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J-J
NICHOL'S SERIES OF STANDARD DIVINES.
PUEITAN PERIOD.
iflj (Smeral flnfax*
BY JOHN C. MILLEK, D.D.,
LINCOLN COIXEGE ; HONORARY CANON OF WORCESTER J RECTOR OF ST MARTIN'S, BIRMINGHAM.
THE
WOMS OF STEPHEN CHAENOCK, B.D.
VOL. I.
COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION.
W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Theology, Congregational
Union, Edinburgh.
JAMES BEGG, D.D., Minister of Newington Free Church, Edinburgh.
THOMAS J. CRAWFORD, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University,
Edinburgh.
D. T. K. DRUMMOND, M.A., Minister of St Thomases Episcopal Church,
Edinburgh.
WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church
History, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh.
ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place Unite.! Preeby-
ieriau Church, Edinburgh.
9mril <5imor.
EEV. THOMAS SMITH, M.A., Edinburgh.
THE COMPLETE WORKS
OP
STEPHEN CHARNOCK, B.D.
Wiify f ntoimrtbn
BY THE KEV. JAMES M'COSH, LL.D.,
PROFESSOR OF LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BELFAST.
VOL. I.
CONTAINING
DISCOUKSES ON DIVINE PEOVIDENCE,
AND
THE EXISTENCE AND ATTBIBUTES OF GOD.
EDINBURGH: JAMES NICHOL.
LONDON : JAMES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN : W. ROBERTSON.
M.DCCC.LXIV.
KDINBURQH
BT JOHN OREIO AND SON,
OLD PHTSIC GARDENS.
/A UH
(9/3
CONTENTS.
Paqr
INTRODUCTION vii
A TREATISE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
To the Reader. ...... 3
A Discourse of Divine Providence. . . 2 Chron. XVI. 9. 6
DISCOURSE ON THE EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
To the Reader. .....
A Discourse upon the Existence of God. . Ps. XIV. 1.
Practical Atheism. . . . Ps. XIV. 1.
A Discourse upon God's being a Spirit. . John IV. 24.
A Discourse upon Spiritual Worship. . John IV. 24.
A Discourse upon the Eternity of God. . Ps. XC. 2.
A Discourse upon the Immutability of God. Ps. CII. 26, 27.
A Discourse upon God's Omnipresence. . Jer. XXIII. 24.
A Discourse upon God's Knowledge. . Ps. CXLVII. 5.
123
126
183
258
283
345
374
420
457
INTRODUCTION TO CHARLOCK'S WORKS.
I. HIS LIFE.
The memorials of the life of Charnock are much scantier than
those who have profited by his writings, or who are interested
in the history of the time, could wish. We have some notices of
him in the sermon preached at his funeral by his ' bosom
friend' Mr Johnson ; a vague general account of him in an
epistle ' To the Keader,' prefixed by Mr Adams and Mr Veal,
the editors, to his ' Discourse of Divine Providence,' published
shortly after his death ; a brief life of him by Calamy in his
1 Account of the Ejected and Silenced ; ' his collegiate positions
detailed by Wood in his Athena Oxonienses and Fasti; and this is
all the original matter that we have been able to discover regard-
ing the author of the great work ' On the Attributes.' Mr Johnson
says, ■ he heard a narrative of his life would be drawn up by an
able hand ; ' and Calamy mentions that Memoirs of Mr Steph.
Charnock were written by Mr John Gunter, his ' chamber-fellow '
at Oxford ; but of these we have not been able to find any trace.
We have made researches in London, in Cambridge, and in Dublin,
without being rewarded by the discovery of many new facts, not
given by the original authorities. All that we have aimed at in
the following Memoir is to combine the scattered accounts of
him, to allot the incidents the proper place in his life and in the
general history of the times, and thus to furnish, if not a full,
yet a faithful, picture of the man and his work.*
Stephen Charnock was born in the parish of Saint Catherine
Cree (or Creechurch), London, in the year 1628. He was the
son of Mr Eichard Charnock, a solicitor, who was descended
from an ancient Lancashire family, the Charnocks of Charnock.
We have no account of his childish or boyish years, or of his
training in the family. But we know what was the spirit that
reigned around him among the great body of the middle classes
* The writer is under deep obligations to the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart, Kinross ;
the Eev. Dr Halley, New College, London; Joshua Wilson, Esq., Tunbridge Wells ;
and Charles Henry Cooper, Esq., author of the Annals of Cambridge, for directing
him in his researches.
VU1 INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
in the best parts of the metropolis. An awe sat upon their
minds in consequence of the great national collisions w T hich were
impending or had commenced ; public sports were discouraged,
as agreeing not with 'public calamities,' and the Lord's day-
was observed with great strictness. The churches were crowded
with earnest hearers, and ' religious exercises were set up in
private families, as reading the Scriptures, family prayer, re-
peating sermons, and singing psalms, which were so universal
in the city of London, that you might walk the streets on the
evening of the Lord's day without seeing an idle person, or
hearing anything but the voice of prayer or praise from churches
or private houses.'*
In those times students entered college at a much earlier age
than they now do, and had their university career over in suffi-
cient time to enable them to enter when yet young on their
several professional employments, Stephen was matriculated
as a sizar at Cambridge July 8, 1642. Whether by the design
of his father, or by the leadings of providential circumstances,
we have no means of knowing, but young Charnock was sent to
Emmanuel, the ' Puritan College,' so called, it is said, from a
conversation between Queen Elizabeth and its founder, Sir
Walter Mildmay. ' Sir Walter,' said the Queen, ' I hear you
have erected a puritan foundation at Cambridge.' ' Madam,'
said Sir Walter, ' far be it from me to countenance anything
contrary to your Majesty's established law r s ; but I have set an
acorn which, when it becomes an oak, God alone knows what
will be the fruit thereof.' In 1641, it had 204 students attend-
ing, standing next to St John's and Trinity in respect of
numbers ;t and occupying a still higher place in respect of the
eminence of its pupils. ' Sure I am,' says Fuller, ' it has
overwhelmed all the university, more than a moiety of the pre-
sent masters of colleges having been bred therein. 1
Charnock entering in 1642, is proceeding B.A. in 1645-6, and
commencing M.A. in 1649. We have no difficulty in appre-
hending the spirit which reigned in Cambridge when lie began
his college life. The J Reformation struggle was over, and
earnest men saw that the Reformed Cliureh, with its worldly,
often immoral and ill-educated, clergy, and its ignorant people,
was yet very far from coming up to the pattern which Christ
was supposed to have shewn to his apostles. Two manner of
spirits had sprung up and were contending with each other.
Bach had an id* a,l, and was labouring to bring the church into
aeeordaiH-e with it. The one looked to the written word, and
was seeking to draw forth, syslemat i/,e, and exhibit its truths;
the other looked more to the chun di, and was striving to display
its visible unity before the world, that men's looks and hearts
might be attracted towards it. The one was internal, personal,
puritan, anxious to keep up the connection between the church
and its Head, and between the members of the church in and
• N< aJ'« History of tlir /'urituiis, I64& f Oooptr'l Annals of Cambridge, 1011.
HIS LIFE. IX
through Christ ; the other was external, ecclesiastical, priestly,
seeking to retain the connection of the Church of England with
the church of the past and the church universal, and to organize
it into a powerful hody, which might put down all error and all
schism, and mould the whole institutions and sentiments of the
country.
Every public event of interest, and every collegiate influence,
must have tended to press religious questions upon the attention
of the student at the time when his character was being formed.
The Thirty Years' War, which had begun in 1618, was dragging
its weary length along, and was essentially a religious conflict
which the continental nations were seeking to settle by arms
and by policy. The colonies of Plymouth and Massachussets,
Connecticut and Newhaven, had been founded in the far west,
and Herbert had sung, in a sense of his own,
" Eeligion stands a tiptoe in our land,
Heady to pass to the American strand."
In 1641, the three kingdoms had been moved by the reports
of the popish massacres in Ireland, in which it was said two
hundred thousand protestants were put to death. In 1642,
Charles had made his attempt to seize the ' five members/ and
soon after the civil war began, and the king had rather the
worst of it at the battle of Edge Hill. By the autumn it was
ordained that the prelatic form of government should be abo-
lished from and after November 5. 1643 ; and it was farther
resolved that an assembly of divines should be called to settle
the intended reformation, which assembly actually met at West-
minster in July 1643, and continued its sittings for five years
and a half.
In Cambridge, the feeling has risen to a white heat, and is
ready to burst into a consuming flame. For years past there
had been a contest between those who were for modelling the
colleges after the ecclesiastical, and those who wished to fashion
them after the puritan type. In a paper drawn up in the uni-
versity in 1636, and endorsed by Laud as ' Certain disorders in
Cambridge to be considered in my visitation,' there is a com-
plaint that the order as to vestments is not attended to ; that the
undergraduates wear new-fashioned gowns of any colour what-
soever, and that their other garments are light and gay ; that
upon Fridays and all fasting days, the victualling houses pre-
pare flesh for all scholars and others that will come and send to
them, and that many prefer their own invented and unapproved
prayers before all the liturgy of the church. When the report
comes to Emmanuel, it says, ' Their Chappel is not consecrate.
At surplice prayers they sing nothing but certain riming psalms
of their own appointment, instead of Hymnes between the Lessons.
And Lessons they read not after the order appointed in the Cal-
lendar, but after another continued course of their own,' &c.
But by 1643 the complaint takes an entirely different turn ; and
an ordinance of both houses of parliament is made, directing
X INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
that in all churches and chapels, all altars and tables of stone
shall be taken away and demolished ; that all communion
tables shall be removed from the east end of the churches ;
that all crucifixes, crosses, images, and pictures of any one or
more persons of the Trinity, or of the Virgin Mary, and all other
images and pictures of saints or superstitious inscriptions in
churches or chapels shall be taken away or defaced.' One Wil-
liam Downing puts this order in execution, and at Queen's he
beats down one hundred superstitious pictures ; but when he
comes to Emmanuel, ' there is nothing to be done.' These
scenes must have fallen under the notice of the boy Charnock
during the first year of his collegiate life. More startling
sounds still must have reached the ears of the young student.
Oliver Cromwell, who had been elected one of the burgesses of
the town in 1640, has a close and intimate connection with the
inhabitants ; and in 1642 he is sending down arms to the
county ; the Parliament has committed the care of the town to
him, the mayor, and three aldermen, who raise and exercise
trained bands and volunteers ; and he seizes a portion of the plate
which the colleges are sending to the king. By the beginning
of the following year, Cromwell has taken the magazine in the
castle, the town is fortified, and a large body of armed men are
in the place ; the colleges are being beset and broken open, and
guards thrust into them, sometimes at midnight, w T hilst the
scholars are asleep in their beds, and multitudes of soldiers are
quartered in them. By this time Holdsworth, the Master of
Emmanuel, is in custody, and Dr Beale, Master of St John's, Dr
Martin, President of Queen's College, and Dr Sterne, Master of
Jesus, are sent up to parliament as prisoners.* In 1644, the
royalists are ejected, and their places supplied by friends of the
parliament.
At the time young Charnock entered, the sentiment of the
members of the university was very much divided. Even in
Emmanuel the opinion was not altogether puritan. The tutor
from whom Charnock received his chief instruction was Mr
W. Sancroft (afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury), who was
attached to the royalist cause, and had joined in the congratu-
latory addresses to the king OH his return from Scotland in
1641. I>r Holdsworth, who was Master of Emmanuel when
Charnock entered, was appointed by the Lords, and approved by
the Commons, afl One of the divines to sit at Westminster; but
he never attended, and in 1648 he was imprisoned, and in the
following year ejected. The spirit of Emmanuel had been all
along reforming and parliamentary, and after the ejectments
all ill.- colleges became so. Dr Anthony Tnokney, who suc-
ceeded Holdsworth in the Mastership of Kmmanuel, was an
active member Of the Westminster Assembly, and 'had a. con-
siderable band/ Bays Calamy, 'in the preparation of the Con-
fession and Catechisms.' I»r Arrowsmith, made Master o\' St
* ThotC facts are- gathered out of Cooper's AmiaU of Ciimbruljc, vol. iii. ID t'J-4.
HIS LIFE. XI
John's, and Dr Hill, appointed Master of Trinity, were of the
same puritan spirit. Cudworth, Culverwel, and Whichcote, who
had all been connected with Emmanuel, and held places in
the university after the ejection, could scarcely be described as
of the puritan type, but they were opposed to the policy which
the king had been pursuing, and the ecclesiastical system which
Laud intended to set up. In the university and the town, the
popular preaching was decidedly evangelical and Calvinistic. In
particular, Dr Samuel Hammond preached in St Giles 'with
such pious zeal, liveliness, and Christian experience, that his
ministry was attended by persons from all parts of the town and
the most distant colleges ; and it was crowned with the conver-
sion of some scores (Mr Stancliff says some hundreds) of scholars.
It was generally allowed that there was not a more successful
minister in Cambridge since the time of Perkins.'*
This state of things, the conflicts of the time, the talk of the
tutors and students, the earnest preaching in the churches, the
spiritual struggles in many a bosom, and the necessity for under-
standing the questions at issue, and coming to a decision with
its life consequences, all these must have tended to press religion
on the personal attention of so earnest a youth as Charnock was.
Without any living faith when he came to Cambridge, he was
there led to search and pray ; he was for a time in darkness, and
beset with fears and temptations, but he got light and direction
from above, and he devoted himself to God for life. He subse-
quently wrote out a paper explaining the way by which he was
led, and declaring his dedication, but it perished in the great fire
of London. Mr Johnson met him in 1644 ; and in the sermon
which he delivered at his funeral, represents him * as venerable
and grave, like an aged person from his youth,' and gives the
following account of his conversion and his Cambridge life : —
* The deed of gift, or rather copy of it, which shewed his title to
heaven, I believe perished with his books in London's flames,
and I have forgot the particular places of Scripture by which he
was most wrought upon, and which were there inserted.' ' He
would deeply search into and prove all things, and allow only
what he found pure and excellent.' ' In this I had him in my
heart at my first acquaintanceship with him in Cambridge thirty-
six years since. I found him one that, Jonah-like, had turned
to the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might,
and none like him ; which did more endear him to me. How had
he hid the word of God in a fertile soil, "in a good and honest
heart," which made him "flee youthful lusts," and antidoted
him against the infection of youthful vanities. His study was
his recreation ; the law of God was his delight. Had he it not,
think ye, engraven in his heart? He was as choice, circum-
spect, and prudent in his election of society, as of books, to con-
verse with ; all his delight being in such as excelled in the
divine art of directing, furthering, and quickening him in the
* Calamy's ' Account of Ejected,' Art. Samuel Hammond.
Ill INTRODUCTION TO CHAKNOCZ's WORKS.
way to heaven, the love of Christ and souls. Most choice he
was of the ministers that he w T ould hear ; what he learned from
books, converse, or sermons, that which affected and wrought
most upon him he prayed over till he was delivered into the
form of it, and had Christ, grace, and the Spirit formed in him.
True, he had been in darkness, and then he said full of doubt-
ings, fears, and grievously pestered with temptations. How oft
have we found him (as if he had lately been with Paul caught up
into the third heavens, and heard unspeakable w r ords) magnify-
ing and adoring the mercy, love, and goodness of God.'
We know from general sources what was the course of secular
instruction imparted in the colleges at this time. Aristotle still
ruled, though no longer with an undisputed sway, in the lessons
of the tutors. There is an account left by a pupil, Sir Simonds
D' Ewes, of the books prescribed by Dr Holdsworth in 1618-19,
when he was a tutor in St John's, and probably there was not
much difference in Emmanuel when he became master: 'We
went over all Seton's Logic exactly, and part of Keckerman and
Molinaeus. Of ethics or moral philosophy, he read to me Gelius
and part of Pickolomineus ; of physics, part of Magirus ; and of
history, part of Fionas.' ' I spent the next month (April 1619)
very laboriously in the perusal of Aristotle's physics, ethics, and
politics ; and I read logic out of several authors.' * But for an
ago or two there had been a strong reaction against Aristotle
on the part of the more promising pupils. Bacon had left
Trinity College in the previous century with a profound dis-
satisfaction with the scholastic studies, and already cogitating
those grand views which he gave to the world in his Nor urn
Organum (1620), as to the importance of looking to things
instead of notions and words. Milton, in his College Exercises
(1625 to 1682), had in his own grandiose style, and by help of
mythological fable, given expression to his discontent with the
narrow technical method followed, and to his breathings after
some undefined improvement.! Tin 1 predominant philosophic
spirit in Cambridge prior to the Great Rebellion was Platonic
rather than Aristotelian. This was exhibited by a number of
learned and profound writers who rose about this time, and who
continue to be known by the name of the ' Cambridge Moralists.'
In Emmanuel College, before thi ejectment, there were Which-
cote, author of Moral and Religious Aphorisms, and o[' Letter* to
Tuckney (1651) ; Nathanael Culvexwel, author of the masterly
work Of the Light of Nature \ (1661) j and Ralph Cndworth, who
produced the great work on Thi 'True Intellectual System of
ihr Universe, all promoted to important offices in Cambridge
under the Commonwealth. There were also in Cambridge
Henry More, author of the Enchiridion Mttaphyriciun, and John
* Mi on' i / "'-• "/' Milton, p. 229.
f Familiar l.rttnx in Mu.iiun's RlfltOf), j> 240.
X Boe tin! vuhkiMo edition l>y John Brown. D.D., with n oritionl onnj by John
Cuirn.i, D.D.
HIS LIFE. Xlll
Smith, author of the Select Discourses. All of those great
men had caught, and were cherishing, a lofty Platonic spirit.
While they implicitly received and devoutly revered the Bible as
the inspired book of God, they entertained at the same time a
high idea of the office of reason, and delighted in the contem-
plation of the eternal verities which they believed it to sanction,
and sought to unite them with the living and practical truths of
Christianity. Nor is it to be forgotten that John Howe, who
entered Christ College in 1647, imbibed from Cudworth, More,
and Smith his ' Platonic tincture,' which however was more
thoroughly subordinated in him to the letter of Scripture. But
in those times there was probably a still greater number of
students whose college predilections would be those of Hey-
wood : ' My time and thoughts were more employed in practical
divinity, and experimental truths were more vital and vivifical
to my soul. I preferred Perkins, Bolton, Preston, Sibbes, far
above Aristotle, Plato, Magirus, and Wendeton, though I despise
no laborious authors in these subservient studies.' *
Charnock was all his life a laborious student. We can infer
what must have been his favourite reading, begun at college
and continued to his death. While not ignorant of the physical
science of his time, there is no reason to believe that he entered
deeply into it. However, we are expressly told by Adams and
Veal that he had arrived at a considerable knowledge of medi-
cine, and that he was prevented from giving himself farther to
it only by his dedication to a higher work. There are no traces
of his having fallen under the bewitching spirit of Platonism,
which so prevailed among the profounder students of Cam-
bridge ; but he characterises Plato as ' the divine philosopher/
he quotes More and Culverwel, and his own philosophy is of a
wide and catholic character. It is quite clear from his syste-
matic method, that he had received lessons from the Aristotelian
logic, as modified by the schoolmen ; but he never allowed it to
bind and shackle him. He shews a considerable acquaintance
with the ancient Greek philosophy, including the mystics of
the Neoplatonist school. He is familiar with the writings of
many of the fathers, and quotes from them in a way which
shews that he understood them. He does not disdain to take
instruction from Aquinas and the schoolmen when it serves
his purpose. Among contemporary philosophic writers, he
quotes from Gassendi and Voetius. His favourite uninspired
writers were evidently the reformers, and those who defended
and systematised their theology. Amyraut, and Suarez, and
Daille were evidently favourites ; and he was familiar with Tur-
retine, Ames, Zanchius, Cocceius, Crellius, Cameron, Grotius,
and many others ; nay, he is not so bigoted as to overlook
the high church Anglican divines of his own age. But we
venture to say that, deeply read as he was in the works of unin-
spired men, he devoted more time to the study of the word
* Hunter's Life of Oliver Heywood, p. 46.
Xiv INTRODUCTION TO CHAENOCK S WORKS.
of God than to all other writings whatsoever. As to his lin-
guistic accomplishments Mr Johnson, himself a scholar, says,
* I never knew any man who had attained near unto that skill
which he had in both their originals [that is, of the Scriptures],
except Mr Thomas Cawton;' and Mr Cawton, it seems, knew Latin,
Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, French, Dutch, Italian, and Spanish.
Thus furnished by divine gift and acquired scholarship, he
set out on the work to which he had devoted himself. ' Not
long after he had received light himself,' says Johnson, 'when
the Lord by his blessing on his endeavours had qualified him for
it, such was his love, he gave forth light unto others, inviting
them, and saying, " Come and see Jesus." In Southwark,
where seven or eight, in that little time Providence continued
him there, owed their conversion under God to his ministry;
then in the university of Oxford and adjacent parts ; after in
Dublin, where it might be said of his as it w T as of the Lord's
preaching in the land of Zebulon, "the people which sat in
darkness saw a great light." '
On leaving college, he is represented by Adams and Veal as
spending some time in a private family, but whether as a tutor
or a chaplain does not appear. He seems to have commenced
his ministry in Southwark, where he knew of seven or eight per-
sons who owned him as the instrument of their conversion ; and
we may hope there were others profited, at a time when the mer-
cantile and middle classes generally so crow T ded to the house of
God, and the preaching of the word was so honoured. In 1649
or thereabouts, says Wood, he retired to Oxford, purposely to
obtain a fellowship' from the visitors appointed by the parliament
when ' they ejected scholars by whole shoals ;' and in 1650, lie
obtained a fellowship in New College. November 19. 1652, he is
incorporated Master of Arts in Oxford, as he had stood in Cam-
bridge. April 5. 1654 (not 1652, as Calamy says), he and Thomas
Cracroft of Magdalene College are appointed Proctors of the univer-
sity. Cliarnock, greatly respected for his gifts, his learning, and
his piety, was frequently put upon ' public works.' In particular,
he seems to have been often employed in preaching in Oxford
and the adjacent parts. Here he had as his chamber-fellow, Mr
John Gunter, who purposed to write, or did write, a life of him ;
{Hid here he gained or renewed a friendship with Richard Adams,
formerly, like himself, of Cambridge, and now of lirazennose,
and Edward Veal of Christ's Church, and afterwards with him in
Dublin, the two who joined, many yean after, in publishing his
bhumous works. Here be connected himself with ' a ohuroh
gathered among the scholars by Dr Goodwin,' a society which
had the honour to bave enrolled among its members Thankful
Owen, Francis Howel, Theophilua Gale, and John Howe/
who must, no doubt have enjoyed much sweet fellowship
together, and belped to edify one another. Oliver Cromwell,
* Sm Life of Q Iwtn, in folio edition of Worke, Vol v.; end Gelemy'e Account
of Ejrrtrd, J oil 11 HuWO.
HIS LIFE. XV
Lord Protector, was chancellor of the university, and Dr Owen,
vice-chancellor ; and an energetic attempt was made to produce
and foster a high, though perhaps a somewhat narrow, scho-
larship, and to exercise a discipline of a moral and religious
character, such as Christian fathers set up in their families.
Notwithstanding all that has been said against it, it was by no
means of an uncheerful character, and young men of virtue and
piety delighted in it ; but others, we fear, felt it irksome, because
of the constant supervision, and the restraints meeting them on
every hand, and the number of religious services imposed on
them, and which could have been enjoyed only by converted
persons. Lord Clarendon thinks that such a state of things
might have been expected to extirpate all ' learning, religion,
and loyalty,' and to be ' fruitful only in ignorance, profaneness,
atheism, and rebellion ; ' but is obliged to admit that, ' by God's
wonderful providence, that fruitful soil could not be made
barren,' and that it yielded an harvest of extraordinary good
knowledge in all parts of learning.' It could easily be shewn
that the fruit was what might have been expected to spring from
the labour bestowed and the seed sown. It is a matter of fact,
as Neal remarks, that all the great philosophers and divines of
the Church of England, who flourished in the reigns of Charles
II. and William III., such as Tillotson, Stillingfleet, Patrick,
South, Cave, Sprat, Kidder, Whitby, Bull, Boyle, Newton, Locke,
and others, were trained under teachers appointed by parliament
and Cromwell.*
The scene of Charnock's labours and usefulness was now shifted.
Cromwell had subdued Ireland to the Commonwealth, and he
and others longed to have the protestants in that country sup-
plied with a pure and fervent gospel ministry. Dr John Owen
had been in Ireland a year and a half, overseeing the affairs of
Dublin College and preaching the gospel. He dates a work from
* Dublin Castle, December 20. 1649,' and speaks of himself as
' burdened with manifold employments, with constant preaching
to a numerous multitude of as thirsty people after the gospel as
ever I conversed withal.' In the January following he returns
to England, and has to preach before the Commons. Eeferring
to Cromwell's victories, he says : — ' How is it that Jesus Christ
is, in Ireland, only as a lion staining all his garments with the
blood of his enemies, and none to hold him forth as a lamb
sprinkled with his own blood for his friends ? Is it the sove-
reignty and interest of England that is alone to be thus trans-
acted ? For my part, I see no farther into the mystery of these
things, but that I would heartily rejoice that innocent blood being
expiated, the Irish might enjoy Ireland so long as the moon
endureth, so that Jesus might possess the Irish.' ' I would there
were, for the present, one gospel preacher for every walled town
in the English possession in Ireland.' * They are sensible of their
wants, and cry out for supply. The tears and cries of the inha-
* The History of the Puritans, 1647.
ivi INTRODUCTION TO CHAHNOCK S WORKS.
bitants of Dublin are ever in my view.' In the course of the
year, grants of land are made for the better support of Dublin
University, and the Commissioners brought with them several
Christian ministers. Among them was Samuel Winter, who
afterwards became Provost of Trinity College, and who preached
every Lord's day in Christ Church Cathedral before Deputy
Fleetwood and the Commissioners, his services being reserved
specially for the afternoons, when was the * greatest auditory.'
By 1654, Mr Veal, who had been in Oxford with Charnock, is a
fellow of Dublin College, and some years after, is often exercising
his ministry in and about the city of Dublin. Nor should we
omit Mr John Murcot, who came from Lancashire in 1653, and
preached with great fervour and acceptance to large numbers in
Dublin and the south-west of Ireland, till the close of the follow-
ing year, when he was cut off suddenly at the early age of twenty-
nine, to the great grief of the Protestant inhabitants, — the Lord
Deputy, and the Mayor, with a large body of citizens, following
the body to the grave.*
Cromwell finding it necessary to restrain the republican Com-
missioners in Ireland, sent over his ablest son Henry to watch
their proceedings, and to succeed them in the government.
"When he came to Ireland in August 1655, he brought with him
gome eminent ministers of religion, among whom was Samuel
Mather, who, ' with Dr Harrison, Dr Winter, and Mr Charnock,'
attended on Lord Harry Cromwell, t Mather was one of a famous
nonconformist family, well known on both sides of the Atlantic.
A native of England, he received his education in Harvard College,
but returned to his native country, and having spent some time at
Oxford and Cambridge, and in Scotland, he now came to Dublin,
where he was appointed a fellow of the University, and chosen
colleague to Dr Winter, and had to preach every Lord's day at
the church of St Nicholas, besides taking his turn every five or
six weeks before the Lord Deputy and Council. Dr Thomas
Harrison was born at Kingston-upon-Hull, but, like Mather, was
brought up in America, and had returned to England, where he
was chosen to succeed Dr Goodwin in London ; and now in
Dublin he ie chaplain to Henry Cromwell, with a salary of ^°300
a year, and preaches in St WVrhur^h's.
It was in such company that Stephen ( namoek acted as one
of the chaplains of the chief governor of Ireland, living with
much respect in his family, we may suppose whether be resided
at the Castle or in Phcetni Park, and enjoying a, stipend of £200
a year, worth ten times the same nonnmil sum in the present
day-t When in Dublin, he wai also officially minister of St
* y ■.,/ Work* of Mr John Murcot. It. in n y l'<> nuMit iuiinl here that there is
trainable sketch of the itate of religion In Dublin at that time, in a lectors,
Jndrprnilrnci/ in Puhlin in I In' Oldrn Tunc, 1>V William l^rwiek, D.D.
f Galamy'i N»n<-on Mem, by Palmar, Art. Bamoal Mather.
! See Extract! from *The Civil Establishment of the Commonwealth fur Ireland,
for the •• ' hi Appendii to vol. ii. of flalcft 'History of the Presbyt
Church iu lroluud.'
HIS LIFE. XV11
Werburgh's, and lecturer at Christ Church. St Werburgh's
Church, in its foundation going back to near the time of the
Norman settlement, was in the time of Cromwell, and is still,
close by the very walls of Dublin Castle ; and the Lord-Depute
must have attended there or at Christ Church, at one or both.
In 1607, the famous Usher had been appointed to this church,
and was succeeded by William Chappel, who had been John
Milton's tutor at Cambridge, and who, according to Symmonds,
was the reputed author of ' The Whole Duty of Man.' ' The
church is described in 1630 as "in good repair and decency,"
worth sixty pounds per annum, there being two hundred and
thirty-nine householders in the parish, all Protestants,, with the
exception of twenty-eight Koman Catholics. " St Warburr's,"
says a writer in 1635, " is a kind of cathedral, wherein preacheth
the judicious Mr Hoile about ten in the morning and three in the
afternoon, — a most zealous preacher, and general scholar in all
manner of learning, a mere cynic." Mr Hoyle, the friend of
Usher, and "the tutor and chamber-fellow" of Sir James Ware,
was elected professor of divinity in, and fellow of, Trinity College,
Dublin ; he sat in the Assembly of Divines, witnessed against
Laud, and in 1648 was appointed Master of University College,
Oxford.'* In this famous church, where the gospel had been
proclaimed with such purity and power by Usher and by Hoyle,
Charnock officiated, down, we may suppose, to the ^Restoration.
But his most conspicuous field of usefulness seems to have
been on the afternoons of the Lord's day, when the great
audiences of the citizens of Dublin assembled, and to them he
lectured — that is, delivered an elaborate discourse, discussing
fully the subject treated of — we may suppose either at St Wer-
burgh's or Christ Church. Calamy says, ' he exercised his
ministry on the Lord's day afternoons to the admiration of the
most judicious Christians, having persons of the greatest distinc-
tion in the city of Dublin for his auditors, and being applauded
by such as were of very different sentiments from himself.
Many commended his learning and abilities who had no regard
for his piety.' God was now giving his servant, who had been
so thoroughly prepared for his work by a long course of training,
a wide sphere to labour in. In future years, when he was
partially silenced, he must have looked to his Dublin oppor-
tunities with feelings of lively interest. Though a counsellor,
and a wise counsellor, to Henry Cromwell, and at times employed
on public duty, in which his good sense, his moderation, and his
truly catholic spirit gained him universal confidence, yet preach-
ing was his peculiar gift, and to this he devoted all his talents.
His preaching powers had now reached their full maturity. At
a later period his memory somewhat failed him, and he had to
read in a disadvantageous way with a glass. But at this time
he used no notes, and he poured forth the riches of his original
endowments and of his acquired treasures to the great delight of
* The History of the City of Dublin by J. T. Gilbert, vol. i. p 29.
b
XV111 INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
his audience. His solid judgment, his weighty thoughts, his
extensive learning, and his cultivated imagination, were all
engaged in the work of recommending the gospel of Jesus Christ
to the principal inhabitants of the capital of Ireland. Most
careful in husbanding time, on which he ever set great value,
spending most of it in his study, in reading and writing, medi-
tation and prayer, accustomed to muse on profound topics in his
restless hours in the night, and when walking in the streets
during the day, constantly jotting down (as many of the puritans
did) the thoughts that occurred to him on these occasions, and
employing them as materials for his projected discourses,* he
made it appear on the Lord's day how well he had been em-
ployed. We know what the discourses which he preached were
from those given to the world after his death, and which were
printed from his manuscripts as he left them. Characterised as
those of most of the preachers of the time were by method,
Charnock's were specially eminent for solidity of thought, for clear
enunciation of important truth, for orderly evolution of all the
parts of a complicated subject, for strength and conclusiveness
of argument, coming forth with a great flow of expression,
recommended by noble sentiment and enlivened by brilliant
fancy, — with the weight he ever had the lustre of the metal.t
Except in the discourses of Usher, there never had been before,
and it is doubtful whether there ever has been since, such able
and weighty evangelical preaching in the metropolis of Ireland ;
and *we do not wonder that the thinking and the 'judicious*
should have waited eagerly on his ministry, specially on his
4 lectures,' seeking not so much excitement as instruction,
presented in a clear and pleasant manner. Doing much good
during the brief period allowed him, we are convinced that he
helped to raise up a body of intelligent Christian men and
wjomen among the English settlers, who within the Established
Church, or beyond it as Presbyterians or Independents, handed
down the truth to the generations following, and that the lively
protestant religion of Dublin in the present day owes not a little
to the seed which was then scattered, and which in due time,
spite of many blights, grew into a forest.
But his days of* usefulness in Ireland speedily came to a
closed When Oliver Cromwell died, lie left no one who could
wield his sceptre. Henry was certainly fitted of his kindred
for the work of government; hut he had one disqualification
(for such it is in our crooked world), he was too upright and
# A<!;uns and Vim] nu'iitiuii tlirnr lniMt.i.
f Colt. .11 Mallnr, in Jim II is/, >,-,/<>/ X ,-„■ Enql.uul, netting of NiithsiiiiU'l Mathor,
woo mooeeded hit toother Samuel r In Dublin, says :~* It we* oommonlj
r. marked thai Mr Charnock'i Invention, I >i II an tpression, and Mi" Mather's
logio, would bate made lac perfecte rl pri achei In Hi.' world.'
i file edltori make Oharnooi B.D. w I conceives that he was Made eo l>y
Dublin Uniti r.ity. Mr Ann irons, and l»r s. mi. .11 Raid make bin a fellow of
Trinity College. There is do regisl r ol thi in the oollege booka; but tin 1
records both of Tiiinty College and of Dublin Castle are Terj defective as to tlio
< lonnnonweslth period*
HIS LIFE. XIX
honourable to descend to the base means necessary to keep the
various conflicting parties in subjection. His soul was ex-
pressed in one of his letters: 'I will rather submit to any
sufferings with a good name, than be the greatest man on earth
without it.'* He had to complain during his whole rule in
Ireland of the selfishness of the English settlers, of the extrava-
gancies of the sectaries, and of the jealousy of the army of the
Commonwealth. He seems, however, to have been efficiently
supported in his wise and impartial rule by such men as
Winter f and Charnock. Nearly all parties in Ireland, Church
of England, Presbyterians, and Koman Catholics, were opposed
to the Commonwealth and his father's rule; but all respected
and loved Henry Cromwell. He got his brother Eichard
proclaimed in Ireland; but the incapable parliament, out of
jealousy, summoned him to England, and the royalists, at the
.Eestoration, expelled him, without his offering any resistance.
Charnock had now to sink for a time into obscurity, with rare
and limited opportunities compared with those which he had
enjoyed for four or five years in the court of the lord deputy,
and in St Werburgh's and Christ Church Cathedral. It was
necessary to shew that he could not only act, but suffer, for
Christ's name. Adams and Veal say, that 'about the year
1660, being discharged from the public exercise of his ministry,
he returned back into England, and in and about London spent
the greatest part of fifteen years, without any call to his old
work in a settled way.' Wood and Calamy make statements to
the same effect, and we must believe the account to be correct.
But there is some reason to think, that though for the most part
in London, he had not altogether abandoned Dublin for some
time after 1660. At the close of the year 1661 (Dec. 31), he
signs a certificate in favour of his friend Mr Veal, dated at
Dublin.J It is stated that he and Mr Veal ministered in Dublin
after the Eestoration [; and it is certain that at that time the
meetings of nonconformists were winked at in Ireland, and that
the Presbyterian and Independent ministers there took and
were allowed an amount of liberty denied, to their brethren in
England and Scotland. It is stated that both Charnock and
Veal preached in a Presbyterian churchdn Wood Street (after-
wards Strand Street), which continued for many years to have
a flourishing congregation, with such pastors as the Eev. Samuel
Marsden, one of the ejected fellows of Dublin College, the Eev.
* Letter in Thurloe Papers.
t There is a work, Life and Death of Winter, 1677 ; also Sermons by him against
the Anabaptists, preached before the lord deputy.
% The certificate is given by - Calamy, in Continuation, p. 83. It is ' Dated at
Dublin, Dec. 31. 1661,' and is signed ' Steph. Charnock, formerly Minister at
Warbouroughs, and late Lecturer at Christ Church, Dublin ; Edward Baines, late
Minister of St John's Parish, Dublin ; Nath. Hoyle, late Minister at Donobrock,
and late Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin ; Kobert Chambres, late Minister of St
Patrick's Church, Dublin ; Samuel Coxe, late Minister at Katherine's, Dublin ;
William Leclew, late Minister of Dunborn ; Josiah Marsden, late Fellow of the
aboye said Trin. College, Dublin.'
XI INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
Dr Daniel "Williams, who founded the Dissenters' Library in
Red Cross Street, London; Dr Gilbert Rule, afterwards prin-
cipal of the university of Edinburgh; and the Rev. Joseph
Boyse, an able defender of the doctrine of the Trinity, and of
Protestant nonconformists. On the supposition that this is
correct, we find Charnock's ministry in Ireland after the Restora-
tion followed by a train of important consequences, reaching
forward into coming ages.*
This is the proper place for referring to and examining a
scandalous story about Charnock given by Bishop Parker in the
'History of his own Times.' He tells us that, Jan. 6. 1662-3,
one Philip Alden voluntarily discovered to Vernon, one of the
king's officers, a conspiracy to subvert the government in all the
three kingdoms. This Alden had been an old rebel, and one
who dealt in proscriptions and forfeited estates; but Vernon
had so much obliged him by begging his life of the lord lieu-
tenant, that he promised to discover the designs of the rebels.
The principal leaders being chosen in March, determined on
May 11. to open the war with the siege of Dublin : but many
forces were in readiness, and they were dispersed. Lackey, a
Presbyterian teacher, was hanged; but it is said he had seven
accomplices, among whom was Charnock. * This Charnock had
been chaplain of Henry Cromwell, advanced to that dignity by
John Owen. He was sent by the conspirators as their ambas-
sador to London, and promised them great assistance, as Gibbs,
Carr, and others had done in Scotland and Holland. But the
conspiracy being now discovered, he fled again into England, and
changed his name from Charnock to Clarke. He was a man of
great authority among the fanatics, and for a long time was at the
'head of a great assembly, and did not die till twenty years after,
anno .1683, and his corpse was carried through the city with the
pomp of almost a royal funeral. 't This statement lays itself
open to obvious criticism. First, Bishop Parker, so inconsistent
in his life and so hasty in his charges, is by no menus a safe
authority in any question of fact. Next, the original informer
■is described as an old rebel, and a dealer in proscriptions and
forfeited estates, and by no means to be trusted in the charges
which he brings. Then our author makes Charnock live till
1683, whereafl we have documentary evidence flint lie died in
1680. These considerations might Mem sufficient to justify us
in dismissing the statement as a fabrication, 01 an entire mistake.
But we knew from better authorities that there was a general
discontent, in the spring of n*><>;*, among the protestanta of ire-
land, indeed among the nonconformists all over the three king-
doms, and that thero was a conspiracy formed to seize Dublin
* See Sermon, &<\, Kit Uio ordination of Kcv. Jtmei Martiuoau, with an appendix
rontuiniiitf a Summary History of thu rxvsbytrriim Cliurchea in the City, by tho
Jtov. JamcH Armstrong, IHiJ'J.
(" Tlio Htatiiui'ijt of tljo Lfttifl sdKiofl in ' ncijuo rnim ante vitvnniuin obiit anno,
1683 cujus oxequiua pono rogali funoria pomp! yer urbcm oxtulerant.'
HIS LIFE. XXI
Castle. In Ireland, the dissatisfaction was very keen among the
English settlers, because they thought their interests neglected ;
among the soldiers of the Commonwealth, who were now stripped
of their importance ; but especially among zealous protestants,
who were bitterly disappointed, because they saw the work of
reformation thrown back. The leader seems to have been the
notorious Blood, who involved in it his brother-in-law, the Eev.
W. Lecky, formerly a fellow of Trinity College, who seems to have
become maddened in the course of the trial. Leland says that
1 some lawyers, several Presbyterian ministers, Blood, who was
afterwards so distinguished in London, some members of the
Irish Commons, and several republican officers, embarked in this
design.' ' On the eve of the day appointed for seizing the Castle
of Dublin and publishing their declaration, about five-and-twenty
conspirators were seized, and a reward published for the appre-
hension of those who escaped.'* It appears, farther, that some
intimation had been sent to London which raised the suspicion
of the Government there against Charnock, for there is issued,
' 1663, June 19., warrant to Joel Hardy to apprehend Stephen
Charnock,' and, ' June 20., an examination of Bob. Littlebury.
Knows Mr Charnock, who visits at his house, and told him he
had an overture to go beyond seas. Has had no letter from
Ireland for him these six weeks ; ' and under the same year,
' Note of address of Bobt. Littlebury at the Unicorn, Little
Britain, London, with note not to miss him.' The country is
evidently in a very moved state, in consequence of the ejection
of the two thousand ministers, and the refusal to allow the non-
conformists to meet for the worship of God. Thus William
Kingsley to Secretary Bennet, June 20. 1663 :— ' There are daily
great conventicles in these parts ; on Whitsunday, 300 persons
met at Hobday's house, Waltham parish, &c. ' The news from
Carlisle give indications of an understanding among the discon-
tented. Thus Sir Phil. Musgrave reports to Williamson, June 22.,
Carlisle : — ' There is much talk of the more than ordinary meet-
ing of the sectaries, and the passing of soldiers between Ireland
and Scotland before the public discovery of the horrid plot.'t
The conclusion which we draw from these trustworthy statements
is, that there was deep discontent over all the three kingdoms,
among those who had been labouring to purify the church, and
who were now claiming liberty of worship ; that there was a cor-
respondence carried on among the aggrieved ; that there was a
disposition among some to resist the Government, the anticipa-
tion and precursor of the covenanting struggle in Scotland, and
the revolution of 1688 ; and that there was an ill-contrived con-
spiracy in Dublin, which was detected and put down. But there
is no evidence whatever to shew that Charnock was identified in
any way with the projected rising in Dublin. His name does
not appear in the proclamation from Dublin Castle, 23d May
* History of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 434.
t Calendar State Papers, edited by Mrs Green, vol. iii.
Xxii INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK's WORKS.
1663. That the government should have proceeded against him,
is no presumption of his guilt, though it may have been quite
sufficient to lead Bishop Parker to propagate the story. We
know that ' the generality of the ministers of the north (Ulster)
were at this time either banished, imprisoned, or driven into
corners, upon occasion of a plot of which they knew nothing,'*
these Presbyterians having in fact stood throughout by the family
of Stuart, and given evidence of loyalty in very trying times.
We can readily believe that Charnock should deeply sympathise
with the grievances of his old friends in Dublin ; but his sober
judgment, his peaceable disposition, his retiring and studious
habits, all make it very unlikely that he should have taken any
active part in so ill-conceived and foolish a conspiracy, t
From whatever cause, Charnock disappears very much from
public view for tw T elve or fifteen years. We must be satisfied
with such a general statement as that of Wood, who says that,
returning to England about 1660, ' in and about London he did
spend the greater part of fifteen years without any call to his
own w T ork, whereby he took advantage to go now and then either
into France or Holland.' In France he would see a lordly
church, enjoying full privileges under Louis XIV., and meet
with many protestants deprived of political and military power,
but having a precarious liberty under the Edict of Nantes not
yet revoked. In Holland were already gathering those refugees
who in due time were to bring over with them William of Orange
to rescue England from oppression. Calamy represents him as
' following his studies without any stated preaching.' Yes, it
was now a necessity of his nature to study. Adams and Veal
say, ' Even when providence denied him opportunities, he was
still laying in more stock, and preparing for work against he
might be called to it.' During these years when he w T as in
some measure out of sight, he was probably revolving those
thoughts which were afterwards embodied in his great work on
* Adair MSS., quoted in Rcid's History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, vol.
ii. p. 284.
t In reference to Parker's charge, Bliss, tho editor, in Notes io "Wood's Athena,
says : — ' Qusere — if Stephen Charnock? Grey. Probably it was the same, the bishop
having mistaken the time of his .hath.' Mi- t. F.Gilbert, the famous antiquarian,
writes us : — ' Among the names of those committed on account ^ the alleged con-
spiracy, is that of " Kduard Balnea, a fanatic preacher, formerly Harry Cromwell's
chaplain." Could I'.ishop l'arl<er have confounded the two men? Maims was reotof
"' St John's Church, close to Werburgh'a, during the Commonwealth, and subse-
quently founded t ; Btreei congregation in Dublin. 1 It is proper to explain,
this alleged ' fanatic preacher and t Be < ition in Cooke street Hirst Wine
Tavern Street), thai Mr Bi i 'a clergyman of Learning ami gooa sen
rational piety and zeal for the truth, and of great integrity and simplicity of spirit;'
and th it in the co] [on there were many pei ons of rank ami fortune, particu-
larly Sir John < ''otuorthy. afterward Lord Mas an fi\>\ I.ady Chichester, afterwards
Cou nf ess of hone. 'al, and laidy Cole of the |\nin ski lien family. I>r Harrison hecamo
co-pastor with Mr Baincs in this congregation, and John Howe often officiated
there when Lord \ no, to whom Howe w as chaplain, happened to reside in
the capital* In all this we have another example of the eontinuanoi of the puritan
Influence In Dublin. Bee Armstrong's ■ History of the Presbyterian Churches,' in
Appendix to JSermun.
HIS LIFE. XX111
the 'Attributes.' Now, as at all times, he lived much in his
library, which, say Adams and Veal, was his 'workshop,'
furnished, ' though not with a numerous, yet a curious, collection
of books ; ' and we can conceive that one so dependent on his
reading, and who had it in view to prepare deep theological
works, must have felt it to be a great trial when his books were
burnt in the great fire of London.
About 1675, he seems to be in a position to receive a call to
minister to a fixed congregation. It appears that a portion of
the congregation were anxious to secure him as joint pastor with
Dr Thomas Jacomb, and successor to Dr Lazarus Seaman, who
died Sept. 9. 1675. John Howe, however, was settled in this
office;* and Charnock was appointed joint pastor to the Kev.
Thomas Watson in Crosby Hall. The congregation worshipping
there had been collected soon after the Bestoration by Mr Watson,
formerly rector of the parish of St Stephen's, Waibrook, whose
little work, Heaven taken by Storm, was the means, under God,
of Colonel Gardiner's conversion. Upon the indulgence in 1674
he licensed the hall in Crosby House, on the east side of Bishops-
gate Street, which had been built in the fifteenth century by Sir
John Crosby, had at a later date been the residence of Kichard
Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Eichard III., and was now
the property of Sir John Langham, who patronised the non-
conformists, and devoted its very beautiful Gothic hall to the
preaching of the word. Charnock was settled there in 1675, and
officiated there to the time of his death, and there a numerous
and wealthy congregation, presbyterian or independent, con-
tinued to worship for some ages.t Charnock could not be
described at this part of his life as specially a popular preacher.
On account of his memory failing, he had to read his sermons ;
and on account of his weak eyesight he had to read them with
a glass, and his delivery was without the flow and impressiveness
which it had in his younger years. Besides, his compositions
were too full of matter, and were far too elaborate to be relished
by the unthinking multitude, who complained of his discourses
as being " but morality or metaphysics," their only fault being
that they were too thoughtful. Adams and Veal say, 'Yet it
may withal be said that if he were sometimes deep, he was
never abstruse; he handled the great mysteries of the gospel
with much clearness and perspicuity, so that in his preaching, if
he were above most, it was only because most were below it.'
Those who were educated up to him, as many of the middle
classes were in that age, when the word of God and theological
treatises were so studied, and when the public events of the
times compelled men to think on profound topics, waited upon
his ministry with great eagerness, and drank in greedily the
* Roger's Life of Howe, p. 144.
t Wilson's History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches, vol. i. pp. 331, et seq.,
where is a history of Crosby Hall and an account of its ministers. Crosby Hall is
now a merchant's wareroom, but retains traces of its beauty in its timber roof and
splendid bow window.
XXIV INTRODUCTION TO CHABNOCK S WORKS.
instruction which he communicated from sabbath to sabbath.
Mr Johnson tells us that ' many able ministers loved to sit at
his feet, for they received by one sermon of his those instructions
which they could not get by many books or sermons of others/
We can readily picture him at this time from the scattered
notices left of him. We have two portraits of him ; one a paint-
ing in Williams' Library, the other a plate in the folio edition of
his works. Both exhibit him with marked and bony features, and
a deep expressive eye. The painting makes him appear more
heavy looking and sunken, as if he often retreated into himself
to commune with his own thoughts. The plate is more lively,
as if he could be drawn out by those who understood and reci-
procated him. Adams and Veal say he ' was somew r hat reserved
when he was not very well acquainted, otherwise very affable
and communicative where he understood and liked his company.'
We now extract from his funeral sermon. Those who did not
know him cast upon him ' foul and false aspersions ' ' as if he was
melancholy, reserved, unsociable to all, while his acquaintances
will give a character of him diametrically opposite. How cheerful,
free, loving, sweet-dispositioned was he in all companies where
he could take delight ; he was their love, their delight.' By this
time • our Timothy was somewhat obscured by manifold infirmi-
ties, a crazy body, weak eyes, one dark, the other dim, a hand
that would shake, sometimes an infirm stomach, an aching head,
a fugitive memory, which, after it had failed him sometimes, he
would never trust again, but verbatim penned and read all his
notes, whereas till of late years he never looked within them.'
