A Complete Body of Divinity

SERMON XVI.

VI GOD discovers his Alsufficiency to us, in his Essence, and in his Subsistences. It is in this way of his manifesting himself to us, that our Faith is guided to trade with him for life. Our Salvation depends on One God, in Three Persons. Man, as he is a Reasonable Creature, stands in need of a Deity to make him happy; and as he is a Sinner, he wants a Trinity, to save him: and we have both these fully displayed to us in Scripture. The Essence is first in order to be considered of; and that because the Godhead is the Ultimate Object of our Faith; it must ascend thither, and rest there. The Absolute Being of God is the subject of all his relations, and we believe in all the Divine Persons, because they are God. Joh. 14.1. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.

VII. THE Divine Essence is God, the most Absolute First Being. I might here treat of the Unity of the Essence, but because our Catechism gives us a particular question for that, I wave it till we come thither. We may briefly take the opening of the Description given in a few Conclusions.

1. BECAUSE Being is better than not being, we hence ascribe Being to God; as if he had something in common with other Beings, or as though' there were a general Nature, in which there were an agreement or participation between him, and the Creature; and it is a notion, without which we can entertain no Conceptions of God at all. God himself therefore tells us his Name is, I AM: and the Apostle tells us, that here is the foundation of our Faith, Heb 11.6. He that cometh to God, must believe that He is.

2. THAT in the order of Beings, God is the First. This therefore is a distinguishing Epithet we put upon him, and by it we know him from the Creature. All other Beings are secondary, derived, originated: He is before them all; He therefore assumes this title, Isai. 44.6. Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts, I am the First. And on this account, He is called, The Ancient of Days, Dan. 7.9. Here observe two things.

1. THAT there is a First Being. This is necessary, for it is impossible, that all things should succeed & follow one after another. Where there is a succession, there must be a beginning; where there is a second & third, there was a first, from which, they are so denominated. All Beings cannot be originated, and therefore there must be an Original. We must firmly believe this Principle, as the bottom of our Faith; for faith runs up to the highest, and resolves itself there. Faith can never trade for life, with th • se that have borrowed their own being & life from another; but it goes to the Sun for light. ( Psal. 84.11.) It depends upon the Fountain. Jer. 2.13.

2. GOD is this First Being. It is to such a Being, and no other, that we acknowledge a Deity; and when we say he is the First, two things are intended.

• (1.) THAT no other Being is before him, or Co- • val with him: but that he is before all other Beings. It he be the first, then there is no other that can anticipate his being: He acknowledgeth none elder than himself. Isai. • 3.10. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have •• sen: that ye may know & believe me, and understand that I am • e: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. Nay there was none with him, or his Contemporary; for then he could not be the first. He that is first, goes before all other. When no other thing had any existence, when there was none but he, then he was. Psal. 90.2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth & the world,—Thou art God.
• (2) THAT all other Beings are derived from him. He is therefore called the Alpha, the beginning; (Rev. 1.8.) He is the Father of all Creatures; all other beings have their being in him; they derive from him by participation, and without his influence their being would vanish into nothing. Act. 17. • 5. He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things: v 28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being. They are vain & empty, yea mere Cyphers without him, less than nothing. See, Isai. 40.15, 17. His word is the spring of their being, & for that reason is he called JEHOVAH, because he gives being to his word, he speaks not words but things. Rom. 4.17. God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth th • se things which be not, as though they were. All the great & wondrous beings that are in the world, came out of his mouth. Psal. 33.9. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

3. HENCE it follows that God is a most Absolute Being. For, if he be the first, then he cannot be a Being by participation; for such presume one before them, from which they participate. The first Being must of necessity be Being itself: all other things have but some shreads of Being derived from him, who is an Universal Sea & Ocean of Being, the engrosser of all Being in the latitude of it. And this is also intimated in that Name, I AM; because it is his only prerogative Royal, to be. Creatures are shadows of Being, have no Entity in comparison with him, (Forecited, Isai. 40.17.) and this also is intimated in his Name JEHOVAH, which implies, both that he is himself, and that he gives Being to all Creatures; that he is, was, and will be; that he hath such a Being, which, as it was before all, so it remains in entity, and will do, in spite of all adverse powers that seek to raze it out. Psal. 90.2. Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

VIII. GOD is pleased to reveal his Essence to his people by diverse Attributes, which he assumes to himself. The Divine Essence, (we have heard) is in itself not to be comprehended by us; and yet God is well pleased to let us know enough of him to make us happy: which that he may, he takes such Attributes upon him. And here let me (first) tell you, what the Divine Attributes are, and (then) give some general Rules about them.

1. THE Attributes of God are his Essence, which is in itself a pure Act, diversely apprehended by us. It is a necessary consectary, from God's being the most absolute first being, that he is a mere act; that his Nature is simple, and altogether void of any sort of composition; and hence it follows, that in his being there can be no division. Now because this act cannot be known by us altogether, at one sight of our Understanding; but we must needs have a diversified representation of it, it being too big for our single comprehension; Hereupon God hath taken Attributes to himself, which are so many several expressions of the same Essence and Act: and these are more properly said to be assumed by him, than to be so many several Perfections of him. An Attribute is the consequent of an Axiom. Every Axiom, or sentence in a speech, consists of an Antecedent, expressing the subject, and a Consequent expressing the Attribute, which is predicated of it; and this is our Humans way to conceive of things; and therefore they are due to God from us. Psal. 29 2. Give 〈◊〉 the Lord the glory due to his Name. For it is by them that we come to know anything at all of him.

NOW the reason, why this pure act must be diversely apprehended by us, is, because though' God be to be seen by an eye of Faith, yet he must be seen by an eye of Reason too: for though' Faith sees things above Reason, yet it sees nothing but in a way of Reason, which discerns all things by Arguments, which are conceived as distinct from the thing, and among themselves. Attributes are the arguments of a thing. Now an argument is that whereby a thing is asserted to evidence another thing, either as Cause or Effect, Subject or Adjunct, &c. E. Gr. When we say, God is Great, Wise, &c. our reason looks upon God as the subject, and his greatness as one Adjunct, &c. and so we join these two together: and our manner of conception and expression, makes a distinction between his Being, and his Holiness, Wisdom, &c. Yea, and it conceives a difference among the Attributes themselves: it distinguisheth between his Wisdom, and his Holiness, between his Justice and his Mercy. So that the Essence comes into our Understanding, under a various representation; through which, as through so many several glasses, we have so many discoveries made to us, of this glorious Essence; and therefore this discovery is called the manifold wisdom of God, Eph. 3.10.

2. FOR our help to improve these Attributes for our acquaintance with God, it will be profitable to lay down some general Rules for the guiding of our Conceptions of them, viz.

1. THAT these Attributes are in God, but one most pure & simple act. They are therefore called Attributes, because they may more properly be said to be ascribed to him, than to be really in him: for in him, who is the first Being, & void of composition & by consequence a most P •• e act, there can be no division or proper distinction in his Being: And hence the Attributes do but convey to us what is to be known of God according to our manner & measure; and when we have said all of God that can be, we must look at a • l in him to be but One God, without division in Essence or Faculties. Hence,

2. ALL the Divine Attributes are to be conceived in God in the Abstract. as well as in the Concrete. Thus we do not only say, God is wise, but God is wisdom: He is Love, 1 Joh. 4.5. Light, 1 Joh. 1.5. and the reason is, because whatsoever is in God, is God himself; which follows from his being void of any composition; and otherwise there were in him succession & division; something in him which is not absolutely first; and so something that is not himself, which were a contradiction.

3. THE Divine Attributes are altogether in God, in the same Eternity, though' they appear not so to us. He was in all his perfections, before the foundations of the World, in which Eternity there is no distinction of Priority or Posteriority. Joh 8. 58. Jesus said unto them, Verily verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Tho' some appear to us earlier, others later. Wisdom, Power and Goodness appeared in the Creation; Revenging Justice, not till the Fall; nor special Grace till afterwards. Tit. 3.4 But after that the kindness & love of God our Savior toward man appeared. God manifested his perfections, as man had need of them; but they were in him really before, and that because he is eternally Unchangeable, never assumes anything anew, but is the same forever.

4. THE Divine Attributes are always in him in the highest degree, though' in execution there is a different application. Extensively, as to Divine dispensations, in Providential Effects, God proceeds gradually in his dealings with men; as in dispensing Justice, he doth not at once give men the full of their deserts; and hence flows his Patience and Long suffering so in his dispensing of Mercy, whence there is a difference between Grace and Glory.

5. THE Divine Attributes in God are not contrary one to another. There is no clashing between them; but they do perfectly agree in their Essence. God cannot disagree with himself; His Attributes are but the same Essence; and therefore cannot dissent. I • ssent ariseth from contrary Principles, and declares such a Being to be changeable and corruptible; but God is all Justice, and yet he is all Mercy too; neither doth his being all just, hinder his being all merciful, or contrarily.

6. THE Attributes as they are in God, are not distinct from the Essence, nor one from another. For they are all God himself, whose proper Name is, I AM, (Exod. 3.14.) His Mercy is God, and his Justice is God; and they are both one and the same undivided God. As the Sun by one and the same light, enlightens, warms, hardens, softens, nourisheth & dries up things; as all lines meet in their Center, in one individual point, as all waters are one in the Sea.

7. IN • ar Conception there is s • me foundation of a distinction of th • se Attributes in God, and that both in regard to our understanding, and to the things themselves. For,

• (1.) IN Reason Reasoning, or in our Understanding, we conceive of God, and of his Holiness, and of his Justice, &c. by a compound act, which first conceives of God; and then of his Holiness, as of an adjunct to the subject; and these two our reason lays together, and frames a speech of him, and says, God is holy; for without distinction & composition, our reason knows nothing: and this God allows us.
• (2.) In Reason Reasoned, or in the things themselves, from whence our Understanding draws arguments extrinsically, God's Attributes do shine forth after a distinct manner. When God punisheth, then he declares his wrath: when he saves then he makes known his mercy; ( Rom. 9.22, 23.) so that we may say, God doth not punish by his pity, nor doth he save by his anger, or destroy by his love.

8. OF his Attributes, some are said to be Incommunicable; others to be Communicable. The former are the Divine properties, which so belong to God, as there is no shadow of them in the Creature, and it is blasphemy to ascribe them unto it: such as Immensity, Eternity, Immutability. The latter are such as something like them in our conception is in the Creature, as wisdom, justice, pity, &c. but yet vastly differing Of which difference take these few Rules.

1. THEY are in the Creature only by way of Analogy, or similitude. Their is a likeness, Mat. 5. ult. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. But there is as vast a disproportion between them, as there is between Finite, and Infinite: An Angel's wisdom is folly when it is laid by his.

2. THEY are attributed to the Creature only in the Concrete: not in the abstract. For they are truly & properly Adjuncts to the Creature; but in him they are his Essence. We may therefore say of such an one, he is wise; but of God only, that he is Wisdom. To say so of any second being, is a strain of Rhetoric, which savors of Blasphemy.

3. THEY are chiefly in God, and but scantily in the Creature. We indeed translate them from the Creature to him, when we see a perfection in that, we ascribe it to him in an eminent manner; we discover the footsteps of Wisdom, Holiness, &c. in men; and because they are noble perfections, we acknowledge them to God: but they are indeed primarily in him; for the Creature derived them from the Creator. He therefore had them, else he could not have imparted them. They were first in him, else they had not been in us. Creature-perfection is but a draught, or imperfect copy of His which is the Prototype or Pattern: His is the Original, theirs is but a translation, Mat. 5. ult.

4. THESE Perfections are in God, void of all that imperfection, which accompanies them in the Creature. There is no good quality in the Creature, but it is there in a limited manner; it is restrained to its de • re • s, because it is a created goodness; and therefore it must have its measure. Hence there is none so wise, but hath some ignorance; none so holy, but hath something of impurity, if not positive, yet comparative. Job 4.18. Behold, he puts no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: So Chap. 15.15. Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. But there is no gradation in the Divine Attributes; they are superlative; and hence there can be no imperfection. So that we must remove all this from his perfection 1 Joh. 1.5. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. His Attributes do not only contain all the degrees to which they arrive in Creatures, but they infinitely transcend them. Hence we add a name to them.

USE 1. WE here see the way how to come to the right knowledge of God. i. e. by viewing his Essence in his Attributes: This is his Name; and every several Attribute is one letter of it; and by putting of them together, we may come to spell what he is, so far as is for our safety, and sufficiently for our satisfaction. By gazing upon the naked Essence, we destroy ourselves, and come to no knowledge at all; but are altogether confounded: but by a careful eying him in his Attributes we may come to the discovery of that which is illuminating, delightful, and saving. We must see him as he is to be seen. The bold eye, that will dare to gaze upon the splendid Meridian Light of the Sun, is dazzled & put out, & sees nothing at all; but he that looks upon it in its beams, sees clearly, and it it is a pleasant thing. Let us Mortals content ourselves with these speculations; he that experimentally knows thus much of God, is happy enough. Hence,

USE 2. LET it humble us, that when God hath so gloriously discovered himself to us, we should know no more of him. That, when he hath written his Name to us in such legible Characters, we are able to spell so little out of them. If it was an inexcusable thing for the Heathen, that they learnt no more of God out of the Book of Nature, ( Rom. 1.20.) needs must it be far more so for us, who live under the light of the word of God, in which he hath written all these Attributes of his in Capital Letters. For shame then let us lay aside this sloth. & put off all unhappy diversions, & bend our minds more intensely to the study of God's Perfections. Let us know, it is our life; and if we will thus do, pains must be taken, and there must be a running to & fro; and to all we must add Prayer earnest & fervent, that God will give us such a discovery of himself, as may engage our hearts to him, to choose him for our Portion. Theoretical knowledge is not to be neglected, being the first step to true Wisdom; but it is not to be rested in, because it is not that knowledge which is eternal Life; but if our Children be not taught that, there is little hopes they will reach after the other. But when once we so 〈◊〉 God as to be able upon knowledge, to and call it ours, that is a knowledge to be prized above Rubies.

SERMON XVII.

IT would be advantageous, for our better enquiry into the Divine Attributes, to fix upon a suitable Distribution of them. Here diverse Divines have several Methods: some divide them into Negative, removing all imperfection from God: Relative, discovered by some relation that he bears to the Creature: Positive, ascribing of several perfections to him. Others not differing from the former but in terms, ascribe them to him, by way of Causality, Remotion, and Eminency. Others divide them into Goodness & Greatness: Others into the Attributes which shine forth by themselves, considering God as the absolute first Being, or such as appear in his Works of Efficiency: To which I would choose to adhere, but that the method of the Catechism leads me to another. I shall therefore take up the Attributes in the Description, and assign them their proper notion, as I pass, with respect hereto; and for others not here named, they may be afterwards taken notice of, in their proper places. In this Description we may observe three sorts of Attributes. 1. A Genus is analogically ascribed to him, a Spirit. 2. Divine Qualities negatively expressed, which are three, Infinite, &c. 3. Divine Powers and Virtues, which are • ix; of each whereof the Divine Qualities are expressed. These may be spoken to in order,

1. HERE is a Genus, analogically ascribed to God; He is called a SPIRIT: not that God and any Creature do really participate in one common Nature, so as to be properly reduced to one head of distribution. The Nature of GOD and the Nature of Angels are Infinitely different one from the other: but because he is the first being, he assumes to himself such a title for the help of our Understanding: hence He is called a Spirit, Job. 4.24. Which is the most excellent Being among all second Beings, and hath in it some of the nearest shadows and resemblances of the first Being. The word Spirit hath various acceptations in Scripture; among which it is concluded that the Glorious Angels are referred unto, when God is called a Spirit: who are so called. Psal. 104.4. Heb. 1.14. It will therefore help us to something of God, to consider some respects in which he is resembled by those Spirits.

1. SPIRITS are Invisible Substances, i. e. they cannot be seen by our bodily Eyes. Angels indeed have made themselves visible by assuming a body, or some grosser parts of the Elements in Figure of an Human Body: so have they appeared to Abraham, to Lot, to Manoah, & many others. That a thing be made Visidium through which it is seen, or the visive Spirits by the help whereof we discern things: but Angels are more fine and subtle Beings then either of th • se, and must therefore needs escape our sight, and be Invisible to us. Thus is God an Invisible Being; these bodily eyes of ours are not able to discern him: hence that Attribute, 1 Tim. 1.17. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible. He is therefore said to dwell in Secret (Mat. 6.6.) not only hath he never been seen, (Job. 1.18.) but he cannot possibly be seen, 1. Tim. 6.16. Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the • light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see. Some have been so foolish as to think there are no Angels, because we see them not: and on the same groundless arguing, have some concluded that there is no God; but this belongs to his Nature, that he cannot be seen by a Created eye.

2. SPIRITS are impalpable. As they cannot be seen, so they cannot be felt; and this upon the 〈◊〉 reason with the former; for that which is felt, must be more gross than the Spirits, with which we feel it. Now our sensitive Spirits are made of the Elements, which are of a coarser matter, and not so fine as Angelical substances are, and hence they escape our touch or feeling. Therefore our Savior by the argument of sense convinced his Disciples, that he was no Spirit. Luk. 24.39. Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. And God is much more so; he cannot be approached, 1 Tim 6 16. In sum, all the senses are incapable of apprehending Spirits. Angels may be with us, and we have no manner of sense of it: nor do men apprehend sensibly the Presence of God, though in him we live, move, and have our being.

