The Practical Sabbatarian

CHAP. XV. What we must meditate upon, on the morning of the Lord's day.

HAving thus drawn the portraicture, and given a description of this duty of meditation, with the blessed appendices which do attend it, as its seasons, advantages, &c. I now come to present suitable objects, for this duty to prey upon, and so to raise a little stock for meditation to trade with. And as to the Queries, (viz.) What we must meditate on in the spring and morning of the Sabbath? It is answered, whatsoever is spiritual, anything of a spiritual nature; we may meditate on the promises of God, the loves of Christ, the strictness of the Law, the sweetness of the Gospel, on the filthiness of Sin, on the vanity of the Creature, on the excellency of Grace; we may muse, and fix our thoughts upon the estate of our souls, and of the fewness of them who shall be saved; so likewise upon Death or Judgment. As holy David, sometimes he meditated on the works of God, sometimes on the Word of God, and sometimes on God himself. But I shall only open a double fountain to feed our meditations on the morning of the Sabbath, (Viz.)

• 1. Let us meditate on the God of the Sabbath.
• 2. On the Sabbath of God.

These two superlative objects, are like mount Hor, and mount Nebo, where Moses and Aaron took their prospects, before they were conveyed to the mountane of Spices: we will handle them distinctly; And

1. Let us meditate on the God of the Sabbath. Indeed this Divine and admirable object takes up the views and contemplations of holy Angels, and the inhabitants of glory, who spend eternity in beholding God face to face: But yet some glances we may have of this sovereign being by holy and spiritual meditation.

CHAP. XVI. God is most glorious in his essence and nature.

[unspec 1] LEt us meditate on the essence of God. He is an infinite being, the fullness of Heaven, the mirror of Angels, the delight of Saints; so glorious in himself, that he is only perfectly known by himself. God is an Ocean of goodness, a fountain of life, a spring of grace, a father of mercies, man's center to which he must come, before he find quietation or rest for his soul. He is so infinitely glorious, that he must be described by removing from him what he is not, rather then by asserting what he is. The eyes of Angels are too weak to behold him, and must make use of a veil a little to remit the beams of his glory. Our knowledge of him is only borrowed from his own discoveries. Let us then meditate on,

[unspec 1] The everlastingness of his nature. He is the ancient of days, He was before time was fledged, and had either wing or feather; His duration admits neither of beginning or ending; God is the first and eternal being; He did shine in perfections before the foundations of the world were laid; He is from everlasting to everlasting, His Name is everlasting God, Gen. 21. 33. His Arms are everlasting arms; His Mercy is everlasting mercy; He is the everlasting Father, Isa. 9. 6. His Strength is everlasting strength, Isa. 26. 4. His Kindness is everlasting kindness, Isa. 54. 8. His heart was full of love, before man was created to be the object of it, nay, he had his delights in himself, before he had his darling Man to let out his love upon. The Prophet calls God an everlasting light, Isa. 60. 19, 20. which shows, there was no twilight before this illustrious and bright Sun. His years fail not, there is no faintness can seize upon his Nature, nay, his years cannot be numbered, Isa. 36. 26. There can be no termination of his being. He inhabits Eternity, Isa. 57. 15. there he always dwelt. The World is but a latter production, to which he was pleased to give a being according to his good pleasure.

[unspec 2] Let us meditate on the Independency of his being. He subsists of himself, and all things lean on the arm of his power, and hang upon the good hand of his providence; He sustains the Angels; He supplies man not only with bread, but with breath; He feeds the young Ravens, they seek their meat at his hand. God is the universal purveyor of the World; and He supports this beautiful fabric, which else would soon sink into its primitive nothing, and he doth it by his own manutenency. Should God withdraw his fustentation, the whole Creation would faint and die away; He is the great King which maintains the Universe; He preserves the stranger; He relieves the fatherless and the widow, as the Psalmist speaks; nay, all things here below are constant stipendaries to this infinite God.

[unspec 3] Let us meditate▪ on the variety of his Excellencies. He is excellent in Greatness, He can wound the hairy scalp of the sinner, and break him in pieces as a potters vessel; His Sword is called the sword of his Excellency, Deut. 33. 29. as that weapon which can pierce the heart of his Enemies; His loving kindness is radiant with Glory and Excellency; How glorious and excellent is his mercy to draw sinners out of the dust, and seat them with Angels in eternal glory: And God is not only excellent in loving, but he is so in working; He can bring mighty things to pass, keep the water from drowning, the fire from burning, the Lions from devouring, the Sun from posting; His works are glorious in excellency. In a word, whatsoever is excellent is originally seated in God, and the creatures excellency is but a drop from this Ocean, a ray from this glorious Sun. If God put on his Attire, he clothes himself with Majesty, his inward garment is Strength, his outward wear is Honor; the Sun beams are shades, compared to the glittering of his apparel.

[unspec 4] Let us meditate on the luster of his appearances. When God discovers himself, Angels cannot look upon him, they are dazzled with that overcoming sight, and poor Man is frighted into despair, Isa. 6. 5. And so Manoah said to his Wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. If God appears in his Glory, Mount Sinai smokes and flames, as if it was turned into an Aetna or Vesuvius, those Mountains of Sicily and Campania, which continually disgorge themselves in smoke and fire. If God cast an eye upon the Earth, it trembles, if he but touch the mountains they smoke, Psal. 144. 32. Nay, if God wrap himself up in a Cloud, that dark appearance pearance is so full of Glory, that the people keep at a distance, and the Priests dare not make any near approach, 2 Chron. 5. 13, 14. The most refracted manifestation of God astonisheth, and strikes man into a consternation. When God appears he must put on the mask of a cloud, or else poor dust would unsoder, and fall before him. His appearance in the bush sanctified the ground; His appearance on the Mount multiplied the flame; His appearance to sinful Israel drives them into holes, and places of retirement. Isa. 2. 10. How was Moses raised with the dazzling appearance of God's back parts on Mount Sinai? Exod. 34. 6. And the Apostles ravished with Christ's splendid and seraphick appearance in the transfiguration? His glorious appearance in Heaven feeds the songs of Angels; His gracious appearance on earth to his poor wasting people fills their hearts with joy, and they are refreshed and refined by it; And his powerful appearance in Hell fills the damned with horror and despair, Job 37. 2. When God appears in Ordinances, those very Ordinances become the Cordials of Grace, the Instruments of conversion, the Paradise of the soul, the fulfilling of a promise, the chariots of Christ to convey him to the believer, and the banes of the most headstrong corruptions.

[unspec 5] Let us meditate on the tender goodness of his mercies. His mercy is great in point of quantity; His mercy is numerous in point of multitude; God hath a large offspring of love; His mercy is sweet and soft in point of quality, Psal. 103. 4. Sure mercy in point of perpetuity, Acts 13. 34. Sheltring mercy, where the believer may retire himself, in point of security, Psal. 13. 5. His mercy fills earth, Psal. 119. 64. reacheth to the heavens, Psal. 57. 10. Nay, it presseth into the Heavens, Psal. 36. 5. Nay, it is so great, it gets above the Heavens, Psal. 108. 4. And Mercy is not only an outward dispensation from God, but a sweet disposition in God, Nehem. 9. 17. It is a pearl in his Crown, it is a letter in his Name, Exod. 34. 6. and a great letter too; Nay, it is a beam of his glory; He delights to show mercy; His mercy is not above all his attributes, that is impossible, for what is in God, is God, but it is above all his works, Psal. 145. 9. How sweet was his mercy in multiplying Abraham 's Seed; in knocking off Israel's bonds; in sanctifying Manassah 's Fetters; in throwing Devils out of Mary Magdalene, and introducing himself in the room; in stopping Paul in the carier of his persecution of the Saints, and destruction to himself: It was Mercy p • nned the Covenant of Grace, sent an only Son into the world; and it is the same mercy which scatters Gospel-light for man's direction to eternal life: Divine mercies are the brightest rays to enlighten us, the sweetest drops to soften us, the surest forts to safe-guard us. The Hand of mercy giveth us the bonds of the promises; the Ear of mercy gives us an account of our prayers; the Tongue of mercy speaks comfortably to us in our distresses; the Eye of mercy beholds and pities us in our falls and lapses; the Heart of mercy yearns over us in our sins and iniquities. A learned man observes, God in infinite mercy places our justification upon faith, not upon works, upon the stretching out of a hand, not the exact performance of a work; If God should lay the stress upon accurate obedience, we should assuredly fall short of a Crown.