From such a temperament we might expect a little ' passion or
choler,' which is acknowledged by his friend, but which, he as-
sures us, 'through grace he turned into the right channel.' 'He
was careful to watch over his heart and against spiritual pride.'
Five days each week, and twelve hours each day, he spent in his
study, ' I will not say, as some, to make one sermon ; I know
he had other work there.' When some one told him if he studied
too much it would cost him his life, he replied, ' Why, it cost
Christ his life to redeem and save me.' When he went out from
his hooks and meditations, it was to visit ami relieve his patients,
he having had all along a taste for medicine, and having given
much time to the study of it. His bodily infirmities, his trials
and spiritual conflicts, gave him a peculiar fitness for guiding
the anxious and comforting the afflicted. ' Be had bowels of
compassion for sinners to snatch thcin out of the flames, and
for saints to direct them unto the love of Christ. 1 M need not
speak unto yon of his preaching j how oft went he to children of
light Walking in darkness, to cheer and revive them with cordials
wherewith the Lord had usually refreshed him.' 'Your teacher
was,' said the preacher in the lace of the congregation, 'though
not a perfect man, a perfect minister, thoroughly accomplished
by the Spirit and the word of truth.'
The ambition of able and thinking ministers in those times
HIS LIFE. XXV
was to draw out a system of theology. Watson/ his colleague, has
left us a 'Body of Divinity ,' which long continued to train the
common people in the puritan theology, and may still he found,
as we can testify, in the cottages of the Scottish peasantry.
Charnock * intended to have given forth a complete body of
divinity' to the congregation which met in Crosby Hall, the result,
we doubt not, of long reading and much thought. He began with
treating of the being, and went on to the attributes of God ; but
* his sun set before he had gone over half of his transcendent
excellencies and perfections. The last subject he treated on and
finished was the patience of God. He was looking what to say
next of the mercy, grace, and goodness of God, which he is gone
to see and admire, for he found that which he most looked and
longed for, the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life,
in heaven whence he shines now. Indeed, all the while he was
upon the attributes of God, he moved with that extraordinary
strength and celerity, 'twas an argument of his near approach
unto his centre and everlasting rest ; and if it be true, as some
say, that the soul doth prominere in morte, his words were too true
predictions, and from his soul when he said, that concerning
divine patience would be his last sermon.' ' It was his longing
desire, and his hopes were, that he should shortly be in that
sinless state where there is the acme, the perfection of grace and
holiness.'
He died July 27. 1680, at the comparatively early age of fifty-
two, in the house of Eichard Tymms, a glazier in the parish of
Whitechapel. On July 30th, his body was conveyed to Crosby
Hall, and thence accompanied by great numbers of his brethren
to St Michael's Church, in Cornhill, where * his bosom friend Mr
Johnson, gained at Emmanuel, adhering to him at New College,
preached his funeral sermon from Mat. xiii. 43, ' Then shall
the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their
Father.'! His remains were buried 'over Mr Sykes, under the
steeple ' of St Michael's, where the worshippers have ever since
passed over them in going in to the church.
He published himself nothing but a sermon ' On the Sinful-
ness and cure of Evil Thoughts,' Gen. vi. 5, which appeared in
the supplement to the Morning Exercises at Cripplegate ; and
it is an indication of his disposition to keep his name from public
* We might have doubted whether a nonconformist minister could have been
permitted to preach the funeral sermon of a nonconformist minister in a parish
church, but the statement is made by Wood. The entry in the register of St
Michael's is, ' July 30. was buryed Stephen Charnock, minister, under the steeple.'
f « EKAAMTI2 TON AIKAKIN. On the shining of the righteous, a
sermon preached partly on the Death of that Eeverend and Excellent Divine, Mr
Stephen Charnock, and in part at the funeral of a godly friend, by John Johnson,
M.A.' 1680. In explanation, he states that the body of the discourse had been
prepared on the occasion of the death of another friend ; but, as being called suddenly
to preach at Mr Charnock's funeral, he had used the same sermon, but accommodated
to the different person. The discourse is somewhat rambling. We have embodied
most of what relates to Charnock in this memoir. We have used the copy in the
Williams' Library.
XXVI INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
view, that in the title there is nothing more than the initials S. C,
whereas in every other sermon in the collection there appears
the name of the preacher. His posthumous works were given to
the world by Mr Richard Adams and Mr Edward Veal, both
Oxford friends, the latter also a Dublin friend, the one then a
nonconformist minister in Southwark, and the other in Trap-
ping. They first published ' A Discourse on Divine Providence,'
1680, and announce that ' this comes out first as a prodromus
to several works designed to be made public as soon as they can
be with conveniency transcribed,' declaring that 'the piece now
published is a specimen of the strain and spirit of this holy man,
this being his familiar and ordinary way of preaching.' The
same year there appeared ' A Sermon on Reconciliation to God
in Christ.' His discourses ' On the Existence and Attributes of
God,' appeared in a large folio in 1681-82, and were followed by
another folio in 1683, containing discourses on regeneration, re-
conciliation, the Lord's supper, and other important subjects.
A second edition of his works, in two volumes folio, appeared in
1684, and a third in 1702. In 1699, were published with ' An
Advertisement to the Reader,' by Edward Veal, two discourses,
one on Man's Enmity to God, the other on Mercy for the Chief of
Sinners.
His great work is that on the ' Attributes.' Prior to his time
the subject had been treated of near the opening of systems of
theology, but never in the particular and minute way in w r hich it
is done in Charnock's discourses. There had been two works on
the special topic published in the English tongue in the early
part of the century. The one was A Treatise containing the
Original of Unbelief Misbelief or Mispersuasion concerning the
Veritie, Unitie, and Attributes of the Deity, by Thomas Jackson,
Doctor in Divinity, Vicar of St NicJiolas Church, Newcastle-upon*
Tyne, and late Fellow of Corpus Chrisli College, Oxford, 1625.
The work is a philosophico-religious one, treating profoundly, if
not clearly, of the origin of ideas as discussed by Plato and
Aristotle, and of belief in God; but not unfolding, as Charnock
does, the nature of the several attributes. A work more nearly
t tnbling that of our author, and very probably suggesting it,
was written by Dr Preston, one of the ablest i)\' the Cambridge
divines, and who bad been master of Emmanuel some years be-
fore Charnock's time, and left a neat name behind him. It is
Life Eterncd t ota Treatise of the Knowledge of the Divine Essence
and Attributes, by the late John Preston. It reached a fourth
edition in 1684. In the eighteen sermons of whiohthe work is
Composed, the author first proves tin 1 existence and unity of
God, and then dwells on eight of his perfections.* The whole is
* Thftft iff (1) Mi ■' ' Dttrfari : (-.) Mutt ho is without, all causes, having
his being uii'l beginning from himself; (3.) that !n> is sternal; (4.) that lu> is
simple and s)>irifu;ii ; (. r >.) Immutable; (6\) Infinite (beyond all we can oono
Including goodness j (7. ) omnipresent ; (8.) omnipotent. The arrangement is wry
imperfect*
HIS LIFE. XXV11
under 400 pages, of by no means close printing. The analysis
and distribution of the attributes are by no means the same with
those followed by Charnock, whose method is much more logical
and judicious, while his illustration is much more full and ample.
Charnock's work is at this day the most elaborate that has
appeared on the subject.
Borne in our day object to the separation of the divine attri-
butes, such as we have in Charnock's work, and in systems of
theology, that it is a division of the divine unity; that it is fitted
to leave the impression that the perfections are so many different
entities ; and that it exhibits the divine being in dry and abstract
forms, which do not engage and win the affections of the heart.
Now, it should be admitted at once, that a theological treatise
on the attributes, or on any other subject, cannot serve every
good purpose. No treatise of divinity can accomplish the high
ends secured by the Word of God, with its vivid narratives, its
typical events and ordinances, its instructive parables, and its
attractive exhibition of God as living, acting, and loving — all
suited to the heart and imagination of man as well as his under-
standing. A theological system when compared with the word
of God, is at best like a hortus siccus, when compared with the
growing plants in nature, or a skeleton in reference to the living
frame, clothed with flesh and skin. The most useful and effec-
tive preaching must follow the Word of God as a model rather
than bodies of divinity, and present God and his love in the
concrete and not in the abstract form. Still, systematic theology
has important purposes to secure, not only in testing and guard-
ing purity of doctrine in a church, but in combining the scattered
truths of God's Word, so that we may clearly apprehend them :
in exhibiting the unity of the faith ; and in facing the misappre-
hensions, mistakes, and errors which may arise. In particular,
great good may be effected by a full display, and a reflective
contemplation of the divine character; and in order to this, there
must be some order, plan, and division, and the more logical
these are the better for every purpose, speculative or practical.
Care must be taken always, in drawing such a portraiture, to shew
that the attributes are not distinct parts of the divine essence,
but simply different aspects of the one God, viewed separately
because of the infirmity of our minds, and the narrowness of our
vision, which prevent us from taking in the whole object at once,
and constrain us to survey it part after part. As it is not the
abstract quality, but the concrete being that calls forth feeling
and affection, we must ever contemplate his perfections, as
combined in the unity of his living person. It is to be said,
in behalf of Charnock, that he never leaves the impression that
the attributes are separate existences ; they are simply different
manifestations presented to us, and views taken by us of the one
God, who is at once Great and Good, Holy and Gracious.
XXV111 INTRODUCTION TO CHAKNOCK S WORKS.
II. THE PURITAN PREACHING AND THE PURITAN
LECTURE.
1 Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were
better than these ? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning
this,' Eccles. vii. 10. There are some ever telling us that the
theology of former times is much superior to that of our day.
Some prefer the theology of the so-called fathers of the church,
some that of the middle ages, some that of the Reformation,
some that of the puritans. Now we believe that it may be good
for us to look to the way in which great and good men have con-
ceived, expressed, and enforced the truth in divers ages, were it
only to widen the narrowness of our views, and recall attention
to catholic verities which particular ages or sects have allowed
to sink out of sight. Let us by all means rise from time to time
above the contracted valleys in which we dwell, and ascend a
height whence we may observe the whole broad and diversified
territory which God has given us as an inheritance, and the rela-
tion of the varied parts which branch out from Christ as the
centre, as do the hills and valleys of our country from some
great mountain, the axis of its range. There is, we should
acknowledge, an attractive simplicity in the expositions of divine
truth by the early fathers ; and we are under deep obligations to
the divines of the fourth century for establishing on Scripture
evidence the doctrine of the Trinity. Those who look into it with
a desire to discover what is good, will find not a few excellencies
even in the mediaeval divinity, notwithstanding the restraints
laid on it by crutches and bandages. It is not to be forgotten
that Thomas a Kempis lived in what are called the dark ages ;
and that we owe to a philosophic divine of that time, not cer-
tainly the doctrine of the atonement, which had been in the
revealed religion of God since Adam and Abel offered lambs in
sacrifice, but a very masterly and comprehensive exposition of
that cardinal truth. Free grace, which had been so limited and
hindered in the priestly and ecclesiastical ages, breathes from
every page of the Reformers as fragrance does from the flower.
The puritan preaching is unsurpassed for clear enunciation of
divine truth, accompanied with close, searching, and fervent
appeal, which now shakes the whole soul, as the earthquake did
the prison at Philippi, and anon relieves it by the command and
promise, ' Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt bo
saved. 1
But we Bhould pat implicit trust in no human, or hereditary, or
tradil iona] theology, in do i heology except what comes direct trom
the Bible, interpreted according to the letter, but received after the
spirit. How often does if happen that you will know what sect a
man belong! to by the favourite passages which ho quotes in his
s. rmons, and in his wry prayers, shewing how apt we are to take
our very Scriptures from the traditions of our churches. We act
as if the well were shut up from us, and as if we were obliged to
THE PURITAN PREACHING. XXIX
go to the streams, which may have caught earthliness in their
course, and which at the best cannot be so fresh as the fountain.
That is the theology best suited to the age which is put forth by
living men of the age, drinking of the living word for themselves
by the power of the living Spirit.
The peculiarities of the puritan preaching arose from the cir-
cumstances in which they were placed, combined always with
their deep piety. Most of them were highly educated men, trained
in classics, logics, and ethics at the old universities. In their
colleges, and in the Established Church, they had acquired habits
of careful study and preparation for the pulpit, which they re-
tained all their lives, whether they remained in or removed from
the communion of the Church of England. Meanwhile, in the
prosecution of their high aims, they were thrown into the midst
of most exciting scenes, which moved society from its base to its
summit. They had to make up their minds on most momentous
questions, and to come to a public decision, and take their side, —
it may be at an immense sacrifice of worldly wealth and status.
With a great love for the national Church, and a desire to keep
the unity of the faith, they declined, in obedience to what they
believed to be the commands of God in his word, to conform to
practices which the government, political and ecclesiastical, was
imposing on them. In taking their part in the movements of
these times, they had to mingle with men of all classes, to write
papers of defence and explanation, and at times of controversy,
and to transact a multifarious business, with bearings on states-
men on the one hand, and the mass of the people on the other.
Out of this state of things arose a style of exposition different
from that of the retired scholar on the one hand, and from that
of the man of bustle on the other ; equally removed from the
manner of the independent churchman and of the ever stirring
dissenter. The discourses are by men of thought and erudition,
who must draw their support from the great body of the people,
and address in one and the same sermon both men and women
belonging to all ranks and classes. We see those characteristics
in every treatise of Owen and Baxter, and they come out in the
discourses of Charnock.
The works of Charnock, and of the puritans generally, labour
under two alleged imperfections. With the exception of Howe's
'Living Temple,' and one or two other treatises, they are with-
out that subdued and quiet reflection which gives such a charm
to books which have come out of retired parsonages or the
cloisters of colleges. In most of the writings of the puritans,
there is a movement, and in many of them a restlessness, which
shew that they were composed for hearers or readers who were
no doubt to be instructed, but whose attention required also to
be kept alive. Their profound discussions and their erudite
disquisitions, having reference commonly to expected, indeed
immediate action, are ever mixed with practical lessons and
applications which interrupt the argument, and at times give a
XXX INTRODUCTION TO OHARNOCK S WORKS.
strain and bias to the interpretation of a passage. In this respect
their discourses, written with the picture of a mixed auditory
before them, are very different from the essays or dissertations,
philosophic or critical, of certain of the Anglican or German
divines, who, themselves mere scholars or thinkers, write only
for the learned ; but possess an interest to them such as cannot
attach to spoken addresses in which the popular and the scien-
tific are mixed in every page.
Because of this attempted combination, the puritans labour
under another alleged disadvantage. Most of their writings
contain too much thought, too much erudition, and above all too
many logical distinctions, to admit of their being appreciated by
vulgar readers. With the living voice and the earnest manner
to set them off, the sermons may have been listened to with pro-
found interest by large mixed audiences ; but in the yellow
pages of the old volume they scare those who do not w T ish to be
troubled with active or earnest thought. In this respect they
are inferior — some would rather say immeasurably superior — to
the popular works produced in our day by evangelical writers
both within and beyond the established churches of England and
Scotland. They are not characterised by that entire absence, in
some cases studious abnegation, of reflective thought and con-
vincing argument, which is a characteristic of some of our modern
preachers, who cast away their manhood and pule like infants ;
nor do they indulge in those stories and anecdotes by which some
of our most successful ministers of the word attract and profit
large audiences in our times. The puritans had learning, and
they gave the results of it to their congregations. They thought
profoundly themselves, and they wished to stimulate and gratify
thought in their hearers and readers.
The consequence of all this is, that there is a class who reckon
themselves above, and there is a class certainly below, the puritan.
There are contemplatists who are disturbed by their feverishm
and scholars who complain of the intrusion of unasked practical
lessons. But if these persons would only exercise a little of that
patience on which they sot so high a value, they would find im-
bedded in the rich conglomerate of the puritans profound reflec-
tions and wise maxims, which could have come only from deep
thinkers and scholars, who spent long hours in their studies
ling, meditating, and, we may add, praying over the deepest
questions which the mind of man can ponder. It is also truo
that th» re ;ire men and women of .ill ranks and conditions w In)
an h.low the puritans, such as the devourers of novels in our
circulating libraries, ow men of pleasure and of mere business
and agriculture, who have never heen led to entertain a thought
above their amusements, or their shops and their warehouses;
their crops and their cattle; and such are the masses in our
it cities, and in our scattered rural districts too, who have
heen allowed to spring up in utter ignorance, but who would not
have been left in such utter degradation it* the puritans had heen
THE PURITAN PREACHING. XXXI
allowed to carry out their system of inspection, catechising, and
careful Bible instruction. We allow that persons so untrained
to thinking would speedily fall asleep if made to read a puritan
treatise, with its deep thoughts and its logical distinctions. The
puritan preachers no doubt required a prepared audience ; but
they had succeeded so far in training intelligent audiences in
their own day, and they had a discipline which, if they had been
allowed to carry it out, might have prepared the great body of
the people for listening to the systematic exposition of the divine
word. Nor is it to be forgotten that there are passages in the
writings of the best puritans more fitted than any composed by
uninspired men to awaken the unthinking and arouse the care-
less, and compel them to think of the things which belong to
their everlasting peace. These passages continue to be regularly
quoted to this day, and often constitute the very best parts of the
articles in our popular religious literature. Charnock's discourses,
in particular, have been a mine in which many have dug, and
found there gold wherewithal to enrich themselves, without
exhausting the numberless veins. The preachers who have
caught the spirit of the puritans, but have avoided their techni-
cality and mannerism, have commonly been the most successful
in rousing the sunken and the dead from their apathy, and in
stirring them to anxiety and prayer.
Some of the critical commentaries furnished by the puritans,
such as those of Owen, are among the ablest, and altogether the
best, that have ever been published. It is all true that modern
German industry has dug up and collected materials unknown
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the more recent
contests with the rationalists and infidels, while producing it
may be much immediate mischief, have in the end led to a
larger and more minute acquaintance with ancient thought and
history, and with eastern languages and customs. But the
puritans have been left behind merely by the onward march of
knowledge ; and the time may come when even the most
advanced German critics may in this sense become antiquated.
It is true that the puritans, keeping before them a living
audience, ever mingled practical reflections and applications
with their most erudite criticism, in a way which is now avoided
by learned commentators. But over against this we have to
place the counterbalancing circumstance, that the Scriptures
were written for practical purposes, and will ever be better
interpreted by practical men, who have felt the truth them-
selves, and who have had enlarged and familiar intercourse
with men, women, and children in the actual world, than by
the mere book scholar, who is ever tempted to attribute motives
to historical actors such as real human beings were never
swayed by, and to discard passages because they contain im-
probabilities such as one who mingles with mankind is meet-
ing with every day. _ We have sometimes thought, in com-
paring the puritan with the modern German criticism, that
XrXll INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
the one of these circumstances is quite fitted to outweigh the
other; of course, the one should be used to counteract the other,
and a perfect commentary should seek to embrace both ad-
vantages.
The multiplied divisions, and ramified subdivisions, employed
in their discourses, furnish matter of very common complaint
against them. The habit arose from the training in a narrow
scholastic logic in the universities, and is to be found in the
ethical, the juridical, the legal, and the parliamentary quite as
much as in the theological writings of the age, and in the high
Anglican as well as in the puritan theology. We are not pre-
pared to vindicate the peculiar manner of the times. The
excess in one direction led in the immediately succeeding age to
an excess in the other direction. The new method, or want of
method, was introduced from France, and came in with a very
light and superficial literature. It was espoused by such
writers as Lord Shaftesbury in his ' Characteristics of Men, and
Manners, and Times;' and appeared in a very graceful dress in
the Tatler, Spectator, and Guardian. Shaftesbury tells us that
the miscellaneous manner was in the highest esteem in his day,
that the old plan of dividing into firsts and seconds had grown
out of fashion, and that ' the elegant court divine exhorts in
miscellany, and is ashamed to bring his twos and threes before
a fashionable assembly.' ' Eagouts and fricassees are the reign-
ing dishes; so authors, in order to become fashionable, have
run into the more savoury way of learned ragout and medley.*
In adopting the style of the times, the preachers no doubt sup-
posed that they could thereby recommend religion to the world,
especially to the gay and fashionable classes, who had been
repelled by the old manner, and might be won, it was alleged,
by the new. The comment of the clerical satirist Witherspoon,
in his * Characteristics,'' is very pertinent. After stating the
allegation that the old system had driven most of the fashion-
able gentry from the churches, he says : ' Now the only way to
regain them to the church, is to accommodate the worship as
much as may be to their taste ;' and then remarks slily, ' I
confess there has sometimes been an ugly object ion thrown up
against this part of my argument, viz., that this desertion of
public worship by those in high life seems in fact to be contem-
porary with, and to increase in a pretty exact proportion to, the
attempts that have been made, and are made, to suit it to their
taste.' Not that we have any right to condemn the preachers.
of the eighteenth century because they did not ehoose to follow
the formalism of the seventeenth. A much grayer charge can
be broughl against them ; that of sinking out of sight, or
diluting, BOme of the convincing and saving truths of Chris-
tianity. The mini iter of ( lod'l Word, if he is not to make him-
self ridiculous, must Weal the dress and accommodate himself
to the innocent manners of his age; hut he is never to for
that ho is a minister of the word, prepared to declare the whole
THE PURITAN PREACHING. XXX111
counsel of God, and he is not to imagine that he can deliver
himself from the offence of the cross. The polite, the gay, and
the refined admired the preaching of the eighteenth century,
but never thought of allowing themselves to fall under the
power of the religion recommended. The puritan preachers are
still read and have power, 'being dead they yet speak unto us;'
but who remembers the names of the admired pulpit orators of
last century? Who, except the lovers of belles lettres, ever
think of looking into the polished sermons of Hugh Blair and
his school ?
It may be allowed that the puritan preachers, like all the
didactic writers of their time, carried their subdivisions too far.
They sought by abstraction to bring out into distinct view all the
attributes of the concrete object ; and by mental analysis to dis-
tribute a complex subject into its parts. As correct thinkers,
their judgment would have been offended if a single one of the
parts which go to make up the whole had been left out. But
comprehensive minds now see that it is beyond the capacity
of man to find out all the elements of any one existing
object ' in the heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or the
waters under the earth.' In the subject, for example, discussed
by Charnock, the nature of God, no one should profess, (certainly
Charnock does not) to be able to discover or to unfold all the
perfections of Jehovah ; and it would be simple pretension to
make the propositions we utter assume the appearance of com-
pleteness of knowledge and explanation. The mind feels bur-
dened when a speaker or writer would lay the whole weight of a
comprehensive subject upon it. Charles II. was offering a just
criticism on the whole preaching of the age when he charged
Isaac Barrow with being an unjust preacher, inasmuch as he
left nothing for any other man to say. All people weary of an
enumeration which would count all gifts bestowed in minute
coins ; independent thinkers feel offended when any one would
dogmatically settle everything for them; and enlarged minds
would rather have a wide margin left for them to write on, and
prefer suggestive to exhaustive writers.
But on the other hand, definition and division are important
logical instruments ; and when they are kept in their proper
place as means, they serve important purposes. The puritan
preachers all aimed at vastly more than mere tickling, rousing,
and interesting their hearers ; they aimed at instructing them.
For this purpose it was needful first of all to give their hearers
clear notions ; and how could that be done except by the speakers
themselves acquiring distinct and adequate ideas, and then
uttering a clear expression of them? They were quite aware
that speculative notions and linked ratiocinations were not fitted
to raise feeling, and that there could be no religion without
affection; and hence they ever mingled appeals to the conscience,
and addresses to the feelings, and even pictures for the fancy,
with their methodical arrangements and reasoning processes.
XXXIV INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
But they knew at the same time that mere feeling, unsustained
by the understanding, would die out like an unfed flame, and
hence they ever sought to convey clear apprehensions, and to
convince the judgment. Then they wished their audience to
retain what they heard in their memories for future rumination.
But the memory, at least of the intelligent, proceeds in its
reminiscences by correlation; it cannot bring up the uncon-
nected, the dismembered ; it needs hooks on which to hang the
thoughts, compartments in which to arrange them, that we may
know where to find them, and to be able to bring them out for
use when we need them. All skilful teachers of youth know
that if their pupils would make progress they must employ
method, and have division and enumeration in the lessons on
which they examine. And it is certain that the puritans aimed
at nothing less than thoroughly teaching their flocks; and many
of their hearers, male and female, took notes of the sermons and
afterwards expanded them. Such a process would be quite
impossible in regard to much of the preaching of our times,
satisfying itself with a loose general view of a subject, which
may produce a transient impression for good, but which does
not give a distinct apprehension at the time, and which could
not possibly be recalled afterwards, much less expressed, by any
but the original speaker. Depend upon it, two centuries hence
these writers will be far less read than the puritans are at this
present time.
An objection has frequently been taken to the too graphic
illustrations and quaintnesses of the puritans. An excuse can
easily be pled for it by those who may not be prepared to recom-
mend it for general adoption. It was the habit of the time, and
was adopted in ;ill departments of literature, poetical and prose,
and by the adherents of the Anglican establishment as well as
the nonconformists. The puritan preachers felt as if they were
necessitated to employ some such means of keeping alive the
attention of hearers to the weighty instruction they were in the
habit of importing to their large mixed audiences. It is a
curious circumstance that the present age has come back to
the same practice under a somewhat different form, and with
•use for it in the solidity of its thinking J and it cannot
with any consistency objeci to 1 he fashion of thi good old puritans
as LoJOg as it calls for and favours so many tenaation means of
BIJUnmoning the attention, in>t only in motels, hut in every species
Of writing, including OUT religious literature, which is advertised
by Catch titles and read for the sake of excitement. It is to he
Baid in behalf of the puritans, that though there may he at times
an overstrained ingenuity in their illustrations, yet these always
bear directly and pointedly upon the doctrinal truth which they
aif expounding, and khe practical lesson; which they enforce.
The puritans i eer sought to enlighten the intellect; hut their
aim was also to gain the heart, and in order to both one and
the other, to awaken the conscience in the addresses to which
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE PURITAN THEOLOGY. XXXV
they heave not been surpassed, perhaps not equalled, by any
class of teachers in ancient or in modern times.
The best puritan preaching ever tended to take the form of
what they called the ' lecture.' We often meet with this phrase
in reading the history of the times. There were lectures delivered
weekly in certain churches in London, and in some of the prin-
cipal towns throughout the three kingdoms ; Laud, we know, en-
deavoured to put down the puritan lecture. Charnock describes
himself as officially lecturer at Christ Church, where the lecture
was delivered at three o'clock on the afternoons of the Lord's
day. We are not to suppose that the puritans always preached
in this elaborate style, but the ablest of them did so when they
could get fit audience; and the sermons which they thought
worthy of publication were commonly of this elaborately-exposi-
tory type. In particular, Charnock always discourses to us as
if he were lecturing in a college chapel at Oxford, or in Christ
Church, Dublin.
While it is not desirable that all preaching, or even ordinary
preaching, should be of this stamp, it would surely be for the
benefit of the church of Christ to have a few lecturers or doctors,
fitted for such work, in all our great cities ; or to secure the same
end by systematic lectures delivered by a judicious combination
of competent men, not merely on attractive and popular, but on
profound theological, subjects. To accomplish the purpose in
our day, it is not needful that this elaborate exposition should
proceed in the manner of the puritans ; in particular, it should
avoid the minute dissection of texts in which they so delighted,
but in which the living truth was apt to be killed in the process.
In order to be profitable, the lectures must be addressed to the
age, by men who sympathise with the age ; and it is only thus
that they can accomplish in this century, what the puritan lecture
effected two hundred years ago. Ever founded on the word of
God, they should endeavour to bring out its broad and simple
meaning, rather than exercise their ingenuity in drawing out
significations which were never seen by the writers of the Scrip-
tures. Thus may the church of God expect to raise up a body
of intelligent people, to maintain and defend the truth in our
day, by better weapons than were employed even by the soldiers
of Cromwell in the seventeenth century.
III. PHILOSOPHICAL PEINCIPLES INVOLVED IN THE
PUKITAN THEOLOGY.
The author of this Introduction feels that, on being asked to
write about the divine who discussed the profound subject of the
'Attributes of God,' it will be expected of him, from the character
XXXVI INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
of his favourite studies, that he should say something of the
philosophy of the puritans, or rather of the philosophic principles
involved in the puritan theology. For in truth the puritans were
not, really nor professedly, philosophers, but theologians and
preachers. Not that their religious views discouraged the study
of philosophy. It could be shewn that some of the greatest
thinkers that England has produced, owed not a little to puritan
influence. Francis Bacon had certainly none of the self-sacri-
ficing spirit of the puritans, but he owed much to a puritan
mother. The puritans generally were too much engrossed w T ith
practical questions, to write calm philosophic treatises. But it
is not to be forgotten that Culverwel and Cudworth, about the
most learned and profound thinkers of their age, took the reform-
ing side in Cambridge ; and Howe, who wrote his ' Living Temple'
(at least the first part of it) in his calm retirement in the family
of Lord Massarene at Antrim, was altogether a puritan. Locke
(like Milton) did not keep by the deep religious faith of those
among whom he was brought up, but he cherished their reverence
for the Bible and liberty of thought.
The phrase ' puritan divines ' is understood to apply to those
who sought to construct a biblical theology. But Christian
theology, which is a co-ordination of the scattered truths of God's
word, cannot be constructed without philosophic principles, more
or fewer, being involved explicitly, or more frequently implicitly.
If we try to connect truths w T hich in the Bible are left unconnected ;
if we generalise wha^ in the Scriptures is particular ; if we infer
from what is revealed ; if we argue from the analogy of the faith,
or from any other principle ; above all, if we would arrange the
truth into a system, we must, whether we avow it or not, whether
we know it or not, proceed on some principle of reason. We
often find that those who affect to be the most determined to
avoid all scholastic forms, are all the while, in their statements
and reasonings, proceeding on principles which are really meta-
physical, the metaphysics being very confused and ill-founded.
It would be very curious and very instructive withal, to have a
full and clear enunciation of the philosophic principles involved
in thf theologies of all different ages and creeds. It is only by
having such a Statement spread out articulately, that we can find
what L8 human and what is divine in systems of divinity. In this
article we are to endeavour to bring out to view the philosophy
implied in the construction of the puritan theology.
bible theologians, as such, should always avoid identifying
their ■;. item i with, or founding them upon, any peculiar meta-
physical Bystem. But let us not be misunderstood. We do not
mean to affirm thai no attempt should he made to wed religion
;md philosophy. We hold that all philosophy should bethought
out in a religious spirit, and that much good may he effected by
philosophic works on religious topics, BUCh as those of Pascal, and
Culverwel, and Cudworth in the seventeenth century. But in
all such casoa the philosophy and the Scriptural theology should
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE PURITAN THEOLOGY. XXXV11
be kept separate, not, it may be, in separate chapters, but first
in the mind of the writer, and second in the composition of his
work ; so separate, that the reader may discern the difference,
and that the certainties of God may not be confounded by the
dullest apprehension with the speculations of men.
The puritans professed to be students of the Bible, and not
philosophers, and to avoid all mere speculative questions. And
we are prepared to affirm that neither before nor since, has there
been a body of profound divines assuming fewer doubtful meta-
physical principles. But the very puritans did proceed, in the
construction of their systems, on certain logical or metaphysical
maxims. We allow that, like all dogmatic theologians, they
carried their method of technical formulae too far ; that they did
at times squeeze a text, written in an eastern language, to suit
it to a western article ; and that they professed to reach a com-
pleteness of system such as is altogether beyond the limited capa-
cities of man, in dealing with the boundless truths of God's Word.
But we maintain that in their theology they ground on no peculiar
philosophy ; that the maxims involved in their construction and
inferences are found in the very nature of the human mind, and
of the reason with which man is endowed, are such as man must
ever take with him, if he is not to abnegate his rational nature,
are such as have had a place allotted them in all profound philo-
sophies, whether in ancient, in mediaeval, or in modern times ;
in short, the puritans proceed on the principles of a catholic philo-
sophy, which is the expression of the laws of man's intellectual
constitution.
It may be allowed indeed that they employed at times the forms
and expressions of authors, and of systems that were favourites
with them. In particular, they used the distinctions and the phrases
of Aristotle, of Augustine, and of the scholastic logicians. But then
it is to be remembered that Aristotle and Augustine were about the
most comprehensive thinkers that ever lived ; and it is a fact that
the schoolmen, all narrow and technical as they were in their spirit,
were the main instruments of giving definiteness to the expressions
used in the western world in our modern literature, — in fact, in our
very speeches, sermons, and common conversation. The puritans
in their learned treatises had to employ the phraseology of the
learning of their times, just as they had to use the language of
their country. The inspired writers themselves had their nation-
alities and their individualities — the speech of the disciples still ' be-
wrayeth' them. They had to speak of the sun rising, and the earth
standing, according to the ideas of their time ; and in regard to
man's nature they had to use the phrases, ' reins/ ' bowels,' ' heart/
and employ the distinction of ' body,' ' soul,' and ' spirit/ because
they were accepted in their times. The puritans must use the
language they found ready for them, and the distinctions under-
stood by their readers ; but just as the writers of Scripture did not
mean authoritatively to sanction any theories of the world or of the
mind, so the puritans did not intend to adopt any peculiar philoso-
XXXV111 INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK S WORKS.
phic system, Platonic or Aristotelian, Greek or Latin, ancient or
modern, but to proceed on the universal principles of reason.
In establishing' the divine existence, Charnock had to make
references to the aiaterial universe, as furnishing evidence of order,
design, and beneficence. In doing so, he has to make his state-
ments according to the views of the time. The Copernican theory
of the universe had been adopted for some ages by men of science,
but had not yet been brought down to the common belief of the
people. Bacon had rejected it, and Milton in his great poem forms
his pictures on the idea of the earth being reckoned the stable
centre, with the stars moving round it in cycles and epicycles.
When Charnock was in Dublin, the Royal Society was formed in
Oxford ; and while Charnock was meditating his discourses on the
Attributes, Newton was cogitating the law of universal gravitation.
But the preacher feels that it was not for him to go in advance of
the popular apprehension. He usually supposes, as all men in fact
still do, that the sun moves round the earth, but he states in a
note, ' whether it be the sun or the earth that moves, it is all one,'
that is for his purpose, which is to shew that ' the things in the
world declare the existence of a God in their production, harmony,
preservation, and answering their several ends.' 'Every plant,
every atom, as well as every star, at the first meeting, whispers this
in our ears, " I have a Creator, I am witness to a Deity." Who
ever saw statues or pictures, but presently thinks of a statuary and
limner?' 'The spider, as if it understood the art of weaving, fits
its web both for its own habitation, and a net to catch its prey.
The bee builds its cell, which serves for chambers to reside in, and
a repository for its provision/ ' The whole model of the body is
grounded upon reason. Every member hath its exact proportion,
distinct office, regular motion.' ' The mouth takes in the meat, the
teeth grind it for the stomach, the stomach prepares it.' 'Every
member hath a signature and mark of God, mid of his wisdom.'* It
is the office of ii.m nr.il theology to unfold the order and the adapta-
tion which everywhere fall under our notice in the works of God, but
in doing so it should never profess bo expound the ultimate constitu-
tion of things : l No man can find out the work that God maketh
from the beginning to I he end.' In order to the conclusiveness of the
argumenl for the divine existence, it is not necessary that we should
know the final Composition and laws of the suhstanccs in which the
order and design are exhibited We may Bee at once that there
are plan and purpose in the dispositions of an army in march,
though wo know not meanwhile whence it has come or whither it
Oing. In liko manner we are sure that there are skill and con-
trivance in t ho inoveinonts of the hftfUof »»at 'ire, though wo cannot
till their ultimate properties. CharnooJc lived in an age of transi-
tion in physical science, and some of his representations are anti-
quated; hut Ins arguments are s iill conclusive, and his illustrations
need only bO l»o expressed in a new form to hecome apposite. We
should DO* forget that we, tOO, live in an agC ^^ transit ion, and
* Alt itftortM, I>is. I.
PHILOSOPHICAL PKINCIPLES IN THE PURITAN THEOLOGY. XXX1X
when the grand discoveries of our day in regard to the conservation
of energy and the correlation of all the physical forces, and in regard
to the unity of all organic forms, are wrought out to their full con-
sequences, we suspect that the most advanced works in our century,
that the Natural Theology of Paley, and the Bridge water and
Burnet Treatises, will he found as antiquated in the twentieth cen-
tury as the works of the seventeenth century are to us.
But the divines of the seventeenth century had to deal much
more with mental philosophy than with physical science. It may
serve some good ends to exhibit the exact historical position in
respect of philosophy of the puritans, and more especially of Char-
nock. The puritan divines generally were well acquainted with
the philosophy of Aristotle, with his logic, his psyche, his ethics,
and metaphysics. They were also conversant with the theology of
Augustine, of the middle ages, and of the reformers. The exclu-
sive reverence for the scholastic system had passed away among
advanced thinkers, but the scholastic training still lingered in the
colleges, and the new and experiential method had not yet been
expounded. Charnock was born four years before Locke, and the
■ Discourses on the Attributes' appeared ten years before the
' Essay on the Human Understanding,' the work which founded
modern English philosophy. Charnock died fifty -nine years before
David Hume published the sceptical work on Human Nature,
which compelled thinkers to review all old philosophic principles,
even those involved in theology ; eighty years before Thomas Keid
began the work of reconstruction on observational principles ; and a
century before Emmanuel Kant made his attack on rational theo-
logy, and appealed to man's moral nature as furnishing the only
argument for the divine existence. This was no doubt one reason
why the puritan theology was not appreciated except by earnest
Christians in the eighteenth century ; it did not speak to those
who had been trained in the new philosophy. But we have now
arrived at a time in which neither the philosophy of Locke, nor that
of Kant, can be allowed to reign supremely. We are at a sufficient
distance to regard them, not as suns in our sky, but as stars, with
Plato and Aristotle and Augustine, and many others, their equals
in light and splendour. In particular, those who most admire
Locke and his fresh observational spirit, now see his great defects
in deriving all our ideas from sensation and reflection, and setting
aside the constitutional principles of the mind. The superficial
theology which grounded itself on the philosophy of Locke has
died an unlamented death, and no one wishes to see it raised from
the grave to which it has been consigned. We shall certainly
never return to the phraseology employed by the puritans, nor bind
ourselves to follow them in their favourite distinctions. Let us
copy them only in this, that in our arguments we proceed on the
principles which, in some modification or other, have appeared in all
deep philosophies, and have done so because they are in the very
structure of our minds, and in the nature of human reason, as
reflecting the divine reason.
Xl INTRODUCTION TO CHAENOCK's WORKS.
L Let us glance at the Puritan Psychology.
The Faculties of the Mind. — These come out only incidentally.
The following is Charnock's summary, ' The essential faculties of
the rational soul — the mind, the repository of principles, the
faculty whereby we should judge of things honest or dishonest ;
the understanding, the discursive faculty, and the reducer of those
principles into practical dictates ; that part whereby we reason
and collect one thing from another, framing conclusions from the
principles in the mind ; the heart, i. e., the will, conscience, affec-
tions, which were to apply those principles, draw out those reason-
ings upon the stage of the life.'* Though not a perfect, this is not
a bad, distribution of the mental powers. The account of our
intellectual capacities is certainly superior to that given by Locke,
who denied innate ideas, and allowed an inadequate place to in-
tuition. Charnock mentions first 'the mind, the repository of
principles.' What is this but Plato's "koyog and Aristotle's vot$ de-
scribed by both, each, however, with a different explanation, as ™cro;
iidoiv (see Aris. Psyche, iii. c. 4 s. 4) ? What but Locke's intuition —
not properly unfolded by him? What but Reid's principles of
common sense, Kant's forms, and Sir William Hamilton's regula-
tive faculty ? Then in regard to the other, or motive, department
of the mind, we may mark how English thinkers had not yet
come to the miserably defective psychology of the last century and
beginning of this, in which man's powers are represented as con-
sisting simply in the understanding and feelings. Man's heart is
spoken of as having three essential elements, the will, the con-
science, and the affections, each with a province, each serving a
purpose, and all to be dedicated to God. There was no such
narrow and confused controversy such as that which has been
started in our day as to whether religion be an affair of the head
or of the heart. In their ' repository of principles,' as distinguished
from the discursive faculty and reasoning, they had all that is good
and true in the modern Germano-Colerid^ean distinction between
the reason and the understanding ; and they had it in a better
form ; and they never proposed, as some in our day have done, to
make reason the sole discerner and judge of religion. With the
puritan, religion was an affair of the whole man, including head
and heart, arid the heart having not only emotive sensibility and
attachment, but a conscience to discern good and evil, and a will
to choose.
Knowledge* — As opposing themselves io scepticism, both in
natural and revealed religion, they held that man could reach
knowledge, positive and correct. They represented some know-
ledge as being intuitive, and other knowledge as obtained by a
process, both the One and the other being real. They held t hat
man could rise to a true knowledge of God, to some knowledge by
means of his works within and without us, but to a still closer and
more satisfactory knowledge by the revelation he has given in his
Word, very specially by the manifestation hfi has made of himself
* Sermon on The Knonled.jr <»/' (lod, \\ vi.
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE PURITAN THEOLOGY.
Xli
in the face of his Son. The divines of that century did not coun-
tenance the doctrine advocated by Archbishop King and Bishop
Peter Brown in the beginning of the next, and revived in our day,
as to man being incapacitated by his very nature from knowing
God as he is, a doctrine supposed to be favourable to religion, but
which may quite as readily serve the purposes of a philosophy
which affirms that man can know nothing, and terminate in scepti-
cism. Charnock declares, as to this knowledge, first, that it is not
immediate or intuitive, such as we have of a man when we see him
face to face, but through ' his excellent works of creation, provi-
dence, redemption, and the revelation of invisible mysteries in the
Word.' He says, secondly, it is not comprehensive. ' To know
comprehensively is to contain, and the thing contained must be
less than that which contains, and therefore, if a creature could
comprehend the essence of God, he would be greater than God/
He says that we cannot comprehend the nature of the creatures
that are near us, and that not even in heaven shall God be com-
prehensively known. But still we are represented as knowing
God. We know God as we know the sea ; we behold the vastness
of its waters, but we cannot measure the depths and abysses of it.
Yet we may be said truly to see it, as we may touch a mountain
with our hands, but not grasp it in our arms/
Knowledge and faith. — The puritans do not enter into any
minute inquiries as to the natural exercises of knowledge and faith.
The precise nature and relation of knowledge and faith as psycho-
logical acts cannot be said to be yet settled by the professors of
mental science. We here come to a desideratum, which we ven-
ture to think might be supplied by inductive investigation. There
is a constant reference in the present day to knowledge and faith
as different, and each with a province, but we are furnished with
no definition of terms, or explanation of the precise difference of
the exercises. The puritans confined themselves, as the schoolmen
of the age of Anselm and Abelard did, to their own province, the
relation of the two as religious acts. Their views, especially those
of Charnock, are clear and distinctly announced, and they seem to
us to be sound and judicious. Charnock declares unequivocally
that knowledge is necessary in order to faith : ' It is impossible an
act can be without an object ; nothing is grace but as it is con-
versant about God, or hath a respect to God. There can be no act
about an unknown object.' ' Faith cannot be without the know-
ledge of God and Christ.' ' Knowledge is antecedent to faith in the
order of nature. I know whom I have believed, 2 Tim. i. 12.
That ye may know and believe that I am he, Is. xliii. 10/ The
divines of that century have not started the question whether faith
belongs to the understanding or the feelings. Their view seems to
us to be sounder both psychologically and theologically. 'This
grace (faith), therefore, is set in a double seat by divines, in the
understanding and will : it is properly a consent of the will, which
cannot be without an assent in the mind.' ' Faith is in the under-
standing in regard of disposition, but in the will in regard of the
Xlli INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK's WORKS.
fiducial apprehension ; for faith is not one simple virtue, but com-
pounded of two, knowledge and trust/*
The conscience. — In respect of the place they give to the con-
science, the puritans have passed far beyond Aristotle, whom they
so far follow in their psychology. Aristotle, in his Ethics, does allot
to ' right reason' (ugio/ievm \6yw x.ai ug civ 6 <pg6vi>j,og eg/ircm, see Ethics
ii. c. 6, § 15), a function in the determination of virtue; but he does
not mention the conscience. The puritans, founding on the pas-
sage in Paul (Rom. ii. 15), make constant references to the con-
science ; no preachers before their time, and few since, have made
such direct and powerful appeals to this mental faculty. ' Con-
science,' says Charnock, ' is natural to man, and an active faculty.'
They attempt no psychological analysis of the power ; they do not
inquire whether it is an exercise of the reason on the one hand, or
a sense, sentiment, or feeling on the other. This was a question
started in the next age by Samuel Clarke on the one side, and
Shaftesbury and Francis Hutcheson on the other. Charnock, we
have seen, makes the heart embrace 'the conscience, will, affec-
tions.' In the ' mind, the repository of principles,' he places the
faculty 'whereby we should judge of things honest or dishonest ;'
and the office of conscience seems to be that of following this up by
' accusing, or else excusing.' He argues resolutely that the con-
science testifieth in behalf of the existence of God. 'Man witnesseth
to God in the operations and reflections of conscience.' ' There is a
law in the minds of men which is a rule of good and evil. There
is a notion of good and evil in the consciences of men, which is evi-
dent by those laws which are common to all countries.' ' Man, in
the first instant of the use of reason, finds natural principles within
himself; directing and choosing them, he finds a distinction between
good and evil; how could this be if there werenol some rule to him
bo try and distinguish good and evil.' 'Common reason supposeth
that there is some hand which hath fixed this distinction in man;
how could it cist) be universally impressed 1 No law can be without
a lawgiver.' 'As there is a rule in us, there must be a judge.'
'From this a man may rationally be instructed that there is a Cod;
fcf he may thus argue: 1 find myself naturally obliged to do this
thing and avoid that, 1 have therefore a superior that doth oblige
me.'-f- Has Emmanuel Kant,, with his 'practical reason' and 'cate-
gorical imperative/ said anything more direct and convincing than
this Y
The affections and the will. These two were never resolved into
h other by the puritans. They asserted that all knowledge
should load on to a ffect n .n, and that all genuine faith does produce
* Tin aba cti from the sermon on Thi Kncwltdfn of Ood,
t Aitriimt'X, Diao. I. The puritans generally appeeled to firsl principle*, intel-
lectual end moral. Than Baxter ■eye, Rttuoni qfUu Christum Religion, P. 1, -Ami
if I could n"i en iwei ■• loeptio, who denied the certainty of my judgment by Bonee-
tion and reflexive intuition (how Dear t<> Looke), yel nature would nut suffer mo to
doubt ' ' By my aotiom I know that 1 em; uiul that 1 am a HtMitiout, intelligent,
thinking, willing, end operative being. 1 'it ii true thai there ii in the natui I
man's soul a certain aptitude to understand oertain truths as soon as the] art
rtvealed ; thut is, pj soon ■ thi rery tutfura Pimm li observed. Ami it ii true that
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE PURITAN THEOLOGY. xliii
affection. But they ever insisted that above the affections there is
a more important power, the power of will. It is thus that Char-
nock puts the relation of these attributes : — ' The choice of the will
in all true knowledge treads upon the heel of the act of understand-
ing, and men naturally desire the knowledge of that which is true,
in order to the enjoyment of that which is good in it. The end
of all the acts of the understanding is to cause a motion in the will
and affections suitable to the apprehension.' ' Knowledge is but
as a cloud that intercepts the beams of the sun, and doth not advan-
tage the earth, unless melted into drops, and falling down into the
bosom of it. Let the knowledge of the word of the truth drop down
in a kindly shower upon your hearts, let it be a knowledge of the
word heated with love.'*
II. Philosophic Principles. — We have seen that among the
mental attributes he places 'the repository of principles/ The puritan
divines do not attempt to expound the nature of these principles, and
the accounts given by metaphysicians since that time, as well as prior
this disposition is brought to actual knowledge as soon as the mind comes to actual
consideration of the things. But it is not true that there is any actual knowledge
of any principles born in man.' It is wrong to * make it consist in certain axioms
(as some say) born in us, or written in our hearts from our birth (as others say),
dispositively there.' These distinctions do not exhaust the subject, but they contain
important truth ; and if Locke had attended to them, he would have been saved
from extravagant statements. Owen, in his Dissertation on Divine Justice, appeals,
in proving the existence of justice, (1.) to the ' common opinion ' and innate con-
ceptions of all ; (2.) to the consciences of all mankind ; (3.) to the public consent
of all nations.