3. SPIRITS are the most Agile, Active, or Nimble beings among Creatures. An Angel is very speedy in his journeying: they are God's swift Messengers to do his will, and go post on all errands that he hath to employ them about. The swiftest things among Elementary & corporeal substances are slow and dull compared with them. The Lightning is one of the nimblest things we discern by our senses. The motion of the Primum Mobile is such as some have conceived is very rapid; but all short of Angelical Agility. One of them can travel from the Third Heaven to the Earth in a few hours. ( Dan. 9.21, 22.) And God must needs be the most agile being, because he is a pure Act. This is metaphotically expressed. Psal. 18.10. And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. And to this agility belongs unweariedness: Angels are never tired, no nor is God, Isa. 40.28. Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary?

4. SPIRITS are the strongest among created beings; they are mighty beings, Psal. 103.20 Bless the Lord, ye his angels, that excel in strength. 〈…〉 is opposed the weakness of flesh. (Isa. 31.3.) There is no other sort of Creature, that is able to encounter and grapple with an Angel. One Angel hath strength enough to bicker with a World of men, for which reason they are called Powers: and it belongs to their Nature; for even Devils, because they have not lost the Nature of Angels, are so called. Eph. 6.12. But GOD is most strong: Power and Dominion are his, none ever resisted him and prospered; none can stand before him. ( Job 41.9, 10.) we may take a little prospect of his wonderful Power, by observing how inferior, small, and contemptible, he looks upon all the power of all the beings in the Creation put together, to be. Isa. 40.15, 17. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

5. SPIRITS are the most Incorruptible of Created beings: for being of so subtle and strong a Nature, as we have heard, they have not the subjection to change and Corruption, which our beings have; because they are not so passive: they cannot receive impression from inferior beings, and therefore are only subject to a possibility of Annihilation, by him who made them. So is God most incorruptible; he is liable to no sort of change. Mal. 3.6. For I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now that is one, when a Being may by corruption change from what it is at present.

6. SPIRITS are Rational substances, endowed with the noblest faculties of understanding and will: For this reason Philosophe •• call them Intelligences, because they have clear knowledge, and a noble liberty which they do enjoy; they would not else be capable of those Offices and Services, which they are employed in, which is to be Ministers attending upon God, and ready to do his will be the managing of the great Affairs of the World; for which they must have a ready understanding, not liable to mistakes, and a prompt will hastening them to their work. But God is the most Reasonable Being; He hath an Understanding, that is Infinite, and a Will which is Irresistible.

THESE are some of the shades, which we draw of him, from the Attribute of a Spirit▪ but every like is also unlike; and though God resembleth himself to those choice b • ings or natures, yet we must conceive him to be Infinitely more Glorious then they, and transcendently to exceed them. We may look on the most noble Perfections of the most noble Beings, and say them of God, but when we have so said, we must remember that his Glory Incomparably exceeds them. Psal. 148.13. Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent, his glory is above the earth and heaven. And respecting the present Attribute, let these things be observed,

• 1. SPIRITS are Creatures, but God is Increated: let us say as much as we can of the Angelical Perfections, we must still remember that they are but created Perfections, which they enjoy: and created Spirits had a beginning, but God is without beginning: they are the Children of time, but he is the Father of Eternity: they are indeed the sons of the morning, and the morning stars; time and they began in the same instant, but He was before all time, is from Everlasting: they had their being from another; it was given them: but he had His from no other. His Being is His own.
• 2. HENCE Spirits have a passive power in them, whereas God is a pure Act. It is a dispute among Pneumatists, whether Angels have any material Principles, or are pure Forms; it will not profit the Audience generally to debate it here, it is enough, their being Creatures assures us of their Passivity, or Potentiality in them; they did once pass from not being into being, & they are capable of returning to nonentity again: yea, are capable of the impressions of happiness & misery; are mutable Creatures; some of them did fall; all which things result from their passivity. None of which are compatible with God: He is one and the same, and cannot be touched or any wars altered: He is happy, but cannot be made happy, nor can he ever be made miserable: Hence called God blessed forever.
• 3. ANGELS are limited by their own Essence. That they are limited beings is beyond dispute, for to be a Creature, and to be finite is reciprocal: how they are so limited, is a debate, which the curiosity of wits may exercise their reason in, but can form no Article of faith about: whether by any spiritual matter, or otherways, it is sure they are Essence, and their own Essence limits their being within the confines of finiteness; so that one Angel fills not all places at once, nor is in Heaven & Earth at the same instant: but the Divine Essence is unlimited, and Infinite.
• 4. ANGELS are under the Dominion of Another; they owe subjection to him who made them; the very name of Angel which they bear upon them carries this intimation in it; for this reason they are called Ministring Spirits, Heb. 1.14. But God is above all Dominion, it belongs to him as his Prerogative; he is supreme, and Angels themselves are at his command in all things.
• 5. IN Spirits their Essence and their Act are two things, they are distinct the one from the other: but in God his Essence & his Act are one and the same thing: hence we say, Whatsoever is in God, is God; but we cannot so say of a created Spirit or Angel: hence they are capable of several distinct principles & powers in them, and not only in our Conception, which cannot be affirmed of God.

IN a word, God and Angels are expressed by one and the same general Name, viz. Spirits, only to help us with something which may guide our Conceptions, in the notion which we take up of him; but when we have said all that we can about it, we must remember that he is a thousand times more glorious than all Spirits, or second Beings though' never so excellent, that can be named: but because Rational Beings are more noble than Irrational, and because Spiritual Beings have a peculiar excellency above Corporeal, and the highest created perfections are to be found in the Heavenly Angels, and we are to give the best of our thoughts and conceptions to God, we are pointed, by such a comparison, to see something of his praise worthy excellence, but still remembering that he is above all glory & praise.

USE 1. THIS tells us ho • suitable an Object God is for our Spirits to close withal. It is requisite for joy & delight, that the Object and Faculty be suitable one to the other, for without an adequate or suiting Object, there can be no satisfaction; but such is God; being a Spirit, altho' infinitely above us, yet sutab • e for these Souls of ours to close withal. And herein the happiness of Believers above other men appears, because their Spirits have communion with this uncreated Spirit; his better part therefore is fully provided for, & there is no other man that enjoys this advantage. All other things are in Scripture, by way of opposition, called Flesh, and for that very reason are they incapable of affording Felicity to such as rely upon them; Isa. 31.3. Now the Egyptians are men and not God, and their horses flesh and not spirit; when the Lord shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fall together. That is the reason why there can be no true confidence put in these things; but how beyond conception happy are they, whose Spirits are united with him, who is the Father of Spirits.

USE 2. HENCE how very unsuitable is it to represent the Divine Nature by any Corporeal similitude: I mean in Pictures or Images, of any visible & bodily substance, and that whether it be for civility or devotion, i. e. either merely as Ornamental, or as some pretend, to increase devout Affections in any; how is it possible rightly to shadow a Spirit? whoever was able rightly to decipher the form or shape of a being which is invisible! it is folly to pretend to afford us the Portraicture of an Angel, but it is a madness & wickedness to offer at any Image or Representation of God: How many solemn cautions did God give his people against this by Moses, besides the express forbidding of it in the second Command; and God declares it to be a thing Idolatrous. For any to entertain or fancy any other Image of God, but those reverend impressions of his glorious Perfections that are engraven upon his heart, is highly to dishonor him, and provoke him to Jealousy.

USE 3. HENCE learn that spiritual Service must needs be most acceptable to God. This is to pay him a service suitable to his nature, and must needs therefore be the most grateful to him; Christ himself draws this inference, Joh. 4.24. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. The heart and spirit in man are the same thing in Scripture sense; and this is it that God requires, Prov. 23.26. My son, give me thine Heart. It is not all the specious & outside show of duty, that he takes any content in at all, where the spirit is wanting; if the heart be gone somewhere else, all the rest is a burden to him; we see what estimate he makes of it, Ezek. 33.31. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, & they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. And was not this the reason why he blows so upon their services, Isai. 1.11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of • e- • oats. Nor is it possible to cheat or put him off with any such trifling things, though' never so modestly attended; for, being such a Spirit, he cannot but be intimately acquainted with our Spirits. He challengeth it as a Prerogative belonging to him, to try the Spirits, to search the hearts of men. This therefore shows us,

1. THE extreme folly of all Hypocrites. They take a great deal of pains to dress up duties with a very fair outside, and give much attendance to the several performances of Religion, who read, hear, & make long prayers, keep Fasts frequently, and give many Alms but all these Sacrifices are without an heart, they have no spirit in them; God finds dead men's bones, rottenness & stench under all this paint and varnish, and it is unsavory to him. Isai. 66.2, 3. To this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit, and t • embleth at my word. He that killeth an ox, is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog's neck, &c. See, Psal. 51.17. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken & a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

2 THE extreme danger of formal Worship. Whatever else may be said to the unlawfulness of imposing upon men stinted forms of prayer and public service to God, because indeed it is not to God, but against him; there is this one thing that would persuade a serious Christian that desires to hold Communion with God in all his sacred duties, to be afraid of it, viz. That of its own Nature it hazards his being formal in it, and the reducing him to a spiritless frame in his attendance upon it and thereby, instead of pleasing God, to provoke him to anger against him, and serving him in vain: a man may be heartless and perfunctory in the other, but in this way he can hardly be otherwise.

3. THE great care, which is incumbent on God's Children, to watch their hearts in all their duties to God. They, whiles on earth, have too much of flesh in them, and thro' Satan's Subtlety, and the carnality of their own minds, are too ready to let their hearts go, and be without spirit in what they do; either to be dead & wandering in their performances: let it then counsel and quicken us to look to ourselves, and whatsoever frailties there may be attending of our duties, make sure of this one thing, to pay God ou • Spirits in them: and to excite us here-unto Consider,

• 1. HE who is such a Spirit, deserves our spirits: He is the God of the Spirits of all flesh; we ow • to him our hearty service; for he made our hearts; He is a spirit from whom all other spirits do Originally proceed, ( Eccl. 12.7.) and he hath a right to them by Redemption. Jesus Christ hath bought our Souls with a price, and therefore we should glorify him with them. 1 Cor. 6.20. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
• 2. HE knows our spirits. Heb 4.13. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked, and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. He hath an insight into the bottom of our souls and he sees all the corners thereof, and therefore there is no deceiving of him: as he accepts no other but spiritual Services, rejecting all others, so he knows when they are so, and can tell us when we come before him with a lie in our right hand.
• 3. SPIRITLESS Service. are both false & fruitless; (Spiritual ones are only true, & have a great reward; ) he counts those to compass him about with lies, and they shall reap the East •• nd; Christ puts Spirit & Truth together as inseparable. ( Jo • . 4.24.) and because all his rewards are of Grace, we can expect none without his acceptance of us Let us then consecrate our spirits to him, and devote them to his Service, always set ourselves in his Presence, as a God, who sear • heth our hearts; and knowing the woeful Carnality, which is remaining in us, let us be constantly praying to him, that he would fill us with his own Spirit, and so make and keep us spiritual in our whole Conversation.

SERMON XVIII.

II. WE have God described by his Negative Qualities; three of which are here offered to us, and do now come to be a little explained to us. And,

1. GOD is Infinite: This is one difference between him and created Spirits, to whom he is resembled; and this, with the two following, is expressed Negatively, because the Divine perfections are such as so far exceed our comprehension, that we can better tell what he is not, than what he is; and by removing of Creature-Imperfections from him, we put ourselves into a way of admiring at his unsearchable glory. That God is Infinite, the Scripture fully asserts. And in our contemplation of this Attribute, we may inquire into three things. 1. What it is to be Infinite? 2. The evidence that God is so. 3. What other Attributes do discover themselves in this?

(1.) WHAT it is to be Infinite? A. INFINITE is GOD of unlimited & unsearchable perfections. Such a Description is given of God, in regard to this Attribute of his. Psal. 145.3. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. Here,

1. INFINITENESS is GOD: it is one of those perfections, which shine • ut in the Essence, considering God as the most absolute first Being. New his Essence & Attributes are the same, only differenced in our Conceptions. It is therefore an In •••• apple perfection of God, it is his alone Prerogative to be Infinite. Some have thought the third Heaven to be so because it hath nothing to circumscribe it and hence to be in no place properly; but it is a great mistake, for it is limited by its own Essence, and so is a finite being: the World cannot be of an Infinite Magnitude; for then it would have no parts, nor measures: God therefore alone challengeth it as his Propriety, and a flower of his Diadem.

2. BY virtue of this Attribute, God is of unlimited and unsearchable Perfectives: or he is without all limits or bounds of his Essence: all created beings are bounded by their Essences; the form acting upon the matter, limits it within its own confines; but God is unconfined. There can be no searching him out to perfection, Job 11.7, &c. and this unlimitedness is applicable to all that can be said of him. Hence the Psalmist attributes it to his Understanding. (Psal. 147.5.) and our Answer before us, predicates it of all his other Attributes; for which we have sufficient footsteps in the Scripture.

(2.) FOR the Evidence, or to discover wherein God appears to be Infinite, let us consider,

1. GOD's Perfection is the highest perfection, and for that reason it must needs be Infinite. He is called the most high, Psal 18. • 0. Luk. 1.32. And what is Supre • m is necessarily Infinite. For let us conceive anything though' never so high, yet if it be within any degrees, there may be something conceived higher than that, but God is so high, as to be above all glory and praise.

2. GOD's Perfection is such as is not capable of receiving any addition: it cannot be augmented, or be greater than it is. Rom. 11.35. Or who bath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? It then must of necessity be Infinite: for we are capable of thinking, from degree to degree, and there may be an addition in our conception to every finite thing: there can be no step till we come to infinite, and there we are lost, for nothing can go beyond that, or be more infinite; for here are no degrees or steps at all.

3. GOD is Being itself, and that most absolutely; his Infiniteness is radicated in his Essence. Abstracts are infinite; Concretes are Finite. A Being from another must needs be finite, but Being itself is Infinite; such is God; He is the first; had not his Being from any; is from Everlasting; and what bounds can be ascribed to such a Being: if his Being were limited, it were not absolute; Beings are therefore finite, because they are derived; Hence an underived being is Infinite: such is his.

4. ALL created perfections are derived from him, and therefore his must be Infinite: He that is the Fountain from whence all flows to the whole Creation, must be without banks or bottom: he that gives, is undoubtedly greater than they that receive: there are uncountable perfections of the several Creatures in their kind; and some of these are also, vastly great, as those of the Angels but this must be greater, from whom every •• e of these derives and is supplied & uphold continually: what can it be less than Infinite, and such is God: so we read in, Rom. 11.2 • .3 • . Or 〈◊〉 into fo • given to him, and it sta • l • c ••• msexsed unto him space? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: it whom it glory forever. Amen.

5. GOD's Perfections are incomprehensive; this hath been already proved, that he cannot be known as he is in himself; and whence is it, but because the understandings of men and Angels are finite! and that a finite faculty cannot comprehend the knowledge of the Being of God, must needs be because (being Infinite he is too vast a Being for their Capacity. V • rstius disputes against the Infiniteness of God, because he may be defined, and therefore is this Ind ••• d •••• ; but we have heard that all our Logical notions are improperly ascribed to him, and that he is not a Being properly, as we conceive of a Being; much less a portion of Being, as a thing which may be defined is; but he is above being, and all beings are nothing to him, Isa • . 10.11. and why nothing, but because there is an infinite distance between the first being, and all others; and therefore there is as great a distance as between him and nothing. Ten thousand Worlds are nothing to him and therefore all the Nations of the World are less that nothing.

(3.) THERE are two other precious Attributes of God, which shine out and show themselves in God's Infinity.

1. THERE is Divine Immensity; which is God, without all Dimensions, or not to be mensured by the conceived measures, by which other beings may, such as Length, Breadth, Heighth, Depth. This is excellently expressed by Z • phar, in Job 11.7, 8, 9. Canst th • u by searching find out God? can • t thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven, what can • t thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, broader than the sea. Because God's Essence & Perfection is unlimited, therefore he hath no proper quantity, nor is he the subject of any Mathematical notion: and this Attribute farther appears to belong to him,

• (1) BECAUSE he is without any matter or parts, and so he must be without any extension. Hence when the Scripture assigns to him, Eyes, Ears, Hands, Feet, &c. they are not proper, but metapherical expressions, to signify those eminent virtues in him, which are shadowed by such things in the Creature. And being without matter, he is also without jo • m; which belongs to matter, and sets bounds to it, and spins it out into length, breadth, and thickness. These things he is a stranger to.
• (2) BECAUSE God is not a Being by Participation, but Being in the Abstract. Concrete beings have dimensions, but those that are Abstract exceed all. Sweet things have their degrees, but sweetness itself is above all degrees; and hence this Consectary ariseth, viz. That God's perfections can neither increase, nor be diminished; they can be neither greater nor less, but are the same everlastingly; and what he hath ever been to 〈…〉 is so still. Augmentation, and D • mu •• tion, are notions proper to quantity; and therefore inconsistent with the Being of God. He is as great, and as good now, as he was of old; and his people may confidently conclude from what he hath in times past discovered of himself to his Church, that he is accordingly to be trusted in now.

