old world\nbefore the deluge, was frequent afterwards in every nation: not only\nthe knowledge of the true God was lost, but the natural reverential\nthoughts of a Deity were expelled. Hence gods were dubbed according to\nmen\u2019s humors; and not only human passions, but brutish vices, ascribed\nto them: as by the fall we were become less than men, so we would fancy\nGod no better than a beast, since beasts were worshipped as gods (Rom.\ni. 21); yea, fancied God no better than a devil, since that destroyer\nwas worshipped instead of the Creator, and a homage paid to the powers\nof hell that had ruined them, which was due to the goodness of that\nBenefactor, who had made them and preserved them in the world. The\nvilest creatures were deified; reason was debased below common sense;\nand men adored one end of a \u201clog,\u201d while they \u201cwarmed themselves with\nthe other\u201d (Isa. xliv. 14, 16, 17); as if that which was ordained for\nthe kitchen were a fit representation for God in the temple. Thus were\nthe natural notions of a Deity depraved; the whole world drenched in\nidolatry; and though the Jews were free from that gross abuse of God,\nyet they were sunk also into loathsome superstitions, when the goodness\nof God brought in his designed Redeemer and redemption into the world.\n\n6. The impotence of man enhanceth this goodness. Our own eye did scarce\npity us, and it was impossible for our own hands to relieve us; we were\ninsensible of our misery, in love with our death; we courted our chains,\nand the noise of our fettering lusts were our music, \u201cserving divers\nlusts and pleasures\u201d (Tit. iii. 3). Our lusts were our pleasures;\nSatan\u2019s yoke was as delightful to us to bear, as to him to impose:\ninstead of being his opposers in his attempts against us, we were his\nvoluntary seconds, and every whit as willing to embrace, as he was to\npropose, his ruining temptations. As no man can recover himself from\ndeath, so no man can recover himself from wrath; he is as unable to\nredeem, as to create himself; he might as soon have stripped himself\nof his being, as put an end to his misery; his captivity would have\nbeen endless, and his chains remediless, for anything he could do\nto knock them off, and deliver himself; he was too much in love with\nthe sink of sin, to leave wallowing in it, and under too powerful a\nhand, to cease frying in the flames of wrath. As the law could not\nbe obeyed by man, after a corrupt principle had entered into him, so\nneither could justice be satisfied by him after his transgression.\nThe sinner was indebted, but bankrupt; as he was unable to pay a mite\nof that obedience he owed to the precept, because of his enmity, so\nhe was unable to satisfy what he owed to the penalty, because of his\nfeebleness: he was as much without love to observe the one, as \u201cwithout\nstrength\u201d to bear the other: he could not, because of his \u201cenmity, be\nsubject to {b273} the law\u201d (Rom. viii. 7), or compensate for his sin,\nbecause he was \u201cwithout strength\u201d (Rom. v. 6). His strength to offend\nwas great; but to deliver himself a mere nothing. Repentance was not a\nthing known by man after the fall, till he had hopes of redemption; and\nif he had known and exercised it, what compensation are the tears of a\nmalefactor for an injury done to the crown, and attempting the life of\nhis prince? How great was Divine goodness, not only to pity men in this\nstate, but to provide a strong Redeemer for them! \u201cO Lord, my strength,\nand my Redeemer!\u201d said the Psalmist (Ps. xix. 14): when he found out\na Redeemer for our misery, he found out a strength for our impotency.\nTo conclude this: behold the \u201cgoodness of God,\u201d when we had thus\nunhandsomely dealt with him; had nothing to allure his goodness,\nmultitudes of provocations to incense him, were reduced to a condition\nas low as could be, fit to be the matter of his scoffs, and the sport\nof Divine justice, and so weak that we could not repair our own ruins;\nthen did he open a fountain of fresh goodness in the death of his Son,\nand sent forth such delightful streams, as in our original creation\nwe could never have tasted; not only overcame the resentments of a\nprovoked justice, but magnified itself by our lowness, and strengthened\nitself by our weakness. His goodness had before created an innocent,\nbut here it saves a malefactor; and sends his Son to die for us, as if\nthe Holy of holies were the criminal, and the rebel the innocent. It\nhad been a pompous goodness to have given him as a king; but a goodness\nof greater grandeur to expose him as a sacrifice for slaves and enemies.\nHad Adam remained innocent, and proved thankful for what he had\nreceived, it had been great goodness to have brought him to glory; but\nto bring filthy and rebellious Adam to it, surmounts, by inexpressible\ndegrees, that sort of goodness he had experimented before; since it was\nnot from a light evil, a tolerable curse unawares brought upon us, but\nfrom the yoke we had willingly submitted to, from the power of darkness\nwe had courted, and the furnace of wrath we had kindled for ourselves.\nWhat are we dead dogs, that he should behold us with so gracious an\neye? This goodness is thus enhanced, if you consider the state of man\nin his first transgression, and after.\n\n4th. This goodness further appears in the high advancement of our\nnature, after it had so highly offended. By creation, we had an\naffinity with animals in our bodies, with angels in our spirits, with\nGod in his image; but not with God in our nature, till the incarnation\nof the Redeemer. Adam, by creation, was the son of God (Luke iii. 38),\nbut his nature was not one with the person of God: he was his son, as\ncreated by him, but had no affinity to him by virtue of union with him:\nbut now man doth not only see his nature in multitudes of men on earth,\nbut, by an astonishing goodness, beholds his nature united to the Deity\nin heaven: that as he was the son of God by creation, he is now the\nbrother of God by redemption; for with such a title doth that Person,\nwho was the Son of God as well as the Son of man, honor his disciples\n(John xx. 17): and because he is of the same nature with them, he \u201cis\nnot ashamed to call them brethren\u201d (Heb. ii. 11). Our nature, which\nwas infinitely {b274} distant from, and below the Deity, now makes\none person with the Son of God. What man sinfully aspired to, God hath\ngraciously granted, and more: man aspired to a likeness in knowledge,\nand God hath granted him an affinity in union. It had been astonishing\ngoodness to angelize our natures; but in redemption Divine goodness\nhath acted higher, in a sort to deify our natures. In creation, our\nnature was exalted above other creatures on earth; in our redemption,\nour nature is exalted above all the host of heaven: we were higher than\nthe beasts, as creatures, but \u201clower than the angels\u201d (Ps. viii. 5);\nbut, by the incarnation of the Son of God, our nature is elevated\nmany steps above them. After it had sunk itself by corruption below\nthe bestial nature, and as low as the diabolical, the \u201cfulness of the\nGodhead dwells in our nature bodily\u201d (Col. ii. 9), but never in the\nangels, angelically. The Son of God descended to dignify our nature,\nby assuming it; and ascended with our nature to have it crowned above\nthose standing monuments of Divine power and goodness (Eph. i. 20, 21).\nThat Person that descended in our nature into the grave, and in the\nsame nature was raised up again, is, in that same nature, set at the\nright hand of God in heaven, \u201cfar above all principality, and power,\nand might, and dominion, and every name that is named.\u201d Our refined\nclay, by an indissoluble union with this Divine Person, is honored\nto sit forever upon a throne above all the tribes of seraphims and\ncherubims; and the Person that wears it, is the head of the good angels,\nand the conqueror of the bad; the one are put under his feet, and the\nother commanded to adore him, \u201cthat purged our sins in our nature\u201d\n(Heb. i. 3, 6): that Divine Person in our nature receives adoration\nfrom the angels; but the nature of man is not ordered to pay any homage\nand adorations to the angels. How could Divine goodness, to man, more\nmagnify itself? As we could not have a lower descent than we had by sin,\nhow could we have a higher ascent than by a substantial participation\nof a divine life, in our nature, in the unity of a Divine Person? Our\nearthly nature is joined to a heavenly Person; our undone nature united\nto \u201cone equal with God\u201d (Phil. ii. 6). It may truly be said, that man\nis God, which is infinitely more glorious for us, than if it could\nbe said, man is an angel. If it were goodness to advance our innocent\nnature above other creatures, the advancement of our degenerate nature\nabove angels deserves a higher title than mere goodness. It is a\nmore gracious act, than if all men had been transformed into the pure\nspiritual nature of the loftiest cherubims.\n\n5th. This goodness is manifest in the covenant of grace made with us,\nwhereby we are freed from the rigor of that of works. God might have\ninsisted upon the terms of the old covenant, and required of man the\nimprovement of his original stock; but God hath condescended to lower\nterms, and offered man more gracious methods, and mitigated the rigor\nof the first, by the sweetness of the second.\n\n1. It is goodness, that he should condescend to make another covenant\nwith man. To stipulate with innocent and righteous {b275} Adam for his\nobedience, was a stoop of his sovereignty; though he gave the precept\nas a sovereign Lord, yet in his covenanting, he seems to descend to\nsome kind of equality with that dust and ashes with whom the treated.\nAbsolute sovereigns do not usually covenant with their people, but\nexact obedience and duty, without binding themselves to bestow a reward;\nand if they intend any, they reserve the purpose in their own breasts,\nwithout treating their subjects with a solemn declaration of it. There\nwas no obligation on God to enter into the first covenant, much less,\nafter the violation of the first, to the settlement of a new. If God\nseemed in some sort to equal himself to man in the first, he seemed to\ndescend below himself in treating with a rebel upon more condescending\nterms in the second. If his covenant with innocent Adam was a stoop\nof his sovereignty, this with rebellious Adam seems to be a stripping\nhimself of his majesty in favor of his goodness; as if his happiness\ndepended upon us, and not ours upon him. It is a humiliation of himself\nto behold the things in heaven, the glorious angels, as well as things\non earth, mortal men (Ps. cxiii. 6); much more to bind himself in\ngracious bonds to the glorious angels; and much more if to rebel man.\nIn the first covenant there was much of sovereignty as well as goodness;\nin the second there is less of sovereignty, and more of grace: in\nthe first there was a righteous man for a holy God; in the second a\npolluted creature for a pure and provoked God: in the first he holds\nhis sceptre in his hand, to rule his subjects; in the second he seems\nto lay by his sceptre, to court and espouse a beggar (Hosea ii. 18\u201220):\nin the first he is a Lord; in the second a husband; and binds himself\nupon gracious conditions to become a debtor. How should this goodness\nfill us with an humble astonishment, as it did Abraham, when he \u201cfell\non his face,\u201d when he heard God speaking of making a covenant with him!\n(Gen. xvii. 2, 3). And if God speaking to Israel out of the fire, and\nmaking them to hear his voice out of heaven, that he might instruct\nthem, was a consideration whereby Moses would heighten their admiration\nof Divine goodness, and engage their affectionate obedience to him\n(Deut. iv. 32, 36, 40), how much more admirable is it for God to speak\nso kindly to us through the pacifying blood of the covenant, that\nsilenced the terrors of the old, and settled the tenderness of the new!\n\n2. His goodness is seen in the nature and tenor of the new covenant.\nThere are in this richer streams of love and pity. The language of one\nwas, Die, if thou sin; that of the other, Live, if thou believest:[982]\nthe old covenant was founded upon the obedience of man; the new one\nis not founded upon the inconstancy of man\u2019s will, but the firmness of\nDivine love, and the valuable merit of Christ. The head of the first\ncovenant was human and mutable; the Head of the second is divine and\nimmutable. The curse due to us by the breach of the first, is taken\noff by the indulgence of the second: we are by it snatched from the\njaws of the law, to be wrapped up in the bosom of grace (Rom. viii. 1).\n\u201cFor you are not under the law, but under grace\u201d (Rom. vi. 14); from\nthe curse {b276} and condemnation of the law, to the sweetness and\nforgiveness of grace. Christ bore the one, being \u201cmade a curse for us\u201d\n(Gal. iii. 13), that we might enjoy the sweetness of the other; by this\nwe are brought from Mount Sinai, the mount of terror, to Mount Sion,\nthe mount of sacrifice, the type of the great Sacrifice (Heb. xii. 18,\n22). That covenant brought in death upon one offence, this covenant\noffers life after many offences (Rom. v. 16, 17): that involves us in\na curse, and this enricheth us with a blessing; the breaches of that\nexpelled us out of Paradise, and the embracing of this admits us into\nheaven. This covenant demands, and admits of that repentance whereof\nthere was no mention in the first; that demanded obedience, not\nrepentance upon a failure; and though the exercise of it had been never\nso deep in the fallen creature, nothing of the law\u2019s severity had been\nremitted by any virtue of it. Again, the first covenant demanded exact\nrighteousness, but conveyed no cleansing virtue, upon the contracting\nany filth. The first demands a continuance in the righteousness\nconferred in creation; the second imprints a gracious heart in\nregeneration. \u201cI will pour clean water upon you; I will put a new\nspirit within you,\u201d was the voice of the second covenant, not of the\nfirst. Again, as to pardon: Adam\u2019s covenant was to punish him, not to\npardon him, if he fell; that threatened death upon transgression, this\nremits it; that was an act of Divine sovereignty, declaring the will\nof God; this is an act of Divine grace, passing an act of oblivion on\nthe crimes of the creature: that, as it demanded no repentance upon a\nfailure, so it promised no mercy upon guilt; that convened our sin, and\ncondemned us for it; this clears our guilt, and comforts us under it.\nThe first covenant related us to God as a Judge; every transgression\nagainst it forfeited his indulgence as a Father: the second delivers\nus from God as a condemning Judge, to bring us under his wing, as an\naffectionate Father; in the one there was a dreadful frown to scare us;\nin the other, a healing wing to cover and relieve us. Again, in regard\nof righteousness: that demanded our performance of a righteousness in\nand by ourselves, and our own strength; this demands our acceptance\nof a righteousness higher than ever the standing angels had; the\nrighteousness of the first covenant was the righteousness of a man,\nthe righteousness of the second is the righteousness of a God (2 Cor.\nv. 21). Again, in regard of that obedience it demands: it exacts not\nof us, as a necessary condition, the perfection of obedience, but\nthe sincerity of obedience; an uprightness in our intention, not an\nunspottedness in our action; an integrity in our aims, and an industry\nin our compliance with divine precepts: \u201cWalk before me, and be thou\nperfect\u201d (Gen. xvii. 1); _i. e._ sincere. What is hearty in our actions,\nis accepted; and what is defective, is overlooked, and not charged upon\nus, because of the obedience and righteousness of our Surety. The first\ncovenant rejected all our services after sin; the services of a person\nunder the sentence of death, are but dead services: this accepts our\nimperfect services, after faith in it; that administered no strength\nto obey, but supposed it; this supposeth our inability to obey, and\nconfers some strength for it: \u201cI will put my spirit {b277} within you,\nand cause you to walk in my statutes\u201d (Ezek. xxxvi. 27). Again, in\nregard of the promises: the old covenant had good, but the new hath\n\u201cbetter promises\u201d (Heb. viii. 6), of justification after guilt and\nsanctification after filth, and glorification at last of the whole\nman. In the first, there was provision against guilt, but none for the\nremoval of it: provision against filth, but none for the cleansing of\nit; promise of happiness implied, but not so great a one as that \u201clife\nand immortality\u201d in heaven, \u201cbrought to light by the gospel\u201d (2 Tim.\ni. 10). Why said to be \u201cbrought to light by the gospel?\u201d because it\nwas not only buried, upon the fall of man under the curses of the law,\nbut it was not so obvious to the conceptions of man in his innocent\nstate. Life indeed was implied to be promised upon his standing, but\nnot so glorious an immortality disclosed, to be reserved for him, if\nhe stood: as it is a covenant of better promises, so a covenant of\nsweeter comforts; comforts more choice, and comforts more durable; an\n\u201ceverlasting consolation, and a good hope\u201d are the fruits of \u201cgrace,\u201d\n_i. e._ the covenant of grace (2 Thess. ii. 16). In the whole there is\nsuch a love disclosed, as cannot be expressed; the apostle leaves it to\nevery man\u2019s mind to conceive it, if he could, \u201cWhat manner of love the\nFather hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God\u201d\n(1 John iii. 1). It instates us in such a manner of the love of God as\nhe bears to his Son, the image of his person (John xvii. 23): \u201cThat the\nworld may know that thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.\u201d\n\n3. This goodness appears in the choice gift of himself which he hath\nmade over in this covenant (Gen. xvii. 7). You know how it runs in\nScripture: \u201cI will be their God, and they shall be my people\u201d (Jer.\nxxxii. 38): a propriety in the Deity is made over by it. As he gave\nthe blood of his Son to seal the covenant, so he gave himself as the\nblessing of the covenant; \u201cHe is not ashamed to be called their God\u201d\n(Heb. xi. 16). Though he be environed with millions of angels, and\npresides over them in an inexpressible glory, he is not ashamed of his\ncondescensions to man, and to pass over himself as the propriety of his\npeople, as well as to take them to be his. It is a diminution of the\nsense of the place, to understand it of God, as Creator; what reason\nwas there for God to be ashamed of the expressions of his power, wisdom,\ngoodness, in the works of his hands? But we might have reason to think\nthere might be some ground in God to be ashamed of making himself over\nin a deed of gift to a mean worm and filthy rebel; this might seem a\ndisparagement to his majesty; but God is not ashamed of a title so mean,\nas the God of his despised people; a title below those others, of the\n\u201cLord of hosts, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders,\nriding on the wings of the wind, walking in the circuits of heaven.\u201d He\nis no more ashamed of this title of being our God, than he is of those\nother that sound more glorious; he would rather have his greatness\nveil to his goodness, than his goodness be confined by his majesty;\nhe is not only our God, but our God as he is the God of Christ: he is\nnot ashamed to be our propriety, and Christ is not ashamed to own his\npeople in a partnership with him in this propriety (John xx. 17): {b278}\n\u201cI ascend to my God, and your God.\u201d This of God\u2019s being our God, is the\nquintessence of the covenant, the soul of all the promises: in this he\nhath promised whatsoever is infinite in him, whatsoever is the glory\nand ornament of his nature, for our use; not a part of him, or one\nsingle perfection, but the whole vigor and strength of all. As he is\nnot a God without infinite wisdom, and infinite power, and infinite\ngoodness, and infinite blessedness, &c., so he passes over, in this\ncovenant, all that which presents him as the most adorable Being to\nhis creatures; he will be to them as great, as wise, as powerful, as\ngood as he is in himself; and the assuring us, in this covenant, to\nbe our God, imports also that he will do as much for us, as we would\ndo for ourselves, were we furnished with the same goodness, power, and\nwisdom: in being our God, he testifies it is all one, as if we had the\nsame perfections in our own power to employ for our use; for he being\npossessed with them, it is as much as if we ourselves were possessed\nwith them, for our own advantage, according to the rules of wisdom,\nand the several conditions we pass through for his glory. But this\nmust be taken with a relation to that wisdom, which he observes in\nhis proceedings with us as creatures, and according to the several\nconditions we pass through for his glory. Thus God\u2019s being ours is more\nthan if all heaven and earth were ours besides; it is more than if we\nwere fully our own, and at our own dispose; it makes \u201call things that\nGod hath ours\u201d (1 Cor. iii. 22); and therefore, not only all things he\nhath created, but all things that he can create; not only all things\nthat he hath contrived, but all things that he can contrive: for in\nbeing ours, his power is ours, his possible power as well as his active\npower; his power, whereby he can effect more than he hath done, and\nhis wisdom, whereby he can contrive more than he hath done; so that if\nthere were need of employing his power to create many worlds for our\ngood, he would not stick at it; for if he did, he would not be our\nGod, in the extent of his nature, as the promise intimates. What a rich\ngoodness, and a fulness of bounty, is there in this short expression,\nas full as the expression of a God can make it, to be intelligible, to\nsuch creatures as we are!\n\n4. This goodness is further manifest in the confirmation of the\ncovenant. His goodness did not only condescend to make it for our\nhappiness, after we had made ourselves miserable, but further\ncondescended to ratify it in the solemnest manner for our assurance,\nto overrule all the despondencies unbelief could raise up in our souls.\nThe reason why he confirmed it by an oath, was to show the immutability\nof his glorious counsel, not to tie himself to keep it, for his word\nand promise is in itself as immutable as his oath; they were \u201ctwo\nimmutable things, his word and his oath,\u201d one as unchangeable as the\nother; but for the strength of our consolation, that it might have\nno reason to shake and totter (Heb. vi. 17, 18): he would condescend\nas low as was possible for a God to do for the satisfaction of the\ndejected creature. When the first covenant was broken, and it was\nimpossible for man to fulfil the terms of it, and mount to happiness\nthereby, he makes another; and, as if we had reason to distrust him in\nthe first, he solemnly ratifies it in a higher manner than {b279} he\nhad done the other, and swears by himself that he will be true to it,\nnot so much out of an election of himself, as the object of the oath\n(Heb. vi. 13): \u201cBecause he could not swear by a greater, he swears by\nhimself;\u201d whereby the apostle clearly intimates, that Divine goodness\nwas raised to such a height for us, that if there had been anything\nelse more sacred than himself, or that could have punished him if he\nhad broken it, that he would have sworn by, to silence any diffidence\nin us, and confirm us in the reality of his intentions. Now if it were\na mighty mark of goodness for God to stoop to a covenanting with us, it\nwas more for a sovereign to bind himself so solemnly to be our debtor\nin a promise, as well as he was our sovereign in the precept, and stoop\nso low in it to satisfy the distrust of that creature, that deserved\nfor ever to lie soaking in his own ruins, for not believing his bare\nword. What absolute prince would ever stoop so low as to article with\nrebellious subjects, whom he could in a moment set his foot upon and\ncrush; much less countenance a causeless distrust of his goodness by\nthe addition of his oath, and thereby bind his own hands, which were\nunconfined before, and free to do what he pleased with them?\n\n5. This goodness of God is remarkable also in the condition of this\ncovenant which is faith. This was the easiest condition, in its own\nnature, that could be imagined; no difficulty in it but what proceeds\nfrom the pride of man\u2019s nature, and the obstinacy of his will. It\nwas not impossible in itself; it was not the old condition of perfect\nobedience. It had been mighty goodness to set us up again upon our old\nstock, and restore us to the tenor and condition of the covenant of\nworks, or to have required the burdensome ceremonies of the law. Nor is\nit an exact knowledge he requires of us; all men\u2019s understandings being\nof a different size, they had not been capable of this. It was the\nmost reasonable condition, in regard of the excellency of the things\nproposed, and the effects following upon it; nay, it was necessary. It\nhad been a want of goodness to himself and his own honor; he had cast\nthat off, had he not insisted on this condition of faith, it being the\nlowest he could condescend to with a _salvo_ for his glory. And it was\na goodness to us; it is nothing else he requires, but a willingness\nto accept what he hath contrived and acted for us: and no man can be\nhappy against his will; without this belief, at least, man could never\nvoluntarily have arrived to his happiness. The goodness of God is\nevidenced in that.\n\n[1st.] It is an easy condition, not impossible. 1. It was not the\ncondition of the old covenant. The condition of that was an entire\nobedience to every precept with a man\u2019s whole strength, and without\nany flaw or crack. But the condition of the evangelical covenant is a\nsincere, though weak, faith; He hath suited this covenant to the misery\nof man\u2019s fallen condition; he considers our weakness, and that we are\nbut dust, and therefore exacts not of us an entire, but a sincere,\nobedience. Had God sent Christ to expiate the crime of Adam, restore\nhim to his paradise estate, and repair in man the ruined image of\nholiness, and after this to have renewed the covenant of works for\nthe future, and settled the same condition in exacting a complete\nobedience for the time to come; Divine goodness had {b280} been above\nany accusation, and had deserved our highest admiration in the pardon\nof former transgressions, and giving out to us our first stock. But\nDivine goodness took larger strides: he had tried our first condition,\nand found his mutable creature quickly to violate it: had he demanded\nthe same now, it is likely it had met with the same issue as before,\nin man\u2019s disobedience and fall; we should have been as men, as Adam\n(Hos. vi. 7), \u201ctransgressing the covenant;\u201d and then we must have\nlain groaning under our disease, and wallowing in our blood, unless\nChrist had come to die for the expiation of our new crimes; for every\ntransgression had been a violation of that covenant, and a forfeiture\nof our right to the benefits of it. If we had broke it but in one\ntittle, we had rendered ourselves incapable to fulfil it for the\nfuture; that one transgression had stood as a bar against the pleas of\nafter\u2011obedience. But God hath wholly laid that condition aside as to us,\nand settled that of faith, more easy to be performed, and to be renewed\nby us. It is infinite grace in him, that he will accept of faith in\nus, instead of that perfect obedience he required of us in the covenant\nof works. 2. It is easy, not like the burdensome ceremonies appointed\nunder the law. He exacts not now the legal obedience, expensive\nsacrifices, troublesome purifications, and abstinences, that \u201cyoke of\nbondage\u201d (Gal. v. 1) which they were \u201cnot able to bear\u201d (Acts xv. 10).\nHe treats us not as servants, or children, in their nonage, under the\nelements of the world, nor requires those innumerable bodily exercises\nthat he exacted of them: he demands not \u201ca thousand of lambs,\u201d and\n\u201crivers of oil;\u201d but he requires a sincere confession and repentance,\nin order to our absolution; an \u201cunfeigned faith,\u201d in order to our\nblessedness, and elevation to a glorious life. He requires only that\nwe should believe what he saith, and have so good an opinion of his\ngoodness and veracity, as to persuade ourselves of the reality of his\nintentions, confide in his word, and rely upon his promise, cordially\nembrace his crucified Son, whom he hath set forth as the means of our\nhappiness, and have a sincere respect to all the discoveries of his\nwill. What can be more easy than this? Though some in the days of the\napostles, and others since have endeavored to introduce a multitude of\nlegal burdens, as if they envied God the expressions of his goodness,\nor thought him guilty of too much remissness, in taking off the yoke,\nand treating man too favorably. 3. Nor is it a clear knowledge of every\nrevelation, that is the condition of this covenant. God in his kindness\nto man hath made revelations of himself, but his goodness is manifested\nin obliging us to believe him, not fully to understand him. He hath\nmade them, by sufficient testimonies, as clear to our faith, as they\nare incomprehensible to our reason: he hath revealed a Trinity of\nPersons, in their distinct offices, in the business of redemption,\nwithout which revelation of a Trinity we could not have a right\nnotion and scheme of redeeming grace. But since the clearness of men\u2019s\nunderstanding is sullied by the fall, and hath lost its wings to fly up\nto a knowledge of such sublime things as that of the Trinity, and other\nmysteries of the Christian religion, God hath manifested his goodness\nin not obliging us to understand them but to believe them; and hath\ngiven us reason enough {b281} to believe it to be his revelation,\n(both from the nature of the revelation itself, and the way and manner\nof propagating it, which is wholly divine, exceeding all the methods\nof human art,) though he hath not extended our understandings to a\ncapacity to know them, and render a reason of every mystery. He did not\nrequire of every Israelite, or of any of them that were stung by the\nfiery serpents, that they should understand, or be able to discourse\nof the nature and qualities of that brass of which the serpent upon\nthe pole was made, or by what art that serpent was formed, or in what\nmanner the sight of it did operate in them for their cure; it was\nenough that they did believe the institution and precept of God, and\nthat their own cure was assured by it: it was enough if they cast their\neyes upon it according to the direction. The understandings of men\nare of several sizes and elevations, one higher than another: if the\ncondition of this covenant had been a greatness of knowledge, the\nmost acute men had only enjoyed the benefits of it. But it is \u201cfaith,\u201d\nwhich is as easy to be performed by the ignorant and simple, as by\nthe strongest and most towering mind: it is that which is within the\ncompass of every man\u2019s understanding. God did not require that every\none within the verge of the covenant should be able to discourse of\nit to the reasons of men; he required not that every man should be a\nphilosopher, or an orator, but a believer. What could be more easy than\nto lift up the eye to the brazen serpent, to be cured of a fiery sting?\nWhat could be more facile than a glance, which is done without any pain,\nand in a moment? It is a condition may be performed by the weakest as\nwell as the strongest: could those that were bitten in the most vital\npart cast up their eyes, though at the last gasp, they would arise to\nhealth by the expulsion of the venom.\n\n[2d.] As it is easy, so it is reasonable. Repent and believe, is\nthat which is required by Christ and the apostles for the enjoyment of\nthe kingdom of heaven. It is very reasonable that things so great and\nglorious, so beneficial to men, and revealed to them by so sound an\nauthority, and an unerring truth, should be believed. The excellency\nof the thing disclosed could admit of no lower a condition than to\nbe believed and embraced. There is a sort of faith, that is a natural\ncondition in everything: all religion in the world, though never\nso false, depends upon a sort of it; for unless there be a belief\nof future things, there would never be a hope of good, or a fear of\nevil, the two great hinges upon which religion moves. In all kinds of\nlearning, many things must be believed before a progress can be made.\nBelief of one another is necessary in all acts of human life; without\nwhich human society would be unlinked and dissolved. What is that faith\nthat God requires of us in this covenant, but a willingness of soul\nto take God for our God, Christ for our Mediator, and the procurer\nof our happiness (Rev. xxii. 17)? What prince could require less upon\nany promise he makes his subjects, than to be believed as true, and\ndepended on as good; that they should accept his pardon, and other\ngracious offers, and be sincere in their allegiance to him, avoiding\nall things that may offend him, and pursuing all things that may please\nhim? Thus God, by so {b282} small and reasonable a condition as faith,\nlets in the fruits of Christ\u2019s death into our soul, and wraps us up\nin the fruition of all the privileges purchased by it. So much he hath\ncondescended in his goodness, that upon so slight a condition we may\nplead his promise, and humbly challenge, by virtue of the covenant,\nthose good things he hath promised in his word. It is so reasonable a\ncondition, that if God did not require it in the covenant of grace, the\ncreature were obliged to perform it: for the publishing any truth from\nGod, naturally calls for credit to be given it by the creature, and\nan entertainment of it in practice. Could you offer a more reasonable\ncondition yourselves, had it been left to your choice? Should a prince\nproclaim a pardon to a profligate wretch, would not all the world cry\nshame of him, if he did not believe it upon the highest assurances? and\nif ingenuity did not make him sorry for his crimes, and careful in the\nduty of a subject, surely the world would cry shame of such a person.\n\n[3d.] It is a necessary condition. 1. Necessary for the honor of\nGod. A prince is disparaged if his authority in his law, and if his\ngraciousness in his promises, be not accepted and believed. What\nphysician would undertake a cure, if his precepts may not be credited?\nIt is the first thing in the order of nature, that the revelation of\nGod should be believed, that the reality of his intentions in inviting\nman to the acceptance of those methods he hath prescribed for their\nattaining their chief happiness, should be acknowledged. It is a\ndebasing notion of God, that he should give a happiness, purchased by\nDivine blood, to a person that hath no value for it, nor any abhorrency\nof those sins that occasioned so great a suffering, nor any will to\navoid them: should he not vilify himself, to bestow a heaven upon that\nman that will not believe the offers of it, nor walk in those ways\nthat lead to it? that walks so, as if he would declare there was no\ntruth in his word, nor holiness in his nature? Would not God by such\nan act verify a truth in the language of their practice, _viz._ that he\nwere both false and impure, careless of his word, and negligent of his\nholiness? As God was so desirous to ensure the consolation of believers,\nthat if there had been a greater Being than himself to attest, and for\nhim to be responsible to, for the confirmation of his promise, he would\nwillingly have submitted to him, and have made him the umpire, \u201cHe\nswore by himself, because he could not swear by a greater\u201d (Heb. vi.\n19); by the same reason, had it stood with the majesty and wisdom of\nGod to stoop to lower conditions in this covenant, for the reducing of\nman to his duty and happiness, he would have done it; but his goodness\ncould not take lower steps, with the preservation of the rights of his\nmajesty, and the honor of his wisdom. Would you have had him wholly\nsubmitted to the obstinate will of a rebellious creature, and be ruled\nonly by his terms? Would you have had him received men to happiness,\nafter they had heightened their crimes by a contempt of his grace,\nas well as of his creating goodness, and have made them blessed under\nthe guilt of their crimes without an acknowledgment? Should he glorify\none that will not believe what he hath revealed, nor repent of what\nhimself hath committed; and so save a man after {b283} a repeated\nunthankfulness to the most immense grace that ever was, or can be,\ndiscovered and offered, without a detestation of his ingratitude, and\na voluntary acceptance of his offers? It is necessary, for the honor\nof God, that man should accept of his terms, and not give laws to him\nto whom he is obnoxious as a guilty person, as well as subject as a\ncreature. Again, it was very equitable and necessary for the honor of\nGod, that since man fell by an unbelief of his precept and threatening,\nhe should not rise again without a belief of his promise, and casting\nhimself upon his truth in that: since he had vilified the honor of his\ntruth in the threatening; since man in his fall would lean to his own\nunderstanding against God, it is fit that, in his recovery, the highest\npowers of his soul, his understanding and will, should be subjected to\nhim in an entire resignation. Now, whereas knowledge seems to have a\npower over its object, faith is a full submission to that which is the\nobject of it. Since man intended a glorying in himself, the evangelical\ncovenant directs its whole battery against it, that men may \u201cglory\nin nothing but Divine goodness\u201d (1 Cor. i. 29\u201231). Had man performed\nexact obedience by his own strength, he had had something in himself\nas the matter of his glory. And though, after the fall, grace had made\nitself illustrious in setting him up upon a new stock, yet had the same\ncondition of exact obedience been settled in the same manner, man would\nhave had something to glory in, which is struck off wholly by faith;\nwhereby man in every act must go out of himself for a supply, to that\nMediator which Divine goodness and grace hath appointed. 2. It is\nnecessary for the happiness of man. That can be no contenting condition\nwherein the will of man doth not concur. He that is forced to the\nmost delicious diet, or to wear the bravest apparel, or to be stored\nwith abundance of treasure, cannot be happy in those things without\nan esteem of them, and delight in them: if they be nauseous to him,\nthe indisposition of his mind is a dead fly in those boxes of precious\nointment. Now, faith being a sincere willingness to accept of Christ,\nand to come to God by him, and repentance being a detestation of\nthat which made man\u2019s separation from God, it is impossible he\ncould be voluntarily happy without it: man cannot attain and enjoy\na true happiness without an operation of his understanding about\nthe object proposed, and the means appointed to enjoy it. There must\nbe a knowledge of what is offered, and of the way of it, and such a\nknowledge as may determine the will to affect that end, and embrace\nthose means; which the will can never do, till the understanding be\nfully persuaded of the truth of the offerer, and the goodness of the\nproposal itself, and the conveniency of the means for the attaining of\nit. It is necessary, in the nature of the thing, that what is revealed\nshould be believed to be a Divine revelation. God must be judged\ntrue in the promising justification and sanctification, the means of\nhappiness; and if any man desires to be partaker of those promises, he\nmust desire to be sanctified; and how can he desire that which is the\nmatter of those promises, if he wallow in his own lusts, and desire\nto do so, a thing repugnant to the promise itself? Would you have God\nforce man to be happy against his will? Is it not very reasonable he\nshould demand the consent {b284} of his reasonable creature to that\nblessedness he offers him? The new covenant is a \u201cmarriage covenant\u201d\n(Hos. ii. 16, 19, 20), which implies a consent on our parts, as well as\na consent on God\u2019s part; that is no marriage that hath not the consent\nof both parties. Now faith is our actual consent, and repentance and\nsincere obedience are the testimonies of the truth and reality of this\nconsent.\n\n6th. Divine goodness is eminent in his methods of treating with men\nto embrace this covenant. They are methods of gentleness and sweetness:\nit is a wooing goodness, and a bewailing goodness; his expressions\nare with strong motions of affection: he carrieth not on the gospel\nby force of arms: he doth not solely menace men into it, as worldly\nconquerors have done; he doth not, as Mahomet, plunder men\u2019s estates,\nand wound their bodies, to imprint a religion on their souls: he doth\nnot erect gibbets, and kindle faggots, to scare men to an entering into\ncovenant with him. What multitudes might he have raised by his power,\nas well as others! What legions of angels might he have rendezvoused\nfrom heaven, to have beaten men into a profession of the gospel! Nor\ndoth he only interpose his sovereign authority in the precept of faith,\nbut useth rational expostulations, to move men voluntarily to comply\nwith his proposals (Isa. i. 18), \u201cCome now, and let us reason together,\u201d\nsaith the Lord. He seems to call heaven and earth to be judge,\nwhether he had been wanting in any reasonable ways of goodness, to\novercome the perversity of the creature; (Isa. i. 2), \u201cHear, O heavens,\nand give ear, O earth, I have nourished and brought up children.\u201d What\nvarious encouragements doth he use agreeable to the nature of men,\nendeavoring to persuade them with all tenderness, not to despise their\nown mercies, and be enemies to their own happiness! He would allure\nus by his beauty, and win us by his mercy. He uses the arms of his own\nexcellency and our necessity to prevail upon us, and this after the\nhighest provocations. When Adam had trampled upon his creating goodness,\nit was not crushed; and when man had cast it from him, it took the\nhigher rebound: when the rebel\u2019s provocation was fresh in his mind,\nhe sought him out with a promise in his hand, though Adam fled from\nhim out of enmity as well as fear (Gen. iii). And when the Jews had\noutraged his Son, whom he loved from eternity, and made the Lord of\nheaven and earth bow down his head like a slave on the cross, yet in\nthat place, where the most horrible wickedness had been committed, must\nthe gospel be preached: the law must go forth out of that Sion, and the\napostles must not stir from thence till they had received the promise\nof the Spirit, and published the word of grace in that ungrateful city,\nwhose inhabitants yet swelled with indignation against the Lord of Life,\nand the doctrine he had preached among them (Luke xxiv. 47; Acts i.\n4, 5). He would overlook their indignities out of tenderness to their\nsouls, and expose the apostles to the peril of their lives, rather than\nexpose his enemies to the fury of the devil.\n\n1. How affectionately doth he invite men! What multitudes of alluring\npromises and pressing exhortations are there everywhere sprinkled in\nthe Scripture, and in such a passionate manner, as if God were solely\nconcerned in our good, without a glance on his own {b285} glory! How\ntenderly doth he woo flinty hearts, and express more pity to them\nthan they do to themselves! With what affection do his bowels rise\nup to his lips in his speech in the prophet, Isa. li. 4, \u201cHearken to\nme, O my people, and give ear unto me, O my nation!\u201d \u201cMy people,\u201d \u201cmy\nnation!\u201d\u2015\u2015melting expressions of a tender God soliciting a rebellious\npeople to make their retreat to him. He never emptied his hand of\nhis bounty, nor divested his lips of those charitable expressions. He\nsent Noah to move the wicked of the old world to an embracing of his\ngoodness, and frequent prophets to the provoking Jews; and as the world\ncontinued, and grew up to a taller stature in sin, he stoops more in\nthe manner of his expressions. Never was the world at a higher pitch\nof idolatry than at the first publishing the gospel; yet, when we\nshould have expected him to be a punishing, he is a beseeching God.\nThe apostle fears not to use the expression for the glory of Divine\ngoodness; \u201cWe are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you\nby us\u201d (2 Cor. v. 20). The beseeching voice of God is in the voice of\nthe ministry, as the voice of the prince is in that of the herald: it\nis as if Divine goodness did kneel down to a sinner with ringed hands\nand blubbered cheeks, entreating him not to force him to re\u2011assume a\ntribunal of justice in the nature of a Judge, since he would treat with\nman upon a throne of grace in the nature of a Father; yea, he seems\nto put himself into the posture of the criminal, that the offending\ncreature might not feel the punishment due to a rebel. It is not the\ncondescension, but the interest, of a traitor to creep upon his knees\nin sackcloth to his sovereign, to beg his life; but it is a miraculous\ngoodness in the sovereign to creep in the lowest posture to the rebel,\nto importune him, not only for an amity to him, but a love for his own\nlife and happiness: this He doth, not only in his general proclamations,\nbut in his particular wooings, those inward courtings of his Spirits,\nsoliciting them with more diligence (if they would observe it) to their\nhappiness, than the devil tempts them to the ways of their misery: as\nhe was first in Christ, reconciling the world, when the world looked\nnot after him, so he is first in his Spirit, wooing the world to accept\nof that reconciliation, when the world will not listen to him. How\noften doth he flash up the light of nature and the light of the word\nin men\u2019s hearts, to move them not to lie down in sparks of their own\nkindling, but to aspire to a better happiness, and prepare them to be\nsubject to a higher mercy, if they would improve his present entreaties\nto such an end! And what are his threatenings designed for, but to move\nthe wheel of our fears, that the wheel of our desire and love might\nbe set on motion for the embracing his promise? They are not so much\nthe thunders of his justice, as the loud rhetoric of his good will, to\nprevent men\u2019s misery under the vials of wrath: it is his kindness to\nscare men by threatenings, that justice might not strike them with the\nsword: it is not the destruction, but the preserving reformation, that\nhe aims at: he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked; this he\nconfirms by his oath. His threatenings are gracious expostulations with\nthem: \u201cWhy will ye die, O house of Israel\u201d (Ezek. xxxiii. 11)? They\nare like the noise a favorable officer makes in the street, {b286} to\nwarn the criminal he comes to seize upon, to make his escape: he never\nused his justice to crush men, till he had used his kindness to allure\nthem. All the dreadful descriptions of a future wrath, as well as the\nlively descriptions of the happiness of another world, are designed\nto persuade men; the honey of his goodness is in the bowels of those\nroaring lions: such pains doth Goodness take with men, to make them\ncandidates for heaven.\n\n2. How readily doth he receive men when they do return! We have\nDavid\u2019s experience for it (Ps. xxxii. 5); \u201cI said, I will confess my\ntransgressions unto the Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.\nSelah.\u201d A sincere look from the creature draws out his arms, and opens\nhis bosom; he is ready with his physic to heal us, upon a resolution\nto acquaint him with our disease, and by his medicines prevents the\nputting our resolution into a petition. The Psalmist adds a \u201cSelah\u201d to\nit, as a special note of thankfulness for Divine goodness. He doth not\nonly stand ready to receive our petitions while we are speaking, but\nanswers us before we call (Isa. lxv. 24); listening to the motions of\nour heart, as well as to the supplications of our lips. He is the true\nFather, that hath a quicker pace in meeting, than the prodigal hath\nin returning; who would not have his embraces and caresses interrupted\nby his confession (Luke xv. 20\u201222); the confession follows, doth not\nprecede, the Father\u2019s compassion. How doth he rejoice in having an\nopportunity to express his grace, when he hath prevailed with a rebel\nto throw down his arms, and lie at his feet; and this because \u201che\ndelights in mercy\u201d (Micah vii. 18)! He delights in the expressions of\nit from himself, and the acceptance of it by his creature.\n\n3. How meltingly doth he bewail man\u2019s wilful refusal of his goodness!\nIt is a mighty goodness to offer grace to a rebel; a mighty goodness\nto give it him after he hath a while stood off from the terms; an\nastonishing goodness to regret and lament his wilful perdition. He\nseems to utter those words in a sigh, \u201cO that my people had hearkened\nunto me, and Israel had walked in my way\u201d (Ps. lxxxi. 13)! It is true,\nGod hath not human passions, but his affections cannot be expressed\notherwise in a way intelligible to us; the excellency of his nature\nis above the passions of men; but such expressions of himself manifest\nto us the sincerity of his goodness: and that, were he capable of our\npassions, he would express himself in such a manner as we do: and we\nfind incarnate Goodness bewailing with tears and sighs the ruin of\nJerusalem (Luke xix. 42). By the same reason that when a sinner returns\nthere is joy in heaven, upon his obstinacy there is sorrow in earth.\nThe one is, as if a prince should clothe all his court in triumphant\nscarlet, upon a rebel\u2019s repentance; and the other, as if a prince put\nhimself and his court in mourning for a rebel\u2019s obstinate refusal of\na pardon, when he lies at his mercy. Are not now these affectionate\ninvitations, and deep bewailings of their perversity, high testimonies\nof Divine goodness? Do not the unwearied repetitions of gracious\nencouragements deserve a higher name than that of mere goodness? What\ncan be a stronger evidence of the sincerity of it, than the sound\nof his saving voice in our enjoyments, the motion of his Spirit in\nour hearts, and his grief {b287} for the neglect of all? These are\nnot testimonies of any want of goodness in his nature to answer us,\nor unwillingness to express it to his creature. Hath he any mind to\ndeceive us, that thus intreats us? The majesty of his nature is too\ngreat for such shifts; or, if it were not, the despicableness of our\ncondition would render him above the using any. Who would charge that\nphysician with want of kindness, that freely offers his sovereign\nmedicine, importunes men, by the love they have to their health,\nto take it, and is dissolved into tears and sorrow when he finds it\nrejected by their peevish and conceited humor?\n\n7th. Divine goodness is eminent in the sacraments he hath affixed to\nthis covenant, especially the Lord\u2019s supper. As he gave himself in his\nSon, so he gives his Son in the sacrament; he doth not only give him\nas a sacrifice upon the cross for the expiation of our crimes, but as\na feast upon the table for the nourishment of our souls: in the one he\nwas given to be offered; in this he gives him to be partaken of, with\nall the fruits of his death; under the image of the sacramental signs,\nevery believer doth eat the flesh, and drink the blood of the great\nMediator of the covenant. The words of Christ, \u201cThis is my body, and\nthis is my blood,\u201d are true to the end of the world (Matt. xxvi. 26,\n28). This is the most delicious viand of heaven, the most exquisite\ndainty food God can feed us with: the delight of the Deity, the\nadmiration of angels; a feast with God is great, but a feast on God\nis greater. Under those signs that body is presented; that which was\nconceived by the Spirit, inhabited by the Godhead, bruised by the\nFather to be our food, as well as our propitiation, is presented to us\non the table. That blood which satisfied justice, washed away our guilt\non the cross, and pleads for our persons at the throne of grace; that\nblood which silenced the curse, pacified heaven, and purged earth, is\ngiven to us for our refreshment. This is the bread sent from heaven,\nthe true manna; the cup is \u201cthe cup of blessing,\u201d and, therefore, a\ncup of goodness (1 Cor. x. 15). It is true, bread doth not cease to\nbe bread, nor the wine cease to be wine; neither of them lose their\nsubstance, but both acquire a sanctification, by the relation they have\nto that which they represent, and give a nourishment to that faith that\nreceives them. In those God offers us a remedy for the sting of sin,\nand troubles of conscience; he gives us not the blood of a mere man,\nor the blood of an incarnate angel, but of God blessed forever; a blood\nthat can secure us against the wrath of heaven, and the tumults of\nour consciences; a blood that can wash away our sins, and beautify\nour souls; a blood that hath more strength than our filth, and more\nprevalency than our accuser; a blood that secures us against the\nterrors of death, and purifies us for the blessedness of heaven.\nThe goodness of God complies with our senses, and condescends to our\nweakness; he instructs us by the eye, as well as by the ear; he lets us\nsee, and taste, and feel him, as well as hear him; he veils his glory\nunder earthly elements, and informs our understanding in the mysteries\nof salvation by signs familiar to our senses; and because we cannot\nwith our bodily eyes behold him in his glory, he presents him to the\neyes of our minds in elements, to affect our understandings in the\n{b288} representations of his death. The body of Christ crucified is\nmore visible to our spiritual sense, than the invisible Deity could be\nvisible in his flesh upon earth; and the power of his body and blood\nis as well experimented in our souls, as the power of his Divinity was\nseen by the Jews in his miraculous actions in his body in the world.\nIt is the goodness of God, to mind us frequently of the great things\nChrist hath purchased; that as himself would not let them be out of his\nmind, to communicate them to us, so he would give us means to preserve\nthem in our minds, to adore him for them, and request them of him;\nwhereby he doth evidence his own solicitousness, that we should not be\ndeprived by our own forgetfulness of that grace Christ hath purchased\nfor us; it was to remember the Redeemer, \u201cand show his death till he\ncame\u201d (1 Cor. xi. 25, 26).\n\n1. His goodness is seen in the end of it, which is a sealing the\ncovenant of grace. The common nature and end of sacraments is to seal\nthe covenant they belong to, and the truths of the promises of it.[983]\nThe legal sacraments of circumcision and the passover sealed the legal\npromises and the covenant in the Judicial administration of it; and\nthe evangelical sacraments seal the evangelical promises, as a ring\nconfirms a contract of marriage, and a seal the articles of a compact;\nby the same reason, circumcision is called a \u201cseal of the righteousness\nof faith\u201d (Rom. iv. 11); other sacraments may have the same title; God\ndoth attest, that he will remain firm in his promise, and the receiver\nattests he will remain firm in his faith. In all reciprocal covenants,\nthere are mutual engagements, and that which serves for a seal on the\npart of the one, serves for a seal also on the part of the other; God\nobligeth himself to the performance of the promise, and man engageth\nhimself to the performance of his duty. The thing confirmed by this\nsacrament is the perpetuity of this covenant in the blood of Christ,\nwhence it is called \u201cthe New Testament,\u201d or covenant \u201cin the blood of\nChrist\u201d (Luke xxii. 20). In every repetition of it, God, by presenting,\nconfirms his resolution to us, of sticking to this covenant for the\nmerit of Christ\u2019s blood; and the receiver, by eating the body and\ndrinking the blood, engageth himself to keep close to the condition\nof faith, expecting a full salvation and a blessed immortality upon\nthe merit of the same blood alone. This sacrament could not be called\nthe \u201cNew Testament, or Covenant,\u201d if it had not some relation to\nthe covenant; and what it can be but this, I do not understand. The\ncovenant itself was confirmed \u201cby the death of Christ\u201d (Heb. ix. 15),\nand thereby made unchangeable both in the benefits to us, and the\ncondition required of us; but he seals it to our sense in a sacrament,\nto give us strong consolation; or, rather, the articles of the covenant\nof redemption between the Father and the Son, agreed on from eternity,\nwere accomplished on Christ\u2019s part by his death, on the Father\u2019s part\nby his resurrection; Christ performed what he promised in the one, and\nGod acknowledgeth the validity of it, and performs what he had promised\nin the other. The covenant of grace, founded upon this covenant of\nredemption, is sealed in the sacrament; God owns his standing to the\nterms of it, as sealed by the blood of the Mediator, by presenting\n{b289} him to us under those signs, and gives us a right upon faith to\nthe enjoyment of the fruits of it. As the right of a house is made over\nby the delivery of the key, and the right of land translated by the\ndelivery of a turf; whereby he gives us assurance of his reality, and\na strong support to our confidence in him; not that there is any virtue\nand power of sealing in the elements themselves, no more than there is\nin a turf to give an enfeoffment in a parcel of land; but as the power\nof one is derived from the order of the law, so the confirming power\nof the sacrament is derived from the institution of God; as the oil\nwherewith kings were anointed, did not of itself confer upon them that\nroyal dignity, but it was a sign of their investiture into office,\nordered by Divine institution. We can with no reason imagine, that\nGod intended them as naked signs or pictures, to please our eyes with\nthe image of them, to represent their own figures to our eyes, but to\nconfirm something to our understanding by the efficacy of the Spirit\naccompanying them:[984] they convey to the believing receiver what\nthey represent, as the great seal of a prince, fixed to the parchment,\ndoth the pardon of a rebel as well as its own figure. Christ\u2019s death,\nand the grace of the covenant is not only signified, but the fruits\nand merit of that death communicated also. Thus doth Divine goodness\nevidence itself, not only in making a gracious covenant with us, but\nfixing seals to it; not to strengthen his own obligation, which stood\nstronger than the foundations of heaven and earth, upon the credit of\nhis word, but to strengthen our weakness, and support our security, by\nsomething which might appear more formal and solemn than a bare word.\nBy this, the Divine goodness provides against our spiritual faintings,\nand shows us by real signs as well as verbal declarations, that the\ncovenant sealed by the blood of Christ, is unalterable; and thereby\nwould fortify and mount our hopes to degrees in some measure suitable\nto the kindness of the covenant, and the dignity of the Redeemer\u2019s\nblood. And it is yet a further degree of this goodness, that he hath\nappointed us so often to celebrate it, whereby he shows how careful\nhe is to keep up our tottering faith, and preserve us constant in our\nobedience; obliging himself to the performance of his promise, and\nobliging us to the payment of our duty.\n\n2. His goodness is seen in the sacrament in giving us in it an\nunion and communion with Christ. There is not only a commemoration\nof Christ dying, but a communication of Christ living. The apostle\nstrongly asserts it by way of interrogation (1 Cor. x. 16), \u201cThe cup\nof blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of\nChrist? the bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body\nof Christ?\u201d In the cup there is a communication of the blood of Christ,\na conveyance of a right to the merits of his death, and the blessedness\nof his life: we are not less by this made one body with Christ than we\nare by baptism (1 Cor. xii. 13): and \u201cput on Christ\u201d living in this, as\nwell as in baptism (Gal. iii. 27); that as his taking our infirm flesh\nwas a real incarnation, so the giving us his flesh to eat is a mystical\nincarnation in believers, whereby they become one body with him as\ncrucified, and one body with {b290} him as risen; for if Christ himself\nbe received by faith in the word (Col. ii. 6), he is no less received\nby faith in the sacrament. When the Holy Ghost is said to be received,\nthe graces or gifts of the Holy Ghost are received; so when Christ\nis received, the fruits of his death are really partaken of. The\nIsraelites that ate of the sacrifices, did \u201cpartake of the altar\u201d\n(1 Cor. x. 18), _i. e._ had a communion with the God of Israel, to\nwhom they had been sacrificed; and those that \u201cate of the sacrifices\u201d\noffered to idols, had a \u201cfellowship with devils,\u201d to whom those\nsacrifices were offered (ver. 20). Those that partake of the sacraments\nin a due manner, have a communion with that God to whom it was\nsacrificed, and a communion with that body which was sacrificed to\nGod; not that the substance of that body and blood is wrapped up in\nthe elements, or that the bread and wine are transformed into the body\nand blood of Christ, but as they represent him, and by virtue of the\ninstitution are, in estimation himself, his own body and blood; by the\nsame reason as he is called \u201cChrist our passover,\u201d he may be called\n\u201cChrist our supper\u201d (1 Cor. v. 7): for as they are so reckoned to an\nunworthy receiver, as if they were the real body and blood of Christ,\nbecause by his not discerning the Lord\u2019s body in it, or making light\nof it as common bread, he is judged \u201cguilty of the body and blood of\nChrist,\u201d guilty of treating him in as base a manner as the Jews did\nwhen they crowned him with thorns (1 Cor. xi. 27, 29): by the same\nreason they must be reckoned to a worthy receiver, as the very body\nand blood of Christ: so that as the unworthy receiver \u201ceats and drinks\ndamnation,\u201d the worthy receiver \u201ceats and drinks\u201d salvation. It would\nbe an empty mystery, and unworthy of an institution by Divine goodness,\nif there were not some communion with Christ in it: there would be\nsome kind of deceit in the precept, \u201cTake, eat, and drink, this is\nmy body and blood,\u201d if there were not a conveyance of spiritual vital\ninfluences to our souls: for the natural end of eating and drinking is\nthe nourishment and increase of the body, and preservation of life, by\nthat which we eat and drink. The infinite wise, gracious, and true God,\nwould never give us empty figures without accomplishing that which is\nsignified by them, and suitable to them. How great is this goodness of\nGod! he would have his Son in us, one with us, straitly joined to us,\nas if we were his proper flesh and blood: in the incarnation Divine\ngoodness united him to our nature; in the sacrament, it doth in a sort\nunite him with his purchased privileges to our persons; we have not a\ncommunion with a part or a member of his body, or a drop of his blood,\nbut with his whole body and blood, represented in every part of the\nelements. The angels in the heaven enjoy not so great a privilege; they\nhave the honor to be under him as their Head, but not that of having\nhim for their food; they behold him, but they do not taste him. And,\ncertainly, that goodness that hath condescended so much to our weakness,\nwould impart it to us in a very glorious manner, were we capable of\nit. But, because a man cannot behold the light of the sun in its full\nsplendor by reason of the infirmities of his eyes, he must behold it\nby the help of a glass, and such a communication through a colored and\nopaque glass, is as real from the sun itself, though not so glorious,\nbut more shrouded {b291} and obscure; it is the same light that shines\nthrough that medium, as spreads itself gloriously in the open air,\nthough the one be masked, and the other open\u2011faced. To conclude this,\nby the way, we may take notice of the neglect of this ordinance:\nif it be a token of Divine goodness to appoint it, it is no sign of\nour estimation of Divine goodness to neglect it. He that values the\nkindness of his friend, will accept of his invitation, if there be not\nsome strong impediments in the way, or so much familiarity with him\nthat his refusal upon a light occasion would not be unkindly taken. But\nthough God put on the disposition of a friend to us, yet he looseth not\nthe authority of a sovereign; and the humble familiarity he invites us\nto, doth not diminish the condition and duty of a subject. A sovereign\nprince would not take it well, if a favorite should refuse the offered\nhonor of his table. The viands of God are not to be slighted. Can\nwe live better upon our poor pittance than upon his dainties? Did\nnot Divine goodness condescend in it to the weakness of our faith,\nand shall we conceit our faith stronger than God thinks it? If he\nthought fit by those seals to make a deed of gift to us, shall we be so\nunmannerly to him, and such enemies to the security he offers us over\nand above his word, as not to accept it? Are we unwilling to have our\nsouls inflamed with love, our hearts filled with comfort, and armed\nagainst the attempts of our enemies? It is true, there is a guilt of\nthe body and blood of Christ contracted by a slightness in the manner\nof attending; is it not also contracted by a refusal and neglect? What\nis the language of it? If it speaks not the death of Christ in vain, it\nspeaks the institution of this ordinance as a remembrance of his death,\nto be a vanity, and no mark of Divine goodness. Let us, therefore, put\nsuch a value upon Divine goodness in this affair, as to be willing to\nreceive the conveyances of his love, and fresh engagements of our duty;\nthe one is due from us to the kindness of our friend, and the other\nbelongs to our duty as his subjects.\n\nvi. By this redemption God restores us to a more excellent condition\nthan Adam had in innocence. Christ was sent by Divine goodness, not\nonly to restore the life Adam\u2019s sin had stripped us of, but to give\nit more abundantly than Adam\u2019s standing could have conveyed it to us\n(John x. 10), \u201cI am come that they might have life, and that they might\nhave it more abundantly.\u201d More abundantly for strength, more abundantly\nfor duration, a life abounding with greater felicity and glory: the\nsubstance of those better promises of the new covenant than what\nattended the old. There are fuller streams of grace by Christ than\nflowed to Adam, or could flow from Adam. As Christ never restored any\nto health and strength while he was in the world, but he gave them\na greater measure of both than they had before; so there is the same\nkindness, no question, manifested in our spiritual condition. Adam\u2019s\nlife might have preserved us, but Adam\u2019s death could not have rescued\neither himself or his posterity; but, in our redemption, we have a\nRedeemer, who hath \u201cdied to expiate our sins,\u201d and so crowned with\nlife to save, and forever preserve our persons (Rom. v. 10), \u201cBecause\nI live, ye shall live also:\u201d so that by redeeming goodness the life\nof a believer {b292} is as perpetual as the life of the Redeemer\nChrist (John xiv. 19). Adam, though innocent, was under the danger\nof perishing; a believer, though culpable, is above the fears of\nmutability. Adam had a holiness in his nature, but capable of being\nlost; by Christ believers have a holiness bestowed, not capable of\nbeing rifled, but which will remain till it be at last fully perfected:\nthough they have a power to change in their nature, yet they are above\nan actual final change by the indulgence of Divine grace. Adam stood\nby himself; believers stand in a root, impossible to be shaken or\ncorrupted: by this means the \u201cpromise is sure to all the seed\u201d (Rom.\niv. 16). Christ is a stronger person than Adam, who can never break\ncovenant with God, and the truth of God will never break covenant with\nhim. We are united to a more excellent Head than Adam: instead of a\nroot merely human, we have a root Divine as well as human. In him we\nhad the righteousness of a creature merely human; in this we have a\nrighteousness divine, the righteousness of God\u2011man; the stock is no\nlonger in our own hands, but in the hands of One that cannot embezzle\nit, or forfeit it: Divine goodness hath deposited it strongly for our\nsecurity. The stamp we receive, by the Divine goodness, from the second\nAdam, is more noble than that we should have received from the first,\nhad he remained in his created state: Adam was formed of the dust of\nthe earth, and the new man is formed by the incorruptible seed of the\nword; and at the resurrection, the body of man shall be endued with\nbetter qualities than Adam had at creation: they shall be like that\nglorious Body which is in heaven, in union with the person of the \u201cSon\nof God\u201d (Phil. iii. 21). Adam, at the best, had but an earthly body,\nbut the Lord from heaven hath a \u201cheavenly body,\u201d the image of which\nshall be borne by the redeemed ones, as they have borne the image\nof the earthly (1 Cor. xv. 47\u201249). Adam had the society of beasts;\nredeemed ones expect, by Divine goodness in redemption, a commerce\nwith angels; as they are reconciled to them by his death, they shall\ncertainly come to converse with them at the consummation of their\nhappiness; as they are made of one family, so they will have a peculiar\nintimacy: Adam had a paradise, and redeemed ones a heaven provided for\nthem; a happier place with a richer furniture. It is much to give so\ncomplete a paradise to innocent Adam; but more to give heaven to an\nungrateful Adam, and his rebellious posterity: it had been abundant\ngoodness to have restored us to the same condition in that paradise\nfrom whence we were ejected; but a superabundant goodness to bestow\nupon us a better habitation in heaven, which we could never have\nexpected. How great is that goodness, when by sin we were fallen to\nbe worse than nothing, that He should raise us to be more than what we\nwere; that restored us, not to the first step of our creation, but to\nmany degrees of elevation beyond it! not only restores us, but prefers\nus; not only striking off our chains, to set us free, but clothing\nus with a robe of righteousness, to render us honorable; not only\nquenching our hell, but preparing a heaven; not re\u2011garnishing an\nearthly, but providing a richer palace: his goodness was so great,\nthat, after it had rescued us, it would not content itself with the\nold furniture, but makes all new for us in another {b293} world; a new\nwine to drink; a new heaven to dwell in; a more magnificent structure\nfor our habitation: thus hath Goodness prepared for us a straiter\nunion, a stronger life, a purer righteousness, an unshaken standing,\nand a fuller glory; all more excellent than was within the compass of\ninnocent Adam\u2019s possession.\n\nvii. This goodness in redemption extends itself to the lower creation.\nIt takes in, not only man, but the whole creation, except the fallen\nangels, and gives a participation of it to insensible creatures; upon\nthe account of this redemption the sun, and all kind of creatures, were\npreserved, which otherwise had sunk into destruction upon the sin of\nman, and ceased from their being, as man had utterly ceased from his\nhappiness (Colos. i. 17): \u201cBy him all things consist.\u201d The fall of man\nbrought, not only a misery upon himself, but a vanity upon the creature;\nthe earth groaned under a curse for his sake. They were all created for\nthe glory of God, and the support of man in the performance of his duty,\nwho was obliged to use them for the honor of Him that created them both.\nHad man been true to his obligations, and used the creatures for that\nend to which they were dedicated by the Creator; as God would have then\nrejoiced in his works, so his works would have rejoiced in the honor\nof answering so excellent an end: but when man lost his integrity,\nthe creatures lost their perfection; the honor of them was stained\nwhen they were debased to serve the lusts of a traitor, instead\nof supporting the duty of a subject, and employed in the defence\nof the vices of men against the precepts and authority of their\ncommon Sovereign. This was a vilifying the creature, as it would be\na vilifying the sword of a prince, which is, for the maintenance of\njustice, to be used for the murder of an innocent; and a dishonoring a\nroyal mansion, to make it a storehouse for a dunghill. Had those things\nthe benefit of sense, they would groan under this disgrace, and rise up\nin indignation against them that offered them this affront, and turned\nthem from their proper end. When sin entered, the heavens that were\nmade to shine upon man, and the earth that was made to bear and nourish\nan innocent creature, were now subjected to serve a rebellious creature;\nand as man turned against God, so he made those instruments against\nGod, to serve his enmity, luxury, sensuality. Hence the creatures\nare said to groan (Rom. viii. 22); \u201cThe whole creation groans and\ntravails in pain together until now.\u201d They would really groan, had\nthey understanding to be sensible of the outrage done them. \u201cThe whole\ncreation.\u201d\u2015\u2015It is the pang of universal nature, the agony of the whole\ncreation, to be alienated from the original use for which they were\nintended, and be disjointed from their end to serve the disloyalty of\na rebel. The drunkard\u2019s cup, and the glutton\u2019s table, the adulterer\u2019s\nbed, and the proud man\u2019s purple, would groan against the abuser of them.\nBut when all the fruits of redemption shall be completed, the goodness\nof God shall pour itself upon the creatures, deliver them from the\n\u201cbondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of\nGod\u201d (Rom. viii. 21); they shall be reduced to their true end, and\nreturned in their original harmony. As the creation doth passionately\ngroan under its vanity, so it doth \u201cearnestly expect and wait for its\ndeliverance {b294} at the time of the manifestation of the sons of God\u201d\n(ver. 19). The manifestation of the sons of God is the attainment of\nthe liberty of the creature. They shall be freed from the vanity under\nwhich they are enslaved; as it entered by sin, it shall vanish upon the\ntotal removal of sin. What use they were designed for in paradise they\nwill have afterwards, except that of the nourishment of men, who shall\nbe as \u201cangels, neither eating nor drinking:\u201d the glory of God shall be\nseen and contemplated in them. It can hardly be thought that God made\nthe world to be little a moment after he had reared it, sullied by the\nsin of man, and turned from its original end, without thoughts of a\nrestoration of it to its true end, as well as man to his lost happiness.\nThe world was made for man: man hath not yet enjoyed the creature in\nthe first intention of them; sin made an interruption in that fruition.\nAs redemption restores man to his true end, so it restores the\ncreatures to their true use. The restoration of the world to its beauty\nand order was the design of the Divine goodness in the coming of Christ,\nas it is intimated in Isa. xi. 6\u20129; as he \u201ccame not to destroy the\nlaw, but to fulfil it,\u201d so he came not to destroy the creatures, but to\nrepair them: to restore to God the honor and pleasure of the creation,\nand restore to the creatures their felicity in restoring their order:\nthe fall corrupted it, and the full redemption of men restores it.\nThe last time is called, not a time of destruction, but a \u201ctime of\nrestitution,\u201d and that \u201cof all things\u201d (Acts iii. 21) of universal\nnature, the main part of the creation at least. All those things which\nwere the effects of sin will be abolished; the removal of the cause\nbeats down the effect. The disorder and unruliness of the creature,\narising from the venom of man\u2019s transgression, all the fierceness of\none creature against another shall vanish. The world shall be nothing\nbut an universal smile; nature shall put on triumphant vestments: there\nshall be no affrighting thunders, choking mists, venomous vapors, or\npoisonous plants. It would not else be a restitution of all things.\nThey are now subject to be wasted by judgments for the sin of their\npossessor, but the perfection of man\u2019s redemptions shall free them\nfrom every misery. They have an advancement at the present, for they\nare under a more glorious Head, as being the possession of Christ,\nthe heavenly Adam, much superior to the first: as it is the glory\nof a person to be a servant to a prince, rather than a peasant. And\nafterwards, they shall be elevated to a better state, sharing in\nman\u2019s happiness, as well as they did in his misery: as servants are\ninterested in the good fortune of their master, and bettered by his\nadvance in his prince\u2019s favor. As man in his first creation was mutable\nand liable to sin, so the creatures were liable to vanity; but as man\nby grace shall be freed from the mutability, so shall the creatures be\nfreed from the fears of an invasion, by the vanity that sullied them\nbefore. The condition of the servants shall be suited to that of their\nLord, for whom they were designed: hence, all creatures are called\nupon to rejoice upon the perfection of salvation, and the appearance\nof Christ\u2019s royal authority in the world. If they were to be destroyed,\nthere would be no ground to invite them to triumph (Ps. xcvi. 11, 12;\ncxviii. 7, 8). Thus doth Divine goodness spread its kind arms over the\nwhole creation.\n\n{b295} _Thirdly._ The third thing is the goodness of God in his\n_Government_. That goodness that despised not their creation, doth not\ndespise their conduct. The same goodness that was the head that framed\nthem, is the helm that guides them; his goodness hovers over the whole\nframe, either to prevent any wild disorders unsuitable to his creating\nend, or to conduct them to those ends which might illustrate his wisdom\nand goodness to his creatures. His goodness doth no less incline him\nto provide for them, than to frame them. It is the natural inclination\nof man to love what is purely the birth of his own strength or skill.\nHe is fond of preserving his own inventions, as well as laborious in\ninventing them. It is the glory of a man to preserve them, as well as\nto produce them. God loves everything which he hath made, which love\ncould not be without a continued diffusiveness to them, suitable to the\nend for which he made them. It would be a vain goodness, if it did not\ninterest itself in managing the world, as well as erecting it: without\nhis government everything in the world would jostle against one another:\nthe beauty of it would be more defaced, it would be an unruly mass, a\nconfused chaos rather than a \u039a\u03cc\u03c3\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2, a comely world. If Divine goodness\nrespected it when it was nothing, it would much more respect it when\nit was something, by the sole virtue of his power and good\u2011will to it,\nwithout any motive from anything else than himself, because there was\nnothing else but himself. But since he sees his own stamp in things\nwithout himself in the creature, which is a kind of motive or moving\nobject to Divine goodness to preserve it, when there was nothing\nwithout himself that could be any motive to Him to create it: as when\nGod hath created a creature, and it falls into misery, that misery of\nthe creature, though it doth not necessitate his mercy, yet meeting\nwith such an affection as mercy in his nature, is a moving object to\nexcite it; as the repentance of Nineveh drew forth the exercise of\nhis pity and preserving goodness. Certainly, since God is good, he is\nbountiful; and if bountiful, he is provident. He would seem to envy and\nmalign his creatures, if he did not provide for them, while he intends\nto use them: but infinite goodness cannot be effected with envy; for\nall envy implies a want of that good in ourselves, which we regard with\nso evil an eye in another. But God, being infinitely blessed, hath not\nthe want of any good that can be a rise to such an uncomely disposition.\nThe Jews thought that Divine goodness extended only to them in an\nimmediate and particular care, and left all other nations and things to\nthe guidance of angels. But the Psalmist (Ps. cvii. a psalm calculated\nfor the celebration of this perfection, in the continued course of\nhis providence throughout all ages of the world) ascribes to Divine\ngoodness immediately all the advantages men meet with. He helps them\nin their actions, presides over their motions, inspects their several\nconditions, labors day and night in a perpetual care of them. The whole\nlife of the world is linked together by Divine goodness. Everything\nis ordered by him in the place where he hath set it, without which the\nworld would be stripped of that excellency it hath by creation.\n\n1st. This goodness is evident in the care he hath of all creatures.\nThere is a peculiar goodness to his people; but this takes not away\n{b296} his general goodness to the world: though a master of a family\nhath a choicer affection to those that have an affinity to him in\nnature, and stand in a nearer relation, as his wife, children, servants;\nyet he hath a regard to his cattle, and other creatures he nourisheth\nin his house. All things are not only before his eyes, but in his bosom;\nhe is the nurse of all creatures, supplying their wants, and sustaining\nthem from that nothing they tend to. The \u201cearth is full of his riches\u201d\n(Ps. civ. 24); not a creek or cranny but partakes of it. Abundant\ngoodness daily hovers over it, as well as hatched it. The whole world\nswims in the rich bounty of the Creator, as the fish do in the\nlargeness of the sea, and birds in the spaciousness of the air.[985]\nThe goodness of God is the river that waters the whole earth. As a\nlifeless picture casts its eye upon every one in the room, so doth a\nliving God upon everything in the world. And as the sun illuminates all\nthings which are capable of partaking of its light, and diffuseth its\nbeams to all things which are capable of receiving them, so doth God\nspread his wings over the whole creation, and neglects nothing, wherein\nhe sees a mark of his first creating goodness.\n\n1. His goodness is seen, in preserving all things. \u201cO Lord, thou\npreservest man and beast\u201d (Ps. xxxvi. 6). Not only man, but beasts, and\nbeasts as well as men; man, as the most excellent creature, and beasts\nas being serviceable to man, and instruments of his worldly happiness.\nHe continues the species of all things, concurs with them in their\ndistinct offices, and quickens the womb of nature. He visits man\nevery day, and makes him feel the effects of his providence, in giving\nhim \u201cfruitful seasons, and filling his heart with food and gladness\u201d\n(Acts xiv. 17), as witnesses of his liberality and kindness to man.\n\u201cThe earth is visited and watered by the river of God. He settles the\nfurrows of the earth, and makes it soft with showers,\u201d that the corn\nmay be nourished in its womb, and spring up to maturity. \u201cHe crowns the\nyear with his goodness, and his paths drop fatness. The little hills\nrejoice on every side; the pastures are clothed with flocks, and the\nvalleys are covered over with corn,\u201d as the Psalmist elegantly says\n(Ps. lxv. 9, 10; cvii. 35, 36). He waters the ground by his showers,\nand preserves the little seed from the rapine of animals. \u201cHe draws\nnot out the evil arrows of famine,\u201d as the expression is (Ezek. v. 16).\nEvery day shines with new beams of his Divine goodness. The vastness of\nthis city, and the multitudes of living souls in it, is an astonishing\nargument. What streams of nourishing necessaries are daily conveyed\nto it! Every mouth hath bread to sustain it; and among all the number\nof poor in the bowels and skirts of it, how rare is it to hear of any\nstarved to death for want of it! Every day he \u201cspreads a table\u201d for\nus, and that with varieties, and \u201cfills our cups\u201d (Ps. xxiii. 5). He\nshortens not his hand, nor withdraws his bounty: the increase of one\nyear by his blessing, restores what was spent by the former. He is\nthe \u201cstrength of our life\u201d (Ps. xxvii. 1), continuing the vigor of\nour limbs, and the health of our bodies; secures us from \u201cterrors by\nnight, and the arrows of diseases that fly by day\u201d (Ps. xci. 5); {b297}\n\u201csets a hedge about our estates\u201d (Job i. 10), and defends them against\nthe attempts of violence; preserves our houses from flames that might\nconsume them, and our persons from the dangers that lie in wait for\nthem; watcheth over us \u201cin our goings out, and our comings in\u201d (Ps.\ncxxi. 8), and way\u2011lays a thousand dangers we know not of: and employs\nthe most glorious creatures in heaven in the service of mean \u201cmen upon\nearth\u201d (Ps. xci. 11): not by a faint order, but a pressing charge over\nthem, to \u201ckeep them in all his ways.\u201d Those that are his immediate\nservants before his throne, he sends to minister to them that were\nonce his rebels. By an angel he conducted the affairs of Abraham (Gen.\nxxiv. 7): and by an angel secured the life of Ishmael (Gen. xxi. 17):\nglorious angels for mean man, holy angels for impure man, powerful\nangels for weak man. How in the midst of great dangers, doth his sudden\nlight dissipate our great darkness, and create a deliverance out of\nnothing! How often is he found a present help in time of trouble!\nWhen all other assistance seems to stand at a distance, he flies to us\nbeyond our expectations, and raises us up on the sudden from the pit of\nour dejectedness, as well as that of our danger, exceeding our wishes,\nand shooting beyond our desires as well as our deserts. How often,\nin the time of confusion, doth he preserve an indefensible place from\nthe attacks of enemies, like a bark in the midst of a tempestuous\nsea! the rage falls upon other places round about them, and, by a\nsecret efficacy of Divine goodness, is not able to touch them. He hath\npeculiar preservations for his Israel in Egypt, and his Lots in Sodom,\nhis Daniels in the lions\u2019 dens, and his children in a fiery furnace. He\nhath a tenderness for all, but a peculiar affection to those that are\nin covenant with him.\n\n2. The goodness of God is seen in taking care of the animals and\ninanimate things. Divine goodness embraceth in its arms the lowest\nworm as well as the loftiest cherubim: he provides food for the \u201ccrying\nravens\u201d (Ps. cxlvii. 9), and a prey for the appetite of the \u201chungry\nlion\u201d (Ps. civ. 21): \u201cHe opens his hand, and fills with good those\ninnumerable creeping things, both small and great beasts; they are all\nwaiters upon him, and all are satisfied by their bountiful Master\u201d (Ps.\nciv. 25\u201228). They are better provided for by the hand of heaven, than\nthe best favorite is by an earthly prince: for \u201cthey are filled with\ngood.\u201d He hath made channels in the wildest deserts, for the watering\nof beasts, and trees for the nests and \u201chabitation of birds\u201d (Ps. civ.\n10, 12, 17). As a Law\u2011giver to the Jews, he took care that the poor\nbeast should not be abused by the cruelty of man: he provided for the\nease of the laboring beast in that command of the Sabbath, wherein\nhe provided for his own service: the cattle was to do \u201cno work\u201d on\nit (Exod. xx. 10). He ordered that the mouth of the ox should not be\nmuzzled while it trod out the corn (Deut. xxv. 4, it being the manner\nof those countries to separate the corn from the stalk by that means,\nas we do in this by thrashing), regarding it as a part of cruelty to\ndeprive the poor beast of tasting, and satisfying itself with that\nwhich he was so officious by his labor to prepare for the use of man.\nAnd when any met with a nest of young birds, though {b298} they might\ntake the young to their use, they were forbidden to seize upon the\ndam, that she might not lose the objects of her affection and her own\nliberty in one day (Deut. xxii. 6).\n\nAnd see how God enforceth this precept with a threatening of a\nshortness of life, if they transgressed it (Deut. xxii. 7)! \u201cThou shalt\nlet the dam go, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest\nprolong thy days.\u201d He would revenge the cruelty to dumb creatures with\nthe shortness of the oppressor\u2019s life: nor would he have cruelty used\nto creatures that were separated for his worship: he therefore provides\nthat a cow, or an ewe, and their young ones, should \u201cnot be killed for\nsacrifice in one day\u201d (Lev. xxii. 28). All which precepts, say the Jews,\nare to teach men mercifulness to their beasts; so much doth Divine\ngoodness bow down itself, to take notice of those mean creatures, which\nmen have so little regard to, but for their own advantage; yea, he is\nso good, that he would have worship declined for a time in favor of\na distressed beast; the \u201chelping a sheep, or an ox, or an ass, out\nof a pit,\u201d was indulged them even \u201con the Sabbath\u2011day,\u201d a day God had\npeculiarly sanctified and ordered for his service (Matt. xii. 11; Luke\nxiv. 5): in this case he seems to remit for a time the rights of the\nDeity for the rescue of a mere animal. His goodness extends not only to\nthose kind of creatures that have life, but to the insensible ones; he\nclothes the grass, and \u201carrays the lilies of the field\u201d with a greater\nglory than Solomon had upon his throne (Matt. vi. 28, 29); and such\ncare he had of those trees which bore fruit for the maintenance of man\nor beast, that he forbids any injury to be offered to them, and bars\nthe rapine and violence, which by soldiers used to be practised (Deut.\nxx. 19), though it were to promote the conquest of their enemy. How\nmuch goodness is it, that he should think of so small a thing as man!\nHow much more that he should concern himself in things that seem so\npetty as beasts and trees! Persons seated in a sovereign throne, think\nit a debasing of their dignity to regard little things: but God, who\nis infinitely greater in majesty above the mightiest potentate, and\nthe highest angel, yet is so infinitely good, as to employ his divine\nthoughts about the meanest things. He who possesses the praises of\nangels, leaves not off the care of the meanest creatures: and that\nmajesty that dwells in a pure heaven, and an inconceivable light,\nstoops to provide for the ease of those creatures that lie and lodge\nin the dirt and dung of the earth. How should we be careful not to use\nthose unmercifully, which God takes such care of in his law, and not to\ndistrust that goodness, that opens his hand so liberally to creatures\nof another rank!\n\n3. The goodness of God is seen in taking care of the meanest\nrational creatures; as servants and criminals. He provided for the\nliberty of slaves, and would not have their chains continue longer\nthan the seventh year, unless they would voluntarily continue under\nthe power of their masters; and that upon pain of his displeasure, and\nthe withdrawing his blessing (Deut. xv. 18). And though, by the laws\nof many nations, masters had an absolute power of life and death over\ntheir servants, yet God provided that no member should be lamed, not an\neye, no, nor a tooth, struck out, but the master was {b299} to pay for\nhis folly and fury the price of the \u201cliberty of his servant\u201d (Exod. xxi.\n26, 27): he would not suffer the abused servant to be any longer under\nthe power of that man that had not humanity to use him as one of the\nsame kindred and blood with himself. And though those servants might\nbe never so wicked, yet, when unjustly afflicted, God would interest\nhimself as their guardian in their protection and delivery. And when a\npoor slave had been provoked, by the severity of his master\u2019s fury, to\nturn fugitive from him, he was, by Divine order, not to be delivered\nup again to his master\u2019s fury, but dwell in that city, and with that\nperson, to whom he had \u201cfled for refuge\u201d (Deut. xxiii. 15, 16). And\nwhen public justice was to be administered upon the lesser sort of\ncriminals, the goodness of God ordered the \u201cnumber of blows\u201d not\nto exceed forty, and left not the fury of man to measure out the\npunishment to excess (Deut. xxv. 3). And in any just quarrel against\na provoking and injuring enemy, he ordered them not to ravage with the\nsword till they had summoned a rendition of the place (Deut. xx. 10).\nAnd as great a care he took of the poor, that they should have the\ngleanings both of the vineyard and field (Lev. xix. 10; xxiii. 22), and\nnot be forced to pay \u201cusury for the money lent them\u201d (Exod. xxii. 25).\n\n4. His goodness is seen in taking care of the wickedest persons. \u201cThe\nearth is full of his goodness\u201d (Ps. xxxvii. 5). The wicked as well as\nthe good enjoy it; they that dare lift up their hands against heaven\nin the posture of rebels, as well as those that lift up their eyes in\nthe condition of suppliants. To do good to a criminal, far surmounts\nthat goodness that flows down upon an innocent object: now God is\nnot only good to those that have some degrees of goodness, but to\nthose that have the greatest degrees of wickedness, to men that turn\nhis liberality into affronts of him, and have scarce an appetite to\nanything but the violation of his authority and goodness. Though, upon\nthe fall of Adam, we have lost the pleasant habitation of paradise,\nand the creatures made for our use are fallen from their original\nexcellency and sweetness; yet he hath not left the world utterly\nincommodious for us, but yet stores it with things not only for\nthe preservation, but delight of those that make their whole lives\ninvectives against this good God. Manna fell from heaven for the\nrebellious as well as for the obedient Israelites. Cain as well as\nAbel, and Esau as well as Jacob, had the influences of his sun, and\nthe benefits of his showers. The world is yet a kind of paradise to the\nveriest beasts among mankind; the earth affords its riches, the heavens\nits showers, and the sun its light, to those that injure and blaspheme\nhim: \u201cHe makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends\nrain on the just and on the unjust\u201d (Matt. v. 45). The wickedest\nbreathe in his air, walk upon his earth, and drink of his water, as\nwell as the best. The sun looks with as pleasant and bright an eye\nupon a rebellious Absalom, as a righteous David; the earth yields its\nplants and medicines to one as well as to the other; it is seldom that\nHe deprives any of the faculties of their souls, or any members of\ntheir bodies. God distributes his blessings where he might shoot his\nthunders; and darts his light on those who deserve an eternal darkness;\nand presents the good things of the earth to those {b300} that merit\nthe miseries of hell; for \u201cthe earth, and the fulness thereof, is the\nLord\u2019s\u201d (Ps. xxiv. 1); everything in it is his in propriety, ours in\ntrust; it is his corn, his wine (Hos. ii. 8); he never divested himself\nof the propriety, though he grants us the use; and by those good things\nhe supports multitudes of wicked men, not one or two, but the whole\nshoal of them in the world; for he is \u201cthe Saviour of all men,\u201d _i. e._\nis the preserver of all men (1 Tim. iv. 10). And as he created them,\nwhen he foresaw they would be wicked; so he provides for them, when\nhe beholds them in their ungodliness. The ingratitude of men stops\nnot the current of his bounty, nor tires his liberal hand; howsoever\nunprofitable and injurious men are to him, he is liberal to them;\nand his goodness is the more admirable, by how much the more the\nunthankfulness of men is provoking: he sometimes affords to the worst a\ngreater portion of these earthly goods; they often swim in wealth, when\nothers pine away their lives in poverty. And the silk\u2011worm yields its\nbowels to make purple for tyrants, while the oppressed scarce have from\nthe sheep wool enough to cover their nakedness; and though he furnish\nmen with those good things, upon no other account than what princes\ndo, when they nourish criminals in a prison till the time of their\nexecution, it is a mark of his goodness. Is it not the kindness of a\nprince to treat his rebels deliciously? to give them the liberty of the\nprison, and the enjoyments of the delights of the place, rather than\nto load their legs with fetters, and lodge them in a dark and loathsome\ndungeon, till he orders them, for their crime, to be conducted to the\nscaffold or gibbet? Since God is thus kind to the vilest men, whose\nmeanness, by reason of sin, is beyond that of any other creature, as\nto shoot such rays of goodness upon them; how inexpressible would be\nthe expressions of his goodness, if the Divine image were as pure and\nbright upon them as it was upon innocent Adam!\n\n2d. His goodness is evident in the preservation of human society. It\nbelongs to his power that he is able to do it, but to his goodness that\nhe is willing to do it.\n\n1. This goodness appears in prescribing rules for it. The moral law\nconsists but of ten precepts, and there are more of them ordered for\nthe support of human society, than for the adoration and honor of\nhimself (Exod. xx. 1, 2); four for the rights of God, and six for\nthe rights of man, and his security in his authority, relations, life,\ngoods, and reputation; superiors not to be dishonored, life not to\nbe invaded, chastity not to be stained, goods not to be filched, good\nname not to be cracked by false witness, nor anything belonging to our\nneighbor to be coveted; and in the whole Scripture, not only that which\nwas calculated for the Jews, but compiled for the whole world; he hath\nfixed rules for the ordering all relations, magistrates, and subjects;\nparents and children; husbands and wives; masters and servants; rich\nand poor, find their distinct qualifications and duties. There would\nbe a paradisiacal state, if men had a goodness to observe what God\nhath had a goodness to order for the strengthening the sinews of\nhuman society; the world would not groan under oppressing tyrants,\nnor princes tremble under discontented subjects, or mighty rebels;\nchildren would not be provoked to anger by the unreasonableness {b301}\nof their parents, nor parents sink under grief by the rebellion of\ntheir children; masters would not tyrannize over the meanest of their\nservants, nor servants invade the authority of their masters.\n\n2. The goodness of God in the preserving human society, is seen in\nsetting a magistracy to preserve it. Magistracy is from God in its\noriginal; the charter was drawn up in paradise; civil subordination\nmust have been had man remained in innocence; but the charter was more\nexplicitly renewed and enlarged at the restoration of the world after\nthe deluge, and given out to man under the broad seal of heaven; \u201cWhoso\nsheds man\u2019s blood, by man shall his blood be shed\u201d (Gen. ix. 6). The\ncommand of shedding the blood of a murderer was a part of his goodness,\nto secure the lives of those that bore his image. Magistrates are \u201cthe\nshields of the earth,\u201d but they \u201cbelong to God\u201d (Ps. xlvii. 9). They\nare fruits of his goodness in their original, and authority; were\nthere no magistracy, there would be no government, no security to any\nman under his own vine and fig tree; the world would be a den of wild\nbeasts preying upon one another; every one would do what seems good in\nhis eyes; the loss of government is a judgment God brings upon a nation\nwhen men become \u201cas the fishes of the sea,\u201d to devour one another,\nbecause they \u201chave no ruler over them\u201d (Hab. i. 14). Private\ndissensions will break out into public disorders and combustions.\n\n3. The goodness of God in the preservation of human society, is seen in\nthe restraints of the passions of men. He sets bounds to the passions\nof men as well as to the rollings of the sea; \u201cHe stilleth the noise\nof the waves, and the tumults of the people\u201d (Ps. lxv. 7). Though God\nhath erected a magistracy to stop the breaking out of those floods of\nlicentiousness, which swell in the hearts of men; yet, if God should\nnot hold stiff reins on the necks of those tumultuous and foaming\npassions, the world would be a place of unruly confusion, and hell\ntriumph upon earth; a crazy state would be quickly broke in pieces by\nboisterous nature. The tumults of a people could no more be quelled by\nthe force of man, than the rage of the sea by a puff of breath; without\nDivine goodness, neither the wisdom nor watchfulness of the magistrates,\nnor the industry of officers, could preserve a state. The laws of men\nwould be too slight to curb the lusts of men, if the goodness of God\ndid not restrain them by a secret hand, and interweave their temporal\nsecurity with observance of those laws. The sons of Belial did murmur\nwhen Saul was chosen king; and that they did no more was the goodness\nof God, for the preservation of human society. If God did not restrain\nthe impetuousness of men\u2019s lusts, they would be the entire ruin of\nhuman society; their lusts would render them as bad as beasts, and\nchange the world into a savage wilderness.\n\n4. The goodness of God is seen in the preservation of human society,\nin giving various inclinations to men for public advantage. If all men\nhad an inclination to one science or art, they would all stand idle\nspectators of one another; but God hath bestowed various dispositions\nand gifts upon men, for the promoting the common good, that they\nmay not only be useful to themselves, but to society. He {b302} will\nhave none idle, none unuseful, but every one acting in a due place,\naccording to their measures, for the good of others.\n\n5. The goodness of God is seen in the witness he bears against those\nsins that disturb human society. In those cases he is pleased to\ninterest himself in a more signal manner, to cool those that make it\ntheir business to overturn the order he hath established for the good\nof the earth. He doth not so often in this world punish those faults\ncommitted immediately against his own honor, as those that put the\nworld into a hurry and confusion: as a good governor is more merciful\nto crimes against himself, than those against his community. It is\nobserved that the most turbulent seditious persons in a state come to\nmost violent ends, as Corah, Adonijah, Zimri: Ahithopel draws Absalom\u2019s\nsword against David and Israel, and the next is, he twists a halter\nfor himself: Absalom heads a party against his father, and God, by\na goodness to Israel, hangs him up, and prevents not its safety by\nDavid\u2019s indulgence, and a future rebellion, had life been spared\nby the fondness of his father. His providence is more evident in\ndiscovering disturbers, and the causes that move them, in defeating\ntheir enterprises, and digging the contrivers out of their caverns and\nlurking holes: in such cases, God doth so act, and use such methods,\nthat he silenceth any creature from challenging any partnership with\nhim in the discovery. He doth more severely in this world correct those\nactions that unlink the mutual assistance between man and man, and the\ncharitable and kind correspondence he would have kept up. The sins for\nwhich the \u201cwrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience\u201d (Col.\niii. 5, 6) in this world are of this sort; and when princes will be\noppressing the people, God will be \u201cpouring contempt on the princes,\nand set the poor on high from affliction\u201d (Ps. cvii. 40, 41). An\nevidence of God\u2019s care and kindness in the preserving human society, is\nthose strange discoveries of murders, though never so clandestine and\nsubtilly committed, more than of any other crime among men: Divine care\nnever appears more than in bringing those hidden and injurious works of\ndarkness to light, and a due punishment.\n\n6. His goodness is seen in ordering mutual offices to one another\nagainst the current of men\u2019s passions. Upon this account he ordered, in\nhis laws for the government of the Israelites, that a man should reduce\nthe wandering beast of his enemy to the hand of his rightful proprietor,\nthough he were a provoking enemy; and also \u201chelp the poor beast that\nbelonged to one that hated him, when he saw him sink under his burden\u201d\n(Exod. xxiii. 4, 5). When mutual assistance was necessary, he would not\nhave men considered as enemies, or considered as wicked, but as of the\nsame blood with ourselves, that we might be serviceable to one another\nfor the preservation of life and goods.\n\n7. His goodness is seen in remitting something of his own right, for\nthe preserving a due dependence and subjection. He declines the right\nhe had to the vows of a minor, or one under the power of another,\nwaving what he might challenge by the voluntary obligation of his\ncreature, to keep up the due order between parents and children,\nhusbands and wives, superiors and inferiors; those that {b303} were\nunder the power of another, as a child under his parents, or a wife\nunder her husband, if they had \u201cvowed a vow unto the Lord,\u201d which\nconcerned his honor and worship, it was void without the approbation of\nthat person under whose charge they were (Num. xxx. 3, 4, &c.). Though\nGod was the Lord of every man\u2019s goods, and men but his stewards; and\nthough he might have taken to himself what another had offered by a vow,\nsince whatsoever could be offered was God\u2019s own, though it was not the\nparties\u2019 own who offered it; yet God would not have himself adored by\nhis creature to the prejudice of the necessary ties of human society;\nhe lays aside what he might challenge by his sovereign dominion, that\nthere might not be any breach of that regular order which was necessary\nfor the preservation of the world. If Divine goodness did not thus\norder things, he would not do the part of a Rector of the world; the\nbeauty of the world would be much defaced, it would be a confused mass\nof men and women, or rather, beasts and bedlams. Order renders every\ncity, every nation, yea, the whole earth, beautiful: this is an effect\nof Divine goodness.\n\n3d. His goodness is evident in encouraging anything of moral goodness\nin the world. Though moral goodness cannot claim an eternal reward,\nyet it hath been many times rewarded with a temporal happiness; he\nhath often signally rewarded acts of honesty, justice, and fidelity,\nand punished the contrary by his judgments, to deter man from such an\nunworthy practice, and encourage others to what was comely, and of a\ngeneral good report in the world. Ahab\u2019s humiliation put a demurrer\nto God\u2019s judgments intended against him; and some ascribe the great\nvictories and success of the Romans to that justice which was observed\namong themselves. Baruch was but an amanuensis to the Prophet Jeremy to\nwrite his prophecy, and very despondent of his own welfare (Jer. xlv.\n13); God upon that account provides for his safety, and rewards the\nindustry of his service with the security of his person; he was not a\nstatesman, to declare against the corrupt counsels of them that sat at\nthe helm, nor a prophet, to declare against their profane practices,\nbut the prophet\u2019s scribe; and as he writes in God\u2019s service the\nprophecies revealed to the prophet, God writes his name in the roll of\nthose that were designed for preservation in that deluge of judgments\nwhich were to come upon that nation. Epicurus complained of the\nadministration of God, that the virtuous moralist had not sufficient\nsmiles of Divine favor, nor the swinish sensualist frowns of Divine\nindignation. But what if they have not always that confluence of\noutward wealth and pleasures, but remain in the common level? yet they\nhave the happiness and satisfaction of a clear reputation, the esteem\nof men, and the secret applauses of their very enemies, besides the\ninward ravishments upon an exercise of virtue, and the commendatory\nsubscription of their own hearts, a dainty the vicious man knows not of;\nthey have an inward applause from God as a reward of Divine goodness,\ninstead of those racks of conscience upon which the profane are\nsometimes stretched. He will not let the worst men do him any service\n(though they never intended in the act of service him, but themselves)\nwithout giving them their wages: he will not let {b304} them hit him\nin the teeth as if he were beholden to them. If Nebuchadnezzar be the\ninstrument of God\u2019s judgments against Tyrus and Israel, he will not\nonly give him that rich city, but a richer country, Egypt, the granary\nfor her neighbors, a wages above his work. In this is Divine goodness\neminent, since, in the most moral actions, as there is something\nbeautiful, so there is something mixed, hateful to the infinitely\nexact holiness of the Divine nature; yet he will not let that which is\npleasing to him go unrewarded, and defeat the expectations of men, as\nmen do with those they employ, when, for one flaw in an action, they\ndeny them the reward due for the other part. God encouraged and kept\nup morality in the cities of the Gentiles for the entertainment of\na further goodness in the doctrine of the gospel when it should be\npublished among them.\n\n4th. Divine goodness is eminent in providing a Scripture as a rule to\nguide us, and continuing it in the world. If man be a rational creature,\ngovernable by a law, can it be imagined there should be no revelation\nof that law to him? Man, by the light of reason, must needs confess\nhimself to be in another condition than he was by creation, when he\ncame first out of the hands of God; and can it be thought, that God\nshould keep up the world under so many sins against the light of nature,\nand bestow so many providential influences, to invite men to return to\nhim, and acquaint no men in the world with the means of that return?\nWould he exact an obedience of men, as their consciences witness he\ndoth, and furnish them with no rules to guide them in the darkness they\ncannot but acknowledge that they have contracted? No; Divine goodness\nhath otherwise provided: this Bible we have is his word and rule. Had\nit been a falsity and imposture, would that goodness, that watches over\nthe world, have continued it so long? That goodness that overthrew the\nburdensome rites of Moses, and expelled the foolish idolatry of the\nPagans, would have discovered the imposture of this, had it not been\na transcript of his own will. Whatever mistakes he suffers to remain\nin the world, what goodness had there been to suffer this anciently\namongst the Jews, and afterwards to open it to the whole world, to\nabuse men in religion and worship, which so nearly concerned himself\nand his own honor, that the world should be deceived by the devil\nwithout a remedy in the morning of its appearance? It hath been honored\nand admired by some heathens, when they have cast their eyes upon it,\nand their natural light made them behold some footsteps of a Divinity\nin it. If this, therefore, be not a Divine prescript, let any that deny\nit, bring as good arguments for any book else, as can be brought for\nthis. Now, the publishing this is an argument of Divine goodness: it is\ndesigned to win the affections of beggarly man, to be espoused to a God\nof eternal blessedness and immense riches. It speaks words in season:\nno doubts but it resolves; no spiritual distemper but it cures; no\ncondition but it hath a comfort to suit it. It is a garden which the\nhand of Divine bounty hath planted for us; in it he condescends to\nshadow himself in those expressions that render him in some manner\nintelligible to us. Had God wrote in a loftiness of style suitable to\nthe greatness of his majesty, his writing had been as little understood\nby us, as the {b305} brightness of his glory can be beheld by us.\nBut he draws phrases from our affairs, to express his mind to us;\nhe incarnates himself in his word to our minds, before his Son was\nincarnate in the flesh to the eyes of men: he ascribes to himself eyes,\nears, hands, that we might have, from the consideration of ourselves,\nand the whole human nature, a conception of his perfections: he assumes\nto himself the members of our bodies, to direct our understandings in\nthe knowledge of his Deity; this is his goodness. Again, though the\nScripture was written upon several occasions, yet in the dictating of\nit, the goodness of God cast his eye upon the last ages of the world\n(1 Cor. x. 11): \u201cThey are written for our admonition, upon whom the\nends of the world are come.\u201d It was given to the Israelites, but Divine\ngoodness intended it for the future Gentiles. The old writings of\nthe prophets were thus designed, much more the later writings of the\napostles. Thus did Divine goodness think of us, and prepare his records\nfor us, before we were in the world: these he hath written plain for\nour instruction, and wrapped up in them what is necessary for our\nsalvation: it is clear to inform our understanding, and rich to comfort\nus in our misery; it is a light to guide us, and a cordial to refresh\nus; it is a lamp to our feet, and a medicine for our diseases; a\npurifier of our filth, and a restorer of us in our faintings. He hath\nby his goodness sealed the truth of it, by his efficacy on multitudes\nof men: he hath made it the \u201cword of regeneration\u201d (James i. 18). Men,\nwilder and more monstrous than beasts, have been tamed and changed by\nthe power of it: it hath raised multitudes of dead men from a grave\nfuller of horror than any earthly one. Again, Goodness was in all ages\nsending his letters of advice and counsel from heaven, till the canon\nof the Scripture was closed; sometimes he wrote to chide a froward\npeople, sometimes to cheer up an oppressed and disconsolate people,\naccording to the state wherein they were; as we may observe by the\nseveral seasons wherein parts of Scripture were written. It was His\ngoodness that he first revealed anything of his will after the fall; it\nwas a further degree of goodness, that he would add more cubits to its\nstature; before he would lay aside his pencil, it grew up to that bulk\nwherein we have it. And his goodness is further seen in the preserving\nit; he hath triumphed over the powers that opposed it, and showed\nhimself good to the instruments that propagated it: he hath maintained\nit against the blasts of hell, and spread it in all languages against\nthe obstructions of men and devils. The sun of his word is by his\nkindness preserved in our horizon, as well as the sun in the heavens.\nHow admirable is Divine goodness! He hath sent his Son to die for us,\nand his written word to instruct us, and his Spirit to edge it for\nan entrance into our souls: he hath opened the womb of the earth to\nnourish us, and sent down the records of heaven to direct us in our\npilgrimage: he hath provided the earth for our habitation, while we are\ntravellers, and sent his word to acquaint us with a felicity at the end\nof our journey, and the way to attain in another world what we want in\nthis, _viz._ a happy immortality.\n\n5th. His goodness in his government is evident, in conversions of\nmen. Though this work be wrought by his power, yet his power {b306}\nwas first solicited by his goodness. It was his rich goodness that he\nwould employ his power to pierce the scales of a heart as hard as those\nof the \u201cleviathan.\u201d It was this that opened the ears of men to hear\nhim, and draws them from the hurry of worldly cares, and the charms\nof sensual pleasures, and, which is the top of all, the impostures and\ncheats of their own hearts. It is this that sends a spark of his wrath\ninto men\u2019s consciences, to put them to a stand in sin, that he might\nnot send down a shower of brimstone eternally to consume their persons.\nThis it was that first showed you the excellency of the Redeemer, and\nbrought you to taste the sweetness of his blood, and find your security\nin the agonies of his death. It is his goodness to call one man and not\nanother, to turn Paul in his course, and lay hold of no other of his\ncompanions. It is his goodness to call any, when he is not bound to\ncall one.\n\n1. It is his goodness to pitch upon mean and despicable men in the\neye of the world; to call this poor publican, and overlook that proud\nPharisee, this man that sits upon a dunghill, and neglect him that\nglisters in his purple. His majesty is not enticed by the lofty titles\nof men, nor, which is more worth, by the learning and knowledge of men.\n\u201cNot many wise, not many mighty,\u201d not many doctors, not many lords,\nthough some of them; but his goodness condescends to the \u201cbase things\u201d\nof the world, and things which are \u201cdespised\u201d (1 Cor. i. 26\u201228). \u201cThe\npoor receive the gospel\u201d (Matt. xi. 5), when those that are more acute,\nand furnished with a more apprehensive reason, are not touched by it.\n\n2. The worst men. He seizeth sometimes upon men most soiled, and\nneglects others that seem more clean and less polluted. He turns\nmen in their course in sin, that, by their infernal practices, have\nseemed to have gone to school to hell, and to have sucked in the sole\ninstructions of the devil. He lays hold upon some when they are most\nunder actual demerit, and snatches them as fire\u2011brands out of the fire,\nas upon Paul when fullest of rage against him; and shoots a beam of\ngrace, where nothing could be justly expected but a thunderbolt of\nwrath. It is his goodness to visit any, when they lie putrefying in\ntheir loathsome lusts; to draw near to them who have been guilty of\nthe greatest contempt of God, and the light of nature; the murdering\nManassehs, the persecuting Sauls, the Christ\u2011crucifying Jews,\u2015\u2015persons\nin whom lusts had had a peaceable possession and empire for many years.\n\n3. His goodness appears in converting men possessed with the greatest\nenmity against him, while he was dealing with them. All were in such\na state, and framing contrivances against him, when Divine goodness\nknocked at the door (Col. i. 21). He looked after us when our backs\nwere turned upon him, and sought us when we slighted him, and were\na \u201cgainsaying people\u201d (Rom. x. 21); when we had shaken off his\nconvictions, and contended with our Maker, and mustered up the powers\nof nature against the alarms of conscience; struggled like wild bulls\nin a net, and blunted those darts that stuck in our souls. Not a man\nthat is turned to him, but had lifted up the heel against his gospel\ngrace, as well as made light of his creating goodness. Yet it hath\nemployed itself about such ungrateful {b307} wretches, to polish those\nknotty and rugged pieces for heaven; and so invincibly, that he would\nnot have his goodness defeated by the fierceness and rebellion of the\nflesh. Though the thing was more difficult in itself (if anything may\nbe said to have a difficulty to omnipotency) than to make a stone live,\nor to turn a straw into a marble pillar. The malice of the flesh makes\na man more unfit for the one, than the nature of the straw unfits it\nfor the other.\n\n4. His goodness appears in turning men, when they were pleased with\ntheir own misery, and unable to deliver themselves; when they preferred\na hell before him, and were in love with their own vileness; when his\ncall was our torment, and his neglect of us had been accounted our\nfelicity. Was it not a mighty goodness to keep the light close to our\neyes, when we endeavored to blow it out; and the corrosive near to\nour hearts, when we endeavored to tear it off, being more fond of our\ndisease than the remedy? We should have been scalded to death with the\nSodomite, had not God laid his good hand upon us, and drawn us from\nthe approaching ruin we affected, and were loath to be freed from.\nAnd had we been displeased with our state, yet we had been as unable\nspiritually to raise ourselves from sin to grace, as to raise ourselves\nnaturally from nothing to being. In this state we were when his\ngoodness triumphed over us; when he put a hook into our nostrils, to\nturn us in order to our salvation; and drew us out of the pit which we\nhad digged, when he might have left us to sink under the rigors of his\njustice we had merited. Now this goodness in conversion is greater than\nthat in creation; as in creation there is nothing to oppose him, so\nthere was nothing to disoblige him; creation was terminated to the\ngood of a mutable nature, and conversion tends to a supernatural good.\nGod pronounced all creatures good at first, and man among the rest,\nbut did not pronounce any of them, or man himself, his \u201cportion,\u201d his\n\u201cinheritance,\u201d his \u201c_segullah_,\u201d his \u201chouse,\u201d his \u201cdiadem.\u201d He speaks\nslightly of all those things which he made, the noblest heavens, as\nwell as the lowest earth, in comparison of a true convert: \u201cAll those\nthings hath mine hand made, and all those things have been: but to this\nman will I look, to him that is of a contrite spirit\u201d (Isa. lxvi. 1, 2).\nIt is more goodness to give the espousing grace of the covenant, than\nthe completing glory of heaven; as it is more for a prince to marry a\nbeggar, than only to bring her to live deliciously in his courts. All\nother benefits are of a meaner strain, if compared with this; there is\nlittle less of goodness in imparting the holiness of his nature, than\nimputing the righteousness of his Son.\n\n6th. The Divine goodness doth appear in answering prayers. He\ndelights to be familiarly acquainted with his people, and to hear them\ncall upon him. He indulgeth them a free access to him, and delights\nin every address of an \u201cupright man\u201d (Prov. xv. 8). The wonderful\nefficacy of prayer depends not upon the nature of our petitions or the\ntemper of our soul, but the goodness of God to whom we address. Christ\nestablisheth it upon this bottom: when he exhorts to ask in his name,\nhe tells them the spring of all their grants is the Father\u2019s love: \u201cI\nsay not, I will pray the Father for you, for {b308} the Father himself\nloves you\u201d (John xvi. 26, 27). And since it is of itself incredible,\nthat a Majesty, exalted above the cherubims, should stoop so low as to\ngive a miserable and rebellious creature admittance to him, and afford\nhim a gracious hearing, and a quick supply, Christ ushers in the\npromise of answering prayer with a note of great assurance: \u201cI say unto\nyou, Ask, and it shall be given you\u201d (Luke xi. 9, 10). I, that know\nthe mind of my Father, and his good disposition, assure you your prayer\nshall not be in vain. Perhaps you will not be so ready of yourselves\nto imagine so great a liberality; but take it upon my word, it is\ntrue, and so you will find it. And his bounty travels, as it were, in\nbirth, to give the greatest blessings, upon our asking, rather than the\nsmallest: \u201cyour heavenly Father shall give his Holy Spirit to them that\nask him\u201d (ver. 13): which in Matt. vii. 11, is called, \u201cgood things.\u201d\nOf all the good and rich things Divine goodness hath in his treasury,\nhe delights to give the best upon asking, because God doth act so as\nto manifest the greatness of his bounty and magnificence to men; and,\ntherefore, is delighted when men, by their petitioning him, own such\na liberal disposition in him, and put him upon the manifesting it.\nHe would rather you should ask the greatest things heaven can afford,\nthan the trifles of this world; because his bounty is not discovered in\nmeaner gifts: he loves to have an opportunity to manifest his affection\nabove the liberality and tenderness of worldly fathers. He doth more\nwait to give in a way of grace, than we to beg; and, \u201ctherefore, will\nthe Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you\u201d (Isa. xxx. 18). He\nstands expecting your suits, and employs his wisdom in pitching upon\nthe fittest seasons, when the manifestation of his goodness may be\nmost gracious in itself, and the mercy you want most welcome to you;\nas it follows, \u201cfor the Lord is a God of judgment.\u201d He chooseth the\ntime wherein his doles may be most acceptable to his suppliants; \u201cIn\nan acceptable time have I heard thee\u201d (Isa. xlix. 8). He often opens\nhis hand while we are opening our lips, and his blessings meet our\npetitions at the first setting out upon their journey to heaven: \u201cWhile\nthey are yet speaking, I will hear\u201d (Isa. lxv. 24). How often do we\nhear a secret voice within us, while we are praying, saying, \u201cYour\nprayer is granted;\u201d as well as hear a voice behind us, while we are\nerring, saying, \u201cThis is the way, walk in it!\u201d And his liberality\nexceeds often our desires, as well as our deserts; and gives out more\nthan we had the wisdom or confidence to ask. The apostle intimates\nit in that doxology, \u201cUnto Him who is able to do abundantly above all\nthat we ask or think\u201d (Eph. iii. 20). This power would not have been so\nstrong an argument of comfort, if it were never put in practice; he is\nmore liberal than his creatures are craving. Abraham petitioned for the\nlife of Ishmael, and God promiseth him the \u201cbirth of Isaac\u201d (Gen. xvii.\n18, 19). Isaac asks for a \u201cchild,\u201d and God gives him \u201ctwo\u201d (Gen. xxv.\n21, 22). Jacob desires \u201cfood\u201d to eat, and \u201craiment\u201d to put on; God\nconfines not his bounty within the narrow limits of his petition, but\ninstead of a \u201cstaff,\u201d wherewith he passed Jordan, makes him repass\nit with \u201ctwo bands\u201d (Gen. xxviii. 20). David asked life of God, and\nhe gave him \u201clife,\u201d and a \u201ccrown\u201d to boot (Ps. xxi. 2\u20125). The {b309}\nIsraelites would have been contented with a free life in Egypt; they\nonly cried to have their chains struck off; God gave them that, and\nadopts them to be his \u201cpeculiar people,\u201d and raises them into a famous\nstate. It is a wonder that God should condescend so much, that he\nshould hear prayers so weak, so cold, so wandering, and gather up our\nsincere petitions from the dung of our distractions and diffidence.\nDavid vents his astonishment at it; \u201cBlessed be God, for he hath shown\nme marvellous kindness. I said in my haste, I am cut off from before\nthine eyes: nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my supplication\u201d\n(Ps. xxxi. 21, 22). How do we wonder at the goodness of a petty man,\nin granting our desires; how much more should we at the humility and\ngoodness of the most sovereign Majesty of heaven and earth!\n\n7th. The goodness of God is seen in bearing with the infirmities of his\npeople, and accepting imperfect obedience. Though Asa had many blots in\nhis escutcheon, yet they are overlooked, and this note set upon record\nby Divine goodness, that his heart was perfect towards the Lord all his\ndays; \u201cBut the high places were not removed: nevertheless, Asa\u2019s heart\nwas perfect with the Lord all his days\u201d (1 Kings, xv. 14). He takes\nnotice of a sincere, though chequered obedience, to reward it, which\ncould claim nothing but a slight from him, if he were extreme to mark\nwhat is done amiss. When there is not an opportunity to work, but only\nto will, he accepts the will, as if it had passed into work and act. He\nsees no iniquity in Jacob (Numb. xxiii. 21), _i. e._ He sees it not so\nas to cast off a respect to their persons, and the acceptance of their\nservices: his omniscience knows their sins, but his goodness doth not\nreject their persons. He is of so good a disposition, that he delights\nin a weak obedience of his servants, not in the imperfection, but in\nthe obedience (Ps. xxxvii. 23); \u201cHe delights in the way of a good man,\u201d\nthough he sometimes slips in it: he accepts a poor man\u2019s pigeon, as\nwell as a rich man\u2019s ox: he hath a bottle for the tears, and a book\nfor the \u201cservices of the upright,\u201d as well as for the most perfect\nobedience of angels (Ps. lvi. 8): he preserves their tears, as if they\nwere a rich and generous wine, as the vine\u2011dresser doth the expressions\nof the grape.