* Sermons on Knowledge of God and Regeneration. David Clarkson, in his
account of the ' New Creature/ speaks of the following mental acts as involved
in the religious exercises of the soul :— I. The Mind ok Undekstanding. And
under this (1.) apprehensions, view, or notion ; (2.) judgment and assent aris-
ing from apprehensions ; (3.) valuations proceeding from the estimative power
of the mind ; (4.) designs or contrivances of ends ; (5.) inventions, whereby
finds means towards ends ; (6.) reasonings, or discursive power ; (7.) thoughts,
or cogitations ; (8.) consultations, the advising power which philosophers call
BovXsvT/xrj, which shews by what means the good end may be secured. II. The
Will, under which we have (1.) new inclinations, — Aristotle calls the act BovXyjtJtg,
and the schoolmen, simplex volitio, in it the mind has a new object ; (2.) new inten-
tions, aiming at something new, intending God and aiming at him ; (3.) fruitions,
in which the mind rests and is contented ; (4.) new elections in choice of means for
promoting ends, Aristotle's crgoa/gsff/; rcov ftgbg rb riXog ; (5.) new consents, in
particular the soul consenting to enter into covenant with God ; (6.) new applica-
tions, whereby the will applies the faculties to prosecute what it has pitched on ;
(7.) new purposes, determinations, resolves, these being fixed and permanent. This
analysis, taken with modifications from Aristotle and the scholastic divines, is too
minute, but it shews how expanded a view the puritans took of the higher attributes
of the mind as engaged in spiritual acts. In his sermon ' Of Faith,' he says — Faith
implies (l.J knowledge ; (2 ) assent ; (3) dependence or procumbence. ' To rely upon
Christ alone for salvation is saving faith.' See Sermons and Discourses on Several
Divine Subjects, by the late Reverend and learned David Clarkson, B.D., and sometime
Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, 1696. In these sermons, the scholastic phrases,
objective, subjective, effective, formaliler, interpretive, habitualiter, cast up in all profound
discussion. The account of the mental faculties is the most extended we have seen
in the puritan writings. That of Charnock is more succinct and judicious. But all
the puritans proceed substantially on the same views. The view of faith is the
Bame with that of Charnock, and it could easily be shewn that it is that held by the
puritan divines generally.
xllV INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK's WORKS.
to it, have been sufficiently confused. So far as Charnock incidentally
sketchestheir nature, his views are both just andprofound. He speaks
of them as connatural* a phrase the praise of which has been ascribed
to Shaftesbury ; but Culverwel, with whose writings Shaftesbury was
well acquainted, uses connate, and Whichcote (see Aphorisms) uses
connatural ; and connate and connatural were probably familiar
phrases among the Platonic thinkers in Emmanuel College. Char-
nock is fond of characterising these principles as ' common reason/
1 nature within man ;' he speaks of ' the common principles in the
conscience/ and in this form they are ' a law of nature writ upon
the hearts of men, which will direct them to commendable actions
if they will attend to the writings in the conscience.'
In establishing the existence of God in the opening of his most
elaborate work, Charnock ever appeals to these principles of reason.
1 What is the general dictate of nature is a certain truth/ and with
Cicero he appeals to common consent ; ' a general consent of all
nations is to be esteemed as a law of nature/ He shews in regard to
the conviction of the divine existence ; (1) that it hath been universal,
no nation being without it ; (2) that it hath been consistent and
uninterrupted in all kinds and conditions of men ; and (3) natural
and innate. ' Every man is born with a restless instinct to be of
some kind of religion or other, which implies some object of religion.
The impression of a Deity is as common as reason, and of the same
age with reason. It is a relic of knowledge after the fall of man,
like fire under ashes, which sparkles as soon as ever the heap of
ashes is opened. A notion is sealed up in the soul of every man :
how could these people, who were unknown to one another, separate
by seas and mountains, differing in various customs and manner of
living, had no mutual intelligence one with another, light upon
this as a common sentiment, if they had not been guided by one
uniform reason in all their minds, by one nature common to them
all?" While he represents the belief in God as thus a dictate of
nature, he does not allege that it is formed independent of the
observation of objects, or without the exercise of discursive thought.
' The notion of a God seems to be twisted with the nature of man,
and is the first natural branch of common reason, or upon either
the first inspection of a man into himself and his own state
and constitution, or upon the first sight of any external visible
object .'-)*
Be has occasion to make use of important metaphysical prin-
ciples, hut In- dors not, discuss them as a metaphysician. He inci-
dentally refers to our ideas of Time and Eternity. I le accords wit h
those divines who hold that God m.iv stand in a different relation
to time from that in which man docs; hut he does not give any
countenance to the statements of those schoolmen, who, founding
upon certain mystic expressions of Augustine, spoke of time as
having no existence, no reality in the view of God. His view is
characterised by his usual judgment 'Since God knows time, he
knows all things as they were in time ; he doth not know all thing!
* Sermon on Itryrncndion, D, 111. f Attributes, Discourse I.
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE PURITAN THEOLOGY. xlv
to be at once, though he knows at once what is, has been, and will
be. All things are past, present, and to come, in regard to their
existence ; but there is not past, present, and to come, in regard to
God's knowledge of them, because he sees and knows not by any
other but by himself; he is his own light by which he sees, his own
glass wherein he sees ; beholding himself, he beholds all things.'*
David Hume had not yet risen to compel philosophers to discuss
the precise nature of causation. Charnock proceeds as Bacon had
done, and as all thinkers of his time still did, upon the Aristotelian
distinction of causes into material, efficient, formal, and final, a dis-
tinction, we may remark, founded on the nature of things, and
having a deep but somewhat confused meaning. In regard to
efficient cause he assumes that every occurrence has a cause, and
with Aristotle, that there cannot be an infinite series of causey and
reckons this a principle of reason, though not formed independent
of the observation of things.
But the metaphysical topic which fell more especially under the
notice of the puritan theologians was that of the freedom of the
will, which they had to consider and discuss as against the rising
Arminianism. Keally and professedly they followed Augustine
and Calvin, whose doctrines however have often been misunder-
stood. These profound thinkers were most sensitively anxious to
have their doctrine of predestination distinguished from the fatalism
of the Stoics. t They held that man had an essential freedom given
him by his Maker, a freedom which made him a responsible being,
and of which he could never be deprived. At the same time, they
maintained that this freedom had been much impaired by sin,
which has injured man first morally and then physically, so that
the will is now enslaved. This is the doctrine resolutely defended
by Augustine (see De Libero Arbitrio), and by Calvin (see his
De Servitute et Liberatione Humani Arbitrii in reply to Pighius).
They were followed by the puritans generally. Thus Owen in his
' Display of Arminianism' : — ' We grant man in the substance of
all his actions as much power, liberty, and freedom, as a mere
created nature is capable of. We grant him to be free in his choice
from all outward exaction or inward natural necessity to work
according to election and deliberation, spontaneously embracing
what seemeth good unto him.'J The puritans clung to the Scrip-
* Attributes, Discourse on Eternity.
f It is a circumstance worthy of being noted, that in modern times, we have
reversed the meaning of the phrases used by the ancient philosophers, and thus
produced some confusion. The Stoics resolutely denied Necessitas, but held by
Fatum (see Cicero De Fato), by which they meant what was spoken or decreed by
God, whom they represented as an intellectual fire, developing all things in cycles,
according to a fixed and eternal order. The arguments advanced by them in favour
of fatalism are substantially the same with those urged in modern times in behalf
of Philosophical Necessity.
J In the same treatise, Owen speaks of that ■ effectual working of his, according
to his eternal purpose, whereby though some agents as the wills of men are causes
free and indefinite or unlimited, lords of their own actions, in respect of their
internal principle of operations (that is, their own nature), they are yet all, in
respect of his decree, and by his powerful working, determined to this and that
Xlvi INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK's WORKS.
ture doctrine of predestination, but they did not identify it with
the philosophic doctrine of Necessity as Jonathan Edwards did in
the next century. They drew their doctrine from the Word of God,
and founded it upon the perfection of God's Knowledge looking
into the future as well as the past and present, and upon his
Sovereignty doing all things, but all things wisely, justly, and bene-
ficently. Some Calvinistic divines we acknowledge have drawn
distinctions to save the freedom of the will which have rather
wrecked it, and have used expressions which make our moral nature
shudder. Charnock is wonderfully clear of all such extremes : —
1 God's foreknowledge of man's voluntary actions doth not neces-
sitate the will of man.' ' It is certain all necessity doth not take
away liberty ; indeed, a compulsive necessity takes away liberty, but
a necessity of immutability removes not liberty from God. Why
should then a necessity of infallibility in God remove liberty from
the creature t ' God did not only know that we should do such
actions, but that we should do them freely ; he foresaw that the
will would freely determine itself to this or that.' ' God did
not foreknow the actions of men as necessary but as free ; so
that liberty is rather established by this foreknowledge than
removed.' ' That God doth foreknow every thing, and yet that
there is liberty in the rational creature, are both certain ; but how
fully to reconcile them, may surmount the understanding of man.'
As to his sovereignty and election, he declares, what the experience
of every Christian responds to, ' It could not be any merit in the
creature that might determine God to choose him. If the decree
of election falls not under the merit of Christ's passion, as the pro-
curing cause, it cannot fall under the merit of any part of the cor-
rupted mass.' But he ever falls back upon the goodness and
justice of God as regulating his sovereignty, 'As it is impossible
for liim not to be sovereign, it is impossible for him to deny his
deity and his purity. It is lawful to God to do what he will,
but his will being ordered by the righteousness of his nature,
effect, in particular; not that they are compelled to do this, or hindered from doin^
that, but aro inclined and dijfoied to do this or that according to their proper
manner of working, that i^ most freely.' 'We grant as large a freedom and
dominion to onr wills over their own ;i<-t s as a creature Bubjecl to the supremo rulo
of God's providence Is capable of. Endned we arc with Mien a liberty of will as is
free from all outward compulsion and inward necessity, having an elective faculty
of applj in:' i! 'If unto that which seems good unto it, in which it has a free ehoice,
notwithstanding it is subservient to the decree of GodV 'The acts of will being
i re entities,' 'cannot have their e lenos and existence solely from the will itself,
and eannot l" 1 thus, a-jr'ii ov, a lirst and supremo cause endued with an undcrived
.- ■ He distinguishes between « ill ■ as it. was at Brsl by ( lod created,' and • will
>w by sin corrupted;' yet being considered in ts ■ also, they ascribe
more unto it than it was ever capahlo of.' ' 'l'h ere is hoth an iuipotenry and an
enmity in corrupted nature to anything ipiritually good.' ■ Even in spiritual things
we deny that our wills are at all debarred or deprived of their proper liberty, but
I,,.,-,. adeed, that we are qo| properly free until the Sou makes as free.' in
3 mil's /'rr.srrrntnrr, he says, 'The impoteney that is in Dl to do good is not
I ermed rlliin -phyaiea, hoi h natural and moral.' These extra the views
sntertained hy the puritans generally, who meant simply to socmen the do ctiin es
written on the vn\ lace of Scripture, hut sometimes did si) hy douhtful metu-
iC l\ dj llle-ll
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLES IN THE PURITAN THEOLOGY. xlvi'i
as infinite as his will, he cannot do any thing but what is
good.'*
The inspired writers as little profess to give a system of the
faculties of the mind as of the material world. In mentioning the
sun, moon, and stars, and the earth with its rocks, plants, and ani-
mals, they proceed upon the ideas of their time ; and in the same
manner they refer to the attributes of the soul in language under-
stood by those whom they addressed — very often, we may add,
imparting to the phrases and the notions embodied in them; a com-
prehensiveness and an elevation which they never could have had
but for their association with spiritual verities. In the Old Testa-
ment, constant allusions' are made to the special senses of seeing,
hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling ; to remembrances, imagi-
nations, and knowledge ; to thoughts, understanding, and compre-
hending ; to belief, trust, and confidence ; to devices, counsels,
purposes, and intents ; to fear and hope, grief and joy, pity and
compassion, anger and mercy, hatred and love. Among the
Hebrews, as indeed in most nations, particular faculties were con-
nected with particular parts of the body ; and we read of ' bowels/
the seat of sympathy ; of the ' reins/ the seat of deep and anxious
thought; and of the ' heart/ the seat of all inward reflection. And
here we think it of some importance to call attention to the cir-
cumstance that the Scriptures do not distinguish, as we do, the
heart from the head ; and do not make the heart signify mere
emotion, but use it to include all that passes through the mind
prior to action; and we read of the 'imaginations' and of the
'thoughts' of man's heart, — hence the absurdity of arguing that
faith consists in feeling, from the fact that we are said to believe
with the heart. In the New Testament, we have a more ad-
vanced view; and we read of the 'mind' and 'conscience/ the
'soul' and 'spirit,' and 'will' has a higher place allotted to it. The
preacher and divine must, like the inspired waiters, proceed so far
upon the distribution of the mental powers understood by their
hearers and readers ; but it will be found that when they take a
limited view of the human mind and its capacities, both their
preaching and their theology will be very much narrowed. It
could easily be shewn that the inspired writers have something
suited to every essential quality of man's complex nature, provid-
ing symbols for the senses, images for the fancy, types for the
imagination, aiding the memory by interesting correlations of time
and number, presenting arguments to the understanding, rousing
appeals to the conscience, a lovely object to draw forth the affec-
tions, and motives to persuade the will. The broad and compre-
hensive views of the faculties taken by the puritan preachers led
them to address all the parts of man's complex nature.
As the Bible is not a book of science, mental or material, so it is
not a book of philosophy. Nor should preaching, nor should theo-
logy, affect to be metaphysics. If any thinker is discontented with
* Attributes, Discourses on God's Knowledge and Dominion.
Xlviii INTRODUCTION TO CHARNOCK's WORKS.
past speculative philosophy, he is at liberty to attempt to amend
it. But let him do so in a professedly philosophic work, written
always in a religious spirit, but without identifying religion with
his theories. Still it will be difficult for the theologian, difficult
even for the preacher, to avoid proceeding on an implied philo-
sophy. If we do nothing more than exhort persons to beware of
satisfying themselves, with a speculative without a practical
knowledge, we are proceeding, whether we know it or not, on an
Aristotelian distinction. A profound philosophy has in all ages
sought to ally itself with theology. Religion may be inconsistent
with a superficial or a one-sided, but not with a deep or a catholic
philosophy. A shallow philosophy will always tend to produce a
shallow theology. Suppose, for instance, we adopt the principle of
Hobbes and the sensational school of France, and hold that all our
ideas are got from the senses, it will be difficult to establish any of
the higher truths of religion ; or suppose we assert that virtue is
mere utility, it will be difficult to vindicate the justice of God in
the awful punishment of the sinner. Philosophic principles should
certainly not obtrude themselves in the disquisitions of the divine;
but philosophic conceptions may underlie his whole mode of
thought and discussion, and impart a coherency and consistency to
the system constructed by him. The profound views of human
reason, in its strength and in its weakness, taken by the puritan
divines, enabled them to construct a theology in some measure
corresponding to the profundity of Scripture, and defective only in
this, that at times it proposed to settle what should have been left
free, and to embrace all revealed truths, which, in their entireness,
will always refuse to be compressed within human systems.
A TREATISE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
VOL. I.
TO THE EEADER.
Reader, — Thou art here presented with a little piece of a great man ;
great, indeed, if great piety, great parts, great learning, and great wisdom,
may be admitted to claim that title; and we verily believe that none well
acquainted with him will deny him his right, however malevolent persons may
grudge him the honour. It hath been expected and desired by many that
some account of his life might be given to the world ; but we are not willing
to offer violence to his ashes by making him so public now he is dead, who
so much affected privacy while he lived. Thou art therefore desired to rest
satisfied with this brief account of him : That being very young he went to
Cambridge, where, in Immanuel College, he was brought up under the
tuition of the present Archbishop of Canterbury. What gracious workings
and evidences of the new birth appeared in him while there, hath already
been spoken of by* one who was at that time his fellow- collegiate and intimate.
Some time he afterward spent in a private family, and a little more in the
exercise of his ministry in Southwark, then removed to New College inOxon,
where he was fellow, and spent several years ; being then taken notice of for
his singular gifts, and had in reputation by the most learned and godly in
that university, and upon that account the more frequently put upon public
work. Being thence (the year after he had been proctor) called over into
Ireland to a constant public employment, he exercised his ministry for about
four or five years, not with the approbation only, but to the admiration of
the most wise and judicious Christians, and with the concurrent applause of
such as were of very different sentiments from him in the things of religion.
Nay, even those that never loved his piety, yet would commend his learning
and gifts, as being beyond exception, if not above compare. About the year
1660, being discharged from the public exercise of his ministry, he returned
back into England, and in and about London spent the greatest part of fifteen
years, without any call to his old work in a settled way, but for about these
five years last past hath been more known by his constant preaching, of which
we need not speak, but let them that heard him speak for him ; or, if they
should be silent, his works will do it.
He was a person of excellent parts, strong reason, great judgment, and
(which do not often go together) curious fancy, of high improvements, and
general learning, as having been all his days a most diligent and methodical
student, and a great redeemer of time, rescuing not only his restless hours
in the night, but his very walking time in the streets, from those imperti-
nencies and fruitless vanities which do so customarily fill up men's minds,
and steal away their hearts from those better and more noble objects, which
do so justly challenge their greatest regards. This he did by not only care-
fully watching (as every good Christian should do), but constantly writing
down his thoughts, whereby he both governed them better, and furnished
* Mr Johnson, in his Sermon on occasion of Mr Charnock's death.
TO THE READER.
himself with many materials for his most elaborate discourses. His chief
talent was his preaching-gift, in which, to speak modestly, he had few equals.
To this, therefore, as that for which his Lord and Master had best fitted him
(neglecting the practice of physic, in which he had arrived at a considerable
measure of knowledge), he did especially addict himself, and direct his
studies ; and even when providence denied him opportunities, yet he was
still laying in more stock, and preparing for work against he might be called
to it. When he was in employment, none that heard him could justly blame
his retiredness, he being, even when most private, continually at work for
the public ; and had he been less in his study, he would have been less liked
in the pulpit. His library, furnished, though not with a numerous, yet a
curious collection of books, was his workhouse, in which he laboured hard
all the week, and on the Lord's day made it appear he had not been idle ;
and that though he consulted his privacy, yet he did not indulge his sloth.
He was somewhat reserved where he was not well acquainted, otherwise very
free, affable, and communicative, where he understood and liked his com-
pany. He affected not much acquaintance, because he would escape visitants,
well knowing how much the ordinary sort of friends were apt to take up of his
time, which he could ill spare from his beloved studies, meeting w T ith few
that could give him better entertainment with their company than he could
give himself alone. They had need be very good, and very learned, by whose
converse he could gain more than by his own thoughts and books. He was
a true son of the Church of England, in that sound doctrine laid down in
the articles of religion, and taught by our most famous ancient divines and
reformers ; and a real follower of their piety, as well as a strenuous main-
tainer of the truth they professed. His preaching was mostly practical, yet
rational and argumentative, to his hearers' understandings as well as affec-
tions ; and where controversies came in his way, he shewed great acuteness
and judgment in discussing and determining them, and no less skill in apply-
ing them to practice : so that he was indeed ' a workman that needed not to
be ashamed,' being able * by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince
gainsayers.' Some have thought his preaching too high for vulgar hearers ;
and it cannot be denied but his gifts were suited to the more intelligent sort
of Christians ; yet it must withal be said, that if he were sometimes deep, he
was never abstruse ; he handled the great mysteries of the gospel with much
clearness and perspicuity ; so that if in his preaching he were above most,
it was only because most were below him. Several considerable treatises on
some of tho most important points of religion ho finished in his ordinary
course, which he hath left behind him, in the same form he usually wrote
them for tho pulpit. This comes out first, as a prodromui to several others
igned to bo made public, as soon as they can bo with convenioncy tran-
scribed, which (if tho Lord will, and sparo life) shall bo attested with our
hands ; and whatever any elso shall publish, can bo but imperfect notos (his
own copies being under our revisal at tho request of his friends) takon from
him in tho pulpit ; in which, what mistakes do often happen, every one
knows, and we havo found by oxperienco in tho caso of this very author more
thin once. This was thought fit to bo said to seeure the reputation of tho dead,
and provent tho abuse of tho living. These sermons might havo come out
with tho solemn ceremony oflargo rocommeudat ions, the author's worth being
80 woll known to, and his preaching so highly esteemed by, the most eminent
ministors about this city; but it was judged needless, his own works being
sufficient to praiso him.
Ono thing more is to be added : that mob as he is here, such ho is in his
othor piocos. So that thou hast here, reador, a specimen of tho strain and
TO THE READER. 5
spirit of this holy man, this being his familiar and ordinary way of preach-
ing, and these sermons coming out first, not as if they were the nonsuch of
what he left behind him, but because they could soonest be despatched,
and to obviate the injuries might else be done by spurious treatises both to
him and thee ; and likewise by this little taste to gratify the appetites of such
who, having been his auditors, did long even with greediness to feast them-
selves again upon those excellent truths which in the delivery were so sweet
to them. Perhaps too it may quicken their appetites who never heard him,
it may be never yet heard of him. If thou like this cluster, fear not but
the vintage will be answerable; if this little earnest be good metal, the
whole sum will be no less current. That a blessing from heaven may be
upon this work, and upon thee in reading and studying the nature, and
beauty, and ends of divine providence, and that the Lord of the harvest
(especially when so many are daily called home) would send forth more and
more such labourers into the harvest, is the hearty prayer of
Thine in the Lord,
Richard Adams.
Edward Veal.
A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew
himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him. —
2 Chbon. XVI. 9.
In the beginning of the chapter you find Baasha king of Israel raising
walls about, and fortifying Rarnah, a place about twelve miles from Jerusa-
lem, the metropolis of Judah, intending by that means to block Asa up,
because Rainah lay just upon the road between Jerusalem and Samaria, the
seats of the two kings, ver. 1.
Baasha was probably afraid of the revolt of Israel to Judah, upon that
reformation of religion wrought by Asa, and therefore would fortify that
place, to be a hindrance, and to intercept any that should pass upon that
account ; and to this purpose makes great preparation, as appears ver. 6,
for with the provision Baasha had made for the fortification of Ramah, Asa,
after the seizing of the materials, builds two towns, Geba and Mispah.
Asa seeing Baasha so busy about this design, and fearing the consequence
of it, hath recourse to carnal policy rather than to God ; and therefore
enters into leaguo with Benhadad, a neighbour, though an idolatrous prince,
and purchaseth his assistance with the sacrilegious price of the treasure of
the temple, ver. 2, 3 ; and hereby engageth him to invade the king of
Israel's territories, that ho might thereby find work for Baasha in another
part, and so divert him from that design upon which ho was so bent : ver. 8,
' Go, break thy league with Baasha, that ho may depart from mo.'
Benhadad is easily persuaded by the quantity of gold, &c., to break his
league, and mako an inroad, and proves victorious, and takes many cities
where tho magazines and stores wore laid op, ver. 4.
B i:isha now, to savo his country, and make head against his enemies, is
forced to leave leunah; whereupon Asa, who watched his opportunity,
Heizeth the materials he had left for the fortifying of leimah, and puts thom
to another use, ver. 5, (>.
Hanani the seer ll presently sent by God with a threatening of war,
becauso he applies himself to a heathen prince rather than to the Lord of
hosts, ver. 7; his sin is aggravated hv God's former kindness to him, and
oxperienco ho had given him of his miraculous providonco in his succoss
against that vast army of the Ethiopians and Luhims, or Lybians, and that
upon his rccourso to or rolianco on Ctod ; and that ho should afterwards
2 ChRON. XVI. 9. J A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 7
have recourse to the arm of flesh was a disparagement to God's providential
kindness, ver. 8. He further aggravates his sin by the consideration of
God's general providential care of his creatures, and the particular end of it,
and of all his providences, viz., the good of his church and people, ver. 9,
1 For the eyes of the Lord,' &c.
Eyes of the Lord, in Scripture, signify,
1. His knowledge : Job. xxxiv. 21, ' For his eyes are upon all the ways
of man, and he sees all his goings.' Heb. iv. 13, ' All things are naked
and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.'*
2. His providence.
(1.) For good, so it notes his grace and good will; so his eyes and his
heart are joined together : 1 Kings vi. 3, ' Mine eyes and my heart shall be
there perpetually,' viz., in his temple, the place which he had hallowed to
put his name there for ever. Ps. xxxii. 8, ■ I will guide him with mine eye ;'
that is, I will counsel him, and direct him in a gracious and a favourable
way. Therefore, to be cut off from the eye of the Lord, is to be deprived of
his favour, Ps. xxxi. 22, for none can be cut off from a simple knowledge of
God ; so Zech. iii. 9, ■ seven eyes upon one stone,' that is, the providence
of God was in an especial manner with Christ in the midst of his passion.
(2.) For evil, so it notes his anger and vindictive justice. Isa. iii. 8,
1 Their doings are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.'
Kindness and anger appear first in the eye, one by its pleasantness, the other
by its redness.
1 Run,' that notes diligence and care, an industrious inspection into all
things. Ps. cxix. 32, ■ I will run the ways of thy commandments,' noting
speed and diligence.
In the verse we have,
I I. A description of God's providence.
I II. The end of it.
I. The description of God's providence.
1. The immediateness of it ; '■ his eyes,' his own eyes, not another's. Not
like princes, who see by their servants' eyes more than by their own, what
is done in their kingdoms ; his care is immediate. Though angels are
ministers of his providence, the guardians and watchers of the world, yet
God is their captain, and is always himself upon the watch.
2. Quickness and speed of providence ; ' run.' His eyes do not only walk,
but run the round ; they are not slumbering eyes, nor drowsy eyelids ; their
motion is quick and nimble.
3. Extent of providence ; ' the whole earth ;' all things in the earth, all
the hairs on the heads of these men : the meanest worm as well as the
mightiest prince ; the lowest shrub as well as the tallest cedar ; every cranny,
corner, or chink of the earth.
4. Diligence of providence ; t to and fro.' His care is repeated, he looks
this way and that way, again and again ; his eyes are not confined to one
place, fixed on one object, but are always rolling about from one place to
another.
5. The efficacy of his providence ; his care doth engage his strength ; he
doth not only discover dangers, but prevent them ; he hath eyes to see,
and power to order all things according to his pleasure ; wise to see, and
strong to save.
II. The end of providence ; « to shew himself strong,' &c.
rgctxyfi-og significat spinam dorsi, et in mactatis animalibus per spinam omnia appa-
rent interiora, ita ut nihil latere potest. — Glassius, vol. iii. 1, 106.
8 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
1. Finis cujus, * to shew himself strong.' Heb. to * make himself strong,'
but best translated, to ■ shew himself strong.' It is not an addition of
strength, but an exercise of strength that is here meant.
2. Finis cui, or the persons for whom, ' those that are perfect in heart.'
Doctrines.
1. There is a providence exercised by God in the world.
2. All God's providences in the world are in order to the good of his
people.
3. Sincerity in God's way gives a man an interest in all God's provi-
dences, and the good of them.
1. For the first, there is a providential inspection and government of
all things in the world by God. It is not a bare sight of things that is
here meant by God's eye, but a sight and knowledge in order to the govern-
ing and disposing of them. View this doctrine at your leisure, preached by
God himself, with an inconceivable elegancy, and three whole chapters spent
in the sermon, Job xxxviii., xxxix., xl., and by the psalmist, Ps. cxlvii. cxlviii.
Some observe that the society of angels and heavenly creatures is repre-
sented, Ezek. i., by a quaternarian number, because the world is divided
into four dimensions, east, west, north, and south, as intimating the exten-
sion of God's providence over all parts.*
Things are not ordered in the world cceco impetu, not by blind fortune, but
an all-seeing Deity, who hath the management of all sublunary affairs. Tig
(AsydXri dbvuplg Trig wgovotccg ; t wavrcc iin uglorou vov yivsrou, was the theological
maxim of the Stoics.
Before I come particularly to explain the providence of God, I shall lay
down some propositions as the foundations of this doctrine.
1. God hath an indisputable and peculiar right to the government of the
world. None ever questioned God's right, no, nor his act, but those that
were swelled with an unreasonable ambition, such as Nebuchadnezzar, who
for this cause underwent the punishment of a seven years' banishment from
the society of men, Dan. iv. 17.
None indeed that acknowledge a God, did or can question God's right,
though they may question his will and actual exercise of his right. He is
the creator, and therefore is the sovereign Lord and Ruler. The world is
his family, and, as a master, he hath an undoubted right to govern his own
family : he gave all creatures their beings, and therefore hath a right to
enact their laws, appoint their stations, and fix their ends. It is as much
his property and prerogative to rule, as it is to create. Creation is so pecu-
liarly proper to God, that it is not communicable to any creature, no, not
to angels, though of a vast capacity in other things, and that because they
are creatures themselves. It is as impossible for one creature, or all, to
govern the world, and manage all tho boisterous passions of mon to just and
glorious onds, as to croato thorn. It is true, God usoth instruments in the
oxocutive part of his providenco ; but ho doth not design the government of
tho world only by instruments. Ho usoth thorn not for necessity, but orna-
ment. Ho created tho world without thorn, and therefore can govorn the
world without thorn.
I irtus creativa est fund amen t um provulnitur, et ari/utnenhun ad provi-
dentiam. This right is foundod upon that of croation, as he is the efficient
causo of it. This right is also foundod upon tho oxcolloncy of his boing ;
that which is excellent having a right to rule, in tho way of that oxcolloncy,
that which is inferior. Every man hath a natural right to rule another in
* Hvdaon'i Divine Bight of Uovonnnout, chap. vi. p. 3.
t Clomoua ad (Joriuth, [>. 84.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 9
his own art and skill wherein he excels him. If it be the right of a chief
magistrate to manage the concerns of his kingdom, with what reason can we
deny that right to God ?
2. God only is qualified for the universal government of the world. All
creatures, as they were unable to create themselves, so are unable to manage
themselves without the direction of a superior power, much more unable to
manage the vast body of the world. God is only fit in regard of,
(1.) Power. Conservation is continuata creatio ; that power which is fit
to create, is only fit to preserve. A continued creation belongs as much to
omnipotency as the first creation.
The government of it requires no less power, both in regard of the numer-
ousness of the objects, and the strange contrariety of passions in rational
creatures, and qualities in irrational ; conservation is but one continued act
with creation, following on from an instant to duration, as a line from its
mathematical point.*
(2.) Holiness and righteousness. If he that hates right is not fit to
govern, Job xxxiv. 17, then he that is infinitely righteous, and hath an in-
finite love to righteousness, is the fittest to undertake that task ; without
righteousness there would be nothing but confusion in the whole creation.
Disorder is the effect of unrighteousness, as order is the effect of justice.
The justest man is fittest for subordinate government among men, and the
infinite just God is fittest for the universal government of the world.
(3.) Knowledge. An infinite knowledge to decry all the contrivances and
various labyrinths of the hearts of men, their secret intentions and aims, is
necessary. The government of the world consists more in ordering the
inward faculties of men, touching the hearts, and tuning them to play what
note he pleases, than in external things. No creature hath the skill or
power to work immediately upon the will of man ; neither angels nor devils
can do it immediately, but by proposing objects, and working upon the
fancy, which is not always successful. He that created the heart, knows
all the wards of it, and hath only the skill to turn it and incline it as he
pleases ; he must needs know all the inclinations of the creatures and their
proper activities, since he alone conferred all those several principles and
qualities upon them. * Known unto God are all his works from the begin-
ning of the world,' Acts xv. 8, viz., the particular natures, inclinations, in-
ward motions, which no creature fully understands ; he needs no deputy to
inform him of what is done, he is everywhere, and sees all things. Worldly
governors cannot be everywhere essentially present.
God is so perfect in his knowledge of all things, that he cannot be im-
posed upon by the evil suggestions and flatteries of men or angels.
In nature it is so : the eye guides the body, because that is the chief organ
of sensitive knowledge ; the mind, which is the seat of wisdom, guides the
whole.
(4.) Patience. Infinite patience is requisite to the preservation and govern-
ment of the world, in the circumstances wherein it hath stood ever since the
fall. What angel, though the meekest, or can all the angels in heaven, be
masters of so much patience as is needful for this work of governing the
world, though for the space of one day ? Could they bear with all those evils
which are committed in the world in the space of twenty-four hours ? Might
we not reasonably conceive, that they would be so tired with the obliquities,
disorders, deformities which they would see in the acts of men (besides all
the evil which is in the hearts of men, which He without the verge of their
* Taylor's Exemplar, preface.
10 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
knowledge), that they would rather call for fire from heaven to burn the
world to ashes.
Averroes* thought that because of God's slowness to anger, he meddled
not with sublunary concerns. This rather fits him for it, because he can
bear with the injuries of wicked men, otherwise the world would not con-
tinue a moment.
Angels, though powerful, holy, wise and patient creatures, yet being crea-
tures, they want the infiniteness of all these qualifications which are neces-
sary to this government. Though they are knowing, yet they know not
men's hearts ; though they are wise, yet they may be charged with a folly
uncapable of this ; though holy, yet not able in this respect to manage it to
the ends and designs of an infinite holiness; though nimble, yet cannot be in
all parts of the world at every turn : but the providence of God is infallible,
because of his infinite wisdom ; indefatigable, because of his omnipotency ;
and righteous, because of his goodness.
3. There can be no reason rendered why God should not actually govern
the world, since he only hath a right and fitness. If God doth not actually
govern it, it is either because he cannot, or because he will not.
(1.) Not because he cannot. This inability must be either for want of
knowledge, or want of power. The one, if asserted, would deny his omni-
potence, the other his omniscience ; the one would make him a weak God,
the other an ignorant God, and consequently no God.
(2.) Not because he will not ; if he can and will not, it is, say some, a
testimony of envy, that he maligns the good of his creatures ; but not to
insist upon this ; this must be either because of the,
[l.J Difficulty. This cannot be. What difficulty can there be in a single
word, or one act of his will, which can be done by God without any molesta-
tion, were there millions of worlds as well as this ? For still they would be finite,
and so governable by an infinite superior. May we not more reasonably
think the forming such a mass would require more pains than the govern-
ment of it ? The right stringing an instrument is more trouble to a skilful
musician, than the tripping over the strings afterwards to make an harmony.
What difficulty can it be to Omnipotence ? Is it a greater labour to preserve
and govern, than it was to create ? Doth not the soul order every part of
the body, and all its functions, without any pain to it ? and shall not the
God that made that soul so indefatigable, much more manage the concern-
ments of the world without labour to himself ? Is it not as easy with God
to guide all these things by one single act of his will, as for me, by an act of
my soul, to do many tilings without a distinct act of cogitation or considera-
tion before ? Can it be more laborious to him to govern tho world, than it
is to know all things in tho world? Ho sees all things in an instant by one
act of his understanding, and he orders all creatures in a moment by one act
of his will. Can oik; act of his will he more painful than one act o( his un-
derstanding? Can ho with a word make this gltal ball? and can he not
with M much ease Order all to conform to the law of his own righteous will?
Can a cont inual eruption of goodness be a difficulty to an infinite being,
which we find natural to the sun, to the fountains, to the sea, to many works
of that omnipotent goodneet ? Or,
[2.) Disparagement. Denial of Cod's providence over the lesser things of
the world did arise from the consideration of the state of monarehs, who
thought it an abridgment of their felicity and dignity, to stoop to inch low
considerations as the miniituht of their estates might exact from them, but
left them to their vice gerents. I » 1 1 1 they consider not that the felicity of
* Trap on Bzod. xxxiv.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 11
God as it respects the creature, is to communicate his goodness to as many
subjects as he had made capable of his care. If it were his glory to create
the world, can it be his dishonour to govern it ? The glorifying his wis-
dom is as honourable to him as the magnifying his power ; though both are
eminent in creation and providence, yet his wisdom is more signal in the
governing, as his power was in framing of the world.
Why was it not as much a disparagement to God to create things con-
temptible in our eyes, as since he hath created them to take care of them,
and marshal them for his glorious ends ? The sun in the heavens is a sha-
dow of God, which doth not disdain to communicate its natural goodness,
and emit its beams to the meanest creatures, and let the little flies sport
themselves in them, as well as the greatest princes, and transmits an influ-
ence upon things obscure and at a distance from it, whereby it manifests an
universal regard to all. And would it not be a disparagement to an infinite
goodness to be outstripped by a creature, which he hath set up for a natural
communication of goodness to the rest of the world ? The very considera-
tion of the sun, and the nature of it, gives us as much an account of God as
any inanimate being whatsoever. It is as much the sun's honour to pro-
duce a small insect, as the growth of the greatest plant.
Have not all creatures, a natural affection in them to preserve and provide
for their own ? * hath not God much more, who endued all creatures with
that disposition ? Whatsoever is a natural perfection in creatures, is emi-
nently an infinite perfection in God. If it be therefore a praise to you to
preserve your own, can it be a disgrace to God ? You may as well say it is
as much a dishonour to him to be good, as to have a tender regard to his
creatures. Censure him as well you may for creating them for your delight,
as preserving and governing them for the same end. They are all good, for
he pronounced them so ; and being so, a God of goodness will not account
them unworthy of his care. Are they now the products of his omnipotent
wisdom ? and shall not they be the objects of his directing wisdom ? If they
are not unworthy of God to create, how can they be unworthy of God to
govern them ? It would be as much below him to make them, as to rule
them when they were made.
4. Therefore, God doth actually preserve and govern the world; though
angels are in ministry in some particular works of his providence, yet God is
the steersman who gives out his particular orders to them.
Jacob's ladder had the top in heaven, where God stood to keep it firm, its
foot on earth, and the angels going up and down upon several errands at
their master's beck.
As God made all things for himself, so he orders the ends of all things
made by him for his own glory. For being the most excellent and intelli-
gent agent, he doth reduce all the motions of his creatures to that end for
which he made them.
This actual government of the world by God brancheth itself out in three
things.
1. Nothing is acted in the world without God's knowledge. The vision of the
wheels inEzekiel presents us with an excellent portraiture of providence, there
are eyes round about the wheels : Ezek. i. 18, ' Their wings were full of eyes,' &c.
The eye of God is upon the whole circle of the creatures' motion. In
all the revolutions in the world, there is the eye of God's omniscience to see
them, and the arm of his omnipotence to guide them. Not the most retired
corner, or the darkest cell, not the deepest cavern, or most inward projecc-
nor the most secret wickedness, not the closest goodness, but the eye of
* Mornae. de Verit. Kelig. Christian, chap. xi.
12 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
the Lord beholds it : Prov. xv. 3, * The eyes of the Lord are in every
place, beholding the evil and the good.' He hears the words, sees the
actions, knows the thoughts, registers the gracious discourses, bottles up the
penitent tears, and considers all the ways of men; not a whispered oath, not
an atheistical thought, though but only peeping upon the heart, and sink-
ing down again in that mass of corruption, not a disorderly word, but he knows
and marks it. The soul hath a particular knowledge of every act, because
it is the spring of every act in any member, and nothing is done in this
little world, but the soul knows it. Surely, then, there is not an act done
in the world, nor the motion of any creature, but as God doth concur to it,
he must needs know what he doth concur to. The knowledge and ordaining
every thing is far less to the infinite being of God, than the knowledge and
ordaining every motion of the body is to a finite soul.
Or, suppose a soul clothed with a body of as big a proportion as the
matter of the whole creation, it would actuate this body, though of a greater
bulk, and know every motion of it ; how much more God, who hath infinity
and excellency and strength of all angels and souls, must need actuate this
world, and know every motion of it ! There is nothing done in the world
but some creature or other knows it ; he that acts it doth at least know it.
If God did not know it, the creatures then in that particular knowledge would
be superior to God, and know something more than God knows ; can this
be possible ?
2. Nothing is acted in the world without the will of God. His will either
commands it, or permits it : Eph. i. 11, 'He works all things after the
counsel of his own will,' Ps. cxxxv. 6, ' Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that
did he in heaven and in earth.'
Even the sins of the world his will permits them, his power assists in the
act, and his wisdom orders the sinfulness of the act for holy ends. The
four chariots in Zech. vi. 2-5, by which some understand angels, are sent
upon commission into the several parts of the world, and compared to chariots,
both for their strength, their swiftness, their employment in a military way
to secure the church. These are said to come out of the two mountains of
brass, ver. 1, which signify the irreversible decrees of God, which the angels
are to execute.* He alarms up the winds, when he would have Jonah
arrested in his flight. He sounds a retreat to them, and locks them up in
their chambers, Ps. cvii. 25-29. Bread hath a natural virtue in it to nourish,
but it must be accompanied with his secret blessing, Mat. iv. 4.
Virtuto primi actus, agunt agentia omnia quicquid agunt.
8. Nothing doth subsist without God's caro and power. His eyes running
to and fro, implies not only knowledge, but caro. Ho doth not carelessly
behold what is done in the world, but, liko a skilful pilot, ho sits at tho helm,
and steers tho world in what course it should Bail. Our being we owe to his
power, our well-being to his cure, our motion and exerting of every faculty
to his mereii'ul providence and oononrrence ; ' in him wo livo, and move, and
havo our being,' Acts xvii. 2H. He (Values OUT being, preserves our life,
concurs with our motion. This is an idea that bean date in the minds of
mon witli the very notion of a Godt Why else did tho heathen in all their
straits fly to their altars, and till their temples with eries and sacrifices?
To what, purpose was this, if they had not acknowledged God's suporinton-
deiiev, his taking notice of their cause, hearing their prayers, considering
their cries? Why should they do this, if they thought that God did not
regard human all'airs, but stood untouched with a souse of their miseries ?
* Reynolds.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 13
If all things were done by chance, there could be no predictions of future
things, which we frequently find in Scripture, and by what ways accomplished.
Impossible it is that anything can be continued without his care. If God
should in the least moment withhold the influence of his providence, we
should melt into nothing, as the impression of a seal upon the water vanishes*
as soon as the seal is removed ; or as the reflection of the face in the glass
disappears upon the first instant of our removal from it. The light in the
air is by participation of the light of the sun ; the light in the air withdraws
upon the departure of the sun. The physical and moral goodness [of J the
creature would vanish upon the removal of God from it, who is the fountain
of both.
What an artificer doth work, may continue, though the workman dies,
because what he doth is materially, as to the matter of it, ready to his hands ;
he creates not the matter, but only sets materials together, and disposeth
them into such a form and figure. But God gives a being to the matter
and form of all things, and therefore the continuance of that being depends
upon his preserving influence.* God upholds the world, and causes all
those laws which he hath impressed upon every creature, to be put in exe-
cution : not as a man that makes a watch, and winds it up, and then suffers it
to go of itself ; or that turns a river into another channel, and lets it alone
to run in the graff he hath made for it ; but there is a continual concurrence
of God to this goodly frame. For they do not only live, but move in him,
or by him ; his living and omnipotent power runs through every vein of the
creation, giving it life and motion, and ordering the acts of every part of this
great body. All the motions of second causes are ultimately resolved into
the providence of God, who holds the first link of them in his hands, Hosea
ii. 21, 22. More particularly, the nature of providence may be explained by
two propositions.
Prop. 1. The universality of it. His eyes run to and fro throughout the
whole earth.
1. It is over all creatures, (1.) the highest, (2.) the lowest.
(1.) The highest and most magnificent pieces of the creation.
[1.] Over Jesus Christ, the first-born of every creature. God's providence
was in an especial manner conversant about him, and fixed upon him. It was
by the determinate counsel of God, that he was delivered up, Acts ii. 23.
His providence was diligently exercised about him in his whole course.
Christ answers his mother's solicitousness with the care his Father took of
him : Luke ii. 49, ' Wist you not that I must be about my Father's busi-
ness ?' Do you not know that I am about those things my Father takes
care of ? This exposition best agrees with his reproof, who blames them
for creating so much trouble to themselves upon their missing him in the
town. It is not, Why do you interrupt me in my dispute with the Jewish
doctors ? But ' How is it that you sought me ? Do you think I am not
under the care of my Father ?'f It was particularly exercised on him'in the
midst of his passion, Zech. iii. 9. Seven eyes were upon the stone ; seven,
a number of perfection, a perfect and peculiar care of God attended him.
[2.] Over angels and men. The soul of the least animal, and the smallest
plant, is formed and preserved by God, but the breath of mankind is more
particularly in his hand : Job xii. 10, 'In whose hand is the soul of every
living thing, and the breath of all mankind.'
First, Over good angels and men. He charges his angels with folly and
w eakness. They cannot direct themselves without his wisdom, nor preserve
* Stillingfleet, Orig. sacraj. lib. iii. cap. 3, sect. 3.
t h roTg rou Kargbg. Hammond in loc.
14 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
themselves without his power. God hath a book of providence, wherein he
writes down who shall be preserved, and this book Moses understands : Exod.
xxxii. 33, ' Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book;'
not the book of election, — no names written there are blotted out, — but out
of the book of providence. As it is understood, Isa. iv. 3, ' Every one that
is written among the living in Jerusalem,' i. e. every one whom God designs
to preservation and deliverance.* That God, surely, that hath a care of the
mean animals, will not be careless of his affectionate worshippers. He that
feeds the ravens will not starve his doves. He that satisfies the ravening wolf,
will not famish his gentle lambs and harmless sheep. He shelters Jacob
from Laban's fury, Gen. xxxi., and tutors him how he should carry himself
towards the good man. He brought Haman out of favour, and set Mordecai
in his place for the deliverance of the Jews which were designed for slaughter.
Secondly, Over evil angels and men. God's power preserves them, his
patience suffers them, his wisdom orders them, and their evil purposes and
performances, to his own glory. The devil cannot arrest Job, nor touch a
lamb of his flock, nor a hair of his head, without a commission from God.
He cannot enter into one filthy swine in the Gaderenes' herd, without asking
our Saviour leave. Whatever he doth, he hath a grant or permission from
heaven for it. God's special providence is over his people, but his general
providence over all kingdoms and countries.
He takes care of Syria, as well as of Judea ; and sends Elisha to anoint
Hazael king of Syria, as well as Jehu king of Israel, 1 Kings xix. 15.
Though Ishmael had mocks for Isaac, yet the God of Isaac provided for the
wants of Ishmael ; Gen. xxv. 16-18, ' He causeth his sun to shine upon
the unjust,' as well as ' the just,' to produce fruits and plants for their pre-
servation.
(2.) Over the meanest creatures. As the sun's light, so God's providence
disdains not the meanest worms. It is observed, that in the enumeration of
the works of creation, Gen. i. 21, only the great whales and small creeping
things are mentioned, and not the intermediate creatures, to shew that the
least as well as the greatest are under his care. It is one of his titles to be
the preserver of beasts as well as men, Neh. ix. G. He is the great caterer
for all creatures ; Ps. civ. 21, ' The young lions seek their meat from God.'
They attend him for their daily portion, and what they gather and meet with
in their pursuit, is God's gift to them, ver. 27, 28. He listens to the cries
of the young ravens, though they are birds of prey. ■ He givei to the beast
his food, and to the young ravens which cry,' Ps. cxlvii. 9. In Ps. civ.
David throughout the whole reads a particular lecturo of this doctrine,
wherein you may take a prospect of God's providence all over the world. He
acts them by a commandment and imprinted law upon their natures, and
makes them Observe exactly those statutes he enacts for the guidance o( them
in their proper operations. Ps. exhii. 15, ' He sendeth forth his command-
ment upon earth, and his word runs very swiftly,' viz., his word of provi-
dence. God keeps them is the observation of their first ordinance. Ps,
<-\ix. 91, ' They continue this day according to thine ordinances, for all are
thy servants,' i.e. tho earth and what is upon it. They observe their
stations, the law God hath set them, as if they had a rational knowledge of
their duty in their particular motions ; Ps. civ. 19, ' the sun knoweth his
going down.' BometimSi he makes them instruments of his ministry to us,
lojnetis wtioners of oil judgments. Lies and frogs arm themselves
;i t, his command to punish Egypt. lie makes a whale to attend Jonas drop-
ping into tho sea, to DC an instrument hoth to punish and preserve him.
* Ilorton'a Serin. PS. Ixxxvii. p. 6G.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9. J A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 15
Yea, and which is more wonderful, the multitude of the very cattle is brought
among others as a reason 'of a people's preservation from destruction, Jonah
iv. 11 ; the multitude of the cattle are joined with the multitude of the infants,
as an argument to spare Nineveh. He remembers Noah's cattle as well as
his sons ; Gen viii. 1, ' God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and
all t the cattle that were with him in the ark.' He numbers the very hairs of
our heads, that not ono falls without his will. Not only the immortal soul,
but the decaying body ; not only the vital parts of that body, but the incon-
siderable hairs of the head, are under his care.
Obs. 1. This is no dishonour to God, to take care of the meanest creatures.
It is as honourable for his power to preserve them, and his wisdom to govern
them, as for both to create them. It is one part of a man's righteousness
to be merciful to his beasts, which he never made ; and is it not a part of
God's righteousness, as the rector of the world, to take care of those creatures,
which he did not disdain to give a being to ?
Obs. 2. It rather condueeth to his honour.
(1.) The honour of his goodness. It shews the comprehensiveness of his
goodness, which embraceth in the arms of his providence the lowest worm
as well as the highest angel. Shall infinite goodness frame a thing, and
make no provision for its subsistence ? At the first creation he acknow-
ledged whatever he had created good in his kind, good in themselves, good
{ n order to the end for which he created them ; it is therefore an honourable
thing for his goodness to conduct them to that end which in their creation
he designed them for ; and not leave them wild disorders, unsuitable to the
end of that goodness which first called them into being. If he grow out of
love with the operations of his hands, he would seem to grow out of love
with his own goodness that formed them.
(2.) The honour of his power and wisdom. The power of God is as much
seen in making an insect full of life and spirit in all the parts of it, to perform
all the actions suitable to its life and nature, as in making creatures of a
greater bulk ; and is it not for the honour of his power to preserve them, and
the honour of his wisdom to direct these little animals to the end he intended
in their creation ? For as little as they seem to be, an end they have, and
glorious too, for natura nihil facit frustra. It seems not to consist with his
wisdom to neglect that which he hath vouchsafed to create. And though the
apostle seems to deny God's care of brutes, — 1 Cor. ix. 9, ' Doth God take
care for oxen ?' — it is true God did not in that law only take care of oxen,
i. e. with a legislative care, as making a law only for them, though with a
providential care he doth ; but the apostle there doth not deny God's care
for oxen, but makes an argument a minore ad majus.
2. Providence extends to all the actions and motions of the creature.
Every second cause implies a dependence upon a first cause in its operation.
If God did not extend his providence over the actions of creatures, he would
not every where, and in all things and beings, be the first cause.