[unspec 6] Let us meditate on the glory of his wonders. He is a wonder-working God; He can fetch water out of the Rock, send fire out of heaven, he can rain down Manna, and so furnish the table with a shower, and fetch provisions, not from the Kitchen, but the Clouds; He can make the Sun run in a retrograde motion, and turn a flaming furnace into an arboret, a walk of safety and delight; He can fright Armies with a noise, they shall be discomfited by the weak sound of a rumour; He can raise an host of Caterpillars, and Palmer worms, and they shall do execution, and overthrow his Enemies without Sword or Spear. Christ can prepare bread without going to the meal in the Barrel, and provide wine without going to the store in the wine Cellar, and his Command shall yield more then the Vine: And the wonders of God

[unspec 1] Sometimes they are destructive; They strangled the first-born of Egypt, and washed away the Princeliness and Glory of the Land of Ham, in the Red Sea. God miraculously stirred up the Inhabitants of Seir, to help forward the destruction one of another.

[unspec 2] Sometimes God's wonders are preservative. The Mariners see God's wonders in the deep; and the boisterous waves by God's wonderful power, are their Pillars, not their Perdition, they support them, not swallow them up: Thus God wonderfully preserved Daniel in the Lions Den, and those beasts of prey served for his Guard, and not his execution, God's wonders are sometimes walls of fire to scorch and burn, and sometimes walls of brass to secure and defend: Sometimes God works wonderfully to show his love and faithfulness, and sometimes to show his wrath and indignation.

[unspec 3] God's wonders are sometimes declarative, they are the essay of his power before the eyes of the world; the Heavens take notice of them, Psal. 89. 5. The children of men take notice of them, Job. 9. 10. Holy Job was a notary to set them down, and the sweet singer of Israel an instrument to set them out, Psal. 105. 5. And not only the children of Israel, Nehem. 9. 10. But the people of the Nations have taken notice of the wonders of the Lord, Josh. 2. 10. and resented them with astonishment and admiration.

CHAP. XVII. God is most Adorable in his blessed Attributes.

[unspec 2] LEt us meditate on the Attributes of God. The Divine Attributes are those glorious beams which give us the best discovery of the Divine Being; His Justice is a scorching beam; His Mercy is a warming beam; His Faithfulness is a refreshing beam; His Truth is an enlightening beam; His Infiniteness is a dazzling beam; His Power is a piercing beam: But this prospect is so pleasant, we cannot so suddenly take off our eye, and therefore we shall glance at the Divine Attributes something more distinctly.

[unspec 1] Let us meditate on the Power of God: His Power, as his Glory, is transcendent: He can bow the Heavens; he can marshal the Stars; he can balance the Clouds, he can destroy single persons; he can subvert whole Cities, wash away the World with a Flood; he can make the Mountains smoke with a touch; he can summon the Nations with a hiss: and he can take off Pharaohs Chariot wheels with a look. If God frown, the Mountains quake, the Hills melt, the Earth is burnt, the World is blasted, and the Inhabitants of it tremble, Nah. 1. 5. He can scatter Nations, hurl Mountanes to and fro as the dust, Hab. 3. 6. Such divine discoveries of God's infinite power we meet with in sacred writ. He created the World by the Power of his Word, and bl • w the Universe into a being by the breath of his mouth; His Fiat reared the Heavens and the Earth into an existence; it filled the Sun with light, bespangled the Firmament with stars, deckit the fields with grass, laded the trees with fruit, and made the valleys sing with Corn, Psal. 65. 13. Paradise, Mans first and delightful seat, was but the issue of God's Commanding Power. He planted every Flower, he sowed every Seed, he set up every Tree, not with his Hand, but his Word. And as in Naturals, so is God's Power seen in Spirituals: He can subdue the strongest corruptions, break the hardest hearts, relieve the most fainting graces; he can unhorse the proudest Persecutors, and put the greatest Kings to grass, and throw the leudest Curtizans at his fect. And as God's Power is seen in perfective, so in destructive actions; he can unpin the wheels, and break the Axletree of the whole Creation with a word; he can infatuate the counsels of the deepest Politians, tear in pieces the strongest adversaries, Psal. 59. 22. blast the designs of the loftiest Courtiers, speed the death of the proudest Princes, and fire Nations out of their Cities, and tie them up with a tedious Captivity; he can throw sinners, soul and body into hell, Mat. 10. 28. In a word, God's Power is commensurate to his will, and the strength of his hand can effect whatsoever is in the purpose of his heart: If he make bare his arm, Isa. 52. 10. his naked arm can execute wonders, nor need he any weapons to accomplish his achievements.

[unspec 2] Let us meditate on the omnisciency of God. His eye is always upon us; he hath a window into our hearts; our very thoughts are unveiled to him; he sees every sin, he searcheth every soul; he trys every rein; Clouds do not darken his view, Curtains do not hinder his sight, and doors do not shut out his prospect; Light and darkness are all one to him; he sees the fine and curiously spun agitations of the mind before they are fledged, and fly out into action. It was an excellent speech of Augustine, Deus totus oculus est, & minima videt, God is all eye, and sees the most minute things, the very imaginations of our hearts, 1 Chron. 28. 9. our thoughts in the first • bullition, the very embryoes of our working minds. God saw Achan's wedge, although it was buried under ground, and can tell Joshua where it lay, Josh. 7. 11. Christ saw the Scribes reasonings, when they were only agitated in the conclave of their hearts, Mark 2. 6, 8. He knows the proud afar of, Psal. 138. 6. before they draw near to lift up the heel against him. Every motion of our minds, every sound of our tongue, every action of our lives, lie plain before him. Omnia videt, &c. He sees all things from Eternity to eternity, with one and the same view, as School-men speak. David could not fly from his presence, though he made the greatest speed to avoid it, and took the wings of the morning to hasten his flight, Psal. 139. 9. he weighs the dust in the balance, Isa. 40. 14. takes notice of those things, which are as small and contemptible as the dust.

[unspec 3] Let us meditate on the Holiness of God. This blessed Attribute is an orient pearl in God's Crown; Holiness is the very Glory of the God-head: The Lord is glorious in holiness, Exod. 15. 11. The Scriptures call the Father a holy God, Psal. 22. 3. the Son a spotless Lamb, 1 Pet. 1. 19. the Spirit the Holy Ghost, John 14. 26. The Holiness of God is the triumphant song of heaven, both in the Vision of the Prophet, Isa. 6. 3. and in the Revelation of the Apostle, Rev. 4. 8. The Holiness of God is the wonder of Angels; those glorious spirits admire God's beauty, which is his holiness; the holiness of the Lord, is the pattern and exemplar of Saints for them to imitate and write after, Lev. 20. 7. Holiness is primarily and originally in God, as light in the Sun, derivatively only in the Saints: As God is pleased to draw Man fair by the pencil of his spirit, to cast and shed a beauty and sweetness upon him, Ezek. 16. 6. Christ issuing forth from his fullness some beautifying drops, cleansing from sin, and watering with grace, and so poor man arises supernaturally lovely from amidst his natural deformity and loathsomeness. Holiness is so intrinsical and grateful to God, that he will have Holiness to the Lord engraven on the plate of Gold which Aaron the High Priest must wear upon his breast, Exod. 28. 36. God sits in the Throne of his holiness, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 47. 8. He is praised in the mountain of his holiness, saith the Prophet, Psal. 48. 1. Holiness attends upon his Throne, and holiness besets his Mountain; Holiness is mixed with his words, Psal. 60. 6. Holiness becomes his house, Psal. 93. 5. Holiness fills his habitation, Isa. 63. 15. and replenisheth his Court, Isa. 62. 9. Nay, holiness is so much God's nature, that holiness to the Lord must be written on the very Bells of the horses, and the pots of the Sanctuary, and they shall be like the bowles of the Altar, which were of pure Gold, Exod. 25. 31. typifying weight and worth, the Characters of true holiness.

[unspec 4] Let us meditate on the wisdom of God. He sits at the helm, and guides all things regularly and harmoniously; he brings light out of darkness, and can make use of the injustice of men, to do that which is just; he is infinitely wise, in him all treasures of wisdom dwell; he can break us by afflictions, and upon those broken pieces of the ship, bring us safe to shore. [unspec 1] The traces, mazes, and labyrinths of divine wisdom are so arduous and inextricable, that holy Paul was struck with amazement in the observation of them, and is even swallowed up with ecstacy and amazement, Rom. 11. 33. There is a learned man observes how many ways the wisdom and knowledge of God transcends and surpasseth the wisdom of man:

[unspec 2] God's wisdom surpasses man's in the object of it. God by his wisdom and knowledge understands all things past, present, and to come, all things which have a possibility of being, and he understands himself who is an Ocean of perfections; And this Man falls infinitely short of.