\n\n8th. The goodness of God is seen in afflictions and persecutions. If it\nbe \u201cgood for us to be afflicted,\u201d for which we have the psalmist\u2019s vote\n(Ps. cxix. 71), then goodness in God is the principal cause and orderer\nof the afflictions. It is his goodness to snatch away that whence we\nfetch supports for our security, and encouragements for our insolence\nagainst him: he takes away the thing which we have some value for, but\nsuch as his infinite wisdom sees inconsistent with our true happiness.\nIt is no ill\u2011will in the physician to take away the hurtful matter the\npatient loves, and prescribe bitter potions, to advance that health\nwhich the other impaired; nor any mark of unkindness in a friend,\nto wrest a sword out of a madman\u2019s hand, wherewith he was about to\nstab himself, though it were beset with the most orient pearls. To\nprevent what is evil, is to do us the greatest good. It is a kindness\nto prevent a man from falling down a precipice, though it be with\na violent blow, that lays him flat upon {b310} the ground at some\ndistance from the edge of it. By afflictions he often snaps asunder\nthose chains which fettered us, and quells those passions which ravaged\nus: he sharpens our faith, and quickens our prayers; he brings us in\nthe secret chamber of our own heart, which we had little mind before\nto visit by a self\u2011examination. It is such a goodness that he will\nvouchsafe to correct man in order to his eternal happiness, that Job\nmakes it one part of his astonishment (Job. vii. 17); \u201cWhat is man,\nthat thou shouldest magnify him? that thou shouldest set thy heart upon\nhim? and that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every\nmoment?\u201d His strokes are often the magnifyings and exaltings of man.\nHe sets his heart upon man, while he inflicts the smart of his rod: he\nshows thereby, what a high account he makes of him, and what a special\naffection he bears to him. When he might treat us with more severity\nafter the breach of his covenant, and make his jealousy flame out\nagainst us in furious methods, he will not destroy his relation to\nus, and leave us to our own inclinations, but deal with us as a father\nwith his children; and when he takes this course with us, it is when\nit cannot be avoided without our ruin: his goodness would not suffer\nhim to do it, if our badness did not force him to it (Jer. ix. 7), \u201cI\nwill melt them and try them, for how shall I do for the daughter of my\npeople?\u201d What other course can I take but this, according to the nature\nof man? The goldsmith hath no other way to separate the dross from the\nmetal, but by melting it down. And when the impurities of his people\nnecessitate him to this proceeding, \u201che sits as a refiner\u201d (Mal. iii.\n3): he watches for the purifying the silver, not for his own profit\nas the goldsmith, but out of a care of them, and good will to them; as\nhimself speaks (Isa. xlviii. 10), \u201cI have refined thee, but not with\nsilver;\u201d or, as some read it, \u201cnot for silver.\u201d As when he scatters\nhis people abroad for their sin, he will not leave them without his\npresence for their \u201csanctuary\u201d (Ezek. xi. 16): he would by his presence\nwith them supply the place of ordinances, or be an ark to them in the\nmidst of the deluge: his hand that struck them, is never without a\ngoodness to comfort them and pity them. When Jacob was to go into\nEgypt, which was to prove a furnace of affliction to his offspring, God\npromises to go down with him, and to \u201cbring him up again\u201d (Gen. xlvi.\n4): a promise not only made to Jacob in his person, but to Jacob in\nhis posterity. He returned not out of Egypt in his person, but as the\nfather of a numerous posterity. He that would go down with their root,\nand afterwards bring up the branches, was certainly with them in all\ntheir oppressions: \u201cI will go down with thee.\u201d \u201cDown,\u201d saith one; what\na word is that for a Deity! into Egypt, idolatrous Egypt; what a place\nis that for his holiness![986] Yet O, the goodness of God! He never\nthinks himself low enough to do his people good, nor any place too bad\nfor his society with them. So when he had sent away into captivity the\npeople of Israel by the hand of the Assyrian, his bowels yearn after\nthem in their affliction (Isa. lii. 4, 5); the Assyrian \u201coppressed\nthem without cause,\u201d _i. e._ without a just cause in the conqueror\nto inflict so great an evil upon them, but not without {b311} cause\nfrom God, whom they had provoked. \u201cNow, therefore, what have I here,\nsaith the Lord?\u201d What do I here? I will not stay behind them. What\ndo I longer here? for I will redeem again those jewels the enemy hath\ncarried away. That chapter is a prophecy of redemption: God shows\nhimself so good to his people in their persecutions, that he gives\nthem occasion to glorify him in the very fires, as the Divine order is\n(Isa. xxiv. 15), \u201cWherefore glorify the Lord in the fires.\u201d\n\n9th. The goodness of God is seen in temptations. In those he takes\noccasion to show his care and watchfulness, as a father uses the\ndistress of a child as an opportunity for manifesting the tenderness\nof his affection. God is at the beginning and end of every temptation;\nhe measures out both the quality and quantity: he exposeth them not to\ntemptation beyond the ability he had already granted them, or will at\nthe time, or afterwards multiply in them. He hath promised his people\nthat \u201cthe gate of hell shall not prevail against them\u201d (1 Cor. x. 13):\nthat \u201cin all things\u201d they shall be \u201cmore than conquerors through Him\nthat loved them:\u201d that the most raging malice of hell shall not wrest\nthem out of his hands. His goodness is not less in performing than\nit was in promising: and as the care of his providence extends to the\nleast as well as the greatest, so the watchfulness of his goodness\nextends to us in the least as well as in the greatest temptations.\n\n1. The goodness of God appears in shortening temptations. None of them\ncan go beyond their \u201cappointed times\u201d (Dan. xi. 35): the strong blast\nSatan breathes cannot blow, nor the waves he raises rage one minute\nbeyond the time God allows them; when they have done their work, and\ncome to the period of their time, God speaks the word, and the wind and\nsea of hell must obey him, and retire into their dens. The more violent\ntemptations are, the shorter time doth God allot to them. The assaults\nChrist had at the time of his death were of the most pressing and\nurging nature: the powers of darkness were all in arms against him;\nthe reproaches and scorns put upon him, questioning his sonship, were\nvery sharp; yet a little before his suffering he calls it but an hour\n(Luke xxii. 53), \u201cThis is your hour, and the power of darkness.\u201d A\nshort time that men and devils were combined against him; and the\ntime of temptation that is to come upon all the world for their trial,\nis called but an \u201chour\u201d (Rev. iii. 10). In all such attempts, the\ngreatness of the rage is a certain prognostic of the shortness of the\nseason (Rev. xii. 12).\n\n2. The goodness of God appears in strengthening his people under\ntemptations. If he doth not restrain the arm of Satan from striking,\nhe gives us a sword to manage the combat, and a shield to bear off the\nblow (Eph. vi. 16, 17). If he obscures his goodness in one part, he\nclears and brightens it in another: he either binds the strong man that\nhe shall not stir, or gives us armor to render us victorious. If we\nfall, it is not for want of provision from him, but for want of our\n\u201cputting on the armor of God\u201d (Eph. vi. 11, 13). When we have not a\nstrength by nature, he gives it us by grace: he often quells those\npassions within which would join hands with, and second the temptation\nwithout. He either qualifies the temptation {b312} suitably to the\nforce we have, or else supplies us with a new strength to mate the\ntemptation he intends to let loose against us; he knows we are but dust,\nand his goodness will not have us unequally matched. The Jews that\nin Antiochus\u2019 time were under great temptation to apostasy by reason\nof the violence of their persecutions, were, \u201cout of weakness, made\nstrong\u201d for the combat (Heb. xi. 34). The Spirit came more strongly\nupon Sampson when the Philistines most furiously and confidently\nassaulted him. His Spirit is sent to strengthen his people before the\ndevil is permitted to tempt them (Matt. iv. 2); \u201cThen was Jesus led\nup of the Spirit.\u201d Then; When? When the Spirit had in an extraordinary\nmanner descended upon him (Matt. iii. 16), \u201cthen,\u201d and not before. As\nthe angels appeared to Christ, after his temptation, to minister to him,\nso they appeared to him before his passion, the time of the strongest\npowers of darkness, to strengthen him for it: he is so good, that when\nhe knows our potsherd strength too weak, he furnisheth our recruits\nfrom his own omnipotence (Eph. vi. 10); \u201cBe strong in the Lord, and\nin the power of his might.\u201d He doth, as it were, breathe in something\nof his own almightiness, to assist us in our wrestling against\nprincipalities and powers, and make us capable to sustain the violent\nstorms of the enemies.\n\n3. The goodness of God is seen in temptations, in giving great comforts\nin or after them. The Israelites had a more immediate provision of\nmanna from heaven when they were in the wilderness. We read not that\nthe Father spake audibly to the Son, and gave him so loud a testimony,\nthat he was his \u201cbeloved Son, in whom he was well pleased,\u201d till he was\nupon the brink of strong temptations (Matt. iii. 17): nor sent angels\nto minister immediately to his person, till after his success (Matt.\niv. 11). Job never had such evidences of Divine love till after he had\nfelt the sharp strokes of Satan\u2019s malice; he had heard of God before,\nby the \u201chearing of the ear,\u201d but afterwards is admitted into greater\nfamiliarity (Job. xlii. 5): he had more choice appearances, clearer\nilluminations, and more lively instructions. And, though his people\nfall into temptation, yet, after their rising, they have more signal\nmarks of his favor than others have, or themselves, before they fell.\nPeter had been the butt of Satan\u2019s rage, in tempting him to deny\nChrist, and he had shamefully complied with the temptation; yet, to\nhim particularly, must the first news of the Redeemer\u2019s resurrection\nbe carried, by God\u2019s order, in the mouth of an angel (Mark xvi. 7);\n\u201cGo your ways, tell his disciples, and Peter.\u201d We have the greatest\ncommunion with God after a victory; the most refreshing truths after\nthe devil hath done his worst. God is ready to furnish us with strength\nin a combat, and cordials after it.\n\n4. The goodness of God is seen in temptations, in discovering and\nadvancing inward grace by this means. The issue of a temptation of\na Christian is often like that of Christ\u2019s, the manifesting a greater\nvigor of the Divine nature, in affections to God, and enmity to sin.\nSpices perfume not the air with their scent till they are invaded by\nthe fire: the truth of grace is evidenced by them. The assault of an\nenemy revives, and actuates that strength and courage which is {b313}\nin a man, perhaps unknown to himself, as well as others, till he meets\nwith an adversary: many seem good, not that they are so in themselves,\nbut for want of a temptation: this many times verifies a virtue, which\nwas owned upon trust before, and discovers that we had more grace than\nwe thought we had. The solicitations of Joseph\u2019s mistress cleared up\nhis chastity: we are many times under temptation, as a candle under\nthe snuffer; it seems to be out, but presently burns the clearer.\nAfflictions are like those clouds which look black, and eclipse the sun\nfrom the earth, but yet, when they drop, refresh that ground they seem\nto threaten, and multiply the grain on the earth, to serve for our food;\nand so our troubles, while they wet us to the skin, wash much of that\ndust from our graces which in a clearer day had been blown upon us.\nToo much rest corrupts; exercise teacheth us to manage our weapons: the\nspiritual armor would grow rusty, without opportunity to furbish it up;\nfaith receives a new heart by every combat, and by every victory; like\na fire, it spreads itself further, and gathers strength by the blowing\nof the wind. While the gardener commands his servant to shake the tree,\nhe intends to fasten its roots, and settle it firmer in its place; and\nis this an ill\u2011will to the plant?\n\n5. His goodness is seen in temptations, in preventing sin which we\nwere likely to fall into. Paul\u2019s thorn in the flesh was to prevent the\npride of his spirit, and let out the windiness of his heart (2 Cor.\nxii. 7), lest it should be exalted above measure. The goodness of\nGod makes the devil a polisher, while he intends to be a destroyer.\nThe devil never works, but suitably to some corruption lurking in\nus: Divine goodness makes his fiery darts a means to discover, and\nso to prevent the treachery of that perfidious inmate in our hearts;\nhumility is a greater benefit than a putrefying pride; if God brings\nus into a wilderness to be tempted of the devil, it is to bring down\nour loftiness, to starve our carnal confidence, and expel our rusting\n\u201csecurity\u201d (Deut. viii. 2); we many times fly under a temptation to\nGod, from whom we sat too loose before. Is it not goodness to use those\nmeans that may drive us into his own arms? It is not a want of goodness\nto soap the garment, in order to take away the spots; we have reason\nto bless God for the assaults from hell, as well as pure mercies from\nheaven; and it is a sin to overlook the one as well as the other, since\nDivine goodness shines in both.\n\n6. The goodness of God is seen in temptations, in fitting us more for\nhis service. Those whom God intends to make choice instruments in his\nservice, are first seasoned with strong temptations, as timber reserved\nfor the strong beams of a building is first exposed to sun and wind,\nto make it more compact for its proper use. By this men are brought to\nanswer the end of their creation, the service of God, which is their\nproper goodness. Peter was, after his foil by a temptation, more\ncourageous in his Master\u2019s cause than before, and the more fitted to\nstrengthen his brethren.\n\nThus the goodness of God appears in all parts of his government.\n\nV. I shall now come to the _Use_. First, Of instruction.\n\n1. If God be so good, how unworthy is the contempt or abuse of his\ngoodness! (1.) The contempt and abuse of Divine goodness is {b314}\nfrequent and common; it began in the first ages of the world, and\ncommenced a few moments after the creation; it hath not to this day\ndiminished its affronts; Adam began the dance, and his posterity have\nfollowed him; the injury was directed against this, when he entertained\nthe seducer\u2019s notion of God\u2019s being an envious Deity, in not indulging\nsuch a knowledge as he might have afforded him (Gen. iii. 5): \u201cGod doth\nknow, that you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.\u201d The charge of\nenvy is utterly inconsistent with pure goodness. What was the language\nof this notion, so easily entertained by Adam, but that the tempter\nwas better than God, and the nature of God as base and sordid as the\nnature of a devil? Satan paints God with his own colors, represents\nhim as envious and malicious as himself; Adam admires, and believes\nthe picture to be true, and hangs it up as a beloved one in the closet\nof his heart. The devil still drives on the same game, fills men\u2019s\nhearts with the same sentiments, and by the same means he murdered our\nfirst parents, he redoubles the stabs to his posterity. Every violation\nof the Divine law is a contempt of God\u2019s goodness, as well as his\nsovereignty, because his laws are the products both of the one and\nthe other. Goodness animates them, while sovereignty enjoys them: God\nhath commanded nothing but what doth conduce to our happiness. All\ndisobedience implies, that his law is a snare to entrap us, and make\nus miserable, and not an act of kindness, to render us happy, which\nis a disparagement to this perfection, as if he had commanded what\nwould promote our misery, and prohibited what would conduce to our\nblessedness: to go far from him, and walk after vanity, is to charge\nhim with our iniquity, and unrighteousness, baseness, and cruelty, in\nhis commands: God implies it by his speech (Jer. ii. 5), \u201cWhat iniquity\nhave your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and\nwalked after vanity?\u201d as if, like a tyrant, he had consulted cruelty in\nthe composure of them, and designed to feast himself with the blood and\nmisery of his creatures. Every sin is, in its own nature, a denial of\nGod to be the chiefest good and happiness, and implies that it is no\ngreat matter to lose him: it is a forsaking him as the Fountain of Life,\nand a preferring a cracked and \u201cempty cistern\u201d as the chief happiness\nbefore him (Jer. ii. 13). Though sin is not so evil as God is good,\nyet it is the greatest evil, and stands in opposition to God as the\ngreatest good. Sin disorders the frame of the world; it endeavored to\nfrustrate all the communications of Divine goodness in creation, and to\nstop up the way of any further streams of it to his creatures.\n\n(2.) The abuse and contempt of the Divine goodness is base and\ndisingenious. It is the highest wickedness, because God is the highest\ngoodness, pure goodness that cannot have anything in him worthy of our\ncontempt. Let men injure God under what notion they will, they injure\nhis goodness; because all his attributes are summed up in this one, and\nall, as it were, deified by it. For whatsoever power or wisdom he might\nhave, if he were destitute of this he were not God: the contempt of\nhis goodness implies him to be the greatest evil, and worst of beings.\nBadness, not goodness, is the proper object of contempt: as respect\nis a propension of mind to {b315} something that is good, so contempt\nis an alienation of the mind from something as evil, either simply\nor supposedly evil in its nature, or base or unworthy in its action\ntowards that person that contemns it. As men desire nothing but\nwhat they apprehend to be good, so they slight nothing but what they\napprehend to be evil: since nothing, therefore, is more contemned by us\nthan God, nothing more spurned at by us than God, it will follow that\nwe regard him as the most loathsome and despicable being, which is the\ngreatest baseness. And our contempt of him is worse than that of the\ndevils; they injure him under the inevitable strokes of his justice,\nand we slight him when we are surrounded with the expressions of his\nbounty; they abuse him under vials of wrath, and we under a plenteous\nliberality: they malice him, because he inflicts on them what is\nhurtful; and we despise him, because he commands what is profitable,\nholy, and honorable, in its own nature, though not in our esteem. They\nare not under those high obligations as we; they abuse his creating,\nand we his redeeming goodness: he never sent his Son to shed a drop of\nblood for their recovery; they can expect nothing but the torment of\ntheir persons, and the destruction of their works; but we abuse that\ngoodness that would rescue us since we are miserable, as well as that\nrighteousness which created us innocent. How base is it to use him so\nill, that is not once or twice, but a daily, hourly Benefactor to us;\nwhose rain drops upon the earth for our food, and whose sun shines\nupon the earth for our pleasure as well as profit: such a Benefactor\nas is the true Proprietor of what we have, and thinks nothing too good\nfor them that think everything too much for his service! How unworthy\nis it to be guilty of such base carriage towards him, whose benefits\nwe cannot want, nor live without! How disingenious both to God and\nourselves, to \u201cdespise the riches of his goodness, that are designed to\nlead us to repentance\u201d (Rom. ii. 4), and by that to happiness! And more\nheinous are the sins of renewed men upon this account, because they are\nagainst his \u201cgoodness\u201d not only offered to them, but tasted by them;\nnot only against the notion of goodness, but the experience of goodness,\nand the relished sweetness of choicest bounty.\n\n(3.) God takes this contempt of his goodness heinously. He never\nupbraids men with anything in the Scripture, but with the abuse of\nthe good things he hath vouchsafed them, and the unmindfulness of the\nobligations arising from them. This he bears with the greatest regret\nand indignation. Thus he upbraids Eli with the preference of him to\nthe priesthood above other families (1 Sam. ii. 28): and David with his\nexaltation to the crown of Israel (2 Sam. xii. 7\u20129), when they abused\nthose honors to carelessness and licentiousness. All sins offend God,\nbut sins against his goodness do more disparage him; and, therefore,\nhis fury is the greater, by how much the more liberally his benefits\nhave been dispensed. It was for abuse of Divine goodness, as soon as it\nwas tasted, that some angels were hurled from their blessed habitation\nand more happy nature: it was for this Adam lost his present enjoyments,\nand future happiness, for the abuse of God\u2019s goodness in creation. For\nthe abuse of God\u2019s goodness the old world fell under the fury {b316} of\nthe flood; and for the contempt of the Divine goodness in redemption,\nJerusalem, once the darling city of the infinite Monarch of the\nworld, was made an Aceldema, a field of blood. For this cause it is,\nthat candlesticks have been removed, great lights put out, nations\noverturned, and ignorance hath triumphed in places bright before with\nthe beams of heaven. God would have little care of his own goodness, if\nhe always prostituted the fruits of it to our contempt. Why should we\nexpect he should always continue that to us which he sees we will never\nuse to his service? When the Israelites would dedicate the gifts of God\nto the service of Baal, then he would return, and take away his corn,\nand his wine, and make them know by the loss, that those things were\nhis in dominion, which they abused, as if they had been sovereign lords\nof them (Hos. ii. 8, 9). Benefits are entailed upon us no longer than\nwe obey (Josh. xxiv. 20): \u201cIf you forsake the Lord, he will do you hurt,\nafter he hath done you good.\u201d While we obey, his bounty shall shower\nupon us: and when we revolt, his justice shall consume us. Present\nmercies abused, are no bulwarks against independent judgments. God hath\ncurses as well as blessings; and they shall light more heavy when his\nblessings have been more weighty: justice is never so severe as when\nit comes to right goodness, and revenge its quarrel for the injuries\nreceived.\n\nA convenient inquiry may be here, How God\u2019s goodness is contemned or\nabused?\n\n1st. By a forgetfulness of his benefits. We enjoy the mercies, and\nforget the Donor; we take what he gives, and pay not the tribute he\ndeserves; the \u201cIsraelites forgot God their Saviour, which had done\ngreat things in Egypt\u201d (Ps. cvi. 21). We send God\u2019s mercies where we\nwould have God send our sins, into the land of forgetfulness, and write\nhis benefits where himself will write the names of the wicked, in the\ndust, which every wind defaceth: the remembrance soon wears out of\nour minds, and we are so far from remembering what we had before, that\nwe scarce think of that hand that gives, the very instant wherein his\nbenefits drop upon us. Adam basely forgot his Benefactor, presently\nafter he had been made capable to remember him, and reflect upon\nhim; the first remark we hear of him, is of his forgetfulness, not\na syllable of his thankfulness. We forget those souls he hath lodged\nin us, to acknowledge his favors to our bodies; we forget that image\nwherewith he beautified us, and that Christ he exposed as a criminal\nto death for our rescue, which is such an act of goodness as cannot be\nexpressed by the eloquence of the tongue, or conceived by the acuteness\nof the mind. Those things which are so common, that they cannot be\ninvisible to our eyes, are unregarded by our minds; our sense prompts\nour understanding, and our understanding is deaf to the plain dictates\nof our sense. We forget his goodness in the sun, while it warms us, and\nhis showers while they enrich us; in the corn, while it nourisheth us,\nand the wine while it refresheth us; \u201cShe did not know that I gave her\ncorn, and wine, and oil\u201d (Hos. ii. 8): she that might have read my hand\nin every bit of bread, and every drop of drink, did not consider this.\nIt is an injustice {b317} to forget the benefits we receive from man;\nit is a crime of a higher nature to forget those dispensed to us by\nthe hand of God, who gives us those things that all the world cannot\nfurnish us with, without him. The inhabitants of Troas will condemn\nus, who worshipped mice, in a grateful remembrance of the victory they\nhad made easy for them, by gnawing their enemies\u2019 bow\u2011strings. They\nwere mindful of the courtesy of animals, though unintended by those\ncreatures; and we are regardless of the fore\u2011meditated bounty of God.\nIt is in God\u2019s judgment a brutishness beyond that of a stupid ox, or a\nduller ass; \u201cThe ox knows his owner, and the ass his master\u2019s crib: but\nIsrael doth not know, my people do not consider\u201d (Isa. i. 3). The ox\nknows his owner that pastures him, and the ass his master that feeds\nhim; but man is not so good as to be like to them, but so bad as to be\ninferior to them: he forgets Him that sustains him, and spurns at him,\ninstead of valuing him for the benefits conferred by him. How horrible\nis it, that God should lose more by his bounty, than he would do by his\nparsimony! If we had blessings more sparingly, we should remember him\nmore gratefully. If he had sent us a bit of bread in a distress by a\nmiracle, as he did to Elijah by the ravens, it would have stuck longer\nin our memories; but the sense of daily favors soonest wears out of our\nminds, which are as great miracles as any in their own nature, and the\nproducts of the same power; but the wonder they should beget in us, is\nobscured by their frequency.\n\n2d. The goodness of God is contemned by an impatient murmuring. Our\nrepinings proceed from an inconsideration of God\u2019s free liberality,\nand an ungrateful temper of spirit. Most men are guilty of this. It is\nimplied in the commendation of Job under his pressures (Job i. 22): \u201cIn\nall this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly,\u201d as if it were a\ncharacter peculiar to him, whereby he verified the eulogy God had given\nof him before (ver. 8), that there was \u201cnone like him in the earth,\na perfect and an upright man.\u201d What is implied by the expression? but\nthat scarce a man is to be found without unjust complaints of God, and\ncharging him under their crosses with cruelty; when in the greatest\nthey have much more reason to bless him for his bounty in the remainder.\nGood men have not been innocent. Baruch complains of God for adding\ngrief to his sorrow, not furnishing him with those \u201cgreat things\u201d he\nexpected (Jer. xlv. 3, 4); whereas, he had matter of thankfulness in\nGod\u2019s gift of his life as a prey. But his master chargeth God in a\nhigher strain: \u201cO Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: I am\nin derision daily\u201d (Jer. xx. 7). When he met with reproach instead of\nsuccess in the execution of his function, he quarrels with God, as if\nhe had a mind to cheat him into a mischief, when he had more reason\nto bless him for the honor of being employed in his service. Because\nwe have not what we expect, we slight his goodness in what we enjoy.\nIf he cross us in one thing, he might have made us successless in\nmore: if he take away some things, he might as well have taken away\nall. The unmerited remainder, though never so little, deserves our\nacknowledgements more than the deserved loss can justify our repining.\nAnd for that {b318} which is snatched from us, there is more cause\nto be thankful, that we have enjoyed it so long, than to murmur that\nwe possess it no longer. Adam\u2019s sin implies a repining: he imagined\nGod had been short in his goodness, in not giving him a knowledge he\nfoolishly conceived himself capable of, and would venture a forfeiture\nof what already had been bountifully bestowed upon him. Man thought\nGod had envied him, and ever since man studies to be even with God, and\nenvies him the free disposal of his own doles: all murmuring, either in\nour own cause or others, charges God with a want of goodness, because\nthere is a want of that which he foolishly thinks would make himself\nor others happy. The language of this sin is, that man thinks himself\nbetter than God; and if it were in his power, would express a more\nplentiful goodness than his Maker. As man is apt to think himself\n\u201cmore pure than God\u201d (Job iv. 17), so of a kinder nature also than\nan infinite goodness. The Israelites are a wonderful example of this\ncontempt of Divine goodness; they had been spectators of the greatest\nmiracles, and partakers of the choicest deliverance: he had solicited\ntheir redemption from captivity; and when words would not do, he came\nto blows for them, musters up his judgments against their enemies,\nand, at last, as the Lord of hosts and God of battles, totally defeats\ntheir pursuers, and drowns them and their proud hopes of victory in\nthe Red Sea. Little account was made of all this by the redeemed ones;\n\u201cthey lightly esteemed the rock of their salvation,\u201d and launch into\ngreater unworthiness, instead of being thankful for the breaking their\nyoke: they are angry with him, that he had done so much for them:\nthey repented that ever they had complied with him, for their own\ndeliverance, and had a regret that they had been brought out of Egypt:\nthey were angry that they were freemen, and that their chains had been\nknocked off: they were more desirous to return to the oppression of\ntheir Egyptian tyrants, than have God for their governor and caterer,\nand be fed with his manna. \u201cIt was well with us in Egypt: Why came\nwe forth out of Egypt?\u201d which is called a \u201cdespising the Lord\u201d (Numb.\nxi. 18, 20). They were so far from rejoicing in the expectation of the\nfuture benefits promised them, that they murmured that they had not\nenjoyed less; they were so sottish, as to be desirous to put themselves\ninto the irons whence God had delivered them: they would seek a remedy\nin that Egypt, which had been the prison of their nation, and under\nthe successors of that Pharaoh, who had been the invader of their\nliberties; they would snatch Moses from the place where the Lord, by an\nextraordinary providence, hath established him; they would stone those\nthat minded them of the goodness of God to them, and thereupon of their\ncrime and their duty (Numb. xvi. 3, 9\u201211); they rose against their\nbenefactors, and \u201cmurmured against God,\u201d that had strengthened the\nhands of their deliverers; they \u201cdespised the manna\u201d he had sent them,\nand \u201cdespised the pleasant land\u201d he intended them (Ps. cvi. 24): all\nwhich was a high contempt of God and his unparalleled goodness and care\nof them. All murmuring is an accusation of Divine goodness.\n\n{b319} 3d. By unbelief and impenitency. What is the reason we come not\nto Him when he calls us; but some secret imagination that he is of an\nill nature, means not as he speaks, but intends to mock us, instead of\nwelcoming us? When we neglect his call, spurn at his bowels, slight the\nriches of his grace; as it is a disparagement to his wisdom to despise\nhis counsel, so it is to his goodness to slight his offers, as though\nyou could make better provision for yourselves than he is able or\nwilling to do. It disgraceth that which is designed to the praise of\nthe glory of his grace, and renders God cruel to his own Son, as being\nan unnecessary shedder of his blood. As the devil by his temptation of\nAdam, envied God the glory of his creating goodness, so unbelief envies\nGod the glory of his redeeming grace: it is a bidding defiance to him,\nand challenging him to muster up the legions of his judgments, rather\nthan have sent his Son to suffer for us, or his Spirit to solicit us.\nSince the sending his Son was the greatest act of goodness that God\ncould express, the refusal of him must be the highest reproach of that\nliberality God designed to commend to the world in so rare a gift: the\ningratitude in this refusal must be as high in the rank of sins, as the\nperson slighted is in the rank of beings, or rank of gifts. Christ is\na gift (Rom. v. 16), the royalest gift, an unparalleled gift, springing\nfrom inconceivable treasures of goodness (John iii. 16). What is our\nturning our backs upon this gift but a low opinion of it? as though the\nrichest jewel of heaven were not so valuable as a swinish pleasure on\nearth, and deserved to be treated at no other rate than if mere offals\nhad been presented to us. The plain language of it is, that there were\nno gracious intentions for our welfare in this present; and that he\nis not as good, in the mission of his Son, as he would induce us to\nimagine. Impenitence is also an abuse of this goodness, either by\npresumption, as if God would entertain rebels that bid defiance against\nhim with the same respect that he doth his prostrate and weeping\nsuppliants; that he will have the same regard to the swine as to\nthe children, and lodge them in the same habitation; or it speaks a\nsuspicion of God as a deceitful Master, one of a pretended, not a real\ngoodness, that makes promises to mock men, and invitations to delude\nthem: that he is an implacable tyrant, rather than a good Father;\na rigid, not a kind Being, delightful only to mark our faults, and\noverlook our services.\n\n4th. The goodness of God is contemned by a distrust of his\nprovidence. As all trust in him supposeth him good, so all distrust\nof him supposeth him evil; either without goodness to exert his power,\nor without power to display his goodness. Job seems to have a spice of\nthis in his complaint (Job xxx. 20), \u201cI cry unto thee, and thou dost\nnot hear me; I stand up, and thou regardest me not.\u201d It is a fume of\nthe serpent\u2019s venom, first breathed into man, to suspect him of cruelty,\nseverity, regardlessness, even under the daily evidences of his good\ndisposition: and it is ordinary not to believe him when he speaks, nor\ncredit him when he acts; to question the goodness of his precepts, and\nmisinterpret the kindness of his providence; as if they were designed\nfor the supports of a tyranny, and the deceit of the miserable. Thus\nthe Israelites thought their miraculous deliverance {b320} from Egypt,\nand the placing them in security in the wilderness, was intended only\nto pound them up for a slaughter (Numb. xiv. 3): thus they defiled\nthe lustre of Divine goodness which they had so highly experimented,\nand placed not that confidence in him which was due to so frequent\na Benefactor, and thereby crucified the rich kindness of God, as\nGenebrard translates the word \u201climited\u201d (Ps. lxxviii. 41). It is also\na jealousy of Divine goodness, when we seek to deliver ourselves from\nour straits by unlawful ways, as though God had not kindness enough\nto deliver us without committing evil. What! did God make a world, and\nall creatures in it, to think of them no more, not to concern himself\nin their affairs? If he be good, he is diffusive, and delights to\ncommunicate himself; and what subjects should there be for it, but\nthose that seek him, and implore his assistance? It is an indignity\nto Divine bounty to have such mean thoughts of it, that it should be\nof a nature contrary to that of his works, which, the better they are,\nthe more diffusive they are. Doth a man distrust that the sun will\nnot shine any more, or the earth not bring forth its fruit? Doth he\ndistrust the goodness of an approved medicine for the expelling his\ndistemper? If we distrust those things, should we not render ourselves\nridiculous and sottish? and if we distrust the Creator of those things,\ndo we not make ourselves contemners of his goodness? If his caring for\nus be a principal argument to move us to cast our care upon him, as\nit is 1 Pet. v. 7, \u201cCasting your care upon him, for he cares for you;\u201d\nthen, if we cast not our care upon him, it is a denial of his gracious\ncare of us, as if he regarded not what becomes of us.\n\n5th. We do contemn or abuse his goodness by omissions of duty. These\nsometimes spring from injurious conceits of God, which end in desperate\nresolutions. It was the crime of a good prophet in his passion (2 Kings\nvi. 33): \u201cThis evil is of the Lord, why should I wait on the Lord any\nlonger?\u201d God designs nothing but mischief to us, and we will seek him\nno longer. And the complaint of those in Malachi (Mal. iii. 14) is\nof the same nature; \u201cYe have said, It is vain to serve God; and what\nprofit is it that we have kept his ordinances?\u201d We have all this while\nserved a hard Master, not a Benefactor, and have not been answered with\nadvantages proportionable to our services; we have met with a hand too\nniggardly to dispense that reward which is due to the largeness of our\nofferings. When men will not lift up their eyes to heaven, and solicit\nnothing but the contrivance of their own brain, and the industry of\ntheir own heads, they disown Divine goodness, and approve themselves\nas their own gods, and the spring of their own prosperity. Those that\nrun not to God in their necessity, to crave his support, deny either\nthe arm of his power, or the disposition of his will, to sustain and\ndeliver them: they must have very mean sentiments, or none at all, of\nthis perfection, or think him either too empty to fill them, or too\nchurlish to relieve them; that he is of a narrow and contracted temper,\nand that they may sooner expect to be made better and happier by\nanything else than by him: and as we contemn his goodness by a total\nomission of those duties which respect our own advantage and supply, as\nprayer; so we contemn him as the chiefest good, by an omission of {b321}\nthe due manner of any act of worship which is designed purely for the\nacknowledgment of him. As every omission of the material part of a duty\nis a denial of his sovereignty as commanding it, so every omission of\nthe manner of it, not performing it with due esteem and valuation of\nhim, a surrender of all the powers of our soul to him, is a denial of\nhim as the most amiable object. But certainly to omit those addresses\nto God which his precept enjoins, and his excellency deserves, speaks\nthis language, that they can be well enough, and do well enough,\nwithout God, and stand in no need of his goodness to maintain them. The\nneglect or refusal in a malefactor to supplicate for his pardon, is a\nwrong to, and contempt of, the prince\u2019s goodness: either implying that\nhe hath not a goodness in his nature worthy of an address, or that he\nscorns to be obliged to him for any exercise of it.\n\n6th. The goodness of God is contemned, or abused, in relying upon our\nservices to procure God\u2019s good will to us. As, when we stand in need\neither of some particular mercy, or special assistance; when pressures\nare heavy, and we have little hopes of ease in an ordinary way; when\nthe devotions in course have not prevailed for what we want; we engage\nourselves by extraordinary vows and promises to God, hereby to open\nthat goodness which seems to be locked up from us.[987] Sometimes,\nindeed, vows may proceed from a sole desire to engage ourselves\nto God, from a sense of the levity and inconstancy of our spirits;\nbinding ourselves to God by something more sacred and inviolable than a\ncommon resolution. But many times the vowing the building of a temple,\nendowing a hospital, giving so much in alms if God will free them from\na fit of sickness, and spin out the thread of their lives a little\nlonger (as hath been frequent among the Romanists), arises from an\nopinion of laziness and a selfishness in the Divine goodness; that it\nmust be squeezed out by some solemn promises of returns to him, before\nit will exercise itself to take their parts. Popular vows are often\nthe effects of an ignorance of the free and bubbling nature of this\nperfection of the generousness and royalty of Divine goodness: as\nif God were of a mean and mechanic temper, not to part with anything\nunless he were in some measure paid for it; and of so bad a nature as\nnot to give passage to any kindness to his creature without a bribe. It\nimplies also that he is of an ignorant as well as contracted goodness;\nthat he hath so little understanding, and so much weakness of judgment,\nas to be taken with such trifles, and ceremonial courtships, and little\npromises; and meditated only low designs, in imparting his bounty:\nit is just as if a malefactor should speak to a prince,\u2015\u2015Sir, if you\nwill but bestow a pardon upon me, and prevent the death I have merited\nfor this crime, I will give you this rattle. All vows made with such a\ntemper of spirit to God, are as injurious and abusive to his goodness,\nas any man will judge such an offer to be to a majestic and gracious\nprince; as if it were a trading, not a free and royal goodness.\n\n7th. The goodness of God is abused when we give up our souls and\naffections to those benefits we have from God; when we make {b322}\nthose things God\u2019s rivals, which were sent to woo us for him, and offer\nthose affections to the presents themselves, which they were sent to\nsolicit for the Master. This is done, when either we place our trust in\nthem, or glue our choicest affections to them. This charge God brings\nagainst Jerusalem, the trusting in her own beauty, glory, and strength,\nthough it was a comeliness put upon her by God (Ezek. xvi. 14, 15).\nWhen a little sunshine of prosperity breaks out upon us, we are apt\nto grasp it with so much eagerness and closeness, as if we had no\nother foundation to settle ourselves upon, no other being that might\nchallenge from us our sole dependence. And the love of ourselves, and\nof creatures above God, is very natural to us: \u201cLovers of themselves,\nand lovers of pleasure more than of God\u201d (2 Tim. iii. 2, 4). Self\u2011love\nis the root, and the love of pleasures the top branch, that mounts its\nhead highest against heaven. It is for the love of the world that the\ndangers of the sea are passed over, that men descend into the bowels\nof the earth, pass nights without sleep, undertake suits without\nintermission, wade through many inconveniences, venture their souls,\nand contemn God; in those things men glory, and foolishly grow proud\nby them, and think themselves safe and happy in them.[988] Now to love\nourselves above God, is to own ourselves better than God, and that\nwe transcend him in an amiable goodness; or, if we love ourselves\nequal with God, it at least manifests that we think God no better than\nourselves; and think ourselves our own chief good, and deny anything\nabove us to outstrip us in goodness, whereby to deserve to be the\ncentre of our affections and actions, and to love any other creature\nabove him, is to conclude some defect in God; that he hath not so\nmuch goodness in his own nature as that creature hath, to complete\nour felicity; that God is a slighter thing than that creature. It is\nto account God, what all the things in the world are,\u2015\u2015an imaginary\nhappiness, a goodness of clay; and them what God is,\u2015\u2015a Supreme\nGoodness. It is to value the goodness of a drop above that of the\nspring, and the goodness of the spark above that of the sun. As if the\nbounty of God were of a less alloy than the advantages we immediately\nreceive from the hands of a silly worm. By how much the better we\nthink a creature to be, and place our affections chiefly upon it, by so\nmuch the more deficient and indigent we conclude God; for God wants so\nmuch in our conception, as the other thing hath goodness above him in\nour thoughts. Thus is God lessened below the creature, as if he had a\nmixture of evil in him, and were capable of an imperfect goodness. He\nthat esteems the sun that shines upon him, the clothes that warm him,\nthe food that nourisheth him, or any other benefit above the Donor,\nregards them as more comely and useful than God himself; and behaves\nhimself as if he were more obliged to them than to God, who bestowed\nthose advantageous qualities upon them.\n\n8th. The Divine goodness is contemned, in sinning more freely upon\nthe account of that goodness, and employing God\u2019s benefits in a\ndrudgery for our lusts. This is a treachery to his goodness, to make\nhis benefits serve for an end quite contrary to that for which {b323}\nhe sent them. As if God had been plentiful in his blessings, to hire\nthem to be more fierce in their rebellions, and fed them to no other\npurpose, but that they might more strongly kick against him; this is\nthe fruit which corrupt nature produceth. Thus the Egyptians, who had\nso fertile a country, prove unthankful to the Creator, by adoring the\nmeanest creatures, and putting the sceptre of the Monarch of the world\ninto the hands of the sottishest and cruellest beasts. And the Romans\nmultiply their idols, as God multiplied their victories. This is also\nthe complaint of God concerning Israel: \u201cShe did not know that I gave\nher corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which\nthey prepared for Baal\u201d (Hos. ii. 8). They ungratefully employed the\nblessings of God in the worship of an idol against the will of the\nDonor. So in Hos. x. 1; \u201cAccording to the multitude of his fruit,\nhe hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land,\nthey have made goodly images.\u201d They followed their own inventions\nwith the strength of my outward blessings; as their wealth increased,\nthey increased the ornaments of their images; so that what were before\nof wood and stone, they advanced to gold and silver. And the like\ncomplaint you may see Ezek. 16, 17. Thus,\n\n[1.] The benefits of God are abused to pride, when men standing upon\na higher ground of outward prosperity, vaunt it loftily above their\nneighbors; the common fault of those that enjoy a worldly sunshine,\nwhich the apostle observes in his direction to Timothy; \u201cCharge them\nthat are rich in this world, that they be not high\u2011minded\u201d (1 Tim. vi.\n17). It is an ill use of Divine blessings to be filled by them with\npride and wind. Also,\n\n[2.] When men abuse plenty to ease; because they have abundance, spend\ntheir time in idleness, and make no other use of Divine benefits than\nto trifle away their time, and be utterly useless to the world.\n\n[3.] When they also abuse peace and other blessing to security; as\nthey which would not believe the threatenings of judgment, and the\nstorm coming from a far country, because the Lord was in Sion, and her\nKing in her; \u201cIs not the Lord in Sion, is not her King in her\u201d (Jer.\nviii. 19)? thinking they might continue their progress in their sin,\nbecause they had the temple, the seat of the Divine glory, Sion, and\nthe promise of an everlasting kingdom to David; abusing the promise\nof God to presumption and security, and turning the grace of God into\nwantonness.\n\n[4.] Again, when they abuse the bounty of God to sensuality and\nluxury, misemploying the provisions God gives them, in resolving to\nlive like beasts, when by a good improvement of them, they might attain\nthe life of angels. Thus is the light of the sun abused to conduct them,\nand the fruits of the earth abused to enable them to their prodigious\ndebauchery: as we do, saith one, with the Thames, which brings us in\nprovision, and we soil it with our rubbish.[989] The more God sows his\ngifts, the more we sow our cockle and darnel. Thus we make our outward\nhappiness the most unhappy part of our lives, and by the strength\nof Divine blessings, exceed all laws of reason and religion too. How\nunworthy a carriage is this, to use the expressions {b324} of Divine\ngoodness as occasions of a greater outrage and affront of him; when we\nstab his honor by those instruments he puts into our hands to glorify\nhim! as if a favorite should turn that sword into the bowels of his\nprince, wherewith he knighted him; and a servant, enriched by a lord,\nshould hire by that wealth, murderers to take away his life! How\nbrutish is it, the more God courts us with his blessings, the more\nto spurn at him with our feet; like the mule that lifts up his heel\nagainst the dam, as soon as ever it hath sucked her! We never beat God\nout of our hearts, but by his own gifts; he receives no blows from men,\nbut by those instruments he gave them to promote their happiness. While\nman is an enjoyer, he makes God a loser, by his own blessings; inflames\nhis rebellion by those benefits which should kindle his love; and runs\nfrom him by the strength of those favors which should endear the donor\nto him: \u201cDo you thus requite the Lord, O foolish people, and unwise?\u201d\nis the expostulation (Deut. xxxii. 6). Divine goodness appears in the\ncomplaint of the abuse of it, in giving them titles below their crime,\nand complaining more of their being unfaithful to their own interest,\nthan enemies to his glory: \u201cfoolish and unwise\u201d in neglecting their own\nhappiness; a charge below the crime, which deserved to be \u201cabominable,\nungrateful people to a prodigy.\u201d All this carriage towards God, is as\nif a man should knock the chirurgeon on the head, as soon as he hath\nset and bound up his dislocated members. So God compares the ungrateful\nbehavior of the Israelites against him: \u201cThough I have bound and\nstrengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me\u201d (Hos.\nvii. 15): a metaphor taken from a chirurgeon that applies corroborating\nplasters to a broken limb.\n\n9th. We contemn the goodness of God, in ascribing our benefits to other\ncauses than Divine goodness. Thus Israel ascribed her felicity, plenty,\nand success, to her idols, as \u201crewards which her lovers had given her\u201d\n(Hos. ii. 5, 12). And this charge Daniel brought home upon Belshazzar:\n\u201cThou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, and brass, and iron;\nand the God in whose hand is thy breath, and whose are all thy ways,\nhast thou not glorified\u201d (Dan. v. 23). The God who hath given success\nto the arms of thy ancestors, and conveyed by their hands so large\na dominion to thee, thou hast not honored in the same rank with the\nsordidest of thy idols. It is the same case, when we own him not as\nthe author of any success in our affairs, but by an overweaning conceit\nof our own sagacity, applaud and admire ourselves, and overlook the\nhand that conducted us, and brought our endeavors to a good issue.\nWe eclipse the glory of Divine goodness, by setting the crown that is\ndue to it upon the head of our own industry; a sacrilege worse than\nBelshazzar\u2019s drinking of wine with his lords and concubines in the\nsacred vessels pilfered from the temple; as in that place of Daniel.\nThis was the proud vaunt of the Assyrian conqueror, for which God\nthreatens to punish the fruit of his stout heart: \u201cBy the strength of\nmy hand, I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent;\u201d and, \u201cI\nhave removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures;\u201d\nand, \u201cI have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man\u201d (Isa. x.\n12\u201214). Not a word of Divine goodness and assistance in all this, but\napplauding {b325} his own courage and conduct. This is a robbing of\nGod, to set up ourselves, and making Divine goodness a footstool, to\nascend into his throne. And as it is unjust, so it is ridiculous, to\nascribe to ourselves, or instruments, the chief honor of any work; as\nridiculous as if a soldier, after a victory, should erect an altar to\nthe honor of his sword; or an artificer offer sacrifices to the tools\nwhereby he completed some excellent and useful invention: a practice\nthat every rational man would disdain, where he should see it. It is\na discarding any thoughts of the goodness of God, when we imagine,\nthat we chiefly owe anything in this world to our own industry or wit,\nto friends or means, as though Divine goodness did not open its hand\nto interest itself in our affairs, support our ability, direct our\ncounsels, and mingle itself with anything we do. God is the principal\nauthor of any advantage that accrues to us, of any wise resolution we\nfix upon, or any proper way we take to compass it; no man can be wise\nin opposition to God, act wisely, or well without him; his goodness\ninspires men with generous and magnificent counsels, and furnisheth\nthem with fit and proportionable means; when he withdraws his hand,\nmen\u2019s heads grow foolish, and their hands feeble; folly and weakness\ndrop upon them, as darkness upon the world upon the removal of the sun;\nit is an abuse of Divine goodness not to own it, but erect an idol in\nits place. Ezra was of another mind when he ascribed to the good hand\nof God the \u201cproviding ministers for the temple,\u201d and not to his own\ncare and diligence (chap. viii. 18); and Nehemiah, the \u201csuccess he had\nwith the king\u201d in the behalf of his nation, and not solely to his favor\nwith the prince, or the arts he used to please him (chap. ii. 8).\n\n2. The second information is this: If God be so good, it is a\ncertain argument that man is fallen from his original state. It is the\ncomplaint of man, sometimes, that other creatures have more of earthly\nhappiness than men have; live freer from cares and trouble, and are not\nracked with that solicitousness and anxiety as man is: have not such\ndistempers to embitter their lives. It is a good ground for man to look\ninto himself, and consider whether he hath not, some ways or other,\ndisobliged God more than other creatures can possibly do. We often\nfind that the creatures men have need of in this state, do not answer\nthe expectation of man: \u201cCursed be the ground for thy sake\u201d (Gen. iii.\n17). A fruitful land is made barren; thorns and thistles triumph upon\nthe face of the earth, instead of good fruit. Is it likely that that\ngoodness, which is as infinite as his power, and knows no more limits\nthan his Almightiness, should imprint so many scars upon the world, if\nhe had not been heinously provoked by some miscarriage of his creature?\nInfinite Goodness could never move Infinite Justice to inflict\npunishment upon creatures, if they had not highly merited it; we cannot\nthink that any creature was blemished with a principle of disturbance,\nas it came first out of the hand of God. All things were certainly\nsettled in a due order and dependence upon one another; nothing could\nbe ungrateful and unuseful to man by the original law of their creation;\nif there had, it had not been goodness, but evil and baseness, that\nhad created the world. When we see, therefore, the course of nature\noverturned, the order {b326} Divine goodness had placed, disturbed;\nand the creatures pronounced good and useful to man, employed as\ninstruments of vengeance against him; we must conclude some horrible\nblot upon human nature, and very odious to a God of infinite goodness;\nand that this blot was dashed upon man by himself, and his own fault;\nfor it is repugnant to the infinite goodness of God to put into the\ncreature a sinning nature, to hurry him into sin, and then punish him\nfor that which he had impressed upon him. The goodness of God inclines\nhim to love goodness wherever he finds it; and not to punish any that\nhave not deserved it by their own crimes. The curse we therefore see\nthe creatures groan under, the disorders in nature, the frustrating the\nexpectations of man in the fruits of the earth and plentiful harvests,\nthe trouble he is continually exposed to in the world, which tedders\ndown his spirit from more generous employments, shows that man is not\nwhat he was when Divine goodness first erected him; but hath admitted\ninto his nature something more uncomely in the eye of God; and so\nheinous, that it puts his goodness sometimes to a stand, and makes him\nlay aside the blessings his hand was filled with, to take up the arms\nof vengeance, wherewith to fight against the world. Divine goodness\nwould have secured his creatures from any such invasions, and never\nused those things against man, which he designed in the first frame\nfor man\u2019s service, were there not some detestable disorder risen in\nthe nature of man which makes God withhold his liberality and change\nthe dispensation of his numerous benefits into legions of judgments.\nThe consideration of the Divine goodness, which is a notion that man\nnaturally concludes to be inseparable from the Deity, would, to an\nunbiassed reason, verify the history of those punishments settled\nupon man in the third chapter of Genesis, and make the whole seem more\nprobable to reason at the first relation. This instruction naturally\nflows from the doctrine of Divine goodness: if God be so good, it is\na certain argument that man is fallen from his original state.\n\n3. The third information is this: If God be infinitely good, there\ncan be no just complaint against God, if men be punished for abusing\nhis goodness. Man had nothing, nay, it was impossible he could have\nanything, from Infinite Goodness to disoblige him, but to engage him.\nGod never did, nay, never could, draw his sword against man, till man\nhad slighted him and affronted him by the strength of his own bounty.\nIt is by this God doth justify his severest proceedings against men,\nand very seldom charges them with any else as the matter of their\nprovocations (Hos. ii. 9): \u201cTherefore will I return, and take away my\ncorn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will\nrecover my wool and my flax.\u201d And in Ezek. xvi., after he had drawn out\na bill of complaint against them, and inserted only the abuse of his\nbenefits, as a justification of what he intended to do; he concludes\n(ver. 27), \u201cBehold, therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee,\nand diminished thy ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will\nof them that hate thee.\u201d When men suffer, they suffer justly; they\nwere not constrained by any violence, or forced by any necessity, nor\nprovoked by any ill usage, to turn head against God, but broke the\nbands of {b327} the strongest obligations and most tender allurements.\nWhat man, what devil, can justly blame God for punishing them, after\nthey had been so intolerably bold, as to fly in the face of that\ngoodness that had obliged them, by giving them beings of a higher\nelevation than to inferior creatures, and furnishing them with\nsufficient strength to continue in their first habitation? Man seems to\nhave less reason to accuse God of rigor than devils; since, after his\nunreasonable revolt, a more express goodness than that which created\nhim hath solicited him to repentance, courted him by melting promises\nand expostulations, added undeniable arguments of bounty, and drawn\nout the choicest treasures of heaven, in the gift of his Son, to\nprevail over men\u2019s perversity. And yet man, after he might arrive to\nthe height and happiness of an angel, will be fond of continuing in\nthe meanness and misery of a devil; and more strongly link himself to\nthe society of the damned spirits, wherein, by his first rebellion,\nhe had incorporated himself. Who can blame God for vindicating his own\ngoodness from such desperate contempts, and the extreme ingratitude of\nman? If God be good, it is our happiness to adhere to him; if we depart\nfrom him, we depart from goodness; and if evil happen to us, we cannot\nblame God, but ourselves, for our departure.[990] Why are men happy?\nbecause they cleave to God. Why are men miserable? because they recede\nfrom God. It is then our own fault that we are miserable; God cannot be\ncharged with any injustice if we be miserable, since his goodness gave\nmeans to prevent it, and afterwards added means to recover us from it,\nbut all despised by us. The doctrine of Divine goodness justifies every\nstone laid in the foundation of hell, and every spark in that burning\nfurnace, since it is for the abuse of infinite goodness that it was\nkindled.\n\n4. The fourth information: Here is a certain argument, both for God\u2019s\nfitness to govern the world, and his actual government of it.\n\n(1.) This renders him fit for the government of the world, and gives\nhim a full title to it. This perfection doth the Psalmist celebrate\nthroughout the 107th Psalm, where he declares God\u2019s works of providence\n(ver. 8, 15, 21, 32). Power without goodness would deface, instead\nof preserving; ruin is the fruit of rigor without kindness; but God,\nbecause of his infinite and immutable goodness, cannot do anything\nunworthy of himself, and uncomely in itself, or destructive to\nany moral goodness in the creature. It is impossible he should do\nanything that is base, or act anything but for the best, because he is\nessentially and naturally, and, therefore, necessarily good. As a good\ntree cannot bring forth bad fruit, so a good God cannot produce evil\nacts, no more than a pure beam of the sun can engender so much as a\nmite of darkness, or infinite heat produce any particle of cold. As God\nis so much light, that he can be no darkness, so he is so much good,\nthat he can have no evil; and because there is no evil in him, nothing\nsimply evil can be produced by him. Since he is good by nature, all\nevil is against his nature, and God can do nothing against his nature;\nit would be a part of impotence in him to will that which is evil; and,\ntherefore, the misery man {b328} feels, as well as the sin whereby he\ndeserves that misery, are said to be from himself (Hos. xiii. 9): \u201cO\nIsrael, thou hast destroyed thyself!\u201d And though God sends judgments\nupon the world, we have shown these to be intended for the support and\nvindication of his goodness. And Hezekiah judged no otherwise, when,\nafter the threatening of the devastation of his house, the plundering\nhis treasures, and captivity of his posterity, he replies, \u201cGood is\nthe word of the Lord, which thou hast spoken\u201d (Isa. xxxix. 8). God\ncannot act anything that is base and cruel, because his goodness is\nas infinite as his power, and his power acts nothing but what his\nwisdom directs, and his goodness moves him to. Wisdom is the head in\ngovernment, omniscience the eye, power the arm, and goodness the heart\nand spirit in them, that animates all.\n\n(2.) As goodness renders Him fit to govern the world, so God doth\nactually govern the world. Can we understand this perfection aright,\nand yet imagine that he is of so morose a disposition as to neglect\nthe care of his creatures? that his excellency, which was displayed\nin framing the world, should withdraw and wrap up itself in his own\nbosom, without looking out, and darting itself out in the disposal\nof them? Can that which moved him first to erect a world, suffer him\nto be unmindful of his own work? Would he design first to display it\nin creation, and afterwards obscure the honor of it? That cannot be\nentitled an infinite permanent goodness, which should be so indifferent\nas to let the creatures tumble together as they please, without any\norder, after he had moulded them in his hand. If goodness be diffusive\nand communicative of itself, can it consist with the nature of it, to\nextend itself to the giving the creatures being, and then withdraw and\ncontract itself, not caring what becomes of them? It is the nature of\ngoodness, after it hath communicated itself, to enlarge its channels;\nthat fountain that springs up in a little hollow part of the earth,\ndoth in a short progress increase its streams, and widen the passages\nthrough which it runs; it would be a blemish to Divine goodness, if\nit did desert what it made, and leave things to wild confusions, which\nwould be, if a good hand did not manage them, and a good mind preside\nover them. This is the lesson intended to us by all his judgments\n(Dan. iv. 17), \u201cThat the living may know that the Most High rules in\nthe kingdoms of men.\u201d If he doth not actually govern the world, he must\nhave devolved it somewhere, either to men or angels; not to men, who\nnaturally want a goodness and wisdom to govern themselves, much more to\ngovern others exactly. And, besides the misinterpretations of actions,\nthey are liable to the want of patience, to bear with the provocations\nof the world; since some of the best at one time in the world, and, in\nthe greatest example of meekness and sweetness, would have kindled a\nfire in heaven to have consumed the Samaritans, for no other affront\nthan a non\u2011entertainment of their Master and themselves (Luke ix. 54).\nNor hath he committed the disposal of things to angels, either good or\nbad; though he useth them as instruments in his government, yet they\nare not the principal pilots to steer the world. Bad angels certainly\nare not; they would make continual ravages, meditate ruin, never defeat\ntheir own counsels, which they manage by the {b329} wicked as the\ninstruments in the world, nor fill their spirits with disquiet and\nrestlessness when they are engaged in some ruinous design, as often\nis experienced: nor hath he committed it to the good angels, who,\nfor aught we know, are not more numerous than the evil ones are;\nbut besides, we can scarcely think their finite nature capable of so\nmuch goodness, as to bear the innumerable debaucheries, villanies,\nblasphemies, vented in one year, one week, one day, one hour,\nthroughout the world; their zeal for their Creator might well be\nsupposed to move them to testify their affection to him in a constant\nand speedy righting of his injured honor upon the heads of the\noffenders. The evil angels have too much cruelty, and would have no\ncare of justice, but take pleasure in the blood of the most innocent,\nas well as the most criminal; and the good angels have too little\ntenderness to suffer so many crimes: since the world, therefore,\ncontinues without those floods of judgments, which it daily merits;\nsince, notwithstanding all the provocations, the order of it is\npreserved; it is a testimony that an Infinite Goodness holds the helm\nin his hands, and spreads its warm wings over it.\n\n5. The fifth information is this: Hence we may infer the ground of all\nreligion; it is this perfection of goodness. As the goodness of God is\nthe lustre of all his attributes, so it is the foundation and link of\nall true religious worship: the natural religion of the heathens was\nintroduced by the consideration of Divine goodness, in the being he had\nbestowed upon them, and the provisions that were made for them. Divine\nbounty was the motive to erect altars, and present sacrifices, though\nthey mistook the object of their worship, and offered the dues of the\nCreator to the instruments whereby he conveyed his benefits to them:\nand you find, that the religion instituted by him among the Jews,\nwas enforced upon them by the consideration of their miraculous\ndeliverance from Egypt, the preservation of them in the wilderness, and\nthe enfeoffing them in a land flowing with milk and honey. Every act\nof bounty and success the heathens received, moved them to appoint new\nfeasts, and repeat their adorations of those deities they thought the\nauthors and promoters of their victories and welfare. The devil did not\nmistake the common sentiment of the world in Divine service, when he\nalleged to God, that \u201cJob did not fear him for nought,\u201d _i. e._ worship\nhim for nothing (Job i. 9). All acts of devotion take their rise from\nGod\u2019s liberality, either from what they have or from what they hope;\npraise speaks the possession, and prayer the expectation, of some\nbenefit from his hand: though some of the heathens made fear to be the\nprime cause of the acknowledgment and worship of a deity, yet surely\nsomething else besides and beyond this established so great a thing as\nreligion in the world; an ingenuous religion could never have been born\ninto the world without a notion of goodness, and would have gaped its\nlast as soon as this notion should have expired in the minds of men.\nWhat encouragement can fear of power give, without sense of goodness?\njust as much as thunder hath, to invite a man to the place where it is\nlike to fall, and crush him. The nature of \u201cfear\u201d is to drive from, and\nthe nature of \u201cgoodness\u201d to allure to, the object: the Divine thunders,\nprodigies, and other armies {b330} of his justice in the world, which\nare the marks of his power, could conclude in nothing but a slavish\nworship: fear alone would have made men blaspheme the Deity; instead\nof serving him, they would have fretted against him; they might\nhave offered him a trembling worship; but they could never have, in\ntheir minds, thought him worthy of an adoration; they would rather\nhave secretly complained of him, and cursed him in their heart, than\ninwardly have admired him: the issue would have been the same, which\nJob\u2019s wife advised him to, when God withdrew his protection from his\ngoods and body: \u201cCurse God, and die\u201d (Job ii. 9). It is certainly the\ncommon sentiment of men, that he that acts cruelly and tyrannically, is\nnot worthy of an integrity to be retained towards him in the hearts of\nhis subjects; but Job fortifies himself against this temptation from\nhis bosom friend, by the consideration of the good he had received from\nGod, which did more deserve a worship from him than the present evil\nhad reason to discourage it. Alas! what is only feared, is hated, not\nadored. Would any seek to an irreconcileable enemy? would any person\naffectionately list himself in the service of a man void of all good\ndisposition? would any distressed person put up a petition to that\nprince, who never gave any experiment of the sweetness of his nature,\nbut always satiated himself with the blood of the meanest criminals?\nAll affection to service is rooted up when hopes of receiving good are\nextinguished: there could not be a spark of that in the world, which is\nproperly called religion, without a notion of goodness; the existence\nof God is the first pillar, and the goodness of God in rewarding the\nnext, upon which coming to him (which includes all acts of devotion)\nis established (Heb. xi. 6); \u201cHe that comes unto God, must believe that\nhe is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him:\u201d\nif either of those pillars be not thought to stand firm, all religion\nfalls to the ground. It is this, as the most agreeable motive, that\nthe apostle James uses, to encourage men\u2019s approach to God, because\n\u201che gives liberally, and upbraideth not\u201d (James i. 5). A man of a kind\nheart and a bountiful hand shall have his gate thronged with suppliants,\nwho sometimes would be willing to lay down their lives; \u201cfor a good\nman one would even dare to die:\u201d when one of a niggardly or tyrannical\ntemper shall be destitute of all free and affectionate applications.\nWhat eyes would be lifted up to heaven? what hands stretched out, if\nthere were not a knowledge of goodness there to enliven their hopes of\nspeeding in their petitions? Therefore Christ orders our prayers to be\ndirected to God as a Father, which is a title of tenderness, as well as\na \u201cFather in heaven,\u201d a mark of his greatness; the one to support our\nconfidence, as well as the other to preserve our distance. God could\nnot be ingenuously adored and acknowledged, if he were not liberal\nas well as powerful; the goodness of God is the foundation of all\ningenuous religion, devotion and worship.\n\n6. The sixth instruction: The goodness of God renders God amiable. His\ngoodness renders him beautiful, and his beauty renders him lovely; both\nare linked together (Zech. ix. 17): \u201cHow great is his goodness! and how\ngreat is his beauty!\u201d This is the most powerful attractive, and masters\nthe affections of the soul: it {b331} is goodness only supposed, or\nreal, that is thought worthy to demerit our affections to anything. If\nthere be not a reality of this, or at least an opinion and estimation\nof it in an object, it would want a force and vigor to allure our will.\nThis perfection of God is the loadstone to draw us, and the centre for\nour spirits to rest in.\n\n1. This renders God amiable to himself. His goodness is his \u201cGodhead\u201d\n(Rom. i. 20): by his Godhead is meant his goodness; if he loves his\nGodhead for itself, he loves his goodness for itself; he would not\nbe good, if he did not love himself; and if there were anything more\nexcellent, and had a greater goodness than himself, he would not be\ngood if he did not love that greater goodness above himself; for not\nonly a hatred of goodness is evil, but an indifferent or cold affection\nto goodness hath a tincture of evil in it. If God were not good, and\nyet should love himself in the highest manner, he would be the greatest\nevil, and do the greatest evil in that act; for he would set his love\nupon that which is not the proper object of such an affection, but the\nobject of aversion: his own infinite excellency, and goodness of his\nnature, renders him lovely and delightful to himself; without this he\ncould not love himself in a commendable and worthy way, and becoming\nthe purity of a Deity; and he cannot but love himself for this; for,\nas creatures, by not loving him as the supreme good, deny him to be\nthe choicest good, so God would deny himself, and his own goodness,\nif he did not love himself, and that for his goodness. But the apostle\ntells us, that \u201cGod cannot deny himself\u201d (2 Tim. ii. 13). Self\u2011love,\nupon this account, is the only prerogative of God, because there is\nnot anything better than himself that can lay any just claim to his\naffections: he only ought to love himself, and it would be an injustice\nin him to himself, if he did not. He only can love himself for this:\nan infinite goodness ought to be infinitely loved, but he only being\ninfinite, can only love himself according to the due merit of his own\ngoodness. He cannot be so amiable to any man, to any angel, to the\nhighest seraphim, as he is to himself; because he is only capable in\nregard of his infinite wisdom, to know the infiniteness of his own\ngoodness. And no creature can love him as he ought to be loved, unless\nit had the same infinite capacity of understanding to know him, and of\naffection to embrace him. This first renders God amiable to himself.\n\n2. It ought therefore to render him amiable to us. What renders him\nlovely to his own eye, ought to render him so to ours; and since, by\nthe shortness of our understandings, we cannot love him as he merits,\nyet we should be induced by the measures of his bounty, to love him\nas we can. If this do not present him lovely to us, we own him rather\na devil than a God: if his goodness moved him to frame creatures, his\ngoodness moved him also to frame creatures for himself and his own\nglory. It is a mighty wrong to him not to look with a delightful eye\nupon the marks of it, and return an affection to God in some measure\nsuitable to his liberality to us; we are descended as low as brutes,\nif we understand him not to be the perfect good; and we are descended\nas low as devils, if our affections are not attracted by it.\n\n{b332} (1.) If God were not infinitely good, he could not be the\nobject of supreme love. If he were finitely good, there might be other\nthings as good as God, and then God in justice could not challenge our\nchoicest affections to him above anything else: it would be a defect of\ngoodness in him to demand it, because he would despoil that which were\nequally good with him, of its due and right to our affections, which\nit might claim from us upon the account of its goodness: God would be\nunjust to challenge more than was due to him; for he would claim that\nchiefly to himself which another had a lawful share in. Nothing can be\nsupremely loved that hath not a triumphant excellency above all other\nthings; where is an equality of goodness, neither can justly challenge\na supremacy, but only an equality of affection.\n\n(2.) This attribute of goodness renders him more lovely than any other\nattribute. He never requires our adoration of him so much as the\nstrongest or wisest, but as the best of beings: he uses this chiefly\nto constrain and allure us. Why would he be feared or worshipped, but\nbecause \u201cthere is forgiveness with him\u201d (Ps. cxxx. 4)? it is for his\ngoodness\u2019 sake that he is sued to by his people in distress (Ps. xxv.\n7), \u201cFor thy goodness\u2019 sake, O Lord.\u201d Men may be admired because of\ntheir knowledge, but they are affected because of their goodness: the\nwill, in all the variety of objects it pursues, centres in this one\nthing of good as the term of its appetite. All things are beloved\nby men, because they have been bettered by them. Severity can never\nconquer enmity, and kindle love: were there nothing but wrath in the\nDeity, it would make him be feared, but render him odious, and that to\nan innocent nature. As the spouse speaks of Christ (Cant. v. 10, 11),\nso we may of God: though she commends him for his head, the excellency\nof his wisdom; his eyes, the extent of his omniscience; his hands, the\ngreatness of his power; and his legs, the swiftness of his motions and\nways to and for his people; yet the \u201csweetness of his mouth,\u201d in his\ngracious words and promises, closes all, and is followed with nothing\nbut an exclamation, that \u201che is altogether lovely\u201d (ver. 16). His mouth,\nin pronouncing pardon of sin, and justification of the person, presents\nhim most lovely. His power to do good is admirable, but his will to\ndo good is amiable: this puts a gloss upon all his other attributes.\nThough he had knowledge to understand the depth of our necessities, and\npower to prevent them, or rescue us from them, yet his knowledge would\nbe fruitless, and his power useless, if he were of a rigid nature, and\nnot touched with any sentiments of kindness.\n\n(3.) This goodness therefore lays a strong obligation upon us. It is\ntrue he is lovely in regard of his absolute goodness, or the goodness\nof his nature, but we should hardly be persuaded to return him an\naffection without his relative goodness, his benefits to his creatures;\nwe are obliged by both to love him.\n\n[1.] By his absolute goodness, or the goodness of his nature. Suppose a\ncreature had drawn its original from something else wherein God had no\ninflux, and had never received the least {b333} mite of a benefit from\nhim, but from some other hand, yet the infinite excellency and goodness\nof his nature would merit the love of that creature, and it would act\nsordidly and disingenuously if it did not discover a mighty respect\nfor God: for what ingenuity could there be in a rational creature,\nthat were possessed with no esteem for any nature filled with unbounded\ngoodness and excellency, though he had never been obliged to him for\nany favor? That man is accounted odious, and justly despicable by man,\nthat reproaches and disesteems, nay, that doth not value a person of a\nhigh virtue in himself, and an universal goodness and charity to others,\nthough himself never stood in need of his charity, and never had any\nbenefit conveyed from his hands, nor ever saw his face, or had any\ncommerce with him: a value of such a person is but a just due to the\nnatural claim of virtue. And, indeed, the first object of love is God\nin the excellency of his own nature, as the first object of love in\nmarriage is the person; the portion is a thing consequent upon it. To\nlove God only for his benefits, is to love ourselves first, and him\nsecondarily: to love God for his own goodness and excellency, is a true\nlove of God; a love of him for himself. That flaming fire in his own\nbreast, though we have not a spark of it, hath a right to kindle one\nin ours to him.\n\n[2.] By his relative goodness, or that of his benefits. Though the\nexcellency of his own nature, wherein there is a combination of\ngoodness, must needs ravish an apprehensive mind; yet a reflection\nupon his imparted kindness, both in the beings we have from him, and\nthe support we have by him, must enhance his estimation. When the\nexcellency of his nature, and the expressions of his bounty are in\nconjunction, the excellency of his own nature renders him estimable\nin a way of justice, and the greatness of his benefits renders him\nvaluable in a way of gratitude: the first ravisheth, and the other\nallures and melts: he hath enough in his nature to attract, and\nsufficient in his bounty to engage our affections. The excellency of\nhis nature is strong enough of itself to blow up our affections to\nhim, were there not a malignity in our hearts that represents him under\nthe notion of an enemy; therefore in regard of our corrupt state, the\nconsideration of Divine largesses comes in for a share in the elevation\nof our affections. For, indeed, it is a very hard thing for a man to\nlove another, though never so well qualified, and of an eminent virtue,\nwhile he believes him to be his enemy, and one that will severely\nhandle him, though he hath before received many good turns from him;\nthe virtue, valor, and courtesy of a prince, will hardly make him\naffected by those against whom he is in arms, and that are daily\npilfered by his soldiers, unless they have hopes of a reparation from\nhim, and future security from injuries. Christ, in the repetition of\nthe command to \u201clove God with all our mind, with all our heart, and\nwith all our soul,\u201d _i. e._ with such an ardency above all things which\nglitter in our eye, or can be created by him, considers him as \u201cour\nGod\u201d (Matt. xxii. 37). And the Psalmist considers him as one that\nhad kindly employed his power for him, in the eruption of his love\n(Ps. xviii. 1), \u201cI will love thee, O Lord, my strength;\u201d and so in\nPs. cxvi. 1, \u201cI love the Lord, because he hath heard the voice {b334}\nof my supplications.\u201d An esteem of the benefactor is inseparable\nfrom gratitude for the received benefits: and should not then the\nunparalleled kindness of God advance him in our thoughts, much more\nthan slighter courtesies do a created benefactor in ours? It is an\nobligation on every man\u2019s nature to answer bounty with gratitude, and\ngoodness with love. Hence you never knew any man, nor can the records\nof eternity produce any man, or devil, that ever hated any person, or\nanything as good in itself: it is a thing absolutely repugnant to the\nnature of any rational creature. The devils hate not God because he\nis good, but because he is not so good to them as they would have him;\nbecause he will not unlock their chains, turn them into liberty, and\nrestore them to happiness; _i. e._ because he will not desert the\nrights of abused goodness. But how should we send up flames of love to\nthat God, since we are under his direct beams, and enjoy such plentiful\ninfluences! If the sun is comely in itself, yet it is more amiable to\nus, by the light we see, and the warmth we feel.\n\n1st. The greatness of his benefits have reason to affect us with a love\nto him. The impress he made upon our souls when he extracted us from\nthe darkness of nothing; the comeliness he hath put upon us by his own\nbreath; the care he took of our recovery, when we had lost ourselves;\nthe expense he was at for our regaining our defaced beauty; the gift\nhe made of his Son; the affectionate calls we have heard to over\u2011master\nour corrupt appetites, move us to repentance, and make us disaffect our\nbeloved misery; the loud sound of his word in our ears, and the more\ninward knockings of his Spirit in our heart; the offering us the gift\nof himself, and the everlasting happiness he courts us to, besides\nthose common favors we enjoy in the world, which are all the streams of\nhis rich bounty: the voice of all is loud enough to solicit our love,\nand the merit of all ought to be strong enough to engage our love:\n\u201cthere is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides upon the heaven in\nthy help, and in his excellency on the sky\u201d (Deut. xxxiii. 26).\n\n2d. The unmeritedness of them doth enhance this. It is but reason to\nlove him who hath loved us first (1 John iv. 19). Hath he placed his\ndelight upon any when they were nothing, and after they were sinful;\nand shall he set his delight upon such vile persons, and shall not we\nset our love upon so excellent an object as himself? How base are we,\nif his goodness doth not constrain us to affect him who hath been so\nfree in his favor to us, who have merited the quite contrary at his\nhands? If \u201chis tender mercies are over all his works\u201d (Ps. cxlv. 9),\nhe ought for it to be esteemed by all his works that are capable of\na rational estimation.\n\n3d. Goodness in creatures makes them estimable, much more should the\ngoodness of God render him lovely to us. If we love a little spark of\ngoodness in this or that creature, if a drop be so delicious to us,\nshall not the immense Sun of goodness, the ever\u2011flowing Fountain of all,\nbe much more delightful? The original excellency always outstrips what\nis derived from it; if so mean and contracted an object as a little\ncreature deserves estimation for a little mite communicated to it, so\ngreat and extended a goodness as is in the Creator {b335} much more\nmerits it at our hands: he is good after the infinite methods of a\nDeity: a weak resemblance is lovely; much more amiable, then, must be\nthe incomprehensible original of that beauty. We love creatures for\nwhat we think to be good in them, though it may be hurtful; and shall\nwe not love God, who is a real and unblemished goodness, and from whose\nhand are poured out all those blessings that are conveyed to us by\nsecond causes? The object that delights us, the capacity we have to\ndelight in it, are both from him; our love, therefore, to him should\ntranscend the affection we bear to any instruments he moves for our\nwelfare. \u201cAmong the gods, there is none like thee, O Lord, neither\nare there any works like unto thy works\u201d (Ps. lxxxvi. 8): among the\npleasantest creatures there is none like the Creator, nor any goodness\nlike unto his goodness. Shall we love the food that nourisheth us,\nand the medicine that cures us, and the silver whereby we furnish\nourselves with useful commodities? Shall we love a horse, or dog, for\nthe benefits we have by them? and shall not the spring of all those\ndraw our souls after it, and make us aspire to the honor of loving\nand embracing Him who hath stored every creature with that which may\npleasure us? But, instead of endeavoring to parallel our affection with\nhis kindness, we endeavor to make our disingenuity as extensive and\ntowering as his Divine goodness.\n\n4th. This is the true end of the manifestation of his goodness, that he\nmight appear amiable, and have a return of affection. Did God display\nhis goodness only to be thought of, or to be loved? It is the want of\nsuch a return, that he hath usually aggravated, from the benefits he\nhath bestowed upon men. Every thought of him should be attended with a\nmotion suitable to the excellency of his nature and works. Can we think\nthose nobler spirits, the angels, look upon themselves, or those frames\nof things in the heavens and earth, without starting some practical\naffection to him for them? Their knowledge of his excellency and\nworks cannot be a lazy contemplation: it is impossible their wills and\naffections should be a thousand miles distant from their understandings\nin their operations. It is not the least part of his condescending\ngoodness to court in such methods the affections of us worms, and\nmanifest his desire to be beloved by us. Let us give him, then, that\naffection he deserves, as well as demands, and which cannot be withheld\nfrom him without horrible sacrilege. There is nothing worthy of love\nbesides him; let no fire be kindled in our hearts, but what may ascend\ndirectly to him.\n\n7. The seventh instruction is this: This renders God a fit object of\ntrust and confidence. Since none is good but God, none can be a full\nand satisfactory ground or object of confidence but God: as all things\nderive their beings, so they derive their helpfulness to us from God;\nthey are not, therefore, the principal objects of trust, but that\ngoodness alone that renders them fit instruments of our support; they\ncan no more challenge from us a stable confidence, than they can a\nsupreme affection. It is by this the Psalmist allures men to a trust\nin him; \u201cTaste and see how good the Lord is:\u201d what is the consequence?\n\u201cBlessed is the man that trusts in thee\u201d (Ps. xxxiv. 8). The voice of\nDivine goodness sounds nothing more intelligibly, {b336} and a taste\nof it produceth nothing more effectually, than this. As the vials of\nhis justice are to make us fear him, so the streams of his goodness\nare to make us rely on him: as his patience is designed to broach our\nrepentance, so his goodness is most proper to strengthen our assurance\nin him: that goodness which surmounted so many difficulties, and\nconquered so many motions that might be made against any repeated\nexercise of it, after it had been abused by the first rebellion of\nman; that goodness that after so much contempt of it, appeared in such\na majestic tenderness, and threw aside those impediments which men had\ncast in the way of Divine inclinations: this goodness is the foundation\nof all reliance upon God. Who is better than God? and, therefore, who\nmore to be trusted than God? As his power cannot act anything weakly,\nso his goodness cannot act anything unbecomingly, and unworthy of his\ninfinite majesty. And here consider,\n\n(1.) Goodness is the first motive of trust. Nothing but this could\nbe the encouragement to man, had he stood in a state of innocence, to\npresent himself before God; the majesty of God would have constrained\nhim to keep his due distance, but the goodness of God could only\nhearten his confidence: it is nothing else now that can preserve the\nsame temper in us in our lapsed condition. To regard him only as the\nJudge of our crimes, will drive us from him; but only the regard of\nhim as the Donor of our blessings, will allure us to him. The principal\nfoundation of faith is not the word of God, but God himself, and\nGod as considered in this perfection. As the goodness of God in his\ninvitations and providential blessings \u201cleads us to repentance\u201d (Rom.\nii. 4), so, by the same reason, the goodness of God by his promises\nleads us to reliance. If God be not first believed to be good, he would\nnot be believed at all in anything that he speaks or swears: if you\nwere not satisfied in the goodness of a man, though he should swear\na thousand times, you would value neither his word nor oath as any\nsecurity. Many times, where we are certain of the goodness of a man,\nwe are willing to trust him without his promise. This Divine perfection\ngives credit to the Divine promises; they of themselves would not be\na sufficient ground of trust, without an apprehension of his truth;\nnor would his truth be very comfortable without a belief of his good\nwill, whereby we are assured that what he promises to give, he gives\nliberally, free, and without regret. The truth of the promiser makes\nthe promise credible, but the goodness of the promiser makes it\ncheerfully relied on. In Ps. lxxiii. (Asaph\u2019s penitential psalm for\nhis distrust of God,) he begins the first verse with an assertion of\nthis attribute (ver. 1), \u201cTruly God is good to Israel;\u201d and ends with\nthis fruit of it (ver. 28), \u201cI will put my trust in the Lord God.\u201d It\nis a mighty ill nature that receives not with assurance the dictates\nof Infinite Goodness, (that cannot deceive or frustrate the hopes we\nconceive of him) that is inconceivably more abundant in the breast\nand inclinations of the promiser, than expressible in the words of his\npromise, \u201cAll true faith works by love\u201d (Gal. v. 6), and, therefore,\nnecessarily includes a particular eyeing of this excellency in the\nDivine nature, which renders him amiable, and is the motive and\nencouragement of {b337} a love to him. His power indeed is a foundation\nof trust, but his goodness is the principal motive of it. His power\nwithout good\u2011will would be dangerous, and could not allure affection;\nand his good\u2011will without power would be useless; and though it might\nmerit a love, yet could not create a confidence; both in conjunction\nare strong grounds of hope, especially since his goodness is of the\nsame infinity with his wisdom and power; and that he can be no more\nwanting in the effusions of this upon them that seek him, than in his\nwisdom to contrive, or his power to effect, his designs and works.\n\n(2.) This goodness is more the foundation and motive of trust under\nthe gospel, than under the law. They under the law had more evidences\nof Divine power, and their trust eyed that much; though there was an\neminency of goodness in the frequent deliverances they had, yet the\npower of God had a more glorious dress than his goodness, because\nof the extraordinary and miraculous ways whereby he brought those\ndeliverances about. Therefore, in the catalogue of believers in Heb.\nxi. you shall find the power of God to be the centre of their rest and\ntrust; and their faith was built upon the extraordinary marks of Divine\npower, which were frequently visible to them. But under the gospel,\ngoodness and love was intended by God to be the chief object of trust;\nsuitable to the excellency of that dispensation, he would have an\nexercise of more ingenuity in the creatures: therefore, it is said\n(Hos. iii. 5), a promise of gospel\u2011times, \u201cThey shall fear God and his\ngoodness in the latter days,\u201d when they shall return to \u201cseek the Lord,\nand David their king.\u201d It is not said, they shall fear God, and his\npower, but the Lord and his goodness, or the Lord for his goodness:\nfear is often in the Old Testament taken for faith, or trust. This\nDivine goodness, the object of faith, is that goodness discovered in\nDavid their king; the Messiah, our Jesus. God, in this dispensation,\nrecommends his goodness and love, and reveals it more clearly than\nother attributes, that the soul might have more prevailing and sweeter\nattractives to confide in him.\n\n(3.) A confidence in him gives him the glory of his goodness. Most\nnations that had nothing but the light of nature, thought it a great\npart of the honor that was due to God, to implore his goodness, and\ncast their cares upon it. To do good, is the most honorable thing in\nthe world, and to acknowledge a goodness in a way of confidence, is\nas high an honor as we can give to it, and a great part of gratitude\nfor what it hath already expressed. Therefore we find often, that\nan acknowledgment of one benefit received, was attended with a trust\nin him for what they should in the future need (Ps. lvi. 13): \u201cThou\nhast delivered my soul from death, wilt thou not deliver my feet from\nfalling?\u201d So, 2 Cor. i. 10: and they who have been most eminent for\ntheir trust in him, have had the greatest eulogies and commendations\nfrom him. As a diffidence doth disparage this perfection, thinking\nit meaner and shallower than it is, so confidence highly honors it.\nWe never please him more, than when we trust in him; \u201cThe Lord takes\npleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy\u201d (Ps.\ncxlvii. 11). He takes it for an honor to have this attribute exalted by\nsuch a carriage of his {b338} creature. He is no less offended when we\nthink his heart straitened, as if he were a parsimonious God; than when\nwe think his arm shortened, as if he were an impotent and feeble God.\nLet us, therefore, make this use of his goodness, to hearten our faith.\nWhen we are scared by the terrors of his justice, when we are dazzled\nby the arts of his wisdom, and confounded by the splendor of his\nmajesty, we may take refuge in the sanctuary of his goodness; this will\nencourage us, as well as astonish us; whereas, the consideration of\nhis other attributes would only amaze us, but can never refresh us, but\nwhen they are considered marching under the conduct and banners of this.\nWhen all the other perfections of the Divine nature are looked upon in\nconjunction with this excellency, each of them send forth ravishing and\nbenign influences upon the applying creature. It is more advantageous\nto depend upon Divine bounty, than our own cares; we may have better\nassurance upon this account in his cares for us, than in ours for\nourselves. Our goodness for ourselves is finite; and besides, we are\ntoo ignorant: his goodness is infinite, and attended with an infinite\nwisdom; we have reason to distrust ourselves, not God. We have reason\nto be at rest, under that kind influence we have so often experimented;\nhe hath so much goodness, that he can have no deceit: his goodness in\nmaking the promise, and his goodness in working the heart to a reliance\non it, are grounds of trust in him; \u201cRemember thy word to thy servant,\nupon which thou hast caused me to hope\u201d (Ps. cxix. 49). If his promise\ndid not please him, why did he make it? If reliance on the promise did\nnot please him, why did his goodness work it? It would be inconsistent\nwith his goodness to mock his creature, and it would be the highest\nmockery to publish his word, and create a temper in the heart of his\nsupplicant, suited to his promise which he never intended to satisfy.\nHe can as little wrong his creature, as wrong himself; and, therefore,\ncan never disappoint that faith which in his own methods casts itself\ninto the arms of his kindness, and is his own workmanship, and calls\nhim Author. That goodness that imparted itself so freely in creation,\nwill not neglect those nobler creatures that put their trust in him.\nThis renders God a fit object for trust and confidence.\n\n8. The eighth instruction: This renders God worthy to be obeyed\nand honored. There is an excellency in God to allure, as well as\nsovereignty to enjoin obedience: the infinite excellency of his nature\nis so great, that if his goodness had promised us nothing to encourage\nour obedience, we ought to prefer him before ourselves, devote\nourselves to serve him, and make his glory our greatest content;\nbut much more when he hath given such admirable expressions of his\nliberality, and stored us with hopes of richer and fuller streams of\nit. When David considered the absolute goodness of his nature, and the\nrelative goodness of his benefits, he presently expresseth an ardent\ndesire to be acquainted with the Divine statutes, that he might make\ningenious returns in a dutiful observance; \u201cThou art good, and thou\ndost good; teach me thy statutes\u201d (Ps. cxix. 68). As his goodness is\nthe original, so the acknowledgment of it is the end of all, which\ncannot be without an observance {b339} of his will. His goodness\nrequires of us an ingenuous, not a servile obedience. And this is\nestablished upon two foundations.\n\n[1.] Because the bounty of God hath laid upon us the strongest\nobligations. The strength of an obligation depends upon the greatness\nand numerousness of the benefits received. The more excellent the\nfavors are which are conferred upon any person, the more right hath the\nbenefactor to claim an observance from the person bettered by him. Much\nof the rule and empire which hath been in several ages conferred by\ncommunities upon princes, hath had its first spring from a sense of the\nadvantages they have received by them, either in protecting them from\ntheir enemies, or rescuing them from an ignoble captivity; in enlarging\ntheir territories, or increasing their wealth. Conquest hath been the\noriginal of a constrained, but beneficence always the original of a\nvoluntary and free subjection.[991] Obedience to parents is founded\nupon their right, because they are instrumental in bestowing upon\nus being and life; and because this of life is so great a benefit,\nthe law of nature never dissolves this obligation of obeying and\nhonoring parents; it is as long\u2011lived as the law of nature, and hath\nan universal practice, by the strength of that law, in all parts of the\nworld: and those rightful chains are not unlocked, but by that which\nunties the knot between soul and body: much more hath God a right to be\nobeyed and reverenced, who is the principal Benefactor, and moved all\nthose second causes to impart to us, what conduced to our advantage.\nThe just authority of God over us results from the superlativeness of\nhis blessings he hath poured down upon us, which cannot be equalled,\nmuch less exceeded, by any other. As therefore upon this account he\nhath a claim to our choicest affections, so he hath also to most exact\nobedience; and neither one nor other can be denied him, without a\nsordid and disingenuous ingratitude; God therefore aggravates the\nrebellion of the Jews from the cares he had in the bringing them up\n(Isa. ii. 2), and the miraculous deliverance from Egypt (Jer. xi.\n7, 8); implying that those benefits were strong obligations to an\ningenuous observance of him.\n\n[2.] It is established upon this, that God can enjoin the observance of\nnothing but what is good. He may by the right of his sovereign dominion,\ncommand that which is indifferent in its own nature: as in positive\nlaws, the not eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and\nevil, which had not been evil in itself, set aside the command of God\nto the contrary; and likewise in those ceremonial laws he gave the Jews:\nbut in regard to the transcendent goodness and righteousness of his\nnature, he will not, he cannot command anything that is evil in itself,\nor repugnant to the true interest of his creature; and God never\nobliged the creature to anything but what was so free from damaging it,\nthat it highly conduced to its good and welfare: and therefore it is\nsaid, that \u201chis commands are not grievous\u201d (1 John v. 3): not grievous\nin their own nature, nor grievous to one possessed with a true reason.\nThe command given to Adam in Paradise was not grievous in itself,\nnor could he ever have thought it so, but upon a false supposition\ninstilled into him by the tempter. There is a pleasure results from the\nlaw of God {b340} to a holy rational nature, a sweetness tasted both\nby the understanding and by the will, for they both \u201crejoice the heart\nand enlighten the eyes\u201d of the mind (Ps. xix. 8). God being essentially\nwisdom and goodness, cannot deviate from that goodness in any orders\nhe gives the creature; whatsoever he enacts must be agreeable to that\nrule, and therefore he can will nothing but what is good and excellent,\nand what is good for the creature; for since he hath put originally\ninto man a natural instinct to desire that which is good, he would\nnever enact any thing for the creature\u2019s observance,[992] that might\ncontrol that desire imprinted by himself, but what might countenance\nthat impression of his own hand; for if God did otherwise, he would\ncontradict his own natural law, and be a deluder of his creatures, if\nhe impressed upon them desires one way, and ordered directions another.\nThe truth is, all his moral precepts are comely in themselves, and\nthey receive not their goodness from God\u2019s positive command, but that\ncommand supposeth their goodness; if everything were good because God\nloves it, or because God wills it, _i. e._ that God\u2019s loving it or\nwilling it made that good which was not good before, then, as Camero\nwell argues somewhere, God\u2019s goodness would depend upon his loving\nhimself; he was good because he loved himself, and was not good till he\nloved himself; whereas, indeed, God\u2019s loving himself, doth not make him\ngood, but supposeth him good: he was good in the order of nature before\nhe loved himself; and his being good was the ground of his loving\nhimself, because, as was said before, if there were anything better\nthan God, God would love that; for it is inconsistent with the nature\nof God and infinite goodness not to love that which is good, and not\nto love that supremely which is the supreme good. Further to understand\nit, you may consider, if the question be asked, why God loves himself?\nyou would think it a reasonable answer to say, because he is good.\nBut if the question be asked, why God is good? you would think that\nanswer, because he loves himself, would be destitute of reason; but\nthe true answer would be, because his nature is so, and he could not\nbe God if he were not good: therefore God\u2019s goodness is in order of\nour conception before his self\u2011love, and not his self\u2011love before his\ngoodness; so the moral things God commands, are good in themselves\nbefore God commands them; and such, that if God should command the\ncontrary, it would openly speak him evil and unrighteous. Abstract\nfrom Scripture, and weigh things in your own reason; could you conceive\nGod good, if he should command a creature not to love him? could you\npreserve the notion of a good nature in him, if he did command murder,\nadultery, tyranny, and cutting of throats? You would wonder to what\npurpose he made the world, and framed it for society, if such things\nwere ordered, that should deface all comeliness of society: the moral\ncommands given in the word, appeared of themselves very beautiful to\nmere reason, that had no knowledge of the written law; they are good,\nand because they are so, his goodness had moved his sovereign authority\nstrictly to enjoin them. Now this goodness, whereby he cannot oblige\na {b341} creature to anything that is evil, speaks him highly worthy\nof our observance, and our disobedience to his law to be full of\ninconceivable malignity: that is the last thing.\n\n_Second Use_ is of comfort. He is a good without mixture, good\nwithout weariness\u2015\u2015none good but God, none good purely, none good\ninexhaustibly, but God; because he is good, we may, upon our speaking,\nexpect his instruction; \u201cGood is the Lord, therefore will he teach\nsinners in his way\u201d (Ps. xxv. 8). His goodness makes him stoop to be\nthe tutor to those worms that lie prostrate before him; and though\nthey are sinners full of filth, he drives them not from his school,\nnor denies them his medicines, if they apply themselves to him as a\nphysician. He is good in removing the punishment due to our crimes, and\ngood in bestowing benefits not due to our merits; because he is good,\npenitent believers may expect forgiveness; \u201cThou, Lord, art good, and\nready to forgive\u201d (Ps. lxxxvi. 5). He acts not according to the rigor\nof the law, but willingly grants his pardon to those that fly into the\narms of the Mediator; his goodness makes him more ready to forgive,\nthan our necessities make us desirous to enjoy; he charged not upon Job\nhis impatient expressions in cursing the day of his birth; his goodness\npassed that over in silence, and extols him for speaking the thing\nthat is right, right in the main, when he charges his friends for\nnot speaking of him the thing that is right, as his servant Job had\ndone (Job xlii. 7). He is so good, that if we offer the least thing\nsincerely, he will graciously receive it; if we have not a lamb\nto offer, a pigeon or turtle shall be accepted upon his altar; he\nstands not upon costly presents, but sincerely tendered services. All\nconditions are sweetened by it; whatsoever any in the world enjoy, is\nfrom a redundancy of this goodness; but whatsoever a good man enjoys,\nis from a propriety in this goodness.\n\n1. Here is comfort in our addresses to him. If he be a fountain\nand sea of goodness, he cannot be weary of doing good, no more than a\nfountain or sea are of flowing. All goodness delights to communicate\nitself; infinite goodness hath then an infinite delight in expressing\nitself; it is a part of his goodness not to be weary of showing it; he\ncan never, then, be weary of being solicited for the effusions of it;\nif he rejoices over his people to do them good, he will rejoice in any\nopportunities offered to him to honor his goodness, and gladly meet\nwith a fit subject for it; he therefore delights in prayer. Never can\nwe so delight in addressing, as he doth in imparting; he delights more\nin our prayers than we can ourselves; goodness is not pleased with\nshyness. To what purpose did his immense bounty bestow his Son upon us,\nbut that we should be \u201caccepted\u201d both in our persons and petitions (Eph.\ni. 6)? \u201cHis eyes are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their\ncry\u201d (Ps. xxxiv. 15); he fixes the eye of his goodness upon them, and\nopens the ears of his goodness for them; he is pleased to behold them,\nand pleased to listen to them, as if he had no pleasure in anything\nelse; he loves to be sought to, to give a vent to his bounty; \u201cAcquaint\nthyself with God, and thereby good shall come unto thee\u201d (Job xxii. 21).\nThe word signifies, to accustom ourselves to God; the more we accustom\nourselves in speaking, the more he will accustom himself in giving; he\nloves not {b342} to keep his goodness close under lock and key, as men\ndo their treasures. If we knock, he opens his exchequer (Matt. vii. 7);\nhis goodness is as flexible to our importunities, as his power is\ninvincible by the arm of a silly worm; he thinks his liberality honored\nby being applied to, and your address to be a recompense for his\nexpense. There is no reason to fear, since he hath so kindly invited\nus, but he will as heartily welcome us; the nature of goodness is to\ncompassionate and communicate, to pity and relieve, and that with a\nheartiness and cheerfulness; man is weary of being often solicited,\nbecause he hath a finite, not a bottomless, goodness: he gives\nsometimes to be rid of his suppliant, not to encourage him to a second\napproach. But every experience God gives us of his bounty, is a motive\nto solicit him afresh, and a kind of obligation he hath laid upon\nhimself to \u201crenew it\u201d (1 Sam. xvii. 37): it is one part of his goodness\nthat it is boundless and bottomless; we need not fear the wasting of\nit, nor any weariness in him to bestow it. The stock cannot be spent,\nand infinite kindness can never become niggardly; when we have enjoyed\nit, there is still an infinite ocean in Him to refresh us, and as full\nstreams as ever to supply us. What an encouragement have we to draw\nnear to God! We run in our straits to those that we think have most\ngood will, as well as power to relieve and protect us. The oftener\nwe come to him, and the nearer we approach to him, the more of his\ninfluences we shall feel: as the nearer the sun, the more of its\nheat insinuates itself into us. The greatness of God, joined with his\ngoodness, hath more reason to encourage our approach to him, than our\nflight from him, because his greatness never goes unattended with his\ngoodness; and if we were not so good, he would not be so great in the\napprehensions of any creature. How may his goodness, in the great gift\nof his Son, encourage us to apply to him: since he hath set him as\na day\u2019s\u2011man between himself and us, and appointed him an Advocate to\npresent our requests for us, and speed them at the throne of grace;\nand he never leaves till Divine goodness subscribes a _fiat_ to our\nbelieving and just petitions!\n\n2. Here is comfort in afflictions. What can we fear from the conduct\nof Infinite Goodness? Can his hand be heavy upon those that are humble\nbefore him? They are the hands of Infinite Power indeed, but there is\nnot any motion of it upon his people, but is ordered by a goodness as\ninfinite as his power, which will not suffer any affliction to be too\nsharp or too long. By what ways soever he conveys grace to us here, and\nprepares us for glory hereafter, they are good, and those are the good\nthings he hath chiefly obliged himself to give (Ps. lxxxiv. 11): \u201cGrace\nand glory\u201d will he \u201cgive, and no good thing will he withhold from them\nthat walk uprightly.\u201d This David comforted himself with, in that which\nhis devout soul accounted the greatest calamity, his absence from\nthe courts and house of God (ver. 2). Not an ill will, but a good\nwill, directs his scourges; he is not an idle spectator of our combats;\nhis thoughts are fuller of kindness than ours, in any case, can be of\ntrouble: and because he is good, he wills the best good in everything\nhe acts; in exercising virtue, or correcting vice. There is no\naffliction without some apparent mixtures of goodness; when he speaks\nhow he had smitten {b343} Israel (Jer. ii. 30), he presently adds (ver.\n31), \u201cHave I been a wilderness to Israel, a land of darkness?\u201d Though\nhe led them through a desert, yet he was not a desert to them; he\nwas no land of darkness to them; while they marched through a land of\nbarrenness, he was a caterer to provide them \u201cmanna,\u201d and a place of\n\u201cbroad rivers\u201d and streams. How often hath Divine goodness made our\nafflictions our consolations; our diseases, our medicines, and his\ngentle strokes, reviving cordials! How doth he provide for us above\nour deserts, even while he doth punish us beneath our merits! Divine\ngoodness can no more mean ill, than Divine wisdom can be mistaken in\nits end, or Divine power overruled in its actions. \u201cCharity thinks\nno evil\u201d (1 Cor. xiii. 5); charity in the stream doth not, much less\ndoth charity in the fountain. To be afflicted by a hand of goodness\nhath something comfortable in it, when to be afflicted by an evil\nhand is very odious. Elijah, who was loth to die by the hand of a\nwhorish idolatrous Jezebel, was very desirous to die by the hand of God\n(1 Kings, xix. 2\u20124). He accounted it a misery to have died by her hand,\nwho hated him, and had nothing but cruelty; and, therefore, fled from\nher, when he wished for death, as a desirable thing by the hand of that\nGod who had been good to him, and could not but be good in whatsoever\nhe acted.\n\n3. The third comfort flowing from this doctrine of the goodness of\nGod, is, it is a ground of assurance of happiness. If God be so good,\nthat nothing is better, and loves himself, as he is good, he cannot\nbe wanting in love to those that resemble his nature, and imitate his\ngoodness: he cannot but love his own image of goodness; wherever he\nfinds it, he cannot but be bountiful to it; for it is impossible there\ncan be any love to any object, without wishing well to it, and doing\nwell for it. If the soul loves God as its chiefest good, God will love\nthe soul as his pious servant: as he hath offered to them the highest\nallurements, so he will not withhold the choicest communications.\nGoodness cannot be a deluding thing; it cannot consist with the\nnobleness and largeness of this perfection to invite the creature\nto him, and leave the creature empty of him when it comes. It is\ninconsistent with this perfection to give the creature a knowledge of\nhimself, and a desire of enjoyment larger than that knowledge; a desire\nto know, and enjoy him perpetually, yet never intend to bestow an\neternal communication of himself upon it. The nature of man was erected\nby the goodness of God, but with an enlarged desire for the highest\ngood, and a capacity of enjoying it. Can goodness be thought to be\ndeceitful, to frustrate its own work, be tired with its own effusions,\nto let a gracious soul groan under its burden, and never resolve to\nease him of it; to see delightfully the aspirings of the creature to\nanother state, and resolve never to admit him to a happy issue of those\ndesires? It is not agreeable to this inconceivable perfection to be\nunconcerned in the longings of his creature, since their first longings\nwere placed in them by that goodness which is so free from mocking the\ncreature, or falling short of its well\u2011grounded expectations or desires,\nthat it infinitely exceeds them. If man had continued in innocence,\nthe goodness of God, without question, would have continued him in\nhappiness: and, {b344} since he hath had so much goodness to restore\nman, would it not be dishonorable to that goodness to break his own\nconditions, and defeat the believing creature of happiness, after it\nhath complied with his terms? He is a believer\u2019s God in covenant, and\nis a God in the utmost extent of this attribute, as well as of any\nother; and, therefore, will not communicate mean and shallow benefits,\nbut according to the grandeur of it, sovereign and divine, such as the\ngift of a happy immortality. Since he had no obligation upon him, to\nmake any promise, but the sweetness of his own nature, the same is as\nstrong upon him to make all the words of his grace good; they cannot\nbe invalid in any one tittle of them as long as his nature remains the\nsame; and his goodness cannot be diminished without the impairing of\nhis Godhead, since it is inseparable from it. Divine goodness will not\nlet any man serve God for nought; he hath promised our weak obedience\nmore than any man in his right wits can say it merits (Matt. x. 42):\n\u201cA cup of cold water shall not lose its reward.\u201d He will manifest our\ngood actions as he gave so high a testimony to Job, in the face of the\ndevil, his accuser: it will not only be the happiness of the soul, but\nof the body, the whole man, since soul and body were in conjunction\nin the acts of righteousness; it consists not with the goodness of God\nto reward the one, and to let the other lie in the ruins of its first\nnothing: to bestow joy upon the one for its being principal, and leave\nthe other without any sentiments of joy, that was instrumental in\nthose good works, both commanded and approved by God: he that had the\ngoodness to pity our original dust, will not want a goodness to advance\nit: and if we put off our bodies, it is but afterwards to put them on\nrepaired and fresher. From this goodness, the upright may expect all\nthe happiness their nature is capable of.\n\n4. It is a ground of comfort in the midst of public dangers. This hath\nmore sweetness in it to support us, than the malice of enemies hath\nto deject us; because he is \u201cgood,\u201d he is \u201ca stronghold in the day of\ntrouble\u201d (Nah. i. 7). If his goodness extends to all his creatures, it\nwill much more extend to those that honor him: if the earth be full of\nhis goodness, that part of heaven which he hath upon earth shall not be\nempty of it. He hath a goodness often to deliver the righteous, and a\njustice to put the wicked in his stead (Prov. xi. 8). When his people\nhave been under the power of their enemies, he hath changed the scene,\nand put the enemies under the power of his people: he hath clapped upon\nthem the same bolts which they did upon his servants. How comfortable\nis this goodness that hath yet maintained us in the midst of dangers,\npreserved us in the mouth of lions, quenched kindled fire; hitherto\nrescued us from designed ruin subtilly hatched, and supported us in\nthe midst of men very passionate for our destruction; how hath this\nwatchful goodness been a sanctuary to us in the midst of an upper hell!\n\n_Third Use_ is of exhortation.\n\n1. How should we endeavor after the enjoyment of God as good! How\nearnestly should we desire him! As there is no other goodness worthy of\nour supreme love, so there is no other goodness worthy our most ardent\nthirst. Nothing deserves the name of a desirable {b345} good, but as it\ntends to the attainment of this: here we must pitch our desires, which\notherwise will terminate in nullities or inconceivable disturbances.\n\n(1.) Consider, nothing but good can be the object of a rational\nappetite. The will cannot direct its motion to anything under the\nnotion of evil, evil in itself, or evil to it; whatsoever courts it\nmust present itself in the quality of a good in its own nature, or\nin its present circumstances to the present state and condition of\nthe desire; it will not else touch or affect the will. This is the\nlanguage of that faculty: \u201cWho will show me any good?\u201d (Ps. iv. 6),\nand good is as inseparably the object of the will\u2019s motion, as truth is\nof the understanding\u2019s inquiry. Whatsoever a man would allure another\nto comply with, he must propose to the person under the notion of some\nbeneficialness to him in point of honor, profit, or pleasure. To act\nafter this manner is the proper character of a rational creature; and\nthough that which is evil is often embraced instead of that which is\ngood, and what we entertain as conducing to our felicity proves our\nmisfortune, yet that is from our ignorance, and not from a formal\nchoice of it as evil; for what evil is chosen it is not possible to\nchoose under the conception of evil, but under the appearance of a good,\nthough it be not so in reality. It is inseparable from the wills of all\nmen to propose to themselves that which in the opinion and judgment of\ntheir understandings or imagination is good, though they often mistake\nand cheat themselves.\n\n(2.) Since that good is the object of a rational appetite, the purest,\nbest, and most universal good, such as God is, ought to be most sought\nafter. Since good only is the object of a rational appetite, all the\nmotions of our souls should be carried to the first and best good: a\nreal good is most desirable; the greatest excellency of the creatures\ncannot speak them so, since, by the corruption of man, they are\n\u201csubjected to vanity\u201d (Rom. viii. 20). God is the most excellent good\nwithout any shadow; a real something without that nothing which every\ncreature hath in its nature (Isa. xl. 17). A perfect good can only\ngive us content: the best goodness in the creature is but slender and\nimperfect; had not the venom of corruption infused a vanity into it,\nthe make of it speaks it finite, and the best qualities in it are\nbounded, and cannot give satisfaction to a rational appetite which\nbears in its nature an imitation of Divine infiniteness, and therefore\ncan never find an eternal rest in mean trifles. God is above the\nimperfection of all creatures; creatures are but drops of goodness, at\nbest but shallow streams; God is like a teeming ocean, that can fill\nthe largest as well as the narrowest creek. He hath an accumulative\ngoodness; several creatures answer several necessities, but one God\ncan answer all our wants: he hath an universal fulness, to overtop\nour universal emptiness: he contains in himself the sweetness of all\nother goods, and holds in his bosom plentifully what creatures have in\ntheir natures sparingly. Creatures are uncertain goods; as they begin\nto exist, so they may cease to be; they may be gone with a breath, they\nwill certainly languish if God blows upon them (Isa. xl. 24): the same\nbreath that raised them can blast them; but who can rifle God of the\nleast part {b346} of his excellency? Mutability is inherent in the\nnature of every creature, as a creature. All sublunary things are as\ngourds, that refresh us one moment with their presence, and the next\nfret us with their absence; like fading flowers, strutting to\u2011day, and\ndrooping to\u2011morrow (Isa. xl. 6): while we possess them, we cannot clip\ntheir wings, that may carry them away from us, and may make us vainly\nseek what we thought we firmly held. But God is as permanent a good as\nhe is a real one: he hath wings to fly to them that seek him, but no\nwings to fly from them forever, and leave them. God is an universal\ngood; that which is good to one may be evil to another; what is\ndesirable by one maybe refused as inconvenient for another: but God\nbeing an universal, unstained good, is useful for all, convenient to\nthe natures of all but such as will continue in enmity against him.\nThere is nothing in God can displease a soul that desires to please him;\nwhen we are in darkness, he is a light to scatter it; when we are in\nwant, he hath riches to relieve us; when we are in spiritual death, he\nis a Prince of life to deliver us; when we are defiled, he is holiness\nto purify us: it is in vain to fix our hearts anywhere but on him, in\nthe desire of whom there is a delight, and in the enjoyment of whom\nthere is an inconceivable pleasure.\n\n(3.) He is most to be sought after, since all things else that are\ndesirable had their goodness from him. If anything be desirable because\nof its goodness, God is much more desirable because of his, since all\nthings are good by a participation, and nothing good but by his print\nupon it: as what being creatures have was derived to them by God, so\nwhat goodness they are possessed with they were furnished with it by\nGod; all goodness flowed from him, and all created goodness is summed\nup in him. The streams should not terminate our appetite without\naspiring to the fountain. If the waters in the channel, which receive\nmixture, communicate a pleasure, the taste of the fountain must be\nmuch more delicious; that original Perfection of all things hath an\ninconceivable beauty above those things it hath framed. Since those\nthings live not by their own strength, nor nourish us by their own\nliberality, but by the \u201cword of God\u201d (Matt. iv. 4), that God that\nspeaks them into life, and speaks them into usefulness, should be most\nardently desired as the best. If the sparkling glory of the visible\nheavens delight us, and the beauty and bounty of the earth please and\nrefresh us, what should be the language of our souls upon those views\nand tastes but that of the Psalmist, \u201cWhom have I in heaven but thee?\nand there is none upon earth that I can desire beside thee\u201d (Ps. lxxiii.\n25). No greater good can possibly be desired, and no less good should\nbe ardently desired. As he is the supreme good, so we should bear that\nregard to him as supremely, and above all, to thirst for him: as he is\ngood, he is the object of desire; as the choicest and first goodness,\nhe is desirable with the greatest vehemency. \u201cGive me children, or\nelse I die\u201d (Gen. xxx. 1), was an uncomely speech; the one was granted,\nand the other inflicted; she had children, but the last cost her her\nlife: but, Give me God, or I will not be content, is a gracious speech,\nwherein we cannot miscarry; all that God demands of us is, that we\nshould long for him, and look for our happiness only in {b347} him.\nThat is the first thing, endeavor after the enjoyment of God as good.\n\n2. Often meditate on the goodness of God. What was man produced for,\nbut to settle his thoughts upon this? What should have been Adam\u2019s\nemployment in innocence, but to read over all the lines of nature,\nand fix his contemplations on that good hand that drew them? What\nis man endued with reason for, above all other animals, but to take\nnotice of this goodness spread over all the creatures, which they\nthemselves, though they felt it, could not have such a sense of as to\nmake answerable returns to their Benefactor? Can we satisfy ourselves\nin being spectators of it, and enjoyers of it, only in such a manner as\nthe brutes are? The beasts behold things as well as we, they feel the\nwarm beams of this goodness as well as we, but without any reflection\nupon the Author of them. Shall Divine blessings meet with no more from\nus but a brutish view and beholding of them? What is more just, than to\nspend a thought upon Him who hath enlarged his hand in so many benefits\nto us? Are we indebted to any more than we are to him? Why should we\nsend our souls to visit anything more than him in his works? That we\nare able to meditate on him is a part of his goodness to us, who hath\nbestowed that capacity upon us; and, if we will not, it is a great part\nof our ingratitude. Can anything more delightful enter into us, than\nthat of the kind and gracious disposition of that God who first brought\nus out of the abyss of an unhappy nothing, and hath hitherto spread\nhis wings over us? Where can we meet with a nobler object than Divine\ngoodness? and what nobler work can be practised by us than to consider\nit? What is more sensible in all the operations of his hands than his\nskill, as they are considered in themselves, and his goodness, as they\nare considered in relation to us? It is strange that we should miss\nthe thoughts of it; that we should look upon this earth, and everything\nin it, and yet overlook that which it is most full of, _viz._ Divine\ngoodness (Ps. xxxiii. 