2. THERE is also his Incomprehensible Omnipresence appears in that he is Infinite; which is God without all limits of place, being nowhere shut up nor anywhere shut out. Place is properly the limitation of a Creature, within the bounds of quantity: but if God be Infinite, he is not then capable of any such limitation: and this will appear,

• 1. BECAUSE that which can be contained in place, is fair, and both quantity: all place is finite, because it bounds and limits the thing contained in it; that therefore which is Infinite, is incapable of place, it being contradictory to the Nature of a being that hath no bounds, to be bounded.
• 2. BECAUSE that which may be comprised in place, may be measured, and is figured, or hath some external form or shape: for place is properly a measure to what is in it; and nothing can be measured, but what hath some figure or other: but if God be Infinite, and so without any dimensions, then he can have no figure; which is nothing else but the disposition of the dimensions of a thing into such a mode: and hence appears his U •• g •• ty, or Omnipresence, in regard whereof he is unconfined. For,

  1. IF he were not Omnipresent, he might be in one place and not in another: and then his Being would not be Incomprehensible but limited.

  2. HE must be Omnipresent, because all places are contained in him; and every other Being in the world. In respect of places, we have that of the Psalmist, Psal. 139.7,—10. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I fire from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and d ••• l in the utter most parts of the sea: Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. For we are not to conceive him to be in any of these as in a place, or as comprehending him in it. And for Being, that of Paul is clear, Acts 17.28. For in him we live, and move, and have our Being.

NOW this Ubiguity or Omnipresence of God, is wont to be expressed by Divines, according to the Scriptures in these particulars.

• 1. THAT he is 〈◊〉 where execluded, but wholly within, and together with every place; so that there is no place where he is not. The light of Nature discovers this, and therefore the P •• t could say, J • vis omnia plena. He is nearer to, and more intimate with us, than we are with ourselves. Acts 17.27. That they should seek after the Lord, if h •• lie they might feel after him, and find him, though h • be not far from everyone of us. And for this reason he knows us better than we 〈…〉 . 1 Joh. 3.2 • . • pan • . G • d is greater than • ur ears, and kn ••• th all things. He is not partly in Heaven, and partly in Earth, as some, but his whole enti • e Essence influenceth all places; and though' he shows more of his glory in Heaven, yet he is no more there essentially, than he is on Earth, and in Hell.
• 2. THAT he is nowhere included or shut up; for because he contains all place in him, and is placed nowhere, but is present everywhere without relation to place, as his Subject; therefore no place can possibly include him Acts 17.24. God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven & earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands. If there were ten thousand worlds, he would be entirely present with them all.
• 3 THAT he is altogether without any motion, or local mutation: because of his Infinite presence, his essence is not placed more in heaven, than here below; nor doth he leave one place to go to another; but though' he be everywhere, yet he rests unmovable forever: so that when the Scripture speaks of his rending the heaven, and coming down; of his looking from heaven the habitation of his holiness, of his riding upon a Cherub and the wings of the wind, and such like expressions; they are modes of Speech accommodated to our conceptions, and are to be interpreted of his special manifestations of himself in the works of Providence.
• 4. THAT he is present everywhere, without filling of any place: for if he be without quantity, and dimensions, and have nobody, he doth not then fill up any place, i. e. his being there doth not exclude the Creature; two created beings cannot occupy the same place in the same instant, but one must give way to the other: but God is as much where the Creature is, as where it is not, for that indeed is in him.
• 5. THAT his Being is beyond all place. Place indeed is nothing else but a limit of created beings: hence the utmost bounds of place reach not beyond the Convex of the third Heaven, which though' it be wonderfully vast, yet it is circumscribed: but we are assured that this large room, which grasps all second Beings in its Con ••• e, doth not engross the whole Essence of God, nor is it able to contain it; so he acknowledgeth, 1 Kings 8.27. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven, and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee how much less this house that I have built? And these are some stammering notions about the Infiniteness of the great GOD.

USE 1. THIS tells us what a glorious Object for • aith, JEHOVAH is. How suitable an one he is for the Souls of men to place their affiance upon. He that is Infinite in his Essence, and unlimited in his perfections, that is Immense and Omnipresent, must needs infinitely outdo every other Object whatsoever: whatsoever vain men put their trust in is a finite good, but he is Infinite; a measurable good, but he is Immense; can be but in one place at once to help him; but he is Omnipresent. Who then would not make choice of God to be his portion, and relirquish all others for him; how happy are they who have so done. Psal. 144. ult. Happy is that people that is in such a c • se: ye • , happy is that people whose God is the Lord Unlimited goodness is the portion of all those: others may measure & sum up their estate, but these never can

USE 2. HENCE God is greatly to be praised for this Attribute by all his People: It is the Psalmists inference from his Observation, Psal. 145.3. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. We should dwell upon the contemplation & acknowledgment of God's greatness. Great Princes use to have Panegyric Orations made in commendation of their greatness; who are but poor inconsiderable things to him: and so doth the Prophet of him, Isa. 40.15, 16, 17. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering. All nations before him are as nothing, &c. One glosseth thus on the text, Were this great GOD sacrificed to proportionably, all the Beasts in Lebanon would not suffice for a burnt offering, nor all the Wood thereof for a fire to offer it on, nor all the Men in the world for a Priest! And it is good food for our faith to insist much in contemplation of God's infinite greatness, and our interest in it.

USE 3. HENCE we ought to be very fearful of committing secret Sins. The Infinite God is Omnipresent. When a Heathen Philosopher asked of a Christian, Where is your God? His Answer was, Let me first understand from you where he is not. He is not only by his Power and Providence, but also by his Power and Providence, but also by his Essence Omnipresent. It must therefore be a secret principle of Atheism in men, that makes them dare to commit that in secret, which they dare not do openly. Heathen have cautioned against it, because Conscience stands by; but here is that which may serve to put a greater awe upon our hearts, 1 Joh. 3.20. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. If Conscience be as much as a thousand Witnesses, God is more than ten thousand Consciences: and God warns us against thinking him afar off, Jer. 23.23, 24. Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord: do not I fill heaven & earth? saith the Lord. Let every place we are in be a Bethel to us: think, God is in this place of a very truth! And let that make us very wary to ourselves, what we think, speak, or do, it all stands in the light of his Countenance, and he can bring it into open light, and lay it forth before the Sun.

USE 4. THIS also should encourage secret duties. They cannot be lost, the Infinite God being everywhere present, he stands by you when you pray in secret, hears every groan, registers every sigh, bottles every tear: never fear being so private & retired as to be sequest • ed from him: did we more credit, or more think of this Attribute of God, It would make us more active & cheerful, in most close and retired Services of God, and out of doubt this would be a blessed way wonderfully to promote intimate Communion between him and us.

USE 5. HENCE their misery must needs be great, who have this God for their Enemy. As the man is, so is his strength; to have the Infinite and Omnipresent God engaged against a man for his ruin, is an infelicity that cannot be computed: as Infinite Mercy is the portion of those that love him; so Infinite Wrath must fall upon all those that hate him And this should be a loud and awakening call to all, and you young ones in particular, to make haste, and get as far as you can out of this danger, by seeking an Interest in Christ, and shrouding yourselves under his shadow: till when, you lie open every moment to this woeful hazard, being by nature Children of wrath. Think then solemnly and frequently, what it is to fall into the hands of the Infinite GOD, Infinite in presence, and Infinite in power, and I finite in revenging Justice; and can the danger you go in be less than Infinite?

USE 6. GOD's People ought then to expect to receive great things from him. Isa. 45.11. Thus saith the Lord, the holy One of Israel, and his maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. God loves to do all things like himself, to display his Infinite greatness in all his works for his People. Have you this God for your God? Be not afraid to put up great Petitions, to ask great deliverances; and having so done, to expect and wait for great Salvations. Be not afraid of exhausting his treasures, or putting him beyond his ability: None ever could poze an Infinite God; be wary then of limiting the great GOD, do not set bounds to him, his People have sometimes done so, and it hath provoked him; Psal. 78.41. Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the holy One of Israel. They set him bounds who hath none, and that offended him: when Satan, or your own misgiving hearts offer to undermine your faith, and make you to call in question the possibility of the performance of any good word, that he hath given you to hope in, silence all again with this consideration, It is not a finite Creature, but an Infinite God, that I have placed my hope upon.

SERMON XIX.

2. GOD is Eternal. This is another Divine Quality attributed to him, and is also his Propriety. In clearing up which Attribute, we may first inquire what Eternity is, and then make it evident, that God is Eternal.

[1.] WE may take up the notion of this Attribute in this Description; Eternity is God, without possibility of beginning, succession or ending of time. The word is supposed to signify, beyond any term. This is also an Attribute appearing from the Essence of God, considered as the most absolute first being. This also is a Negative Attribute, ascribing a perfection to God, by removing an imperfection from him. The difference between the perfections of God, and those of the Creature, which are the most noble, is in one respect discerned, in that his are immersurate, whereas theirs may be measured. Now there are two sorts of measures that may be applied to Creatures, and by which they may be comprehended, viz. Quantity and Duration: the former whereof is measured by place, the latter by time. Both of these are to be removed from, or denied to God; and because we cannot grasp in our narrow and short understanding these perfections positively, hence we are necessitated to ascribe them to him negatively. In regard to the former of these we say he is Infinite, of which already; of the latter we declare him to be Eternal, which is now under consideration: and because the Attribute is negative, it will help to our right Contemplation of it, to consider the nature of Time, the contrary negative to what is Eternity, and is best known by denying all the notions of time to it. Time then, is properly the measure or limit of the Creatures Duration. It is not easy to express the true notion of time; it hath not any Essence or Existence of it's own, but is an adjunct, or in some sense a quality that belongs to all second beings: it is therefore nowhere to be found by itself, but always adhering to the thing as it's subject: it is, as it were, the register of the Creatures Age: it tells us how long it hath been, and when it ceaseth to be. There are three things in which the nature of Time is conceived of by us: or there are two Terms, and a Medium, which appertain unto it; and all bear a respect to the Creature, as the subject of them: viz.

• 1. IT hath a Beginning. Time is that which meets the Creature at its Origination; that which was not, must have a date set to its rise and entity: and that is the first Article of time; hence, when we read of a Creation, we also read of a beginning, ( Gen. 1.1.) which proves them to be the offspring of time.
• 2. IT hath a Succession. Time is a measured duration; hence the Creatures duration is measured by it successively; time is not all at once, but it flows by degrees: time is not a standing, but a moving thing, and it is always in motion, without any cessation: on this account we have those partly natural, and partly civil Months, Years, which serve to compute how long it is since the beginning of such things existence, or action, or by which we keep its Annals.
• 3. IT hath an Ending too. This is the Periodicall term of time, in respect to the Creature, when it hath gone thro' the stage of Action, and puts off its being again, then its time is at an end, and when there is no more of the thing, it lays off this respect too. Time keeps the Creature company, as long as it keeps its being, and then it leaves it.

NOW from the consideration of these revolutions of time, we observe a threefold respect with 〈…〉 up 〈◊〉 the thing: from whence if 〈…〉 into past, present and to come. 〈…〉 the time which the thing hath ru ••• 〈…〉 Existence till the point in which it 〈…〉 past thro', and left it behind it. Time 〈◊〉 is the season just before the Creature 〈◊〉 or that Individual moment of Existence, which is just now in being. Time to come is that which remains of the allotted duration of it, till the last sand be run out, and it shall have no more to do with this being or existence. In these respects we say of the Creature, that yesterday is gone, today is present, tomorrow is to come; and we can in no sense bring yesterday and tomorrow to commence with today. Hence also things are said to be either young or old, according to the number of days or years that have gone over them since they entered upon the stage. These are the more observable considerations about time; the negation of these things will tell us what Eternity is, or at least what it is not; and when we apply them to any subject, we therein declare it to be Eternal. In the Description therefore of God's Eternity, we remove from him all those notions that are applicable to time. Hence there are three things in the Description, which will engross all that hath been said, by way of remotion.

(1.) THAT he is without Beginning, Succession, or Ending of Time. His duration admits of none of these limitations, but excludes them all.

• 1. HE had no Beginning. As there never was a time when he was not, so neither could it ever • e •• d that he began to be •• . He is without Original; he never was a possible being, but was ever in Act: he never was in a state of non-being, from whence he was to pass into existence, and for this reason is he called the Ancient of Days.
• 2. HE hath no Succession. Their have no times passed over him, but he enjoys himself in an everlasting NOW. Years, Months, Days and Hours cannot be ascribed to him; it cannot be truly said of Him, that he was, but that he IS: hence his name, I AM, and that of Christ, Joh. 8.58. Jesus said unto them, verily verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. He hath lived as many thousand Years as he hath Days; for which reason the Scripture tells us, that with him there is no difference between one day and a thousand years Psal. 90.4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, when it is past, and as 〈◊〉 • atch in the night. 2 Pet. 3.8. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. He hath in himself a full and perfect possession of Everlasting and interminable life, all at once, and hath no succession of thoughts, notions, or visions, but drinks up all his felicity at once and eternally.
• 3. HE hath no Ending. There never will come a time when his being will cease; but he will be the same after Infinite Ages; hence he is said to be from Everlasting to Everlasting, Psal. 90.2.

AND from hence it follows further,

• 1 THAT there is nothing in him, that is past, present, or to come. For these are only the Aspects of time upon the subjects of it; all things are therefore said to be present before him. Eternity admits of no divisions; it is a standing thing: things fleet in respect of themselves, but in respect to him, he sees them in the same Everlasting Instant; he looks neither backward nor forward; things past are present with him, and so are things to come; and therefore, as the notion of present hath regard to Succession, it is not compatible to him
• 2. THAT he is before, after, and in all time. I confess these notions are improper, but they serve to hint something of his Eternity to us: he is before time, for he made it; hence he is called the King of Ages, 1 Tim. 1.17. He is in all time; not as a subject of it, because he co-exists with it; though' it makes no Parenthesis in his Eternity; his being having no dependence upon it. Hence those things are improperly ascribed to him, Rev. 1.4. Which is, which • ease, and which is to come. And is after it, Isai. 44.6. Thus saith the Lord,—I am the LAST.
• 3. THAT he cannot wax old. For what is it that denominates a thing old, but that it hath continued for a great tract of time? But God is never more ancient than himself, nor is he otherwise, than he was when he made the world; for he had then been from Eternity. The Scripture indeed sometimes calls him the ancient of Days, and saith, there is no end of his years; but it is to suit our Conceptions, which are incapable of thinking of Eternity, but only under the notion of an Infinite Time; but he who is not a subject of time cannot be old, because age is measured by time.

(2.) THAT he is without possibility of Beginning, Succession, or Ending of Time. And this is something more than to be so: he not only lives forever; but he cannot dy: he is without any potentiality, or passive power; and so Christ came under the revolutions of time: which will be fully exhibited in the next particular.

3. ETERNITY is GOD, i. e. It is his alone Prerogative to be Eternal. It is a title which belongs to none but the First Being: all other things are the offspring of time. But for our right understanding of this, we must a little distinguish of the different usage of the word [Eternity] in Scripture. Sometimes it is used for a set period of time, which is of long continuance, but yet hath its date; so the word forever, and everlasting, are used often in the Old Testament. He that served till the Year of Ja ••• e, is said to serve forever, (Exod. 21.6.) the Ceremonial statutes are said to be forever, (Numb 10.8.) and therefore, sometimes a proper Eternity is distinguished by the reduplication of these words, as forever & ever, and from Everlasting to Everlasting. Again, There are some Creatures, which are made for endless continuance, and are accordingly made without any seeds of Corruption in their Constitution: such are all constant natures, as the Third Heaven, Angels, and the Scars of men: which, because they shall actually abide forever, and have natures incapable of •••• ing, either by outward Created face, or any inward inclination to di •• lut •• ns, are therefore in a sense said to be Eternal, as being indeed actually Everlasting. Yet there is a vast difference between the Everlastingness of these, and the Eternity of God. For,

• 1. THEY all of them had a beginning: They received their being by Creation. ( Gen. 1.1.) of all second beings it may be said, that once they were not: Angels themselves, as glorious as they now are, once were nothing, they are indeed full as old as time; time and they began at the same instant: hence they are called Suns of the morning: but follow them up by the measures of time, and you shall come to that moment when they first brake out of the womb of non-entity, and so are not properly eternal, which denies any Original.
• 2. THEY have a Succession in their being. Their duration hath it's measures; they do not, cannot enjoy an Eternal ••• e; but it must be a continuing now. Being finite beings, all their adjuncts or qualities must have their measures, and consequently their duration: hence some Divines have distinguished of Eternity, and Eviternity; ascribing the former to God, and the latter to these ever enduring Creatures; different from the former, in that it hath a succession, which the other hath not: for though' the Sun shall cease to be, by whose revolutions we are wont to count up the present Ages, yet the continuance of the Creatures duration not ceasing, its everlastingness must needs be progressive.
• 3. THEY have a passive power, rendering them capable also of an End: for though' they have no tendency to mortality in their Natures, nor can the whole force of the Creation make any such impression on them, as to destroy their being; yet they are subject to him, who made them; and that God who created them, can also annihilate them; they are dependent Beings, and continue at the mere pleasure of their Creator: who, as he spake the word, and they were made, so can speak them back into nothing: yea, that they do not return to their nothing, is b ••••• they are upheld by the word of his power, ( Heb. 1.3.) And in this respect it is said that he any hath Immortality. (1 Tim. 1.16.) they live on his Courtesy.