(1.) To natural actions. What an orderly motion is there in the natural
actions of creatures, which evidenceth a guidance by an higher reason, since
they have none of their own ! How do fish serve several coasts at several
seasons, as if sent upon a particular message by God ? This cannot be by
any other faculty than the instinct their Maker hath put into them. Plants
that grow between a barren and fruitful soil, shoot all their roots towards
the moist and fruitful ground, by what other cause than a secret direction
of providential wisdom ?* There is a law impressed upon them and their
motions, that are so orderly, as if they were acted according to a covenant
* Andrew's Catechistical Doctrine, p. 60.
16 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
and agreement between them and their Creator, and therefore called ■ the
covenant of the day and night,' Jer. xxxiii. 20. What avails the toil and
labour of man in ploughing, trading, watching, unless God influence, unless
he bless, unless he keep the city ! The proceed of all things depends upon
his goodness in blessing, and his power in preserving. God signified this,
when he gave the law from mount Sinai, promising the people, that if they
kept his commandments, he would give them rain in due season, and that
the earth should bring forth her fruit : Lev. xxvi. 3, 4, ' Then will I give you
rain, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall
yield their fruit ;' evidencing thereby, that those natural causes can pro-
duce nothing without his blessing ; that though they have natural principles
to produce such fruits according to their natures, yet he can put a stop to
their operations, and make all their fruits abortive. He weighs the waters,
how much shall be poured out in showers of rain upon the parched earth.
He makes a decree for the rain, and gives the clouds commission to dissolve
themselves so much and no more, Job xxviii. 23-26. Yea, he doth order
the conduct of them by counsel, as employing his wisdom about these things
which are of concern to the world. Job xxxvii. 11, 12, 'He scattereth his
bright cloud, and it is turned round about by his counsels, that they may
do whatsoever he commands them upon the face of the world in the earth.'
(2.) To civil actions. Counsels of men are ordered by him to other ends
than what they aim at, and which their wisdom cannot discover. God
stirred up Sennacherib to be the executioner of his justice upon the Jews,
and afterwards upon the Egyptians, when that great king designed only the
satisfaction of his ambition in the enlarging his kingdom, and supporting
his greatness. Isa. x. 6, 7, ' I will send him against an hypocritical nation,
and against the people of my wrath. Howbeit he means not so, neither
doth h?s heart think so,' — he designs not to be an instrument of my justice, —
1 but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.' His thoughts
and aims were far different from God's thoughts. The hearts of kings are
in his hands, as wax in the hands of a man, which he can work into what
form and shape he pleases. He hath the sovereignty over, and the ordering
the hearts of magistrates ; Ps. xlvii. 9, ' The shields of the earth belong unto
God.' Counsels of men for the good of his people are his act. The princes
advised Jeremiah and Baruch, Jer. xxxvi. 19, to hide themselves, which
they did, yet, verse 26, it is said the Lord hid them. Though they followed
the advice of their court-friends, yet they could not have been secured, had
not God stepped in by his providential care, and covered them with his
hand. It was the courtiers' counsel, but God challenges the honour of the
success.
Military actions aro ordered by him. Martial employments are ordered
by his providence. He is the great general of armies. It is observed that
in the two prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, God is called the Lord of Hosts
no less than i hundred and thirty tunes.*
(!}.) To preternatural actions. God doth command creatures to do those
things which UTS DO WSV suitable to their inclinations, and gives them some-
times fbf his own service a writ of case from the performance of the natural
liiw lie li;ith impressed anon then* A devonring raven is made by the pro-
viilence of God the prophets 1 caterer in time of famine, I Kings xvii. 1. God
instructs a ravenous hn.l in a lesson of abstinence for Elijah's safety, and
makes if both :i Book il,l( ' :L ■srving man to the prophet. Tho whale, that
delights to play about the deepest pait Of khS ocean, approaches to the shore,
and attends upon Jonal to transport him to the dry land, Jonah ii. 10,
* Arrowdinitli, ' Cluu-u of rrinoiplos,' Exorcit. i. sect 1.
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 17
The fire was slacked by God, that it should not singe the least hair of the
three children's heads, but was let loose to consume the officers of the court,
Dan. iii. The mouths of the ravenous lions, which had been kept with an
empty stomach, were muzzled by God, that they should not prey upon
Daniel in a whole night's space. God taught them an heroical temper-
ance with so dainty a dish at their mouths, and yet they tore the accusers
in a trice.
(4.) To all supernatural and miraculous actions of the creatures, which are
as so many new creations. As when the sun went backward in Hezekiah's
time, when it stood still in the valley of Ajalon, that Joshua might com-
plete his victory on the Canaanitcs. The boisterous waves stood on a heap
like walls to secure the Israelites' passage ; but, returning to their natural
motion, were the Egyptians' sepulchre. When creatures have stepped out of
their natural course, it could not be the act of the creature, it being so much
against and above their natures, but it must be by the order of some supe-
rior power.
(5.) To all fortuitous actions. What is casual to us is ordained by God ;
as effects stand related to the second cause, they are many times contingent,
but as they stand related to the first cause, they are acts of his counsel, and
directed by his wisdom. God never left second causes to straggle and ope-
rate in a vagabond way ; though the effect seem to us to be a loose act of
the creature, yet it is directed by a superior cause to a higher end than we
can presently imagine. The whole disposing of the lot which is cast into
the lap, is from the Lord, Prov. xvi. 33. A soldier shoots an arrow at
random, and God guides it to be the executioner of Ahab for his sin,
1 Kings xxii. 34, which death was foretold by Micaiah, ver. 17, 28. God
gives us a certain rule to judge of such contingencies, Exod. xxi. 13, ' And
if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand.' A man acci-
dentally kills another, but it is done by a secret commission from God.
God delivered him into his hands. Providence is the great clock, keeping
time and order, not only hourly, but instantly, to its own honour.*
(6.) To all voluntary actions.
[1.] To good actions. Not by compelling, but sweetly inclining, deter-
mining the will, so that it doth that willingly, which, by an unknown and
unseen necessity, cannot be omitted. It constrains not a man to good
against his will, but powerfully moves the will to do that by consent, which
God hath determined shall be done : ' The way of man is not in himself,' the
motion is man's, the action is man's, but the direction of his steps is from
God. Jer. x. 23, ' It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.'
[2.] To evil actions.
I First, In permitting them to be done. Idolatries and follies of the
heathen were permitted by God. He checked them not in their course, but
laid the reins upon their necks, and suffered them to run what race they
i pleased : Acts xiv. 16, ' Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in
their own ways.' Not the most execrable villany that ever was committed
in the world could have been done without his permission. Sin is not
amabile propter se, and therefore the permission of it is not desirable in itself,
but the permission of it is only desirable, and honestatur ex Jive. God is
good, and wise, and righteous in all his acts, so likewise in this act of per-
mitting sin ; and therefore he wills it out of some good and righteous end,
which belongs to the manifestation of his glory, which is that he intends in
all the acts of his will, of which this is one. Wicked men are said to be a
staff in God's hand ; as a man manages a staff which is in his own power, so
* Fuller, Eccles. Hist. Cent. 6, book ii. p. 51.
VOL. I. B
18 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
doth God manage wicked men for bis own holy purposes, and they can go
no further than God gives them license.
Secondly, In ordering them. God governs them by his own unsearchable
wisdom and goodness, and directs them to the best and holiest ends, con-
trary to the natures of the sins, and the intentions of the sinner. Joseph's
brothers sold him to gratify their revenge, and God ordered it for their pre-
servation in a time of famine. Pharaoh's hardness is ordered by God for his
own glory and that king's destruction. God decrees the delivering up Christ
to death; and Herod, Pilate, the Pharisees, and common rout of people, in
satisfying their own passion, do but execute what God had before ordained :
Acts iv. 28, ' For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done.' Judas his covetousness, and the devil's malice, are
ordered by God to execute his decree for the redemption of the world. Titus
the emperor, his ambition led him to Jerusalem, but God's end is the fulfil-
ling of his threatenings, and the taking revenge upon the Jews for their mur-
dering of Christ. The aim of the physician is the patient's health, when the
intent of the leeches is only to suck the blood. God hath holy ends in per-
mitting sin, while man hath unworthy ends in committing it. The rain,
which makes the earth fruitful, is exhaled out of the salt waters, which would
of themselves spoil the ground and make it unfruitful. • The deceiver and
the deceived are his,' Job xii. 1G. Both the action of the devil the
seducer, and of wicked men the seduced, are restrained by God within due
bounds, in subserviency to his righteous will. For ' with him is strength
and wisdom.'
J'rop. 2. As providence is universal, so it is mysterious. Who can trace
the motions of God's eyes in their race ? 'He makes the clouds his chariot,'
Ps. civ. 3, in his motions about the earth, and his throne is in the dark. He
walks upon the wings of the wind, his providential speed makes it too quick
for our understanding. His ways are mysterious, and put the reason and
wisdom of men to a stand. The clearest-sighted servants of God do not -
the bottom of his works, the motion of God's eyes is too quick for ours.
John Baptist is so astonished at the strange condescension of his Saviour
to be baptized of him, that he forbids it, Mat. iii. 14 ; man is a weak crea-
ture, and cannot trace or set out the wisdom of God.
But this mystcriousness and darkness of providence adds a lustre to it,
as stones set in ebony, though the grounds be dark, make the beauty and
sparkling the clearer.
1. His way* arc above; human methods. Dark providences are often
tlie groundwork of some excellent piece lie is about to discover to the world.
His methoda an: like a plaited picture, which on the one aide represents a
negro, on the other a beauty. He lets Sarah's womb be dead, and then
brings out the root of a numerous progeny, lie makes Jacob a cripple, and
then a prince b> prevail with God ; be gives him a wound and then a bl(
ing. lie Bendfl QOt the gospel till reason was oonplussed, and that the world,
in that highest wisdom it had at that time attained unto, was not able to
arrive to the knowledge of God. l Oor. i. 21, 'After that the world by
wisdom Knew not God, it pleased God, by the foolishness of preaching,
them that believe.'
•J. J lis endfl are Of a higher strain than the aims of men. Who would
have thought thai the forces Cyrus raised against Babylon, to satisfy his own
ambition, should be a means to deliver the Israelites, and restore the worship
of God in the temple ? Cod had this end, which Isaiah prophesied of, and
hi-, never dreamt, of: I -a. xliv. 28, ' That saith of Cyrus. Thou art my
shepherd, and lhalt perform all my pleasure, even saying that Jerusalem
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9.1 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 19
shall bo built,' &c. ; and this a long time before Cyrus was born, Isa, xlv. 1.
Pharaoh sent Israel away in the very night, at the end of the four hundred
and thirty years, the time prefixed by God. He could not keep them longer
because of God's promise, he would not because of God's plagues. God
aims at the glorifying his truth, in keeping touch with his word. Pharaoh
designs not the accomplishing God's will, but his deliverance from God's
judgments.
There is an observable consideration to this purpose, how God's ends are
far different from man's, Luke ii. 1, 4, in the taxing the whole world by
Augustus. Augustus, out of pride, to see what a numerous people he was
prince of, would tax the whole world. Some tell us he had appointed the
enrolling the whole empire twenty- seven years before the birth of our Saviour,
and had proclaimed it at Tarracon, in Spain. But soon after this proclama-
tion, Augustus found a breaking out of some stirs, and thereupon deferred his
resolution to some other fit time, which was the very time of the birth of
Christ. See now God's wise disposal of things, in changing Augustus's
resolution, and deferring it till the forty-fourth year of his reign, when Christ
was ready to come into the world ! And this by giving occasion, yea, neces-
sitating Mary to come from Nazareth, where Joseph and Mary dwelt, who
perhaps being big with child, without this necessity laid upon her by the
emperor's edict, would not have ventured upon the journey to Bethlehem.
There she falls in travail, that so Christ, the seed of David, being conceived
in Nazareth, should be born at Bethlehem, where Jesse lived, and David was
born. How wisely doth God order the ambition and pride of men to fulfil
his own predictions, and to publish the truth of Christ's birth of the seed of
David, for the names of Joseph and Mary were found in the records of Rome
in Tertullian's time.
3. God hath several ends in the same action. Jacob is oppressed with
famine, Pharaoh enriched with plenty, but Joseph's imprisonment is in order
to his father's relief, and Pharaoh's wealth ; his s mistress's anger flings him
into a prison. Joseph is wronged, and hath captivity for a reward of his
chastity. God makes it a step to his advancement, and by this way brings
him from a captive to be a favourite. What is God's end ? Not only to
preserve the Egyptian nation, but old Jacob and his family. Was this all
that God aimed at? No; he had a further design, and lays the foundation
of something to be acted in the future age. By this means Jacob is brought
into Egypt, leaves his posterity there, makes way for that glory in the work-
ing of the future miracles for their deliverance, such an action that the world
should continually ring of, and which should be a type of the spiritual
deliverance by Christ.
4. God has more remote ends than short-sighted souls are able to espy.
God doth not eye the present advantage of himself and his creature, but hath
an eye to his own glory in all, yea, in the very last ages of the world. In
small things there are often great designs laid by God, and mysteries in the
least of his acts. Isaac was delivered from his father's sword, when he was
intentionally dead, to set forth to the world a type of Christ's resurrection,
and a ram is conducted thither by God, and entangled in the thickets, and
appointed to sacrifice, whereby God sets forth a type of Christ's death.* He
useth the captivities of the people, to enlarge the bounds of the gospel.
The wise men were guided by a star to Christ as King of the Jews, and
come to pay homage to him in his infancy. When was the foundation of
this remarkable event laid? Probably in Balaam's prophecy, Num. xxiv. 17.
1 1 shall see him, but not now ; I shall behold him, but not nigh. There
* Hall's Contemp. p. 796.
20 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChKON. XVI. 9.
shall come a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel,' &c.
transmitted by tradition to those wise men, and perhaps renewed by Sibilla
Chaldcea, and confirmed in their minds by the Jews, whilst in the Babylonish
captivity they conversed with them. Thus God many ages before in this
prophecy had an end in promoting the readier entertainment of Christ
among this people, when he should be born ; what the wise men's end was,
the Scripture doth not acquaint us ; but, however, their gifts were a means
to preserve our Saviour, Joseph, and Mary, from the rage of a tyrant, and
affording them wherewithal to support them in Egypt, whither they were
ordered by God to fly for security. So God, 2 Kings vii. 1, 2, 17, threatens
by the prophet the nobleman for his scoffing unbelief, that though he should
see the plenty, that he should not taste of it. See how God doth order
second causes, naturally to bring about his own decree ! The king gives
this person charge of the gate ; whilst the people crowd for provision to
satisfy their hunger, they accomplish the threatening, which they had no in-
tentions to do, and trod him to death. Now I come to shew that there is a
providence.
Obs. 1. The wisdom of God would not be so perspicuous, were there not
a providence in the world. It is eminent in the creation, but more illus-
trious in the government of the creatures. A musician discovers more skill
in the touching an instrument, and ordering the strings, to sound what notes
he pleaseth, than he doth in the first framing and making of it. Isa.
xxviii. 29, ' This also comes from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in
counsel, and excellent in working.' All God's providences are but his touch
of the strings of this great instrument of the world. And all his works are
excellent, because they are the fruit of his wonderful counsel, and unsearch-
able wisdom, which is most seen in his providence, as in reading the verses
before. His power is glorified in creating and upholding this fabric. How
shall his wisdom be glorified but in his government of it? Surely God will
be no less intent upon the honour of his wisdom than upon that of his
power. For if any attribute may be said to excel another, it is his wisdom
and holiness, because those are perfections which God hath stamped upon
the nobler part of his creation. Inferior creatures have more power and
strength than man, but wisdom is the perfection of a rational creature. Now
it is God's wisdom to direct all things to their proper end, as well as to
appoint them their ends, which direction must be by a particular providence,
especially in those things which know not their end, and have no reason to
guide them. We know in the world it is not a part of wisdom to leave
things to chance, but to state our ends, and lay a platform of those means
which direct to an attaining of them. And wisdom is most Been in drawing
all things together, and making them subservient to the end lie hath fixed to
him-, ell'; ;ind, therefore, ono of the great things that shall he admired at
last,, next, to the great work of redemption, will he the harmony and consent
of those things which seemed contrary, how they did all conspire for tho
bringing about, that, end which (iod aimed ai.
Obi. 2. The means wherehy (Iod acts discover a providence. lie acts,
1. By small means. The considerable actions in the world have usually
very small beginnings. As of a tew letters how many thousand words aro
made! often figures, how many thousand niimhers ! And a point is tho
beginning of all geometry. A little stone (rang into a pond makes a little
circle, then a greater, till it, enlargeth itself to both the sides. So from
small beginnings, God doth cause an efflns through the whole world.
(I.) lie u-eth small meazui in his ordinary works. The common works
of nature spring from small beginnings. (1 resit plants are formed from small
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 21
seeds. The clouds which water the great garden of the world are but a
collection of vapours. The noblest operations of the soul are wrought in an
organ, viz. the brain, composed of .coagulated phlegm. Who would imagine
that Saul, in seeking his father's asses, should find a kingdom ?
(2.) In his extraordinary works he useth small means. Elisha, that
waited upon Elijah, and poured water upon his hands, shall do greater
miracles than his master. And the apostles shall do greater works than
Christ, John xiv. 12, that the world may know that God is not tied to any
means that men count excellent; that all creatures are his, and act not of
themselves, but by his spirit and power.
In his extraordinary works of justice. He makes a rod in the hands of
Moses to confound the skill of the Egyptian magicians. He commissioned
frogs and flies to countercheck a powerful and mighty people. When
Benhadad was so proud as to say, the dust of Samaria should not suffice
for handfuls for his army, God scattered his army by the lacqueys of the
princes, — 1 Kings xx. 14, ' The young men of the princes of the pro-
vinces,' — about two hundred thirty-two, ver. 15. The little sling in the
hand of David a youth, guided by God's eye and hand, is a match fit enough
for a blasphemous giant, and defeats the strength of a weaver's beam.
In his extraordinary works of mercy.
[1.] In the deliverance of a people or person. A dream was the occasion
of Joseph's greatness and Joseph's preservation. He used the cacklings of
geese to save the Koman Capitol from a surprise by the Gauls. He picks
out Gideon to be a general, who was least in his father's esteem, Judges
vi. 15 ; and what did his army consist of, but few, and those fearful, Judges
vii. 6, 7 ; those that took water with their hands (which, as Josephus saith,
is a natural sign of fear) did God choose out to overthrow the Midianites,
who had overspread the land as grasshoppers, to shew that he can make the
most fearful men to be sufficient instruments against the greatest powers,
when the concernments of his church and people lie at stake.
God so delights in thus baffiing the pride of men, that Asa uses it as an
argument to move God to deliver him in the strait he was in, when Zerah
the Ethiopian came against him with a great multitude, when he was but a
small point and centre in the midst of a wide circumference : 2 Chron.
xiv. 11, * Lord, it is nothing with thee to help with many or with few.'
Hereby God sets off his own power, and evidenceth his superintendent care
of his people. It was more signally the arm of God for Moses to confound
Pharaoh with his lice and frogs, than if he had beaten him in a plain field
with his six hundred thousand Israelites.
[2.] In the salvation of the soul. Our Saviour himself, though God, the
great redeemer of the world, was so mean in the eyes. of the world, that he
calls himself ' a worm, and no man,' Ps. xxii. 6. He picks out many times
the most unlikely persons to accomplish the greatest purposes for men's
souls. He lodgeth the treasures of wisdom in vessels of earth ; he chose
not the cedars of Lebanon, but the shrubs of the valley ; not the learned
Pharisees of Jerusalem, but the poor men of Galilee : ' Out of the mouths of
babes and sucklings, he ordains praise to himself.'
The apostles' breeding was not capable of ennobling their minds, and
fitting them for such great actions as Christ employed them in. But after
he had new moulded and inflamed their spirits, he made them of fishermen,
greater conquerors of the world, than the most magnified grandees could
pretend to.
Thus salvation is wrought by a crucified Christ : and that God who made
the world by wisdom, would save it by the foolishness of preaching. And
22 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
make Paul, the least of the apostles as he terms himself, more successful
than those who had been instructed at the feet of Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 9, 10.
2. By contrary means. God by his, providence makes contrary things
contribute to his glory, as contrary colours in a picture do to the beauty of
the piece. Nature is God's instrument to do whatsoever he pleases ; and
therefore nothing so contrary but he may bring to his own ends ; as in
some engines you shall see wheels have contrary motions, and yet all in
order to one and the same end. God cured those by a brazen serpent, which
were stung by the fiery ones ; whereas brass is naturally hurtful to those
that are bit by serpents.*
(1.) Afflictions. Joseph is sold for a slave, and God sends him as a har-
binger ; his brothers sold him to destroy him, and God sends him to save
them. Paul's bonds, in the opinion of some, might have stifled the gospel ;
but he tells us that they had fallen out to the furtherance of the gospel,
Phil. i. 12.
(2.) Sins.f God doth often effect his just will by our weakness ; neither
there by justifying our infirmities, nor blemishing his own action. Jacob
gets the blessing by unlawful means, telling no less than two lies to attain
it, — I am Esau, and this is venison, — but hereby God brings about the per-
formance of his promise, which Isaac's natural affection to Esau would have
hindered Jacob of.
The breach of the first covenant was an occasion of introducing a better.
Man's sinning away his first stock, was an occasion to_ God to enrich him
with a surer. The loss of his original righteousness made way for a clearer
and more durable. The folly of man made way for the evidence of God's
wisdom, and the sin of man for the manifestation of his grace ; and by the
wise disposal of God, opens a way for the honour of those attributes which
would not else have been experimentally known by the sons of men.
3. Casual means. The viper which leapt upon Paul's hand out of the
bundle of sticks was a casual act, but designed by the providence of God for
the propagation of the gospel. Pharaoh's daughter comes casually to wash
herself in the river, but, indeed, conducted by the secret influence of God
upon her, to rescue Moses, exposed to a forlorn condition, and breed him up
in the Egyptian learning, that he might be the titter to be his kindred's deli-
verer. Saul had been hunting David, and at last had lodged him in a placo
whence he could not well escape, and being ready to seize upon him in that
very instant of time, a post comes to Saul, and brings the news that the
Philistines had invaded tho land, which cut out other work tor him, ami
David for that time escapes, 1 Sam. xxiii. 2ti, fc 27, 28.
Prop, 8. Reason. Bach actions and events <>t' things are in the world,
which cannot rationally he ascrihed to any other cause than a supreme pro-
vidence. It is so in common things. Men have the same parts, the Bams
outward advantages, the same industry, and \ef prosper not alike. One lahours
much, and L'ets little ; another uses not altogether such endeavours, and
hath rich.s flowing in upon him. Men lay their projects deep, and question
n«'l the accomplishment of them, ami are disappointed by some strange and
Unforeseen accident. An. I sometimes men attain what they desire in a dif-
ferent way, and many times contrary to the method they had projected.
This is evidenced,
1. By the restraints upon t he pa' ions of men. The waves of the sea, and
the tumults of the people art; much of the same impetuous natures, and
are quelled l>y the same power : IN. lw. 7, 'Which stilleth the noise of
* Ornlin-i, Num. \\i. 0. . /.'.t rutfnralit, r lmrrl roft OyNo/^xrO/;.
f Hall, Oontemp. boos hi. p. mm;, 807,
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 23
the sea, and tumult of the people.' Tumults of the people could no more
be stilled by the force of a man, than the waves of the sea by a puff of
breath. How strangely did God qualify the hearts of the Egyptians will-
ingly to submit to the sale of their land, when they might have risen in a
tumult, broke open the granaries, and supplied their wants, Gen. xlvii. 19, 21.
Indeed, if the world were left to the conduct of chance and fortune, what
work would the savage lusts and passions of men make among us ! How is
it possible that any but an almighty power can temper so many jarring
principles, and rank so many quarrelsome and turbulent spirits in a due
order ! If those brutish passions which boil in the hearts of men were let
loose by that infinite power that bridles them, how soon would the world
be run headlong into inconceivable confusions, and be rent in pieces by its
own disorders ?
2. By the sudden changes which are made upon the spirits of men for
the preservation of others. God takes off the spirit of some as he did the
wheels from the Egyptian chariots, in the very act of their rage. Paul was
struck down and changed while he was yet breathing out threatenings, &c.
God sees all the workings of men's hearts, all those cruel intentions in Esau
against his brother Jacob, but God on a sudden turns away that torrent of
hatred, and disposeth Esau for a friendly meeting, Gen. xxxiii. 4. And he
who had before an exasperated malice by reason of the loss of his birth-
right and blessing, was in a moment a changed man. Thus was Saul's
heart changed towards David, and from a persecutor turns a justifier of him,
confesseth David's innocence and his own guilt : 1 Sam. xxiv. 17, 18, ' Thou
art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have
rewarded thee evil,' &c. What reason can be rendered for so sudden a change
in Saul's revengeful spirit, which had all the force of interest to support it,
and considered by him at that very time ? For, ver. 24, he takes special
notice that his family should be disinherited, and David be his successor
in the throne. How suddenly did God turn the edge of the sword
and the heart of an enemy from Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xviii. 31. Jeho-
shaphat cried out, and the Lord helped him, and God moved them to
depart from him. The Holy Ghost emphatically ascribes it to God's
motion of their wills, by twice expressing it. But stranger is the preserva-
tion of the Jews from Hainan's bloody designs, after the decree was gone out
against them. Mordecai the Jew is made Ahasuerus's favourite by a strange
wheeling of providence. First, the king's eyes are held waking, Esther
vi. 1, 2, and he is inclined to pass away the solitariness of the night with a
book, rather than a game, or some other court pastime ; no book did he fix
on but the records of that empire, no place in that voluminous book but the
chronicle of Mordecai' s service in the discovery of a treason against the
king's life ; he doth not carelessly pass it over, but inquires what recompence
had been bestowed on Mordecai for so considerable a service, and this just
before Mordecai should have been destroyed. Had Ahasuerus slept, Mordecai
and all his countrymen had been sacrificed, notwithstanding all his loyalty.
Could this be a cast of blind chance, which had such a concatenation of evi-
dences in it for a superior power ?
3. In causing enemies to do things for others which are contrary to all rules
of policy. It is wonderful that the Jews, a people known to be of a stubborn
nature, and tenacious of their laws, wherein they differed from all the nations,
should in the worst of their captivities be so often befriended by their con-
querors, not only to rebuild their city, and re-edify their temple, but at the
charge of their conquerors too. The very enemies that had captived the.
Jews, though they knew them to be a people apt to rebel : that the people
24 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XYI. 9.
whose temple they had helped to build would keep up a distinct worship and
difference in religion, which is usually attended with the greatest animosities ;
and when they knew it to be so strong in situation as to be a fort as well as
a place of worship ; that for this their enemies should furnish them with
materials, when they were not in a condition to procure any for themselves,
and give them money out of the public exchequer, and timber out of the
king's forest, as we read, Ezra i. 1, 2, 4, 7; iv. 12, 15, 19; vi. 4, 5, 8, 9,
11; Neh. ii. 8. And all this they looked upon as the hand of God : Ezra,
vi. 22, ' The Lord hath turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them,
to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God.' And the heathen
Artaxerxes takes notice of it. Cicero tells us, that in his time gold was
carried out of Italy for the ornament of the temple. They had their rites
in religion preserved entire under the Koman government, though more
different from the Roman customs than any nation subdued by them. Dion
and Seneca, and others, observe, that wherever they were transplanted they
prospered and gave laws to the victors. And this was so generally
acknowledged, that Haman's cabinet counsel (who were surely none of the
meanest statesmen) gave him no hopes of success, when he appeared against
Mordecai, because he was of the race of the Jews, Esth. vi. 18, so much did
God own them by his gracious providence. They were also so entire
in all their captivities before their crucifying of our Lord and Saviour, that
they count their genealogies.
4. In infatuating the counsels of men. God sets a stamp of folly upon
the wisdom of men, Isa. xliv. 25, ' that turns the wise men backward, and
makes their knowledge foolishness, and makes their counsels as chaff and
stubble.' Isa. xxxiii. 11, 'Ye shall conceive chaff, and bring forth stubble.'
Herod was a crafty person, insomuch that Christ calls him fox.* How
foolish was he in managing his project of destroying Christ, his supposed
competitor in the kingdom ! "When the wise men came to Jerusalem, and
brought the news of the birth of a king of the Jews, he calls a synod of
the ablest men among the Jews ! The result of it is to manifest the truth
of God's prediction in the place of our Saviour's birth, and to direct the
Wise men in their way to him. Herod had no resolutions but bloody con-
cerning Christ, Mat. ii. 3-8. God blinds his mind in the midst of all his
craft, that ho sees not those rational ways which he might make use of for
the destruction of that which he feared : he sends those wise men, mere
strangers to him, and entrusts them with so great a concern; he goes not
himself, nor sends any of his guard with them to cut him off immediately
upon the discovery, but leaves the whole conduct of the business to those he
had no acquaintance with, and of v, hose faithfulness he could have no assurance.
God crosses the intentions of men. Joab slew Amasa because he thought
him his rival in David's favour, and then imagined he had rid his hands of
all that could stand in his way; yet God raised up IVnaiah, who drew Joab
from the homi of the altar, and cut him in pieces at Solomon's command.
God doth so order it, many times, that when the most rational counsel is
oiven to men, they h;ive not hearts to follow it. Ahithophel gave as suit -
able counsel for Absalom's d< the best statesman in the world could
give, 2 Sam. JXU, 1, 2, to surprise l>a\id while he was amused f at his son's
rebellion, and dejected with grief at 10 Unnatural an action, and whilst his
farces had Dot. yet made their rendesYons, and those that were with him \
• This ia i lingular Inadvertence on the pari of the author, It was not the
Herod who slew the babes Ht Bethlehi m whom our Lord bo designated.— I'M.
I Tlit! i :, lii , atti nt ion was occupied, or perhaps it may he a misprinl for 'amazed '
— K,l.
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 25
tired in their march. Speed was best in attempts of this nature. David in
all probability had been cut off, and the hearts of the people would have
melted at the fall of their sovereign. But Absalom inclines rather to Hushai's
counsel, which was not so proper for the business he had engaged in, ver.
7-14. Now this was from God. ' For the Lord had appointed to defeat
the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring evil
upon Absalom.' So foolish were the Egyptians against reason, in entering
into the Red Sea after the Israelites ; for could they possibly think that that
God, who had by a strong hand and an army of prodigies brought Israel out
of their captivity, and conducted them thus far, and now by a miracle opened
the Red Sea and gave them passage through the bowels of it, should give
their enemies the same security in pursuing them, and unravel all that web
he had been so long a working ?
5. In making the counsels of men subservient to the very ends they design
against. God brings a cloud upon men's understandings, and makes them
the contrivers of their own ruin, wherein they intend their own safety, and
gains honour to himself by outwitting the creature. The Babel projec-
tors, fearing to be scattered abroad, would erect a power to prevent ; and this
proved the occasion of dispersing them over the world in such a confusion
that they could not understand one another, Gen. xi. 4, 8. God ordered
Pharaoh's policies to accomplish the end against which they were directed.
He is afraid Israel should grow too mighty, and so wrest the kingdom out
of his hands, and therefore he would oppress them to hinder their increase,
which made them both stronger and more numerous. Exercise strengthens
men, and luxury softens the spirit. The Jews fear if they suffered Christ to
make a farther progress in his doctrine and miracles, they should lose Cassar's
favour, and expose their country as a prey to a Roman army : this caused
their destruction by those enemies they thought by this means to prevent ; God
ordering it so, that a Roman army was poured in upon them which swept
them into all corners of the earth. Priests and Pharisees sit close together
in counsel how to hinder men's believing in Christ, and the result of their
consultation was to put him to death, and no man then would believe in a
dead person, not capable of working any miracles, John xi. 47—50, for the
amusing of the people ; and by this means there were a greater number of
believers on him than in the time of his life, according to his own prediction,
John xii. 32, * And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.'
6. In making the fancies of men subservient to their own ruin. God
brings about strange events by the mere imaginations and conceits of men, which
are contrary to common and natural observation, and the ordinary course of
rational consequences, 2 Kings iii. 22, 23. The army of the Moabites which
had invaded Israel thought the two kings of Judah and Israel had turned
their swords against one another, because the rising sun had coloured those
unexpected waters and made them look red, which they took for the blood
of their enemies, and so disorderly run without examination of the truth of
their conceit ; but instead of dividing the spoil, they left their lives upon the
points of the Israelites' swords. So the Syrian army are scared with a panic
fear, and scatter themselves upon an empty sound, 2 Kings vii. 6. Thus a dream
struck a terror into the Midianites, and the noise of the broken potsherds
made them fear some treason in their camp, and caused them to turn their
swords into one another's bowels: Judges vii. 19-22, ' The Lord set every
man's sword against his fellow.'
Quest. First, If God's providence orders all things in world, and concurs
to every thing, how will you free God from being the author of sin ?
Answer, in several propositions.
26 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
1. It is certain God hath a hand about all the sinful actions in the world.
The selling Joseph to thelshmaelites was the act of his brethren ; the send-
ing him into Egypt was the act of God : Ps. cv. 17, ' He sent a man be-
fore them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant ;' Gen. xlv. 8, : It was
not you that sent me hither, but God,' where Joseph ascribes it more to
God than to them. Their wicked intention was to be rid of him, that he
might tell no more tales of them to his father. God's gracious intention
was to advance him for his honour and their good ; and to bring about this
gracious purpose, he makes use of their sinful practice. God's end was
righteous, when theirs was wicked. It is said God moved David to number
the people : 2 Sam. xxiv. 1, ■ The anger of the Lord was kindled against
Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go number Israel and
Judah.' Yet Satan is said to provoke David to number the people : 1 Chron.
xxi. 1, 'And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to num-
ber Israel.' Here are two agents ; but the text mentions God's hand in it
out of justice to punish Israel ; Satan's end, no question, was out of
malice to destroy. Satan wills it as a sin, God as a punishment : God, say
some, permissive, Satan efficaciter. In the most villanous and unrighteous
action that ever was done, God is said to have an influence on it. God is
said to deliver up Christ : Acts ii. 23, ' Him, being delivered by the deter-
minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked
hands have crucified and slain :' Acts iv. 28, ' For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done.' Not barely as an act of his
presence, but his counsel, and that determinate, i. e. stable and irrever-
sible. He makes a distinction between these two acts. In God it was an
act of counsel, in them an act of wickedness, ' by wicked hands ;' there
was God's counsel about it, an actual tradition : Bom. viii. 32, ' He that
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.' All the agents
had several ends. God in that act aimed at the redemption of the world,
Satan at the preventing it, Judas to satisfy his covetousness, the Jews to
preserve themselves from the Roman invasion, and out of malice to him
for so sharply reproving them. God had a gracious principle of love to
mankind, and acted for the salvation of the world in it ; the instruments
had base principles and ends, and moved freely in obedience to them. So
in the aflliction of Job, both God and Satan had an hand in it: Job. i. 12,
'The Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power ;'
ver. 11, • Touch all that he hath, and ho will curse theo to thy face;' their
ends were different: the one righteous, for trial; the other malicious, against
God, that ho might bo cursed ; against Job that ho might bo damned. God's
end was tho brightening of his grace, and the devil's end was the ruin of
his integrity, and despoiling him of God's favour.
2. In all God's actfl abont sin there is no stain to God's holiness.* In
second OAnies, one and tho same net ion, proceeding from divers causes, in
respect of one cause, may lie sinful ; in respect of the other, righteous. As
when twojndgefl condemn a guilty person, one condemns him out of lovo to
justice, beoanse he is guilty ; the other condemns him out of a private hatred
and spleen : one respects him as a malefactor only, the other as a private
•Demy chiefly. Sere is the same action with two concurring causes, one
being tricked in it, the other righteous. Ifnoh more may we conceive it in
the concurrence of the Creator with the action of tho creature,
(l.) God moves every thing in his ordinary providence according to their
particular natures. God moves every thing ordinarily according to tho
nature he finds it in. Had we stood in innoceney, wo had been moved
* Sen pier. Bfetaph. lib. ii. cap. 1">. sect. 6.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 27
according to that originally righteous nature ; but since our fall we are
moved according to that nature introduced by us with the expulsion of the
other. Our first corruption was our own act, not God's work ; we owe our
creation to God, our corruption to ourselves. Now, since God will govern
his creature, I do not see how it can be otherwise, than according to the
present nature of the creature, unless God be pleased to alter that nature.
God forces no man against his nature ; he doth not force the will in conver-
sion, but graciously and powerfully inclines it. He doth never force nor
incline the will to sin, but leaves it to the corrupt habits it hath settled in
itself: Ps. Ixxxi. 12, ' So I gave them up to their own hearts' lusts, and
they walked in their own counsels ;■ counsels of their own framing, not
of God's. He moves the will, which is sponte mala, according to its own
nature and counsels. As a man flings several things out of his hand, which
are of several figures, some spherical, tetragons, cylinders, conies, some
round and some square, though the motion be from the agent, yet the
variety of their motions is from their own figure and frame ; and if any will
hold his hand upon a ball in its motion, regularly it will move according
to his nature and figure ; and a man by casting a bowl out of his hand,
is the cause of the motion, but the bad bias is the cause of its irregular
motion. The power of action is from God, but the viciousness of that action
from our own nature. As when a clock or watch hath some fault in any of
the wheels, the man that winds it up, or putting his hand upon the wheels
moves them, he is the cause of the motion, but it is the flaw in it, or defi-
ciency of something, is the cause of its erroneous motion ; that error was not
from the person that made it, or the person that winds it up, and sets it on
going, but from some other cause ; yet till it be mended it will not go other-
wise, so long as it is set upon motion. Our motion is from God, — Acts
xvii. 28, 'In him we move', — but not the disorder of [that motion. It
is the foulness of a man's stomach at sea is the cause of his sickness, and
not the pilot's government of the ship.
(2). God doth not infuse the lust, or excite it, though he doth present the
object about which the lust is exercised. God delivered up Christ to the
Jews, he presented him to them, but never commanded them to crucify him,
nor infused that malice into them, nor quickened it ; but he, seeing such a
frame, withdrew his restraining grace, and left them to the conduct of their
own vitiated wills. All the corruption in the world ariseth from lust in us,
not from the object which God in his providence presents to us : 2 Peter
i. 4, ' The corruption that is in the world through lust.' The creature is
from God, but the abuse of it from corruption. God created the grape, and
filled the vine with a sprightliness, but he doth never infuse a drunken
frame into a man, or excite it. Providence presents us with the wine, but
the precept is to use it soberly. Can God be blamed if that which is good
in itself be turned into poison by others ? No more than the flower can
be called a criminal, because the spider's nature turns that into venom which
is sweet in itself. Man hath such a nature, not from creation, wherein God
is positive, but from corruption, wherein God is permissive. Providence
brings a man into such a condition of poverty, but it doth not encourage his
stubbornness and impatience. There is no necessity upon thee from God
to exercise thy sin under affliction, when others under the same exercise
their graces. The rod makes the child smart, but it is its own stubbornness
makes it curse. In short, though it be by God's permission that we can do
evil, yet it is not by his inspiration that we will to do evil ; that is wholly
from ourselves.
(3.) God supports the faculties wherewith a man sinneth, and supports a
28 A DISCOUKSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
man in that act wherein he sinneth, but concurs not to the sinfulness of
that act. No sin doth properly consist in the act itself, as an act, but in
the deficiency of that act from the rule. No action wherein there is sin but
may be done as an action, though not as an irregular action. Killing a man
is not in itself unlawful, for then no magistrate should execute a malefactor
for murdering another, and justice would cease in the world ; man also musl
divest himself of all thoughts of preserving his life against an invader ; but
to kill a man without just cause, without authority, without rule, contrary to
rule, out of revenge, is unlawful. So that it is not the act, as an act, is the
sin, but the swerving of that act from the rule, makes it a sinful act. So
speaking, as speaking, is not a sin, for it is a power and act God hath endued
us with, but speaking irreverently and dishonourably of God, or falsely and
slanderously of man, or any otherwise irregularly, therein the sin lies ; so
that it is easy to conceive that an act and the viciousness of it are separable.
That act which is the same in kind with another, may be laudable, and the
other base and vile in respect of its circumstances. The mind wherewith a
man doth this or that act, and the irregularity of it, makes a man a criminal.
There is a concurrence of God to the act wherein we sin, but the sinfulness
of that act is purely from the inherent corruption of the creature ; as the
power and act of seeing is communicated to the eye by the soul, but the
seeing doubly or dimly is from the viciousness of the organ, the eye. God
hath no manner of immediate efficiency in producing sin ; as the sun is not
the efficient cause of darkness, though the darkness immediately succeeds
the setting of the sun, but it is the deficient cause. So God withdraws his
grace, and leaves us to that lust which is in our wills : Acts xiv. 16, ■ Who
in times past suffered all nations to w T alk in their own ways.' He bestowed
no grace upon them, but left them to themselves. As a man who lets a
glass fall out of his hand is not the efficient cause that the glass breaks, but
its own brittle nature ; yet he is the deficient cause, because he withdraws
his support from it. God is not obliged to give us grace, because we have
a total forfeiture of it. He is not a debtor to any man, by way of merit, of
anything but punishment. He is indeed in some senso a debtor to those
that are in Christ, upon the account of Christ's purchase and his own pro-
mise, but not by any merits of theirs.
(4.) God's providence is conversant about sin as a punishment, yet in a
very righteous manner. God did not will the first sin of Adam as a
punishment, because thero was no punishment duo to him before he
sinned, but he willed the continuance of it as a punishment to the
nature tub rations l><>ni. This being a judicial act of God, is therefore
righteously willed by him. Punishment is a moral good. It is also a
righteous thing to suit the punishment to the nature of the offence ;
;md what can be more righteous than to punish a man by that wherein
lie offends? Benee God is said to give up men to sin,— Rom. i. -t5,
27, ' For thif cause God gave thein up unto vile affections,' — and to send
'strong delusions that khej may believe a lie.' And the reason is rendeivo 1 ,
2 These, ii. L2, ■ that they all might he damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleaSUTC in unrighteousness.' What more righteOUB than to make
vile affections and that unrighteousness their punishment which
they make their pleasure f and to leave them to pursue their own sinful
inclinations, and make them (asjthe psalmist speaks) Pi. v. 10, 'fall by
their own counsels' '.' A drunkard's beastliness is his punishment as well as
his sin. Thus God delivers Up some U) their own lusts, as a punishment
both to th.ni ,i.l others, sj Q6 hardened Pharaoh's heart tor tho de-
struction botli of himself and his people.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 29
(5.) God by his providence draws glory to himself and good out of sin.
It is the highest excellency to draw good out of evil, and it is God's right to
manifest his excellency when he pleases, and to direct that to his honour
which is acted against his law. The holiness of God could never intend sin
as sin. But the wisdom of God foreseeing it, and decreeing to permit it,
intended the making it subservient to his own honour. He would not per-
mit it but for some good, because he is infinitely good, and could not by
reason of that goodness suffer that which is purely evil, if by his wisdom he
could not raise good out of it. It is purely evil, as it is contrary to law ;
it is good rat ione finis, as God orders it by his providence ; yet that good-
ness iiows not from the nature of sin, but from the wise disposal of God.
As God at the creation framed a beautiful world out of a chaos, out of
matter without form, and void, so by his infinite wisdom he extracts honour
to himself out of the sins of men. As sin had dishonoured him at its
entrance, in defacing his works and depraving his creature, so he would
make use of the sins of men in repairing his honour and restoring the
creature.
It is not conceivable by us what way there could be more congruous to
the wisdom and holiness of God, as the state of the world then stood, to bring
about the death of Christ, which in his decree was necessary to the satisfac-
tion of his justice, without ordering the evil of some men's hearts to serve
his gracious purpose. If we could suppose that Christ could commit some
capital crime, for which he should deserve death, which was impossible by
reason of the hypostatical union, the whole design of God for redemption
had sunk to the ground. Therefore God doth restrain or let out the fury of
men's passions and the corrupt habits of their wills to such a degree as
should answer directly to the full point of his most gracious will, and no
further. He lets out their malice so far as was conducing to the grand
design of his death, and restrains it from everything that might impair the
truth of any prediction, as in the parting his garments, or breaking his
bones. If God had put him to death by some thunder or otherwise, and
after raised him, how could the voluntariness of Christ appear, which was
necessary to make him a perfect oblation ? How would his innocency have
appeared ? The strangeness of the judgment would have made all men
believe him some great and notorious sinner. How then could the gospel
have been propagated ? Who would have entertained the doctrine of one
whose innocency could not be cleared ? If it be said, God might raise him
again, what evidences would have been had that he had been really dead ?
But as the case was, his enemies confess him dead really, and many wit-
nesses there were of his resurrection.
[1.] God orders the sins of men to the glory of his grace. As a foil
serves to make the lustre of a diamond more conspicuous, so doth God
make use of the deformities of men to make his own grace more illustrious,
and convey it with a more pleasing relish to them. Never doth grace
appear more amiable, never is God entertained with so high admirations, as
by those who, of the worst of sinners, are made the choicest of saints.
Paul often takes occasion, from the greatness of his sin, to admire the un-
searchable riches of that grace which pardoned him.
[2.] God orders them to bring forth temporal mercies. In providence
there are two things considerable. First, Man's will. Secondly, God's
purpose. What man's will intends as a harm in sin, God in his secret
purpose orders to some eminent advantage. In the selling of Joseph, his
brothers intend the execution of their revenge ; and God orders it for the
advancement of himself, and the preservation of his unrighteous enemies,
30 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
who might otherwise have starved. His brothers sent him to frustrate his
dream, and God to fulfil it. Our reformation and return from under the
yoke of antichrist was, by the wise disposal of God, occasioned by the three
great idols of the world, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the
pride of life ; lust, covetousness, and ambition, three vices notoriously
eminent in Henry the Eighth, the first instrument in that work. What he
did for the satisfaction of his lust is ordered by God for the glory of his
mercy to us. And though the papists". upon that account reflect upon our
Reformation, they may as well reflect upon the glorious work of redemption,
because it was in the wisdom of God brought about by Judas his covetous-
ness, and the Jews' malice.
[3.] God orders them for the glory of his justice upon others. Nathan
had threatened David that one in his house should lie with his wives in the
sight of the sun, 2 Sam. xii. 11. Ahithophel adviseth Absalom to do so,
not with any design to fulfil God's threatening, but secure his own stake, by
making the quarrel between the father and the son irreconcilable, because
he might well fear that upon a peace between David and Absalom he might
be offered up as a sacrifice to David's justice. God orders Ahithophel's
counsel and Absalom's sin to the glory of his justice in David's punishment.
The ambition of Vespasian and Titus was only to reduce Judea to the
Roman province after the revolt of it. But God orders hereby the execution
of his righteous will in the punishment of the Jews for their rejecting
Christ, and the accomplishment of Christ's prediction. Luke xix. 43,
' For the days shall come, that thy enemy shall cast a trench about thee,'
&c. To conclude ; if we deny God the government of sin in the course of
his providence, we must necessarily deny him the government of the world,
because there is not an ac'ion of any man's in the world, which is under
the government of God, but is either a sinful action or an action mixed
with sin.
God therefore in his government doth advance his power in the weakness,
his wisdom in the follies, his holiness in the sins, his mercy in the unkind-
ness, and his justice in the unrighteousness of men ; * yet God is not defiled
with the impurities of men, but rather draws forth a glory to himself, as a
rose doth a greater beauty and sweetness from the strong smell of the garlic
Bet near it.f
Quest. 2. If there bo a providence, how comes those unequal distributions
to happen in the world ? How is it so bad with good men, as if they were
the greatest enemies to God, and so well with tho wicked, as if they well
tin; most affectionate friends ? Doth not virtue languish away in obscurity,
whiles wickedness struts about the world? What is the reason that splendid
virtue is oppressed by injustice, and notorious vices triumph in prosperity?
It would make m.n believe that tin; world was governed rather by a blind
Blld unrighteous, than by a wise, good, and just governor, when they see
things in sueh disorder, as if the devil had, as he pretends, the whole power
of tlie world delivered to him, Lnke iv. (>, and (iod had left all care of it
to his will.
Ant, This consideration has heightened the minds of many against a
providence. It was the notion of many heathens,] when thev saw many
who had acted with much gallantry for their countries afflicted, they que*
tioned whether there were a superintendent power over the world. This
hath also been the stumbling-block of many taught in a higher school than
* Vid. Orid Amor. lib. hi. Eleg. iii. v. 1, and v. 27.
t Boetiu i de I Ion ■<>. lib. i.
\ ft on in Juckbon. Vol i. 8, cluip. iv. sect. 5,
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 31
that of nature, the Jews : Mai. ii. 17, ' Ye say, every one that doth evil is
good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them ; and where is the
God of judgment?' Yea, and the observation of the outward felicities of
vice, and the oppression of goodness, have caused fretting commotions in
the hearts of God's people ; the Psalm lxxiii. is wholly designed to answer
this case. Jeremiah, though fixed in the acknowledgment of God's righteous-
ness, would debate the reason of it with God : Jer. xii. 1, ' Righteous art thou,
Lord, yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments : "Wherefore doth the way of
the wicked prosper ? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously ?
Thou hast planted them ; yea, they have taken root : they grow ; yea, they
bring forth fruit.' He perceiving it a universal case, — ' Wherefore are all
they happy,' Sec. — did not know how to reconcile it with the righteousness
of God, nor Habakkuk with the holiness of God : Hab. i. 13, ' Thou
art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity : wherefore boldest thou thy
tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than
he ? ' In point of God's goodness, too, Job expostulates the case with God :
Job x. 3, 'Is it good unto thee that thou shouldst oppress? that thou
shouldst despise the work of thy hands ? and shine upon the counsel of the
wicked ? ' You see upon the account of holiness, righteousness, goodness,
the three great attributes of God, it hath been questioned by good men, and
upon the account of his wisdom by the wicked Jews.