5); it runs through the whole web of the world;\nall is framed and diversified by goodness; it is one entire single\ngoodness, which appears in various garbs and dresses in every part of\nthe creation. Can we turn our eyes inward, and send our eyes outward,\nand see nothing of a Divinity in both worthy of our deepest and\nseriousest thoughts? Is there anything in the world we can behold,\nbut we see his bounty, since nothing was made but is one way or other\nbeneficial to us? Can we think of our daily food, but we must have\nsome reflecting thoughts on our great Caterer? Can the sweetness of\nthe creature to our palate obscure the sweetness of the Provider to our\nminds? It is strange that we should be regardless of that wherein every\ncreature without us, and every sense within us and about us, is a tutor\nto instruct us! Is it not reason we should think of the times wherein\nwe were nothing, and from thence run back to a never\u2011begun eternity,\nand view ourselves in the thoughts of that goodness, to be in time\nbrought forth upon this stage, as we are at present? Can we consider\nbut one act of our understandings, but one thought, one blossom, one\nspark of our souls mounting upwards, and not reflect upon the goodness\nof God to us, who, in that faculty that {b348} sparkles out rational\nthoughts, has advanced us to a nobler state, and endued us with a\nnobler principle, than all the creatures we see on earth, except those\nof our own rank and kind? Can we consider but one foolish thought, one\nsinful act, and reflect upon the guilt and filth of it, and not behold\ngoodness in sparing us, and miracles of goodness in sending his Son\nto die for us, for the expiation of it? This perfection cannot well be\nout of our thoughts, or at least it is horrible it should, when it is\nwrit in every line of the creation, and in a legible rubric, in bloody\nletters, in the cross of his Son. Let us think with ourselves, how\noften he hath multiplied his blessings, when we did deserve his wrath!\nhow he hath sent one unexpected benefit upon the heel of another, to\nbring us with a swift pace the tidings of good\u2011will to us! how often\nhath he delivered us from a disease that had the arrows of death in its\nhand ready to pierce us! how often hath he turned our fears into joys,\nand our distempers into promoters of our felicity! how often hath he\nmated a temptation, sent seasonable supplies in the midst of a sore\ndistress, and prevented many dangers which we could not be so sensible\nof, because we were, in a great measure, ignorant of them! How should\nwe meditate upon his goodness to our souls, in preventing some sins,\nin pardoning others, in darting upon us the knowledge of his gospel,\nand of himself, in the face of his Son Christ! This seems to stick much\nupon the spirit of Paul, since he doth so often sprinkle his epistles\nwith the titles of the \u201cgrace of God, riches of grace, unsearchable\nriches of God, riches of glory,\u201d and cannot satisfy himself, with the\nextolling of it. Certainly, we should bear upon our heart a deep and\nquick sense of this perfection; as it was the design of God to manifest\nit, so it would be acceptable to God for us to have a sense of it: a\ndull receiver of his blessings is no less nauseous to him than a dull\ndispenser of his alms; he loves a \u201ccheerful giver\u201d (2 Cor. ix. 7); he\ndoth himself what he loves in others; he is cheerful in giving, and\nhe loves we should be serious in thinking of him, and have a right\napprehension and sense of his goodness.\n\n(1.) A right sense of his goodness would dispose us to an ingenuous\nworship of God. It would damp our averseness to any act of religion;\nwhat made David so resolute and ready to \u201cworship towards his holy\ntemple\u201d but the sense of his \u201cloving kindness?\u201d (Ps. cxxxviii. 2). This\nwould render him always in our mind a worthy object of our devotion,\na stable prop of our confidence. We should then adore him, when we\nconsider him as \u201cour God,\u201d and ourselves as \u201cthe people of his pasture,\nand the sheep of his hand\u201d (Ps. xcv. 7): we should send up prayers with\nstrong faith and feeling, and praises with great joy and pleasure. The\nsense of his goodness would make us love him, and our love to him would\nquicken our adoration of him; but if we regard not this, we shall have\nno mind to think of him, no mind to act anything towards him; we may\ntremble at his presence, but not heartily worship him; we shall rather\nlook upon him as a tyrant, and think no other affection due to him than\nwhat we reserve for an oppressor, _viz._ hatred and ill\u2011will.\n\n(2.) A sense of it will keep us humble. A sense of it would effect\n{b349} that for which itself was intended; _viz._ bring us to a\nrepentance for our crimes, and not suffer us to harden ourselves\nagainst him. When we should deeply consider how he hath made the sun\nto shine upon us, and his rain to fall upon the earth for our support;\nthe one to supple the earth, and the other to assist the juice of it\nto bring forth fruits; how would it reflect upon us our ill requitals,\nand make us hang down our heads before him in a low posture, pleasing\nto him, and advantageous to ourselves! What would the first charge be\nupon ourselves, but what Moses brings in his expostulation against the\nIsraelites (Deut. xxxii. 6): \u201cDo I thus requite the Lord?\u201d What is this\ngoodness for me, who am so much below him; for me, who have so much\nincensed him; for me, who have so much abused what he hath allowed?\nIt would bring to remembrance the horror of our crimes, and set\nus a blushing before him, when we should consider the multitude of\nhis benefits, and our unworthy behaviour, that hath not constrained\nhim even against the inclination of his goodness, to punish us: how\nlittle should we plead for a further liberty in sin, or palliate our\nformer faults! When we set Divine goodness in one column, and our\ntransgressions in another, and compare together their several items,\nit would fill us with a deep consciousness of our own guilt, and divest\nus of any worth of our own in our approaches to him; it would humble\nus, that we cannot love so obliging a God as much as he deserves to be\nloved by us; it would make us humble before men. Who would be proud of\na mere gift which he knows he hath not merited? How ridiculous would\nthat servant be, that should be proud of a rich livery, which is a\nbadge of his service, not a token of his merit, but of his master\u2019s\nmagnificence and bounty, which, though he wear this day, he may be\nstripped of to\u2011morrow, and be turned out of his master\u2019s family!\n\n(3.) A sense of the Divine goodness would make us faithful to\nhim. The goodness of God obligeth us to serve him, not to offend him;\nthe freeness of his goodness should make us more ready to contribute\nto the advancement of his glory. When we consider the benefits of a\nfriend proceed out of kindness to us, and not out of self ends and vain\napplause, it works more upon us, and makes us more careful of the honor\nof such a person. It is a pure bounty God hath manifested in creation\nand providence, which could not be for himself, who, being blessed\nforever, wanted nothing from us: it was not to draw a profit from us,\nbut to impart an advantage to us; \u201cOur goodness extends not to him\u201d (Ps.\nxvi. 2). The service of the benefactor is but a rational return for\nbenefits; whence Nehemiah aggravates the sins of the Jews (Neh. ix. 35):\n\u201cThey have not served thee in thy great goodness that thou gavest them;\u201d\n_i. e._ which thou didst freely bestow upon them. How should we dare\nto spend upon our lusts that which we possess, if we considered by\nwhose liberality we came by it? how should we dare to be unfaithful in\nthe goods he hath made us trustees of? A deep sense of Divine goodness\nwill ennoble the creature, and make it act for the most glorious and\nnoble end; it would strike Satan\u2019s temptation dead at a blow; it would\npull off the false mask and vizor from what he presents to us, to draw\nus from the service of our Benefactor; we could not, with a {b350}\nsense of this, think him kinder to us than God hath, and will be, which\nis the great motive of men to join hands with him, and turn their backs\nupon God.\n\n(4.) A sense of the Divine goodness would make us patient under our\nmiseries. A deep sense of this would make us give God the honor of his\ngoodness in whatsoever he doth, though the reason of his actions be\nnot apparent to us, nor the event and issue of his proceedings foreseen\nby us. It is a stated case, that goodness can never intend ill, but\ndesigns good in all its acts \u201cto them that love God\u201d (Rom. viii. 28):\nnay, he always designs the best; when he bestows anything upon his\npeople, he sees it best they should have it; and when he removes\nanything from them, he sees it best they should lose it. When we have\nlost a thing we loved, and refuse to be comforted, a sense of this\nperfection, which acts God in all, would keep us from misjudging our\nsufferings, and measuring the intention of the hand that sent them,\nby the sharpness of what we feel. What patient, fully persuaded of the\naffection of the physician, would not value him, though that which is\ngiven to purge out the humors, racks his bowels? When we lose what we\nlove, perhaps it was some outward lustre tickled our apprehensions,\nand we did not see the viper we would have harmed ourselves by; but God\nseeing it, snatched it from us, and we mutter as if he had been cruel,\nand deprived us of the good we imagined, when he was kind to us, and\nfreed us from the hurt we should certainly have felt. We should regard\nthat which in goodness he takes from us, at no other rate than some\ngilded poison and lurking venom; the sufferings of men, though upon\nhigh provocations, are often followed with rich mercies, and many times\nare intended as preparations for greater goodness. When God utters that\nrhetoric of his bowels, \u201cHow shall I give thee up, O Ephraim, I will\nnot execute the fierceness of my anger!\u201d (Hos. xi. 8), he intended them\nmercy in their captivity, and would prepare them by it, to walk after\nthe Lord. And it is likely the posterity of those ten tribes were the\nfirst that ran to God, upon the publishing the gospel in the places\nwhere they lived; he doth not take away himself when he takes away\noutward comforts; while he snatcheth away the rattles we play with,\nhe hath a breast in himself for us to suck. The consideration of his\ngoodness would dispose us to a composed frame of spirit. If we are sick,\nit is goodness, it is a disease, and not a hell. It is goodness, that\nit is a cloud, and not a total darkness. What if he transfers from us\nwhat we have? he takes no more than what his goodness first imparted\nto us; and never takes so much from his people as his goodness leaves\nthem: if he strips them of their lives, he leaves them their souls, with\nthose faculties he furnished them with at first, and removes them from\nthose houses of clay to a richer mansion. The time of our sufferings\nhere, were it the whole course of our life, bears not the proportion of\na moment to that endless eternity wherein he hath designed to manifest\nhis goodness to us. The consideration of Divine goodness would teach\nus to draw a calm even from storms, and distil balsam from rods. If the\nreproofs of the righteous be an excellent oil (Ps. cxlv. 5), {b351} we\nshould not think the corrections of a good God to have a less virtue.\n\n(5.) A sense of the Divine goodness would mount us above the world. It\nwould damp our appetites after meaner things; we should look upon the\nworld not as a God, but a gift from God, and never think the present\nbetter than the Donor. We should never lie soaking in muddy puddles\nwere we always filled with a sense of the richness and clearness of\nthis Fountain, wherein we might bathe ourselves; little petty particles\nof good would give us no content, when we were sensible of such an\nunbounded ocean. Infinite goodness, rightly apprehended, would dull our\ndesires after other things, and sharpen them with a keener edge after\nthat which is best of all. How earnestly do we long for the presence of\na friend, of whose good will towards us we have full experience.\n\n(6.) It would check any motions of envy: it would make us joy in the\nprosperity of good men, and hinder us from envying the outward felicity\nof the wicked. We should not dare with an evil eye to censure his good\nhand (Matt. xx. 15), but approve of what he thinks fit to do, both\nin the matter of his liberality and the subjects he chooseth for it.\nThough if the disposal were in our hands, we should not imitate him,\nas not thinking them subjects fit for our bounty; yet since it is in\nhis hands, we be to approve of his actions and not have an ill will\ntowards him for his goodness, or towards those he is pleased to make\nthe subject of it. Since all his doles are given to \u201cinvite man to\nrepentance\u201d (Rom. ii. 4), to envy them those goods God hath bestowed\nupon them, is to envy God the glory of his own goodness, and them the\nfelicity those things might move them to aspire to; it is to wish God\nmore contracted, and thy neighbor more miserable: but a deep sense of\nhis sovereign goodness would make us rejoice in any marks of it upon\nothers, and move us to bless him instead of censuring him.\n\n(7.) It would make us thankful. What can be the most proper, the most\nnatural reflection, when we behold the most magnificent characters he\nhath imprinted upon our souls; the conveniency of the members he hath\ncompacted in our bodies, but a praise of him? Such motion had David\nupon the first consideration: \u201cI will praise thee, for I am fearfully\nand wonderfully made\u201d (Ps. cxxxix. 14). What could be the most natural\nreflection, when we behold the rich prerogatives of our natures above\nother creatures, the provision he hath made for us for our delight in\nthe beauties of heaven, for our support in the creatures on earth? What\ncan reasonably be expected from uncorrupted man, to be the first motion\nof his soul, but an extolling the bountiful hand of the invisible\ndonor, whoever he be? This would make us venture at some endeavors\nof a grateful acknowledgment, though we should despair of rendering\nanything proportionable to the greatness of the benefit; and such an\nacknowledgment of our own weakness would be an acceptable part of our\ngratitude. Without a due and deep sense of Divine goodness, our praise\nof it, and thankfulness for it, will be but cold, formal, and customary;\nour tongues may bless him, and our heart slight him: and this will lead\nus to the third exhortation:\n\n{b352} 3. Which is that of thankfulness for Divine goodness. The\nabsolute goodness of God, as it is the excellency of his nature,\nis the object of praise: the relative goodness of God, as he is our\nbenefactor, is the object of thankfulness. This was always a debt\ndue from man to God; he had obligations in the time of his integrity,\nand was then to render it; he is not less, but more obliged to it in\nthe state of corruption; the benefits being the greater, by how much\nthe more unworthy he is of them by reason of his revolt. The bounty\nbestowed upon an enemy that merits the contrary, ought to be received\nwith a greater resentment than that bestowed on a friend, who is not\nunworthy of testimonies of respect. Gratitude to God is the duty of\nevery creature that hath a sense of itself; the more excellent being\nany enjoy the more devout ought to be the acknowledgment. How often\ndoth David stir up, not only himself, but summon all creatures, even\nthe insensible ones, to join in the concert! He calls to the \u201cdeeps,\nfire, hail, snow, mountains and hills,\u201d to bear a part in this work of\npraise (Ps. cxlviii.); not that they are able to do it actively, but to\nshow that man is to call in the whole creation to assist him passively,\nand should have so much charity to all creatures, as to receive what\nthey offer, and so much affection to God, as to present to him what\nhe receives from him. Snow and hail cannot bless and praise God, but\nman ought to praise God for those things wherein there is a mixture of\ntrouble and inconvenience, something to molest our sense, as well as\nsomething that improves the earth for fruit. This God requires of us:\nfor this he instituted several offerings, and required a little portion\nof fruits to be presented to him, as an acknowledgment they held the\nwhole from his bounty. And the end of the festival days among the Jews\nwas to revive the memory of those signal acts wherein his power for\nthem, and his goodness to them, had been extraordinarily evident; it\nis no more but our mouths to praise him, and our hand to obey him, that\nhe exacts at our hands. He commands us not to expend what he allows us\nin the erecting stately temples to his honor; all the coin he requires\nto be paid with for his expense is the \u201coffering of thanksgiving\u201d\n(Ps. l. 14): and this we ought to do as much as we can, since we cannot\ndo it as much as he merits, for \u201cwho can show forth all his praise?\u201d\n(Ps. cvi. 2.) If we have the fruit of his goodness, it is fit he\nshould have the \u201cfruit of our lips\u201d (Heb. xiii. 15): the least kindness\nshould inflame our souls with a kindly resentment. Though some of his\nbenefits have a brighter, some a darker, aspect towards us, yet they\nall come from this common spring; his goodness shines in all; there\nare the footsteps of goodness in the least, as well as the smiles of\ngoodness in the greatest; the meanest therefore is not to pass without\na regard of the Author. As the glory of God is more illustrious in\nsome creatures than in others, yet it glitters in all, and the lowest\nas well as the highest administers matter of praise; but they are not\nonly little things, but the choicer favors he has bestowed upon us. How\nmuch doth it deserve our acknowledgment, that he should contrive our\nrecovery, when we had plotted our ruin! that when he did from eternity\nbehold the crimes wherewith we would incense him, he should not,\naccording to the rights of justice, cast us into hell, but prize us at\n{b353} the rate of the blood and life of his only Son, in value above\nthe blood of men and lives of angels! How should we bless that God,\nthat we have yet a gospel among us, that we are not driven into the\nutmost regions, that we can attend upon him in the face of the sun, and\nnot forced to the secret obscurities of the night! Whatsoever we enjoy,\nwhatsoever we receive, we must own him as the Donor, and read his hand\nin it. Rob him not of any praise to give to an instrument. No man hath\nwherewithal to do us good, nor a heart to do us good, nor opportunities\nof benefitting us without him. When the cripple received the soundness\nof his limbs from Peter, he praised the hand that sent it, not the hand\nthat brought it (Acts iii. 6): he \u201cpraised God\u201d (ver. 8). When we want\nanything that is good, let the goodness of Divine nature move us to\nDavid\u2019s practice, to \u201cthirst after God\u201d (Ps. xlii. 1): and when we feel\nthe motions of his goodness to us, let us imitate the temper of the\nsame holy man (Ps. ciii. 2): \u201cBless the Lord, O my soul, and forget\nnot all his benefits.\u201d It is an unworthy carriage to deal with him as\na traveller doth with a fountain, kneel down to drink of it when he is\nthirsty, and turn his back upon it, and perhaps never think of it more\nafter he is satisfied. 4. And, lastly, Imitate this goodness of God.\nIf his goodness hath such an influence upon us as to make us love him,\nit will also move us with an ardent zeal to imitate him in it. Christ\nmakes this use from the doctrine of Divine goodness (Matt. v. 44, 45):\n\u201cDo good to them that hate you, that you may be the children of your\nFather which is in heaven; for he makes his sun to rise on the evil\nand on the good.\u201d As holiness is a resemblance of God\u2019s purity, so\ncharity is a resemblance of God\u2019s goodness; and this our Saviour calls\nperfection (ver. 48): \u201cBe ye therefore perfect, even as your Father,\nwhich is in heaven, is perfect.\u201d As God would not be a perfect God\nwithout goodness, so neither can any be a perfect Christian without\nkindness; charity and love being the splendor and loveliness of all\nChristian graces, as goodness is the splendor and loveliness of all\nDivine attributes. This and holiness are ordered in the Scripture to be\nthe grand patterns of our imitation. Imitate the goodness of God in two\nthings.\n\n(1.) In relieving and assisting others in distress. Let our heart be\nas large in the capacity of creatures, as God\u2019s is in the capacity of\na Creator. A large heart from him to us, and a strait heart from us to\nothers, will not suit: let us not think any so far below us as to be\nunworthy of our care, since God thinks none that are infinitely distant\nfrom him too mean for his. His infinite glory mounts him above the\ncreature, but his infinite goodness stoops him to the meanest works of\nhis hands. As he lets not the transgressions of prosperity pass without\npunishment, so he lets not the distress of his afflicted people pass\nhim without support. Shall God provide for the ease of beasts, and\nshall not we have some tenderness towards those that are of the same\nblood with ourselves, and have as good blood to boast of as runs in\nthe veins of the mightiest monarch on earth; and as mean, and as little\nas they are, can lay claim to as ancient a pedigree as the stateliest\nprince in the world, who cannot ascend to {b354} ancestors beyond\nAdam? Shall we glut ourselves with Divine beneficence to us, and wear\nhis livery only on our own backs, forgetting the afflictions of some\ndear Joseph; when God, who hath an unblemished felicity in his own\nnature, looks out of himself to view and relieve the miseries of poor\ncreatures? Why hath God increased the doles of his treasures to some\nmore than others? Was it merely for themselves, or rather that they\nmight have a bottom to attain the honor of imitating him? Shall we\nembezzle his goods to our own use, as if we were absolute proprietors,\nand not stewards entrusted for others? Shall we make a difficulty to\npart with something to others, out of that abundance he hath bestowed\nupon any of us? Did not his goodness strip his Son of the glory of\nheaven for a time to enrich us? and shall we shrug when we are to part\nwith a little to pleasure him? It is not very becoming for any to be\nbackward in supplying the necessities of others with a few morsels, who\nhave had the happiness to have had their greatest necessities supplied\nwith his Son\u2019s blood. He demands not that we should strip ourselves of\nall for others, but of a pittance, something of superfluity, which will\nturn more to our account than what is vainly and unprofitably consumed\non our backs and bellies. If he hath given much to any of us, it is\nrather to lay aside part of the income for his service; else we would\nmonopolize Divine goodness to ourselves, and seem to distrust under our\npresent experiments his future kindness, as though the last thing he\ngave us was attended with this language, Hoard up this, and expect no\nmore from me; use it only to the glutting your avarice, and feeding\nyour ambition: which would be against the whole scope of Divine\ngoodness. If we do not endeavor to write after the comely copy he hath\nset us, we may provoke him to harden himself against us, and in wrath\nbestow that on the fire, or on our enemies, which his goodness hath\nimparted to us for his glory, and the supplying the necessities of poor\ncreatures. And, on the contrary, he is so delighted with this kind of\nimitation of him, that a cup of cold water, when there is no more to be\ndone, shall not be unrewarded.\n\n(2.) Imitate God in his goodness, in a kindness to our worst\nenemies. The best man is more unworthy to receive anything from God\nthan the worst can be to receive from us. How kind is God to those\nthat blaspheme him, and gives them the same sun, and the same showers,\nthat he doth to the best men in the world! Is it not more our glory\nto imitate God in \u201cdoing good to those that hate us,\u201d than to imitate\nthe men of the world in requiting evil, by a return of a sevenfold\nmischief? This would be a goodness which would vanquish the hearts of\nmen, and render us greater than Alexanders and C\u00e6sars, who did only\ntriumph over miserable carcasses; yea, it is to triumph over ourselves\nin being good against the sentiments of corrupt nature. Revenge makes\nus slaves to our passions, as much as the offenders, and good returns\nrender us victorious over our adversaries (Rom. xii. 21): \u201cBe not\novercome of evil, but overcome evil with good.\u201d When we took up our\narms against God, his goodness contrived not our ruin, but our recovery.\nThis is such a goodness of God as could not be discovered in an\ninnocent state; while man {b355} had continued in his duty, he could\nnot have been guilty of an enmity; and God could not but affect him,\nunless he had denied himself: so this of being good to our enemies\ncould never have been practised in a state of rectitude; since, where\nwas a perfect innocence, there could be no spark of enmity to one\nanother. It can be no disparagement to any man\u2019s dignity to cast his\ninfluences on his greatest opposers, since God, who acts for his own\nglory, thinks not himself disparaged by sending forth the streams of\nhis bounty on the wickedest persons, who are far meaner to him than\nthose of the same blood can be to us. Who hath the worse thoughts of\nthe sun, for shining upon the earth, that sends up vapors to cloud it?\nit can be no disgrace to resemble God; if his hand and bowels be open\nto us, let not ours be shut to any.\n\n\n\n\n{b356}                      DISCOURSE XIII.\n\n                          ON GOD\u2019S DOMINION.\n\n  PSALM ciii. 19.\u2015\u2015The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens:\n    and his kingdom ruleth over all.\n\n\nTHE Psalm begins with the praise of God, wherein the penman excites his\nsoul to a right and elevated management of so great a duty (ver. 1):\n\u201cBless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy\nname:\u201d and because himself and all men were insufficient to offer up a\npraise to God answerable to the greatness of his benefits, he summons\nin the end of the psalm the angels, and all creatures, to join in\nconcert with him. Observe,\n\n1. As man is too shallow a creature to comprehend the excellency of\nGod, so he is too dull and scanty a creature to offer up a due praise\nto God, both in regard of the excellency of his nature, and the\nmultitude and greatness of his benefits.\n\n2. We are apt to forget Divine benefits: our souls must therefore be\noften jogged, and roused up. \u201cAll that is within me,\u201d every power of my\nrational, and every affection of my sensitive part: all his faculties,\nall his thoughts. Our souls will hang back from God in every duty, much\nmore in this, if we lay not a strict charge upon them. We are so void\nof a pure and entire love to God, that we have no mind to those duties.\nWants will spur us on to prayer, but a pure love to God can only\nspirit us to praise. We are more ready to reach out a hand to receive\nhis mercies, than to lift up our hearts to recognize them after the\nreceipt. After the Psalmist had summoned his own soul to this task,\nhe enumerates the Divine blessings received by him, to awaken his\nsoul by a sense of them to so noble a work. He begins at the first and\nfoundation mercy to himself, the pardon of his sin and justification of\nhis person, the renewing of his sickly and languishing nature (ver. 3):\n\u201cWho forgives all thy iniquities, and heals all thy diseases.\u201d\nHis redemption from death, or eternal destruction; his expected\nglorification thereupon, which he speaks of with that certainty, as\nif it were present (ver. 4): \u201cWho redeems thy life from destruction,\nwho crowns thee with loving\u2011kindness and tender mercies.\u201d He makes his\nprogress to the mercy manifested to the church in the protection of\nit against, or delivery of it from, oppressions (ver. 6): \u201cThe Lord\nexecuteth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.\u201d In\nthe discovery of his will and law, and the glory of his merciful name\nto it (ver. 7, 8): \u201cHe made known his ways unto Moses, and his acts\nunto the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow\nto anger, and plenteous in mercy:\u201d {b357} which latter words may refer\nalso to the free and unmerited spring of the benefits he had reckoned\nup: _viz._, the mercy of God, which he mentions also (ver. 10): \u201cHe\nhath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to\nour iniquities;\u201d and then extols the perfection of Divine mercy, in\nthe pardoning of sin (ver. 11, 12); the paternal tenderness of God\n(ver. 13); the eternity of his mercy (ver. 17); but restrains it to the\nproper object (ver. 11, 17), \u201cto them that fear him;\u201d _i. e._ to them\nthat believe in him. _Fear_ being the word commonly used for _faith_ in\nthe Old Testament, under the legal dispensation, wherein the spirit of\nbondage was more eminent than the spirit of adoption, and their fear\nmore than their confidence. Observe,\n\n1. All true blessings grow up from the pardon of sin (ver. 3): \u201cWho\nforgives all thine iniquities.\u201d That is the first blessing, the top\nand crown of all other favors, which draws all other blessings after\nit, and sweetens all other blessings with it. The principal intent of\nChrist was expiation of sin, redemption from iniquity; the purchase of\nother blessings was consequent upon it. Pardon of sin is every blessing\nvirtually, and in the root and spring it flows from the favor of God,\nand is such a gift as cannot be tainted with a curse, as outward things\nmay.\n\n2. Where sin is pardoned, the soul is renewed (ver. 3): \u201cWho heals all\nthy diseases.\u201d Where guilt is remitted, the deformity and sickness of\nthe soul is cured. Forgiveness is a teeming mercy; it never goes single;\nwhen we have an interest in Christ, as bearing the chastisement of our\npeace, we receive also a balsam from his blood, to heal the wounds we\nfeel in our nature. (Isa. liii. 5): \u201cThe chastisement of our peace was\nupon him, and with his stripes we are healed.\u201d As there is a guilt in\nsin, which binds us over to punishment, so there is a contagion in sin,\nwhich fills us with pestilent diseases; when the one is removed, the\nother is cured. We should not know how to love the one without the\nother. The renewing the soul is necessary for a delightful relish of\nthe other blessings of God. A condemned malefactor, infected with a\nleprosy, or any other loathsome distemper, if pardoned, could take\nlittle comfort in his freedom from the gibbet without a cure of his\nplague.\n\n3. God is the sole and sovereign Author of all spiritual blessings:\n\u201cWho forgives all thy iniquities, and heals all thy diseases.\u201d He\nrefers all to God, nothing to himself in his own merit and strength.\nAll, not the pardon of one sin merited by me, not the cure of one\ndisease can I owe to my own power, and the strength of my freewill,\nand the operations of nature. He, and he alone is the Prince of pardon,\nthe Physician that restores me, the Redeemer that delivers me; it is a\nsacrilege to divide the praise between God and ourselves. God only can\nknock off our fetters, expel our distempers, and restore a deformed\nsoul to its decayed beauty.\n\n4. Gracious souls will bless God as much for sanctification as for\njustification. The initials of sanctification (and there are no more\nin this life) are worthy of solemn acknowledgment. It is a sign of\ngrowth in grace when our hymns are made up of acknowledgments of God\u2019s\nsanctifying, as well as pardoning grace. In blessing God {b358} for the\none, we rather show a love to ourselves; in blessing God for the other,\nwe cast out a pure beam of love to God: because, by purifying grace,\nwe are fitted to the service of our Maker, prepared to every good work\nwhich is delightful to him; by the other, we are eased in ourselves.\nPardon fills us with inward peace, but sanctification fills us with\nan activity for God. Nothing is so capable of setting the soul in\na heavenly tune, as the consideration of God as a pardoner and as a\nhealer.\n\n5. Where sin is pardoned, the punishment is remitted (ver. 3, 4): \u201cWho\nforgives all thy iniquities, and redeems thy life from destruction.\u201d\nA malefactor\u2019s pardon puts an end to his chains, frees him from the\nstench of the dungeon, and fear of the gibbet. Pardon is nothing else\nbut the remitting of guilt, and guilt is nothing else but an obligation\nto punishment as a penal debt for sin. A creditor\u2019s tearing a bond\nfrees the debtor from payment and rigor.\n\n6. Growth in grace is always annexed to true sanctification. So that\n\u201cthy youth is renewed like the eagle\u2019s\u201d (ver. 5). Interpreters trouble\nthemselves much about the manner of the eagle\u2019s renewing its youth,\nand regaining its vigor: he speaks best that saith, the Psalmist speaks\nonly according to the opinion of the vulgar, and his design was not\nto write a natural history.[993] Growth always accompanies grace, as\nwell as it doth nature in the body; not that it is without its qualms\nand languishing fits, as children are not, but still their distempers\nmake them grow. Grace is not an idle, but an active principle. It is\nnot like the Psalmist means it of the strength of the body, or the\nprosperity and stability of his government, but the vigor of his grace\nand comfort, since they are spiritual blessings here that are the\nmatter of his song. The healing the disease conduceth to the sprouting\nup and flourishing of the body. It is the nature of grace to go from\nstrength to strength.\n\n7. When sin is pardoned, it is perfectly pardoned. \u201cAs far as the\neast is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from\nus\u201d (ver. 11, 12). The east and west are the greatest distance in the\nworld; the terms can never meet together. When sin is pardoned, it is\nnever charged again; the guilt of it can no more return, than east can\nbecome west, or west become east.\n\n8. Obedience is necessary to an interest in the mercy of God. \u201cThe\nmercy of the Lord is to them that fear him, to them that remember his\ncommandments, to do them\u201d (ver. 17). Commands are to be remembered\nin order to practice; a vain speculation is not the intent of the\npublication of them.\n\nAfter the Psalmist had enumerated the benefits of God, he reflects upon\nthe greatness of God, and considers him on his throne encompassed with\nthe angels, the ministers of his providence. \u201cThe Lord hath prepared\nhis throne in the heavens and his kingdom rules over all\u201d (ver. 19). He\nbrings in this of his dominion just after he had largely treated of his\nmercy. Either,\n\n1. To signify, That God is not only to be praised for his mercy, but\nfor his majesty, both for the height and extent of his authority.\n\n2. To extol the greatness of his mercy and pity. What I have\n{b359} said now, O my soul, of the mercy of God, and his paternal pity,\nis commended by his majesty; his grandeur hinders not his clemency:\nthough his throne be high, his bowels are tender. He looks down upon\nhis meanest servants from the height of his glory. Since his majesty\nis infinite, his mercy must be as great as his majesty. It must be a\ngreater pity lodging in his breast, than what is in any creature, since\nit is not damped by the greatness of his sovereignty.\n\n3. To render his mercy more comfortable. The mercy I have spoken\nof, O my soul, is not the mercy of a subject, but of a sovereign.\nAn executioner may torture a criminal, and strip him of his life, and\na vulgar pity cannot relieve him, but the clemency of the prince can\nperfectly pardon him. It is that God who hath none above him to control\nhim, none below him to resist him, that hath performed all the acts\nof grace to thee. If God by his supreme authority pardons us, who can\nreverse it? If all the subjects of God in the world should pardon us,\nand God withhold his grant, what will it profit us? Take comfort, O my\nsoul, since God from his throne in the highest, and that God who rules\nover every particular of the creation, hath granted and sealed thy\npardon to thee. What would his grace signify, if he were not a monarch,\nextending his royal empire over everything, and swaying all by his\nsceptre?\n\n4. To render the Psalmist\u2019s confidence more firm in any pressures.\nVer. 15, 16. He had considered the misery of man in the shortness of\nhis life; his place should know him no more; he should never return to\nhis authority, employments, opportunities, that death would take from\nhim; but, howsoever, the mercy and majesty of God were the ground of\nhis confidence. He draws himself from poring upon any calamities which\nmay assault him, to heaven, the place where God orders all things that\nare done on the earth. He is able to protect us from our dangers, and\nto deliver us from our distresses; whatsoever miseries thou mayest lie\nunder, O my soul, cast thy eye up to heaven, and see a pitying God in a\nmajestic authority: a God who can perform what he hath promised to them\nthat fear him, since he hath a throne above the heavens, and bears sway\nover all that envy thy happiness, and would stain thy felicity: a God\nwhose authority cannot be curtailed and dismembered by any. When the\nprophet solicits the sounding of the Divine bowels, he urgeth him by\nhis dwelling in heaven, the habitation of his holiness (Isa. lxiii. 15).\nHis kingdom ruleth over all: there is none therefore hath any authority\nto make him break his covenant, or violate his promise.\n\n5. As an incentive to obedience. The Lord is merciful, saith he, to\nthem \u201cthat remember his commandments to do them\u201d (ver. 17, 18): and\nthen brings in the text as an encouragement to observe his precepts.\nHe hath a majesty that deserves it from us, and an authority to protect\nus in it. If a king in a small spot of earth is to be obeyed by his\nsubjects, how much more is God, who is more majestic than all the\nangels in heaven, and monarchs on earth; who hath a majesty to exact\nour obedience, and a mercy to allure it! We should not set upon the\nperformance of any duty, without an eye lifted up to God as a great\nking. It would make us willing to serve him; the more noble the person,\nthe more honorable and {b360} powerful the prince, the more glorious\nis his service. A view of God upon his throne will make us think his\nservice our privilege, his precepts our ornaments, and obedience to him\nthe greatest honor and nobility. It will make us weighty and serious in\nour performances: it would stake us down to any duty. The reason we are\nso loose and unmannerly in the carriage of our souls before God, is\nbecause we consider him not as a \u201cgreat King\u201d (Mal. i. 14). \u201cOur Father,\nwhich art in heaven,\u201d in regard of his majesty, is the preface to\nprayer.\n\nLet us now consider the words in themselves. \u201cThe Lord hath prepared\nhis throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.\u201d\n\n_The Lord hath prepared._\u2015\u2015The word signifies \u201cestablished,\u201d as well\nas \u201cprepared,\u201d and might so be rendered. Due preparation is a natural\nway to the establishment of a thing: hasty resolves break and moulder.\nThis notes, 1. The infiniteness of his authority. He prepares it, none\nelse for him. It is a dominion that originally resides in his nature,\nnot derived from any by birth or commission; he alone prepared it.\nHe is the sole cause of his own kingdom; his authority therefore is\nunbounded, as infinite as his nature: none can set laws to him, because\nnone but himself prepared his throne for him. As he will not impair\nhis own happiness, so he will not abridge himself of his own authority.\n2. Readiness to exercise it upon due occasions. He hath prepared\nhis throne: he is not at a loss; he needs not stay for a commission\nor instructions from any how to act. He hath all things ready for\nthe assistance of his people; he hath rewards and punishments; his\ntreasures and axes, the great marks of authority lying by him, the\none for the good, the other for the wicked. His \u201cmercy he keeps by him\nfor thousands\u201d (Exod. xxxiv. 7). His \u201carrows\u201d he hath prepared by him\nfor rebels (Ps. vii. 13). 3. Wise management of it. It is prepared;\npreparations imply prudence; the government of God is not a rash and\nheady authority. A prince upon his throne, a judge upon the bench,\nmanages things with the greatest discretion, or should be supposed\nso to do. 4. Successfulness and duration of it. He hath prepared or\nestablished. It is fixed, not tottering; it is an immovable dominion;\nall the strugglings of men and devils cannot overturn it, nor so much\nas shake it. It is established above the reach of obstinate rebels; he\ncannot be deposed from it, he cannot be mated in it. His dominion, as\nhimself, abides forever. And as his counsel, so his authority, shall\nstand, and \u201che will do all his pleasure\u201d (Isa. xlvi. 10).\n\n_His throne in the heavens._\u2015\u2015This is an expression to signify the\nauthority of God; for as God hath no member properly, though he be\nso represented to us, so he hath properly no throne. It signifies his\npower of reigning and judging. A throne is proper to royalty, the seat\nof majesty in its excellency, and the place where the deepest respect\nand homage of subjects is paid, and their petitions presented. That the\nthrone of God is in the heavens, that there he sits as Sovereign, is\nthe opinion of all that acknowledge a God; when they stand in need of\nhis authority to assist them, their eyes are lifted up, and their heads\nstretched out to heaven; so his Son Christ prayed; he \u201clifted up his\neyes to heaven,\u201d as the place where his Father sat {b361} in majesty,\nas the most adorable object (John xvii. 1). Heaven hath the title of\nhis \u201cthrone,\u201d as the earth hath that of his \u201cfootstool\u201d (Isa. lxvi. 1).\nAnd, therefore, heaven is sometimes put for the authority of God (Dan.\niv. 26). \u201cAfter that thou shalt have known that the heavens do rule,\u201d\n_i. e._ that God, who hath his throne in the heavens, orders earthly\nprinces and sceptres as he pleases, and rules over the kingdoms of the\nworld. His throne in the heavens notes, 1. The glory of his dominion.\nThe heavens are the most stately and comely pieces of the creation. His\nmajesty is there most visible, his glory most splendid (Ps. xix. 1).\nThe heavens speak out with a full mouth his glory. It is therefore\ncalled \u201cthe habitation\u201d of his \u201choliness and of his glory\u201d (Isa. lxiii.\n15). There is the greater glister and brightness of his glory. The\nwhole earth, indeed, is full of his glory, full of the beams of it;\nthe heaven is full of the body of it; as the rays of the sun reach\nthe earth, but the full glory of it is in the firmament. In heaven\nhis dominion is more acknowledged by the angels standing at his beck,\nand by their readiness and swiftness obeying his commands, going and\nreturning as a flash of lightning (Ezek. i. 14). His throne may well be\nsaid to be in the heavens, since his dominion is not disputed there by\nthe angels that attend him, as it is on earth by the rebels that arm\nthemselves against him. 2. The supremacy of his empire. The heavens are\nthe loftiest part of the creation, and the only fit palace for him; it\nis in the heavens his majesty and dignity are so sublime, that they are\nelevated above all earthly empires. 3. Peculiarity of this dominion. He\nrules in the heavens alone. There is some shadow of empire in the world.\nRoyalty is communicated to men as his substitutes. He hath disposed a\nvicarious dominion to men in his footstool, the earth; he gives them\nsome share in his authority; and, therefore, the title of his name (Ps.\nlxxxii. 6): \u201cI have said, ye are gods;\u201d but in heaven he reigns alone\nwithout any substitutes; his throne is there. He gives out his orders\nto the angels himself; the marks of his immediate sovereignty are there\nmost visible. He hath no vicars\u2011general of that empire. His authority\nis not delegated to any creature; he rules the blessed spirits by\nhimself; but he rules men that are on his footstool by others of the\nsame kind, men of their own nature. 4. The vastness of his empire. The\nearth is but a spot to the heavens; what is England in a map to the\nwhole earth, but a spot you may cover with your finger? much less must\nthe whole earth be to the extended heavens; it is but a little point or\natom to what is visible; the sun is vastly bigger than it, and several\nstars are supposed to be of a greater bulk than the earth; and how many,\nand what heavens are beyond, the ignorance of man cannot understand. If\nthe \u201cthrone\u201d of God be there, it is a larger circuit he rules in than\ncan well be conceived. You cannot conceive the many millions of little\nparticles there are in the earth; and if all put together be but as\none point to that place where the throne of God is seated, how vast\nmust his empire be! He rules there over the angels, which \u201cexcel in\nstrength\u201d those \u201chosts\u201d of his \u201cwhich do his pleasure,\u201d in comparison\nof whom all the men in the world, and the power of the greatest\npotentates, is no more than the strength {b362} of an ant or fly;\nmultitudes of them encircle his throne, and listen to his orders\nwithout roving, and execute them without disputing. And since his\nthrone is in the heavens, it will follow, that all things under the\nheaven are parts of his dominion; his throne being in the highest\nplace, the inferior things of earth cannot but be subject to him; and\nit necessarily includes his influence on all things below: because the\nheavens are the cause of all the motion in the world, the immediate\nthing the earth doth naturally address to for corn, wine, and oil,\nabove which there is no superior but the Lord (Hos. ii. 21, 22):\n\u201cThe earth hears the corn, wine, and oil; the heavens hear the earth,\nand the Lord hears the heavens.\u201d 5. The easiness of managing this\ngovernment. His throne being placed on high, he cannot but behold all\nthings that are done below; the height of a place gives advantage to\na pure and clear eye to behold things below it. Had the sun an eye,\nnothing could be done in the open air out of its ken. The \u201cthrone\u201d of\nGod being in heaven, he easily looks from thence upon all the children\nof men (Ps. xiv. 2): \u201cThe Lord looked down from heaven upon the\nchildren of men, to see if there were any that did understand.\u201d He\nlooks not down from heaven as if he were in regard of his presence\nconfined there: but he looks down majestically, and by way of authority,\nnot as the look of a bare spectator, but the look of a governor, to\npass a sentence upon them as a judge. His being in the heavens renders\nhim capable of doing \u201cwhatsoever he pleases\u201d (Ps. cxv. 3). His \u201cthrone\u201d\nbeing there, he can by a word, in stopping the motions of the heavens,\nturn the whole earth into confusion. In this respect, it is said, \u201cHe\nrides upon the heaven in thy help\u201d (Deut. xxxiii. 26); discharges his\nthunders upon men, and makes the influences of it serve his people\u2019s\ninterest. By one turn of a cock, as you see in grottoes, he can cause\nstreams from several parts of the heavens to refresh, or ruin the world.\n6. Duration of it. The heavens are incorruptible; his throne is placed\nthere in an incorruptible state. Earthly empires have their decays and\ndissolutions. The throne of God outlives the dissolution of the world.\n\n_His kingdom rules over all._\u2015\u2015He hath an absolute right over all\nthings within the circuit of heaven and earth; though his throne be\nin heaven, as the place where his glory is most eminent and visible,\nhis authority most exactly obeyed, yet his kingdom extends itself to\nthe lower parts of the earth. He doth not muffle and cloud up himself\nin heaven, or confine his sovereignty to that place, his royal power\nextends to all visible, as well as invisible things: he is proprietor\nand possessor of all (Deut. x. 14): \u201cThe heaven and the heaven of\nheavens is the Lord\u2019s thy God, the earth also, with all that is there.\u201d\nHe hath right to dispose of all as he pleases. He doth not say, his\nkingdom rules all that fear him, but, \u201cover all;\u201d so that it is not the\nkingdom of _grace_ he here speaks of, but his _natural_ and universal\nkingdom. Over angels and men; Jews and Gentiles; animate and inanimate\nthings.\n\nThe Psalmist considers God here as a great monarch and general, and\nall creatures as his hosts and regiments under him, and takes notice\nprincipally of two things. 1. The establishment of his throne {b363}\ntogether with the seat of it. _He hath prepared his throne in the\nheavens._ 2. The extent of his empire.\u2015\u2015_His kingdom rules over all._\nThis text, in all the parts of it, is a fit basis for a discourse upon\nthe dominion of God, and the observation will be this.\n\n_Doctrine._\u2015\u2015God is sovereign Lord and King, and exerciseth a dominion\nover the whole world, both heaven and earth. This is so clear, that\nnothing is more spoken of in Scripture. The very name, \u201cLord,\u201d imports\nit; a name originally belonging to gods, and from them translated to\nothers. And he is frequently called \u201cthe Lord of Hosts,\u201d because all\nthe troops and armies of spiritual and corporeal creatures are in his\nhands, and at his service: this is one of his principal titles. And the\nangels are called his \u201chosts\u201d (ver. 21, following the text) his camp\nand militia: but more plainly (1 Kings, xxii. 19), God is presented\nupon his throne, encompassed with all the \u201chosts of heaven\u201d standing\non his right hand and on his left, which can be understood of no other\nthan the angels, that wait for the commands of their Sovereign, and\nstand about, not to counsel him, but to receive his orders. The sun,\nmoon, and stars, are called his \u201chosts\u201d (Deut. iv. 19); appointed\nby him for the government of inferior things: he hath an absolute\nauthority over the greatest and the least creatures; over those that\nare most dreadful, and those that are most beneficial; over the good\nangels that willingly obey him, over the evil angels that seem most\nincapable of government. And as he is thus \u201cLord of hosts,\u201d he is the\n\u201cKing of glory,\u201d or a glorious King (Ps. xxiv. 10). You find him called\na \u201cgreat King,\u201d the \u201cMost High\u201d (Ps. xcii. 1), the Supreme Monarch,\nthere being no dignity in heaven or earth but what is dim before him,\nand infinitely inferior to him; yea, he hath the title of \u201cOnly King\u201d\n(1 Tim. vi. 15). The title of royalty truly and properly only belongs\nto him: you may see it described very magnificently by David, at the\nfree\u2011will offering for the building of the temple (1 Chron. xxix. 11,\n12): \u201cThine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory,\nand the victory, and the majesty; thine is the kingdom, O God, and\nthou art exalted as Head above all: both riches and honor come of thee,\nand thou reignest over all; and in thy hand is power and might; and in\nthy hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all.\u201d He hath an\neminency of power or authority above all: all earthly princes received\ntheir diadems from him, yea, even those that will not acknowledge him,\nand he hath a more absolute power over them than they can challenge\nover their meanest vassals: as God hath a knowledge infinitely above\nour knowledge, so he hath a dominion incomprehensibly above any\ndominion of man; and, by all the shadows drawn from the authority of\none man over another, we can have but weak glimmerings of the authority\nand dominion of God.\n\nThere is a threefold dominion of God. 1. Natural, which is absolute\nover all creatures, and is founded in the nature of God as Creator.\n2. Spiritual, or gracious, which is a dominion over his church as\nredeemed, and founded in the covenant of grace. 3. A glorious kingdom,\nat the winding up of all, wherein he shall reign over all, either in\nthe glory of his mercy, as over the glorified saints, or in the glory\nof his justice, in the condemned devils and men. The first {b364}\ndominion is founded in nature; the second in grace; the third in regard\nof the blessed in grace; in regard of the damned, in demerit in them,\nand justice in him. He is Lord of all things, and always in regard\nof propriety (Ps. xxiv. 1): \u201cThe earth is the Lord\u2019s, and the fulness\nthereof; the world, and all that dwell therein.\u201d The earth, with the\nriches and treasures in the bowels of it; the habitable world, with\neverything that moves upon it, are his; he hath the sole right, and\nwhat right soever any others have is derived from him. In regard\nalso of possession (Gen. xiv. 22): \u201cThe Most High God, possessor of\nheaven and earth:\u201d in respect of whom, man is not the proprietary nor\npossessor, but usufructuary at the will of this grand Lord.\n\nIn the prosecution of this, I. I shall lay down some general\npropositions for the clearing and confirming it. II. I shall show\nwherein this right of dominion is founded. III. What the nature of it\nis. IV. Wherein it consists; and how it is manifested.\n\nI. Some general propositions for the clearing and confirming of it.\n\n1. We must know the difference between the might or power of God and\nhis authority. We commonly mean by the power of God the strength of\nGod, whereby he is able to effect all his purposes; by the authority\nof God, we mean the right he hath to act what he pleases: omnipotence\nis his physical power, whereby he is able to do what he will; dominion\nis his moral power, whereby it is lawful for him to do what he will.\nAmong men, strength and authority are two distinct things; a subject\nmay be a giant, and be stronger than his prince, but he hath not the\nsame authority as his prince: worldly dominion may be seated, not in a\nbrawny arm, but a sickly and infirm body. As knowledge and wisdom are\ndistinguished; knowledge respects the matter, being, and nature of a\nthing; wisdom respects the harmony, order, and actual usefulness of a\nthing; knowledge searcheth the nature of a thing, and wisdom employs\nthat thing to its proper use: a man may have much knowledge, and little\nwisdom; so a man may have much strength, and little or no authority; a\ngreater strength may be settled in the servant, but a greater authority\nresides in the master; strength is the natural vigor of a man: God hath\nan infinite strength, he hath a strength to bring to pass whatsoever\nhe decrees; he acts without fainting and weakness (Isa. xl. 28), and\nimpairs not his strength by the exercise of it: as God is Lord, he hath\na right to enact; as he is almighty, he hath a power to execute; his\nstrength is the executive power belonging to his dominion: in regard\nof his sovereignty, he hath a right to command all creatures; in regard\nof his almightiness, he hath power to make his commands be obeyed, or\nto punish men for the violation of them: his power is that whereby he\nsubdues all creatures under him; his dominion is that whereby he hath\na right to subdue all creatures under him. This dominion is a right\nof making what he pleases, of possessing what he made, of disposing of\nwhat he doth possess; whereas his power is an ability to make what he\nhath a right to create, to hold what he doth possess, and to execute\nthe manner wherein he resolves to dispose of his creatures.\n\n2. All the other attributes of God refer to this perfection of\ndominion. {b365} They all bespeak him fit for it, and are discovered\nin the exercise of it (which hath been manifested in the discourses of\nthose attributes we have passed through hitherto). His goodness fits\nhim for it, because he can never use his authority but for the good\nof the creatures, and conducting them to their true end: his wisdom\ncan never be mistaken in the exercise of it; his power can accomplish\nthe decrees that flow from his absolute authority. What can be more\nrightful than the placing authority in such an infinite Goodness, that\nhath bowels to pity, as well as a sceptre to sway his subjects? that\nhath a mind to contrive, and a will to regulate his contrivances for\nhis own glory and his creatures\u2019 good, and an arm of power to bring\nto pass what he orders? Without this dominion, some perfections, as\njustice and mercy, would lie in obscurity, and much of his wisdom would\nbe shrouded from our sight and knowledge.\n\n3. This of dominion, as well as that of power, hath been acknowledged\nby all. The high priest was to \u201cwaive the offering,\u201d or shake it to\nand fro (Exod. xxix. 24), which the Jews say was customarily from east\nto west, and from north to south, the four quarters of the world, to\nsignify God\u2019s sovereignty over all the parts of the world; and some of\nthe heathens, in their adorations, turned their bodies to all quarters,\nto signify the extensive dominion of God throughout the whole earth.\nThat dominion did of right pertain to the Deity, was confessed by the\nheathen in the name \u201cBaal,\u201d given to their idols, which signifies Lord;\nand was not a name of one idol, adored for a god, but common to all\nthe eastern idols. God hath interwoven the notion of his sovereignty\nin the nature and constitution of man, in the noblest and most inward\nacts of his soul, in that faculty or act which is most necessary for\nhim, in his converse in this world, either with God or man: it is\nstamped upon the conscience of man, and flashes in his face in every\nact of self\u2011judgment conscience passes upon a man: every reflection\nof conscience implies an obligation of man to some law \u201cwritten in\nhis heart\u201d (Rom. ii. 15). This law cannot be without a legislator, nor\nthis legislator without a sovereign dominion; these are but natural and\neasy consequences in the mind of man from every act of conscience. The\nindelible authority of conscience in man, in the whole exercise of it,\nbears a respect to the sovereignty of God, clearly proclaims not only\na supreme Being, but a supreme Governor, and points man directly to\nit, that a man may as soon deny his having such a reflecting principle\nwithin him, as deny God\u2019s dominion over him, and consequently over the\nwhole world of rational creatures.\n\n4. This notion of sovereignty is inseparable from the notion of a\nGod. To acknowledge the existence of a God, and to acknowledge him\na rewarder, are linked together (Heb. xi. 6). To acknowledge him a\nrewarder, is to acknowledge him a governor; rewards being the marks of\ndominion. The very name of God includes in it a supremacy and an actual\nrule. He cannot be conceived as God, but he must be conceived as the\nhighest authority in the world. It is as possible for him not to be God\nas not to be supreme. Wherein can the exercise of his excellencies be\napparent, but in his sovereign rule? {b366} To fancy an infinite power\nwithout a supreme dominion, is to fancy a mighty senseless statue, fit\nto be beheld, but not fit to be obeyed; as not being able or having\nno right to give out orders, or not caring for the exercise of it.\nGod cannot be supposed to be the chief being, but he must be supposed\nto give laws to all, and receive laws from none. And if we suppose\nhim with a perfection of justice and righteousness (which we must do,\nunless we would make a lame and imperfect God) we must suppose him\nto have an entire dominion, without which he could never be able to\nmanifest his justice. And without a supreme dominion he could not\nmanifest the supremacy and infiniteness of his righteousness.\n\n(1.) We cannot suppose God a Creator, without supposing a sovereign\ndominion in him. No creature can be made without some law in its\nnature; if it had not law, it would be created to no purpose, to no\nregular end. It would be utterly unbecoming an infinite wisdom to\ncreate a lawless creature, a creature wholly vain; much less can a\nrational creature be made without a law: if it had no law, it were not\nrational: for the very notion of a rational creature implies reason to\nbe a law to it, and implies an acting by rule. If you could suppose\nrational creatures without a law, you might suppose that they might\nblaspheme their Creator, and murder their fellow\u2011creatures, and commit\nthe most abominable villanies destructive to human society, without sin;\nfor \u201cwhere there is no law, there is no transgression.\u201d[994] But those\nthings are accounted sins by all mankind, and sins against the Supreme\nBeing: so that a dominion, and the exercise of it, is so fast linked to\nGod, so entirely in him, so intrinsic in his nature, that it cannot be\nimagined that a rational creature can be made by him, without a stamp\nand mark of that dominion in his very nature and frame; it is so\ninseparable from God in his very act of creation.\n\n(2.) It is such a dominion as cannot be renounced by God himself. It\nis so intrinsic and connatural to him, so inlaid in the nature of God,\nthat he cannot strip himself of it, nor of the exercise of it, while\nany creature remains. It is preserved by him, for it could not subsist\nof itself; it is governed by him, it could not else answer its end. It\nis impossible there can be a creature, which hath not God for its Lord.\nChrist himself, though in regard of his Deity equal with God, yet in\nregard of his created state, and assuming our nature, was God\u2019s servant,\nwas governed by him in the whole of his office, acted according to his\ncommand and directions; God calls him his servant (Isa. xlii. 1): and\nChrist, in that prophetic psalm of him, calls God his Lord (Ps. xvi. 2):\n\u201cO my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord.\u201d It was\nimpossible it should be otherwise; justice had been so far from being\nsatisfied, that it had been highly incensed if the order of things in\nthe due subjection to God had been broke, and his terms had not been\ncomplied with. It would be a judgment upon the world if God should give\nup the government to any else, as it is when he gives \u201cchildren to be\nprinces\u201d (Isa. iii. 4); _i. e._ children in understanding.\n\n(3.) It is so inseparable, that it cannot be communicated to any {b367}\ncreature. No creature is able to exercise it; every creature is unable\nto perform all the offices that belong to this dominion. No creature\ncan impose laws upon the consciences of men: man knows not the inlets\ninto the soul, his pen cannot reach the inwards of man. What laws he\nhath power to propose to conscience, he cannot see executed; because\nevery creature wants omniscience; he is not able to perceive all those\nbreaches of the law which may be committed at the same time in so many\ncities, so many chambers. Or, suppose an angel, in regard to the height\nof his standing, and the insufficiency of walls, and darkness, and\ndistance to obstruct his view, can behold men\u2019s actions, yet he cannot\nknow the internal acts of men\u2019s minds and wills, without some outward\neruption and appearance of them. And if he be ignorant of them, how\ncan he execute his laws? If he only understand the outward fact without\nthe inward thought, how can he dispense a justice proportionable to\nthe crime? he must needs be ignorant of that which adds the greatest\naggravation sometimes to a sin, and inflicts a lighter punishment upon\nthat which receives a deeper tincture from the inward posture of the\nmind, than another fact may do, which in the outward act may appear\nmore base and unjust; and so while he intends righteousness, may act a\ndegree of injustice. Besides, no creature can inflict a due punishment\nfor sin; that which is due to sin, is a loss of the vision and sight\nof God; but none can deprive any of that but God himself; nor can a\ncreature reward another with eternal life, which consists in communion\nwith God, which none but God can bestow.[995]\n\nII. Wherein the dominion of God is founded.\n\n1. On the excellency of his nature. Indeed, a bare excellency of\nnature bespeaks a fitness for government, but doth not properly\nconvey a right of government. Excellency speaks aptitude, not title: a\nsubject may have more wisdom than the prince, and be fitter to hold the\nreins of government, but he hath not a title to royalty. A man of large\ncapacity and strong virtue is fit to serve his country in parliament,\nbut the election of the people conveys a title to him. Yet a strain\nof intellectual and moral abilities beyond others, is a foundation for\ndominion. And it is commonly seen that such eminences in men, though\nthey do not invest them with a civil authority, or an authority of\njurisdiction, yet they create a veneration in the minds of men; their\nvirtue attracts reverence, and their advice is regarded as an oracle.\nOld men by their age, when stored with more wisdom and knowledge by\nreason of their long experience, acquire a kind of power over the\nyounger in their dictates and councils, so that they gain, by the\nstrength of that excellency, a real authority in the minds of those\nmen they converse with, and possess themselves of a deep respect for\nthem. God therefore being an incomprehensible ocean of all perfection,\nand possessing infinitely all those virtues that may lay a claim\nto dominion, hath the first foundation of it in his own nature. His\nincomparable and unparalleled excellency, as well as the greatness of\nhis work, attracts the voluntary worship of him as a sovereign Lord\n(Ps. lxxxvi. 8): \u201cAmong the gods, there is none like unto thee; neither\nare there any works {b368} like unto thy work. All nations shall come\nand worship before thee.\u201d Though his benefits are great engagements to\nour obedience and affection, yet his infinite majesty and perfection\nrequires the first place in our acknowledgements and adorations. Upon\nthis account God claims it (Isa. xlvi. 9): \u201cI am God, and there is none\nlike me; I will do all my pleasure:\u201d and the prophet Jeremiah upon the\nsame account acknowledgeth it (Jer. x. 6, 7): \u201cForasmuch as there is\nnone like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great, and thy name is great in\nmight: who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth\nit appertain: forasmuch as there is none like unto thee.\u201d And this is\na more noble title of dominion, it being an uncreated title, and more\neminent than that of creation or preservation. This is the natural\norder God hath placed in his creatures, that the more excellent should\nrule the inferior.[996] He committed not the government of lower\ncreatures to lions and tigers, that have a delight in blood, but no\nknowledge of virtue; but to man, who had an eminence in his nature\nabove other creatures, and was formed with a perfect rectitude, and a\nheight of reason to guide the reins over them. In man, the soul being\nof a more sublime nature, is set of right to rule over the body; the\nmind, the most excellent faculty of the soul, to rule over the other\npowers of it: and wisdom, the most excellent habit of the mind, to\nguide and regulate that in its determinations; and when the body and\nsensitive appetite control the soul and mind, it is an usurpation\nagainst nature, not a rule according to nature. The excellency, thereof,\nof the Divine nature is the natural foundation for his dominion.\nHe hath wisdom to know what is fit for him to do, and an immutable\nrighteousness whereby he cannot do any thing base and unworthy: he hath\na foreknowledge whereby he is able to order all things to answer his\nown glorious designs and the end of his government, that nothing can\ngo awry, nothing put him to a stand, and constrain him to meditate\nnew counsels. So that if it could be supposed that the world had not\nbeen created by him, that the parts of it had met together by chance,\nand been compacted into such a body, none but God, the supreme and\nmost excellent Being in the world, could have merited, and deservedly\nchallenged the government of it; because nothing had an excellency of\nnature to capacitate it for it, as he hath, or to enter into a contest\nwith him for a sufficiency to govern.[997]\n\n2. It is founded in his act of creation. He is the sovereign Lord, as\nhe is the almighty Creator. The relation of an entire Creator induceth\nthe relation of an absolute Lord; he that gives being, motion, that is\nthe sole cause of the being of a thing, which was before nothing, that\nhath nothing to concur with him, nothing to assist him, but by his\nsole power commands it to stand up into being, is the unquestionable\nLord and proprietor of that thing that hath no dependence but upon\nhim; and by this act of creation, which extended to all things, he\nbecame universal Sovereign over all things: and those that waive\nthe excellency of his nature as the foundation of his government,\neasily acknowledge the sufficiency of it upon his actual creation. His\ndominion of jurisdiction results from creation. {b369} When God himself\nmakes an oration in defence of his sovereignty (Job xxxviii.), his\nchief arguments are drawn from creation; and (Ps. xcv. 3, 5), \u201cThe Lord\nis a great King above all gods; the sea is his, and he made it:\u201d and\nso the apostle, in his sermon to the Athenians. As he \u201cmade the world,\nand all things therein,\u201d he is styled, \u201cLord of heaven and earth\u201d (Acts\nxvii. 24). His dominion, also, of property stands upon this basis:\n\u201cThe heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world, and\nthe fulness thereof, thou hast founded them\u201d (Ps. lxxxix. 11). Upon\nthis title of forming Israel as a creature, or rather as a church, he\ndemands their service to him as their Sovereign: \u201cO Jacob and Israel,\nthou art my servant, I have formed thee: thou art my servant, O Israel\u201d\n(Isa. xliv. 21). The sovereignty of God naturally ariseth from the\nrelation of all things to himself as their entire Creator, and their\nnatural and inseparable dependence upon him in regard of their being\nand well\u2011being. It depends not upon the election of men; God hath a\nnatural dominion over us as creatures, before he hath a dominion by\nconsent over us as converts: as soon as ever anything began to be a\ncreature, it was a vassal to God, as a Lord. Every man is acknowledged\nto have a right of possessing what he hath made, and a power of\ndominion over what he hath framed: he may either cherish his own work,\nor dash it in pieces; he may either add a greater comeliness to it, or\ndeface what he hath already imparted. He hath a right of property in\nit: no other man can, without injury, pilfer his own work from him. The\nwork hath no propriety in itself; the right must lie in the immediate\nframer, or in the person that employed him. The first cause of\neverything hath an unquestionable dominion of propriety in it upon the\nscore of justice. By the law of nations, the first finder of a country\nis esteemed the rightful possessor and lord of that country, and the\nfirst inventor of an art hath a right of exercising it. If a man hath\na just claim of dominion over that thing whose materials were not of\nhis framing, but from only the addition of a new figure from his skill;\nas a limner over his picture, the cloth whereof he never made, nor\nthe colors wherewith he draws it were never endued by him with their\ndistinct qualities, but only he applies them by his art, to compose\nsuch a figure; much more hath God a rightful claim of dominion over\nhis creatures, whose entire being, both in matter and form, and every\nparticle of their excellency, was breathed out by the word of his mouth.\nHe did not only give the matter a form, but bestowed upon the matter\nitself a being; it was formed by none to his hand, as the matter is on\nwhich an artist works. He had the being of all things in his own power,\nand it was at his choice whether he would impart it or no; there can\nbe no juster and stronger ground of a claim than this. A man hath a\nright to a piece of brass or gold by his purchase, but when by his\nengraving he hath formed it into an excellent statue, there results an\nincrease of his right upon the account of his artifice. God\u2019s creation\nof the matter of man gave him a right over man; but his creation of\nhim in so eminent an excellency, with reason to guide him, a clear\neye of understanding to discern light from darkness, and truth from\nfalsehood, a freedom of will to act accordingly, and {b370} an original\nrighteousness as the varnish and beauty of all; here is the strongest\nfoundation for a claim of authority over man, and the strongest\nobligation on man for subjection to God. If all those things had been\npast over to God by another hand, he could not be the supreme Lord, nor\ncould have an absolute right to dispose of them at his pleasure: that\nwould have been the invasion of another\u2019s right. Besides, creation is\nthe only first discovery of his dominion. Before the world was framed\nthere was nothing but God himself, and, properly, nothing is said to\nhave dominion over itself; this is a relative attribute, reflecting on\nthe works of God.[998] He had a right of dominion in his nature from\neternity, but before creation he was actually Lord only of a nullity;\nwhere there is nothing it can have no relation; nothing is not the\nsubject of possession nor of dominion. There could be no exercise of\nthis dominion without creation: what exercise can a sovereign have\nwithout subjects? Sovereignty speaks a relation to subjects, and none\nis properly a sovereign without subjects. To conclude: from hence doth\nresult God\u2019s universal dominion; for being Maker of all, he is the\nruler of all, and his perpetual dominion; for as long as God continues\nin the relation of Creator, the right of his sovereignty as Creator\ncannot be abolished.\n\n3. As God is the final cause, or end of all, he is Lord of all. The\nend hath a greater sovereignty in actions than the actor itself: the\nactor hath a sovereignty over others in action, but the end for which\nany one works hath a sovereignty over the agent himself: a limner hath\na sovereignty over the picture he is framing, or hath framed, but the\nend for which he framed it, either his profit he designed from it, or\nthe honor and credit of skill he aimed at in it, hath a dominion over\nthe limner himself: the end moves and excites the artist to work; it\nspirits him in it, conducts him in his whole business, possesses his\nmind, and sits triumphant in him in all the progress of his work; it\nis the first cause for which the whole work is wrought.[999] Now God,\nin his actual creation of all, is the sovereign end of all; \u201cfor thy\npleasure they are and were created\u201d (Rev. iv. 11); \u201cThe Lord hath made\nall things for himself\u201d (Prov. xvi. 4). Man, indeed, is the subordinate\nand immediate end of the lower creation, and therefore had the dominion\nover other creatures granted to him: but God being the ultimate and\nprincipal end, hath the sovereign and principal dominion; all things as\nmuch refer to him, as the last end, as they flow from him as the first\ncause. So that, as I said before, if the world had been compacted\ntogether by a jumbling chance, without a wise hand, as some have\nfoolishly imagined, none could have been an antagonist with God for the\ngovernment of the world; but God, in regard of the excellency of his\nnature, would have been the Rector of it, unless those atoms that had\ncomposed the world had had an ability to govern it. Since there could\nbe no universal end of all things but God, God only can claim an entire\nright to the government of it; for though man be the end of the lower\ncreation, yet man is not the end of himself and his own being; he is\nnot the end of the creation of the supreme {b371} heavens; he is not\nable to govern them; they are out of his ken, and out of his reach.\nNone fit in regard of the excellency of nature, to be the chief end\nof the whole world but God; and therefore none can have a right to the\ndominion of it but God: in this regard God\u2019s dominion differs from the\ndominion of all earthly potentates. All the subjects in creation were\nmade for God as their end, so are not people for rulers, but rulers\nmade for people for their protection, and the preservation of order\nin societies.\n\n4. The dominion of God is founded upon his preservation of things. (Ps.\nxcv. 3, 4); \u201cThe Lord is a great King above all gods:\u201d why? \u201cIn his\nhand are all the deep places of the earth.\u201d While his hand holds things,\nhis hand hath a dominion over them. He that holds a stone in the air,\nexerciseth a dominion over its natural inclination in hindering it from\nfalling. The creature depends wholly upon God in its preservation; as\nsoon as that Divine hand which sustains everything were withdrawn, a\nlanguishment and swooning would be the next turn in the creature. He is\ncalled Lord, _Adonai_, in regard of his sustentation of all things by\nhis continual influx; the word coming of \u05d0\u05d3\u05df, which signifies a basis\nor pillar, that supports a building. God is the Lord of all, as he is\nthe sustainer of all by his power, as well as the Creator of all by\nhis word. The sun hath a sovereign dominion over its own beams, which\ndepend upon it, so that if he withdraws himself, they all attend him,\nand the world is left in darkness. God maintains the vigor of all\nthings, conducts them in their operations; so that nothing that they\nare, nothing that they have, but is owing to his preserving power.\nThe Master of this great family may as well be called the Lord of it,\nsince every member of it depends upon him for the support of that being\nhe first gave them, and holds of his empire. As the right to govern\nresulted from creation, so it is perpetuated by the preservation of\nthings.\n\n5. The dominion of God is strengthened by the innumerable benefits\nhe bestows upon his creatures: the benefits he confers upon us after\ncreation, are not the original ground of his dominion. A man hath not\nauthority over his servant from the kindness he shows to him, but his\nauthority commenceth before any act of kindness, and is founded upon a\nright of purchase, conquest, or compact. Dominion doth not depend upon\nmere benefits; then inferiors might have dominions over superiors. A\npeasant may save the life of a prince to whom he was not subject; he\nhath not therefore a right to step up into his throne and give laws to\nhim: and children that maintain their parents in their poverty, might\nthen acquire an authority over them which they can never climb to;\nbecause the benefits they confer cannot parallel the benefits they have\nreceived from the authors of their lives. The bounties of God to us add\nnothing to the intrinsic right of his natural dominion; they being the\neffects of that sovereignty, as he is a rewarder and governor; as the\nbenefits a prince bestows upon his favorite increases not that right of\nauthority which is inherent in the crown, but strengthens that dominion\nas it stands in relation to the receiver, by increasing the obligation\nof the favorite to an observance of him, not only as {b372} his natural\nprince, but his gracious benefactor. The beneficence of God adds,\nthough not an original right of power, yet a foundation of a stronger\nupbraiding the creature, if he walks in a violation and forgetfulness\nof those benefits, and pull in pieces the links of that ingenuous duty\nthey call for; and an occasion of exercising of justice in punishing\nthe delinquent, which is a part of his empire (Isa. i. 2): \u201cHear, O\nheavens, and give ear, O earth, the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished\nchildren, and they have rebelled against me.\u201d Thus the fundamental\nright as Creator is made more indisputable by his relation as a\nbenefactor, and more as being so after a forfeiture of what was enjoyed\nby creation. The benefits of God are innumerable, and so magnificent\nthat they cannot meet with any compensation from the creature; and,\ntherefore, do necessarily require a submission from the creature, and\nan acknowledgment of Divine authority. But that benefit of redemption\ndoth add a stronger right of dominion to God; since he hath not only as\na Creator given them being and life as his creatures, but paid a price,\nthe price of his Son\u2019s blood, for their rescue from captivity; so that\nhe hath a sovereignty of grace as well as nature, and the ransomed\nones belong to him as Redeemer as well as Creator (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20):\n\u201cYe are not your own, for ye are bought with a price;\u201d therefore your\nbody and your spirit are God\u2019s. By this he acquired a right of another\nkind, and bought us from that uncontrollable lordship we affected over\nourselves by the sin of Adam, that he might use us as his own peculiar\nfor his own glory and service. By this redemption there results to God\na right over our bodies, over our spirits, over our services, as well\nas by creation; and to show the strength of this right, the apostle\nrepeats it, \u201cyou are bought;\u201d a purchase cannot be without a price\npaid; but he adds price also, \u201cbought with a price.\u201d To strengthen the\ntitle, purchase gave him a new right, and the greatness of the price\nestablished that right. The more a man pays for a thing, the more\nusually we say, he deserves to have it, he hath paid enough for it; it\nwas, indeed, price enough, and too much for such vile creatures as we\nare.\n\nIII. The third thing is, The nature of this dominion.\n\n1. This dominion is independent. His throne is in the heavens; the\nheavens depend not upon the earth, nor God upon his creatures. Since\nhe is independent in regard of his essence, he is so in his dominion,\nwhich flows from the excellency and fulness of his essence; as he\nreceives his essence from none, so he derives his dominion from none;\nall other dominion except paternal authority is rooted originally in\nthe wills of men. The first title was the consent of the people, or the\nconquest of others by the help of those people that first consented;\nand in the exercise of it, earthly dominion depends upon assistance\nof the subjects, and the members being joined with the head carry on\nthe work of government, and prevent civil dissensions; in the support\nof it, it depends upon the subjects\u2019 contributions and taxes; the\nsubjects in their strength are the arms, and in their purses the sinews\nof government; but God depends upon none in the foundation of his\ngovernment; he is not a Lord by the votes {b373} of his vassals.[1000]\nNor is it successively handed to him by any predecessor, nor\nconstituted by the power of a superior; nor forced he his way by war\nand conquest, nor precariously attained it by suit or flattery, or\nbribing promises. He holds not the right of his empire from any other;\nhe hath no superior to hand him to his throne, and settle him by\ncommission; he is therefore called \u201cKing of kings, and Lord of lords,\u201d\nhaving none above him; \u201cA great King above all gods\u201d (Ps. xcv. 3):\nneeding no license from any when to act, nor direction how to act,\nor assistance in his action; he owes not any of those to any person;\nhe was not ordered by any other to create, and therefore received not\norders from any other to rule over what he hath created. He received\nnot his power and wisdom from another, and therefore is not subject\nto any for the rule of his government. He only made his own subjects,\nand from himself hath the sole authority; his own will was the cause\nof their beings, and his own will is the director of their actions.\nHe is not determined by his creatures in any of his motions, but\ndetermines the creatures in all; his actions are not regulated by any\nlaw without him, but by a law within him, the law of his own nature.\nIt is impossible he can have any rule without himself, because there\nis nothing superior to himself, nor doth he depend upon any in the\nexercise of his government; he needs no servants in it, when he\nuses creatures: it is not out of want of their help, but for the\nmanifestation of his wisdom and power. What he doth by his subjects, he\ncan do by himself: \u201cThe government is upon his shoulder\u201d (Isa. ix. 6),\nto show that he needs not any supporters. All other governments flow\nfrom him, all other authorities depend upon him; _Dei Grati\u00e2_, or _Dei\nProvidenti\u00e2_, is in the style of princes. As their being is derived\nfrom his power, so their authority is but a branch of his dominion.\nThey are governors by Divine providence; God is governor by his sole\nnature. All motions depend upon the first heaven, which moves all; but\nthat depends upon nothing. The government of Christ depends upon God\u2019s\nuncreated dominion, and is by commission from him; Christ assumed not\nthis honor to himself, \u201cBut he that said unto him, Thou art my Son,\u201d\nbestowed it upon him. \u201cHe put all things under his feet,\u201d but not\nhimself (1 Cor. xv. 27). \u201cWhen he saith, All things are put under him,\nhe is excepted, which did put all things under him.\u201d He sits still as\nan independent governor upon his throne.\n\n2. This dominion is absolute. If his throne be in the heavens,\nthere is nothing to control him. If he be independent, he must needs\nbe absolute; since he hath no cause in conjunction with him as Creator,\nthat can share with him in his right, or restrain him in the disposal\nof his creature. His authority is unlimited; in this regard the title\nof \u201cLord\u201d becomes not any but God properly. Tiberius, though none of\nthe best, though one of the subtilest princes, accounted the title of\n\u201cLord\u201d a reproach to him: since he was not absolute.[1001]\n\n1st. Absolute in regard of freedom and liberty. (1.) Thus creation is\na work of his mere sovereignty; he created, because it was his pleasure\n{b374} to create (Rev. iv. 11). He is not necessitated to do this or\nthat. He might have chosen whether he would have framed an earth and\nheavens, and laid the foundations of his chambers in the waters. He\nwas under no obligation to reduce things from nullity to existence.\n(2.) Preservation is the fruit of his sovereignty. When he had called\nthe world to stand out, he might have ordered it to return into its\ndark den of nothingness, ripped up every part of its foundation, or\nhave given being to many more creatures then he did. If you consider\nhis absolute sovereignty, why might he not have divested Adam presently\nof those rational perfections wherewith he had endowed him? And might\nhe not have metamorphosed him into some beast, and elevated some beast\ninto a rational nature? Why might he not have degraded an angel to a\nworm, and advanced a worm to the nature and condition of an angel? Why\nmight he not have revoked that grant of dominion, which he had passed\nto man over all creatures? It was free to him to permit sin to enter\ninto the earth, or to have excluded it out of the earth, as he doth\nout of heaven. (3.) Redemption is a fruit of his sovereignty. By his\nabsolute sovereignty he might have confirmed all the angels in their\nstanding by grace, and prevented the revolt of any of their members\nfrom him; and when there was a revolt both in heaven and earth, it was\nfree to him to have called out his Son to assume the angelical, as well\nas the human, nature, or have exercised his dominion in the destruction\nof men and devils, rather than in the redemption of any; he was under\nno obligation to restore either the one or the other. (4.) May he not\nimpose what terms he pleases? May he not impose what laws he pleases,\nand exact what he will of his creature without promising any rewards?\nMay he not use his own for his own honor, as well as men use for their\ncredit what they do possess by his indulgence? (5.) Affliction is an\nact of his sovereignty. By this right of sovereignty, may not God take\naway any man\u2019s goods, since they were his doles? As he was not indebted\nto us when he bestowed them, so he cannot wrong us when he removes\nthem. He takes from us what is more his own than it is ours, and was\nnever ours but by his gift, and that for a time only, not forever. By\nthis right he may determine our times, put a period to our days when he\npleases, strip us of one member, and lop off another. Man\u2019s being was\nfrom him, and why should he not have a sovereignty to take what he had\na sovereignty to give? Why should this seem strange to any of us, since\nwe ourselves exercise an absolute dominion over those things in our\npossession, which have sense and feeling, as well as over those that\nwant it? Doth not every man think he hath an absolute authority over\nthe utensils of his house, over his horse, his dog, to preserve or kill\nhim, to do what he please with him, without rendering any other reason\nthan, _It is my own?_ May not God do much more? Doth not his dominion\nover the work of his hands transcend that which a man can claim over\nhis beast that he never gave life unto? He that dares dispute against\nGod\u2019s absolute right, fancies himself as much a god as his Creator:\nunderstands not the vast difference between the Divine nature and his\nown; between the sovereignty of God and his own, which is all the theme\n{b375} God himself discourseth upon in those stately chapters (Job.\nxxxviii., xxxix. &c.); not mentioning a word of Job\u2019s sin, but only\nvindicating the rights of his own authority. Nor doth Job, in his\nreply (Job xl. 4), speak of his sin, but of his natural vileness as a\ncreature in the presence of his Creator. By this right, God unstops the\nbottles of heaven in one place, and stops them in another, causing it\n\u201cto rain upon one city, and not upon another\u201d (Amos iv. 7); ordering\nthe clouds to move to this or that quarter where he hath a mind to be\na benefactor or a judge. (6.) Unequal dispensations are acts of his\nsovereignty. By this right he is patient toward those whose sins, by\nthe common voice of men, deserve speedy judgments, and pours out pain\nupon those that are patterns of virtue to the world. By this he gives\nsometimes the worst of men an ocean of wealth and honor to swim in,\nand reduceth an useful and exemplary grace to a scanty poverty. By\nthis he \u201crules the kingdoms of men,\u201d and sets a crown upon the head of\nthe basest of men (Dan. iv. 17), while he deposeth another that seemed\nto deserve a weightier diadem. This is, as he is the Lord of the\nammunition of his thunders, and the treasures of his bounty. (7.) He\nmay inflict what torments he pleases. Some say, by this right of\nsovereignty he may inflict what torments he pleaseth upon an innocent\nperson; which, indeed, will not bear the nature of a punishment as\nan effect of justice, without the supposal of a crime; but a torment,\nas an effect of that sovereign right he hath over his creature, which\nis as absolute over his work as the \u201cpotter\u2019s\u201d power is \u201cover his\nown clay\u201d (Jer. xviii. 6; Rom. ix. 21). May not the potter, after his\nlabor, either set his \u201cvessel\u201d up to adorn his house, or knock it in\npieces, and fling it upon the dunghill; separate it to some noble use,\nor condemn it to some sordid service?[1002] Is the right of God over\nhis creatures less than that of the potter over his vessel, since God\ncontributed all to his creature, but the potter never made the clay,\nwhich is the substance of the vessel, nor the water which was necessary\nto make it tractable, but only moulded the substance of it into such a\nshape? The vessel that is framed, and the potter that frames it, differ\nonly in life: the body of the potter, whereby he executes his authority,\nis of no better a mould than the clay, the matter of his vessel. Shall\nhe have so absolute a power over that which is so near him, and shall\nnot God over that which is so infinitely distant from him? The \u201cvessel,\u201d\nperhaps, might plead for itself that it was once part of the body of\na man, and as good as the \u201cpotter\u201d himself; whereas no creature can\nplead it was part of God, and as good as God himself. Though there\nbe no man in the world but deserves affliction, yet the Scripture\nsometimes lays affliction upon the score of God\u2019s dominion, without any\nrespect to the sin of the afflicted person. Speaking of a sick person\n(James v. 15), \u201cIf he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven\nhim;\u201d whereby is implied, that he might be struck into sickness by God,\nwithout any respect to a particular sin, but in a way of trial; and\nthat his affliction sprung not from any exercise of Divine justice, but\nfrom his absolute sovereignty; and so, in the case of the blind man,\nwhen the disciples asked for what sin it was, {b376} whether for his\n\u201cown,\u201d or his \u201cparents sin,\u201d he was born blind? (John ix. 3), \u201cNeither\nhath this man sinned, nor his parents;\u201d which speaks, in itself, not\nagainst the whole current of Scripture; but the words import thus much,\nthat God, in this blindness from the birth, neither respected any sin\nof the man\u2019s own, nor of his parents, but he did it as an absolute\nsovereign, to manifest his own glory in that miraculous cure which\nwas wrought by Christ. Though afflictions do not happen without the\ndesert of the creature, yet some afflictions may be sent without any\nparticular respect to that desert, merely for the manifestation of\nGod\u2019s glory, since the creature was made for God himself, and his honor,\nand therefore may be used in a serviceableness to the glory of the\nCreator.\n\n2d. His dominion is absolute in regard of unlimitedness by any\nlaw without him. He is an absolute monarch that makes laws for his\nsubjects, but is not bound by any himself, nor receives any rules and\nlaws from his subjects, for the management of his government. But most\ngovernments in the world are bounded by laws made by common consent.\nBut when kings are not limited by the laws of their kingdoms, yet they\nare bounded by the law of nature, and by the providence of God. But God\nis under no law without himself; his rule is within him, the rectitude\nand righteousness of his own nature; he is not under that law he hath\nprescribed to man. The law was not made for a \u201crighteous man\u201d (1 Tim.\ni. 9), much less for a righteous God. God is his own law; his own\nnature is his rule, as his own glory is his end; himself is his end,\nand himself is his law. He is moved by nothing without himself; nothing\nhath the dominion of a motive over him but his own will, which is his\nrule for all his actions in heaven and earth. (Dan. iv. 32), \u201cHe rules\nin the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever he will.\u201d And, (Rom.\nix. 18), \u201cHe hath mercy on whom he will have mercy;\u201d as all things are\nwrought by him according to his own eternal ideas in his own mind, so\nall is wrought by him according to the inward motive in his own will,\nwhich was the manifestation of his own honor. The greatest motives,\ntherefore, that the best persons have used, when they have pleaded for\nany grant from God, was his own glory, which would be advanced by an\nanswer of their petition.\n\n3d. His dominion is absolute in regard of supremacy and\nuncontrollableness. None can implead him, and cause him to render a\nreason of his actions. He is the sovereign King, \u201cWho may say unto him,\nWhat dost thou?\u201d (Eccles. viii. 4.) It is an absurd thing for any to\ndispute with God. (Rom. xi. 20), \u201cWho art thou, O man, that repliest\nagainst God?\u201d Thou, a man, a piece of dust, to argue with a God\nincomprehensibly above thy reason, about the reason of his works! Let\nthe potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth, but \u201cnot with Him\nthat fashioned them\u201d (Isa. xlv. 9). In all the desolations he works,\nhe asserts his own supremacy to silence men. (Ps. xlvi. 10), \u201cBe still,\nand know that I am God!\u201d Beware of any quarrelling motions in your\nminds; it is sufficient than I am God, that is supreme, and will not\nbe impleaded, and censured, or worded with by any creature about what I\ndo. He is not bound to render a {b377} reason of any of his proceedings.\nSubjects are accountable to their princes, and princes to God, God\nto none; since he is not limited by any superior, his prerogative is\nsupreme.\n\n4th. His dominion is absolute in regard of irresistibleness. Other\ngovernments are bounded by law; so that what a governor hath strength\nto do, he hath not a right to do; other governors have a limited\nability, that what they have a right to do, they have not always a\nstrength to do; they may want a power to execute their own counsels.\nBut God is destitute of neither; he hath an infinite right, and an\ninfinite strength; his word is a law; he commands things to stand out\nof nothing, and they do so. \u201cHe commanded,\u201d or spake, \u1f41 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c0\u1f7c\u03bd, \u201clight\nto shine out of darkness\u201d (2 Cor. iv. 6). There is no distance of time\nbetween his word: \u201cLet there be light; and there was light\u201d (Gen. i. 3).\nMagistrates often use not their authority, for fear of giving occasion\nto insurrections, which may overturn their empire. But if the Lord will\nwork, \u201cwho shall let it?\u201d (Isa. xliii. 19): and if God will not work,\nwho shall force him? He can check and overturn all other powers; his\ndecrees cannot be stopped, nor his hand held back by any: if he wills\nto dash the whole world in pieces, no creature can maintain its being\nagainst his order. He sets the ordinances of the heavens, and the\ndominion thereof in the earth; and sends lightnings, that they may go,\nand say unto him, \u201cHere we are\u201d (Job. xxxviii. 33, 34).\n\n3. Yet this dominion, though it be absolute, is not tyrannical, but\nit is managed by the rules of wisdom, righteousness, and goodness.\nIf his throne be in the heavens, it is pure and good: because the\nheavens are the purest parts of the creation, and influence by their\ngoodness the lower earth. Since he is his own rule, and his nature is\ninfinitely wise, holy, and righteous, he cannot do a thing but what is\nunquestionably agreeable with wisdom, justice, and purity. In all the\nexercises of his sovereign right, he is never unattended with those\nperfections of his nature. Might not God, by his absolute power, have\npardoned men\u2019s guilt, and thrown the invading sin out of his creatures?\nbut in regard of his truth pawned in his threatening, and in regard\nof his justice, which demanded satisfaction, he would not. Might not\nGod, by his absolute sovereignty, admit a man into his friendship,\nwithout giving him any grace? but in regard of the incongruity of such\nan act to his wisdom and holiness, he will not. May he not, by his\nabsolute power, refuse to accept a man that desires to please him,\nand reject a purely innocent creature? but in regard of his goodness\nand righteousness, he will not. Though innocence be amiable in its own\nnature, yet it is not necessary in regard of God\u2019s sovereignty, that he\nshould love it; but in regard of his goodness it is necessary, and he\nwill never do otherwise. As God never acts to the utmost of his power,\nso he never exerts the utmost of his sovereignty: because it would be\ninconsistent with those other properties which render him perfectly\nadorable to the creature. As no intelligent creature, neither angel nor\nman, can be framed without a law in his nature, so we cannot imagine\nGod without a law in his own nature, unless we would fancy him a\nrude, tyrannical, foolish being, that hath nothing of holiness, {b378}\ngoodness, righteousness, wisdom. If he \u201cmade the heavens in wisdom\u201d (Ps.\ncxxxvi. 5), he made them by some rule, not by a mere will, but a rule\nwithin himself, not without. A wise work is never the result of an\nabsolute unguided will.\n\n(1.) This dominion is managed by the rule of wisdom. What may appear\nto us to have no other spring than absolute sovereignty, would be\nfound to have a depth of amazing wisdom, and accountable reason, were\nour short capacities long enough to fathom it. When the apostle had\nbeen discoursing of the eternal counsels of God, in seizing upon one\nman, and letting go another, in neglecting the Jews, and gathering in\nthe Gentiles, which appears to us to be results only of an absolute\ndominion, yet he resolves not those amazing acts into that, without\ntaking it for granted that they were governed by exact wisdom, though\nbeyond his ken to see and his line to sound. \u201cO, the depth of the\nriches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are\nhis judgments, and his ways past finding out\u201d (Rom. ii. 33)! There are\nsome things in matters of state, that may seem to be acts of mere will,\nbut if we were acquainted with the _arcana imperii_, the inward engines\nwhich moved them, and the ends aimed at in those undertakings, we might\nfind a rich vein of prudence in them, to incline us to judge otherwise\nthan bare arbitrary proceedings. The other attributes of power and\ngoodness are more easily perceptible in the works of God than his\nwisdom. The first view of the creation strikes us with this sentiment,\nthat the Author of this great fabric was mighty and beneficial; but his\nwisdom lies deeper than to be discerned at the first glance, without\na diligent inquiry; as at the first casting our eyes upon the sea, we\nbehold its motion, color, and something of its vastness, but we cannot\npresently fathom the depth of it, and understand those lower fountains\nthat supply that great ocean of waters. It is part of God\u2019s sovereignty,\nas it is of the wisest princes, that he hath a wisdom beyond the\nreach of his subjects; it is not for a finite nature to understand\nan Infinite Wisdom, nor for a foolish creature that hath lost his\nunderstanding by the fall, to judge of the reason of the methods of\na wise Counsellor. Yet those actions that savor most of sovereignty,\npresent men with some glances of his wisdom. Was it mere will, that\nhe suffered some angels to fall? But his wisdom was in it for the\nmanifestation of his justice, as it was also in the case of Pharaoh.\nWas it mere will, that he suffered sin to be committed by man? Was not\nhis wisdom in this for the discovery of his mercy, which never had been\nknown without that, which should render a creature miserable? \u201cHe hath\nconcluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all\u201d (Rom.\nxi. 32). Though God had such an absolute right, to have annihilated the\nworld as soon as ever he had made it, yet how had this consisted with\nhis wisdom, to have erected a creature after his own image one day, and\ndespised it so much the next, as to cashier it from being? What wisdom\nhad it been to make a thing only to destroy it; to repent of his work\nas soon as ever it came out of his hands, without any occasion offered\nby the creature? If God be supposed to be Creator, he must be supposed\nto have an end in creation; what end can that be {b379} but himself\nand his own glory, the manifestation of the perfections of his nature?\nWhat perfection could have been discovered in so quick an annihilation,\nbut that of his power in creating, and of his sovereignty in snatching\naway the being of his rational creature, before it had laid the methods\nof acting? What wisdom to make a world, and a reasonable creature for\nno use; not to praise and honor him, but to be broken in pieces, and\ndestroyed by him?\n\n(2.) His sovereignty is managed according to the rule of righteousness.\nWorldly princes often fancy tyranny and oppression to be the chief\nmarks of sovereignty, and think their sceptres not beautiful till died\nin blood, nor the throne secure till established upon slain carcasses.\nBut \u201cjustice and judgment\u201d are the foundation of the throne of God (Ps.\nlxxxix. 14); alluding perhaps to the supporters of arms and thrones,\nwhich among princes are the figures of lions, emblems of courage, as\nSolomon had (1 Kings, x. 19). But God makes not so much might, as right,\nthe support of his. He sits on a \u201cthrone of holiness\u201d (Ps. xlvii. 8).\nAs he reigns over the heathens, referring to the calling of the\nGentiles after the rejecting of the Jews; the Psalmist here praising\nthe righteousness of it, as the Apostle had the unsearchable wisdom\nof it (Rom. xi. 33). \u201cIn all his ways he is righteous\u201d (Ps. cxlv. 17):\nin his ways of terror as well as those of sweetness; in those works\nwherein little else but that of his sovereignty appears to us. It is\nalways linked with his holiness, that he will not do by his absolute\nright anything but what is conformable to it: since his dominion is\nfounded upon the excellency of his nature, he will not do anything but\nwhat is agreeable to it, and becoming his other perfections. Though\nhe be an absolute sovereign, he is not an arbitrary governor; \u201cShall\nnot the Judge of all the earth do right\u201d (Gen. xviii. 25)? _i. e._ it\nis impossible but he should act righteously in every punctilio of his\ngovernment, since his righteousness capacitates him to be a judge, not\na tyrant, of all the earth. The heathen poets represented their chief\ngod Jupiter with Themis, or Right, sitting by him upon his throne in\nall his orders. God cannot by his absolute sovereignty command some\nthings, because they are directly against unchangeable righteousness;\nas to command a creature to hate or blaspheme the Creator, not to own\nhim nor praise him. It would be a manifest unrighteousness to order\nthe creature not to own him, upon whom he depends both in its being\nand well\u2011being; this would be against that natural duty which is\nindispensably due from every rational creature to God. This would be to\norder him to lay aside his reason, while he retains it; to disown him\nto be the Creator, while man remains his creature. This is repugnant\nto the nature of God, and the true nature of the creature; or to exact\nanything of man, but what he had given him a capacity, in his original\nnature, to perform. If any command were above our natural power, it\nwould be unrighteous; as to command a man to grasp the globe of the\nearth, to stride over the sea, to lave out the waters of the ocean;\nthese things are impossible, and become not the righteousness and\nwisdom of God to enjoin. There can be no obligation on man to an\nimpossibility. God had a free dominion over nullity before the creation;\nhe could call it out into the being {b380} of man and beast, but he\ncould not do anything in creation foolishly, because of his infinite\nwisdom; nor could he by the right of his absolute sovereignty make man\nsinful, because of his infinite purity. As it is impossible for him\nnot to be sovereign, it is impossible for him to deny his Deity and\nhis purity. It is lawful for God to do what he will, but his will being\nordered by the righteousness of his nature, as infinite as his will, he\ncannot do anything but what is just; and therefore in his dealing with\nmen, you find him in Scripture submitting the reasonableness and equity\nof his proceedings to the judgment of his depraved creatures, and\nthe inward dictates of their own conscience. \u201cAnd now, O inhabitants\nof Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my\nvineyard\u201d (Isa. v. 3). Though God be the great Sovereign of the world,\nyet he acts not in a way of absolute sovereignty. He rules by law;\nhe is a \u201cLawgiver\u201d as well as a \u201cKing\u201d (Isa. xxxiii. 22). It had been\nrepugnant to the nature of a rational creature to be ruled otherwise;\nto be governed as a beast, this had been to frustrate those faculties\nof will and understanding which had been given him. To conclude this:\nwhen we say, God can do this or that, or command this or that, his\nauthority is not bounded and limited properly. Who can reasonably\ndetract from his almightiness, because he cannot do anything which\nsavors of weakness; and what detracting is it from his authority, that\nhe cannot do anything unseemly for the dignity of his nature? It is\nrather from the infiniteness of his righteousness than the straitness\nof his authority; at most it is but a voluntary bounding his dominion\nby the law of his own holiness.\n\n(3.) His sovereignty is managed according to the rule of goodness. Some\npotentates there have been in the world, that have loved to suck the\nblood, and drink the tears, of their subjects; that would rule more by\nfear than love; like Clearchus, the tyrant of Heraclea, who bore the\nfigure of a thunderbolt instead of a sceptre, and named his son Thunder,\nthereby to tutor him to terrify his subjects.[1003] But as God\u2019s throne\nis a throne of holiness, so it is a \u201cthrone of grace\u201d (Heb. iv. 16),\na throne encircled with a rainbow: \u201cIn sight like to an emerald\u201d (Rev.\niv. 23): an emblem of the covenant, that hath the pleasantness of a\ngreen color, delightful to the eye, betokening mercy. Though his nature\nbe infinitely excellent above us, and his power infinitely transcendent\nover us, yet the majesty of his government is tempered with an\nunspeakable goodness. He acts not so much as an absolute Lord, as a\ngracious Sovereign and obliging Benefactor. He delights not to make\nhis subjects slaves; exacts not from them any servile and fearful, but\na generous and cheerful, obedience. He requires them not to fear, or\nworship him so much for his power, as his goodness. He requires not\nof a rational creature anything repugnant to the honor, dignity, and\nprinciples of such a nature; not anything that may shame, disgrace\nit, and make it weary of its own being, and the service it owes to its\nSovereign. He draws by the cords of a man; his goodness renders his\nlaws as sweet as honey or the honey\u2011comb to an unvitiated palate and\na renewed mind. And though it be granted he hath a full dispose of his\ncreature, as the {b381} potter of his vessel, and might by his absolute\nsovereignty inflict upon an innocent an eternal torment, yet his\ngoodness will never permit him to use this sovereign right to the hurt\nof a creature that deserves it not. If God should cast an innocent\ncreature into the furnace of his wrath, who can question him? But who\ncan think that his goodness will do so, since that is as infinite as\nhis authority? As not to punish the sinner would be a denial of his\njustice, so to torment an innocent would be a denial of his goodness.\nA man hath an absolute power over his beast, and may take away his\nlife, and put him to a great deal of pain; but that moral virtue of\npity and tenderness would not permit him to use this right, but when\nit conduceth to some greater good than that can be evil; either for the\ngood of man, which is the end of the creature, or for the good of the\npoor beast itself, to rid him of a greater misery; none but a savage\nnature, a disposition to be abhorred, would torture a poor beast merely\nfor his pleasure. It is as much against the nature of God to punish\none eternally, that hath not deserved it, as it is to deny himself,\nand act anything foolishly and unbeseeming his other perfections, which\nrender him majestical and adorable. To afflict an innocent creature\nfor his own good, or for the good of the world, as in the case of the\nRedeemer, is so far from being against goodness, that it is the highest\ntestimony of his tender bowels to the sons of men. God, though he be\nmighty, \u201cwithdraws not his eyes,\u201d _i. e._ his tender respect, \u201cfrom\nthe righteous\u201d (Job, xxxvi. 5, 7\u201210). And if he \u201cbind them in fetters,\u201d\nit is to \u201cshow them their transgressions,\u201d and \u201copen their ear to\ndiscipline,\u201d and renewing commands, in a more sensible strain, \u201cto\ndepart from iniquity.\u201d What was said of Fabritius, \u201cYou may as soon\nremove the sun from its course, as Fabritius from his honesty,\u201d may\nbe of God: you may as soon dash in pieces his throne, as separate his\ngoodness from his sovereignty.\n\n4. This sovereignty is extensive over all creatures. He rules all, as\nthe heavens do over the earth. He is \u201cKing of worlds, King of ages,\u201d as\nthe word translated \u201ceternal\u201d signifies (1 Tim. i. 17), \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03b5\u1fd6\n\u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b1\u1f30\u03ce\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd: and the same word is so translated (Heb. i. 2), \u201cBy whom\nalso he made the worlds.\u201d The same word is rendered \u201cworlds\u201d (Heb. xi.\n3): \u201cThe worlds were framed by the Word of God.\u201d God is King of ages\nor worlds, of the invisible world and the sensible; of all from the\nbeginning of their creation, of whatsoever is measured by a time. It\nextends over angels and devils, over wicked and good, over rational and\nirrational creatures; all things bow down under his hand; nothing can\nbe exempted from him: because there is nothing but was extracted by\nhim from nothing into being. All things essentially depend upon him;\nand, therefore, must be essentially subject to him; the extent of his\ndominion flows from the perfection of his essence; since his essence is\nunlimited, his royalty cannot be restrained. His authority is as void\nof any imperfection as his essence is; it reaches out to all points of\nthe heaven above, and the earth below. Other princes reign in a spot of\nground. Every worldly potentate hath the confines of his dominions. The\nPyrenean mountains divide France from Spain, and the Alps, Italy from\nFrance. None are called kings absolutely, but kings of this or {b382}\nthat place. But God is the King; the spacious firmament limits not his\ndominion; if we could suppose him bounded by any place, in regard of\nhis presence, yet he could never be out of his own dominion; whatsoever\nhe looks upon, wheresoever he were, would be under his rule. Earthly\nkings may step out of their own country into the territory of a\nneighbor prince; and as one leaves his country, so he leaves his\ndominion behind him; but heaven and earth, and every particle of both,\nis the territory of God. \u201cHe hath prepared his throne in the heavens,\nand his kingdom rules over all.\u201d\n\n(1.) The heaven of angels, and other excellent creatures, belong to his\nauthority. He is principally called \u201cThe Lord of Hosts,\u201d in relation\nto his entire command over the angelical legions: therefore, ver. 21,\nfollowing the text, they are called his \u201chosts,\u201d and \u201cministers that\ndo his pleasure.\u201d Jacob called him so before (Gen. xxxii. 1, 2). When\nhe met the angels of God, he calls them \u201cthe host of God;\u201d and the\nEvangelist, long after, calls them so (Luke, ii. 13): \u201cA multitude\nof the heavenly host, praising God;\u201d and all this host he commands\n(Isa. xlv. 12): \u201cMy hands have stretched out the heavens, and all\ntheir host have I commanded.\u201d He employs them all in his service; and\nwhen he issues out his orders to them to do this or that, he finds no\nresistance of his will. And the inanimate creatures in heaven are at\nhis beck; they are his armies in heaven, disposed in an excellent order\nin their several ranks (Ps. cxlvii. 4): \u201cHe calls the stars by name;\u201d\nthey render a due obedience to him as servants to their master, when he\nsingles them out, \u201cand calls them by name,\u201d to do some special service;\nhe calls them out to their several offices, as the general of an army\nappoints the station of every regiment in a battalia. Or \u201che calls them\nby name,\u201d _i. e._ he imposeth names upon them, a sign of dominion: the\ngiving names to the inferior creatures being the first act of Adam\u2019s\nderivative dominion over them. These are under the sovereignty of God.\nThe stars, by their influences, fight against Sisera (Judges v. 20).\nAnd the sun holds in its reins, and stands stone still, to light Joshua\nto a complete victory (Josh. x. 12). They are all marshalled in their\nranks to receive his word of command, and fight in close order, as\nbeing desirous to have a share in the ruin of the enemies of their\nSovereign. And those creatures which mount up from the earth, and take\ntheir place in the lower heavens, vapors, whereof hail and snow are\nformed, are part of the army, and do not only receive, but fulfil, his\nword of command (Ps. cxlviii. 8). These are his stores and magazines\nof judgment against a time of trouble, and \u201ca day of battle and war\u201d\n(Job xxxviii. 22, 23). The sovereignty of God is visible in all their\nmotions, in their going and returning. If he says, Go, they go; if he\nsay, Come, they come; if he say, do this, they gird up their loins, and\nstand stiff to their duty.\n\n(2.) The hell of devils belong to his authority. They have cast\nthemselves out of the arms of his grace into the furnace of his justice;\nthey have, by their revolt, forfeited the treasure of his goodness,\nbut cannot exempt themselves from the sceptre of his dominion; when\nthey would not own him as a Lord Father, they are under him as a Lord\nJudge; they are cast out of his affection, but not {b383} freed from\nhis yoke. He rules over the good angels as his subjects, over the\nevil ones as his rebels. In whatsoever relation he stands, either as\na friend or enemy, he never loses that of a Lord. A prince is the lord\nof his criminals as well as of his loyalest subjects. By this right\nof his sovereignty, he uses them to punish some, and be the occasion\nof benefit to others: on the wicked he employs them as instruments of\nvengeance; towards the godly, as in the case of Job, as an instrument\nof kindness for the manifestation of his sincerity against the\nintention of that malicious executioner. Though the devils are\nthe executioners of his justice, it is not by their own authority,\nbut God\u2019s; as those that are employed either to rack or execute a\nmalefactor, are subjects to the prince not only in the quality of\nmen, but in the execution of their function. The devil, by drawing men\nto sin, acquires no right to himself over the sinner: for man by sin\noffends not the devil, but God, and becomes guilty of punishment under\nGod.[1004] When, therefore, the devil is used by God for the punishment\nof any, it is an act of his sovereignty for the manifestation of the\norder of his justice. And as most nations use the vilest persons in\noffices of execution, so doth God those vile spirits. He doth not\nordinarily use the good angels in those offices of vengeance, but in\nthe preservation of his people. When he would solely punish, he employs\n\u201cevil angels\u201d (Ps. lxxviii. 49), a troop of devils. His sovereignty is\nextended over the \u201cdeceiver and the deceived\u201d (Job xii. 16); over both\nthe malefactor and the executioner, the devil and his prisoner. He\nuseth the natural malice of the devils for his own just ends, and\nby his sovereign authority orders them to be the executioners of his\njudgments upon their own vassals, as well as sometimes inflicters of\npunishments upon his own servants.\n\n(3.) The earth of men and other creatures belongs to his authority\n(Ps. xlvii. 7). God is King of \u201call the earth,\u201d and rules to the \u201cends\u201d\nof it (Ps. lix. 13). Ancient atheists confined God\u2019s dominion to the\nheavenly orbs, and bounded it within the circuit of the celestial\nsphere (Job, xxii. 14): \u201cHe walks in the circuit of heaven,\u201d _i. e._ he\nexerciseth his dominion only there. _Pedum positio_ was the sign of the\npossession of a piece of land, and the dominion of the possessor of it;\nand land was resigned by such a ceremony, as now, by the delivery of a\ntwig or turf.[1005] But his dominion extends,\n\n1st. Over the least creatures. All the creatures of the earth are\nlisted in Christ\u2019s muster\u2011roll, and make up the number of his regiments.\nHe hath an host on earth as well as in heaven (Gen. ii. 1): \u201cThe\nheavens and earth were finished, and all the host of them.\u201d And they\nare \u201call his servants\u201d (Ps. cxiv. 91), and move at his pleasure. And he\nvouchsafes the title of his army to the locust, caterpillar, and palmer\nworm (Joel ii. 25); and describes their motions by military words,\n\u201cclimbing the walls, marching, not breaking their ranks\u201d (ver. 7). He\nhath the command, as a great general, over the highest angel and the\nmeanest worm; all the kinds of the smallest insects he presseth for\nhis service. By this sovereignty he muzzled the devouring nature of the\nfire to preserve the three children, and let it loose to consume their\nadversaries; and if he speaks the word, {b384} the stormy waves are\nhushed, as if they had no principle of rage within them (Ps. lxxxix. 9).\nSince the meanest creature attains its end, and no arrow that God hath\nby his power shot into the world but hits the mark he aimed at, we must\nconclude, that there is a sovereign hand that governs all: not a spot\nof earth, or air, or water in the world, but is his possession; not a\ncreature in any element but is his subject.\n\n2d. His dominion extends over men. It extends over the highest\npotentate, as well as the meanest peasant; the proudest monarch is\nno more exempt than the most languishing beggar. He lays not aside\nhis authority to please the prince, nor strains it up to terrify the\nindigent. \u201cHe accepts not the persons of princes, nor regards the rich\nmore than the poor; for they are all the work of his hand\u201d (Job xxxiv.\n19). Both the powers and weaknesses, the gallantry and peasantry of the\nearth, stand and fall at his pleasure. Man, in innocence, was under his\nauthority as his creature; and man, in his revolt, is further under his\nauthority as a criminal: as a person is under the authority of a prince,\nas a governor, while he obeys his laws; and further under the authority\nof the prince, as a judge, when he violates his laws. Man is under\nGod\u2019s dominion in everything, in his settlement, in his calling, in the\nordering his very habitation (Acts xvii. 26): \u201cHe determines the bounds\nof their habitations.\u201d He never yet permitted any to be universal\nmonarch in the world, nor over the fourth part of it, though several,\nin the pride of their heart, have designed and attempted it: the pope,\nwho hath bid the fairest for it in spirituals, never attained it; and\nwhen his power was most flourishing, there were multitudes that would\nnever acknowledge his authority.\n\n3d. But especially this dominion, in the peculiarity of its extent, is\nseen in the exercise of it over the spirits and hearts of men. Earthly\ngovernors have, by his indulgence, a share with him in a dominion over\nmen\u2019s bodies, upon which account he graceth princes and judges with the\ntitle of \u201cgods\u201d (Ps. lxxxii. 6); but the highest prince is but a prince\n\u201caccording to the flesh,\u201d as the apostle calls masters in relation to\ntheir servants (Col. iii. 22).\n\nGod is the sovereign; man rules over the beast in man, the body; and\nGod rules over the man in man, the soul. It sticks not in the outward\nsurface, but pierceth to the inward marrow. It is impossible God should\nbe without this; if our wills were independent of him, we were in some\nsort equal with himself, in part gods, as well as creatures. It is\nimpossible a creature, either in whole or in part, can be exempted from\nit; since he is the fashioner of hearts as well as of bodies. He is the\nFather of spirits, and therefore hath the right of a paternal dominion\nover them. When he established man lord of the other creatures, he did\nnot strip himself of the propriety; and when he made man a free agent,\nand lord of the acts of his will, he did not divest himself of the\nsovereignty. His sovereignty is seen,\n\n[1.] In gifting the spirits of men. Earthly magistrates have hands too\nshort to inspire the hearts of their subjects with worthy sentiments:\nwhen they confer an employment, they are not able to convey an ability\nwith it fit for the station: they may as soon frame a statue {b385}\nof liquid water, and gild, or paint it over with the costliest colors,\nas impart to any a state\u2011head for a state\u2011ministry. But when God\nchooseth a Saul from so mean an employment as seeking of asses, he can\ntreasure up in him a spirit fit for government; and fire David, in age\na stripling, and by education a shepherd, with courage to encounter,\nand skill to defeat, a massy Goliath. And when he designs a person for\nglory, to stand before his throne, he can put a new and a royal spirit\ninto him (Ezek. xxxvi. 26). God only can infuse habits into the soul,\nto capacitate it to act nobly and generously.\n\n[2.] His sovereignty is seen in regard of the inclinations of men\u2019s\nwills. No creature can immediately work upon the will, to guide it to\nwhat point he pleaseth, though mediately it may, by proposing reasons\nwhich may master the understanding, and thereby determine the will. But\nGod bows the hearts of men, by the efficacy of his dominion, to what\ncentre he pleaseth. When the more overweaning sort of men, that thought\ntheir own heads as fit for a crown as Saul\u2019s, scornfully despised him;\nyet God touched the hearts of a band of men to follow and adhere to\nhim (1 Sam. x. 26, 27). When the anti\u2011christian whore shall be ripe\nfor destruction, God shall \u201cput it into the heart\u201d of the ten horns\nor kings, \u201cto hate the whore, burn her with fire, and fulfil his will\u201d\n(Rev. xvii. 16, 17). He \u201cfashions the hearts\u201d alike, and tunes one\nstring to answer another, and both to answer his own design (Ps. xxxiii.\n15). And while men seem to gratify their own ambition and malice,\nthey execute the will of God, by his secret touch upon their spirits,\nguiding their inclinations to serve the glorious manifestation of truth.\nWhile the Jews would, in a reproachful disgrace to Christ, crucify two\nthieves with him, to render him more incapable to have any followers,\nthey accomplished a prophecy, and brought to light a mark of the\nMessiah, whereby he had been charactered in one of their prophets, that\nhe should be \u201cnumbered among transgressors\u201d (Isa. liii. 12). He can\nmake a man of not willing, willing; the wills of all men are in his\nhand; _i. e._ under the power of his sceptre, to retain or let go upon\nthis or that errand, to bend this or that way; as water is carried by\npipes to what house or place the owner of it is pleased to order. \u201cThe\nking\u2019s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of waters; he\nturns it whithersoever he will\u201d (Prov. xxi. 1) without any limitation.\nHe speaks of the heart of princes; because, in regard of their height,\nthey seem to be more absolute, and impetuous as waters; yet God holds\nthem in his hand, under his dominion; turns them to acts of clemency\nor severity, like waters, either to overflow and damage, or to refresh\nand fructify. He can convey a spirit to them, or \u201ccut it off\u201d from\nthem (Ps. lxxvi. 12). It is with reference to his efficacious power,\nin graciously turning the heart of Paul, that the apostle breaks off\nhis discourse of the story of his conversion, and breaks out into\na magnifying and glorifying of God\u2019s dominion. \u201cNow unto the King\neternal,\u201d &c. \u201cbe honor and glory forever and ever\u201d (1 Tim. i. 17). Our\nhearts are more subject to the Divine sovereignty than our members in\ntheir motions are subject to our own wills. As we can move our hand\neast or west to any quarter of the world, so can God bend our wills to\nwhat mark he pleases. The second cause in every {b386} motion depends\nupon the first; and that will, being a second cause, may be furthered\nor hindered in its inclinations or executions by God; he can bend or\nunbend it, and change it from one actual inclination to another. It is\nas much under his authority and power to move, or hinder, as the vast\nengine of the heavens is in its motion or standing still, which he can\naffect by a word. The work depends upon the workman; the clock upon the\nartificer for the motions of it.\n\n[3.] His dominion is seen in regard of terror or comfort. The heart or\nconscience is God\u2019s special throne on earth, which he hath reserved to\nhimself, and never indulged human authority to sit upon it. He solely\norders this in ways of conviction or comfort. He can flash terror into\nmen\u2019s spirits in the midst of their earthly jollities, and put death\ninto the pot of conscience, when they are boiling up themselves in a\nhigh pitch of worldly delights, and can raise men\u2019s spirits above the\nsense of torment under racks and flames. He can draw a hand\u2011writing not\nonly in the outward chamber, but the inward closet; bring the rack into\nthe inwards of a man. None can infuse comfort when he writes bitter\nthings, nor can any fill the heart with gall, when he drops in honey.\nMen may order outward duties, but they cannot unlock the conscience,\nand constrain men to think them duties which they are forced, by human\nlaws, outwardly to act: and as the laws of earthly princes are bounded\nby the outward man, so do their executions and punishments reach no\nfurther than the case of the body: but God can run upon the inward man,\nas a giant, and inflict wounds and gashes there.