[2] FOR the evidencing of this Attribute, or making it appear that God is Eternal. Tho' Scripture-Testimony is enough to establish an Article of Faith, (in which besides, Psal. 90.2. 92.8. 102.27. Joh. 8.78. there are many more) yet there are other Cogent Arguments, to evince it. God must needs be Eternal.

1. BECAUSE God is an absolute and necessary Being, and with at all C •• s •• . Absolute Being is Eternal: that which once was not, & now is, must have an Efficient to give being to it, it could not be its own Author; and hence all timed beings are Causate. Hence 〈…〉 his Eternity from his Absolute being. Joh. 8.58. Jesus said unto them, Verily verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

2. BECAUSE he was before time. and there was nothing before that but Eternity. If He was when no Created being was. He was before time; for this as we heard, is the menure of the Creatures duration, and is therefore inseparable from it. God was before the World was, yea before that •• bing or privation which was before it. Psal. 139.16. Thine eyes did see my s •• slance yet being imperfect, and in thy book all my members were w •• ten which in continuance were sa •• i ••• d, wh • n as yet there was none of them. He saw the Creation in its non-entity, Prov. 8.23, 25, 26. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. Before the meani • ins were settled; before the bills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the felds nor the highest • art of the dust of the world. And should it return to its nothingness again, he would be after it.

3. BECAUSE God made Time, and all the things that are the subjects of it. The Creator must needs be Eternal; for in Creating things, he created time; which is but an Adjunct of them, and the maker is before the thing that is made: all times are therefore said to be in •• s b •• d, Psal. 31.15.

4. IF He be Infinite, he must be Eternal, that he is so hath been already proved. That an Infinite being should be of a finite duration is a contradiction; for what is Eternity but (if I may so say) an Infinite Time, or a continuance without Bounds.

5. IF he be Unchangeable, he must be Eternal. That he is so, will come nextly to be made good. This he cannot be except he be Eternal; for what greater change can there be than that which is from not being, to being: which he must have undergone, if he were not Eternal?

6. IF God were not Eternal, then must he be Originated, and that must be either by Creation or Gen • ration: in either of these ways he must have an •• ss • i • nt, or some Author that must give him his being: but he is beholden to none. Rom. 11.35. Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? yea THAT would be God and not HE. Yea, so he would be a subject capable either of Annihilation, or Corruption, which is the Imperfection of things created or generated; but God is neither way exposed, but is a standing Being: for his Name is, I AM. Gen. 2.14.

USE 1. HERE we set what a vast disproportion there is between God and the Creature. Of him, and him only can it be said, From everlasting to everlasting then art God! He gave beginning to all things; himself alone is without beginning: The best of Men are but of Yesterday, and know not where they shall be tomorrow, ( Job 8.9.) all Creatures had an Original: all but some few shall have a dissolution: and how infinitely distant must he, who is the Father of Eternity, be from them that are the Children of Time?

USE 2. SEE here the reason why the Church of God stands in all Ages. It is because they have a God who is Eternal, who hath undertaken for them: This therefore is declared to be the happy Privilege of his People in Deut. 22 27. The eternal God is thy refuge —. For, because he is, therefore all his Perfections are Eternal, Isa. 59.1. their refuge therefore abides, and as long as their r •• k lives, how can they be miserable? because their God can never cease to be, they can never want a refuge.

USE 3. LEARN hence how fearful a thing is must be for any to have this God for their Enemy. When the Apostle would set forth their woeful infelicity, he mentions him under the title of the living God, Heb 10.31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Living intends his Eternity When God himself speaks of taking Vengeance on Sinners, to make the threatening the more amazing. He puts them in mind of this Attribute. P • all. 32.40. For if he be eternal, then must their Plagues be endless. For as long as he and they abide, they must expect to have him for their Enemy. And this may well put Sinners into Consternation, and make them to say as Isa. 33.14. — Who among us shall dwell with everlasting be • rnings? And let this be a loud and awakening call to such as are in their natural state, to make hast to get their Peace made with this God, left you fall under the Impressions of his Wrath, which when once it is kindled into a fire against you, will never go out again, but being blown up by the breath of an Everlasting God, will burn without end; beware of falling into his hands, except you would have eternal Misery to be your portion.

USE 4. THIS may teach us whither to go for Eternal Life, and show us the great folly of all those who go for it elsewhere. Here is an Object eternally good, and eternally great. Well might the Disciples stay with Christ for this reason, when others went away from him, Job 6 All other Objects of trust are temporary, and for that very cause must sooner or later fail to crown the expectations of those that rely upon them; they are 〈◊〉 • roduct of time, and can give no title to Eternity: how then can they be suitable and sufficient for the felicity of the children of Men. Remember, you have an Immortal Substance in you, and were made for an Everlasting duration; and if you have not 〈◊〉 Object what 〈◊〉 • b •• e forever, your hope and happiness must expire, & endless Miseries abide you: Make hast then to get a title to the Love and Favor of this God: and remember it must be done now. Young ones, you stand on the brink of Eternity, the least touch will put you over into it, make sure then before it he too late, that • e is yours, so shall everlasting mercies be your Inheritance.

USE 5. LET me here Congratulate the Admirable happiness of all those who have made this God their trust. It is a poor • elicity that is spun out no farther then the thread of a frail life, and greater is not to be had among all creatures; for they cannot bestow that which they have not: but they whose faith is • u • t upon jehovah, have eternal happiness: He wi • l save you with an everlasting Salvation; he hath everlasting strength to perform it for you, Isa. 26.4 — In the • ord Jehovah in everlasting strength. And he hath everlasting love to bestow upon you, Jer. 21.3. — I have loved thee with an everlasting love. And he hath everlasting mercies to confer, Psal. 103.17. — The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him — Rejoice then in your portion, because being infinite you can feel no want in the fruition of it, so being everlasting, you can never be deserted by it, nor will it ever fail, how then can you chose but be blessed by it forever, even world without end!

SERMON XX.

3. GOD is Unchangeable. This is the last of the Divine qualities mentioned in the Description: In clearing up of this Attribute, we may first inquire into the Nature of it, and then give the evidence that God is Immutable. Of God's Unchangableness take this Description: It is God without any possibility of any kind of change: It is that whereby God is ever the same that he ever was. Things may be said to be mutable in diverse respects: and all these are to be removed from our conceptions of God: Mutable things are so either in outward or inward respects, Extrinsecally, or Intrinsically.

1. EXTRINSECALLY; And here the more observable Changes, are either in relation to time or place; those things that have time go over them are changed, for time itself makes an outward change in them; and a motion from place to place is a change external, neither of those can be ascribed to God; and therefore upon the •••• er account he is Eternal, on the latter he is Infinite; these belong to the Attribute already considered.

2. INTRINSECALLY; And that is referrible to the Being, and essential perfections of the thing; in which it is more properly said to change, and these are the things that this Attribute is peculiarly predicated of which now come under our consideration.

1. UNCHANGABLENESS is God; This also is • ne of those Incommunicable properties, which the Creatures share not with him i • , a title which is, Prerogative belonging alone to the first being 〈◊〉 is a flower of his Crown: Examine all second beings, and they are the subjects of Change; not to mention the Creatures here below, which are every day changing faces and habits; the very C •• lestsal bodies, the heavens and those great lights there, time & change do rule them: Heathen Philosophers thought them Immutable, as being Incorruptible; but the Scripture contradicts them, and herein makes it appear that they are not God; Psal. 102.25, 26. Of old hast th • u laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure. Absolute Immutability cannot truly & properly be predicated of any other being whatsoever, but appertains to him alone.

2. He is God without any possibility of Change: He not only actually changeth not; but it is impossible that he should. It may in a sense be said of the third Heavens, that they do not actually change, though' they have changed, and have a succession, yet being constant natures, they are the same they were in the first moment of their Creation, essentially; yet there is a passive power in them, they may receive impressions from his hand who made them: but there is no such thing in God, Psal. 102.27. Thou art the same. — This Attribute is fully asserted, Jam. 1.17. — The Father of lights, with wh • m there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. There are two expressions used to illustrate it: no variation, the word is used to express the Sun's variation or change of place, every day, in passing thro' the Signs in the Zodiac; God is called a Sun in Psal. 84.11. But he keeps the same place, never varies: and no shadow of turning; the first lines of a Picture are called it's shadow, by shadows we understand the least appearance or rude draught of such a thing: the word turning also alludes to the Sun, and either points at his turning about every day, passing out of one Hemisphere into another, and so constantly rolling about the earth; or to his Summer and Winter Tropics; it is sometimes going to one, and then back again to the other: the Father of lights hath no such turning, nor so much as a resemblance of it, but is steadfastly immutable.

NOW whatsoever is in God, is God, and hence he is all Essence: yet for our more distinct apprehensions of him; we may consider him, either as to his being, or his faculties, and take notice how he is unchangeable in each of them.

1. IN his Being or Essence be is Immutable: In his being he is God, and thence he argues his own Unchangableness, Mal. 3.6. I am the Lord, I change not. To be God, and to be changable is a contradiction: If the being of God were capable of a Change, it must be either, from not being to being, and then there must have been a time when he was not, which his Eternity contradicts, and is inconsistent with his absal ••• being: or from being to not being, by 〈◊〉 of annihilation, which cannot stand with 〈◊〉 Eternity, which is as much without end as beginning; and must also be supposed to be either from himself, or from some other Agent; not from himself, because he wills his own being & glory, not from another, for it must be a more powerful than he; whereas all second beings are to him nothing and less than nothing and vanity; or from this sort of being to anoth •• , which is equally impossible; for it must be either to a more perfect being, and that he cannot, because his being is absolutely perfect, it compriseth all sorts of perfections most perfectly & eminently in it; or to a more imperfect, and then he would cease to be God, for to be God, and to be imperfect, is a contradiction: or by some alteration in some properties, or qualities, which also cannot be, by reason of his simplicity, for being without any composition, there can be no potentiality in him of being other than he is: Change in the Essence of a thing implies a passive power; but it is contrary to Divine simplicity to have such a power: His name, I am what I am, clearly teacheth his Immutability; all Essential Changes are reduced to the heads, either of Creation & Annihilation, or Generation and Corruption, or Augmentation & Diminution, or Alteration of Qualities: and because none of these do or can touch the first being, he must therefore needs be essentially Unchangeable.

2. IN his Faculties: For though' the Divine Simplicity assures us that there is no faculty in God really distinct from his Essence; yet in our Conception we must distinguish: God therefore is pleased to speak of himself to us, as having an Understanding, a Will, and Affections now, because these are all himself; hence this Immutability is so predicated of them, and may be evidenced concerning each of them.

(1.) IN his Understanding. This is said to be Infinite, ( Psal. 147.5.) and if so it must needs be Unchangeable: there are no degrees in that which is infinite, more it cannot be, for nothing can be greater; nor less, for then it should not be infinite: Infiniteness is an absolute perfection, beyond which there are none. If God's Understanding were changable, it must be either by increase or loss; but by neither, not by loss for what can possibly impair that glorious faculty of his, or blot out, and make him to forget those eternal Ideas! not by increase, for that must be either by a knowledge of more things, or a better knowledge of the same things; but neither; for this must be either referring to himself and his own Nature & Perfections, or to other things relating to the Creature; both of which are impossible: For,

• 1. IN respect of himself, there have no Changes past upon his Essence, but it is the same it was: and how should not he who hath known himself from all Eternity, be thoroughly acquainted with all his Perfections: and if his knowledge be himself, as hath been evidenced, how could it ever grasp in anything less than the whole latitude of his Infinite Being?
• 2. IN respect of other things. The Scripture scribes to him a foreknowledge, Rom. 8.29. — Whom he did foreknow. —Acts 2 23. This is, in our Conception, that Idea which God had in his vast Understanding from Eternity of all second beings, and all that did concern them, or of the whole Affair of Creation and Providence, to the very death of a poor Sparrow, and numbering of the hairs of our heads, according to which, without the least variation, all things do come to pass in their appointed time and manner, so that there is nothing new or casual to him; all things must be as he will: His Science comprehends all possibilities, and as well what are not, nor ever shall be, as what have a being in their Season: his Prescience understands his own Purposes which cut the hair between mere possibilities & futurities, for he doth all things, and that according to the Counsel of his Will, Eph. 1.11. So that either he must alter his intentions, or some things must fall out otherwise than ever he thought of, or his knowledge of them must be fixed and full: for he is no stranger to his own thoughts ( Jer. 29.11.) the latter of these cannot be, because of the Creatures absolute dependency, Acts 17.28. For in him we live, and move, and have our being. Nor the former, For,

(2.) IN his Will be is also Unchangeable: The Will in Man is a faculty, whereby he doth freely make his own choice, and determine of his own Actions: accordingly the Scripture assigns a Will to God, by which he hath consulted, resolved & decreed about all his works of Efficiency, under which are comprised all things that come to pass in time; that there is such a Will of his that hath so decreed, is fully asserted in his word, and necessary from the consideration of his nature. That this Will of his is Unchangeable, appears not only because it is himself, and differs in our conceptions, only modally from his Essence; but if we consider, that God is the highest Cause by Counsel of his own Actions: hence this Will of his determines nothing, but upon a sure and unalterable Principle: all the reasons why men alter their purposes at any time, are incompatible to him, as may be exemplified; that which makes a man to change his resolves, is either unstableness, conviction or compulsion, but there is nothing of these influential upon God.

1. NOT instability in himself. That which makes men to be off and on, now for a thing, and presently against it, is a fluctuating, unstable mind, and proceeds partly from a great deal of ignorance of the mind, partly from the mobility of the Affections, neither of which can be imputed to him: the irresolute man doth not know his own mind, but God doth his, Jer. 29.11. I know the thoughts that I think towards you—.

2. NOT conviction of anything not foreseen, which should give him reason to alter his mind: for God had at one sight the intuition of all that coul concern the matter; his ends were the most eligible, the means the most wise; there was no precipitancy, no oversight or error in any of them; there is no intervening accident that can alter these reasons, which he did not understand and caution against, when he thus determined.

3. NOT Compulsion. His hand can never be so weak, as not to be able to bring about what his Will hath decreed: he can never be put upon it to take new measures for want of ability to carry anything through, which suited his pleasure; for he can do any manner of thing, and doth always what pleaseth him, Psal. 115.3. But our God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he pleased. As he hath no dependence on any Instruments to fulfill his purposes, so much less can he be put by, or obstructed in anything that he doth so intend, Isa. 14.26, 27.— For the Lord of hosts, hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

3. IN his Affections. God is pleased to assume to himself Affections, as love, hatred, desire, loathing, delight, anger, &c. these also so far as we conceive them to belong to God are Unchangeable; and for this reason we find that God cannot repent, ( Numb. 23.19) 1 Sam. 15.29. And also the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man that he should repent. Now Repentance in propriety of speech, is a change upon the Affections: hence when Christ loveth one, he loves to the end. Rational Affections are postures of the will to an Object: Affections in God are nothing else but the respect of his decreeing Will to the Creature, and because his Will is unalterable, therefore these change not. Nor doth this Unchangableness in God's Will destroy the freedom or liberty of it; it is no contradiction to say that God is free to do as he will, and yet is Immutable in his Decrees; for God willed all these things from Eternity, because all pleased him, and having so willed he can never be again dissatisfied at his own Will, because the reasons upon which he so determined stand forever: he is therefore said to be of one mind, Job. 23.13. Nor doth it argue a change in his Will, because he hath commended one thing and proposed another; his command saith what should be, his purpose what shall be; God's willing the act of Adam 's eating the forbidden fruit, & his willing it to be Adam 's duty not to eat it, show nothing of two wills, for both of these are concurring media to the same end. And whereas God seems to promise and not perform, to threaten and not execute; this rightly understood makes no Argument to prove him Changable: he himself gives us a Clue through this Labyrinth, Jer. 18.7,—11. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it: If that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. —God dispenseth his absolute purposes to his Creatures, under conditionate promises and threatenings. Finally, when God is said in Scripture, to Repent, it is accommodated to human language, it intends only a Change in his Providences, not in his Will; in the Creature, and not in God: He decreed Unchangably, all the Changes that go over the World: And this tells us, that an Unchangeable God, can, without any alteration in himself, bring about all the Vicissitudes that pass upon the mutable Creature: when men alter their carriages, it is because they do repent, and therefore God is said to repent, when he doth so, though' he doth in it what he eternally intended to do.