Ans. 1. Answer in general, Is it not a high presumption for ignorance to
judge God's proceedings ? In the course of providence such things are
done that men could not imagine could be done without injustice ; yet when
the whole connection of their end is unravelled, they appear highly beauti-
ful, and discover a glorious wisdom and righteousness. If it had entered
into the heart of man to think that God should send his Son in a very low
estate to die for sinners, would it not have been judged an unjust and
unreasonable act, to deliver up his Son for rebels, the innocent for the
criminals, to spare the offender and punish the observer of his law ? Yet
when the design is revealed and acted, what an admirable connection is there
of justice, wisdom, mercy, and holiness, which men could not conceive of! It
will be known to be so at last in God's dealing with all his members. "We
are incompetent judges of the righteousness and wisdom of God, unless we
were infinitely righteous and wise ourselves ; we must be gods, or in
another state, before we can understand the reason of all God's actions.
We judge according to the law of sense and self, which are inferior to the
rules whereby God works. ' Judge nothing then before the time,' 1 Cor. iv. 5.
It is not a time for us to pass a judgment upon things. A false judgment
is easily made, when neither the counsels of men's hearts, nor the particular
laws of God's actions, are known to us. In general it is certain, God doth
righteously order his providences ; he may see some inward corruptions in
good men to be demolished by afflictions, and some good moral affections,
some useful designs, or some services he employs wicked men in, to be
rewarded in this life.
Ans. 2. God is sovereign of the world. He is sui juris : ' The earth is
his, and the fulness thereof,' may he not c do what he will with his own' ?
Mat. xx. 15. Who shall take upon them to control God, and prescribe laws
to him how to deal with his creatures ? Why should a finite understanding
prescribe measures and methods to an infinite majesty ?
Ans. 3. God is wise and just, and knows how to distribute. If we question
his providence, we question his wisdom. Is it fit for us, who are but of
yesterday, and know nothing, to say to an infinite wisdom, What dost thou ?
and to direct the onlj wise God to a method of his actions ? His own
32 A DISCOUKSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
wisdom will best direct him to the time when to punish the insolence of the
wicked, and relieve the miseries of his people. We see the present dis-
pensations, but are we able to understand the internal motives ? May
there not be some sins of righteous men's parents that he will visit upon
their children ? some virtues of their ancestors, that he will reward even in
their wicked posterity ? He may use wicked men as instruments in some
service. It is part of his distributive justice to reward them. They aim
at these things in th^ir service, and he gratifies them according to their
desires. Let not, then, his righteousness be an argument against his pro-
vidence ; it is righteous with God not to be in arrears with them. Some-
times God gives them not to them as rewards of any moral virtue, but puts
power into their hands, that they may be instruments of his justice upon
some offenders against him : Isa. x. 5, the staff in the Assyrian's hand was
God's indignation.
Ans. 4. There is a necessity for some seeming inequality, at least, in order to
the good government of the world. Can all in any community of men be of an
equal height? A house hath not beams and rafters of an equal bigness, some
are greater and some less. The world is God's family. It is here as in a
family ; all cannot have the same office, but they are divided according to
the capacities of some persons, and the necessity of others. Providence
would not be so apparent in the beauty of the world, if all men were alike
in their stations. Where would the beauty of the body be, if all the mem-
bers had one office, and one immediate end ? Man would cease to be man,
if every member had not some distinct work, and a universal agreement in
the common profit of the body. All mankind is but one great body, con-
stituted of several members, which have distinct offices, but all ordered to the
good of the whole ; the apostle argues this excellently in a parallel case of
the diversities of gifts in the church : 1 Cor. xii. 19, 'If all were one mem-
ber, where were the body ?' ver, 23, ' Those members of the body which
we think to be less honourable, upon those we bestow more abundant
honour;' ver. 24, ' God hath tempered the body together, having given
more abundant honour to that part which lacked.' What harmony could
there be, if all the voices and sounds were exactly the same in a concert ?
Who can be delighted with a picture that hath no shadows ? The afflic-
tions of good men are a foil to set off tho beauty of God's providence in the
world.
Ans. 5. Unequal dispensations do not argue carelessness. A father may
givo one child a gayer coat than he gives another, yet he extends his
fatherly care and tenderness over all. According to tho several employments
he puts bil children upon, ho is at greater expense, and yet lovos one as
well as another, and makes provision for all. As the soul takes care of the
lowest member, and communicates spirits to every part for their motions;
so though God place lome in a higher, somo in a lower condition, yet ho
takes can <>f all: God 'divides to every man as ho will,' 1 Cor. xii. 11.
I'iVeiV mftO hath a several share, according to God's pleasure, of a goodiu
in the world, as well as of gifts in the church.
,i//v. c». Yet upon <ine consideration the inequality will not appear so
great as the complaint of it. If the wants of one, ami tho enjoyment o(
another, were weighed in the balance, the scales might not appear so
uneven ; WC see such a man's wealth, hut do you understand his cares ? A
running son may lie under a purple robe. Health, the salt of blessing,
one calla it, ii beitowod upon a labourer, when many that wallow in abun-
dance have those torturing diseases which embitter their pleasures, if some
want those worldly ornaments which others have, may they not have more
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OP DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 33
wisdom than those that enjoy them (the noblest perfection of a rational crea-
ture) ? Prov. iii. 13, 14, ' The merchandise of it is better than the mer-
chandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold :' Prov. xv. 16,
* Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure, and trouble
therewith.' As some are stripped of wealth and power, so they are stripped
of their incumbrances they bring with them. One hath that serenity
aud tranquillity of mind, which the cares and fears of others will not suffer
them to enjoy, and a grain of contentment is better than many pounds of
wealth. It is not a desirable thing to be a great prince, attended with as
many cares and fears as he hath subjects in his empire. He made a true
estimate of his greatness, that said he would not stoop to take up a crown
if it lay at his feet. But more particularly to the parts of the case.
1. It is not well with bad men here.
(1.) Is it well with them who are tortured by their own lusts ? What
peace can worldly things bestow upon a soul filled with impurity ? In 2 Cor.
vii. 1, sin is called filthiness : Can it be well with them that have nasty
souls ? Is it well with them who are racked by pride, stung with cares,
gnawn with envy, distracted by insatiable desires, and torn in pieces by their
own fears ? Can it be well with such who have a multitude of vipers in
their breasts, sticking all their stings into them, though the sun shine, and
the shadows drop upon them ? You are spectators of their felicity, but do
you understand their inward gripes ? Prov. xiv. 13, * Even in laughter the
heart is sorrowful.' Can silken curtains or purple clothes confer a happi-
ness upon those who have a mortal plague-sore poisoning their bodies, and
are ready to expire ? Sin is their plague, whatever is their happiness.
1 Kings viii. 38, sin is called the plague of the heart. Their insolent
lusts are a far greater misery than the possession of all the kingdoms in the
world can be a happiness.
(2.) Is it well with them who have so great an account to make, and know
not how to make it ? Those that enjoy much are more in God's debt, and
therefore more accountable. The account of wicked men is the greater,
because of their abundance ; and their unfitness to make that account is the
greater, because of their abuse. Would any reckon themselves happy to
be called upon to give an account of their stewardship for talents, and know
not how to give a good account of one farthing ? Luke xvi. 2, ' Give an
account of thy stewardship.'
(3.) Is it well with them who are the worse for what they have ? Is it a
happiness to command others, and be more slaves to the worst of creatures
than any can be to them ? The wicked man's well- spread table sometimes
proves his snare, Ps. lxix. 22, and his destruction is bound up in his very
prosperity : Prov. i. 32, « And the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.'
Prosperity falling upon an unregenerate heart, like the sun and rain upon
bad ground, draws forth nothing but weeds and vermin. Would you think
it your happiness to be masters of their concerns, and slaves to their pride ?
Is a stubbornness against God so desirable a thing, which is strengthened
by those things in the hands of the wicked ?
(4.) Is it well with them who in the midst of their prosperity are reserved
for justice ? Can that traitor be accounted happy, that is fed in prison by
the prince with better dishes than many a loyal subject hath at his table,
but only to keep him alive for his trial, and a public example of justice ?
God raises some for greater falls. Miserable was the felicity of Pharaoh,
to be raised up by God for a subject to shew in him the power of his wrath,
Exod. ix. 16. It is but a little time before they shall be ' cut down as grass,
and wither as the green herb,' Ps. xxxvii. 2. None would value the con-
vol. i. o
34 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
dition of that soldier, who, leaping into a river to save a king's crown,
and putting it upon his own head, that he might be enabled to swim out
with it, was rewarded for saving it, and executed for wearing it. God
rewards wicked men for their service, and punishes them for their insolence.
2. Neither is it bad here with good men, if all be well considered.
Other men's judgment of a good man is frivolous, they cannot rightly
judge of his state and concerns, but he can make a judgment of theirs :
1 Cor. ii. 15, ' A spiritual man judgeth all things, but he himself is judged
of no man.' No man can make a sound judgment and estimate of a right-
eous man's state in any condition, unless he hath had experience of the like
in all the circumstances, the inward comforts as well as the outward crosses.
For,
(1.) Adversity cannot be called absolutely an evil, as prosperity cannot
be called absolutely a good. They are rather indifferent things, because
they may be used either for the honour or dishonour of God. As they are
used for his honour, they are good, and as used for [his dishonour, they are
evil. The only absolutely bad thing in the world is sin, which cannot be,
in its own nature, but a dishonour to God. The only absolutely good thing
in the world is holiness, and a likeness to God, which cannot be, in its own
nature, but for his glory. As for all other things, I know no true satisfac-
tion can be in them, but as they are subservient to God's honour, and give
us an advantage for imitating some one or other of his perfections. Crosses
in the Scripture are not excluded from those things we have a right to by
Christ, when they may conduce to our good : 1 Cor. iii. 22, ' Life and death,
things present, and things to come, are yours, and you are Christ's.'
Since the revelation of the gospel, I do not remember that any such com-
plaint against the providence of God fell from any holy man in the New
Testament ; for our Saviour had given them another prospect of those
things. The holy men in the Old Testament comforted themselves against
this objection by the end of the wicked which should happen, and the rod
cease, Ps. lxxiii. In the New Testament we are more comforted by the certain
operation of crosses to our good and spiritual advantage, Rom. viii. Our
Saviour did not promise wealth and honour to his followers, nor did he
think it worth his pains of coming and dying, to bestow such gifts upon his
children. He made heaven their happiness, and the earth their hell ; the
cross was their badge here, and the crown their reward hereafter ; they
mod not to be a purchase congruous to so great a price of blood. "\\
(lod's providence to Christ the more to bo questioned because he was poor ?
Had he the less love to him becauso he was ' a man of sorrows,' even while
he was a (iod of glory ? Such groundless conceits should never enter into
Christians, who oan never seriously take up Christ's yoke without a pro-
viso of afflictions, who can never be God's sons without expecting his
corrections.
(2.) (iod Dover leaves good men so bare, but he provides for their neoes*
itv : Ps. Ixxxiv. 11, ' The Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing
will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.' If any thing be good, an
upright man may expeet it from (lod's providence; it" it be not good, ho
should not desire it : Howsoever grace, which is necessary lor preparing
thee for happin6S8 and glorj, which is necessary for fixing thee in it, he will
he sure to givs | WS ha\e I >a\ id's experience for it in tin! whole course o( his
life, Ps. xxxvii. , r >.
i The little good men have is heifer than the highest enjoyments ox
wicked men: Pl a xxxvii. L6| 'A little that a righteous man hath is better
than Hit; riches of many wicked;' not better than many riches of the wid
2 Chron. XVI. 9.] a discourse of divine providence. 35
but better than the riches of many wicked, better than all the treasures of
the whole mass of the wicked world. Others have them in a providential
way, good men in a gracious way: Prov. xvi. 8, 'Better is a little with
righteousness, than great revenues without right,' without a covenant right.
Wicked prosperity is like a shadow that glides away in a moment, whereas
a righteous man's little is a part of Christ's purchase, and part of that
inheritance which shall endure for ever : Ps. xxxvii. 18, ' Their inheritance
shall be for ever,' i. e., God regards the state of the righteous, whether good
or evil, all that befalls them. God doth all with a respect to his everlasting
inheritance. No man hath worldly things without their wings. And though
the righteous have worldly things with their wings, yet that love whereby
they have them hath no wings ever to fly away from them. How can those
things be good to a man that can never taste them, nor God in them ?
(4.) No righteous man would in his sober wits be willing to make an ex-
change of his smartest afflictions for a wicked man's prosperity, with all the
circumstances attending it. It cannot therefore be bad with the righteous
in the worst condition. Would any man be ambitious of snares that knows
the deceit of them ? Can any but a madman exchange medicines for
poison ? Is it not more desirable to be upon a dunghill with an intimate
converse with God, than upon a throne without it ? They gain a world in
prosperity, a righteous man gains his soul by afflictions, and possesses it in
patience. Is the exchange of a valuable consideration ? God strips good
men of the enjoyment of the world, that he may wean them from the love
of it ; keeps them from idolatry, by removing the fuel of it ; sends afflictions
that he may not lose them, nor they their souls. Would any man exchange
a great goodness ' laid up for him that fears God,' Ps. xxxi. 19, for a lesser
goodness laid out upon them that are enemies to him ?
Who would exchange a few outward comforts with God's promise, inward
comforts with assurance of heaven, godliness with contentment, a sweet and
spiritual life, sovereignty over himself and lusts, though attended with suf-
ferings, for the government of the whole world ?
(5.) It is not ill with the righteous in afflictions, because they have high
advantages by them. That cannot be absolutely evil which conduceth to a
greater good ; as,
First, Sensible experiments of the tender providence of God over them.
If the righteous had not afflictions in this life, God would lose the glory of
his providence, and they the sweetness in a gracious deliverance from them,
in ways which makes the affliction the sweeter as well as the mercy ; they
would lose the comfort of them, in not having such sensible evidences of
God's gracious care.
The sweetness of the promises made for times of trouble would never be
tasted : Ps. xxxvii. 19, ' They shall not be ashamed in the evil time ;' that
is, they shall be mightily encouraged and supported. God's people do best
understand God's strength when they feel the smart of men's malice :
2 Tim. iv. 17, ' The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me.' He had
never felt so much of God's strength if he had not tasted much of man's
wickedness in forsaking him. Ps. xxxvii. 39, ' He is their strength,' when
in times of trouble they experiment more of his care in preserving them,
and his strength in supporting them, than at other times. Abundance of
consolations are manifested in abundance of sufferings, 2 Cor. i. 5, 1 Peter
iv. 13, 14. A greater sense of joy and glory lights upon them in a storm
of persecutions. Men see the sufferings of the godly, but they do not behold
that inward peace which composeth and delights their souls, worth the whole
mass of the world's goodness, and pleasures of the unrighteous.
86 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
Secondly, Inward improvements, opportunities to manifest more love to
God, more dependence on him, the perfection of the soul : 1 Tim. v. 5,
'Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusts in God, and con-
tinues in supplications and prayers night and day.' There is a ground of
more exercise of trust in God and supplication to him. The poor and
desolate have an advantage for the actual exercise of those graces, which a
prosperous condition wants. God changeth the metal by it ; what was lead
and iron he makes come forth as gold : Job xxiii. 10, ' When he hath tried
me, I shall come forth as gold.' Crosses and sufferings, which fit good men
for special service here, and eternal happiness hereafter, can no more be
said to be evil, than the fire which refines the gold, and prepares it for a
prince's use. If there were not such evils, what ground could you have to
exercise patience ? what heroic acts of faith could you put forth without
difficulties ? how could you believe against hope, if you had not sometimes
something to contradict your hopes ? And if a good man should have a
confluence of that which the ignorant and pedantical world calls happiness,
he might undervalue the pleasures of a better life, deface the beauty of his
own soul, and withdraw his love from the most gratifying as well as the
most glorious object, unto that which is not worth the least grain of his
affection.
Thirdly, Future glory. The great inquiry at the day of Christ's appear-
ing will be, how good men bare their sufferings, what improvements they
had ; and the greater their purity by them, the greater will be their praise
and honour : 1 Peter i. 7, ' That the trial of your faith,' viz., by manifold
temptations, ' may be found to praise, and honour, and glory, at the appear-
ing of Jesus Christ.' For a good improvement by them, they will have a
public praise from God's mouth, and a crown of honour set upon their
heads. Providence sends even light afflictions as so many artificers, to
make the crown more massy and more bright : 2 Cor. iv. 17, • Works for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.' They are at work
about a good man's crown while they make him smart. They prepare him
for heaven, and make it more grateful to him when he comes to possess it.
A Christian carriage in them prepares for greater degrees of glory. Every
stroke doth but more beautify the crown.
Fourthly, Sufferings of good men for the truth highly glorifies the pro-
vidence of God. This is a matter of glory and honour : 1 Peter iv. 10, ' If
any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify
God on this behalf.' They thereby bear a testimony to the highest act of
providence that God ever exercised, even the redemption of the world by
the blood of his Son. And the church, which is the highest object of his
providence in the world, takes tin; deeper root, and BpringS up the higher;
the foondfttion of it was laid in the blood of Christ, and the growth of it is
furthered by the blood of martyrs. The carriage of the righteous in them
makes the truth they profess more valued. It eiihanceth the excellency <A'
religion, and manifests it to bo moro amiable for its beauty than for its
dowry, since they §M it desirable by the sufferers, not only without
WOrldlj enjoyments, hut with the sharpest miseries. This consideration
hath wrought upon many to embraoe the religion o\' the sutlerers. If it
chef as far us death, they are but despatched to their Father's house,
and the day of their death is the day of their coronation; and what evil is
there in all thi
Fifthly, To conclude; this argument is stronger (upon the infallible right-
eousness of (iod's nature) for a day of reckoning after this life, than against
providence. It is a more rational conclusion that God will have a time to
2 CflRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 87
justify the righteousness and wisdom of his providential government, and
repair the honour of the righteous, oppressed by the injustice of the wicked.
And indeed, unless there be a retribution in another world, the question is
unanswerable, and all the reason in the world knows not how to salve the
holiness and righteousness of God in his providential dispensations in this
life, since we see here goodness unrewarded and debased to the dunghill,
vice glorying in impunity, and ranting to the firmament. We cannot see
how it can consist with the nature of God's wisdom, righteousness, and
holiness, if there were not another life, wherein God will manifest his right-
eousness in the punishing sin and rewarding goodness ; for it is impos-
sible that a God of infinite justice should leave sin unpunished, and grace
unrewarded, here or hereafter. The Scripture gives us so full an account of
a future state, that may satisfy all Christians in this business.
The wicked rich man is in his purple, and Lazarus in his rags ; yet
Abraham's bosom is prepared for the one, and an endless hell for the other.
Jeremiah resolves the case in his dispute with God about it : Jer. xii. 3,
1 Pull them out like sheep to the slaughter, and prepare them for the day
of slaughter.' They are but fattening for the knife of justice; and the day
will come when they shall be consumed like the fat of lambs in the sacrifice,
which shall wholly evaporate into smoke; so the psalmist resolves it in
Ps. xxxvii. 20, a psalm written for the present case. God laughs at their
security in a way of mockery: Ps. xxxvii. 13, 'The Lord shall laugh at
him, for he sees that his day is coming,' — God's day for the justification of
his proceedings in the world, and the wicked man's day for his own destruc-
tion, wherein they shall all be destroyed together, Ps. xxxvii. 38; the whole
mass of them in one bundle. Who then will charge God with unequal
distributions at that day, which is appointed for the clearing up of his
righteousness, which is here masked in the world ? Who can be fond of
the state of the wicked '? Who would be fond of a dead man's condition,
because he lies in state, whose soul may be condemned, whilst his body,
with a pompous solemnity, is carried to the grave, and both body and soul,
joined together at the resurrection, adjudged to eternal misery ?
Quest. 2. What hath been said in this will also answer another question,
Why God doth not immediately punish notorious offenders, since the best
governments in the world are such as call the violators of the law to a
speedy account, to keep up the honour of justice ? Thus the Epicures
charge God with neglects of providence, because if he doth punish wicked
men, it is later than is fit and just : ' Because sentence against an evil work
is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set
in them to do evil,' Eccles. viii. 11. Delay of justice is an encouragement
to sin.
Ans. 1. This is an argument for God's patience, none against his pro-
vidence. Should he make such quick work, what would become of the
world ? Could it have held out to this day ? If God had instantly taken
revenge upon those that thus disparage his providence, the frame of such
an objection had not been alive. No man is so perfectly good but he might
fall under the revenging stroke of his sword, if he pleased to draw it.
Suffer God to evidence his patience here, since after the winding up of the
world he will have no time to manifest it. God doth indeed sometimes
send the sharp arrow of some judgment upon a notorious offender, to let
him understand that he hath not forgotten how to govern ; but he doth not
always do so, that his patience may be glorified in bearing with his rebel-
lious creature.
Ans. 2. God is just in that wherein the question supposeth him unjust;
38 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
he suffers wicked men to continue to be the plagues of the places where
they live, and the executioners of his justice upon offenders against hhn,
Ps. xvii. 13. The wicked are God's sword, Jer. xlvii. 6. Those that God
would stir up against the Philistines are called the sword of the Lord, Isa.
x. 5. Asshur is said to be the rod of his anger; would it consist with his
wisdom to drop the instruments out of his hand as soon as he begins to
use them ? to cast his rods out of his hand as soon as he takes them up ?
The rules of justice are as much unknown to us as the communications of
his goodness to his people are unknown to the world.
Am. 3. Let me ask such a one whether he never injured another man,
and whether he would not think it very severe, if not unjust, that the
offended person should presently take revenge of him? If every man
should do the like, how soon would mankind be despatched, and the world
become a shambles, men running furiously to one another's destructions for
the injuries they have mutually received ! Do we praise the lenity of
parents to their children, and dispraise the mercy of God, because he doth
not presently use his right ? Is, then, forbearance of revenge accounted a
virtue in a man, and shall it be an imperfection in God ? With what
reason can we thus blame the eminent patience of God, which we have
reason to adore, and which every one of us are monuments of ? The use is, —
Use 1. Of information.
How unworthy and absurd a thing is it to deny providence ! Some of
the heathens fancied that God walked his circuit in heaven, or sat with
folded arms there, taking no cognizance of what was done in the world.
Some indeed, upon some great emergencies, have acknowledged the mercies
and justice of God, which are the two arms of his providence. The bar-
barians his justice, when they saw a viper leap upon Paul's hand, Acts
xxviii. 4, they say among themselves, ' No doubt this man is a murderer,
whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffers not to live.'
The mariners in Jonah implored his mercy in their distress at sea; yet
they generally attributed affairs to blind chance, and worshipped fortune as
a deity. For this vain conceit the psalmist calls the atheist fool : Ps.
xiv. 1, 'The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' Potiphar
acknowledged it, he saw that the Lord was with Joseph, and favoured his
designs : Gen. xxxix. 3, « And his master saw that the Lord was with him,
and that the Lord made all tilings that he did to prosper in his hand.'
It will not bo amiss to consider this, for the root of denial of providence
is in tho hearts of the best men, especially under affliction. Asaph was a
holy man, Pi. hxiii. 18, saitli he, ' Verily I have cleansed my heart in
vain, and washed my hands in innocency.' He had taken much pains with
his heart, and had been onderxnnoh affliction: ver. 14, k All the day long
hare I been plagned, and chastened every morning. 1 And the consideration
of this, that, be should have so much affliction with so much holiness, so
strangely puzzled him, that he utters that dreadfhl speech, as if he had a
""lid to east oil' ji.ll cares ahout the worship of God, ami sanctifying his
heart, and repent of all that he had done in thai business, as much as to
■ Had I been as very a villain as such or such a man, I might have
prospered as well us they, bat I was a fool to have any fear of Gh
Therefore we will consider,
1 . The evil of denying providence.
'2. The .'rounds of the denial of it by the heathen, which we shall find in
our own hearts.
:!. The VarioUfl Wayi Wherein men practically deny providence.
1 . The evil Of denying it.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 39
(1.) It gives a liberty to all sin. It give an occasion for an unbounded
licentiousness, for what may not be done where there is no government ?
The Jews tell us* that the dispute between Cain and Abel was this: Cain
said, because his sacrifice was not accepted, that there was no judge, no
reward of good works, or punishment of bad, which when Abel opposed,
Cain slew him. They ground it upon the discourse of God with Cain, Gen.
iv. 7, 8, which had been about his providence and acceptation of men, if they
did well, and punishment of men if they did ill ; whence they gather the
discourse, ver. 8, Cain had with his brother was about the same subject,
for Cain talked with Abel, and upon that discourse rose up against him,
and slew him. And his discourse afterwards with God, ver. 9, seems to
favour it, ' Am I my brother's keeper ? ' Thou dost say thou art the
Governor of the world, it is not my concern to look after him. Their
conjecture is not improbable. If it were so, we see how early this opinion
began in the world, and what was the horrid effect of it, the first sin, the
first murder that we read of after the sin of Adam. And what confusion
would grow upon the entertainment of such a notion.
Indeed, the Scripture everywhere places sin upon this root: Ps. x. 11,
'God hath forgotten: he hides his face; he will never see it.' He hath
turned his back upon the world. This was the ground of the oppression of
the poor by the wicked which he mentions, ver. 9, 10. So Isa. xxvi. 10,
1 The wicked will not learn righteousness, he will deal unjustly.' The
reason is, ' he will not behold the majesty of the Lord; he will not regard
God's government of the world, ' though his hand be lifted up to strike.'
There is no sin but receives both its birth and nourishment from this bitter
root. Let the notion of providence be once thrown out, or the belief of it
faint, how will ambition, covetousness, neglect of God, distrust, impatience,
and all other bitter gourds, grow up in a night ! It is from this topic all
iniquity will draw arguments to encourage itself ; for nothing doth so much
discountenance those rising corruptions, and put them out of heart, as an
actuated belief that God takes care of human affairs. Upon the want of
this actuated knowledge God charges all the sin of Ephraim : Hosea vii. 2,
1 They consider f not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness ;'
as if God were blind and did not see, or stupid and did not concern himself,
or of a very frail memory soon to forget.
(2.) It destroys all religion. The first foundation of all religion is, first,
the being, secondly, the goodness, of God in the government of the world :
Heb. xi. 6, ' He that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.' He is the object of religion as
he is the governor of the world. This denial would shut up Bibles and
temples, and bring irreligious disorder into all societies.
[1.] All worship. He that hath not design to govern, is supposed to
expect no homage ; if he regards not his creatures, he cares for no wor-
ship from them. How is it possible to persuade men to regard him for
God, who takes no care of them ? Who will adore him who regards no
adoration ?
[2. J Prayer. To what purpose should they beg his directions, implore
his assistance in their calamities, if he had no regard at all to his crea-
tures ? What favour can we expect from him who is regardless of dis-
pensing any ?
[3.] Praise. Who would make acknowledgments to one from whom they
never received any favour, and hath no mind to receive any acknowledgments
* Targum Hierosolymit, Mercer in Gen. iv. 7.
f Heb., ' They speak not to their hearts.'
40 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
from them, because Tie takes no care of them ? If the Deity have no rela-
tion to us, how can we have relation to him ? To what purpose will it be
either to call upon him, or praise him, which are the prime pieces of reli-
gion, if he concern not himself with us ?
[4.] Dependence, trust, and hope. What reason have we to commit our
concerns to him, and to depend upon him for relief? Hence the apostle
saith, Eph. ii. 12, the Gentiles were ' without hope, and without God in
the world.' The reason they were without hope was because they were
without God. They denied a settled providence, and acknowledged a blind
chance, and therefore could have no sound hope ; so some understand it of
denial of God's government. It might well give occasion to people to utter
Pharaoh's speech: Exod. v. 2, 'Who is the Lord, that I should obey his
voice, to let Israel go ? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.'
What is God that I should serve him ? I have no such notion of a God
that governs the world. The regardlessness of his creature disobligeth the
creature from any service to him.
(3.) It is a high disparagement of God. To believe an impotent, igno-
rant, negligent God, without care of his works, is as bad or worse than to
believe no God at all. The denial of his providence is made equal with the
denial of God : Ps. xiv. 1, < The fool hath said in his heart, There is no
God.' He denied God, Elohim, which word denotes God's providence;
not, there is no Jehovah, which notes his essence, he denied not God
quoad essentia))}, but quoad providentiam, whereupon the psalmist dubs the
atheist fool. It strips God of his judicial power. How shall he judge his
creatures, if he know not what they think, and regards not what they do ?
How easy will it be for him to be imposed upon by the fair pretences and
lying excuses of men ! It is diabolical. The devil denies not God's right
to govern, but he denies God's actual government; for he saith, Luke iv. 6,
' The power and glory of the world is delivered' unto him, ' and to whom-
soever,' saith he, ■ I will, I give it.' God had cast off all care of all things,
and made the devil his deputy. He that denies providence denies most of
God's attributes, he denies at least the exercise of them. He denies his
omniscience, which is the eye of providence; mercy and justice, which are
the arms of it; power, which is the life and motion of providence ; wisdom,
which is the rudder of providence, whereby it is steered; and holiness,
which is the compass and rule of the motion of providence.
i 1.) It is clearly against natural light. Socrates an heathen could say,
Whosoever denied providence did Auiiaoviuv, was possessed with a devil.*
Should (iod create a man anew with a sound judgment, and bring him into
the world, when he should sec the harmony, multitudes, virtues, and opera-
tions of all creatures, the stated times and .seasons, must lie not Deeds con-
fess that lome invisible, inconceivable wisdom did both frame, and doth
govern all the motions of it? And it is a greater crime in any of us to
deny providence, either in opinion or practice, than it was or could h
been in heathens; because we have not only that natural reason which they
had, sufficient to convince as, but supernatural revelation in the Scripture,
wherein God hath declared those methods of his providence which reason
could not arrive to ; ai to deny his creation of the world is a greater crime
in a man that Knows (he Scripture than in a, heathen, because that hath put
it out, of doubt. And the asserting of this being the end of all God's judg-
menl i in the world Job \i\. 29, ' Wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment,' i. *., providence — the denial
of it is ■ sin against all past or present judgments, which Clod hath or doth
* Meat i : Balden, p. 626,
2 CllRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 41
exercise, the Scripture frequently declaring the meaning of such and such
judgments to be, that men may know that the Lord is God.
2. The second thing is, the grounds of the denial of providence. This
atheism has been founded,
(1.) Upon an overweening conceit of men's own worths. When men
saw themselves frustrated of the rewards they expected, and saw others that
were instruments of tyranny and lust graced with the favours they thought
due to their own virtue, they ran into a conceit that God did not mind the
actions of men below. So that it was pride, interest, self-conceit, and
opinion of merit, rather than any well-grounded reason, introduced this
part of atheism into the world; for upon any cross this opinion of merit
swelled up into blasphemous speeches against God. When we have any
thoughts (as we are apt to have) by our religious acts to merit at God's
hand, we act against the absoluteness of his providence, as though God
could be obliged to us by any other than his own promise. Methinks Job
hath some spice of this in speaking so often of his own integrity, as though
God dealt injuriously with him in afflicting him. God seems to charge him
with it : Job xl. 8, ' Wilt thou also disannul my judgment ? wilt thou con-
demn me, that thou mayest be righteous ? ' As though in speaking so
much of his own integrity, and in complaining expressions, he would accuse
God of injustice, and condemn him as an unrighteous governor; and in
Job's answer you find no syllable or word of his integrity to God, but a self-
abhorrency: Job xlii. 16, 'Wherefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes.'
I doubt that from this secret root arise those speeches which we ordinarily
have among men, What have I done that God should so afflict me ? though
in a serious way it is a useful question, tending to an inquiry into the sin
that is the cause of it; but I doubt ordinarily there is too much of a reflec-
tion upon God, as though they had deserved other dealing at his hands.
Take heed therefore of pride and conceits of our own worth, we shall else be
led by it to disparaging conceits of God, which indeed are the roots of all
actions contradictory to God's will.
(2.) It is founded upon pedantical and sensual notions of God. As
though it might detract from his pleasures and delight to look down upon
this world, or as though it were a molestation of an infinite power to busy
himself about the cares of sublunary things. They thought it unsuitable to
the felicity of God, that it should interrupt his pleasure, and make a breach
upon his blessedness. As though it were the felicity of a prince not to take
care of the government of his kingdom, nor so much as provide for the well-
being of his children. I doubt that from such or as bad conceptions of God
may spring ordinarily our distrust of God upon any distress. Take heed
therefore of entertaining any conceptions of God but what the Scripture doth
furnish you with.
(3.) Or else, this sort of atheism was ushered in by a flattering conceit of
the majesty of God. They thought it unbecoming the excellency of the
divine majesty to descend to a regard of the petty things of the world. This
seems to be the fancy of them, Ps. lxxiii. 11, ' How doth God know ? is
there knowledge in the Most High ?' They think him too high to know, too
high to consider. How unreasonable is it to think God most high in place,
and not in perfection ; and if in perfection, not in knowledge and discerning?
They imagined of him as of a great prince, taking his pleasure upon the
battlements of his palace, not beholding the worms upon the ground ;
muffled w T ith clouds, as Job xxii. 13, 14, ' How doth God know ? Can he
judge through the dark clouds ? thick clouds are a covering to him, that he
sees not, and he walks in the circuit of heaven. We cannot indeed have
42 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
too high apprehensions of God's majesty and excellency ; but must take
heed of entertaining superstitious conceits of God, and such as are dishon-
ourable to him, or make the grandeur and ambition of men the measure of
the greatness and majesty of God. Upon this root sprung superstition and
idolatry, and the worship of demons, who, according to the heathens' fancy,
were mediators between God and men. And I doubt such a conceit might
be the first step to the introducing the popish saint- worship into the Chris-
tian world ; and this lies at the root of all our omissions of duty, or neglects
of seeking God. Let us therefore have raised thoughts of God's majesty,
and admiring thoughts of his condescension, who, notwithstanding his great-
ness, humbles himself to behold what is done upon the earth. The psalmist
sets a pattern for both, Ps cxiii. 5, 6.
(4.) From their wishes upon any gripes of conscience. They found
guilt staring them in the face, and were willing to comfort themselves with
the embraces of this doctrine, wherein they might find a security and ease
to their prostituted consciences, and unbounded liberty in the ways of sin.
Those in Zephaniah were first settled upon their lees, and then, to drive
away all fears of punishment, deny God's government : Zeph. i. 12, ' The
Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil.' A brave liberty, for a city
to be without a magistrate, a house without a governor, a ship without a
pilot, exposed to the mercy of winds and waves ; a man to be without rea-
son, that passion and lust should act their pleasure ; a liberty that beasts
themselves would not have, to be without a shepherd, and one to take care
of them ! Such wishes certainly there are in men upon a sense of guilt ;
they wish, for their own security, there were no providential eye to inspect
them. Take heed therefore of guilt, which will draw you to wish God
deprived of the government of the world, and all those attributes which
qualify him for it. The readiness to entertain the motions of Satan, rather
than the motions of the Spirit, implies a willingness in them that Satan might
be the god of the world, who favours them in sin, rather than the Creator
who forbids it. But indeed the fears of conscience evidence a secret belief
in men of a just providence, whatever means they use to stifle it ; else why
is man, upon the commission of some notorious sinful act, afraid of some
evil hap to betide him ? Why is he restless in himself ? There is no
sinner, unless extremely hardened, but hath some secret touch of conscience
upon notorious enormities ; while the work of the law is written in their
heart, their conscience will bear witness and accuso them, Rom. ii. 15. In
the most flagitious courses which the apostle reckons up, Rom. i. k 2 ( .)-o"2,
they cannot put off the knowledge of 'the judgment of God, that they which
commit such things are worthy of death,' that is, worthy of death by the
judgment of God, which judgment is discovered in the law of nature.
15. The third thing IS, the various ways wherein men practically deny
providence, or abnse it, or contemn it.
(1.) When we will walk on in a way contrary to checks of providence!
when we will run against the will of (iod manifested in his providence,
do deny his government, and refuse subjection to him ; when we will bo
peremptory in our resolves against the declaration of God's will by his die
of providence, we contend with him about the government o( us and our
actions. Such a dispute had Pharaoh with God, notwithstanding all the
checks by the plagUCS poured out upon him, he would march against Israel
to take them out, of God's hand into his own service again, Exod. w. ;>,
• The enemy said, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil ; my lust shall
tisfled upon them ; ! will draw my sword, mv hand shall destroy them.'
Here is the will of man vaunting against the govornor of the world, resolved
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 43
to dispute God's royalty with him in spite of all the blastings of his designs,
and the smart blows he had had from that powerful arm, which cost him
and his subjects their lives ; they would not understand the taking off their
wheels, but would run headlong into the Red Sea. A remarkable example of
this is in a good man not so peremptory in words, but against the revela-
tions of God's mind both by the prophet and his providence ; Jehoshaphat
had made a league with Ahab, 2 Chron. xviii. 1-3, and God had ordered
Micaiah to acquaint him with the ill success of the affair they went about,
vcr. 16, 3 9, which Jehoshaphat found true, for his own life was in danger,
he was hardly beset by the enemy upon a mistake, vcr. 31, 32, he had an
eminent answer of prayer, for upon his cry he had a quick return ; God
engaged his providence over his enemies' hearts for him: ver. 31, ' The Lord
helped him, and God moved them to depart from him.' And for this con-
junction and continuance in it against Micaiah's prophecy, God sends a
prophet to reprove him, 2 Chron xix. 2, ' Should thou help the ungodly,
and love them that hate the Lord ? therefore is wrath upon thee from the
Lord ;' he reproves him sharply for this confederacy, yet Jehoshaphat after
had a signal providence in delivering him from another army, chap. xx. 24.
Yet after this he goes on in this way, chap. xx. 35, ' after this,' i. e., after a
reproof by a prophet, after ill success in his league, after eminent care^ of
God in his deliverance, after a signal freeing him from a dangerous invasion
in a miraculous way, he enters into a league with Ahab's son, as wicked as
his father, ver. 36*; he joined himself with him to make ships to goto
Tarshish, and after that a third prophet is sent to reprove him, and the
ships were broken, ver. 37. Here is a remarkable opposition to checks of
providence, and manifest declarations of God's will, as if he would be the
commander of the world instead of God. Abner's action is much of the
same kind, who would make the house of Saul strong against David, though
he knew and was satisfied that God had promised the kingdom to David.
(2.) In omissions of prayer. One reason to prove the fools' denying
God's government of the world is, that they call not upon the Lord, Ps. xiv.
2, ' The Lord looked down from heaven, to see if there were any that did
understand and seek God.' 'Tis certainly either a denying of God's suffi-
ciency to help us, when we rather beg of every creature, than ask of God ; or
a charging him with a want of providence, as though he had thrown off all
care of worldly matters : 2 Kings i. 3, ' Is it not because there is not a God
in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron ?' Seeking
of anything else with a neglect of God, is denying the care of God over his
creature. Do we not in this case make ourselves our own governors and
lords, as though we could subsist without him, or manage our own affairs
without his assistance ? If we did really believe there w T as a watchful provi-
dence, and an infinite powerful goodness to help us, he would hear from us
oftener than he doth. Certainly those who never call upon him disown his
government of the world, and do not care whether he regards the earth or
no. They think they can do what they please, without any care of God over
them. The restraining prayer is a casting off the fear of God : Job xv. 4,
1 Thou castest oft' fear,' why ? ' and restrainest prayer before God.' The
neglect of prayer ariseth from a conceit of the unprofitableness of it. Job
xxi. 15, ' What profit should we have if we prayed unto him ?' Which con-
ceit must be grounded upon a secret notion of God's carelessness of the
world ; such fruit could not arise but from that bitter root. But the prophet
Malachi plainly expresses it: Malachi iii. 14, ' Ye have said it is in vain to
serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance ?' Whence
did this arise, but from a denial of providence upon the observation of the
44 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
outward happiness of the wicked? ver. 15, 'And now we call the proud
happy ; yea, they that work wickedness are set up ; yea, they that tempt
God are even delivered.' Sometimes it ariseth from an apprehension that
God in the way of his providence dealeth unjustly with us. A good prophet
utters such a sinful speech in his passion, 2 Kings vi. 33, ' Behold, this
evil is of the Lord, what should I wait for the Lord any longer ?'
(3.) When men will turn every stone to gain the favourable assistance of
men in theirjdesigns, and never address to God for his direction or blessing.
When they never desire God to move the hearts of those whose favour they
court, as though providence were an unuseful and unnecessary thing in the
world. It was the case of those Elihu speaks of: Job xxxv. 9, 10, ' They
cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. But none saith, Where is God
my maker, who gives songs in the night?' &c. None in the midst of their
oppressions and cries under them, did consider either the power of God in
the creation, as he was their maker, nor his providence in the government
of the world, as he raised up men from low estates, and gave matter of cheer-
fulness even in a time of darkness. This was the charge God by his prophet
brought against Asa : 2 Chron. xvi. 7 (before the text, ver. 9), ' Thou hast
relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God ;' herein thou
hast done foolishly,' where he sets a reliance on the creature, and a reliance
on God, in direct opposition. In several cases men do thus deny and put a
contempt on God as the governor of the world, when we will cast about to
find out some creature -refuge, rather than have recourse to God for any sup-
ply of our necessities. Doth not he slight his father's care, that will not
seek to him in his distress ? This was Asa's sin : 2 Chron. xvi. 12, ' In
his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.' The Jews
think, that one reason why Joseph continued two years in prison, was his
confiding too much upon the butler's remembrance of him, and interest for
his deliverance, which they ground upon the request he makes to him : Gen.
xl. 14, ' But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kind-
ness to me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of
this house.' I must confess the expressions are very urgent, being so often
repeated, and seems to carry a greater confidence at present in the arm of
flesh than in God. We do not read that Joseph prayed so earnestly to God,
though no doubt but being a good man he did. Methinks the setting down
his request with that repetition in the Scripture, seems to intimate a proba-
bility of the .lews' conceit ; or also when we do seek to him, but it is out of
a general belief of his providence and sufficiency, not out of an actuated con-
sideration ; or whin we seek to him with colder affections than we seek to
ereatnres, as if we did half despair of his ability or will to help us; as when
a man thinks to get learning by the sagacity of his own wit, his indefatigable
industry, and never desirei With any ardent affection the blessing of Clod
upon 1 ivuurs. When we lean to our own wisdom, we distrust the
providence of God : PrOY, iii. 6, ' Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and
lean DOt to thine own understanding.' Trust in God, and leaning to our
own wisdom, are opposed to one another as inconsistent; or when a man
hath some great Concern, suppose a suit at law, to think to carry his cause
by tin- favour of friends the help of he; money, the eloquence of his advo-
cate, and Dover interest God in Ins business: this is not bo acknowledge God
in thy ways, which is the command i ?er. ('», ' In all thy ways acknowledge
him ;' as though our works were not ' in the hand of God,' BccleS. ix. 1.
This is to take them out of ( toil's hand, and put them into the hands of men.
trOSt in our wealth, it is to make God a dead and a stupid God, and dis-
own hifl providence in the bestowing it upon us. The apostle seems to iuti-
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 45
mate this in the opposition which he makes between ' uncertain riches,' and
■ the living God,' 1 Tim. vi. 17. These, and many more actions suitable to
them, are virtual denials of God's snpcrintendency, as though God had left
off the government of the world to the wits, or rather follies of men. These
are to magnify the things we seek to, above God, as the chief authors of all
our good. It is to imagine him less careful than man, more insufficient than
man. It is a departure from a full fountain to a shallow stream ; not to
desire God's assistance, is either from some check of conscience that our
business is sinful, that we dare not interest him in it, or a disowning God's
care, as if we could hide our counsels from him (Isa. xxix. 15, ' Woe unto
them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and they say, Who
seeth us, and who knoweth us ?'), and bring our business to pass before he
shall know of it ; at least it is a slighting God's government, since we will
not engage God by prayer in the exercise of it on our behalf, and disdain to
acquaint him with our concerns. It is a reflection upon God's wisdom to
do so, which the prophet mentions with a woe : Isa. xxxi. 1,2,' Woe unto
them that go down to Egypt for help : but they look not to the Holy One of
Israel ! Yet he also is wise.' It is a disparagement to God's providential
wisdom, not to look to him in our concerns, yea, and of his righteousness
too ; ■ they look not to the Holy One of Israel.' In this they neither regard
his holiness nor his wisdom. When we consult not with him upon emer-
gent occasions, we trust more to our own wisdom, counsel, and sufficiency,
than to God's ; and set up ourselves as our own lords, and independent upon
him, as though we could manage things according to our pleasure.
(4.) When upon the receiving any good, they make more grateful acknow-
ledgment to the instruments, than to God the principal author of it ; as if
God had no hand in bestowing those blessings upon them, as if the instru-
ments had dispossessed God of his governing providence, and engrossed it
in their own hands. This men are guilty of when they ascribe their wealth
to their own wit and fortune, their health to their own care, or the physi-
cian's skill ; their learning to their own industry, their prosperity to their
friends or merits. When men thus return their thank-offering to second
causes, and ascribe to them what is due to God, they give the glory of his
providence to a miserable creature. Thus was the foolish boasting of the
Assyrian : Isa. x. 13, 14, ■ By the strength of my hand I have done this,
and by my wisdom : for I am prudent : for I have removed the bounds of
the people,' &c. Belshazzar's offence also, Dan. v. 23, ' Thou hast lifted up
thyself against the Lord of heaven : and praised the gods of silver,' as though
they were the authors of all thy greatness ; so Hab. i. 16, ' They sacrifice to
their net, and burn incense to their drag, because by them their portion is
fat,' alluding to those that then worshipped their warlike weapons, and the
tools whereby they had got their wealth, in the place of God, as the heathen
used to do.* How base a usage is this of God, to rifle him of all his glory,
, and bestow it upon the unworthiest instruments, inanimate creatures ! It is
; as high idolatry as that of the heathens, inasmuch as it is a stripping God
of the glory of his providential care, though the object to which we direct
our acknowledgments is not so mean as theirs, which was a stock or stone.
But is it not the same injury to a person to rifle him of his goods, to bestow
it upon a beggar, as to give it to a prince ? It is a depriving a man of his
i right. f Yet, is not this ordinary ! Do not men ascribe more to the phy-
sician, that saves an eye in danger of being lost by a defluxion, than to God,
who hath given them both, with the enjoyment of the light of the sun ; yea,
more to the medicine than to that God who hath a witness of his deity i n
* Dougkt Analect. Sacr. Excurs. 182. t Amirant sur les religions.
4G A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
every drug ? It is as if the kindness a prince shews to his subjects should
be attributed to a scullion in his kitchen rather than to himself. This is to
' belie God, and say it is not he,' Jer. v. 12. It is applicable to the case of
mercies as well as afflictions and judgments, of which it is properly meant.
And this contempt is the greater, by how much the greater mercy we have
received in a way of providence : Hos. ii. 8, ' She did not know that I gave
her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they
prepared for Baal ;' she that had most reason to know, because she had
enjoyed so much ; she that had experience how by a strong and mighty hand
I brought her out of Egypt into the laud now possessed by her : she
would not know that I gave her those good things she prepared for Baal.
It would be a natural consequence from this Scripture, that those that employ
the good things they enjoy upon their lusts, do deny the providential good-
ness of God in their possession and enjoyment of them, because they pre-
pare God's goodness for their sinful pleasures, as though their own lusts had
been the authors of them ; and also their instruments, that receive too high
and nattering thanks of this nature, are much like Herod, that tickled himself
with the people's applause, that his voice was the voice of God, and not of man.
(5.) When we use indirect courses, and dishonest ways to gain wealth or
honour. This is to leave God, to seek relief at hell's gates, and adore the
devil's providence above God's : when God doth not answer us, like Saul,
we will go to the witch of Endor, and have our ends by hell when heaven
refuseth us. It is a covenanting with the devil, and striking up a bargain
and agreement with hell, and acknowledging Satan to be the god of the
world. No man will doubt but in express covenants with the devil, as
witches and conjurors are reported to make, that the devil shall give them
such knowledge, such wealth, or bring them to such honour ; it is no doubt,
I say, but such do acknowledge the devil the god of the world, because they
agree by articles to have those things conferred upon them by Satan, which
are only in the power of God absolutely to promise or bestow. So when a
man will commit sin to gain the ends of his ambition or covetousness, does
he not implicitly covenant with the devil, who is the head of sinners, and
set up his sin in the place of God, because he hopes to attain those things
by sinful means, which are only in the hand of God, and on whom he only
can have a dependence? This is the devil's design out of an enmity to
providence. He tempted Christ to be his own carver, thereby to put him
upon ;i distrust of his Father's care of him]: Mat. iv. 3, ' Command that
these Btones be made bread/ as though God would not provide for him;
which design of tin- devil is manifest by our Saviour's answer. This is to
prostitute providence to our own lusis, and to pull it down from the govern-
ment of the world, lo be a lacquey to our sinful pleasure; to use means
which God doth prohibit, is to set up hell to govern us, since God will not
em our afiairs in answer to our greedy desires. It is to endeavour that
by God's eurse which we should only expeot by God's blessing ; for when God
hath forbid sinful n rarely threatened them, perhaps cursed them in
examples before our eves, what is it hut to say, that we will rather believe
God'fl eurse will further OS than his blessing? It is to disparage' his bless-
ing and prefer bis cm te, to slight his wisdom and adore our folly. When
out. of (iod's way, we go out of God's protection, we have no charted
for III,- blessing Of providence without that condition : Ts. xwvii. B, ' Trust
in the Lord, and do gOOd I so Shalt thou dweU in the land, and verily thou
■bait he fed.' To do evil, then, is not to trust in (lod, or have any regard to
his providential care.