\n\n5. It is an eternal dominion. In regard of the exercise of it, it was\nnot from eternity, because there was not from eternity any creature\nunder the government of it; but in regard of the foundation of it,\nhis essence, his excellency, it is eternal; as God was from eternity\nalmighty, but there was no exercise or manifestation of it till he\nbegan to create. Men are kings only for a time; their lives expire like\na lamp, and their dominion is extinguished with their lives; they hand\ntheir empire by succession to others, but many times it is snapped off\nbefore they are cold in their graves. How are the famous empires of the\nChaldeans, Medes, Persians, and Greeks, mouldered away, and their place\nknows them no more! and how are the wings of the Roman eagle cut, and\nthat empire which overspread a great part of the world, hath lost most\nof its feathers, and is confined to a narrower compass! The dominion\nof God flourisheth from one generation to another: \u201cHe sits King\nforever\u201d (Ps. xxix. 10). His \u201csession\u201d signifies the establishment,\nand \u201cforever\u201d the duration; and he \u201csits now,\u201d his sovereignty is as\nabsolute, as powerful as ever. How many lords and princes hath this or\nthat kingdom had! in how many families hath the sceptre lodged! when\nas God hath had an uninterrupted dominion; as he hath been always the\nsame in his essence, he hath been always glorious in his sovereignty:\namong men, he that is lord to\u2011day, may be stripped of it to\u2011morrow; the\ndominions in the world vary; he that is a prince may see his royalty\nupon the wings, and feel himself laden with fetters; and a prisoner\nmay be \u201clifted from his dungeon\u201d to a throne. But there can be no\ndiminution of God\u2019s government; \u201cHis throne is from generation {b387}\nto generation\u201d (Lam. v. 19); it cannot be shaken: his sceptre, like\nAaron\u2019s rod, is always green; it cannot be wrested out of his hands;\nnone raised him to it, none therefore can depose him from it; it bears\nthe same splendor in all human affairs; he is an eternal, an \u201cimmortal\nKing\u201d (1 Tim. i. 17); as he is eternally mighty, so he is eternally\nsovereign; and, being an eternal King, he is a King that gives not a\nmomentary and perishing, but a durable and everlasting life, to them\nthat obey him: a durable and eternal punishment to them that resist him.\n\nIV. Wherein this dominion and sovereign consists, and how it is\nmanifested.\n\n_First._ The first act of sovereignty is the making laws. This is\nessential to God; no creature\u2019s will can be the first rule to the\ncreature, but only the will of God: he only can prescribe man his\nduty, and establish the rule of it; hence the law is called \u201cthe royal\nlaw\u201d (James ii. 8): it being the first and clearest manifestation\nof sovereignty, as the power of legislation is of the authority of\na prince. Both are joined together in Isa. liii. 22: \u201cThe Lord is our\nLawgiver; the Lord is our King;\u201d legislative power being the great mark\nof royalty. God, as King, enacts his laws by his own proper authority,\nand his law is a declaration of his own sovereignty, and of men\u2019s moral\nsubjection to him, and dependence on him. His sovereignty doth not\nappear so much in his promises as in his precepts: a man\u2019s power over\nanother is not discovered by promising, for a promise doth not suppose\nthe promiser either superior or inferior to the person to whom the\npromise is made.[1006] It is not an exercising authority over another,\nbut over a man\u2019s self; no man forceth another to the acceptance of\nhis promise, but only proposeth and encourageth to an embracing of\nit. But commanding supposeth always an authority in the person giving\nthe precept; it obligeth the person to whom the command is directed;\na promise obligeth the person by whom the promise is made. God, by his\ncommand, binds the creature; by his promise he binds himself; he stoops\nbelow his sovereignty, to lay obligations upon his own majesty; by a\nprecept he binds the creature, by a promise he encourageth the creature\nto an observance of his precept: what laws God makes, man is bound,\nby virtue of his creation, to observe; that respects the sovereignty\nof God: what promises God makes, man is bound to believe; but that\nrespects the faithfulness of God. God manifested his dominion more to\nthe Jews than to any other people in the world; he was their Lawgiver,\nboth as they were a church and a commonwealth: as a church, he gave\nthem ceremonial laws for the regulating their worship; as a state, he\ngave them judicial laws for the ordering their civil affairs; and as\nboth, he gave them moral laws, upon which both the laws of the church\nand state were founded. This dominion of God, in this regard, will be\nmanifest,\n\n(1.) In the supremacy of it. The sole power of making laws doth\noriginally reside in him (James iv. 12); \u201cThere is one Lawgiver, who is\nable to save, and to destroy.\u201d By his own law he judges of the eternal\nstates of men, and no law of man is obligatory, but as it {b388} is\nagreeable to the laws of this supreme Lawgiver, and pursuant to his\nrighteous rules for the government of the world. The power that the\npotentates of the world have to make laws is but derivative from God.\nIf their dominion be from him, as it is, for \u201cby him kings reign\u201d (Prov.\nviii. 15), their legislative power, which is a prime flower of their\nsovereignty, is derived from him also: and the apostle resolves it into\nthis original when he orders us to be \u201csubject to the higher powers,\nnot only for wrath, but for conscience sake\u201d (Rom. xiii. 5). Conscience,\nin its operations, solely respects God; and therefore, when it is\nexercised as the principle of obedience to the laws of men, it is not\nwith respect to them, singly considered, but as the majesty of God\nappears in their station and in their decrees. This power of giving\nlaws was acknowledged by the heathen to be solely in God by way of\noriginal; and therefore the greatest lawgivers among the heathen\npretended their laws to be received from some deity or supernatural\npower, by special revelation: now, whether they did this seriously,\nacknowledging themselves this part of the dominion of God,\u2015\u2015for it is\ncertain that whatsoever just orders were issued out by princes in the\nworld, was by the secret influence of God upon their spirits (Prov.\nviii. 15): \u201cBy me princes decree justice;\u201d by the secret conduct of\nDivine wisdom,\u2015\u2015or whether they pretended it only as a public engine,\nto enforce upon people the observance of their decrees, and gain a\ngreater credit to their edicts, yet this will result from it, that\nthe people in general entertained this common notion, that God was\nthe great Lawgiver of the world. The first founders of their societies\ncould never else have so absolutely gained upon them by such a pretence.\nThere was always a revelation of a law from the mouth of God in every\nage: the exhortation of Eliphaz to Job (Job xxii. 22), of receiving\na \u201claw from the mouth\u201d of God, at the time before the moral law was\npublished, had been a vain exhortation had there been no revelation of\nthe mind of God in all ages.\n\n(2.) The dominion of God is manifest in the extent of his laws. As\nhe is the Governor and Sovereign of the whole world, so he enacts laws\nfor the whole world. One prince cannot make laws for another, unless he\nmakes him his subject by right of conquest; Spain cannot make laws for\nEngland, or England for Spain; but God having the supreme government,\nas King over all, is a Lawgiver to all, to irrational, as well as\nrational creatures. The \u201cheavens have their ordinances\u201d (Job xxxviii.\n33); all creatures have a law imprinted on their beings; rational\ncreatures have Divine statutes copied in their heart: for men, it is\nclear (Rom. ii. 14), every son of Adam, at his coming into the world,\nbrings with him a law in his nature, and when reason clears itself\nup from the clouds of sense, he can make some difference between good\nand evil; discern something of fit and just. Every man finds a law\nwithin him that checks him if he offends it: none are without a legal\nindictment and a legal executioner within them; God or none was the\nAuthor of this as a sovereign Lord, in establishing a law in man at the\nsame time, wherein, as an Almighty Creator, he imparted a being. This\nlaw proceeds from God\u2019s general power of governing, as he is the Author\n{b389} of nature, and binds not barely as it is the reason of man, but\nby the authority of God, as it is a law engraven on his conscience: and\nno doubt but a law was given to the angels; God did not govern those\nintellectual creatures as he doth brutes, and in a way inferior to\nhis rule of man. Some sinned; all might have sinned in regard to the\nchangeableness of their nature. Sin cannot be but against some rule;\n\u201cwhere there is no law, there is no transgression;\u201d what that law was\nis not revealed; but certainly it must be the same in part with the\nmoral law, so far as it agreed with their spiritual natures; a love to\nGod, a worship of him, and a love to one another in their societies and\npersons.\n\n(3.) The dominion of God is manifest in the reason of some laws, which\nseem to be nothing else than purely his own will. Some laws there\nare for which a reason may be rendered from the nature of the thing\nenjoined, as to love, honor, and worship God: for others, none but\nthis, God will have it so: such was that positive law to Adam of \u201cnot\neating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil\u201d (Gen. ii. 17), which\nwas merely an asserting his own dominion, and was different from that\nlaw of nature God had written in his heart. No other reason of this\nseems to us, but a resolve to try man\u2019s obedience in a way of absolute\nsovereignty, and to manifest his right over all creatures, to reserve\nwhat he pleased to himself, and permit the use of what he pleased to\nman, and to signify to man that he was to depend on him, who was his\nLord, and not on his own will. There was no more hurt in itself, for\nAdam to have eaten of that, than of any other in the garden; the fruit\nwas pleasant to the eye, and good for food; but God would show the\nright he had over his own goods, and his authority over man, to reserve\nwhat he pleases of his own creation from his touch; and since man could\nnot claim a propriety in anything, he was to meddle with nothing but by\nthe leave of his Sovereign, either discovered by a special or general\nlicense. Thus God showed himself the Lord of man, and that man was but\nhis steward, to act by his orders. If God had forbidden man the use\nof more trees in the garden, his command had been just; since, as a\nsovereign Lord, he might dispose of his own goods; and when he had\ngranted him the whole compass of that pleasant garden, and the whole\nworld round about for him and his posterity, it was a more tolerable\nexercise of his dominion to reserve this \u201cone tree,\u201d as a mark of\nhis sovereignty, when he had left \u201call others\u201d to the use of Adam. He\nreserved nothing to himself, as Lord of the manor, but this; and Adam\nwas prohibited nothing else but this one, as a sign of his subjection.\nNow for this no reason can be rendered by any man but merely the will\nof God; this was merely a fruit of his dominion. For the moral laws a\nreason may be rendered; to love God hath reason to enforce it besides\nGod\u2019s will; _viz._, the excellency of his nature, and the greatness and\nmultitudes of his benefits. To love our neighbor hath enforcing reasons;\n_viz._, the conjunction in blood, the preservation of human society,\nand the need we may stand in of their love ourselves: but no reason\ncan be assigned of this positive command about the tree of knowledge\nof good and evil, but the pleasure of God. It was a branch of his pure\ndominion to {b390} but merely the pleasure of God. It was a branch of\nhis pure dominion to try man\u2019s obedience, and a mark of his goodness\nto try it by so and light a precept, when he might have extended\nhis authority further. Had not God given this or the like order, his\nabsolute dominion had not been so conspicuous. It is true, Adam had a\nlaw of nature in him, whereby he was obliged to perpetual obedience;\nand though it was a part of God\u2019s dominion to implant it in him, yet\nhis supreme dominion over the creatures had not been so visible to\nman but by this, or a precept of the same kind. What was commanded or\nprohibited by the law of nature, did bespeak a comeliness in itself, it\nappeared good or evil to the reason of man; but this was neither good\nnor evil in itself, it received its sole authority from the absolute\nwill of God, and nothing could result from the fruit itself, as a\nreason why man should not taste it, but only the sole will of God.\nAnd as God\u2019s dominion was most conspicuous in this precept, so man\u2019s\nobedience had been most eminent in observing it: for in his obedience\nto it, nothing but the sole power and authority of God, which is the\nproper rule of obedience, could have been respected, not any reason\nfrom the thing itself. To this we may refer some other commands, as\nthat of appointing the time of solemn and public worship, the _seventh\nday_; though the worship of God be a part of the law of nature, yet\nthe appointing a particular day, wherein he would be more formally\nand solemnly acknowledged than on other days, was grounded upon his\nabsolute right of legislation: for there was nothing in the time itself\nthat could render that day more holy than another, though God respected\nhis \u201cfinishing the work of creation\u201d in his institution of that day\n(Gen. ii. 3). Such were the ceremonial commands of sacrifices and\nwashings under the law, and the commands of sacraments under the gospel:\nthe one to last till the first coming of Christ and his passion; the\nother to last till the second coming of Christ and his triumph. Thus he\nmade natural and unavoidable uncleannesses to be sins, and the touching\na dead body to be pollution, which in their own nature were not so.\n\n(4.) The dominion of God appears in the moral law, and his majesty in\npublishing it. As the law of nature was writ by his own fingers in the\nnature of man, so it was engraven by his own finger in the \u201ctables of\nstone\u201d (Exod. xxxi. 18), which is very emphatically expressed to be a\nmark of God\u2019s dominion. \u201cAnd the tables were the work of God, and the\nwriting was the writing of God engraven upon the tables\u201d (Exod. xxxii.\n16); and when the first tables were broken, though he orders Moses to\nframe the tables, yet the writing of the law he reserves to himself\n(Exod. xxxiv. 1). It is not said of any part of the Scripture, that\nit was writ by the finger of God, but only of the Decalogue: herein he\nwould have his sovereignty eminently appear; it was published by God in\nstate, with a numerous attendance of his heavenly militia (Deut. xxxii.\n2); and the artillery of heaven was shot off at the solemnity; and\ntherefore it is called a fiery law, coming from his right hand, _i. e._\nhis sovereign power. It was published with all the marks of supreme\nmajesty.\n\n(5.) The dominion of God appears in the obligation of the law, which\nreacheth the conscience. The laws of every prince are framed {b391}\nfor the outward conditions of men; they do not by their authority\nbind the conscience; and what obligations do result from them upon the\nconscience, is either from their being the same immediately with Divine\nlaws, or as they are according to the just power of the magistrate,\nfounded on the law of God. Conscience hath a protection from the King\nof kings, and cannot be arrested by any human power. God hath given man\nbut an authority over half the man, and the worst half too, that which\nis of an earthly original; but reserved the authority over the better\nand more heavenly half to himself. The dominion of earthly princes\nextends only to the bodies of men; they have no authority over the soul,\ntheir punishment and rewards cannot reach it: and therefore their laws,\nby their single authority, cannot bind it, but as they are coincident\nwith the law of God, or as the equity of them is subservient to the\npreservation of human society, a regular and righteous thing, which is\nthe divine end in government; and so they bind, as they have relation\nto God as the supreme magistrate. The conscience is only intelligible\nto God in its secret motions, and therefore only guidable by God; God\nonly pierceth into the conscience by his eye, and therefore only can\nconduct it by his rule. Man cannot tell whether we embrace this law\nin our heart and consciences, or only in appearance; \u201cHe only can\njudge it\u201d (Luke xii. 3, 4), and therefore he only can impose laws\nupon it; it is out of the reach of human penal authority, if their\nlaws be transgressed inwardly by it. Conscience is a book in some\nsort as sacred as the Scripture; no addition can be lawfully made to\nit, no subtraction from it. Men cannot diminish the duty of conscience,\nor raze out the law God hath stamped upon it. They cannot put a\n_supersedeas_ to the writ of conscience, or stop its mouth with a _noli\nprosequi_. They can make no addition by their authority to bind it; it\nis a flower in the crown of Divine sovereignty only.\n\n2. His sovereignty appears in a power of dispensing with his own\nlaws. It is as much a part of his dominion to dispense with his laws,\nas to enjoin them; he only hath the power of relaxing his own right, no\ncreature hath power to do it; that would be to usurp a superiority over\nhim, and order above God himself. Repealing or dispensing with the law\nis a branch of royal authority. It is true, God will never dispense\nwith those moral laws which have an eternal reason in themselves and\ntheir own nature; as for a creature to fear, love, and honor God; this\nwould be to dispense with his own holiness, and the righteousness of\nhis nature, to sully the purity of his own dominion; it would write\nfolly upon the first creation of man after the image of God, by writing\nmutability upon himself, in framing himself after the corrupted image\nof man; it would null and frustrate the excellency of the creature,\nwherein the image of God mostly shines; nay, it would be to dispense\nwith a creature\u2019s being a Creator, and make him independent upon the\nSovereign of the world in moral obedience. But God hath a right to\ndispense with the ordinary laws of nature in the inferior creatures; he\nhath a power to alter their course by an arrest of miracles, and make\nthem come short, or go beyond his ordinances established for them. He\nhath a right to make the sun stand still, or move backward; to {b392}\nbind up the womb of the earth, and bar the influences of the clouds;\nbridle in the rage of the fire, and the fury of lions; make the liquid\nwaters stand like a wall, or pull up the dam, which he hath set to\nthe sea, and command it to overflow the neighboring countries: he\ncan dispense with the natural laws of the whole creation, and strain\neverything beyond its ordinary pitch. Positive laws he hath reversed;\nas the ceremonial law given to the Jews. The very nature, indeed, of\nthat law required a repeal, and fell of course; when that which was\nintended by it was come, it was of no longer significancy; as before\nit was a useful shadow, it would afterwards have been an empty one: had\nnot God took away this, Christianity had not, in all likelihood, been\npropagated among the Gentiles. This was the \u201cpartition wall between\nJews and Gentiles\u201d (Eph. xii. 14); which made them a distinct family\nfrom all the world, and was the occasion of the enmity of the Gentiles\nagainst the Jews. When God had, by bringing in what was signified by\nthose rites, declared his decree for the ceasing of them; and when the\nJews, fond of those Divine institutions, would not allow him the right\nof repealing what he had the authority of enacting; he resolved, for\nthe asserting his dominion, to bury them in the ruins of the temple\nand city, and make them forever incapable of practising the main and\nessential parts of them; for the temple being the pillar of the legal\nservice, by demolishing that, God hath taken away their rights of\nsacrificing, it being peculiarly annexed to that place; they have no\naltar dignified with a fire from heaven to consume their sacrifices,\nno legal high\u2011priest to offer them. God hath by his providence changed\nhis own law as well as by his precept; yea, he hath gone higher, by\nvirtue of his sovereignty, and changed the whole scene and methods of\nhis government after the fall, from King Creator to King Redeemer. He\nhath revoked the law of works as a covenant; released the penalty of\nit from the believing sinner, by transferring it upon the Surety, who\ninterposed himself by his own will and Divine designation. He hath\nestablished another covenant upon other promises in a higher root, with\ngreater privileges, and easier terms. Had not God had this right of\nsovereignty, not a man of Adam\u2019s posterity could have been blessed; he\nand they must have lain groaning under the misery of the fall, which\nhad rendered both himself and all in his loins unable to observe the\nterms of the first covenant. He hath, as some speak, dispensed with his\nown moral law in some cases; in commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son,\nhis only son, a righteous son, a son whereof he had the promise, that\n\u201cin Isaac should his seed be called;\u201d yet he was commanded to sacrifice\nhim by the right of his absolute sovereignty as the supreme Lord of\nthe lives of his creatures, from the highest angel to the lowest worm,\nwhereby he bound his subjects to this law, not himself. Our lives are\ndue to him when he calls for them, and they are a just forfeit to him,\nat the very moment we sin, at the very moment we come into the world,\nby reason of the venom of our nature against him, and the disturbance\nthe first sin of man (whereof we are inheritors) gave to his glory.\nHad Abraham sacrificed his son of his own head, he had sinned, yea,\nin attempting it; but being authorized {b393} from heaven, his act was\nobedience to the Sovereign of the world, who had a power to dispense\nwith his own law; and with this law he had before dispensed, in the\ncase of Cain\u2019s murder of Abel, as to the immediate punishment of it\nwith death, which, indeed, was settled afterwards by his authority,\nbut then omitted because of the paucity of men, and for the peopling\nthe world; but settled afterwards, when there was almost, though not\naltogether, the like occasion of omitting it for a time.\n\n3. His sovereignty appears in punishing the transgression of his law.\n\n(1.) This is a branch of God\u2019s dominion as lawgiver. So was the\nvengeance God would take upon the Amalekites (Exod. xvii. 16): \u201cThe\nLord hath sworn, that the Lord will have war;\u201d the Hebrew is, \u201cThe\nhand upon the throne of the Lord,\u201d as in the margin: as a \u201clawgiver\u201d\nhe \u201csaves or destroys\u201d (James iv. 12). He acts according to his own\nlaw, in a congruity to the sanction of his own precepts; though he be\nan arbitrary lawgiver, appointing what laws he pleases, yet he is not\nan arbitrary judge. As he commands nothing but what he hath a right to\ncommand, so he punisheth none but whom he hath a right to punish, and\nwith such punishment as the law hath denounced. All his acts of justice\nand inflictions of curses are the effects of this sovereign dominion\n(Ps. xxix. 10): \u201cHe sits King upon the floods;\u201d upon the deluge\nof waters wherewith he drowned the world, say some. It is a right\nbelonging to the authority of magistrates to pull up the infectious\nweeds that corrupt a commonwealth; it is no less the right of God, as\nthe lawgiver and judge of all the earth, to subject criminals to his\nvengeance, after they have rendered themselves abominable in his eyes,\nand carried themselves unworthy subjects of so great and glorious a\nKing. The first name whereby God is made known in Scripture, is Elohim\n(Gen. i. 1): \u201cIn the beginning God created the heaven and earth;\u201d\na name which signifies his power of judging, in the opinion of some\ncritics; from him it is derived to earthly magistrates; their judgment\nis said, therefore, to be the \u201cjudgment of God\u201d (Deut. i. 17). When\nChrist came, he proposed this great motive of repentance from the\n\u201ckingdom of heaven being at hand;\u201d the kingdom of his grace, whereby\nto invite men; the kingdom of his justice in the punishment of the\nneglecters of it, whereby to terrify men. Punishments as well as\nrewards belong to royalty; it issued accordingly; those that believed\nand repented came under his gracious sceptre, those that neglected\nand rejected it fell under his iron rod; Jerusalem was destroyed, the\ntemple demolished, the inhabitants lost their lives by the edge of the\nsword, or lingered them out in the chains of a miserable captivity.\nThis term of \u201cjudge,\u201d which signifies a sovereign right to govern\nand punish delinquents, Abraham gives him, when he came to root out\nthe people of Sodom, and make them the examples of his vengeance\n(Gen. xviii. 25).\n\n(2.) Punishing the transgressions of his law. This is a necessary\nbranch of dominion. His sovereignty in making laws would be a trifle,\nif there were not also an authority to vindicate those laws from\ncontempt and injury; he would be a Lord only spurned at by {b394}\nrebels. Sovereignty is not preserved without justice. When the\nPsalmist speaks of the majesty of God\u2019s kingdom, he tells us, that\n\u201crighteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne\u201d (Ps.\nxcvii. 1, 2). These are the engines of Divine dignity which render him\nglorious and majestic. A legislative power would be trampled on without\nexecutive; by this the reverential apprehensions of God are preserved\nin the world. He is known to be Lord of the world \u201cby the judgments\nwhich he executes\u201d (Ps. ix. 16). When he seems to have lost his\ndominion, or given it up in the world, he recovers it by punishment.\nWhen he takes some away \u201cwith a whirlwind, and in his wrath,\u201d the\nnatural consequence men make of it, is this: \u201cSurely there is a God\nthat judgeth the earth\u201d (Ps. lviii. 9, 11). He reduceth the creature,\nby the lash of his judgments, that would not acknowledge his authority\nin his precepts. Those sins which disown his government in the heart\nand conscience, as pride, inward blasphemy, &c., he hath reserved a\ntime hereafter to reckon for. He doth not presently shoot his arrows\ninto the marrow of every delinquent, but those sins which traduce his\ngovernment of the world, and tear up the foundations of human converse,\nand a public respect to him, he reckons with particularly here, as well\nas hereafter, that the life of his sovereignty might not always faint\nin the world.\n\n(3.) This of punishing was the second discovery of his dominion in the\nworld. His first act of sovereignty was the giving a law; the next, his\nappearance in the state of a judge. When his orders were violated, he\nrescues the honor of them by an execution of justice. He first judged\nthe angels, punishing the evil ones for their crime: the first court\nhe kept among them as a governor, was to give them a law; the second\ncourt he kept was as a judge trying the delinquents, and adjudging\nthe offenders to be \u201creserved in chains of darkness\u201d till the final\nexecution (Jude 6); and, at the same time probably, he confirmed\nthe good ones in their obedience by grace. So the first discovery of\nhis dominion to man, was the giving him a precept, the next was the\ninflicting a punishment for the breach of it. He summons Adam to the\nbar, indicts him for his crime, finds him guilty by his own confession,\nand passeth sentence on him, according to the rule he had before\nacquainted him with.\n\n(4.) The means whereby he punisheth shows his dominion. Sometimes he\nmusters up hail and mildew; sometimes he sends regiments of wild beasts;\nso he threatens Israel (Lev. xxvi. 22). Sometimes he sends out a party\nof angels to beat up the quarters of men, and make a carnage among\nthem (2 Kings xix. 35). Sometimes he mounts his thundering battery, and\nshoots forth his ammunition from the clouds, as against the Philistines\n(1 Sam. vii. 10). Sometimes he sends the slightest creatures to shame\nthe pride and punish the sin of man, as \u201clice, frogs, locusts,\u201d as upon\nthe Egyptians (Exod. viii.\u2012x.).\n\n_Secondly._ This dominion it manifested by God as a proprietor and Lord\nof his creatures and his own goods. And this is evident,\n\n1. In the choice of some persons from eternity. He hath set apart some\nfrom eternity, wherein he will display the invincible efficacy of his\ngrace, and thereby infallibly bring them to the fruition {b395} of\nglory (Eph. i. 4, 5): \u201cAccording as he hath chosen us in him before\nthe foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame\nbefore him in love, having predestinated us to the adoption of children\nby Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.\n\u201d Why doth he write some names in the \u201cbook of life,\u201d and leave out\nothers? Why doth he enrol some, whom he intends to make denizens of\nheaven, and refuse to put others in his register? The apostle tells\nus, it is the pleasure of his will. You may render a reason for many\nof God\u2019s actions, till you come to this, the top and foundation of all;\nand under what head of reason can man reduce this act but to that of\nhis royal prerogative? Why doth God save some, and condemn others at\nlast? because of the faith of the one, and unbelief of the other. Why\ndo some men believe? because God hath not only given them the means of\ngrace, but accompanied those means with the efficacy of his Spirit. Why\ndid God accompany those means with the efficacy of his Spirit in some,\nand not in others? because he had decreed by grace to prepare them\nfor glory. But why did he decree, or choose some, and not others? Into\nwhat will you resolve this but into his sovereign pleasure? Salvation\nand condemnation at the last upshot, are acts of God as the Judge,\nconformable to his own law of giving life to believers, and inflicting\ndeath upon unbelievers; for those a reason may be rendered; but the\nchoice of some, and preterition of others, is an act of God as he is\na sovereign monarch, before any law was actually transgressed, because\nnot actually given. When a prince redeems a rebel, he acts as a judge\naccording to law; but when he calls some out to pardon, he acts as a\nsovereign by a prerogative above law; into this the apostle resolves it\n(Rom. ix. 13, 15). When he speaks of God\u2019s loving Jacob and hating Esau,\nand that before they had done either good or evil, it is, \u201cbecause God\nwill have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and compassion on whom he\nwill have compassion.\u201d Though the first scope of the apostle, in the\nbeginning of the chapter, was to declare the reason of God\u2019s rejecting\nthe Jews, and calling in the Gentiles; had he only intended to demolish\nthe pride of the Jews, and flat their opinion of merit, and aimed no\nhigher than that providential act of God; he might, convincingly enough\nto the reason of men, have argued from the justice of God, provoked by\nthe obstinacy of the Jews, and not have had recourse to his absolute\nwill; but, since he asserts this latter, the strength of his argument\nseems to lie thus: if God by his absolute sovereignty may resolve, and\nfix his love upon Jacob and estrange it from Esau, or any other of his\ncreatures, before they have done good or evil, and man have no ground\nto call his infinite majesty to account, may he not deal thus with\nthe Jews, when their demerit would be a bar to any complaints of the\ncreature against him?[1007] If God were considered here in the quality\nof a judge, it had been fit to have considered the matter of fact in\nthe criminal; but he is considered as a sovereign, rendering no other\nreason of his action but his own will; \u201cwhom he will he hardens\u201d\n(ver. 18). And then the apostle concludes (ver. 20), \u201cWho art thou,\nO man, that repliest against God?\u201d If the reason drawn {b396} from\nGod\u2019s sovereignty doth not satisfy in this inquiry, no other reason can\nbe found wherein to acquiesce: for the last condemnation there will be\nsufficient reason to clear the justice of his proceedings. But, in this\ncase of election, no other reason but what is alleged, _viz._, the will\nof God, can be thought of, but what is liable to such knotty exceptions\nthat cannot well be untied.\n\n(1.) It could not be any merit in the creature that might determine\nGod to choose him. If the decree of election falls not under the merit\nof Christ\u2019s passion, as the procuring cause, it cannot fall under the\nmerit of any part of the corrupted mass. The decree of sending Christ\ndid not precede, but followed, in order of nature, the determination of\nchoosing some. When men were chosen as the subjects for glory, Christ\nwas chosen as the means for the bringing them to glory (Eph. i. 4):\n\u201cChosen us in him, and predestinated us to the adoption of children by\nJesus Christ.\u201d The choice was not merely in Christ as the moving cause;\nthat the apostle asserts to be \u201cthe good pleasure of his will;\u201d but\nin Christ, as the means of conveying to the chosen ones the fruits of\ntheir election. What could there be in any man that could invite God\nto this act, or be a cause of distinction of one branch of Adam from\nanother? Were they not all hewed out of the same rock, and tainted with\nthe same corruption in blood? Had it been possible to invest them with\na power of merit at the first, had not that venom, contracted in their\nnature, degraded all of power for the future? What merit was there\nin any but of wrathful punishment, since they were all considered as\ncriminals, and the cursed brood of an ungrateful rebel? What dignity\ncan there be in the nature of the purest part of clay, to be made a\nvessel of honor, more than in another part of clay, as pure as that\nwhich was formed into a vessel for mean and sordid use? What had any\none to move his mercy more than another, since they were all children\nof wrath, and equally daubed with original guilt and filth? Had not all\nan equal proportion of it to provoke his justice? What merit is there\nin one dry bone more than another, to be inspired with the breath of\na spiritual life? Did not all lie wallowing in their own filthy blood?\nand what could the steam and noisomeness of that deserve at the hands\nof a pure Majesty, but to be cast into a sink furthest from his sight?\nWere they not all considered in this deplorable posture, with an equal\nproportion of poison in their nature, when God first took his pen, and\nsingled out some names to write in the book of life? It could not be\nmerit in any one piece of this abominable mass, that should stir up\nthat resolution in God to set apart this person for a vessel of glory,\nwhile he permitted another to putrefy in his own gore. He loved Jacob,\nand hated Esau, though they were both parts of the common mass, the\nseed of the same loins, and lodged in the same womb.\n\n(2.) Nor could it be any foresight of works to be done in time by them,\nor of faith, that might determine God to choose them. What good could\nhe foresee resulting from extreme corruption, and a nature alienated\nfrom him? What could he foresee of good to be done by them, but what\nhe resolved in his own will, to bestow an ability upon them to bring\nforth? His choice of them was to a {b397} holiness, not for a holiness\npreceding his determination (Eph. i. 4). He hath chosen us, \u201cthat we\nmight be holy\u201d before him; he ordained us \u201cto good works,\u201d not for them\n(Eph. ii. 10). What is a fruit cannot be a moving cause of that whereof\nit is a fruit: grace is a stream from the spring of electing love;\nthe branch is not the cause of the root, but the root of the branch;\nnor the stream the cause of the spring, but the spring the cause of\nthe stream. Good works suppose grace, and a good and right habit in\nthe person, as rational acts suppose reason. Can any man say that the\nrational acts man performs after his creation were a cause why God\ncreated him? This would make creation, and everything else, not so\nmuch an act of his will, as an act of his understanding. God foresaw no\nrational act in man, before the act of his will to give him reason; nor\nforesees faith in any, before the act of his will determining to give\nhim faith: \u201cFaith is the gift of God\u201d (Eph. ii. 8). In the salvation\nwhich grows up from this first purpose of God, he regards not the works\nwe have done, as a principal motive to settle the top\u2011stone of our\nhappiness, but his own purpose, and the grace given in Christ; \u201cwho\nhath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our\nown works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given\nto us in Christ, before the world began\u201d (2 Tim. i. 9). The honor of\nour salvation cannot be challenged by our works, much less the honor of\nthe foundation of it. It was a pure gift of grace, without any respect\nto any spiritual, much less natural, perfection. Why should the apostle\nmention that circumstance, when he speaks of God\u2019s loving Jacob, and\nhating Esau, \u201cwhen neither of them had done good or evil\u201d (Rom. ix. 11),\nif there were any foresight of men\u2019s works as the moving cause of his\nlove or hatred? God regarded not the works of either as the first cause\nof his choice, but acted by his own liberty, without respect to any\nof their actions which were to be done by them in time. If faith be\nthe fruit of election, the prescience of faith doth not influence the\nelecting act of God. It is called \u201cthe faith of God\u2019s elect\u201d (Tit. i.\n1): \u201cPaul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God\u2019s\nelect;\u201d _i. e._ settled in this office to bring the elect of God to\nfaith. If men be chosen by God upon the foresight of faith, or not\nchosen till they have faith, they are not so much God\u2019s elect, as God\ntheir elect; they choose God by faith, before God chooseth them by love:\nit had not been the faith of God\u2019s elect, _i. e._ of those already\nchosen, but the faith of those that were to be chosen by God afterwards.\nElection is the cause of faith, and not faith the cause of election;\nfire is the cause of heat, and not the heat of fire; the sun is the\ncause of the day, and not the day the cause of the rising of the sun.\nMen are not chosen because they believe, but they believe because they\nare chosen: the apostle did ill, else, to appropriate that to the elect\nwhich they had no more interest in, by virtue of their election, than\nthe veriest reprobate in the world.[1008] If the foresight of what\nworks might be done by his creatures was the motive of his choosing\nthem, why did he not choose the devils to redemption, who could\nhave done him better service, by the strength of their nature, than\nthe {b398} whole mass of Adam\u2019s posterity? Well, then, there is no\npossible way to lay the original foundation of this act of election and\npreterition in anything but the absolute sovereignty of God. Justice or\ninjustice comes not into consideration in this case. There is no debt\nwhich justice or injustice always respects in its acting: if he had\npleased, he might have chosen all; if he had pleased, he might have\nchosen none. It was in his supreme power to have resolved to have left\nall Adam\u2019s posterity under the rack of his justice; if he determined to\nsnatch out any, it was a part of his dominion, but without any injury\nto the creatures he leaves under their own guilt. Did he not pass by\nthe angels, and take man? and, by the same right of dominion, may he\npick out some men from the common mass, and lay aside others to bear\nthe punishment of their crimes. Are they not all his subjects? all are\nhis criminals, and may be dealt with at the pleasure of their undoubted\nLord and Sovereign. This is a work of arbitrary power; since he might\nhave chosen none, or chosen all, as he saw good himself. It is at\nthe liberty of the artificer to determine his wood or stone to such a\nfigure, that of a prince, or that of a toad; and his materials have no\nright to complain of him, since it lies wholly upon his own liberty.\nThey must have little sense of their own vileness, and God\u2019s infinite\nexcellency above them by right of creation, that will contend that God\nhath a lesser right over his creatures than an artificer over his wood\nor stone. If it were at his liberty whether to redeem man, or send\nChrist upon such an undertaking, it is as much at his liberty, and the\nprerogative is to be allowed him, what person he will resolve to make\ncapable of enjoying the fruits of that redemption. One man was as fit a\nsubject for mercy as another, as they all lay in their original guilt:\nwhy would not Divine mercy cast its eye upon this man, as well as upon\nhis neighbor? There was no cause in the creature, but all in God; it\nmust be resolved into his own will: yet not into a will without wisdom.\nGod did not choose hand over head, and act by mere will, without\nreason and understanding; an Infinite Wisdom is far from such a kind of\nprocedure; but the reason of God is inscrutable to us, unless we could\nunderstand God as well as he understands himself; the whole ground lies\nin God himself, no part of it in the creature; \u201cnot in him that wills,\nnor in him that runs, but in God that shows mercy\u201d (Rom. ix. 15, 16).\nSince God hath revealed no other cause than his will, we can resolve\nit into no other than his sovereign empire over all creatures. It is\nnot without a stop to our curiosity, that in the same place where God\nasserts the absolute sovereignty of his mercy to Moses, he tells him he\ncould not see his face: \u201cI will be gracious to whom I will be gracious;\u201d\nand he said, \u201cThou canst not see my face\u201d (Exod. xxxiii. 19, 20):\nthe rays of his infinite wisdom are too bright and dazzling for our\nweakness. The apostle acknowledged not only a wisdom in this proceeding,\nbut a riches and treasure of wisdom; not only that, but a depth and\nvastness of those riches of wisdom; but was unable to give us an\ninventory and scheme of it (Rom. xi. 33). The secrets of his counsels\nare too deep for us to wade into; in attempting to know the reason of\nthose acts, we should find ourselves swallowed up into a bottomless\ngulf: though {b399} the understanding be above our capacity, yet the\nadmiration of his authority and submission to it are not. \u201cWe should\ncast ourselves down at his feet, with a full resignation of ourselves\nto his sovereign pleasure.\u201d[1009] This is a more comely carriage in a\nChristian than all the contentious endeavors to measure God by our line.\n\n2. In bestowing grace where he pleases. God in conversion and pardon\nworks not as a natural agent, putting forth strength to the utmost,\nwhich God must do, if he did renew man naturally, as the sun shines,\nand the fire burns, which always act, _ad extremum virium_, unless\na cloud interpose to eclipse the one, and water to extinguish the\nother. But God acts as a voluntary agent, which can freely exert\nhis power when he please, and suspend it when he please. Though God\nbe necessarily good, yet he is not necessitated to manifest all the\ntreasures of his goodness to every subject; he hath power to distil his\ndews upon one part, and not upon another. If he were necessitated to\nexpress his goodness without a liberty, no thanks were due to him.\nWho thanks the sun for shining on him, or the fire for warming him?\nNone; because they are necessary agents, and can do no other. What is\nthe reason he did not reach out his hand to keep all the angels from\nsinking, as well as some, or recover them when they were sunk? What is\nthe reason he engrafts one man into the true Vine, and lets the other\nremain a wild olive? Why is not the efficacy of the Spirit always\nlinked with the motions of the Spirit? Why does he not mould the heart\ninto a gospel frame when he fills the ear with a gospel sound? Why\ndoth he strike off the chains from some, and tear the veil from the\nheart, while he leaves others under their natural slavery and Egyptian\ndarkness? Why do some lie under the bands of death, while another is\nraised to a spiritual life? What reason is there for all this but his\nabsolute will? The apostle resolves the question, if the question be\nasked, why he begets one and not another? Not from the will of the\ncreature, but \u201chis own will,\u201d is the determination of one (James i.\n18). Why doth he work in one \u201cto will and to do,\u201d and not in another?\nBecause of \u201chis good pleasure,\u201d is the answer of another (Phil. ii. 13).\nHe could as well new create every one, as he at first created them,\nand make grace as universal as nature and reason, but it is not his\npleasure so to do.\n\n(1.) It is not from want of strength in himself. The power of God is\nunquestionably able to strike off the chains of unbelief from all; he\ncould surmount the obstinacy of every child of wrath, and inspire every\nson of Adam with faith as well as Adam himself. He wants not a virtue\nsuperior to the greatest resistance of his creature; a victorious\nbeam of light might be shot into their understandings, and a flood of\ngrace might overspread their wills with one word of his mouth, without\nputting forth the utmost of his power. What hindrance could there be in\nany created spirit, which cannot be easily pierced into and new moulded\nby the Father of spirits? Yet he only breathes this efficacious virtue\ninto some, and leaves others under that insensibility and hardness\nwhich they love, and suffer them to continue in their benighting\nignorance, and consume themselves {b400} in the embraces of their\ndear, though deceitful Delilahs. He could have conquered the resistance\nof the Jews, as well as chased away the darkness and ignorance of\nthe Gentiles. No doubt but he could overpower the heart of the most\nmalicious devil, as well as that of the simplest and weakest man.\nBut the breath of the Almighty Spirit is in his own power, to breathe\n\u201cwhere he lists\u201d (John iii. 8). It is at his liberty whether he will\ngive to any the feelings of the invincible efficacy of his grace; he\ndid not want strength to have kept man as firm as a rock against the\ntemptation of Satan, and poured in such fortifying grace, as to have\nmade him impregnable against the powers of hell, as well as he did\nsecure the standing of the angels against the sedition of their fellows:\nbut it was his will to permit it to be otherwise.\n\n(2.) Nor is it from any prerogative in the creature. He converts not\nany for their natural perfection, because he seizeth upon the most\nignorant; nor for their moral perfection, because he converts the most\nsinful; nor for their civil perfection, because he turns the most\ndespicable.\n\n[1.] Not for their natural perfection of knowledge. He opened the\nminds and hearts of the more ignorant. Were the nature of the Gentiles\nbetter manured than that of the Jews, or did the tapers of their\nunderstandings burn clearer? No; the one were skilled in the prophecies\nof the Messiah, and might have compared the predictions they owned with\nthe actions and sufferings of Christ, which they were spectators of. He\nlet alone those that had expectations of the Messiah, and expectations\nabout the time of Christ\u2019s appearance, both grounded upon the oracles\nwherewith he had entrusted them. The Gentiles were unacquainted\nwith the prophets, and therefore destitute of the expectations of\nthe Messiah (Eph. ii. 12): they were \u201cwithout Christ;\u201d without any\nrevelation of Christ, because \u201caliens from the commonwealth of Israel,\nand strangers to the covenant of promise, having no hope, and without\nGod in the world,\u201d without any knowledge of God, or promises of Christ.\nThe Jews might sooner, in a way of reason, have been wrought upon than\nthe Gentiles, who were ignorant of the prophets, by whose writings they\nmight have examined the truth of the apostles\u2019 declarations. Thus are\nthey refused that were the kindred of Christ, according to the flesh,\nand the Gentiles, that were at a greater distance from him, brought\nin by God; thus he catcheth not at the subtle and mighty devils, who\nhad an original in spiritual nature more like to him, but at weak and\nsimple man.\n\n[2.] Not for any moral perfection, because he converts the most\nsinful: the Gentiles, steeped in idolatry and superstition. He sowed\nmore faith among the Romans than in Jerusalem; more faith in a city\nthat was the common sewer of all the idolatry of the nations conquered\nby them, than in that city which had so signally been owned by him,\nand had not practised any idolatry since the Babylonish captivity.\nHe planted saintship at Corinth, a place notorious for the infamous\nworship of Venus, a superstition attended with the grossest uncleanness;\nat Ephesus, that presented the whole world with a cup of fornication in\ntheir temple of Diana; among the Colossians, {b401} votaries to Cybele\nin a manner of worship attended with beastly and lascivious ceremonies.\nAnd what character had the Cretians from one of their own poets,\nmentioned by the apostle to Titus, whom he had placed among them to\nfurther the progress of the gospel, but the vilest and most abominable?\n(Titus i. 12): \u201cliars,\u201d not to be credited; \u201cevil beasts,\u201d not to be\nassociated with; \u201cslow bellies,\u201d fit for no service. What prerogative\nwas there in the nature of such putrefaction? as much as in that of a\ntoad to be elevated to the dignity of an angel. What steam from such\ndunghills could be welcome to him, and move him to cast his eye on them,\nand sweeten them from heaven? What treasures of worth were here to open\nthe treasures of his grace! Were such filthy snuffs fit of themselves\nto be kindled by, and become a lodging for, a gospel beam? What\ninvitements could he have from lying, beastliness, gluttony, but only\nfrom his own sovereignty? By this he plucked firebrands out of the fire,\nwhile he left straighter and more comely sticks to consume to ashes.\n\n[3.] Not for any civil perfection, because he turns the most despicable.\nHe elevates not nature to grace upon the account of wealth, honor, or\nany civil station in the world: he dispenseth not ordinarily those\ntreasures to those that the mistaken world foolishly admire and dote\nupon (1 Cor. i. 26); \u201cNot many mighty, not many noble:\u201d a purple robe\nis not usually decked with this jewel; he takes more of mouldy clay\nthan refined dust to cast into his image, and lodges his treasures more\nin the earthly vessels than in the world\u2019s golden ones; he gives out\nhis richest doles to those that are the scorn and reproach of the world.\nShould he impart his grace most to those that abound in wealth or honor,\nit had been some foundation for a conception that he had been moved by\nthose vulgarly esteemed excellencies to indulge them more than others.\nBut such a conceit languisheth when we behold the subjects of his grace\nas void originally of any allurements, as they are full of provocations.\nHereby he declares himself free from all created engagements, and that\nhe is not led by any external motives in the object.\n\n[4.] It is not from any obligation which lies upon him. He is indebted\nto none: disobliged by all. No man deserves from him any act of grace,\nbut every man deserves what the most deplorable are left to suffer.\nHe is obliged by the children of wrath to nothing else but showers of\nwrath; owes no more a debt to fallen man, than to fallen devils, to\nrestore them to their first station by a superlative grace. How was he\nmore bound to restore them, than he was to preserve them; to catch them\nafter they fell, than to put a bar in the way of their falling? God,\nas a sovereign, gave laws to men, and a strength sufficient to keep\nthose laws. What obligation is there upon God to repair that strength\nman wilfully lost, and extract him out of that condition into which he\nvoluntarily plunged himself? What if man sinned by temptation, which\nis a reason alleged by some, might not many of the devils do so too?\nThough there was a first of them that sinned without a temptation,\nyet many of them might be seduced into rebellion by the ringleader.\nUpon that account he is no more bound to give grace to all men, than\nto devils. {b402} If he promised life upon obedience, he threatened\ndeath upon transgression. By man\u2019s disobedience God is quit of his\npromise, and owes nothing but punishment upon the violation of his law.\nIndeed man may pretend to a claim of sufficient strength from him by\ncreation, as God is the author of nature, and he had it; but since he\nhath extinguished it by his sin, he cannot in the least pretend any\nobligation on God for a new strength. If it be a \u201cperadventure\u201d whether\nhe will \u201cgive repentance,\u201d as it is 2 Tim. ii. 25, there is no tie\nin the case; a tie would put it beyond a peradventure with a God that\nnever forfeited his obligation. No husbandman thinks himself obliged\nto bestow cost and pains, manure and tillage, upon one field more than\nanother; though the nature of the ground may require more, yet he is at\nhis liberty whether he will expend more upon one than another.[1010] He\nmay let it lie fallow as long as he please. God is less obliged to till\nand prune his creatures, than man is obliged to his field or trees.\nIf a king proclaim a pardon to a company of rebels, upon the condition\nof each of them paying such a sum of money; their estates before were\ncapable of satisfying the condition, but their rebellion hath reduced\nthem to an indigent condition; the proclamation itself is an act of\ngrace, the condition required is not impossible in itself: the prince,\nout of a tenderness to some, sends them that sum of money, he hath\nby his proclamation obliged them to pay, and thereby enabled them to\nanswer the condition he requires; the first he doth by a sovereign\nauthority, the second he doth by a sovereign bounty. He was obliged to\nneither of them; punishment was a debt due to all of them; if he would\nremit it upon condition, he did relax his sovereign right; and if he\nwould by his largess make any of them capable to fulfil the condition,\nby sending them presently a sufficient sum to pay the fine, he acted as\nproprietor of his own goods, to dispose of them in such a quantity to\nthose to whom he was not obliged to bestow a mite.\n\n[5.] It must therefore be an act of his mere sovereignty. This can only\nsit arbitrator in every gracious act. Why did he give grace to Abel and\nnot to Cain, since they both lay in the same womb, and equally derived\nfrom their parents a taint in their nature; but that he would show a\nstanding example of his sovereignty to the future ages of the world\nin the first posterity of man? Why did he give grace to Abraham, and\nseparate him from his idolatrous kindred, to dignify him to be the\nroot of the Messiah? Why did he confine his promise to Isaac, and not\nextend it to Ishmael, the seed of the same Abraham by Hagar, or to\nthe children he had by Keturah after Sarah\u2019s death? What reason can be\nalleged for this but his sovereign will? Why did he not give the fallen\nangels a moment of repentance after their sin, but condemned them to\nirrevocable pains? Is it not as free for him to give grace to whom he\nplease, as create what worlds he please; to form this corrupted clay\ninto his own image, as to take such a parcel of dust from all the rest\nof the creation whereof to compact Adam\u2019s body? Hath he not as much\njurisdiction over the sinful mass of his creatures in a new creation,\nas he had over the chaos in the old? And what reason can be rendered,\n{b403} of his advancing this part of matter to the nobler dignity of a\nstar, and leaving that other part to make up the dark body of the earth;\nto compact one part into a glorious sun, and another part into a hard\nrock, but his royal prerogative? What is the reason a prince subjects\none malefactor to punishment, and lifts up another to a place of trust\nand profit? that Pharaoh honored the butler with an attendance on his\nperson, and remitted the baker to the hands of the executioner? It was\nhis pleasure. And is not as great right due to God, as is allowed to\nthe worms of the earth? What is the reason he hardens a Pharaoh, by\na denying him that grace which should mollify him, and allows it to\nanother? It is because he will. \u201cWhom he will he hardens\u201d (Rom. ix. 18).\nHath not man the liberty to pull up the sluice, and let the water run\ninto what part of the ground he pleases? What is the reason some have\nnot a heart to understand the beauty of his ways? Because the Lord doth\nnot give it them (Deut. xxix. 4). Why doth he not give all his converts\nan equal measure of his sanctifying grace? some have mites and some\nhave treasures. Why doth he give his grace to some sooner, to some\nlater? some are inspired in their infancy, others not till a full age,\nand after; some not till they have fallen into some gross sin, as Paul;\nsome betimes, that they may do him service: others later, as the thief\nupon the cross, and presently snatcheth them out of the world? Some are\nweaker, some stronger in nature, some more beautiful and lovely, others\nmore uncomely and sluggish. It is so in supernaturals. What reason is\nthere for this, but his own will? This is instead of all that can be\nassigned on the part of God. He is the free disposer of his own goods,\nand as a Father may give a greater portion to one child than to another.\nAnd what reason of complaint is there against God? may not a toad\ncomplain that God did not make it a man, and give it a portion of\nreason? or a fly complain that God did not make it an angel, and give\nit a garment of light; had they but any spark of understanding; as well\nas man complain that God did not give him grace as well as another?\nUnless he sincerely desired it, and then was denied it, he might\ncomplain of God, though not as a sovereign, yet as a promiser of grace\nto them that ask it. God doth not render his sovereignty formidable; he\nshuts not up his throne of grace from any that seek him; he invites man;\nhis arms are open, and the sceptre stretched out; and no man continues\nunder the arrest of his lusts, but he that is unwilling to be otherwise,\nand such a one hath no reason to complain of God.\n\n3. His sovereignty is manifest in disposing the means of grace to some,\nnot to all. He hath caused the sun to shine bright in one place, while\nhe hath left others benighted and deluded by the devil\u2019s oracles. Why\ndo the evangelical dews fall in this or that place, and not in another?\nWhy was the gospel published in Rome so soon, and not in Tartary? Why\nhath it been extinguished in some places, as soon almost as it had been\nkindled in them? Why hath one place been honored with the beams of it\nin one age, and been covered with darkness the next? One country hath\nbeen made a sphere for this star, that directs to Christ, to move\nin; and afterwards it hath been taken away, and placed in another;\nsometimes {b404} more clearly it hath shone, sometimes more darkly, in\nthe same place; what is the reason of this? It is true something of it\nmay be referred to the justice of God, but much more to the sovereignty\nof God. That the gospel is published later, and not sooner, the apostle\ntell us is \u201caccording to the commandment of the everlasting God\u201d (Rom.\nxvi. 26).\n\n(1.) The means of grace, after the families from Adam became distinct,\nwere never granted to all the world. After that fatal breach in Adam\u2019s\nfamily by the death of Abel, and Cain\u2019s separation, we read not of\nthe means of grace continued among Cain\u2019s posterity; it seems to be\ncontinued in Adam\u2019s sole family, and not published in societies till\nthe time of Seth. \u201cThen began men to call upon the name of the Lord\u201d\n(Gen. iv. 26). It was continued in that family till the deluge, which\nwas 1523 years after the creation, according to some, or 1656 years,\naccording to others. After that, when the world degenerated, it was\ncommunicated to Abraham, and settled in the posterity that descended\nfrom Jacob; though he left not the world without a witness of himself,\nand some sprinklings of revelations in other parts, as appears by the\nBook of Job, and the discourses of his friends.\n\n(2.) The Jews had this privilege granted them above other nations,\nto have a clearer revelation of God. God separated them from all the\nworld to honor them with the _depositum_ of his oracles (Rom. iii. 2):\n\u201cTo them were committed the oracles of God.\u201d In which regard all other\nnations are said to be \u201cwithout God\u201d (Eph. ii. 12), as being destitute\nof so great a privilege. The Spirit blew in Canaan when the lands about\nit felt not the saving breath of it. \u201cHe hath not dealt so with any\nnation; and as for his judgments, they have not known them\u201d (Ps. cxlvii.\n20). The rest had no warnings from the prophets, no dictates from\nheaven, but what they had by the light of nature, the view of the works\nof creation, and the administration of Providence, and what remained\namong them of some ancient traditions derived from Noah, which, in\ntract of time, were much defaced. We read but of one Jonah sent to\nNineveh, but frequent alarms to the Israelites by a multitude of\nprophets commissioned by God. It is true, the door of the Jewish church\nwas open to what proselytes would enter themselves, and embrace their\nreligion and worship; but there was no public proclamation made in the\nworld; only God, by his miracles in their deliverance from Egypt (which\ncould not but be famous among all the neighbor nations), declared\nthem to be a people favored by heaven: but the tradition from Adam and\nNoah was not publicly revived by God in other parts, and raised from\nthat grave of forgetfulness wherein it had lain so long buried. Was\nthere any reason in them for this indulgence? God might have been as\nliberal to any other nation, yea, to all the nations in the world, if\nit had been his sovereign pleasure: any other people were as fit to be\nentrusted with his oracles, and be subjects for his worship, as that\npeople; yet all other nations, till the rejection of the Jews, because\nof their rejection of Christ, were strangers from the covenant of\npromise. These people were part of the common mass of the world: they\nhad no prerogative in nature above Adam\u2019s posterity. Were {b405} they\nthe extract of an innocent part of his loins, and all the other nations\ndrained out of his putrefaction? Had the blood of Abraham, from whom\nthey were more immediately descended, any more precious tincture than\nthe rest of mankind? They, as well as other nations, were made of\n\u201cone blood\u201d (Acts xvii. 26); and that corrupted both in the spring and\nin the rivulets. Were they better than other nations, when God first\ndrew them out of their slavery? We have Joshua\u2019s authority for it,\nthat they had complied with the Egyptian idolatry, \u201cand served other\ngods,\u201d in that place of their servitude (Josh. xxiv. 14). Had they\nhad an abhorrency of the superstition of Egypt, while they remained\nthere, they could not so soon have erected a golden calf for worship,\nin imitation of the Egyptian idols. All the rest of mankind had\nas inviting reasons to present God with, as those people had. God\nmight have granted the same privilege to all the world, as well as\nto them, or denied it them, and endowed all the rest of the world\nwith his statutes: but the enriching such a small company of people\nwith his Divine showers, and leaving the rest of the world as a\nbarren wilderness in spirituals, can be placed upon no other account\noriginally than that of his unaccountable sovereignty, of his love\nto them: there was nothing in them to merit such high titles from God\nas his first\u2011born, his peculiar treasure, the apple of his eye. He\ndisclaims any righteousness in them, and speaks a word sufficient to\ndamp such thoughts in them, by charging them with their wickedness,\nwhile he \u201cloaded them with his benefits\u201d (Deut. ix. 4, 6). The Lord\n\u201cgives thee not\u201d this land for \u201cthy righteousness;\u201d for thou art a\nstiff\u2011necked people. It was an act of God\u2019s free pleasure to \u201cchoose\nthem to be a people to himself\u201d (Deut. vii. 6).\n\n(3.) God afterwards rejected the Jews, gave them up to the hardness of\ntheir hearts, and spread the gospel among the Gentiles. He hath cast\noff the children of the kingdom, those that had been enrolled for his\nsubjects for many ages, who seemed, by their descent from Abraham, to\nhave a right to the privileges of Abraham; and called men from the east\nand from the west, from the darkest corners in the world, to \u201csit down\nwith Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven,\u201d _i. e._\nto partake with them of the promises of the gospel (Matt. viii. 11).\nThe people that were accounted accursed by the Jews enjoy the means\nof grace, which have been hid from those that were once dignified this\n1600 years; that they have neither ephod, nor teraphim, nor sacrifice,\nnor any true worship of God among them (Hos. iii. 4). Why he should not\ngive them grace to acknowledge and own the person of the Messiah, to\nwhom he had made the promises of him for so many successive ages, but\nlet their \u201cheart be fat,\u201d and \u201ctheir ears heavy\u201d (Isa. vi. 10)?\u2015\u2015why\nthe gospel at length, after the resurrection of Christ, should\nbe presented to the Gentiles, not by chance, but pursuant to the\nresolution and prediction of God, declared by the prophets that it\nshould be so in time?\u2015\u2015why he should let so many hundreds of years pass\nover, after the world was peopled, and let the nations all that while\nsoak in their idolatrous customs?\u2015\u2015why he should not call the Gentiles\nwithout rejecting the Jews, and bind them both up together in the\nbundle of {b406} life?\u2015\u2015why he should acquaint some people with it\na little after the publishing it in Jerusalem, by the descent of the\nSpirit, and others not a long time after?\u2015\u2015some in the first ages\nof Christianity enjoyed it; others have it not, as those in America,\ntill the last age of the world;\u2015\u2015can be referred to nothing but his\nsovereign pleasure. What merit can be discovered in the Gentiles? There\nis something of justice in the case of the Jews\u2019 rejection, nothing\nbut sovereignty in the Gentiles\u2019 reception into the church. If the Jews\nwere bad, the Gentiles were in some sort worse: the Jews owned the one\ntrue God, without mixture of idols, though they owned not the Messiah\nin his appearance, which they did in a promise; but the Gentiles owned\nneither the one nor the other. Some tell us, it was for the merit\nof some of their ancestors. How comes the means of grace, then, to\nbe taken from the Jew, who had (if any people ever had) meritorious\nancestors for a plea? If the merit of some of their former progenitors\nwere the cause, what was the reason the debt due to their merit was not\npaid to their immediate progeny, or to themselves, but to a posterity\nso distant from them, and so abominably depraved as the Gentile world\nwas at the day of the gospel\u2011sun striking into their horizon? What\nmerit might be in their ancestors (if any could be supposed in the most\nrefined rubbish), it was so little for themselves, that no oil could\nbe spared out of their lamps for others. What merit their ancestors\nmight have, might be forfeited by the succeeding generations. It is\nordinarily seen, that what honor a father deserves in a state for\npublic service, may be lost by the son, forfeited by treason, and\nhimself attainted. Or was it out of a foresight that the Gentiles would\nembrace it, and the Jews reject it; that the Gentiles would embrace it\nin one place, and not in another? How did God foresee it, but in his\nown grace, which he was resolved to display in one, not in another?\nIt must be then still resolved into his sovereign pleasure. Or did\nhe foresee it in their wills and nature? What, were they not all one\ncommon dross? Was any part of Adam, by nature, better than another? How\ndid God foresee that which was not, nor could be, without his pleasure\nto give ability, and grace to receive? Well, then, what reason but\nthe sovereign pleasure of God can be alleged, why Christ forbade the\napostles, at their first commission, to preach to the Gentiles (Matt.\nx. 15), but, at the second and standing commission, orders them to\npreach to \u201cevery creature?\u201d Why did he put a demur to the resolutions\nof Paul and Timothy, to impart light to Bithynia, or order them to go\ninto Macedonia? Was that country more worthy upon whom lay a great part\nof the blood of the world shed in Alexander\u2019s time (Acts xvi. 6, 7, 9,\n10)? Why should Corazin and Bethsaida enjoy those means that were not\ngranted to the Tyrians and Sidonians, who might probably have sooner\nreached out their arms to welcome it (Matt. xi. 21)? Why should God\nsend the gospel into our island, and cause it to flourish so long\nhere, and not send it, or continue it, in the furthest eastern parts\nof the world? Why should the very profession of Christianity possess\nso small a compass of ground in the world, but five parts in thirty,\nthe Mahometans holding six parts, and the other nineteen overgrown with\nPaganism, where either the gospel was {b407} never planted, or else\nsince rooted up? To whom will you refer this, but to the same cause\nour Saviour doth the revelation of the gospel to babes, and not to the\nwise\u2015\u2015even to his Father? \u201cFor so it seemed good in thy sight\u201d (Matt.\nxi. 25, 26); \u201cFor so was thy good pleasure before thee\u201d (as in the\noriginal); it is at his pleasure whether he will give any a clear\nrevelation of his gospel, or leave them only to the light of nature. He\ncould have kept up the first beam of the gospel in the promise in all\nnations among the apostasies of Adam\u2019s posterity, or renewed it in all\nnations when it began to be darkened, as well as he first published it\nto Adam after his fall; but it was his sovereign pleasure to permit it\nto be obscured in one place, and to keep it lighted in another.\n\n4. His sovereignty is manifest in the various influences of the means\nof grace. He saith to these waters of the sanctuary, as to the floods\nof the sea, \u201cHitherto you shall go, and no further.\u201d Sometimes they\nwash away the filth of the flesh and outward man, but not that of the\nspirit; the gospel spiritualizeth some, and only moralizeth others;\nsome are by the power of it struck down to conviction, but not raised\nup to conversion; some have only the gleams of it in their consciences,\nand others more powerful flashes; some remain in their thick darkness\nunder the beaming of the gospel every day in their face, and after\na long insensibleness are roused by its light and warmth; sometimes\nthere is such a powerful breath in it, that it levels the haughty\nimaginations of men, and lays them at its feet that before strutted\nagainst it in the pride of their heart. The foundation of this is not\nin the gospel itself, which is always the same, nor in the ordinances,\nwhich are channels as sound at one time as at another, but Divine\nsovereignty that spirits them as he pleaseth, and \u201cblows when and where\nit lists.\u201d It has sometimes conquered its thousands (Acts ii. 41); at\nanother time scarce its tens; sometimes the harvest hath been great,\nwhen the laborers have been but few; at another time it hath been small,\nwhen the laborers have been many; sometimes whole sheaves; at another\ntime scarce gleanings. The evangelical net hath been sometimes full at\na cast, and at every cast; at another time many have labored all night,\nand day too, and catched nothing (Acts, ii. 47): \u201cThe Lord added to the\nchurch daily.\u201d The gospel chariot doth not always return with captives\nchained to the sides of it, but sometimes blurred and reproached,\nwearing the marks of hell\u2019s spite, instead of imprinting the marks of\nits own beauty. In Corinth it triumphed over many people (Acts xviii.\n10); in Athens it is mocked, and gathers but a few clusters (Acts xvii.\n32, 34). God keeps the key of the heart, as well as of the womb. The\napostles had a power of publishing the gospel, and working miracles,\nbut under the Divine conduct; it was an instrumentality _durante\nbene placito_, and as God saw it convenient. Miracles were not upon\nevery occasion allowed to them to be wrought, nor success upon every\nadministration granted to them; God sometimes lent them the key, but to\ntake out no more treasure than was allotted to them. There is a variety\nin the time of gospel operation; some rise out of their graves of sin,\nand beds of sluggishness, at the first appearance of this sun; others\nlie snorting {b408} longer. Why doth not God spirit it at one season as\nwell as at another, but set his distinct periods of time, but because\nhe will show his absolute freedom? And do we not sometimes experiment\nthat after the most solemn preparations of the heart, we are frustrated\nof those incomes we expected? Perhaps it was because we thought Divine\nreturns were due to our preparations, and God stops up the channel, and\nwe return drier than we came, that God may confute our false opinion,\nand preserve the honor of his own sovereignty. Sometimes we leap with\nJohn Baptist in the womb at the appearance of Christ; sometimes we lie\nupon a lazy bed when he knocks from heaven; sometimes the fleece is\ndry, and sometimes wet, and God withholds to drop down his dew of the\nmorning upon it. The dews of his word, as well as the droppings of the\nclouds, belong to his royalty; light will not shine into the heart,\nthough it shine round about us, without the sovereign order of that God\n\u201cwho commanded light to shine out of the darkness\u201d of the chaos (2 Cor.\niv. 6). And is it not seen also in regard of the refreshing influences\nof the word? sometimes the strongest arguments, and clearest promises,\nprevail nothing towards the quelling black and despairing imaginations;\nwhen, afterwards, we have found them frighted away by an unexpected\nword, that seemed to have less virtue in it itself than any that passed\nin vain before it. The reasonings of wisdom have dropped down like\narrows against a brazen wall, when the speech of a weaker person hath\nfound an efficacy. It is God by his sovereignty spirits one word and\nnot another; sometimes a secret word comes in, which was not thought of\nbefore, as dropped from heaven, and gives a refreshing, when emptiness\nwas found in all the rest. One word from the lips of a sovereign prince\nis a greater cordial than all the harangues of subjects without it;\nwhat is the reason of this variety, but that God would increase the\nproofs of his own sovereignty? that as it was a part of his dominion to\ncreate the beauty of a world, so it is no less to create the peace as\nwell as the grace of the heart (Isa. lvii. 19): \u201cI create the fruit of\nthe lips, peace.\u201d Let us learn from hence to have adoring thoughts of,\nnot murmuring fancies against, the sovereignty of God; to acknowledge\nit with thankfulness in what we have; to implore it with a holy\nsubmission in what we want. To own God as a sovereign in a way of\ndependence, is the way to be owned by him as subjects in a way of favor.\n\n5. His sovereignty is manifested in giving a greater measure of\nknowledge to some than to others. What parts, gifts, excellency of\nnature, any have above others, are God\u2019s donative; \u201cHe gives wisdom to\nthe wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding\u201d (Dan. ii. 21);\nwisdom, the habit, and knowledge, the right use of it, in discerning\nthe right nature of objects, and the fitness of means conducing to the\nend; all is but a beam of Divine light; and the different degrees of\nknowledge in one man above another, are the effects of his sovereign\npleasure. He enlightens not the minds of all men to know every part of\nhis will; one \u201ceats with a doubtful conscience,\u201d another in \u201cfaith,\u201d\nwithout any staggering (Rom. xiv. 2). Peter had a desire to keep up\ncircumcision, not fully understanding the mind of God in the abolition\nof the Jewish ceremonies; {b409} while Paul was clear in the truth\nof that doctrine. A thought comes into our mind that, like a sunbeam,\nmakes a Scripture truth visible in a moment, which before we were\nporing upon without any success; this is from his pleasure. One in the\nprimitive times had the gift of knowledge, another of wisdom, one the\ngift of prophecy, another of tongues, one the gift of healing, another\nthat of discerning spirits; why this gift to one man, and not to\nanother? Why such a distribution in several subjects? Because it is his\nsovereign pleasure. \u201cThe Spirit divides to every man severally as he\nwill\u201d (1 Cor. xii. 11). Why doth he give Bezaleel and Aholiab the gift\nof engraving, and making curious works for the tabernacle (Exod. xxxi.\n3), and not others? Why doth he bestow the treasures of evangelical\nknowledge upon the meanest of earthen vessels, the poor Galileans,\nand neglect the Pharisees, stored with the knowledge both of naturals\nand morals? Why did he give to some, and not to others, \u201cto know the\nmysteries of the kingdom of heaven?\u201d (Matt. xiii. 11.) The reason is\nimplied in the words, \u201cBecause it was the mystery of his kingdom,\u201d and\ntherefore was the act of his sovereignty. How would it be a kingdom and\nmonarchy if the governor of it were bound to do what he did? It is to\nbe resolved only into the sovereign right of propriety of his own goods,\nthat he furnisheth babes with a stock of knowledge, and leaves the\nwise and prudent empty of it (Matt. xi. 26): \u201cEven so, Father: for so\nit seemed good in thy sight.\u201d Why did he not reveal his mind to Eli, a\ngrown man, and in the highest office in the Jewish church, but open it\nto Samuel, a stripling? why did the Lord go from the one to the other?\nBecause his motion depends upon his own will. Some are of so dull a\nconstitution, that they are incapable of any impression, like rocks too\nhard for a stamp; others like water; you may stamp what you please, but\nit vanisheth as soon as the seal is removed. It is God forms men as he\npleaseth: some have parts to govern a kingdom, others scarce brains to\nconduct their own affairs; one is fit to rule men, and another scarce\nfit to keep swine; some have capacious souls in crazy and deformed\nbodies, others contracted spirits and heavier minds in a richer and\nmore beautiful case. Why are not all stones alike? some have a more\nsparkling light, as gems, more orient than pebbles;\u2015\u2015some are stars of\nfirst, and others of a less magnitude; others as mean as glow\u2011worms,\na slimy lustre:\u2015\u2015it is because he is the sovereign Disposer of what\nbelongs to him; and gives here, as well as at the resurrection, to one\n\u201ca glory of the sun;\u201d to another that of the \u201cmoon;\u201d and to a third\na less, resembling that of a \u201cstar\u201d (1 Cor. xv. 40). And this God\nmay do by the same right of dominion, as he exercised when he endowed\nsome kinds of creatures with a greater perfection than others in\ntheir nature. Why may he not as well garnish one man with a greater\nproportion of gifts, as make a man differ in excellency from the nature\nof a beast? or frame angels to a more purely spiritual nature than a\nman? or make one angel a cherubim or seraphim, with a greater measure\nof light than another? Though the foundation of this is his dominion,\nyet his wisdom is not uninterested in his sovereign disposal; he\ngarnisheth those with a greater ability whom he {b410} intends for\ngreater service, than those that he intends for less, or none at all;\nas an artificer bestows more labor, and carves a more excellent figure\nupon those stones that he designs for a more honorable place in the\nbuilding. But though the intending this or that man for service be\nthe motive of laying in a greater provision in him than in others, yet\nstill it is to be referred to his sovereignty, since that first act of\nculling him out for such an end was the fruit solely of his sovereign\npleasure: as when he resolved to make a creature actively to glorify\nhim, in wisdom he must give him reason; yet the making such a creature\nwas an act of his absolute dominion.\n\n6. His sovereignty is manifest in the calling some to a more special\nservice in their generation. God settles some in immediate offices\nof his service, and perpetuates them in those offices, with a neglect\nof others, who seem to have a greater pretence to them. Moses was a\ngreat sufferer for Israel, the solicitor for them in Egypt, and the\nconductor of them from Egypt to Canaan; yet he was not chosen to the\nhigh priesthood, but that was an office settled upon Aaron, and his\nposterity after him, in a lineal descent; Moses was only pitched\nupon for the present rescue of the captived Israelites, and to be the\ninstrument of Divine miracles; but notwithstanding all the success\nhe had in his conduct, his faithfulness in his employment, and the\ntranscendent familiarity he had with the great Ruler of the world, his\nposterity were left in the common level of the tribe of Levi, without\nany special mark of dignity upon them above the rest for all the\nservices of that great man. Why Moses for a temporary magistrate, Aaron\nfor a perpetual priesthood, above all the rest of the Israelites? hath\nlittle reason but the absolute pleasure of God, who distributes his\nemployments as he pleaseth; and as a master orders his servant to do\nthe noblest work, and another to labor in baser offices, according\nto his pleasure. Why doth he call out David, a shepherd, to sway the\nJewish sceptre, above the rest of the brothers, that had a fairer\nappearance, and had been bred in arms, and inured to the toils and\nwatchings of a camp? Why should Mary be the mother of Christ, and not\nsome other of the same family of David, of a more splendid birth, and\na nobler education? Though some other reasons may be rendered, yet\nthat which affords the greatest acquiescence, is the sovereign will of\nGod. Why did Christ choose out of the meanest of the people the twelve\napostles, to be heralds of his grace in Judea, and other parts of the\nworld; and afterwards select Paul before Gamaliel, his instructor, and\nothers of the Jews, as learned as himself, and advance him to be the\nmost eminent apostle, above the heads of those who had ministered to\nChrist in the days of his flesh? Why should he preserve eleven of those\nhe first called to propagate and enlarge his kingdom, and leave the\nother to the employment of shedding his blood? Why, in the times of our\nreformation, he should choose a Luther out of a monastery, and leave\nothers in their superstitious nastiness, to perish in the traditions of\ntheir fathers? Why set up Calvin, as a bulwark of the gospel, and let\nothers as learned as himself wallow in the sink of popery? It is his\npleasure to do so. The potter hath power to separate this part of the\nclay to form a vessel {b411} for a more public use, and another part of\nthe clay to form a vessel for a more private one. God takes the meanest\nclay to form the most excellent and honorable vessels in his house. As\nhe formed man, that was to govern the creatures of the same clay and\nearth whereof the beasts were formed, and not of that nobler element\nof water, which gave birth to the fish and birds: so he forms some,\nthat are to do him the greatest service, of the meanest materials, to\nmanifest the absolute right of his dominion.\n\n7. His sovereignty is manifest in the bestowing much wealth and honor\nupon some, and not vouchsafing it to the more industrious labors and\nattempts of others. Some are abased, and others are elevated; some\nare enriched, and others impoverished; some scarce feel any cross, and\nothers scarce feel any comfort in their whole lives; some sweat and\ntoil, and what they labor for runs out of their reach; others sit still,\nand what they wish for falls into their lap. One of the same clay hath\na diadem to beautify his head, and another wants a covering to protect\nhim from the weather. One hath a stately palace to lodge in, and\nanother is scarce master of a cottage where to lay his head. A sceptre\nis put into one man\u2019s hand, and a spade into another\u2019s; a rich purple\ngarnisheth one man\u2019s body, while another wraps himself in dunghill\nrags. The poverty of some, and the wealth of others, is an effect of\nthe Divine sovereignty, whence God is said to be the Maker of the \u201cpoor\nas well as the rich\u201d (Prov. xxii. 2), not only of their persons, but of\ntheir conditions. The earth, and the fulness thereof, is his propriety;\nand he hath as much a right as Joseph had to bestow changes of raiment\nupon what Benjamins he please. There is an election to a greater degree\nof worldly felicity, as there is an election of some to a greater\ndegree of supernatural grace and glory: as he makes it \u201crain upon one\ncity, and not upon another\u201d (Amos iv. 7), so he causeth prosperity to\ndistil upon the head of one and not upon another; crowning some with\nearthly blessings, while he crosseth others with continual afflictions:\nfor he speaks of himself as a great proprietor of the corn that\nnourisheth us, and the wine that cheers us, and the wood that warm us\n(Hos. ii. 8, 9): \u201cI will take away,\u201d not your corn and wine, but \u201cmy\ncorn, my wine, my wool.\u201d His right to dispose of the goods of every\nparticular person is unquestionable. He can take away from one, and\npass over the propriety to another. Thus he devolved the right of the\nEgyptian jewels to the Israelites, and bestowed upon the captives what\nbefore he had vouchsafed to the oppressors; as every sovereign state\ndemands the goods of their subjects for the public advantage in a case\nof exigency, though none of that wealth was gained by any public office,\nbut by their private industry, and gained in a country not subject to\nthe dominion of those that require a portion of them. By this right\nhe changes strangely the scene of the world; sometimes those that are\nhigh are reduced to a mean and ignominious condition, those that are\nmean are advanced to a state of plenty and glory. The counter, which\nin accounting signifies now but a penny, is presently raised up to\nsignify a pound. The proud ladies of Israel, instead of a girdle of\ncurious needlework, are brought to make use {b412} of a cord; as the\nvulgar translates _rent_, a rag, or list of cloth (Isa. iii. 24), and\nsackcloth for a stomacher instead of silk. This is the sovereign act\nof God, as he is Lord of the world (Ps. lxxv. 6, 7): \u201cPromotion cometh\nneither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, but God\nis the Judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.\u201d He doth no\nwrong to any man, if he lets him languish out his days in poverty and\ndisgrace: if he gives or takes away, he meddles with nothing but what\nis his own more than ours: if he did dispense his benefits equally\nto all, men would soon think it their due. The inequality and changes\npreserve the notion of God\u2019s sovereignty, and correct our natural\nunmindfulness of it. If there were no changes, God would not be feared\nas the \u201cKing of all the earth\u201d (Ps. lv. 19): to this might also be\nreferred his investing some countries with greater riches in their\nbowels, and on the surface; the disposing some of the fruitful and\npleasant regions of Canaan or Italy, while he settles others in the\nicy and barren parts of the northern climates.\n\n8. His sovereignty is manifest in the times and seasons of dispensing\nhis goods. He is Lord of the times when, as well as of the goods which,\nhe doth dispose of to any person; these \u201cthe Father hath put in his\nown power\u201d (Acts i. 7). As it was his sovereign pleasure to restore\nthe kingdom to Israel, so he would pitch upon the time when to do it,\nand would not have his right invaded, so much as by a question out\nof curiosity. This disposing of opportunities, in many things, can be\nreferred to nothing else but his sovereign pleasure. Why should Christ\ncome at the twilight and evening of the world? at the fulness, and not\nat the beginning, of time? Why should he be from the infancy of the\nworld so long wrapt up in a promise, and not appear in the flesh till\nthe last times and gray hairs of the world, when so many persons, in\nall nations, had been hurried out of the world without any notice of\nsuch a Redeemer? What was this but his sovereign will? Why the Gentiles\nshould be left so long in the devil\u2019s chains, wallowing in the sink of\ntheir abominable superstitions, since God had declared his intention\nby the prophets to call multitudes of them, and reject the Jews;\u2015\u2015why\nhe should defer it so long, can be referred to nothing but the same\ncause. What is the reason the veil continues so long upon the heart\nof the Jews, that is promised, one time or other, to be taken off?\nWhy doth God delay the accomplishment of those glorious predictions of\nthe happiness and interest of that people? Is it because of the sin of\ntheir ancestors,\u2015\u2015a reason that cannot bear much weight? If we cast it\nupon that account, their conversion can never be expected, can never\nbe effected; if for the sins of their ancestors, is it not also for\ntheir own sins? Do their sins grow less in number, or less venomous, or\nprovoking in quality, by this delay? Is not their blasphemy of Christ\nas malicious, their hatred of him as strong and rooted, as ever? Do\nthey not as much approve of the bloody act of their ancestors, since\nso many ages are past, as their ancestors did applaud it at the time of\nthe execution? Have they not the same disposition and will, discovered\nsufficiently by the scorn of Christ, and of those that profess his\nname, to act the {b413} same thing over again, were Christ now in\nthe same state in the world, and they invested with the same power\nof government? If their conversion were deferred one age after the\ndeath of Christ for the sins of their preceding ancestors, is it to be\nexpected now; since the present generation of the Jews in all countries\nhave the sins of those remote, the succeeding, and their more immediate\nancestors, lying upon them? This, therefore, cannot be the reason; but\nas it was the sovereign pleasure of God to foretell his intention to\novercome the stoutness of their hearts, so it is his sovereign pleasure\nthat it shall not be performed till the \u201cfulness of the Gentiles be\ncome in\u201d (Rom. xi. 25). As he is the Lord of his own grace, so he is\nthe Lord of the time when to dispense it. Why did God create the world\nin six days, which he could have erected and beautified in a moment?\nBecause it was his pleasure so to do. Why did he frame the world when\nhe did, and not many ages before? Because he is Master of his own work.\nWhy did he not resolve to bring Israel to the fruition of Canaan till\nafter four hundred years? Why did he draw out their deliverance to so\nlong time after he began to attempt it? Why such a multitude of plagues\nupon Pharaoh to work it, when he could have cut short the work by one\nmortal blow upon the tyrant and his accomplices? It was his sovereign\npleasure to act so, though not without other reasons intelligible\nenough by looking into the story. Why doth he not bring man to a\nperfection of stature in a moment after his birth, but let him continue\nin a tedious infancy, in a semblance to beasts, for the want of an\nexercise of reason? Why doth he not bring this or that man, whom he\nintends for service, to a fitness in an instant, but by long tracts of\nstudy, and through many meanders and labyrinths? Why doth he transplant\na hopeful person in his youth to the pleasures of another world, and\nlet another, of an eminent holiness, continue in the misery of this,\nand wade through many floods of afflictions? What can we chiefly\nrefer all these things to but his sovereign pleasure? The \u201ctimes are\ndetermined by God\u201d (Acts xvii. 26).\n\n_Thirdly._ The dominion of God is manifested as a governor, as well as\na lawgiver and proprietor.\n\n1. In disposing of states and kingdoms. (Ps. lxxv. 7): \u201cGod is Judge;\nhe puts down one, and sets up another.\u201d \u201cJudge\u201d is to be taken not in\nthe same sense that we commonly use the word, for a judicial minister\nin a way of trial, but for a governor; as you know the extraordinary\ngovernors raised up among the Jews were called judges, whence one\nentire book in the Old Testament is so denominated, the Book of Judges.\nGod hath a prerogative to \u201cchange times and seasons\u201d (Dan. ii. 21),\n_i. e._ the revolutions of government, whereby times are altered. How\nmany empires, that have spread their wings over a great part of the\nworld, have had their carcasses torn in pieces; and unheard\u2011of nations\nplucked off the wings of the Roman eagle, after it had preyed upon many\nnations of the world; and the Macedonian empire was as the dew that\nis dried up a short time after it falls.[1011] He erected the Chaldean\nmonarchy, used Nebuchadnezzar to overthrow and punish the ungrateful\nJews, and, by a {b414} sovereign act, gave a great parcel of land\ninto his hands; and what he thought was his right by conquest, was\nGod\u2019s donative to him. You may read the charter to Nebuchadnezzar,\nwhom he terms his servant (Jer. xxvii. 6): \u201cAnd now I have given all\nthose lands\u201d (the lands are mentioned ver. 3), \u201cinto the hands of\nNebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant:\u201d which decree he\npronounceth after his asserting his right of sovereignty over the whole\nearth (ver. 5). After that, he puts a period to the Chaldean empire,\nand by the same sovereign authority decrees Babylon to be a spoil to\nthe nations of the north country, and delivers her up as a spoil to\nthe Persian (Jer. l. 9, 10): and this for the manifestation of his\nsovereign dominion, that he was the Lord, that made peace, and created\nevil (Isa. xlv. 6, 7). God afterwards overthrows that by the Grecian\nAlexander, prophesied of under the figure of a goat, with \u201cone horn\nbetween his eyes\u201d (Dan. viii.): the swift current of his victories,\nas swift as his motion, showed it to be from an extraordinary hand of\nheaven, and not either from the policy or strength of the Macedonian.\nHis strength, in the prophet, is described to be less, being but one\nhorn running against the Persian, described under the figure of a ram\nwith two horns:[1012] and himself acknowledged a Divine motion exciting\nhim to that great attempt, when he saw Joddus, the high\u2011priest, coming\nout in his priestly robes, to meet him at his approach to Jerusalem,\nwhom he was about to worship, acknowledging that the vision which put\nhim upon the Persian war appeared to him in such a garb. What was the\nreason Israel was rent from Judah, and both split into two distinct\nkingdoms? Because Rehoboam would not hearken to sober and sound\ncounsels, but follow the advice of upstarts. What was the reason he did\nnot hearken to sound advice, since he had so advantageous an education\nunder his father Solomon, the wisest prince of the world? \u201cThe cause\nwas from the Lord\u201d (1 Kings, xii. 15), that he might perform what he\nhad before spoke. In this he acted according to his royal word; but, in\nthe first resolve, he acted as a sovereign lord, that had the disposal\nof all nations in the world. And though Ahab had a numerous posterity,\nseventy sons to inherit the throne after him, yet God by his sovereign\nauthority gives them up into the hands of Jehu, who strips them of\ntheir lives and hopes together: not a man of them succeeded in the\nthrone, but the crown is transferred to Jehu by God\u2019s disposal. In wars,\nwhereby flourishing kingdoms are overthrown, God hath the chief hand;\nin reference to which it is observed that, in the two prophets, Isaiah\nand Jeremiah, God is called \u201cthe Lord of Hosts\u201d one hundred and thirty\ntimes. It is not the sword of the captain, but the sword of the Lord,\nbears the first rank; \u201cthe sword of the Lord and of Gideon\u201d (Judges vii.\n18). The sword of a conqueror is the sword of the Lord, and receives\nits charge and commission from the great Sovereign (Jer. xlvii. 6, 7).\nWe are apt to confine our thoughts to second causes, lay the fault\nupon the miscarriages of persons, the ambition of the one, and the\ncovetousness of another, and regard them not as the effects of God\u2019s\nsovereign authority, linking second causes together to serve his\nown purpose. The skill of one man may lay open the {b415} folly of a\ncounsellor; an earthly force may break in pieces the power of a mighty\nprince: but Job, in his consideration of those things, refers the\nmatter higher: \u201cHe looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins\nwith a girdle\u201d (Job xii. 18). \u201cHe looseth the bonds of kings,\u201d _i. e._\ntakes off the yokes they lay upon their subjects, \u201cand girds their\nloins with a girdle\u201d (a _cord_, as the vulgar); he lays upon them those\nfetters they framed for others; such a girdle, or band, as is the mark\nof captivity, as the words, ver. 19, confirm it: \u201cHe leads princes\naway spoiled, and overthrows the mighty.\u201d God lifts up some to a great\nheight, and casts down others to a disgraceful ruin. All those changes\nin the face of the world, the revolutions of empires, the desolating\nand ravaging wars, which are often immediately the birth of the vice,\nambition, and fury of princes, are the royal acts of God as Governor of\nthe world. All government belongs to him; he is the Fountain of all the\ngreat and the petty dominions in the world; and, therefore, may place\nin them what substitutes and vicegerents he pleaseth, as a prince may\nremove his officers at pleasure, and take their commissions from them.\nThe highest are settled by God _durante bene placito_, and not _quamdiu\nbene se gesserint_. Those princes that have been the glory of their\ncountry have swayed the sceptre but a short time, when the more wolvish\nones have remained longer in commission, as God hath seen fit for\nthe ends of his own sovereign government. Now, by the revolutions in\nthe world, and changes in governors and government, God keeps up the\nacknowledgment of his sovereignty, when he doth arrest grand and public\noffenders that wear a crown by his providence, and employ it, by their\npride, against him that placed it there. When he arraigns such by\na signal hand from heaven, he makes them the public examples of the\nrights of his sovereignty, declaring thereby, that the cedars of\nLebanon are as much at his foot, as the shrubs of the valley; that he\nhath as sovereign an authority over the throne in the palace, as over\nthe stool in the cottage.\n\n2. The dominion of God is manifested in raising up and ordering the\nspirits of men according to his pleasure. He doth, as the Father of\nspirits, communicate an influence to the spirits of men, as well as an\nexistence; he puts what inclinations he pleaseth into the will, stores\nit with what habits he please, whether natural or supernatural, whereby\nit may be rendered more ready to act according to the Divine purpose.\nThe will of man is a finite principle, and therefore subject to Him\nwho hath an infinite sovereignty over all things; and God, having a\nsovereignty over the will, in the manner of its acting, causeth it to\nwill what he wills, as to the outward act, and the outward manner of\nperforming it. There are many examples of this part of his sovereignty.\nGod, by his sovereign conduct, ordered Moses a protectoress as soon\nas his parents had formed an \u201cark of bulrushes,\u201d wherein to set him\nfloating on the river (Exod. ii. 3\u20126): they expose him to the waves,\nand the waves expose him to the view of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, whom God,\nby his secret ordering her motion, had posted in that place; and though\nshe was the daughter of a prince that inveterately hated the whole\nnation, and had, by various arts, endeavored to extirpate them, yet\nGod inspires the royal lady {b416} with sentiments of compassion to the\nforlorn infant, though she knew him to be one of the Hebrews\u2019 children\n(ver. 6), _i. e._ one of that race whom her father had devoted to\nthe hands of the executioner; yet God, that doth by his sovereignty\nrule over the spirits of all men, moves her to take that infant into\nher protection, and nourish him at her own charge, give him a liberal\neducation, adopt him as her son, who, in time, was to be the ruin of\nher race, and the saviour of his nation. Thus he appointed Cyrus to be\nhis shepherd, and gave him a pastoral spirit for the restoration of the\ncity and temple of Jerusalem (Isa. xliv. 28): and Isaiah (chap. xlv. 5)\ntells them, in the prophecy, that he had girded him, though Cyrus had\nnot known him, _i. e._ God had given him a military spirit and strength\nfor so great an attempt, though he did not know that he was acted by\nGod for those divine purposes. And when the time came for the house of\nthe Lord to be rebuilt, the spirits of the people were raised up, not\nby themselves, but by God (Ezra i. 5), \u201cWhose spirit God had raised to\ngo up;\u201d and not only the spirit of Zerubbabel, the magistrate, and of\nJoshua, the priest, but the spirit of all the people, from the highest\nto the meanest that attended him, were acted by God to strengthen their\nhands, and promote the work (Hag. i. 14). The spirits of men, even in\nthose works which are naturally desirable to them, as the restoration\nof the city and rebuilding of the Temple was to those Jews, are acted\nby God, as the Sovereign over them, much more when the wheels of men\u2019s\nspirits are lifted up above their ordinary temper and motion. It was\nthis empire of God good Nehemiah regarded, as that whence he was to\nhope for success; he did not assure himself so much of it, from the\nfavor he had with the king, nor the reasonableness of his intended\npetition, but the absolute power God had over the heart of that\ngreat monarch; and, therefore, he supplicates the heavenly, before he\npetitioned the earthly, throne (Neh. ii. 4): \u201cSo I prayed to the God of\nheaven.\u201d The heathens had some glance of this; it is an expression that\nCicero hath somewhere, \u201cThat the Roman commonwealth was rather governed\nby the assistance of the Supreme Divinity over the hearts of men,\nthan by their own counsels and management.\u201d How often hath the feeble\ncourage of men been heightened to such a pitch as to stare death in the\nface, which before were damped with the least thought or glance of it!\nThis is a fruit of God\u2019s sovereign dominion.\n\n3. The dominion of God is manifest in restraining the furious\npassions of men, and putting a block in their way. Sometimes God doth\nit by a remarkable hand, as the Babel builders were diverted from their\nproud design by a sudden confusion of their language, and rendering it\nunintelligible to one another; sometimes by ordinary, though unexpected,\nmeans; as when Saul, like a hawk, was ready to prey upon David, whom\nhe had hunted as a partridge upon the mountains, he had another object\npresented for his arms and fury by the Philistines\u2019 sudden invasion of\na part of his territory (1 Sam. xxiii. 26\u201228). But it is chiefly seen\nby an inward curbing mutinous affections, when there is no visible\ncause. What reason but this can be rendered, why the nations bordering\non Canaan, who bore no good will to the Jews, but rather wished the\nwhole race of {b417} them rooted out from the face of the earth, should\nnot invade their country, pillage their houses, and plunder their\ncattle, while they were left naked of any human defence, the males\nbeing annually employed at one time at Jerusalem in worship; what\nreason can be rendered, but an invisible curb God put into their\nspirits? What was the reason not a man, of all the buyers and sellers\nin the Temple, should rise against our Saviour, when, with a high hand,\nhe began to whip them out, but a Divine bridle upon them? though it\nappears, by the questioning his authority, that there were Jews enough\nto have chased out him and his company (John ii. 15, 18). What was the\nreason that, at the publishing the gospel by the apostles at the first\ndescent of the Spirit, those that had used the Master so barbarously\na few days before, were not all in a foam against the servants, that,\nby preaching that doctrine, upbraided them with the late murder? Had\nthey better sentiments of the Lord, whom they had put to death? Were\ntheir natures grown tamer, and their malignity expelled? No; but that\nSovereign who had loosed the reins of their malicious corruption,\nto execute the Master for the purchase of redemption, curbed it from\nbreaking out against the servants, to further the propagation of the\ndoctrine of redemption. He that restrains the roaring lion of hell,\nrestrains also his whelps on earth; he and they must have a commission\nbefore they can put forth a finger to hurt, how malicious soever their\nnature and will be. His empire reaches over the malignity of devils,\nas well as the nature of beasts. The lions out of the den, as well\nas those in the den, are bridled by him in favor of his Daniels. His\ndominion is above that of principalities and powers; their decrees are\nat his mercy, whether they shall stand or fall; he hath a vote above\ntheir stiffest resolves: his single word, _I will_, or, _I forbid_,\noutweighs the most resolute purposes of all the mighty Nimrods of\nthe earth in their rendezvouses and cabals, in their associations and\ncounsels (Isa. viii. 9, 10): \u201cAssociate yourselves, O ye people, and\nye shall be broken in pieces; take counsel together, and it shall come\nto nought.\u201d \u201cWhen the enemy shall come in like a flood,\u201d with a violent\nand irresistible force, intending nothing but ravage and desolation,\n\u201cthe Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against them\u201d (Isa.\nlix. 19), shall give a sudden check, and damp their spirits, and put\nthem to a stand. When Laban furiously pursued Jacob, with an intent to\ndo him an ill turn, God gave him a command to do otherwise (Gen. xxxi.\n24). Would Laban have respected that command any more than he did the\nlight of nature when he worshipped idols, had not God exercised his\nauthority in inclining his will to observe it, or laying restraints\nupon his natural inclinations, or denying his concourse to the acting\nthose ill intentions he had entertained? The stilling the principles of\ncommotion in men, and the noise of the sea, are arguments of the Divine\ndominion; neither the one nor the other is in the power of the most\nsovereign prince without Divine assistance: as no prince can command a\ncalm to a raging sea, so no prince can order stillness to a tumultuous\npeople; they are both put together as equally parts of the Divine\nprerogative (Ps. lxv. 7), which \u201cstills the noise of the sea, and\ntumult of the people:\u201d and David owns God\u2019s sovereignty {b418} more\nthan his own, \u201cin subduing the people under him\u201d (Ps. xviii. 47). In\nthis his empire is illustrious (Ps. xxix. 10): \u201cThe Lord sitteth upon\nthe floods, yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever;\u201d a King impossible\nto be deposed, not only on the natural floods of the sea, that would\nnaturally overflow the world, but the metaphorical floods or tumults\nof the people, the sea in every wicked man\u2019s heart, more apt to\nrage morally than the sea to foam naturally. If you will take the\ninterpretation of an angel, waters and floods, in the prophetic style,\nsignify the inconstant and mutable people (Rev. xvii. 1, 5): \u201cThe\nwaters where the whore sits are people, and multitudes, and nations,\nand tongues:\u201d so the angel expounds to John the vision which he saw\n(ver. 1). The heathens acknowledged this part of God\u2019s sovereignty\nin the inward restraints of men: those apparitions of the gods and\ngoddesses in Homer, to several of the great men when they were in a\nfury, were nothing else, in the judgment of the wisest philosophers,\nthan an exercise of God\u2019s sovereignty in quelling their passions,\nchecking their uncomely intentions, and controlling them in that which\ntheir rage prompted them to. And, indeed, did not God set bounds to\nthe storms in men\u2019s hearts, we should soon see the funeral, not only\nof religion, but civility; the one would be blown out, and the other\ntorn up by the roots.\n\n4. The dominion of God is manifest in defeating the purposes and\ndevices of men. God often makes a mock of human projects, and doth\nas well accomplish that which they never dreamt of, as disappoint\nthat which they confidently designed. He is present at all cabals,\nlaughs at men\u2019s formal and studied counsels, bears a hand over every\negg they hatch, thwarts their best compacted designs, supplants their\ncontrivances, breaks the engines they have been many years rearing,\ndiverts the intentions of men, as a mighty wind blows an arrow from\nthe mark which the archer intended. (Job v. 12): \u201cHe disappointeth\nthe devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their\nenterprise; he taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel\nof the froward is carried headlong.\u201d Enemies often draw an exact scheme\nof their intended proceedings, marshal their companies, appoint their\nrendezvous, think to make but one morsel of those they hate; God, by\nhis sovereign dominion, turns the scale, changeth the gloominess of\nthe oppressed into a sunshine, and the enemies\u2019 sunshine into darkness.\nWhen the nations were gathered together against Sion, and said, \u201cLet\nher be defiled, and let our eye look upon Sion\u201d (Micah iv. 11), what\ndoth God do in this case? (ver. 12), \u201cHe shall gather them,\u201d _i. e._\nthose conspiring nations, as \u201csheaves into the floor.\u201d Then he sounds\na trumpet to Sion: \u201cArise, and thresh, O daughter of Sion, for I will\nmake thy horn iron, and thy hoofs brass, and thou shalt beat in pieces\nmany people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their\nsubstance unto the Lord of the whole earth.\u201d I will make them and their\ncounsels, them and their strength, the monuments and signal marks of\nmy empire over the whole earth. When you see the cunningest designs\nbaffled by some small thing intervening; when you see men of profound\nwisdom infatuated, mistake their way, and \u201cgrope in the noon\u2011day as\nin the night\u201d (Job v. 14), bewildered in {b419} a plain way; when you\nsee the hopes of mighty attempters dashed into despair, their triumphs\nturned into funerals, and their joyful expectations into sorrowful\ndisappointments; when you see the weak, devoted to destruction,\nvictorious, and the most presumptuous defeated in their purposes, then\nread the Divine dominion in the desolation of such devices. How often\ndoth God take away the heart and spirit of grand designs, and burst\na mighty wheel, by snatching but one man out of the world! How often\ndoth he \u201ccut off the spirits of princes\u201d (Ps. lxxvi. 12), either\nfrom the world by death, or from the execution of their projects by\nsome unforeseen interruption, or from favoring those contrivances,\nwhich before they cherished by a change of their minds! How often\nhath confidence in God, and religious prayer, edged the weakest and\nsmallest number of weapons to make a carnage of the carnally confident!\nHow often hath presumption been disappointed, and the contemned enemy\nrejoiced in the spoils of the proud expectant of victory! Phidias made\nthe image of Nemesis, or Revenge, at Marathon, of that marble which\nthe haughty Persians, despising the weakness of the Athenian forces,\nbrought with them, to erect a trophy for an expected, but an ungained,\nvictory.[1013] Haman\u2019s neck, by a sudden turn, was in the halter,\nwhen the Jews\u2019 necks were designed to the block; Julian designed the\noverthrow of all the Christians, just before his breast was pierced by\nan unexpected arrow; the Powder\u2011traitors were all ready to give fire\nto the mine, when the sovereign hand of Heaven snatched away the match.\nThus the great Lord of the world cuts off men on the pinnacle of their\ndesigns, when they seem to threaten heaven and earth; puts out the\ncandle of the wicked, which they thought to use to light them to the\nexecution of their purposes; turns their own counsels into a curse to\nthemselves, and a blessing to their adversaries, and makes his greatest\nenemies contribute to the effecting his purposes. How may we take\nnotice of God\u2019s absolute disposal of things in private affairs, when\nwe see one man, with a small measure of prudence and little industry,\nhave great success, and others, with a greater measure of wisdom, and\na greater toil and labor, find their enterprises melt between their\nfingers! It was Solomon\u2019s observation, \u201cThat the race was not to the\nswift, nor the battle to the strong, neither bread to the wise, nor\nriches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill\u201d (Eccles.\nix. 11). Many things might interpose to stop the swift in his race, and\ndamp the courage of the most valiant: things do not happen according\nto men\u2019s abilities, but according to the overruling authority of God:\nGod never yet granted man the dominion of his own way, no more than to\nbe lord of his own time: \u201cThe way of man is not in himself, it is not\nin him that walketh to direct his steps\u201d (Jer. x. 23). He hath given\nman a power of acting, but not the sovereignty to command success. He\nmakes even those things which men intended for their security to turn\nto their ruin; Pilate delivered up Christ to be accounted a friend to\nC\u00e6sar, and C\u00e6sar soon after proves an enemy to him, removes him from\nhis government, and sends him into banishment. The Jews imagined by the\ncrucifying Christ to keep the Roman ensigns at a {b420} distance from\nthem, and this hasted their march, by God\u2019s sovereign disposal, which\nended in a total desolation. \u201cHe makes the judges fools\u201d (Job xxii. 17),\nby taking away his light from their understanding, and suffering them\nto go on in the vanity of their own spirits, that his sovereignty in\nthe management of things may be more apparent; for then he is known to\nbe Lord, when he \u201csnares the wicked in the work of his own hands\u201d (Ps.\nix. 16). You have seen much of this doctrine in your experience, and,\nif my judgment fail me not, you will yet see much more.\n\n5. The dominion of God is manifest in sending his judgments upon\nwhom he please. \u201cHe kills and makes alive; he wounds and heals\u201d whom\nhe pleaseth: his thunders are his own, and he may cast them upon\nwhat subjects he thinks good: he hath a right, in a way of justice,\nto punish all men; he hath his choice, in a way of sovereignty, to\npick out whom he please, to make the examples of it. Might not some\nnations be as wicked as those of Sodom and Gomorrah, yet have not been\nscorched with the like dreadful flames? Zoar was untouched, while the\nother cities, her neighbors, were burnt to ashes. Were there never\nany places and persons successors in Sodom\u2019s guilt? Yet those only by\nhis sovereign authority are separated by him to be the examples of his\n\u201ceternal vengeance\u201d (Jude 7). Why are not sinners as Sodom, like as\nthose ancient ones, scalded to death by the like fiery drops? It is\nbecause it is his pleasure; and the same reason is to be rendered,\nwhy he would in a way of justice cut off the Jews for their sins, and\nleave the Gentiles untouched in the midst of their idolatries. When the\nchurch was consumed because of her iniquities, they acknowledged God\u2019s\nsovereignty in this. \u201cWe are the clay, and thou art our Potter, and we\nall the work of thy hands\u201d (Isa. lxiv. 7, 8); thou hast a liberty to\nbreak or preserve us. Judgments move according to God\u2019s order. When the\nsword hath a charge against Ashkelon and the sea\u2011shore, thither it must\nmarch, and touch not any other place or person as it goes, though there\nmay be demerit enough for it to punish. When the prophet had spake\nto the sword, \u201cO thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou\nbe quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest and be still;\u201d the\nprophet answers for the sword, \u201cHow can it be quiet, seeing the Lord\nhath given it a charge against Ashkelon? there hath he appointed it\u201d\n(Jer. xlvii. 6, 7). If he hath appointed a judgment against London\nor Westminster, or any other place, there it shall drop, there it\nshall pierce, and in no other place without a like charge. God, as a\nsovereign, gives instructions to every judgment, when, and against whom,\nit shall march, and what cities, what persons, it shall arrest; and\nhe is punctually obeyed by them, as a sovereign Lord. All creatures\nstand ready for his call, and are prepared to be executioners of his\nvengeance, when he speaks the word; they are his hosts by creation, and\nin array for his service: at the sound of his trumpet, or beat of his\ndrum, they troop together with arms in their hands, to put his orders\nexactly in execution.\n\n6. The dominion of God is manifest in appointing to every man his\ncalling and station in the world. If the hairs of every man\u2019s head\nfall under his sovereign care, the calling of every man, wherein {b421}\nhe is to glorify God and serve his generation, which is of a greater\nconcern than the hairs of the head, falls under his dominion. He is\nthe master of the great family, and divides to every one his work as he\npleaseth. The whole work of the Messiah, the time of every action, as\nwell as the hour of his passion, was ordered and appointed by God. The\nseparation of Paul to the preaching of the gospel, was by the sovereign\ndisposal of God (Rom. i. 1). By the same exercise of his authority,\nthat he \u201csets every man the bounds of his habitation\u201d (Acts xvii. 26),\nhe prescribes also to him the nature of his work. He that ordered Adam,\nthe father of mankind, his work, and the place of it, the \u201cdressing\nthe garden\u201d (Gen. ii. 15), doth not let any of his posterity be their\nown choosers, without an influence of his sovereign direction on them.\nThough our callings are our work, yet they are by God\u2019s order, wherein\nwe are to be faithful to our great Master and Ruler.\n\n7. The dominion of God is manifest in the means and occasions of\nmen\u2019s conversion. Sometimes one occasion, sometimes another; one word\nlets a man go, another arrests him, and brings him before God and his\nown conscience; it is as God gives out the order. He lets Paul be a\nprisoner at Jerusalem, that his cause should not be determined there;\nmoves him to appeal to C\u00e6sar, not only to make him a prisoner, but\na preacher, in C\u00e6sar\u2019s court, and render his chains an occasion to\nbring in a harvest of converts in Nero\u2019s palace. His bonds in or for\nChrist are \u201cmanifest in all the palace\u201d (Phil. i. 12, 13); not the bare\nknowledge of his bonds, but the sovereign design of God in those bonds,\nand the success of them; the bare knowledge of them would not make\nothers more confident for the gospel, as it follows, ver. 14, without\na providential design of them. Onesimus, running from his master,\nis guided by God\u2019s sovereign order into Paul\u2019s company, and thereby\ninto Christ\u2019s arms; and he who came a fugitive, returns a Christian\n(Philem. 10, 15). Some, by a strong affliction, have had by the Divine\nsovereignty their understandings awakened to consider, and their wills\nspirited to conversion. Monica being called Meribibula, or toss\u2011pot,\nwas brought to consider her way, and reform her life. A word hath done\nthat at one time, which hath often before fallen without any fruit.\nMany have come to suck in the eloquence of the minister, and have found\nin the honey for their ears a sting for their consciences. Austin had\nno other intent in going to hear Ambrose but to have a taste of his\nfamous oratory. But while Ambrose spake a language to his ear, God\nspake a heavenly dialect to his heart. No reason can be rendered of\nthe order, and timing, and influence of those things, but the sovereign\npleasure of God, who will attend one occasion and season with his\nblessing, and not another.\n\n8. The dominion of God is manifest in disposing of the lives of men.\nHe keeps the key of death, as well as that of the womb, in his own\nhand; he hath given man a life, but not power to dispose of it, or\nlay it down at his pleasure; and therefore he hath ordered man not to\nmurder, not another, not himself; man must expect his call and grant,\nto dispose of the life of his body. Why doth he cut the thread of this\nman\u2019s life, and spin another\u2019s out to a longer term? {b422} Why doth\none die an inglorious death, and another more honorable? One silently\ndrops away in the multitude, while another is made a sacrifice for the\nhonor of God, or the safety of his country. This is a mark of honor he\ngives to one and not to another. \u201cTo you it is given\u201d (Phil. i. 29).\nThe manner of Peter\u2019s death was appointed (John xxi. 19). Why doth a\nsmall and slight disease against the rules of physic, and the judgment\nof the best practitioners, dislodge one man\u2019s soul out of his body,\nwhile a greater disease is mastered in another, and discharges the\npatient, to enjoy himself a longer time in the land of the living?\nIs it the effect of means so much as of the Sovereign Disposer of all\nthings? If means only did it, the same means would always work the same\neffect, and sooner master a dwarfish than a giant\u2011like distemper. \u201cOur\ntimes are only in God\u2019s hands\u201d (Ps. xxxi. 15); either to cut short or\ncontinue long. As his sovereignty made the first marriage knot, so he\nreserves the sole authority to himself to make the divorce.\n\n_Fourthly._ The dominion of God is manifest in his being a Redeemer,\nas well as Lawgiver, Proprietor, and Governor. His sovereignty was\nmanifest in the creation, in bestowing upon this or that part of matter\na form more excellent than upon another. He was a Lawgiver to men and\nangels, and prescribed them rules according to the counsel of his own\nwill. These were his creatures, and perfectly at his disposal. But in\nredemption a sovereignty is exercised over the Son, the Second person\nin the Trinity, one equal with the Father in essence and works, by whom\nthe worlds were created, and by whom they do consist. The whole gospel\nis nothing else but a declaration of his sovereign pleasure concerning\nChrist, and concerning us in him; it is therefore called \u201cthe mystery\nof his will\u201d (Eph. i. 9); the will of God is distinct from the will\nof Christ, a purpose in himself, not moved thereunto by any; the\nwhole design was framed in the Deity, and as much the purpose of his\nsovereign will as the contrivance of his immense wisdom. He decreed,\nin his own pleasure, to have the Second Person assume our nature for\nto deliver mankind from that misery whereinto it was fallen. The whole\nof the gospel, and the privileges of it, are in that chapter resolved\ninto the will and pleasure of God. God is therefore called \u201cthe head\nof Christ\u201d (1 Cor. xi. 3). As Christ is superior to all men, and the\nman superior to the woman, so is God superior to Christ, and of a more\neminent dignity; in regard of the constituting him mediator, Christ\nis subject to God, as the body to the head. \u201cHead\u201d is a title of\ngovernment and sovereignty, and magistrates were called the \u201cheads\u201d\nof the people. As Christ is the head of man, so is God the head of\nChrist; and as man is subject to Christ, so is Christ subject to God;\nnot in regard of the Divine nature, wherein there is an equality, and\nconsequently no dominion of jurisdiction; nor only in his human nature,\nbut in the economy of a Redeemer, considered as one designed, and\nconsenting to be incarnate, and take our flesh; so that after this\nagreement, God had a sovereign right to dispose of him according to the\narticles consented to. In regard of his undertaking, and the advantage\nhe was to bring to the elect of God upon the earth, he calls God by the\n{b423} solemn title of \u201chis Lord\u201d in that prophetic psalm of him (Ps.\nxvi. 2): \u201cO my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord:\nmy goodness extends not unto thee, but unto the saints that are in\nthe earth.\u201d It seems to be the speech of Christ in heaven, mentioning\nthe saints on earth as at a distance from him. I can add nothing to\nthe glory of thy majesty, but the whole fruit of my meditation and\nsufferings will redound to the saints on earth. And it may be observed,\nthat God is called the Lord of Hosts in the evangelical prophets,\nIsaiah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi, more in reference to this\naffair of redemption, and the deliverance of the church, than for any\nother works of his providence in the world.\n\n1. This sovereignty of God appears, in requiring satisfaction for\nthe sin of man. Had he indulged man after his fall, and remitted his\noffence without a just compensation for the injury he had received\nby his rebellion, his authority had been vilified, man would always\nhave been attempting against his jurisdiction, there would have been\na continual succession of rebellions on man\u2019s part; and if a continual\nsuccession of indulgences on God\u2019s part, he had quite disowned his\nauthority over man, and stripped himself of the flower of his crown;\nsatisfaction must have been required some time or other from the person\nthus rebelling, or some other in his stead; and to require it after\nthe first act of sin, was more preservative to the right of the Divine\nsovereignty, than to do it after a multitude of repeated revolts. God\nmust have laid aside his authority if he had laid aside wholly the\nexacting punishment for the offence of man.\n\n2. This sovereignty of God appears, in appointing Christ to this work\nof redemption. His sovereignty was before manifest over angels and\nmen by the right of creation; there was nothing wanting to declare the\nhighest charge of it, but his ordering his own Son to become a mortal\ncreature; the Lord of all things to become lower than those angels\nthat had, as well as all other things, received their being and beauty\nfrom him, and to be reckoned in his death among the dust and refuse of\nthe world: he by whom God created all things, not only became a man,\nbut a crucified man, by the will of his Father (Gal. i. 4), \u201cwho gave\nhimself for our sins according to the will of God;\u201d to which may refer\nthat expression (Prov. viii. 22), of his being \u201cpossessed by God in the\nbeginning of his way.\u201d Possession is the dominion of a thing invested\nin the possessor; he was possessed, indeed, as a Son by eternal\ngeneration; he was possessed also in the beginning of his way or\nworks of creation, as a Mediator by special constitution: to this\nthe expression seems to refer, if you read on to the end of ver. 31,\nwherein Christ speaks of his \u201crejoicing in the habitable part of his\nearth,\u201d the earth of the great God, who hath designed him to this\nspecial work of redemption. He was a Son by nature, but a Mediator by\nDivine will; in regard of which Christ is often called God\u2019s servant,\nwhich is a relation to God as a Lord. God being the Lord of all things,\nthe dominion of all things inferior to him is inseparable from him; and\nin this regard, the whole of what Christ was to do, and did actually\ndo, was acted by him as the will of God, and is expressed so by himself\nin the prophecy (Ps. xl. 7), \u201cLo, I come;\u201d (ver. 8), \u201cI delight to do\n{b424} thy will;\u201d which are put together (Heb. x. 7), \u201cLo, I come to\ndo thy will, O God.\u201d The designing Christ to this work was an act of\nmercy, but founded on his sovereignty. His compassionate bowels might\nhave pitied us without his being sovereign, but without it could not\nhave relieved us. It was the council of his own will, as well as of his\nbowels: none was his counsellor or persuader to that mercy he showed:\n(Rom. xi. 34), \u201cWho hath been his counsellor?\u201d for it refers to that\nmercy in \u201csending the Deliverer out of Sion\u201d (ver. 26), as well as to\nother things the apostle had been discoursing of. As God was at liberty\nto create, or not to create, so he was at liberty to redeem or not\nto redeem, and at his liberty whether to appoint Christ to this work,\nor not to call him out to it. In giving this order to his Son, his\nsovereignty was exercised in a higher manner than in all the orders\nand instructions he hath given out to men or angels, and all the\nemployments he ever sent them upon. Christ hath names which signify an\nauthority over him: he is called \u201can Angel,\u201d and a \u201cMessenger\u201d (Mal.