USE 1. THIS shows us what a glorious Object GOD is, for the Souls of Men to confide in: what a happiness it is for any to have this God for their portion; the vast difference between God and the Creature in point of trust. The very first reason which the wise Man gives, why the Creature is a vain Object, and not to be confided in, is because of its Chang • bleness, Eccl. 1.4. This casts disparagement upon the best of them: if we confide in riches, they have Eagle's wings, &c. if in honors, they are slippery places; if in pleasures, that which is delightsome today, is tedious tomorrow; if in friends, they love and hate upon every turn; but God is ever the same, and that Unchangably: his other Attributes will tell us how great a portion, and how full of good he is: this added to them, saith he is a safe portion; there is no danger in trusting in him; none ever did so that were put to shame: many have come away ashamed from other Objects, none ever from him.

USE 2. HENCE it must needs be a fearful thing to fall under the wrath of this God. This Attribute speaks sadly to all those, that neglecting to improve the day of his Grace, do pull upon themselves the day of his Vengeance. God hath declared to us in his word, that he will certainly destroy all such as accept not of his offered grace in the day of it; and woe to them that run the adventure of this hazard. God adds the consideration of this Attribute, as well to confirm his Menaces as his Promises, 1 Sam. 15.29. God hath resolved that all such shall perish, and he will never be of another mind; prayers, tears, supplications, intercessions, will not profit, or move him at all, who is inexorable: The plagues therefore of impenitent Sinners must needs be Everlasting.

USE 3. WE here see the ground of the Saints Perseverance; or the Reason why God's People can never fall from Grace, or lose the title to Glory bestowed on them in the New-Covenant: It is because the Unchangeable God hath undertaken for them, and stands engaged to them: His Unchangeable love is set upon them; his Unchangeable word is past unto them: his sure & steadfast Covenant is plighted with them. They are Creatures, and so mutable, their grace in itself might cease, their resolutions alter; but his Immutable Assistance can never fail. He hath said, he will never leave nor forsake them: there might be reason eno' in them for him so to do; but there is this reason grounded in his Nature, which forbids him; He hath sworn in truth, and he cannot go from it, ( Mal. 3.6.) if they do not believe, yet he is faithful, if they do not pray, yet he cannot forget them. Till it can be made appear that God is Changable, it will never be proved that a Believer can fall away so as to lose the Inheritance.

USE 4. LET this then be the encouragement of God's people in a world of Change: Live upon this Attribute; it is enough to keep up your spirits and strengthen you with patience to run that weary and difficult race that you are called unto. It is true, you meet with many Changes among Creatures; yea, there is nothing here, but what is Changable; you are tossed up and down from one change to another, changes of estates, changes of affections, changes of troubles, mutation in all; and if here were all you had to trust to, you were very unhappy: but yet faint not, not be weary, for in all these you have an Unchangeable God to stand by you: get your faith then well established on this Attribute, bel • eve God to be such an one. One great reason why God's People are so turmoiled & tost in their minds; and cannot settle as they ought, in their trusting upon God, is, because they see all other things rolling in their! Vicissitudes, and suspect that he will do so too. H • bakkuk 's triumphant faith was built upon this Attribute, which made him take that Heroic resolve, Chap. 3.17, 18. Although the fog-tree • shall 〈◊〉 blossom, • enher shall sruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the stock shall be on off from the sold, and th •• e shall the no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God if my salvation. And could you thus do; though the Seas roar, and the waves rife and roll, and Mountains themselves come tumbling down, yet the Rock on which you are bulk being immovable, you might sit still and clap your hands, and say, this God is our God forever, and he will be our guide unto Death, and our portion in Etersity.

SERMON XXI.

WE have been considering of the Divine Qualities; what next and lastly follows in the Description, is the Virtues of God: concerning which in general, we are to observe that all the Divine Qualities are to be ascribed to each of them, as well as to his Being; and indeed they are all of them but his Being, variously apprehended by us: and by these Qualities it is, that these Virtues of his are distinguished from those in Angels & Men, which bear the like denomination: We ascribe as Being, so Wisdom, &c to some Creatures; but we do not put the Epithet of Infinite, &c. upon them; add these to any one of them, and that speaks them to be Divine. As to the Being or Essence of God, it hath already been spoken to; and how these properties belong to it, hath been discovered in asserting and proving them to be God; for indeed they are such Attributes, as result from the consideration of God, as the most absolute first Being. How we may ascribe them to these Virtues is plain, if we consider what it is to be Infinite &c. and then put the titles to his Wisdom, &c. and that, if his Being be so, these must be so, is plain; because whatsoever is in God, is God: it would be a disparagement to his Divine Nature to ascribe anything to him, that is not like himself. It remains therefore only to speak of these Ve • u •• s of God severully; and there are Six of them here asserted concerning him, as more eminently displaying of him.

1. THE first of these is Wisdom: of which take this Description, It is God, by one Simple and Erer •• all Act, both knowing of himself, and all possible beings; and contriving & ordering all sure •• things often the best manner. The word Wisdom is sometimes taken in a restrained sense, and then it intends properly a skill of choosing & applying means suitably to the end: sometimes in a more large, and then it comprehends all knowledge universally; in which respect we call 〈◊〉 Man of great knowledge and skill, a 〈◊〉 Man: thus, after our manner, we may app ••• it to God. In Man we take notice of several faculties, which are so many principles in him, or powers; and in these we observe several Virtues that do adorn them. The principal saculties in the rational Soul are the Understanding & Will; and in these are the Intellectual & Moral Virtues: among the Intellectual Verties, Wisdom is the chief; and taken in its Intitude, it comprehends them all: and because God is the most Intelligent Being, we ascribe such Verties to him, as are found in such Agents; yea, he assumes them to himself. This Attribute of Wisdom is the efore given to him in Scripture frequently, yea, it is appropriated to him in 〈◊〉 Tim. 1.17. — The only wise God — Because there is none wise as he i • . He is Wisdom, and the fountain of it; The Ocean of it is in him originally; there are but some little rivulets of it that are derived from him to Angels & Men; we are therefore ••• ected to him for it; Jam. 1.5. And because there is no other Intelectual Vertus • work • in the Description, we may therefore take it in the largest sense, according as it is desti •••• ; so that we here take the Wisdom & Knowledge of God for the same thing; which is also sometimes called his Understanding; see, Prov. 8.14. which are the words of the Son of God, who is God. To this Attribute therefore, in descriting of it, I have resorted both that Knowledge which is called Theoreticall, which is more generally; and that which is counted Practical, which is more specially denomi ••• ed Wisdom; and I shall a little explain each of them.

[1.] WE ascribe to God a Theoretical Wisdom, which is by Divines called, Scientia si •• pli •• •••• lligentia; and to this there are two things ••• ributed in the Description.

1. THAT he hath a thorough & perfect Knowledge of himself, or his own Being, and glorious Perfections. It is one thing which belongs to Wisdom, that it is of a very large reach, or vast comprehension. Wise Men do know more than others do; now there is nothing that sets forth God's Understanding more largely, than that he knows himself, grasps in his intuition the whole latitude of his own Infinite and Incomprehensible Being; for this reason it is said to be Infinlte, Psal. 147.5. God only knows himself as he is: It is but a little portion that Men or Angels do know of him. He knows his own thoughts, and his thoughts are himself; yea, He is Understanding. Prov. 8.14. If this Wisdom then be God, then it must be of an equal extension with God, else it could not be himself.

2. THAT he also perfectly knows all poss • ble Beings. He not only understands what hath been, and what shall be, but also what might be, or what is capable of being. When God past that Eternal Decree of his, which is hereafter to be spoken of, he did not intend to do all that he was able: when he made the works of Creation, there was the re •• d •• e of the speris with him, Mal. 2.15. and he know what that was. God knows his own power, which is the subject of all these possibilities. God could have made more Worlds, and innumerable more kinds of Creatures: and God hath a fight of these in his vast Understanding; how else could there be a Consultation, and an Election in and about his works of Efficiency, which is fully ascribed unto him; Eph. 1.11. — all things after the counsel of his own Will. God's Ommi •• tency in which he hath the Idea of possible things, is himself, if therefore he know • th himself, he must needs know both that and them. Hence the Scaipture is frequently relling us of things which God can do, though' he never intends to give being to them. Now this Wisdom of God properly belongs to the consideration of his Divine Essence; for, because he is the most absolute First Being, he must needs be the most Understanding Being; if God, he must be most Wise.

[2.] WE also ascribe to God a Proctical Wisdom: and that appears in his contriving and ordering all future things after the best manner: and this is that which Divines call Scientian Visionis. As the appointing of all things belongs to his Will, (as we shall hear afterwards,) so the contri • a • ce & ordering thereof properly belongs to his Wisdom. The Scripture speaks of the manifold wisdom of God, (Eph. 3.10) which is not intended of it, as it is in God; but as it appears in the various discoveries which are made of it in the things themselves: in discoursing of which, I might be endless; but I shall only point at a few comprehensive kinds of it, viz.

• 1. IN his Assigning of all things to their several ends. A Wise Agent always propounds to himself some end for which he works; he doth nothing in vain: and then discovers his Wisdom in his orderly alotting of the means with respect hereto. There is one common end to which all things have an ultimate respect, and that is the Glory of God. Prov. 16.4. The Lord hath made allthings for himself. And in order to this, are many subordinate ends to which these & those are appointed. Now the setting of these in order, the connecting of their subordination, and the setting them so as to have their due respect to the last; is an eminent discovery of this Wisdom; we read of such a Connection, Hos. 2.21, 22. — I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the beavens, and they shall hear the earth. And the earth shall bear the own, and the • ine, and the eyl, and they shall bear Je •• eel.
• 2. IN the suiting of an Idea in his mind, ca • lly b • rm •• ous to the best ad •• ncing of these •• ds. A Wise workman forecalls his work, and draws out the whole ph • t in his mind, in which every piece & part in his work is con • ired, and designed where it is to be, how it is to be framed to fall in with the other; and the more harmonious and regular this imaginary mold or frame is the more is the wisdom of the Ageat: Contrivance therefore belongs to the Ma •• et workman, as having the greatest enriofity in it. Such a frame had God in his mind from all Eternity, laid in his own head, with best counsel; and therefore we r • od is Acts 15.18. K •• n unto God are all his w •• is from the beginning of the world. And we are given to understand, that all things are does according to this Contrivance, Eph. 1.11.
• 3. HENCE this Wisdom farther breaks out, and evidently appears in the Workmanship is self; the making of this frame. the whole World, and everything in it. We read, Psal. 104.24.— In •• sdom best then made them all. The Creation hath on it, not only the imp •••• sions of his Almighty Power, in producing such a World out of nothing; and of Goodness, is giving a being to so many Creatures, and a usefullness; but his wondrous Wisdom too, such as • s admirably astonishing; whether we look upon it in the whole, or in the parts: if we • a • e any one little piece of it, take a pile of grass, which we trample upon, and it hath more mysteries in it, than the learnedest Philosopher is able to Analyst: A poor 〈◊〉 , yea a Mite is a subject of unaccountable Problems, that will not only puzzle, but set down the most curious Naturalist to be able to tell how the Organs of life, sense, untriment and motion are contrived in so small a Characters but if we look upon Man, the master-piece of the vifible Creation, and what is he else but an heap of Riddles? his very Body is strangely made; Psal 139.14. — I am sourfully & ••• • erfully made —. The Heathen Anatomist read a God in it, and was transported to sing his praise. And if we consider the setting together of this great Machine, the harmonious placing of every piece of it, and that among so many uncountable parts, there is none displaced or useless. The truth is, here is matter for ends less contemplation, and we must needs say that he was infinitely Wise who did all this.
• 4. IN the Providential management of the World, and all the Affairs of it; the keeping of all things in order; conducting of them to their ends, so as to bring them to attain them actually; the keeping of so many wheels, which are in motion, to go regularly, and none of them to miss, is a curious piece of infinite Wisdom. It would have declared him to be God, if all had been right as it was when he made it; but it more admirably appears since the fall of Man; the Apostasy of one of the principal pieces of this frame, by which he hath so far put himself out. It is the Wisdom of God 〈◊〉 ••• ulars it s • lf, in that the Sa • knows his •• ing & going down: the unnountable S ••• s attend their several motions: that the see w •• e and s •••• ess Creatures, know their times, and observe them accurately: but that when man revelted from his Rule, and sought to bring confusion upon the whole, turned himself from Designing his great end, and abused the Creatures that were under him to strengths him in his Revolt: God for all this teacheth, and misseth not of his own glorious ends, but makes them serviceable thereto, is glorified upon them, and recovers the glary of his abused mercies: something of this is now and then seen at present, which extorts confessions from his very Enemies; but the full of it shall be made known in the day of revelation, when that Scripture shall have full accomplishment, Psal. 76.1 • . barely the wrath of man shall pre • se thee: the remainder of wrath shalt than restrain. And needs must he be a wise Piles, that can fleer steadily in such a St •••• .
• 5. IN the happy contr ••••• of Man's Redemptions. In this Paul tells us the manife •• Wisdom of God is known, Eth. 1.10. Divine Wisdom, as well as Power was requisite to be exerted in the breaking the head plot of the Devil, who bad s • subtly contrived the ruin of Man, by bringing him under a sentence of Death, in which the Justice of God, and his Holinesston, were deeply concerned & engaged; to find out, and bring about a way, wherein Sin might be punished, and the Sinner pardoned; Ju • ice might triumph, and yet Mercy be exalted; God's Haliness appear in his not enduring Sin, and his Grace shine forth in his inexpressible love to the Sinner: this is called a great Mydery, and Angels themselves are Students in it; and so great is the depth of Wisdom that is herein contained, that CHRIST, who is the Subject in whom it conters, is for this reason entitled by the name of Wonderful, Isa. 9.6.

THUS we have considered the Object of this Wisdom. But besides that, we have in the Description, a farther account of it, in respect of the Act, viz. That he doth all this by one Simple & Eternal Act. He doth it not successively as Men do, not by multiplied Acts, but all at once: nor is this one a compound Act, consisting of many parts, as the actions of Creatures are; but wholly uncompounded. The things seen and contrived are many, but the contrivance is individual; and all this from Eternity, as in the forecited, Acts 15.18. And there needs no more be said for the evidencing this Assertion, but the consideration, that all God's Attributes are himself: if therefore he be a Simple & Eternal Being, his Wisdom must be so too; and because he is Insinite, therefore must his Wisdom be of so vast a comprehension, as to be able to grasp in all this at once and together. And if we are not able to discern or give an account how these things can be, it is not to be woudred at, if we consider the narrowness of our understanding, and the shallowness of our wisdom; it may suffuse to satisfy us, that it is so with him, because he is God, and not Man.

USE 1. LEARN hence, How worthy the Works of God are of • ur Contr 〈7 letters〉 & • d ••• tita. Wisdom is that which •• mmends any that have it, to others: it gains their applause and wonderment. And indeed, it hath so much radiancy & splendor in it, that it cannot but s • prize such as behold it. Sol • m • n tells us. F •• l. 8.1. Who is • s the wise man' end aks known' the interpret •• en of a thing? a man's wisdom •• theth has sace 〈◊〉 shine, and the badness of his sort shall be ••• god. The Wisdom of God then is a fit Object for the reasonable Creature to employ his thoughts & observation upon. This is not to be seen os •• ntially & d • redly by us, the light of it is too dazzling for our weak eyes: but the re •• ections of it that are made by the works of Creation & Providence, in which it is so admirably imprinted, will lead us by the hand to make precious discoveries of it, and most astonishing. It is the Psalmists remark, Psal. 111.2. The works of the Lord are great, sought rat of all them that have pleasure therein. And certainly one thing that so engageth them is the admirable Curiosity of them; the accurate and astonishing streaks of Divine Wisdom that are there to be discovered. The speculation of these things would mightily help us to honor and adore this God; to love him, and to trust in him. Man's Sabbath was at first appointed him, to sequester himself to this employment: it will cost us time and labor, but the profit will recompense us for all. And there is no Day passeth, which gives us not occasion to make remarks upon it And if our hearts be right, we shall see so much of it, as will abundantly satisfy us in the Wisdom of that which we cannot penetrate into; and make us acknowledge the Reason, not to be the want of Wisdom in the thing, but the darkness that is upon our understandings; and say as he, Job 37.19. Teach us what we shall say unto him, for we cannot order our speech by reasen of darkness.

USE 2. THIS should teach us, both to commend the management of all our couceres to God, and to adore his Wisdom in all the Changes which befall us. It is not of Man in himself to direct his own way; we are not wise enough to know what is best for us; and if left to our own choice, would soon undo ourselves. Here then is encouragement to make free resignation of ourselves into the hands of God, and leave our all to his dispose; because he is infinitely Wise, and knows how to steer all to his glory, and our best good: and there can be no Case so intricate and perplexed, but he doth easily see the way thro' it, and how to bring us safe to the farther end of it; Pr •• . 16.3 C •• m • t thy works unto the Lord, and thy th ••• 〈◊〉 shall • e es ••••• stead. This also may quiet our minds under the dark Providences which pass over us at any time, to remember that all the Affairs of the whole Creation are managed by him, according to his prudent Counsel, in which he hath laid out all in the best way to bring about his most holy purposes; and though' we cannot see the leading of them, yet he doth. And as nothing falls out beside his purpose. If he doth nothing • as •• lie, but upon mature deliberation: and how should this science & quiet us! We never begin to find fault with any Providence which befalls us, but in so doing we make injurious reflections upon the Infinite Wisdom of God: and let him that contends with his Maker, look to answer it.