(Ii.) When wo distrust God when there is no visiblo means. A distrust
2 ChRON. XYI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 47
of God renders * him impotent, or false and mutable, or cruel and regardless,
and what not. We detract from his power, as if it depended upon crea-
tures, or that he were like an artificer, that could not act without his tools ;
as if God were tied to means, and were beholding to creatures for his
operating power ; as if that God who created the world without instruments
could not providentially apply himself to our particular exigencies without
the help of some of his creatures. If he cannot work without this or that
means you did expect your mercy by, it supposeth that God hath made
the creature greater than himself, and more necessary to thy well-being than
himself is; or else we conceit him false or foolish, as if he had undertaken a
task of government too hard for him ; as if he were grown weary of his labour,
and must have some time to recruit his strength ; or as if he were unfaith-
ful, not walking by rules of unerring goodness ; or if we acknowledge him
wise, and able, and faithful, yet it must then be a denial of his gracious
tenderness, which is as great as his power and wisdom, and a perfection
equal with any of the rest. If his caring for us be a principal argument to
move us to cast our care upon him, — as it is 1 Peter v. 7, ' Casting all your
care upon him, for he careth for you ; ' then if we cast not our care upon
him, it is a denial of his gracious care of us, — this is to imagine him a
tenderer governor of beasts than men, as though our Saviour had spoke a
palpable untruth, when he told us, not an hair of our heads doth fall with-
out his leave ; as if he regarded sparrows only, and not his children ; or else
it implies that God cannot mind us in a crowd of business, in such multitudes
in the world, which he hath to take care of. But certainly as the multitude
of things doth not hinder his knowledge of them, so neither do they hinder
his care. The arms of his goodness are as large to embrace all creatures,
as the eyes of his omniscience are to behold them. From this root do all
our fears of the power of men grow : Isa. li. 12, 13, ' Who art thou, that
art afraid of a man that shall die, &c, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker,
that hath stretched forth the heavens?' &c. Our forgetfulness at least, if not
a secret denial of God's power in the works of creation and providence,
ushers in distrust of him, and that introduceth a fear of man. If they that
know his name, will put their trust in him : Ps. ix. 10, ' For thou, Lord, hast
not forsaken them that seek thee ; ' then a distrust of him discovers an igno-
rance and inconsideration of his name and his ways of working, and implies
his forsaking of his creatures. He that trusts in anything else besides God,
denies all the powerful operations of God, and conceives him not a strength
sufficient for him, Ps. Hi. 7 ; that man doth not 'make God his strength,
who trusts in the abundance of his riches.' How gross is it not to trust
God under the very sense of his powerful goodness, but question whether
he can or will do this or that for us. When w r e will have jealousies of him,
when he doth compass us round about with mercy, and encircle us with his
beams, it is to question whether the summer sun will warm me, though it
shine directly upon me, and I feel the vigour of its beams upon my body ;
much more base is this, then to distrust him when we have no means.
What doth this imply, but that he cares not what becomes of his children,
that no advantage can be expected from him, that his intentions towards us
are not gracious even whiles we feel him !
(7.) Stoutness under God's afflicting or merciful hand, is a denial or
contempt of providence. This was the aggravation of Belshazzar's sin : Dan.
v. 23, ' And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy
ways, hast thou not glorified.' He glorified not God in the way of his provi-
dence, but was playing the epicure, and was sacrilegiously quaffing in the
* That is, interprets, or represents. — Ed.
48 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
vessels of the temple when the city was besieged ; he seemed to dare the
providence of God upon a presumption that the city was impregnable, by
reason of Euphrates, and the provision they had within their walls, which
Xenophon saith was enough for twenty years, yet was taken that night
when the hand-writing was. And by how much God's judgments have
been more visible to us, and upon some well known by us, or related to us,
so much the greater is the contempt of his providential government, as
ver. 22, ' And thou his son, Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart,
though thou knewest all this,' &c. He had known God's judgments upon
his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar, a domestic example of God's vindicating
his government of the world, and yet went in the same steps ; so Jer. v. 3, 4.
' Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction :
they have made their faces harder than a rock. What is the reason ? The
prophet renders it, ver. 4, ' They are foolish : for they know not the way
of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God.' Correction calls for submis-
sion ; but those, like a rock under God's hand, were correction-proof, they
would not consider the ways of God's providence, and the manner of them ;
it is as if by our peevishness we would make God weary of afflicting us,
which is the worst case can happen. This is God's complaint of the ten
tribes, Hos. vii. 9, ' gray hairs are upon them, and they know it not ;
strangers have devoured his strength,' &c. There was a consumption of
their strength ; the Assyrians and Egyptians, to whom they gave gifts, had
drained their treasure ; but they would not consider God as the author, or
acknowledge whence their misery came ; they would not ' seek God for all
this, ver. 10. It is like a man's picking a pocket, or cutting a throat under
the gallows in contempt of justice;* whereas good men are both afflicted
with, and remember God's judgments. Eber called his son Peleg, division,
because in his days the earth was divided, that in the daily sight of the sunf
he might remember that sharp providence in scattering of the Babel builders.
Judgments affect us when they are before our eyes, as the thunder and
plagues did Pharaoh ; but when they are removed, men return to their
beloved ways, as though God had shot away all his arrows, and was
departed to mind them no more. Take heed of this, it is a sin highly
provoking ; God is so tender that his providence should be minded and
improved, that a sin of this nature he follows with his displeasure, in this
life at least : Isa. xxii. 12, 13, ' And in that day did the Lord God of hosts
call to weeping, and to mourning ; and behold joy and gladness, eating flesh
and drinking wine : let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die.' When
God in any judgment shews himself to bo the Lord God of hosts, and calls
us to weeping, and we behave ourselves jollily in spite of his government, it
is a sin be will remember, and bind the guilt upon us, ver 14, 'And it was
revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not
bo purged from you till yo die.'
(8.) Envy also if a denial of providence To bo sad at tho temporal
good, or tho gifts of another, as counting him unworthy of them, it is a
reflection upon the author of those gifts; an accusing providence of an un-
just or unwise distribution. J Since; God may do what ho will with his own,
if our eye be evil, because God ii good, we intrench upon his liberty, and
deny him the disposal of bis own goods, M it' God were but our steward, and
we bis lonls. it, is :i temper we are all subject to: Ps. xxwii. 1, ' EVet
not thyself because of evil -doers, neither be thou envious against the workers
of iniquity.' It is peculiarly tho product Of self-love, which atl'ects tho
principality in the world, and particularly affects the conduct of God iu
* jenkin. t ( A U - ' h'.s sou'? — Ed. J Cajotan Summa, p. 4, 28.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 49
distributing his goods, that he must not give but to whom they please. It
ariseth indeed from a sense of our wants ; but the language of it is, God is
unjust in his providence to me, because he bestows not upon me that good
which he gives to another. It is such a sin that it seems to be a companion
of our first parents' pride, which was the cause of their fall. They envied
God a felicity by himself, for they would be like him, they would be as gods.
Hence, perhaps, the Jews say Cain denied the providence of God, as envy-
ing his brother, because God accepted Abel's sacrifice and not his. Jonah's
passion arose from this pride, for fear he should be accounted a false
prophet ; whereupon he envies God the glory of his mercy, and the poor
Ninevites the advantage of it ; he would have God conform the way of his
providence to his pleasure and reputation. Indeed, it is to envy God the
honour of his providence in those gifts or good things another possesses,
whereby he is instrumental to glorify God and advantage others. Thus, we
would direct God what instruments he should employ ; when no artificer in
his own art would endure to be directed by any ignorant person what tools
he should use in his work.
(9.) Impatience under cross providence is a denial and contempt of God's
government. Men quarrel with God's revealed will, and therefore no
wonder that they quarrel with his providential will ; whereby we deny him
his right of governing, and slight his actual exercise of his right. As if
God were accountable to us for his dispensations, and must have only a
respect to us or our humour in his government : Job xviii. 4, ' He tears
himself in his anger ; shall the earth be forsaken for thee ? and shall the
rock be removed out of his place ? ' Must God alter the scene of his affairs
according to our model and platform ? And because he doth not observe
our rules and methods, must we tear ourselves in anger ? This is a secret
cursing of God and flying in his face, when we see providence so cross, that
there seems to be no help at any time either in heaven or earth : Isa. viii.
21, 22, ' They shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God,
and look upwards. And they shall look unto the earth ; and behold trouble
and darkness.' Take heed of fretting at God's management of things in the
world, or thy own particular concerns ; this may lead to a cursing of God,
and is indeed an initial secret swelling against him, and cursing of him.
Man is ambitious to become a god. Adam's posterity have in one sort or
other imitated him. This,
[1.] Is a wrong to the sovereignty of providence. It was a good
admonition of Luther's to Melancthon, when he was troubled much about the
affairs of the church, Monendus est Philippics at desinat esse rector mundi.
By this temper we usurp God's place, and set ourselves in his throne ; we
invade his supremacy, by desiring everything to be at our beck, and are
displeased with him, because he doth not put the reins of the world's govern-
ment into our hands ; as if we would command his will and become his
sovereigns. It is a striving with our Maker for the superintendency, when
we will sit judge upon him, or censure his acts, and presume to direct him :
Isa. xlv. 9, ' Woe to him that strives with his Maker. Shall the clay
say to him that fashions it, What makest thou ? or thy work, He hath no
hands.' How do men summon God to the bar of their interest, and
expostulate with him about his works, why he did not order them thus and
thus ; and if he doth so, to tell him he hath no hand, no hand of providence
in the world ! The design of that place is to stop such peevishness and
invasions of God's right ; I will not have my sovereign will disputed, as if I
were but the creature's servant. I am content you should ' ask of me things
to come,' ver. 11, and pray to me, but notwithstanding yet to submit to my
VOL. I. D
50 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
pleasure, without a peevish endeavouring to wrest the sovereignty out of my
hand, and pull the crown from my head.
[2.] It is a wrong to the goodness and righteousness of providence. It
is a charging God with ill management, and an implicit language, that if we
were the commanders of providence, things should be managed more justly
and righteously ; as it was Absalom's pretence in wishing to be the king of
Israel in David's stead, 2 Sam. xv. 4. If patience be a giving God the
honour of his righteousness in his judgments — Ps. cxix. 75, 'I know,
Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast
afflicted me ;' — impatience must be a charge against God for unrighteous-
ness in his judicial proceedings, and a saying, ' the way of the Lord is not
equal,' Ezek. xviii. 25. It is implied in that complaint, Isa. lviii. 2, 3,
* They ask of me the ordinances of justice, &c. Wherefore have we fasted,
and thou seest not ? wherefore have we afflicted our souls, and thou takest
no knowledge ? ' We demand justice of thee, since thou dost not seem to
do that which is fit and righteous, in not regarding us in our suits, and not
bestowing that which we have fasted for. God governs the world according
to his will, our murmuring implies that God's will is not the rule of right-
eousness. We affront the care of God towards his creatures, as if the
products of our shallow reasons were more beautiful and just than God's
contrivances for us, who hath higher and more glorious ends in everything,
both for ourselves and the world, of which we are members, and for his own
glory, to which we ought to subject ourselves, when perhaps our projects
tend immediately to gratify some sensual or spiritual lust in us. It is the
commendation the Holy Ghost gives of Job, chap. i. 22, ■ In all this Job
sinned not, neither charged God foolishly,' as a character peculiar to him,
implying that most men in the world do, upon any emergency, charge God
with their crosses, as dealing unjustly with them, in inflicting punishment
when they think they have deserved rewards. Jeremiah is not innocent in
this case: Jer. xx. 7, ' Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived,'
in the ill success of his prophecy, as though an immense goodness would,
and a sovereign power needed to deal in a fraudulent way with his creatures
to bring his ends about.
[3.] It is a wrong to the wisdom of providence. We would degrade his
omniscience and wisdom, and sway him b} T oiu* foolish and purblind dictates ;
it is as if wo would instruct him better in the management of the world, and
direct him to a reformation of his methods : Job xl. 2, ' Shall ho that con-
tends with the Almighty instruct him ? Ho that reproves God let him
wet it.' It is a reproving God, and reproofs imply a greater autho-
rity, or righteousness, or wisdom, in the person reproving. We reprovo
I I, as if God should have consulted with us, and asked cur advice; it is
to t ..ike upon us to be God's counsellors, and to conclude the only wise God
by our imperfect reason : Rom. \i. 84, ' Who hath been his counsellor'.' '
It la a secret boasting of some excellency in ourselves, as it" God did not
govern well, or we could govern better. Shall a silly passenger, that ander-
standi nol the use of the c . !>.• angry that the skilful pilot will not
steer the vr sel according to his pleasure ? Mast we give out our orders to
God, as though He' counsels of infinite wisdom must roll about according to
the conceits of our fancy? Is not, the language of our hearts in our tits oi'
impatit nee a i pro I proud against God's providence as the Bpeech of
that monster v. the creation, who said if he had keen by God at the
i of the world, h^ eoul I hive dir< ol id him to a better platform ? All
this, ami muoh more, is virtually in this sin of impatience.
(10.) Jm oh and mi by them \\[)on providonc
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 51
this we contemn it. Some think Cain doth so : Gen iv. 9, ' Am I my
brother's keeper ? ' Thou art the keeper and governor of the world, why-
didst thou not hinder me from killing my brother ? It is certain the first
man did so : Gen. iii. 12, ' The woman thou gavest to be with me, she
gave me of the tree ; ' thy gift is the cause of my sin and ruin. It is as
certain David laid the sin of Uriah's murder at the door of providence :
2 Sam. xi. 25, when he heard that Uriah was dead, ' The sword,' saith he,
' devours one as well as another.' Man conjures up trouble to himself when
by his folly he brings himself into sin, and from thence to misery, and then
his heart frets against the Lord, and lays the blame both of his sin and fol-
lowing mischiefs upon him : Prov. xix. 3, ' The foolishness of man perverts
his way, and his heart frets against the Lord.' There are many other ways
wherein we deny or slight providence.
[1.] When we do things with a respect to the pleasure of men more than
of God, as though God were careless both of himself and his own honour,
and regarded not the principles and ends of our actions.
[2.] In vain boasting and vaunting of ourselves. As Benhadad would
have such a multitude of men in his army as that there should not be dust
enough in Samaria to afford every man a handful, 1 Kings xx. 10, wherein
he swaggers with God, and vaunts as if he were the governor of the world ;
yet this man, with his numerous host, was routed by a troop of lacqueys,
ver. 15, 20; they are called 'the young men of the princes.' Such is the
folly of men against the orders of God, when they boast in their hearts that
their house shall continue for ever, Ps. xlix. 11.
[3.] Oppression. ' They slay the fatherless, and say, The God of Jacob
shall not regard it,' Ps. xciv. 6, 7. Their denial of providence was the
cause of their oppression of the poor, and where this is found in any, it is
an argument it ariseth principally from a like cause. This is also made the
cause why they eat up God's people as they eat bread, Ps. xiv. 1, 4.
[4.] Misinterpretations of providence.
Such cursed jealousies had the Jews of God : Num. xiv. 3, ' And where-
fore hath the Lord brought us into this land to fall by the sword ? were it
not better for us to return into Egypt ? ' As though God in that mighty
deliverance had cheated them with a design to destroy them in the wilder-
ness, when one of those plagues poured out upon Pharaoh being turned
upon their heads, had destroyed them in Egypt. So foolish are they to
think that God would ruin them upon dry land who might have drowned
them as well as their enemies in the Red Sea ; so unreasonable is man in
his disputes against God.
[5. J In limiting providence. In bounding it to time, manner, and other
circumstances, as they did : Ps. lxxviii. 41, ' They limited the holy one of
Israel, for they remembered not his hand.' As though God must manage
everything according to the will of a simple creature. It was a forgetfulness
of providence, at least, that was the cause of it.
Use 2. The second use is of comfort. As the justice and righteousness
of God is the highest comfort to a good man since the evangelical dispensa-
tion, in that he hath to deal with a righteous God, who can as soon deny
himself as his righteousness, so it is none of the meanest comforts that we
acknowledge and worship that God, who exerciseth himself in a constant
government of the world, and leaves not anything to the capricionsness of
that which we call fortune and chance. What satisfaction can any man in
his sober wits have, to live in a world cast off from all care of the Creator of
it ? Wisdom without providence would make any man mad, and the great-
est advantage would be to be a stupid and senseless fool. Can there be
52 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
any worse news told to men than this, that let them be as religious as they
will, there is no eye above takes notice of it ? What can be bitterer to a
rational man than that God should be careless of the world ? * What a
door would be opened by it for all sin in the wicked, and despair in the
godly ! It is as great a matter of joy to the godly that God reigns as it is
of terror to the wicked : Ps. xcvii. 1, ' The Lord reigns, let the earth
rejoice ; Ps. xcix. 1, * The Lord reigns, let the people tremble.'
It is a comfort that,
1. Man is a special object of providence. God provides for all creatures,
even those that are the works of his hands, much more for man, who is
more peculiarly the work of his head, in whose creation he took counsel :
Gen. i. 26, \ Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' iThe work
of his heart, in being made according to his image, and intended as a sub-
ordinate end of his whole creation, next to the principal, that of God's
glory. He is the preserver of man and beast ; of man principally, of beasts
in subserviency to man's good and preservation.
2. Holy men a more special object of it. God preserves and provides
for all things, and all persons. But his eye is more peculiarly fixed upon
those that fear him : Ps. xxxiii. 18, ■ Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon
them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy,' so fixed as if he
had no regard to anything else. If God hath a care of man created after
his own image, though his image be depraved, much more of those wherein
his image is restored. If God loves himself, he loves his image and his
works. A man loves the works which he hath made of some external
matter ; much more doth a father love his son, much more doth God love
his own, and therefore will work their good, and dispose of them well. God
exerciseth a special providence over the actions of a good man, as well
as his person, Ps. xxxvii. 23, ■ The steps of a good man are ordered by
the Lord, and he delighteth in his ways ; ' it is a special, because a delight-
ful providence, he delights in his way. How highly may it cheer a man to
be in covenant with that God which rules the world, and hath all things at
his beck, to be under not only the care of his wisdom, but of his goodness.
The governor of the world, being such an only friend, will do him no hurt,
being such an only father, will order all things to his good out of a fatherly
affection ; ho is the world's sovereign, but a good man's father ; he rules
the heavens and the earth, but ho loves his holy ones. Other things are
tho objects of his providence, and a good man is the end of it. For ' His
9 nm to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong for
him whose heart ifl perfect towards him,' 2 Ohron. xvi. 3.
8. Hence it will follow that the spirits of good men have sutlicient grounds
to bear tip in their innocent Bufferings ami storms in the world. Innocent
Bufferings. There is a righteous governor who orders all, and will reward
them lot their jiiiins SB well as their service : lleh. vi. 10, ' For God is not
unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love ; ' there is one that pre-
sides in the world, Who BOeS nil their Calamities, and cannot he mistaken in
their oause, Who bath as much power ami wisdom as will to help them. It
would I),' ;m affliction indeed if there were no sovereign power to whom tiny
might make Heir moan in their distress, to whom they might ease their oon-
, it there were do governor towhom they might oiler ap their petitions
in the storms they meet with in the world. How doth the presence of a
skilful pilot in a weather-beaten ship cheer the hearts of the fearful passen-
* It w.i.! an ezoellent ■peeob "f a Stoic, •&* 'tarl £fi> iv r£ x6a/xtfj xtvfi Ctuv xu)
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 53
gers ! What a dread would it be to them to have the vessel wherein their
lives and all are concerned left to the fury of winds and waves, without an
able hand to manage it ? God hath a bridle to check the passions of men,
to marshal them according to his pleasure ; they are all but his instruments
in the government, not the lords of it. God can lay a plot with more wis-
dom for a good man's safety than the enemy can for his destruction ; he
can countermine their plots with more power than they can execute them ;
he can out- wit their craft, overpower their strength, and turn their designed
cruelty against them, as a knife into their own breasts.
4. Hence follows a certain security against a good man's want. If God
take care of the hairs, the ornamental superfluities, why should we doubt
his care of our necessary supply ? If he be the guardian of our hairs,
which fall off without our sense of their departure, shall he be careless of us
when we are at a pinch for our all ? Will God reach out his care to beasts,
and deny it to his children ? What would you judge of that father who
should feed his servants and starve his sons '? He supplies his enemies,
and hath he no bowels for his friends ? The very unjust as well as the
just are enlightened by his sun, and refreshed by his rain ; and shall he not
have a providence for those that have a special interest in that Mediator,
whose interposition kept up those standing mercies after our forfeiture of
them by sin ? If he bless with those blessings those who are the objects of
his curse, will he not bless those that are in his special favour with them, so
far as they may prove blessings to them ? Ps. xxxiv. 10, ' The young lions
do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any
good thing,' ver. 9, ' for there is no want to them that fear him.' A good
man shall have what he needs, not always what he thinks he needs. Pro-
vidence intends the supply of our necessities, not of our desires ; he will
satisfy our wants, but not our wantonness. When a thing is not needful, a
man cannot properly be said to want it ; when it is needful, a good man
shall not be without it. What is not bestowed upon us may not be so
beautiful at that time wherein we desire it, for everything is beautiful in its
season, Eccles. iii. 11. He that did not want God's kindness to renew him,
shall never want God's kindness to supply him ; his hand shall not be want-
ing to give, where his heart has been so large in working. Others live that
have an interest only in common providence, but good men have providence
cabineted in a promise, and assured to them by a deed of covenant convey-
ance ; he was a provider before, he hath made himself now your debtor.
You might pray for his providential care before with a common faith, now
with a more special expostulation, for in his promise he hath given a good man
the key of the chest of his providence, because it is ' the promise of this
life, and that which is to come,' 1 Tim. iv. ; of this life, not to our desires,
but necessities ; of the life to come to both, wherein they shall have what-
soever they can want and whatsoever they can desire.
Again consider, God doth exercise a more special providence over men,
as clothed with miserable circumstances, and therefore among his other
titles this is one, to be 'a helper of the fatherless,' Ps. x. 14. It is the
argument the church used to express her return to God : Hosea xiv. 3, ' For
in thee the fatherless find mercy.' Now what greater comfort is there than
this, that there is one presides in the world who is so wise he cannot be
mistaken, so faithful he cannot deceive, so pitiful he cannot neglect his
people, and so powerful that he can make stones even to be turned into
bread if he please !
Further, take this for a comfortable consideration ;
God doth not govern the world only by his will as an absolute monarch, but
54 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XYI. 9.
by his wisdom and goodness as a tender father. It is not his greatest
pleasure to shew his sovereign power, or his unconceivable wisdom, but his
immense goodness, to which he makes the other attributes subservient.
What was God's end in creating is his end in governing, which was the
communication and diffusion of his goodness ; we may be sure from hence
that God will do nothing but for the best, his wisdom appointing it with the
highest reason, and his goodness ordering it to the most gracious end ; and
because he is the highest good, he doth not only will good, but the best
good in everything he acts.
What greater comfort can there be than that we are under the care of an
infallible, unwearied, and righteous governor ! infallible because of his in-
finite wisdom, unwearied because of his incomprehensible omnipotency, and
righteous because of his unbounded goodness and holiness.
Use 3. Of exhortation.
The duties arising from hence will run as a thread through the web of
our whole lives, and all the motions of them. This doctrine hath an influ-
ence upon our whole course ; there is nothing we meet with but is an act of
providence, and there is no act of providence but calls for some particular
duty. Is there any good we want? We must seek it at his hands, we must
depend upon him for it ; we must prescribe no methods to him, but leave
the conduct of it to his own wisdom. Is it a cross providence, and contrary
to our desires and expectations ? Murmur not at it. Is it afflictive and
troublesome ? . Submit to it. Is it either good or bad, and present ? We
must study to understand it. Is it a good and present ? Give God the
glory of it.
1. Seek everything you need at the hands of God. It is not only the
skilfulness of the pilot, but a favourable gale from heaven, which must con-
duct the ship to the intended port. As his providence is the foundation, so
it is the encouragement of all prayer. The end of the Lord's prayer is,
* For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.' The providential
kingdom belongs to God. Power he hath to manage it, and his glory is the
end of all. Seek to him therefore for the exercise of his power in thy con-
cerns, and for his directing them to his glory in his providential administra-
tions. Every one of our days, and both the mercy and the misery of them,
depe id unon him: Prov. xxvii. 1, 'Thou knowest not what a day may
bring forth,' but God foresees all events; have recourse therefore to his caro
lor every day's success. What arc onr contrivances without the leave and
blessing of providence ? Like the bubbles blown up from a nut-shell, easily
broken by the next puff. Our labour will be as fruitless as Peter's, with all
his toil, and catch nothing till God speaks the word, and sends the lish into
our net, Luke v. 5. The way of man is not in himself: Jer. x. 28, '
Lord, 1 know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that
walks lo direct his steps.' Dangers are not within the reach of our eye to
foresee, nor within the compass of our power io prevent. Human prudence
may lay the platform, and God's power blast the execution when it seems to
l>e grown up Dearest to maturity. Besekiah was liappy in his affairs, be«
cause he Was assisted by God J Ahax unhappy, because he is deserted by
God. If we would have a dock ,L r o well, we must look chiefly to the motion
of tho chief wheel ; a failure is that makes an error in all the rest. No-
thing can terminate its motion to onr benefit without providence. Coloured
glass can reflect do beams without the sun's light, nor fruits be ripened with-
out its influence. Our dependence on God is greater than theirs on the
sun. God lets men play With their own wit and strength, and come to tho
brink of execution of their designs, and then blows upon them, that they
2 ChRON. XVI. 9. J A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 55
may know there is a God in the earth. Pythagoras could say it was
ytXoTov, a ridiculous thing to seek that which is brave and virtuous anywhere
else than of God.* Cyrus is a brave pattern, who is mentioned in Scrip-
ture, and represented by Xenophon calling upon God when he was first
chosen general; f and in his speech to his captains to encourage them to
hope for a good success of the expedition, tells them they might expect it,
because I have begun with God, which you know, saith he, is my custom,
not only when I attempt great matters, but also ra //,/;tga,the things of lesser
concernment. The seeking of God should be the prologue to all our affairs.
We are enjoined first to pray, and then to determine : Job xxii. 27, ' Thou
shalt make thy prayer unto him, thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall
be established unto thee.' The interesting providence in our concerns is
the highway to success. The reason we miscarry, is because we consult not
God, but determine without him ; and then we have no reason to complain
of him for not prospering our way, when we never commended our affairs to
his conduct. It hath been the practice of holy men. Nehemiah first
petitioned God before he would use his interest in the king's favour : Neh.
ii. 4, ' Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request ? So
I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said unto the king,' &c. So Abraham's
steward put up his request to God, before he would put the business he came
upon in execution, Gen. xxiv. 12. David frequently in particular cases, 1. Sam.
xxiii. 9, 2 Sam. ii. 1, 2 Sam. xvi. 12. God only doth what he pleases in heaven
and in earth. He only can bless us, he only can blast us. Shall we be care-
less in any undertaking, whether we have his favour or no ? It is a ridicu-
lous madness to resolve to do anything without God, without whose assisting
and preserving of us we had not been able to make that resolution.
2. Trust providence. To trust God when our warehouses and bags are
full, and our tables spread, is no hard thing ; but to trust him when our
purses are empty, but a handful of meal and a cruse of oil left, and all ways
of relief stopped, herein lies the wisdom of a Christian's grace. Yet none
are exempted from this duty, all are bound to acknowledge their trust in
him by the daily prayer for daily bread, even those that have it in their cup-
boards as well as those that want it, the greatest prince as well as the meanest
beggar. Whatever your wants are, want not faith, and you cannot want
supplies. It is the want of this binds up his hand from doing great works
for his creatures ; the more we trust him the more he concerns himself in
our affairs. The more we trust ourselves, the more he delights to cross us ;
for he hath denounced such an one cursed that maketh flesh his arm, Jer.
xvii. 5, though it be the best flesh in the world, because it is a departing
from the Lord. No wonder then that God departs from us, and carries away
his blessing with him ; while we trust ourselves, we do but trouble ourselves,
and know not how to reconcile our various reasons for hopes and fears, but
the committing our way to the Lord renders our minds calm and composed :
Prov. xvi. 3, ' Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be
established.' Thou shalt have no more of those quarrelling disturbing
thoughts what the success shall be.
(1.) Trust providence in the greatest extremities. He brings us into
straits, that he may see the exercise of our faith : Zeph. iii. 12, ' I will leave
in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the
name of the Lord.' When we are most desolate, we have most need of this
exercise, and have the fittest season to practise it ; he is always our refuge
and our strength, but in time of trouble a present help, Ps. xlvi. 1. Daniel's
new advancement by Belshazzar but a day before the city was taken by the
* Jarablich. Vita. Pythag , lib, i. cap. 18. | Xenophon ffgs/ Kvgov IIa/5. lib. i.
56 A DISCOUKSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChEON. XVI. 9.
enemy, Dan. v. 29, the king slain, and (no doubt) many of his nobility, and
those that were nearest in authority with him, it being the interest of the
enemy to despatch them, was a danger, yet God by ways not expressed pre-
served Daniel, and gave him favour with the conqueror. God sometimes
leads his people into great dangers, that they may see and acknowledge his
hand in their preservation. Daniel had not had so signal an experience of
God's care of him, had he been in the lower condition he was in before his
new preferment. God's eye is always upon them that fear him, not to keep
distress from them, but to quicken them in it, and give them as it were a
new life from the dead : Ps. xxxiii. 18, 19, ' To deliver their soul from death,
and to keep them alive in famine.' God brings us into straits, that we
may have more lively experiments of his tenderness in his seasonable relief.
If he be angry, he will repent himself for his servants, when he sees their
power is gone, because then the glory of his providence is appropriated to him-
self: Deut. xxxii. 36, 39, ' See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no
god with me : I kill, and I make alive.' No creature can have any pretence
to share in it ; he delights thereby to blow up both our affections to him and
admirations of him, and store up in us a treasure of experiments to encourage
our trusting in him in the like straits. We should therefore repose our-
selves in God in a desert as well as in the cities ; with as much faith among
savage beasts as in the best company of the most sociable men;- and answer
the greatest strait with Abraham's speech to Isaac, ' God will provide.'
For we have to do with a God who is bound up to no means, is at no ex-
pense in miraculous succours, who delights to perfect his strength in the
creature's weakness. We have to do with a God who only knows what may
further our good, and accordingly orders it ; what may hinder it, and there-
fore prevents it. He can set all causes in such a posture as shall conspire
together as one link to bring about success, and make even contrary motions
meet in one gracious end ; as the rivers which run from north and south,
the contrary quarters of the world, agree in the surges of one sea. Though
providences may seem to cross one another, they shall never cross his w T ord
and promise, which he hath magnified above all his names. And his pro-
vidence is but a servant to his truth.
(2.) Trust it in the way of means. Though we are sure God hath decreed
the certain event of such a thing, yet we must not encourage our idleness,
but our diligence. Though Moses was assured of the victory when Amalek
came armed against him, yet he commands Joshua to draw up the valiant
men int') a body, himself goes to the mount to pray, and is as diligent in the
of ;ill means as it' he had been ignorant of God's purpose, and had rather
mi jpected lie- rout of liis own than his enemies' forces. Neither doth Joshua
afterwards, though secured by promise in his conquest of Caiman, omit any
part of the duty of a wise; and watchful general; lie semis spies, disci-
plines bis forces, besiegeth cities, and contrives Btratagems. Providence
directs ai by means, not to use them is \^ tempt our guardian ; where it in-
t' ii I any great thing \'<<v our good, it opens a door, and puts such circum-
stances into our bands as we may use without, the breach of any command,
or tie' neglect of our own duty. ( i < »<l OOuld have secured Christ from 1 lerod's
fury by ;i miraculous stroke from heaven Upon his enemy, hut lie orders
eph and Mary's Bight into Egypi as i m. tans of his preservation. God
rebukes Mo es for praying, and not using the means in continuing the
people's marob : Exod. riv, l 5, ' Wherefore eriest thou unto me ? Speak unto
the Children Of Israel, that they go forwards.' To QSe means without respect
to ( iod, is proudly to contemn him ; to depend upon Cod without the use of
* Durant de Tentat. i». ids.
2 ChRON. XYI. 9. J A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 57
means, is irreligiously to tempt him ; in both we abuse his providence. In
the one we disobey him in not using the means he hath appointed ; in the
other presumptuously impose upon him for the encouragement of our lazi-
ness. Diligence on our part, and the blessing on God's, Solomon joins to-
gether, Prov. x. 4, ' The hand of the diligent makeslrich,' but, ver. 22, ' The
blessing of the Lord maketh rich.' So Eccles. ix. 1, « Our works are in the
hand of God;' our works, but God's blessing; God's blessing, but not with-
out our works. It was the practice of good men. Jacob wrestles with God
to divert his brother's fury, yet sends a present to his brother to appease
him, Gen. xxxii. 9, 13. David trusts in the name of the Lord his God in
his duel with Goliah, but not without his sling ; our labour should rather be
more vigorous than more faint, when we are assured of the blessing of pro-
vidence by the infallibility of the promise.
(3.) Trust providence in the way of precept. Let not any reliance upon
an ordinary providence induce you into any way contrary to the command.
Daniel had many inducements from an appearance of providence to eat the
king's meat : his necessity of compliance in his captivity, probability of pre-
ferment by learning the wisdom of the country, whereby he might both have
advanced himself and assisted his countrymen, the greatness of the con-
sideration for a captive to be fed from the king's table, the ingratitude he
might be accused of for despising so kind a treatment ; but none of these
things moved him against a command; because the law of God forbade it, he
would not eat of the king's meat, Dan. i. 8-10, &c. < But Daniel purposed in
his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's
meat.' Daniel might have argued, I may wind myself into the king's favour,
do the church of God a great service by my interest in him, which may be
dashed in pieces by my refusal of this kindness ; but none of these things
wrought upon him. No providences wherein we have seeming circumstances
of glorifying God, must lead us out of the way of duty ; this is to rob God
one way to pay him another. God brought Daniel's ends about : he finds
favour with the governor, his request is granted, the success is answerable,
and all those ends attained which he might in a sinful way, by an ill con-
struction of providence, have proposed to himself, all which he might have
missed of had he run on in a carnal manner. This, this is the way to suc-
cess: Ps. xxxvii. 5, ' Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and
he shall bring it to pass.' Commit thy way to the guidance of his provi-
dence, with an obedience to his precept and reliance on his promise, and
refer all success in it to God. If wo set up our golden calves made of our
own ear-rings, our wit, and strength, and carnal prudence, because God
seems to neglect us, our fate may be the same with theirs, and the very dust
of our demolished calf may be a bitter spice in our drink, as it was in theirs.
(4.) Trust him solely, without prescribing any methods to him ; leave him
to his wise choice, wait upon him because he is a God of judgment, Isa.
xxx. 18, who goes judiciously to work, and can best time the executions of
his will. The wise God observes particular periods of time for doing his
great works, — John ii. 4, ' My hour is not yet come ; woman, what have I
to do with thee?' — which man is no competent judge of: I will do this
miracle, but the season is not yet come wherein it will be most beautiful.
God hath as much wisdom to pitch the time of performance of his promise,
as he hath mercy at first to make it. How presumptuous would it be for
the shallow world, a thing worse than nothing, and vanity, to prescribe rules
to the Creator ! much more for a single person, a little atom of dust, infi-
nitely worre than nothing, and vanity, to do it. Since we had no hand in
creating tl e world or ourselves, let us not presume to direct God in the
58 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
government of it : Job xxxviii. 4, ' Where wast thou when I laid the foun-
dation of the earth ? declare, if thou hast understanding.' Would it not be
a disparagement to God to stoop to thy foolish desires ? yea, would you not
yourselves have a lower conceit of him, if he should degrade his wisdom to
the wrong bias of your blind reason ?
3. Submit to providence. It is God's right to govern the world,
and dispose of his creature ; it is his glory in heaven to do what he will :
Ps. cxv. 3, ' But our God is in the heaven : he hath done whatsoever he
pleased.' Let us not, by our unsubmissive carriage, deprive him of the same
glory on earth ; he brings to pass his will by ways the creature cannot under-
stand. It is the wisest speech in the medley of fooleries, the Turkish Alco-
ran.- We must walk by the rule of reason which God hath placed in us
for our guide ; yet if providence brings to pass any other event contrary to
our rational expectations, because it is a clear evidence of his will, we must
acquiesce. As when a traveller hath two ways to come to his journey's end,
the one safe and the other dangerous, reason persuades him to choose the
safest way, wherein he falls among thieves ; now having used his reason,
which in that case was to be his director, he must acquiesce ; God's provi-
dence bringeth forth an event, which he could not without violence to his
reason avoid. And therefore it is a great vanity, when a man hath resolved
the most probable way in a business, and fails in it, to torment himself;
because though our consultations depend upon ourselves, yet the issues of
them are solely in the hand of God. It concerns us therefore to submit to
God's disposal of us and our affairs, since nothing can come to pass but by
the will of God effecting it, or permitting it. If the fall of a sparrow is not
without his will, Mat. x. 29, much less can the greater events which befall
men, the nobler creatures, be without the same concurrence of God's plea-
sure ; therefore submit : for,
(1.) Whatsoever God doth, he doth wisely. His acts are not sudden and
rash, but acts of counsel ; not taken up upon the present posture of things,
but the resolves of eternity. As his is the highest wisdom, so all his acts
relish of it, and he guides his will by counsel: Eph. i. 11, ' Who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will.' If God took counsel in creat-
ing the world, much more in laying a platform of government, much more
in the act of government ; for men can frame models of government that
c;in Dover reduce them into practice. Now God being infinitely wise, and
his will infinitely good, it must needs be that goodness and wisdom are the
rules whereby he directs himself in his actions in the world. And what
greater motive can there ho to persuade our submission, than wisdom and
goodness transacting all things? God's counsel being the tirmest, as well
as the wisest, it is a lolly both ways to resist it.
(•J.; God discovers his mind to us by providences. Every work of God
1 nit, of his counsel, when we see it actually brought forth into
the world, what else doth it discover to us but that counsel and will of his?
providence hftth a language wherein God's mind is signified,
much mors :i train and contexture of them : Luke vii, 22, * Tell John what
things yon have seen and heard: how that the blind see, the lame walk,
the lepers are clean ■ I, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, to the
poor the gospel is preached.' Our Saviour informs John's disoiples from
Of providence, I I them no other answer, hut turns him over to
interpret and construe bis works in the ease. Providence therefore must
not I d, when God'fl mind in it, is discovered. It is disingenuous
;ainst bil pleasure and manifest mind; it is the devil's sin. Aaron,
* Dcus triumpluU m mui MMtO, •[<-.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 59
when he lost his two sons in so judicial manner by fire from heaven, yet
held his peace, Lev. x. 1-3 ; because God had declared his mind positively,
1 1 will be glorified.' It is dangerous to resist the mind of God, for the
word of his providence shall prosper in spite of men and devils : Isa. lv. 11,
1 My word that goes forth of my mouth, shall not return unto me void ; it
shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it ;' and therefore a resisting of it
is termed Qeopa^sTv, a fighting against God, by Gamaliel, no great friend to
the church, Acts v. 38, 39.
4. Murmur not at providence. Though we do not clearly resist it, if
there be a repining submission, it is a partial opposition to the will of God.
We might as well murmur at God's creation as at his providence, for that
is as arbitrary as this ; he is under no law but his own righteous will : wo
should therefore leave the government of the world to God's wisdom, as we
acknowledge the frame of it to be an act of his power. If God should
manage his ways according to our prescriptions, what satisfaction would
God have ? what satisfaction would the world have ? He might be unjust
to himself, and unjust to others. Your own complaints would not be stilled,
when you should feel the smart of your own counsels ; yet if they were,
what satisfaction could there be to the complaints of others, whose interests
and therefore judgments and desires lie cross to yours ? Man is a cross
creature. The Israelites exclaimed to God against Pharaoh, and when the
scene was changed, they did no less murmur' against Moses in the wilder-
ness. They were as troublesome when they w T ere delivered, as when they
were afflicted. In Egypt they would have their liberty, and in the wilder-
ness their stomachs turn, and they long for the onions and garlic, though
attended with their former slavery. Let God govern the world according to
his own wisdom and will, till all mankind can agree in one method to offer
to him, and that I think will never be, though the world should last for ever.
Murmur not, therefore ; whatsoever is done in the world is the work of a
wise agent, who acts for the perfection of the whole universe ; and why
should I murmur at that which promotes the common happiness and per-
fection, that being better and more desirable than the perfection of any one
particular person ? Must a lutenist break all his strings because one is out
of tune ? And must God change his course because things are out of order
with one man, though in regard of divine providence things are not out of
order in themselves, or without any care, for God is a God of order ? This
temper will hinder our prayers ; with what face can we pray to that God
whose wisdom we thus repine at ? If God doth exercise a providence in
the world, why do we murmur ? If he doth not take care of those things,
why do we pray to him ? It is a contradiction. It also hinders us from
giving God the glory, and ourselves the comfortable sight of his providence.
God may have taken something from us, which is the matter of our sorrow,
and give another thing to us, which might be the matter of our joy. Jacob
lost a joint, and got a blessing, Gen. xxxii. 29, 31. What advantage can it
be to murmur ? Can all your cries stop the motions of the heavens, when
a storm reaches you ? Can your clamours make the clouds move the
faster, or persuade the showers from drenching us ? Murmuring at any
afflictive providence, is the way to make the rod smarter in itself, and
sharper to us.
5. Study providence. It is a part of atheism not to think the acts of God
in the world worth our serious thoughts. And if you would know the mean-
ing of his administrations, grow up in the fear of God : Ps. xxv. 14, ' The
secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.' God is highly angry with
those that mind him not : Ps. xxviii. 5, * Because they regard not the ope-
60 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
ration of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.' He shall
utterly root them out.
(1.) Study providence universally. The darkest : God brings order out
of the world's confusion, even as he framed a beautiful heaven and earth out
of a rude mass. The terriblest : these offer something worth our observa-
tion ; the dreadful providence of God makes Sodom an example to after
ages : Jude 7, they are • set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance
of eternal fire,' &c. The smallest : God is a wise agent, and so the least of
his actions are significant. There is nothing superfluous in those acts we
account the meanest ; for to act vainly and lightly argues imperfection, which
cannot be attributed to God. The wisdom of God may be much seen in
those providences the blind world counts small ; as a little picture is oft-
times of more value, and hath more of the workman's skill than a larger,
which an ignorant person might prize at a higher rate ; the lilies, flowers,
sparrows, our Saviour raises excellent observations from.
(2.) Regularly. By the word : compare providence and the promise
together ; God's manner of administrations, and the meaning of them, is
understood by the word : Ps. lxxvii. 13, ' Thy way, God, is in the sanc-
tuary.' By faith : we many times correct our sense by reason ; when we
look through a blue or green glass, and see all things blue or green, though
our sense represents them so, yet our reason discovers the mistake. Why
should we not correct reason by faith ? Indeed, our purblind reason stands
in as much need of a regulation by faith, as our deceitful sense doth of a
regulation by reason. We may often observe in the gospel, that the Holy
Ghost taking notice of the particular circumstances in the bringing Christ
into the world, and in the course of his life, often hath those expressions,
1 as it is written ; that the Scriptures might be fulfilled,' There is not a pro-
vidence happens in the world, but there are some general rules in the word
whereby we may apprehend the meaning of it. From God's former work
discovered in his word, we may trace his present footsteps. Observe the
timings of providence wherein the beauty of it appears, since ' God hath
made every thing beautiful in its time.'
(3.) Entirely. View them in their connection. A harsh touch single
would not be pleasing, but may rarely affect the concert. The providences
of God bear a just proportion to one another, and are beautiful in theft
entire scheme ; but when regarded apart, we shall come far short of a delight-
ful understanding of them. As in a piece of arras folded up, and afterwards
particularly opened, we Bee the hand or foot of a man, the branch of a tree;
or if we look on the outside, we sec nothing but knots and threads, and
uncouth shapes that we know not what to make of; but when it is fully
opened, and we have the whole weh before as, we see what histories and
ing characters are interwoven in it. View them in their end ; there is
no true judgment to be made of i thing in motion, unless we have a right
Of the end tO which it tends. Many things which may seem terrible
in their motion, may be excellent in their end. Providence is crowned by the
end of it. Asaph was much troubled about the prosperity of the wicked,
and affliction Of the godly, but he was well satisfied when be understood
their end, which was the end of providence too : l\s. Ixxiii. It'), 17, ' When I
lit- to Lie. a ilii , it u M too painful for me, until I went, into the sanc-
tuary, then Understood I their end.' Motes his rod was a serpent in its
motion upon the ground; but when taken up, it was a rod again to work
miracles. God set, us u pattern for this in the creation. He views the
creatures as thej cone into being, and pronounced them good; be takes a
review of them afterward in their whole frame, ami the subordination of
2 CHRON. XYI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 61
them to one another, and the ends he had destined them to, and then pro-
nounceth them very good. The merciful providences of God, if singly looked
upon, will appear good, but if reviewed in the whole web, and the end of
them, will commence very good in our apprehensions.
(4.) Calmly. Take heed of passion in this study, that is a mist before
the eye of the mind ; several pleasures also disturb and stifle the nobler ope-
ration of the intellective part, and all improving thoughts of God's provi-
dence : Isa. v. 12, ' And the harp, and the viol, and wine, are in their
feasts, but they regard not the work of the Lord, nor consider the opera-
tions of his hands.' All thoughts of them are choked by the pleasures of
sense. Passions and sensual pleasures are like flying clouds in the night,
interposing themselves between the stars and our eyes, that we cannot
observe the motions of them. Turbulent passions, or swinish pleasures
prevailing, obscure the providence of God. Our own humour and interest
we often make the measures of our judgment of providence. Shimei, when
Absalom rebels against his father, looks no further than his own interest,
and therefore interprets it as a judgment of God in revenging the house of
Saul : 2 Sam. xvi. 7, 8, ' The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood
of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned.' Therefore the
Spirit of God takes particular notice that he was of the house of Saul, ver. 5,
when indeed this judgment was quite another thing, for David's sin in the
matter of Uriah was written in the forehead of it.
(5.) Seriously. It is not an easy work ; for the causes of things are hid,
as the seminal virtues in plants, not visible till they manifest themselves.
Providence is God's lantern in many affairs ; if we do not follow it close, we
may be left in the dark, and lose our way. With much prayer, for we can-
not of ourselves find out the reason of them ; being shallow creatures, we
cannot find out those infinite wise methods God observes in the managing
of them ; but if we seriously set to work, and seek God in it, God may
inform us, and make them intelligible to us. Though a man may not be
able of himself to find out the frame and motions of an engine, yet when the
artificer hath explained the work, discovered the intent of the fabric, it may
be easily understood : if it be dark, whilst you seriously muse on it, God
may send forth a light into you, and give you an understanding of it : Mat.
i. 20, Joseph thought of those things, and whilst he thought on them, the
angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream ; God made them known to
him. The Israelites saw God's acts in the bulk of them, but Moses saw his
way, and the manner how he wrought them ; Ps. ciii. 7, ' He made known
his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.' Moses had
more converse with God than they, and therefore was admitted into his
secrets.
(6.) Holily ; with a design to conform to that duty providence calls for.
Our motions should be according to the providence of God, when we under-
stand the intent of them. There is a call of providence : Isa. xxii. 12, 'In
that day the Lord called to weeping and mourning,' sometimes to sorrow,
sometimes to joy. If it be a providence to discover our sin, let us comply
1 with it by humiliation ; if it be to further our grace, suit it by lively and
fresh actings. As the sap in plants descends with the sun's declination, and
ascends at the return of the sun from the tropic, there are several graces
to be exercised upon several acts of providence, either public to the church
and nation, or particular to our own persons — sometimes faith, sometimes
joy, sometimes patience, sometimes sorrow for sin. There are spiritual les-
sons in every providence, for it doth not only offer something to be under-
stood, but some things to be practised. Mark x. 15, a child is brought to
62 A DISCOUKSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
Christ, and Christ from thence teaches them a lesson of humility. Luke
xiii. 1-3. When Christ discourses of that sad providence of the blood of
the Galileans, and the tower of Siloam, he puts v them upon the exercise of
repentance. The ruler inquired the time when his son began to recover.
that his faith in Christ might be confirmed, for upon that circumstance it
did much hang ; and in doubtful cases, after a serious study of it, and thou
knowest not which w r ay to determine, consider what makes most for God's
glory and thy spiritual good, for that is the end of all. Let us therefore
study providence, not as children do histories, to know what men were in
the world, or to please their fancy only, but as wise men, to understand
the motions of states, and the intrigues of councils, to enrich them with a
knowledge whereby they might be serviceable to their country. So let us
inquire into the providence of God, to understand the mind of God, the
interest of the church, the wisdom and kindness of God, and our own duty
in conformity thereunto.