\niii. 1); an \u201cApostle\u201d (Heb. iii. 1): declaring thereby, that God hath\nas much authority over him as over the angels sent upon his messages,\nor over the apostles commissioned by his authority, as he was\nconsidered in the quality of Mediator.\n\n3. This sovereignty of God appears in transferring our sins upon\nChrist. The supreme power in a nation can only appoint or allow of a\ncommutation of punishment; it is a part of sovereignty to transfer the\npenalty due to the crime of one upon another, and substitute a sufferer,\nwith the sufferer\u2019s own consent, in the place of a criminal, whom he\nhad a mind to deliver from a deserved punishment. God transferred the\nsins of men upon Christ, and inflicted on him a punishment for them.\nHe summed up the debts of man, charged them upon the score of Christ,\nimputing to him the guilt, and inflicting upon him the penalty. (Isa.\nliii. 6): \u201cThe Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all;\u201d he\nmade them all to meet upon his back: \u201cHe hath made him to be sin\nfor us\u201d (2 Cor. v. 21); he was made so by the sovereign pleasure of\nGod: a punishment for sin, as most understand it, which could not be\nrighteously inflicted, had not sin been first righteously imputed, by\nthe consent of Christ, and the order of the Judge of the world. This\nimputation could be the immediate act of none but God, because he\nwas the sole creditor. A creditor is not bound to accept of another\u2019s\nsuretyship, but it is at his liberty whether he will or no; and when he\ndoth accept of him, he may challenge the debt of him, as if he were the\nprincipal debtor himself. Christ made himself sin for us by a voluntary\nsubmission; and God made him sin for us by a full imputation, and\ntreated him penally, as he would have done those sinners in whose stead\nhe suffered. Without this act of sovereignty in God, we had forever\nperished: for if we could suppose Christ laying down his life for us\nwithout the pleasure and order of God, he could not have been said to\nhave borne our punishment. What could he have undergone in his humanity\nbut a temporal death? But more than this was due to us, even the wrath\nof God, which far exceeds the calamity of a mere bodily death. The\nsoul being principal in the crime, was to {b425} be principal in the\npunishment. The wrath of God could not have dropped upon his soul, and\nrendered it so full of agonies, without the hand of God: a creature\nis not capable to reach the soul, neither as to comfort nor terror;\nand the justice of God could not have made him a sufferer, if it had\nnot first considered him a sinner by imputation, or by inherency, and\nactual commission of a crime in his own person. The latter was far from\nChrist, who was holy, harmless, and undefiled. He must be considered\nthen in the other state of imputation, which could not be without\na sovereign appointment, or at least concession of God: for without\nit, he could have no more authority to lay down his life for us, than\nAbraham could have had to have sacrificed his son, or any man to expose\nhimself to death without a call; nor could any plea have been entered\nin the court of heaven, either by Christ for us, or by us for ourselves.\nAnd though the death of so great a person had been meritorious in\nitself, it had not been meritorious for us, or accepted for us;\nChrist is \u201cdelivered up by him\u201d (Rom. viii. 32), in every part of\nthat condition wherein he was, and suffered; and to that end, that\n\u201cwe might become the righteousness of God in him\u201d (2 Cor. v. 21): that\nwe might have the righteousness of him that was God imputed to us,\nor that we might have a righteousness as great and proportioned to\nthe righteousness of God, as God required. It was an act of Divine\nsovereignty to account him that was righteous a sinner in our stead,\nand to account us, who were sinners, righteous upon the merit of his\ndeath.\n\n4. This was done by the command of God; by God as a Lawgiver, having\nthe supreme legislative and preceptive authority: in which respect, the\nwhole work of Christ is said to be an answer to a law, not one given\nhim, but put into his heart, as the law of nature was in the heart of\nman at first. (Ps. xl. 7, 8): \u201cThy law is within my heart.\u201d This law\nwas not the law of nature or moral law, though that was also in the\nheart of Christ, but the command of doing those things which were\nnecessary for our salvation, and not a command so much of doing, as\nof dying. The moral law in the heart of Christ would have done us no\ngood without the mediatory law; we had been where we were by the sole\nobservance of the precepts of the moral law, without his suffering\nthe penalty of it: the law in the heart of Christ was the law of\nsuffering, or dying, the doing that for us by his death which the blood\nof sacrifices was unable to effect. Legal \u201csacrifices thou wouldest\nnot; thy law is within my heart;\u201d _i. e._ thy law ordered me to be\na sacrifice; it was that law, his obedience to which was principally\naccepted and esteemed, and that was principally his passive, his\nobedience to death (Phil. ii. 8); this was the special command received\nfrom God, that he should die (John x. 18). It is not so clearly\nmanifested when this command was given, whether after the incarnation\nof Christ, or at the point of his constitution as Mediator, upon the\ntransaction between the Father and the Son concerning the affair of\nredemption: the promise was given \u201cbefore the world began\u201d (Tit. i. 2).\nMight not the precept be given, before the world began, to Christ,\nas considered in the quality of Mediator and Redeemer? Precepts and\npromises usually attend one another; every covenant is made up of both.\nChrist, considered {b426} here as the Son of God in the Divine nature,\nwas not capable of a command or promise; but considered in the relation\nof Mediator between God and man, he was capable of both. Promises\nof assistance were made before his actual incarnation, of which the\nProphets are full: why not precepts for his obedience, since long\nbefore his incarnation this was his speech in the Prophet, \u201cThy law is\nwithin my heart!\u201d however, a command, a law it was, which is a fruit\nof the Divine sovereignty; that as the sovereignty of God was impeached\nand violated by the disobedience of Adam, it might be owned and\nvindicated by the obedience of Christ; that as we fell by disloyalty\nto it, we might rise by the highest submission to it in another head,\ninfinitely superior in his person to Adam, by whom we fell.\n\n5. This sovereignty of God appears in exalting Christ to such a\nsovereign dignity as our Redeemer. Some, indeed, say, that this\nsovereignty of Christ\u2019s human nature was natural, and the right of it\nresulted from its union with the Divine; as a lady of mean condition,\nwhen espoused and married to a prince, hath, by virtue of that, a\nnatural right to some kind of jurisdiction over the whole kingdom,\nbecause she is one with the king.[1014] But to waive this; the\nScripture placeth wholly the conferring such an authority upon the\npleasure and will of God. As Christ was a gift of God\u2019s sovereign will\nto us, so this was a gift of God\u2019s sovereign will to Christ (Matt.\nxxviii. 28): \u201cAll power is given me.\u201d And he \u201cgave him to be head over\nall things to the church\u201d (Eph. i. 22); \u201cGod gave him a name above\nevery name\u201d (Phil. ii. 9); and, therefore, his throne he sits upon is\ncalled \u201cThe throne of his Father\u201d (Rev. iii. 21). And he \u201ccommitted all\njudgment to the Son,\u201d _i. e._ all government and dominion; an empire\nin heaven and earth (John v. 22); and that because he is \u201cthe Son of\nMan\u201d (ver. 27); which may understood, that the Father hath given him\nauthority to exercise that judgment and government as the Son of Man,\nwhich he originally had as the Son of God; or rather, because he became\na servant, and humbled himself to death, he gives him this authority as\nthe reward of his obedience and humility, conformable to Phil. ii. 9.\nThis is an act of the high sovereignty of God, to obscure his own\nauthority in a sense, and take into association with him, or vicarious\nsubordination to him, the human nature of Christ as united to the\nDivine; not only lifting it above the heads of all the angels, but\ngiving that person in our nature an empire over them, whose nature was\nmore excellent than ours: yea, the sovereignty of God appears in the\nwhole management of this kingly office of Christ; for it is managed\nin every part of it according to God\u2019s order (Ezek. xxxvii. 24, 25):\n\u201cDavid, my servant, shall be king over them,\u201d and \u201cmy servant David\nshall be their prince forever:\u201d he shall be a prince over them, but\nmy servant in that principality, in the exercise and duration of it.\nThe sovereignty of God is paramount in all that Christ hath done as\na priest, or shall do as a king.\n\n_Use I._ For instruction.\n\n1. How great is the contempt of this sovereignty of God! Man {b427}\nnaturally would be free from God\u2019s empire, to be a slave under the\ndominion of his own lust; the sovereignty of God, as a Lawgiver, is\nmost abhorred by man (Lev. xxvi. 43). The Israelites, the best people\nin the world, were apt, by nature, not only to despise, but abhor,\nhis statutes; there is not a law of God but the corrupt heart of man\nhath an abhorrency of: how often do men wish that God had not enacted\nthis or that law that goes against the grain! and, in wishing so, wish\nthat he were no sovereign, or not such a sovereign as he is in his own\nnature, but one according to their corrupt model. This is the great\nquarrel between God and man, whether he or they shall be the Sovereign\nRuler. He should not, by the will of man, rule in any one village in\nthe world; God\u2019s vote should not be predominant in any one thing. There\nis not a law of his but is exposed to contempt by the perverseness of\nman (Prov. i. 21): \u201cYe have set at nought all my counsel, and would\nhave none of my reproof:\u201d _Septuag._ \u201cYe have made all my counsels\nwithout authority.\u201d The nature of man cannot endure one precept of\nGod, nor one rebuke from him; and for this cause God is at the expense\nof judgments in the world, to assert his own empire to the teeth and\nconsciences of men (Ps. lix. 13): \u201cLord, consume them in wrath, and\nlet them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth.\u201d The\ndominion of God is not slighted by any creature of this world but man;\nall others observe it by observing his order, whether in their natural\nmotions or preternatural irruptions; they punctually act according to\ntheir commission. Man only speaks a dialect against the strain of the\nwhole creation, and hath none to imitate him among all the creatures\nin heaven and earth, but only among those in hell: man is more\nimpatient of the yoke of God than of the yoke of man. There are not\nso many rebellions committed by inferiors against their superiors and\nfellow\u2011creatures, as are committed against God. A willing and easy\nsinning is an equalling the authority of God to that of man (Hos. vi.\n7): \u201cThey, like men, have transgressed my covenant;\u201d they have made\nno more account of breaking my covenant than if they had broken some\nleague or compact made with a mere man; so slightly do they esteem the\nauthority of God; such a disesteem of the Divine authority is a virtual\nundeifying of him.[1015] To slight his sovereignty is to stab his Deity;\nsince the one cannot be preserved without the support of the other, his\nlife would expire with his authority. How base and brutish is it for\nvile dust and mouldering clay to lift up itself against the majesty\nof God, whose throne is in the heavens, who sways his sceptre over all\nparts of the world\u2015\u2015a Majesty before whom the devils shake, and the\nhighest cherubims tremble! It is as if the thistle, that can presently\nbe trod down by the foot of a wild beast, should think itself a match\nfor the cedar of Lebanon, as the phrase is, 2 Kings xiv. 9.\n\nLet us consider this in general; and, also, in the ordinary practice of\nmen. _First_, In general.\n\n(1.) All sin in its nature is a contempt of the Divine dominion. As\nevery act of obedience is a confirmation of the law, and consequently a\nsubscription of the authority of the Lawgiver (Deut. xxvii. 26), {b428}\nso every breach to it is a conspiracy against the sovereignty of the\nLawgiver; setting up our will against the will of God is an articling\nagainst his authority, as setting up our reason against the methods\nof God is an articling against his wisdom; the intendment of every act\nof sin is to wrest the sceptre out of God\u2019s hand. The authority of God\nis the first attribute in the Deity which it directs its edge against;\nit is called, therefore, a \u201ctransgression of his law\u201d (1 John iii. 4),\nand, therefore, a slight, or neglect, of the majesty of God; and the\nnot keeping his commands is called a \u201cforgetting God\u201d (Deut. viii. 11),\n_i. e._ a forgetting him to be our absolute Lord. As the first notion\nwe have of God as a Creator is that of his sovereignty, so the first\nperfection that sin struck at, in the violation of the law, was his\nsovereignty as a Lawgiver. \u201cBreaking the law is a dishonoring God\u201d\n(Rom. ii. 23), a snatching off his crown; to obey our own wills before\nthe will of God, is to prefer ourselves as our own sovereigns before\nhim. Sin is a wrong, and injury to God, not in his essence, that is\nabove the reach of a creature, nor in anything profitable to him, or\npertaining to his own intrinsic advantage; not an injury to God in\nhimself, but in his authority, in those things which pertain to his\nglory; a disowning his due right, and not using his goods according to\nhis will. Thus the whole world may be called, as God calls Chaldea, \u201ca\nland of rebels\u201d (Jer. l. 21): \u201cGo up against the land of Merathaim,\u201d\nor rebels: rebels, not against the Jews, but against God. The mighty\nopposition in the heart of man to the supremacy of God is discovered\nemphatically by the apostle (Rom. viii. 7) in that expression, \u201cThe\ncarnal mind is enmity against God,\u201d _i. e._ against the authority of\nGod, because \u201cit is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can\nbe.\u201d It refuseth not subjection to this or that part, but to the whole;\nto every mark of Divine authority in it; it will not lay down its arms\nagainst it, nay, it cannot but stand upon its terms against it; the law\ncan no more be fulfilled by a carnal mind, than it can be disowned by\na sovereign God. God is so holy, that he cannot alter a righteous law,\nand man is so averse, that he cares not for, nay, cannot fulfil, one\ntitle; so much doth the nature of man swell against the majesty of God.\nNow an enmity to the law, which is in every sin, implies a perversity\nagainst the authority of God that enacted it.\n\n(2.) All sin, in its nature, is the despoiling God of his sole\nsovereignty, which was probably the first thing the devil aimed at.\nThat pride was the sin of the devil, the Scripture gives us some\naccount of, when the apostle adviseth not a novice, or one that hath\nbut lately embraced the faith, to be chosen a bishop (1 Tim. iii. 6),\n\u201cLest, being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of\nthe devil;\u201d lest he fall into the same sin for which the devil was\ncondemned. But in what particular thing this pride was manifest, is\nnot so easily discernible; the ancients generally conceived it to be\nan affecting the throne of God, grounding it on Isa. xiv. 12: \u201cHow\nart thou fallen, O Lucifer, son of the morning! for thou hast said in\nthy heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the\nstars of God.\u201d It is certain the prophet speaks there of the king of\nBabylon, and taxeth him for his pride, and gives to him the title {b429}\nof \u201cLucifer,\u201d perhaps likening him in his pride to the devil, and then\nit notes plainly the particular sin of the devil, attempting a share in\nthe sovereignty of God; and some strengthen their conjecture from the\nname of the archangel who contended against Satan (Jude 9), which is\nMichael, which signifies, \u201cWho as God?\u201d or, \u201cWho like God?\u201d the name\nof the angel giving the superiority to God, intimating the contrary\ndisposition in the devil, against whom he contended. It is likely his\nsin was an affecting equality with God in empire, or a freedom from\nthe sovereign authority of God; because he imprinted such a kind of\npersuasion on man at his first temptation: \u201cYe shall be as gods\u201d (Gen.\niii. 5); and though it be restrained to the matter of knowledge, yet\nthat being a fitness for government, it may be extended to that also.\nBut it is plainly a persuading them, that they might be, in some sort,\nequal with God, and independent on him as their superior. What he had\nfound so fatal to himself, he imagined would have the same success in\nthe ruin of man. And since the devil hath, in all ages of the world,\nusurped a worship to himself which is only due to God, and would\nbe served by man, as if he were the God of the world; since all his\nendeavor was to be worshipped as the Supreme God on earth, it is not\nunreasonable to think, that he invaded the supremacy of God in heaven,\nand endeavored to be like the Most High before his banishment, as he\nhath attempted to be like the Most High since. And since the devil and\nantichrist are reputed by John, in the Revelation, to be so near of\nkin, and so like in disposition, why might not that, which is the sin\nof antichrist, the image of him, be also the sin of Satan, \u201cto exalt\nhimself above all that is called God\u201d (2 Thess. ii. 4), and \u201csit as\nGod in his temple,\u201d affecting a partnership in his throne and worship?\nWhether it was this, or attempting an unaccountable dominion over\ncreated things, or because he was the prime angel, and the most\nillustrious of that magnificent corporation, he might think himself\nfit to reign with God over all things else? Or if his sin were envy,\nas some think, at the felicity of man in paradise, it was still a\nquarrelling with God\u2019s dominion, and right of disposing his own goods\nand favors; he is, therefore, called \u201cBelial\u201d (2 Cor. vi. 14, 15):\n\u201cWhat concord hath Christ with Belial?\u201d _i. e._ with the devil, one\n\u201cwithout yoke,\u201d as the word \u201cBelial\u201d signifies.\n\n(3.) It is more plain, that this was the sin of Adam. The first act\nof Adam was to exercise a lordship over the lower creatures, in giving\nnames to them,\u2015\u2015a token of dominion (Gen. ii. 19). The next was to\naffect a lordship over God, in rebelling against him. After he had\nwrit the first mark of his own delegated dominion, in the names he gave\nthe creatures, and owned their dependence on him as their governor, he\nwould not acknowledge his own dependence on God. As soon as the Lord\nof the world had put him into possession of the power he had allotted\nhim, he attempted to strip his Lord of that which he had reserved to\nhimself; he was not content to lay a yoke upon the other creatures,\nbut desirous to shake off the Divine yoke from himself, and be subject\nto none but his own will; hence Adam\u2019s sin is more particularly called\n\u201cdisobedience\u201d (Rom. v. 19): for, in the eating the apple, there was\nno moral evil in itself, but a {b430} contradiction to the positive\ncommand and order of God, whereby he did disown God\u2019s right of\ncommanding him, or reserving anything from him to his own use. The\nlanguage all his posterity speaks, \u201cLet us break his bands, and cast\naway his cords from us\u201d (Ps. ii. 3), was learned from Adam in that act\nof his. The next act we read of, was that of Cain\u2019s murdering Abel,\nwhich was an invading God\u2019s right, in assuming an authority to dispose\nof the life of his brother,\u2015\u2015a life which God had given him, and\nreserved the period of it in his own hands. And he persists in the same\nusurpation when God came to examine him, and ask him where his brother\nwas; how scornful was his answer! (Gen. iv. 9): \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s\nkeeper?\u201d as much as if he had said, What have you to do to examine\nme? or, What obligation is there upon me to render an account of him?\nor, as one saith, it is as much as if he had said, \u201cGo, look for him\nyourself.\u201d[1016] The sovereignty of God did not remain undisturbed as\nsoon as ever it appeared in creation; the devils rebelled against it in\nheaven, and man would have banished it from the earth.\n\n(4.) The sovereignty of God hath not been less invaded by the\nusurpations of men. One single order of the Roman episcopacy hath\nendeavored to usurp the prerogatives of God; the Pope will prohibit\nwhat God hath allowed; the marriage of priests; the receiving of the\ncup, as well as of the bread, in the sacrament; the eating of this or\nthat sort of meat at special times, meats which God hath sanctified;\nand forbid them, too, upon pain of damnation. It is an invasion of\nGod\u2019s right to forbid the use of what God hath granted, as though the\nearth, and the fulness thereof, were no longer the Lord\u2019s, but the\nPope\u2019s; much more to forbid what God hath commanded, as if Christ\noverreached his own authority, when he enjoined all to drink of the\nsacramental wine, as well as eat of the sacramental bread. No lord but\nwill think his right usurped by that steward who shall permit to others\nwhat his lord forbids, and forbid that which his master allows, and\nact the lord instead of the servant. Add to this the pardons of many\nsins, as if he had the sole key to the treasures of Divine mercy;\nthe disposing of crowns and dominions at his pleasure, as if God had\ndivested himself of the title of King of kings, and transferred it upon\nthe see of Rome. The allowing public stews, dispensing with incestuous\nmarriages, as if God had acted more the part of a tyrant than of a\nrighteous Sovereign in forbidding them, depriving the Jews of the\npropriety in their estates upon their conversion to Christianity, as\nif the pilfering men\u2019s goods were the way to teach them self\u2011denial,\nthe first doctrine of Christian religion; and God shall have no honor\nfrom the Jew without a breach of his law by theft from the Christian.\nGranting many years\u2019 indulgences upon slight performances, the\nrepeating so many _Ave\u2011Marias_ and _Pater\u2011Nosters_ in a day, canonizing\nsaints, claiming the keys of heaven, and disposing of the honors and\nglory of it, and proposing creatures as objects of religious worship,\nwherein he answers the character of the apostle (2 Thess. ii. 4),\n\u201cshowing himself that he is God,\u201d in challenging that power which is\nonly the right of Divine sovereignty; exalting himself above God, in\nindulging {b431} those things which the law of God never allowed, but\nhath severely prohibited. This controlling the sovereignty of God, not\nallowing him the rights of his crown, is the soul and spirit of many\nerrors. Why are the decrees of election and preterition denied? Because\nmen will not acknowledge God the Sovereign Disposer of his creature.\nWhy is effectual calling and efficacious grace denied? Because they\nwill not allow God the proprietor and distributer of his own goods. Why\nis the satisfaction of Christ denied? Because they will not allow God\na power to vindicate his own law in what way he pleaseth. Most of the\nerrors of men may be resolved into a denial of God\u2019s sovereignty; all\nhave a tincture of the first evil sentiment of Adam.\n\n_Secondly._ The sovereignty of God is contemned in the practices of\nmen\u2015\u2015(1.) As he is a _Lawgiver_.\n\n[1.] When laws are made, and urged in any state contrary to the law of\nGod. It is part of God\u2019s sovereignty to be a Lawgiver; not to obey his\nlaw is a breach made upon his right of government; but it is treason\nin any against the crown of God, to mint laws with a stamp contrary\nto that of heaven, whereby they renounce their due subjection, and\nvie with God for dominion, snatch the supremacy from him, and account\nthemselves more lords than the Sovereign Monarch of the world. When\nmen will not let God be the judge of good and evil, but put in their\nown vote, controlling his to establish their own; such are not content\nto be as gods, subordinate to the supreme God, to sit at his feet;\nnor co\u2011ordinate with him, to sit equal upon his throne; but paramount\nto him, to over\u2011top and shadow his crown;\u2015\u2015a boldness that leaves\nthe serpent, in the first temptation, under the character of a more\ncommendable modesty; who advised our first parents to attempt to be\nas gods, but not above him, and would enervate a law of God, but not\nenact a contrary one to be observed by them. Such was the usurpation\nof Nebuchadnezzar, to set up a golden image to be adored (Dan. iii.),\nas if he had power to mint gods, as well as to conquer men; to set the\nstamp of a Deity upon a piece of gold, as well as his own effigies upon\nhis current coin. Much of the same nature was that of Darius, by the\nmotion of his flatterers, to prohibit any petition to be made to God\nfor the space of thirty days, as though God was not to have a worship\nwithout a license from a doting piece of clay (Dan. vi. 7). So Henry\nthe Third of France, by his edict, silenced masters of families from\npraying with their households.[1017] And it is a farther contempt of\nGod\u2019s authority, when good men are oppressed by the sole weight of\npower, for not observing such laws, as if they had a real sovereignty\nover the consciences of men, more than God himself.[1018] When the\napostles were commanded by an angel from God, to preach in the Temple\nthe doctrine of Christ (Acts v. 19, 20), they were fetched from thence\nwith a guard before the council (ver. 6). And what is the language\nof those statesmen to them? as absolute as God himself could speak to\nany transgressors of his law. \u201cDid not we straitly command you, that\nyou should not teach in this name?\u201d (ver. 28). It is sufficient that\nwe gave you a command to be silent, and publish {b432} no more this\ndoctrine of Jesus; it is not for you to examine our decrees, but rest\nin our order as loyal subjects, and comply with your rulers; they\nmight have added,\u2015\u2015though it be with the damnation of your souls. How\nwould those overrule the apostles by no other reason but their absolute\npleasure! And though God had espoused their cause, by delivering them\nout of the prison, wherein they had locked them the day before, yet not\none of all this council had the wit or honesty to entitle it a fighting\nagainst God, but Gamaliel (ver. 29). So foolishly fond are men to put\nthemselves in the place of God, and usurp a jurisdiction over men\u2019s\nconsciences: and to presume that laws made against the interest and\ncommand of God, must be of more force than the laws of God\u2019s enacting.\n\n[2.] The sovereignty of God is contemned in making additions to the\nlaws of God. The authority of a sovereign Lawgiver is invaded and\nvilified when an inferior presumes to make orders equivalent to his\nedicts. It is a _pr\u00e6munire_ against heaven to set up an authority\ndistinct from that of God, or to enjoin anything as necessary in\nmatter of worship for which a Divine commission cannot be shown. God\nwas always so tender of this part of his prerogative, that he would\nnot have anything wrought in the tabernacle, not a vessel, not an\ninstrument, but what himself had prescribed. \u201cAccording to all that\nI show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of\nall the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it\u201d (Exod. xxv. 9);\nwhich is strictly urged again, ver. 40: \u201cLook that thou make them after\ntheir pattern;\u201d look to it, beware of doing anything of thine own head,\nand justling with my authority. It was so afterwards in the matter of\nthe temple, which succeeded the tabernacle; God gave the model of it\nto David, and made him \u201cunderstand in writing by his hand upon him,\neven all the works of this pattern\u201d (1 Chron. xxviii. 19). Neither the\nroyal authority in Moses, who was king in Jesurun; nor in David, who\nwas a man after God\u2019s own heart, and called to the crown by a special\nand extraordinary providence; nor Aaron, and the high priests his\nsuccessors, invested in the sacerdotal office, had any authority from\nGod, to do anything in the framing the tabernacle or temple of their\nown heads. God barred them from anything of that nature, by giving them\nan exact pattern, so dear to him was always this flower of his crown.\nAnd afterwards, the power of appointing officers and ordinances in\nthe church was delegated to Christ, and was among the rest of those\nroyalties given to him, which he fully completed \u201cfor the edifying\nof the body\u201d (Eph. iv. 11, 12); and he hath the eulogy by the Spirit\nof God, to be \u201cfaithful as Moses was in all his house, to Him that\nappointed him\u201d (Heb. iii. 2). Faithfulness in a trust implies a\npunctual observing directions; God was still so tender of this, that\neven Christ, the Son, should no more do anything in this concern\nwithout appointment and pattern, than \u201cMoses, a servant\u201d (ver. 5, 6).\nIt seems to be a vote of nature to refer the original of the modes of\nall worship to God; and therefore in all those varieties of ceremonies\namong the heathens, there was scarce any but were imagined by them\nto be the dictates and orders of some of their pretended deities, and\nnot the resolves of mere human authority. What intrusion upon God\u2019s\nright hath the papacy {b433} made in regard of officers, cardinals,\npatriarchs, &c., not known in any Divine order? In regard of ceremonies\nin worship, pressed as necessary to obtain the favor of God, holy water,\ncrucifixes, altars, images, cringings, reviving many of the Jewish\nand Pagan ceremonies, and adopting them into the family of Christian\nordinances; as if God had been too absolute and arbitrary in repealing\nthe one, and dashing in pieces the other. When God had by his sovereign\norder framed a religion for the heart, men are ready to usurp an\nauthority to frame one for the sense, to dress the ordinances of God\nin new and gaudy habits, to take the eye by a vain pomp; thus affecting\na Divine royalty, and acting a silly childishness; and after this, to\nimpose the observation of those upon the consciences of men, is a bold\nascent into the throne of God; to impose laws upon the conscience,\nwhich Christ hath not imposed, hath deservedly been thought the very\nspirit of antichrist; it may be called also the spirit of anti\u2011god. God\nhath reserved to himself the sole sovereignty over the conscience, and\nnever indulged men any part of it; he hath not given man a power over\nhis own conscience, much less one man a power over another\u2019s conscience.\nMen have a power over outward things to do this or that, where it is\ndetermined by the law of God, but not the least authority to control\nany dictate or determination of conscience: the sole empire of that\nis appropriate to God, as one of the great marks of his royalty.\nWhat an usurpation is it of God\u2019s right to make conscience a slave\nto man, which God hath solely, as the Father of spirits, subjected to\nhimself!\u2015\u2015an usurpation which, though the apostles, those extraordinary\nofficers, might better have claimed, yet they utterly disowned any\nimperious dominion over the faith of others (2 Cor. i. 24). Though in\nthis they do not seem to climb up above God, yet they set themselves in\nthe throne of God, envy him an absolute monarchy, would be sharers with\nhim in his legislative power, and grasp one end of his sceptre in their\nown hands. They do not pretend to take the crown from God\u2019s head, but\ndiscover a bold ambition to shuffle their hairy scalps under it, and\nwear part of it upon their own, that they may rule with him, not under\nhim; and would be joint lords of his manor with him, who hath, by the\napostle, forbidden any to be \u201clords of his heritage\u201d (1 Pet. v. 3): and\ntherefore they cannot assume such an authority to themselves till they\ncan show where God hath resigned this part of his authority to them.\nIf their exposition of that place (Matt. xvi. 18), \u201cUpon this rock I\nwill build my church,\u201d be granted to be true, and that the person and\nsuccessors of Peter are meant by that rock, it could be no apology for\ntheir usurpations; it is not Peter and his successors shall build, but\n\u201cI will build;\u201d others are instruments in building, but they are to\nobserve the directions of the grand Architect.\n\n[3.] The sovereignty of God is contemned when men prefer obedience to\nmen\u2019s laws before obedience to God. As God hath an undoubted right, as\nthe Lawgiver and Ruler of the world, to enact laws without consulting\nthe pleasure of men, or requiring their consent to the verifying and\nestablishing his edicts, so are men obliged, by their allegiance as\nsubjects, to observe the laws of their Creator, without consulting\nwhether they be agreeable to the laws of his revolted {b434} creatures.\nTo consult with flesh and blood whether we should obey, is to authorize\nflesh and blood above the purest and most sovereign Spirit. When men\nwill obey their superiors, without taking in the condition the apostle\nprescribes to servants (Col. iii. 22), \u201cIn singleness of heart fearing\nGod,\u201d and postpone the fear of God to the fear of man, it is to render\nGod of less power with them than the drop of a bucket, or dust of the\nbalance. When we, out of fear of punishment, will observe the laws of\nmen against the laws of God, it is like the Egyptians, to worship a\nravenous crocodile instead of a Deity; when we submit to human laws,\nand stagger at Divine, it is to set man upon the throne of God, and\nGod at the footstool of man; to set man above, and God beneath; to\nmake him the tail, and not the head, as God speaks in another case of\nIsrael (Deut. xxviii. 13). When we pay an outward observation to Divine\nlaws, because they are backed by the laws of man, and human authority\nis the motive of our observance, we subject God\u2019s sovereignty to\nman\u2019s authority; what he hath from us, is more owing to the pleasure\nof men than any value we have for the empire of God: when men shall\ncommit murders, and imbrue their hands in blood by the order of a\ngrandee; when the worst sins shall be committed by the order of papal\ndispensations; when the use of his creatures, which God hath granted\nand sanctified, shall be abstained from for so many days in the week,\nand so many weeks in the year, because of a Roman edict, the authority\nof man is acknowledged, not only equal, but superior, to that of God;\nthe dominion of dust and clay is preferred before the undoubted right\nof the Sovereign of the world; the commands of God are made less than\nhuman, and the orders of men more authoritative than Divine, and a\ngrand rebel\u2019s usurpation of God\u2019s right is countenanced. When men\nare more devout in observance of uncertain traditions, or mere human\ninventions, than at the hearing of the unquestionable oracles of God;\nwhen men shall squeeze their countenances into a more serious figure,\nand demean themselves in a more religious posture, at the appearance\nof some mock ceremony, clothed in a Jewish or Pagan garb, which\nhath unhappily made a rent in the coat of Christ, and pay a more\nexact reverence to that which hath no Divine, but only a human stamp\nupon it, than to the clear and plain word of God, which is perhaps\nneglected with sleepy nods, or which is worse, entertained with profane\nscoffs;\u2015\u2015this is to prefer the authority of man employed in trifles,\nbefore the authority of the wise Lawgiver of the world: besides, the\nridiculousness of it is as great as to adore a glow\u2011worm, and laugh at\nthe sun; or for a courtier to be more exact in his cringes and starched\npostures before a puppet than before his sovereign prince. In all this\nwe make not the will and authority of God our rule, but the will of\nman; disclaim our dependence on God, to hang upon the uncertain breath\nof a creature. In all this God is made less than man, and man more\nthan God; God is deposed, and man enthroned; God made a slave, and man\na sovereign above him. To this we may refer the solemn addresses of\nsome for the maintenance of the Protestant religion according to law,\nthe law of man; not so much minding the law of God, resolving to make\nthe law, the church, the state, the rule of their religion, and {b435}\nchange that if the laws be changed, steering their opinions by the\ncompass of the magistrate\u2019s judgment and interest.\n\n(2.) The dominion of God, as a _Proprietor_, is practically contemned.\n\n[1.] By envy. When we are not flush and gay, as well spread and\nsparkling as others, this passion gnaws our souls, and we become the\nexecutioners to rack ourselves, because God is the executor of his own\npleasure. The foundation of this passion is a quarrel with God; to envy\nothers the enjoyment of their propriety is to envy God his right of\ndisposal, and, consequently, the propriety of his own goods; it is a\nmental theft committed against God; we rob him of his right in our will\nand wish; it is a robbery to make ourselves equal with God when it is\nnot our due, which is implied (Phil. ii. 6), when Christ is said \u201cto\nthink it no robbery to be equal with God.\u201d We would wrest the sceptre\nout of his hand, wish he were not the conductor of the world, and that\nhe would resign his sovereignty, and the right of the distribution\nof his own goods, to the _capricios_ of our humor, and ask our leave\nto what subjects he should dispense his favors. All envy is either a\ntacit accusation of God as an usurper, and assuming a right to dispose\nof that which doth not belong to him, and so it is a denial of his\npropriety, or else charges him with a blind or unjust distribution,\nand so it is a bespattering his wisdom and righteousness. When God doth\npunish envy, he vindicates his own sovereignty, as though this passion\nchiefly endeavored to blast this perfection (Ezek. xxv. 11, 12): \u201cAs I\nlive, saith the Lord, I will do according to thy anger, and according\nto thy envy, and thou shall know that I am the Lord.\u201d The sin of envy\nin the devils was immediately against the crown of God, and so was\nthe sin of envy in the first man, envying God the sole prerogative in\nknowledge above himself. This base humor in Cain, at the preference of\nAbel\u2019s sacrifice before his, was the cause that he deprived him of his\nlife: denying God, first his right of choice and what he should accept,\nand then invading God\u2019s right of propriety, in usurping a power over\nthe life and being of his brother, which solely belonged to God.\n\n[2.] The dominion of God, as a proprietor, is practically contemned\nby a violent or surreptitious taking away from any what God hath given\nhim the possession of. Since God is the Lord of all, and may give\nthe possession and dominion of things to whom he pleaseth, all theft\nand purloining, all cheating and cozening another of his right, is\nnot only a crime against the true possessor, depriving him of what\nhe is entrusted with, but against God, as the absolute and universal\nproprietor, having a right thereby to confer his own goods upon whom\nhe pleaseth, as well as against God as a Lawgiver, forbidding such a\nviolence: the snatching away what is another\u2019s, denies man the right\nof possession, and God the right of donation: the Israelites taking\nthe Egyptians\u2019 jewels had been theft had it not been by a Divine\nlicense and order, but cannot be slandered with such a term, after\nthe Proprietor of the whole world had altered the title, and alienated\nthem by his positive grant from the Egyptians, to confer them upon the\nIsraelites.\n\n[3.] The dominion of God, as a proprietor, is practically contemned\n{b436} by not using what God hath given us for those ends for which he\ngave them to us. God passeth things over to us with a condition to use\nthat for his glory which he hath bestowed upon us by his bounty: he is\nLord of the end for which he gives, as well as Lord of what he gives;\nthe donor\u2019s right of propriety is infringed when the lands and legacies\nhe leaves to a particular use are not employed to those ends to which\nhe bequeathed them: the right of the lord of a manor is violated when\nthe copyhold is not used according to the condition of the conveyance.\nSo it is an invasion of God\u2019s sovereignty not to use the creatures for\nthose ends for which we are entrusted with them: when we deny ourselves\na due and lawful support from them; hence covetousness is an invasion\nof his right: or when we unnecessarily waste them; hence prodigality\ndisowns his propriety: or when we bestow not anything upon the\nrelief of others; hence uncharitableness comes under the same title,\nappropriating that to ourselves, as if we were the lords, when we were\nbut the usufructuaries for ourselves, and stewards for others; this\nis to be \u201crich to ourselves, not to God\u201d (Luke xii. 21), for so are\nthey who employ not their wealth for the service, and according to\nthe intent, of the donor. Thus the Israelites did not own God the true\nproprietor of their corn, wine, and oil, which God had given them for\nhis worship, when they prepared offerings for Baal out of his stock:\n\u201cFor she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and\nmultiplied her gold and silver, which they prepared for Baal\u201d (Hos. ii.\n8); as if they had been sole proprietors, and not factors by commission,\nto improve the goods for the true owner. It is the same invasion of\nGod\u2019s right to use the parts and gifts that God hath given us, either\nas fuel for our pride, or advancing self, or a witty scoffing at God\nand religion; when we use not religion for the honor of our Sovereign,\nbut a stool to rise by, and observe his precepts outwardly, not out of\nregard to his authority, but as a stale to our interest, and furnishing\nself with a little concern and trifle; when men will wrest his word\nfor the favor of their lusts, which God intended for the checking of\nthem, and make interpretations of it according to their humors, and not\naccording to his will discovered in the Scripture, this is to pervert\nthe use of the best goods and _depositum_ he hath put into our hands,\neven Divine revelations. Thus hypocrisy makes the sovereignty of God a\nnullity.\n\n(3.) The dominion of God, as a _Governor_, is practically contemned.\n\n[1.] In idolatry. Since worship is an acknowledgment of God\u2019s\nsovereignty, to adore any creature instead of God, or to pay to\nanything that homage of trust and confidence which is due to God,\nthough it be the highest creature in heaven or earth, is to acknowledge\nthat sovereignty to pertain to a creature, which is challenged by God;\nas to set up the greatest lord in a kingdom in the government, instead\nof the lawful prince, is rebellion and usurpation; and that woman\nincurs the crime of adultery, who commits it with a person of great\nport and honor, as well as with one of a mean condition. While men\ncreate anything a god, they own themselves supreme above the true God,\nyea, and above that which they account a god; for, by the right of\ncreation, they have a superiority, {b437} as it is a deity blown up by\nthe breath of their own imagination. The authority of God is in this\nsin acknowledged to belong to an idol; it is called loathing of God as\na husband (Ezek. xvi. 45), all the authority of God as a husband and\nLord over them: so when we make anything or any person in the world the\nchief object and prop of our trust and confidence, we act the same part.\nTrust in an idol is the formal part of idolatry; \u201cso is every one that\ntrusts in them\u201d (Ps. cxv. 8), _i. e._ in idols: whatsoever thing we\nmake the object of our trust, we rear as an idol. It is not unlawful to\nhave the image of a creature, but to bestow divine adoration upon it;\nit was not unlawful for the Egyptians to possess and use oxen, but to\ndub them gods to be adored, it was: it is not unlawful to have wealth\nand honor, nor to have gifts and parts, they are the presents of God;\nbut to love them above God, to fix our reliance upon them more than\nupon God, is to rob God of his due, who, being our Creator, ought to\nbe our confidence. What we want we are to desire of him, and expect\nfrom him. When we confide in anything else we deny God the glory of his\ncreation; we disown him to be Lord of the world; imply that our welfare\nis in the hands of, and depends upon, that thing wherein we confide; it\nis not only to \u201cequal it to God\u201d in sovereign power, which is his own\nphrase (Isa. xl. 25), but to prefer it before him in a reproach of him.\nWhen the hosts of heaven shall be served instead of the Lord of those\nhosts; when we shall lackey after the stars, depend barely upon their\ninfluences, without looking up to the great Director of the sun, it\nis to pay an adoration unto a captain in a regiment which is due to\nthe general. When we shall \u201cmake gold our hope, and say to the fine\ngold, Thou art my confidence,\u201d it is to deny the supremacy of that God\nthat is above; as well as if we kiss our hands, in a way of adoration,\nto the sun in its splendor, or \u201cthe moon walking in its brightness,\u201d\nfor Job couples them together (ch. xxxi. 25\u201228); it is to prefer the\nauthority of earth before that of heaven, and honor clay above the\nSovereign of the world: as if a soldier should confide more in the rag\nof an ensign, or the fragment of a drum, for his safety, than in the\norders and conduct of his general; it were as much as is in his power\nto uncommission him, and snatch from him his commander\u2019s staff. When\nwe advance the creature in our love above God, and the altar of our\nsoul smokes with more thoughts and affections to a petty interest than\nto God, we lift up that which was given us as a servant in the place\nof the Sovereign, and bestow that throne upon it which is to be kept\nundefiled for the rightful Lord, and subject the interest of God to\nthe demands of the creature. So much respect is due to God, that none\nshould be placed in the throne of our affections equal with him, much\nless anything to perk above him.\n\n[2.] Impatience is a contempt of God as a governor. When we meet with\nrubs in the way of any design, when our expectations are crossed, we\nwill break through all obstacles to accomplish our projects, whether\nGod will or no. When we are too much dejected at some unexpected\nprovidence, and murmur at the instruments of it, as if God divested\nhimself of his prerogative of conducting human {b438} affairs; when\na little cross blows us into a mutiny, and swells us into a sauciness\nto implead God, or make us fret against him (as the expression is, Isa.\nviii. 21), wishing him out of his throne; no sin is so devilish as this;\nthere is not any strikes more at all the attributes of God than this,\nagainst his goodness, righteousness, holiness, wisdom, and doth as\nlittle spare his sovereignty as any of the rest: what can it be else,\nbut an impious invasion of his dominion, to quarrel with him for what\nhe doth, and to say, What reason hast thou to deal thus with me? This\nlanguage is in the nature of all impatience, whereby we question his\nsovereignty, and parallel our dominion with his. When men have not\nthat confluence of wealth or honor they greedily desired, they bark\nat God, and revile his government: they are angry God doth not more\nrespectfully observe them, as though he had nothing to do in their\nmatters, and were wanting in that becoming reverence which they think\nhim bound to pay to such great ones as they are; they would have\nGod obedient to their minds, and act nothing but what he receives a\ncommission for from their wills. When we murmur, it is as if we would\ncommand his will, and wear his crown; a wresting the sceptre out of his\nhands to sway it ourselves; we deny him the right of government, disown\nhis power over us, and would be our own sovereigns: you may find the\ncharacter of it in the language of Jehoram (as many understand it),\n\u201cBehold, this evil is of the Lord; what should I wait for the Lord any\nlonger?\u201d (2 Kings vi. 33). This is an evil of such a nature, that it\ncould come from none but the hand of God; why should I attend upon him,\nas my Sovereign, that delights to do me so much mischief, that throws\ncurses upon me when I expected blessings? I will no more observe his\ndirections, but follow my own sentiments, and regard not his authority\nin the lips of his doting prophet. The same you find in the Jews,\nwhen they were under God\u2019s lash; \u201cAnd they said, There is no hope:\nbut we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the\nimagination of his evil heart\u201d (Jer. xviii. 12): we can expect no good\nfrom him, and therefore we will be our own sovereigns, and prefer the\nauthority of our own imaginations before that of his precepts. Men\nwould be their own carvers, and not suffer God to use his right; as if\na stone should order the mason in what manner to hew it, and in what\npart of the building to place it. We are not ordinarily concerned so\nmuch at the calamities of our neighbors, but swell against heaven at a\nlight drop upon ourselves. We are content God should be the sovereign\nof others, so that he will be a servant to us: let him deal as he will\nhimself with others, so he will treat us, and what relates to us, as we\nwill ourselves. We would have God resign his authority to our humors,\nand our humors should be in the place of a God to him, to direct him\nwhat was fit to do in our cause. When things go not according to our\nvote, our impatience is a wish that God was deposed from his throne,\nthat he would surrender his seat to some that would deal more favorably,\nand be more punctual observers of our directions. Let us look to\nourselves in regard of this sin, which is too common, and the root of\nmuch mischief. This seems to be the first bubbling of Adam\u2019s will; he\nwas not content {b439} with the condition wherein God had placed him,\nbut affected another, which ended in the ruin of himself, and of\nmankind.\n\n[3.] Limiting God in his way of working to our methods, is another\npart of the contempt of his dominion. When we will prescribe him\nmethods of acting, that he should deliver us in this or that way, we\nwould not suffer him to be the Lord of his own favors, and have the\nprivilege to be his own director. When we will limit him to such a\ntime, wherein to work our deliverance, we would rob him of the power of\ntimes and seasons, which are solely in his hand. We would regulate his\nconduct according to our imaginations, and assume a power to give laws\nto our Sovereign. Thus the Israelites \u201climited the Holy One of Israel\u201d\n(Ps. lxxviii. 41): they would control his absolute dominion, and, of\na sovereign, make him their slave. Man, that is God\u2019s vassal, would\nset bounds to his Lord, and cease to be a servant, and commence master,\nwhen he would give, not take, directions from him. When God had given\nthem manna, and their fancies were weary of that delicious food, they\nwould prescribe heaven to rain down some other sort of food for them.\nWhen they wanted no sufficient provision in the wilderness, they\nquarrelled with God for bringing them out of Egypt, and not presently\ngiving them a place of seed, of figs, vines, and pomegranates (Numb. xx.\n5), which is called a \u201cstriving with the Lord\u201d (ver. 13), a contending\nwith him for his Lordship. When we tempt God, and require a sign of him\nas a mark of his favor, we circumscribe his dominion; when we will not\nuse the means he hath appointed, but father our laziness upon a trust\nin his providence, as if we expected he should work a miracle for our\nrelief; when we censure him for what he hath done in the course of his\nprovidence; when we capitulate with him, and promise such a service,\nif he will do us such a good turn according to our platform, we would\nbring down his sovereign pleasure to our will, we invade his throne,\nand expect a submissive obedience from him. Man that hath not wit\nenough to govern himself, would be governing God, and those that cannot\nbe their own sovereigns, affect a sovereignty over heaven.\n\n[4.] Pride and presumption is another invasion of his dominion. When\nmen will resolve to go to\u2011morrow to such a city, to such a fair and\nmarket, to traffic, and get gain, without thinking of the necessity\nof a Divine license, as if ourselves were the lords of our time and\nof our lives, and God were to lackey after us (James iv. 13, 15):\n\u201cYe that say, To\u2011day we will go into such a city, and buy and sell,\nwhereas ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live;\u201d as if they\nhad a freehold, and were not tenants at will to the Lord of the manor.\nWhen we presume upon our own strength or wit to get the better of our\nadversaries; as the Germans (as Tacitus relates) assured themselves,\nby the numerousness of their army, of a victory against the Romans,\nand prepared chains to fetter the captives before the conquest, which\nwere found in their camp after their defeat;\u2015\u2015when we are peremptory in\nexpectations of success according to our will; as Pharaoh (Exod. xv. 9),\n\u201cI will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my lust shall\nbe satisfied upon them, I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy\nthem:\u201d he speaks more like a {b440} god than a man, as if he were the\nsovereign power, and God only his vicar and lieutenant; how he struts,\nwithout thinking of a superior power to curb him!\u2015\u2015when men ascribe to\nthemselves what is the sole fruit of God\u2019s sovereign pleasure; as the\nking of Assyria speaks a language fit only to be spoken by God (Isa.\nx. 13, 14, &c.), \u201cI have removed the bounds of the people; my hand\nhath found as a nest the riches of the people; I have gathered all\nthe earth;\u201d which God declares to be a wrong to his sovereignty by the\ntitle wherewith he prefaceth his threatening against him (ver. 16):\n\u201cTherefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones\nleanness,\u201d &c. It is indeed a rifling, if not of his crown, yet of\nthe most glittering jewel of it, his glory. \u201cHe that mocks the poor\nreproacheth his Maker\u201d (Prov. xvii. 5). He never thinks that God made\nthem poor, and himself rich; he owns not his riches to be dropped upon\nhim by the Divine hand. Self is the great invader of God\u2019s sovereignty;\ndoth not only spurn at it, but usurp it, and assume divine honors,\npayable only to the universal Sovereign. The Assyrian was not so\nmodest as the Chaldean, who would impute his power and victories to his\nidol (Hab. i. 11), whom he thought to be God, though yet robbing the\ntrue God of his authority; and so much was signified by their names,\nNebuchadnezzar, Evil\u2011Merodach, Belshazzar, Nebo, Merodach, Bel, being\nthe Chaldean idols, and the names signifying, Lord of wealth, Giver of\nriches, and the like.\u2015\u2015When we behave ourselves proudly towards others,\nand imagine ourselves greater than our Maker ever meant us;\u2015\u2015when we\nwould give laws to others, and expect the most submissive observances\nfrom them, as if God had resigned his authority to us, and made us,\nin his stead, the rightful monarchs of the world. To disdain that any\ncreature should be above us, is to disdain God\u2019s sovereign disposition\nof men, and consequently, his own superiority over us. A proud man\nwould govern all, and would not have God his Sovereign, but his subject;\nto overvalue ourselves, is to undervalue God.\n\n[5.] Slight and careless worship of God is another contempt of his\nsovereignty. A prince is contemned, not only by a neglect of those\nreverential postures which are due to him, but in a reproachful and\nscornful way of paying them. To behave ourselves uncomely or immodestly\nbefore a prince, is a disesteem of majesty. Sovereignty requires awe in\nevery address, where this is wanting there is a disrespect of authority.\nWe contemn God\u2019s dominion when we give him the service of the lip,\nthe hand, the knee, and deny him that of the heart; as they in Ezekiel\nxxxiii. 31, as though he were the Sovereign only of the body, and not\nof the soul. To have devout figures of the face, and uncomely postures\nof the soul, is to exclude his dominion from our spirits, while we own\nit only over our outward man; we render him an insignificant Lord, not\nworthy of any higher adorations from us than a senseless statue; we\ndemean not ourselves according to his majestical authority over us,\nwhen we present him not with the cream and quintessence of our souls.\nThe greatness of God required a great house, and a costly palace\n(1 Chron. xxix. 11, 16); David speaks it in order to the building God\na house and a temple; God being a great King expects {b441} a male\nthe best of our flock (Mal. i. 14), a masculine and vigorous service.\nWhen we present him with a sleepy, sickly rheumatic service, we betray\nour conceptions of him to be as mean as if he were some petty lord,\nwhose dominion were of no larger extent than a mole\u2011hill, or some\ninconsiderable village.\n\n[6.] Omission of the service he hath appointed is another contempt\nof his sovereignty. This is a contempt of his dominion, whereby he\nhath a right to appoint what means and conditions he pleaseth, for the\nenjoyment of his proffered and promised benefits. It is an enmity to\nhis sceptre not to accept of his terms after a long series of precepts\nand invitations made for the restoring us to that happiness we had lost,\nand providing all means necessary thereunto, nothing being wanting but\nour own concurrence with it, and acceptance of it, by rendering that\neasy homage he requires. By withholding from him the service he enjoins,\nwe deny that we hold anything of him; as he that pays not the quit rent,\nthough it be never so small, disowns the sovereignty of the lord of the\nmanor; it implies, that he is a miserable poor lord, having no right,\nor destitute of any power, to dispose of anything in the world to our\nadvantage (Job xxii. 17): \u201cThey say unto God, Depart from us, what\ncan the Almighty do for them?\u201d They will have no commerce with him\nin a way of duty, because they imagine him to have no sovereign power\nto do anything for them in way of benefit, as if his dominion were\nan empty title, and as much destitute of any authority to command a\nfavor for them as any idol. They think themselves to have as absolute\na disposal of things, as God himself. What can he do for us? what\ncan he confer upon us, that we cannot invest ourselves in? as though\nthey were sovereigns in an equality with God. Thus men live \u201cwithout\nGod in the world\u201d (Eph. ii. 12), as if there were no Supreme Being\nto pay a respect to, or none fit to receive any homage at their hands;\nwithholding from God the right of his time and the right of his service,\nwhich is the just claim of his sovereignty.\n\n[7.] Censuring others is a contempt of his sovereignty. When we\ncensure men\u2019s persons or actions by a rash judgment; when we will be\njudges of the good and evil of men\u2019s actions, where the law of God is\nutterly silent, we usurp God\u2019s place, and invade his right; we claim a\nsuperiority over the law, and judge God defective, as the Rector of the\nworld, in his prescriptions of good and evil. (James iv. 11, 12), \u201cHe\nthat speaks evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaks evil\nof the law, and judgeth the law; there is one Lawgiver who is able\nto save, and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?\u201d Do you\nknow what you do in judging another? You take upon you the garb of a\nsovereign, as if he were more your servant than God\u2019s, and more under\nyour authority than the authority of God; it is a setting thyself in\nGod\u2019s tribunal, and assuming his rightful power of judging; thy brother\nis not to be governed by thy fancy, but by God\u2019s law, and his own\nconscience.\n\n2. _Information._ Hence it follows, that God doth actually govern the\nworld. He hath not only a right to rule, but \u201che rules over all,\u201d so\nsaith the text. He is \u201cKing of kings, and Lord of lords,\u201d\u2015\u2015what, {b442}\nto let them do what they please, and all that their lusts prompt them\nto? hath God an absolute dominion? Is it good, and is it wise? Is it\nthen a useless prerogative of the Divine nature? Shall so excellent\na power lie idle, as if God were a lifeless image? Shall we fancy God\nlike some lazy monarch, that solaceth himself in the gardens of his\npalace, or steeps himself in some charming pleasures, and leaves his\nlieutenants to govern the several provinces, which are all members of\nhis empire, according to their own humor? Not to exercise this dominion\nis all one as not to have it; to what purpose is he invested with this\nsovereignty, if he were careless of what were done in the world, and\nregarded not the oppressions of men? God keeps no useless excellency by\nhim; he actually reigns over the heathen (Ps. xlvii. 8), and those as\nbad, or worse than heathens. It had been a vanity in David to call upon\nthe heavens to be glad, and the earth to rejoice, under the rule of\na \u201csleepy Deity\u201d (1 Chron. xvi. 31). No; his sceptre is full of eyes,\nas it was painted by the Egyptians; he is always waking, and always\nmore than Ahasuerus, reading over the records of human actions. Not\nto exercise his authority, is all one as not to regard whether he keep\nthe crown upon his head, or continue the sceptre in his hand. If his\nsovereignty were exempt from care, it would be destitute of justice;\nGod is more righteous than to resign the ensigns of his authority to\nblind and oppressive man; to think that God hath a power, and doth not\nuse it for just and righteous ends, is to imagine him an unrighteous\nas well as a careless Sovereign; such a thing in a man renders him a\nbase man, and a worse governor; it is a vice that disturbs the world,\nand overthrows the ends of authority, as to have a power, and use it\nwell, is the greatest virtue of an earthly sovereign. What an unworthy\nconception is it of God, to acknowledge him to be possessed of a\ngreater authority than the greatest monarch, and yet to think that he\nuseth it less than a petty lord; that his crown is of no more value\nwith him than a feather? This represents God impotent, that he cannot,\nor unrighteous and base, that he will not administer the authority he\nhath for the noblest and justest end. But can we say, that he neglects\nthe government of the world? How come things then to remain in their\ndue order? How comes the law of nature yet to be preserved in every\nman\u2019s soul? How comes conscience to check, and cite, and judge? If God\ndid not exercise his authority, what authority could conscience have to\ndisturb man in unlawful practices, and to make his sports and sweetness\nso unpleasant and sour to him? Hath he not given frequent notices and\nmemorials, that he holds a curb over corrupt inclinations, puts rubs in\nthe way of malicious attempters, and often oversets the disturbers of\nthe peace of the world?\n\n3. _Information._ God can do no wrong, since he is absolute Sovereign.\nMan may do wrong, princes may oppress and rifle, but it is a crime in\nthem so to do: because their power is a power of government, and not of\npropriety, in the goods or lives of their subjects; but God cannot do\nany wrong, whatsoever the clamors of creatures are, because he can do\nnothing but what he hath a sovereign right to do. If he takes away your\ngoods, he takes not {b443} away anything that is yours more than his\nown, since though he entrusted you with them, he divested not himself\nof the propriety. When he takes away our lives, he takes what he gave\nus by a temporary donation, to be surrendered at his call: we can claim\nno right in anything but by his will. He is no debtor to us: and since\nhe owes us nothing, he can wrong us in nothing that he takes away.\nHis own sovereignty excuseth him in all those acts which are most\ndistasteful to the creature. If we crop a medicinal plant for our\nuse, or a flower for our pleasure, or kill a lamb for our food, we do\nneither of them any wrong: because the original of them was for our use,\nand they had their life, and nourishment, and pleasing qualities for\nour delight and support. And are not we much more made for the pleasure\nand use of God, than any of those can be for us? \u201cOf him and to him\nare all things\u201d (Rom. xi. 36): hath not God as much right over any one\nof us, as over the meanest worm? Though there be a vast difference in\nnature between the angels in heaven and the worms on earth, yet they\nare all one in regard of subjection to God; he is as much the Lord of\nthe one as the other; as much the Proprietor of the one as the other;\nas much the Governor of one as the other;\u2015\u2015not a cranny in the world is\nexempt from his jurisdiction;\u2015\u2015not a mite or grain of a creature exempt\nfrom his propriety. He is not our Lord by election; he was a Lord\nbefore we were in being; he had no terms put upon him who capitulated\nwith him, and set him in his throne by covenant. What oath did he take\nto any subject at his first investiture in his authority? His right is\nas natural, as eternal as himself: as natural as his existence, and as\nnecessary as his Deity. Hath he any law but his own will? What wrong\ncan he do that breaks no law, that fulfils his law in everything he\ndoth, by fulfilling his own will, which as it is absolutely sovereign,\nso it is infinitely righteous? In whatsoever he takes from us, then, he\ncannot injure us; it is no crime in any man to seize upon his own goods\nto vindicate his own honor; and shall it be thought a wrong in God to\ndo such things, besides the occasion he hath from every man, and that\nevery day provoking him to do it? He seems rather to wrong himself by\nforbearing such a seizure, than wrong us by executing it.\n\n4. _Information._ If God have a sovereignty over the whole world, then\nmerit is totally excluded. His right is so absolute over all creatures,\nthat he neither is, nor can be, a debtor to any; not to the undefiled\nholiness of the blessed angels, much less to poor earthly worms;\nthose blessed spirits enjoy their glory by the title of his sovereign\npleasure, not by virtue of any obligation devolving from them upon God.\nAre not the faculties, whereby they and we perform any act of obedience,\nhis grant to us? Is not the strength, whereby they and we are enabled\nto do anything pleasing to him, a gift from him? Can a vassal merit of\nhis lord, or a slave of his master, by using his tools, and employing\nhis strength in his service, though it was a strength he had naturally,\nnot by donation from the man in whose service it is employed? God is\nLord of all\u2015\u2015all is due to him; how can we oblige him by giving him\nwhat {b444} is his own, more his to whom it is presented, than ours by\nwhom it is offered? He becomes not a debtor by receiving anything from\nus, but by promising something to us.[1019]\n\n5. _Information._ If God hath a sovereign dominion over the whole\nworld, then hence it follows, that all magistrates are but sovereigns\nunder God. He is King of kings, and Lord of lords; all the potentates\nof the world are no other than his lieutenants, movable at his pleasure,\nand more at his disposal than their subjects are at theirs. Though\nthey are dignified with the title of \u201cgods,\u201d yet still they are at\nan infinite distance from the supreme Lord; gods under God, not to be\nabove him, not to be against him. The want of the due sense of their\nsubordination to God hath made many in the world act as sovereigns\nabove him more than sovereigns under him. Had they all bore a deep\nconviction of this upon their spirits, such audacious language had\nnever dropped from the mouth of Pharaoh: \u201cWho is the Lord, that I\nshould obey his voice, to let Israel go?\u201d (Exod. v. 2), presuming that\nthere was no superior to control him, nor any in heaven able to be\na match for him; Darius had never published such a doting edict, as\nto prohibit any petition to God; Nero had never fired Rome, and sung\nat the sight of the devouring flames; nor ever had he ripped up his\nmother\u2019s belly, to see the womb where he first lodged, and received\na life so hateful to his country. Nor would Abner and Joab, the two\ngenerals, have accounted the death of men but a sport and interlude.\n\u201cLet the young men arise and play before us\u201d (2 Sam. ii. 14); what\nplay it was, the next verse acquaints you with; thrusting their swords\ninto one another\u2019s sides. They were no more troubled at the death of\nthousands, than a man is to kill a fly, or a flea. Had a sense of this\nbut hovered over their souls, people in many countries had not been\nmade their foot\u2011balls, and used worse than their dogs! Nor had the\nlives of millions, worth more than a world, been exposed to fire and\nsword, to support some sordid lust, or breach of faith upon an idle\nquarrel, and for the depredation of their neighbors\u2019 estates; the\nflames of cities had not been so bright, nor the streams of blood so\ndeep, nor the cries of innocents so loud. In particular,\n\n(1.) If God be Sovereign, all under\u2011sovereigns are not to rule against\nhim, but to be obedient to his orders. If they \u201crule by his authority\u201d\n(Prov. viii. 15), they are not to rule against his interest; they are\nnot to imagine themselves as absolute as God, and that their laws must\nbe of as sovereign authority against his honor, as the Divine are for\nit. If they are his lieutenants on earth, they ought to act according\nto his orders. No man but will account a governor of a province a rebel,\nif he disobeys the orders sent to him by the sovereign prince that\ncommissioned him. Rebellion against God is a crime of princes, as well\nas rebellion against princes a crime of subjects. Saul is charged with\nit by Samuel in a high manner for an act of simple disobedience, though\nintended for the service of God, and the enriching his country with\nthe spoils of the Amalekites. \u201cRebellion is as the sin of witchcraft\u201d\n(1 Sam. xv. 23); like witchcraft or covenanting with the devil, acting\nas if he had {b445} received his commission not from God, but from\nSatan. Magistrates, as commissioned by God, ought to act for him. Doth\nhuman authority ever give a commission to any to rebel against itself?\ndid God ever depute any earthly sovereignty against his glory, and give\nthem leave to outlaw his laws, to introduce their own? No; when he gave\nthe vicarious dominion to Christ, he calls upon the kings of the earth\nto be instructed, and be wise, and \u201ckiss the Son\u201d (Ps. ii. 10, 12),\n_i. e._ to observe his orders, and pay him homage as their Governor.\nWhat a silly doltish thing is it to resist that Supreme Authority, to\nwhich the archangels submit themselves, and regulate their employments\npunctually by their instructions! Those excellent creatures exactly\nobey him in all the acts of their subordinate government in the world;\nthose in whose hand the greatest monarch is no more than a silly fly\nbetween the fingers of a giant. A contradiction to the interest of\nGod hath been fatal to kings. The four monarchies have had their wings\nclipped, and most of them have been buried in their own ashes; they\nhave all, like the imitators of Lucifer\u2019s pride, fallen from the heaven\nof their glory to the depth of their shame and misery. All governors\nare bound to be as much obedient to God, as their subjects are bound\nto be submissive to them. Their authority over men is limited; God\u2019s\nauthority over them is absolute and unbounded. Though every soul ought\nto be subject to the higher powers, yet there is a higher Power of\nall, to which those higher powers are to subject themselves; they are\nto be keepers of both the tables of the law of God, and are then most\nsovereigns when they set in their own practice an example of obedience\nto God, for their subjects to write after.\n\n(2.) They ought to imitate God in the exercise of their sovereignty in\nways of justice and righteousness. Though God be an absolute sovereign,\nyet his government is not tyrannical, but managed according to the\nrules of righteousness, wisdom, and goodness. If God, that created\nthem as well as their subjects, doth so exercise his government, it\nis a duty incumbent upon them to do the same; since they are not the\ncreators of their people, but the conductors. As God\u2019s government\ntends to the good of the world, so ought theirs to the good of their\ncountries. God committed not the government of the world to the\nMediator in an unlimited way, but for the good of the church, in order\nto the eternal salvation of his people. \u201cHe gave him to be head over\nall things to the church\u201d (Eph. i. 22). He had power over the devils\nto restrain them in their temptation and malice; power over the angels\nto order their ministry for the heirs of salvation. So power is given\nto magistrates for the civil preservation of the world and of human\nsociety; they ought therefore to consider for what ends they were\nplaced over the rest of mankind, and not exercise their authority in\na licentious way, but conformable to that justice and righteousness\nwherein God doth administer his government, and for the preservation of\nthose who are committed to them.\n\n(3.) Magistrates must then be obeyed when they act according to God\u2019s\norder, and within the bounds of the Divine commission. They are no\nfriends to the sovereignty of God, that are enemies to magistracy, his\nordinance. Saul was a good governor, though none of the {b446} best\nmen, and the despisers of his government after God\u2019s choice, were the\nsons of Belial (1 Sam. x. 27). Christ was no enemy to C\u00e6sar. To pull\ndown a faithful magistrate, such an one as Zerubbabel, is to pluck a\nsignet from the hand of God; for in that capacity he accounts him (Hag.\nii. 23). God\u2019s servants stand or fall to their own Master; how doth he\ncheck Aaron and Miriam for speaking against Moses, his servant? \u201cWere\nyou not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?\u201d (Numb. xii. 8);\nagainst Moses as related to you in the capacity of a governor; against\nMoses as related to you in the capacity of my servant? To speak\nanything against them, as they act by God\u2019s order, is an invasion of\nGod\u2019s sovereign right, who gave them their commission. To act against\njust power, or the justice of an earthly power, is to act against God\u2019s\nordinance, who ordained them in the world, but not any abuse, or ill\nuse of their power.\n\n_Use II._ How dreadful is the consideration of this doctrine to all\nrebels against God! Can any man that hath brains in his head, imagine\nit an inconsiderable thing to despise the Sovereign of the world? It\nwas the sole crime of disobedience to that positive law, whereby God\nwould have a visible memorial of his sovereignty preserved in the eye\nof man, that showered down that deluge of misery, under which the world\ngroans to this day. God had given Adam a soul, whereby he might live\nas a rational creature; and then gives him a law, whereby he might live\nas a dutiful subject: for God forbidding him to eat of the fruit of\nthe tree of knowledge of good and evil, declared his own supremacy over\nAdam, and his propriety in the pleasant world he had given him by his\nbounty; he let him know hereby, that man was not his own lord, nor was\nto live after his own sentiments, but the directions of a superior. As\nwhen a great lord builds a magnificent palace, and brings in another to\ninhabit it, he reserves a small duty to himself, not of an equal value\nwith the house, but for an acknowledgment of his own right, that the\ntenant may know he is not the lord of it, but hath this grant by the\nliberality of another.[1020] God hereby gave Adam matter for a pure\nobedience, that had no foundation in his own nature by any implanted\nlaw; he was only in it to respect the will of his Sovereign, and to\nunderstand that he was to live under the power of a higher than himself.\nThere was no more moral evil in the eating of this fruit, as considered\ndistinct from the command, than in eating of any other fruit in the\ngarden: had there been no prohibition, he might with as much safety\nhave fed upon it as upon any other. No law of nature was transgressed\nin the act of eating of it, but the sovereignty of God over him was\ndenied by him; and for this the death threatened was inflicted on his\nposterity: for though divines take notice of other sins in the fall of\nAdam, yet God, in his trial, chargeth him with none but this, and doth\nput upon his question an emphasis of his own authority: \u201cHast thou\neaten of the tree whereof I commanded ye that thou shouldest not eat?\u201d\n(Gen. iii. 11). This I am pleased with, that thou shouldest disown my\ndominion over thyself, and this garden. This was the inlet to all the\nother sins: as the acknowledgment of God\u2019s sovereignty is the first\nstep to the practice of all the {b447} duties of a creature, so the\ndisowning his sovereignty is the first spring of all the extravagances\nof a creature. Every sin against the sovereign Lawgiver is worthy of\ndeath: the transgression of this command deserved death, and procured\nit to spread itself over the face of the world. God\u2019s dominion cannot\nbe despised without meriting the greatest punishment.\n\n1. Punishment necessarily follows upon the doctrine of sovereignty.\nIt is a faint and a feeble sovereignty that cannot preserve itself,\nand vindicate its own wrongs against rebellious subjects; the height of\nGod\u2019s dominion infers a vengeance on the contemners of it: if God be an\neternal King, he is an eternal Judge. Since sin unlinks the dependence\nbetween God the Sovereign, and man the subject, if God did not\nvindicate the rights of his sovereignty, and the authority of his law,\nhe would seem to despise his own dominion, be weary of it, and not act\nthe part of a good governor. But God is tender of his prerogative, and\ndoth most bestir himself when men exalt themselves proudly against him:\n\u201cIn the thing wherein they dealt proudly, he will be above them\u201d (Exod.\nxviii. 11). When Pharaoh thought himself a mate for God, and proudly\nrejected his commands, as if they had been the messages of some petty\nArabian lord, God rights his own authority upon the life of his enemy\nby the ministry of the Red Sea. He turned a great king into a beast,\nto make him know that the Most High ruled in the kingdoms of men: \u201cThe\ndemand is by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living\nmay know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdoms of men\u201d (Dan. iv. 16,\n17); and that by the petitions of the angels, who cannot endure that\nthe empire of God should be obscured and diminished by the pride of man.\nBesides the tender respect he hath to his own glory, he is constantly\npresented with the solicitations of the angels to punish the proud ones\nof the earth, that darken the glory of his majesty: it is necessary\nfor the rescue of his honor, and necessary for the satisfaction of his\nillustrious attendants, who would think it a shame to them to serve a\nLord that were always unconcerned in the rebellions of his creatures,\nand tamely suffer their spurns at his throne; and therefore there is\na day wherein the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, the cedars\nof Lebanon overthrown, and high mountains levelled, that \u201cGod may\nbe exalted in that day\u201d (Isa. ii. 11, 12), &c. Pride is a sin that\nimmediately swells against God\u2019s authority; this shall be brought down\nthat God may be exalted; not that he should have a real exaltation,\nas if he were actually deposed from his government, but that he shall\nbe manifested to be the Sovereign of the whole world. It is necessary\nthere should be a day to chase away those clouds that are upon his\nthrone, that the lustre of his majesty may break forth to the confusion\nof all the children of pride that vaunt against him. God hath a\ndominion over us as a Lawgiver, as we are his creatures; and a dominion\nover us in a way of justice, as we are his criminals.\n\n2. This punishment is unavoidable.\n\n(1.) None can escape him. He hath the sole authority over hell and\ndeath, the keys of both are in his hand: the greatest C\u00e6sar can no\nmore escape him than the meanest peasant: \u201cWho art thou, {b448} O great\nmountain, before Zerubbabel?\u201d (Zech. iv. 7). The height of angels is\nno match for him, much less that of the mortal grandees of the world;\nthey can no more resist him than the meanest person; but are rather, as\nthe highest steeples, the fittest marks for his crushing thunder. If he\nspeaks the word, the principalities of men come down, and \u201cthe crown of\ntheir glory\u201d (Jer. xiii. 18). He can \u201ctake the mighty away in a moment,\u201d\nand that \u201cwithout hands,\u201d _i. e._ without instruments (Job xxxiv. 20).\nThe strongest are like the feet of Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s image, iron and\nclay; iron to man, but clay to God, to be crumbled to nothing.\n\n(2.) What comfort can be reaped from a creature, when the Sovereign\nof the world arms himself with terrors, and begins his visitation?\n\u201cWhat will you do in the day of visitation, to whom will you flee for\nhelp, and where will you leave your glory?\u201d (Isa. x. 3). The torments\nfrom a subject may be relieved by the prince, but where can there be\nan appeal from the Sovereign of the world? Where is there any above him\nto control him, if he will overthrow us? Who is there to call him to\naccount, and say to him, What dost thou? He works by an uncontrollable\nauthority; he needs not ask leave of any; \u201che works, and none can\nlet it\u201d (Isa. xliii. 13): as when he will relieve, none can afflict;\nso when he will wound, none can relieve. If a king appoint the\npunishment of a rebel, the greatest favorite in the court cannot speak\na comfortable word to him: the most beloved angel in heaven cannot\nsweeten and ease the spirit of a man that the Sovereign Power is\nset against to make the butt of his wrath. The devils lie under his\nsentence, and wear their chains as marks of their condemnation, without\nhope of ever having them filed off, since they are laid upon them by\nthe authority of an unaccountable Sovereign.\n\n(3.) By his sovereign authority God can make any creature the\ninstrument of his vengeance. He hath all the creatures at his beck,\nand can commission any of them to be a dreadful scourge. Strong winds\nand tempests fulfil his word (Ps. cxlviii. 8); the lightnings answer\nhim at his call, and cry aloud, \u201cHere are we\u201d (Job xxxviii. 35). By\nhis sovereign authority he can render locusts as mischievous as lions,\nforge the meanest creatures into swords and arrows, and commission the\nmost despicable to be his executioners. He can cut off joy from our\nspirits, and make our own hearts be our tormentors, our most confident\nfriends our persecutors, our nearest relations to be his avengers;\nthey are more his, who is their Sovereign, than ours, who place a vain\nconfidence in them. Rather than Abraham shall want children, he can\nraise up stones, and adopt them into his family; and rather than not\nexecute his vengeance, he can array the stones in the streets, and make\nthem his armed subjects against us. If he speak the word, a hair shall\ndrop from our heads to choke us, or a vapor, congealed into rheum in\nour heads, shall drop down and putrefy our vitals. He can never want\nweapons, who is Sovereign over the thunders of heaven and stones of\nthe earth, over every creature; and can, by a sovereign word, turn our\ngreatest comforts into curses.\n\n3. This punishment must be terrible. How doth David, a great {b449}\nking, sound in his body, prosperous in his crown, and successful in\nhis conquests, settled in all his royal conveniences, groan under the\nwrathful touch of a greater King than himself (Ps. vi. xxxviii., and\nhis other penitential Psalms), not being able to give himself a writ\nof ease by all the delights of his palace and kingdom! \u201cIf the wrath of\na king be as the roaring of a lion\u201d (Prov. xix. 10) to a poor subject,\nhow great is the wrath of the King of kings, that cannot be set forth\nby the terror of all the amazing volleys of thunder that have been\nsince the creation, if the noise of all were gathered into one single\ncrack! As there is an inconceivable ground of joy in the special favor\nof so mighty a King, so is there of terror in his severe displeasure:\nhe is \u201cterrible to the kings of the earth; with God is terrible\nmajesty\u201d (Ps. lxxvi. 12). What a folly is it, then, to rebel against\nso mighty a Sovereign!\n\n_Use III._ Of comfort. The throne of God drops honey and sweetness, as\nwell as dread and terror; all his other attributes afford little relief\nwithout this of his dominion and universal command. When, therefore,\nhe speaks of his being the God of his people, he doth often preface it\nwith \u201cthe Lord thy God;\u201d his sovereignty, as a Lord, being the ground\nof all the comfort we can take in his federal relation as our God;\nthy God, but superior to thee; thy God, not as thy cattle and goods\nare thine, in a way of sole propriety, but a Lord too, in a way of\nsovereignty, not only over thee, but over all things else for thee. As\nthe end of God\u2019s settling earthly governments was for the good of the\ncommunities over which the governors preside, so God exerciseth his\ngovernment for the good of the world, and more particularly for the\ngood of the church, over which he is a peculiar Governor.\n\n1. His love to his people is as great as his sovereignty over them.\nHe stands not upon his dominion with his people so much as upon his\naffection to them; he would not be called \u201cBaali, my Lord,\u201d _i. e._\nhe would not be known only by the name of sovereignty, but \u201cIshi, my\nhusband,\u201d a name of authority and sweetness together (Hos. ii. 16,\n19, &c.): he signifies that he is not only the Lord of our spirits and\nbodies, but a husband by a marriage knot, admitting us to a nearness to\nhim, and communion of goods with him. Though he majestically sits upon\na high throne, yet it is a throne \u201cencircled with a rainbow\u201d (Ezek. i.\n28), to show that his government of his people is not only in a way of\nabsolute dominion, but also in a way of federal relation; he seems to\nown himself their subject rather than their Sovereign, when he gives\nthem a charter to command him in the affairs of his church (Isa. xlv.\n11); \u201cAsk of me things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the\nwork of my hands command you me.\u201d Some read it by way of question, as\na corrective of a sauciness: Do you ask me of things to come, and seem\nto command me concerning the works of my hands, as if you were more\ncareful of my interest among my people than I am, who have formed them?\nBut if this were the sense, it would seem to discourage an importunity\nof prayer for public deliverance; and therefore, to take it according\nto our translation, it is an exhortation to prayer, and a mighty\nencouragement in the management and exercise of it. Urge {b450} me\nwith my promise, in a way of humble importunity, and you shall find\nme as willing to perform my word, and gratify your desires, as if I\nwere rather under your authority, than you under mine: as much as to\nsay, If I be not as good as my word, to satisfy those desires that\nare according to my promise, implead me at my own throne, and, if\nI be failing in it, I will give judgment against myself: almost like\nprinces\u2019 charters, and gracious grants, \u201cWe grant such a thing against\nus and our heirs,\u201d giving the subject power to implead them if they\nbe not punctually observed by them. How is the love of God seen in\nhis condescension below the majesty of earthy governors! He that might\ncommand, by the absoluteness of his authority, doth not only do that,\nbut entreats, in the quality of a subject, as if he had not a fulness\nto supply us, but needed something from us for a supply of himself\n(2 Cor. v. 20): \u201cAs though God did beseech you by us.\u201d And when he may\nchallenge, as a due by the right of his propriety, what we bestow upon\nhis poor, which are his subjects as well as ours, he reckons it as a\nloan to him, as if what we had were more our own than his (Prov. xix.\n17). He stands not upon his dominion so much with us, when he finds us\nconscientious in paying the duty we owe to him; he rules as a Father,\nby love as well as by authority; he enters into a peculiar communion\nwith poor earthly worms, plants his gracious tabernacle among the\ntroops of sinners, instructs us by his word, invites us by his benefits,\nadmits us into his presence, is more desirous to bestow his smiles than\nwe to receive them, and acts in such a manner as if he were willing to\nresign his sceptre into the hands of any that were possessed with more\nlove and kindness to us than himself: this is the comfort of believers.\n\n2. In his being Sovereign, his pardons carry in them a full security.\nHe that hath the keys of hell and death, pardons the crime, and wipes\noff the guilt. Who can repeal the act of the chief Governor? what\ntribunal can null the decrees of an absolute throne? (Isa. xliii. 25),\n\u201cI, even I, am he that blots out thy transgressions, for my name\u2019s\nsake.\u201d His sovereign dominion renders his mercy comfortable. The\nclemency of a subject, though never so great, cannot pardon; people may\npity a criminal, while the executioner tortures him, and strips him of\nhis life; but the clemency of the Supreme Prince establisheth a pardon.\nSince we are under the dominion of God, if he pardons, who can reverse\nit? if he doth not, what will the pardons of men profit us in regard of\nan eternal state? If God be a King forever, then he whom God forgives,\nhe in whom God reigns, shall live forever; else he would want subjects\non earth, and have none of his lower creatures, which he formed upon\nthe earth, to reign over after the dissolution of the world; if his\npardons did not stand secure, he would, after this life, have no\nvoluntary subjects that had formerly a being upon the earth; he would\nbe a King only over the damned creatures.\n\n3. Corruptions will certainly be subdued in his voluntary subjects.\nThe covenant, \u201cI will be your God,\u201d implies protection, government,\nand relief, which are all grounded upon sovereignty; that, therefore,\nwhich is our greatest burden, will be removed by his sovereign power\n(Mic. vii. 19): \u201cHe will subdue our iniquities.\u201d If the {b451} outward\nenemies of the church shall not bear up against his dominion, and\nperpetuate their rebellions unpunished, those within, his people, shall\nas little bear up against his throne, without being destroyed by him;\nthe billows of our own hearts, and the raging waves within us, are\nas much at his beck as those without us; and his sovereignty is more\neminent in quelling the corruptions of the heart, than the commotions\nof the world in reigning over men\u2019s spirits, by changing them, or\ncurbing them, more than over men\u2019s bodies, by pinching and punishing\nthem. The remainders of Satan\u2019s empire will moulder away before him,\nsince He that is in us is a greater Sovereign \u201cthan he that is in the\nworld\u201d (1 John iv. 4). His enemies will be laid at his feet, and so\nnever shall prevail against him, when his kingdom shall come. He could\nnot be Lord of any man, as a happy creature, if he did not, by his\npower, make them happy; and he could not make them happy, unless, by\nhis grace, he made them holy: he could not be praised, as a Lord of\nglory, if he did not make some creatures glorious to praise him; and\nan earthly creature could not praise him perfectly, unless he had every\ngrain of enmity to his glory taken out of his heart. Since God is the\nonly Sovereign, he only can still the commotions in our spirits, and\npull down all the ensigns of the devil\u2019s royalty; he can waste him by\nthe powerful word of his lips.\n\n4. Hence is a strong encouragement for prayer. \u201cMy King,\u201d was the\nstrong compellation David used in prayer, as an argument of comfort\nand confidence, as well as that of \u201cmy God\u201d (Ps. v. 2): \u201cHearken to the\nvoice of my cry, my King and my God.\u201d To be a king is to have an office\nof government and protection: he gives us liberty to approach to him\nas the \u201cJudge of all\u201d (Heb. xii. 23), _i. e._ as the Governor of the\nworld; we pray to one that hath the whole globe of heaven and earth in\nhis hand, and can do whatsoever he will: though he be higher than the\ncherubims, and transcendently above all in majesty, yet we may soar\nup to him with the wings of our soul, faith and love, and lay open our\ncause, and find him as gracious as if he were the meanest subject on\nearth, rather than the most sovereign God in heaven. He hath as much\nof tenderness as he hath of authority, and is pleased with prayer,\nwhich is an acknowledgment of his dominion, an honoring of that which\nhe delights to honor; for prayer, in the notion of it, imports thus\nmuch\u2015\u2015that God is the Rector of the world, that he takes notice of\nhuman affairs, that he is a careful, just, wise Governor, a storehouse\nof blessing, a fountain of goodness to the indigent, and a relief\nto the oppressed. What have we reason to fear when the Sovereign of\nthe world gives us liberty to approach to him and lay open our case?\nthat God, who is King of the whole earth, not only of a few villages\nor cities in the earth, but the whole earth; and not only King of\nthis dreggy place of our dross, but of heaven, having prepared, or\nestablished, his throne in the most glorious place of the creation.\n\n5. Here is comfort in affliction. As a sovereign, he is the author\nof afflictions; as a sovereign, he can be the remover of them; he can\ncommand the waters of affliction to go so far and no farther. If he\nspeaks the word, a disease shall depart as soon as a servant shall\n{b452} from your presence with a nod; if we are banished from one place,\nhe can command a shelter for us in another; if he orders Moab, a nation\nthat had no great kindness for his people, to let \u201chis outcasts dwell\nwith them,\u201d they shall entertain them, and afford them sanctuary (Isa.\nxvi. 4). Again, God chasteneth as a \u201cSovereign,\u201d but teacheth as a\n\u201cFather\u201d (Ps. xcix. 12); the exercise of his authority is not without\nan exercise of his goodness; he doth not correct for his own pleasure,\nor the creature\u2019s torment, but for the creature\u2019s instruction; though\nthe rod be in the hand of a sovereign, yet it is tinctured with the\nkindness of Divine bowels: he can order them as a sovereign to mortify\nour flesh, and try our faith. In the severest tempest, the Lord that\nraised the wind against us, which shattered the ship, and tore its\nrigging, can change that contrary wind for a more happy one, to drive\nus into the port.\n\n6. It is a comfort against the projects of the church\u2019s adversaries in\ntimes of public commotions. The consideration of the Divine sovereignty\nmay arm us against the threatenings of mighty ones, and the menaces\nof persecutors. God hath authority above the crowns of men, and a\nwisdom superior to the cabals of men; none can have a step without\nhim; he hath a negative voice upon their counsels, a negative hand upon\ntheir motions; their politic resolves must stop at the point he hath\nprescribed them; their formidable strength cannot exceed the limits he\nhath set them; their overreaching wisdom expires at the breath of God:\n\u201cThere is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord\u201d\n(Prov. xxi. 30); not a bullet can be discharged, nor a sword drawn,\na wall battered, nor a person despatched out of the world, without the\nleave of God, by the mightiest in the world. The instruments of Satan\nare no more free from his sovereign restraint than their inspirer; they\ncannot pull the hook out of their nostrils, nor cast the bridle out\nof their mouths; this Sovereign can shake the earth, rend the heavens,\noverthrow mountains, the most mountainous opposers of his interest.\nThough the nations rush in against his people like the rushing of many\nwaters, \u201cGod shall rebuke them, they shall be chased as the chaff of\nthe mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the\nwhirlwind\u201d (Isa. xvii. 13); so doth he often burst in pieces the most\nmischievous designs, and conducts the oppressed to a happy port: he\noften turns the severest tempests into a calm, as well as the most\npeaceful calm into a horrible storm. How often hath a well\u2011rigged ship,\nthat seemed to spurn the sea under her feet, and beat the waves before\nher to a foam, been swallowed up into the bowels of that element,\nover whose back she rode a little before! God never comes to deliver\nhis church as a governor, but in a wrathful posture (Ezek. xx. 33):\n\u201cSurely, saith the Lord, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched\narm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you;\u201d not with fury\npoured out upon the church, but fury poured out upon her enemies, as\nthe words following evidence: the church he would bring out from the\ncountries where she was scattered, and bring the people into the bond\nof the covenant. He sometimes \u201ccuts off the spirits of princes\u201d (Ps.\nlxxvi. 12), _i. e._ cuts off their designs as men do the pipes of a\nwater\u2011course. The hearts of all are as open to him {b453} as the riches\nof heaven, where he resides; he can slip an inclination into the heart\nof the mighty, which they dreamed not of before; and if he doth not\nchange their projects, he can make them abortive, and waylay them in\ntheir attempts. Laban marched with fury, but God put a padlock on his\npassion against Jacob (Gen. xxxi. 24, 29); the devils, which ravage\nmen\u2019s minds, must be still when he gives out his sovereign orders.\nThis Sovereign can make his people find favor in the eyes of the cruel\nEgyptians, which had so long oppressed them (Exod. xi. 3); and speak a\ngood word in the heart of Nebuchadnezzar for the prophet Jeremiah, that\nhe should order his captain to take him into his special protection,\nwhen he took Zedekiah away prisoner in chains, and \u201cput out his eyes\u201d\n(Jer. xxxix. 11). His people cannot want deliverance from Him who hath\nall the world at his command, when he is pleased to bestow it; he hath\nas many instruments of deliverance as he hath creatures at his beck in\nheaven or earth, from the meanest to the highest. As he is the Lord of\nhosts, the church hath not only an interest in the strength he himself\nis possessed with, but in the strength of all the creatures that are\nunder his command, in the elements below, and angels above. In those\narmies of heaven, and in the inhabitants of the earth, he doth \u201cwhat\nhe will\u201d (Dan. iv. 35); they are all in order and array at his command.\nThere are angels to employ in a fatal stroke, lice and frogs to quell\nthe stubborn hearts of his enemies; he can range his thunders and\nlightnings, the cannon and granadoes of heaven, and the worms of the\nearth in his service; he can muzzle lions, calm the fury of the fire,\nturn his enemies\u2019 swords into their own bowels, and their artillery\non their own breasts; set the wind in their teeth, and make their\nchariot\u2011wheels languish; make the sea enter a quarrel with them, and\nwrap them in its waves till it hath stifled them in its lap. The angels\nhave storms, and tempests, and wars in their hands, but at the disposal\nof God; when they shall cast them out against the empire of antichrist\n(Rev. vii. 1, 2), then shall Satan be discharged from his throne, and\nno more seduce the nations; the everlasting gospel shall be preached,\nand God shall reign gloriously in Sion. Let us, therefore, shelter\nourselves in the Divine sovereignty, regard God as the most high in our\ndangers and in our petitions. This was David\u2019s resolution (Ps. lvii. 1,\n2): \u201cI will cry unto God most high;\u201d this dominion of God is the true\n\u201ctower of David, wherein there are a thousand shields\u201d for defence and\nencouragement (Cant. iv. 4).\n\n_Use IV._ If God hath an extensive dominion over the whole world,\nthis ought to be often meditated on, and acknowledged by us. This is\nthe universal duty of mankind. If he be the Sovereign of all, we should\nfrequently think of our great Prince, and acknowledge ourselves his\nsubjects, and him our Lord. God will be acknowledged the Lord of the\nwhole earth; the neglect of this is the cause of the judgments which\nare sent upon the world. All the prodigies were to this end, that they\nmight know, or acknowledge, that \u201cGod was the Lord\u201d (Exod. x. 2); as\nGod was proprietor, he demanded the first\u2011born of every Jew, and the\nfirst\u2011born of every beast; the one was to be redeemed, and the other\nsacrificed; this was the quit rent they were to pay to him for their\nfruitful land. The first\u2011fruits of {b454} the earth were ordered to\nbe paid to him, as a homage due to the landlord, and an acknowledgment\nthey held all in chief of him. The practice of offering first\u2011fruits\nfor an acknowledgment of God\u2019s sovereignty, was among many of the\nheathens, and very ancient; hence they dedicated some of the chief of\ntheir spoils, owning thereby the dominion and goodness of God, whereby\nthey had gained the victory; Cain owned this in offering the fruits\nof the earth, and it was his sin he owned no more, _viz._, his being\na sinner, and meriting the justice of God, as his brother Abel did\nin his bloody sacrifice. God was a sovereign Proprietor and Governor\nwhile man was in a state of innocence; but when man proved a rebel, the\nsovereignty of God bore another relation towards him, that of a Judge,\nadded to the other. The first\u2011fruits might have been offered to God in\na state of innocence, as a homage to him as Lord of the manor of the\nworld; the design of them was to own God\u2019s propriety in all things, and\nmen\u2019s dependence on him for the influences of heaven in producing the\nfruits of the earth, which he had ordered for their use. The design\nof sacrifices, and placing beasts instead of the criminal, was to\nacknowledge their own guilt, and God as a sovereign Judge; Cain owned\nthe first, but not the second; he acknowledged his dependence on God\nas a Proprietor, but not his obnoxiousness to God as a Judge; which may\nbe probably gathered from his own speech, when God came to examine him,\nand ask him for his brother (Gen. iv. 9): \u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d\nWhy do you ask me? though I own thee as the Lord of my land and goods,\nyet I do not think myself accountable to thee for all my actions. This\nsovereignty of God ought to be acknowledged in all the parts of it, in\nall the manifestations of it to the creature; we should bear a sense\nof this always upon our spirits, and be often in the thoughts of it in\nour retirements; we should fancy that we saw God upon his throne in his\nroyal garb, and great attendants about him, and take a view of it, to\nimprint an awe upon our spirits. The meditation of this would,\n\n1. Fix us on him as an object of trust. It is upon his sovereign\ndominion as much as upon anything, that safe and secure confidence\nis built; for if he had any superior above him to control him in\nhis designs and promises, his veracity and power would be of little\nefficacy to form our souls to a close adherency to him. It were not fit\nto make him the object of our trust that can be gainsayed by a higher\nthan himself, and had not a full authority to answer our expectations;\nif we were possessed with this notion fully and believingly, that God\nwere high above all, that \u201chis kingdom rules over all,\u201d we should not\ncatch at every broken reed, and stand gaping for comforts from a pebble\nstone. He that understands the authority of a king, would not waive\na reliance on his promise to depend upon the breath of a changeling\nfavorite. None but an ignorant man would change the security he may\nhave upon the height of a rock, to expect it from the dwarfishness of\na molehill. To put confidence in any inferior lord more than in the\nprince, is a folly in civil converse, but a rebellion in divine; God\nonly being above all, can only rule all; can command things to help us,\nand check other things which we depend on, and make them fall short of\nour expectations. {b455} The due consideration of this doctrine would\nmake us pierce through second causes to the first, and look further\nthan to the smaller sort of sailors, that climb the ropes, and dress\nthe sails, to the pilot that sits at the helm, the master, that, by\nan indisputable authority, orders all their notions. We should not\ndepend upon second causes for our support, but look beyond them to the\nauthority of the Deity, and the dominion he hath over all the works\nof his hands (Zech. x. 1): \u201cAsk ye of the Lord rain in the time of the\nlatter rain;\u201d when the seasons of the year conspire for the producing\nsuch an effect, when the usual time of rain is wheeled about in the\nyear, stop not your thoughts at the point of the heavens whence you\nexpect it, but pierce the heavens, and solicit God, who must give order\nfor it before it comes. The due meditation of all things depending on\nthe Divine dominion would strike off our hands from all other holds, so\nthat no creature would engross the dependence and trust which is due to\nthe First Cause; as we do not thank the heavens when they pour out rain,\nso we are not to depend upon them when we want it; God is to be sought\nto when the womb of second causes is opened to relieve us, as well\nas when the womb of second causes is barren, and brings not forth its\nwonted progeny.\n\n2. It would make us diligent in worship. The consideration of God, as\nthe Supreme Lord, is the foundation of all religion: \u201cOur Father, which\nart in heaven,\u201d prefaceth the Lord\u2019s prayer; \u201cFather\u201d is a name of\nauthority; \u201cin heaven,\u201d the place where he hath fixed his throne, notes\nhis government; not \u201cmy Father,\u201d but \u201cour Father,\u201d notes the extent of\nthis authority. In all worship we acknowledge the object of our worship\nour Lord, and ourselves his vassals; if we bear a sense that he is our\nSovereign King, it would draw us to him in every exigence, and keep us\nwith him in a reverential posture, in every address; when we come, we\nshould be careful not to violate his right, but render him the homage\ndue to his royalty. We should not appear before him with empty souls,\nbut filled with holy thoughts: we should bring him the best of our\nflock, and present him with the prime of our strength; were we sensible\nwe hold all of him, we should not withhold anything from him which\nis more worthy than another. Our hearts would be framed into an awful\nregard of him, when we consider that glorious and \u201cfearful name, the\nLord our God\u201d (Deut. xxviii. 58). We should look to our feet when\nwe enter into his house; if we considered him in heaven upon his\nthrone, and ourselves on earth at his footstool (Eccles. v. 2), lower\nbefore him than a worm before an angel, it would hinder garnishness\nand lightness. The Jews, saith Capel, on 1 Tim. i. 17, repeat this\nexpression, \u05de\u05dc\u05da \u05d4\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd, King of worlds, or Eternal King; probably the\nfirst original of it might be to stake them down from wandering. When\nwe consider the majesty of God, clothed with a robe of light, sitting\nupon his high throne, adorned with his royal ensigns, we should not\nenter into the presence of so great a Majesty with the sacrifice of\nfools, with light motions and foolish thoughts, as if he were one of\nour companions to be drolled with. We should not hear his word as if it\nwere the voice of some ordinary peasant. The consideration of majesty\nwould engender reverence in our service; {b456} it would also make us\nspeak of God with honor and respect, as of a great and glorious king,\nand not use defaming expressions of him, as if he were an infamous\nbeing. And were he considered as a terrible majesty, he would not be\nfrequently solicited by some to pronounce a damnation upon them upon\nevery occasion.\n\n3. It would make us charitable to others. Since he is our Lord, the\ngreat Proprietor of the world, it is fit he should have a part of our\ngoods, as well as our time: he being the Lord both of our goods and\ntime. The Lord is to be honored with our substance (Prov. iii. 9);\nkings were not to be approached to without a present; tribute is due to\nkings: but because he hath no need of any from us to bear up his state,\nmaintain the charge of his wars, or pay his military officers and hosts,\nit is a debt due to him to acknowledge him in his poor, to sustain\nthose that are a part of his substance; though he stands in no need of\nit himself, yet the poor, that we have always with us, do; as a seventh\npart of our weekly time, so some part of our weekly gains, are due to\nhim. There was to be a weekly laying by in store somewhat of what God\nhad prospered them, for the relief of others (1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2); the\nquantity is not determined, that is left to every man\u2019s conscience,\n\u201caccording as God hath prospered him\u201d that week. If we did consider God\nas the Donor and Proprietor, we should dispose of his gifts according\nto the design of the true owner, and act in our places as stewards\nentrusted by him, and not purse up his part, as well as our own,\nin our coffers. We should not deny him a small quit rent, as an\nacknowledgement that we have a greater income from him; we should be\nready to give the inconsiderable pittance he doth require of us, as an\nacknowledgment of his propriety, as well as liberality.\n\n4. It would make us watchful, and arm us against all temptations.\nHad Eve stuck to her first argument against the serpent, she had not\nbeen instrumental to that destruction which mankind yet feel the smart\nof (Gen. iii. 3): \u201cGod hath said, Ye shall not eat of it;\u201d the great\nGovernor of the world hath laid his sovereign command upon us in this\npoint. The temptation gained no ground till her heart let go the sense\nof this for the pleasure of her eye and palate. The repetition of this,\nthe great Lord of the world hath said or ordered, had both unargumented\nand disarmed the tempter. A sense of God\u2019s dominion over us would\ndiscourage a temptation, and put it out of countenance; it would bring\nus with a vigorous strength to beat it back to a retreat. If this were\nas strongly urged as the temptation, it would make the heart of the\ntempted strong, and the motion of the tempter feeble.\n\n5. It would make us entertain afflictions as they ought to be\nentertained, _viz._, with a respect to God. When men make light of any\naffliction from God, it is a contempt of his sovereignty, as to contemn\nthe frown, displeasure, and check of a prince, is an affront to majesty:\nit is as if they did not care a straw what God did with them, but\ndare him to do his worst. There is a \u201cdespising the chastening of the\nAlmighty\u201d (Job v. 17). To be unhumbled under his hand, is as much, or\nmore, affront to him, than to be impatient under it. Afflictions must\nbe entertained as a check from heaven, {b457} as a frown from the great\nMonarch of the world; under the feeling of every stroke, we are to\nacknowledge his sovereignty and bounty; to despise it, is to make light\nof his authority over us; as to despise his favors is to make light\nof his kindness to us. A sense of God\u2019s dominion would make us observe\nevery check from him, and not diminish his authority by casting off a\ndue sense of his correction.\n\n6. This dominion of God would make us resign up ourselves to God in\neverything. He that considers himself a thing made by God, a vassal\nunder his authority, would not expostulate with him, and call him to an\naccount why he hath dealt so or so with him. It would stab the vitals\nof all pleas against him. We should not then contest with him, but\nhumbly lay our cause at his feet, and say with Eli, (1 Sam. iii. 18),\n\u201cIt is the Lord, let him do what seems good.\u201d We should not commence a\nsuit against God, when he doth not answer our prayers presently, and\nsend the mercy we want upon the wings of the wind; he is the Lord, the\nSovereign. The consideration of this would put an end to our quarrels\nwith God; should I expect that the Monarch of the world should wait\nupon me; or I, a poor worm, wait upon him? Must I take state upon me\nbefore the throne of heaven, and expect the King of kings should lay by\nhis sceptre, to gratify my humor? Surely Jonah thought God no more than\nhis fellow, or his vassal, at that time when he told him to his face he\ndid well to be angry, as though God might not do what he pleased with\nso small a thing as a gourd; he speaks as if he would have sealed a\nlease of ejectment, to exclude him from any propriety in anything in\nthe world.\n\n7. This dominion of God would stop our vain curiosity. When Peter\nwas desirous to know the fate of John, the beloved disciple, Christ\nanswereth no more than this: (John xxi. 22), \u201cIf I will that he tarry\ntill I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.\u201d Consider your duty,\nand lay aside your curiosity, since it is my pleasure not to reveal it.\nThe sense of God\u2019s absolute dominion would silence many vain disputes\nin the world. What if God will not reveal this or that? the manner\nand method of his resolves should humble the creature under intruding\ninquiries.\n\n_Use V._ Of exhortation.\n\n1. The doctrine of the dominion of God may teach us humility. We\nare never truly abased, but by the consideration of the eminence and\nexcellency of the Deity. Job never thought himself so pitiful a thing,\nso despicable a creature, as after God\u2019s magnificent declamation upon\nthe theme of his own sovereignty (Job xlii. 5, 6). When God\u2019s name is\nregarded as the most excellent and sovereign name in all the earth,\nthen is the soul in the fittest temper to lie low, and cry out, What\nis man, that so great a Majesty should be mindful of him? When Abraham\nconsiders God as the supreme Judge of all the earth, he then owns\n\u201chimself but dust and ashes\u201d (Gen. xviii. 25, 27). Indeed, how can\nvile and dusty man vaunt before God, when angels, far more excellent\ncreatures, cannot stand before him, but with a veil on their faces?\nHow little a thing is man in regard of all the earth! How mean a thing\nis the earth in regard of the vaster heavens! How poor a thing is the\nwhole {b458} world in comparison of God! How pitiful a thing is man,\nif compared with so excellent a Majesty! There is as great a distance\nbetween God and man, as between being and not being; and the more\nman considers the Divine royalty, the more disesteem he will have of\nhimself; it would make him stoop and disrobe himself, and fall low\nbefore the throne of the King of kings, throwing down before his throne\nany crown he gloried in (Rev. iv. 10).\n\n(1.) In regard of authority. How unreasonable is pride in the presence\nof majesty! How foolish is it for a country justice of peace to think\nhimself as great as his prince that commissioned him! How unreasonable\nis pride in the presence of the greatest sovereignty! What, is human\ngreatness before Divine? The stars discover no light when the sun\nappears, but in a humble posture withdraw in their lesser beams, to\ngive the sole glory of enlightening the world to the sun, who is, as\nit were, the sovereign of those stars, and imparts a light unto them.\nThe greatest prince is infinitely less, if compared with God, than\nthe meanest scullion in his kitchen can be before him. As the wisdom,\ngoodness, and holiness of a man is a mere mote compared to the goodness\nand holiness of God, so is the authority of a man a mere trifle in\nregard of the sovereignty of God: and who but a simple child would be\nproud of a mote or trifle? Let man be as great as he can, and command\nothers, he is still a subject to One greater than himself. Pride would\nthen vanish like smoke at the serious consideration of this sovereignty.\nOne of the kings of this country did very handsomely shame the flattery\nof his courtiers, that cried him up as lord of sea and land, by\nordering his chair to be set on the sand of the sea shore, when the\ntide was coming in, and commanding the waters not to touch his feet,\nwhich when they did without any regard to his authority, he took\noccasion thereby to put his flatterers out of countenance, and instruct\nhimself in a lesson of humility. \u201cSee,\u201d saith he, \u201chow I rule all\nthings, when so mean a thing as the water will not obey me!\u201d It is a\nridiculous pride that the Turk and Persian discover in their swelling\ntitles. What poor sovereigns are they, that cannot command a cloud,\ngive out an effectual order for a drop of rain, in a time of drought,\nor cause the bottles of heaven to turn their mouth another way in\na time of too much moisture! Yet their own prerogatives are so much\nin their minds, that they jostle out all thoughts of the supreme\nprerogative of God, and give thereby occasion to frequent rebellions\nagainst him.\n\n(2.) In regard of propriety. And this doctrine is no less an abatement\nof pride in the highest, as well as in the meanest; it lowers pride in\npoint of propriety, as well as in point of authority. Is any proud of\nhis possessions? how many lords of those possessions have gone before\nyou! how many are to follow you![1021] Your dominion lasts but a short\ntime, too short to be a cause of any pride and glory in it. God by\na sovereign power can take you from them, or them from you, when he\npleaseth. The traveller refresheth himself in the heat of summer under\na shady tree; how many have done so before him the same day he knows\nnot, and {b459} how many will have the benefit after before night comes,\nhe is as much ignorant of; he, and the others that went before him and\nfollow after him, use it for their refreshment, but none of them can\nsay, that they are the lords of it; the property is invested in some\nother person, whom perhaps they know not. The propriety of all you have\nis in God, not truly in yourselves. Doth not that man deserve scorn\nfrom you, who will play the proud fool in gay clothes and attire, which\nare known to be none of his own, but borrowed? Is it not the same case\nwith every proud man, though he hath a property in his goods by the law\nof the land? Is anything you have your own truly? Is it not lent you\nby the great Lord? Is it not the same vanity in any of you, to be proud\nof what you have as God\u2019s loan to you, as for such a one to be proud\nof what he hath borrowed of man? And do you not make yourselves as\nridiculous to angels and good men, who know that though it is yours in\nopposition to man, yet it is not yours in opposition to God? they are\ngranted you only for your use, as the collar of esses and sword, and\nother ensigns of the chief magistrate in the city, pass through many\nhands in regard of the use of them, but the propriety remains in the\ncommunity and body of the city: or as the silver plate of a person\nthat invites you to a feast is for your use during the time of the\ninvitation. What ground is there to be proud of those things you are\nnot the absolute lords and proprietors of, but only have the use of\nthem granted to you during the pleasure of the Sovereign of the world!\n\n2. Praise and thankfulness result from this doctrine of the sovereignty\nof God.\n\n(1.) He is to be praised for his royalty. (Ps. cxlv. 1), \u201cI will\nextoll thee, my God, O King.\u201d The Psalmist calls upon men five times\nto sing praise to him as King of all the earth. (Ps. xlvii. 6, 7),\n\u201cSing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises to our king, sing\npraises: for God is the King of all the earth; sing ye praises with\nunderstanding.\u201d All creatures, even the inanimate ones, are called\nupon to praise him because of the excellency of his name and the\nsupremacy of his glory, in the 148th Psalm throughout, and ver. 13.\nThat Sovereign Power that gave us hearts and tongues, deserves to have\nthem employed in his praises, especially since he hath by the same\nhand given us so great matter for it. As he is a Sovereign we owe him\nthankfulness; he doth not deal with us in a way of absolute dominion;\nhe might then have annihilated us, since he hath as full a dominion to\nreduce us to nothing. Consider the absoluteness of his sovereignty in\nitself, and you must needs acknowledge that he might have multiplied\nprecepts, enjoined us the observance of more than he hath done; he\nmight have made our tether much shorter; he might exact obedience,\nand promise no reward for it; he might dash us against the walls, as\na potter doth his vessel, and no man have any just reason to say, What\ndost thou? or, Why dost thou use me so? A greater right is in him to\nuse us in such a manner as we do sensible as well as insensible things.\nAnd if you consider his dominion as it is capable to be exercised in a\nway of unquestionable justice, and submitted to the {b460} reason and\njudgments of creatures, he might have dealt with us in a smarter way\nthan he hath hitherto done; instead of one affliction, we might have\nhad a thousand: he might have shut his own hands from pouring out any\ngood upon us, and ordered innumerable scourges to be prepared for us;\nbut he deals not with us according to the rights of his dominion. He\ndoth not oppress us by the greatness of his majesty; he enters into\ncovenant with us, and allures us by the chords of a man, and shows\nhimself as much a merciful as an absolute Sovereign.\n\n(2.) As he is a Proprietor, we owe him thankfulness. He is at his own\nchoice whether he will bestow upon us any blessings or no; the more\nvalue, therefore, his benefits deserve from us, and the Donor the more\nsincere returns. If we have anything from the creature to serve our\nturn, it is by the order of the chief Proprietor. He is the spring\nof honor, and the fountain of supplies: all creatures are but as the\nconduit pipes in a great city, which serve several houses with water,\nbut from the great spring. All things are conveyed originally from his\nown hand, and are dispensed from his exchequer. If this great Sovereign\ndid not order them, you would have no more supplies from a creature\nthan you could have nourishment from a chip: it is the Divine will in\neverything that doth us good; every favor from creatures is but a smile\nfrom God, an evidence of his royalty to move us to pay a respect to\nhim as the great Lord. Some heathens had so much respect for God, as to\nconclude that his will, and not their prudence, was the chief conductor\nof their affairs. His goodness to us calls for our thankfulness, but\nhis sovereignty calls for a higher elevation of it: a smile from a\nprince is more valued, and thought worthy of more gratitude, than\na present from a peasant; a small gift from a great person is more\ngratefully to be received than a larger from an inferior person: the\ncondescension of royalty magnifies the gift. What is man, that thou,\nso great a Majesty, art mindful of him, to bestow this or that favor\nupon him?\u2015\u2015is but a due reflection upon every blessing we receive.\nUpon every fresh blessing we should acknowledge the Donor and true\nProprietor, and give him the honor of his dominion: his property ought\nto be thankfully owned in everything we are capable of consecrating\nto him; as David, after the liberal collection he had made for the\nbuilding of the temple, owns in his dedication of it to that use the\npropriety of God: \u201cWho am I, and what is my people, that we should be\nable to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of\nthee, and of thine own have we given thee\u201d (1 Chron. xxix. 14): it was\nbut a return of God\u2019s own to him, as the waters of the river are no\nother than the return to the sea of what was taken from it. Praise and\nthankfulness is a rent due from all mankind, and from every creature,\nto the great Landlord, since all are tenants, and hold by him at his\nwill. \u201cEvery creature in heaven and earth, and under the earth, and in\nthe sea,\u201d were heard, by John, to ascribe \u201cblessing, honor, glory, and\npower, to Him that sits on the throne\u201d (Rev. v. 13). We are as much\nbound to the sovereignty of God for his preservation of us, as for his\ncreation of us; we are no less obliged to him that preserves our beings\nwhen exposed to dangers, than we are for {b461} bestowing a being upon\nus when we were not capable of danger. Thankfulness is due to this\nSovereign for public concerns. Hath he not preserved the ship of his\nchurch in the midst of whistling winds and roaring waves; in the midst\nof the combats of men and devils; and rescued it often when it hath\nbeen near shipwrecked?\n\n3. How should we be induced from hence to promote the honor of\nthis Sovereign! We should advance him as supreme, and all our actions\nshould concur in his honor: we should return to his glory what we have\nreceived from his sovereignty, and enjoy by his mercy: he that is the\nsuperior of all, ought to be the end of all. This is the harmony of the\ncreation; that which is of an inferior nature is ordered to the service\nof that which is of a more excellent nature; thus water and earth, that\nhave a lower being, are employed for the honor and beauty of the plants\nof the earth, who are more excellent in having a principle of a growing\nlife: these plants are again subservient to the beasts and birds,\nwhich exceed them in a principle of sense, which the others want: those\nbeasts and birds are ordered for the good of man, who is superior to\nthem in a principle of reason, and is invested with a dominion over\nthem. Man having God for his superior, ought as much to serve the\nglory of God, as other things are designed to be useful to man. Other\ngovernments are intended for the good of the community, the chief\nend is not the good of the governors themselves: but God being every\nway sovereign, the sovereign Being, giving being to all things, the\nsovereign Ruler, giving order and preservation to all things, is\nalso the end of all things, to whose glory and honor all things, all\ncreatures, are to be subservient; \u201cfor of him, and through him, and\nto him, are all things, to whom be glory for ever\u201d (Rom. xi. 36): _of_\nhim, as the efficient cause; _through_ him, as the preserving cause;\n_to_ him, as the final cause. All our actions and thoughts ought to\nbe addressed to his glory; our whole beings ought to be consecrated to\nhis honor, though we should have no reward but the honor of having been\nsubservient to the end of our creation: so much doth the excellency and\nmajesty of God, infinitely elevated above us, challenge of us. Subjects\nuse to value the safety, honor, and satisfaction of a good prince above\ntheir own: David is accounted worth ten thousand of the people; and\nsome of his courtiers thought themselves obliged to venture their lives\nfor his satisfaction in so mean a thing as a little water from the well\nof Bethlehem. Doth not so great, so good a Sovereign as God, deserve\nthe same affection from us? \u201cDo we swear,\u201d saith a heathen, \u201cto prefer\nnone before C\u00e6sar, and have we not greater reason to prefer none before\nGod?\u201d[1022] It is a justice due from us to God to maintain his glory,\nas it is a justice to preserve the right and property of another. As\nGod would lay aside his Deity if he did deny himself, so a creature\nacts irregularly, and out of the rank of a creature, if it doth not\ndeny itself for God. He that makes himself his own end, makes himself\nhis own sovereign. To napkin up a gift he hath bestowed upon us, or to\nemploy what we possess solely to our own glory, to use anything barely\nfor ourselves, without respect to God, is to apply it to a wrong use,\nand to injure {b462} God in his propriety, and the end of his donation.