USE 3. HERE also are we advised, Whither to go for Wisdom, to guide us in our whole way. Whom should we repair to, but the All wise God; hitherto we are directed by the Spirit of God, Jam. 1.5. If any of you lack wisdom, l • t him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and uphraideth not; and it shall be given him. And there are three Arguments couched in these words to urge the Advice upon us,

• 1. Consider, YOU want Wisdom: you cannot do without it. To serve God, to do the duties of Christians, to carry it right in all the relations you bear, to know how to order your Conversation in all things as becomes the Gospel, and to live among Men so as to honor God and adorn your Profession, requires a great deal of Wisdom; and you have none of the true Wisdom in yourselves naturally: Man indeed would be thought Wise, but he is born as the •• ild Asses Colt. The title which the Scripture puts on a natural Man is a Fool: and though' there are some Principles of Wisdom in the Regenerate, yet there is much folly remaining in them.
• 2. GOD hath Wisdom enough to impart to such as do • ant it. He is not only infinitely Wise in himself, but he can make them so, that come to him for it, in sense of their need: He is called the Father of lights: He is the fountain which can send forth it's streams: He can irradiate your Understandings, and fill them with the light of spiritual knowledge; and convey into them every good & perfect gift: all the Wisdom that hath eminently appeared in any, was derived from him; he made them Wise.
• 3. HE is a free giver to sensible Petitioners. A fountain is not more communicative of its waters, than God is of Wisdom to them that ask it of him: He was exceedingly well pleased with Solomon, that he asked this of him rather than any other thing, and he gave it him very liberally. There is none wants it, but for want of asking, or because they do not ask in faith. Let us then covet herein to be like God, long for and seek after heavenly Wisdom. And to that end, let us be always waiting at his Posts, attending on his Counsels, opening of our hearts to receive his influences: Thus shall we have a Wisdom which the world are strangers to; even such a Wisdom as will make us wise to Salvation.

SERMON XXII.

2. THE next of the Divine Virtues to be considered of, is Power; of which take this Description: It is God able to do whatsoever he doth or can Will. For our right taking up the notion of this Attribute, let these things be considered,

• 1. THAT Power considered in the most general & comprehensive sense of it, is nothing else but God's Alsufficiency; and hath been already considered, in the fust general Head, to which the Knowledge of God in his Back parts is referred; and so it comprehends all the Attributes under it, as being in our conception, a Genus both to his Essence & Subsistence; and so the word Power is used in Scripture sometimes, for God's sufficiency; so, Gen 17.1— I am the Almighty God—. This, in our mode & method of expressing things, is the prima potentia of God, antecedent, and leading to our consideration of his Knowledge & Will.
• 2. THERE is an executive Power which we ascribe unto God, or a Power of Operation, which discovers itself in his works of Efficiency; and therefore the Doctrine of it properly belongs to that Head in general; for when we see what God hath done, we are thereby led to conclude his Omnipotency; and this is consequent upon, and flows from his Alsufficiency; and is one of the Perfections in which it is manifested. Of this Power mention is made, Psal. 115.3. and we conceive of it in this order: We first look upon God as able, (Eph. 3.20.) that is his Alsufficiency; then by his Wisdom & Will determining what to do, ( Eph. 1.11.) and then powerfully to effect or bring about, what he hath so propounded; Psal. 13.5, 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.
• 3. THAT this executive Omnipotency of God, is nothing else but his effective Will: for the Will of God, as it is an effective Principle, or efficient Cause of things, hath the consideration of an unresistible Omnipotency in it; see Rom. 9.19. Psal. 33.9. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. And therefore it cannot be properly said that God wills to do anything, which yet by his Omnipotency he effects not; for it is his Will, which doth but in our notion differ from his Power; or it is his Omnipotent Will, which doth all things.
• 4. POWER is attributed to God Actively. God is a pure Act, and therefore he hath not in him a passive power. We must not conceive that God hath sometimes been out of Act; and that he did afterwards by this Power of his, set himself to work: but yet our conception is necessitated to look upon him as having the virtue of a Cause, or of communicating Efficacy or Efficiency to Effects. But there is no Power in God, really distinct from his Essence; for his Essence is that Power by which he is Omnipotent; as it is that mercy, by which he is merciful. God's Active Power is therefore best conceived of by us, as it relates to the Creature, which is capable of receiving the impression which it had not upon it before. Hence this Power of God is said not to be in respect of himself, but with reference to the things that are Effected, Matth. 19.26.— With God all things are possible.

THESE things thus premised, I come now to consider this Attribute as is expressed in the Description, viz. That it is God able to do whatsoever he doth or can Will. And here I shall only point you, to the account which the Scripture gives us of it; which we may take in these particulars,

• 1. THERE is none stronger than God. Among all the beings from the first, there is none whose Power equals, much less goes beyond his. There are many strong beings in the Creation; Angels are mighty beings and that whether good or bad; Satan is called the strong man, Luk. 11.21. and the Prince of the power of the air, Eph. 2.2. One Angel is able to cope with all the powers of flesh & blood: where Satan hath erected his throne, all the world cannot turn him out. But put all the strength of the Creation together, and it will not exceed his; 1 Cor. 10 22. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
• 2. GOD is mightier than all Created beings. He is not only equal to them, but Infinitely above them in Power; Job 40.9. & 41.10. Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? He hath an Arm like to which there is none. Men's strength is in their Arms, at least is shown by them: hence Arms are ascribed to God, and such Arms as are incomparable, Psal. 89.19.
• 3. THOSE things that are weak in us, when they are attributed to him, are stronger than the greatest strength of all Creatures: such things as in the Creatures are feeble, when spoken of him, have more strength than all the World; 1 Cor. 1.25. — And the weakness of God is stronger than men. It is but little strength that we have in one of our fingers; yet he with his finger made the Heavens, Psal. 8.3. Casts out Devils, Luke 11.20. What can we do with a breath, or by a word, see Psal. 33.9. Gen. 1. A frown or an angry look from a mortal man is no great matter; but he sends a world of men to perdition by it; Psal. 80.16. — They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. And these expressions are used purposely to recommend his Omnipotency to us.
• 4. HIS Power is irresistible; there is no withstanding of it. It is a vain thing for the whole World to combine against it, or set themselves in Opposition unto it; Job. 23.13. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. If he hath a mind to a thing, he dares to challenge the whole World to hinder him if they can, Isa. 14.27. & 43.13 He declares what is in his though'ts to do; and sounds a challenge to all the Powers of Earth & Hell to defeat him if they are able.
• 5. ALL Created Power is nothing, and less than that, when it is compared with his. There are Powers among Creatures, and they can do much if he permits them; we see many effects thereof in the World; but cast them into the scale against his, and they will not weigh the light dust, Isa 40.17. All nations before him are as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity. If there were a thousand times more power in Creatures, than there is, it would be all nothing; that therefore that is, is less than nothing; it stands for a Cypher. In a word, the Power of God exceeds the Creatures knowledge, Psal. 50 11.
• 6. HENCE there are two things in which the extent of this Power is expressed, viz.

  1. THAT he can do all things that he Wills. Whatsoever his holy pleasure saith shall be, that he doth always powerfully and uncontrolably effect, Psal. 115.3. He never had a mind or desire to do or effect anything which he could not effect; he never did affect any project, but what he brought about, let it be never so great, Job 23.14.

  2. THAT he can do all things, which he can Will. Hence his Power reacheth not only to the things that are, but to all possibilities. There is not only a World made according to his Counsel, but thousands of beings which he could have wrought; for when God made the World, he did not put forth all his Power; but had the residue of the spirit, (Mal. 2.15. Matth. 3.8.) Nor is all the Capacity of the Creation able to comprehend the vast extent of this Omnipotency of God.

  3. THERE are clear & convincing discoveries of this Divine Omnipotency, in the worl • s that he hath done. If God doth work all, it is thence evident that he can work all. He that is the Cause of all Causes; he hath the virtue and efficacy of all Causes in him. Hence the Psalmist, Psal. 86.5, 10. For thou are great and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. And there are particularly these three clear discoveries of God's Omnipotency in his Efficiency.

  1. IN the production of the World; and such a World, in which there are so many Beings & Creatures; a World so vast for bigness; so curious a fabric, having so many admirable pieces of workmanship in it: and that all these were produced from no Pre-existing matter; that he hath nothing to lay the foundation of all this work upon. To make something to make all things, is a glorious demonstration of his Power. He that could give being to such, so great, and so many beings, that once were not at all, what is it that he is not able to do? God therefore useth this Argument to strengthen the faith of his People on him, in the times of forest distress, when they were ready to sink under discouragement; Isa. 40.27, 28. & 45.11, 12. Thus saith the Lord, the holy One of Israel, and his maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

  2. THE fulfilling of all his gracious Promise: to his People. He never spake the word to them but he did it; and that in every point, circumstance of time, persons, accidents; and all this notwithstanding all the blocks, seeming impossbilities, powerful contrivances & associatiors that have been made against them, they have been all dashed & broken, utterly defeated & come to naught: and all his Promises have come to pass in despite of all: instances for this we have in Ph • roah, Benhadad, Sennacherib, and many other upon Scripture record; yea, for this reason hath he been wont to suffer his People to be reduced to the utmost extremity, till they had nothing left them but the Promise to rely upon; that so he might take the occasion to commend his Almighty Power to them.

  3. THE execution of all his threatenings upon his proudest Enemies. That Observation, Whoever resisted God & prospered; is a witness to his Almightiness, that God can look upon the strongest Combinations of Men against him, and laugh at, and have them in derision; that he can dare them to do their worst, and warn them of the unfruitfulness of their Essays, and give being to those menaces, as Isa. 8.9, 10. Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give car all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us: speaks his Power to be insuperable. For this reason he suffers them to prosper, and arrive at the height of Success. Pride and self-Confidence, raiseth them in his Providence to their height; that he may give a terrible instance of this Attribute in their destruction, see, Exod. 9.16. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.

• 7. WHEN the Scripture speaks of some things, which it saith God cannot do, it is no way contradictory to this Attribute of his OMNIPOTENCY; but it doth rather confirm us in the belief of it. Here therefore we are to consider the things wherein such Assertions are laid down; and we shall readily see a satisfying reason for them: let these Rules then be here observed on this account.

1. THERE are some things done by Men which arise from, and argue imperfection in them. These things then God cannot do, not for want of Power, but by reason of Power. When we read, that God cannot lie, it argues no weakness in him, but his Infinite Perfection. God therefore cannot swerve from his own Rules, or cross his own Nature, who is a God of Holiness and Truth: Men thro' weakness can swerve from the Rule; Sin is therefore called a falling short, Rom. 3.23. but because God hath no weakness, but is Omnipotent, therefore he cannot lie, or deceive, or sin.

2. THERE are some things which God cannot do by reason of impossibility in the things. And this no whit weakens his Power. There are two sorts of impossibles to be observed,

• 1. THERE are some things impossible to nature. Nature natured hath its Powers limited and regulated, and there are bounds beyond which it cannot pass; such things we therefore call impossible; but these things are easy with the God of Nature: Nature cannot, but God can and did make a Virgin to conceive: Nature cannot produce the fruits of the earth for our nourishment but successively; but Christ by his Divine Power, could multiply the loaves and fishes immediately.
• 2. OTHER things are impossible in Nature. Not for want of Power in him, but by reason of incapacity & inconsistency in the subject; the doing of the thing u •• erring an impo •• bility. The Rules of Art are Eternal & Uncha • gable Principles, which therefore cannot be nul •• fied. It is impossible that there should be an Effect without a Cause; an •• d •• nst without a Subject. God cannot make a thing to be, and not to be at the same time, place, and respect; or a thing done, not to be done. God cannot m • ke a contradiction true, because then he should nul •• fy his own Infinite Wisdom, which he cannot do. In a word, whatever God cannot do, it is because either for want of Entity or Goodness, it cannot be the Object of his Will.

3. DIVINES do from Scripture observe a t ••• fold Power escribed to God, viz.

1. AN •••••• ted & absolute Power, by virtue of which he can do all possible things, even such things as he never actually doth: of this Power it is that we read, Matth. 3.9. — God is able of these st • nes to raise up ob • laren unto Abra ••• .

2. AN Ordinate Power, which is not a Power different from the former, but the former considered, as God hath pleased to set limits 〈◊〉 bounds to it by the Decree, with respect to his exerting of it in his works of Efficiency. It is certain that he hath by an Eternal purpose, determined in himself whatsoever shall be done in time; and this did unalterably fix the limits between things merely possible, and things future: and it is with respect to this limitation, that it is sometimes said in Scripture, that God could not do some things. Thus we read that God could not destroy Sedom till Lot was out of it: that Christ could not do many miracles in his own Country, because of their Unbei • es, &c. Not that his Arm was shortened in these respects, but because his purpose, and sometimes his p •• mise had tied his hands; his Will was otherwise, and he pursues that in all he doth, Eph. 1.11.

USE 1. LEARN hence how vain a thing 〈◊〉 is for any to go about to resist God. There is no opposing of Omnipotency, no striving against him who is Almighty: though' every sinner doth so in every sin; Job. 15.25, 26. For be shet • b ••• out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick besses of her bucklers. Know it, every time you dare to commit any Sin, you bid a challenge to God to come and fight against you if he dare; and do you know whom it is you set yourselves in battle array against? Shall briars and thorns arm themselves against a consuming fire? Shall a Worm rouse itself up against a Lion? Every time you are tempted to sin, ask yourselves that Question, 1 Cor. 10.22. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? You must doubtless have the worst of it, Job. 9.4. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prosecred? Ask the damned in Hell, who once were Rebels as you are, and they will tell you, that they are ruined & damned, heaps upon heaps, to be Eternal witnesses, that there is no withstanding him.

USE 2. THIS tells us. That there is none 〈…〉 secure a Sinner from God's hands. There 〈◊〉 mighty ones in the World; but there is none Almighty but he, and therefore none can bicker with him. The Sinner endeavors to •• rtify himself in his strong holds, and •• ters into come • i ••• i •• with Earth & Hell, but all is to 〈◊〉 purpose, they cannot save him; Isa. 47.13, 14. 〈…〉 •••• ied in the ••• titude of thy 〈◊〉 〈…〉 the •••••• gers, the s ••• -g • zers, the 〈…〉 stand up, and save 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 that-shall 〈…〉 thee. Behold, they shall be as stubb •• : the j • re shall •• rn them: they shall 〈◊〉 deliver themselves from the power of the s ••• e: there shall 〈◊〉 be a 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 , 〈…〉 to 〈◊〉 before it. They cannot deliver themselves, how much less can they • a • e others? it i • vain to look to them, or expect help from 〈◊〉 ; Jer. 3.23. Truly in va • n i • • alvati ••• 〈◊〉 for fr •• the bills, and fr •• the ••• t •• ade of •••••• s. All leagues with them shall be 〈◊〉 , and ruin not be prevented, Jer. 28.17.

Hence,

USE 3. WE learn 〈◊〉 fearful the Des • rac •• on of •• nners must needs be. And there are ••• b 〈◊〉 considerations of it which are discovered in this Attribute.

1. THE cer ••• nry of it. There is no escaping 〈◊〉 of the hands of Omnipotency; no delivering yourselves from his Wrath; Isa. 43.13. 〈◊〉 Th • s. 5.3. For when they shall say, Peace and 〈◊〉 them sudden destruction co ••• th upon them, 〈…〉 upon a 〈◊〉 with chill; and they 〈…〉 escape. The Almighty Power of God is 〈◊〉 against the Sinner; and if Almightine •• o •• 〈…〉 him miserable, it shall be done; 〈…〉 of God can b • ing him down to the lo • est Hell, he shall not escape. Were the Sinner 〈◊〉 cope with a Man like himself, he • ight •••• eive some hope of overco • ing; but if 〈…〉 ene •• y, he will tear him in pieces, he will 〈◊〉 , destroy and damn him: and God would have Sinners to think of it; Psal. 50.22. N •• consider this, ye that forget God, least I tear you 〈◊〉 pi • ces, and there be none to deliver. He 〈◊〉 with more case tread you down to Hell, than you can crush the least worm under your feet.

2. THE greatness of it. God doth all things 〈◊〉 himself: in particular, we are told that God designs the declaration of his Power in the destruction of imp • iter ••• Sinners; Rom. 9.22. What of God willing to 〈◊〉 his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longs • ss • ring the vessels of wrath sitted to destruction. He will therefore power ••• lie destroy them, and th •• their misery cannot be small: He will not strike the Sinner as a Man, but he will do it like a God: He will hold him up by one hand of his Power, and strike him down with the 〈◊〉 . And will it not be an intolerable stroke 〈◊〉 Almightiness shall inflict? Ezek. 22.14. 〈…〉 boart endure, or can thy hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it. And what a powerful Argument doth this afford, to per • irade Sinners to make their peace with God, •••• dering. Heb. 10.31. It is a fearful thing to 〈◊〉 into the hands of the living God.