God is most exact in his wisdom and knowledge; He understands everything as it is an object of knowledge fully and perfectly; he is comprehensive of every vein and artery of all things possibly to be known; he fully knows the nature of Angels, every faculty of man's soul, every thought of man's heart, every muscle and vein of man's body, &c. But poor man sees things only in the twilight, his knowledge is both shart and superficial.

[unspec 3] God understands not things by their species and effects as man doth, but by his own essence, which is the most clear glass he seeth all things in. Man knows things extrinsically, and a posterioni as they lie open to his senses, and by that portal make way to his understanding.

[unspec 4] God understands all things presently, without any dilatory view, or long debate, but in an instant, by the glance of his eye he sees all things before him; But man attains his knowledge by study, care and painfulness, and usually great knowledge accompanies gray hairs, and he usually beats out knowledge with difficulty, with reasonings pro and con; and his conclusions suppose premises, the method of his attainment being syllogistical.

[unspec 5] God knows all things certainly and assuredly, and those things too which in themselves are most uncertain and contingent; he knew whether the inhabitants of Keilah would deliver up David or no a most contingent thing, 1 Sam. 23. 12. and of which David was wholly ignorant, though one of God's endeared ones: but Mans knowledge is floating and wavering, and for the most part opinionative and conjectural.

[unspec 6] God knows all things from Eternity, when Man lay only in the womb of a decree, before he was born, or produced in the world; the knowledge of God had its rise before time itself was fledged, or could spread its wing.

[unspec 7] God's knowledge is subject to no change or variation; it is always the same, and is never either in the increase or the decrease: but Mans knowledge is both subject to flushes and abatements, and may be impaired not only by ignorance, but forgetfulness. God's knowledge may be compared to the Sun, which always shineth on us with the same rays of brightness (Eclipses only excepted:) But the knowledge of Man is like the Moon, which hath both its increase and its wains, besides innate spots, which are the emblems and hierogliphicks of darkness and deformity.

[unspec 8] The knowledge of God, is the cause of all things which have an existence. First, God knows all creatures in his own incomprehensible wisdom, and then he gives them a being by the creating power of his Word; He first sees them in the glass of his essence, and then blows them into a being and existence by the breath of his mouth, by his commanding Word. But man's knowledge speaks something of observation, but nothing of production. God creates the object; Man only takes the prospect.

[unspec 9] God's knowledge is infinitely larger, and more copious then that of the creature: He knows Angels, Men, Animals, &c. and whatever may be presented to knowledge, and intelligence: But alas there is a darkness upon our deep; Our understanding is like some little beauty covered with a veil, like a twinkling star wrapped up in a cloud; something of knowledge we pretend to, but the smoke of our ignorance dims the light of our small pretences, and makes it duskish, and only break of day.

But the great God, not only hath, but is great wisdom; And he giveth wisdom to the wise, Dan. 2. 21. Solomon's wisdom which made him the Non-such of mankind, was only some reflexive light which the Sun of Righteousness cast upon him. In the works of Creation God's infinite wisdom was manifested, for so saith the Psalmist, Psal. 104. 24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works? in wisdom hast thou made them all. In the great work of man's redemption by Christ, the glorious wisdom of God was discovered; how many curious threads of inextricable wisdom run throw that whole work? The Apostle calls the wise contrivance of our redemption, manifold wisdom, Eph. 3. 10. Wisdom in all its varieties and embroyderies; indeed in that blessed work appeared stupendous wisdom. But in a word,

[unspec 1] God is wise originally, not by communication from another, but of himself. Our wisdom is but a ray communicated from the father of lights, Jam. 1. 17. The knowledge of Angels is only a beam or a spark of the divine light. God teacheth Princes wisdom, 1 Kings 3. 28. he teacheth Senators wisdom, Psal. 105. 22. The judgment of the Court, and the prudence of the Council are both from him; he giveth that wisdom which giveth life, to continue our being, Eccles. 7. 12. He giveth that wisdom which giveth strength, to carry out our being, Eccles. 7. 19. He giveth that wisdom which giveth wealth to sweeten our being, Prov. 16. 16. He giveth that understanding which secures the soul, which is the being of our being, Prov. 19. 8. and the wisdom of God beareth down all other wisdom, Prov. 21. 30. As the Sun out-shines the Glow-worm, or the light of it puts out the fire-light.

[unspec 2] God is wise essentially. We must not understand God to be wise, as if wisdom made him wise, as it happens among the creatures, in them wisdom is a separable quality; but God's wisdom is himself, and himself is his wisdom. As Origen well observes, Wisdom doth not give a Name to God, but God gives a Being to wisdom. The perfections of the Creature are like the gilding which may be laid upon vessels of wood or stone, the matter is one thing, and the varnish and ornament is another; but the perfections of God are like a vessel made of pure beaten Gold, where the matter and the splendor or adorning is the same.

[unspec 3] God is infinitely wise; His wisdom is unlimited, and incomprehensible; God manageth the affairs of the whole world, visible and invisible; he takes care for all things, from the Ant to the Angel. Nothing so small as to escape his knowledge; he sees every dust on the looking-glass nothing so great as to burden his mind; The Sun with the same ease shines upon the whole world, as upon one single field; so God doth manage the Government of the whole world with the same facility, as he rules one single creature; he bridles all mankind with the same ease and dexterity as he can muzzle an Ox, and rein in, and guide one of the beasts of the field. Man attends upon one care at once; various thoughts scatter the mind, and weaken it, but God's wisdom doth not deliberate with hesitancy, or consult with doubt; his thoughts are clear all at once, not successively, and in a way of discourse.

[unspec 5] Let us meditate on the truth of God. This glorious attribute, is the pillar of a believers dependence, the firm ground upon which he casteth anchor, we therefore trust in God, because he is faithful and true, Psal. 49. 7. This attribute sheds a glory upon all God's other attributes; for God is truly Wise, truly Omnipotent, truly Holy, truly Gracious, and this is the glory of God. And God is not only Deus verus, a true God; but Deus veritatis, a God of truth: He is not only true in the concrete, but truth in the abstract: And God is truth in all acceptations, and all the latitudes of it.

[unspec 1] As truth is opposed to falsehood. The strength of Israel cannot lie, 1 Sam. 15. 29. And this the Apostle saith is impossible, Heb. 6. 18. The Sun may sooner turn itself into a cloud, then God can be charged or blemished with a blot of untruth. A learned man observes, That truth is no virtue different or distinguished from the essence of God, but is the very nature and essence of God.

[unspec 2] God is truth, as it is opposed to hypocrisy and dissimulation; God can put on a mask to conceal himself, but not to counterfeit: His faithfulness reacheth to the clouds, Psal. 36. 5. If God be angry, he doth not feign himself so; He truly whets his sword, and draws his arrow, Psal. 7. 12. Deut. 32. 42. And the soundings of his bowels are real music, they are not artificial, Isa. 63. 15. God truly yearns over the penitential soul; his compassions are kindled with real heat.

[unspec 3] God is truth, as it is opposed to injustice and unequalness, Deut. 32. 4. The ways of God are equal, without any crookedness and incurvation, Ezek. 18. 25. Mans ways indeed are full of error and deviation; mankind is a crooked generation traversing their ways like a wild Asses Colt, Job 11. 12. But all God's proceedings are just and holy, laid to the line of truth and righteousness; if they are laid in the balance, there will be no lightness or failure in them. God he is most just, Job 34. 17, 19.

1. God is just in his Commandments, Rom. 7. 12. no speck of injuriousness, or over-severity sticks upon any of his commands.

2. God is just in his Sovereignty, 2 Sam. 23. 3. His Scepter is a scepter of righteousness; he rules over all with an equal distribution of right and judgment.

3. God is just in his punishments, Nehem. 9. 33. Deut. 16. 18. He strikes not the sinner without provocation, Isa. 3. 8. nor corrects the Saint without a necessity, 1 Pet. 1. 6.

4. God is just in all his ways and walkings among the children of men, Rev. 15. 3. There may be abstruces, but no iniquity in all his providential proceedings; there may be a wheel within a wheel, Ezek. 1. 16. but no broken wheel.

5. God is just in all his pardons and forgivenesses, 1 Job. 1. 9. Christ hath purchased our pardon, and God is just to issue it out.