6. Ascribe the glory of every providence to God. Abraham's steward
petitioned God at the beginning of his business, Gen. xxiv. 12 ; and he
blesses God at the success of it, ver. 26, 27. We must not thank the
tools which are used in the making an engine, and ascribe unto them what
we owe to the workman's skill. Man is but the instrument, God's wisdom
is the artist. Let us therefore return the glory of all where it is most
rightly placed. We may see the difference between Rachel and Leah in
this respect; when Rachel had a son by her maid Bilhah, she ascribes it to
God's care, and calls his name Dan, which signifies judging — Gen. xxx. 6,
* God hath judged me, and heard my voice' — that the very name might
put her in remembrance of the kindness of God in answering her prayer ;
and the next, Naphthali, she esteems as the fruit of prayer, ver. 8; whereas
Leah takes no notice of God, but vaunts of the multitude of her children:
ver. 11, ' Behold, a troop comes.' She imposeth the name of Gad upon
them, which also signifies fortune or good luck; and the next, Asher,
ver. 13, which is fortunate or blessed. And we find Leah of the same
mind afterward, ver. 17. It is said God hearkened unto her, so that her
son Issachar was an answer of prayer ; but she ascribes it to a lower cause
which had moved God, because she had given her maid to her husband,
ver. 18. 'Not unto us, not unto us, Lord, but to thy name be tho
glory.'
Doet. 2. All tho motions of providence in the world are ultimately for the
good of the church, of those whose; heart is perfect towards him. Providence
follows the rule of Scripture. Whatsoever was written, was written for tho
church's comfort, I torn, xv. 4 ; whatsoever is acted in order to anything
written, ii acted for tho church's good. All the providences of God in the
world are conformable to his declarations in his word. All former provi-
dences were ultimately in order to the bringing a mediator into the world, and
for the glory of him; then sorely all the providences of God shall be in order
to the perfecting the glory of Christ in that mystical body whereof Christ is
head, and wherein his affection and his glory are so much concerned. E
the proof of this by a scripture or two* I's. av. LO, ' All the paths of the
Lord are mnvv and truth unto BQch ai keep his covenant and his testi-
monie .' Not. one path, bat all the works and motions; not one particular
act or p of providence, bnt the whole tract of his proceedings; not
only those which are m >re smooth an 1 pleasant, bat those which are more
ragged and hitler. All mercy and truth Buitable to that affection he hears
in his heart to them, and suitable to the declaration of that affection ho
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 63
hath made in his promise. There is a contexture and a friendly connection
of kindness and faithfulness in every one of them. They both kiss and
embrace each other in every motion of God towards them. As mercy
made the covenant, so truth shall perform it. And there shall be as much
mercy as truth in all God's actings towards those that keep it: Rom.
viii. 28, ' We know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.' We know, we
do not conjecture or guess so, but we have an infallible assurance of it;
all things, even the most frightful, and so those that have, in respect of
sense, nothing but gall and wormwood in them; work tor/ether, they all
conspire with an admirable harmony and unanimous consent for a Chris-
tian's good. One particular act may seem to work to the harm of the
church, as one particular act may work to the good of wicked men ; but the
whole series and frame of things combine together for the good of those
that are affectionate to him. Both the lance that makes us bleed, and the
plaster which refresheth the wounds, both the griping purges and the
warming cordials, combine together for the patient's cure. To them who
are called according to Ids jwpose. Here the apostle renders a reason of
this position, because they are called not only in the general amongst the
rest of the world, to whom the gospel comes, but they are such that were
in God's purpose and counsel from eternity to save, and therefore resolved
to incline their will to faith in Christ; therefore all his other counsels about
the affairs of the world shall be for their good. Another reason of this
the apostle intimates, verse 27, ' The Spirit makes intercession for the
saints, according to the will of God.' The intercessions of the Spirit,
which are also according to God's will and purpose, will not be fruitless in
the main end, which both the intercessions of the Spirit and purpose of
God, and the will and desire of the saints, do aim at, which is their good.
Indeed, where any is the object of this grand purpose of Gocl, he is the
object of God's infinite and innumerable thoughts : Ps. xl. 5, ' Many,
Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy
thoughts which are to us-ward ; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto
thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can he
numbered.' The psalmist seems to intimate that, in all the wonderful works
which God hath done, his thoughts are towards his people. He thinks of
them in all his actions; and those thoughts are infinite, and cannot be
numbered and reckoned up by any creature. He seems to restrain the
thoughts of God towards his people in all those works of wonder which he
doth in the world, and which others are the subjects of; but his thoughts
or purposes and intentions in all (for the word signifies purposes too) are
chiefly, next to his own glory, directed towards his people, those that trust
in him, which, verse 4, he has pronounced blessed. They run in his mind,
as if his heart was set upon them, and none but them.
Here I shall premise two things as the groundwork of what follows :
1. God certainly in all his actions has some end; that is without ques-
tion, because he is a wise agent; to act vainly and lightly is an evidence of
imperfection, which cannot be ascribed to the only wise God. The wheels
of providence are full of eyes, Ezek. i. 18; there is motion, and a know-
ledge of the end of that motion. And Jesus Christ, who is God's deputy
in the providential government, hath seven eyes as well as seven horns,
Rev. v. 6 ; a perfect strength, and a perfect knowledge how to use that
strength, and to what end to use it, seven being the number of perfection
in Scripture.
. 2. That certainly is God's end which his heart is most set upon, and that
64 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
which is last in execution. What doth God do at the folding up of the
world but perfect his people, and welcome them into glory ? Therefore
God principally next to himself loves his church. The whole earth is his,
but the church is his treasure: Exod. xix. 5, 'If you will keep my cove-
nant, then shall you be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people ; for
all the earth is mine,' sef/ullah; such a treasure, that a man, a king, will
entrust in no hands but his own. ' All the earth is mine ' is not a reason
why the church was his treasure, but an incentive of thankfulness; that
when the whole earth was his, and lay before him, and there were many
people that he might have chosen and loved before them, yet he pitched
upon them to make them his choicest treasure. And when the blessed God
hath pitched upon a people, and made them his treasure, what he doth for
them is with his whole heart and with his whole soul. Jer. xxxii. 41, 42,
speaking of making an everlasting covenant, he adds, ' Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good,' &c, ' assuredly with my whole heart, and with
my whole soul.' As though God minded nothing else but those people he
had made an everlasting covenant with, which is the highest security, and
most pregnant expression of his affection that can be given to any ; not to
give them a parcel or moiety of his heart, but the whole, infinite, entire
piece, and to engage it all with the greatest delight in doing good to them.
That infinite heart of God, and all the contrivances and workings of it,
centre in the church's welfare. The world is a wilderness, but the church
is a garden. If he water the wilderness, will he not much more dress his
garden ? If the flights of birds be observed by him, shall not also the par-
ticular concernments of the church ? He hath a repository for them and
all that belong to them; he hath a book of life for their names, Luke x. 20,
a book of record for their members, Ps. cxxxix. 16; a note-book for their
speeches, Mai. iii. 16, 'A book of remembrance was written before him for
them that feared the Lord;' and a book of providence for their preservation,
Exod. xxxii. 32. In the prosecution of this I shall shew,
1. That it is so de facto, and hath been so.
2. That according to the state of things, and God's economy, it must
be so.
3. The improvement of it, by way of use.
1. That all providenco is for the good of the church de facto, and has
been so.
It will appear by an enumeration of things.
(1.) First, All good things.
(2.) Secondly, All bad things are for their good.
(1.) First, AH good things.
I. The world.
•_!. (.lis mid common graces of men in the world.
[8. ! An
|1.| The world. The whole world was made and ordained for the good
of the ohnrch, next to the glory of God. Thia will appear in three things:
/'V/.s/, The continuance of the world is for their sakes. God would havl
oyed the world because of the ignorance and wickedness of it. before
this time, but he overlooked it, all, and had respect to the times of Christ,
and the publishing faith in aim, and repentance: Acta ivii. 80, ' Ami the
i oiks of this ignoranoe God winked at/ *<<>d overlooked, 4 lie looked not so
Upon thrin, ;i | to he provoked to destroy the world, hut his eves were 1 fixed
on the times of Christianity, therefore would not take notioe, in the extremity
of hit justice, of the wickedness of those foregoing ages. Believers are the
in
2 ChRON. XYI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 65
salt of the earth, Mat. v. 13, which makes the world savoury to God, and
keeps it from corrupting. It is meant not only of the apostles, but of
Christ's disciples, of all Christians, for to them was that sermon made,
! ver. 1. 'If the salt have lost his savour,' if the salt be corrupted, and
Christianity overthrown in the world, wherewith shall the world be salted ?
How can it be kept from corruption ? If they that persecuted the prophets
before you in Judea (which is sometimes called the earth in Scripture),
cannot relish you, and find nothing grateful to their palates in your doctrine
and conversation, wherewith shall they be salted ? How shall they be
preserved from corruption ? The land will be good for nothing but to be
given as a prey to the Romans, to be trodden under their feet, as being cast
out of God's protection. They are the foundation of the world : Prov.
x. 25, 'The righteous are an everlasting foundation.' Maimonides under-
stands it thus, that the world stands for the righteous' sakes. When God
had Noah and his family lodged in the ark, he cares not what deluge and
I destruction he brings upon the rest of the world. When he had conducted
Lot out of Sodom, he brings down that dreadful storm of fire.* He cares
, for no place, no, nor for the whole world, any longer than whilst his people are
I there, or he hath some to bring in, in time. For the meanest believer is of
; more worth than a world ; therefore when God hath gathered all together,
I he will set fire upon this frame of the creation ; for what was the end of
Christ's coming and dying, but to gather all things together in one? Eph.
i. 10, ' That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather
together in one all things in Christ.' When Christ hath summed up all
together, he hath attained his end. And to what purpose, then, can we
| imagine God should continue the world any longer ? for his delight is not
simply in the world, but in the saints there : Ps. xvi. 3, ' But to the saints
that are in the earth, in whom is all my delight ;' not in the earth, but in
the saints there, which are the only excellent things in it, which Christ
speaks (of whom that psalm is meant) who knew well what was the object
of his Father's pleasure. The sweet savour God smelt in Noah's sacrifice,
was the occasion of God's declaration for the world's standing: Gen. viii. 21,
' And the Lord said in his heart, I will not curse the ground any more for
man's sake,' that he would no more smite it with a totally destroying
judgment. It was his respect to Christ represented in that sacrifice, and
to the faith and grace of Noah the sacrificer. What savour could an infi-
nitely pure spirit smell in the blood and flames of beasts ?
Secondly, The course of natural things is for the good of the church, or
particular members of it. God makes articles of agreement with the beasts
and fowls, whose nature is raging and ravenous, and binds them in sure
bonds for the performance of those articles: Hoseaii. 18, ' And in that day
will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the
fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground, and will make
them to lie down safely.' As upon our sin God can arm them against us,
so upon our obedience he can make them serviceable even against their
natures, as if he had made a covenant with them; and they had both the
reason and virtue to observe it. I do not remember any instance in Scrip-
ture, that God went out of the usual tract of his providence, and acted in
an extraordinary manner, but where his people were one way or other con-
cerned. It was for Joshua's and the Israelites' sake that the sun was
arrested to stand still in the valley of Ajalon, that they might have light
enough to defeat their enemies, and pursue their victory, Josh. x. 12, 13.
The sea shall, against its natural course, stand in heaps like walls of brass
* Grotius on the place.
VOL. I. E
6Q A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
to assist the Israelites' escape, Exod. xiv. 22. The fire is restrained in the
operation of its nature, even whilst it retains its burning quality, when
the lives of the three valiant believing children are in danger, Dan. iii. 25.
The mouths of lions are muzzled when the safety of his beloved Daniel is
concerned, Dan. vi. 22. And the shadow goes back upon the dial for
Hezekiah's sake, 2 Kings xx. 11. When God would at any time deliver
his people, he can muster up lightnings and thunders for their assistance ;
1 Sam. vii. 10 ; he can draw all the regiments of heaven into battle array,
and arm the stars to fight against Sisera, when Israel's condition needs it ;
and make even the lowest creatures to list themselves as auxiliaries in the
service. God hath not a displeasure with senseless creatures, neither is
transported with strains of fury against such objects, when he alters their
natural course. Hab. iii. 8, ' Was the Lord displeased against the rivers ?
was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thy horses and
chariots of salvation ? ' No ; but he made those creatures the horses and
chariots, to speed assistance and salvation to his people, which the psalmist
elegantly describes, Ps. cxiv. All creatures are his host ; and that God
that created them hath still the sovereign command over them, and can
embody them in an army to serve his purpose for the deliverance of his
people, as he did against Pharaoh.
Thirdly, The interest of nations is ordered as is most for the church's
good. He orders both the course of natural things, and of civil affairs for
their interest. He alters the state of things, and changeth governors and
governments for the sake of his people. For these causes God sent Elisha
to crown Jehu king : 2 Kings ix. 6, 7, ' I have anointed thee king over the
people of the Lord, &c, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the
prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of
Jezebel.' For the sakes of the godly in that nation, and the revenging the
blood of the prophets which had been shed, was he raised up by the Lord.
He sent such judgments upon Egypt, that it was as much the interest of
that nation to let Israel go, as it was before to keep them their vassals.
God orders the interest and affairs of nations for those ends; and according
to this disposition of affairs, Christ times his intercession for his church.
The angels had been sent out to view the state of the world, and found it in
peace : Zcch. i. 11, ' Behold, all the earth sits still, and is at rest;' there
had been wars in Artaxerxes and Xerxes his time, but in the time of Darius
that part of the world had an universal peace, which was the fittest time for
the restoration of the Jews, and building the temple, because it could not
be built but by the king's cost, whose treasure in the time of war was
expended another way; nor would it consist with their policy to restore the
Jews to their government at such a time when they had wars with tho
neighbour parts Of Egypt. See how Gt>d orders the state oi' the world in
BUbservieney to his gracioUfl intentions towards his church. The time of tho
.Jewish captivity was now out, according io tin 1 promise of God, and (led
that part of the world a general peace, that the restoration of the J
and the rebuilding of the temple, might be facilitated, and the truth of Ids
promise in their deliverance accomplished. Upon the news of this genera
peace in that part Of the World, Christ, expostulates with (iod tor the resto
ration of Jerusalem : ?er, 12, ' !!<>w long, Lord, wilt thou not have
in. rev on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast
had indignation these threescore and ten years? 1 The time of the capti vitj
mined by God was new expired. The first Reformation in German!
i by reasons of state as it was then altered, it being the interest
Of many princes of that Country to countenance Luther's doctrine, for tho
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 67
putting a stop to the growing greatness of Charles the Fifth, who had evident
designs to enslave them. I might mention many more ; only by the way
let me advise those that have an inclination to read histories of former
transactions, to which men naturally are addicted, to make this your end,
to observe the strange providences of God in the world, and how admirably
he hath made them subservient to the interest of the church, which will be
the most profitable way of reading them, whereby they will not only satisfy
your curiosity, but establish your Christianity. Calvin understands that
place : Deut. xxxii. 8, ' He sets the bounds of the people according to the
number of the children of Israel,' that in the whole ordering of the state of
the world, God proposeth this as his end, to consult for the good of his
people, and his care extends to the rest only in order to them ; and though
they are but a small number, yet he orders his whole government of the
world's affairs as may best tend to their salvation. Therefore God sets the
people bounds, or enlargeth them according as they may be serviceable one
way or other to this end. And the reason is rendered, ver. 9, ' For the Lord's
portion is his people, and Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.' Therefore
God orders all the rest of the world in subserviency to the maintaining and
improving his portion and inheritance.
[2.] As the world, so the gifts and common graces of men in the world,
are for the good of the church, which is a great argument for providence
in general ; since there is nothing so considerable in government as the
disposing of places to men according to their particular endowments and
abilities for them. And the bestowing such gifts upon men is none of the
meanest arguments for God's providential government of the world. As,
First, The gifts of good men. The gifts conferred upon Paul were
deposited in him, not only to be possessed by him, but usad and laid out
for the good of the church : Col. i. 25, ' Whereof I am made a minister,
according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you ; ' ' The
manifestation of the Spirit to any man is given to profit withal,' 1 Cor.
xii. 7. And this is the great end for which men should seek to excel, viz.,
for the edifying of the church: 1 Cor. xiv. 12, 'Forasmuch as you are
zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may excel to the edifying of the
church.'
Secondly, The gifts and common graces of bad men. There is something
that is amiable in men. though. they have not grace. As in stones, plants,
and flowers, though they have not sense, there is something grateful in
them, as colour and smell, &c. And all those things that are lovely in men
are for the church's good; the best life, and the worst death, things present,
let who will be the possessor, all things between life and death, are for the
good of believers, because they are Christ's : 1 Cor. iii. 22, ' Whether
Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world,' — i.e., whether the gifts of the
prime lights in the church, or the common gifts of the world, — ' are all
yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' God is the dispenser of
them, Christ is the governor of them, and all for your sakes. As the
medicinal qualities of waters are not for the good of themselves, but the
accommodation of the indigencies of men. By the common works of the
Spirit God doth keep men from the evil of the world. For it cannot be
supposed that the Spirit, whose mission is principally for the church, should
give such gifts out of love to men which hate him, and are not the objects
of his eternal purpose ; but he hath some other ends in doing it, which is
the advantage of his church and people ; and this God causes by the preach-
ing of the gospel, which when it works gracious works in some, produceth
common works in others for the good of those gracious ones. As a seed of
68 A DISCOUKSE OF DIVINE PKOVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
corn hath straw, husks, and chaff come up with it, which are shelters to
that little seed which lies in the midst, so in the preaching of the gospel
there are some husks come up among natural men, which God makes to be
shelters to the church, as those common works, and restraining men through
the knowledge of Christ. God gives gifts to them, not out of love to them,
but love to his church. As nurses of great men's children are fed with
better meat than the other servants, not out of any particular personal
respect to them, but to their office, that the milk whereby the child is
nourished may be the sweeter and wholesomer ; were it not for that relation,
she must be content with the diet allowed to the rest of the servants. Some
stinking plants may have medicinal virtues, which the'physician extracts for
the cure of a disease, and flings the rest upon the dunghill. God bestows
such qualities upon men otherwise unsavoury to him, which he draws forth
upon several occasions for the good of those that are more peculiarly under
his care, and then casts them away. These gifts are indeed the ruin of bad
men, because of their pride, but the church's advantage in regard of their
excellency, and are often as profitable to others as dangerous to themselves.
As all that good which is in plants and animals is for the good of man, so
all the gifts of natural men are for the church's good ; for they are for that
end as the principal, next the glory of God, because every inferior thing is
ordained to something superior as its end. Plants are ordained for the
nourishment of beasts, and both plants and beasts for men ; the inferior
men for the service of higher ; and all for the community : yet still there is
a higher end beyond those, viz., the glory of God, to which they are ulti-
mately ordained, which is so connected with the church's good, that what
serves one serves the other.
[3.] Angels, the top creatures in the creation, are ordered for the good of
the church. If the stars are not cyphers in the world only to be gazed upon,
but have their influences both upon plants and animals ; as the sun in
impregnating the earth, and enlivening the plants, and assisting the growth
of fruits for the good of mankind; if the stars have those natural influences
upon the sensible world, the angels, which are the morning stars, have no
less interest as instruments in the government of it. The heathens had
such a notion of demons working those things which were done in the world,
but according to the will and order of the supreme God. The angels are
called watchers: Dan. iv. 13, * A watcher, and an holy one;' ver. 17,
1 This is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the
holy ones ;' they watch for God's orders, and watch for God's honour, and the
church's good. Thcro are orders of state among them, for wo read of their
decrco ; it is called their decrco ministerially, as they execute it; approbativi,
as they subscribe to the equity and goodness of it. As the saints are said
to judge the world, not authoritative, as in commission with Christ, but as
they approve of Christ's sentence. They seem to request those things of
God which may mako for his glory, and they decree among themselves what
is lit to be presented to God in order to his glory. Thev cannot endure that
ruon should trample upon God's authority, despoil him of his right, and
id down his inheritance, and therefore thev send such requests to
God to act so as men may acknowledge him and his government, 'to the
intent that, tin; living may kllOW that, the most high rules in the kingdoms of
men.' Their SAM therefore must he for the church, since God rules all
tilings in order to that, and since that is God's portion and inheritance, BO
Unit as they have a care of God'l glory, thev must also have a care of God's
portion, and his peculiar treasure. The inward part of tho temple was to
DC adorned with cheruhims, to uoto the special attendance of tho holy angels-
2 CHRON. XVI. 9. J A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 69
in the assemblies of the saints.* As evil angels plot against the church, so
good angels project for it. Though in the Scripture we find angels some-
times employed in affairs of common providence, and doing good to them
that are not of the church ; as one is sent to comfort Hagar, and relieve
Ishmael upon his cry, though he had scoffed at Isaac the heir of the covenant
when he was in Abraham's family, Gen. xxi. 17; yet for the most part they
were employed in the concerns of some of his special servants. Angels
thrust Lot out of Sodom, Gen. xix. 25, 26. An angel stopped the lions'
mouths when Daniel was in the den : Dan. vi. 22, ' My God hath sent his
angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths.' God employs angels in the pre-
serving and ruining of empires, which is clear in the prophecy of Daniel, and
some understand Isa. x. 34, ' And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one,' of
an angel. As the soul sends forth a multitude of spirits swiftly into the
nerves for the supply of the lowest member, which runs thither upon the
least motion, so do the angels, which are God's ministers, run at the
appointment of God, and are employed in all the wheels of providence.
The spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels of providence,
Ezek. i. 20.
First, The highest orders among them are not exempted from being
officers for the church. Though they are called God's angels in respect of
their immediate attendance on God, yet they are called man's angels in
respect of the service they do for them, Mat. xviii. 10, 'Their angels do
always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.' They are not
the ordinary sort of angels which attend upon those little ones, upon young
convert^ humble souls, those little ones dn the kingdom of heaven ; but
they are the highest courtiers there, such as see the face of God, and stand
before him. A king hath many servants, but not every servant, only the
chief of the nobility stand before him; so they are not angels of the meanest
order and rank in heaven, that are ordered to attend the lowest Christian.
The apostles make no doubt of this : Heb. i. 14, * Are they not all minister-
ing spirits ' — there is no question but they are— 4 sent forth to minister for
them who shall be heirs of salvation ? ' He asserts confidently that not
one of them is blotted out of the list for this employment. ' Are they not
all ? ' None are exempted from the service of God, so none are exempted
from the end of that service, which is the good of believers. They are
God's servants, but for the church's good, for them which shall be heirs.
Are they not all ? It is irrational to deny it. And they are sent forth,
every one of them hath his commission signed by God for this purpose,
and not only for the church in general, but for every member in particular ;
' for the heirs of salvation.' And not only for them which are already called
and enrolled, but for them who shall be called, whose names are written in
the book of God's election ; ' who shall be heirs.' And they are not only
faintly sent, as if they might go if they will, but they have a strict charge
to look after them well, not in one or two of their works, or ways, but in
all : Ps. xci. 11, ' He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee
in all thy ways ; to bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot
against a stone.' They are to use all their strength to this purpose, to bear
them up in their hands ; as the elder children are appointed by parents to
have a care of the younger in their works and motions, and to use both
their widsom and strength for them. The angels are a guard to secure
them here, and at" last to convey them to their Father's house, Luke xvi. 22.
When a man is in favour with a prince, all the courtiers will be observant
of him.
* Trap on Numb. p. 58.
70 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
Secondly, Armies of tlieui are employed upon this occasion. There are
great multitudes of them, as Bildad speaks, Job xxv. 3, ' Is there any
number of his armies ? ' that is, of his angels. When Joel speaks of the
heathens gathering together, ' Thither,' saith he, ' Lord, cause thy mighty
ones to come down,' chap. hi. 11. A whole squadron of them shall attend
upon a gracious man, according to the circumstances he is involved in. Gen.
xxxiii. 1, 2, ' And Jacob went on his way, and the'angels of God met him.
And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host.' Regiments of
angels, enough to make up an army (for so Jacob terms them) met him
upon the way, to secure his brother Esau, and to encourage him in his
journey. So some interpret 2 Sam. v. 24, ' The sound of a going in the
tops of the mulberry trees,' the sign of the marching of the brigade of
angels, with the Lord at the head of them, for the discomfiture of David's
enemies ; ' then shall the Lord go out before thee, to smite the host of the
Philistines.' And this they do not of their own heads, but by the pleasure
of God; not only by a bare will, but a delight: Ps. ciii. 21, ' Bless the Lord,
all ye his hosts ; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.' "WISH his
choicest pleasure, he delights to see this his militia upon action.
Thirdly, Christ hath the government of them to this end for his church.
Angels are all put in subjection to him : Heb. ii. 7, 8, ' In that he put all
in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.' He is
1 exalted above all principality and power.' ' God hath put all things under
his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,' Eph.
i. 21, 22 ; all things, even principalities and powers, are put under his feet,
to be commissioned and influenced by him for the good of his church :
Ezek. i. 12, ' Whither the Spirit was to go, they went.' They are ordered
by the Spirit of Christ to this purpose : Zech. i. 10, ' Those are they whom
the Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.' They are his
faithful messengers, despatched into the world by him, as scouts and spies,
to take notice of the state of the world, and to give him intelligence, and an
exact account of affairs, and, ver. 11, they gave an account to Christ.
Christ is the head and general of them, Col. ii. 10. They are his host,
always in a warlike posture, with Christ in the head of them, Zech. i. 8,
upon their horses, which notes readiness to move and speed in motion : and
M an host they are said to pitch their tents round about them that fear him,
and are in a continual conilict with the evil angels to prevent their designs,
in the behalf of Christ, whom tiny acknowledge as their head by their wor-
ship of him, Heb. i. 6. Christ orders them to take care to seal his ser-
vants in the foreheads, that they may be preserved in the storms which
shall happen in the world at the time of the ruin of the Romish papacy,
lev. vli. ii, :;. An angel Domes that had the seal of the living God (com-
mission of God), saving, ■ Unit Dot the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees,
till we b led the servants of our (iod in the foreheads.'
Fourthly, The great actions which have been done in the world, or shall
bo done for the church, ;ire performed by them. Angels were Bent as
v (lod with bis great decrees concerning the revolutions of times,
Dan. vii. Ill; viii. 16, 'And 1 heaid a man's voice, which called, and
said, Gabriel, make this mtO to understand the vision.' An angel was sent
to Daniel with the m< of ;i Redeemer, and the clearest prophecy o(
Christ, which the J le to answer to this day, which they most
startle at, Dan. ix, 21. Part of the discovery of the revelation to John,
which 11 :i standing almanac to the church, was made us by an angel,
Kev. x. h, <) ; nil. 8, 9. And when hv the con^e of time those turnings
aro to happen in tie; world, the angels must have their share of service m
2 ChRON. XYI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 71
them. The trumpets are sounded by angels, and the vials which are filled
with the causes of such alterations, are poured out by the hands of angels.
Some indeed, by the angels there mentioned, understand the visible instru-
ments of reformation, not excluding the angels, who are the invisible minis-
ters in the affairs of the world.*
Fifthly, They engage in this work for the church with delight ; they act
as God's ministers in his providence with a unanimous consent : Ezek, i. 9,
1 Their wings were joined one to another ;' so that they perform their office
with the same swiftness, and with the same affection, without emulation
to go one before another, which makes many actions succeed ill among men ;
but they go hand in hand. They do it with affection, both in respect of
the kind disposition of their natures, and as they are fellow-members of the
same body, for they are parts of the church and of the heavenly Jerusalem :
Heb. .xii. 22, ' Ye are come to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumer-
able company of angels, and to the general assembly and church of the first-
born ;' and therefore act out of affection to that which is a part of their body,
as well as out of obedience to their head. They do it in respect of their
own improvement too, and increase of their knowledge (which is the desire
of all intellectual creatures) ; for they complete their understandings by the
sight of the methods of infinite wisdom in the perfecting his gracious
designs. And it is God's intent that they should grow in the knowledge of
his great mystery by their employment : Eph. iii. 10, ' To the intent that
now, unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God,' i. e., By the gracious works
of God towards the church, and in the behalf of it, for the security and
growth of the church, and in the executions of those decrees which as
instruments they are employed in ; for I do not understand how it can be
meant of the knowledge of Christ, for that they know more than the church
below can acquaint them with : for without question they have a clear insight
into the offices of Christ, who is the head, and whom they are ordered to
worship. They understand the aim of his death and resurrection, and can
better explain the dark predictions of Scripture, than purblind man can. But
by observing the methods which God uses in the accomplishment of them,
they become more intelligent, and commence masters of knowledge in a
higher degree, which it is probable is one reason of their joy, when they see
God's infinite wisdom and grace in the conversion of a sinner ; without affec-
tion to them, and their employment about them, they could not rejoice so
much. And their rejoicing in their first bringing in to God, argues their joy
in all their employments which concerns their welfare.
(2.) As all good things, so all bad things are ordered by providence for
the good of the church. That which in its own nature is an injury, by God's
ordering puts on the nature of a mercy ; and what is poison in itself, by the
almighty art becomes a sovereign medicine. Are God's dispensations in
their own nature destructive ? That wise physician knows how to make
poisons work the effect of purges. Are they sharp ? It is to humble and
purge the church. As shadows serve to set out the pictures, so the darkest
passages of providence are made by God to commend the beauty of those
glorious things he works for his church. We may see this in,
[l.J Bad persons. As,
First, The devil. God manageth him for his own glory, and the strength-
ening of believers. Mat. viii. 31, 32, the devils desired to enter into the
herd of swine, with an intent, probably, not only to destroy the swine, but
to incense the Gadarenes against him, out of whom they had been cast, to do
* Lightfoot, Temple, chap. 38, p. 253, 256.
72 A DISCOTJBSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChEON. XYI. 9.
him some considerable mischief. But what is the issue ? As they discover
their malice, so they enhance the value of Christ's kindness to the distressed
man, whom he had freed from this tyranny. Hereby also was the law of God
justified in commanding the Jews to abstain from swine's flesh, which the
Gadarenes, being apostate Jews, had broken ; he magnified his own power
in the routing such a number of unclean spirits, which had not been so
conspicuous in the turning them out of one man, had not this regiment
discovered themselves among the swine, and brought such a loss upon the
Gadarenes, whereby as they shewed their own strength and malice, so they
discovered occasionally the greatness of Christ's charity, and his power over
them ; so that in granting the malicious petition of this exasperated legion,
the law of God is justified, our Saviour's love glorified, his power manifested,
and a foundation laid for the gaining proselytes in that country, to which
purpose he left the man he had cured, Luke viii. 39, and to strengthen the
faith of those poor believers which then followed him. God makes use of
the devils by the sovereignty of providence, to bring about ends unknown
to themselves, for all their wisdom. The malice of the devil against Job
hath rendered him a standing miracle of patience for ever. They are the
* rulers of the darkness of this world,' Eph. vi. 12, not of the light of the
world ; they are the rulers of the wicked, and the scullions of the saints, to
scour and cleanse them. They are the rulers of the world, but subordinate
to serve the providence of God, wherein God declares his wisdom by serving
himself of the worst of his enemies. The devil thought he had brought a
total destruction upon mankind when he persuaded our first parents to eat
of the forbidden fruit, but the only wise God ordered it to bring about a.
greater glory to himself, and a more firm stability to his people, in intro-
ducing an everlasting covenant which could not be broken, and establishing
their happiness upon surer terms than it was settled in paradise ; and
afterwards in filling the heart of Judas to betray Christ, and the hearts of
the Jews to crucify him. Even by that way whereby he thought to hinder
the good of mankind, he occasionally promotes their perpetual redemption ;
and I do not much question but thoso very principles which the devil had
distilled into tho Gentile world, of shedding human blood in sacrifices for
expiation of guilt, and tho gods conversing with men in human ways, and
the imagination of the intercessions of demons for them, — the first out of
m^o against mankind, and both that and tho other to induce them to
idolatry, — might facilitate the entertainment of Christ as tho groat expiatory
sacrifice, and tho receiving of him as tho Son of God, though in an human
shape, and tho belief of his intercession. God overreaches the devil, and
makes him instrumental for good where he designs hurt and mischief.
Secondly, Wicked men. All tho wicked in the midst of the church are
for the good of if, either for the exercise of their grace, or security of their
persons, or interest: Prov. xvi. 7, ' When a man's ways phase tho Lord,
ho will make bis enemies to be at pr;ice with him.' Sometimes he will
incline their heari S intentionally to favour, or order even their actions against
them to procure their p ace, contrary to their intentions. Sometimes God
makes them his sword to cut, his people, sometimes physic to purge them,
sometimes tire to melt and Mflne them, sometimes hedges to preserve them,
sometime,; b ransom to redeem them, lY<>v. x\i. IS. A traveller makes use
of the mettle of a headstrong horse t«> earrj him to his journey's end. That
wind which would overturn a little boat, the skilful pilot makes uso of \o
drive bis ship into the lenh.nir, and the hushandman to cleanse his corn
from the chaff. Tl gh the ends of the workers, viz., God and wicked
men, are different, \et the i -ml of the work is hut one, which is ordered by
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ? 3
God's sovereign pleasure. It was promised in the promise of the gospel to
the Gentiles : Gen. ix. 27, ' God shall enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell
in the tents of Shem, and Canaan shall be his servant.' God shall allure
Japhet, the Gentiles of Europe, to dwell in the tents of Shem, and Canaan
the head of the cursed posterity, shall be servants to the church beside their
will, and sometimes against it, by an overruling hand. And Christ hath
bought them to be his servants: 2 Peter ii. 1, * Denying the Lord that
bought them,' and therefore hath the disposing of them, whether they
voluntarily give up themselves to him or no. He is a Lord by purchase
over them, who own him not as a Saviour. The hatred of the church s
enemies sometimes conduceth more to her good than the affections of all
her worldly friends. Now this appears, .
• First, In furthering the gospel. The Jews, who speak not of Christ
among themselves, but with opprobrious terms,* have been the exact pre-
servers of the Old Testament, even to the very number of the letters,
wherein Christians have sufficient to confirm them in the belief of Christ s
being the Messiah, and unanswerable arguments against their adversaries ;
whereupon St Austin terms them capsarios ecclesia, such that carry the books
of the children of great men after them to school. When the authority of
the Kevelation was anciently questioned, the Church of Eome was instru-
mental to keep it in the number of the canonical books, not thinking they
should find their own church so plainly deciphered in it to be the mother ot
abominations. To this we may refer the action of Ptolemy Philadelphus,
king of Egypt, in causing the Scripture to be translated about three hundred
years before the coming of Christ, through which the nationsf might better
'discern (as it were through a prospective glass) the new star of Jacob
which was shortly to arise. No doubt but many of the Gentiles, by com-
paring the old Scripture prophecies, which they could read in the Greek
language, might be more easily induced to an embracing the gospel, and
acknowledging Christ to be the Messiah, when it came to be divulged among
them. Herod is the cause of the consultation about the place of Christ s
birth, not for any goodwill he had to him whom he intended to murder, but
God makes use of this to clear up the truth of the prophecy concerning
Bethlehem, the place of his birth : Mat. ii. 6, « Out of thee shall come a
Governor that shall rule my people Israel.' And they certainly were not
very good who preached Christ out of envy, and propagated the gospel,
wherein Paul rejoiced ; not in their sin, but in the providential fruit of it :
| Philip, i. 15, 18, ' Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife. What
then ? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence or truth, Christ is
preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.'
Secondly, In furthering the temporal good of the church.
(1.) In its preservation. Wicked men are often serviceable to the church,
as the filthy raven was to holy Elijah, or as the lion which would have
devoured Samson is a storehouse to provide him food ; for in his hunger
he finds a table spread in the belly of his enemy. Pharaoh's design was
to destroy Israel, and the daughter of that irreconcilable enemy is directed
to preserve Moses, who was to be the ruin of her family, the destruction of
the Egyptian glory, and the deliverer of the church. She saves him out of
charity", and God out of a wise design; she, by his education in the
Egyptian learning, fits him for the court, and God for the deliverance of
his church. Egypt had corn to relieve, first Abraham, Gen. xii. 10, after-
ward Jacob in a time of famine, the family wherein the church of God was
only then bound up. Herod lies in wait for Christ's destruction, and Egypt,
* Helvicus contra Judseos. t Jackson, vol. i. fol. f, p. 62.
74 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
the most idolatrous country in the world, and an ancient enemy to God's
church, affords him shelter, God makes ' Moab to hide his outcasts and
be their covert from the face of the spoiler,' Isa. xvi. 3, 4. Some think
God's design in sending Jonah to Nineveh to work so remarkable a change
by repentance, was to soften some of their hearts, and the hearts of their
posterity, to deal more tenderly with those gracious Israelites, who, in the
captivity of the ten tribes some years after, should be their guests, God
making thereby provision for his own people in that common judgment
which should come upon the nation. This God doth sometimes by reviving
the law of nature and the common sentiments of religion in the hearts of
natural men, whereby their own consciences, bearing witness to the innocency
and excellency of the church of God, put them upon thoughts for its
security. Sometimes it is above their own sphere and besides their own
intentions. The whale which swallowed Jonah intended him as a morsel to
quell his hunger, but proves his security, and disgorgeth him upon the shore ;
they understand their own aim, but not the design of God. The leech that
sucks the patient's blood knows not thechirurgeon's design, who useth it for
the cure of a disease. Sometimes their rage proves their own ruin, and the
church's safety; as the leech bursts itself sometimes, and saves the patient.
The very earth, whereby is meant the carnal world, is said to help the
woman, the church, by swallowing up the flood which the dragon casts out
of his mouth against her, Rev. xii. 16, just as the old rags were the
instruments whereby Jeremiah was drawn out of the dungeon.
(2.) In the advancement of the church or persons eminent. Abner had a
plot for bringing Israel to David's sceptre, which concurred both with God's
purpose and promises, but sprung from an ill cause, a disdain to be checked
by Ishbosheth, though his king, for an unjustifiable act, for having too much
familiarity with one of Saul's concubines, 2 Sam. iii. 0-10. And from this
animosity he contrives the deposing of Ishbosheth, and the exaltation of
David ; yet dissembles the ground, and pretends the promise of God to
David, ver. 18, 'For the Lord hath spoken of David, By the hand of my
Servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philis-
tines.' He is the first engine that moves in this business, and by him and
his correspondents after his death, ver. 17, the business is brought about
by God's overruling band, wherein God's promise is accomplished, and
David a type of Christ, and the great champion for the church against its
enemies round abont is advanced. Very remarkable is the advancement of
Mordccai, in order to the advancing of the dews as well as preserving them,
when the Decks of all the visible Church God had ill the world were upon
the block. Haman ignorantly is the cause of this preferment ofMordecai
ami at that lime too when he came to petition for his death : Ksther vi. 1,
1 He was come to speak to tin: king to hang Mordccai upon the gallows
which be had prepared lor him.' The lung asks him what should he done to
the man whom the king delights to honour, ver. L6. He imagineth that
the king's question did respeot himself, lavs out a scheme of what honour
In; was ambitious of, wr. S, '.), which was by the king designed for Mordccai,
and Hainan made the herald to proclaim him. Here Hainan, not only a
wicked man in himself, hut, tin it enemy Mordccai and the whole
church of God bad, ii made nnwittingly an instrument to exalt Mordccai,
and in him the whole church of I iod.
(8. | In enriching the ehuroh, or some persons in it, whereby it may become
more serviceable to God. How wondorful was it, that when the tsi
were abominated by the Egyptians, God should bo order their hearts thai the
i ptians should lend tin m gold and jewels, Ezod. xii. 85, ;><>, and dismiss
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 75
them with wealth as well as safety, and not so much as one person molest
them till they arrived at the Red Sea ! The very gain and honour of the
enemies is sometimes consecrated to the Lord of the whole earth : Micah
iv. 13, < Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion ; I will make thy horn iron,
and thou shall beat in pieces many people : and I will consecrate their gain
unto the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.' This
was when many nations were gathered against Sion, ver. 11 ; ' the wealth
of the sinner is laid up for the just,' Prov. xiii. 22. And God sometimes
makes the wicked, unwittingly to themselves, in their carking, be the factors
for good men, into whose lap providence pours the fruit of their labour. God
gave Cyrus the spoils of Babylon and the treasures of Croesus, to enable him
to furnish the Jews with materials for building the temple : Isa. xlv. 3, 4,
' And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden treasures of secret
places (speaking of Cyrus), that thou mayest know that I the Lord which call
thee by thy name, am the God of Israel, for Jacob my servant's sake,' &c.
That he might acknowledge him the God of Israel, and lay his wealth out in
the service of God, and the service of Jacob his servant.
Thirdly, As bad persons, so bad things are ordered to the good of the
church, whether they be sinful evils or afflictive.
1. Sin.
(1.) A man's own sin. Onesimus runs from his master, and finds a spiritual
father ; his being a runagate is the occasion of his being a convert. By
flying from his master he becomes a brother in the Lord, Philem. 10, 12, 16.
What Joseph's brethren sinfully intended for revenge against their brother,
and security from their father's checks (who acquainted Jacob with their
miscarriages), God ordered for the preservation of them who were the only
visible church in the world. Their sin against their brother, contrary both
to their intentions and expectations, became the means of their safety. God
makes the remainder of sin in a good man an occasion to exercise his grace,
discover his strength, and shew his loyalty to God.
(2.) Other men's sins. That might be in Sarah but a heady passion, for
hearing her son mocked by Ishmael, that made her so desirous to have the
bond- woman and her first son thrust out, Gen. xxi. 10 ; but God makes
use of it to make a separation between Isaac, the heir of the covenant, and
Ishmael, that he might not be corrupted hy an evil example from him ; God
orders Abraham to hearken to her voice, because in Isaac his seed should
be called, ver. 12. And the revengeful threatening of Esau was the occasion
of Jacob's flight, whereby he was hindered from marrying with any of the
people of the land, by whom he might have been induced to idolatry, Gen.
xxvii. 43, 46. Why should we mistrust that God that can make use of the
lusts of men to bring about his own gracious purposes ?
2. Commotions in the world. There is the eye of God, that eye which
runs to and fro throughout the whole earth in the wheels of worldly motions,
even in the most dreadful providences in the world that stare upon men
with a grim countenance : Ezek. i. 18, ' Their wings were dreadful, and
their wings were full of eyes.' All the overturnings in the world are sub-
servient to the church's interest, though they are not visibly so, unless
diligently attended.- God orders the confusions of the world, and is in the
midst of the tumults of the people: Ps. xxix. 10, 11, ' The Lord sits upon the
flood ; yea, the Lord sits King for ever. The Lord will give strength to his
people ; the Lord will bless his people with peace.' He sits upon the flood
as a charioteer in his chariot, guiding it with holy and merciful intentions to
his people, to give them both strength and peace in the midst of them, and
* Broughton on Eg v. xiii. sect. 177.
76 A DISCOURSE OP DIVINE PBOVTDENCE. [2 ChEON. XYI. 9.
as the issue of them. By water and floods is frequently meant tumults and
confusions in the world. -If it were not so, why should our Saviour encourage
his disciples, andfall their successors in the same profession, to lift up their
heads when they hear of wars, if their redemption were not designed by God
in them? Luke xxi. 25-28; they are all testimonies of the nearer approaches
of Christ in power and glory to judge the earth, and glorify his people.
God's great end in the shaking of nations is the performing those gracious
promises to his church which yet remained unaccomplished. These earth-
quakes in the world will bring heaven to the church. The great revolutions
in the eastern part of the world, the ruin of the Babylonian empire, the
erecting the Persian, and all the means whereby it was brought about, God
ordered, God foretold, God directed, for Jacob's service. Cyrus, led by
ambition, levies an army against Babylon ; yet though he was a ravenous
bird he was to execute the counsel of God : Isa. xlvi. 11, ' Calling a
ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel,' to be an
instrument for the delivery of the captived Jews, and the restorer of the
ruined temple. He had called him out by name to make a great revolution
of the world. He foretold by his prophet Isaiah many years before, the
means he should use in the siege of Babylon to attain the victory, the very
dividing Euphrates, which was the great confidence of the Babylonian :
Isa. xliv. 27, < That say to the deep, Be dry; and I will dry up the rivers ;'
whereby it was as it were dried up for them to pass over the very opening
of the gates : Isa. xlv. 1, < And the gates shall not be shut; ' the Babylonians
in a presumptuous security had left them open, thinking it impossible the
city could be taken, because of £he river Euphrates: ' I will go before thee,
and make the crooked places straight ; ' and what was the end of that
great revolution and motion in that part of the world ? See Isa. xlv. 4,
1 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect, I have even called
thee by thy name.' This prophecy was when Jerusalem and the temple
were standing. God casts about long before his people needs, for their wel- j
faro in the great revolutions and changes of the world. In Isa. xliv. 28,
' That saith of Cyrus, Ho is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure;
oven saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built ; and to the temple, Thy
foundation shall bo laid.' Cyrus had no knowledge of this end of God, j
1 though thou hast not known me,' Isa. xlv. 4, 5, twico repeated. Cyrus
did not know God, neither did ho know God's end ; ho acts his own pur-
poses, and is acted by God to higher purposes than ho understood. In all
lifting! of nations, and sifting the church among tho nations, as corn is
sifted in a sieve, God design! not tho destruction of his people, but tho
cleansing them, the separating tho flour from tho bran.
8. Destroying judgments, yea, and tho very curses sometimes are turned
into blessings.
Destroying judgments. The desolation of the Jews was not only in order
to khe fulfilling Cod's truth in hi! threatening!, bnt useful for the
gospel design ; the fall of the Jewi was the calling of the (lentil
Xl - lli |2, 'Through their fall salvation is eome unto the Gentiles. 1 km
their fall and dispersion among the Gentiles was prophesied of as the
ion of their return to God: Ezek. ix. 86, .".7, * Like as I pleaded will
your fathen in the wilderness, so will I plead with yon ; and eanse you to
trader the rod, and bring yon into the bond of the covenant ;' whel
ttwy : "•" in the wilderneei of captivity, then (\o,\ ihall plead with them, and
make them to pai i under the rod ,»f propriety, and bring them into covenant.
The like also ii prophesied of thai captivity of the ten tribea to this day, not
known where they are : Ho rn ii. 1 1, the time of God'a speaking kindly to i
2 ClIRON. XVI. 9. J A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 77
her should be in the wilderness, and then ■ I will give her the valley of
Achor for a door of hope.' No question but God hath performed his pro-
mise, and brought many of the posterity of the ten tribes into the church
among the mass of the Gentiles, among whom they were dispersed.
Curses sometimes, as God orders them, prove blessings. The curse of
inspired Jacob upon Levi, — Gen. xlix. 7, ' Cursed be their anger, for it was
fierce ; and their wrath, for it was cruel : I will divide them in Jacob, and
scatter them in Israel,' — was the advantage both of Levi and the Israelites ;
that they were dispersed among the several tribes without any universal
cohabitation as the rest, was a curse ; but that the}- should be the instruc-
tors of the people in the matters of the law, was an honour God put upon
the head of that tribe, and a public blessing to the people.
4. Divisions in the church. One would think this of all other things
should shake the foundation of it ; yet God orders even these to the good
of the church. Paul and Barnabas, two great apostles, fell out, Acts xv.
3G-39, &c. ; the contention comes to be very sharp, a thing naturally of
very ill consequence in two of the prime guides of Christianity, and at the
laying the first foundation of it ; but the gospel gains ground, one sails to
Cyprus, and the other travels into Syria. Perhaps had not this quarrel been
between them, and they thus disjointed from one another, some of those
poor souls had never, or at least not so soon, have heard of the gospel mercy.
5. Persecutions. These naturally tend to the dissolution and utter
extirpation of it, but God orders them otherwise. God doth often lay the
scene of his amazing providences in very dismal afflictions ; as the limner
first puts on the dusky colours on which he intends to draw the portraiture
of some illustrious beauty. The oppression of Israel immediately before
their deliverance was the dusky colour whereupon God drew those gracious
lines of their salvation from Egypt, the pattern of all the after deliverances
of the church in all ages, and a type of our spiritual redemption by Christ.
The humiliation, persecution, and death of the Son of God, was the duskv
colour upon which God drew that amazing piece of divine love and wisdom
in man's salvation, which the eyes of saints and angels will be fixed on with
ravishing admirations to all eternity. All afflictions in the world, which
God doth exercise the church with, are parts of his providence, and like
mournful notes in music, which make the melody of the tune more pleasant,
and set off those sweeter airs which follow upon them. Afflictions here
cause the joys of heaven to appear more glorious in the eyes of glorified
saints. The persecutions of the martyrs did but heighten their graces, send
them to the place of rest, and enlarge their robes of glory. God many
times saves his people by sufferings, and brings them to the shore upon the
planks of a broken ship, and makes that which was the occasion of their
loss to be a means of their safety ; they sometimes evidence that which they
would destroy. Herod's murdering the children, to destroy him that was
born king of the Jews, made his birth more conspicuous in the world ;
snuffing the candle makes it burn the clearer.
They sometimes make,
1. To the improvement of the church. One of the sorest judgments God
brought upon the Jewish church is expressly asserted by God to be for their
good : Jer. xxiv. 5, speaking of the captived Jews, ' Whom I have sent out
of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.' The Chaldeans
had overrun their land, carried them captives, made them slaves, destroyed
the temple ; yet God tells them this was for their good, when there was no
present appearance of any good in it. It should be good in respect of God's
favour towards them, which retired to return with the greater force : ver. 6,
78 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
1 1 will set mine eyes upon them for good ; I will build them, and not pull
them down.' God will give them a more durable settlement. In respect
also of that frame of heart they should have toward God, their knowledge
of him and cleaving to him, ver. 7, ' I will give them a heart to know me ;
and they shall return to me with their whole heart.' God had but a moiety
of their hearts before, but then he should have the whole. And indeed it
was remarkably for their good ; for they who before were addicted to idolatry
were never guilty of the same sin after ; and God kept them from being
drawn away to it by the example and solicitation of those among whom they
were. The church grows by tears and withers by smiles. God's vine
thrives the better for pruning. God makes our persecutions fit us for that
for which we are persecuted ; as Saul by his persecution of David for the
title God had given him to the kingdom, made him fitter to succeed him in
the throne, and manage the government. God uses persecutors as lances,
which, whiles they wound us, let out the purulent and oppressive matter ;
and makes them instruments of his providence to work out his people's
happiness, and thus makes the very wrath of man to be an occasion of his
people's praise : Ps. lxxvi. 10, ' The wrath of man shall praise thee.' God
doth in this as a father deals with his son, sends him to a sharp school, that
he may be trained up in learning.