\nWhat we have ought to be used for the honor of God: he retains the\ndominion and lordship, though he grants us the use: we are but stewards,\nnot proprietors, in regard to God, who expects an account from us, how\nwe have employed his goods to his honor. The kingdom of God is to be\nadvanced by us: we are to pray that his kingdom may come: we are to\nendeavor that his kingdom may come, that is, that God may be known to\nbe the chief Sovereign; that his dominion, which was obscured by Adam\u2019s\nfall, may be more manifested; that his subjects, which are suppressed\nin the world, may be supported; his laws, which are violated by the\nrebellions of men, may be more obeyed; and his enemies be fully subdued\nby his final judgment, the last evidence of his dominion in this state\nof the world; that the empire of sin and the devil may be abolished,\nand the kingdom of God perfected, that none may rule but the great and\nrightful Sovereign. Thus while we endeavor to advance the honor of his\nthrone, we shall not want an honor to ourselves. He is too gracious a\nSovereign to neglect them that are mindful of his glory; \u201cthose that\nhonor him, he will honor\u201d (1 Sam. ii. 30).\n\n4. Fear and reverence of God in himself, and in his actions, is a duty\nincumbent on us from this doctrine (Jer. x. 7): \u201cWho would not fear\nthee, O King of nations?\u201d The ingratitude of the world is taxed in not\nreverencing God as a great king, who had given so many marks of his\nroyal government among them. The prophet wonders there was no fear of\nso great a King in the world, since, \u201camong all the wise men of the\nnations, and among all their kings, there is none like unto this;\u201d no\nmore reverence of him, since none ruled so wisely, nor any ruled so\ngraciously. The dominion of God is one of the first sparks that gives\nfire to religion and worship, considered with the goodness of this\nSovereign (Ps. xii. 27, 28): \u201cAll the nations shall worship before thee,\nfor the kingdom is the Lord\u2019s, and he is Governor among the nations.\u201d\nEpicurus, who thought God careless of human affairs, leaving them at\nhap\u2011hazard, to the conduct of men\u2019s wisdom and mutability of fortune,\nyet acknowledged that God ought to be worshipped by man for the\nexcellency of his nature, and the greatness of his majesty. How\nshould we reverence that God, that hath a throne encompassed with such\nglorious creatures as angels, whose faces we are not able to behold,\nthough shadowed in assumed bodies! how should we fear the Lord of Hosts,\nthat hath so many armies at his command in the heavens above, and in\nthe earth below, whom he can dispose to the exact obedience of his\nwill! how should men be afraid to censure any of his actions, to sit\njudge of their Judge, and call him to an account at their bar! how\nshould such an earth\u2011worm, a mean animal as man, be afraid to speak\nirreverently of so great a King among his pots and strumpets! Not to\nfear him, not to reverence him, is to pull his throne from under him,\nand make him of a lower authority than ourselves, or any creature that\nwe reverence more.\n\n5. Prayer to God, and trust in him, is inferred from his sovereignty.\nIf he be the supreme Sovereign, holding heaven and earth in his hand,\ndisposing all things here below, not committing everything {b463} to\nthe influence of the stars or the humors of men, we ought, then, to\napply ourselves to him in every case, implore the exercise of his\nauthority; we hereby own his peculiar right over all things and persons.\nHe only is the supreme Head in all causes, and over all persons: \u201cThine\nis the kingdom\u201d (Matt. vi. 13), concludes the Lord\u2019s prayer, both as a\nmotive to pray, and a ground to expect what we want. He that believes\nnot God\u2019s government will think it needless to call upon him, will\nexpect no refuge under him in a strait, but make some creature\u2011reed his\nsupport. If we do not seek to him, but rely upon the dominion we have\nover our own possessions, or upon the authority of anything else, we\ndisown his supremacy and dominion over all things; we have as good an\nopinion of ourselves, or of some creatures, as we ought to have of God;\nwe think ourselves, or some natural cause we seek to or depend upon, as\nmuch sovereigns as he, and that all things which concern us are as much\nat the dispose of an inferior, as of the great Lord. It is, indeed,\nto make a god of ourselves, or of the creature; when we seek to him,\nupon all occasions, we own this Divine eminency, we acknowledge that\nit is by him men\u2019s hearts are ordered, the world governed, all things\ndisposed; and God, that is jealous of his glory, is best pleased\nwith any duty in the creature that doth acknowledge and desire the\nglorification of it, which prayer and dependence on him doth in a\nspecial manner, desiring the exercise of his authority, and the\npreservation of it in ordering the affairs of the world.\n\n6. Obedience naturally results from this doctrine. As his justice\nrequires fear, his goodness thankfulness, his faithfulness trust,\nhis truth belief, so his sovereignty, in the nature of it, demands\nobedience: as it is most fit he should rule, in regard of his\nexcellency, so it is most fit we should obey him in regard of his\nauthority: he is our Lord, and we his subjects; he is our Master, and\nwe his servants; it is righteous we should observe him, and conform to\nhis will: he is everything that speaks an authority to command us, and\nthat can challenge an humility in us to obey. As that is the truest\ndoctrine that subjects us most to God, so he is the truest Christian\nthat doth, in his practice, most acknowledge this subjection; and\nas sovereignty is the first notion a creature can have of God, so\nobedience is the first and chief thing conscience reflects upon the\ncreature. Man holds all of God; and therefore owes all the operations\ncapable to be produced by those faculties to that Sovereign Power that\nendowed him with them. Man had no being but from him; he hath no motion\nwithout him; he should, therefore, have no being but for him; and\nno motion but according to him: to call him Lord, and not to act in\nsubjection to him, is to mock and put a scorn upon him (Luke vi. 46):\n\u201cWhy call you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?\u201d It\nis like the crucifying Christ under the title of a King. It is not\nby professions, but by observance of the laws of a prince, that we\nmanifest a due respect to him: by that we reverence that authority\nthat enacted them, and the prudence that framed them.\n\nThis doctrine affords us motives to obey, and directs us to the manner\nof obedience.\n\n{b464} 1st. Motives to obey,\n\n(1.) It is comely and orderly. Is it not a more becoming thing to\nbe ruled by the will of our Sovereign than by that of our lusts?\u2015\u2015to\nobserve a wise and gracious Authority, than to set up inordinate\nappetites in the room of his law? Would not all men account it a\ndisorder to be abominated, to see a slave or vassal control the just\norders of his lord, and endeavor to subject his master\u2019s will to his\nown? much more to expect God should serve our humor rather than we be\nregulated by his will. It is more orderly that subjects should obey\ntheir governors, than governors their subjects; that passion should\nobey reason, than reason obey passion. When good governors are to\nconform to subjects, and reason veil to passion, it is monstrous!\nthe one disturbs the order of a community, and the other defaceth\nthe beauty of the soul. Is it a comely thing for God to stoop to our\nmeanness, or for us to stoop to his greatness?\n\n(2.) In regard of the Divine sovereignty, it is both honorable and\nadvantageous to obey God. It is, indeed, the glory of a superior to\nbe obeyed by his inferior; but where the sovereign is of transcendent\nexcellency and dignity, it is an honor to a mean person to be under his\nimmediate commands, and enrolled in his service. It is more honor to be\nGod\u2019s subject than to be the greatest worldly monarch; his very service\nis an empire, and disobedience to him is a slavery. It is a part of\nhis sovereignty to reward any service done him.[1023] Other lords may\nbe willing to recompense the service of their subjects, but are often\nrendered unable; but nothing can stand in the way of God to hinder your\nreward, if nothing stand in your way to hinder your obedience (Lev.\nxviii. 5): \u201cIf you keep my statutes, you shall live in them; I am the\nLord.\u201d Is there anything in the world can recompense you for rebellion\nagainst God, and obedience to a lust? Saul cools the hearts of his\nservants from running after David, by David\u2019s inability to give\nthem fields and vineyards (1 Sam. xxii. 7): \u201cWill the son of Jesse\ngive every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you captains of\nthousands, and captains of hundreds, that you have conspired against\nme?\u201d But God hath a dominion to requite, as well as an authority to\ncommand your obedience; he is a great Sovereign, to bear you out in\nyour observance of his precepts against all reproaches and violence of\nmen, and at last to crown you with eternal honor. If he should neglect\nvindicating, one time or other, your loyalty to him, he will neglect\nthe maintaining and vindicating his own sovereignty and greatness.\n\n(3.) God, in all his dispensations to man, was careful to preserve the\nrights of his sovereignty in exacting obedience of his creature. The\nsecond thing he manifested his sovereignty in was that of a Lawgiver\nto Adam, after that of a Proprietor in giving him the possession of the\ngarden; one followed immediately the other (Gen. ii. 15, 16): \u201cThe Lord\nGod took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it;\nand the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden\nthou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and\nevil thou shalt not eat of it,\u201d &c. {b465} Nothing was to be enjoyed by\nman but upon the condition of obedience to his Lord; and it is observed\nthat in the description of the creation, God is not called \u201cLord\u201d till\nthe finishing of the creation, and particularly in the forming of man.\n\u201cAnd the Lord God formed man\u201d (Gen. ii. 7). Though he was Lord of all\ncreatures, yet it was in man he would have his sovereignty particularly\nmanifested, and by man have his authority specially acknowledged. The\nlaw is prefaced with this title: \u201cI am the Lord thy God\u201d (Exod. xx. 2):\nauthority in Lord, sweetness in God, the one to enjoin, the other to\nallure obedience; and God enforceth several of the commands with the\nsame title. And as he begins many precepts with it, so he concludes\nthem with the same title, \u201cI am the Lord,\u201d Lev. xix. 37, and in other\nplaces. In all his communications of his goodness to man in ways of\nblessing them, he stands upon the preservation of the rights of his\nsovereignty, and manifests his graciousness in favor of his authority.\n\u201cI am the Lord your God,\u201d your God in all my perfections for your\nadvantage, but yet your Sovereign for your obedience. In all his\ncondescension he will have the rights of this untouched and unviolated\nby us. When Christ would give the most pregnant instance of his\ncondescending and humble kindness, he urgeth his authority to ballast\ntheir spirits from any presumptuous eruptions because of his humility.\n\u201cYou call me Master, and Lord; and you say well: for so I am\u201d (John\nxiii. 13). He asserts his authority, and presseth them to their duty,\nwhen he had seemed to lay it by for the demeanor of a servant, and had,\nbelow the dignity of a master, put on the humility of a mean underling,\nto wash the disciples feet; all which was to oblige them to perform the\ncommand he then gave them (ver. 14), and in obedience to his authority,\nand imitation of his example.\n\n(4.) All creatures obey him. All creatures punctually observe\nthe law he hath imprinted on their nature, and in their several\ncapacities acknowledge him their Sovereign; they move according to\nthe inclinations he imprinted on them. The sea contains itself in its\nbounds, and the sun steps out of its sphere; the stars march in their\norder, \u201cthey continue this day according to thy ordinance, for all are\nthy servants\u201d (Ps. cxix. 91). If he orders things contrary to their\nprimitive nature, they obey him. When he speaks the word, the devouring\nfire becomes gentle, and toucheth not a hair of the children he will\npreserve; the hunger\u2011starved lions suspend their ravenous nature, when\nso good a morsel as Daniel is set before them; and the sun, which had\nbeen in perpetual motion since its creation, obeys the writ of ease\nGod sent it in Joshua\u2019s time, and stands still. Shall insensible and\nsensible creatures be punctual to his orders, passively acknowledge\nhis authority? shall lions and serpents obey God in their places?\u2015\u2015and\nshall not man, who can, by reason, argue out the sovereignty of God,\nand understand the sense and goodness of his laws, and actively obey\nGod with that will he hath enriched him with above other creatures? Yet\nthe truth is, every sensitive, yea, every senseless creature, obeys God\nmore than his rational, more than his gracious creatures in this world.\nThe rational creatures since the fall have a prevailing principle of\ncorruption. Let the obedience {b466} of other creatures incite us more\nto imitate them, and shame our remissness in not acknowledging the\ndominion of God, in the just way he prescribes us to walk in. Well\nthen, let us not pretend to own God as our Lord, and yet act the part\nof rebels; let us give him the reverence, and pay him that obedience,\nwhich of right belongs to so great a King. Whatsoever he speaks as a\ntrue God, ought to be believed; whatsoever he orders as a sovereign God,\nought to be obeyed; let not God have less than man, nor man have more\nthan God. It is a common principle writ upon the reason of all men,\nthat respect and observance is due to the majesty of a man, much more\nto the Majesty of God as a Lawgiver.\n\n2d. As this doctrine presents us motives, so it directs us to the\nmanner and kind of our obedience to God.\n\n(1.) It must be with a respect to his authority. As the veracity of God\nis the formal object of faith, and the reason why we believe the things\nhe hath revealed; so the authority of God is the formal object of our\nobedience, or the reason why we observe the things he hath commanded.\nThere must be a respect to his will as the rule, as well as to his\nglory as the end. It is not formally obedience that is not done with\nregard to the order of God, though it may be materially obedience, as\nit answers the matter of the precept. As when men will abstain from\nexcess and rioting, because it is ruinous to their health, not because\nit is forbidden by the great Lawgiver; this is to pay a respect to\nour own conveniency and interest, not a conscientious observance\nto God; a regard to our health, not to our Sovereign; a kindness to\nourselves, not a justice due to the rights of God. There must not only\nbe a consideration of the matter of the precept as convenient, but a\nconsideration of the authority of the Lawgiver as obligatory. \u201cThus\nsaith the Lord,\u201d ushers in every order of his, directing our eye to the\nauthority enacting it; Jeroboam did God\u2019s will of prophecy in taking\nthe kingdom of Israel; and the devils may be subservient in God\u2019s\nwill or providence; but neither of them are put upon the account of\nobedience, because not done intentionally with any conscience of the\nsovereignty of God. God will have this owned by a regular respect to it;\nso much he insists upon the honor of it, that the sacrifice of Christ,\nGod\u2011man, was most agreeable to him, not only as it was great and\nadmirable in itself, but also for that ravishing obedience to his will,\nwhich was the life and glory of his sacrifice, whereby the justice of\nGod was not only owned in the offering, but the sovereignty of God\nowned in the obedience. \u201cHe became obedient unto death; wherefore God\nhighly exalted him\u201d (Phil. ii. 8).\n\n(2.) It must be the best and most exact obedience. The most sovereign\nauthority calls for the exactest and lowest observance; the highest\nLord for the deepest homage; being, he is, a \u201cgreat King, he must have\nthe best in our flock\u201d (Mal. i. 14). Obedience is due to God, as King,\nand the choicest obedience is due to him, as he is the most excellent\nKing. The more majestic and noble any man is, the more careful we are\nin our manner of service to him. We are bound to obey God, not only\nunder the title of a \u201cLord\u201d in regard of jurisdiction and political\nsubjection, but under the title of a true {b467} \u201cLord and Master,\u201d\nin regard of propriety; since we are not only his subjects but his\nservants, the exactest obedience is due to God, _jure servitutis_;\n\u201cWhen you have done all, say you are unprofitable servants\u201d (Luke\nxvii. 10), because we can do nothing which we owe not to God.\n\n(3.) Sincere and inward obedience. As it is a part of his sovereignty\nto prescribe laws not only to man in his outward state, but to his\nconscience, so it is a part of our subjection to receive his laws into\nour will and heart. The authority of his laws exceeds human laws in the\nextent and riches of them, and our acknowledgment of his sovereignty\ncannot be right, but by subjecting the faculties of our soul to the\nLawgiver of our souls; we else acknowledge his authority to be as\nlimited as the empire of man; when his will not only sways the outward\naction, but the inward motion, it is a giving him the honor of his\nhigh throne above the throne of mortals. The right of God ought to be\npreserved undamaged in affection, as well as action.\n\n(4.) It must be sole obedience. We are ordered to serve him only;\n\u201cHim only shalt thou serve\u201d (Matt. iv. 10): as the only Supreme Lord,\nas being the highest Sovereign, it is fit he should have the highest\nobedience before all earthly sovereigns, and as being unparalleled by\nany among all the nations, so none must have an obedience equal to him.\nWhen God commands, if the highest power on earth countermands it, the\nprecept of God must be preferred before the countermand of the creature.\n\u201cWhether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than\nunto God, judge ye\u201d (Acts iv. 18, 19). We must never give place to the\nauthority of all the monarchs in the world, to the prejudice of that\nobedience we owe to the Supreme Monarch of heaven and earth; this would\nbe to place the throne of God at the footstool of man, and debase him\nbelow the rank of a creature. Loyalty to man can never recompense for\nthe mischief accruing from disloyalty to God. All the obedience we are\nto give to man, is to be paid in obedience to God, and with an eye to\nhis precept: therefore, what servants do for their masters, they must\ndo \u201cas to the Lord\u201d (Col. iii. 23); and children are to obey their\nparents \u201cin the Lord\u201d (Eph. vi. 1). The authority of God is to be eyed\nin all the services payable to man; proper and true obedience hath God\nsolely for its principal and primary object; all obedience to man that\ninterferes with that, and would justle out obedience to God, is to be\nrefused. What obedience is due to man, is but rendered as a part of\nobedience to God, and a stooping of his authority.\n\n(5.) It must be universal obedience. The laws of man are not to be\nuniversally obeyed; some may be oppressing and unjust: no man hath\nauthority to make an unjust law, and no subject is bound to obey an\nunrighteous law; but God being a righteous Sovereign, there is not one\nof his laws but doth necessarily oblige us to obedience. Whatsoever\nthis Supreme Power declares to be his will, it must be our care to\nobserve; man, being his creature, is bound to be subject to whatsoever\nlaws he doth impose to the meanest as well as to the greatest: they\nhaving equally a stamp of Divine authority {b468} upon them. We are\nnot to pick and choose among his precepts: this is to pare away part\nof his authority, and render him a half sovereign. It must be universal\nin all places. An Englishman in Spain is bound to obey the laws of that\ncountry wherein he resides: and so not responsible there for the breach\nof the laws of his native country. In the same condition is a Spaniard\nin England. But the laws of God are to be obeyed in every part of the\nworld; wheresoever Divine Providence doth cast us, it casts us not\nout of the places where he commands, nor out of the compass of his\nown empire. He is Lord of the world, and his laws oblige in every part\nof the world; they were ordered for a world, and not for a particular\nclimate and territory.\n\n(6.) It must be indisputable obedience. All authority requires\nreadiness in the subject; the centurion had it from his soldiers; they\nwent when he ordered them, and came when he beckoned to them (Matt.\nviii. 9). It is more fit God should have the same promptness from his\nsubjects. We are to obey his orders, though our purblind understanding\nmay not apprehend the reason of every one of them. It is without\ndispute that he is sovereign, and therefore it is without dispute that\nwe are bound to obey him, without controlling his conduct. A master\nwill not bear it from his slave, why should God from his creature?\nThough God admits his creatures sometimes to treat with him about the\nequality of his justice, and also about the reason of some commands,\nyet sometimes he gives no other reason but his own sovereignty, \u201cThus\nsaith the Lord;\u201d to correct the malapertness of men, and exact from\nthem an entire obedience to his unlimited and absolute authority. When\nAbraham was commanded to offer Isaac, God acquaints him not with the\nreason of his demand till after (Gen. xxii. 2, 12), nor did Abraham\nenter any demur to the order, or expostulate with God, either from his\nown natural affection to Isaac, the hardness of the command, it being,\nas it were, a ripping up of his own bowels, nor the quickness of it\nafter he had been a child of the promise, and a Divine donation above\nthe course of nature. Nor did Paul confer with flesh and blood, and\nstudy arguments from nature and interest to oppose the Divine command,\nwhen he was sent upon his apostolical employment (Gal. i. 16). The more\nindisputable his right is to command, the stronger is our obligation to\nobey, without questioning the reason of his orders.\n\n(7.) It must be joyful obedience. Men are commonly more cheerful\nin their obedience to a great prince than to a mean peasant; because\nthe quality of the master renders the service more honorable. It is\na discredit to a prince\u2019s government, when his subjects obey him with\ndiscontent and dejectedness, as though he were a hard master, and\nhis laws tyrannical and unrighteous. When we pay obedience but with\na dull and feeble pace, and a sour and sad temper, we blemish our\ngreat Sovereign, imply his commands to be grievous, void of that peace\nand pleasure he proclaims to be in them; that he deserves no respect\nfrom us, if we obey him because we must, and not because we will.\nInvoluntary obedience deserves not the title: it is rather submission\nthan obedience, an act of the body, not of the mind: a mite of\nobedience with cheerfulness, is better {b469} than a talent without\nit. In the little Paul did, he comforts himself in this, that with\nthe \u201cmind he served the law of God\u201d (Rom. vii. 25); the testimonies of\nGod were David\u2019s delight (Ps. cxix. 24). Our understandings must take\npleasure in knowing him, our wills delightfully embrace him, and our\nactions be cheerfully squared to him. This credits the sovereignty of\nGod in the world, makes others believe him to be a gracious Lord, and\nmove them to have some veneration for his authority.\n\n(8.) It must be a perpetual obedience. As man is a subject as soon\nas he is a creature, so he is a subject as long as he is a creature.\nGod\u2019s sovereignty is of perpetual duration, as long as he is God; man\u2019s\nobedience must be perpetual, while he is a man. God cannot part with\nhis sovereignty, and a creature cannot be exempted from subjection; we\nmust not only serve him, but cleave to him (Deut. xiii. 4). Obedience\nis continued in heaven, his throne is established in heaven, it must be\nbowed to in heaven, as well as in earth. The angels continually fulfil\nhis pleasure.\n\n7. _Exhortation._ Patience is a duty flowing from this doctrine. In\nall strokes upon ourselves, or thick showers upon the church, \u201cthe\nLord reigns,\u201d is a consideration to prevent muttering against him, and\nmake us quietly wait to see what the issue of his Divine pleasure will\nbe. It is too great an insolence against the Divine Majesty to censure\nwhat he acts, or quarrel with him for what he inflicts. Proud clay doth\nvery unbecomingly swell against an infinite superior. If God be our\nSovereign, we ought to subscribe to his afflicting will without debates,\nas well as to his liberal will with affectionate applauses. We should\nbe as full of patience under his sharper, as of praise under his more\ngrateful, dispensations, and be without reluctancy against his penal,\nas well as his preceptive, pleasure. It is God\u2019s part to inflict, and\nthe creature\u2019s part to submit.\n\nThis doctrine affords us motives, and shows us the nature of patience.\n1. Motives to it.\n\n(1.) God, being Sovereign, hath an absolute right to dispose of all\nthings. His title to our persons and possessions is, upon this account,\nstronger than our own can be; we have as much reason to be angry with\nourselves, when we assert our worldly right against others, as to be\nangry with God for asserting the right of his dominion over us. Why\nshould we enter a charge against him, because he hath not tempered us\nso strong in our bodies, drawn us with as fair colors, embellished our\nspirits with as rich gifts as others? Is he not the Sovereign of his\nown goods, to impart what, and in what measure, he pleaseth? Would\nyou be content your servants should check your pleasure in dispensing\nyour own favors? It is an unreasonable thing not to leave God to the\nexercise of his own dominion. Though Job were a pattern of patience,\nyet he had deep tinctures of impatience; he often complains of God\u2019s\nusage of him as too hard, and stands much upon his own integrity; but\nwhen God comes, in the latter chapters of that book, to justify his\ncarriage towards him, he chargeth him not as a criminal, but considers\nhim only as his vassal. He might have found flaws enough in Job\u2019s\ncarriage, {b470} and corruption enough in Job\u2019s nature, to clear the\nequity of his proceeding as a judge; but he useth no other medium to\nconvince him, but the greatness of his Majesty, the unlimitedness of\nhis sovereignty, which so appals the good man, that he puts his finger\non his mouth and stands mute with a self\u2011abhorrency before him, as a\nSovereign, rather than as a Judge. When he doth pinch us, and deprive\nus of what we most affect, his right to do it should silence our lips\nand calm our hearts from any boisterous uproars against him.\n\n(2.) The property of all still remains in God, since he is sovereign.\nHe did not divest himself of the property when he granted us the use;\nthe earth is his, not ours; the fulness any of us have, as well as the\nfulness others have. After he had given the Israelites corn, wine, and\noil, he calls them all _his_, and emphatically adds _my_, to every one\nof them (Hos. ii. 9). His right is universal over every mite we have,\nand perpetual too; he may, therefore, take from us what he please. He\ndid but deposit in our hands for awhile the benefits we enjoy, either\nchildren, friends, estate, or lives; he did not make a total conveyance\nof them, and alienate his own property, when he put them into our hands;\nwe can show no patent for them, wherein the full right is passed over\nto us, to hold them against his will and pleasure, and implead him if\nhe offer to re\u2011assume them: he reserved a power to dispossess us upon\na forfeiture, as he is the Lord and Governor. Did any of us yet answer\nthe condition of his grant? it was his indulgence to allow them so long;\nthere is reason to submit to him, when he re\u2011assumes what he lent us,\nand rather to thank him that he lent it so long, and did not seize upon\nit sooner.\n\n(3.) Other things have more reason to complain of our sovereignty over\nthem, than we of God\u2019s exercise of his sovereignty over us. Do we not\nexercise an authority over our beasts, as to strike them when we please,\nand merely for our pleasure; and think we merit no reproof for it,\nbecause they are our own, and of a nature inferior to ours? And shall\nnot God, who is absolute, do as much with us, who are more below him\nthan the meanest creatures are below us? They are creatures as well as\nwe, and we no more creatures than they; they were framed by Omnipotence\nas well as we; there is no more difference between them and us in the\nnotion of creatures. As there is no difference between the greatest\nmonarch on earth, and the meanest beggar on the dunghill, in the notion\nof a man; the beggar is a man, as well as the monarch, and as much a\nman; the difference consists in the special endowments we have above\nthem by the bounty of their and our common Creator. We are less, if\ncompared with God, than the worst, meanest, and most sordid creature\ncan be, if compared with us. Hath not a bird or a hare (if they had a\ncapacity) more reason to complain of men\u2019s persecuting them by their\nhawks and their dogs? but would their complaints appear reasonable,\nsince both were made for the use of man, and man doth but use the\nnature of the one to attain a benefit by the other? Have we any reason\nto complain of God if he lets loose other creatures, the devouring\nhounds of the world, to bite and afflict us? We must not open our lips\nagainst him, nor {b471} let our heart swell against his scourge, since\nboth they and we were made for his use, as well as other creatures for\nour; this is a reason to stifle all complaints against God, but not\nto make us careless of preventing afflictions, or emerging out of them\nby all just ways. The hare hath a nature to shift for itself by its\nwinding and turning, and the bird by its flight; and neither of them\ncould be blamed, if they were able, should the one scratch out the eyes\nof the hounds, and the other sacrifice the hawk to its own fury.\n\n(4.) It is a folly not to submit to him. Why should we strive against\nhim, since he is an unaccountable Sovereign, and \u201cgives no account of\nany of his matters?\u201d (Job xxxiii. 13.) Who can disannul the judgment\nGod gives? There is no appeal from the supreme court; a higher court\ncan repeal or null the sentence of an inferior court, but the sentence\nof the highest stands irreversible, but by itself and its own authority.\nIt is better to lower our sails, than to grapple with one that can\nshoot us under water; to submit to that Sovereign whom we cannot subdue.\n\n2. It shows us the true nature of patience in regard of God: it is a\nsubmission to God\u2019s sovereignty. As the formal object of obedience is\nthe authority of God enacting the law, so the formal object of patience\nis the authority of God inflicting the punishment: as his right of\ncommanding is to be eyed in the one, so his right of punishing is\nto be considered in the other. This was Eli\u2019s condition, when he had\nreceived a message that might put flesh and blood into a mutiny, the\nrending the priesthood from his family, and the ruin of his house: yet\nthis consideration, \u201cIt is the Lord,\u201d calms him into submission, and\na willing compliance with the Divine pleasure (1 Sam. iii. 18): \u201cIt\nis the Lord, let him do what seems good in his sight.\u201d Job was of the\nsame strain (Job i. 21): \u201cThe Lord gives, and the Lord hath taken away,\nblessed be the name of the Lord;\u201d he considers God as a sovereign, who\nwas not to be reproached, or have anything uncomely uttered of him, for\nwhat he had done. To be patient because we cannot avoid it, or resist\nit, is a violent, not a loyal patience; but to submit because it is the\nwill of God to inflict; to be silent, because the sovereignty of God\ndoth order it, is a patience of a true complexion. The other kind of\npatience is no other than that of an enemy that will free himself as\nsoon as he can, and by any way, though never so violent, that offers\nitself. This sort of patience is that of a subject acknowledging the\nsupreme authority over him, and that he ought to be ordered by the will,\nand to the glory of God, more than by his own will, and for his own\nease; \u201cI was dumb, I opened not my mouth\u201d (Ps. xxxix. 10); not because\nI could not help it, but \u201cbecause thou didst it,\u201d thou who art my\nsovereign Lord. The greatness of God claims an awful and inviolable\nrespect from his creatures in what way soever he doth dispose of them;\nthis is due to him; since his kingdom ruleth over all, his kingdom\nshould be acknowledged by all, and his royal authority submitted to\nin all that he doth.\n\n\n\n\n{b472}                      DISCOURSE XIV.\n\n                          ON GOD\u2019S PATIENCE.\n\n  NAHUM I. 3.\u2015\u2015The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and\n    will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in the\n    whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his\n    feet.\n\n\nTHE subject of this prophecy is God\u2019s sentence against Nineveh, the\nhead and metropolis of the Assyrian empire: a city famous for its\nstrength, and thickness of its walls, and the multitude of its towers\nfor defence against an enemy. The forces of this empire did God use as\na scourge against the Israelites, and by their hands ruined Samaria,\nthe chief city of the ten tribes, and transplanted them as captives\ninto another country (2 Kings xvii. 5, 6), about six years after\nHezekiah came to the crown of Judah (2 Kings xviii. compared with chap.\nxvii. 6), in whose time, or, as some think, later, Nahum uttered this\nprophecy. The name, _Nahum_, signifies Comforter; though the matter\nof his prophecy be dreadful to Nineveh, it was comfortable to the\npeople of God: for a promise is made, (ver. 7), \u201cThe Lord is good,\na stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust\nin him.\u201d And an encouragement to Judah, to keep their solemn feasts,\n(ver. 15: and also in chap. ii. 3), with a declaration of the misery\nof Nineveh, and the destruction of it. Observe,\n\n1. In all the fears of God\u2019s people, God will have a Comforter for\nthem. Judah might well be dejected with the calamity of their brethren,\nnot knowing but it might be their own turn shortly after. They knew not\nwhere the ambition of the Assyrian would stop; but God by his prophets\ncalms their fears of their furious neighbor, by predicting to them the\nruin of their feared adversary.\n\n2. The destruction of the church\u2019s enemies is the comfort of the church.\nBy that God is glorified in his justice, and the church secured in its\nworship.\n\n3. The victories of persecutors secure them not from being the\ntriumphs of others. The Assyrians that conquered and captived Israel,\nwere themselves to be conquered and captived by the Medes. The whole\noppressing empire is threatened with destruction in the ruin of\ntheir chief city; accordingly it was accomplished, and the empire\nextinguished by a greater power. God burns the rod when it hath done\nthe work he appointed it for; and the wisp of straw wherewith the\nvessels are scoured, is flung into the fire, or upon the dunghill.\n\nNahum begins his prophecy majestically, with a description of the\n{b473} wrath and fury of God. (Ver. 2), \u201cGod is jealous, and the Lord\nrevengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious: the Lord will take\nvengeance on his adversaries, and reserveth wrath for his enemies.\u201d\nAnd therefore the whole of it is called (ver. 1), \u201cThe burden of\nNineveh,\u201d as those prophecies are, which are composed of threatenings\nof judgments, which lie as a mighty weight upon the heads and backs of\nsinners.\n\n_God is jealous_\u2015\u2015jealous of his glory and worship, and jealous for\nhis people, and their security. He cannot long bear the oppressions of\nhis people, and the boasts of his enemies. He is jealous for himself,\nand is jealous for you of Judah, who retain his worship. He is not\nforgetful of those that remember him, nor of the danger of those\nthat are desirous to maintain his honor in the world. In this first\nexpression, the prophet uses the covenant name, God; the covenant\nruns, \u201cI am your God,\u201d or \u201cthe Lord your God;\u201d mostly God without Lord,\nnever Lord without God: and, therefore, his jealousy here is meant of\nthe care of his people, and the relation that his actions against his\nenemies have to his servants. He is a lover of his own, and a revenger\non his enemies.\n\n_The Lord revengeth, and is furious._\u2015\u2015He now describes God by a name\nof sovereignty and power, when he describes him in his wrath and fury,\nand is furious. _Heb._ \u05d1\u05e2\u05dc \u05d7\u05de\u05d4, _Lord of hot anger_. God will vindicate\nhis own glory, and have his right on his enemies in a way of punishment,\nif they will not give it him in a way of obedience. It is three times\nrepeated, to show the certainty of the judgment;[1024] and the name of\n\u201cLord\u201d added to every one, to intimate the power wherewith the judgment\nshould be executed. It is not a fatherly correction of children in a\nway of mercy, but an offended Sovereign\u2019s destruction of his enemies in\na way of vengeance. There is an anger of God with his own people, which\nhath more of mercy than wrath; in this his rod is guided by his bowels.\nThere is a fury of God against his enemies, where there is sole wrath\nwithout any tincture of mercy; when his sword is all edge, without\nany balsam drops upon it. Such a fury as David deprecates (Ps. vi. 1):\n\u201cO Lord, rebuke me not in thy anger, nor chasten me in thy sore\ndispleasure,\u201d with a fury untempered with grace, and insupportable\nwrath.\n\n_He reserves wrath for his enemies._\u2015\u2015He lays it up in his treasury, to\nbe brought out and expended in a due season. \u201cWrath\u201d is supplied by our\ntranslators, and is not in the Hebrew. He reserves, what?\u2015\u2015that which\nis too sharp to be expressed, too great to be conceived: a vengeance\nit is. And \u05d5\u05e0\u05d5\u05d8\u05e8 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0, _He reserves it_. He that hath an infinite wrath, he\nreserves it; that hath a strength and power to execute it.\n\n(Ver. 3.) _The Lord is slow to anger_, _Heb._ \u05d0\u05e8\u05da \u05d0\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd, _of broad\nnostrils_. The anger of God is expressed by this word, which signifies\n\u201cnostrils:\u201d as, Job ix. 13, \u201cIf God will not withdraw his anger,\u201d\n_Heb._ \u201chis nostrils.\u201d And the anger whereby the wicked are consumed,\nis called the \u201cbreath of nostrils\u201d (Job iv. 9); and when he is angry,\nsmoke and fire are said to go out of his nostrils (2 Sam. ii. 9); and\nin Psalm lxxiv. 1, \u201cWhy doth thy anger smoke?\u201d _Heb._ \u201cWhy do {b474}\nthy nostrils smoke?\u201d So the rage of a horse, when he is provoked\nin battle, is called the glory of his nostrils (Job xxxix. 20). He\nbreathes quick fumes, and neighs with fury. And slowness to anger is\nhere expressed by the phrase of \u201clong or wide nostrils:\u201d because in\na vehement anger, the blood boiling about the heart, exhales men\u2019s\nspirit, which fume up, and break out in dilated nostrils. But where\nthe passages are straighter the spirits have not so quick a vent, and\ntherefore raise more motions within; or, because the wider the nostrils\nare, the more cool air is drawn in to temper the heat of the heart,\nwhere the angry spirits are gathered; and so the passion is allayed,\nand sooner calmed. God speaks of himself in Scripture often after the\nrate of men; Jeremiah prays (ch. xv. 15) that God would not take him\naway in his long\u2011suffering, _Heb._ \u201cin the length of his nostrils,\u201d\n_i. e._ Be not slow and backward in thy anger against my persecutors,\nas to give them time and opportunity to destroy me. The nostrils,\nas well as other members of a human body, are ascribed to God. He is\nslow to anger; he hath anger in his nature, but is not always in the\nexecution of it.\n\n_And great in power._\u2015\u2015This may refer to his patience as the cause of\nit, or as a bar to the abuse of it.\n\n1. \u201cHe is slow to anger, and great in power,\u201d _i. e._ his power\nmoderates his anger; he is not so impotent as to be at the command\nof his passions, as men are; he can restrain his anger under just\nprovocations to exercise it. His power over himself is the cause of\nhis slowness to wrath, as Numb. xiv. 17: \u201cLet the power of my Lord be\ngreat,\u201d saith Moses, when he pleads for the Israelites\u2019 pardon. Men\nthat are great in the world are quick in passions, and are not so ready\nto forgive an injury, or bear with an offender, as one of a meaner rank.\nIt is a want of a power over a man\u2019s self that makes him do unbecoming\nthings upon a provocation. A prince that can bridle his passion, is a\nking over himself, as well as over his subjects. God is slow to anger,\nbecause great in power: he hath no less power over himself than over\nhis creatures: he can sustain great injuries without an immediate and\nquick revenge: he hath a power of patience, as well as a power of\njustice.\n\n2. Or thus: \u201cHe is slow to anger and great in power.\u201d He is slow\nto anger, but not for want of power to revenge himself; his power\nis as great to punish, as his patience to spare. It seems thus, that\nslowness to anger is brought in as an objection against the revenge\nproclaimed. What do you tell us of vengeance, vengeance, nothing but\nsuch repetitions of vengeance?\u2015\u2015as though we were ignorant that God is\nslow to anger. It is true, saith the prophet, I acknowledge it as much\nas you, that God is slow to anger; but withal, great in power. His\nanger certainly succeeds his abused patience; he will not always bridle\nin his wrath, but one time or other let it march out in fury against\nhis adversaries. The Assyrians, who had captived the ten tribes, and\nbeen victorious a little against the Jews, might think that the God\nof Israel had been conquered by their gods, as well as the people\nprofessing him had been subdued by their arms; that God had lost all\nhis power; and the Jews might argue, from God\u2019s patience to his enemies,\nagainst the credit {b475} of the prophet\u2019s denouncing revenge. The\nprophet answers, to the terror of the one, and the comfort of the other,\nthat this indulgence to his enemies, and not accounting with them for\ntheir crimes, proceeded from the greatness of his patience, and not\nfrom any debility in his power. As it refers to the Assyrian, it may\nbe rendered thus: You Ninevites, upon your repentance after Jonah\u2019s\nthundering of judgments, are witnesses of the slowness of God to anger,\nand had your punishments deferred; but, falling to your old sins, you\nshall find a real punishment, and that he hath as much power to execute\nhis ancient threatenings, as he had then compassion to recall them; his\npatience to you then was not for want of power to ruin you, but was the\neffect of his goodness towards you. As it refers to the Jews, it may be\nthus paraphrased: Do not despise this threatening against your enemies\nbecause of the greatness of their might, the seeming stability of\ntheir empire, and the terror they possess all the nations with round\nabout them: it may be long before it comes, but assure yourselves the\nthreatening I denounce shall certainly be executed; though he hath\npatience to endure them a hundred and thirty\u2011five years (for so long as\nit was before Nineveh was destroyed after this threatening, as Ribera,\n_in loc._[1025] computes from the years of the reign of the kings of\nJudah), yet he hath also power to verify his word, and accomplish his\nwill: assure yourselves, he will not at all acquit the wicked.\n\n_He will not acquit the wicked._\u2015\u2015He will not always account the\ncriminal an innocent, as he seems to do by a present sparing of them,\nand dealing with them as if they were destitute of any provoking\ncarriage towards him, and he void of any resentment of it. He will\n\u201cnot acquit the wicked;\u201d how is this? Who then can be saved? Is there\nno place for remission? He will \u201cnot acquit the wicked.\u201d _i. e._ he\nwill not acquit obstinate sinners. As he hath patience for the wicked,\nso he hath mercy for the penitent. The wicked are the subjects of his\nlong\u2011suffering, but not of his acquitting grace; he doth not presently\npunish their sins, because he is slow to anger; but without their\nrepentance he will not blot out their sins, because he is righteous in\njudgment: if God should acquit them without repentance for their crimes,\nhe must himself repent of his own law and righteous sanction of it. \u201cHe\nwill not acquit,\u201d _i. e._ he will not go back from the thing he hath\nspoken, and forbear, at long run, the punishment he hath threatened.\n\n_The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind._\u2015\u2015The way of God signifies\nsometimes the law of God, sometimes the providential operations of God:\n\u201cIs not my way equal?\u201d (Ezek. xviii. 25). It seems there to take in\nboth.\n\n_And in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet._\u2015\u2015The\nprophet describes here the fight of God with the Assyrians, as if\nhe rushed upon them with a mighty noise of an army, raising the dust\nwith the feet of their horses, and motion of their chariots.[1026]\nSymbolically, it signifies the multitude of the Chaldean and Median\nforces, invading, besieging, and storming the city. It signifies,\n\n1. The rule of providence. The way of God is in every motion {b476} of\nthe creature; he rules all things, whirlwinds, storms, and clouds; his\nway is in all their walks, in the whirlings and blusterings of the one,\nin the raising and dissolving the other. He blows up the winds, and\ncompacts the clouds, to make them serviceable to his designs.\n\n2. The management of wars by God. His way is in the storm: as he was\nthe Captain of the Assyrians against Samaria, so he will be the Captain\nof the Medes against Nineveh: as Israel was not so much wasted by the\nAssyrians as by the Lord, who levied and armed their forces; so Nineveh\nshall be subverted, rather by God, than by the arms of the Medes. Their\nforce is described not to be so much from human power as Divine. God is\nPresident in all the commotions of the world, his way is in every\nwhirlwind.\n\n3. The easiness of executing the judgment. He is of so great power that\nhe can excite tempests in the air, and overthrow them with the clouds,\nwhich are the dust of his feet: he can blind his enemies, and avenge\nhimself on them: he is Lord of clouds, and can fill their womb with\nhail, lightnings, and thunders, to burst out upon those he kindles\nhis anger against: he is of so great force, that he needs not use the\nstrength of his arm, but the dust of his feet, to effect his destroying\npurpose.\n\n4. The suddenness of the judgment. Whirlwinds come suddenly, without\nany harbingers to give notice of their approach: clouds are swift\nin their motion; \u201cWho are those that fly as a cloud?\u201d (Isa. lx. 8),\n_ i. e._ with a mighty nimbleness. What God doth, he shall do on the\nsudden, come upon them before they are aware, be too quick for them in\nhis motion to overrun and overreach them. The winds are described with\nwings, in regard of the quickness of their motion.\n\n5. The terror of judgments. \u201cThe Lord hath his way in the whirlwind,\u201d\n_i. e._ in great displeasure. The anger of the Lord is often compared\nto a storm; he shall bring clouds of judgments upon them, many and\nthick, as terrible as when a day is turned into night, by the mustering\nof the darkest clouds that interpose between the sun and the earth.\n\u201cClouds and darkness are round about him, and a fire goes before him,\u201d\nwhen he \u201cburns up his enemies\u201d (Ps. xcvii. 2, 3). The judgments shall\nhave terror without mercy, as clouds obscure the light, and are dark\nmasks before the face and glory of the sun, and cut off its refreshing\nbeams from the earth. Clouds note multitude and obscurity; God could\ncrush them without a whirlwind, beat them to powder with one touch, but\nhe will bring his judgments in the most surprising and amazing manner\nto flesh and blood, so that all their glory shall be changed into\nnothing but terror, by the noise of the bellowing winds, and the clouds,\nlike ink, blacking the heavens.\n\n6. The confusion of the offenders upon God\u2019s proceeding. A whirlwind\nis not only a boisterous wind, that hurls and rolls everything out of\nits place, but, by its circular motion, by its winding to all points of\nthe compass, it confounds things, and jumbles them together. It keeps\nnot one point, but, by a circumgyration, toucheth upon all. Clouds,\nlike dust, shall be blown in their face, and gum up their eyes: they\nshall be in a posture of confusion, not know what counsels to take,\nwhat motions to resolve upon. Let them look {b477} to every point of\nheaven and earth, they shall meet with a whirlwind to confound them,\nand cloudy dust to blind them.\n\n7. The irresistibleness of the judgment. Winds have more than a\ngiant\u2011like force, a torrent of compacted air, that, with an invincible\nwifulness, bears all before it, displaceth the firmest trees, and\nlevels the tallest towers, and pulls up bodies from their natural place.\nClouds also are over our heads, and above our reach; when God places\nthem upon his people for defence they are an invincible security (Isa.\niv. 5); and when he moves them, as his chariot, against a people, they\nend in an irresistible destruction. Thus the ruin of the wicked is\ndescribed (Prov. x. 25): \u201cAs the whirlwind passes, so is the wicked no\nmore:\u201d it blows them down, sweeps them away, they irrecoverably fall\nbefore the force of it. What heart can endure, and what hands can be\nstrong, in the days wherein God doth deal with them! (Ezek. xxii. 14).\nThus is the judgment against Nineveh described: God hath his way in the\nwhirlwind, to thunder down their strongest walls, which were so thick\nthat chariots could march abreast upon them; and batter down their\nmighty towers, which that city had in multitudes upon their walls.\n\nThey are the first words I intend to insist upon, to treat of the\nPatience of God described in those words, \u201cThe Lord is slow to anger.\u201d\n\n_Doctrine._ Slowness to anger, or admirable patience, is the property\nof the Divine nature. As patience signifies suffering, so it is not\nin God. The Divine nature is impassible, incapable of any impair, it\ncannot be touched by the violences of men, nor the essential glory\nof it be diminished by the injuries of men; but as it signifies a\nwillingness to defer, and an unwillingness to pour forth his wrath upon\nsinful creatures, he moderates his provoked justice, and forbears to\nrevenge the injuries he daily meets with in the world. He suffers no\ngrief by men\u2019s wronging him, but he restrains his arm from punishing\nthem according to their merits; and thus there is patience in every\ncross a man meets with in the world, because, though it be a punishment,\nit is less than is merited by the unrighteous rebel, and less than may\nbe inflicted by a righteous and powerful God. This patience is seen in\nhis providential works in the world: \u201cHe suffered the nations to walk\nin their own way,\u201d and the witness of his providence to them was his\n\u201cgiving them rain and fruitful seasons, filling their heart with food\nand gladness\u201d (Acts xvi. 17). The heathens took notice of it, and\nsignified it by feigning their god Saturn, to be bound a whole year\nin a soft cord, a cord of wool, and expressed it by this proverb:\n\u201cThe mills of the gods grind slowly;\u201d _i. e._ God doth not use men\nwith that severity that they deserve; the mills being usually turned\nby criminals condemned to that work.[1027] This, in Scripture, is\nfrequently expressed by a slowness to anger (Ps. ciii. 8), sometimes\nby long\u2011suffering, which is a patience with duration (Ps. cxlv. 8; Joel\nii. 13). He is slow to anger, he takes not the first occasions of a\nprovocation; he is long\u2011suffering (Rom. ix. 22), and (Ps. lxxxvi. 15)\nhe forbears punishment upon many occasions offered him. It is long\nbefore he consents to give fire to his wrath, {b478} and shoot out his\nthunderbolts. Sin hath a loud cry, but God seems to stop his ears, not\nto hear the clamor it raises and the charge it presents. He keeps his\nsword a long time in the sheath; one calls the patience of God the\nsheath of his sword, upon those words (Ezek. xxi. 3), \u201cI will draw\nforth my sword out of his sheath.\u201d This is one remarkable letter in the\nname of God; he himself proclaims it (Exod. xxxiv. 6): \u201cThe Lord, the\nLord God, merciful, gracious, and long\u2011suffering.\u201d And Moses pleads\nit in the behalf of the people (Numb. xiv. 18), where he placeth it\nin the first rank; the Lord is \u201clong\u2011suffering and of great mercy:\u201d\nit is the first spark of mercy, and ushers it to its exercises in the\nworld.[1028] In the Lord\u2019s proclamation, it is put in the middle link,\nmercy and truth together; mercy could have no room to act if patience\ndid not prepare the way; and his truth and goodness, in his promise\nof the Redeemer, would not have been manifest to the world if he had\nshot his arrows as soon as men committed their sins, and deserved his\npunishment. This perfection is expressed by other phrases, as \u201ckeeping\nsilence\u201d (Ps. l. 21): \u201cThese things hast thou done, and I kept silence,\u201d\n\u05d0\u05dc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea \u05d5\u05d4\u05d7\u05e8\u05e9\u05ea\u05d9; it signifies to behave one\u2019s self as a deaf or dumb man.\nI did not fly in thy face, as some do, with a great noise upon a light\nprovocation, as if their life, honor, estates, were at the stake; I\ndid not presently call thee to the bar, and pronounce judicial sentence\nupon thee according to the law, but demeaned myself as if I had been\nignorant of thy crimes, and had not been invested with the power of\njudging thee for them. _Chald._ \u201cI waited for thy conversion.\u201d God\u2019s\npatience is the silence of his justice, and the first whisper of his\nmercy. It is also expressed by not laying folly to men (Job xxiv. 12);\nmen groan under the oppressions of others, yet God lays not folly\nto them, _i. e._ to the oppressors; God suffers them to go on with\nimpunity. He doth not deliver his people because he would try them,\nand takes not revenge upon the unrighteous, because in patience he doth\nbear with them: patience is the life of his providence in this world.\nHe chargeth not men with their crimes here, but reserves them, upon\nimpenitency, for another trial. This attribute is so great a one, that\nit is signally called by the name of \u201cPerfection\u201d (Matt. v. 45, 48).\nHe had been speaking of Divine goodness, and patience to evil men,\nand he concludes, \u201cBe you perfect,\u201d &c., implying it to be an amazing\nperfection of the Divine nature, and worthy of imitation.\n\nIn the prosecution of this, I. Let us consider the nature of this\npatience. II. Wherein it is manifested. III. Why God doth exercise so\nmuch patience. IV. The Use.\n\nI. The nature of this patience.\n\n1. It is part of the Divine goodness and mercy, yet differs from both.\nGod being the greatest goodness, hath the greatest mildness. Mildness\nis always the companion of true goodness, and the greater the goodness\nthe greater the mildness. Who so holy as Christ, and who so meek? God\u2019s\nslowness to anger is a branch or slip from his mercy (Ps. cxlv. 8):\n\u201cThe Lord is full of compassion, slow to anger.\u201d {b479} It differs\nfrom mercy in the formal consideration of the object; mercy respects\nthe creature as miserable, patience respects the creature as criminal;\nmercy pities him in his misery, and patience bears with the sin which\nengendered that misery, and is giving birth to more. Again, mercy is\none end of patience; his long\u2011suffering is partly to glorify his grace:\nso it was in Paul (1 Tim. i. 16). As slowness to anger springs from\ngoodness, so it makes mercy the butt and mark of its operations (Isa.\nxxx. 18): \u201cHe waits that he may be gracious.\u201d Goodness sets God upon\nthe exercise of patience, and patience sets many a sinner on running\ninto the arms of mercy. That mercy which makes God ready to embrace\nreturning sinners, makes him willing to bear with them in their sins,\nand wait their return. It differs also from goodness, in regard of\nthe object. The object of goodness is every creature, angels, men, all\ninferior creatures, to the lowest worm that crawls upon the ground. The\nobject of patience is, primarily, man, and secondarily, those creatures\nthat respect men\u2019s support, conveniency, and delight; but they are not\nthe objects of patience, as considered in themselves, but in relation\nto man, for whose use they were created; and therefore God\u2019s patience\nto them is properly his patience with man. The lower creatures do not\ninjure God, and therefore are not the objects of his patience, but as\nthey are forfeited by man, and man deserves to be deprived of them;\nas man in this regard falls under the patience of God, so do those\ncreatures which are designed for man\u2019s good. That patience which spares\nman, spares other creatures for him, which were all forfeited by man\u2019s\nsin, as well as his own life, and are rather the testimonies of God\u2019s\npatience, than the proper objects of it. The object of God\u2019s goodness,\nthen, is the whole creation; not a devil in hell, but as a creature,\nis a mark of his goodness, but not of his patience. There is a kind of\nsparing exercised to the devils, in deferring their complete punishment,\nand hitherto keeping off the day wherein their final sentence is to\nbe pronounced; yet the Scripture never mentions this by the name of\nslowness to anger, or long\u2011suffering. It can no more be called patience,\nthan a prince\u2019s keeping a malefactor in chains, and not pronouncing a\ncondemning sentence, or not executing a sentence already pronounced,\ncan be called a patience with him, when it is not out of kindness to\nthe offender, but for some reasons of state. God\u2019s sparing the devils\nfrom their total punishment\u2015\u2015which they have not yet, but are \u201creserved\nin chains, under darkness for it\u201d (Jude 6)\u2015\u2015is not in order to\nrepentance, or attended with any invitations from God, or hopes in them;\nand, therefore, cannot come under the same title as God\u2019s sparing man:\nwhere there is no proposal of mercy, there is no exercise of patience.\nThe fallen angels had no mercy reserved for them, nor any sacrifices\nprepared for them; God \u201cspared not the angels\u201d (2 Pet. ii. 4), \u201cbut\ndelivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment,\u201d\n_i. e._ he had no patience for them; for patience is properly a\ntemporary sparing a person, with a waiting of his relenting, and a\nchange of his injurious demeanor. The object of goodness is more\nextensive than that of patience: nor do they both consider the object\nunder the same relation. Goodness respects things in a capacity, or in\na state of creation, and {b480} brings them forth into creation, and\nnurseth and supports them as creatures. Patience considers them already\ncreated, and fallen short of the duty of creatures; it considers them\nas sinners, or in relation to sinners. Had not sin entered, patience\nhad never been exercised; but goodness had been exercised, had the\ncreature stood firm in its created state without any transgression; nay,\ncreation could not have been without goodness, because it was goodness\nto create; but patience had never been known without an object, which\ncould not have been without an injury. Where there is no wrong, no\nsuffering, nor like to be any, patience hath no prospect of any\noperation. So, then, goodness respects persons as creatures, patience\nas transgressors; mercy eyes men as miserable and obnoxious to\npunishment; patience considers men as sinful, and provoking to\npunishment.\n\n2. Since it is a part of goodness and mercy, it is not an insensible\npatience. What is the fruit of pure goodness cannot be from a weakness\nof resentment; he is \u201cslow to anger;\u201d the prophet doth not say, he is\nincapable of anger, or cannot discern what is a real object of anger;\nit implies, that he doth consider every provocation, but he is not\nhasty to discharge his arrows upon the offenders; he sees all, while he\nbears with them; his omniscience excludes any ignorance; he cannot but\nsee every wrong; every aggravation in that wrong, every step and motion\nfrom the beginning to the completing it; for he knows all our thoughts;\nhe sees the sin and the sinner at the same time; the sin with an eye of\nabhorrency, and the sinner with an eye of pity. His eye is upon their\niniquities, and his hatred edged against them; while he stands with\narms open, waiting a penitent return. When he publisheth his patience\nin his keeping silence, he publisheth also his resolution, to set sin\nin order before their eyes (Ps. l. 21): \u201cI will reprove thee, and set\nthem in order before thy eyes.\u201d Think me not such a piece of phlegm,\nand so dull as not to resent your insolences; you shall see, in my\nfinal charge, when I come to judge, that not a wry look escaped my\nknowledge, that I had an eye to behold, and a heart to loathe every\none of your transgressions. The church was ready to think that God\u2019s\nslowness to deliver her, and his bearing with her oppressors, was not\nfrom any patience in his nature, but a drowsy carelessness, a senseless\nlethargy (Ps. xliv. 23): \u201cAwake, why sleepest thou, O Lord?\u201d We must\nconclude him an inapprehensive God, before we can conclude him an\ninsensible God. As his delaying his promise is not slackness to his\npeople (2 Pet. iii. 9), so his deferring of punishment is not from a\nstupidity under the affronts offered him.\n\n3. Since it is a part of his mercy and goodness, it is not a\nconstrained or faint\u2011hearted patience. It is not a slowness to anger,\narising from a despondency of his own power to revenge. He hath as\nmuch power to punish as he hath to forbear punishment. He that created\na world in six days, and that by a word, wants not a strength to crush\nall mankind in one minute; and with as much ease as a word imports,\ncan give satisfaction to his justice in the blood of the offender.\nPatience in man is many times interpreted, and truly too, a cowardice,\na feebleness of spirit, and a want of strength. But it is {b481} not\nfrom the shortness of the Divine arm, that he cannot reach us, nor from\nthe feebleness of his hand, that he cannot strike us. It is not because\nhe cannot level us with the dust, dash us in pieces like a potter\u2019s\nvessel, or consume us as a moth. He can make the mightiest to fall\nbefore him, and lay the strongest at his feet the first moment of\ntheir crime. He that did not want a powerful word to create a world,\ncannot want a powerful word to dissolve the whole frame of it, and\nraze it out of being. It is not, therefore, out of a distrust of his\nown power, that he hath supported a sinful world for so many ages, and\npatiently borne the blasphemies of some, the neglects of others, and\nthe ingratitude of all, without inflicting that severe justice which\nrighteously he might have done; he wants no thunder to crush the whole\ngeneration of men, nor waters to drown them, nor earth to swallow them\nup. How easy is it for him to single out this or that particular person\nto be the object of his wrath, and not of his patience! What he hath\ndone to one, he may to another; any signal judgment he hath sent upon\none, is an evidence that he wants not power to inflict it upon all.\nCould he not make the motes in the air to choke us at every breath,\nrain thunderbolts instead of drops of water, fill the clouds with a\nconsuming lightning, take off the reverence and fear of man, which he\nhath imprinted upon the creature, spirit our domestic beasts to be our\nexecutioners, unloose the tiles from the house\u2011top to brain us, or make\nthe fall of a house to crush us? It is but taking out the pins, and\ngiving a blast, and the work is done. And doth he want a power to do\nany of those things? It is not then a faint\u2011hearted, or feeble patience,\nthat he exerciseth towards man.\n\n4. Since it is not for want of power over the creature, it is from\na fulness of power over himself. This is in the text, \u201cThe Lord is\nslow to anger, and great in power;\u201d it is a part of his dominion\nover himself, whereby he can moderate, and rule his own affections\naccording to the holiness of his own will. As it is the effect of his\npower, so it is an argument of his power; the greatness of the effect\ndemonstrates the fulness and sufficiency of the cause. The more feeble\nany man is in reason the less command he hath over his passions, and he\nis the more heady to revenge. Revenge is a sign of a childish mind; the\nstronger any man is in reason, the more command he hath over himself.\n\u201cHe that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules\nhis own spirit, than he that takes a city\u201d (Prov. xvi. 32); he that\ncan restrain his anger, is stronger than the C\u00e6sars and Alexanders of\nthe world, that have filled the earth with slain carcasses and ruined\ncities. By the same reason, God\u2019s slowness to anger is a greater\nargument of his power than the creating a world, or the power of\ndissolving it by a word; in this he hath a dominion over creatures,\nin the other over himself; this is the reason he will not return to\ndestroy; because \u201cI am God, and not man\u201d (Hos. xi. 9); I am not so\nweak and impotent as man, that cannot restrain his anger. This is a\nstrength possessed only by a God, wherein a creature is no more able to\nparallel him, than in any other; so that he may be said to be the Lord\nof himself; as it is in the verse before the text, that he is the Lord\nof anger, in the Hebrew, instead of {b482} \u201cfurious,\u201d as we translate\nit; so he is the Lord of patience. The end why God is patient, is\nto show his power. \u201cWhat if God, willing to show his wrath, and to\nmake his power known, endured with much long\u2011suffering the vessels of\nwrath fitted to destruction?\u201d (Rom. ix. 22). To show his wrath upon\nsinners, and his power over himself in bearing such indignities, and\nforbearing punishment so long, when men were vessels of wrath fitted\nfor destruction, of whom there was no hopes of amendment. Had he\nimmediately broken in pieces those vessels, his power had not so\neminently appeared as it hath done, in tolerating them so long, that\nhad provoked him to take them off so often; there is indeed the power\nof his anger, and there is the power of his patience; and his power\nis more seen in his patience than in his wrath: it is no wonder that\nHe that is above all, is able to crush all; but it is a wonder, that\nhe that is provoked by all, doth not, upon the first provocation, rid\nhis hands of all. This is the reason why he did bear such a weight of\nprovocations from vessels of wrath, prepared for ruin, that he might\n\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c1\u03af\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b1\u1f51\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6, show what he was able to do, the lordship\nand royalty he had over himself. The power of God is more manifest in\nhis patience to a multitude of sinners, than it would be in creating\nmillions of worlds out of nothing; this was the \u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03b1\u1f51\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6, a power\nover himself.\n\n5. This patience being a branch of mercy, the exercise of it is\nfounded in the death of Christ. Without the consideration of this, we\ncan give no account why Divine patience should extend itself to us, and\nnot to the fallen angels. The threatening extends itself to us as well\nas to the fallen angels; the threatening must necessarily have sunk man,\nas well as those glorious creatures, had not Christ stepped in to our\nrelief. Had not Christ interposed to satisfy the justice of God, man\nupon his sin had been actually bound over to punishment, as well as the\nfallen angels were upon theirs, and been fettered in chains as strong\nas those spirits feel.[1029] The reason why man was not hurled into\nthe same deplorable condition upon his sin, as they were, is Christ\u2019s\npromise of taking our nature, and not theirs. Had God designed Christ\u2019s\ntaking their nature, the same patience had been exercised towards\nthem, and the same offers would have been made to them, as are made to\nus. In regard to these fruits of this patience, Christ is said to buy\nthe wickedest apostates from him: \u201cDenying the Lord that bought them\u201d\n(1 Pet. ii. 1). Such were bought by him, as \u201cbring upon themselves just\ndestruction, and whose damnation slumbers not\u201d (ver. 3); he purchased\nthe continuance of their lives, and the stay of their execution, that\noffers of grace might be made to them. This patience must be either\nupon the account of the law, or the gospel; for there are no other\nrules, whereby God governs the world. A fruit of the law it was not;\nthat spake nothing but curses after disobedience; not a letter of mercy\nwas writ upon that, and therefore nothing of patience; death and wrath\nwere denounced; no slowness to anger intimated. It must be therefore\nupon account of the gospel, and a fruit of the covenant of grace,\nwhereof Christ was Mediator. Besides this perfection {b483} being God\u2019s\n\u201cwaiting that he might be gracious\u201d (Isa. xxx. 18), that which made way\nfor God\u2019s grace made way for his waiting to manifest it. God discovered\nnot his grace, but in Christ; and therefore discovered not his patience\nbut in Christ; it is in him he met with the satisfaction of his justice,\nthat he might have a ground for the manifestation of his patience. And\nthe sacrifices of the law, wherein the life of a beast was accepted\nfor the sin of man, discovered the ground of his forbearance of them\nto be the expectation of the great Sacrifice, whereby sin was to be\ncompletely expiated (Gen. viii. 21). The publication of his patience\nto the end of the world is presently after the sweet savor he found\nin Noah\u2019s sacrifice. The promised and designed coming of Christ, was\nthe cause of that patience God exercised before in the world; and his\ngathering the elect together, is the reason of his patience since his\ndeath.\n\n6. The naturalness of his veracity and holiness, and the strictness of\nhis justice, are no bars to the exercise of his patience.\n\n(1.) His veracity. In those threatenings where the punishment is\nexpressed, but not the time of inflicting it prefixed and determined\nin the threatening, his veracity suffers no damage by the delaying\nexecution; so it be once done, though a long time after, the credit of\nhis truth stands unshaken: as when God promises a thing without fixing\nthe time, he is at liberty to pitch upon what time he pleases for the\nperformance of it, without staining his faithfulness to his word, by\nnot giving the thing promised presently. Why should the deferring of\njustice upon an offender be any more against his veracity than his\ndelaying an answer to the petitions of a suppliant? But the difference\nwill lie in the threatening. \u201cIn the day thou eatest thereof, thou\nshalt die the death\u201d (Gen. ii. 17). The time was there settled; \u201cin\nthat day thou shalt die;\u201d some refer \u201cday\u201d to eating, not to dying;\nand render the sentence thus: I do not prohibit thee the eating this\nfruit for a day or two, but continually. In whatsoever day thou eatest\nthereof, thou shalt die; but not understanding his dying that very\nday he should eat of it; referring \u201cday\u201d to the extensiveness of the\nprohibition, as to time. But to leave this as uncertain, it may be\nanswered, that as in some threatenings a condition is implied, though\nnot expressed, as in that positive denouncing of the destruction of\nNinevah: \u201cYet forty days, and Ninevah shall be destroyed\u201d (Jonah iii.\n4), the condition is implied; unless they humble themselves, and repent;\nfor upon their repentance, the sentence was deferred. So here, \u201cin\nthe day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death,\u201d or certainly\ndie, unless there be a way found for the expiation of thy crime,\nand the righting my honor. This condition, in regard of the event,\nmay as well be asserted to be implied in this threatening, as that of\nrepentance was in the other; or rather, \u201cthou shalt die,\u201d thou shalt\ndie spiritually, thou shalt lose that image of mine in thy nature, that\nrighteousness which is as much the life of thy soul as thy soul is the\nlife of thy body; that righteousness whereby thou art enabled to live\nto me and thy own happiness. What the soul is to the body, a quickening\nsoul, that the image of God is to the soul, a quickening image. Or\n\u201cthou shalt die the death,\u201d or certainly die; thou shalt be liable to\ndeath. {b484} And so it is to be understood, not of an actual death\nof the body, but the merit of death, and the necessity of death; thou\nwilt be obnoxious to death, which will be avoided, if thou dost forbear\nto eat of the forbidden fruit; thou shalt be a guilty person, and so\nunder a sentence of death, that I may, when I please, inflict it on\nthee.[1030] Death did come upon Adam that day, because his nature\nwas vitiated; he was then also under an expectation of death, he was\nobnoxious to it, though that day it was not poured out upon him in the\nfull bitterness and gall of it: as when the apostle saith, \u201cThe body\nis dead because of sin\u201d (Rom. viii. 10), he speaks to the living, and\nyet tells them the body was dead because of sin; he means no more than\nthat it was under a sentence, and so a necessity of dying, though not\nactually dead; so thou shalt be under the sentence of death that day,\nas certainly as if that day thou shouldst sink into the dust: and as by\nhis patience towards man, not sending forth death upon him in all the\nbitter ingredients of it, his justice afterwards was more eminent upon\nman\u2019s surety, than it would have been if it had been then employed in\nall its severe operations upon man. So was his veracity eminent also in\nmaking good this threatening, in inflicting the punishment included in\nit upon our nature assumed by a mighty Person, and upon that Person in\nour nature, who was infinitely higher than our nature.\n\n(2.) His justice and righteousness are not prejudiced by his patience.\nThere is a hatred of the sin in his holiness, and a sentence past\nagainst the sin in his justice, though the execution of that sentence\nbe suspended, and the person reprieved by patience, which is implied\n(Eccles. viii. 11): \u201cBecause sentence against an evil work is not\nexecuted speedily; therefore, the heart of the sons of men is fully\nset in them to do evil;\u201d sentence is past, but a speedy execution is\nstopped. Some of the heathens, who would not imagine God unjust, and\nyet, seeing the villanies and oppressions of men in the world remain\nunpunished, and frequently beholding prosperous wickedness, to free\nhim from the charge of injustice, denied his providence and actual\ngovernment of the world; for if he did take notice of human affairs,\nand concern himself in what was done upon the earth, they could not\nthink an Infinite Goodness and Justice could be so slow to punish\noppressors, and relieve the miserable, and leave the world in that\ndisorder under the injustice of men: they judged such a patience as\nwas exercised by him, if he did govern the world, was drawn out beyond\nthe line of fit and just. Is it not a presumption in men to prescribe\na rule of righteousness and conveniency to their Creator? It might be\ndemanded of such, whether they never injured any in their lives; and\nwhen certainly they have one way or another, would they not think it\na very unworthy, if not unjust, thing, that a person so injured by\nthem should take a speedy and severe revenge on them?\u2015\u2015and if every\nman should do the like, would there not be a speedy despatch made\nof mankind? Would not the world be a shambles, and men rush forwards\nto one another\u2019s destructions, for the wrongs they have mutually\nreceived? If it be accounted a virtue in man, and no unrighteousness,\nnot presently {b485} to be all on fire against an offence; by what\nright should any question the inconsistency of God\u2019s patience with\nhis justice? Do we praise the lenity of parents to children, and shall\nwe disparage the long\u2011suffering of God to men? We do not censure the\nrighteousness of physicians and chirurgeons, because they cut not off a\ncorrupt member this day as well as to\u2011morrow? And is it just to asperse\nGod, because he doth defer his vengeance which man assumes to himself a\nright to do? We never account him a bad governor that defers the trial,\nand consequently the condemnation and execution of a notorious offender\nfor important reasons, and beneficial to the public, either to make\nthe nature of his crime more evident, or to find out the rest of his\ncomplices by his discovery. A governor, indeed, were unjust, if he\ncommanded that which were unrighteous, and forbade that which were\nworthy and commendable; but if he delays the execution of a convict\noffender for weighty reasons, either for the benefit of the state\nwhereof he is the ruler, or for some advantage to the offender himself,\nto make him have a sense of, and a regret for his offence, we account\nhim not unjust for this. God doth not by his patience dispense with\nthe holiness of his law, nor cut off anything from its due authority.\nIf men do strengthen themselves by his long\u2011suffering against his\nlaw, it is their fault, not any unrighteousness in him; he will take\na time to vindicate the righteousness of his own commands, if men will\nwholly neglect the time of his patience, in forbearing to pay a dutiful\nobservance to his precept. If justice be natural to him, and he cannot\nbut punish sin, yet he is not necessitated to consume sinners, as\nthe fire doth stubble put into it, which hath no command over its own\nqualities to restrain them from acting; but God is a free agent, and\nmay choose his own time for the distribution of that punishment his\nnature leads him to. Though he be naturally just, yet it is not so\nnatural to him, as to deprive him of a dominion over his own acts, and\na freedom in the exerting them what time he judgeth most convenient\nin his wisdom. God is necessarily holy, and is necessarily angry with\nsin; his nature can never like it, and cannot but be displeased with\nit; yet he hath a liberty to restrain the effects of this anger for\na time, without disgracing his holiness, or being interpreted to act\nunrighteously; as well as a prince or state may suspend the execution\nof a law, which they will never break, only for a time and for a public\nbenefit. If God should presently execute his justice, this perfection\nof patience, which is a part of his goodness, would never have an\nopportunity of discovery; part of his glory, for which he created the\nworld, would lie in obscurity from the knowledge of his creature; his\njustice would be signal in the destruction of sinners, but this stream\nof his goodness would be stopped up from any motion. One perfection\nmust not cloud another; God hath his seasons to discover all, one after\nanother: \u201cThe times and seasons are in his own power\u201d (Acts i. 7): the\nseasons of manifesting his own perfections as well as other things;\nsuccession of them, in their distinct appearance, makes no invasion\nupon the rights of any. If justice should complain of an injury from\npatience, because it is delayed, patience hath more reason to complain\n{b486} of an injury from justice, that by such a plea it would be\nwholly obscured and inactive: for this perfection hath the shortest\ntime to act its part of any, it hath no stage but this world to move in;\nmercy hath a heaven, and justice a hell, to display itself to eternity,\nbut long\u2011suffering hath only a short\u2011lived earth for the compass of\nits operation. Again, justice is so far from being wronged by patience,\nthat it rather is made more illustrious, and hath the fuller scope to\nexercise itself; it is the more righted for being deferred, and will\nhave stronger grounds than before for its activity; the equity of\nit will be more apparent to every reason, the objections more fully\nanswered against it, when the way of dealing with sinners by patience\nhath been slighted. When this dam of long\u2011suffering is removed,\nthe floods of fiery justice will rush down with more force and\nviolence; justice will be fully recompensed for the delay, when, after\npatience is abused, it can spread itself over the offender with a more\nunquestionable authority; it will have more arguments to hit the sinner\nin the teeth with, and silence him; there will be a sharper edge for\nevery stroke; the sinner must not only pay for the score of his former\nsins, but the score of abused patience, so that justice hath no reason\nto commence a suit against God\u2019s slowness to anger: what it shall want\nby the fulness of mercy upon the truly penitent, it will gain by the\ncontempt of patience on the impenitent abusers. When men, by such a\ncarriage, are ripened for the stroke of justice, justice may strike\nwithout any regret in itself, or pull\u2011back from mercy; the contempt\nof long\u2011suffering will silence the pleas of the one, and spirit the\nseverity of the other. To conclude: since God hath glorified his\njustice on Christ, as a surety for sinners, his patience is so far\nfrom interfering with the rights of his justice, that it promotes it;\nit is dispensed to this end, that God might pardon with honor, both\nupon the score of purchased mercy and contented justice; that by a\npenitent sinner\u2019s return his mercy might be acknowledged free, and the\nsatisfaction of his justice by Christ be glorified in believing: for\nhe is long\u2011suffering from an unwillingness \u201cthat any should perish,\nbut that all should come to repentance\u201d (2 Pet. iii. 9); _i. e._ all\nto whom the promise is made, for to such the apostle speaks, and calls\nit \u201clong\u2011suffering to us\u2011ward;\u201d and repentance being an acknowledgment\nof the demerit of sin, and a breaking off unrighteousness, gives a\nparticular glory to the freeness of mercy, and the equity of justice.\n\nII. The second thing, How this patience or slowness to anger is\nmanifested.\n\n1. To our first parents. His slowness to anger was evidenced in not\ndirecting his artillery against them, when they first attempted to\nrebel. He might have struck them dead when they began to bite at the\ntemptation, and were inclinable to a surrender; for it was a degree\nof sinning, and a breach of loyalty as well, though not so much as the\nconsummating act. God might have given way to the floods of his wrath\nat the first spring of man\u2019s aspiring thoughts, when the monstrous\nmotion of being as God began to be curdled in his heart; but he took\nno notice of any of their embryo sins till they came to a ripeness, and\nstarted out of the womb of their minds into the open {b487} air: and\nafter he had brought his sin to perfection, God did not presently send\nthat death upon him, which he had merited, but continued his life to\nthe space of 930 years (Gen. v. 5). The sun and stars were not arrested\nfrom doing their office for him. Creatures were continued for his use,\nthe earth did not swallow him up, nor a thunderbolt from heaven raze\nout the memory of him. Though he had deserved to be treated with such\na severity for his ungrateful demeanor to his Creator and Benefactor,\nand affecting an equality with him, yet God continued him with a\nsufficiency for his content, after he turned rebel, though not with\nsuch a liberality as when he remained a loyal subject; and though he\nforesaw that he would not make an end of sinning, but with an end of\nliving, he used him not in the same manner as he had used the devils.\nHe added days and years to him, after he had deserved death, and hath\nfor this 5,000 years continued the propagation of mankind, and derived\nfrom his loins an innumerable posterity, and hath crowned multitudes\nof them with hoary heads. He might have extinguished human race at\nthe first; but since he hath preserved it till this day, it must be\ninterpreted nothing else but the effect of an admirable patience.\n\n2. His slowness to anger is manifest to the Gentiles. What they were,\nwe need no other witness than the apostle Paul, who sums up many of\ntheir crimes (Rom. i. 29\u201232). He doth preface the catalogue with a\ncomprehensive expression, \u201cBeing filled with all unrighteousness;\u201d\nand concludes it with a dreadful aggravation, \u201cThey not only do the\nsame, but have pleasure in them that do them.\u201d They were so soaked\nand naturalized in wickedness, that they had no delight, and found no\nsweetness in anything else but what was in itself abominable; all of\nthem were plunged in idolatry and superstition; none of them but either\nset up their great men, or creatures, beneficial to the world, and some\nthe damned spirits in his stead, and paid an adoration to insensible\ncreatures or devils, which was due to God. Some were so depraved in\ntheir lives and actions, that it seemed to be the interest of the\nrest of the world, that they should have been extinguished for the\ninstruction of their contemporaries and posterity. The best of them\nhad turned all religion into a fable, coined a world of rites, some\nunnatural in themselves, and most of them unbecoming a rational\ncreature to offer, and a Deity to accept: yet he did not presently arm\nhimself against them with fire and sword, nor stopped the course of\ntheir generations, nor tear out all those relics of natural light which\nwere left in their minds. He did not do what he might have done, but he\nwinked at the \u201ctimes of that ignorance\u201d (Acts xvii. 30), their ignorant\nidolatry; for that it refers to (ver. 29): \u201cThey thought the Godhead\nwas like to gold or silver, or stone graven by art, and men\u2019s device;\u201d\n\u1f51\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03b4\u1f7c\u03bd, overlooking them. He demeaned himself so, as if he did not\ntake notice of them. He winked as if he did not see them, and would not\ndeal so severely with them: the eye of his justice seemed to wink, in\nnot calling them to an account for their sin.\n\n3. His slowness to anger is manifest to the Israelites. You know\nhow often they are called a \u201cstiff\u2011necked people;\u201d they are said to\ndo evil \u201cfrom their youth;\u201d _i. e._ from the time wherein they were\n{b488} erected a nation and commonwealth; and that \u201cthe city had been a\nprovocation of his anger, and of his fury, from the day that they built\nit, even to this day;\u201d _i. e._ the day of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy, \u201cthat he\nshould remove it from before his face\u201d (Jer. xxxii. 31): from the days\nof Solomon, say some, which is too much a curtailing of the text, as\nthough their provocations had taken date no higher than from the time\nof Solomon\u2019s rearing the temple, and beautifying the city, whereby\nit seemed to be a new building. They began more early; they scarce\ndiscontinued their revolting from God; they were a \u201cgrief to him forty\nyears together in the wilderness\u201d (Ps. xcv. 10), \u201cyet he suffered\ntheir manners\u201d (Acts xiii. 18). He bore with their ill\u2011behaviour and\nsauciness towards him; and no sooner was Joshua\u2019s head laid, and the\nelders, that were their conductors, gathered to their fathers, but the\nnext generation forsook God, and smutted themselves with the idolatry\nof the nations (Judges ii. 7, 10, 11): and when he punished them by\nprospering the arms of their enemies against them, they were no sooner\ndelivered upon their cry and humiliation, but they began a new scene of\nidolatry; and though he brought upon them the power of the Babylonian\nempire, and laid chains upon them to bring them to their right mind.\nAnd at seventy years\u2019 end he struck off their chains, by altering the\nwhole posture of affairs in that part of the world for their sakes:\noverturning one empire, and settling another for their restoration to\ntheir ancient city. And though they did not after disown him for their\nGod, and set up \u201cBaal in his throne,\u201d yet they multiplied foolish\ntraditions, whereby they impaired the authority of the law; yet he\nsustained them with a wonderful patience, and preferred them before\nall other people in the first offers of the gospel; and after they had\noutraged not only his servants, the prophets, but his Son, the Redeemer,\nyet he did not forsake them, but employed his apostles to solicit them,\nand publish among them the doctrine of salvation: so that his treating\nthis people might well be called \u201cmuch long\u2011suffering,\u201d it being above\n1500 years, wherein he bore with them, or mildly punished them, far\nless than their deserts; their coming out of Egypt being about the year\nof the world 2450, and their final destruction as a commonwealth, not\ntill about forty years after the death of Christ; and all this while\nhis patience did sometimes wholly restrain his justice, and sometimes\nlet it fall upon them in some few drops, but made no total devastation\nof their country, nor wrote his revenge in extraordinary bloody\ncharacters, till the Roman conquest, wherein he put a period to them\nboth as a church and state. In particular this patience is manifest,\n\n1st. In his giving warnings of judgments, before he orders them to\ngo forth. He doth not punish in a passion, and hastily; he speaks\nbefore he strikes, and speaks that he may not strike. Wrath is\npublished before it is executed, and that a long time; an hundred and\ntwenty years\u2019 advertisement was given to a debauched world before the\nheavens were opened, to spout down a deluge upon them. He will not\nbe accused of coming unawares upon a people; he inflicts nothing but\nwhat he foretold either immediately to the people that provoke him,\nor anciently to them that have been their forerunners {b489} in the\nsame provocation (Hos. vii. 12), \u201cI will chastise them, as their\ncongregation hath heard.\u201d Many of the leaves of the Old Testament are\nfull of those presages and warnings of approaching judgment. These make\nup a great part of the volume of it in various editions, according to\nthe state of the several provoking times. Warnings are given to those\npeople that are most abominable in his sight (Zeph. ii. 1, 2); \u201cGather\nyourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired,\u201d\u2015\u2015it\nis a _Meiosis_, O nation abhorred,\u2015\u2015\u201cbefore the decree bring forth.\u201d\nHe sends his heralds before he sends his armies; he summons them by\nthe voice of his prophets, before he confounds them by the voice of his\nthunders. When a parley is beaten, a white flag of peace is hung out,\nbefore a black flag of fury is set up. He seldom cuts down men by his\njudgments, before he hath \u201chewed them by his prophets\u201d (Hos. vi. 5).\nNot a remarkable judgment but was foretold: the flood to the old world\nby Noah; the famine to Egypt by Joseph; the earthquake by Amos (ch. i.\n1); the storm from Chaldea by Jeremiah; the captivity of the ten tribes\nby Hosea; the total destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Christ\nhimself. He hath chosen the best persons in the world to give those\nintimations; Noah, the most righteous person on the earth, for the old\nworld; and his Son, the most beloved person in heaven, for the Jews\nin the later time: and in other parts of the world, and in the later\ntimes, where he hath not warned by prophets, he hath supplied it by\nprodigies in the air and earth; histories are full of such items from\nheaven. Lesser judgments are forewarners of greater, as lightnings\nbefore thunder are messengers to tell us of a succeeding clap.\n\n(1.) He doth often give warning of judgments. He comes not to\nextremity, till he hath often shaken the rod over men; he thunders\noften, before he crusheth them with his thunderbolt; he doth not till\nafter the first and second admonition punish a rebel, as he would have\nus reject a heretic. \u201cHe speaks once, yea, twice\u201d (Job xxxiii. 14),\n\u201cand man perceives it not;\u201d he sends one message after another, and\nwaits the success of many messages before he strikes. Eight prophets\nwere ordered to acquaint the whole world with approaching judgment\n(2 Pet. ii. 5): he saved \u201cNoah, the eighth person, a preacher of\nrighteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly,\u201d\ncalled \u201cthe eighth\u201d in respect of his preaching, not in regard of his\npreservation; he was the eighth preacher in order, from the beginning\nof the world, that endeavored to restore the world to the way of\nrighteousness. Most, indeed, consider him here as the eighth person\nsaved, so do our translators; and, therefore, add _person_, which\nis not in the Greek. Some others consider him here as the eighth\npreacher of righteousness, reckoning Enoch, the son of Seth, the first,\ngrounding it upon Gen. iv. 26: \u201cThen began men to call upon the name of\nthe Lord,\u201d _Heb._ \u201cThen it was began to call in the name of the Lord,\u201d\n\u03c4\u1f78 \u1f44\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u039a\u03c5\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u0398\u03b5\u03bf\u1fe6. _Sept._ \u201cHe began to call in the name of the\nLord,\u201d which others render, \u201cHe began to preach, or call upon men in\nthe name of the Lord.\u201d The word \u05e7\u05e8\u05d0 signifies to preach, or to call\nupon men by preaching (Prov. i. 21): \u201cWisdom crieth,\u201d or \u201cpreaches;\u201d\nand if this be so, as it is very probable, it is easy to reckon him\nthe eighth {b490} preacher, by numbering the successive heads of\nthe generations (Gen. v.), beginning at Enoch, the first preacher of\nrighteousness. So many there were before God choked the old world with\nwater, and swept them away. It is clear he often did admonish, by his\nprophets, the Jews of their sin, and the wrath which should come upon\nthem.[1031] One prophet, Hosea, prophesied seventy years; for he\nprophesied in the days of four kings of Judah, and one of Israel,\nJeroboam, the son of Joash (Hos. i. 1), or Jeroboam, the second of that\nname. Uzziah, king of Judah, in whose reign Hosea prophesied, lived\nthirty\u2011eight years after the death of Jeroboam. The second Jotham,\nUzziah\u2019s successor, reigned sixteen years; Ahaz sixteen; Hezekiah\ntwenty\u2011nine years. Now, take nothing of Hezekiah\u2019s time, and date\nthe beginning of his prophecy from the last year of Jeroboam\u2019s reign,\nand the time of Hosea\u2019s prophecy will be seventy years complete;\nwherein God warned those people, and waited the return particularly\nof Israel;[1032] and not less than five of those we call the Lesser\nProphets, were sent to foretell the destruction of the ten tribes,\nand to call them to repentance,\u2015\u2015Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Jonah; and\nthough we have nothing of Jonah\u2019s prophecy in this concern of Israel,\nyet that he lived in the time of the same Jeroboam, and prophesied\nthings which are not upon record in the book of Jonah, is clear\n(2 Kings xiv. 25). And besides those, Isaiah prophesied also in the\nreign of the same kings as Hosea did (Isa. i. 1); and it is God\u2019s\nusual method to send forth his servants, and when their admonitions\nare slighted he commissions others, before he sends out his destroying\narmies (Matt. xxii. 3, 4, 7).\n\n(2.) He doth often give warning of judgments, that he might not pour\nout his wrath. He summons them to a surrender of themselves, and a\nreturn from their rebellion, that they might not feel the force of his\narms. He offers peace before he shakes off the dust of his feet, that\nhis despised peace might not return in vain to him to solicit a revenge\nfrom his anger. He hath a right to punish upon the first commission\nof a crime, but he warns men of what they have deserved, of what his\njustice moves him to inflict, that by having recourse to his mercy he\nmight not exercise the rights of his justice. God sought to kill Moses\nfor not circumcising his son (Exod. iv. 24). Could God, that sought it,\nmiss a way to do it? Could a creature lurch, or fly from him? God put\non the garb of an enemy, that Moses might be discouraged from being an\ninstrument of his own ruin: God manifested an anger against Moses for\nhis neglect, as if he would then have destroyed him, that Moses might\nprevent it by casting off his carelessness, and doing his duty. He\nsought to kill him by some evident sign, that Moses might escape the\njudgment by his obedience. He threatens Nineveh, by the prophet, with\ndestruction, that Nineveh\u2019s repentance might make void the prophecy.\nHe fights with men by the sword of his mouth, that he might not pierce\nthem by the sword of his wrath. He threatens, that men might prevent\nthe execution of his threatening; he terrifies, that he might not\ndestroy, but that men by humiliation {b491} may lie prostrate before\nhim, and move the bowels of his mercy to a louder sound than the\nvoice of his anger. He takes time to whet his sword, that men may turn\nthemselves from the edge of it. He roars like a lion, that men, by\nhearing his voice, may shelter themselves from being torn by his wrath.\nThere is patience in the sharpest threatening, that we may avoid the\nscourge. Who can charge God with an eagerness to revenge, that sends\nso many heralds, and so often before he strikes, that he might be\nprevented from striking? His threatenings have not so much of a black\nflag as of an olive branch. He lifts up his hand before he strikes,\nthat men might see and avert the stroke (Isa. xxvi. 11).\n\n2d. His patience is manifest in long delaying his threatened judgments,\nthough he finds no repentance in the rebels. He doth sometimes delay\nhis lighter punishments, because he doth not delight in torturing\nhis creatures; but he doth longer delay his destroying punishments,\nsuch as put an end to men\u2019s happiness, and remit them to their final\nand unchangeable state; because he \u201cdoth not delight in the death\nof a sinner.\u201d While he is preparing his arrows, he is waiting for an\noccasion to lay them aside, and dull their points, that he may with\nhonor march back again, and disband his armies. He brings lighter\nsmarts sooner, that men might not think him asleep, but he suspends\nthe more terrible judgments that men might be led to repentance. He\nscatters not his consuming fires at the first, but brings on ruining\nvengeance with a \u201cslow pace; sentence against an evil work is not\nspeedily executed\u201d (Eccles. viii. 11). The Jews therefore say, that\nMichael, the minister of justice, flies with one wing, but Gabriel, the\nminister of mercy, with two. An hundred and twenty years did God wait\nupon the old world, and delay their punishment all the time the \u201cark\nwas preparing\u201d (1 Pet. iii. 20); wherein that wicked generation did\nnot enjoy only a bare patience, but a striving patience (Gen. vi. 3):\n\u201cMy Spirit shall not always strive with man, yet his days shall be one\nhundred and twenty years,\u201d the days wherein I will strive with him;\nthat his long\u2011suffering might not lose all its fruit, and remit the\nobjects of it into the hands of consuming justice. It was the tenth\ngeneration of the world from Adam, when the deluge overflowed it, so\nlong did God bear with them: and the tenth generation from Noah wherein\nSodom was consumed. God did not come to keep his assizes in Sodom, till\n\u201cthe cry of their sins was very strong,\u201d that it had been a wrong to\nhis justice to have restrained it any longer. The cry was so loud that\nhe could not be at quiet, as it were, on his throne of glory for the\ndisturbing noise (Gen. xviii. 20, 21). Sin transgresseth the law; the\nlaw being violated, solicits justice; justice, being urged, pleads\nfor punishment; the cry of their sins did, as it were, force him from\nheaven to come down, and examine what cause there was for that clamor.\nSin cries loud and long before he takes his sword in hand. Four hundred\nyears he kept off deserved destruction from the Amorites, and deferred\nmaking good his promise to Abraham, of giving Canaan to his posterity,\nout of his long\u2011suffering to the Amorites (Gen. xv. 16). In the fourth\ngeneration they shall come hither again, \u201cfor the iniquity of the\nAmorites {b492} is not yet full.\u201d Their measure was filling then,\nbut not so full as to put a stop to any further patience till four\nhundred years after. The usual time in succeeding generations, from\nthe denouncing of judgments to the execution, is forty years; this some\nground upon Ezek. iv. 6, \u201cThou shalt bear the iniquity of the house\nof Judah forty days,\u201d taking each day for a year. Though Hosea lived\nseventy years, yet from the beginning of his prophesying judgments\nagainst Israel to the pouring them out upon that idolatrous people,\nit was forty years. Hosea, as was mentioned before, prophesied\nagainst them in the days of Jeroboam the Second, in whose time God did\nwonderfully deliver Israel (2 Kings xiv. 26, 27). From that time, till\nthe total destruction of the ten tribes, it was forty years, as may\neasily be computed from the story (2 Kings xv.\u2012xvi.), by the reign of\nthe succeeding kings. So forty years after the most horrid villany that\never was committed in the face of the sun, _viz._, the crucifying the\nSon of God, was Jerusalem destroyed, and the inhabitants captived; so\nlong did God delay a visible punishment for such an outrage. Sometimes\nhe prolongs sending a threatened judgment upon a mere shadow of\nhumiliation; so he did that denounced against Ahab. He turned it\nover to his posterity, and adjourned it to another season (1 Kings\nxxi. 29). He doth not issue out an arrest upon one transgression;\nyou often find him not commencing a suit against men till \u201cthree and\nfour transgressions.\u201d The first of Amos, all along that chapter and\nthe second chapter, for \u201cthree and four,\u201d _i. e._ \u201cseven;\u201d a certain\nnumber for an uncertain. He gives not orders to his judgments to march\ntill men be obstinate, and refuse any commerce with him; he stops\nthem till \u201cthere be no remedy\u201d (2 Chron. xxxvi. 16). It must be a\ngreat wickedness that gives vent to them (Hos. x. 15); _Heb._ \u201cYour\nwickedness of wickedness.\u201d He is so \u201cslow to anger,\u201d and stays the\npunishment his enemies deserve, that he may seem to have forgot his\n\u201ckindness to his friends\u201d (Ps. xliv. 24): \u201cWherefore hidest thou\nthy face, and forgettest our affliction and oppression?\u201d He lets his\npeople groan under the yoke of their enemies, as if he were made up of\nkindness to his enemies, and anger against his friends. This delaying\nof punishment to evil men is visible in his suspending the terrifying\nacts of conscience, and supporting it only in its checking, admonishing,\nand controlling acts. The patience of a governor is seen in the patient\nmildness of his deputy: David\u2019s conscience did not terrify him till\nnine months after his sin of murder. Should God set open the mouth\nof this power within us, not only the earth, but our own bodies and\nspirits, would be a burden to us: it is long before God puts scorpions\ninto the hands of men\u2019s consciences to scourge them: he holds back\nthe rod, waiting for the hour of our return, as if that would be a\nrecompense for our offences and his forbearance.\n\n3d. His patience is manifest in his unwillingness to execute his\njudgments when he can delay no longer. \u201cHe doth not afflict willingly,\nnor grieve the children of men.\u201d (Lam. iii. 33): _Heb._ \u201cHe doth not\nafflict from his heart:\u201d he takes no pleasure in it, as he is Creator.\nThe height of men\u2019s provocations, and the necessity of the {b493}\npreserving his rights, and vindicating his laws, obligeth him to it,\nas he is the Governor of the world; as a judge may willingly condemn\na malefactor to death out of affection to the laws, and desire to\npreserve the order of government, but unwillingly, out of compassion\nto the offender himself. When he resolved upon the destruction of the\nold world, he spake it as a God grieved with an occasion of punishment\n(Gen. vi. 6, 7, compared together). When he came to reckon with Adam,\n\u201che walked,\u201d he did not run with his sword in his hand upon him, as a\nmighty man with an eagerness to destroy him (Gen. iii. 8), and that \u201cin\nthe cool of the day,\u201d a time when men, tired in the day, are unwilling\nto engage in a hard employment. His exercising judgment is a \u201ccoming\nout of his place\u201d (Isa. xxvi. 21; Mic. i. 3): he comes out of his\nstation to exercise judgment; a throne is more his place than a\ntribunal. Every prophecy, loaded with threatenings, is called the\n\u201cburden of the Lord;\u201d a burden to him to execute it, as well as to men\nto suffer it. Though three angels came to Abraham about the punishment\nof Sodom, whereof one Abraham speaks to as to God, yet but two appeared\nat the destruction of Sodom, as if the Governor of the world were\nunwilling to be present at such dreadful work (Gen. xix. 1): and when\nthe man, that had the ink\u2011horn by his side, that was appointed to mark\nthose that were to be preserved in the common destruction, returned\nto give an account of the performing his commission (Ezek. ix. 10), we\nread not of the return of those that were to kill, as if God delighted\nonly to hear again of his works of mercy, and had no mind to hear again\nof his severe proceedings. The Jews, to show God\u2019s unwillingness to\npunish, imagine that hell was created the second day, because that\nday\u2019s work is not pronounced good by God as all the other days\u2019 works\nare[1033] (Gen. i. 8).\n\n(1.) When God doth punish he doth it with some regret. When he hurls\ndown his thunders, he seems to do it with a backward hand, because with\nan unwilling heart.[1034] He created, saith Chrysostom, the world in\nsix days, but was seven days in destroying one city, Jericho, which\nhe had before devoted to be razed to the ground. What is the reason,\nsaith he, that God is so quick to build up, but slow to pull down? His\ngoodness excites his power to the one, but is not earnest to persuade\nhim to the other: when he comes to strike, he doth it with a sigh or\ngroan (Isa. i. 24): \u201cAh! I will ease me of my adversaries, and avenge\nme on my enemies,\u201d \u05d4\u05d5\u05d9, Ah! a note of grief. So Hos. vi. 4, \u201cO Ephraim!\nwhat shall I do unto thee? O Judah! what shall I do unto thee?\u201d It is\nan _addubitatio_, a figure in rhetoric, as if God were troubled that he\nmust deal so sharply with them, and give them up to their enemies:\u2015\u2015I\nhave tried all means to reclaim you; I have used all ways of kindness,\nand nothing prevails; what shall I do? my mercy invites me to spare\nthem, and their ingratitude provokes me to ruin them. God had borne\nwith that people of Israel almost three hundred years, from the setting\nup of the calves at Dan and Bethel; sent many a prophet to warn them,\nand spent many a rod to reform them: and when he comes to execute his\nthreatenings, he doth with a conflict in himself (Hos. xi. 8): \u201cHow\n{b494} shall I give thee up, O Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee,\nIsrael?\u201d as if there were a pull\u2011back in his own bowels. He solemnizeth\ntheir approaching funeral with a hearty groan, and takes his farewell\nof the dying malefactor with a pang in himself. How often, in former\ntimes, when he had signed a warrant for their execution, did he call it\nback? (Ps. lxxviii. 38): \u201cMany a time turned he his anger away.\u201d Many\na time he recalled or ordered his anger to return again, as the word\nsignifies, as if he were irresolute what to do: he recalled it, as a\nman doth his servant, several times, when he is sending him upon an\nunwelcome message; or as a tender\u2011hearted prince wavers and trembles\nwhen he is to sign a writ for the death of a rebel that hath been\nbefore his favorite, as if, when he had signed the writ, he blotted out\nhis name again, and flung away the pen. And his method is remarkable\nwhen he came to punish Sodom; though the cry of their sin had been\nfierce in his ears, yet when he comes to make inquisition, he declares\nhis intention to Abraham, as if he were desirous that Abraham should\nhave helped him to some arguments to stop the outgoings of his judgment.\nHe gave liberty to the best person in the world to stand in the gap,\nand enter into a treaty with him, to show, saith one,[1035] how\nwillingly his mercy would have compounded with his justice for their\nredemption; and Abraham interceded so long, till he was ashamed for\npleading the cause of patience and mercy to the wrong of the rights\nof Divine justice. Perhaps, had Abraham had the courage to ask, God\nwould have had the compassion to grant a reprieve just at the time of\nexecution.\n\n(2.) His patience is manifest in that when he begins to send out his\njudgments, he doth it by degrees. His judgments are \u201cas the morning\nlight,\u201d which goes forth by degrees in the hemisphere (Hos. vi. 5).\nHe doth not shoot all his thunders at once, and bring his sharpest\njudgments in array at one time, but gradually, that a people may have\ntime to turn to him (Joel i. 4). First the palmer\u2011worm, then the locust,\nthen the canker\u2011worm, then the caterpillar; what one left, the other\nwas to eat, if there were not a timely return. A Jewish writer[1036]\nsaith, these judgments came not all in one year, but one year after\nanother. The palmer\u2011worm and locust might have eaten all, but Divine\npatience set bounds to the devouring creatures. God had been first as\na moth to Israel (Hos. v. 12): \u201cTherefore will I be to the house of\nEphraim as a moth;\u201d Rivet translates it, \u201cI have been;\u201d in the Hebrew\nit is \u201cI,\u201d without adding \u201cI have been,\u201d or \u201cI will be,\u201d and more\nprobably \u201cI have been;\u201d I was as a moth, which makes little holes in\na garment, and consumes it not all at once; and as \u201crottenness to the\nhouse of Judah,\u201d or a worm that eats into wood by degrees. Indeed, this\npeople had consumed insensibly, partly by civil combustions, change\nof governors, foreign invasions, yet they were as obstinate in their\nidolatry as ever; at last God would be no longer to them as a moth, but\nas a lion, tear and go away (ver. 14): so Hos. ii., God had disowned\nIsrael for his spouse (ver. 2), \u201cShe is not my wife, neither am I her\nhusband;\u201d yet he had not taken away her ornaments, which by the right\nof divorce he might have done, but still expected her reformation, for\n{b495} that the threatening intimates (ver. 3); let her put away her\nwhoredom, \u201clest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day when she\nwas born.\u201d If she returned, she might recover what she had lost; if not,\nshe might be stripped of what remained: thus God dealt with Judah (Ezek.\nix. 3). The glory of God goes first from the cherub to the threshold\nof the house, and stays there, as if he had a mind to be invited back\nagain; then it goes from the threshold of the house, and stands over\nthe cherubims, as if upon a penitent call it would drop down again to\nits ancient station and seat, over which it hovered (Ezek. x. 18); and\nwhen he was not solicited to return, he departs out of the city, and\nstood upon the mountain, which is on the east part of the city (Ezek.\nxi. 23), looking still towards, and hovering about the temple, which\nwas on the east of Jerusalem, as if loth to depart, and abandon the\nplace and people. He walks so leisurely, with his rod in his hand,\nas if he had a mind rather to fling it away than use it; his patience\nin not pouring out all his vials, is more remarkable than his wrath\nin pouring out one or two. Thus hath God made his slowness to anger\nvisible to us in the gradual punishment of us; first, the pestilence on\nthis city, then firing our houses, consumption of trade; these have not\nbeen answered with such a carriage as God expects, therefore a greater\nis reserved. I dare prognosticate, upon reasons you may gather from\nwhat hath been spoke before, if I be not much mistaken, the forty years\nof his usual patience are very near expired; he hath inflicted some,\nthat he might be met with in a way of repentance, and omit with honor\nthe inflicting the remainder.\n\n4th. His patience is manifest, in moderating his judgments, when he\nsends them. Doth he empty his quiver of his arrows, or exhaust his\nmagazines of thunder? No; he could roll one thunderbolt successively\nupon all mankind; it is as easy with him to create a perpetual motion\nof lightning and thunder, as of the sun and stars, and make the world\nas terrible by the one, as it is delightful by the other. He opens not\nall his store, he sends out a light party to skirmish with men, and\nputs not in array his whole army; \u201cHe stirs not up all his wrath\u201d (Ps.\nlxxviii. 38); he doth but pinch, where he might have torn asunder; when\nhe takes away much, he leaves enough to support us; if he had stirred\nup all his anger, he had taken away all, and our lives to boot. He\nrakes up but a few sparks, takes but one firebrand to fling upon men,\nwhen he might discharge the whole furnace upon them; he sends but a\nfew drops out of the cloud, which he might make to break in the gross,\nand fall down upon our heads to overwhelm us; he abates much of what he\nmight do. When he might sweep away a whole nation by deluges of water,\ncorruption of the air, or convulsions of the earth, or by other ways\nthat are not wanting at his order; he picks out only some persons,\nsome families, some cities; sends a plague into one house, and not into\nanother; here is patience to the stock of a nation, while he inflicts\npunishment upon some of the most notorious sinners in it. Herod is\nsuddenly snatched away, being willingly flattered into the thoughts\nof his being a god; God singled out the chief in the herd for whose\nsake he had been affronted by the rabble (Acts xii. 22, 23). {b496}\nSome find him sparing them, while others feel him destroying them; he\narrests some, when he might seize all, all being his debtors; and often\nin great desolations brought upon a people for their sin, he hath left\na stump in the earth, as Daniel speaks (Dan. iv. 15), for a nation\nto grow upon it again, and arise to a stronger constitution. He doth\npunish \u201cless than our iniquities deserve\u201d (Ezra ix. 13), and rewards us\n\u201cnot according to our iniquities\u201d (Ps. ciii. 10). The greatness of any\npunishment in this life, answers not the greatness of the crime. Though\nthere be an equity in whatsoever he doth, yet there is not an equality\nto what we deserve; our iniquities would justify a severer treating of\nus; his justice goes not here to the end of its line, it is stopped in\nits progress, and the blows of it weakened by his patience; he did not\ncurse the earth after Adam\u2019s fall, that it should bring forth no fruit,\nbut that it should not bring forth fruit without the wearisome toil\nof man, and subjected him to distempers presently, but inflicted not\ndeath immediately; while he punished him, he supported him; and while\nhe expelled him from paradise, he did not order him not to cast his eye\ntowards it, and conceive some hopes of regaining that happy place.\n\n5th. His patience is seen in giving great mercies after provocations.\nHe is so slow to anger, that he heaps many kindnesses upon a rebel,\ninstead of punishment. There is a prosperous wickedness, wherein the\nprovoker\u2019s strength continues firm; the troubles, which like clouds\ndrop upon others, are blown away from them, and they are \u201cnot plagued\nlike other men,\u201d that have a more worthy demeanor towards God (Ps.\nlxxiii. 3\u20125). He doth not only continue their lives, but sends out\nfresh beams of his goodness upon them, and calls them by his blessings,\nthat they may acknowledge their own fault and his bounty, which he is\nnot obliged to by any gratitude he meets with from them, but by the\nrichness of his own patient nature: for he finds the unthankfulness\nof men as great as his benefits to them. He doth not only continue his\noutward mercies, while we continue our sins, but sometimes gives fresh\nbenefits after new provocations, that if possible he might excite an\ningenuity in men. When Israel at the Red Sea flung dirt in the face\nof God, by quarrelling with his servant Moses for bringing them out of\nEgypt, and misjudging God in his design of deliverance, and were ready\nto submit themselves to their former oppressors (Exod. xiv. 11, 12),\nwhich might justly have urged God to say to them, Take your own course;\nyet he is not only patient under their unjust charge, but \u201cmakes bare\nhis arm in a deliverance at the Red Sea,\u201d that was to be an amazing\nmonument to the world in all ages; and afterwards, when they repiningly\nquarrelled with him in their wants in the wilderness, he did not only\nnot revenge himself upon them, or cast off the conduct of them, but\nbore with them by a miraculous long\u2011suffering, and supplied them with\nmiraculous provision,\u2015\u2015manna from heaven, and water from a rock. Food\nis given to support us, and clothes to cover us, and Divine patience\nmakes the creature which we turn to another use than what they were\nat first intended for, serve us contrary to their own genius: for had\nthey reason, no question but they would complain to be subjected to the\nservice of man, who {b497} hath been so ungrateful to their Creator,\nand groan at the abuse of God\u2019s patience, in the abuse they themselves\nsuffer from the hands of man.\n\n6th. All this is more manifest, if we consider the provocations he hath.\nWherein his slowness to anger infinitely transcends the patience of any\ncreature; nay, the spirits of all the angels and glorified saints in\nheaven, would be too narrow to bear the sins of the world for one day,\nnay, not so much as the sins of churches, which is a little spot in\nthe whole world; it is because he is the Lord, one of an infinite power\nover himself, that not only the whole mass of the rebellious world,\nbut of the sons of Jacob (either considered as a church and nation\nspringing from the loins of Jacob, or considered as the regenerate part\nof the world, sometimes called the seed of Jacob), \u201care not consumed\u201d\n(Mal. iii. 6). A Jonah was angry with God, for recalling his anger from\na sinful people; had God committed the government of the world to the\nglorified saints, who are perfect in love and holiness, the world would\nhave had an end long ago; they would have acted that which they sue for\nat the hands of God, and is not granted them. \u201cHow long, Lord, holy and\ntrue, dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?\u201d\n(Rev. vi. 10). God hath designs of patience above the world, above the\nunsinning angels, and perfectly renewed spirits in glory. The greatest\ncreated long\u2011suffering is infinitely disproportioned to the Divine:\nfire from heaven would have been showered down before the greatest\npart of a day were spent, if a created patience had the conduct of the\nworld, though that creature were possessed with the spirit of patience,\nextracted from all the creatures which are in heaven, or are, or ever\nwere upon the earth. Methinks Moses intimates this; for as soon as God\nhad passed by, proclaiming his name gracious and long suffering, as\nsoon as ever Moses had paid his adoration, he falls to praying that God\nwould go with the Israelites; \u201cFor it is a stiff\u2011necked people\u201d (Exod.\nxxxiv. 8, 9). What an argument is here for God to go along with them!\nhe might rather, since he had heard him but just before say \u201che would\nby no means clear the guilty,\u201d desire God to stand further off from\nthem, for fear the fire of his wrath should burst out from him, to burn\nthem as he did the Sodomites. But he considers, that as none but God\nhad such anger to destroy them, so none but God had such a patience\nto bear with them; it is as much as if he should have said, Lord! if\nthou shouldest send the most tender\u2011hearted angel in heaven to have\nthe guidance of this people, they would be a lost people; a period will\nquickly be set to their lives, no created strength can restrain its\npower from crushing such a stiff\u2011necked people; flesh and blood cannot\nbear them, nor any created spirit of a greater might.\n\n(1.) Consider the greatness of the provocations. No light matter,\nbut actions of a great defiance: what is the practical language of\nmost in the world, but that of Pharaoh? \u201cWho is the Lord, that I should\nobey him?\u201d How many questions his being, and more his authority? What\nblasphemies of him, what reproaches of his Majesty! Men \u201cdrinking up\niniquity like water,\u201d and with a haste and ardency \u201crushing into sin,\nas the horse into the battle.\u201d What {b498} is there in the reasonable\ncreature, that hath the quickest capacity, and the deepest obligation\nto serve him, but opposition and enmity, a slight of him in everything,\nyea, the services most seriously performed, unsuited to the royalty and\npurity of so great a Being? such provocations as dare him to his face,\nthat are a burden to so righteous a Judge, and so great a lover of the\nauthority and majesty of his laws; that were there but a spark of anger\nin him, it is a wonder it doth not show itself. When he is invaded in\nall his attributes, it is astonishing that this single one of patience\nand meekness should withstand the assault of all the rest of his\nperfections; his being, which is attacked by sin, speaks for vengeance;\nhis justice cannot be imagined to stand silent without charging the\nsinner. His holiness cannot but encourage his justice to urge its pleas,\nand be an advocate for it. His omniscience proves the truth of all\nthe charge, and his abused mercy hath little encouragement to make\nopposition to the indictment; nothing but patience stands in the gap to\nkeep off the arrest of judgment from the sinner.\n\n(2.) His patience is manifest, if you consider the multitudes of these\nprovocations. Every man hath sin enough in a day to make him stand\namazed at Divine patience, and to call it, as well as the apostle did,\n\u201call long\u2011suffering\u201d (1 Tim. i. 16). How few duties of a perfectly\nright stamp are performed! What unworthy considerations mix themselves,\nlike dross, with our purest and sincerest gold! How more numerous are\nthe respects of the worshippers of him to themselves, than unto him!\nHow many services are paid him, not out of love to him, but because he\nshould do us no hurt, and some service; when we do not so much design\nto please him, as to please ourselves by expectations of a reward from\nhim! What master would endure a servant that endeavored to please him,\nonly because he should not kill him? Is that former charge of God upon\nthe old world yet out of date, \u201cThat the imagination of the thoughts\nof the heart of man was only evil, and that continually?\u201d (Gen. vi. 5.)\nWas not the new world as chargeable with it as the old? Certainly it\nwas (Gen. viii. 21); and is of as much force this very minute as it\nwas then. How many are the sins against knowledge, as well as those\nof ignorance; presumptuous sins, as well as those of infirmity! How\nnumerous those of omission and commission! It is above the reach of\nany man\u2019s understanding to conceive all the blasphemies, oaths, thefts,\nadulteries, murders, oppressions, contempt of religion, the open\nidolatries of Turks and heathens, the more spiritual and refined\nidolatries of others.[1037] Add to those, the ingratitude of those that\nprofess his name, their pride, earthliness, carelessness, sluggishness\nto Divine duties, and in every one of those a multitude of provocations;\nthe whole man being engaged in every sin, the understanding contriving\nit, the will embracing it, the affections complying with it, and all\nthe members of the body instruments in the acting the unrighteousness\nof it; every one of these faculties bestowed upon men by him, are\narmed against him in every act: and in every employment of them there\nis a distinct provocation, though centred in one sinful end and object.\nWhat are the offences all the {b499} men of the world receive from\ntheir fellow\u2011creatures, to the injuries God receives from men, but\nas a small dust of earth to the whole mass of earth and heaven too?\nWhat multitudes of sins is one profane wretch guilty of in the space\nof twenty, forty, fifty years? Who can compute the vast number of\nhis transgressions, from the first use of reason to the time of the\nseparation of his soul from his body, from his entrance into the\nworld to his exit? What are those, to those of a whole village of the\nlike inhabitants? What are those, to those of a great city? Who can\nnumber up all the foul\u2011mouthed oaths, the beastly excess, the goatish\nuncleanness, committed in the space of a day, year, twenty years in\nthis city, much less in the whole nation, least of all, in the whole\nworld? Were it no more than the common idolatry of former ages, when\nthe whole world turned their backs upon their Creator, and passed\nhim by to sue to a creature, a stock or stone, or a degraded spirit?\nHow provoking would it be to a prince to see a whole city under his\ndominion deny him a respect, and pay it to his scullion, or the common\nexecutioner he employs! Add to this the unjust invasion of kings, the\noppressions exercised upon men, all the private and public sins that\nhave been in the world ever since it began. The Gentiles were described\nby the apostle (Rom. i. 29\u201231), in a black character, \u201cThey were haters\nof God;\u201d yet how did the \u201criches of his patience\u201d preserve multitudes\nof such disingenuous persons, and how \u201cmany millions of such haters of\nhim\u201d breathe every day in his air, and are maintained by his bounty,\nhave their tables spread, and their cups filled to the brim, and that,\ntoo, in the midst of reiterated belchings of their enmity against him?\nAll are under sufficient provocations of him to the highest indignation.\nThe presiding angels over nations could not forbear, in love and\nhonor to their governor, to arm themselves to the destruction of\ntheir several charges, if Divine patience did not set them a pattern,\nand their obedience incline them to expect his orders, before they act\nwhat their zeal would prompt them to. The devils would be glad of a\ncommission to destroy the world, but that his patience puts a stop to\ntheir fury, as well as his own justice.\n\n(3.) Consider the long time of this patience. He spread out his hands\n\u201call the day\u201d to a rebellious world (Isa. lxv. 2). All men\u2019s day, all\nGod\u2019s day, which is a \u201cthousand years,\u201d he hath borne with the gross of\nmankind, with all the nations of the world in a long succession of ages,\nfor five thousand years and upwards already, and will bear with them\ntill the time comes for the world\u2019s dissolution. He hath suffered the\nmonstrous acts of men, and endured the contradictions of a sinful world\nagainst himself, from the first sin of Adam, to the last committed this\nminute. The line of his patience hath run along with the duration of\nthe world to this day; and there is not any one of Adam\u2019s posterity but\nhath been expensive to him, and partaken of the riches of it.\n\n(4.) All these he bears when he hath a sense of them. He sees\nevery day the roll and catalogue of sin increasing; he hath a distinct\nview of every one, from the sin of Adam to the last filled up in his\nomniscience; and yet gives no order for the arrest of the world. He\n{b500} knows men fitted for destruction; all the instants he exerciseth\nlong\u2011suffering towards them, which makes the apostle call it not simply\nlong\u2011suffering, without the addition of \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u1fc7, \u201cmuch long\u2011suffering\u201d\n(Rom. ix. 23). There is not a grain in the whole mass of sin, that\nhe hath not a distinct knowledge of, and of the quality of it.