USE 4. THIS tells us, That a tra • Believer need not to fear any evil. There can no danger offer itself before him to distress him, but he may answer it with God's Almightiness. In times of difficulty, when every door is shut up, he can open one that we know not of. In times of danger, when our enemies are more and mightier than we are, yet are we safe under the shelter of his •• ings; the feathers of the Almighty will cover us; and though' ten thousands rise up against us, th •• e is no • ear. In times of forest temptation, when all the Power of Hell is engaged to devour us, yet they that have Omnipotency for their protection, are in an Ar •• 〈◊〉 of which all the Devils of Hell cannot be 〈…〉 p •• ck them. Let us then resolve, that 〈…〉 time we are afraid, we will trust in the Lord: having taken, let us keep fist hold of his Almighty Arm; and though' every step to Heaven were g • a • ded with a legion of Devils, there would be no danges: this Attribute is our •• co • ragement; and let us take it as God is giving it to us, Isa. 26. 〈◊〉 . Trust in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Je ••• ah it everlas • ing strength.

SERMON XXIII.

3. ANOTHER of the Divine Virtues expressed, is his Endliness. This is 〈◊〉 of those Attributes, which hath a glo • i ••• display in the works of Efficiency: It is also 〈◊〉 of them which are called communicable Perfections, because there is the Image of it in Angels & Saints: but it belongs to him Originally, and transcendently. Here therefore we may inquire, 1. Into the Nature of this Attribute. 2. In what singular respects it belongs to him 3. Wherein the displays of it are especially to be observed.

[1.] OF Holiness take this Description; It is God bound for himself & his own glory, as his last End. Holiness in the largest sense may serve to set God forth absolutely Perfect, in his Being; and so it comprehends all the Attributes under it: but looking on it as a distinct Perfection, and so it respects the Divine Purity. God's Holiness may be considered, either, as it is Essential, and so it is his spotless Glory; hence said to be Glorious in Haliness, Exod. 15.11. Or, as it is relative to his Works of Essiciency, and therein it appears to us according to the Description given. There are two things to which Holiness is opposed in Scripture, which will give some light to the knowledge of it:

• 1. TO things that are unclean Hence the Prophet when he had a glimpse of this Perfection, presently cries out of his own, and his People's Uncleanness, Isa. 6.3.5. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. The Priests were forbidden to touch any unclean thing, because they were holy: this in a moral sense tells us that Sin and Holiness are directly opposite. God's Holiness is negatively his Being altogether without Sin. Now the most comprehensive Nation of Sin in a Creature, is that it carries him to some other end than God and his Glory; that is its impurity.
• 2. TO things that are common. Things were therefore made holy by Consecration, which was done by a separating of them from common, and dedicating them to Divine Use. On this account the Tabernacle, Temple, and all their Utensils, Priests. Levites; yea, and the people of Israel were made holy, and so called, because they were made God's peculiar; hence that title, 1 Pet. 2.9.— An holy nation. — So that the more solemnly any Person or thing were devoted to God, and the farther separate they were from any other end or use, the more holy they were accounted: hence we have some glimpse of the Holiness of God; and in the Description observe two things,

  1. IT is God bound for himself, and his own Glory. He hath as it were separated himself from all inferior ends, and devoted himself to emuloy himself for his own glory; to look after, and see to the advancement of that. We have God himself expressing his Holiness after this manner, Isa. 42.8. I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. It is the Creature's Sanctity to be for God, because it is of him, Rom. 11.36. For of him, and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory forever, Amen. It is his, to be for himself, because he is of himself, and from no other. And this is that which he stands bound for, i. e. in all his works of Efficiency, he aims at it, and is resolved to promote it; Prov. 16.4. The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. (Rev. 4.11. Ezek. 28.22.) All he doth is for his great Name sake, that he may display his wondrous Perfections, and declare that he alone is God.

  2. HEREBY he makes himself his own last End. That which one is bound for, is his End; that which he is ultimately bound for, is his last End. Holiness is a disposition to seek the advancement of the most excellent End in the last place, and to have no other in co-ordination with it, but to subordinate them all unto it: the last Good, is deservedly the last End: because God is better than the Creature, he is therefore its End; and because there is none better than he, he is its last End; and because he hath no equal, he must have no Competitor; and because he knows none better, no other God besides himself, therefore is he his own last End; you have a sufficient Reason for it, Isa. 44.8.— Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no God, I know not any. When therefore God promotes in all his works, the declarative glory of himself; and makes all things to contribute to the illustration and exaltation of it, then he appears to be holy; Isa. 5.16. But the Lord of ho •• s shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy, shall be sanitised in righteousness. And see, Ezck. 36.23. And I will sanitise my great name which was profaned among the • eathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them, and the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. They had endeavored to make his name common among the Heathen; but he would show himself to be the most excellent one: God indeed doth carry on subordinate Ends in the World, he manageth things in the •• der wherein he 〈◊〉 placed them, and he •• th a peculiar great design in the Salvation 〈◊〉 •• t Elect; •• t this and all other are ••• how •• up •• 〈◊〉 own Glory: and this is • is •••• ness.

[2.] IN that singular respect Holiness belongs is God?

Answ. BECAUSE the Virtues of God are said to be Communit ••• i. e. That there is something like to them is be found in some Creatures, and which have the same denomination put upon them. We ought to observe the ditierence; 〈◊〉 exemplification whereof we may take in this of Holiness, which may be applied to his Wisdom, Power, &c. Here then,

1. IN general, God is transcendently 〈◊〉 surpassingly holy. There are none in Heaven 〈◊〉 Earth that are like him for Holiness; hence that, 1 Sam. 2.2. There is none holy as the Lord. For this reason he is said to be th • ce holy, Isa. 6.3. And to be Glorious in holiness, Exod 15.11. The greatest purity of the most spotless Beings in the Creation, is unholiness compared with his; Job 14.16. &c 15.15. Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. But,

2. MORE particularly, Let this Difference be observed,

1. HOLINESS is in God, his Nature, his Essence; whereas in the Creature it is but a Quality. We indeed ascribe it to him as a quality, according to our manner, but in reality he hath none; whatsoever is in God, is God. So that God, and his Holiness are one and the same; whereas the Creature, and its holiness are two distinct things; its essence is one thing, and its qualities another: and hence it is ascribed to God in the Abstract, to them but in the Concrete; they are said to be holy, but never to be Holiness; hence that, Psal. 89.35. Once have I sworn by my Holiness, that I will not lie unto David. Hence,

2. THE Divine properties belong to this Attribute in him; which put an inconceivable difference between him & the Creature's sanctity: for what God is in his Being, that he is in all his Perfections, which are his Being. Here then.

1. GOD's Holiness is Infinite, the Creature's finite. Among them there are some that have more than others; but he that hath most, hath a poor little to what he hath. Angels among second beings excel in this as in other Perfections; how often are they called holy ones; but alas, when they come into his holy presence, they all veil and cover their faces and feet, as being ashamed of themselves: they glorify God with their whole might, but not up to his desert: but it is an Infinite, unmeasurable Sanctity that God possesseth; for he loves himself with an Infinite love, and is therefore called love itself, 1 Joh. 4 8. and his Holiness cannot be better expressed, than in his loving himself with the choicest love, and loving other things for himself.

2. IT is Eternal. He is the Eternal God, and he never was without his Holiness; it is impossible that God should be, and not be holy, whereas Creatures once were not, there was a time when they began to be, & they could not be holy before they were; and there is a vast disproportion between that which is Eternal & what is temporary. God's Holiness having no beginning, can have no end; the Creatures that once were 〈◊〉 may 〈…〉 be. Some indeed shall never actually cease, but they have a possibility. Hence,

3. GOD is Unchangably holy. He cannot lose his, but the Creature may part with its purity. God's Holiness being himself is inseparable from him; but the Creatures being a quality, may be separated, though its Being continue: there are some natural qualities of things, which cleave so close, that the removal of them destroys their being; but all moral perfections in the Creatures may be lost: a woeful instance of it we have in fallen Angels and Men, who are become altogether corrupt and defiled by Sin: and on these accounts God is said only to be holy; Rev. 15.4. Thou only art holy —.

3. GOD is holy Originally, the Creatures are so but by derivation. His Holiness is the Prototype, theirs but the Copy; his the substance, theirs but the image or shadow; his the fountain, theirs but some few drops, or small springs that issue from it: all the Holiness that is in all the Creatures is borrowed of him; he hath his in and of himself, and they have theirs of and from him. Man became holy by God's putting his Image upon him; Gen. 1.26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. He is beholden to God for it, whereas God owes his to none; hence that, Rom. 11.35. Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

4. HENCE God's Holiness is above all degrees, whereas that of the Creature is gradual. God is full, perfect, can receive no addition or increase, it is impossible that he should be more holy than he is; but second beings are capable of more, at least they are contained in bounds and gradations. Put all the Holiness together, that is in all Angels, Saints, the third Heaven, and all will not make up such an one as is in God, they are none of them pure in his sight. Tho' Angelical Holiness be sinless, yet I know not why it may not be growing; if they increase in knowledge, they may in love.

[3.] WHEREIN the displays of this Attribute are more especially to be observed?

Answ. IT is certain that Holiness runs thro' all God's Works: Psal. 145.17. The Lord is —holy in all his works. But there are some particulars in which it more eminently beans out to us: there are dark Providences that puzzle the godly, and are the bane of wicked men, the Holiness whereof God will one day vindicate, to the confusion of those ungodly ones who thought him to be altogether like them: but there are other things on which his Holiness is imprinted in Capital Letters which may be reduced to four heads,

• 1. GOD's Holiness appears in the Image which be stamped upon Reasonable Creatures, and the law which be gave them. I put them together, because in the one they were futed for, in the other they were appointed to their end: when God would make a Creature like himself, and would grave his own Image upon it, he made it holy; Eph. 4.24.— The new man, which after God is Created in — true holiness. As if in nothing could he be equally represented, as in this Perfection: and what else was that Rule of Government, which he gave unto Man, for the regulating of himself by in his whole Conversation, but a Rule of Holiness? This is the Encomium that Paul gives the Law, Rom. 7.12. The Law is holy —. It was a Rule of glorifying God, of loving him with our best love, and our neighbor for his sake, Matth. 22.37, 38. A farther testimony did he give to this Attribute, in the Sanctions which he put to this Law, in that he promised felicity to Man on condition of his perfect conformity to this Law, which consisted in a life of holiness; he engaged no less a reward than Eternal happiness to it; and in that he menaced him with Death in case of his transgression, that if he came short of that Holiness he should die: what greater testimony could he give to the Creature, that he loved Holiness, and hated Iniquity?
• 2. IN the displeasure which he providentially discovers at Sin & Unholiness. In this he discovers how contrary it is to his nature; the Infinite distance which he stands at from all those that stand in the way of his glory; that he will have no society or fellowship with such; that he will not admit them to any Communion with himself: Psal. 94.20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? As he holds secret and everlasting Correspondence with those that join with him in his ends, Prov. 8.17. Holy Men, are Men after his heart, Acts 13.22. But those that go about to cross him in his ends, and that swerve from his great and holy law, he cannot endure them, nor will he defile himself by having anything to do with them he cannot so much as look on them, Hab. 1.13. Thou are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. ( Psal. 5.4, 5.) And that he executes such amazing Judgments upon impure and obstinate Sinners, hereins he shows his Holiness eminently: The Psalmist saith, Psal. 9.16 The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion, Selah. q. d. Let all the world meditate on this, and how is he known but in his Holiness? When Man that was made upright, and was a friend and intimate of his, fell from his Integrity, God turned him out of Paradise, and made the Curse to fall upon him; Sin therefore is said to separate between God & Man, Isa. 59.2. When proud Pharaoh would justle with God, and set himself to oppose him, what fearful Plagues, and what astonishing ruin did he bring upon himself; and Moses confesseth him herein to show himself glorious in holiness, Exod. 15.11. When God thus comes to recover his Glory of his insolent enemies, he tells the world that he i • an Holy God.
• 3. IN 〈◊〉 way of Man's Redemption by Christ 〈…〉 God would exalt his Mercy, in the recovery of a Company of Sinners from the misery they were fallen into, who had sinned and fallen short of his Glory; rather than do it in any such way as should in the least reflect on his spotless purity, or give the world any ground to suspect that he had any favor for Sin, the gave his own Son for a ransom, and punished Sin in him without any favor, he made him to bear the whole weight of wrath that was due to his Elect. When therefore the Son of God was under the terrible forsakings of his Father, and severest impressions of his Anger for Sin, which he undertook to satisfy for, • he then takes notice of, and acknowledgeth his Holiness, Psal. 22.3. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel Justice indeed did the execution upon our dear Savior, but it was Holiness that hid his face from him, and employed that Justice of his.
• 4. IN qualifying of his Elect for Eternal Glory. The he hath loved them with an everlasting love, and appointed them to be Heirs of the Kingdom before the foundation of the world; yet he brings them not to it till they are by Holiness prepared for it; and therefore gives them the Assurance in the Gospel that without it they shall never come into his presence, Heb. 12.14. Follow—Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. He therefore sanctifies them throughout, in Soul, Body & Spirit, in order to his saving of them; and Christ by his Spirit thus fits them to be presented to himself in Glory, by taking away every spot and wrinkle, and blemish; and hath certified us, that there shall enter into the holy place, nothing that defiles.

USE 1. WE hence learn the miserable state of Sinners. The Holiness of God is a glass in which all ungodly Men may read their doom: and Oh that such as live and lie in Sin would consider of it I Think who that God is, with whom you have to do, and then say what hopes have you to escape his Infinite Wrath? Doth his Holiness engage him to stand up for his own Glory, and shall such vile Creatures who do nothing but dishonor him, hope to avoid the suffering of the impressions of his hot displeasure? It is the Sinner that sets himself against God. Sin is the thing that dishonors him, that tramples upon his Glory, and will God stand by as one unconcerned? Will he always keep silence? Where is his Holiness then? They that think so, believe not this Attribute of his Sinners, know it, you have an holy God to deal withal, one that hates Sin irreconcilably, one that will not lose the least tittle of his Glory, though' he destroy a whole World that set themselves in opposition to it. And then remember, that his Wisdom, and his Power, which are equally Infinite, Eternal and Unchangeable, do stand engaged for the upholding of his Holiness, and will exert them selves in the Destruction of all those that are Enemies of it. And now say, how shall you escape and how shall you endure? Is it not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of that God, whose Holiness will cause his fury to come into his face, and engage the other Attributes to conspire in your Destruction▪ think of this, and let it drive you to Repentance, and make Sin an evil and better thing to you.

USE 2. LEARN hence a sufficient reason for all the Judgments which God brings upon any places or people. It thould point us to, and call upon us to adore God in his Holiness. When a whole World is drowned because of abounding Iniquity, a Sodom burnt with fire from Heaven, yea, when Jerusalem is laid in Ashes, all is to display this Attribute. When therefore we see the hand of God out against a professing People, and his Judgments awful upon them and Men are ready to say, what means the heat of this so great Anger? see and inquire it such a People have not opposed God's great ends, if by Sin they have not greatly dishonored him; wonder not then, if they do not glorify him, if he glorify himself.

USE 3. IT tells us what to think of such as mock at Holiness. Is there not such a generation of Men among us, that scoff at the Conscientious care of God's People to abstain from Sin, and live in the constant exercise of Holiness in all manner of Conversation; who laugh at Fastings &c Prayers, who ridicule those who are afraid of swearing, filthy communication, and profanation of God's Name & Day: certainly, these are impure, filthy Creatures, and must needs be enemies of an holy God, and must expect his Holiness to fall upon them and consume them.

USE 4. THIS tells those that want Holiness, whither to go for it. Think, without it you are miserable; and do you find yourselves impure, and cry out of your uncleanness, and inquire where you may get to be made holy; remember, God is not only so in himself, but he is a fountain of it to all such as want it; and he hath in Christ opened this fountain in his Ordinances; Zeeh. 13.1. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin, and for uncleanness. And if you carry your unholy hearts to him, he hath set up a sanctifying Office, his Holy Spirit is the dispenser of this Grace, who can restore this Image to you, and by working you up to a conformity unto the Holiness of God, make you sit to dwell with him in that holy place, into which no unholy thing shall enter, where Holiness grown perfect shall be crowned with everlasting Blessedness.

SERMON XXIV.

4. JUSTICE is the next of the Divine Virtues, offered to our consideration. Justice, as was before observed concerning Holiness, may come under a double consideration, viz. either as it is essential in him, and then it is nothing else but the rectitude of his Nature; or as it is relation to the Creature; and because I shall speak to it in this last sense, we may take this Descriptional of it:

JUSTICE is God ••• hned to render to everyone their dae, according to Rule. And this is that which doth eminently shine forth in his works of Efficiency; particularly in his Administration of the Government of the World: and because there are some foot-steps of this Virtue to be found in some Reasonable Creatures, we may from thence be a little helped in our Conceptions of it.

JUSTICS among Men, is usually ranked under two heads, viz. Commutative and Distributive: It is the latter of these which comes nearest to the discovery of the Relative Justice of God to us, because the dispensation of it belongs properly to his Gubernation. Commutative Justice argues some equality between Persons; whereas distributive Justice is dispensed between unequals; or is the Administration of a Superior to Inferiors.