But a little further to draw the curtain from before this illustrious attribute of God's truth, we must seriously consider and understand that,

[unspec 1] God is essentially true. Truth is not his quality, but his nature; God is most truly that Being which he sees, and knows himself to be, (viz.) an Eternal and most perfect being. Augustine observes, That is false which seemeth to be one thing, but is another; but now God is truth itself, because he is of himself, and in himself what he beholds himself to be. He is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Jehovah, a true essence, and essential truth. Other God's they are nominally so, not really so; They have eyes, but there is no sight in their eyes, no visive faculty; They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not; mouths have they, but they speak not, Psal. 115. 5, 6. And because God is truth, whatsoever he saith and averrs of himself is most true.

[unspec 2] God is originally true. All created beings are really and truly what they appear to be, because God was the Author of them, and they were made according to the perfect Idea, which was in the mind of God; their correspondence to the plat-form in God's breast speaketh them to be true things, and true beings. God makes all things truly and substantially good, and they are all fashioned according to the pattern of his purpose.

[unspec 3] God is purely and most perfectly true; In him there is no shade of deception; he is light without darkness, the supreme good, without any blending of evil; he can neither deceive, nor be deceived; he is all knowledge, without any black tincture of ignorance; he is all truth, without any interruption of mistake.

[unspec 4] God is supremely true; He is the highest truth. The Law of God is the true measure and rule of all Laws; and Laws are so far just, good and equal, as they accord with the Divine Law: So everything is true, as it is consentaneous and conformable to the Counsels and Will of God, to that truth which is in the mind of God. As Ambrose observes, No man can call Jesus, Lord, but in and by the Holy Ghost, because whatsoever is true, by whomsoever it is spoken, it is from the holy spirit. All truth flows from the spirit, as all lies are from Satan, he is the Father of them.

[unspec 5] God is immutably and unchangeably true. Man runs often from truth to error, deceiving and being deceived; we often leave the plain way of truth, and go into the bywayes of error and mistake. The Church in all ages hath had its Pests, as well as its Pillars, and hath been plagued with an Arius, as well as blessed with an Athanasius. Simon Magus hath crept in among the fold of Christ, as well as Simon Peter hath had the charge of the flock of Christ: And besides, truth in us is sometimes more clear, sometimes more clouded. Our understanding is different and graduate in the apprehensions of it. But the Lord is always unchangeable in his truth, because he is so in his being, in his will, in his wisdom, and other attributes. God is not subject either to misapprehensions or recollections.

[unspec 6] God is true in all his works: Whither we consider his spiritual operations; whom he justifies, he not only freely, but truly justifies; not only reprieves, but pardons; suspends his execution, but makes him heir of life and salvation; If God call us, he doth it truly and effectually, not by a pretended invitation, but by a powerful and successful vocation. The Apostle links predestination and vocation together in the same chain. Whom God regenerates, he doth truly convert to himself, giveth them true faith, and the blessed graces of his holy spirit. And so in the works of his hands. Angels are glorious and real spirits; Man is a noble and a true creature, resembling the God of truth, and bearing his image, he is no fantasm, no spectrum, as some heretics in the primitive times asserted of the body of Christ. God made all things very good, Gen. 1. 31. and so no mixture of false semblance embased their worth. The Creatures are real according to their appearances: The world is no dream, or fantastic landskip.

[unspec 7] God is true in his words. He is true in the incarnate word. Christ is the true Son of God, not suppositious; not the Son of Joseph, but the Son of God. He was truly God, and truly Man; a true Prophet, a true Priest, a true King, 1 Joh. 5. 20. And Christ calls himself the truth, Joh. 14. 6. God is likewise true in every word which the Prophets or Apostles have pronounced, or laid down for our advice and instruction; truth is an indelible character of the Scriptures. In his Word God is true, in every particle of it, in every tittle of it, Mat. 5. 18. And therefore as the Apostle saith, Let God be true, and every man a liar, Rom. 3. 4. Christ asserts, he spoke nothing but the words of truth, and he left heaven to converse with the Sons of men to bear testimony to the truth, Joh. 8. 40.

[unspec 8] God is true in his donations. He gives us true happiness, true grace, puts in us a principle of truth; God writes us true pardons, seals us by a spirit of truth to the day of redemption, give us true knowledge, fills us with true joy, and sweetens our souls with real and true consolations; He enriches us with true riches, Luke 16. 11. The proffers of the world are false, and evanid, false shows, and counterfeit satisfaction: But all true complacencies and delights are to be found in Christ, and are treasured up in God.

[unspec 9] God is true in his promises, Those breasts which yield better liquor then wine, those flowers which smell sweeter then the choicest ointments, (as Bernard saith) sweeter then the flowers of Paradise. All the promises in Christ are Yea and Amen, 2 Cor. 1. 20. They are all established in him, as a str ••• ure built upon a sure founda • ion. Indeed the Lord is abundant in truth, Exod. 34. 6. He is encompassed with truth, as with a girdle, Isa. 11. 5, 6. He is plenteous in truth, Psal. 86. 15. Ready to write truth in our inward parts; He is eternal in truth; he is holy and true in this generation, and so he will be in the next, Psal. 100. 5. He is preservative in his truth, his truth is both shield and buckler, Psal. 91. 4. So that truth is not only God's glorious attribute, but man's sure defense.

[unspec 6] We must meditate on the Love of God. This is that influential attribute which sets God on work; His love sets his eye on pitying, his head on contriving, his hand on acting, his heart on melting: God out of love sent his Son out of his bosom, scatters his Gospel in the world, that light which is more glorious then the Sun. In love, God saith to the sinner, live, Ezek. 16. 6. seeketh after enemies for reconciliation, 2 Cor. 5. 19. and makes clods of earth, and poor worms heirs of salvation, Heb. 1. 14. But for the further discovery of this sweet attribute, we must search for it in its properties; it may be discerned in its characters, though not in its cause. Now there are divers explanatory characters of divine love.

[unspec 1] The love of God is eternal love. God's love to poor man had no beginning, there never was any time when the heart of God was not set upon a Saint: He loved him in his futurition, when the believer was to be; a child of God had a being in his love, before he had a being in the world. The Saint first lay in the womb of the decree of love, before he lay in the womb of his natural parent. God saw Saul when he was hid among the stuff, 1 Sam. 10. 22. and God saw and loved the Saint when he was hid in an eternal purpose of grace. Chrysostom observes, That this is a discovery of the immensity of God's love, that he loved us before the world was made; He had us near his heart before all time, and had careful and solicitous thoughts for us particularly, and predestinated us through Christ to eternal salvation. In God's love to man, this is stupendous and admirable, that he who is clothed with Majesty, and encompassed with infinite happiness, who enjoys all good in himself, and is indige ••• nothing complacential, should set his heart upon poor dust from all everlasting.

[unspec 2] The love of God is free, and drawn out by no incentive. Cyril observes, There is no utility or profit in man to lay any engagement upon God. The production of the creatures belongs nothing to the perfection of God; he was infinitely and absolutely perfect before; when we were created, we brought nothing to him, and if we were annihilated, we should detract nothing from him. God made us to love us, but he loved us before he made us. Indeed naturally man hath no beauty, no attractive quality to endear or engage the heart of God to him. One saith well, We are made, not born beautiful; God plants his grace in us, and then loves his grace in us; gives us his Christ, and then loves us for the sake of his Christ.

[unspec 3] The love of God is infinite and unmeasurable, and admits of no comparison: The love of Relations, the passionate love of women, nay, the love of a Jonathan, which surpassed the love of women, are but painted fire, compared to the sweet and sacred heats of divine love. The love of an indulgent Father, of a tender Mother, of the dearest Husband, of the most affectionate wife, are no more to divine affection, nay, infinitely less then the light of a glow-worm compared to the light of the Sun. Read a line or two of God's love in human instances, in the meltings of a David over his Son Absalom, in the heart-breaking loves of a Mary Magdalene to Jesus Christ, Luk. 2. 38. How did the hearts of these Saints faint away in an ecstacy of unspeakable affection? But Christ in a greater and more of unspeakable affection takes our nature upon him, that we might wade to Canaan through the Red Sea of his blood. In the mystery of our Redemptiot, saith Bernard, God's love was dilated, and passed all bounds, outstretched all cords, opens the whole bosom, and disposeth all things sweetly, for the accomplishment of that great design.

[unspec 4] God's love is unchangeable, and withdrawn by no diversion. Whom God loves he loves to the end, Joh. 13. 1. There is no unstayedness in the love of God; whom he loves, he loves freely, fully, and finally; whom God loves, though he do not find them lovely, he makes them so; and although their beauty doth not allure his love, yet his love doth confer their beauty, he puts grace into their lips, and draws Christ upon their hearts, that there may be no cause of change or repenting. Further to evidence this truth, we must consider, there is nothing in the Saints can make a change in the love of God.