\nHe perfectly understands the greatness of his own majesty that is\nvilified, and the nature of the offence that doth disparage him. He is\nsolicited by his justice, directed by his omniscience, and armed with\njudgments to vindicate himself, but his arm is restrained by patience.\nTo conclude: no indignity is hid from him, no iniquity is beloved by\nhim; the hatred of their sinfulness is infinite, and the knowledge of\nthe malice is exact. The subsisting of the world under such weighty\nprovocations, so numerous, so long time, and with his full sense\nof every one of them, is an evidence of such a \u201cforbearance and\nlong\u2011suffering,\u201d that the addition of riches which the apostle puts to\nit (Rom. ii. 4), labors with an insufficiency clearly to display it.\n\nIII. Why God doth exercise so much patience.\n\n1. To show himself appeasable. God did not declare by his patience\nto former ages, or any age, that he was appeased with them, or that\nthey were in his favor; but that he was appeasable, that he was not an\nimplacable enemy, but that they might find him favorable to them, if\nthey did seek after him. The continuance of the world by patience, and\nthe bestowing many mercies by goodness, were not a natural revelation\nof the manner how he would be appeased: that was made known only by\nthe prophets, and after the coming of Christ by the apostles; and had\nindeed been intelligible in some sort to the whole world, had there\nbeen a faithfulness in Adam\u2019s posterity, to transmit the tradition of\nthe first promise to succeeding generations. Had not the knowledge of\nthat died by their carelessness and neglect, it had been easy to tell\nthe reason of God\u2019s patience to be in order to the exhibition of the\n\u201cSeed of the woman to bruise the serpent\u2019s head.\u201d They could not but\nnaturally know themselves sinners, and worthy of death; they might, by\neasy reflections upon themselves, collect that they were not in that\ncomely and harmonious posture now, as they were when God first wrought\nthem with his own finger, and placed them as his lieutenants in the\nworld; they knew they did grievously offend him; this they were taught\nby the sprinklings of his judgments among them sometimes. And since he\ndid not utterly root up mankind, his sparing patience was a prologue of\nsome further favors, or pardoning grace to be displayed to the world by\nsome methods of God yet unknown to them. Though the earth was something\nimpaired by the curse after the fall, yet the main pillars of it stood;\nthe state of the natural motions of the creature was not changed; the\nheavens remained in the same posture wherein they were created; the\nsun, and moon, and other heavenly bodies, continued their usefulness\nand refreshing influences to man.\n\nThe heavens did still \u201cdeclare the glory of God, day unto day\u201d did\n\u201cutter speech; their line is gone throughout all the earth, and their\nwords to the end of the world\u201d (Ps. xix. 1\u20124): which declared God to be\nwilling to do good to his creatures, and were as so many {b501} legible\nletters or rudiments, whereby they might read his patience, and that\na further design of favor to the world lay hid in that patience. Paul\napplies this to the preaching of the gospel (Rom. x. 18): \u201cHave they\nnot heard the word of God? yes, verily, their sound went into all the\nearth, and their words unto the end of the world.\u201d Redeeming grace\ncould not be spelled out by them in a clear notion, but yet they did\ndeclare that which is the foundation of gospel mercy. Were not God\npatient, there were no room for a gospel mercy, so that the heavens\ndeclare the gospel, not formally, but fundamentally, in declaring\nthe long\u2011suffering of God, without which no gospel had been framed,\nor could have been expected. They could not but read in those things\nfavorable inclinations towards them: and though they could not be\nignorant that they deserved a mark of justice, yet seeing themselves\nsupported by God, and beholding the regular motions of the heavens from\nday to day, and the revolutions of the seasons of the year, the natural\nconclusions they might draw from thence was, that God was placable;\nsince he behaved himself more as a tender friend, that had no mind to\nbe at war with them, than an enraged enemy. The good things which he\ngave them, and the patience whereby he spared them, were no arguments\nof an implacable disposition; and, therefore, of a disposition willing\nto be appeased. This is clearly the design of the apostle\u2019s arguing\nwith the Lystrians, when they would have offered sacrifices to Paul\n(Acts xiv. 17). When God \u201csuffered all nations to walk in their own\nways, he did not leave himself without witness, giving rain from heaven,\nand fruitful seasons.\u201d What were those witnesses of? not only of the\nbeing of a God, by their readiness to sacrifice to those that were\nnot gods, only supposed to be so in their false imaginations; but\nwitnesses to the tenderness of God, that he had no mind to be severe\nwith his creatures, but would allure them by ways of goodness. Had not\nGod\u2019s patience tended to this end, to bring the world under another\ndispensation, the apostle\u2019s arguing from it had not been suitable to\nhis design, which seems to be a hindering the sacrifices they intended\nfor them, and a drawing them to embrace the gospel, and therefore\npreparing the way to it, by speaking of the patience and goodness of\nGod to them, as an unquestionable testimony of the reconcilableness of\ngood to them, by some sacrifice which was represented under the common\nnotion of sacrifices.[1038] These things were not witnesses of Christ,\nor syllables whereby they could spell out the redeeming person; but\nwitnesses that God was placable in his own nature. When man abused\nthose noble faculties God had given him, and diverted them from the\nuse and service God intended them for, God might have stripped man of\nthem the first time that he misemployed them; and it would have seemed\nmost agreeable to his wisdom and justice, not to suffer himself to be\nabused, and the world to go contrary to its natural end. But since he\ndid not level the world with its first nothing, but healed the world\nso favorably, it was evident that his patience pointed the world to a\nfurther design of mercy and goodness in him. To imagine that God had\nno other design in his long\u2011suffering {b502} but that of vengeance, had\nbeen a notion unsuitable to the goodness and wisdom of God. He would\nnever have pretended himself to be a friend, if he had harbored nothing\nbut enmity in his heart against them. It had been far from his goodness\nto give them a cause to suspect such a design in him, as his patience\ncertainly did, had he not intended it. Had he preserved men only\nfor punishment, it is more like he would have treated men as princes\ndo those they reserve for the axe or halter, give them only things\nnecessary to uphold their lives till the day of execution, and not have\nbestowed upon them so many good things to make their lives delightful\nto them, nor have furnished them with so many excellent means to please\ntheir senses, and recreate their minds; it had been a mocking of them\nto treat them at that rate, if nothing but punishment had been intended\ntowards them. If the end of it, to lead men to repentance, were easily\nintelligible by them, as the apostle intimates (Rom. ii. 4)\u2015\u2015which is\nto be linked with the former chapter, a discourse of the Gentiles: \u201cNot\nknowing,\u201d saith he, \u201cthat the riches of his forbearance and goodness\nleads thee to repentance\u201d\u2015\u2015it also gives them some ground to hope for\npardon. For what other argument can more induce to repentance than an\nexpectation of mercy upon a relenting, and acknowledging the crime?\nWithout a design of pardoning grace, his patience would have been in\na great measure exercised in vain: for by mere patience God is not\nreconciled to a sinner, no more than a prince to a rebel, by bearing\nwith him. Nor can a sinner conclude himself in the favor of God, no\nmore than a rebel can conclude himself in the favor of his prince; only,\nthis he may conclude, that there is some hopes he may have the grant\nof a pardon, since he hath time to sue it out. And so much did the\npatience of God naturally signify that he was of a reconcilable temper,\nand was willing men should sue out their pardon upon repentance;\notherwise, he might have magnified his justice, and condemned men by\nthe law of works.\n\n(2.) He therefore exercised so much patience to wait for men\u2019s\nrepentance. All the notices and warnings that God gives men, of\neither public or personal calamities, is a continual invitation to\nrepentance. This was the common interpretation the heathens made of\nextraordinary presages and prodigies, which showed as well the delays\nas the approaches of judgments. What other notion but this, that those\nwarnings of judgments witness a slowness to anger, and a willingness to\nturn his arrows another way, should move them to multiply sacrifices,\ngo weeping to their temples, sound out prayers to their gods, and\nshow all those other testimonies of a repentance which their blind\nunderstandings hit upon? If a prince should sometimes in a light and\ngentle manner punish a criminal, and then relax it, and show him much\nkindness, and afterwards inflict upon him another kind of punishment as\nlight as the former, and less than was due to his crime, what could the\nmalefactor suspect by such a way of proceeding, but that the prince, by\nthose gently\u2011repeated chastisements, had a mind to move him to a regret\nfor his crime?[1039] And what other thoughts could men naturally have\nof God\u2019s conduct, {b503} that he should warn them of great judgments,\nsend light afflictions, which are testimonies rather of a patience than\nof a severe wrath, but that it was intended to move them to a relenting,\nand a breaking off their sins by working righteousness? Though Divine\npatience does not, in the event, induce men to repentance, yet the\nnatural tendency of such a treatment is to mollify men\u2019s hearts, to\novercome their obstinacy; and no man hath any reason to judge otherwise\nof such a proceeding. The \u201clong\u2011suffering of God is salvation,\u201d saith\nPeter (2 Pet. iii. 15), _i. e._ hath a tendency to salvation, in its\nbeing a solicitation of men to the means of it; for the apostle cites\nPaul for the confirmation of it,\u2015\u2015\u201cEven as our beloved brother, Paul,\nhath written unto you,\u201d which must refer to Rom. ii. 4: \u201cit leads to\nrepentance,\u201d \u1f04\u03b3\u03b5\u03b9, it conducts, which is more than barely to invite; it\ndoth, as it were, take us by the hand, and point us to the way wherein\nwe should go; and for this end it was exercised, not only towards the\nJews, but towards the Gentiles, not only towards those that are within\nthe pale of the church, and under the dews of the gospel, but to those\nthat are in darkness, and in the shadow of death; for this discourse\nof the apostle was but an inference from what he had treated of in the\nfirst chapter concerning the idolatry and ingratitude of the Gentiles;\nsince the Gentiles were to be punished for the abuse of it as well as\nthe Jews, as he intimates, ver. 9. It is plain that his patience, which\nis exercised towards the idolatrous Gentiles, was to allure them to\nrepentance as well as others; and it was a sufficient motive in itself\nto persuade them to a change of their vile and gross acts, to such as\nwere morally good: and there was enough in God\u2019s dealing with them, and\nin that light they had to engage them to a better course than what they\nusually walked in; and though men do abuse God\u2019s long\u2011suffering, to\nencourage their impenitence, and persisting in their crimes, yet that\nthey cannot reasonably imagine that to be the end of God is evident;\ntheir own gripes of conscience would acquaint them that it is otherwise.\nThey know that conscience is a principle that God hath given them, as\nwell as understanding, and will, and other faculties; that God doth not\napprove of that which the voice of their own consciences, and of the\nconsciences of all men under natural light, are utterly against: and if\nthere were really, in this forbearance of God, an approbation of men\u2019s\ncrimes, conscience could not, frequently and universally in all men,\ncheck them for them. What authority could conscience have to do it?\nBut this it doth in all men: as the apostle (Rom. i. 22), \u201cThey know\nthe judgment of God, that those that do such things,\u201d which he had\nmentioned before, \u201care worthy of death.\u201d In this thing the consciences\nof all men cannot err: they could not, therefore, conclude from hence\nGod\u2019s approbation of their iniquities, but his desire that their hearts\nshould be touched with a repentance for them. The \u201csin of Ephraim is\nhid\u201d (Hos. xiii. 12, 13); _i. e._ God doth not presently take notice of\nit, to order punishment; he lays it in a secret place from the eye of\nhis justice, that Ephraim might not be his unwise son, and \u201cstay long\nin the place of the breaking forth of children;\u201d _i. e._ that he should\nspeedily reclaim himself, and not continue in the way of destruction.\nGod hath no {b504} need to abuse any; he doth not lie to the sons of\nmen; if he would have men perish, he could easily destroy them, and\nhave done it long ago: he did not leave the woman Jezebel in being,\nnor lengthened out her time, but as a space to repent (Rev. ii. 21),\nthat she might reflect upon her ways, and devote herself seriously to\nhis service, and her own happiness. His patience stands between the\noffending creature and eternal misery a long time, that men might not\nfoolishly throw away their souls, and be damned for their impenitency;\nby this he shows himself ready to receive men to mercy upon their\nreturn. To what purpose doth he invite men to repentance, if he\nintended to deceive them, and damn them after they repent?\n\n3. He doth exercise patience for the propagation of mankind. If God\npunished every sin presently, there would not only be a period put\nto churches, but to the world; without patience, Adam had sunk into\neternal anguish the first moment of his provocation, and the whole\nworld of mankind, in his loins, had perished with him, and never seen\nthe light. If this perfection had not interposed after the first sin,\nGod had lost his end in the creation of the world, which he \u201ccreated\nnot in vain, but formed it to be inhabited\u201d (Isa. xlv. 18). It had been\ninconsistent with the wisdom of God to make a world to be inhabited,\nand destroy it upon sin, when it had but two principal inhabitants\nin it; the reason of his making this earth had been insignificant; he\nhad not had any upon earth to glorify him, without erecting another\nworld, which might have proved as sinful and as quickly wicked as this;\nGod should have always been pulling down and rearing up, creating and\nannihilating; one world would have come after another, as wave after\nwave in the sea. His patience stepped in to support the honor of God,\nand the continuance of men, without which one had been in part impaired,\nand the other totally lost.\n\n4. He doth exercise patience for the continuance of the church. If he\nbe not patient toward sinners, what stock would there be for believers\nto spring up from? He bears with the provoking carriage of men, evil\nmen, because out of their loins he intends to extract others, which he\nwill form for the glory of his grace. He hath some unborn that belong\nto the election of grace, which are to be the seed of the worst of\nmen; Jeroboam, the chief incendiary of the Israelites to idolatry,\nhad an Abijah, in whom was found \u201csome good thing towards the Lord\nGod of Israel\u201d (1 Kings xiv. 13). Had Ahaz been snapped in the first\nact of his wickedness, the Israelites had wanted so good a prince and\nso good a man as Hezekiah, a branch of that wicked predecessor. What\ngardener cuts off the thorns from the rose\u2011brush till he hath gathered\nthe roses? and men do not use to burn all the crab\u2011tree, but preserve\na stock to engraft some sweet fruit upon. There could not have been a\nsaint in the earth, nor, consequently, in heaven, had it not been for\nthis perfection: he did not destroy the Israelites in the wilderness,\nthat he might keep up a church among them, and not extinguish the whole\nseed that were heirs of the promises and covenant made with Abraham.\nHad God punished men for their sins as soon as they had been committed,\n{b505} none would have lived to have been better, none could have\ncontinued in the world to honor him by their virtues. Manasseh had\nnever been a convert, and many brutish men had never been changed from\nbeasts to angels, to praise and acknowledge their Creator. Had Peter\nreceived his due recompense upon the denial of his Master, he had never\nbeen a martyr for him; nor had Paul been a preacher of the gospel; nor\nany else: and so the gospel had not shined in any part of the world.\nNo seed would have been brought into Christ; Christ is beholding\nimmediately to this attribute for all the seed he hath in the world: it\nis for his name\u2019s sake that he doth defer his anger; and for his praise\nthat he doth refrain from \u201ccutting us off\u201d (Isa. xlviii. 9): and in\nthe next chapter follows a prophecy of Christ. To overthrow mankind for\nsin, were to prevent the spreading a church in the world: a woman that\nis guilty of a capital crime, and lies under a condemning sentence,\nis reprieved from execution for her being with child; it is for the\nchild\u2019s sake the woman is respited, not for her own: it is for the\nelect\u2019s sake, in the loins of transgressors, that they are a long time\nspared, and not for their own ( Isa. lxv. 8): \u201cAs the new wine is found\nin a cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it,\nso will I do for my servants\u2019 sakes, that I may not destroy them all;\u201d\nas a husbandman spares a vine for some good clusters in it. He had\nspoke of vengeance before, yet he would reserve some from whom he would\nbring forth those that should be \u201cinheritors of his mountains,\u201d that he\nmight make up his church of Judea; Jerusalem being a mountainous place,\nand the type of the church in all ages. What is the reason he doth\nnot level his thunder at the heads of those for whose destruction he\nreceives so many petitions from the \u201csouls under the altar?\u201d (Rev. vi.\n9, 10). Because God had others to write a testimony for him in their\nown blood, and perhaps out of the loins of those for whom vengeance\nwas so earnestly supplicated; and God, as the master of a vessel,\nlies patiently at anchor, till the last passenger he expects be taken\nin.[1040]\n\n5. For the sake of his church he is patient to wicked men. The tares\nare patiently endured till the harvest, for fear in the plucking up\nthe one, there might be some prejudice done to the other. Upon this\naccount he spares some, who are worse than others whom he crusheth by\nsignal judgments: the Jews had committed sins worse than Sodom, for the\nconfirmation of which we have God\u2019s oath (Ezek. xvi. 48); and more by\nhalf than Samaria, or the ten tribes had done (ver. 51): yet God spared\nthe Jews, though he destroyed the Sodomites. What was the reason, but a\nlarger remnant of righteous persons, more clusters of good grapes, were\nfound among them than grew in Sodom? (Isa. i. 9). A few more righteous\nin Sodom had damped the fire and brimstone designed for that place,\nand a \u201cremnant of such in Judea\u201d was a bar to that fierceness of\nanger, which otherwise would have quickly consumed them. Had there\nbeen but \u201cten righteous in Sodom,\u201d Divine patience had still bound\nthe arms of Justice, that it should not have prepared its brimstone,\nnotwithstanding the clamor of the sins of the multitude. Judea was ripe\nfor the sickle, but God would put a lock upon the torrent of his {b506}\njudgments, that they should not flow down upon that wicked place, to\nmake them a desolation and a curse, as long as tender\u2011hearted Josiah\nlived, \u201cwho had humbled himself\u201d at the threatening, and wept before\nthe Lord (2 Kings xxii. 19, 20). Sometimes he bears with wicked men,\nthat they might exercise the patience of the saints (Rev. xiv. 12):\nthe whole time of the \u201cforbearance of antichrist\u201d in all his intrusions\ninto the temple of God, invasions of the rights of God, usurpations\nof the office of Christ, and besmearing himself with the blood of the\nsaints, was to give them an opportunity of patience. God is patient\ntowards the wicked, that by their means he might try the righteous.\nHe burns not the wisp till he hath scoured his vessels; nor lays by\nthe hammer, till he hath formed some of his matter into an excellent\nfashion. He useth the worst men as rods to correct his people, before\nhe sweeps the twigs out of his house. God sometimes uses the thorns of\nthe world, as a hedge to secure his church, sometimes as instruments to\ntry and exercise it. Howsoever he useth them, whether for security or\ntrial, he is patient to them for his church\u2019s advantage.\n\n6. When men are not brought to repentance by his patience, he doth\nlonger exercise it, to manifest the equity of his future justice upon\nthem. As wisdom is justified by her obedient children, so is justice\njustified by the rebels against patience; the contempt of the latter\nis the justification of the former. The \u201capostles were unto God a sweet\nsavor of Christ in them that perish,\u201d as well as in them that were\nsaved by the acceptation of their message (2 Cor. ii. 15). Both are\nfragrant to God; his mercy is glorified by the one\u2019s acceptance of it,\nand his justice freed from any charge against it by the other\u2019s refusal.\nThe cause of men\u2019s ruin cannot be laid upon God, who provided means\nfor their salvation, and solicited their compliance with him. What\nreason can they have to charge the Judge with any wrong to them, who\nreject the tenders he makes, and who hath forborne them with so much\npatience, when he might have censured them by his righteous justice,\nupon the first crime they committed, or the first refusal of his\ngracious offers? \u201c_Quanto Dei magis judicium tardum est tanto magis\njustum._\u201d[1041] After the despising of patience, there can be no\nsuspicion of an irregularity in the acts of justice. Man hath no reason\nto fall foul in his charge upon God, if he were punished for his own\nsin, considering the dignity of the injured person, and the meanness\nof himself, the offender; but his wrath is more justified when it is\npoured out upon those whom he hath endured with much long\u2011suffering.\nThere is no plea against the shooting of his arrows into those, for\nwhom this voice hath been loud, and his arms open for their return. As\npatience, while it is exercised, is the silence of his justice, so when\nit is abused, it silenceth men\u2019s complaints against his justice. The\n\u201criches of his forbearance\u201d made way for the manifesting the \u201ctreasures\nof his wrath.\u201d If God did but a little bear with the insolencies of men,\nand cut them off after two or three sins, he would not have opportunity\nto show either the power of his patience, or that of his wrath; but\nwhen he hath a right to punish for one sin, and yet bears with them\nfor many, {b507} and they will not be reclaimed, the sinner is more\ninexcusable, Divine justice less chargeable, and his wrath more\npowerful. (Rom. ix. 22), \u201cWhat if God, willing to show his wrath, and\nto make his power known, endured with much long\u2011suffering the vessels\nof wrath fitted for destruction?\u201d The proper and immediate end of his\nlong\u2011suffering is to lead men to repentance; but after they have by\ntheir obstinacy fitted themselves for destruction, he bears longer\nwith them, to \u201cmagnify his wrath\u201d more upon them; and if it is not the\n_finis operantis_, it is at least the _finis operis_, where patience\nis abused. Men are apt to complain of God, that he deals hardly with\nthem; the Israelites seem to charge God with too much severity, to\ncast them off, when so many promises were made to the fathers for their\nperpetuity and preservation, which is intimated, Hos. ii. 2. \u201cPlead\nwith your mother, plead:\u201d by the double repetition of the word \u201cplead;\u201d\ndo not accuse me of being false or too rigorous, but accuse your mother,\nyour church, your magistracy, your ministry, for their spiritual\nfornications which have provoked me; for their \u05e0\u05d0\u05e4\u05d5\u05e4\u05d9\u05d4, intimating the\ngreatness of their sins by the reduplication of the word, \u201clest I strip\nher naked.\u201d I have borne with her under many provocations, and I have\nnot yet taken away all her ornaments, or said to her, according to the\nrule of divorce, _Res tuas tibi habeto_. God answers their impudent\ncharge: \u201cShe is not my wife, nor am I her husband;\u201d he doth not say\nfirst, I am not her husband, but she is not my wife; she first withdrew\nfrom her duty by breaking the marriage covenant, and then I ceased to\nbe her husband. No man shall be condemned, but he shall be convinced\nof the due desert of his sin, and the justice of God\u2019s proceeding. God\nwill lay open men\u2019s guilt, and repeat the measures of his patience to\njustify the severity of his wrath (Hos. vii. 10), \u201cSins will testify to\ntheir face.\u201d What is in its own nature a preparation for glory, men by\ntheir obstinacy make a preparation for a more indisputable punishment.\nWe see many evidences of God\u2019s forbearance here, in sparing men under\nthose blasphemies which are audible, and those profane carriages which\nare visible, which would sufficiently justify an act of severity;\nyet when men\u2019s secret sins, both in heart and action, and the vast\nmultitude of them, far surmounting what can arrive to our knowledge\nhere, shall be discovered, how great a lustre will it add to God\u2019s\nbearing with them, and make his justice triumph without any reasonable\ndemur from the sinner himself! He is long\u2011suffering here, that his\njustice may be more public hereafter.\n\n_Use IV._ For instruction. How is this patience of God abused! The\nGentiles abused those testimonies of it, which were written in showers\nand fruitful seasons. No nation was ever stripped of it, under the most\nprovoking idolatries, till after multiplied spurns at it: not a person\namong us but hath been guilty of the abuse of it. How have we contemned\nthat which demands a reverence from us! How have we requited God\u2019s\nwaitings with rebellions, while he hath continued urging and expecting\nour return! Saul relented at David\u2019s forbearing to revenge himself,\nwhen he had his prosecuting and industrious enemy in his power. (1 Sam.\nxxiv. 17), \u201cThou art more righteous than I; thou hast rewarded me good,\nwhereas I have rewarded {b508} thee evil:\u201d and shall we not relent at\nGod\u2019s wonderful long\u2011suffering, and silencing his anger so much? He\ncould puff away our lives, but he will not, and yet we endeavor to\nstrip him of his being, though we cannot.\n\n1. Let us consider the ways, how slowness to anger is abused.\n\n(1.) It is abused by misinterpretations of it, when men slander his\npatience to be only a carelessness and neglect of his providence; as\nAverroes argued from his slowness to anger, a total neglect of the\ngovernment of the lower world: or when men from his long\u2011suffering\ncharge him with impurity, as if his patience were a consent to their\ncrimes; and because he suffered them, without calling them to account,\nhe were one of their partisans, and as wicked as themselves (Ps. l. 21):\n\u201cBecause I kept silence, thou thoughtest I was altogether such a one as\nthyself.\u201d His silence makes them conclude him to be an abettor of, and\na consort in their sins; and think him more pleased with their iniquity\nthan their obedience. Or when they will infer from his forbearance a\nwant of his omniscience; because he suffers their sins, they imagine\nhe forgets them (Ps. x. 11): \u201cHe hath said in his heart, God hath\nforgotten:\u201d thinking his patience proceeds not from the sweetness of\nhis nature, but a weakness of his mind. How base is it, instead of\nadmitting him, to disparage him for it; and because he stands in so\nadvantageous a posture towards us, not to own the choicest prerogatives\nof his Deity! This is to make a perfection, so useful to us, to shadow\nand extinguish those others, which are the prime flowers of his crown.\n\n(2.) His patience is abused by continuing in a course of sin under\nthe influences of it. How much is it the practical language of men,\nCome, let us commit this or that iniquity; since Divine patience hath\nsuffered worse than this at our hands! Nothing is remitted to their\nsensual pleasures, and eagerness in them. How often did the Israelites\nrepeat their murmurings against him, as if they would put his patience\nto the utmost proof, and see how far the line of it could extend! They\nwere no sooner satisfied in one thing, but they quarrelled with him\nabout another, as if he had no other attribute to put in motion against\nthem. They tempted him as often as he relieved them, as though the\ndeclaration of his name to Moses (Exod. xxxiv.), \u201cto be a God gracious,\nand long\u2011suffering,\u201d had been intended for no other purpose but a\nprotection of them in their rebellions. Such a sort of men the prophet\nspeaks of, that were \u201csettled in their lees,\u201d or dregs (Zeph. i. 12):\nthey were congealed, and frozen in their successful wickedness. Such\nan abuse of Divine patience is the very dregs of sin; God chargeth it\nhighly upon the Jews (Isa. lvii. 11): \u201cI have held my peace, even of\nold, and thou fearest me not;\u201d my silence made thee confident, yea,\nimpudent in thy sin.\n\n(3.) His patience is abused by repeating sin, after God hath, by\nan act of his patience, taken off some affliction from men. As metals\nmelted in the fire remain fluid under the operations of the flames,\nyet when removed from the fire, they quickly return to their former\nhardness, and sometimes grow harder than they were before; so men who,\nin their afflictions, seem to be melted, like Ahab confess their sins,\nlie prostrate before God, and seek him early; yet, if they be {b509}\nbrought from under the power of their afflictions, they return to their\nold nature, and are as stiff against God, and resist the blows of the\nSpirit as much as they did before. They think they have a new stock of\npatience to sin upon. Pharaoh was somewhat thawed under judgments, and\nfrozen again under forbearance (Exod. ix. 27, 34). Many will howl when\nGod strikes them, and laugh at him when he forbears them. Thus that\npatience which should melt us, doth often harden us, which is not an\neffect natural to his patience, but natural to our abusing corruption.\n\n(4.) His patience is abused, by taking encouragement from it to\nmount to greater degrees of sin. Because God is slow to anger, men\nare more fierce in sin, and not only continue in their old rebellions,\nbut heap new upon them. If he spare them for three transgressions,\nthey will commit four, as is intimated in the first and second of\nAmos; \u201cMen\u2019s hearts are fully set in them to do evil, because sentence\nagainst an evil work is not speedily executed\u201d (Eccles. viii. 11).\nTheir hearts are more desperately bent; before they had some waverings,\nand pull\u2011backs, but after a fair sunshine of Divine patience, they\nentertain more unbridled resolutions, and pass forward with more\nliberty and licentiousness. They make his long\u2011suffering subservient to\nturn out all those little relentings and regrets they had before, and\nbanish all thoughts of barring out a temptation. No encouragement is\ngiven to men by God\u2019s patience, but they force it by their presumption.\nThey invert God\u2019s order, and bind themselves stronger to iniquity by\nthat which should bind them faster to their duty. A happy escape at sea\nmakes men go more confidently into the deeps afterward. Thus we deal\nwith God as debtors do with good\u2011natured creditors: because they do not\ndun them for what they owe, they take encouragement to run more upon\nthe score, till the sum amounts above their ability of payment.\n\nBut let it be considered, 1st. That this abuse of patience is a high\nsin. As every act of forbearance obligeth us to duty, so every act of\nit abused, increaseth our guilt. The more frequent its solicitations\nof us have been, the deeper aggravations our sin receives by it. Every\nsin, after an act of Divine patience, contracts a blacker guilt. The\nsparing us after the last sin we committed, was a superadded act of\nlong\u2011suffering, and a laying out more of his riches upon us: and,\ntherefore, every new act committed is a despite against greater riches\nexpended, and greater cost upon us, and against his preserving us from\nthe hand of justice for the last transgression. It is disingenuous\nnot to have a due resentment of so much goodness, and base to injure\nhim the more, because he doth not right himself. Shall he receive\nthe more wrongs from us, by how much the sweeter he is to us? No man\u2019s\nconscience but will tell him it is vile to prefer the satisfaction of a\nsordid lust, before the counsel of a God of so gracious a disposition.\nThe sweeter the nature, the fouler is the injury that is done unto it.\n2d. It is dangerous to abuse his patience. Contempt of kindness is most\nirksome to an ingenuous spirit; and he is worthy to have the arrows of\nGod\u2019s indignation lodged in his heart, who despiseth the riches of his\nlong\u2011suffering. For,\n\n[1.] The time of patience will have an end. Though his Spirit {b510}\nstrives with man, yet it shall \u201cnot always strive\u201d (Gen. vi. 3). Though\nthere be a time wherein Jerusalem might \u201cknow the things that concerned\nher peace,\u201d yet there is another period wherein they should be \u201chid\nfrom her eyes\u201d (Luke xix. 43): \u201cO that thou hadst known in this thy\nday!\u201d Nations have their day, and persons have their day; and the day\nof most persons is shorter than the day of nations. Jerusalem had her\nday of forty years; but how many particular persons were taken off\nbefore the last or middle hours of that day were arrived! \u201cForty years\nwas God grieved\u201d with the generation of the Israelites (Heb. iii. 11).\nOne carcass dropped after another in that limited time, and at the end\nnot a man but fell under the judicial stroke, except Caleb and Joshua.\nOne hundred and twenty years was the term set to the mass of the old\nworld, but not to every man in the old world; some fell while the ark\nwas preparing, as well as the whole stock when the ark was completed.\nThough he be patient with most, yet he is not in the same degree with\nall; every sinner hath his time of sinning, beyond which he shall\nproceed no further, be his lusts never so impetuous, and his affections\nnever so imperious. The time of his patience is, in Scripture, set\nforth sometimes by years; three years he came to find fruit on the\nfig\u2011tree: sometimes by days; some men\u2019s sins are sooner ripe, and\nfall. There is a measure of sin (Jer. ii. 13), which is set forth by\nthe ephah (Zech. v. 8), which, when it is filled, is sealed up, and a\nweight of lead cast upon the mouth of it. When judgments are preparing,\nonce and twice the Lord is prevailed with by the intercession of the\nprophet: the prepared grass\u2011hoppers are not sent to devour, and the\nkindled fire is not blown up to consume (Amos vii. 1\u20128). But at last\nGod takes the plumb\u2011line, to suit and measure punishment to their\nsin, and would not pass by them any more; and when their sin was ripe,\nrepresented by a \u201cbasket of summer\u2011fruit,\u201d God would withhold his hand\nno longer, but brought such a day upon them, wherein \u201cthe songs of the\nTemple should be howlings, and dead bodies be in every place\u201d (Amos\nviii. 2, 3). He lays by any further thoughts of patience to speed their\nruin. God had borne long with the Israelites, and long it was before\nhe gave them up. He would first brake the \u201cbow in Jezreel\u201d (Hos. i. 5);\ntake away the strength of the nation by the death of Zechariah, the\nlast of Jehu\u2019s race, which introduced civil dissentions and ambitious\nmurders, for the throne, whereby in weakening one part they weakened\nthe whole; or, as some think, alluding to Tiglah Pilezar, who carried\ncaptive two tribes and a half. If this would not reclaim them, then\nfollows \u201cLo\u2011ruhamah, I will not have mercy,\u201d I will sweep them out of\nthe land (ver. 6). If they did not repent, they should be \u201cLo\u2011ammi\u201d\n(ver. 9), \u201cYou are not my people,\u201d and \u201cI will not be your God.\u201d They\nshould be discovenanted, and stripped of all federal relation. Here\npatience forever withdrew from them, and wrathful anger took its place.\nAnd, for particular persons, the time of life, whether shorter or\nlonger, is the only time of long\u2011suffering. It hath no other stage\nthan the present state of things to act upon; there is none else to be\nexpected after but giving account of what hath been done in the body,\nnot of anything done after the soul is fled from the body: {b511} the\ntime of patience ends with the first moment of the soul\u2019s departure\nfrom the body. This time only is the \u201cday of salvation;\u201d _i. e._\nthe day wherein God offers it, and the day wherein God waits for our\nacceptance of it: it is at his pleasure to shorten or lengthen our day,\nnot at ours; it is not our long\u2011suffering, but his; he hath the command\nof it.\n\n[2.] God hath wrath to punish, as well as patience to bear. He hath a\nfury to revenge the outrages done to his meekness: when his messages of\npeace, sent to reclaim men, are slighted, his sword shall be whetted,\nand his instruments of war prepared (Hos. v. 3): \u201cBlow ye the cornet in\nGibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah.\u201d As he deals gently, like a father,\nso he can punish capitally as a judge: though he holds his peace for a\nlong time, yet at last he will go forth like a mighty man, and stir up\njealousy, as a man of war, to cut in pieces his enemies. It is not said\nhe hath no anger, but that he is \u201cslow to anger,\u201d but sharp in it: he\nhath a sword to cut, and a bow to shoot, and arrows to pierce (Ps. xii.\n13): though he be long drawing the one out of its scabbard, and long\nfitting the other to his bow, yet, when they are ready, he strikes home,\nand hits the mark: though he hath a time of patience, yet he hath also\na \u201cday of rebuke\u201d (Hos. v. 9); though patience overrules justice, by\nsuspending it, yet justice will at last overrule patience, by an utter\nsilencing it. God is Judge of the whole earth to right men, yet he is\nno less Judge of the injuries he receives to right himself. Though God\nawhile was pressed with the murmurings of the Israelites, after their\ncoming out of Egypt, and seemed desirous to give them all satisfaction\nupon their unworthy complaints, yet, when they came to open hostility,\nin setting a golden calf in his throne, he commissions the \u201cLevites\nto kill every man his brother and companion in the camp\u201d (Exod. xxxii.\n27): and how desirous soever he was to content them before, they never\nmurmured afterwards but they severely smarted for it. When once he hath\nbegun to use his sword, he sticks it up naked, that it might be ready\nfor use upon every occasion. Though he hath feet of lead, yet he hath\nhands of iron. It was long that he supported the peevishness of the\nJews, but at last he captived them by the arms of the Babylonians, and\nlaid them waste by the power of the Romans. He planted, by the apostles,\nchurches in the east; and when his goodness and long\u2011suffering\nprevailed not with them, he tore them up by the roots. What Christians\nare to be found in those once famous parts of Asia but what are\novergrown with much error and ignorance?\n\n[3.] The more his patience is abused, the sharper will be the wrath\nhe inflicts. As his wrath restrained makes his patience long, so his\ncompassions restrained will make his wrath severe; as he doth transcend\nall creatures in the measures of the one, so he doth transcend all\ncreatures in the sharpness of the other. Christ is described with \u201cfeet\nof brass,\u201d as if they burned in a furnace (Rev. i. 15), slow to move,\nbut heavy to crush, and hot to burn. His wrath loseth nothing by delay;\nit grows the fresher by sleeping, and strikes with greater strength\nwhen it awakes: all the time men are abusing his patience, God is\nwhetting his sword, and the longer it is whetting the sharper will be\nthe edge; the longer he is fetching his blow, the smarter it {b512}\nwill be. The heavier the cannons are, the more difficultly are they\ndrawn to the besieged town; but, when arrived, they recompense the\nslowness of their march by the fierceness of their battery. \u201cBecause I\nhave purged thee,\u201d _i. e._ used means for thy reformation, and waited\nfor it, \u201cand thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy\nfilthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee:\nI will not go back, neither will I spare; according to thy ways, and\naccording to thy doings, shall they judge thee\u201d (Ezek. xxiv. 13, 14).\nGod will spare as little then as he spared much before; his wrath shall\nbe as raging upon them as the sea of their wickedness was within them.\nWhen there is a bank to forbid the irruption of the streams, the waters\nswell; but when the bank is broke, or the lock taken away, they rush\nwith the greater violence, and ravage more than they would have done\nhad they not met with a stop: the longer a stone is in falling, the\nmore it bruiseth and grinds to powder. There is a greater treasure\nof wrath laid up by the abuses of patience: every sin must have a\njust recompense of reward; and therefore every sin, in regard of its\naggravations, must be more punished than a sin in the singleness and\nsimplicity of its own nature. As treasures of mercy are kept by God for\nus, \u201che keeps mercy for thousands;\u201d so are treasures of wrath kept by\nhim to be expended, and a time of expense there must be: patience will\naccount to justice all the good offices it hath done the sinner, and\ndemand to be righted by justice; justice will take the account from\nthe hands of patience, and exact a recompense for every disingenuous\ninjury offered to it. When justice comes to arrest men for their debts,\npatience, mercy, and goodness, will step in as creditors, and clap\ntheir actions upon them, which will make the condition so much more\ndeplorable.\n\n[4.] When he puts an end to his abused patience, his wrath will\nmake quick and sure work. He that is \u201cslow to anger\u201d will be swift in\nthe execution of it. The departure of God from Jerusalem is described\nwith \u201cwings and wheels\u201d (Ezek. xi. 23). One stroke of his hand is\nirresistible; he that hath spent so much time in waiting needs but\none minute to ruin; though it be long ere he draws his sword out of\nhis scabbard, yet, when once he doth it, he despatcheth men at a blow.\nEphraim, or the ten tribes, had a long time of patience and prosperity,\nbut now shall a \u201cmonth devour him with his portion\u201d (Hos. v. 7). One\nfatal month puts a period to the many years\u2019 peace and security of a\nsinful nation; his arrows wound suddenly (Ps. lxiv. 7); and while men\nare about to fill their bellies, he casts the fruits of his wrath upon\nthem (Job xx. 23), like thunder out of a cloud, or a bullet out of a\ncannon, that strikes dead before it is heard. God deals with sinners\nas enemies do with a town, batter it not by planted guns, but secretly\nundermines and blows up the walls, whereby they involve the garrison\nin a sudden ruin, and carry the town. God spared the Amalekites a\nlong time after the injury committed against the Israelites, in their\npassage out of Egypt to Canaan; but when he came to reckon with them,\nhe would waste them in a trice, and make an utter consumption of them\n(1 Sam. xv. 2, 3). He describes himself by a \u201ctravailing woman\u201d (Isa.\nxxiv. 14), that {b513} hath borne long in her womb, and at last sends\nforth her birth with strong cries. Though he hath held his peace,\nbeen still, and refrained himself, yet, at last, he will destroy and\ndevour at once: the Ninevites, spared in the time of Jonah for their\nrepentance, are, in nature, threatened with a certain and total ruin,\nwhen God should come to bring them to an account for his length and\npatience, so much abused by them. Though God endured the murmuring\nIsraelites so long in the wilderness, yet he paid them off at last,\nand took away the rebels in his wrath: he uttered their sentence with\nan irreversible oath, that \u201cnone of them should enter into his rest;\u201d\nand he did as surely execute it as he had solemnly sworn it.\n\n[5.] Though he doth defer his visible wrath, yet that very delay may\nbe more dreadful than a quick punishment. He may forbear striking, and\ngive the reins to the hardness and corruption of men\u2019s hearts; he may\nsuffer them to walk in their own counsels, without any more striving\nwith them, whereby they make themselves fitter fuel for his vengeance.\nThis was the fate of Israel when they would not hearken to his voice;\nhe \u201cgave them up to their own hearts\u2019 lusts, and they walked in their\nown counsels\u201d (Ps. lxxxi. 12). Though his sparing them had the outward\naspect of patience, it was a wrathful one, and attended with spiritual\njudgments; thus many abusers of patience may still have their line\nlengthened, and the candle of prosperity to shine upon their heads,\nthat they may increase their sins, and be the fitter mark at last for\nhis arrows; they swim down the stream of their own sensuality with a\ndeplorable security, till they fall into an unavoidable gulf, where,\nat last, it will be a great part of their hell to reflect on the length\nof Divine patience on earth, and their inexcusable abuse of it.\n\n2. It informs us of the reason why he lets the enemies of his church\noppress it, and defers his promise of the deliverance of it. If he did\npunish them presently, his holiness and justice would be glorified,\nbut his power over himself in his patience would be obscured. Well\nmay the church be content to have a perfection of God glorified, that\nis not like to receive any honor in another world by any exercise of\nitself. If it were not for this patience, he were incapable to be the\nGovernor of a sinful world; he might, without it, be the Governor of\nan innocent world, but not of a criminal one; he would be the destroyer\nof the world, but not the orderer and disposer of the extravagancies\nand sinfulness of the world. The interest of his wisdom, in drawing\ngood out of evil, would not be served, if he were not clothed with\nthis perfection as well as with others. If he did presently destroy\nthe enemies of his church upon the first oppression, his wisdom in\ncontriving, and his power in accomplishing deliverance against the\nunited powers of hell and earth, would not be visible, no, nor that\npower in preserving his people unconsumed in the furnace of affliction.\nHe had not got so great a name in the rescue of his Israel from Pharaoh,\nhad he thundered the tyrant into destruction upon his first edicts\nagainst the innocent. If he were not patient to the most violent of men,\nhe might seem to be cruel. But when he offers peace to them under their\nrebellions, waits that they may be members of his church, {b514} rather\nthan enemies to it, he frees himself from any such imputation, even\nin the judgment of those that shall feel most of his wrath; it is this\nrenders the equity of his justice unquestionable, and the deliverance\nof his people righteous in the judgment of those from whose fetters\nthey are delivered. Christ reigns in the midst of his enemies, to\nshow his power over himself, as well as over the heads of his enemies,\nto show his power over his rebels. And though he retards his promise,\nand suffers a great interval of time between the publication and\nperformance, sometimes years, sometimes ages to pass away, and little\nappearance of any preparation, to show himself a God of truth; it is\nnot that he hath forgotten his word, or repents that ever he passed\nit, or sleeps in a supine neglect of it: but that men might not perish,\nbut bethink themselves, and come as friends into his bosom, rather than\nbe crushed as enemies under his feet (2 Pet. iii. 9): \u201cThe Lord is not\nslack concerning his promise, but is long\u2011suffering to us\u2011ward, not\nwilling that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.\u201d\nHereby he shows, that he would be rather pleased with the conversion,\nthan the destruction, of men.\n\n3. We see the reason why sin is suffered to remain in the regenerate;\nto show his patience towards his own; for since this attribute hath\nno other place of appearance but in this world, God takes opportunity\nto manifest it; because, at the close of the world, it will remain\nclosed up in the Deity, without any further operation. As God suffers a\nmultitude of sins in the world, to evidence his patience to the wicked,\nso he suffers great remainders of sin in his people, to show his\npatience to the godly. His sparing mercy is admirable, before their\nconversion, but more admirable in bearing with them after so high an\nobligation as the conferring upon them special converting grace.\n\n_Use 2._ Of comfort. It is a vast comfort to any when God is\npacified towards them; but it is some comfort to all, that God is yet\npatient towards them, though but very little to a refractory sinner.\nHis continued patience to all, speaks a possibility of the care of all,\nwould they not stand against the way of their recovery. It is a terror\nthat God hath anger, but it is a mitigation of that terror that God\nis slow to it; while his sword is in his sheath there is some hopes to\nprevent the drawing of it: alas! if he were all fire and sword upon sin,\nwhat would become of us? We should find nothing else but overflowing\ndeluges, or sweeping pestilences, or perpetual flashes of Sodom\u2019s fire\nand brimstone from heaven. He dooms us not presently to execution, but\ngives us a long breathing time after the crime, that by retiring from\nour iniquities, and having recourse to his mercy, he may be withheld\nforever from signing a warrant against us, and change his legal\nsentence into an evangelical pardon. It is a special comfort to his\npeople, that he is a \u201csanctuary to them\u201d (Ezek. xi. 16); a place of\nrefuge, a place of spiritual communications; but it is some refreshment\nto all in this life, that he is a defence to them: for so is his\npatience called (Numb. xiv. 9): \u201cTheir defence is departed from them;\u201d\nspeaking to the Israelites, that they should not be afraid of the\nCanaanites, for {b515} their defence is departed from them. God is no\nlonger patient to them, since their sins be full and ripe. Patience,\nas long as it lasts, is a temporary defence to those that are under the\nwing of it; but to the believer it is a singular comfort; and God is\ncalled the \u201cGod of patience and consolation\u201d in one breath (Rom. xv. 5):\n\u201cThe God of patience and consolation grant you to be like\u2011minded;\u201d all\ninterpreters understand it effectively. The God that inspires you with\npatience, and cheers you with comfort, grant this to you. Why may it\nnot be understood formally, of the patience belonging to the nature of\nGod? and though it be expressed in the way of petition, yet it might\nalso be proposed as a pattern for imitation, and so suits very well\nto the exhortation laid down (ver. 1), which was to \u201cbear with the\ninfirmities of the weak,\u201d which he presseth them to (ver. 3) by the\nexample of Christ; and (ver. 5) by the patience of God to them, and so\nthey are very well linked together. \u201cGod of patience and consolation\u201d\nmay well be joined, since patience is the first step of comfort to the\npoor creature. If it did not administer some comfortable hopes to Adam,\nin the interval between his fall and God\u2019s coming to examine him, I am\nsure it was the first discovery of any comfort to the creature, after\nthe sweeping the destroying deluge out of the world (Gen. ix. 21);\nafter the \u201csavor of Noah\u2019s sacrifice,\u201d representing the great Sacrifice\nwhich was to be in the world, had ascended up to God, the return from\nhim is a publication of his forbearing to punish any more in such a\nmanner: and though he found man no better than he was before, and the\nimaginations of men\u2019s hearts as evil as before the deluge, that he\nwould not again smite every living thing, as he had done. This was the\nfirst expression of comfort to Noah, after his exit from the ark; and\ndeclares nothing else but the continuance of patience to the new world\nabove what he had shown to the old.\n\n1. It is a comfort, in that it is an argument of his grace to his\npeople. If he hath so rich a patience to exercise towards his enemies,\nhe hath a greater treasure to bestow upon his friends. Patience is the\nfirst attribute which steps in for our salvation, and therefore called\n\u201csalvation\u201d (2 Pet. iii. 15). Something else is therefore built upon\nit, and intended by it, to those that believe. Those two letters of\nhis name, \u201ca God keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving iniquity,\ntransgressions and sin,\u201d follow the other letter of his long\u2011suffering\nin the proclamation (Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7). He is \u201cslow to anger,\u201d that\nhe may be merciful, that men may seek, and receive their pardon. If\nhe be long\u2011suffering, in order to be a pardoning God, he will not be\nwanting in pardoning those who answer the design of his forbearance\nof them. You would not have had sparing mercy to improve, if God\nwould have denied you saving mercy upon the improvement of his sparing\ngoodness. If he hath so much respect to his enemies that provoke him,\nas to endure them with much long\u2011suffering, he will surely be very\nkind to those that obey him, and conform to his will. If he hath much\nlong\u2011suffering to those that are \u201cfitted for destruction\u201d (Rom. ix.\n22), he will have a muchness of mercy for those that are prepared for\nglory by faith and repentance. {b516} It is but a natural conclusion a\ngracious soul may make,\u2015\u2015If God had not a mind to be appeased towards\nme, he would not have had a mind to forbear me; but since he hath\nforborne me, and given me a heart to see, and answer the true end of\nthat forbearance, I need not question, but that sparing mercy will end\nin saving, since it finds that repentance springing up in me, which\nthat patience conducted me to.\n\n2. His patience is a ground to trust in his promise. If his slowness to\nanger be so great when his precept is slighted, his readiness to give\nwhat he hath promised will be as great when his promise is believed. If\nthe provocations of them meet with such an unwillingness to punish them,\nfaith in him will meet with the choicest embraces from him. He was more\nready to make the promise of redemption after man\u2019s apostasy, than to\nexecute the threatening of the law. He doth still witness a greater\nwillingness to give forth the fruits of the promise, than to pour out\nthe vials of his curses. His slowness to anger is an evidence still,\nthat he hath the same disposition, which is no slight cordial to faith\nin his word.\n\n3. It is a comfort in infirmities. If he were not patient, he could not\nbear with so many peevishnesses and weaknesses in the hearts of his own.\nIf he be patient to the grosser sins of his enemies, he will be no less\nto the lighter infirmities of his people. When the soul is a bruised\nreed, that can emit no sound at all, or one very harsh and ungrateful,\nhe doth not break it in pieces, and fling it away in disdain, but waits\nto see whether it will fully answer his pains, and be brought to a\nbetter frame and sweeter note. He brings them not to account for every\nslip, but, \u201cas a father, spares his son that serves him\u201d (Mal. iii. 17).\nIt is a comfort to us in our distracted services; for were it not for\nthis slowness to anger, he would stifle us in the midst of our prayers,\nwherein there are as many foolish thoughts to disgust him, as there are\npetitions to implore him. The patientest angels would hardly be able to\nbear with the follies of good men in acts of worship.\n\n_Use 3._ For exhortation.\n\n1. Meditate often on the patience of God. The devil labors for\nnothing more than to deface in us the consideration and memory of this\nperfection. He is an envious creature; and since it hath reached out\nitself to us and not to him, he envies God the glory of it, and man the\nadvantage of it: but God loves to have the volumes of it studied, and\ndaily turned over by us. We cannot without an inexcusable wilfulness\nmiss the thoughts of it, since it is visible in every bit of bread, and\nbreath of air in ourselves, and all about us.\n\n(1.) The frequent consideration of his patience would render God\nhighly amiable to us. It is a more endearing argument than his mere\ngoodness; his goodness to us as creatures, endowing us with such\nexcellent faculties, furnishing us with such a commodious world, and\nbestowing upon us so many attendants for our pleasure and service,\nand giving us a lordship over his other works, deserves our affection:\nbut his patience to us as sinners, after we have merited the greatest\nwrath, shows him to be of a sweeter disposition than creating goodness\nto unoffending creatures; and, consequently, speaks a greater {b517}\nlove in him, and bespeaks a greater affection from us. His creating\ngoodness discovered the majesty of his Being, and the greatness of\nhis mind, but this the sweetness and tenderness of his nature. In this\npatience he exceeds the mildness of all creatures to us; and therefore\nshould be enthroned in our affections above all other creatures. The\nconsideration of this would make us affect him for his nature as well\nas for his benefits.\n\n(2.) The consideration of his patience would make us frequent and\nserious in the exercise of repentance. In its nature it leads to it,\nand the consideration of it would engage us to it, and melt us in the\nexercise of it. Could we deeply think of it without being touched with\na sense of the kindness of our forbearing Creditor and Governor? Could\nwe gaze upon it, nay, could we glance upon it, without relenting at\nour offending one of so mild a nature, without being sensibly affected,\nthat he hath preserved us so long from being loaded with those chains\nof darkness, under which the devils groan? This forbearance hath\ngood reason to make sin and sinners ashamed. That you are in being,\nis not for want of advantages enough in his hand against you; many a\nforfeiture you have made, and many an engagement you have broke; he\nhath scarce met with any other dealing from us, than what had treachery\nin it. Whatsoever our sincerity is, we have no reason to boast of it,\nwhen we consider what mixtures there are in it, and what swarms of base\nmotions taint it. Hath he not lain pressed and groaning under our sins,\nas a \u201ccart is pressed with sheaves\u201d (Amos ii. 13), when one shake of\nhimself, as Sampson, might have rid him of the burden, and dismissed us\nin his fury into hell? If we should often ask our consciences why have\nwe done thus and thus against so mild a God, would not the reflection\non it put us to the blush? If men would consider, that such a time they\nprovoked God to his face, and yet not have felt his sword; such a time\nthey blasphemed him, and made a reproach of his name, and his thunder\ndid not stop their motion; such a time they fell into an abominable\nbrutishness, yet he kept the punishment of devils, the unclean spirits,\nfrom reaching them; such a time he bore an open affront from them, when\nthey scoffed at his word, and he did not send a destruction, and laugh\nat it: would not such a meditation work some strange kind of relentings\nin men? What if we should consider, that we cannot do a sinful act\nwithout the support of his concurring Providence? We cannot see, hear,\nmove, without his concourse. All creatures we use for our necessity or\npleasure, are supported by him in the very act of assisting to pleasure\nus; and when we abuse those creatures against him, which he supports\nfor our use, how great is his patience to bear with us, that he doth\nnot annihilate those creatures, or at least embitter their use! What\nissue could reasonably be expected from this consideration, but, \u201cO\nwretched man that I am, to serve myself of God\u2019s power to affront him,\nand of his long\u2011suffering to abuse him?\u201d O infinite patience to employ\nthat power to preserve me, that might have been used to punish me! He\nis my Creator, I could not have a being without him, and yet I offend\nhim! He is my Preserver, I cannot maintain my being without him, and\nyet I affront him! Is this a {b518} worthy requital of God (Deut.\nxxxii. 6), \u201cDo you thus requite the Lord?\u201d would be the heart\u2011breaking\nreflection. How would it give men a fuller prospect of the depravation\nof their nature than anything else; that their corruption should be so\ndeep and strong, that so much patience could not overcome it! It would\ncertainly make a man ashamed of his nature as well as his actions.\n\n(3.) The consideration of his patience would make us resent more the\ninjuries done by others to God. A patient sufferer, though a deserving\nsufferer, attracts the pity of men, that have a value for any virtue,\nthough clouded with a heap of vice. How much more should we have a\nconcern of God, who suffers so many abuses from others! and be grieved,\nthat so admirable a patience should be slighted by men, who solely live\nby and under the daily influence of it! The impression of this would\nmake us take God\u2019s part, as it is usual with men to take the part of\ngood dispositions that lie under oppression.\n\n(4.) It would make us patient under God\u2019s hand. His slowness to anger\nand his forbearance is visible, in the very strokes we feel in this\nlife. We have no reason to murmur against him, who gives us so little\ncause, and in the greatest afflictions gives us more occasion of\nthankfulness than of repining. Did not slowness to the extremest anger\nmoderate every affliction, it had been a scorpion instead of a rod. We\nhave reason to bless Him, who, from his long\u2011suffering, sends temporal\nsufferings, where eternal are justly due. (Ezra ix. 13), \u201cThou hast\npunished us less than our iniquities do deserve.\u201d His indulgences\ntowards us have been more than our corrections, and the length of his\npatience hath exceeded the sharpness of his rod. Upon the account of\nhis long\u2011suffering, our mutinies against God have as little to excuse\nthem, as our sins against him have to deserve his forbearance. The\nconsideration of this would show us more reason to repine at our own\nrepinings, than at any of his smarter dealings; and the consideration\nof this would make us submissive under the judgments we expect. His\nundeserved patience hath been more than our merited judgments can\npossibly be thought to be. If we fear the removal of the gospel for a\nseason, as we have reason to do, we should rather bless him, that by\nhis waiting patience, he hath continued it so long, than murmur, that\nhe threatens to take it away so late. He hath borne with us many a year,\nsince the light of it was rekindled, when our ancestors had but six\nyears\u2019 of patience between the rise of Edward the Sixth, and the ascent\nof Queen Mary, to the crown.\n\n2. Exhortation is to admire and stand astonished at his patience, \u201cand\nbless him for it.\u201d If you should have defiled your neighbor\u2019s bed, or\nsullied his reputation, or rifled his goods, would he have withheld\nhis vengeance, unless he had been too weak to execute it? We have done\nworse to God than we can do to man, and yet he draws not that sword of\nwrath out of the scabbard of his patience, to sheath it in our hearts.\nIt is not so much a wonder that any judgments are sent, as that there\nare no more, and sharper. That the world shall be fired at last, is\nnot a thing so strange, as that fire doth not come down every day upon\nsome part of it. Had the disciples, that saw such excellent patterns of\nmildness from their {b519} Master, and were so often urged to learn of\nhim that was lowly and meek, the government of the world, it had been\nlong since turned into ashes, since they were too forward to desire\nhim to open his magazine of judgments, and kindle a fire to consume\na Samaritan village, for a slight affront in comparison of what he\nreceived from others, and afterwards from themselves in their forsaking\nof him (Luke ix. 52\u201254). We should admire and praise that here which\nshall be praised in heaven; though patience shall cease as to its\nexercise after the consummation of the world, it shall not cease from\nreceiving the acknowledgments of what it did, when it traversed the\nstage of this earth. If the name of God be glorified, and acknowledged\nin heaven, no question but this will also; since long\u2011suffering is one\nof his Divine titles, a letter in his name, as well as \u201cmerciful, and\ngracious, abundant in goodness and truth.\u201d And there is good reason to\nthink that the patience exercised towards some, before converting grace\nwas ordered to seize upon them, will bear a great part in the anthems\nof heaven. The greater his long\u2011suffering hath been to men, that lay\ncovered with their own dung, a long time before they were freed by\ngrace from their filth; the more admiringly and loudly they will cry up\nhis mercy to them, after they have passed the gulf, and see a deserved\nhell at a distance from them, and many in that place of torment who\nnever had the tastes of so much forbearance. If mercy will be praised\nthere, that which began the alphabet of it, cannot be forgot. If Paul\nspeak so highly of it in a damping world, and under the pull\u2011backs\nof a \u201cbody of death,\u201d as he doth 1 Tim. i. 16, 17: \u201cFor this cause I\nobtained mercy; that Christ might show forth all long\u2011suffering. Now\nunto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be\nhonor, and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.\u201d No doubt, but he will have\na higher note for it, when he is surrounded with a heavenly flame, and\nfreed from all remains of dulness. Shall it be praised above, and have\nwe no notes for it here below? Admire Christ, too, who sued out your\nreprieve upon the account of his merit. As mercy acts not upon any\nbut in Christ, so neither had patience borne with any but in Christ.\nThe pronouncing the arrest of judgment (Gen. viii. 21) was when \u201cGod\nsmelled a sweet savor from Noah\u2019s sacrifice,\u201d not from the beasts\noffered, but the anti\u2011typical sacrifice represented. That we may be\nraised to bless God for it, let us consider,\n\n(1.) The multitude of our provocations. Though some have blacker\nguilt than others, and deeper stains, yet let none wipe his mouth,\nbut rather imagine himself to have but little reason to bless it. Are\nnot all our offences as many as there have been minutes in our lives?\nAll the moments of our continuance in the world have been moments of\nhis patience and our ingratitude. Adam was punished for one sin, Moses\nexcluded Canaan for a passionate unbelieving word. Ananias and Sapphira\nlost their lives for one sin against the Holy Ghost. One sin sullied\nthe beauty of the world, defaced the works of God, and cracked heaven\nand earth in pieces, had not infinite satisfaction been proposed to\nthe provoked Justice by the Redeemer; and not one sin committed, but\nis of the same {b520} venomous nature. How many of those contradictions\nagainst himself hath he borne with! Had we been only unprofitable to\nhim, his forbearance of us had been miraculous; but how much doth it\nexceed a miracle, and lift itself above the meanness of a conjunction\nwith such an epithet, since we have been provoking! Had there been\nno more than our impudent or careless rushings into his presence in\nworship; had they been only sins of omission, and sins of ignorance,\nit had been enough to have put a stand to any further operations of\nthis perfection towards us. But add to those, sins of commission,\nsins against knowledge, sins against spiritual motions, sins against\nrepeated resolutions, and pressing admonitions, the neglects of all\nthe opportunities of repentance; put them all together, and we can\nas little recount them, as the sands on the sea\u2011shore. But what, do\nI only speak of particular men? View the whole world, and if our own\niniquities render it an amazing patience, what a mighty supply will be\nmade to it in all the numerous and weighty provocations, under which\nhe hath continued the world for so many revolutions of years and ages!\nHave not all those pressed into his presence with a loud cry, and\ndemanded a sentence from justice? yet hath not the Judge been overcome\nby the importunity of our sins? Were the devils punished for one sin,\na proud thought, and that not committed against the blood of Christ,\nas we have done numberless times; yet hath not God made us partakers in\ntheir punishment, though we have exceeded them in the quality of their\nsin. O admirable patience! that would bear with me under so many, while\nhe would not bear with the sinning angels for one.[1042]\n\n(2.) Consider how mean things we are, who have provoked him. What is\nman but a vile thing, that a God, abounding with all riches, should\ntake care of so abject a thing, much more to bear so many affronts\nfrom such a drop of matter, such a nothing creature! That he that hath\nanger at his command, as well as pity, should endure such a detestable,\ndeformed creature by sin, to fly in his face! \u201cWhat is man, that thou\nart mindful of him?\u201d (Ps. viii.) \u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05e9, miserable, incurable man, derived\nfrom a word, that signifies to be incurably sick. Man is \u201cAdam,\u201d earth\nfrom his earthly original, and \u201cEnoch,\u201d incurable from his corruption.\nIs it not worthy to be admired, that a God of infinite glory should\nwait on such Adams, worms of earth, and be, as it were, a servant, and\nattendant to such Enochs, sickly and peevish creatures?\n\n(3.) Consider who it is that is thus patient. He it is that, with\none breath, could turn heaven and earth, and all the inhabitants of\nboth, into nothing; that could, by one thunderbolt, have razed up the\nfoundations of a cursed world. He that wants not instruments without\nto ruin us, that can arm our own consciences against us, and can drown\nus in our own phlegm; and, by taking out one pin from our bodies,\ncause the whole frame to fall asunder. Besides, it is a God that, while\nhe suffers the sinner, hates the sin more than all the holy men upon\nearth, or angels in heaven, can do; so that his patience for a minute\ntranscends the patience of all creatures, from the creation to the\ndissolution of the world: because it is the patience of a {b521} God,\ninfinitely more sensible to the cursed quality of sin, and infinitely\nmore detesting it.\n\n(4.) Consider how long he hath forborne his anger. A reprieve for a\nweek or a month is accounted a great favor in civil states; the civil\nlaw enacts, \u201cThat if the emperor commanded a man to be condemned, the\nexecution was to be deferred thirty days: because in that time the\nprince\u2019s anger might be appeased.\u201d[1043] But how great a favor is it\nto be reprieved thirty years for many offences, every one of which\ndeserves death more at the hands of God than any offence can at the\nhands of man! Paul was, according to the common account, but about\nthirty years old at his conversion; and how much doth he elevate\nDivine long\u2011suffering! Certainly there are many who have more reason,\nas having larger quantities of patience cut out to them, who have\nlived to see their own gray hairs in a rebellious posture against God,\nbefore grace brought them to a surrender. We were all condemned in\nthe womb; our lives were forfeited the first moment of our breath, but\npatience hath stopped the arrest; the merciful Creditor deserves to\nhave acknowledgment from us, who hath laid by his bond so many years\nwithout putting it in suit against us. Many of your companions in sin\nhave perhaps been surprised long ago, and haled to an eternal prison;\nnothing is remaining of them but their dust, and the time is not yet\ncome for your funeral. Let it be considered, that that God that would\nnot wait upon the fallen angels one instant after their sin, nor give\nthem a moment\u2019s space of repentance, hath prolonged the life of many a\nsinner in the world to innumerable moments, to 420,000 minutes in the\nspace of a year, to 8,400,000 minutes in the space of twenty years. The\ndamned in hell would think it a great kindness to have but a year\u2019s,\nmonth\u2019s, nay, day\u2019s respite, as a space to repent in.\n\n(5.) Consider also, how many have been taken away under shorter\nmeasures of patience: some have been struck into a hell of misery,\nwhile thou remainest upon an earth of forbearance. In a plague, the\ndestroying angel hath hewed down others, and passed by us; the arrows\nhave flew about our heads, passed over us, and stuck in the heart of\na neighbor. How many rich men, how many of our friends and familiars,\nhave been seized by death since the beginning of the year, when they\nleast thought of it, and imagined it far from them! Have you not known\nsome of your acquaintance snatched away in the height of a crime? Was\nnot the same wrath due to you as well as to them! And had it not been\nas dreadful for you to be so surprised by Him as it was for them? Why\nshould he take a less sturdy sinner out of thy company, and let thee\nremain still upon the earth? If God had dealt so with you, how had\nyou been cut off, not only from the enjoyment of this life, but the\nhopes of a better! And if God had made such a providence beneficial for\nreclaiming you, how much reason have you to acknowledge him! He that\nhath had least patience, hath cause to admire; but those that have\nmore, ought to exceed others in blessing him for it. If God had put\nan end to your natural life before you had made provision for eternal,\nhow deplorable would your condition have been! {b522} Consider also,\nwhoever have been sinners formerly of a deeper note; might not God\nhave struck a man in the embraces of his harlots, and choked him in the\nmoment of his excessive and intemperate healths, or on the sudden have\nspurted fire and brimstone into a blasphemer\u2019s mouth? What if God had\nsnatched you away, when you had been sleeping in some great iniquity,\nor sent you while burning in lust to the fire it merited? Might he not\nhave cracked the string that linked your souls to your bodies, in the\nlast sickness you had? And what then had become of you? What could\nhave been expected to succeed your impenitent state in this world, but\nhowlings in another? but he reprieved you upon your petitions, or the\nsolicitations of your friends; and have you not broke your word with\nhim? Have your hearts been steadfast; hath he not yet waited, expecting\nwhen you would put your vows and resolutions into execution? What need\nhad he to cry out to any so loud and so long, O you fools, \u201chow long\nwill you love foolishness?\u201d (Prov. i. 22), when he might have ceased\nhis crying to you, and have by your death prevented your many neglects\nof him? Did he do all this that any of us might add new sins to our old;\nor rather, that we should bless him for his forbearance, comply with\nthe end of it in reforming our lives, and having recourse to his mercy?\n\n3. Exhortion; therefore presume not upon his patience. The exercise of\nit is not eternal; you are at present under his patience; yet, while\nyou are unconverted, you are also under his anger (Ps. vii. 11), \u201cGod\nis angry with the wicked every day.\u201d You know not how soon his anger\nmay turn his patience aside, and step before it. It may be his sword\nis drawn out of his scabbard, his arrows may be settled in his bow; and\nperhaps there is but a little time before you may feel the edge of the\none or the point of the other: and then there will be no more time for\npatience in God to us, or petition from us to him. If we repent here\nhe will pardon us. If we defer repentance, and die without it, he will\nhave no longer mercy to pardon, nor patience to bear. What is there in\nour power but the present? the future time we cannot command, the past\ntime we cannot recall; squander not then the present away. The time\nwill come when \u201ctime shall be no more,\u201d and then long\u2011suffering shall\nbe no more. Will you neglect the time, wherein patience acts, and\nvainly hope for a time beyond the resolves of patience? Will you spend\nthat in vain, which goodness hath allotted you for other purposes? What\nan estimate will you make of a little forbearance to respite death,\nwhen you are gasping under the stroke of its arrows! How much would you\nvalue some few days of those many years you now trifle away! Can any\nthink God will be always at an expense with them in vain, that he will\nhave such riches trampled under their feet, and so many editions of\nhis patience be made waste paper? Do you know how few sands are yet to\nrun in your glass? Are you sure that He that waits to\u2011day, will wait\nas well to\u2011morrow? How can you tell, but that God that is slow to anger\nto\u2011day, may be swift to it the next? Jerusalem had but a day of peace,\nand the most careless sinner hath no more. When their day was done,\nthey were destroyed by famine, pestilence, or sword, or led into a\ndoleful {b523} captivity. Did God make our lives so uncertain, and\nthe duration of his forbearance unknown to us, that we should live\nin a lazy neglect of his glory, and our own happiness? If you should\nhave more patience in regard of your lives, do you know whether you\nshall have the effectual offers of grace? As your lives depend upon his\nwill, so your conversion depends solely upon his grace. There have been\nmany examples of those miserable wretches, that have been left to a\nreprobate sense, after they have a long time abused Divine forbearance.\nThough he waits, yet he \u201cbinds up sin.\u201d (Hos. xiii. 12), \u201cThe sin of\nEphraim is bound up,\u201d as bonds are bound up by a creditor till a fit\nopportunity: when God comes to put the bond in suit, it will be too\nlate to wish for that patience we have so scornfully despised. Consider\ntherefore the end of patience. The patience of God considered in itself,\nwithout that which it tends to, affords very little comfort; it is but\na step to pardoning mercy, and it may be without it, and often is. Many\nhave been reprieved that were never forgiven; hell is full of those\nthat had patience as well as we, but not one that accepted pardoning\ngrace went within the gates of it. Patience leaves men, when their sins\nhave ripened them for hell; but pardoning grace never leaves men till\nit hath conducted them to heaven. His patience speaks him placable,\nbut doth not assure us that he is actually appeased. Men may hope\nthat a long\u2011suffering tends to a pardon, but cannot be assured of\na pardon, but by something else above mere long\u2011suffering. Rest not\nthen upon bare patience, but consider the end of it; it is not that\nany should sin more freely, but repent more meltingly; it is not to\nspirit rebellion, but give a merciful stop to it. Why should any be so\nambitious of their ruin, as to constrain God to ruin them against the\ninclinations of his sweet disposition?\n\n4. The fourth exhortation is, Let us imitate God\u2019s patience in\nour own to others. He is unlike God that is hurried, with an unruly\nimpetus, to punish others for wronging him. The consideration of Divine\npatience should make us square ourselves according to that pattern. God\nhath exercised a long\u2011suffering from the fall of Adam to this minute\non innumerable subjects, and shall we be transported with desire of\nrevenge upon a single injury? If God were not \u201cslow to wrath,\u201d a sinful\nworld had been long ago torn up from the foundation. And if revenge\nshould be exercised by all men against their enemies, what man should\nhave been alive, since there is not a man without an enemy? If every\nman were like Saul, breathing out threatenings, the world would not\nonly be an aceldema, but a desert. How distant are they from the nature\nof God, who are in a flame upon every slight provocation from a sense\nof some feeble and imaginary honor, that must bloody their sword for\na trifle, and write their revenge in wounds and death! When God hath\nhis glory every day bespattered, yet he keeps his sword in his sheath;\nwhat a woe would it be to the world, if he drew it upon every affront!\nThis is to be like brutes, dogs, or tigers, that snarl, bite, and\ndevour, upon every slight occasion: but to be patient is to be divine,\nand to show ourselves acquainted with the disposition of God. \u201cBe you\ntherefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d (Matt. v. 48):\n{b524} _i. e._ Be you perfect and good; for he had been exhorting\nthem to bless them that cursed them, and to do good to them that hated\nthem, and that from the example God had set them, in causing his sun to\nrise upon the evil as well as the good. \u201cBe you therefore perfect.\u201d To\nconclude: as patience is God\u2019s perfection, so it is the accomplishment\nof the soul: and as his \u201cslowness to anger\u201d argues the greatness of his\npower over himself, so an unwillingness to revenge is a sign of a power\nover ourselves which is more noble than to be a monarch over others.\n\n\n\n\n{b525}                          INDEX.\n\n\n                                  A.\n\n  _Acquaintance_ with God.\n    Men are unwilling to have any, i. 158.\n    See _Communion_.\n\n  _Actions._\n    A greater proof of principles than words, i. 92.\n    All are known by God, i. 424.\n\n  _Activity._\n    Required in spiritual worship, i. 227, 228\n\n  _Adam._\n    The greatness of his sin, ii. 269, 429.\n    See _Man_, and _Fall of Man_.\n\n  _Additions._\n    In matters of religion an invasion of God\u2019s sovereignty,\n          ii. 432, 433.\n    See _Worship_, and _Ceremonies_.\n\n  _Admiration._\n    Ought to be exercised in spiritual worship, i. 233.\n\n  _Affections_, human.\n    In what sense ascribed to God, i. 340\u2012343.\n\n  _Afflictions_, sharp.\n    Make Atheists fear there is a God, i. 81.\n    Make us impatient (see _Impatience_).\n    We should be patient under them (see _Patience_).\n    Many call on God only under them, i. 151.\n    Fill us with distraction in the worship of God, i. 258.\n    The presence of God a comfort in them, i. 399;\n      and his knowledge, i. 488.\n    The wisdom of God apparent in them, i. 547\u2012550.\n    The wisdom of God a comfort in them, i. 593;\n      and his power, ii. 98, 99;\n      and his sovereignty, ii. 451.\n    Do not impeach his goodness, ii. 243, 244.\n    The goodness of God seen in them, ii. 309\u2012311.\n    His goodness a comfort in them, ii. 342.\n    Acts of God\u2019s sovereignty, ii. 373\u2012376;\n      the consideration of which would make us entertain them\n            as we ought, ii. 456.\n\n  _Age._\n    Many neglect the serving of God till old, i. 113.\n\n  _Air._\n    How useful a creature, i. 54.\n\n  _Almighty._\n    How often God is so called in Scripture, ii. 10.\n    How often in Job, ii. 36.\n\n  _Angels._\n    Good, what benefit they have by Christ, i. 536, ii. 263, 264.\n    Not instruments in the creation of man, ii. 41.\n    Evil, not redeemed, ii. 263, 264.\n\n  _Angels._\n    Not governors of the world, ii. 328, 329.\n    Subject to God, ii. 381, 382.\n\n  _Apostasy._\n    Men apostatize from God when his will crosses theirs, i. 135.\n    In times of persecution, i. 149, 150.\n    By reason of practical atheism, i. 167.\n\n  _Apostles_, the first preachers of the gospel.\n    Mean and worthless men, ii. 69\u201271.\n    Spirited by Divine power for spreading of it, ii. 72\u201274.\n    The wisdom of God seen in using such instruments, i. 578, 579.\n\n  _Applauding_ ourselves.\n    See _Pride_.\n\n  _Atheism._\n    Opens a door to all manner of wickedness, i. 24.\n    Some spice of it in all men, i. 25\u201227.\n    The greatest folly, i. 24\u201277.\n    Common in our days, i. 26, 79, 80.\n    Strikes at the foundation of all religion, i. 26.\n    We should establish ourselves against it, _ib._\n    It is against the light of natural reason, i. 2.\n    Against the universal consent of all nations, i. 29, 30.\n    But few, if any, professed it in former ages, i. 32\u201234, 80.\n    Would root up the foundations of all government, i. 77.\n    Introduce all evil into the world, i. 78.\n    Pernicious to the atheist himself, i. 79.\n    The cause of public judgments, i. 80.\n    Men\u2019s lusts the cause of it, i. 82.\n    Promoted by the devil most since the destruction of\n          idolatry, i. 84.\n    Uncomfortable, i. 85.\n    Directions against it, i. 87.\n    All sin founded in a secret atheism, i. 93.\n\n  _Atheism_, practical.\n    Natural to man, i. 89.\n    Natural since the fall, i. 90.\n    To all men, _ib._\n    Proved by arguments, i. 99\u2012161.\n    We ought to be humbled for it, both in ourselves and\n          others, i. 167.\n    How great a sin it is, i. 169\u2012171.\n    Misery will attend it, i. 171, 172.\n    We should watch against it, _ib._\n    Directions against it, i. 172, 173.\n\n  _Atheist._\n    Can never prove there is no God, i. 81.\n    All the creatures fight against him, _ib._\n    In afflictions, suspects and fears there is a God, i. 82.\n    How much pains he takes to blot out the notion, _ib._\n    Suppose it were an even lay that there were no God, yet he\n          is very imprudent, i. 83.\n    Uses not means to inform himself, _ib._\n\n  {b526}_Atoms._\n    The world not made by a casual concourse of them, i. 50.\n\n  _Attributes_ of God.\n    Bear a comfortable respect to believers, i. 513.\n\n  _Authority._\n    How distinguished from power, ii. 364.\n\n\n                                  B.\n\n  _Best_ we have.\n    Ought to be given to God, i. 242\u2012244.\n\n  _Blessings._\n    Spiritual, God only the author of, ii. 357.\n    Temporal, God uses a sovereignty in bestowing them,\n          ii. 412, 413.\n    See _Riches_.\n\n  _Body_ of man.\n    How curiously wrought, i. 63\u201267, 523.\n    Every human one hath different features, i. 66.\n    God hath none (see _Spirit_).\n    We must worship God with our bodies, i. 219\u2012222;\n      yet not with our bodies only.\n    See _Soul_, and _Worship_.\n\n  _Bodily_ shape.\n    We must not conceive of God under a, i. 197, 198.\n\n  _Bodily_ members.\n    Ascribed to him (see _Members_.)\n\n  _Brain._\n    How curious a workmanship, i. 65.\n\n\n                                  C.\n\n  _Calf_, golden.\n    The Israelites worshipped the true God under, i. 195.\n\n  _Callings._\n    God fits and inclines men to several, i. 531, 532; i. 598.\n    Appoints every man\u2019s calling, ii. 421.\n\n  _Cause_, a first.\n    Of all things, i. 50, 51;\n      which doth necessarily exist, and is infinitely\n            perfect, i. 51.\n\n  _Censure._\n    God not to be censured in his counsels, actions, or\n          revelations, i. 295.\n    Or in his ways, i. 605, 606.\n\n  _Censuring_ the hearts of others.\n    Is an injury to God\u2019s omniscience, i. 478.\n    Men, is a contempt of God\u2019s sovereignty, ii. 441.\n\n  _Ceremonial Law._\n    Abolished to promote spiritual worship, i. 213.\n    Called flesh, _ib._\n    Not a fit means to bring the heart into a spiritual frame,\n          i. 214.\n    Rather hindered than furthered spiritual worship, i. 215, 216.\n    God never testified himself well\u2011pleased with it, nor intended\n          it should always last, i. 216\u2012218.\n    The abrogation of it doth not argue any change in God, i. 346.\n    The holiness of God appears in it, ii. 131, 132.\n\n  _Ceremonies._\n    Men are prone to bring their own into God\u2019s worship,\n          i. 133, 134.\n    See _Worship_, and _Additions_, &c.\n\n  _Chance._\n    The world not made nor governed by it, i. 59.\n\n  _Charity._\n    Men have bad ends in it, i. 153.\n    We should exercise it, ii. 353, 354.\n    The consideration of God\u2019s sovereignty would promote it,\n          ii. 456.\n\n  _Cheerful_, in God\u2019s worship.\n    We should be, i. 235.\n\n  _Christ._\n    His Godhead proved from his eternity, i. 291\u2012293.\n    From his omnipresence, i. 392, 393.\n    From his immutability, i. 346\u2012348.\n    From his knowledge of God, all creatures, the hearts of men,\n          and his prescience of their inclinations, i. 465\u2012469.\n    From his omnipotence, manifest in creation, preservation and\n          resurrection, ii. 80\u201286.\n    From his holiness, ii. 190.\n    From his wisdom, i. 558.\n\n  _Christ._\n    Is God man, ii. 62.\n    Spiritual worship offered to God through him, i. 241, 242.\n    The imperfectness of our services should make us prize his\n          mediation, i. 261.\n    The only fit Person in the Trinity to assume our nature,\n          i. 558\u2012560.\n    Fitted to be our Mediator and Saviour by his two natures,\n          i. 563\u2012565.\n    Should be imitated in his holiness, and often viewed by us\n          to that end, ii. 200\u2012207.\n    The greatest gift, ii. 266\u2012269.\n    Appointed by the Father to be our Redeemer, ii. 424\u2012426.\n\n  _Christian_ religion.\n    Its excellency, i. 167.\n    Of Divine extraction, i. 580.\n    Most opposed in the world, i. 111.\n    See _Gospel_.\n\n  _Church._\n    God\u2019s eternity a comfort to her in all her distresses and\n          threatenings of her enemies, i. 299, 300.\n    Under God\u2019s special providence, i. 406.\n    His infinite knowledge a comfort in all subtile contrivances\n          of men against her, i. 483, 484.\n    Troublers of her peace by corrupt doctrines no better than\n          devils, i. 498.\n    God\u2019s wisdom a comfort to her in her greatest dangers, i. 594.\n    Hath shown his power in her deliverance in all ages, i. 277,\n          ii. 55;\n      and in the destruction of her enemies, ii. 56\u201259.\n    Ought to take comfort in his power in her lowest estate,\n          ii. 101.\n    Should not fear her enemies (see _Fear_).\n    His goodness a comfort in dangers, ii. 344.\n    How great is God\u2019s love to her, ii. 449\u2012515.\n    His sovereignty a comfort to her, ii. 452, 453.\n    He will comfort her in her fears, and destroy her enemies,\n          ii. 472, 473.\n    God exercises patience towards her, ii. 504, 505;\n      for her sake to the wicked also, ii. 506.\n    Why her enemies are not immediately destroyed, ii. 513.\n\n  _Commands_ of God.\n    See _Laws_.\n\n  _Comfort._\n    The holiness of God to be relied on for, ii. 190, 191.\n\n  _Comfort_ us.\n    Creatures cannot, if God be angry, ii. 448.\n\n  _Comforts._\n    God gives great, in or after temptations, ii. 311\u2012313.\n\n  _Communion_ with God.\n    Man naturally no desire of, i. 161.\n    The advantage of, i. 172.\n    Can only be in our spirits, i. 202.\n    We should desire it, i. 308.\n    Cannot be between God and sinners, ii. 183.\n    Holiness only fits us for it, ii. 204, 205.\n\n  _Conceptions._\n    We cannot have adequate ones of God, i. 196, 197.\n    We ought to labor after as high ones as we can, _ib._\n    They must {b527} not be of him in a corporeal shape,\n          i. 197, 198.\n    There will be in them a similitude of some corporeal thing\n          in our fancy, i. 198, 199.\n    We ought to refine and spiritualize them, i. 200.\n\n  _Conceptions_, right.\n    Of him, a great help to spiritual worship, i. 272, 273.\n\n  _Concurrence_ of God.\n    To all the actions of his creatures, ii. 156, 157.\n\n  _Concurring_ to sinful actions.\n    No blemish to God\u2019s holiness, ii. 157\u2012163.\n\n  _Conditions_, various.\n    Of men, a fruit of Divine wisdom, i. 531, 532.\n\n  _Conditions_ of the covenant.\n    See _Covenant_, _Faith_, and _Repentance_.\n\n  _Confession_ of sin.\n    Men may have bad ends in it, i. 153.\n    Partial ones a practical denial of God\u2019s omniscience,\n          i. 480, 481.\n\n  _Conscience._\n    Proves a Deity, i. 69\u201273.\n    Fears and stings of it in all men upon the commission\n          of sin, i. 70\u201272;\n      though never so secret, i. 71, 72.\n    Cannot be totally shaken off, i. 72.\n    Comforts a man in well\u2011doing, i. 72, 73.\n    Necessary for the good of the world, i. 73.\n    Terrified ones wish there were no God, i. 97.\n    Men naturally displeased with it, when it contradicts the\n          desires of self, i. 123.\n    Obey carnal self against the light of it, i. 140, 141.\n    Accusations of it evidence God\u2019s knowledge of all things,\n          i. 463.\n    God, and he only, can speak peace to it when troubled,\n          ii. 79, 386.\n    His laws only reach it, ii. 390, 391, 432, 433.\n\n  _Constancy_ in that which is good.\n    We should labor after, and why, i. 360, 361.\n\n  _Content_ the soul.\n    Nothing but an infinite good can, i. 73, 74.\n    See _Satisfaction_, and _Soul_.\n\n  _Contingents_ all foreknown by God.\n    See _Knowledge of God_.\n\n  _Contradictions._\n    Cannot be made true by God, ii. 26\u201230;\n      yet this doth not overthrow God\u2019s omnipotence, _ib._\n    It is an abuse of God\u2019s power to endeavor to justify them\n          by it, ii. 95.\n\n  _Contrary._\n    Qualities linked together in the creatures, i. 52, 53, 524.\n\n  _Conversion._\n    Carnal self\u2011love a great hindrance to it, i. 137.\n    There may be a conversion from sin which is not good, i. 150.\n    Men are enemies to it, i. 160, 161.\n    The necessity of it, i. 163, 164.\n    God only can be the Author of it, i. 165, 166, ii. 396.\n    The wisdom of God appears in it, in the subjects, seasons,\n          and manner of it, i. 544\u2012547;\n      and his power, ii. 72\u201278;\n      and his holiness, ii. 139;\n      and his goodness, ii. 306, 307;\n      and his sovereignty, ii. 396\u2012404.\n    He could convert all, ii. 399.\n    Not bound to convert any, ii. 401, 402.\n    The various means and occasions of it, ii. 421.\n\n  _Convictions_, genuine.\n    Would be promoted by right and strong apprehensions of\n          God\u2019s holiness, ii. 191.\n\n  _Corruptions._\n    The knowledge of God a comfort under fears of them lurking\n          in the heart, i. 489, 490.\n    The power of God a comfort when they are strong and stirring,\n          ii. 99.\n    In God\u2019s people shall be subdued, ii. 450, 451;\n      the remainders of them God orders for their good, i. 538, 544.\n\n  _Covenant_ of God.\n    With his people eternal, i. 297, 298;\n      and unchangeable, i. 354.\n\n  _Covenant_, God in.\n    An eternal good to his people, i. 297.\n\n  _Covenant_ of grace.\n    Conditions of, evidence the wisdom of God, i. 571.\n    Suited to man\u2019s lapsed state, and God\u2019s glory, _ib._\n    Opposite to that which was the cause of the fall, i. 572.\n    Suited to the common sentiments and customs of the world\n          and consciences of men, i. 572, 573.\n    Only likely to attain the end, i. 573.\n      Evidence God\u2019s holiness, ii. 138.\n    The wisdom of God made over to believers in it, i. 593, 594;\n      and power, ii. 98;\n      and holiness, ii. 190, 191.\n    A promise of life implied in the covenant of works,\n          ii. 253, 254;\n      why not expressed, ii. 527.\n    The goodness of God manifest in making a covenant of grace\n          after man had broken the first, ii. 274, 275.\n    In the nature and tenor of it, ii. 275\u2012277.\n    In the choice gift of himself made over in it, ii. 277, 278.\n    In its confirmation, ii. 278, 279.\n    Its conditions easy, reasonable, necessary, ii. 279\u2012284.\n    It promises a more excellent reward than the life in paradise,\n          ii. 291\u2012293.\n\n  _Covetousness._\n    See _Riches_, and _World_.\n\n  _Creation._\n    The wisdom of God appears in it, i. 518\u2012525;\n      and should be meditated upon, i. 525;\n      motives to it, ii. 5\u20129;\n      his power, ii. 35\u201244;\n      his holiness, ii. 126, 127;\n      his goodness, ii. 244\u2012258.\n    Goodness the end and motive of it, ii. 228, 229.\n    Ascribed to Christ, ii. 81\u201285.\n    The foundation of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 368\u2012370.\n\n  _Creatures._\n    Evidence the being of God, i. 28, 42\u201264;\n      in their production, i. 43\u201251;\n      in their harmony, i. 52\u201260;\n      in pursuing their several ends, i. 60\u201262;\n      in their preservation, i. 62, 63.\n    Were not, and cannot be, from eternity, i. 45, 46, 292.\n    None of them can make themselves, i. 47\u201249;\n      or the world, i. 49, 50.\n    Subservient to one another, i. 53, 378.\n    Regular, uniform, and constant in it, i. 56, 57.\n    Are various, i. 58, 519, 520.\n    Have several natures, i. 60.\n    All fight against the atheist, i. 82.\n    God ought to be studied in them, i. 86.\n    All manifest something of God\u2019s perfections, _ib._\n    Setting them up as our end (see _End_).\n    Must not be worshipped (see _Idolatry_).\n    Used by man to a contrary end than God appointed, i. 148.\n    All are changeable, i. 355.\n    Therefore an immutable God to be preferred {b528} before\n          them, i. 358.\n    Are nothing to God, i. 395.\n    Are all known by God, i. 422, 423.\n    Shall be restored to their primitive end, i. 313, ii. 293.\n    Their beautiful order and situation, i. 520, 521.\n    Are fitted for their several ends, i. 522\u2012524.\n    None of them can be omnipresent, i. 378;\n      or omnipotent, ii. 18;\n      or infinitely perfect, ii. 24.\n    God could have made more than he hath, ii. 21, 22.\n    Made them all more perfect than they are, ii. 23, 24.\n    Yet all are made in the best manner, ii. 24, 25.\n    The power that is in them demonstrates a greater to be\n          in God, ii. 31.\n    Ordered by God as he pleases, ii. 57.\n    The meanest of them can destroy us by God\u2019s order,\n          ii. 107, 448.\n    Making different ranks of them, doth not impeach God\u2019s\n          goodness, ii. 232\u2012235.\n    Cursed for the sin of man, ii. 250, 293.\n    What benefit they have by the redemption of man, ii. 293, 294.\n    Cannot comfort us if God be angry, ii. 448.\n    All subject to God, ii. 381\u2012387.\n    All obey God, ii. 465, 466.\n\n  _Curiosity_ in inquiries about God\u2019s counsels and actions.\n    A great folly, i. 295.\n    It is an injuring God\u2019s knowledge, i. 475\u2012477.\n    It is a contempt of Divine wisdom, i. 590.\n    Should not be employed about what God hath not revealed,\n          i. 603, 604.\n    The consideration of God\u2019s sovereignty would check it, ii. 457.\n\n\n                                  D.\n\n  _Day._\n    How necessary, i. 523.\n\n  _Death_ of Christ.\n    Its value is from his Divine Nature, i. 564.\n    Vindicated the honor of the law, both as to precept and\n          penalty, i. 566.\n    Overturned the Devil\u2019s empire, i. 568.\n    He suffered to rescue us by it, ii. 268.\n    By the command of the Father, ii. 425, 426.\n\n  _Debauched_ persons.\n    Wish there were no God, i. 97.\n\n  _Decrees_ of God.\n    No succession in them, i. 285.\n    Unchangeable, i. 582, 583, ii. 451, 452.\n    See _Immutability_.\n\n  _Defilement._\n    God not capable of it from any corporeal thing, i. 201,\n          390, 392.\n\n  _Delight._\n    Holy duties should be performed with, i. 234\u2012236.\n    All delight in worship doth not prove it to be spiritual,\n          i. 235.\n    We should examine ourselves after worship, what delight we\n          had in it, i. 252.\n\n  _Deliverances._\n    Chiefly to be ascribed to God, i. 406.\n    The wisdom of God seen in them, i. 550\u2012552.\n\n  _Desires_, of man.\n    Naturally after an infinite good, i. 73, 74;\n      which evidences the being of a God, i. 74.\n    Men naturally have no desire of remembrance of God, converse\n          with him, thorough return to him, or imitation of him,\n          i. 159\u2012161.\n\n  _Devil._\n    Man naturally under his dominion, i. 118, 119.\n    God\u2019s restraining him, how great a mercy (see _Restraint_).\n    Shall be totally subdued by God, i. 498.\n    Outwitted by God, i. 568.\n    His first sin, what it was, ii. 427\u2012429.\n    See _Angel_.\n\n  _Direction._\n    Men neglect to ask it of God (see _Trusting in ourselves_).\n    Should seek it of him, i. 585.\n    Not to do it, how sinful, i. 589, 590.\n    Should not presume to give it to him, i. 591.\n\n  _Disappointments._\n    Make many cast off their obedience to God, i. 115, 116.\n    God disappoints the devices of men, ii. 418\u2012420.\n\n  _Dispensations._\n    Of God with his own law, ii. 391\u2012393.\n\n  _Distance_ from God.\n    Naturally affected by men, i. 158, 159.\n    How great it is, ii. 180.\n\n  _Distractions_ in the service of God.\n    How natural, i. 114, 256.\n    Will be so while we have natural corruption within,\n          i. 256, 257;\n      while we are in the Devil\u2019s precinct, i. 257.\n    Most frequent in time of affliction, i. 258.\n    May be improved to make us more spiritual, i. 258\u2012261;\n      when we are humbled for them in worship, i. 258, 259;\n      and for the baseness of our natures, the cause of them,\n            i. 259.\n    Make us prize duties of worship the more, _ib._\n    Fill us with admirations of the graciousness of God, i. 260.\n    Prize the meditation of Christ, i. 261.\n    They should not discourage us, if we resist them, _ib._;\n      and if we narrowly watch against them, i. 262.\n    Should be speedily cast out, i. 274.\n    Thoughts of God\u2019s presence a remedy against them, i. 404.\n\n  _Distresses._\n    See _Afflictions_.\n\n  _Distrust_ of God.\n    A contempt of God\u2019s wisdom, i. 593;\n      and his power, ii. 93;\n      and of his goodness, ii. 319, 320.\n    Too great fear of man arises from it, ii. 94.\n    See _Trusting in God_, and _in ourselves_.\n\n  _Divinity._\n    Of Christ (see _Christ_).\n    Of the Holy Ghost (see _Holy Ghost_).\n\n  _Doctrines._\n    That are self\u2011pleasing desired by men, i. 139.\n    See _Truths_.\n\n  _Dominion_ of God.\n    Distinguished from his power, ii. 364.\n    All his other attributes fit him for it, ii. 364, 365.\n    Acknowledged by all, _ib._\n    Inseparable from the notion of God, ii. 365, 366.\n    We cannot suppose God a creator without it, ii. 366.\n    Cannot be renounced by God himself, _ib._;\n      nor communicated to any creature, ii. 366, 367.\n    Its foundation, ii. 367\u2012372.\n    It is independent, ii. 372, 373;\n      absolute, ii. 373\u2012377;\n      yet not tyrannical, ii. 377, 378;\n      managed with wisdom, righteousness, and goodness,\n            ii. 378\u2012380.\n    It is eternal, ii. 386, 387.\n    It is manifested as he is a lawgiver, ii. 387\u2012394;\n      as a proprietor, ii. 394\u2012413;\n      as a governor, ii. 413\u2012422;\n      as a redeemer, ii. 422\u2012426.\n    The contempt of it, how great, ii. 426, 427.\n    {b529} All sin is a contempt of it, ii. 427, 428.\n    The first thing the devil aimed against, ii. 428, 429;\n      and Adam, ii. 429.\n    Invaded by the usurpations of men, ii. 430, 431.\n    Wherein it is contemned as he is a lawgiver, ii. 431\u2012435;\n      as a proprietor, ii. 435, 436;\n      as a governor, ii. 436\u2012441.\n    It is terrible to the wicked, ii. 446\u2012448.\n    Comfortable to the righteous, ii. 449\u2012453.\n    Should be often meditated upon by us, ii. 453, 454.\n    The advantages of so doing, ii. 454\u2012457.\n    It should teach us humility, ii. 458.\n    Calls for our praise and thanks, ii. 459, 460.\n    Should make us promote his honor, ii. 461, 462.\n    Calls for fear, prayer, and obedience, ii. 462, 463.\n    Affords motives to obedience, ii. 463\u2012466;\n      and shows the manner of it, ii. 466\u2012469.\n    Calls for patience, ii. 469.\n    Affords motives to it, ii. 469\u2012471.\n    Shows us the true nature of it, ii. 471.\n\n  _Duties_ of religion.\n    Performed often merely for self\u2011interest, i. 150\u2012154.\n    Men unwieldy to them, i. 151.\n    Perform them only in affliction, i. 151, 152.\n    See _Service of God_, and _Worship_.\n\n  _Dwelling_ in heaven, and in the ark.\n    How to be understood of God, i. 385, 386.\n\n\n                                  E.\n\n  _Ear_ of man.\n    How curious an organ, i. 65.\n\n  _Earth._\n    How useful, i. 54, 55.\n    The wisdom of God seen in it, i. 522.\n\n  _Earthly_ things.\n    See _World_.\n\n  _Ejaculations._\n    How useful, i. 272.\n\n  _Elect._\n    God knows all their persons, i. 485, 486.\n\n  _Election._\n    Evidenced by holiness, ii. 205.\n    The sovereignty of God appears in it, ii. 394\u2012396.\n    Not grounded on merit in the creature, ii. 396.\n    Nor on foresight of faith and good works, ii. 396\u2012399.\n\n  _Elements._\n    Though contrary, yet linked together, i. 52, 53.\n\n  _End._\n    All creatures conspire to one common end, i. 53\u201260;\n      pursue their several ends, though they know them not,\n            i. 60\u201262.\n    Men have corrupt ends in religious duties, i. 132, 150\u2012154;\n      for evil ends, i. 105, 106;\n      desire the knowledge of God\u2019s law, for by ends, i. 104.\n    Man naturally would make himself his own end, i. 135\u2012141;\n      how sinful this is, i. 141, 142;\n      would make anything his end rather than God, i. 142\u2012144;\n      a creature, or a lust, i. 144\u2012146;\n      how sinful this is, _ib._;\n      would make himself the end of all creatures, i. 147, 149;\n      how sinful this is, i. 149;\n      would make himself the end of God, i. 148\u2012154;\n      how sinful this is, i. 154, 155;\n      cannot make God his end, till converted, i. 163, 164.\n    Spiritual ones required in spiritual worship, i. 239\u2012241;\n      many have other ends in it, _ib._\n    God orders the hearts of all men to his own, ii. 54.\n    God hath one, and man another in sin, i. 161, 162.\n    We should make God our end, ii. 206.\n    God makes himself his own end, how to be understood,\n          ii. 228\u2012230.\n    His being the end of all things is one foundation of his\n          dominion, ii. 370, 371.\n    Not using God\u2019s gifts for the end for which he gave them,\n          how great a sin, ii. 435, 436.\n\n  _Enemies._\n    Of the church (see _Church_).\n    We should be kind to our worst enemies, ii. 354, 355.\n\n  _Enjoyment_ of God.\n    In heaven always fresh and glorious, i. 298, 299.\n    We should endeavor after it here, ii. 344\u2012346.\n\n  _Envy._\n    Men envy the gifts and prosperities of others, i. 131, 132.\n    An imitation of the devil, _ib._\n    A sense of God\u2019s goodness would check it, ii. 351.\n    A contempt of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 435.\n\n  _Essence_ of God.\n    Cannot be seen, i. 184, 185.\n    Is unchangeable, i. 319.\n\n  _Eternity._\n    A property of God and Christ, i. 278, 279, 293, 294.\n    What it is, i. 280.\n    In what respects God is eternal, i. 280\u2012286.\n    That he is so, proved, i. 286\u2012291.\n    God\u2019s incommunicable property, i. 44\u201246, 291\u2012293.\n    Dreadful to sinners, i. 295, 296.\n    Comfortable to the righteous, i. 297\u2012301.\n    The thoughts of it should abate our pride, i. 302\u2012304;\n      take off our love and confidence from the world, i. 304\u2012306.\n    We should provide for a happy interest in it, i. 306;\n      often meditate on it, i. 307, 308.\n    Renders him worthy of our choicest affections, i. 308;\n      and our best service, i. 308, 309.\n\n  _Exaltation_ of Christ.\n    The holiness of God appears in it, ii. 136, 137.\n    His goodness to us as well as to Christ, ii. 268, 269;\n      and his sovereignty, ii. 426.\n\n  _Examination_ of ourselves.\n    Before and after worship, and wherein our duty,\n          i. 252\u2012256, 275.\n\n  _Experience_ of God\u2019s goodness.\n    A preservative against atheism, i. 86, 87.\n\n  _Extremity._\n    Then God usually delivers his church, ii. 101.\n\n\n                                  F.\n\n  _Faith._\n    The same thing may be the object of it, and of reason\n          too, i. 27\u201229.\n    Must be exercised in spiritual worship, i. 230, 231.\n    The wisdom, holiness, and goodness of God in prescribing it\n          as a condition of the covenant of grace (see _Covenant_).\n    Must look back as far as the foundation promise, i. 499.\n    Only the obedience flowing from it acceptable to God,\n          i. 504, 505.\n    Distinct, but inseparable from obedience, i. 505, 506.\n    Foresight of it not the ground of election, ii. 396\u2012399.\n\n  _Fall_ of man.\n    God no way the author of it, {b530} ii. 123\u2012125, 142, 143.\n    How great it is, ii. 480, 481.\n    Doth not impeach God\u2019s goodness, ii. 231, 232.\n    It is evident, ii. 325, 326;\n      brought a curse on the creatures (see _Creatures_).\n\n  _Falls_ of God\u2019s children.\n    Turned to their good, i. 537\u2012547.\n\n  _Fear._\n    Not the cause of the belief of a God, i. 41.\n    Men that are under a slavish fear of him wish there were\n          no God, i. 98, 99.\n    Of man, a contempt of God\u2019s power, ii. 93, 94.\n    Should be of God, and not of the pride or force of man,\n          ii. 106, 107.\n    God\u2019s sovereignty should cause it, ii. 462.\n\n  _Features._\n    Different in every man, and how necessary it should be\n          so, i. 66, 67, 520.\n\n  _Fervency._\n    See _Activity_.\n\n  _Flesh._\n    The legal services so called, i. 213, 214.\n\n  _Fools._\n    Wicked men are so, i. 23, 586, 587.\n\n  _Folly._\n    Sin is so (see _Sin_).\n\n  _Forgetfulness_ of God.\n    Men naturally are prone to it, i. 159, 160.\n    Of his mercies a great sin (see _Mercies_).\n    How attributed to God, i. 421.\n\n  _Foreknowledge_ in God of sin.\n    No blemish to his holiness, ii. 145, 146.\n    See _Knowledge of God_.\n\n  _Future_ things.\n    Men desirous to know them, i. 476, 477.\n    Known by God, (see _Knowledge of God_).\n\n\n                                  G.\n\n  _Gabriel._\n    On what messages he was sent, ii. 75.\n\n  _Generation._\n    Could not be from eternity, i. 44\u201246.\n\n  _Gifts._\n    God can bestow them on men, ii. 384, 385.\n    His sovereignty seen in giving greater measures to one\n          than another, ii. 408\u2012410.\n\n  _Glory_ of all they do or have.\n    Men are apt to ascribe to themselves, i. 139.\n    Of God little minded in many seemingly good actions,\n          i. 124\u2012127.\n    Men are more concerned for their own reputation than God\u2019s\n          glory, i. 140.\n    Should be aimed at in spiritual worship, i. 239\u2012241.\n    God\u2019s permission of sin is in order to it, ii. 154\u2012156.\n    Should be advanced by us, ii. 461, 462.\n\n  _God._\n    His existence known by the light of nature, i. 86;\n      by the creatures, i. 28, 29, 42\u201264.\n    Miracles not wrought to prove it, i. 29.\n    Owned by the universal consent of all nations, i. 30, 31.\n    Never disputed of old, i. 31, 32.\n    Denied by very few, if any, i. 32, 33.\n    Constantly owned in all changes of the world, i. 34;\n      under anxieties of conscience, _ib._\n    The devil not able to root out the belief of it, i. 35.\n    Natural and innate, i. 35, 36.\n    Not introduced merely by tradition, i. 37, 38;\n      nor policy, i. 38, 39;\n      nor fear, i. 41.\n    Witnessed to by the very nature of man, i. 63\u201275;\n      and by extraordinary occurrences, i. 76, 77;\n      impossible to demonstrate there is none, i. 81.\n    Motives to endeavor to be settled in the belief of it,\n          i. 84, 85.\n    Directions, i. 86, 87.\n    Men wish there were none, and who they are, i. 96\u201299.\n    Two ways of describing him, negation and affirmation,\n          i. 181, 182.\n    Is active and communicative, i. 201.\n    Propriety in him a great blessedness (see _Covenant_).\n    Infinitely happy, ii. 86, 87.\n\n  _Good._\n    That which is materially so may be done, and not formally,\n          i. 120, 124\u2012126.\n    Actions cannot be performed before conversion, i. 163, 164.\n    The thoughts of God\u2019s presence a spur to them, i. 404, 405.\n    God only is so, ii. 210, 211.\n\n  _Goodness._\n    Pure and perfect, the royal prerogative of God only, ii. 214.\n    Owned by all nations, ii. 215, 219.\n    Inseparable from the notion of God, ii. 216, 217.\n    What is meant by it, ii. 217.\n    How distinguished from mercy, ii. 218, 219.\n    Comprehends all his attributes, ii. 219, 220.\n    Is so by his essence, ii. 221, 222.\n    The chief, _ib._\n    It is communicative, ii. 223, 224;\n      necessary to him, ii. 224\u2012226;\n      voluntary, ii. 226, 227;\n      communicative with the greatest pleasure, ii. 227, 228;\n      the displaying of it, the motive and end of all his works,\n            ii. 228\u2012230.\n    Arguments to prove it a property of God, ii. 230, 231;\n      vindicated from the objections made against it, ii. 231\u2012244;\n      appears in creation, ii. 244\u2012258;\n      in redemption, ii. 258\u2012294;\n      in his government, ii. 295\u2012313;\n      frequently contemned and abused, ii. 313, 314;\n      the abuse and contempt of it, base and disingenuous,\n            ii. 314, 315;\n      highly resented by God, ii. 315, 316.\n    How it is contemned and abused, ii. 316\u2012325.\n    Men justly punished for it, ii. 326, 327.\n    Fits God for the government of the world, and engages him\n          actually to govern it, ii. 327, 328.\n    The ground of all religion, ii. 329, 330.\n    Renders God amiable to himself, ii. 331.\n    Should do so to us, and why, ii. 332\u2012335.\n    Renders him a fit object of trust, with motives to it,\n          drawn hence, ii. 335\u2012338;\n      and worthy to be obeyed and honored, ii. 338\u2012341.\n    Comfortable to the righteous, and wherein, ii. 341\u2012344.\n    Should engage us to endeavor after the enjoyment of him,\n          with motives, ii. 344\u2012347.\n    Should be often meditated on, and the advantages of so\n          doing, ii. 347\u2012351.\n    We should be thankful for it, ii. 351\u2012353;\n      and imitate it, and wherein, ii. 353\u2012355.\n\n  _Gospel._\n    Men greater enemies to, than to the law, i. 165.\n    Its excellency, i. 167, 501, 502.\n    Called spirit, i. 213.\n    The only means of establishment, i. 501.\n    Of an eternal resolution, though of a temporary revelation,\n          i. 502.\n    Mysterious, _ib._\n    The first preachers of it (see _Apostles_).\n    {b531} Its antiquity, i. 503, 504.\n    The goodness of God in spreading it among the Gentiles,\n          i. 504.\n    Gives no encouragement to licentiousness, _ib._\n    The wisdom of God in its propagation, i. 574\u2012580;\n      and power, ii. 65\u201273.\n    See _Christian Religion_.\n\n  _Government_ of the World.\n    God could not manage it without immutability, i. 394;\n      and knowledge, i. 464, 465;\n      and wisdom, i. 575, 576.\n    The wisdom of God appears in his government of man,\n          as rational, i. 525\u2012532;\n      as sinful, i. 532\u2012544;\n      as restored, i. 544\u2012547.\n    The power of God appears in natural government, ii. 44\u201252;\n      moral, ii. 52\u201254;\n      gracious and judicial, ii. 55\u201258.\n    The goodness of God in it, ii. 295\u2012313.\n    God only fit for it, i. 580, 581, 544; ii. 186, 327;\n      doth actually manage it, i. 580, 581; ii. 328, 329.\n    Is contemned, ii. 436\u2012441.\n    See _Laws_.\n\n  _Governor._\n    God\u2019s dominion as such, ii. 413\u2012422.\n\n  _Grace._\n    The power of God in planting it, ii. 74\u201278 (see _Conversion_);\n      and preserving it, ii. 79, 80 (see _Perseverance_).\n    God\u2019s withdrawing it no blemish to his holiness, i. 166\u2012170.\n    Shall be perfected in the upright, ii. 190, 191.\n    God exercises a sovereignty in bestowing and denying it,\n          ii. 400\u2012404.\n    Means of grace (see _Means_).\n\n  _Graces._\n    Must be acted in worship, ii. 229\u2012234.\n    We should examine how we acted them after it, i. 253, 254.\n\n  _Growth_ in grace.\n    Annexed to true sanctification, ii. 358.\n    Should be labored after, ii. 206, 207.\n\n\n                                  H.\n\n  _Habits._\n    Spiritual, to be acted in spiritual worship, i. 229, 230.\n    The rooting up evil ones shows the power of God, ii. 76, 77.\n\n  _Hand._\n    Christ\u2019s sitting at God\u2019s right hand doth not prove the\n          ubiquity of his human nature, ii. 378.\n\n  _Hardness._\n    How God, and how man, is the cause of it, ii. 166\u2012168.\n\n  _Harmony_ of the creatures.\n    Show the being and wisdom of God, i. 52\u201260.\n\n  _Heart_ of man.\n    How curiously contrived, i. 65.\n    We should examine ourselves, how our hearts are prepared\n          for worship, i. 252, 253;\n      how they are fixed in it, and how they are after it,\n            i. 253\u2012256.\n    God orders all men\u2019s to his own ends, ii. 54.\n\n  _Heaven._\n    The enjoyment of God there will be always fresh and\n          glorious, i. 298, 299.\n    Why called God\u2019s throne, i. 385, 386.\n\n  _Heavenly_ bodies.\n    Subservient to the good of the world, i. 53, 54.\n\n  _Hosea._\n    When he prophesied, ii. 490.\n\n  _Holiness._\n    A necessary ingredient in spiritual worship, i. 238, 239.\n    A glorious perfection of God, ii. 110, 111.\n    Owned to be so both by heathens and heretics, ii. 111.\n    God cannot be conceived without it, ii. 111, 112.\n    It hath an excellency above all his other perfections,\n          ii. 112.\n    Most loftily and frequently sounded forth by the\n          angels, _ib._\n    He swears by it, _ib._\n    It is his glory and life, ii. 112, 113.\n    The glory of all the rest, ii. 113, 114.\n    What it is, and how distinguished from righteousness,\n          ii. 114, 115.\n    His essential and necessary perfection, ii. 115, 116.\n    God only absolutely holy, ii. 116\u2012118.\n    Causes him to abhor all sin necessarily, intensely,\n          universally, and perpetually, ii. 118\u2012122.\n    Inclines him to love it in others, ii. 121, 190, 191.\n    So great that he cannot positively will and encourage sin\n          in others, or do it himself, ii. 122\u2012126.\n    Appears in his creation, ii. 126, 127;\n      in his government, ii. 127\u2012135;\n      in redemption, ii. 135\u2012138;\n      in justification, ii. 138;\n      in regeneration, ii. 139.\n    Defended in all his acts about sin, ii. 139\u2012171.\n    How much it is contemned in the world, and wherein,\n          ii. 171\u2012180.\n    To hate and scoff at it in others, how great a sin, ii. 176.\n    Necessarily obliges him to punish sin, ii. 181\u2012183;\n      and exact satisfaction for it, ii. 183, 184.\n    Fits him for the government of the world, ii. 186, 187.\n    Comfortable to holy men, ii. 190, 191.\n    Shall be perfected in the upright, _ib._\n    We should get, and preserve right and strong apprehensions\n          of it, and the advantage of so doing, ii. 191\u2012196.\n    We should glorify God for it, and how, ii. 196\u2012199;\n      and labor after a conformity to it, and wherein,\n            ii. 199\u2012201;\n      motives to do so, ii. 203\u2012205;\n      and directions, ii. 205\u2012207.\n    We should labor to grow in it, ii. 206, 207.\n    Exert it in our approaches to God, ii. 207.\n    Seek it at his hands, ii. 207, 208.\n\n  _Holy Ghost._\n    His Deity proved, ii. 86.\n\n  _Humility._\n    A necessary ingredient in spiritual worship, i. 237, 238.\n    We should examine ourselves about it after worship, i. 256.\n    A consideration of God\u2019s eternity would promote it, i. 302;\n      and of his knowledge, i. 496, 497;\n      and of his wisdom, i. 597;\n      and of his power, ii. 106;\n      and of his holiness, ii. 192, 193;\n      and of his goodness, ii. 323;\n      and his sovereignty, ii. 457, 458.\n\n  _Hypocrites._\n    Their false pretences a virtual denial of God\u2019s knowledge,\n          i. 481, 483;\n      it is terrible to them, i. 492.\n\n\n                                  I.\n\n  _Idleness._\n    It is an abuse of God\u2019s mercies to make them an occasion\n          of it, ii. 323.\n\n  _Idolatry._\n    Of the heathens proves the belief of a God to be universal,\n          i. 30, 31.\n    The first object of it was the heavenly bodies, i. 43.\n    Springs from unworthy imaginations of God, i. 157.\n    Not countenanced {b532} by God\u2019s omnipresence, i. 389, 390.\n    Springs from a want of due notion of God\u2019s infinite power,\n          ii. 92.\n    A contempt of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 436, 437.\n\n  _Image_ of God.\n    In man consists not in external form and figure, i. 192, 192.\n    Unreasonable to make any of him, i. 193\u2012195;\n      it is idolatry so to do, i. 195, 196.\n    The defacing it an injury to God\u2019s holiness, ii. 173, 174.\n    Man, at first, made after it, ii. 248.\n\n  _Imaginations._\n    Men naturally have unworthy ones of God, i. 155, 156.\n    Vain ones the cause of idolatry, and superstition, and\n          presumption, i. 156, 157;\n      worse than idolatry or atheism, i. 158;\n      an injury to God\u2019s holiness, ii. 172, 173.\n\n  _Imitation_ of God.\n    Man naturally hath no desire of it, i. 161.\n    We should strive to imitate his immutability in that which\n          is good, i. 360, 361.\n    In holiness, wherein, and why, and how, ii. 199\u2012207;\n      and in goodness, ii. 353\u2012355.\n\n  _Immortal._\n    God is so, i. 202.\n    See _Eternity of God_.\n\n  _Immutability._\n    A property of God, i. 316, 317;\n      a perfection, i. 317, 318;\n      a glory belonging to all his attributes, i. 318;\n      necessary to him, i. 318, 319.\n    God is immutable in his essence, i. 319\u2012321;\n      in knowledge, i. 321\u2012325;\n      in his will, though the things willed by him are not,\n            i. 325\u2012328.\n    This doth not infringe his liberty, i. 328.\n    Immutable in regard of place, i. 328, 329.\n    Proved by arguments, i. 320\u2012334, 582, 583; ii. 87.\n    Incommunicable to any creature, i. 334, 335, ii. 141.\n    Objections against it answered, i. 337\u2012346.\n    Ascribed to Christ, i. 346\u2012348.\n    A ground and encouragement to worship him, i. 348\u2012350.\n    How contrary to God in it man is, i. 350, 353.\n    Terrible to sinners, i. 353, 354.\n    Comfortable to the righteous, and wherein, i. 354\u2012356.\n    An argument for patience, i. 359.\n    Should make us prefer God before all creatures, i. 358.\n    We should imitate this his immutability in goodness,\n          motives to it, i. 360, 361.\n\n  _Impatience_ of men.\n    Is great when God crosses them, i. 130, 131.\n    A contempt of God\u2019s wisdom, i. 592;\n      and of his goodness, ii. 317, 318;\n      and of his dominion, ii. 437, 438.\n\n  _Impenitence._\n    An abuse of God\u2019s goodness, ii. 319.\n    It will clear the equity of God\u2019s justice, ii. 506, 507.\n    An abuse of patience, ii. 508, 509.\n\n  _Imperfections._\n    In holy duties we should be sensible of, i. 232.\n    Should make us prize Christ\u2019s meditation, i. 261.\n\n  _Impossible._\n    Some things are in their own nature, ii. 26, 27.\n    Some things so to the nature and being of God, and his\n          perfections, ii.27\u201229.\n    Some things so, because of God\u2019s ordination, ii. 29, 30.\n    Do not infringe the almightiness of God\u2019s power, ii. 29\u201230.\n\n  _Incarnation_ of Christ.\n    The power of God seen in it, ii. 59\u201265.\n\n  _Incomprehensible._\n    God is so, i. 394, 395.\n\n  _Inconstancy._\n    Natural to man, i. 350\u2012353. In the knowledge of the truth,\n          i. 350, 351;\n      in will and affections, i. 351;\n      in practice, i. 352\u2012354;\n      is the root of much evil, _ib._\n\n  _Infirmities._\n    The knowledge of God a comfort to his people under them,\n          i. 488, 489.\n    The goodness of God in bearing with them, ii. 309.\n    His patience a comfort under them, ii. 516.\n\n  _Injuries._\n    Men highly concerned for those that are done to themselves,\n          little for those that are done to God, i. 140.\n    God\u2019s patience under them should make us resent them,\n          ii. 517, 518.\n\n  _Injustice._\n    A contempt of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 435.\n\n  _Innocent_ person.\n    Whether God may inflict eternal torments upon him,\n          ii. 375, 380, 381.\n\n  _Instruments._\n    Men are apt to pay a service to them rather than to God,\n          i. 144;\n      which is a contempt of divine power, ii. 94, 95;\n      and of his goodness, ii. 324, 325.\n    Deliverances not to be chiefly ascribed to them, i. 407.\n    God makes use of sinful ones, i. 534, 535.\n    None in creation, ii. 40\u201242.\n    The power of God seen in effecting his purposes by weak\n          ones, ii. 58, 59.\n\n  _Inventions_ of men.\n    See _Addition_ and _Worship_.\n\n\n                                  J.\n\n  _Jehovah._\n    Signifies God\u2019s eternity, i. 290;\n      and his immutability, i. 330.\n    God called so but once in the book of Job, ii. 36.\n\n  _Job._\n    When he lived, ii. 8.\n\n  _Jonah._\n    How he came to be believed by the Ninevites, i. 537.\n\n  _Joy._\n    A necessary ingredient in spiritual worship, i. 234\u2012236.\n    Should accompany all our duties, ii. 468, 469.\n\n  _Judging_ the hearts of others.\n    A great sin, i. 478, 479.\n    Their eternal state a greater, _ib._\n\n  _Judgment\u2011day._\n    Necessity of it, i. 470, 471, 583, 584.\n\n  _Judgments_, extraordinary.\n    Prove the being of God, i. 74, 75.\n    Men are apt to put bold interpretations on them, i. 133.\n    God is just in them, i. 162, 163;\n      especially after the abuse of his goodness and patience,\n            ii. 326, 327, 506, 507.\n    On God\u2019s enemies, matter of praise, ii. 110.\n    Declare God\u2019s holiness, ii. 132\u2012135;\n      which should be observed in them, ii. 197.\n    Not sent without warning, ii. 241, 242, 488\u2012491.\n    Mercy mixed with them, ii. 242, 243.\n    God sends them on whom he pleases, ii. 420.\n    Delayed a long time {b533} where there is no repentance,\n          ii. 491, 492.\n    God unwilling to pour them out when he cannot delay them any\n          longer, ii. 492, 493.\n    Poured out with regret, ii. 493, 494;\n      by degrees, ii. 494, 495;\n      moderated, ii. 495, 496.\n    See _Punishments_.\n\n  _Justice_ of God.\n    A motive to worship, i. 207.\n    Its plea against man, i. 554\u2012556.\n    Reconciled with mercy in Christ, i. 556, 557.\n    Vindictive, natural to God, ii. 181\u2012183.\n    Requires satisfaction, ii. 185, 186.\n\n  _Justification._\n    Cannot be by the best and strongest works of nature,\n          i. 166, 473, 474; ii. 177, 178, 185, 186.\n    The holiness of God appears in that of the gospel, ii. 138.\n    The expectations of it by the outward observance of the law\n          cannot satisfy an inquisitive conscience, ii. 212.\n    Men naturally look for it by works, ii. 212, 213.\n\n\n                                  K.\n\n  _Kingdoms._\n    Are disposed of by God, ii. 413, 414.\n\n  _Knowledge._\n    In God hath no succession, i. 284, 285, 294, 295, 454\u2012456.\n    Immutable, i. 321\u2012324, 460.\n    Arguments to prove it, i. 393\u2012395, 461\u2012465.\n    The manner of it incomprehensible, i. 324, 325, 428,\n          429, 438.\n    God is infinite in it, i. 409.\n    Owned by all, i. 409, 410.\n    He hath a knowledge of vision and intelligence, speculative\n          and practical, i. 411, 412;\n      of apprehension and approbation, i. 412, 413.\n    Hath a knowledge of himself, i. 414\u2012417.\n    Of all things possible, i. 417\u2012420;\n      of all things past and present, i. 420\u2012422.\n    Of all creatures, their actions and thoughts, i. 422\u2012427.\n    Of all sins, and how, i. 427\u2012429.\n    Of all future things, he alone, and how, i. 429\u2012439.\n    Of all future contingencies, i. 439\u2012446.\n    Doth not necessitate the will of man, i. 446\u2012451.\n    It is by his essence, i. 452, 453.\n    Intuitive, i. 453\u2012456.\n    Independent, i. 456, 457.\n    Distinct, i. 458, 459.