THERE is a Justice which-God observes in the management of the whole World, and every Creature is a sharer in this; but the most radiant beams of this Perfection are refulgent to us in the Transactions that pass between God and his Reasonable Creatures, Angels & Men; and it is most profitable for us to consider it in reference to the latter. In order to a more particular View of this, I shall premise in general:

1. THAT the foundation of distributive Justice is some law that is obliging to the subject. Human reason can have no conception of this Justice, without a pre-conception of a law upon which it is built. It is true, where absolute Sovereignty hath a prerogative, its Administrations must needs be just: and God's Sovereignty is his Absolute Justice; but we must distinguish between the Attributes of Lordship, and Justice in God; for he intended the displays of this as well as that in his transactions with his Creatures Justice must refer to a Law, and to a Law promulgated; and therefore where there is no Law, there is no Obedience, no transgression, no recompensers, no room for any Justice to discover itself; Rom. 4.15.— Where no law is, there is no transgression.

2. THAT Justice may be accordingly dispensed, there are three things requisite.

1. THAT he who makes & 〈◊〉 , the I 〈◊〉 , have a rigiter lawful Authority so to do. It 〈◊〉 not belong to everyone, either to make Laws, or to put them in Execution; and though' the 〈◊〉 itself were never so just, yet it were injustice in such to take it upon them: giving and pursuing of Laws, are acts of Government, and they that take it upon them, must have the power on them, either in themselves Originally, or by a rightful Delegation: for a Judge to Sentence a convicted Murderer to Death is Justice, for a private Man to do it is Murder and all acts of Usurpers, have been wont to be rescinded, though' possibly some of them have been for the matter just.

2. THAT the Law, which is to be Rule by which this is to proceed, be itself just. For though' there must be a Law upon which the Distributive Justice is built, yet there is a Justice which is antecedent rationally to that Law, according to which it ought to be enacted; and all lawgivers ought to have an eye to that as the Rule by which they make their Statutes: nor can all the lawful Authority in the World make a thing to be just, by giving it the sanction of a law, which in itself or its own nature is unjust; for the nature of the thing continues the same after, that it was before; hence that Woe, Isa. 10.1, 2. Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness, which they have prescribed —. And indeed, here lies the greatest injustice of all; for if the Rule be c •• oked, they that must use it, cannot do right.

3. THAT the Judge in all his dispensations, keep close to this Law: that he make use of it, as his proper directory, in examining of all Cases, and final determining of every matter that comes under his Cognizance. The Judge, as such, hath nothing else to do with the Person under Trial, then just as the Law prescribes; and all his Justification is in keeping exactly to it: if anything be, it is the Law that is offended; if that be not broken, the Man is no Criminal: if then the Law be just, it is that which must prove the Judge to be so too; it is not what be saith, but what that saith, and that in the true genuine sense & intention of it: to vary from this, is in Scripture called perverting of Justice, Prov. 17.23. A wicked man taketh a gift out of the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment. Upon these things thus premised, let us now take a nearer and more particular account of the Justice of God, in the following Conclusions:

• 1. THERE was a Law which God gave to Man at first to regulate himself by. God having made Man a Reasonable Creature, and a Cause by counsel of his own Actions, and having withal made him for his own Service & Glory, he revealed to him what was his Duty, and wherein he expected his Service, or how he would be glorified by him. That, when God had made Man, he brought him under the Rule of Government, is evident from Scripture, and that he revealed this Rule to him is no less apparent; the relics of this Law in fallen Men's Consciences, are a witness that once there was a fair inscription 〈◊〉 a the records of Scripture to all witness also that once God did show Man the way. And the very nature of Man pleads for it, for the service of a reasonable Creature, must be a reasonable Service, which naturally requires, that he must know his duty in order to his doing of it.
• 2. THAT God •• d the undoubted Authority of a L •• g • ver. That he had an abs • iu • Sovereignty over the Creature, is beyond any rational ground of disputation. He had his Authority in himself, and • ced • d not to derive it from the Subject. Human Power is delegated, but God's is Originally is himself: In •••• ble it is to conceive of an Higher and more natural right than that of Creation: If the Potter may claim a liberty over the day, which he made not, but was given him for his use, much more may God over the Creature, which had its whole both Essence & Existence from him: so he argues, Psal. 100.2, 3. It was his Arbitrary Pleasure, whether he would ever have given being to a Creature, he therefore ac •• d his •••• sure, as in making, so in the specification of the several sorts of second beings. He may therefore without Usurpation claim of them the Service to which he hath given them a Capacity, and if he requires no more of them, than what he endowed them for, he is just: they owe themselves entirely to him, he that is the first Cause, is also the last End; if he be Creator, he must needs be Governor.
• 3. THAT the Law which God gave to Max was a Righteous Law. It is a dispute among the learned, whether God wills things because they are good, or whether they are good because he wills them; i. e. Whether the will of God commanding, or the goodness of the things that are commanded, be the ground of the Righteousness of his Laws. I may not here discuss this at large; but methinks, here is no need of Controversy, if we consider, that God's Being, Understanding, Will, Wisdom, Justice, Goodness, &c. are not diverse in themselves, but only diversified to our Conception, and in the things done by him; these being all Eternal, there can be no goodness more Ancient which should direct him, and if it be Co-eval, it is himself. The Contrivance of the suitableness between the Creature and its Rule, is the product of his Wisdom; the determining it to be so of his Will, whence the Command itself results; and from this fountain all goodness derives; and yet the derived goodness hath a real goodness in it, else it would not be a genuine issue of God's Wisdom and Will: and then God both wills the things because they are good, has Wisdom doth so contrive them; and also they are good because he wills them, his Active Will put the actual goodness into them. We may then argue well for the righteousness of the Law from its Holiness, and its Goodness; and therefore the Apostle puts these three together. Rom. 7.12. Wherefore the law is holy; and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Its Holiness appears in that it is a Rule of glorifying God by his Creature, and its Goodness in that it is suited to the nature of the Creature, being a 〈…〉 and ••• pted to make him happ •• 〈…〉 compass, and directive of him 〈…〉 .
• 4. THIS I am had 〈…〉 n • xed ••• it. A law in a 〈…〉 a Rule to direct the Creature in its A •••• ; requiring a C • nson • ity to it s ••• the Su •••• : but in a Political sense, it 〈…〉 Sanction that is put to this Rule, •••• ld • Men under Obedience, and preser •• the •• war and prerogative of the Law itself •• w the Sanction of the Law mainly consists in the rec •• pense • determined for Obedience & Disobedience with which it is ratified; which, that they may take place according to the merit of the Case, is that wherein the lawgivers Justice is concerned: When therefore God gave this Law to Man at the first, he added to the Command, a promise of Life to Man, in case he should per ••• perfect Obedience to it, and a threatening of Death, if he should violate it; and as be obliged Man to that part of it, which respected his Duty, so he no less bound his Justice, to see to that part of it, which referred to the Conditions which were adjoined to •• , Gen. 2.17. But of the gree of the knowledge of good & evi • , thou sr •• i not cat of it: for in the day that then eat •• th • rees, th • n soa • t surely die. Rom. 10.7. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of 〈◊〉 . That the man which death th • se things, shall •• ve by them.
• 5. FROM the consideration of these Conditions ar • seth the distinction of God's Justice, into Rewarding & Revenging. This distinction in clearly asserted and expounded, R • m. 2.6, 7, 8. Who will render to every man according to his deeds. To them, who by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath. Rewarding Justice, is God inclined to recompense the Creature's Obedience with a constant Life of endless happiness. Revenging Justice is God as fully inclined to recompense the Disobedience of the Sinner with destruction; the former is summed up in the word Life, the latter in that of Death. Both of them are the same Relative Justice, bearing a different respect to the Creature according as it stands related to the Law.
• 6. THAT these recompenses of rewarding and revenging Justice affixed to the Law, are righteous. A Law cannot be righteous unless the Sanction of it be so; such are these: not only is the Command just and good, but the conditions are right. The Recompence of reward is righteous, not that there is as much intrinsical worth in Man's Obedience, which is but his Duty, as to purchase the Glory promised; but, as God promised no more but what he had a power to do, so having past his word, and given his promise to the Creature, it is right for him to perform it, and he would wrong his own Truth if he should not so do. The punishment of Sin is just, it being a Crime against the Supreme Majesty, a rebellion of the Subject against his Sovereign; a wrong done to the Glory of the Infinite God, and therefore cannot but deserve the almost p •••• ty the Creature is capable of.
• 7. 〈◊〉 •••• ne g •• ry of G •••• Just ••• 〈…〉 ••• ding to this law. This is that 〈◊〉 we make the discoveries of this Attri •••• , justice considered in him, is his 〈◊〉 li ••• 〈◊〉 to do; and upon this account he is 〈…〉 it, Psal. 45.7. Thou 〈◊〉 righteousness. —L •• e in us is an Affection engaging of us 〈◊〉 closure with our Object: the mani 〈8 letters〉 of this is by his standing by his own 〈◊〉 , and when he doth so, then he makes it appear, that he is a just God, Now,
• 8. GOD always eyes this Law in his dispens •••• to his Reasonable creatures, as their Judge. God having fixed this Rule of Government, he now stands by it, and sees to the fulfilment of a: he bears a true respect to it in all his proceedance with the children of Men: he aus impartially, and therefore is said to have as respect of persons, Rom 2.11. All the trials of Men are reduced to, and regulated by this Law; the Sentence which he passeth is recording to it, and such are the 〈◊〉 ; ( Row. 2. 〈◊〉 ) and wherever Ye •• ers into Judgment with Men, there is no bribe can be put upon him, so as to biase him 〈◊〉 his Sentence, or make him to pervert the Ru ••• of as Men are found, so it shall certainly go with •• em. Holiness and Justice run through all his Judicial proceedings; Psal. 1 • 5.17. The Lord is righteous us all his ways, and holy in all his 〈◊〉 . And whilst he stands by a just Law, me in must he appear to be a just God.
• 9. THERE are Sovereign Acts in God's dealings with the Children of Men, which 〈◊〉 whit infringe his Justice. There are there Attributes of God which he designs the display of toward • fallen Man; and though' the effects of them may seem different from those of Justice, yet they in no wise contradict it; though our dim sight cannot discern many times • he Consonancy, and our prejudiced mind; are ready to make wrong interpretations; and these are especially two, the one respecting Repre ••• ; 〈◊〉 other the Elect. In regard to Repr ••••• 〈◊〉 is his bounty or common goodness, which bears with them in Patience, and gives them a ••• dance of the blessings of life, Job 21.5, &c. This indeed is not properly Justice, but Favor, they have no claim; but his Justice is not blemished by its all this is but an indulgence to them as Prisoners, before the day of trial and execution; and this satisfied, Job 21.29, 30. Have ye not asked them; that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens? That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction; they shall he brought forth to the day of wrath. And not only so, but he will call them to an account for all this, and the abuse of it will add to their indictment: abused goodness turns into treasures of wrath, Rom. 2.3, 4. In respect of the Elect, there is his special Grace appearing in the pardon of their Sins, and restoring them to his savor, and bestowing on them Eternal Life, who were guilty and condemned by the Law: and here Justice is not injured, but highly honored, in that he hath provided its satisfaction in Jesus Christ, who hath born the penalty due, and therefore in him Justice and 〈◊〉 are at Agreement; 〈◊〉 that, R • m •••• . It 〈◊〉 , I say, is this 〈…〉 that he night be 〈◊〉 , and 〈…〉 which be ••• veth in Jesus. And indeed, never had Justice rode in such stately triumph • , had not the Son of God in our nature and stead resigned himself up into its hands.

USE 1. LEARN hence that there is no hope for a Sinner that is in •• s Sins to esease the wrath of God, and vengean • e of Hell. A vain thing it is to plead the mercy of God, and think to shroud yourselves under that, whilst there is guilt lying upon you: Remember, that when God displayed all his Goodness before Moses, that he took care to put in a caution against such as you. Exod. 34.7, 8. Keeping mercy for thous ••• s, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means that the guilty; •••• ing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the sourth generation. And Moses made bas •• , and bewed his bead reward the earth, and worshipped. Think, God is just as well as merciful, and this Attribute is equally Infinite, Eternal and Unchangeable with that; whatever love vain Men may plead that God hath for his Creatures which are the works of his hands; yet know it, he hath an Infinite self-love, which is his Holiness, which engageth him to secure the interest of the declarative glory of all his Perfections; and he will not suffer any one of them to have the least stain or blemish upon it: if therefore you cannot reconcile the Immaculate Justice of God to your hopes of Salvation, you have little ground of encouragement or comfort: that there is a way to do this, is of God's rich Grace; and if ever you would stand in the judgment before a righteous God, it infinitely concerns you to seek after and secure this title, else all your hopes will perish forever.

USE 2 THIS Attribute stands to strengthen the hopes, and confirm the consolation of tone Be ••••• rs. They that have taken sanctuary in Christ and gotten under the shadow of his wings, have not only the rich mercy of God to celebrate, and comfort their Souls withal, but the very Justice of God standing on their side; and because he is just, they can never miscarry: the Apostle therefore interests this Attribute in our pardon and salvation, 1 Joh. 1.9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and juct to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And Paul 's design in Rom. 3. lat. end, is to show that his Righteousness is displayed in our Justification: for having taken the full of his righteous revenge for the Sins of his People upon our Surety & Redeemer, it must needs be that there is no more Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, Rom. 8.1. Justice saith, all its demands are completely answered, and it hash no more to say. Let Sinners then tremble, but let the Saints rejoice and clap their hands at this, that God is Just, Psal. 36. lat. end.

USE 3. THAT it is very safe for us freely to recommend all the In uries or wrongs that are done to us unto God, and to leave them with him. We need not anticipate God, by going about to •• venge ourselves: the Justice of God will do ••• ght; and if we can but leave it with him, 〈◊〉 fear but he will in his own time, and in 〈◊〉 best season right our Names, and clear our •••• ency, however it hath been bespattered in the World. Let us then bear injuries, and hard censures & reproaches with patience, and reward good for evil, praying cordially for them that despitefully use us, that if it may be, God will give them Repentance in this life, asluring ourselves, that if we suffer innocently, and for righteousness sake, God who hath clothed himself with Righteousness as with a Robe, will clear up our Integrity before the World, to our Everlasting Consolation.

SERMON XXV.

5. IT follows that we take some account of the Goodness of God, which is another of his Virtues or glorious Perfections: which also hath its manifestations in the works of Efficiency. For, though' God be good in himself, yea, Goodness itself; yet from this Essential Goodness of his there is a Relative one, which derives to the Creature, by which it makes discoveries of this Perfection in him, whereby it tastes and sees that God is good. We may take an account of it under this Description: Goodness is God en • l • ned to bestow his favor; freely up • n his Creatures. We do not look upon this Attribute here, as an expression of the Perfection of his Nature, which is the goodness of a Being, for so it compriseth all his Attributes under it; nor as his own happiness, which is the result of the former, and is also counted the goodness of a Being; but as a moral Virtue, according to our Conception, and so the Scripture often, yea, for the most part useth it: and it bears a relation to something unto which it imparts itself, in which Communication it is made known; hence that, Psal. 119.68. Thou art good, and doest good. — We may here, 1. Make some general remarks on the Goodness of God. And, 2. Take a more particular account of the several discoveries which are made of it in the works • f G • d.

[1.] IN general, we may observe,

1. THE Subject that participates in this Goodness, and that is the Creature, taken Indefinitely, and Universally. There is no second being, from the noblest Angel of Heaven, to the most despicable Worm in the earth, but partakes in the influence of this Attribute: the Script • re therefore is frequent in expressing the unbounded expressions of this Perfection; Psal. 145.9. The Lord is good to all. — And, 104th is spent in the discovery of it: and for this reason it is, that all beings are called upon to praise the Lord, Psal. 148.

2. THE matter of this Goodness comprehends all those favors which the Creatures do partake in. Whatsoever is a benefit to the Subject of it, comes under the notion of Go • dness, because it doth it good: and inasmuch as whatsoever it is, or hath, comes from God, it must needs be a fruit and discovery of his Goodness unto it: they are therefore his Benefits that the Psalmist calls on himself to praise God for, Psal. 103.2.

3. THAT which commends this Goodness is, that he bestows all these favors freely upon them. The Creature had no challenge of them in itself; but they are every way free. There could be no antecedent Obligation lying upon God to them, no necessity he had of them, having done well without them through a long Eternity: nor could there be any consequent merit in them, so as to deserve any part of this Goodness by anything they did for him, which could do him a kindness, or earn his favor; all its very Powers & Actions being fruits of this very Goodness, so that God is so far from owing the Creature any thanks for any service, that contrary wise, it owes him ackowledgment and praise for this; 1 Chron. 29.13, 14. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and pra • se thy glorious name. But who am I, and what it my people, that we should be able to • ffer so willingly after this sort: for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. And on the account of this freedom it is, that God imparts this Goodness after diverse manners, and in different degrees to his Creatures at his pleasure, without giving them an account; and they that receive the least, have more than God owed them.

4. ALL this results from a natural inclination in God thus to do. In Men we observe Actions, and that Observation leads us to take notice of some Virtues which are Principles from whence such Actions flow, which by the frequency of such Actions, we account to be habitually seated in them; after such a manner we conceive of God. We may therefore by the consideration of what highly commends Men for goodness, conceive something of that which is surpassingly and incomparably in God: The Apostle seems to give preference to a