[unspec 1] Not their afflictions; God pities, he doth not throw off his afflicted ones; he delivers them, but he doth not disown them, he lays his rod upon them, but he sets his heart upon them; he is present with them in all their troubles, Isa. 43. 2. He sympathizeth with them in all their troubles, Isa. 63. 9. Nay, oftentimes he takes the opportunity to show greater favor to them in their troubles, Isa. 48. 10. Then he selects them for himself: The afflictions of the Saint they draw out, but they do not draw off the heart of God.

[unspec 2] Not their temptations. How many promises hath God made to his tempted Saints? 1 Cor. 10. 13. He will sweeten and proportionate their temptations, 1 Cor. 10. 13. He will deliver them out of temptations, 2 Pet. 2. 9. he would not have them grieved for, but rejoice in temptations, Jam. 1. 2. He will bring Satan under their feet, Rom. 16. 20. He will tread the Tempter under them: All these expressions evidence the care of God over his tempted ones. The temptations of the Saint may discover God's watchfulness, but no way divert his loving kindness.

[unspec 3] Not their Transgressions. If anything would spunge our names out of the Book and heart of God, it is sin; for sin grieves the spirit of God, breaks the commands of God, provokes the displeasure of God; yet God can show his wrath against the sin, and his love to the sinner; God punished David for his foul sins, yet he pitied him after his foul sins; Sin grieves, not alienates the heart of God from offending Saints: But let not this encourage any in sin, David's tears and bitter sufferings are a forcible argument against all such presumption; though God will not take off his heart, yet he will hide his face from offending believers. But to close up my discourse on this blessed attribute; the love of God participates something of all his attributes.

[unspec 1] It is a wise love; He chooseth according to the purposes of his grace, and then makes his Elected ones fit for his love; then he makes them spiritual, believing, holy, fruitful, that he may take delight in them. He determines mercy to a poor sinner, out of the wisdom of his choice, not out of the goodliness of the sinner. In infinite wisdom he selects his little flock out of the mass and generations of mankind.

[unspec 2] It is a powerful love. The softness of God's bowels can break the hardness of man's heart; the love of God can heal natures, kill lusts, plant graces, change hearts, convert stubborn sinners, and accomplish whatsoever is strange and glorious. If God love thee, he will conform thee to his will, and carry thee through all the hazards and difficulties of this life, and never leave thee, till he hath lodged thee in his own bosom.

[unspec 3] It is an omniscient love. God sees from eternity the waywardness and obstinacy of those whom he chooseth to salvation; and yet the force of his love is not overcome by that foreseen petulancy, but he in time removes it, and man's unworthiness puts grace upon a greater attempt, but no way drives God to a sentence of neglect or rejection. Indeed here is the wonder of God's love; he from eternity sees us a mass of corruption and sin, and yet no discouragement withstands or weakens his love, but in due time he beautifies his chosen ones, and loves them everlastingly for their comeliness and beauty; he foresees all disengagements, but decrees to remove them.

[unspec 4] It is a just love. God loves not, but where he sees something lovely. Indeed the duties of sinners are distasteful to God: But God loves the Saints because of their uprightness. The wise man saith, The upright in their way are the delight of the Lord, Prov. 11. 20. The curious work of grace in the heart of a Saint, portrayed with so much wonder, and drawn with so much exactness by the pencil of the divine spirit, is a beauty God is pleased with, and fixeth his love upon, and doth evidentially declare, that though he is free, yet he is most just in his favor and affection.

CHAP. XVIII. God is much to be admired in his Works of Creation.

[unspec 3] LEt us meditate in the morning of the Lord's day on the works of the Lord. David was much busied in this contemplation, Psal. 77. 12. He usually took his views and prospects of the beautiful issues of creating power, which are the evidences of the wisdom, goodness, and almightiness of the Great Creator. How doth the Psalmist in the beginning of the nineteenth Psalm fall into the admiration of the heavens, that bespangled Court, where God took up his eternal abode and residence? How is David's prospect checkerd and delighted with beholding the firmament which is embroidered with stars; that large branch which holds those twinkling tapers which enlighten the world in the night-season. And in the eighth Psalm, especially in the fourth verse, David goes down stairs into the lower room of the Earth, and there he contemplates on man, that Microcosme, the world bound up in a lesser volumn; and how doth he enlarge his wondering thoughts on this Vice-Roy of God, Man, who is the Universe contracted. And in these meditations, let the Psalmist be our pattern; for meditation on God's works becomes the blessed Sabbath. In that Psalm, whose title is a Psalm for the Sabbath, (viz.) the ninety second, David begins it with holy admiration of God's works in the world, Psal. 92. 5. And truly it is a dishonor to a workman to manifest abundance of skill and ingenuity, and none to take notice of his workmanship; for a Limner to draw a rare piece, and no eye to admire his Artifice, to draw the curtain from before the Picture, and to observe its Curiosities. God hath his mighty works to be remembered and wondered at. It is said of Pythagoras, that he lived sequestered from men in a Cave for a whole Year together, that he might meditate on the abstruse points of Philosophy. On the Lord's day, let us take some time to ponder the infinite perfections which appear in the operations of God's hand. Alas! the choicest works of man, compared to the smallest works of God, are but as the children's houses of cards or dirt, compared to the loftiest Courts, or the stateliest Palaces of the world. The Lily hath more magnificence and beauty in it, then Solomon in all his glory, Mat. 6. 29. Solomon was not so gorgeous in his richest Attire, as the Lily in its beautiful color and blush. The meanest of God's works▪ hath more rarity and wonder in it, then Archites his wooden Dove, which was soequally poised with its own weight, that it hung firm in the Air without falling; or Archimedes his Horology, wherein the motions of the Sun, Moon and Stars were so lively depainted. There is so much of God appearing in the Heavens, that many have taken them for a God, and gave them divine worship. The Persians adore the rising Sun, and admire the daily visit of that glorious body, which they think little less then a Deity. When we meditate on the works of God, we have a large field; here our souls may wander from Sea to Land, from Earth to Heaven, from Time to Eternity; yea, we may walk upon the Sun, Moon and Stars, and enter into Heaven itself, the Paradise of God. Every Creature we cast our eye upon on the blessed Sabbath should be a flower to refresh our Meditations; we should now feed our Graces by our Senses, and the meditation on created beings should conduct us to Christ. When we look upon the Sun, we should look up to Christ the Sun of Righteousness; every star may mind us of the star of Jacob, that bright morning star; when we look on our houses Christ is the door; when we look on our bodies, Christ is our head; when we look upon our clothes, Christ is the garment of Salvation; when we look upon our friends and relations, Jesus Christ is our husband, Cant. 2. 16. our Friend, Joh. 15. 10. our Beloved, Cant. 4. 16. our King, Rev. 15. 3. If we walk, he is our way; if we read, Christ is the word; if we eat or drink, Christ is our food; if we live, Christ is our life: Thus a gracious heart may make a spiritual use of all earthly objects, and every Creature which presents itself, may supply our contemplations on Christ; And so we may happily begin our Sabbath.

But more particularly:

[unspec 1] We must meditate on the most noble works of the Creation. And here the Angels heighten and sublimate our meditations, the Sun and the stars enlighten them, the several pieces of the Universe enlarge them, and the sweet fields and flowers refresh them, the thunder and lightning awaken them, the musical notes of the birds delight them. Our meditations are raised in beholding the Creatures. The contemplation of created beings turned the Prophet into a Philosopher; he observed the Wisdom and Power of God in the worlds Creation, Jer. 10. 12. there saith the Prophet, He hath made the Earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the Heavens by his discretion. How sweetly doth the Prophet Philosophize upon the raising and settling the Fabric of the world. The contemplation of created beings turned the Psalmist into an Orator: How eloquently doth David paraphrase upon the wonders and works of the Creation? Psal. 104. 2. there saith the Psalmist, He stretcheth out the Heavens like a curtain, lays the beams of his Chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds his Chariot, who walks upon the wings of the wind. The Psalmist spends largely upon the treasury of his Rhetoric, to set out the excellency of the worlds Architect. Nay, the contemplation of created beings turns holy Job into an Astronomer; he views with admiration Arcturus, Orion; the Pleiades, and casts his eye upon the Chambers of the South, Job 9. 8, 9. And then he is folded up with amazement at the glory and power of the Creator. There are some who derive the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Heavens, from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to be amazed. Indeed a prospect of that glorious body, the Heavens, the roof of the great house of the world, that bespangled and enamel'd Canopy over our heads, can drive the most considerate person into amazement. The vastness and beauty of the body of the Heavens, the swiftness and regularity of their motions and agitations, which is above all reason, can easily raise men into wonder and trasportation. In Scripture we sometimes meet with the Heavens of Heavens, 1 Kings 8. 27. and with the third heavens, 2 Cor. 12. 2. There are likewise the highest heavens, and yet God made them, Gen. 1. 4. and he can bow them as he listeth, Psal. 18. 9. He can stretch them to what latitude he pleaseth, Isa. 45. 12. He can span them, Isa. 48. 13. And if he be angry and inflamed, he can throw a black clothe over them, and shade their glory, Isa. 50. 3. Jer. 4. 23. 28. and melt them, Psal. 68. 8. and cause them to vanish like a smoke, Isa. 51. 6. Amos 9. 6. Nay, how doth Holy Paul like an exact Logician, draw the conclusion of the glory of things invisible, by the splendor and excellency of things visible, Rom. 1. 20.