\n    Infallible, i. 459.\n    No blemish to his holiness, i. 461\u2012465.\n    Infinite, attributed to Christ, i. 465\u2012469.\n    Infers his providence, i. 469, 470;\n      and a day of judgment, i. 470, 471;\n      and the resurrection, i. 471, 472.\n    Destroys all hopes of justification by anything in\n          ourselves, i. 472, 473.\n    Calls for our adoring thoughts of him, i. 473, 474;\n      and humility, i. 474, 475.\n    How injured in the world, and wherein, i. 475\u2012483.\n    Comfortable to the righteous, and wherein, i. 483\u2012491.\n    Terrible to sinners, i. 491, 492.\n    We should have a sense of it on our hearts, and the\n          advantages of it, i. 492\u2012497.\n\n  _Knowledge_ of God\u2019s will.\n    Men negligent in using the means to attain it, i. 100, 101.\n    Enemies to it, and have no delight in it, i. 101\u2012103.\n    Seek it for by\u2011ends, i. 104.\n    Admit it with wavering affections, _ib._\n    Seek it, to improve some lust by it, i. 105, 106.\n    A sense of man\u2019s, hath a greater influence on us than that\n          of God, i. 144, 145, 479, 480.\n    Sins against it should be avoided, i. 173.\n    Distinct from wisdom, i. 508.\n    Of all creatures, is derived from God, i. 462, 463.\n    Ours, how imperfect, i. 474, 475.\n\n\n                                  L.\n\n  _Law_ of God.\n    How opposite man naturally is to it (see _Man_).\n    There is one in the minds of men, which is the rule of good\n          and evil, i. 69, 70.\n    A change of them doth not infer a change in God, i. 346.\n    Vindicated, both as to the precept and penalty, in the death\n          of Christ, i. 565\u2012567.\n    Suited to our natures, happiness, and conscience,\n          i. 527\u2012529; ii. 253.\n    We should submit to them, i. 603, 604.\n    The transgression of them punished by God, ii. 132, 133,\n          393, 394.\n    God\u2019s enjoining one which he knew man would not observe, no\n          blemish to his holiness, ii. 143.\n    To charge them with rigidness, how great a sin, ii. 178, 179.\n    We should imitate the holiness of them, ii. 199\u2012201.\n    The goodness of God in that of innocence, ii. 252\u2012254.\n    Cannot but be good, ii. 339, 340.\n    He gives laws to all, ii. 388, 389.\n    Positive ones, _ib._\n    His only reach the conscience, ii. 390, 391.\n    Dispensed with by him, but cannot by man, ii. 391\u2012393,\n          430, 431.\n    To make any, contrary to God\u2019s, how great a sin,\n          ii. 431, 432;\n      or make additions to them, ii. 432, 433;\n      or obey those of men before them, ii. 433\u2012435, 467, 468.\n    See _Governor_ and _Magistrates_.\n\n  _Licentiousness._\n    The gospel no friend to, i. 504.\n\n  _Life_, eternal.\n    Expected by men from something of their own (see\n          _Justification_).\n    Assured to the people of God, i. 356.\n\n  _Light._\n    A glorious creature, ii. 343, 344.\n\n  _Light_ of nature.\n    Shows the being of a God, i. 27\u201229.\n\n  _Limiting_ God.\n    A contempt of his dominion, ii. 439.\n\n  _Lives_ of men.\n    At God\u2019s disposal, ii. 421, 422.\n\n  _Love_ to God.\n    Sometimes arises merely from some self\u2011pleasing benefits,\n          i. 149\u2012151.\n    A necessary ingredient in spiritual worship, i. 231, 232.\n    A great help to it, i. 272.\n    God is highly worthy of it, i. 308; ii. 196, 197, 332\u2012335.\n    Outward expressions of it insignificant without obedience,\n          ii. 213, 214.\n    God\u2019s gospel name, ii. 257, 259.\n    Of God to his people, great, ii. 449, 450.\n\n  _Lusts_ of men.\n    Make them atheists, i. 24, 25.\n\n\n  {b534}                          M.\n\n  _Magistracy._\n    The goodness of God in settling it, ii. 300, 301.\n\n  _Magistrates_ are inferior to God.\n    To be obedient to him, ii. 444, 445.\n    Ought to govern justly and righteously, ii. 445.\n    To be obeyed, ii. 445, 446.\n\n  _Man._\n    Could not make himself, i. 45\u201249.\n    The world subservient to him, i. 53\u201255.\n    The abridgment of the universe, i. 64; ii. 248, 249.\n    Naturally disowns the rule God hath set him, i. 99\u2012117.\n    Owns any rule rather than God\u2019s, i. 117\u2012121.\n    Would set himself up as his own rule, i. 121\u2012127.\n    Would give laws to God, i. 127\u2012135.\n    Would make himself his own end. (see _End_).\n    His natural corruption how great, ii. 53, 54.\n    Made holy at first, ii. 126, 127, 248;\n      yet mutable, which was no blemish to God\u2019s holiness,\n            ii. 140\u2012143.\n    Made after God\u2019s image, ii. 248.\n    The world made and furnished for him, ii. 249\u2012252.\n    In his corrupt estate, without any motives to excite God\u2019s\n          redeeming love, ii. 268\u2012273.\n    Restored to a more excellent state than his first,\n          ii. 291\u2012293.\n    Under God\u2019s dominion, ii. 384\u2012386.\n\n  _Means._\n    See _Instrument_.\n    To depend on the power of God, and neglect them, is an\n          abuse of it, ii. 96.\n    Of grace, to neglect them an affront of God\u2019s wisdom,\n          i. 589, 590.\n    Given to some, and not to others, ii. 403\u2012407.\n    Have various influences, ii. 407, 408.\n\n  _Meditation_ on the law of God.\n    Men have no delight in, i. 101, 102.\n\n  _Members_, bodily.\n    Attributed to God do not prove him a body, i. 188\u2012190.\n    What sort of them attributed to him, i. 189;\n      with a respect to the incarnation of Christ, i. 189, 190.\n\n  _Mercies_ of God to sinners.\n    How wonderful, i. 161, 162.\n    A motive to worship, i. 206\u2012208.\n    Former ones should be remembered when we come to beg new\n          ones, i. 277, 278.\n    Its plea for fallen man, i. 556, 557.\n    It and justice reconciled in Christ, i. 557, 558.\n    Holiness of God in them to be observed, ii. 197, 198.\n    Contempt and abuse of them (see _Goodness_).\n    One foundation of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 371, 372.\n    Call for our love of him, ii. 232\u2012235;\n      and obedience to him, ii. 338, 339.\n    Given after great provocations, ii. 496, 497.\n\n  _Merit_ of Christ.\n    Not the cause of the first resolution of God to redeem,\n          ii. 265, 266.\n    Not the cause of election, ii. 396.\n    Man incapable of, ii. 343, 344.\n\n  _Miracles._\n    Prove the being of a God, though not wrought to that end,\n          i. 29, 76.\n    Wrought by God but seldom, i. 550.\n    The power of God, ii. 34, 35;\n      seen no more in them than in the ordinary works of nature,\n            ii. 51, 62.\n    Many wrought by Christ, ii. 64.\n\n  _Moral_ goodness.\n    Encouraged by God, ii. 303, 304.\n\n  _Moral_ law.\n    Commands things good in their own nature, i. 94, 95; ii. 389.\n    The holiness of God appears in it, ii. 128.\n    Holy in the matter and manner of his precepts, ii. 128\u2012130.\n    Reaches the inward man, ii. 130.\n    Perpetual, ii. 130, 131.\n    See _Law_ of God.\n    Published with majesty, ii. 390.\n\n  _Mortification._\n    How difficult, i. 164, 165.\n\n  _Motions_ of all creatures.\n    In God, ii. 49.\n    Variety of them in a single creature, ii. 50.\n\n  _Mountains._\n    How useful, i. 54.\n    Before the deluge, i. 278.\n\n  _Mouth._\n    How curiously contrived, i. 65.\n\n\n                                  N.\n\n  _Nature_ of man.\n    Must be sanctified before it can perform spiritual worship,\n          i. 223, 224.\n    Human, highly advanced by its union with the Son of God,\n          ii. 273, 274.\n    Human and divine in Christ (see _Union_).\n\n  _Night._\n    How necessary, i. 523.\n\n\n                                  O.\n\n  _Obedience_ to God.\n    Not true unless it be universal, i. 108, 109.\n    Due to him upon the account of his eternity, i. 308, 309.\n    To him should be preferred before obedience to men (see\n          _Laws_).\n    Of faith only acceptable to God, i. 505.\n    Distinct, but inseparable from faith, i. 505, 506.\n    Shall be rewarded, i. 529, 530.\n    Redemption a strong incentive to it, i. 571.\n    Without it nothing will avail us, ii. 213, 214.\n    The goodness of God in accepting it, though imperfect,\n          ii. 309.\n    Due to God for his goodness, ii. 338\u2012341.\n    Due to him as a sovereign, ii. 462\u2012466.\n    What kind of it due to him, ii. 466\u2012469.\n\n  _Objects._\n    The proposing them to man which God knows he will use to\n          sin, no blemish to God\u2019s holiness, ii. 161\u2012166.\n\n  _Obstinacy_ in sin.\n    A contempt of Divine power, ii. 92, 93.\n\n  _Omissions._\n    Of prayer, a practical denial of God\u2019s knowledge, i. 481;\n      of duty, a contempt of his goodness, ii. 320, 321.\n\n  _Omnipresence._\n    An attribute of God, i. 366, 367.\n    Denied by some Jews and heathens, but acknowledged by the\n          wisest amongst them, i. 368.\n    To be understood negatively, i. 369.\n    Influential on all creatures, i. 369, 370.\n    Limited to subjects capacitated for this or that kind of\n          it, i. 370.\n    Essential, i. 371.\n    In all places, i. 371, 372.\n    With all creatures, i. 373, 374;\n      without mixture with them, or division of himself, i. 374.\n    Not by multiplication or extension, i. 375;\n      but totally, _ib._\n    {b535} In imaginary spaces beyond the world, i. 375\u2012377.\n    God\u2019s incommunicable property, i. 378.\n    Arguments to prove his omnipresence, i. 378\u2012385.\n    Objections against it answered, i. 385\u2012392.\n    Ascribed to Christ, i. 392, 393.\n    Proves God a Spirit, i. 393;\n      and his providence, _ib._;\n      and omniscient and incomprehensible, i. 394, 395.\n    Calls for admiration of him, i. 395, 396.\n    Forgotten and contemned, i. 396, 397.\n    Terrible to sinners, i. 397, 398.\n    Comfortable to the righteous, and wherein, i. 398\u2012402.\n    Should be often thought of, and the advantages of so doing,\n          i. 402\u2012405.\n\n  _Opposition._\n    In the hearts of men naturally against the will of God,\n          i. 102, 103.\n\n\n                                  P.\n\n  _Pardon._\n    God\u2019s infinite knowledge a comfort when we reflect on it, or\n          seek it, i. 490, 491.\n    The power of God in granting it, and giving a sense of it,\n          ii. 78\u201280.\n    The spring of all other blessings, ii. 357.\n    Always accompanied with regeneration, _ib._\n    Punishment remitted upon it, ii. 358.\n    It is perfect, _ib._\n    Of God, and his alone, gives a full security, ii. 450.\n\n  _Patience._\n    Under afflictions a duty, i. 604, 605.\n    God\u2019s immutability should teach us it i. 359.\n    A sense of God\u2019s holiness would promote it, ii. 195, 196;\n      and his goodness, ii. 350.\n    Motives to it, ii. 469, 470.\n    The true nature of it, ii. 471.\n    Consideration of God\u2019s patience to us would promote it,\n          ii. 518.\n\n  _Patience._\n    Of God how admirable, i. 161, 395, 396; ii. 497\u2012500.\n    His wisdom the ground of it, i. 581, 582.\n    Evidences his power, ii. 64, 474.\n    Is a property of the Divine nature, ii. 477, 478.\n    A part of goodness and mercy, but differs from both,\n          ii. 478\u2012480.\n    Not insensible, constrained, or faint\u2011hearted, ii. 480, 481.\n    Flows from his fulness of power over himself, ii. 481, 482.\n    Founded in the death of Christ, ii. 482, 483.\n    His veracity, holiness, and justice no bars to it,\n          ii. 483\u2012486.\n    Exercised towards our first parents, Gentiles, and\n          Israelites, ii. 486\u2012488.\n    Wherein it is evidenced, ii. 488\u2012500.\n    The reason of its exercise, ii. 500\u2012507.\n    It is abused, and how, ii. 507\u2012509.\n    The abuse of it sinful and dangerous, ii. 509\u2012513.\n    Exercised towards sinners and saints, ii. 513, 514.\n    Comfortable to all, ii. 514\u2012516;\n      especially to the righteous, _ib._\n    Should be meditated on, and the advantage of so doing,\n          ii. 516\u2012518.\n    We should admire and bless God for it, with motives so to\n          do, ii. 518\u2012522.\n    Should not be presumed on, ii. 522, 523.\n    Should be imitated, ii. 523, 524.\n\n  _Peace._\n    God only can speak it to troubled souls, ii. 79.\n\n  _Permission_ of sin.\n    What it is, and that it is no blemish to God\u2019s holiness,\n          ii. 146\u2012156.\n\n  _Persecutions._\n    The goodness of God seen in them, ii. 309\u2012311.\n    See _Apostasy_.\n\n  _Perseverance_ of the saints.\n    A gospel doctrine, i. 501.\n    Certain, i. 355, 356; ii. 100, 189.\n    Motives to labor after it, i. 360, 361.\n    Depends on God\u2019s power and wisdom, i. 500, 501; ii. 79, 80.\n\n  _Pleasures._\n    Sensual men strangely addicted to, i. 144.\n    We ought to take heed of them, i. 173.\n\n  _Poems._\n    Fewer sacred ones good, than of any other kind, i. 143.\n\n  _Poor._\n    The wisdom of God in making some so, i. 531, 532.\n\n  _Power._\n    Infinite, belongs to God, ii. 10.\n    The meaning of the word, ii. 12.\n    Absolute and ordinate, ii. 12, 13.\n    Distinct from will and wisdom, ii. 14, 15.\n    Gives life and activity to his other perfections,\n          ii. 15, 16.\n    Of a larger extent than some others, ii. 16.\n    Originally and essentially, in the nature of God, and the\n    same with his essence, ii. 17, 18.\n    Incommunicable to the creature, ii. 18, 24.\n    Infinite and eternal, ii. 18\u201226.\n    Bounded by his decree, ii. 25, 26.\n    Not infringed by the impossibility of doing some things,\n          ii. 26\u201230.\n    Arguments to prove it is in God, ii. 30\u201235.\n    Appears in creation, ii. 35\u201244;\n      in the government of the world, ii. 44\u201259;\n      in redemption, ii. 59\u201265;\n      in the publication and propagation of the gospel,\n            ii. 65\u201274;\n      in planting and preserving grace, and pardoning sin,\n            ii. 74\u201280.\n    Ascribed to Christ, ii. 80\u201286;\n      and to the Holy Ghost, ii. 86.\n    Infers his blessedness, immutability, and providence,\n          ii. 86\u201288.\n    A ground of worship, ii. 88\u201290;\n      and for the belief of the resurrection, ii. 90\u201292.\n    Contemned and abused, and wherein, ii. 92\u201296.\n    Terrible to the wicked, ii. 96\u201298.\n    Comfortable to the righteous, and wherein, ii. 98\u2012102.\n    Should be meditated on, ii. 102, 103;\n      and trusted in, and why, ii. 103\u2012106.\n    Should teach us humility and submission, ii. 106;\n      and the fear of him, and not of man, ii. 106, 107.\n\n  _Praise._\n    Consideration of God\u2019s wisdom and goodness would help us to\n          give it to him, i. 597, 598; ii. 351.\n    Men backward to it, ii. 356, 357.\n    Due to him, ii. 459, 460.\n\n  _Prayer._\n    Men impatient if God do not answer it, i. 152, 153.\n    We should take the most melting opportunities for secret\n          prayer, i. 275.\n    Not unnecessary because of God\u2019s immutability and knowledge,\n          i. 348\u2012350, 479.\n    To creatures a wrong to God\u2019s omniscience, i. 475, 476.\n    Omission of it a practical denial of God\u2019s knowledge,\n          i. 481.\n    It is a comfort that the most secret ones are understood by\n          God, i. 486\u2012488.\n    God\u2019s wisdom a comfort {b536} in delaying or denying an\n          answer to them, i. 593.\n    For success on wicked designs how sinful, ii. 175, 176.\n    God fit to be trusted in for an answer of them, ii. 188, 189.\n    The goodness of God in answering them, ii. 307\u2012309.\n    His goodness a comfort in them, ii. 341, 342.\n    God\u2019s dominion an encouragement to, and ground of it,\n          ii. 451, 462, 463.\n\n  _Preparation._\n    We should examine ourselves concerning it before worship,\n          i. 252, 253.\n    Consideration of God\u2019s knowledge would promote it,\n          i. 495, 496.\n    How great a sin to come into God\u2019s presence without it,\n          ii. 176, 177.\n\n  _Presence_ of men.\n    More regarded than God\u2019s, i. 144.\n    We should seek for God\u2019s special and influential presence,\n          i. 405.\n    See _Omnipresence_.\n\n  _Preserve_ himself.\n    No creature can, i. 48, 49; ii. 46, 47.\n    God only can the world, i. 62, 63.\n    The power of God seen in it, ii. 44\u201247.\n    One foundation of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 371.\n\n  _Presumption._\n    Springs from vain imaginations of God, i. 157.\n    A contempt of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 440, 441.\n\n  _Pride._\n    How common, i. 139.\n    An exalting ourselves above God, i. 147, 148.\n    The thoughts of God\u2019s eternity should abate it, i. 303.\n    An affront to God\u2019s wisdom, i. 592.\n    Of our own wisdom, foolish, i. 600, 601.\n    God\u2019s mercies abused to it, ii. 323.\n    A contempt of his dominion, ii. 439, 440.\n\n  _Principles._\n    Better known by actions than words, i. 92, 93.\n    Some kept up by God to facilitate the reception of the\n          gospel, i. 576, 577.\n\n  _Promises._\n    Men break them with God, i. 116, 117, 351, 353.\n    Of God shall be performed, i. 300, 301; ii. 99, 100, 516.\n    We should believe them, and leave God to his own season of\n          accomplishing them, i. 499.\n    Distrust of them a contempt of God\u2019s wisdom, i. 593.\n    The holiness of God in the performance of them to be\n          observed, ii. 197, 198.\n\n  _Propagation_ of creatures.\n    The power of God seen in it, ii. 47\u201249.\n    Of mankind one end of God\u2019s patience, ii. 504.\n\n  _Prophesies._\n    Prove the being of God, i. 76, 77.\n\n  _Providence._\n    Of God proved, i. 393, 394, 469, 470; ii. 87, 88.\n    See _Government of the world_.\n    Especially to his church, and the meanest in it, i. 406\u2012408.\n    Extends to all creatures, ii. 296\u2012300.\n    Distrust of it, a contempt of God\u2019s goodness, ii. 319, 320.\n\n  _Punishments._\n    See _Judgments_.\n    God always just in them, i. 162, 163; ii. 326, 327.\n    Of sinners eternal, i. 296, 297.\n    The wisdom of God seen in them, i. 548.\n    Necessarily follow sins, ii. 181\u2012183.\n    Do not impeach God\u2019s goodness, ii. 236\u2012244.\n    Not God\u2019s primary intention, ii. 240, 241.\n    Inflicting them a branch of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 393, 394;\n      necessarily follow upon it, ii. 447.\n    Of the wicked unavoidable and terrible, ii. 447\u2012449.\n\n  _Purgatory._\n    Held by the Jews, i. 126.\n\n\n                                  R.\n\n  _Rain._\n    An instance of God\u2019s wisdom and power, i. 522.\n\n  _Reason._\n    Should not be the measure of God\u2019s revelations, i. 602, 603.\n\n  _Repentance._\n    How ascribed to God, i. 341, 342.\n    A reasonable condition, i. 573.\n    The end of God\u2019s patience, ii. 502\u2012504.\n    The consideration of God\u2019s patience would make us frequent\n          and serious in the practice of it, ii. 517, 518.\n\n  _Reprobation._\n    Consistent with God\u2019s holiness and justice, ii. 146, 147.\n\n  _Reproof._\n    May be for evil ends, i. 154.\n\n  _Reputation._\n    Men more concerned for their own, than God\u2019s glory, i. 140.\n\n  _Resignation_ of ourselves.\n    Would flow from consideration of God\u2019s wisdom, i. 604, 605;\n      should from that of his sovereignty, ii. 457.\n\n  _Resolutions_, good.\n    How soon broken, i. 351.\n\n  _Restraint._\n    Of men and devils by God in mercy to man, i. 532, 533,\n          ii. 52\u201254, 154, 301, 416\u2012418.\n\n  _Resurrection._\n    Of the body no incredible doctrine, i. 471, 472, ii. 90\u201292.\n    The power of God in that of Christ, ii. 65.\n    Of men, ascribed to Christ, ii. 84, 85.\n\n  _Reverence._\n    Necessary in the worship of God, i. 236, 237.\n\n  _Revelations._\n    Of God are not to be censured, i. 590, 591.\n\n  _Riches._\n    Inordinate desire after them a hindrance to spiritual\n          worship, i. 273.\n    God exercises a sovereignty in bestowing them, ii. 411, 412.\n\n  _Rivers._\n    How useful, i. 522, 523.\n\n  _Rome._\n    Why called Babylon, i. 39.\n\n\n                                  S.\n\n  _Sacraments._\n    The goodness of God in appointing them. ii. 287, 288.\n\n  _Salvation_ of men.\n    How desirous God is of it, ii. 284\u2012287, 500\u2012502.\n\n  _Sanctification._\n    Deserves our thanks as much as justification, ii. 357, 358.\n    See _Holiness_.\n\n  _Satisfaction._\n    Of the soul only in God, i. 74, 202, 203, 305, 306.\n    Necessary for sin, ii. 183, 184.\n\n  _Sceptics._\n    Must own a First Cause, i. 51.\n\n  _Scoffing._\n    At holiness a great sin, ii. 170;\n      and at convictions in others, ii. 191, 192.\n\n  _Scriptures._\n    Are wrested and abused, i. 105, 106, 134, 135.\n    Ought to be prized and studied, i. 173.\n    The not fulfilling some predictions in them, doth not prove\n          God to be changeable, i. 342\u2012345.\n    Of the {b537} Old Testament give credit to the New, and of\n          the New illustrate those of the Old, i. 503.\n    All truth to be drawn thence, _ib._\n    Of the Old Testament to be studied, _ib._\n    Something in them suitable to all sorts of men, i. 528\u2012530.\n    Written so as to prevent foreseen corruptions, i. 530, 531.\n    To study arguments from them to defend sin, a contempt of\n    God\u2019s holiness, ii. 175.\n    The goodness of God in giving them as a rule, ii. 304, 305.\n\n  _Sea._\n    How useful, i. 54, 55.\n    The wisdom of God seen in it, i. 522;\n      and his power, ii. 7, 45, 46.\n\n  _Searching_ the hearts of men.\n    How to be understood of God, i. 427, 428.\n\n  _Seasons._\n    The variety of them necessary, i. 523.\n\n  _Secresy._\n    A poor refuge to sinners, i. 491, 492.\n\n  _Secret_ sins.\n    Cause stings of conscience, i. 71, 72, 463;\n      known to God, i. 394, 397, 398, 490, 491;\n      shall be revealed in the day of judgment, i. 470, 471;\n      prayers and works known to God, i. 486\u2012488.\n\n  _Security._\n    Men abuse God\u2019s blessings to it, ii. 323.\n\n  _Self._\n    Man most opposite to those truths that are most contrary to\n          it, i. 107.\n    Man sets up as his own rule, i. 121.\n    Dissatisfied with conscience when it contradicts its desires,\n          i. 123, 124.\n    Merely the agreeableness to it the springs of many materially\n          good actions, i. 124\u2012126, 149\u2012154, 240, 241.\n    Would make it the rule of God, i. 127\u2012135;\n      and his own end, and the end of all creatures, and of God\n            (see _End_).\n    Applauding thoughts of it how common, i. 138, 139.\n    Men ascribe the glory of what they have or do to it,\n          i. 139, 140;\n      desire doctrines pleasing to it, _ib._;\n      highly concerned for any injury done to it, i. 140;\n      obey it against the light of conscience, i. 140, 141;\n      how great a sin this is, i. 141, 142.\n    The giving mercies pleasing to it, the only cause of many\n          men\u2019s love to God, i. 149, 150.\n    Men unwieldy to their duty where it is not concerned,\n          i. 151, 152;\n      how sinful this is, i. 154, 155.\n    The great enemy to the gospel and conversion, i. 165.\n\n  _Self\u2011love._\n    Threefold, i. 136.\n    The cause of all sin, and hindrance of conversion,\n          i. 135\u2012138.\n\n  _Service_ of God.\n    How unwilling men are to it, i. 112\u2012114;\n      slight in the performance of it, i. 113, 114;\n      show not that natural vigor in it as they do in their\n            worldly business, i. 113\u2012115;\n      quickly weary of it, i. 114, 115;\n      desert it, i. 115\u2012117.\n    The presence of God a comfort in it, i. 401, 402.\n    Hypocritical pretences for avoiding it, a denial of God\u2019s\n          knowledge, i. 481, 482.\n    A sense of God\u2019s goodness would make us faithful in it,\n          ii. 339\u2012341.\n    Some called to, and fitted for more eminent ones in their\n          generation, ii. 410\u2012416.\n    Omissions of it a contempt of God\u2019s sovereignty, ii. 441.\n\n  _Sin._\n    Founded in a secret atheism and self\u2011love, i. 93, 136\u2012138.\n    Reflects a dishonor on all the attributes of God, i. 93, 94.\n    Implies God is unworthy of a being, _ib._\n    Would make him a foolish, impure and miserable being,\n          i. 94, 95.\n    More troublesome than holiness, i. 111, 112.\n    To make it our end, a great debasing of God, i. 144\u2012146.\n    No excuse, but an aggravation, that we serve but one,\n          i. 145, 146.\n    Abstinence from it proceeds many times from an evil cause,\n          i. 150, 479, 480.\n    God\u2019s name, word, and mercies, made use of to countenance\n          it, i. 154; ii. 172, 173, 321\u2012324, 508, 509.\n    Spiritual to be avoided, i. 203, 204.\n    It is folly, i. 295, 296.\n    Past ones we should be humbled for, i. 301, 302, 492, 493.\n    Hath brought a curse on the creation, i. 315.\n    See _Creatures_.\n    Past known to God, i. 420, 421;\n      all known to him, and how, i. 427\u2012431, 493, 494.\n    A sense of God\u2019s knowledge and holiness would check it,\n          i. 494, 495; ii. 194.\n    Bounded by God, i. 532, 533.\n    God brings glory to himself, and good to the creature out of\n          it, i. 533\u2012544.\n    God hath shown the greatest hatred of it in redemption,\n          i. 567, 568.\n    A contempt of God\u2019s power, ii. 92.\n    Abhorred by God, ii. 118\u2012122, 181, 182.\n    In God\u2019s people more severely punished in this world than in\n          others, ii. 120, 121.\n    God cannot be the author of it in others, or do it himself,\n          ii. 122\u2012127.\n    God punishes it, and cannot but do so, ii. 132, 133, 182, 183.\n    The instruments of it detestable to God, ii. 133, 134.\n    Opposite to the holiness of God, ii. 171, 172.\n    To charge it on God, or defend it by his word, a great sin,\n          ii. 174, 175.\n    Entrance of it into the world doth not impeach God\u2019s\n          goodness, ii. 231, 232.\n    Those that disturb societies most signally punished in this\n          life, ii. 301, 302.\n    A contempt of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 427\u2012431.\n    How much God is daily provoked by it, ii. 497\u2012499, 519, 520.\n    An abuse of God\u2019s patience, ii. 508, 509.\n\n  _Sincerity._\n    Required in spiritual worship, i. 225, 226.\n    Cannot be unknown to God, i. 486.\n    Consideration of God\u2019s knowledge would promote it, i. 496.\n\n  _Sinful times._\n    In them we should be most holy, ii. 198, 199.\n\n  _Sinners._\n    God hath shown the greatest love to them, and hatred to\n          their sins, i. 567, 568.\n    Everything in their possession detestable to God,\n          ii. 133, 134.\n\n  _Society._\n    The goodness of God seen in the preservation of it,\n          ii. 300\u2012302.\n    Could {b538} not exist without restraining grace\n          (see _Restraint_).\n\n  _Soul._\n    The vastness of its capacity, and quickness of its motion,\n          i. 67, 68.\n    Its union to the body wonderful, i. 69.\n    God only can satisfy it (see _Satisfaction_).\n    They only can converse with God, i. 202.\n    Should be the objects of our chiefest care, i. 203.\n    We should worship God with them, i. 209\u2012211.\n    The wisdom and goodness of God seen in them, ii. 49,\n          247, 248.\n\n  _Spaces._\n    Imaginary beyond the world, God is present with, i. 375\u2012377.\n\n  _Spirit_, that God is so.\n    Plainly asserted but once in scripture, i. 180.\n    Various acceptations of the word, i. 181, 182.\n    That God is so, how to be understood, _ib._\n    God the only pure one, i. 182, 183.\n    Arguments to prove God is one, i. 183\u2012188.\n    Objection against it answered, i. 188\u2012190.\n\n  _Spirit_ of God.\n    His assistance necessary to spiritual worship, i. 224, 225.\n\n  _Spirits_ of men.\n    Raised up, and ordered by God as he pleases, ii. 415, 416.\n\n  _Subjection_ to our superiors.\n    God remits of his own right for preserving it, ii. 301, 302.\n\n  _Success._\n    Men apt to ascribe to themselves, i. 139.\n    Not to be ascribed to ourselves, ii. 324, 325.\n    Denied by God to some, ii. 411, 412.\n\n  _Summer._\n    How necessary, i. 523.\n\n  _Sun._\n    Conveniently placed, i. 53.\n    Its motion useful, i. 53, 57.\n    The power of God seen in it, i. 195, 196.\n\n  _Supper_, Lord\u2019s.\n    The goodness of God in appointing it, ii. 287, 288.\n    Seals the covenant of grace, ii. 288, 289.\n    In it we have union and communion with Christ, ii. 289\u2012291.\n    The neglect of it reproved, ii. 291.\n\n  _Supererogation._\n    An opinion that injures the holiness of God, ii. 179, 180.\n\n  _Superstition._\n    Proceeds from vain imaginations of God, i. 156, 157.\n\n  _Swearing_ by any creature.\n    An injury to God\u2019s omniscience, i. 477, 478.\n\n\n                                  T.\n\n  _Temptations._\n    The presence of God a comfort in them, i. 399;\n      the thoughts of it would be a shield against them, i. 403.\n    The wisdom and power of God a comfort under them, i. 594;\n          ii. 99.\n    The goodness manifested to his people under them,\n          ii. 311\u2012313.\n    The would arm and make us watchful against them, ii. 456.\n\n  _Thankfulness._\n    A necessary ingredient in spiritual worship, i. 233, 234.\n    Due to God, ii. 351, 352, 460, 518\u2012522;\n      a sense of his goodness would promote it, i. 351.\n\n  _Theft._\n    An invasion of God\u2019s dominion, ii. 435.\n\n  _Thoughts._\n    Should be often upon God, i. 87, 88;\n      seldom are on him, i. 143, 159, 160.\n    All known by God only, i. 424\u2012427;\n      and by Christ, i. 467\u2012469.\n    Cherishing evil ones a practical denial of God\u2019s knowledge,\n          i. 482, 483.\n    Thoughts of God\u2019s knowledge would make us watchful over\n          them, i. 495.\n\n  _Threatenings._\n    The not fulfilling them sometimes, argue no change in God,\n          i. 342\u2012345.\n    Are conditional, _ib._\n    The goodness of God in them, ii. 255.\n    Go before judgments (see _Judgments_).\n\n  _Time._\n    Cannot be infinite, i. 44, 45.\n\n  _Times_ of bestowing mercy.\n    God orders as a sovereign, ii. 412, 413.\n\n  _Tongue._\n    How curious a workmanship i. 66.\n\n  _Traditions._\n    Old ones generally lost, i. 37, 38.\n    Belief of a God not owing merely to them, _ib._\n\n  _Transubstantiation._\n    An absurd doctrine, ii. 95.\n\n  _Trees._\n    How useful, i. 54, 523.\n\n  _Trust_ in themselves.\n    Men do, and not in God, i. 150.\n    We should not in the world, i. 304\u2012307, 357, 358.\n    God the fit object of it, i. 484, 485, 569, 570, 583;\n          ii. 103, 104, 188, 335\u2012337, 462, 463;\n      means to promote it, i. 497; ii. 454, 455.\n    Should not in our own wisdom, i. 600, 601.\n    In ourselves, a contempt of God\u2019s power and dominion,\n          ii. 94, 95, 436, 437.\n    God\u2019s power the main ground of trusting him, ii. 104, 105;\n      and sometimes the only one, ii. 105, 106.\n    Should be placed in God against outward appearances,\n          ii. 198.\n    Goodness the first motive of it, ii. 336.\n    More foundations of it, and motives to it under the gospel\n          than under the law, ii. 337.\n    Gives God the glory of his goodness, ii. 337, 338.\n    God\u2019s patience to the wicked, a ground for the righteous to\n          trust in his promise, ii. 516.\n\n  _Truths_ of God.\n    Most contrary to self, man most opposite to; and to those\n          that are most holy, spiritual, lead most to God, and\n          relate most to him, i. 107.\n    Men inconstant in the belief of them, i. 350, 351.\n\n\n                                  U.\n\n  _Ubiquity._\n    Of Christ\u2019s human nature confuted, i. 378.\n\n  _Unbelief._\n    The reason of it, i. 165.\n    A contempt of Divine power, ii. 95;\n      and goodness, ii. 319.\n\n  _Union_ of soul and body.\n    An effect of Almighty power, i. 69.\n\n  _Union_ of two natures in Christ.\n    Made no {b539} change in his Divine nature, i. 339, 340.\n    Shows the wisdom of God, i. 552\u2012568.\n    How necessary for us, i. 563\u2012566.\n    Shows the power of God, ii. 62.\n    Explained, ii. 62, 63.\n    See _Incarnation_.\n\n  _Usurpations._\n    Of men an invasion of God\u2019s sovereignty, ii. 430, 431.\n\n\n                                  V.\n  _Venial_ sins.\n    An opinion that reproaches God\u2019s holiness, ii. 179.\n\n  _Virtue_ and vice.\n    Not arbitrary things, i. 93, 94.\n\n\n                                  W.\n\n  _Water._\n    An excellent creature, ii. 224.\n\n  _Weakness._\n    Sensibleness of a necessary ingredient in spiritual worship,\n          i. 232.\n\n  _Will_ of God.\n    Cannot be defeated, i. 95, 96.\n    Man averse to it (see _Man_).\n    The same with his essence, i. 325, 326.\n    Always accompanied with his understanding, i. 326.\n    Unchangeable, i. 326\u2012328.\n    The unchangeableness of it doth not make things willed by\n          him so, i. 327, 328.\n    Free, _ib._\n    How concurrent about sin, ii. 147, 148.\n\n  _Will_ of man.\n    Not necessitated by God\u2019s foreknowledge, i. 446\u2012451;\n      subject to God, ii. 385, 386.\n\n  _Winds._\n    How useful, i. 522.\n\n  _Winter._\n    How useful, i. 523.\n\n  _Wisdom._\n    An attribute of God, i. 507.\n    What it is, and wherein it consists, _ib._\n    Distinct from knowledge, i. 508.\n    Essential, which is the same with his essence; and personal,\n          _ib._\n    In what sense God is only wise, i. 509\u2012514.\n    Proved to be in God, i. 515\u2012518.\n    Appears in creation, i. 518\u2012525.\n    In the government of man as rational, i. 525\u2012532;\n      as fallen and sinful, i. 532\u2012544;\n      as restored, i. 544\u2012552.\n    In redemption, i. 552\u2012571.\n    In the condition of the covenant of grace, i. 571\u2012574.\n    In the propagation of the gospel, i. 574\u2012580.\n    Ascribed to Christ, i. 580.\n    Renders God fit to govern the world, and inclines him\n          actually to govern it, i. 580\u2012582.\n    A ground of his patience and immutability in his decrees,\n          i. 582, 583.\n    Makes him a fit object of our trust, i. 583.\n    Infers a day of judgment, i. 583, 584.\n    Calls for a veneration of him, i. 584.\n    A ground of prayer to him, i. 585.\n    Prodigiously contemned, and wherein, i. 585\u2012593.\n    Comfortable to the righteous, i. 593\u2012595.\n    In creation and government should be meditated on, and\n          motives to it, i. 595\u2012598.\n    In redemption to be studied and admired, i. 598\u2012600.\n    To be submitted to in his revelations, precepts,\n          providences, i. 602\u2012605.\n    Not to be censured in any of his ways, i. 605, 606.\n\n  _Wisdom._\n    No man should be proud of, or trust in, i. 600, 601.\n    Should be sought from God, i. 601, 602.\n\n  _World._\n    Was not, and could not be from eternity, i. 44\u201246.\n    Could not make itself, i. 47\u201249.\n    No creature could make it, i. 49, 50.\n    Its harmony, i. 52\u201260.\n    Greedily pursued by men, i. 143, 144.\n    Inordinate desires after it a great hindrance to spiritual\n          worship, i. 273.\n    Our love and confidence not to be placed in it, i. 304,\n          315, 316.\n    Shall not be annihilated, but refined, i. 311\u2012314.\n    See _Creatures_.\n    We should be sensible of the inconstancy of all things in\n          it, i. 356, 357;\n      our thoughts should not dwell much on them, i. 357;\n      we should not trust or rejoice in them, i. 357, 358.\n    Not to be preferred before God, i. 358, 359.\n    Made in the best manner, ii. 24, 25.\n    Made and richly furnished for man, ii. 249\u2012251.\n    A sense of God\u2019s goodness would lift us up above it, ii. 351.\n\n  _Worship_ of God.\n    A folly to neglect it, i. 87, 88.\n    If not according to his rule, no better than a worshipping\n          the devil, i. 118, 119.\n    Men prone to corrupt it with their own rites and inventions,\n          i. 133, 134.\n    Spiritual, men naturally have no heart to, i. 160.\n    Cannot be right without a true notion of God, i. 198.\n    Should be spiritual, and spiritually performed, i. 205, 206.\n    God\u2019s spirituality the rule, though his attributes be the\n          foundation of it, i. 206\u2012208; ii. 88\u201290.\n    Spiritual, to be due to him, manifest by the light of\n          nature, though not the outward means and matter of an\n          acceptable worship discoverable by it, i. 208\u2012211.\n    Spiritual, owned to be due to God by heathens, i. 209, 210.\n    Always required by God, i. 211, 212.\n    Men as much obliged to it as to worship him at all,\n          i. 212, 213.\n    Ceremonial law abolished to promote it, i. 213\u2012219.\n    Legal ceremonies did not promote, but rather hinder it,\n          i. 214\u2012216.\n    By them God was never well\u2011pleased with, nor intended it\n          should be durable, i. 216\u2012219.\n    Under the gospel it is more spiritual than under the law,\n          i. 219.\n    Yet doth not exclude bodily worship, i. 219\u2012222.\n    In societies, due to God, i. 221.\n    Spiritual, what it is, and wherein it consists, i. 222\u2012242.\n    Due to God, proved, i. 242\u2012249.\n    Those reproved that render him none at all, i. 249.\n    A duty incumbent on all, i. 249, 250.\n    Wholly to neglect it a great degree of atheism, i. 250.\n    To a false God, or in a false manner, better than a total\n          neglect of it, i. 250, 251.\n    Outward, not to be rested in, i. 251, 252.\n    We should examine ourselves of the manner of it, and in what\n          particulars, i. 252\u2012256.\n    Spiritual, it is a comfort that God requires it, i. 256.\n    Not to give it to God, is to affront all his attributes,\n          i. 263\u2012271, 481.\n    To give it him, and not that of our spirits, is a bad sign,\n          i. 268, 269.\n    Merely carnal, uncomfortable, unacceptable, abominable,\n          i. 269\u2012271.\n    Directions {b540} for spiritual, i. 271\u2012275.\n    Immutability of God, a ground of worship, and encouragement\n          to it, i. 348\u2012350.\n    Bringing human inventions into it an affront to God\u2019s wisdom,\n          i. 587\u2012589.\n    See _Ceremonies_.\n    A strong sense of God\u2019s holiness would make us reverent in\n          it, ii. 194.\n    We should carry it holily in it, ii. 207.\n    Ingenuous, would be promoted by a sense of God\u2019s goodness,\n          ii. 348.\n    Slight and careless, a contempt of God\u2019s sovereignty,\n          ii. 440, 441;\n      and so is omission of it, ii. 441.\n    Thoughts of God\u2019s sovereignty would make us diligent in it,\n          ii. 455, 456.\n\n  _Worship_ of creatures.\n    Is idolatry, i. 194\u2012196.\n    Not countenanced by God\u2019s omnipresence, i. 390, 391.\n\n  _Wrong._\n    God can do none, i. 171; ii. 442, 443.\n\n\n                                  Z.\n\n  _Zeal._\n    Sometimes a base end in it, i. 154.\n\n\n\n\n{b541}                      A TABLE OF THE\n\n              PLACES OF SCRIPTURE EXPLAINED IN THIS BOOK.\n\n\n                               GENESIS.\n\n  Gen. i. 1.\n    i. 519; ii. 36.\n\n  Gen. i. 26.\n    ii. 42.\n\n  Gen. ii. 7.\n    i. 64; ii. 249.\n\n  Gen. ii. 17.\n    ii. 483.\n\n  Gen. iii. 8.\n    ii. 493.\n\n  Gen. iii. 15.\n    ii. 61.\n\n  Gen. iv. 26.\n    i. 221; ii. 489.\n\n  Gen. vi. 6.\n    i. 343.\n\n  Gen. xviii. 19.\n    i. 427.\n\n  Gen. xxii. 12.\n    _ib._\n\n  Gen. xxxii. 30.\n    i. 111.\n\n  Gen. xlvi. 4.\n    i. 310.\n\n  Gen. xlvii. 31.\n    i. 222.\n\n\n                                EXODUS.\n\n  Exod. iii. 11.\n    i. 482.\n\n  Exod. iii. 14.\n    i. 287.\n\n  Exod. iv. 24.\n    ii. 490.\n\n  Exod. vi. 3.\n    ii. 36.\n\n  Exod. ix. 16.\n    ii. 55.\n\n  Exod. xv. 11.\n    ii. 108.\n\n  Exod. xxxii. 10.\n    ii. 241.\n\n  Exod. xxxiii. 19.\n    ii. 219.\n\n  Exod. xxxiv. 9.\n    ii. 497.\n\n\n                               NUMBERS.\n\n  Numb. xiv. 14.\n    i. 190.\n\n\n                             DEUTERONOMY.\n\n  Deut. xxxii. 33, 34.\n    i. 445.\n\n  Deut. xxxiv. 10.\n    i. 185.\n\n\n                               1 KINGS.\n\n  1Ki. viii. 27.\n    i. 375.\n\n  1Ki. viii. 39.\n    i. 467.\n\n\n                               2 KINGS.\n\n  2Ki. xx. 3.\n    i. 112.\n\n  2Ki. xx. 1, 4, 5.\n    i. 342, 344.\n\n\n                             2 CHRONICLES.\n\n  2Chr. xi. 15.\n    i. 118.\n\n\n                                 JOB.\n\n  Job iv. 18.\n    ii. 117.\n\n  Job ix. 21.\n    i. 473.\n\n  Job xii. 18.\n    ii. 415.\n\n  Job xiv. 5.\n    i. 435.\n\n  Job xiv. 17.\n    i. 420.\n\n  Job xvi. 19.\n    i. 486.\n\n  Job xxii. 14.\n    ii. 383.\n\n  Job xxiv. 12.\n    ii. 478.\n\n  Job xxvi. 5\u201214.\n    ii. 5\u201210.\n\n  Job xxxi. 26\u201228.\n    i. 146.\n\n  Job xxxiv. 21.\n    i. 423.\n\n  Job xxxviii. 7.\n    ii. 258.\n\n\n                                PSALMS.\n\n  Psal. i. 4.\n    i. 353.\n\n  Psal. ii. 4.\n    i. 385.\n\n  Psal. viii. 4.\n    ii. 520.\n\n  Psal. x. 11, 13.\n    i. 23.\n\n  Psal. xiv. 1.\n    _ib._\n\n  Psal. xvi. 2.\n    ii. 423.\n\n  Psal. xix. 1\u20124.\n    ii. 500.\n\n  Psal. xix. 4.\n    i. 520.\n\n  Psal. xix. 9.\n    ii. 130.\n\n  Psal. xix. 12.\n    i. 427.\n\n  Psal. xxii. 2\u20124.\n    ii. 198.\n\n  Psal. xxvi. 8.\n    i. 386.\n\n  Psal. xxvii. 4.\n    ii. 113.\n\n  Psal. xxvii. 10.\n    i. 400.\n\n  Psal. xxix. 10.\n    ii. 393.\n\n  Psal. xxxii. 1, 2.\n    i. 480.\n\n  Psal. l. 21.\n    ii. 478, 480.\n\n  Psal. l. 23.\n    i. 480.\n\n  Psal. li. 4.\n    i. 449.\n\n  Psal. li. 6.\n    i. 566.\n\n  Psal. lviii. 3.\n    i. 90.\n\n  Psal. lviii. 4.\n    i. 91.\n\n  Psal. lviii. 10.\n    ii. 242.\n\n  Psal. lxii. 11.\n    ii. 10.\n\n  Psal. lxix. 19.\n    i. 483.\n\n  Psal. lxxiv. 14.\n    i. 594.\n\n  Psal. lxxvi. 12.\n    ii. 452.\n\n  Psal. lxxviii. 36.\n    i. 481.\n\n  Psal. lxxviii. 38.\n    ii. 494.\n\n  Psal. xc. 1.\n    i. 276.\n\n  {b542} Psal. xc. 2.\n    i. 277, 278.\n\n  Psal. xc. 8.\n    i. 470.\n\n  Psal. cii. 25\u201227.\n    i. 310\u2012314.\n\n  Psal. cii. 3\u20128.\n    i. 347, 348.\n\n  Psal. ciii. 5.\n    ii. 358.\n\n  Psal. ciii. 14.\n    i. 489.\n\n  Psal. ciii. 19.\n    ii. 358, 359.\n\n  Psal. civ. 2.\n    i. 42.\n\n  Psal. civ. 31.\n    i. 315.\n\n  Psal. cv. 25.\n    ii. 163.\n\n  Psal. cvi. 19.\n    i. 195.\n\n  Psal. cxi. 20.\n    i. 41.\n\n  Psal. cxiii. 5.\n    i. 385.\n\n  Psal. cxxx. 4.\n    i. 206.\n\n  Psal. cxxxix. 2.\n    i. 445.\n\n  Psal. cxxxix. 7\u20129.\n    i. 372.\n\n  Psal. cxxxix. 15, 16.\n    i. 64.\n\n  Psal. cxxxix. 16.\n    i. 435.\n\n  Psal. cxxxix. 23, 24.\n    i. 490.\n\n  Psal. cxlv. 17.\n    ii. 218.\n\n  Psal. cxlvii. 1\u20123.\n    i. 406, 407.\n\n  Psal. cxlvii. 4.\n    i. 407; ii. 382.\n\n  Psal. cxlvii. 5.\n    i. 408.\n\n\n                               PROVERBS.\n\n  Prov. viii. 12.\n    i. 518.\n\n  Prov. viii. 22.\n    i. 294; ii. 423.\n\n  Prov. viii. 30.\n    i. 415.\n\n  Prov. ix. 10.\n    i. 41.\n\n  Prov. xv. 11.\n    i. 425.\n\n  Prov. xvi. 4.\n    ii. 155.\n\n\n                             ECCLESIASTES.\n\n  Eccl. viii. 11.\n    i. 90.\n\n\n                                ISAIAH.\n\n  Isa. i. 10, 11, 14.\n    i. 217.\n\n  Isa. iv. 2.\n    ii. 60.\n\n  Isa. ix. 6.\n    i. 465.\n\n  Isa. xxix. 15.\n    i. 483.\n\n  Isa. xxxiv. 4.\n    i. 312.\n\n  Isa. xxxviii. 1, 5.\n    i. 342.\n\n  Isa. xl. 15, 17.\n    i. 379.\n\n  Isa. xli. 21, 22.\n    i. 431.\n\n  Isa. xliii. 20, 21.\n    i. 115.\n\n  Isa. xlv. 5.\n    ii. 416.\n\n  Isa. xlv. 11.\n    ii. 449.\n\n  Isa. xlviii. 10.\n    ii. 310.\n\n  Isa. lii. 4, 5.\n    _ib._\n\n  Isa. liv. 16.\n    i. 518.\n\n  Isa. lxvi. 1.\n    i. 377.\n\n\n                               JEREMIAH.\n\n  Jer. vi. 21.\n    ii. 162.\n\n  Jer. vii. 21.\n    i. 217.\n\n  Jer. xii. 9.\n    i. 352.\n\n  Jer. xv. 15.\n    ii. 474.\n\n  Jer. xvi. 17.\n    i. 427.\n\n  Jer. xxi. 35, 36.\n    i. 313.\n\n  Jer. xxiii. 16\u201224.\n    i. 363\u2012366.\n\n  Jer. xxxii. 31.\n    ii. 488.\n\n\n                             LAMENTATIONS.\n\n  Lam. ii. 33.\n    ii. 492.\n\n\n                               EZEKIEL.\n\n  Ezek. iv. 6.\n    ii. 492.\n\n  Ezek. viii. 2.\n    ii. 114.\n\n  Ezek. ix. 10.\n    ii. 493.\n\n  Ezek. xi. 16.\n    ii. 310.\n\n  Ezek. xviii. 25.\n    ii. 475.\n\n  Ezek. xx. 33.\n    ii. 452.\n\n\n                                DANIEL.\n\n  Dan. vii. 9.\n    i. 197.\n\n\n                                HOSEA.\n\n  Hos. i. 5.\n    ii. 510.\n\n  Hos. ii. 2, 3.\n    ii. 494, 507.\n\n  Hos. ii. 16.\n    i. 230.\n\n  Hos. ii. 19.\n    ii. 449.\n\n  Hos. v. 5.\n    ii. 134.\n\n  Hos. v. 12.\n    ii. 494.\n\n  Hos. vi. 4.\n    _ib._\n\n  Hos. vi. 7.\n    ii. 427.\n\n  Hos. vii. 3.\n    i. 121.\n\n  Hos. vii. 15.\n    ii. 324.\n\n  Hos. viii. 12.\n    i. 100.\n\n  Hos. x. 15.\n    i. 194.\n\n  Hos. xi. 10.\n    i. 236.\n\n  Hos. xi. 8.\n    ii. 493.\n\n  Hos. xiii. 12, 13.\n    i. 494; ii. 503, 523.\n\n  Hos. xiv. 2.\n    i. 233.\n\n\n                                 JOEL.\n\n  Joel i. 4.\n    ii. 494.\n\n\n                                 AMOS.\n\n  Amos ii. 6.\n    i. 145, 146.\n\n  Amos iii. 2.\n    i. 418.\n\n\n                                JONAH.\n\n  Jon. iii. 4, 10.\n    i. 342.\n\n\n                                MICAH.\n\n  Mic. v. 2.\n    i. 294.\n\n\n                                NAHUM.\n\n  Nah. i. 1, 2.\n    ii. 472, 473.\n\n  Nah. i. 3.\n    ii. 473\u2012477.\n\n\n                               HABAKKUK.\n\n  Hab. i. 16.\n    i. 144.\n\n\n                              ZEPHANIAH.\n\n  Zeph. ii. 1, 2.\n    ii. 489.\n\n\n                              ZECHARIAH.\n\n  Zech. vi. 1.\n    i. 325.\n\n  Zech. viii. 3.\n    i. 386.\n\n  Zech. xiv. 16.\n    i. 234.\n\n\n                               MALACHI.\n\n  Mal. i. 31, 14.\n    i. 113.\n\n  Mal. iii. 5.\n    i. 471.\n\n  Mal. iii. 6.\n    ii. 497.\n\n\n{b543}                         MATTHEW.\n\n  Matt. i. 18.\n    ii. 60.\n\n  Matt. iii. 9.\n    ii. 13.\n\n  Matt. v. 48.\n    ii. 478, 523.\n\n  Matt. vii. 11.\n    ii. 188.\n\n  Matt. vii. 23.\n    i. 413.\n\n  Matt. xv. 6.\n    i. 110.\n\n  Matt. xviii. 10.\n    i. 414.\n\n  Matt. xxv. 12.\n    i. 413.\n\n\n                                 MARK.\n\n  Mark x. 18.\n    ii. 209\u2012211.\n\n\n                                 LUKE.\n\n  Luke i. 35.\n    ii. 59.\n\n  Luke x. 20.\n    i. 355.\n\n\n                                 JOHN.\n\n  John i. 3.\n    ii. 83.\n\n  John iv. 10\u201224.\n    i. 176\u2012178.\n\n  John iv. 24.\n    i. 177\u2012179, 205.\n\n  John v. 19.\n    ii. 81.\n\n  John vi. 64.\n    i. 468.\n\n  John vii. 37.\n    i. 234.\n\n  John ix. 3.\n    ii. 376.\n\n  John x. 30.\n    i. 393.\n\n  John xii. 38.\n    i. 449.\n\n  John xii. 39, 41.\n    ii. 186.\n\n  John xvii. 5.\n    i. 293, 340.\n\n\n                                 ACTS.\n\n  Acts vii. 51.\n    i. 103.\n\n  Acts xvii. 18.\n    ii. 66.\n\n  Acts xvii. 28.\n    i. 367, 373.\n\n  Acts xvii. 30.\n    ii. 487.\n\n\n                                ROMANS.\n\n  Rom. i. 9.\n    i. 225.\n\n  Rom. i. 19\u201221.\n    i. 27, 28, 42, 519; ii. 216.\n\n  Rom. i. 23.\n    i. 386.\n\n  Rom. i. 25.\n    i. 80.\n\n  Rom. ii. 4.\n    ii. 502.\n\n  Rom. iii. 9\u201212.\n    i. 90.\n\n  Rom. iii. 23.\n    ii. 180.\n\n  Rom. v. 7.\n    ii. 219.\n\n  Rom. vii. 6.\n    i. 214.\n\n  Rom. vii. 8.\n    i. 102.\n\n  Rom. viii. 4.\n    i. 566.\n\n  Rom. viii. 10.\n    ii. 484.\n\n  Rom. viii. 21.\n    i. 313.\n\n  Rom. viii. 38, 39.\n    i. 509.\n\n  Rom. ix. 38, 39.\n    i. 395.\n\n  Rom. ix. 6.\n    i. 214.\n\n  Rom. ix. 22.\n    ii. 482, 507.\n\n  Rom. x. 18.\n    ii. 501.\n\n  Rom. xii. 1.\n    ii. 220.\n\n  Rom. xv. 5.\n    ii. 515.\n\n  Rom. xvi. 25\u201227.\n    i. 498\u2012507.\n\n\n                            1 CORINTHIANS.\n\n  1Cor. i 21.\n    i. 518.\n\n  1Cor. ii. 2.\n    i. 427.\n\n  1Cor. ii. 10, 11.\n    i. 414.\n\n  1Cor. x. 20, 21.\n    i. 118.\n\n\n                            2 CORINTHIANS.\n\n  2Cor. iii. 18.\n    i. 552.\n\n\n                              GALATIANS.\n\n  Gal. iii. 3.\n    i. 214.\n\n\n                              EPHESIANS.\n\n  Eph. i. 10.\n    ii. 262.\n\n  Eph. i. 18.\n    i. 554.\n\n  Eph. ii. 3.\n    i. 166.\n\n  Eph. ii. 12.\n    i. 89, 158.\n\n  Eph. iii. 10.\n    i. 553.\n\n  Eph. iv. 6.\n    i. 370.\n\n\n                             PHILIPPIANS.\n\n  Phil. ii. 6.\n    i. 122.\n\n\n                              COLOSSIANS.\n\n  Col. i. 16.\n    ii. 82.\n\n  Col. i. 20.\n    ii. 262.\n\n  Col. ii. 3.\n    i. 580.\n\n\n                              2 TIMOTHY.\n\n  2Tim. i. 10.\n    ii. 277.\n\n  2Tim. ii. 19.\n    i. 355.\n\n\n                                TITUS.\n\n  Tit. i. 16.\n    i. 25, 92.\n\n\n                               HEBREWS.\n\n  Heb. i. 1, 2, 10, 11.\n    i. 347; ii. 82.\n\n  Heb. i. 9.\n    ii. 136.\n\n  Heb. iv. 12.\n    i. 424.\n\n  Heb. xi. 3.\n    i. 44; ii. 104.\n\n  Heb. xi. 6.\n    i. 27.\n\n  Heb. xi. 16.\n    ii. 277.\n\n  Heb. xi. 21.\n    i. 222.\n\n\n                                JAMES.\n\n  Jam. ii. 10, 11.\n    i. 108.\n\n  Jam. iii. 15.\n    i. 91.\n\n\n                               2 PETER.\n\n  2Pet. ii. 1.\n    ii. 482.\n\n  2Pet. ii. 5.\n    ii. 489.\n\n  2Pet. iii. 9.\n    ii. 488.\n\n  2Pet. iii. 12, 13.\n    i. 312.\n\n\n                              REVELATION.\n\n  Rev. i. 10.\n    i. 270.\n\n  Rev. ii. 18, 19, 22.\n    ii. 484.\n\n  Rev. vi. 10.\n    i. 497.\n\n  Rev. vi. 14.\n    i. 312.\n\n\n\n\n                                FOOTNOTES.\n\n\n     1 \u2013 The Society which met in Crosby Hall has been represented\n         as a _congregational church_; but Wilson, in his History\n         of Dissenting Churches, repeatedly speaks of it as\n         _Presbyterian_.\u2015\u2015_Vide_ v. i. p. 330.\n\n     2 \u2013 Robert Hall.\n\n     3 \u2013 Toplady.\n\n     4 \u2013 Mr. J. Wickens, and Mr. Ashton.\n\n     5 \u2013 Treatise of Providence and of Thoughts.\n\n     6 \u2013 Isaiah xl. 7. \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc \u05e6\u05d9\u05e5 \u201cthe flower fadeth.\u201d Isaiah xxviii. 1.\n\n     7 \u2013 Mais \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc and \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d7\u05db\u05dd put together. Deut. xxxii. 6. \u201cO foolish\n         people and unwise.\u201d\n\n     8 \u2013 \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd \u201cNo God.\u201d Muis.\n\n     9 \u2013 Cocceius.\n\n    10 \u2013 Not owning him as the Egyptians called, \u03b8\u03b5\u03bf\u03bd \u03b5\u03b3\u03ba\u03bf\u03c3\u03bc\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd.\n         Eugubin in cloc.\n\n    11 \u2013 Atheism absolute is not in all men\u2019s judgments, but\n         practical is in all men\u2019s actions. The Apostle in the\n         Romans applying the latter part of it to all mankind, but\n         not the former; as the word translated _corrupt_ signifies.\n\n    12 \u2013 Rom. i. 24.\n\n    13 \u2013 Heb. xi. 6.\n\n    14 \u2013 Coccei Sum. Theol. c. 8. \u00a7 1.\n\n    15 \u2013 Aquin.\n\n    16 \u2013 Heb. xi. 6.\n\n    17 \u2013 Voet. Theol. Natural. cap. 3. \u00a7 1. p. 22.\n\n    18 \u2013 Ibid.\n\n    19 \u2013 Job xxviii. 39, 40, &c. It is but one truth in philosophy\n         and divinity; that which is false in one, cannot be true\n         in another; truth, in what appearance soever, doth never\n         contradict itself.\n\n    20 \u2013 Isaiah xliv. 17.\n\n    21 \u2013 Charron de la Sagesse, Liv. i. ch. 7. p. 43, 44.\n\n    22 \u2013 Gassend. Phys. \u00a7 1, lib. iv. c. 2. p. 291.\n\n    23 \u2013 Amyrant des Religion, p. 50.\n\n    24 \u2013 Gassend. Phys. \u00a7 1, lib. iv. c. 2. p. 291.\n\n    25 \u2013 Gassend. Phys. \u00a7 1, lib. iv. c. 7. p. 282.\n\n    26 \u2013 Gassend. ibid. p. 290.\n\n    27 \u2013 Cicero.\n\n    28 \u2013 Gen. iii. 5.\n\n    29 \u2013 Gen. iii. 9.\n\n    30 \u2013 Pink. Eph. 6, p. 10, 11.\n\n    31 \u2013 King on Jonah, p. 16.\n\n    32 \u2013 Amyrant des Relgious, p 6\u20129.\n\n    33 \u2013 Charleton.\n\n    34 \u2013 Gen. x. 9. \u201cNimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord.\u201d\n\n    35 \u2013 Or if we understand it as some think, that he defended\n         his invasions under a pretext of the preserving religion,\n         it assures us that there was a notion of an object of\n         religion before, since no religion can be without an\n         object of worship.\n\n    36 \u2013 Fotherby de Theomastix, p. 64.\n\n    37 \u2013 And there is not a Richlieu but leaves his axioms to a\n         Mazarine.\n\n    38 \u2013 \u0395\u03c1\u03c9\u03c2.\n\n    39 \u2013 Gassend. Phys. \u00a7 1. lib. iv. c. 2. p. 291, 292.\n\n    40 \u2013 Prov. ix. 10. Psalm. cxi. 10.\n\n    41 \u2013 Rom. i. 19.\n\n    42 \u2013 Jupiter est quodcunque vides, &c.\n\n    43 \u2013 Psalm viii. 1.\n\n    44 \u2013 Banes in Aquin. Par. 2. Qu. 2. Artic. 2. p. 78. col. 2.\n\n    45 \u2013 Psalm civ. 2.\n\n    46 \u2013 \u201cFor their voice goeth to the end of the earth,\u201d Psalm\n         xix. 1, 2.\n\n    47 \u2013 Job xxxi. 26, 27.\n\n    48 \u2013 Philo. ex Petav. Theolo. Dog. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 1, p. 4,\n         somewhat changed.\n\n    49 \u2013 Rom. i. 20.\n\n    50 \u2013 Gen. i. \u201cBy faith we understand that the worlds were\n         framed by the word of God,\u201d &c. Heb. xi. 3.\n\n    51 \u2013 Daille 20. Serm. Psalm cii. 26. p. 13, 14.\n\n    52 \u2013 Daille, ut supra.\n\n    53 \u2013 Petar. Theo. Dogmat. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 2. p. 15.\n\n    54 \u2013 Wolseley, on Atheism, p. 47.\n\n    55 \u2013 Petav. ut supra, p. 10.\n\n    56 \u2013 Damason.\n\n    57 \u2013 Petav. Theo. Dog. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 2. p. 14.\n\n    58 \u2013 Gen. ii. 17. Psalm xlix. 8.\n\n    59 \u2013 Therefore the heathens called God \u03c4\u1f78 \u1f44\u03bd, the only Being.\n         Other things were not beings, because they had not all\n         degrees of being.\n\n    60 \u2013 Job xxxviii. 11.\n\n    61 \u2013 Isaiah xxxviii. 12.\n\n    62 \u2013 Job. vii. 6\u20129.\n\n    63 \u2013 Isaiah xlv. 6, 7. Deut. iv. 35.\n\n    64 \u2013 Psalm cxxxix. 16.\n\n    65 \u2013 Coccei sum. Theol. c. 8. \u00a7 33, &c.\n\n    66 \u2013 Petav. Theol. Dog. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 2. p. 10, 11.\n\n    67 \u2013 Philo. Jud\u00e6. Petav. Theo. Dog. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 1. p. 9.\n\n    68 \u2013 Athanasius Petav. Theol. Dog. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 1. p. 4, 5.\n\n    69 \u2013 Gassend. Physic \u00a7 1. lib. iv. c. 2. p. 315.\n\n    70 \u2013 Lessius.\n\n    71 \u2013 Ps. viii. 3.\n\n    72 \u2013 Job xxxviii. 25, 27.\n\n    73 \u2013 Job xxxviii. 28.\n\n    74 \u2013 Job xxxviii. 37, 38.\n\n    75 \u2013 Psalm civ. 6, 9.\n\n    76 \u2013 Job xxxviii. 8, 9, 11.\n\n    77 \u2013 Amirald. de Trinitate, pp. 13, 18.\n\n    78 \u2013 Jer. x. 13.\n\n    79 \u2013 Morn. de Verit. c. 1. p. 7.\n\n    80 \u2013 Amirant.\n\n    81 \u2013 Coccei. sum. Theol. c. 8. \u00a7 77.\n\n    82 \u2013 Petav. ex Athanas. Theol. Dog. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 1. \u00a7 4.\n\n    83 \u2013 Whether it be the sun or the earth that moves, it is all\n         one. Whence have either of them this constant and uniform\n         motion?\n\n    84 \u2013 Josh. x. 13\n\n    85 \u2013 Matt. v. 45.\n\n    86 \u2013 Psalm civ. 5.\n\n    87 \u2013 Job xxxviii. 33.\n\n    88 \u2013 Jer. xxxiii. 20.\n\n    89 \u2013 Amirald. de Trinitate, p. 21.\n\n    90 \u2013 Gen. i. 31.\n\n    91 \u2013 Lactant.\n\n    92 \u2013 Coccei. sum. Theol. c. 8. \u00a7 63, 64.\n\n    93 \u2013 Matt. vi. 28.\n\n    94 \u2013 Coccei. sum. Theolog. c. 8. \u00a7 67, &c.\n\n    95 \u2013 Peirson on the Creed, p. 35.\n\n    96 \u2013 Gen. xxxvii.\n\n    97 \u2013 Lessius de Providen. lib. i. p. 652.\n\n    98 \u2013 Job xxxvii. 12.\n\n    99 \u2013 Gassend. Phys. \u00a7 6. lib. iv. c. 2. p. 101.\n\n   100 \u2013 Psalm xxxvi. 6.\n\n   101 \u2013 Gen. ii. 7.\n\n   102 \u2013 Lib. iii. de Usu. Partium. Petav. Theol. Dog. Tom. I.\n         lib. i. c. 1. p. 6.\n\n   103 \u2013 Job xxvi. 7.\n\n   104 \u2013 Theod. de Providen. Orat. 3.\n\n   105 \u2013 Eccles. xii. 4.\n\n   106 \u2013 Coccei. sum. Theol. c. 8. \u00a7 49.\n\n   107 \u2013 Ibid. c. 8. \u00a7 50, 51.\n\n   108 \u2013 More.\n\n   109 \u2013 Culverwell.\n\n   110 \u2013 Theodoret.\n\n   111 \u2013 Coccei. sum. Theolog. c. 8. \u00a7 51, 52.\n\n   112 \u2013 I do not dispute whether the soul were generated or no.\n         Suppose the substance of it was generated by the parents,\n         yet those more excellent qualities were not the result of\n         them.\n\n   113 \u2013 Deut. xxix. 19.\n\n   114 \u2013 Heb. xi. 6.\n\n   115 \u2013 Lib. xix. Antiq. Acts xii. 21\u201223.\n\n   116 \u2013 Lessius de Provid. p. 665.\n\n   117 \u2013 Psalm cxi. 10.\n\n   118 \u2013 Lessius de Provid. p. 664.\n\n   119 \u2013 Lessius de Provid. p. 665.\n\n   120 \u2013 Psalm xix. 5.\n\n   121 \u2013 Job xviii. 7, 8, &c. to the end.\n\n   122 \u2013 Ver. 24.\n\n   123 \u2013 As Justin informs us.\n\n   124 \u2013 James ii. 19.\n\n   125 \u2013 Psalm xciv. 6, 7.\n\n   126 \u2013 Heb. xi. 27.\n\n   127 \u2013 Heb. vi. 10.\n\n   128 \u2013 Heb. xi. 6.\n\n   129 \u2013 Mal. i. 13, 14.\n\n   130 \u2013 Maimon. Funda. Legis. cap. 1.\n\n   131 \u2013 Psalm civ. 24.\n\n   132 \u2013 1 Pet. iv. 19.\n\n   133 \u2013 Acts xvii. 24.\n\n   134 \u2013 Psalm viii. 9.\n\n   135 \u2013 Psalm xxxiv. 8.\n\n   136 \u2013 Eccl. xii. 13.\n\n   137 \u2013 Heb.\n\n   138 \u2013 Rom. i. 21.\n\n   139 \u2013 Prov. iv. 23.\n\n   140 \u2013 Job i. 5.\n\n   141 \u2013 So the Chaldee reads \u05dc\u05d9\u05ea \u05e9\u05d5\u05dc\u05d8\u05e0\u05d0 _Non potestas_, denying the\n         authority of God in the world.\n\n   142 \u2013 Augustin de Civit. Dei.\n\n   143 \u2013 Rom. iii. 9\u201212.\n\n   144 \u2013 Coccei.\n\n   145 \u2013 James iii. 15.\n\n   146 \u2013 Psalm lviii. 4.\n\n   147 \u2013 Illyric.\n\n   148 \u2013 Tit. iii. 3.\n\n   149 \u2013 Gen. xx. 11.\n\n   150 \u2013 Job i. 5.\n\n   151 \u2013 Jer. xxxii. 33.\n\n   152 \u2013 Deut. xxxii. 15.\n\n   153 \u2013 Numb. xv. 30. Ezek. xx. 27.\n\n   154 \u2013 Psalm xciv. 12.\n\n   155 \u2013 Job xxi. 14.\n\n   156 \u2013 Psalm 1. 17.\n\n   157 \u2013 Heb. v. 11, 12.\n\n   158 \u2013 Jer. iv. 22.\n\n   159 \u2013 Hosea viii. 12.\n\n   160 \u2013 Prov. xvii. 16.\n\n   161 \u2013 Rom. i. 21.\n\n   162 \u2013 Mark ix. 33, 38.\n\n   163 \u2013 Psalm civ. 34.\n\n   164 \u2013 Thes. Salmur. De Spiritu. Servitutis Thes. xix.\n\n   165 \u2013 Acts xix. 24, 28, 29.\n\n   166 \u2013 1 Thess. ii. 13.\n\n   167 \u2013 James ii. 2.\n\n   168 \u2013 Gen xlix. 4. James i. 8.\n\n   169 \u2013 John v. 35.\n\n   170 \u2013 2 Peter iii. 16.\n\n   171 \u2013 Psalm xciv. 1.\n\n   172 \u2013 Matt. iv. 4\u20126.\n\n   173 \u2013 Psalm 1. 17.\n\n   174 \u2013 2 Sam. xii. 9, 10.\n\n   175 \u2013 Claud.\n\n   176 \u2013 Rom. xiii. 10.\n\n   177 \u2013 Jer. ii. 24.\n\n   178 \u2013 Heb. xii. 20.\n\n   179 \u2013 Ver. 25.\n\n   180 \u2013 Ver. 28.\n\n   181 \u2013 Num. xxi. 4, 5, and Daill\u00e9, Serm. 1 Cor. x. Ser. 9,\n         pp. 234, 235, 40.\n\n   182 \u2013 Ps. cxix. 126.\n\n   183 \u2013 Psalm l, 6, 17, 19.\n\n   184 \u2013 Micah vii. 3.\n\n   185 \u2013 Job xv. 16.\n\n   186 \u2013 1 Sam. xv. 3, 9, 15, 21.\n\n   187 \u2013 Mal. i. 13, 14.\n\n   188 \u2013 Mal. i. 14.\n\n   189 \u2013 1 Sam. v. 4.\n\n   190 \u2013 Amos viii. 5.\n\n   191 \u2013 Psalm cxxiii. 2.\n\n   192 \u2013 Reyn.\n\n   193 \u2013 Amos iv. 6\u201211.\n\n   194 \u2013 2 Tim. iii. 4.\n\n   195 \u2013 1 Cor. x. 20, 21.\n\n   196 \u2013 2 Chron. xi. 15.\n\n   197 \u2013 John xvi. 2.\n\n   198 \u2013 Rom. xii. 1, 2.\n\n   199 \u2013 Hos. v. 11.\n\n   200 \u2013 Hos. vii. 3.\n\n   201 \u2013 Dan. vi.\n\n   202 \u2013 Dr. Jackson.\n\n   203 \u2013 Eph. ii. 3.\n\n   204 \u2013 Prov. iii. 5.\n\n   205 \u2013 Eccl. xi. 9.\n\n   206 \u2013 Rom. i. 28.\n\n   207 \u2013 Job xxiv. 13.\n\n   208 \u2013 1 Thess. ii. 13.\n\n   209 \u2013 Rom. vii. 8, 9.\n\n   210 \u2013 Matt. xxiii. 14: \u201cYou devour widows\u2019 houses, and for a\n         pretence make long prayers.\u201d\n\n   211 \u2013 Gerrard _in loc._\n\n   212 \u2013 Eccles. ix. 1.\n\n   213 \u2013 Job xxii. 28.\n\n   214 \u2013 Decay of Christian Piety, p. 169, somewhat changed.\n\n   215 \u2013 Job xxi. 22.\n\n   216 \u2013 Isa. xxii. 12, 13.\n\n   217 \u2013 Rom. xi. 34.\n\n   218 \u2013 Mal. ii. 17.\n\n   219 \u2013 Numb. xvi. 41, compared with xvii. 10.\n\n   220 \u2013 C\u0153lum suspiciens vitam, &c. Vita Titi. c. 10.\n\n   221 \u2013 Because wicked men flourish in the world. Solicitor nullos\n         esse putare Deos.\n\n   222 \u2013 Gen. iv. 5.\n\n   223 \u2013 Jonah iv. 2.\n\n   224 \u2013 Luke iv. 6.\n\n   225 \u2013 Job xviii. 4.\n\n   226 \u2013 Prov. vii. 14.\n\n   227 \u2013 2 Sam. xvi. 5.\n\n   228 \u2013 2 Cor. xi. 3.\n\n   229 \u2013 Matt. xiii. 6.\n\n   230 \u2013 Hos. viii. 12.\n\n   231 \u2013 1 Kings xii. 27.\n\n   232 \u2013 1 Kings xi. 7.\n\n   233 \u2013 Amos vii. 10.\n\n   234 \u2013 Mark x. 17, 22.\n\n   235 \u2013 Mark vi. 20, 27.\n\n   236 \u2013 Eph. i. 10.\n\n   237 \u2013 More, Dial. 2. \u00a7 17. p. 274.\n\n   238 \u2013 Rom. vi.\n\n   239 \u2013 1 Cor. v. 15.\n\n   240 \u2013 Psalm xiv. 1.\n\n   241 \u2013 1 Cor. v. 15.\n\n   242 \u2013 Heb. i. 5.\n\n   243 \u2013 John xvii. 4.\n\n   244 \u2013 Luke xviii. 11.\n\n   245 \u2013 Mark xiv. 72.\n\n   246 \u2013 Matt. xxvi. 75. Luke xxii. 62.\n\n   247 \u2013 Sanderson\u2019s Sermons.\n\n   248 \u2013 Acts xii. 22, 23.\n\n   249 \u2013 Mark vi. 18, 19, 28.\n\n   250 \u2013 1 Sam. xv. 21.\n\n   251 \u2013 Sabunde, Tit. 140.\n\n   252 \u2013 Prov. xvi. 4.\n\n   253 \u2013 Rom. i. 23.\n\n   254 \u2013 Psalm x. 4.\n\n   255 \u2013 Jackson, Book I. c. 14, p. 48.\n\n   256 \u2013 Hos. ii. 8.\n\n   257 \u2013 Quod quisque pr\u00e6 c\u00e6teris petit, summum judicat bonum.\n         Boet. lib. iii. p. 24.\n\n   258 \u2013 Job xxxi. 24, 25.\n\n   259 \u2013 Col. iii. 5. Eph. v. 5.\n\n   260 \u2013 Hab. i. 16.\n\n   261 \u2013 Neremberg de Adorat. p. 30.\n\n   262 \u2013 Ezek. viii. 5, 6, 10.\n\n   263 \u2013 Heb. xii. 16.\n\n   264 \u2013 Sabunde, Tit. 200. p. 352.\n\n   265 \u2013 Matt. iv. 9.\n\n   266 \u2013 Pascal, Pens. \u00a7 30, p. 294.\n\n   267 \u2013 Psalm viii. 6.\n\n   268 \u2013 Trap, on Gen. p. 148.\n\n   269 \u2013 Hos. x. 1.\n\n   270 \u2013 Ezek. xxxiii. 31.\n\n   271 \u2013 Jonah iv. 2.\n\n   272 \u2013 Gurnall, Part III. p. 337.\n\n   273 \u2013 Matt. vi. 1.\n\n   274 \u2013 Dei injuri\u00e6 Deo cur\u00e6.\n\n   275 \u2013 Sanderson\u2019s Sermons. Part II. p. 158.\n\n   276 \u2013 Hosea viii. 13. Vid. Cocc. _in locum_.\n\n   277 \u2013 Psalm x. 4.\n\n   278 \u2013 Prov. xxx. 2, 3.\n\n   279 \u2013 Rom. i. 21\u201223.\n\n   280 \u2013 \u0394\u03b5\u03b9\u03c3\u03b9\u03b4\u03b1\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03af\u03b1.\n\n   281 \u2013 1 Sam. vi. 3, 4.\n\n   282 \u2013 Gurnall, Part II. pp. 245, 246.\n\n   283 \u2013 Tertul. cont. Maxim. lib. i. cap. 2.\n\n   284 \u2013 Exod. xxxiv. 30.\n\n   285 \u2013 Isa. xxvi. 8.\n\n   286 \u2013 Job xxii. 17.\n\n   287 \u2013 Job xv. 4.\n\n   288 \u2013 Hos. vii. 10.\n\n   289 \u2013 Hos. xi. 2.\n\n   290 \u2013 Hos. ii. 6, 7.\n\n   291 \u2013 Gen. iii. 15.\n\n   292 \u2013 Psalm cvi. 7.\n\n   293 \u2013 Rom. ii. 4.\n\n   294 \u2013 Eph. ii. 3.\n\n   295 \u2013 John iii. 19, 20.\n\n   296 \u2013 Gen. vi. 5.\n\n   297 \u2013 Job i.\n\n   298 \u2013 Rom. vii. 9\u201212.\n\n   299 \u2013 Job xxxi. 33. \u201cIf I cover my transgressions, as Adam.\u201d\n\n   300 \u2013 2 Cor. x. 5.\n\n   301 \u2013 2 Cor. v. 15.\n\n   302 \u2013 Psalm cx. 3.\n\n   303 \u2013 Eph. iv. 17, 18.\n\n   304 \u2013 Lawson\u2019s Body of Divinity, pp. 153, 154.\n\n   305 \u2013 Psalm cxix. 136.\n\n   306 \u2013 Exod. xxxii. 3,\u2015\u2015\u201cAll the people brake off the golden\n         ear\u2011rings.\u201d\n\n   307 \u2013 Reynolds.\n\n   308 \u2013 Gen. iii. 14.\n\n   309 \u2013 Ezek. xiv. 4.\n\n   310 \u2013 1 John iv. 18.\n\n   311 \u2013 Job i. 4.\n\n   312 \u2013 Amarant. Paraph. sur Jean.\n\n   313 \u2013 Ver. 10; or \u201cliving water.\u201d\n\n   314 \u2013 Ver. 11.\n\n   315 \u2013 Ver. 13, 14.\n\n   316 \u2013 Ver. 15.\n\n   317 \u2013 Ver. 16.\n\n   318 \u2013 Ver. 17.\n\n   319 \u2013 Ver. 18.\n\n   320 \u2013 Ver. 19.\n\n   321 \u2013 Ver. 20.\n\n   322 \u2013 Ver. 21.\n\n   323 \u2013 Ver. 22.\n\n   324 \u2013 Ver. 23.\n\n   325 \u2013 Vulgar Lat. Illyre. Clav.\n\n   326 \u2013 Episcop. Institut. lib. iv. c. 3.\n\n   327 \u2013 Melancthon.\n\n   328 \u2013 Ver. 23.\n\n   329 \u2013 Heb. ix. 10.\n\n   330 \u2013 Terniti.\n\n   331 \u2013 Amirald, _in loc._\n\n   332 \u2013 Amirald, _in loc._\n\n   333 \u2013 Muscul.\n\n   334 \u2013 Chemnit.\n\n   335 \u2013 Muscul.\n\n   336 \u2013 2 Cor. iii. 8; Rom. vii. 6.\n\n   337 \u2013 Episcop. Institut. lib. iv. c. 3.\n\n   338 \u2013 Amirald, _in loc._\n\n   339 \u2013 Suarez. de Deo, vol. i. p. 9, col. 2.\n\n   340 \u2013 Heb. i. 14.\n\n   341 \u2013 Gerhard. \u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03c4\u03c1\u03cc\u03c0\u03c9\u03c2.\n\n   342 \u2013 Gamacheus, Tom. I. Q. 3. c. i. p. 42.\n\n   343 \u2013 Coccei, Sum. Theol. c. 8.\n\n   344 \u2013 Thes. Sedan. Part II. p. 1000.\n\n   345 \u2013 Vossius Idolol. lib. ii. c. 1. Forbes, Instrument. lib. i.\n         c. 36.\n\n   346 \u2013 \u039f\u1f50\u03ba \u1f45\u03c3\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd.\n\n   347 \u2013 Plutarch, incorporalis ratio divinus spiritus. _Seneca_.\n\n   348 \u2013 Rom. i. 23.\n\n   349 \u2013 Calov. Socin. Proflig. pp. 129, 130.\n\n   350 \u2013 Amirald. Sup. Heb. ix. p. 146, &c.\n\n   351 \u2013 Amyrant, Morale. Tom. I. p. 282.\n\n   352 \u2013 Job xxxviii. 36.\n\n   353 \u2013 Daille, in Tim.\n\n   354 \u2013 Rom. i. 20.\n\n   355 \u2013 John v. 37.\n\n   356 \u2013 Goulart. de Dieu, p. 94.\n\n   357 \u2013 1 Kings xxii. 19.\n\n   358 \u2013 Goulart. de Dieu, p. 95, 96.\n\n   359 \u2013 Deut. iv. 39.\n\n   360 \u2013 Jer. xxiii. 24.\n\n   361 \u2013 Job xi. 8.\n\n   362 \u2013 Gamacheus, Theol. Tom. I. Quos 3. c. i.\n\n   363 \u2013 1 John i. 5.\n\n   364 \u2013 Dan. vii. 9.\n\n   365 \u2013 Psalm xi. 4.\n\n   366 \u2013 \u201cLoquitur lex secund. ling. filiorum hominum,\u201d was the\n         Heathen saying.\n\n   367 \u2013 Amirald de Trin. pp. 218, 219.\n\n   368 \u2013 Psalm xxxiv. 15.\n\n   369 \u2013 Isa. li. 9.\n\n   370 \u2013 Episcop. institut. lib iv. \u00a7 3. c. 3.\n\n   371 \u2013 It is Zanchie\u2019s observation, Tom. II. De Natura Dei,\n         lib. i. c. 4. Thes. 9.\n\n   372 \u2013 Amyraut, Morale. Tom. I. pp. 293, 294.\n\n   373 \u2013 Gen. iii. 8.\n\n   374 \u2013 Amirald.\n\n   375 \u2013 Job x. 4. 2 Chron. xxxii. 8.\n\n   376 \u2013 Psalm xxxvi. 7.\n\n   377 \u2013 Hos. xiii. 7, 8.\n\n   378 \u2013 Maimon. More Nevoc. par. 1. c. 27.\n\n   379 \u2013 More\u2019s Conjectura Cabalistica, p. 122.\n\n   380 \u2013 Col. iii. 10.\n\n   381 \u2013 Petav. Theol. Dog. Tom. I. lib. ii. c. 1. p. 104.\n\n   382 \u2013 Gen. i. 26.\n\n   383 \u2013 Iamblic. Protrept. cap. 21. Symb. 24.\n\n   384 \u2013 Austin de Civitat. Dei, lib. iv. cap. 31. out of Varro.\n\n   385 \u2013 Tacitus.\n\n   386 \u2013 Gerhard, _loc._ Comun. Vol. IV. Exegesis de Natura Dei,\n         cap. 8. \u00a7 1.\n\n   387 \u2013 Amyraut. Morale Chr\u00e9tienne, Tom. I. p. 294.\n\n   388 \u2013 Cocceius Sum. Theol. c. 9. p. 47. \u00a7 35.\n\n   389 \u2013 Rom. i. 25.\n\n   390 \u2013 Rom. i. 22.\n\n   391 \u2013 Hos. x. 15.\n\n   392 \u2013 Daill\u00e9, super Cor. i. 10, Ser. III.\n\n   393 \u2013 Gen. xxxi. 30\u201234.\n\n   394 \u2013 Gen. iii. 16, 17.\n\n   395 \u2013 Job xxxi. 26\u201228. Chin. Predict. Part II. p. 252.\n\n   396 \u2013 Lawson, Body Divin. p. 161.\n\n   397 \u2013 Acts xvii. 29.\n\n   398 \u2013 Amyraut. Morale. Tom. I. p.289.\n\n   399 \u2013 Episco. Institut. lib. iv. \u00a7 2. c. 10.\n\n   400 \u2013 Exod. xx. 4.\n\n   401 \u2013 Nazianzen.\n\n   402 \u2013 Amyraut, Morale, Tom. I. p. 180, &c.\n\n   403 \u2013 Lessius.\n\n   404 \u2013 Towerson on the Commandments, p. 112.\n\n   405 \u2013 Heb. i. 13.\n\n   406 \u2013 Isa. xxxi. 3.\n\n   407 \u2013 Eph. i. 3.\n\n   408 \u2013 1 Tim. i. 17.\n\n   409 \u2013 James i. 17.\n\n   410 \u2013 Psalm li. 17.\n\n   411 \u2013 Eph. iv. 23.\n\n   412 \u2013 Psalm xc. 1.\n\n   413 \u2013 Psalm lxiii. 1.\n\n   414 \u2013 Heb. xii. 9.\n\n   415 \u2013 2 Cor. vii. 1.\n\n   416 \u2013 Eph. ii. 2, 3.\n\n   417 \u2013 Lingend. Tom. II. p. 777.\n\n   418 \u2013 Taylor\u2019s Exemplar, Preface, \u00a7 30.\n\n   419 \u2013 Ames Medul. lib. ii. c. 4. \u00a7 20.\n\n   420 \u2013 So 2 Kings xvii. 32, 33.\n\n   421 \u2013 Amirald, Dissert. 6, disp. i. p. 11.\n\n   422 \u2013 Amyraut, de Relig.\n\n   423 \u2013 King, on Jonah, p. 63.\n\n   424 \u2013 Amos v. 26.\n\n   425 \u2013 Menander. Grot. de Veritat Relig. lib. iv. \u00a7 12.\n\n   426 \u2013 Iamblic.\n\n   427 \u2013 Amyraut. Mor. Tom. I. pp. 309, 310.\n\n   428 \u2013 Rom. i. 21.\n\n   429 \u2013 Bias.\n\n   430 \u2013 Amyraut, _ib._\n\n   431 \u2013 Heb. i. 11, 12.\n\n   432 \u2013 Heb. xi. 4.\n\n   433 \u2013 Gen. iv. 5.\n\n   434 \u2013 Eccles. xii. 7.\n\n   435 \u2013 Rom. xii. 1.\n\n   436 \u2013 Heb. ix. 10.\n\n   437 \u2013 Heb. vii. 16.\n\n   438 \u2013 2 Cor. iii 8.\n\n   439 \u2013 Gal. iii. 3.\n\n   440 \u2013 Rom. vii. 14.\n\n   441 \u2013 Rom. vii. 6.\n\n   442 \u2013 1 Cor. x. 18.\n\n   443 \u2013 Rom. ix. 6.\n\n   444 \u2013 1 Cor. x. 3, 4.\n\n   445 \u2013 Gal. iv. 9.\n\n   446 \u2013 Heb. x. 1; ix. 9.\n\n   447 \u2013 Heb. ix. 14.\n\n   448 \u2013 Burges\u2019 Vind. p. 256.\n\n   449 \u2013 Gal. v. 2.\n\n   450 \u2013 Gal. iv. 24.\n\n   451 \u2013 Psalm cxxx. 4.\n\n   452 \u2013 2 Cor. iii. 13, 14.\n\n   453 \u2013 Illyric de Velam. Mosis, p. 221 &c.\n\n   454 \u2013 2 Cor. xi. 3.\n\n   455 \u2013 Exod. xxxii. 1.\n\n   456 \u2013 Isai. i. 10.\n\n   457 \u2013 Isai. lxvi. 3.\n\n   458 \u2013 Heb. vii. 18.\n\n   459 \u2013 Gal. iv. 2.\n\n   460 \u2013 Mal. i. 11.\n\n   461 \u2013 Pascal. Pen. 142.\n\n   462 \u2013 Isai. xliii. 18, 19.\n\n   463 \u2013 Jer. iii. 16.\n\n   464 \u2013 Psalm cx.\n\n   465 \u2013 Hos. iii. 4.\n\n   466 \u2013 Rom. xii. 1.\n\n   467 \u2013 Vide Hammond, _in loc._\n\n   468 \u2013 John i. 17.\n\n   469 \u2013 Rom. xii. 1.\n\n   470 \u2013 Sherman\u2019s Greek in the Temple, pp. 61, 62.\n\n   471 \u2013 Stillingfleet\u2019s Irenicum, c. 1. \u00a7 I. p. 23.\n\n   472 \u2013 Psalm lxxiv. 8.\n\n   473 \u2013 Luke ii. 13.\n\n   474 \u2013 Luke xxii. 41, 42.\n\n   475 \u2013 Matt. xi. 26.\n\n   476 \u2013 John xi. 41; xii. 1.\n\n   477 \u2013 Heb. xi. 21.\n\n   478 \u2013 Gen. xlvii. 31.\n\n   479 \u2013 Gen. xiv. 1, 2.\n\n   480 \u2013 2 Cor. iv. 13.\n\n   481 \u2013 Eph. ii. 10.\n\n   482 \u2013 Col. iii. 4.\n\n   483 \u2013 Gal. ii. 20.\n\n   484 \u2013 Rom. viii. 13.\n\n   485 \u2013 Rom. viii. 11.\n\n   486 \u2013 Rom. viii. 26.\n\n   487 \u2013 Eph. vi. 18.\n\n   488 \u2013 Jude 20.\n\n   489 \u2013 Cant. iv. 16.\n\n   490 \u2013 Prov. xxiii. 26.\n\n   491 \u2013 Moulin. Sermons, Decad. 4. Sermon IV. p. 80.\n\n   492 \u2013 Exod. xxv. 7.\n\n   493 \u2013 Rom. x. 10.\n\n   494 \u2013 Hos. xi. 12.\n\n   495 \u2013 Rev. ii. 9.\n\n   496 \u2013 Psalm lxxxvi. 11.\n\n   497 \u2013 Ezek. xxxiii. 31.\n\n   498 \u2013 Psalm xxxix. 18.\n\n   499 \u2013 Matt. vi. 6.\n\n   500 \u2013 Psalm cxix. 10.\n\n   501 \u2013 \u039f\u1f50 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03c0\u03ac\u03c1\u03b5\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd \u03b4\u03b5\u1fd6 \u03c0\u03bf\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u0398\u03b5\u03cc\u03bd. Iamblic. lib. i.\n         c. 518. p. 87.\n\n   502 \u2013 Rom. xii. 11, \u03b6\u03ad\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2.\n\n   503 \u2013 Luke xxiv. 32.\n\n   504 \u2013 Lady Falkland\u2019s Life, p. 130.\n\n   505 \u2013 Rom. vi. 11.\n\n   506 \u2013 Rev. i. 6.\n\n   507 \u2013 Exod. xiii. 13.\n\n   508 \u2013 Isaiah xix. 1.\n\n   509 \u2013 Col. i. 29.\n\n   510 \u2013 \u1f00\u03b3\u03c9\u03bd\u03b9\u03b6\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n   511 \u2013 Heb. i. 7.\n\n   512 \u2013 1 Tim. v. 6.\n\n   513 \u2013 Psalm cxxvi. 1.\n\n   514 \u2013 Psalm ciii. 1.\n\n   515 \u2013 Cant. iv. 16.\n\n   516 \u2013 Heb. xi. 6.\n\n   517 \u2013 Daille, sur 3 Jean. p. 150.\n\n   518 \u2013 Plutarch, Moral. p. 344.\n\n   519 \u2013 Rev. iv. 10, compared with v.10.\n\n   520 \u2013 Caudam aculeatam vel linguam nigram, Alexand. ab Alex.\n         l. 3. c. 12.\n\n   521 \u2013 Isa. vi. 3. Rev. iv. 8.\n\n   522 \u2013 As the Jewish doctors observe on Lev. i. 9.\n\n   523 \u2013 Psalm cxxxiv. 3. \u201cThe Lord bless thee out of Sion.\u201d\n\n   524 \u2013 Exod. xxix. 13. The inward fat, not the offal.\n\n   525 \u2013 Amyraut, Mor. Tom. II. p. 311.\n\n   526 \u2013 Daille, Melange des Sermons. Ser. ii.\n\n   527 \u2013 \u039c\u1fb6\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u1f78 \u03b4\u03b1\u03b9\u03bc\u03cc\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c6\u03c5\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd \u1f26\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f22 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd\n         \u03b8\u03c5\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd \u03c0\u03bb\u1fc6\u03b8\u03bf\u03c2. Porphyr. de Abstinentia.\n\n   528 \u2013 \u201cNon valet protestatio contra factum,\u201d is a rule in the\n         civil law.\n\n   529 \u2013 Fitzherbert, Pol. in Relig. Part II. c. 19, \u00a7 12.\n\n   530 \u2013 Guliel. Paris. Rhetor. Divin. c. 26, p. 350, col. 1.\n\n   531 \u2013 Reynolds.\n\n   532 \u2013 Coccei _in loc._\n\n   533 \u2013 Austin _in loc._\n\n   534 \u2013 Pareus _in loc._\n\n   535 \u2013 Theodoret _in loc._\n\n   536 \u2013 \u05d0\u05dc, strong.\n\n   537 \u2013 Amyrald, _in loc._\n\n   538 \u2013 \u1f0c\u03bd\u03b1\u03c1\u03c7\u03bf\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f00\u03c4\u03b5\u03bb\u03b5\u03cd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, Theodoret _in loc._\n\n   539 \u2013 Calv. _in loc._\n\n   540 \u2013 Confes. lib. ii. Confes. 14.\n\n   541 \u2013 Moulin. Cod. 1, Ser. 2, p. 52.\n\n   542 \u2013 Gassend.\n\n   543 \u2013 Crellius de Deo, c. 18. p. 41.\n\n   544 \u2013 Lingend. Tom. II. p. 496.\n\n   545 \u2013 \u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd.\n\n   546 \u2013 Coccei Sum. p. 48. Theol. Gerhard Exeges. c. 86. 4. p. 266.\n\n   547 \u2013 Crellius de Deo, c. 18, p. 41.\n\n   548 \u2013 1 Tim. vi. 16. Daille, _in loc._\n\n   549 \u2013 Lessius de Perfect. Divin. lib. iv. c. 1.\n\n   550 \u2013 Gamacheus in Aquin. Part I. Qu. 10. c. 1.\n\n   551 \u2013 Gassend. Tom. I. Physic. \u00a7 1. lib. ii. c. 7. p. 223.\n\n   552 \u2013 Daille, Melange de Sermon, p. 252.\n\n   553 \u2013 Parisiensis.\n\n   554 \u2013 Calov. Socinian.\n\n   555 \u2013 Existentia durans.\n\n   556 \u2013 Gassend.\n\n   557 \u2013 Ps. xc. 4. Amyrald, Trin. p. 44.\n\n   558 \u2013 Daille, Vent. Sermons, Serm. I. sur 102, Ps. 27, p. 21.\n\n   559 \u2013 Crellius weakens this argument, De Deo, c. 18, p. 42.\n\n   560 \u2013 Thes. Salmur. p. 1. p. 145, Thes. 14.\n\n   561 \u2013 Plutarch de \u0395\u1f36, I. p. 392.\n\n   562 \u2013 Perer. in Exo. 3. Disput. 13.\n\n   563 \u2013 Petav. Theol. Dogm. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 6, \u00a7 6, 7.\n\n   564 \u2013 Amyrald, de Trinit. p. 48.\n\n   565 \u2013 Voet. Natural. Theol. p. 310.\n\n   566 \u2013 Rev. i. 8. Ficin. de Immort. lib. ii. c. 5.\n\n   567 \u2013 Coccei Sum. Theol. c. 8.\n\n   568 \u2013 Crellius de Deo, c. 18. p. 43.\n\n   569 \u2013 Petav. Theol. Dogmat. Tom. I. lib. i. c. 10, 11.\n\n   570 \u2013 Bapt.\n\n   571 \u2013 Lessius de Perfect, lib. iv. c. 2.\n\n   572 \u2013 Ibid.\n\n   573 \u2013 Crellius de Deo, c. 18. p. 43.\n\n   574 \u2013 Heb. xiii. 8. Rev. i. 8. \u201cHe which is, and which was, and\n         which is to come.\u201d\n\n   575 \u2013 Mestr\u00e6zat. _in loc._\n\n   576 \u2013 Petav.\n\n   577 \u2013 Job xxxvi. 26, compared with ver. 23.\n\n   578 \u2013 Crellius de Deo, c. 18, p. 44, 45.\n\n   579 \u2013 Charrontrois. Vent. liv. i. c. 5, p. 17, &c.\n\n   580 \u2013 Pareus.\n\n   581 \u2013 Plin. Hist. lib. ii. c. 3.\n\n   582 \u2013 Coccei. _in loc._\n\n   583 \u2013 Septuag.\n\n   584 \u2013 Estius in Heb. i.\n\n   585 \u2013 Hyper. in Heb. 1.\n\n   586 \u2013 Mestr\u00e6zat sur. Heb. i.\n\n   587 \u2013 Mestr\u00e6zat sur. Heb. i.\n\n   588 \u2013 Estius in Heb. i.\n\n   589 \u2013 Chrysostom, \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d4\u05d5\u05d0.\n\n   590 \u2013 \u1f08\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03b9\u03ce\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2 \u03ba\u03c1\u03b5\u03af\u03c4\u03c4\u03c9\u03bd above all change. Theodor.\n\n   591 \u2013 Gamacheus.\n\n   592 \u2013 Amyrant sur Heb. ix. p. 153.\n\n   593 \u2013 Archbold, Serm.\n\n   594 \u2013 Hugo Victorin. in Petavio.\n\n   595 \u2013 _Ibid._\n\n   596 \u2013 Austin. Fulgen in Petavio.\n\n   597 \u2013 Petav. Tom. I. p. 173.\n\n   598 \u2013 Suarez. Vol. I. p. 137.\n\n   599 \u2013 Psalm cxlv. 5. \u201cHis understanding is infinite.\u201d\n\n   600 \u2013 Austin. Bradwardine.\n\n   601 \u2013 Gamch. p. 1. Acquin. Qu. 9. c. i. p. 73.\n\n   602 \u2013 Maxim. Tyrius dissert. 3, 30.\n\n   603 \u2013 Turrentin de Satisfac. p. 266.\n\n   604 \u2013 Gamacheus ut supra.\n\n   605 \u2013 The ancients, as Dionysius, expressed it by this\n         similitude.\n\n   606 \u2013 Plato calls God \u03bf\u1f50\u03c3\u03af\u03b1\u03bd \u1f00\u03b5\u1f76 \u1f10\u03c7\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd, lib. i. de Be.\n\n   607 \u2013 Stabilisque manens dat cuncta moveri. Boet. Consolat.\n         lib. iii.\n\n   608 \u2013 Trap. on Exod.\n\n   609 \u2013 Amyrald, de Trinitat. p. 433.\n\n   610 \u2013 Spanhe. Synta. Part. I. p. 39.\n\n   611 \u2013 Petav. Theol. Dogmat. Tom. I. c. 6. \u00a7 6\u20128.\n\n   612 \u2013 Gamach. in prim. part. Aquin. qu. 9. c. 1. part. 72.\n\n   613 \u2013 Ficinus Zachar. mitylen in Peta. Tom. I. p. 169.\n\n   614 \u2013 Austin in Pet. Tom. I. p. 201.\n\n   615 \u2013 Ps. cxlv. 3, \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d7\u05e7\u05e8 no end, no term.\n\n   616 \u2013 Fotherby Atheomastix, p. 308. Gerhard loc. com.\n\n   617 \u2013 Gamach. in Part I. Aquin. Q. 9. c. i. p. 72.\n\n   618 \u2013 Petav. Theol. Dogmat. Tom. I.\n\n   619 \u2013 Zanch. de Immutab. Dei.\n\n   620 \u2013 Goulart de Immutab. de Dieu.\n\n   621 \u2013 Gamach in Part I. Aquin. Qu. 9. c. i.\n\n   622 \u2013 Mercer _in loc._\n\n   623 \u2013 Petavius Theol. Dogmat.\n\n   624 \u2013 Daille, in Sermon on 2 Pet. iii. 9. p. 30.\n\n   625 \u2013 Rivet in Genes. exercita. 51. p. 213.\n\n   626 \u2013 Sanderson\u2019s Sermon, Part II. p. 157, 158.\n\n   627 \u2013 Placeus de Deitate Christi.\n\n   628 \u2013 Daille, Melang. des Sermons, Part II. \u00a7 1. p. 8\u201210, &c.\n\n   629 \u2013 Sedgwick Christ\u2019s Counsel, p. 230.\n\n   630 \u2013 Lawrence, of Faith, p. 262.\n\n   631 \u2013 Turretin. Ser. p. 322.\n\n   632 \u2013 Cocceius.\n\n   633 \u2013 Munster, Vatablus, Castalio Oecolamp.\n\n   634 \u2013 Tum perspicacia, tum efficacia, Grot.\n\n   635 \u2013 Suarez.\n\n   636 \u2013 Amirald. de Trinitate, p. 57.\n\n   637 \u2013 Seneca de Benefic. lib. 4. c. 8. Ipse opus suum implet.\n\n   638 \u2013 Chrysostom.\n\n   639 \u2013 Hierom. on Isa. lxvi. 1.\n\n   640 \u2013 Hammond on Matt. vi. 7.\n\n   641 \u2013 Med. Diatrib. Vol. I. pp. 71, 72.\n\n   642 \u2013 Dought Analec. excurs. 61, 113.\n\n   643 \u2013 \u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd Grot. upon Matt. v. 16. Mares. contra Volk. lib. i.\n         cap. 27. p. 494.\n\n   644 \u2013 Vide Minut. Fel. p. 20.\n\n   645 \u2013 Plotin. Enead. 6. lib. 5. cap. 4.\n\n   646 \u2013 Zanch.\n\n   647 \u2013 Matt. vii. 22. \u201cIn thy name we have done many wonderful\n         works.\u201d\n\n   648 \u2013 Cajetan in Aquin. Par. i. Qu. 8. Art. 3.\n\n   649 \u2013 Ficin.\n\n   650 \u2013 Maimonid.\n\n   651 \u2013 Ficin.\n\n   652 \u2013 Hornbeck Soun. Part I. p. 303.\n\n   653 \u2013 Amyrald, de Trinit.\n\n   654 \u2013 Ps. civ. 2. John i. 5. \u201cGod is light, and in him is no\n         darkness at all.\u201d\n\n   655 \u2013 Bernard.\n\n   656 \u2013 Petar.\n\n   657 \u2013 Maccor. loc. commun. cap. 19, p. 153.\n\n   658 \u2013 Rivet. Ps. cx. p. 301, col. 2.\n\n   659 \u2013 Amyrald, de Trinitat. p. 89.\n\n   660 \u2013 Deus est actus purus et nullam habet potentiam passivam.\n\n   661 \u2013 Pont.\n\n   662 \u2013 Amyrald, de Trinitat, p. 106, 107.\n\n   663 \u2013 Amyrald, de Trinitat, p. 74, 75.\n\n   664 \u2013 Gassend.\n\n   665 \u2013 Amyrald, de Trinit. pp. 99, 100.\n\n   666 \u2013 Rom. vi. 1, 2, 15. \u201cShall we sin, because we are not\n         under the law but under grace?\u201d\n\n   667 \u2013 Shelford on the Attributes, p. 170.\n\n   668 \u2013 Dr. More.\n\n   669 \u2013 Cyril.\n\n   670 \u2013 \u039a\u03c1\u03c5\u03c6\u03b9\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2, Dionysius called God.\n\n   671 \u2013 Drexel. Nicet. lib. ii. cap. 2.\n\n   672 \u2013 Drexel, Nicet. lib. ii. cap. 10.\n\n   673 \u2013 Quo fugis Encelade quascunque accesseris oras, sub Jove\n         semper eris.\n\n   674 \u2013 Ps. cxxxix. 12. \u201cThe darkness and light are both alike\n         to him.\u201d\n\n   675 \u2013 Chrysostome.\n\n   676 \u2013 Musculus.\n\n   677 \u2013 Drexel.\n\n   678 \u2013 Omnia diis plena.\n\n   679 \u2013 Agamemnon, (Homer II. 3. v. 8.) making a Covenant with\n         Priam, invocates the Sun, \u1f28\u03ad\u03bb\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f43\u03c2 \u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u1fbd \u1f10\u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u1fb7\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76\n         \u03c0\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u1fbd \u1f10\u03c0\u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2.\n\n   680 \u2013 Gamach in 1 Pa. Aqui. Q. 14. cap. 1; p. 119. Clem.\n         Alexander Strom. lib. 6.\n\n   681 \u2013 Suarez de Deo, lib. 3. cap. 4. p. 130.\n\n   682 \u2013 Suarez de Deo, lib. 3. cap. 4. p. 138.\n\n   683 \u2013 Ibid. p. 140.\n\n   684 \u2013 Moulin.\n\n   685 \u2013 Magalaneus.\n\n   686 \u2013 Petar. Theol. Dogm. lib. p. 257.\n\n   687 \u2013 Ficin de Immort. lib. 2. cap. 10.\n\n   688 \u2013 Gamach.\n\n   689 \u2013 Ficin de Immort. lib. 2. cap. 10.\n\n   690 \u2013 Bradward.\n\n   691 \u2013 Daille, Serm. Part 1. p. 230.\n\n   692 \u2013 Fotherby Atheoma, p. 132.\n\n   693 \u2013 \u1f18\u03bd \u0394\u03b9\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b4\u03ad\u03bb\u03c4\u1ff3 Cross. Anthol. Dec. 1. cap. 395. p. 101.\n\n   694 \u2013 Cusan, p. 246.\n\n   695 \u2013 Petavius changed.\n\n   696 \u2013 Bradward, lib. 3 cap. 14.\n\n   697 \u2013 Pacuvius said, Siqui qu\u00e6 eventura sunt provident, \u00e6qui\n         parent, Gell. lib. 14. c. 1.\n\n   698 \u2013 Cusanus.\n\n   699 \u2013 Fuller\u2019s Pisgah, l. 2. p. 281.\n\n   700 \u2013 Chequell.\n\n   701 \u2013 Coccei sum. Theol. p. 50.\n\n   702 \u2013 Ibid.\n\n   703 \u2013 Gamach in Aquin, Part I. Q. 14. cap. 3. p. 124.\n\n   704 \u2013 Maimonid. More Nevoch, Part 3. cap. 21. pp. 393, 394.\n\n   705 \u2013 Gamach. in Aquin. Part I. Q. 14. cap. 3. p. 124.\n\n   706 \u2013 Eph. i. 5. and in other places.\n\n   707 \u2013 Gerhard Exeges, ch. 8. de Deo sect. 13. p. 303.\n\n   708 \u2013 Bradward, lib. 3. cap. 14.\n\n   709 \u2013 Hornbeck.\n\n   710 \u2013 Pugio Fidei, Part I. ch. 19.\n\n   711 \u2013 Boet. consolat lib. 5. pros. 6.\n\n   712 \u2013 Ficinus in Procl. cap. 91.\n\n   713 \u2013 Zanch.\n\n   714 \u2013 Scrivener.\n\n   715 \u2013 The Stoics, that thought their souls to be some particle\n         of God, \u1f08\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c0\u03ac\u03c3\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1, pieces pulled off from him, did\n         conclude from thence that he knew all the motions of\n         their souls as his own mover, as things coherent with\n         him. Arrian Epictet. lib. 1. cap. 14. p. 60.\n\n   716 \u2013 Vid. Rivet. _in loc._ exerci. 86. p. 329.\n\n   717 \u2013 Mare. cont. Volkel. lib. 1. cap. 24. p. 343.\n\n   718 \u2013 Amyrald, de Pr\u00e6destin. cap. 6.\n\n   719 \u2013 Rawley of the World, lib. i. cap. 1, sec. 12.\n\n   720 \u2013 Rivet, in Isa. liii. 1. p. 16.\n\n   721 \u2013 Daille, Melang. Part II. pp. 712, 725.\n\n   722 \u2013 Maxim. Tyrius. Dissert. 1. pp. 9, 10.\n\n   723 \u2013 Maimonides More Nevochim. Part III. c. 20. pp. 291\u2012293.\n\n   724 \u2013 Dionys.\n\n   725 \u2013 Kendall against Goodwin of Foreknowledge.\n\n   726 \u2013 Suarez. Vol. I. de Deo, lib. 3. cap. 2. pp. 133, 134.\n\n   727 \u2013 Gamach in Aquin Q. 14. cap. 1. p. 113.\n\n   728 \u2013 Epiphanius.\n\n   729 \u2013 Amyrant, Morale Chr\u00e9ti. Tom. III. p. 137.\n\n   730 \u2013 Cusan. p. 646.\n\n   731 \u2013 Bradward, lib. 1. cap. 15.\n\n   732 \u2013 Suarez. Vol. II. p. 228.\n\n   733 \u2013 Tileni Syntagma, Part I. Disp. 13. Thes. 14.\n\n   734 \u2013 Plato, \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03af\u03bc\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f40\u03c6\u03b8\u03b1\u03bb\u03bc\u03cc\u03c2.\n\n   735 \u2013 Damianus.\n\n   736 \u2013 Gerhard.\n\n   737 \u2013 Gamach in Aquin. Part 1. Q. 14, cap. 1. pp. 118, 119.\n\n   738 \u2013 Bradwardin, p. 6.\n\n   739 \u2013 Sabund. Tit. 84 much changed.\n\n   740 \u2013 Petav. Theo. Dogmat. I. p. 467, &c.\n\n   741 \u2013 Petav. Theol. Dogmat. Tom. I. p. 467.\n\n   742 \u2013 Plac\u00e6us de Deitate Christi.\n\n   743 \u2013 \u1f18\u03be \u1f00\u03c1\u03c7\u1fc6\u03c2.\n\n   744 \u2013 Daille, Serm. 15. pp. 21\u201224.\n\n   745 \u2013 Sabund. Theol. Natural. Tit. 84. somewhat changed.\n\n   746 \u2013 Pascall, p. 170.\n\n   747 \u2013 Amyrant, de Pr\u00e6dest. pp. 116, 117. somewhat changed.\n\n   748 \u2013 Daille, Melang. Part II., pp. 560, 561.\n\n   749 \u2013 Amyrant. Moral. Tom. III. p. 75, &c.\n\n   750 \u2013 Cajetan, Sum. p. 190.\n\n   751 \u2013 Ps. xxxii. 1, 2, Camero, p. 89, col. 1.\n\n   752 \u2013 Drexel. Nicetas, lib. ii. cap. 10, p. 357.\n\n   753 \u2013 Nov. 1678, when the Popish Plot was discovered.\n\n   754 \u2013 For the evidence of it I refer you to Dr. More\u2019s\n         Exposition of the Seven Churches, worthy every learned\n         and understanding man\u2019s reading, and of every sober\n         Romanist.\n\n   755 \u2013 Coc. _in loc._\n\n   756 \u2013 Turretin\u2019s Sermons, p. 362.\n\n   757 \u2013 Barlow\u2019s Man\u2019s Refuge, pp. 29, 30.\n\n   758 \u2013 Isai. lxv. 6. \u201cBehold it is written.\u201d\n\n   759 \u2013 Antiquit. lib. i. cap. 3.\n\n   760 \u2013 Gomarus, _in loc._\n\n   761 \u2013 Amyraut. Moral. Tom. III. p. 123.\n\n   762 \u2013 Maimon. Mor. Part I. cap. 53.\n\n   763 \u2013 Laert. lib. i. Proem.\n\n   764 \u2013 Polhill against Sherlock, p. 377.\n\n   765 \u2013 Culverwell, Light of Nature, p. 30.\n\n   766 \u2013 Isa. xlvi. 10. Jer. xxxii. 19. \u201cGreat in counsel.\u201d\n         Job xii. 13. \u201cHe hath counsel and understanding.\u201d\n\n   767 \u2013 Eugub. per Philosoph. lib. i. cap. 5.\n\n   768 \u2013 Licet magnum sit posse, majus tamen est sapere.\n\n   769 \u2013 Suarez, Vol. I. lib. i. cap. 3. p. 10.\n\n   770 \u2013 Amiraut. Moral.\n\n   771 \u2013 Amyrald, Desart. Theol. p. 111.\n\n   772 \u2013 Omne opus natur\u00e6 est opus intelligenti\u00e6.\n\n   773 \u2013 Amyraut. Moral, Vol. I. p. 257.\n\n   774 \u2013 Mountag. against Selden, p. 281. Plutarch calls God\n         \u1f01\u03c1\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u1f78\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bc\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03ba\u1f78\u03c2; he saith nothing was made without\n         music.\n\n   775 \u2013 Charlton, Light of Nature, p. 57.\n\n   776 \u2013 Daille, Mel. Part I. p. 483.\n\n   777 \u2013 Amyraut. Predestin. p. 9.\n\n   778 \u2013 Amyraut. sur diverses Text. p. 127.\n\n   779 \u2013 Lessius.\n\n   780 \u2013 Daille, Melan. Part II, pp. 472, 473.\n\n   781 \u2013 Daille, Melan. II. p. 477, &c.\n\n   782 \u2013 Daille Sermon XV. p. 170.\n\n   783 \u2013 Castellio, Dialog. l. 4, p. 46.\n\n   784 \u2013 Amyraut.\n\n   785 \u2013 Moulin\u2019s Serm. decad. 10. p. 231, 232.\n\n   786 \u2013 Which I have upon another occasion noted.\n\n   787 \u2013 Daille sur Philip. Part I. pp. 545, 646.\n\n   788 \u2013 Sanderson, Part II. p. 205.\n\n   789 \u2013 Daille sur 1 Cor. x. p. 390.\n\n   790 \u2013 Turretin, Serm. p. 53.\n\n   791 \u2013 Daille sur Philip. Part I. pp. 116, 117.\n\n   792 \u2013 Amyraut. Moral. Tom. V. pp. 478\u2012480.\n\n   793 \u2013 Savana Triump. Crucis, lib. iii, cap. 7. p. 211.\n\n   794 \u2013 Gomb. de Relig. p. 42.\n\n   795 \u2013 Amyraut. Morals. Tom. V. pp. 468, 469.\n\n   796 \u2013 And indeed the Heathen oracles, managed by the devils,\n         declared that they were not long to hold their sceptre\n         in the world, but the Hebrew child should vanquish them.\n\n   797 \u2013 Laud against Fisher, p. 5.\n\n   798 \u2013 Bradward, p. 28.\n\n   799 \u2013 Janeway. p. 88.\n\n   800 \u2013 \u1f18\u03c0\u03b9\u03c6\u03ac\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1\u03b9.\n\n   801 \u2013 Dionys. Halicar, Antiq. l. 2, p. 128.\n\n   802 \u2013 Iamblych. Vit. Pythag., lib. i. cap. 6, p. 44, and\n         lib. ii. c. 19, p. 94.\n\n   803 \u2013 Faucheur. _in loc._ pp. 294, 295.\n\n   804 \u2013 Amyraut, Moral. Tom. I. pp. 258, 259.\n\n   805 \u2013 Strong, of The Will.\n\n   806 \u2013 Vaisin. The Talmud takes notice, that the court of\n         Bethany was wasted three years before Jerusalem, because\n         they preferred their own words before the words of the Law.\n\n   807 \u2013 Pont. Medit. Part III. p. 366.\n\n   808 \u2013 Durant de Tent, pp. 403, 404.\n\n   809 \u2013 Seaman\u2019s Sermon before the Parliament.\n\n   810 \u2013 Munster.\n\n   811 \u2013 Coccei _in loc._\n\n   812 \u2013 Coccei.\n\n   813 \u2013 Drusius _in loc._\n\n   814 \u2013 As the word signifies in the Hebrew.\n\n   815 \u2013 Oecolamp.\n\n   816 \u2013 The ancient Gauls worshipped him under the name of\n         Taranis. The Greeks called Jupiter \u0392\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u1fd6\u03bf\u03c2, and Thor;\n         whence our Thursday is derived, signifieth Thunderer,\n         a title the Germans gave their God. And Toran, in the\n         British language, signifies thunder. Voss. Idolo.\n         lib. ii. cap. 33. Camb. Britan. p. 17.\n\n   817 \u2013 Lessius, de Perfect. Divin. lib. v. cap. 1.\n\n   818 \u2013 Fotherby, Atheomastic, pp. 306, 307.\n\n   819 \u2013 \u05d2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea\u05d5 Sept. \u03c3\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n   820 \u2013 Scaliger, Publ. Exercit. 365, \u00a7 8.\n\n   821 \u2013 Estius in Sent. lib. i. dist. 43. \u00a7 2.\n\n   822 \u2013 Cra. Syntag. lib. iii. cap. 17. p. 611.\n\n   823 \u2013 Gamacheus.\n\n   824 \u2013 Ratione summ\u00e6 actualitatis essenti\u00e6. Suarez, Vol. I.\n         pp. 150, 151.\n\n   825 \u2013 Operationes sequuntur essentiam.\n\n   826 \u2013 Aquin. Part 1. Qu. 25. Artic\u00e6.\n\n   827 \u2013 Suarez, Vol. I. de Deo. p. 151.\n\n   828 \u2013 Becan. Sum. Theol. p. 82.\n\n   829 \u2013 Ibid. p. 84.\n\n   830 \u2013 Gamach in Aquin. Tom. I. Qu. 25.\n\n   831 \u2013 Best, _ex parte facientis et modi_: but not _ex parte\n         rei_. Esti. in Senten. lib. i. distin. 44. \u00a7 2.\n\n   832 \u2013 Aquin. Part I. Qu. 25. art. 6.\n\n   833 \u2013 Gamach. in Aquin. Tom. I. Qu. 25.\n\n   834 \u2013 Crell. de Deo. cap. 22.\n\n   835 \u2013 Robins. Observ. p. 14.\n\n   836 \u2013 Magalano. de Scientia Dei, Part II. c. 6. \u00a7 3.\n\n   837 \u2013 Augus.\n\n   838 \u2013 Becan. Sum. Theolog. p. 83.\n\n   839 \u2013 Maximus Tyrius.\n\n   840 \u2013 Ambrose.\n\n   841 \u2013 Becan. Sum. Theol. p. 84. Crel. de Deo, cap. 22.\n\n   842 \u2013 Victorin. in Petar. Tom. I. p. 333.\n\n   843 \u2013 Ibid. p. 233.\n\n   844 \u2013 Lib. i. cap. 1. p. 38.\n\n   845 \u2013 Damianus, in Petar.\n\n   846 \u2013 Fauch. in Acts. Vol. II. \u00a7 56.\n\n   847 \u2013 Mercer, p. 7. col. 1, 2.\n\n   848 \u2013 Suarez, Vol. III. p. 33.\n\n   849 \u2013 Suarez, Vol. III. p. 6.\n\n   850 \u2013 Amyrald, Morale. Tom. I. p. 252.\n\n   851 \u2013 Gassend.\n\n   852 \u2013 Gen. i. 3, 5, &c. throughout the whole chapter.\n\n   853 \u2013 Augus.\n\n   854 \u2013 Theodoret.\n\n   855 \u2013 Peirs. p. 111.\n\n   856 \u2013 Suarez, Vol. I. lib. iii. cap. 10.\n\n   857 \u2013 Daille, in 1 Cor. x. p. 102.\n\n   858 \u2013 \u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd.\n\n   859 \u2013 Daille, Melange, Part II. p. 457.\n\n   860 \u2013 Lessius, de Perfect. Divin. p. 69.\n\n   861 \u2013 Lessius, de Sum. Bon. pp. 580\u2012582.\n\n   862 \u2013 Trismegist, in Serm. Greek, in the Temple, p. 57.\n\n   863 \u2013 A Lapide, in 1 cap. Gen. xvi. Lessius, de Perfect. Divin.\n         pp. 90, 91.\n\n   864 \u2013 Lessius, de Providen, p. 633. Voss. de Idol. lib. ii.\n         cap. 2.\n\n   865 \u2013 Faucher, sur Act. Vol. II. p. 47.\n\n   866 \u2013 C\u00e6teros deos \u00e6reos esse, &c. Grot. Verit. Rel. lib. 4.\n\n   867 \u2013 Amyrald. in Symbol. p. 103, &c.\n\n   868 \u2013 Amyrant. sur Timole, p. 292.\n\n   869 \u2013 Lessius, de Perf. Divin. lib. xii. cap. 4. p. 104.\n\n   870 \u2013 Lessius, pp. 103, 104.\n\n   871 \u2013 Lessius, pp. 103, 104. Amyrald. Irenic. p. 284.\n\n   872 \u2013 Amyrald. Irenic. p. 282.\n\n   873 \u2013 \u03a3\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03bc\u03bf\u03bb\u03cc\u03b3\u03bf\u03c2.\n\n   874 \u2013 Daille. Serm. XV. p. 57.\n\n   875 \u2013 Colos. i. 13. \u1f10\u1fe4\u1fe5\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf.\n\n   876 \u2013 Grotius in Luke i. 19.\n\n   877 \u2013 Numb. xiv. 17. \u1f51\u03c8\u03c9\u03b8\u03ae\u03c4\u03c9, be exalted. Sept. Strength, &c.\n\n   878 \u2013 \u1f10\u03c0\u03bf\u03af\u03b7\u03c3\u03b5\u03bd.\n\n   879 \u2013 Gen. i. 2. So the word \u201cmoved\u201d properly signifies.\n\n   880 \u2013 Sabunde, Tit. 39.\n\n   881 \u2013 Pont. Part VI. med. 16. p. 531.\n\n   882 \u2013 Capel. in 1 Tim. i. 17.\n\n   883 \u2013 Lingend. Tom. III. pp. 779, 780.\n\n   884 \u2013 Harwood, p. 13.\n\n   885 \u2013 Grot. _in loc._\n\n   886 \u2013 Amyrant. Moral. Tom. V. p. 170.\n\n   887 \u2013 Trap. _in loc._\n\n   888 \u2013 Manass. ben Israel, de Resurr. lib. 1, cap. 1, p. 7.\n\n   889 \u2013 Pareus in Exod. xv.\n\n   890 \u2013 Rivet.\n\n   891 \u2013 Calvin.\n\n   892 \u2013 Munster.\n\n   893 \u2013 \u1f0c\u03c7\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f21\u03b3\u03b5\u03bc\u03ce\u03bd.\n\n   894 \u2013 \u03bf\u1f50\u03b4\u1fbd \u1f00\u03ba\u03bf\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u1f45\u03c3\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd. Ammon. in Plut. de \u0395\u1f30 apud Delphos,\n         p. 393.\n\n   895 \u2013 Gassend. Tom. I. Phys. \u00a7 1, lib. 4, cap. 2, p. 289.\n\n   896 \u2013 Petav. Theol. Dogmat. Tom. I. lib. 6, cap. 5, p. 415.\n\n   897 \u2013 Plutarch Eugubin. de Perenni Phil. lib. 6, cap. 6.\n\n   898 \u2013 Martin. de Deo, p. 86.\n\n   899 \u2013 Turretin. de Satisfact. p. 28.\n\n   900 \u2013 Ochino, Predic. Part III. Bodic. 51, pp. 347, 348.\n\n   901 \u2013 Turretin. de Satisfact. pp. 35, 36.\n\n   902 \u2013 Amyrald. Disert. pp. 103, 104.\n\n   903 \u2013 Amyrald. Defens. de Calvin. pp. 151, 152.\n\n   904 \u2013 Ames de Consc. lib. v. cap. 1. quest. 7.\n\n   905 \u2013 Suarez.\n\n   906 \u2013 Amirant. Moral. Tom. V. p. 388.\n\n   907 \u2013 Lingend. Tom. III. pp. 699, 700.\n\n   908 \u2013 Tit. ii. 11\u201214, and many other places.\n\n   909 \u2013 Suarez, Vol. II. p. 548.\n\n   910 \u2013 Amyr. Moral. Tom. I. pp. 615, 616.\n\n   911 \u2013 Amyral. Defence de Calv. p. 145.\n\n   912 \u2013 Rispolis.\n\n   913 \u2013 Bradward. lib. i. cap. 34. \u201cGod wills it _secundum quid_.\u201d\n\n   914 \u2013 Aquin. cont. Gent. lib. i. cap. 95.\n\n   915 \u2013 Lawson, p. 64.\n\n   916 \u2013 Suarez, Vol. IV. p. 414.\n\n   917 \u2013 Suarez, de Legib. p. 43.\n\n   918 \u2013 Ps. lxxvi. 10, as the word \u201crestrain\u201d signifies.\n\n   919 \u2013 _Majus bonum_, saith Bradward.\n\n   920 \u2013 But of the wisdom of God in the permitting sin in order to\n         redemption, I have handled in the attribute of \u201cWisdom.\u201d\n\n   921 \u2013 Suarez, Metaph. Part I. p. 552.\n\n   922 \u2013 Amyrald. de Libero arbit. pp. 98, 99.\n\n   923 \u2013 Amyrald, pp. 321, 332.\n\n   924 \u2013 Zanch. Tom. II. lib. iii. cap. 4, quest. iv. p. 226.\n\n   925 \u2013 Amyral. de Libero arbit. p. 224.\n\n   926 \u2013 Amyrald, Irenic. p. 337.\n\n   927 \u2013 This I have spoken of before, but it is necessary now.\n\n   928 \u2013 Testard, de Natur, et Grat. Thes. 150, 151. Amy on Divers\n         Texts, p. 311.\n\n   929 \u2013 Amyrald, de Predest. p. 107.\n\n   930 \u2013 Turretin. de Satisfac. p. 8.\n\n   931 \u2013 Placeus, de Deitat. Christi, _in loc._\n\n   932 \u2013 Ps. xii. 8. The vilest men.\n\n   933 \u2013 Amyrald. Moral. Tom. V. p. 462.\n\n   934 \u2013 Sanct. _in loc._\n\n   935 \u2013 \u201cIn this,\u201d saith Plato, \u201cGod is \u1f10\u03bd \u03bc\u03ad\u03c3\u1ff3 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1.\u201d\n\n   936 \u2013 Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10.\n\n   937 \u2013 Eugubin. de Perenni Philoso. lib. vi. cap. 6.\n\n   938 \u2013 Vaughan pp. 4, 5.\n\n   939 \u2013 Amirald. in Heb. pp. 101, 102.\n\n   940 \u2013 Amor naturam induit, et mores imbibit rei amat\u00e6.\n\n   941 \u2013 Erasm. _in loc._\n\n   942 \u2013 Augustin.\n\n   943 \u2013 Hensius in Matt.\n\n   944 \u2013 Calvin _in loc._\n\n   945 \u2013 Trismegist. P\u0153m\u0153nd. cap. 2.\n\n   946 \u2013 Eugubin. de Peren. Philos. lib. v. cap. 9.\n\n   947 \u2013 Eugubin. de Peren. Philos. lib. v. cap. 9. p. 97. col.\n\n   948 \u2013 Amyrant, Morale.\n\n   949 \u2013 Rom. x. 3. \u201cGoing about to establish their own\n         righteousness.\u201d\n\n   950 \u2013 Ver. 17. Lightfoot _in loc._\n\n   951 \u2013 Ficin. in Dionys. de Divin. Nom. cap. 511.\n\n   952 \u2013 Empedocles.\n\n   953 \u2013 Hesiod.\n\n   954 \u2013 Iamblych. Vit. Pythag. lib. i. col. 6. p. 43.\n\n   955 \u2013 Lombard lib. iv. distinct. 46. p. 286.\n\n   956 \u2013 Coccei. sum. p. 50.\n\n   957 \u2013 Cajetan in secund. secunda. Qu. 34. Ar. 3.\n\n   958 \u2013 Herle upon Wisdom, cap. 5. pp. 41, 42.\n\n   959 \u2013 Ingelo Bentivolio, and Uran. Book IV. pp. 260, 261.\n\n   960 \u2013 Daille, Melang. Part II. pp. 704, 705.\n\n   961 \u2013 Ficini. Epist. lib. xi. epist. 30.\n\n   962 \u2013 Tom. II. p. 926.\n\n   963 \u2013 Cocceii sum Theolog. p. 91.\n\n   964 \u2013 Gilbert de Dei Dominio, p. 6.\n\n   965 \u2013 Amyr. Moral. Tom. I. p. 260.\n\n   966 \u2013 Ficinus in Con. Amor. Orat. 2. cap. p. 1326.\n\n   967 \u2013 Camero, p. 30.\n\n   968 \u2013 Boetius.\n\n   969 \u2013 Zarnovecius, de Satisfact. Part I. cap. i. pp. 3, 4.\n\n   970 \u2013 Suarez, Vol. I. de Deo, lib. iii. cap. 7. p. 146.\n\n   971 \u2013 Cressol. Anthol. Decad. II. p. 162.\n\n   972 \u2013 Cusan, p. 228.\n\n   973 \u2013 Petav. Theolog. Dogmat. Tom. i. p. 402.\n\n   974 \u2013 Lessius, de Perfect. Div. p. 100.\n\n   975 \u2013 Pherecydes.\n\n   976 \u2013 Eugubin, lib. v. cap. 9.\n\n   977 \u2013 Amyral. Dissertat. pp. 637, 638.\n\n   978 \u2013 Suarez. de Gratia, Vol. I. pp. 126, 127.\n\n   979 \u2013 Rada. Controvers. Part III. p. 363.\n\n   980 \u2013 Lingend. de Eucharist, pp. 84, 85.\n\n   981 \u2013 Lessius.\n\n   982 \u2013 Turreti, Ser. p. 33.\n\n   983 \u2013 Amyral. Irenicum. pp. 16, 17.\n\n   984 \u2013 Daille, Melang. Part I. p. 253.\n\n   985 \u2013 Gulielmus Parisien. p. 184.\n\n   986 \u2013 Harwood\u2019s Sermon at Oxford, p. 5.\n\n   987 \u2013 Amyral. Moral. Tom. IV. p. 291.\n\n   988 \u2013 Cressol. Antholog. Part II. p. 29.\n\n   989 \u2013 Young, of Affliction, p. 34.\n\n   990 \u2013 Petav. Theolog. Dogmat. Vol. I. p. 407.\n\n   991 \u2013 Amyrald. Dissert. p. 65.\n\n   992 \u2013 \u201cAs a heathen,\u201d Maximus Tyrius, Dissert. 22, p. 220.\n         \u039f\u1f50 \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03b8\u03ad\u03bc\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b4\u03b9\u1f76 \u03b2\u03bf\u03cd\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f04\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf \u03c4\u03b9 \u1f22 \u03c4\u1f78 \u03ba\u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd.\n\n   993 \u2013 Amyrald. _in loc._\n\n   994 \u2013 Maccov. Colleg. Theolog. 10 Disput. 18, pp. 6, 7, or\n         thereabout.\n\n   995 \u2013 Maccov. Colleg. Theolog. Disput. 18, pp. 12, 13.\n\n   996 \u2013 Raynaud, Theolog. Nat. p. 757.\n\n   997 \u2013 Camero. p. 371. Amyrald, Dissert. pp. 72, 73.\n\n   998 \u2013 Stoughton\u2019s \u201cRighteous Man\u2019s Plea,\u201d Serm. VI. p. 28.\n\n   999 \u2013 Vid. Lessium de Perfect. Divin. pp. 77, 78.\n\n  1000 \u2013 Raynaud, Theolog. Natural, pp. 760\u2012762.\n\n  1001 \u2013 Sueton. de Tiberio, cap. 27.\n\n  1002 \u2013 Lessius de Perfect. Divin. pp. 66, 67.\n\n  1003 \u2013 Causin, Poly\u2011Histor. lib. iv. cap. 22.\n\n  1004 \u2013 Suarez. Vol. II. lib. viii. cap. 20. p. 736.\n\n  1005 \u2013 Bolduc. _in loc._\n\n  1006 \u2013 Suarez. de Legib. p. 23.\n\n  1007 \u2013 Amyrald, Dissert. pp. 101, 102.\n\n  1008 \u2013 Daille, _in loc._\n\n  1009 \u2013 This was Dr. Goodwin\u2019s speech when he was in trouble.\n\n  1010 \u2013 Claude, sur la Parabole des Noces, p. 29.\n\n  1011 \u2013 Mr. Mede, in one of his letters.\n\n  1012 \u2013 Josephus.\n\n  1013 \u2013 Causin. Symb. lib. ii. cap. 65.\n\n  1014 \u2013 Lessius, de Perfect. Divin. lib. x. p. 65.\n\n  1015 \u2013 Munster.\n\n  1016 \u2013 Trap. _in loc._\n\n  1017 \u2013 Trap. _in loc._\n\n  1018 \u2013 Faucheur, Vol. II. pp. 663, 664.\n\n  1019 \u2013 Austin.\n\n  1020 \u2013 Chrysost. in Gen. Hom. 16.\n\n  1021 \u2013 Raynard, de Deo, p. 766.\n\n  1022 \u2013 Arrian in Epictet.\n\n  1023 \u2013 Servire Deo regnare est.\n\n  1024 \u2013 Ribera, _in loc._\n\n  1025 \u2013 Page 359, col. 1.\n\n  1026 \u2013 Tirinus, _in loc._\n\n  1027 \u2013 Rhodigi. lib. vi. c. 14.\n\n  1028 \u2013 \u0394\u1fc6\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd \u03b4\u1f72 \u1f45\u03c4\u03b9 \u1f10\u03b3\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03af\u03b4\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03c4\u03b9\u03bc\u03c9\u03c1\u03af\u03b1\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u1fd6, \u03ba\u03bf\u03bb\u03b5\u1f78\u03bd \u03b4\u1f72\n         \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c4\u03ad\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03b8\u03ae\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u1f10\u03b3\u03c7\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03b9\u03b4\u03af\u03bf\u03c5 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03bf\u03b8\u03c5\u03bc\u03af\u03b1\u03bd \u1f40\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03ac\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9.\n         Theodoret, _in loc._\n\n  1029 \u2013 Testard. de Natur. et Grat. Thess. 119.\n\n  1030 \u2013 Perer, _in loc._\n\n  1031 \u2013 Vid. Gell\u2019s \u1f08\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03af\u03b1.\n\n  1032 \u2013 Sanctius. Prolegom. in Hosea, Prolog. III.\n\n  1033 \u2013 Mercer in Gen.\n\n  1034 \u2013 Cressol. Decad. II. p. 163.\n\n  1035 \u2013 Pierce, Sinner Implead. p. 227.\n\n  1036 \u2013 Kimchi.\n\n  1037 \u2013 Lessius, p. 152.\n\n  1038 \u2013 Amyrald, Dissert. pp. 191, 192.\n\n  1039 \u2013 Amyraldus, Moral. Tom. II. p. 186.\n\n  1040 \u2013 Smith on the Creed. p. 404.\n\n  1041 \u2013 Minuc. Felix, p. 41.\n\n  1042 \u2013 Pont. Part I. p. 42.\n\n  1043 \u2013 Cod. lib. ix. Titul. 476, p. 20.\n\n\n\n\n                          TRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES.\n\n\n    The following corrections have been made in the text:\n\n  Page a54:\n    Sentence starting: Every year are the fields....\n      \u2013 \u2018baren\u2019 replaced with \u2018barren\u2019\n        (creatures; no part is barren,)\n\n  Page a64:\n    Sentence starting: The Lord breathed into his....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d7\u05d6\u05d5\u05dd\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd\u2019\n        (\u201c... and man,\u201d[101] &c.: \u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd, _of lives_.)\n\n  Page a75:\n    Sentence starting: Tully Hostilius, a Roman....\n      \u2013 \u2018whe\u2019 replaced with \u2018who\u2019\n        (a Roman king, who counted it)\n    Sentence starting: The strange revelations of murderers,...\n      \u2013 \u2018vengeanee\u2019 replaced with \u2018vengeance\u2019\n        (instruments of vengeance on a sinful)\n\n  Page a107:\n    Sentence starting: The rule of God is burthensome....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d5\u05e0\u05d7\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d6\u05e0\u05d7\u2019\n        (the word \u05d6\u05e0\u05d7 signifies,)\n\n  Page a117:\n    Sentence starting: There is not the basest thing....\n      \u2013 \u2018dispicable\u2019 replaced with \u2018despicable\u2019\n        (of a poor despicable beggar.)\n\n  Page a154:\n    Sentence starting: It were more excusable to serve....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05e0\u05d3\u05db\u05d5\u05ea\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05e0\u05d3\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea\u2019\n        (they sacrificed the \u05e0\u05d3\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea)\n\n  Page a162:\n    Sentence starting: Has he not promised....\n      \u2013 \u2018or\u2019 replaced with \u2018of\u2019\n        (strip him of his crown)\n\n  Page a172:\n    Sentence starting: In every action we should....\n      \u2013 \u2018shold\u2019 replaced with \u2018should\u2019\n        (we should make the inquiry,)\n\n  Page a230:\n    Sentence starting: If any one spiritual....\n      \u2013 \u2018spirital\u2019 replaced with \u2018spiritual\u2019\n        (any one spiritual string)\n\n  Page a270:\n    Sentence starting: As our gracious God....\n      \u2013 \u2018118\u2019 replaced with \u201818\u2019\n        (Ps. lxvi. 18)\n\n  Page a300:\n    Sentence starting: \u05d1\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05dd....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d1\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e6\u05d5\u05dc \u05d8\u05dd\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d1\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05dd\u2019\n        (\u05d1\u05d9\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8 \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05de\u05d9\u05dd)\n\n  Page a382:\n    Sentence starting: To act by a virtue,...\n      \u2013 \u2018kindoms\u2019 replaced with \u2018kingdoms\u2019\n        (in their kingdoms by ministers)\n\n  Page a392:\n    Sentence starting: Let us therefore conclude....\n      \u2013 \u2018expresssion\u2019 replaced with \u2018expression\u2019\n        (the expression of a learned man)\n\n  Page a408:\n    Sentence starting: Much power, plenteous in power;...\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05e8\u05d1\u05d7\u05e8\u05d3\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05e8\u05d1 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3\u2019\n        ((Ps. v. 15), \u05e8\u05d1 \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3, a multitude of power)\n    Sentence starting: He knows universals,...\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05ea\u05d2\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4\u2019\n        (\u05ea\u05d1\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4, in the consideration of them,)\n\n  Page a410:\n    Sentence starting: The heathens did acknowledge....\n      \u2013 \u2018selemnized\u2019 replaced with \u2018solemnized\u2019\n        (solemnized with oaths and)\n\n  Page a414:\n    Sentence starting: As God is the most perfect being,...\n      \u2013 \u2018he\u2019 replaced with \u2018be\u2019\n        (he would be ignorant of)\n\n  Page a417:\n    Sentence starting: ....\n      \u2013 \u2018knowedge\u2019 replaced with \u2018knowledge\u2019\n        (so is his knowledge infinite,)\n\n  Page a457:\n    Sentence starting: Is it to be imagined....\n      \u2013 \u2018notiou\u2019 replaced with \u2018notion\u2019\n        (by the notion of things so mean?)\n\n  Page a470:\n    Sentence starting: The word \u05e2\u05dc\u05d5\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 signifies....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05e6\u05dc\u05d5\u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05e2\u05dc\u05d5\u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u2019\n        (The word \u05e2\u05dc\u05d5\u05de\u05e0\u05d5 signifies youth,)\n    Sentence starting: As his justice, which consists....\n      \u2013 \u2018manfestation\u2019 replaced with \u2018manifestation\u2019\n        (a manifestation of the secret motions)\n\n  Page a480:\n    Sentence starting: David\u2019s heart smote him....\n      \u2013 \u2018cirumstantiated\u2019 replaced with \u2018cirumstantiated\u2019\n        (as particularly cirumstantiated by the )\n\n  Page a488:\n    Sentence starting: His knowledge comes not....\n      \u2013 \u2018profitaby\u2019 replaced with \u2018profitably\u2019\n        (they may be profitably removed.)\n\n  Page a491:\n    Sentence starting: His infinite understanding....\n      \u2013 \u2018unstanding\u2019 replaced with \u2018understanding\u2019\n        (His infinite understanding of what)\n\n  Page a510:\n    Sentence starting: 2. Therefore \u201conly wise\u201d....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u03b1\u1f50\u03b4\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u03b4\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2\u2019\n        (God is \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u03b4\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03ba\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03cc\u03c3\u03bf\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2.)\n\n  Page a511:\n    Sentence starting: The absolute power of God....\n      \u2013 \u2018righteousnesness\u2019 replaced with \u2018righteousness\u2019\n        (because of his righteousness,)\n\n  Page a516:\n    Sentence starting: He could not be an universal....\n      \u2013 \u2018wihout\u2019 replaced with \u2018without\u2019\n        (without an incorruptible wisdom.)\n\n  Page a523:\n    Sentence starting: The summer consumes....\n      \u2013 \u2018inhabtants\u2019 replaced with \u2018inhabitants\u2019\n        (the inhabitants of the world.)\n\n  Page a535:\n    Sentence starting: The magistrate inspired not....\n      \u2013 \u2018magistate\u2019 replaced with \u2018magistrate\u2019\n        (The magistrate inspired not)\n\n  Page a571:\n    Sentence starting: The grace of God teaches....\n      \u2013 \u2018ungodlinsss\u2019 replaced with \u2018ungodliness\u2019\n        (teaches us to deny ungodliness.)\n\n  Page a593:\n    Sentence starting: Like a skilful physician,...\n      \u2013 \u2018und\u2019 replaced with \u2018and\u2019\n        (bitter potions, and sometimes cheering)\n\n  Page a594:\n    Sentence starting: He defeated the serpent....\n      \u2013 \u2018surpentine\u2019 replaced with \u2018serpentine\u2019\n        (the after\u2011game of the serpentine brood.)\n\n  Page b24:\n    Sentence starting: If limited by himself,...\n      \u2013 \u2018limition\u2019 replaced with \u2018limitation\u2019\n        (that limitation is not from)\n\n  Page b36:\n    Sentence starting: The Jews observe, that....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d4\u05d0\u05dc\u05d7\u05d5\u05dd\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d4\u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd\u2019\n        (he is called \u05d4\u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd,)\n\n  Page b42:\n    Sentence starting: And it might be inquired, how....\n      \u2013 \u2018instrment\u2019 replaced with \u2018instrument\u2019\n        (create all things without an instrument,)\n\n  Page b43:\n    Sentence starting: It is as little difficulty....\n      \u2013 \u2018lighest\u2019 replaced with \u2018lightest\u2019\n        (as the lightest atom.)\n\n  Page b44:\n    Sentence starting: There is a natural providence,...\n      \u2013 \u2018propogation\u2019 replaced with \u2018propagation\u2019\n        (propagation of them by corruptions)\n\n  Page b50:\n    Sentence starting: It is an Infinite Power which....\n      \u2013 \u2018souls\u2019 replaced with \u2018soul\u2019\n        (the soul forms every thought,)\n\n  Page b61:\n    Sentence starting: By this manner of conception....\n      \u2013 \u2018atsured\u2019 replaced with \u2018assured\u2019\n        (his fitness for his office is assured)\n\n  Page b65:\n    Sentence starting: (1.) It was contrary....\n      \u2013 \u2018contary\u2019 replaced with \u2018contrary\u2019\n        (It was contrary to the common)\n\n  Page b66:\n    Sentence starting: The philosophers, the masters....\n      \u2013 \u2018philosphers\u2019 replaced with \u2018philosophers\u2019\n        (The philosophers, the masters)\n\n  Page b71:\n    Sentence starting: They employed not troops....\n      \u2013 \u2018themselve\u2019 replaced with \u2018themselves\u2019\n        (subdue men unto themselves,)\n\n  Page b73:\n    Sentence starting: The court of Nero,...\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018and\u2019\n        (its standing, and flourished)\n\n  Page b76:\n    Sentence starting: The stream of nature cannot....\n      \u2013 \u2018venemous\u2019 replaced with \u2018venomous\u2019\n        (or a venomous toad into an)\n\n  Page b77:\n    Sentence starting: To dispossess man then of his....\n      \u2013 \u2018makes\u2019 replaced with \u2018make\u2019\n        (make desires of self\u2011advancement)\n\n  Page b80:\n    Sentence starting: And indeed, God doth....\n      \u2013 \u2018wheron\u2019 replaced with \u2018whereon\u2019\n        (sands whereon it might split,)\n\n  Page b81:\n    Sentence starting: So great an eulogy cannot....\n      \u2013 \u2018surmounded\u2019 replaced with \u2018surmounted\u2019\n        (cannot be surmounted and stepped over,)\n\n  Page b97:\n    Sentence starting: His strength is uncontrollable;...\n      \u2013 \u2018his\u2019 replaced with \u2018is\u2019\n        (his throne is represented)\n    Sentence starting: To have many sharp blows,...\n      \u2013 \u2018apostles\u2019 replaced with \u2018apostle\u2019\n        (therefore the apostle calls it)\n\n  Page b106:\n    Sentence starting: When you beg of him the melting....\n      \u2013 \u2018liveless\u2019 replaced with \u2018lifeless\u2019\n        (and prayer will be lifeless,)\n\n  Page b110:\n    Sentence starting: This is more affixed....\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018his\u2019\n        (or His wise name;)\n\n  Page b112:\n    Sentence starting: His power or sovereignty,...\n      \u2013 \u2018sovreignty\u2019 replaced with \u2018sovereignty\u2019\n        (His power or sovereignty,)\n\n  Page b117:\n    Sentence starting: It is as certain a truth,...\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018any\u2019\n        (cannot create anything actually)\n\n  Page b134:\n    Sentence starting: O, how detestable is sin....\n      \u2013 \u2018abhorence\u2019 replaced with \u2018abhorrence\u2019\n        (of his abhorrence of evil!)\n    Sentence starting: To punish and witness against....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05e0\u05d0\u05d5\u05df\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d2\u05d0\u05d5\u05df\u2019\n        (the word \u05d2\u05d0\u05d5\u05df, which is here)\n\n  Page b140:\n    Sentence starting: It is certain that God made....\n      \u2013 \u2018witholding\u2019 replaced with \u2018withholding\u2019\n        (negative in withholding that grace)\n\n  Page b146:\n    Sentence starting: Reprobation, in its first notion,...\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018the\u2019\n        (wicked by the act of God;)\n\n  Page b168:\n    Sentence starting: Hence, God is said to....\n      \u2013 \u2018father\u2019 replaced with \u2018farther\u2019\n        (occasion of his farther hardening:)\n\n  Page b170:\n    Sentence starting: ....\n      \u2013 \u2018Israelities\u2019 replaced with \u2018Israelites\u2019\n        (of the Israelites borrowing jewels)\n\n  Page b171:\n    Sentence starting: ....\n      \u2013 \u2018intrinsisically\u2019 replaced with \u2018intrinsically\u2019\n        (its own nature intrinsically evil;)\n\n  Page b177:\n    Sentence starting: The Jews were often infected....\n      \u2013 \u2018taansgressions\u2019 replaced with \u2018transgressions\u2019\n        (the enormity of their transgressions,)\n\n  Page b178:\n    Sentence starting: Sometimes casting an eye....\n      \u2013 \u2018villifying\u2019 replaced with \u2018vilifying\u2019\n        (but a vilifying of the holiness)\n    Sentence starting: What are the services of....\n      \u2013 \u2018practises\u2019 replaced with \u2018practices\u2019\n        (their following practices.)\n\n  Page b180:\n    Sentence starting: We are departed from our....\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018that\u2019\n        (that is, a life of \u201choliness;\u201d)\n\n  Page b181:\n    Sentence starting: All unholiness is vile,...\n      \u2013 \u2018unholinesss\u2019 replaced with \u2018unholiness\u2019\n        (All unholiness is vile,)\n\n  Page b186:\n    Sentence starting: As we therefore dishonor....\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018a\u2019\n        (as if a \u201cmortal man were as just as God,\u201d)\n\n  Page b190:\n    Sentence starting: When he overlooks strength,...\n      \u2013 \u2018complaceny\u2019 replaced with \u2018complacency\u2019\n        (such for his own complacency,)\n\n  Page b198:\n    Sentence starting: It was his design in his pity....\n      \u2013 \u2018Ezra\u2019 replaced with \u2018Ezek\u2019\n        (judicial procedure (Ezek. xxxvi. 21, 23))\n\n  Page b204:\n    Sentence starting: As soon as sin had stripped....\n      \u2013 \u2018that\u2019 replaced with \u2018than\u2019\n        (a defiled person than a man)\n\n  Page b205:\n    Sentence starting: Let us often exercise ourselves....\n      \u2013 \u2018exericse\u2019 replaced with \u2018exercise\u2019\n        (Let us often exercise ourselves)\n\n  Page b214:\n    Sentence starting: It is a part of idolatry....\n      \u2013 \u2018idolatary\u2019 replaced with \u2018idolatry\u2019\n        (part of idolatry to give men)\n      \u2013 \u2018creatnre\u2019 replaced with \u2018creature\u2019\n        (a worship of the creature together with)\n\n  Page b215:\n    Sentence starting: All the idolatry of the heathens,...\n      \u2013 \u2018idolary\u2019 replaced with \u2018idolatry\u2019\n        (All the idolatry of the heathens,)\n\n  Page b216:\n    Sentence starting: The Italians esteemed Pythagoras....\n      \u2013 \u2018Pithagoras\u2019 replaced with \u2018Pythagoras\u2019\n        (esteemed Pythagoras a god,)\n\n  Page b218:\n    Sentence starting: Were he not first infinitely....\n      \u2013 \u2018itseif\u2019 replaced with \u2018itself\u2019\n        (fulness of light in itself,)\n    Sentence starting: The mercy of God is exercised....\n      \u2013 \u2018pnnishment\u2019 replaced with \u2018punishment\u2019\n        (those that merit punishment;)\n\n  Page b220:\n    Sentence starting: He is first good, and then....\n      \u2013 \u2018compasssionate\u2019 replaced with \u2018compassionate\u2019\n        (and then compassionate.)\n\n  Page b239:\n    Sentence starting: Justice and judgment are....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d7\u05d1\u05d5\u05e7\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df\u2019\n        (\u201c... habitation of thy throne,\u201d \u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05df,)\n    Sentence starting: So, Ps. xciii. 2....\n      \u2013 \u2018xcii.\u2019 replaced with \u2018xciii.\u2019\n        (So, Ps. xciii. 2.)\n    Sentence starting: And shall it be accounted....\n      \u2013 \u2018acounted\u2019 replaced with \u2018accounted\u2019\n        (be accounted an unkindness,)\n\n  Page b245:\n    Sentence starting: It is the goodness of God....\n      \u2013 \u2018multitutes\u2019 replaced with \u2018multitudes\u2019\n        (extract such multitudes of things)\n\n  Page b247:\n    Sentence starting: It hath a tongue to express....\n      \u2013 \u2018counseller\u2019 replaced with \u2018counsellor\u2019\n        (what the inward counsellor directs;)\n\n  Page b249:\n    Sentence starting: This some of the Jews understood....\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d7\u05d9\u05d5\u05dd\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd\u2019\n        (\u05d7\u05d9\u05d9\u05dd, breath of lives, in the Hebrew;)\n\n  Page b258:\n    Sentence starting: This only excited wisdom to bring....\n      \u2013 \u2018apostacy\u2019 replaced with \u2018apostasy\u2019\n        (as the apostasy of man,)\n\n  Page b289:\n    Sentence starting: As the right of a house....\n      \u2013 \u2018annointed\u2019 replaced with \u2018anointed\u2019\n        (wherewith kings were anointed,)\n\n  Page b297:\n    Sentence starting: The goodness of God is seen....\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018and\u2019\n        (the animals and inanimate things.)\n\n  Page b299:\n    Sentence starting: And when public justice was....\n      \u2013 \u2018admininistered\u2019 replaced with \u2018administered\u2019\n        (was to be administered upon)\n\n  Page b301:\n    Sentence starting: They are fruits of his goodness....\n      \u2013 missing word added \u2018no\u2019\n        (there would be no government,)\n\n  Page b303:\n    Sentence starting: Though moral goodness cannot....\n      \u2013 \u2018siganlly\u2019 replaced with \u2018signally\u2019\n        (hath often signally rewarded)\n\n  Page b311:\n    Sentence starting: The goodness of God appears....\n      \u2013 \u2018geople\u2019 replaced with \u2018people\u2019\n        (strengthening his people under)\n\n  Page b315:\n    Sentence starting: How disingenuous both to God....\n      \u2013 \u2018disingenious\u2019 replaced with \u2018disingenuous\u2019\n        (How disingenuous both to God)\n\n  Page b316:\n    Sentence starting: God hath curses as well as blessings;....\n      \u2013 \u2018Got\u2019 replaced with \u2018God\u2019\n        (God hath curses as well as blessings;)\n\n  Page b330:\n    Sentence starting: The nature of \u201cfear\u201d is to....\n      \u2013 \u2018inwarly\u2019 replaced with \u2018inwardly\u2019\n        (than inwardly have admired him:)\n\n  Page b336:\n    Sentence starting: As the goodness of God....\n      \u2013 \u2018repentence\u2019 replaced with \u2018repentance\u2019\n        (\u201cleads us to repentance\u201d)\n\n  Page b350:\n    Sentence starting: A deep sense of this would....\n      \u2013 \u2018whatsover\u2019 replaced with \u2018whatsoever\u2019\n        (goodness in whatsoever he doth,)\n\n  Page b354:\n    Sentence starting: Revenge makes us slaves\u2019....\n      \u2013 \u2018adverlsaries\u2019 replaced with \u2018adversaries\u2019\n        (victorious over our adversaries)\n      \u2013 \u2018evi\u2011\u2019 replaced with \u2018evil\u2019\n        (but overcome evil with good.)\n\n  Page b364:\n    Sentence starting: As knowledge and wisdom are....\n      \u2013 \u2018whatsover\u2019 replaced with \u2018whatsoever\u2019\n        (to pass whatsoever he decrees;)\n\n  Page b373:\n    Sentence starting: The government of Christ....\n      \u2013 \u2018commision\u2019 replaced with \u2018commission\u2019\n        (by commission from him;)\n\n  Page b378:\n    Sentence starting: It is part of God\u2019s sovereignty,...\n      \u2013 \u2018sovereignity\u2019 replaced with \u2018sovereignty\u2019\n        (It is part of God\u2019s sovereignty,)\n\n  Page b414:\n    Sentence starting: The sword of a conqueror....\n      \u2013 \u2018conquerer\u2019 replaced with \u2018conqueror\u2019\n        (The sword of a conqueror)\n\n  Page b415:\n    Sentence starting: God, by his sovereign conduct,...\n      \u2013 \u201cPharoah\u2019s\u201d replaced with \u201cPharaoh\u2019s\u201d\n        (to the view of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter,)\n\n  Page b431:\n    Sentence starting: It is sufficient that we gave....\n      \u2013 \u2018yuo\u2019 replaced with \u2018you\u2019\n        (we gave you a command)\n\n  Page b434:\n    Sentence starting: When we pay an outward....\n      \u2013 \u2018Soverign\u2019 replaced with \u2018Sovereign\u2019\n        (the Sovereign of the world;)\n\n  Page b440:\n    Sentence starting: Sovereignty requires awe in....\n      \u2013 \u2018disrepect\u2019 replaced with \u2018disrespect\u2019\n        (is a disrespect of authority)\n\n  Page b480:\n    Sentence starting: Think me not such a piece....\n      \u2013 \u2018hehold\u2019 replaced with \u2018behold\u2019\n        (I had an eye to behold)\n\n  Page b483:\n    Sentence starting: In those threatenings where....\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018the\u2019\n        (without fixing the time,)\n\n  Page b497:\n    Sentence starting: No light matter, but....\n      \u2013 \u2018Pharoah\u2019 replaced with \u2018Pharaoh\u2019\n        (but that of Pharaoh?)\n\n  Page b504:\n    Sentence starting: It had been inconsistent with....\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018down\u2019\n        (been pulling down and rearing)\n\n  Page b506:\n    Sentence starting: Divine patience had still bound....\n      \u2013 \u20181 Kings\u2019 replaced with \u20182 Kings\u2019\n        (2 Kings xxii. 19, 20)\n\n  Index Christ:\n      \u2013 \u2018medtation\u2019 replaced with \u2018mediation\u2019\n        (make us prize his mediation)\n\n  Index Conceptions:\n      \u2013 \u2018similtude\u2019 replaced with \u2018similitude\u2019\n        (will be in them a similitude)\n\n  Index Dominion:\n      \u2013 duplicated word removed \u2018as\u2019\n        (contemned as he is a)\n\n  Index Temptations:\n      \u2013 \u2018soveignty\u2019 replaced with \u2018sovereignty\u2019\n        (thoughts of God\u2019s sovereignty)\n\n  Footnote 6:\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05e6\u05d9\u05e2\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05e6\u05d9\u05e5\u2019\n        (Isaiah xl. 7. \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc \u05e6\u05d9\u05e5 \u201cthe flower fadeth.\u201d)\n\n  Footnote 7:\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05dc\u05d0\u05db\u05d7\u05dd\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d7\u05db\u05dd\u2019\n        (Mais \u05e0\u05d1\u05dc and \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d7\u05db\u05dd put together.)\n\n  Footnote 8:\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d0\u05d9\u05e0\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d0\u05d9\u05df\u2019\n        (\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd \u201cNo God.\u201d Muis.)\n\n  Footnote 135:\n      \u2013 \u201898\u2019 replaced with \u20188\u2019\n        (Psalm xxxiv. 8.)\n\n  Footnote 282:\n      \u2013 \u2018Gurnal\u2019 replaced with \u2018Gurnall\u2019\n        (Gurnall, Part II.)\n\n  Footnote 545:\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05d3\u05dc\u05dd\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd\u2019\n        (\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd.)\n\n  Footnote 553:\n      \u2013 \u2018Parsiensis\u2019 replaced with \u2018Parisiensis\u2019\n\n  Footnote 615:\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d0\u05d3\u05d6 \u05d7\u05e3\u05e8\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d7\u05e7\u05e8\u2019\n        (\u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d7\u05e7\u05e8 no end, no term.)\n\n  Footnote 643:\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05de\u05d5\u05dc\u05dd\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd\u2019\n        (\u05de\u05e7\u05d5\u05dd Grot. upon Matt. v. 16.)\n\n  Footnote 819:\n      \u2013 \u2018\u05d2\u05d1\u05d6\u05d3\u05ea\u05d5\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u05d2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea\u05d5\u2019\n        (\u05d2\u05d1\u05d5\u05e8\u05ea\u05d5 Sept. \u03c3\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2.)\n\n  Footnote 875:\n      \u2013 \u2018Colos. i. 19.\u2019 replaced with \u2018Colos. i. 13.\u2019\n        \u2018\u1f10\u1fe4\u1fe4\u03cd\u1f41\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u1f10\u1fe4\u1fe5\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u2019\n        (Colos. i. 13. \u1f10\u1fe4\u1fe5\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf.)\n\n  Footnote 1031:\n      \u2013 \u2018\u1f08\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03af\u03b1\u2019 replaced with \u2018\u1f08\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03af\u03b1\u2019\n        (Vid. Gell\u2019s \u1f08\u03b3\u03b3\u03b5\u03bb\u03bf\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03c4\u03af\u03b1.)","title":"The Existence and Attributes of God, Volumes 1 and 2","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":699679}