But further to d • late on this subject; God created the body of this world, Gen. 1. 1. The inhabitants of this World, Angels and Men, Isa. 42. 5. Mat. 2. 11. The light and Luminaries of this world, to distinguish it from a great and darker prison, Gen. 1. 14. He created the garnishes and delights of this world, the soft waves, the sweet fields, the shady clouds, the piercing winds, to fan and cool the world, and the different seasons to beautify the year with successive alternations. Pontanus Chancellor of Saxony propounds to be viewed, the most beautiful arch work of heaven, resting on no post but God's power, and yet standing fast forever, the clouds as thin as the liquor contained in them, yet they hang, and move, salute us▪ only, and threaten us, and pass we know not whither. Now all these things may feed our meditations on the morning of the Lord's day; (though divine medidation may become any part of that sacred day.) Augustine findeth no reason, why God should be six days in making the world, seeing he could have made it with a word, but that we should be in a muse when we think of it, and should think on his works in that order he made them. Our meditations should take leisure in the survey of them, and not pass them over in a short and momentary flight. And besides the reason urged by St. Augustine, we may take notice of a second, (viz.) what a beautiful and sweet prospect meditation shall have in the survey of the works of the Creation, which may entertain our view for some considerable time, and may stop and stay our meditation, as Lot did the Angels, and force it to a retirement.

[unspec 2] Let us meditate on the Sun, that glorious, though inanimate creature: What is the Sun, but the eye of the world? If we take notice of its situation and motion, the contemplation will be rare; It is fixed in the midst of the Planets, that it may dispense its light and heat for the greater advantage of the lower world. By its course from East to West, it causes the agreeable vicissitude of day and night, and maintains the amiable war between light and darkness; And this distinction of time is necessary for the pleasure and profit of the world. The Sun by its rising chases away the shades of the night, to delight us with the beauties of the stupendous Creation; It is God's Herald to call us forth to discharge our work. The Sun governs our labors, conducts our industry, and when it retires from us, a curtain of darkness is drawn over the world; And this very darkness in some sense enlightens us, for it makes visible the Ornaments of Heaven, (viz.) the Stars, and shows us their Aspects, Dispositions and Motions which were hid in the day. This darkness unbends the world, and gives a short and necessary truce to man's labors, and recreates their wasted spirits. The Sun finisheth its compass about the world in twenty four hours, a very short space for so long and tedious a circuit. The diversities of seasons proceed from the motion of the Sun; and as the motion of the Sun from East to West makes day and night, so its motion from North to South causes Summer and Winter, and by both these the world is preserved; Summer crowns the Earth with flowers and fruits; and Winter, which seemeth to be the death of nature, robbing the earth of its heat and life, contributes very much to the universal good; it prepares the Earth by its cold and moisture for the returning Sun, and seasons. Indeed the motion of the Sun is admirable, running ten or twelve millions of leagues every day, without failing one minute of its appointed stage, and inviolably observes its due and constant order.

[unspec 3] Let us meditate on the Air, whose extent fills the space between Heaven and Earth; it is of a pure and reviving nature, and easily transmits the influences of the Heavens; And as One observes, It is the Arsenal for Thunders, Lightnings, whereby God summons the world to dread and reverence; insomuch that Caligula, Rome's Emperor, was wont to fly under his Bed at the noise of the Thunder. The Air it is the treasury of the clouds, which dissolving in gentle showers, refresheth the earth, and calls forth its seeds into flourish and fruitfulness; it fans the earth with the wings of the wind, allaying those intemperate heats which otherwise would be injurious to the worlds inhabitants. The Air is the region for the birds, wherein they pass, us so many m • ving Engines praising the Creator, the Air being only their larger music-room. The Air serves for the breath and life of man, and is divided into several Regions; there are three Regions of the Air, all useful and admirable in their kind. And as Zanchi observes; By the Air things become visible, and colors are seen in their proper comeliness and beauty.

[unspec 4] Let us meditate on the Sea, that vast body of waters which fill the hollow and excavated places of the Earth, as the blood doth the veins of man. Here the Leviathan plays and sports itself in its liquid traces and windings, the high and proud waves serving to racket and bandy this Sea-Monster from one place to another, Job 41. 1. Psal. 104. 26. And in these great waters God's admirable power is seen; that they should be reined in by so weak a bridle, as the sand, and its rage should be snaffled by it: when the ways beat upon the shore in their insultation, you would fear they would swallow up all, but they no sooner touch the sand, but all is turned into froth, and its watrish insolence evaporates. How doth the Lord descant upon these mountainous billows, and this swelling Ocean? Job 38. 8, 9, 10, 11. Who shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. The extent of the Sea is likewise to be considered; it washes the four parts of the world, and becomes the Bond of the Universe; by it the most distant Nations are united; it is the medium of Trade and Commerce, (in which Divine goodness is much to be observed and adored) and Commodities peculiar to several Countries are made Common to all. Thus great advantage and delight accru • s to man, who sails upon this kind Element to the Port of his desire.

[unspec 5] Let us meditate on the Earth; Consider its position, it hangs in the midst of the Air to be a convenient habitation for us. Its stability is rare; the Air itself is not able to bear a feather, and yet the whole Earth remains in it fixed and unshaken, notwithstanding all the storms and tempests which beat upon it; surely the invincible and powerful hand of God must needs support and sustain it. We may likewise contemplate on the various dispositions of the parts of the earth, the Mountanes, Valleys, Rivers, which are as the veins to carry nourishment to this great body. Nor are Plants to be pretermitted, their roots whereby they draw their nourishment, and the firmness of their stalk, by which they are defended against the violence of the winds, the expansion of their leaves by which they receive the dew of Heaven. So now all the parts of the world may afford fuel for holy meditation. The Heavens give light, the Air breath, the Sea Commerce, the Earth habitation; all these things being pondered and medita • ed on, in them we may read the Name of God indelibly printed: Our meditation may flutter its wings over these considerables, and fly into admiration of the Infiniteness, Power, Excellencies and Perfections of the Great Creator.

[unspec 6] Let us meditate on Man; the abridgement and recapitulation of the whole Creation. Let us consider and observe the composure of his body; He was fearfully and wonderfully made, as the Psalmist speaks, Psal. 139. 15, 16. Let us take notice of the powers of his soul; and who but an infinite Agent could unite this soul and body, and clasp them together, an immaterial soul, with an earthly body? Who but God, the great Jehovah, could assign them both their form, situation, temperature and fitness for those uses to which they serve? Acts 17. 27, 28. We may indeed see God in the activity of our hands, in the beauty of our eyes, in the vivacity of our senses; and if we look inward, what distinct and admirable faculties is the soul endowed and enriched with? The understanding exercises the Empire over all other faculties; the will pursues with eagerness, either that which is good, or that which appears to be so; the memory preserves fresh and lively, the pictures of those things which are committed to its charge: Surely this consideration would make our meditations on the Lord's day most sweet and delectable; and what a golden thread of divine wisdom runs through the whole Universe! The Order of the world shows the wisdom of God, Prov. 3. 19, 20. The Earth is set lowermost, as the foundation of the rest, the Sea is pent within its Channels, the Air is above them both, and the Heavens are the highest loft of the Crea • ion. And so admirable order may be seen in making the world; God proceeding from things imperfect to things more perfect. First there is the rude mass, then the Heaven and the Earth, glorious creatures, but without life; then Herbs and Plants which have a vegetative life, but without sense or motion; then the brute Creatures, which have sense and motion, but want reason; and last of all, Man, whom God endows with a reasonable soul, and makes him after his own image; And in this order we may perceive, first, the dwelling place is appointed, then the food, then the creature which is to feed upon it; the beast upon the herbs, and man upon the beasts. The Queen of Sheba was astonished at Solomon's wisdom, when she perceived the well ordering of his family: Certainly did we observe the order of nature, we should more wonder at the infinite wisdom of God, Heb. 11. 10. Amos 9. 6. The several parts of the world are sometimes compared to a building; and in this great house every part conspires to the beauty, service and decency of the whole. The roof of this building is Heaven; the Sphears are Chambers and stories in the Heavens; the foundation of this building is the Earth, Job 38. 5, 6. The Stars and glorious Luminaries are windows in this house, and the Sea is the watercourse which serves this magnificent Structure. And it is observable, that everything in the world is fitted for use and service. The workmans skill is as much commended in the use of an instrument, as in the making of it. Now the upper Heavens are made for the habitation of the Saints; the middle Heavens to give light, heat and influence; the Air or lower heavens to give breath to sustain both man and beast, the fruits are for food, the plants and herbs for medicine. Galen saith, there are six hundred muscles in the body of man, and everyone fitted for ten uses; and so for bones, nerves, arteries and veins, whoever shall observe them, their situation, use, correspondence, cannot choose but fall into admiration of the wise Creator. The wisdom of Men and Angels cannot mend the least thing in a Fly, the figure, color, quantity or quality of a worm, or of a flower, all which are made with so much exactness. And it was no less then blasphemy in Alphonso the Spanish King, to aver, That had he been the Maker of the World, he would have cast it into a better form. No, All the works of Creation are stupendous and admirable, and are as so many asterisks to point out the glory and fame of that incomprehensible being, who was the author and founder of them.

CHAP. XIX. God is most wonderful in the works of his providence.

[unspec 4] WE must meditate on the works of Providence. God is seen and manifested, not only in the making, but in the governing of the world, not only in the power of his hand, but in the wisdom of his head; he hath not only made the ship, but he sits at the stern, and is the pilot to guide it. Divine providence will be more fitted and suited to holy meditation, if we trace providence

[unspec 1] In its conservation of all things in their beings. By God's immutable and powerful providence all things are sustained and supported, Acts 17. 28. It is a good saying of a learned man, How could God be unspeakably wise, if he knew not, be infinitely powerful if he could not, be admirably good if he would not govern, and take care of the world he hath created? A Master of a Family will take care for, and support the Children of his loins, the servants of his house; and the place of his habitation where he himself hath taken up his abode.

[unspec 1] That God rules and sustains all things by his good Providence, is easily to be demonstrated, if we look upon the world in general: He hangs the Earth upon no king, Job 26. 7. And what then should sustain that great, vast, and massy body, but the supporting hand of the Almighty? He not only sustains a Body of Earth, but gives life, and breath unto all things, Acts 17. 25. The World doth not only rest steady, as leaning upon the Pil • ar of God's Power, but all creatures in the world have their life and motion from him; He puts a principle of life into them to travel, and flit up and down the world; their steps are guided and given by the Lord; Their locomotive power is from him. And God doth not only give breath, but bread to his creatures, Psal. 33. 19. He spreads the Table for Man, his Vice-roy in the world; And the young Ravens cry to him, (all the fealty they can show) they cry, and they have their supplies from him, Psal. 147. 9. Luke 12. 24. And God doth not only make provision f • r man, but afford protection to him. His food shall sustain him; and man's Sword shall not d • stroy him; God will not only exhibit supply, but keep off danger. This likewise is verified in inanimate things. He numbers the Stars, that one of those glistering tapers shall not be missing, nay, he calls them by their Names, Psal. 147. 4. to show his exact providence for the conservation of them; not one can be wanting, but the defect will soon appear, he hath an exact muster roll of them: He calls them over continually, and every Star must answer to its Name. He convocates the Clouds, he summons them, and then m • lts them into showers, and every drop of Rain alarms the grass to rise, and spring, not only in the Fields, Job 5. 10. but upon the lofty mountains, Psal. 147. 8. So God preserves the Earth; not only in its poise and Being, but in its feracity and plenty. And its observable, if God contract our time in the world, there is no warding off the stroke of death, Luke 12. 20. And if God lengthen out our days beyond what nature promises, then death hath no stroke to give, Isa. 38. 5. In a word, he that made us in the womb, Job 31. 15. keeps us in the world, fixes our time both for our abode and departure, Psal. 81. 15. All things depend upon God's b • ck, hang upon his hand, live upon his bounty; If he hide his face they are troubled, and if he take away their breath, they die, Psal. 104. 28, 29. It is Jehovah, who is the pillar to support the world, who is the first being to give life to the world, who is the Sovereign to rule and govern the world, and who cannot only untile, but cast down this beautiful fabric, when he pleases. Upon the Basis of Divine All-sufficiency the Universe resteth.

[unspec 2] And God's supporting power is not only evidenced in the world in general, but his care and preservation is most illustrious and conspicuous in the keeping and defending of his Church. Let us observe this,

First, In single persons: Daniel is preserved in the Den, Dan. 6. 22. Jeremy in the Dungeon, Jer. 40. 4. Paul and Silas in the Prison, Acts 16. 39. Lot among the Sodomitical Rout, Gen. 19. 11.

Secondly, In lesser numbers, the three Children are preserved in the fire, Dan. 3. 25. O the admirable providence of God! The Furnace shall be a field to walk in, and the flames shall suspend their unkind heat, and not disturb their recreation: God's providence can shadow and shelter his precious ones, when designed for fuel and destruction.

Thirdly, In particular Churches, Rev. 3. 10. Temptations troop together and besiege the Saints, but God in that hour breaks their ranks, and routs them, and rescues his people from those destructive Onsets.

Fourthly, In the Church in general. The Church of God was upon the brink of ruin in the time of Haman, the Bill for their execution was signed and sealed, Esth. 3. 12, 13. But then God tore the Bill, and brought the promoter of it to shameful ruin and destruction, Esth. 7. 10. God wounded the hairy scalp of the Churches enemies. Let us further trace the providence of God towards his people, and it will appear nothing but a stock and treasury of wonders.

First, His earliest thoughts of love to his people, how are they a Morning star to cast light on the excellency of Divine providence? He loved his own f •• m Eternity, Eph. 1. 4. Every Saint lay in the womb of Eternal love, before he lay in the womb of his Mother; God from all everlasting laid his people near his heart.

Secondly, In time God gives his precious ones a Being, to capacitate them for future good things. Non-entiti • s are incapable of good or evil. God creates his people, and so brings them upon the stage of the world to act those parts of honor he hath designed them unto: He who hath reserved love for his Saints, must give them a Being to be receptive of it.

Thirdly, In process of time God calls and converts his people, and brings them home to himself by a work of Regeneration: They are not only born by God's power, but new born by God's grace; and so God qualifies them for glorious things which shall be revealed, 1 Pet. 5. 1. He gives them faith, John 1. 12, 13. And faith gives them power to be called the Sons of God. Now he adopts them into his own Family. God doth not only bring them into the outward Court of the world, but into the inward Court of his own peculiar Household, Gal. 6. 10. Eph. 2. 19. They are now his friends, John 15. 15. His Jewels, Mal. 8. 17. His Spouse, Cant. 4. 9. The beloved of his Soul, Jer. 12. 7. His chosen ones, Isa. 41. 8. Kings and Priests, Rom. 1. 6. Thus glory • us is God's providence towards his people.

Fourthly, Further to trace Divine providence in reference to the Saints; God preserves them in the world as a spark in an Ocean. When the whole world was drowned, God prepared an Ark for Noah and his F • mily; and when the Inhabitants of the world had no peni-house to secure them, God provided a shelter for this holy Family: When all perished in the storm, they had a Haven to put into. The Church of God in Egypt they were in bondage, but they were in Being. The Task-masters had a hard hand over them, but God spread a large wing over them, and brought them in time out of their servitude, in glory and triumph; and made their way through the waves, when the waters were their walls, their security, not their ruin. When God sent his people into Babylon, it was to chastise them, not to confound them, to humble them under their sin, not to sink them under their burden; these Captives at last were Conquerors, and erected their Trophies in Jerusalem: For he had thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give his people an expected end saith the Prophet Jeremy: And God seems to have tears in his eyes, when he hath a rod in his hand. And indeed how would Christ's little flock survive, if God by a wonderful act of providence did not rein in the Wolves, and put bounds to their brutish severity?

Fifthly, God gives daily testimonies of his love to, and care over his people. He commands the Earth to nourish and sustain their outward man; God provides flocks for Abraham, Corn for Jacob and his Family, and the Son Joseph shall help to support the Father. Nay rather than want shall befall his people, he will fetch water out of the Rock, shower down Manna, send Quails from Heaven, prepare a Table in the Wilderness: The Empty cruse shall be filled to support the Prophet, and the Ravens shall dish in provisions for Elijah. And God doth not only feed his people with bread that perisheth, John 6. 27. but with that which endureth to Eternal life. The Saint lives not by bread only, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God, Mat. 4. 4. God feeds the weak Saint with milk, the sincere milk of his word, 1 Pet. 2. 2. and those who are grown to a higher stature in Religion, he gives stronger meat to. O blessed care of the great Jehovah towards his dear and precious people! Are they sluggish, he excites them to work; Are they insolent, he presently humbles them; If Jesurun wax fat, and kick, he turns them out of Canaan, which was both their Granary and Dairy. Do they indulge sinful desires, God mortifies them, and as the Gardener prunes the Vines, weeds the Banks, and waters the flowers of the Garden to cause it to flourish; so God visits his people with the North-wind of affliction, and with the South-wind of grace and favor, that its spices may flow out, that his Church may bud and blossom with happiness and prosperity. But to wind up this particular: so tender and passionate is God in his providence towards his people; that he fixes his Church upon a rock, Mat. 16. 18. that it may be unmoved and unshaken: He leaves heaven to come down to visit it, and to lay down his life for it, John 10. 11. And after a little time he returns to glory again, but he will not leave them comfortless, John 14. 18. but sends the Comforter in his room, John 14. 16. as his Delegate to refresh and sanctify his people. Now he is in glory he commissionates his Angels to be the guard of his believing ones, Heb. 1. 14. and to Minister to their necessities. He leaves his promises to be his bond and security to his Saints, that their trembling faith may have something to stay upon, 1 Cor. 1. 20. He vouchsafes his Ordinances to be marrow and fatness to them, Psal. 63. 5. for their comfort and revival; And least those Ordinances should be dry breasts, and barren wombs, he promises his presence to enliven and fructify them, Mat. 18. 20. And if his people fall into persecution, he will give them interest for their sufferings; They shall have a hundred fold for the present, Mat. 19. 29. And if the pension be so large, what will the portion be? And his Angels shall not only watch over them, but God will take care of them himself, he will not suffer their foot to be moved, Psal. 121. 3. Not a foot, the lowest member of the body, and not moved; it is not said, not broken, but not moved. He will keep his people as charily, as the apple of his eye, Zach. 2. 8. If they be over-taken with afflictions, he will be in the fire, and the water with them, Isa. 43. 2. Nay so tender is Christ to his people, they must not disturb themselves with any care, (that hair in the eye of the soul which makes it water, and is so troublesome) 1 Pet. 5. 7. and it is not to be over-passed; God pours his spirit on his people, and his people must cast their care upon God: a rare change! God sheds his blessings on them, and they cast their burdens upon him, Psal. 55. 22. And to conclude, if any attempt their hurt, They kick against the pricks, Acts 9. 5. And every wound is struck at Jesus Christ. Acts 9. 4. All their injuries are reflections upon himself.

[unspec 3] God's providence is not only extended to precious Saints, but even to the vilest sinners. He keeps their breath in their nostrils, Isa. 2. 22. God sustains and supports them; those Vipers fasten upon the hands of providence, and it is often a long time before he shakes them off into the fire.

First, He fills their belly with his hid treasure, Psal. 17. 14. He sends the Prophet to anoint Jehu, 2 Chron. 22. 7. and Hazael, 1 Kings 19. 15. God kept cursed Cham in the Ark. He set the Crown on Nebuchadnezzar's head. Bad as well as good Kings reign by God, by his permission and constitution, Rom. 13. 1, 2.

Secondly, As God gives wicked men temporal blessings, as he is the Author of their possessions; so he is the Over-ruler of their actions. God bid Shimei curse for the humbling of David. He calls Nebuchadnezzar out of Babylon to lead his people into Captivity, Jer. 4. 6. He checked Laban, that he could not vent his rage and enmity against Jacob: he curbed him in, and restrained him, Gen. 31. 24. he must hush, and not speak a distasteful word to him. It was of God that Judas did act so treacherously, the Pharisees so blasphemously, the Jews so inconstantly, and the Soldiers so cruelly against Jesus Christ, Acts 2. 23. Herod murders the innocents, and in it fulfills a Prophecy, Mat. 2. 28. The Romans destroy and burn Jerusalem, and so fulfil what was foretold by holy Daniel, Mat. 24. 15.

Thirdly, God doth not only over-rule the actions, but the words of wicked men. Balaam that cursed Miscreant, shall pronounce a glorious prophecy concerning Jesus Christ, Numb. 24. 17. And Caiaphas unawares shall foretell Christ's death, the meritorious cause of Mans felicity, John 11. 50, 51. He spake not as biased by his own judgment, but as over-ruled by Divine Providence. Though Princes wear their Crowns on their heads, yet their hearts are in God's hand.

Fourthly, And God doth not only over-rule the actions and words, but he appoints the ends of wicked men: What ever glory bespangles their passage, yet shame and confusion shall be their end, Prov. 16. 4. They are fitted for destruction both by their own sin, and Divine Justice, which will not be always dallied with. The wicked who here rise up in Pride and opposition, shall at last go down into Hell and damnation, Psal. 9. 17. What fatal and tragical ends have over-taken insolent and unbounded sinners? Pharaoh drowned by a wave, Haman strangled by a cord, Jezebel dashed in pieces by a fall, and proud persecuting Herod eaten up by a worm, and God's v •• se and wonderful providence shines forth in all their • x • cutions; the finger of God not only hastened, but specified their dispatch.

[unspec 4] Nay the foot-steps of God's providence are seen in the most minute and inconsiderable things of the world. He numbers our hairs, Mat. 10. 30. and not one of them shall shed without a providence: he keeps the Sparrows, those little worthless birds, which feed man's ear, not his belly; and not one of them falls to the ground without a providence, Mat. 10. 29. He guided the bow which slew the King of Israel, 1 Kings 22. 24. He caused the Iron to swim, to evidence both his power and his providence, 2 Kings 6. 6. He takes care of Oxen, 1 Cor. 9. 9. and provides meat for the young Lions, Psal. 104. 21. those Beasts of prey, whose Dens are their slaughter-house, and the Forest serves only for their destructive range. The eyes of all wait upon God, Psal. 145. 15. And he lays in their provision. God prepared the goard to r • fr • sh Jonah, and God prepared the worm to destroy the goard, Ion. 4. 6, 7. To such minute things the providence of God stoopeth. God sees to the bringing forth of the wild Goats, and to the calving of the hinds, Job 39. 3. and when they are brought forth, God sees to their growth and good liking, Job 39. 4. God takes notice of human contracts, who borrows, who lends, Deut. 28. 12. and his precious ones shall lend and not borrow. God by his providence quiets the Beasts of the field, disciplines and keeps under the fowls of the Heaven, and stills the creeping things of the earth from rising, Hos. 2. 18. That as the greatest things cannot disannual, so the least things cannot escape the providence of God.

[unspec 2] As God's providence is seen in the conservation of all things in their beings, so in the direction of all things in their actions; The enmity of Joseph's Brethren, is directed by God to the promotion of Joseph 's person; and therefore Joseph saith, Gen. 50. 20. That providence was ordered by God; He was sent into Egypt by a barbarous sale, but God brought him into Egypt by a gracious hand. The Jews in their rage bring Christ unto the Cross, but God in his love, makes that the way to bring us to the Crown; they shed, and we are washed in the same blood, Rev. 1. 5. Nebuchadnezzar in his fury marches against Jerusalem, to revenge himself against a perfidious and fedifragous people, but he only executes God's design to captivate a rebellious Nation, Jer. 6. 22. Ier. 10. 22. And therefore God calls that proud Prince his Servant, Jer. 25. 9. Jer. 27. 6. He only did the drudgeries of Divine displeasure. Man may bring the Instrument, but God playeth what tune he pleaseth.

[unspec 1] God over-rules the most inconsiderable and smallest things to bring about the most material and important effects. The unridling of a dream promotes Joseph to be the second man in Egypt. A lie throws Joseph into prison, and a dream