2. In the increase of the church. The Jews crucified our Saviour to
diminish the multitude of his followers, and by this means the number is
increased. The w T hole world runs after him by that means they used to stop
their course, which Christ foretold, that when he was lifted up he should
draw all men after him ; and that a grain of corn brings not forth more seed
unless it be cast into the ground and die.
1. In the increase of it within its own bounds. When the Israelites were
most oppressed in Egypt, the more they multiplied, Exod. i. 20. When
the dragon's fury did most swell against the woman, she brought forth a
man child, Rev. xii. 1, 3, 4. When the Roman empire was at the highest,
and was most inflamed with anger against the Christians ; when the learning
of the philosophers, the witchcrafts of heretics, the power of the emperors,
and the strength of the whole world was set against them, the Christians
grew more flourishing and numerous by those very means which were used
to destroy them. Not only a new succession of saints sprung up from the
martyrs' ashes, but their flames were the occasion of warming some so much
with a heavenly fire, that some persecutors have become preachers. Their
very bonds for the truth have sometimes a seminal virtue in them to beget
men to faith in Christ : Philip, i. 12, ' The things which have happened unto
me, have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel.'
2. In the increase of it in other parts. Paul's prison made his preaching
famous in lintnc, and was an occasion of bringing Christianity into Nero's
court, thai monster of mankind, Philip, i. 18, iv. 22 ; one might have looked
for saints in hell as soon; his bonds were as great a confirmation of tho
[liitli of his doctrine as his eloquence. When Saul made havoc of the
church, and by that storm dispersed the Christians, they, like so many grains
of corn Scattered in several parts of a greater field, produced the greater
harvest: Acts Tin. 8,4, 'Therefore they that were scattered abroad went
everywhere preaching the word.' As clouds scattered by the winds, they
rained down the gospel in several quarters* The Jews when scattered ia
their several flights did scatter among the heathen the notions of the trni
ion. Winn they sliall go down to Egypt to secure themselves from
Bennacherih's invasion, they shall be a means to make many converts amend
that idolatrous nation: Isa. xix. L8, 'In that day ' (the day of the Jews'
2 ChRON. XYI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 79
trouble) ' shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan,
and swear to the Lord of hosts ;' so one expounds it, but I rather think it
meant of the times of the gospel. The flight of the Israelites shall be the
occasion of some Egyptians' conversion. A poor slave in Naaman's family
was an occasion both of the cure of his body and of that of his soul, 2 Kings
v. 2, 3, 17. So much for the first reason, drawn from an enumeration of
things.
Reason 2. To prove that all providence is for the good of the church,
is, because God hath sometimes preferred mercy to the church, and care of
it, above his own concernments of justice. He values his mercy to them
above his justice upon his enemies. He consults their safety before he
brings ruin upon the wicked whose sins are full. He first prepared the
ark for Noah, and sees him lodged in it before he begins to shower down
destruction upon the world. He hath sometimes punished a nation more
for their offences against his people, than their sins against himself. Amalek
was guilty of many idolatries and other sins against God, but God chargeth
none of them upon them but their malicious hindering the Israelites in their
march to Canaan : 1 Sam. xv. 2, ' Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I remember
that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when
he came up from Egypt.' He shews his love to them, and how much he
values them, that when he is acting justice and pouring out his wrath, when
he is (as it were) cutting and slashing on all sides, and is in fury with
wicked men, he hath nothing but sweetness and tenderness towards his own.
Amos ix. 9, 10, in the sifting of Israel and the nations ' Not the least grain
shall fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the
sword.' While he thunders out his fury upon wicked men, he hath his eyes
upon the least grain of the true Israel. What would it be for God, when
he is raising the glory of his justice upon the people that have provoked him,
not to regard the concernments of this or that, or many sincere souls, but
put no stop to his fury ? Yet he doth, not a grain shall perish. He is more
desirous to hear of the preservation and welfare of a few righteous, than of
the just punishment of the wicked wherein his justice is gloriously interested.
The man clothed with linen, that was to mark the mourners, returned to
God and gave an account that he had done according to his command, Ezek.
ix. 11 ; the other five, which were to kill, returned not to give any account
of their severe and sharp proceedings. The angels that held the four winds
of the earth, Rev. vii. 1, which some understand of wars and commotions
in the world for the overthrow of the Romish power, were ordered not to
let the winds go till the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads.
Reason 3. God takes particular notice of the meanest of his people,
and mightily condescends to them, much more of the church. It is strange
to consider that the Scripture mentions none of those great potentates among
the heathen, but either as they were instruments of his people's good, or
executioners of his justice upon them, or subjects of his people's triumph.
Cyrus and Darius are mentioned as their friends ; Nebuchadnezzar, and
Sennacherib, and others, as God's instruments in scourging them ; Checlor-
laomer and the other kings with him, as they were the subjects of Abraham's
valour and triumph, Gen. xiv. 9, 10. He takes no notice of the names of
any in his word but upon such accounts ; Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar had
done no doubt many actions before, but none taken notice of but those ; but
he takes notice of the meanest wherein was grace, and the meanest of their
concerns and actions.* He mentions in his word Jacob's flocks, &c, things
of no great moment, the actions, speeches, gestures of his people, to shew
* Revet in Gen. exercit, 129.
80 A DI3COUP.SE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
how his providence wrought for them, and how much he is concerned in the
least of their affairs ; but the great empires of the world, their original and
progress, and the magnified founders of them, he speaks not of but as they
have some relation or other to his people. As we love to use the names of
our friends, so doth God love the relish of the names of his servants. The
name of Noah is repeated several times, as the Jews observe, Gen. vii.,
viii. The Spirit of God loves the very mention of their names, he delights
to dwell upon the catalogue of their names. The Scripture uses to reckon
the genealogies of wicked men in short characters. Cain's generation is
numbered in haste, as if God had no care at all of them, Gen. iv. 17, 18;
he puts them off with a kind of &c. But he insists much upon the gene-
ration of the godly. Seth's posterity are written in a large scroll and more
legible hand, Gen. v., with the number of the years which they lived,
which in Cain's posterity there is no notice taken of. His whole respect,
his heart, his eye, his all is fixed upon them. And Christ himself stands
more astonished and wondering at the faith of the centurion, the impor-
tunity of the Canaanitish woman, condescends to them to grant them what
they would have. You never find him taking notice of the learning of the
rabbis, the magnificence of Herod, or the glorious building of the temple.
See how condescending God is, to work a miracle for the support and
strengthening of a weak faith, and the peevish distrust of his people.
Gideon's faith was weak, yet how compassionate is God towards him
(Judges vi. 86, &c, he would have one time the fleece dry, another time
wet; God condescends to them in all), in ordering his providence as Gideon
would have it, without upbraiding him, just as a tender mother cherishes a
weak child ! And this miracle was in order to the church's deliverance
from a present oppressive enemy. Certainly when we find God taking care
and ordering even the very pins, snuffers, and basins of the temple, the
place of his worship, as well as the more stately ornaments of it, we may
say, Doth his care extend to the meanest utensils in his temple, and not
much more to the worshippers in it ? Doth he give order for the candle-
sticks, and will he not have much more care of the lights in them ? His
cure to the least implies his care of the greatest too. In a building, the
little stones must be well laid as well as the greatest. Every believer is a
stone in the spiritual building.
Rtason 4. God reveals often to his people what he will do in the world,
as if he seemed to ask their advice ; and therefore surely all his providences
shall work for their good. God would not surely acquaint thorn, and advise
with them what he should do, did he intend to do anything to their hurt.
Thero is not anything in the heart of Christ wherein the church is con-
cerned but he doth reveal it to thcni: .John xv. 15, 'I have called you
friends; tor nil things I have heard of my Father I have made known to
you.' Be discovered all to them, the ends of his coming, his Father's love,
his death, and resurrection, what he would do after his ascension, the pro-
gress of his affairs, and tin; glory of heaven, and the end of all. John must
I,, tii,: penman of the Revelation which oonoerned the future state of the
church in all ages. Joseph must know the interpretation of dreams in
(niler to the church's preservation. Moses must be acquainted with (iod's
methods in the Israelites' deli veiauce, with the Egyptians' ruin. Daniel must
know the future! state of the eastern parts of tho world ; In 1 must know the
turnings of the times, and the end of the world, Dan. z. 11, L9, 20. It is j
t,, No, ih, and none else, that be immediately discovers his intended
destruction of the world. And all those revelations ended in his peoplo'a
advantage; nay, ho doth not only reveal, but as it were consult with him
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 81
in his affairs. God doth as it were unbosom himself to Abraham, as one
friend to another ; as it were adviseth with him concerning his intention on
Sodom: Gen. xviii. 17, 'And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham
the thing which I do ? ' i. e. I will by no means do it, it will not consist
with my love and friendship to him to hide anything from him. And see
the reason of it : ver. 18, ' Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a
great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in
him.' It was, first, his great affection to him, because he had advanced
him, and promised that a mighty nation should spring out of his loins.
And he had not withheld from him the secret of giving the Messias, which
was a universal blessing, and so many ages were to run out before it was to
be accomplished ; he had discovered to him his acts of mercy, and therefore
would not hide from him his acts of justice, he would know his mind in it
and what he thought of it. And you know the story, how God regulated
himself by Abraham's prayer, and denied him nothing, till Abraham left off
suing any more. It would make one conjecture, that if Abraham had pro-
ceeded farther, he had quite diverted the judgment from Sodom. And
when the Israelites had provoked God by a golden calf, he would not do
anything against them till he had consulted Moses, and therefore lays the
whole case before him, and seeks to take him off from pleading with the
Lord, and promising to make of him a great nation (Exod. xxxii. 9, 10,
* And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a
stiff-necked people : now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax
hot against them'), and in such terms that one would wonder at: 'Now
therefore let me alone;' as if God did fear Moses's interposition would pre-
vent him and dissuade him from it. Do not you stand in the way; my
wrath will cool if you interpose yourself; as much as to say, God could not
do it unless Moses gave his consent ; Moses would not be quiet, but pleads
the providences of God, which had been all for him, the promise of God
made to Abraham concerning them. And he would not leave till God
repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people, ver. 14. If
angels, as Calvin saith, are God's counsellor in heaven, believers are (as it
were) his counsellors on earth.
5. God has given the choicest things he hath to his people; he hath given
his law. The church is the sphere wherein the light of the gospel is fixed,
and wherein it shines, from whence its beams do dart out to others: Isa.
ii. 3, ' Out of Sion shall go forth the law.' The oracles of God, the great
things of the law, as it is phrased, Hosea viii. 12, his covenant, and the
counsel of his will, are entrusted with the church. Now, this being a
mercy which exceeds all other things in the world, is therefore comprehen-
sive of all other, as the greater comprehends the lesser. And the psalmist
considers it as the top-stone of all blessings ; for after summing up the
providences of God, he shews how God had distinguished Jacob by more
eminent marks of his favour: Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20, 'He shews his word to
Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so
with any nation;' he hath not left so rich a legacy to any, or given any so
much of his heart. Others are ordered by the word of his power (for that
is meant by word in the foregoing verse), but Jacob hath the word of his
grace too. And this being the choicest piece of affection which God hath
shewed to the church, implies the making all lesser providences subservient
to it. The church, wherein God hath laid up his gospel, and those souls
which are as the ark wherein God hath deposited his law, shall be shadowed
with the wings of his merciful providence, in a perpetual succession of all
true blessings. All the providences of God are to preserve his law in the
VOL. I. F
82 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XYI. 9.
world ; his severest judgments are to quicken up the law of nature in men
that know no other, and the law of his gospel in men that sit under it.
And he hath given Christ to his church, and thereby hath given an earnest
that still their good shall be promoted. It is not to be thought that God
will spare anything else, when he hath given them his Son.
The second thing. It must needs be that all providences is for the good
of the church.
1. All the providence of God is for the glorifying his grace in Christ.
The whole economy or dispensation of the fulness of time, to the latter ages
of the world, is for the gathering of all things together in him : Eph. i. 10,
* That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in
one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are in earth,
even in him ;' in him as their head. This was the design in all his dispen-
sations, both before his coming and since, ever since the promise made to
Adam, though it be more manifest in the latter age. This the apostle
represents as the main purpose of God, ver. 9. This was the mystery of
his will, which accordingly to his good pleasure he had purposed in himself,
that is, purposed in himself as a thing he was mightily pleased with; and,
ver. 11, saith he, he works all things after, or xara, 'according to the
counsel of his own will,' or of that purpose which he had purposed in him-
self, to gather all things in one in Christ. All the things that God acts are
referred to this as their end, and ordered by this counsel as their rule. As
it was the design of God's providence to make way for Christ's entrance
into the world, and all the prophecies in the Old Testament tended to the
discovery of it, so since the coming of Christ the end of all is to advance
him in respect of his headship : Eph. i. 22, 23, ' And hath put all things
under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fulness of him that fills all in all.' God would
advance Christ to the highest pitch, ver. 21, far above all principality and
power, both in this world and in the world to come ; and there is still a
fulness wanting to Christ to complete him, — not any personal fulness, but a
fulness belonging to him as head, which is the advancement God designs
him. He is already advanced above all principality and power; he is
already given as a head to the church, but the completeness of it is not till
all his members be perfected, to which all his providences in the world doth
ultimately tend. Therefore if the design of God be to honour Christ, and
if the spiritual happiness of the church be part of that glory and fulness of
Christ, it must nerds be carried on by God, else he will want part of his
completeness as a head. But this shall not be wanting, since, as all things i
arc squared according to that counsel of glorifying Christ as head, so all ;
things an; acted for believers by that power whereby he raised Christ from
the grave to bfl their head, which power is the copy according to which all
nets which respect the church are framed: ver. 19, 'And what is the
exceeding greatness of Ids power to ns-ward who believe, according to the
Working of his mighty power, Which lie wrought in Christ, when he raised
hint up from the dead.' (led intended the good of the church in this very act
of glorifying Christ, for he is made the ' bead over all things to the church ;'
as if God then bad prescribed him that order, that the glory be gave him
should he also managed for the church's interest. Christ is Lord of the
rest, of the world, hut bead of the church. All things are under his feet,
but are not his uiemhers; be M bead overall things to the church, and
therefore to every member of the church, the least as well as the greatesu
and to the Whole church, e\.n that part of if which is on earth, as well as
that part which is in heaven, who are completed. This church is the l'ul-
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 83
ness of Christ, he would be bodiless without it ; therefore since Christ will
be a head without a body if the church be not preserved, in order to the
preservation of it, all things must necessarily concur by the wise disposal
of affairs. Therefore since they are travelling to be where their head is, he
having the government of the world, will make all things contribute assist-
ance to them in their journey. That Christ may have that completeness of
glory which God intends him, he expressly tells his Father that he is
glorified in his people: John xvii. 10, 'And I am glorified in them.' And
at the sound of the seventh trumpet, ' the kingdoms of this world are to
become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for
ever and ever,' Rev. xi. 15. Now, since all the motions in the world are
that the kingdoms of the world may become the kingdoms of his Christ,
peculiarly his, as being anointed King by him, it must needs be that all things
must be subservient one time or other to this end, wherein the good of his
people doth consist ; otherwise they would not bless God so highly for it as
they do: ver. 17, 'We give thee thanks, Lord God Almighty; because
thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.' And where
there is a resistance of this glory of Christ, it is a natural effect of that
decree whereby Christ is constituted King, that the resisters should be
broken in pieces, and dashed like a potter's vessel, Ps. ii. 6, 9; and the
issue of all is the blessedness of those that put their trust in him, ver. 12.
The care that God hath of Christ and the church in the types of them,
seems to be equal. The ark, which was a type of Christ, and the table of
shew-bread, a figure of the church, had three coverings, whereas all the
rest of the vessels,. &c, belonging to the ceremonial part, had but two,
Num. iv. 5-8. On the ark there was the veil, and covering of badgers'
skins, and a covering of blue; on the table of shew-bread there was a cloth
of blue, a cloth of sclarlet, and a covering of badgers' skins. God orders
as much for' the security of the church as for the security of Christ, there-
fore the same things that tend to the glorifying of Christ shall tend to the
advantage of the church.
2. God hath given the power of the providential administration of things
to Christ, to this very end, for the good of the church. If God had consti-
tuted him head over all things to the church, can there be any doubt but
that he will manage the government for that which is the principal end of
his government, which he hath shed his blood for, and which is chiefly
intended by God who appointed him ?
(1.) All power of government is given to Christ : Mat. xi. 27, ' All things
are delivered to me of my Father.' And, John v. 22, ' The Father judges
no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son,' that is, the whole
government and administration of affairs. It is not to be understood of
the last judgment, for then it would be a limitation of that word all; not
that the Father lays aside all care of things, but as the Father discovers
himself only in him, so he governs things only by him. All this power was
committed to him upon his interposition after the fall of man. He was made
Lord and Christ, that is, anointed by God to the government of the world ;
for, upon the fall, God as a rector, had overturned all. Man could not
with any comfort have treated with the Father, had not Christ stepped in
and pleaded for the creation, whereupon God commits all judgment to the
Son, that he might temper it. It was by Christ as a covenanting mediator,
that the earth was established, Isa. xlix. 8. He had this government
anciently, and it was confirmed to him upon his death : Heb. i. 3, ' Who
being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of his power.' Calvin understands the
84 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
first word not only of the deity of Christ, but of the discovery the Father
made of himself in and through him as a mediator. The latter words some
understand both of his providential and mediatory'kingdom : ' by the word
of his power :' this, say some, is referred to the Father, whose image Christ
is, as acting by a delegated authority and commission from his Father ;
others, to Christ, as, that Christ upholds or bears up all things by his own
powerful word. Calvin thinks both may be taken, but embraceth the
second as being more generally received.
I may offer, whether it may not be meant also of the powerful interposi-
tion of Christ as mediator, whose interest in God was so great, that he
kept up the world by his powerful intercession, when all was forfeited ; and
God put it, upon that interposition, into his hands, as ' heir of all things'
(who having a hand with him in creation, understood both the rights of God
and the duty of the creature), upon the condition of ' purging sin' by his
death, which he did, and thereupon went to heaven to take possession of
the government, at the right hand of God ; ' sat down,' took his seat at
the right hand of the Majesty on high, as due to him by covenant and articles
agreed on between them. I know nothing at present against such an inter-
pretation of the words ; but I will not contend about it. All this honour
was confirmed unto him upon his death. For having performed the condi-
tion requisite on his part, God deputes him, and entrusts him with the
government of things, that he might order all things so as to see the full
travail of his soul.
(2.) All this power was intended by God for this end, the good of the
church. As God appointed Christ a priest for his church to sacrifice for
them, a prophet to teach them, so the other office of king is conferred
upon him for the same end, the advantage of the church. God acquaints
us of this end, aimed at him, in the promise of the government to him :
Jer. xxxiii. 15, 16, * In those days, and at that time, will I cause the branch
of righteousness to grow up to David ; and he shall execute judgment and
righteousness in the land.' What is the end ? ■ In those days shall Judah
be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely.' He should execute judgment,
that is, administer the government for the salvation of Judah, and security
of Jerusalem. It was his office both to build the temple, and to bear the
glory, and to rule upon his throne ; to be a priest upon his throne, to rule
as king and priest: Zech. vi. 12, 13, 'He shall build the temple of the
Lord, even he shall build the temple of the Lord.' The erecting a church
is the sole work of Christ by God's appointment ; and he was to bear up the
glory of it. He should rule to this end, ■ for the counsol of peace shall be
between them both.' If by both be meant, the Lord, and the man whose
name is the Branch, it then chiefly aims ut our reconciliation, as wroughl
by covenant between them. If by hoik bo meant the two offices of king
and priest, and that the counsel of peace D6 between them, it will extend to all
the Meetings of the church, to the good and glory of the ohnreh, which is
the fruit of oil kingly, us well as the lirst reconciliation was the Emit of his
priestly, office. By peace, in Scripture, is meant the confluence of all bless
Inge; so that the intent, of God m bestowing those offices upon Christ,
and so great i rale, was far the Rood and advantage of that church or
temple, which he appointed him only to build. And in Isa. xi. !>, where the
prophecy of the government of Christ is, the end is expressed to be, that
'nono should hurt Or destroy iii all his holy mountain.' And certainly,
sinco Cod set, him at his right hand, and confirmed this power unto him,,
after lie had purged our sins, it was certainly out of the high value Cod had
for him, and therefore must bo the intent of Cod, that ho should govern all
2 CHRON. XYI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 85
things in reference to the design of that death, and for the good of those
whose sins he had by himself purged. For the possessing this government was
the very end why Christ died and rose again: Rom. xiv. 9, ' For to this end
Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of dead
and living.' If this were Christ's end in dying and rising, it was his Father's
end too, who appointed him to death, and raised him by his mighty power.
And since he was ' delivered for our offences, and rose again for our justifi-
cation,' Rom. iv. 25, the government he is invested with, being Lord of the
dead and of the living, must be for the sakes of those for whom he was
delivered, and for whom he rose. His regal power, which was one end of
his death, cannot cross the other main end, the constituting a church, and
carrying on the good of them that believe. The government, being in the
hands not of God as creator, but in and through the hands of a mediator,
and that mediator which both died and rose again peculiarly for them,
therefore it cannot in the least be for their hurt, but advantage. The whole
management of Christ's kingly office in relation to the church, is prescribed
unto Christ by God. God reveals to him what shall be done in the world,
what acts he shall perform for the church, and gives him a history of all that
was to be done upon the stage, together with an order to communicate it
unto his servants : Rev. i. 1, ' The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave unto him, to shew unto his servants' (to be communicated to the whole
church), < things that must shortly come to pass.' Whether this revelation
was made to the human nature of Christ at his incarnation, as Tirinus
thinks, or rather upon his ascension, is not material. The whole scheme of
what was to be done in the world is revealed here by God to Christ ; and
you find all the motions in the world relating to the church, and the end of
all is the good of the heavenly Jerusalem.
(3.) All power thus given, and intended for this end, is actually adminis-
tered by Christ for this end. Christ, as the head of the church, doth like
a natural head. It never sees, nor hears, nor exerciseth any act of sense
only for itself, but for the good of the whole body. The eye watches for the
body, the tongue speaks for it, the understanding contrives for it ; every part
of the head is active for the whole body. Now Christ as head is more
bound to act for the church militant than for the church triumphant, because
the greatest part of his work for the church triumphant, viz., the bringing
them to heaven, is already performed. And they are above the reach of
all things in the world, and all the actions and motions in the world cannot
touch or disorder them. But the command of God concerning the other part
behind is not yet performed, and even they are the members of Christ as
well as those in heaven. The apostle, Col. i. 16-18, seems to refer both
Christ's creation, and the preservation of things, to this title of headship :
« All things were created by him, and for him, and by him all things con-
sist, and he is the head of the body the church;' and therefore the conser-
vation and government of all things shall be subservient to the church, which
is the body of this governing head. The chief seat of Christ's sovereignty
is the church : Ps. ii. 6, * Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of
Sion;' and he stands upon mount Sion, Rev. xiv. 1. The church is the
proper seat and metropolis of his empire, the royal chamber of this great
king. All the conquests of princes redound to the advantage of that place
where they fix their residence. He is king of the world, but for the
sake of Sion. Christ did manage this charge anciently for his people ; when
Joshua had passed over Jordan, and first entered upon the conquest of
Canaan, he sees a man over against him with a sword drawn in his hand :
Josh. v. 13, 14, « And Joshua said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our
86 A DISCOURSE OP DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
adversaries ? And he said, Nay ; but as captain of the hosts of the Lord am
I now come..' This was Christ, that came armed for his people, according
to his charge, as their captain and general. It was not an angel, because
Joshua worshipped him, ver. 14. An angel did not use to receive any wor-
ship from men ; and he accepts the worship, and commands him to loose
his shoe from his foot, for the place whereon he stood was holy, ver. 15.
And the same person, Josh. vi. 2, is called Jehovah ; and there he gives
him orders how he should manage his war. Christ came here to direct his
people in their concerns ; he employs his wisdom for his church, as well as
his other excellencies. He is called a Counsellor, Isa. ix. 5 : it is one of
the great letters in his name ; and this, as the rest there mentioned, hath a
relation to the church. < For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is
given.' And the first use he makes of his power, after the confirmation of
it to us, upon his resurrection, is for the church : Mat. xxviii. 18, ' All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth ; all authoritative power
over angels, and the affairs of the world ; ■ Go you therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them,' &c. ; ■ and lo, I am with you always, even unto the
end of the world.' He commands the apostles to gather a church among
all nations ; and doth, by virtue of this authority committed to him, pro-
mise his presence with them, in all such services they should do to this end,
even to the end of the world. He promises his Spirit, and his providential
presence ; as his power should endure to the end of the world, so the exer-
cise of it for this end should run parallel with the continuance of it. There
should be no alteration or change in this great end of his, as long as the
world lasts. How can Christ be with them, and that to the end of the
world, if all the parts of his providential government were not ordered to
serve this end, the good of the church ? For the church is ' the fulness of
him that fills all in all,' Eph. i. 23, that fills all in all places, all in all
actions and motions, for the good of his church, which is his body.
3. Thirdly, God in the church discovers the glory of all his attributes. It
is in a man's house where his riches and state is seen : it is in the church
God makes himself known in his excellency, more than in all the world
besides : Ps. Ixxvi. 1, ' In Judah is God known ; his name is great in
Israel. In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Sion.' It
is in his church ho doth manifest his power. It is called, therefore, ' a glo-
rious high throne : Jer. xvii. 12, ' A glorious high throne from the begin-
ning is the place of our sanctuary.' Kings use to display all their glory and
majesty Upon their thrones; in this sense heaven is called God' S throne,
Isa. Ix. 1, because the prospect of the heavens affords us discoveries of the
wisdom and power of God, more than in any other visible thing, both in
their essence, magnitude, and motion: so is thero a greater discovery of
God's attributes in the church (which is also styled heaven in Scripture)
than in the whole world besides; there it is that the angels look to learn
mors '»t* the wisdom of God than they understood before, Eph. iii. 10. It
is there the day of his power dawns, Ps. CX. '•>. It is there his saints see
his pouer and his glory, P». Ixiii. '-! ; the sanctuary is called the firmament
of bis power, I's. <d. 1. The glory of God's attributes is centred in Christ
in i high r manner than in the creation ; and in that work did excel them-
selves in what they h;id done in tin* framing of the world ; and the church
being the glory of Christ, all those attribute!, which are glorified in Christ,
do in and through him shine forth mure (dearly upon the ehnieh, than upon
any Other put, of the world. He styles himself their Creator, as much as
the Creator of the whole frame of heaven and earth : Isa. xliii. 15, 'I am
tho Lord, your Holy Ono, the Creator of Israel, your King.' As though all
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 87
the attributes of God, his power in creation, his holiness in redemption,
were designed for none else but them : and indeed by virtue of the cove-
nant they were to be so ; for if God be their God, then all of God is theirs.
What wisdom, power, sufficiency, grace, and kindness he hath, is princi-
pally for them. If God be their God, it is in their concerns he will glorify
himself as a God in the manifestation of his perfections. This cannot be
without the ordering all providences for their advantage.
4. Fourthly, There is a peculiar relation of God and Christ to the church ;
upon which account this doctrine must needs be true. God is set out in
all relations to manifest his great care of his people. He is a Father to
provide for them, Isa. lxiv. 8 ; a mother to suckle them, Isa. xlix. 15. Christ
is a husband to love and protect them, Eph. v. 29 ; a brother to counsel
them, John xx. 17. And when all these relations meet in one and the
same person, the result of it must be very strong. Any one relation where
there is affection is a great security ; but here all the relations are twisted
together with the highest affections of them in God to the church. A father
will order all for the good of his child, a mother for her infant, a husband
for his wife, and one kind brother for another ; so doth God for his people ;
and whatsoever those relations bind men to on earth, in respect of care,
love, and faithfulness, that is God to his church. The church hath the
relation to God which none in the world have besides. They are his jewels,
therefore he will keep them ; they are his children, therefore he will spare
them, Mai. iii. 17. They shall have protection from him as they are his
jewels, and compassion from him as they are his sons. The church is
Christ's flesh, as dear to him as our flesh is to us ; as much his, as our flesh
is ours: Eph. v. 29, * No man hates his own flesh, but nourisheth it, as
Christ doth his church.' No man ean have a higher value for his own flesh
than Christ hath for his church. The church, as Tertullian speaks, is
nothing else but Christus explicatus ;* and as considered in union with
Christ, is called Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12. It is i the apple of his eye,' Zech.
ii. 8, a tender and beloved part. The church is Christ's spouse ; the con-
tract is made, the espousals shall be at the last day. The members are
picked out one by one to be presented to the Lamb at last as a glorious
bride for him, Rev. xxi. 2.
And all God^s dealings with them in the world are but preparations of
them for that state. Upon the making of the match God promises a com-
munion of goods : Hosea ii. 20, ' I will even betroth thee unto me in faith-
fulness,' which is a fruit of marriage, the wife being invested in her husband's
estate. When God hath given the blood of his Son for the church, he will
not deny her the service of the creatures, but jointure her in that as one
part of her dowry. ' In that day will I hear the heavens,' &c, ver. 21.
In what day ? In the day of betrothing, in the day of the evangelical
administration, when the contract shall be made between me and my church.
Heavens, earth, corn, wine, and oil, the voice and motions of all creatures,
are for Jezreel, which signifies the seed of God. This great prince he hath
a care of all his subjects, so more peculiarly of his spouse and princess,
which is his seed too, and all creatures shall be her servants. This fatherly
relation and affection is strong and pure, not as the love which acts an
ambitious man to ambition, or a covetous man to wealth ; which respects
nothing but the grasping and possessing the objects they doat upon, and
have nothing of love for the objects themselves, therefore deserves not the
name of love. But it is the love of a father, whose love is pure towards
his children ; he seeks their good as his own.
* Christ unfolded.
88 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
Consider these two things.
1. God hath a peculiar love to this very relation, and often mentions it
with delight, as if he loved to hear the sound of it in his own lips : Cant,
viii. 12, ' My vineyard which is mine, is before me.' Me, my, mine. The
church is always under his eye, seated in his affection, and God is pleased
with his propriety in them. God never calls the world my world, though
he created it ; sometimes he saith, the earth is mine, but it is either to
check the presumptions of men, who ascribe that to themselves which is due
to the first cause ; or to encourage his people in the expectation of deliver-
ance, because all things in the earth are at his beck ; or to shew his own
sufficiency, without the services of his people ; as when he saith, the earth is
mine, and the fulness thereof ; but it is never mentioned in such a way, as
to discover any pleasure he hath in the relation between him and it, simply
considered ; but my vineyard, my people, my children, my jewels, my
sanctuary, very often. So much doth God esteem his propriety in them.
2. This relation is prevalent with God in the highest emergencies and
distresses of his people. The very consideration that they are his people,
kindles his affection, and enlivens his strength for them : Isa. lxiii. 8,
1 And he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie : so he
was their Saviour.' God is brought in, as one that had heard the cries of
his church, and had not been moved ; but when he recollects himself, and
considers that they were his people, and that he was in a special manner
related to them, he became their Saviour ; he could no longer bear it, but
stirs up himself to relieve them. Nay, it hath so strong an influence upon
him, that if this note be often sounded in his ears, it doth as it were change
his voice, and when he seems to have a mind to cast them off he cannot.
When Israel had offended by erecting and worshipping a golden calf, he calls
them no more his people, but Moses's people : Exod. xxxii. 7, * And the Lord
said unto Moses, Go, get thee down ; for thy people, which thou broughtest out
of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.' As though God had not
been concerned in this miraculous conduct out of Egypt ; and ver. 9, ' this
people,' as if he had had no interest in them, but particularises them with
disdain. God had here discarded them, and turned them over upon Moses's
hands, as if he would have no longer anything to do with them ; but Moses
in prayer turns them upon God again, and would not own them as his, but
pleads that they were God's proper goods : ver. 11, « Lord, why doth thy
wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the
land of Egypt?' And ver. 12, again, ' thy people;' and God at last resumes
his former notes, ver. 14, ' And thoLord repented him of the evil he thought
to do unto km people.' Now they are God's people again ; the repetition
of this relation is a powerful rhetoric to persuade him to own them again,
which he had cashiered and turned off.
5. Fifthly, The whole interest of God in the world lies in his church and
people. He leei little of himself in any pari of the corrupted world, hut only in
them. It is in the church Qfl hath put his oame ; it is there he soes his
Image, and therefore places hit Lore there; ami shall all this signify nothing?
Shall the GoTernor of the world let things go contrary to his own interest ?
They are like to him in that which is one of his greatest perfections, viz.,
his h o li nes s , which gives him a greater interest in them. It is his interest
that, is opposed hv an opposition to the church. All the hatred any
bear it grOWi from the inward root of enmity against God himself: Ps.
xliv. 22, ' KM, for thy sake an We killed all the day long.' God surely
will concern himself in the church's interest, since it is his own. His
interest lies,
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
89
(1.) In the persons of his people. It is his inheritance, Isa. xix. 25. It
is his' portion : Deut. xxxii. 9, ' The Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is
the lot of his inheritance.' Every part of an inheritance and a portion doth
as particularly belong to the owner as the whole. Every part of the ground
which belongs to the inheritance is the heir's, as well as the whole field.
He will not suffer the world, which is but the work of his hands, to lay
waste his church, which is his proper inheritance. It is his treasure, and
where a man's treasure is, there is his heart ; and where God's treasure is,
there is God's heart.
(2.) In the services and actions of the church. If the church should be
destroyed, whom hath God to love and imitate him, and to shew forth his
glory ? If the candlestick is broken, what is fit to hold out the light to the
world ? He hath none in the world besides, that do intentionally mind his
honour, that take pleasure in glorifying his name, and writing after his copy,
and observing his works. And will it stand with his interest to govern
things contrary to theirs, which is really his own ?
When God had made the world, and pronounced it good, what would it
have signified if he had not brought in man as his rent-gatherer, and the
collector of his tribute, to return it to him ! And what would man signify,
since the corrupted world embezzles that which is God's right, and turns it
to its own use, if God had not some honest stewards, who faithfully act
for him, and give him the glory of his works ! And God will spare them,
as a man spares his own son that serves him. God hath no voluntary
service in the world but from them, therefore he is more interested in their
good than in the good of the world besides. The services of the church are
all the delight God hath in the world : Hosea ix. 10, ' I found Israel like
grapes in the wilderness ; I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig-tree
at her first time.' They are as the refreshing wine and grapes, as the
delicious fruit of the first ripe figs, wherewith a weary traveller recruits his
spirits after a long and trying journey. And God hath a greater delight in the
fruit he receives from the church, than in it simply as it is his inheritance ;
for no inheritance is valued but for the fruit and revenue it yields ; and
therefore God orders all his blackest providences in the world, like dark
clouds, to be the watering-pots of this his garden, that the fruit and flowers
of it may be brought to maturity, which yield him so much pleasure and
honour. God only is acknowledged by them and in them, as the Jews were
bound to acknowledge God the author of their mercies, by presenting the
first fruits of their increase to God. And believers are called so : Rev.
xiv. 4, ' These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God
and the Lamb.' It is by and in them that God hath the acknowledgment
of all his mercies and blessings to the world.
6. It cannot be but all the providences of God shall work to the good of
his church, if we consider the affections of God.
(1.) His love. What hath God in the world as an object to bestow his
affections upon, and communicate the rays of his love unto, since he created
it, but his church ? The men of the world hate him ; he can see nothing
amiable in them ; for what was first lovely they have defaced and blotted
out, but the church hath God's comeliness put upon her : Ezek. xvi. 14,
4 It was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the
Lord God ; ' and he did not lay those glorious colours upon her, to manage
his government, or any part of it against her, to deface her. Besides their
loveliness, which is conferred upon them by God, they have a love to God,
and no man will act against those whom he thinks to be his friend. God
being purus actus, there being nothing but purity and activity in God, his
90 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
love must be the purest and highest love, the most vigorous and glowing ;
as fire, which sets all other bodies, so this all other powers in the world in
motion for them. God cannot love them, but he must wish all good to
them, and do all good for them ; for his love is not a lazy love, but hath
its raptures and tenderness, and his affection is twisted with his almighty
power to work that good for them, which in their present condition in the
world they are capable of. Now it is certain God loves his church ; for,
[1.] He carries them in his hand, Deut xxxiii. 3 ; and that not in a loose
manner to be cast out, but they are engraven upon the palms of his hands,
Isa. xlix. 16, that he cannot open his hand to bestow a blessing upon any
person but the picture of his church doth dart in his eye. God alludes to
the rings wherein men engrave the image of those that are dear to them.
And the Jews did in their captivity engrave the effigies of their city Jeru-
salem upon their rings, that they might not forget it.* If his eye be alway
upon the church, his thoughts can never be off' it in all his works.
[2.] He loves the very gates and outworks: Ps. lxxxvii. 2, 'The Lord
loveth t.ie gates of Sion;' he loves a cottage where a church is more than
the stately palates of princes. The gates were the places where they con-
sulted together, and gave judgment upon affairs. God loved the assemblies
of his saints because of the truths revealed, the ordinances administered, the
worship presented to him.
[3.] Nay, one saint is more valued by him than the whole world of the
wicked. God is the God of all creatures, but peculiarly the God of Abra-
ham and of his seed. One Abraham is more deeply rooted in his heart
than all the world, and he doth more entitle himself the God of Abraham
than the God of the whole world; for in that style he speaks to Isaac:
Gen. xxvi. 24, ' I am the God of Abraham thy father,' much more the God
of Israel, the God of the whole church, of which Abraham was but a
member, though the father of the faithful, and a feoffee of the covenant.
God hath a greater value for one sincere soul than for a whole city. He
saves a Lot, and burns a Sodom; yea, than for a whole world, he drowns a
world and reserves a Noah; he secures his jewels, whilst he flings away the
pebbles.
[4.] He loves them so, that he overlooks their crabbed and perverse mis-
constructions of his providence. When the Israelites had jealous thoughts
of liim, and of Moses his instrument, when they saw that mighty Egyptian
army just at their heels, and themselves cooped up between mountains,
forts, and waters, God doth not upon this provoking murmuring draw up
his cloudy pillar to heaven, but puts it in the rear of them, when before it
I marched in the van, Eixod. xiv. 15), and wedgeth himself in botween
them ;oi<l Pharaoh's enraged host, to shew that they should as soon sheath
their BWOrdl in his heart as in their bowels; and if they could strike them,
it should be through his own deity, which was the highest expression of his
affection. And though they often murmured against his providence after
they were landed on the shore, vet he left them not to shift for themsel
hut, bore them ;dl the way in his arms, as a father doth his child, Deut*
i. Blj and bars them Like an eagle upon his wings, Dout. xxxii. 11. And
God lovei tle'in magnificently and royally: Hosea siv. I, ' L will love them
freely,' i without any doubting, without any reluctance. 1 will love thee
without any repugnancy in my heart to draw me back u*om thee; 'for
mine anger is tinned away,' as the streams of a river, quito another way.
Now, ;dl this considered, can the Governor of the world, the King if saints,
• Banctiu i In Isa. xlix. l * » .
\ Eoseaarii LnifO; Sept., o/AoXdyw;.
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 01
act anything against his own affections ? Yea, will he not make all things
subservient to them whom he loves ?
(2.) His delight. See what an inundation of sweetening joy there was in
him, for which he had not terms of expression to suit the narrow apprehen-
sions of men: Zeph. iii. 17, 'The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is
mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his
love; he will joy over thee with singing.' He seems in his expression to
know no measure of his delight in the church, and no end of it: 'I will
rejoice over thee with joy.' Joy sparkles up fresh after joy; it is his rest,
where the soul and all that is within him centres itself with infinite con-
tentment. ' Joy over thee with singing:' a joy that blossoms into triumph.
or had any such charming transports in the company of any he most
affected as God hath in his church; he doth so delight in the graces of his
people, that he delights to mention them. He twice mentions Enoch's walk-
ing with him, Gen. v. 22, 24. And certainly God cannot but delight in it
more than in the world, because it is a fruit of greater pains than the crea-
tion of the world. The world was created in the space of six days by a
word, the erecting a church hath cost God more pains and time. Before
the church of the Jews could be settled, he hath both a contest with the
peevishness of his people and the malice of their enemies. And his own
Son must bleed and die before the church of the Gentiles could be fixed.
Men delight in that which hath cost them much pains and a great price.
God hath been at too much pains, and Christ at too great price, to have
small delight in the church ; will he then let wild beasts break the hedges,
and tread down the fruit of it ? Shall not all things be ordered to the good
of that which is the object of his greatest delight in the world ?
7. Seventhly, The presence of God in his church will make all providences
tend to the good of it.
It would be an idle, useless presence if it were not operative for their
good. ' The Lord is there' is the very name of the gospel church, Ezek.
xlviii. 35 ; what would it signify if it were a useless presence ? Christ
stands upon mount Sion, his throne is in the church, when the great things
in the world shall be acted for the ruin of antichrist, Rev. xiv. 1. God's
presence in his church is the glory and defence of it, as the presence of the
king is the glory of the court: Zech. ii. 5, 'For I, saith the Lord, will be
unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of
her.' His presence is a covenant presence: Isa. xli. 10, ' Fear not, I am
with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God;' whence follows strength,
help, and support: 'I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I
will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness;' that is, with my
righteous power, with my power engaged to thee in a righteous covenant.
His presence and providence in the world is in a way of absolute dominion,
but in his church in a way of federal relation. He is the God of Israel,
ind God to Israel, or for Israel, 1 Chron. xvii. 24, yea, and a God in the
nidst of Israel, — every one of them sufficient engagements to protect
tsrael, and provide for Israel, and govern everything for Israel's good.
Grod is under an oath to do good to Israel; will he violate his oath, tear his
seal, break his covenant, who never broke his league with any of his people yet ?
8. Eighthly, The prayers of the church have a mighty force with God to
his end. God is entitled a God hearing prayer ; and what prayers should
iod hear, if not the prayers of his church, which aim at God's glory in their
jwn good ? Though the prayers of the church may in some particulars fail,
■et in general they do not ; because they submit their desires to the will of
iod, which always works what is best for them.
92 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XYI. 9.
When God would do any mighty work in the world, he stirs up his people
to pray for it ; and their prayers by his own appointment have a mighty in-
fluence upon the government of the world, for when they come before him
in behalf of the church in general, he doth indulge them a greater liberty
and boldness, and as it were a kind of authority over him, than upon other
occasions of their own: Isa. xlv. 11, ■ Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of
Israel, and his Maker, Ask of me things to come concerning my sons; and
concerning the work of mine hands command you me.' God would be
more positively, confidently, and familiarly dealt with about the concerns of
his sons, though they were things to come to pass in after ages. And
indeed the prayers of the church have a powerful and invisible efficacy on
the great actions and overturnings which are in the world. The being of
the world is maintained by them from sinking; according to the Jews' say-
ing, sine stationibus non subsisteret mimdus (standing in prayer was their
usual prayer gesture). And that they have actually such a force is evident:
Kev. viii. 3, 4, an angel hath a golden censer with incense, to offer it
with the prayers of the saints upon the altar which was before the throne.
And, verse 5, the censer wherein their prayers were offered was filled with
the fire of the altar, and cast into the earth; and there were voices, thun-
derings, lightnings, and earthquakes. When the prayer of the saints were
offered to God, and ascended up before him, that is, were very pleasing to
him, the issue is, the angel fills the censer with fire of the altar, and
thereby causes great commotions and alterations in the world, signifying
that the great changes of the world are an answer unto those prayers which
are offered unto God ; for fire is taken from that altar upon which they
were offered, and flung into the world. And it must needs be that the
prayers of the church should have an influence on the government of the
world.
(1.) Because God hath a mighty delight in the prayers of his people. 'The
prayer of the upright is his delight; ' and he loves to hear the church's voice:
Cant. ii. 14, 4 my dove, let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice'
(Chaldes, ' Thy voice is sweet in prayer'). In the times of the gospel, God
promises that the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem should be pleasant to
him, Mai. iii. 4. When Christ shall sit as a refiner, ver. 3, what is the
issue of those prayers ? ver. 5, ■ 1 will come near to you to judgment, and I
will be a swift witness against the sorcerers,' &c. Prayer awakes providence
to judge the enemies of the church. A parent delights not in the bare cry-
ing, or the voice of his child simply considered in itself, but in the signifi-
cations and effects of it. He delights in the matter of their prayers, it being [
BO agreeable to his own heart and will, and in the sense they have of the |
Bufferings of the whole body.
(2.) Beeansc prayer is nothing else but a pleading of God's promises. Unto 1
this the; are directed by that Spirit which knows thoniindof God, and mar-
shall their petitions according to bis will. Now as God turns his own
decrees and purposes concerning his church into promises to them, so the
Church turns I Ids.- promises into prayers for them; SO that promise's being
for the good of the church, and there being an exact harmony between t!
promises and the church's prayers, all those providences which are the issue
of those promisee, ami the answer of the church's prayers, must needs u
tor the church's good.
(:'».) Because there are united supplications and pleadings both in he
and earth. All the hands of the whole family iu heaven and earth are con
tied in their petitions.
[l.J Christ intercedes for the church, who always desires mercy and deliver
2 CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 93
ance for them in the appointed time : Zech. i. 12; ' How long wilt thou
not have mercy on Jerusalem ? ' and the issue is always gracious ; for,
ver. 13, God answers him with 'good and comfortable words ; ' and there-
upon carpenters are raised to ■ cut off the horns which had scattered Judah,'
ver. 20.
[2. J Angels in all probability plead for the church, as we have already
heard ; it is likely they offer and present that to God which makes for his
glory, and that is the good of the church. Angels surely desire that which
their head doth, which is described as one of their own order, and called an
angel, Zech. i. 12. Do they rejoice at the repentance of a sinner, and do
they not likewise triumph at the happiness of the church, which is part of
that family they are of? And we know that the greatness of our joy is
suited to the mercies of our desires ; where our joy is most triumphant, it
implies that our desires before were most vehement.
[3.] Glorified saints are not surely behind. The rich man in the parable
desired his friends on earth might not come into that place of torment,
Luke xvi. 28. If | there be so much charity in hell, can there be less in
heaven ? If he desired it, that by the presence of his companions in sin,
his own torments might not be increased, do not the saints in heaven de-
sire the presence of the whole church, that their happiness in that of the
whole body may be completed ? If the head Christ be not complete with-
out the body, the members of the body cannot be complete without one
another. The souls of them that were slain for the word of God cry under
the altar for vengeance on them that dwell on the earth ; as Kev. vi. 9, 10,
'How long, Lord holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood
on them that dwell on the earth ? ' Will not their kindness to their fellow-
members be as strong as their justice, and their love for the good of their
friends draw out their prayers as well as their desire of vengeance on their
enemies ? Why may they not as well pray for us as we praise God for
them ? Had they not some likeness to their great Master whilst they were
on earth, and shall they not be more like to him now they are in heaven, and
behold his face, and feel all the stirrings of his heart ? And if they have no
sense at all of the church's sufferings, how shall they be like to him who
hath ? As their bodies shall be like the glorious body of Christ at the
resurrection, are not their souls now like his glorious soul, merciful, and com-
passionate, and sympathising in all the afflictions of the church ? And can
this be without some breathings for a full completing of the church's freedom ?
Are such desires and pleas any hindrance to their present happiness ? It
is so far from that, that it doth rather further their glory, which cannot
be complete, as the glory of Christ, as head, is not mounted to the highest
pitch of glory, till his mystical body be all gathered in and lodged with him.
If it be thus, will God do anything prejudicial to the church, and contrary to
the combined desires of all those that are so near him ? If God doth some-
times stir up himself upon the supplication of one man, and grant an order
upon his petition according to his mind ; and if the prayers of one faithful
Moses, or Elias, or Samuel have such a kind of almighty power in them,
much more is the joint force of so many prayers twisted together.
Use 1. For information. Is it so that all providence is for the good of the
church ? Then,
1. God will always have a church in the world, he will have some to serve
him. The whole course of his providence being designed for it, as long as
the world, which is the object of his providence, doth endure, he will have a
church. God would otherwise lose the end of the motion of his eyes,* the
L * As in the text, 2 Chron. xvi. 9.
9-1 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
operation of his providence, since it is to shew himself strong for the church
and every member of it. As long as the candle and light of the gospel
burns and shines, God will have a candlestick to set the candle in.* His
great design in making a world was not to have sun, moon, and stars, but a
church, a company of men that might bear his mark, and honour him, to
whom he might speak, and extend his grace abroad, which he was so full of
within. As a limner who would draw an excellent draught, draws his design
in the midst of the cloth, and fills the void places with clouds, and land-
scapes, and other fancies at his pleasure, which communicate some beauty
and lustre to the work, but that was not the principal design of the work-
man. That Redeemer which bears the church upon his heart, will create a
stability for it ; it is a part of his priestly office to have a care of the lamps ;
it is one of his titles to be he that walks in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks, Rev. ii. 1. Priests under the law were to look to the great
candlestick in the temple, supply the lamps with oil, and make them clean,
Lev. xxiv. 3, 4. The church indeed may be eclipsed, but not extinguished ; if
it be not conspicuous on the mountain, yet it shall be hid in the wilderness.
There shall be sprinklings of professors among all people. God will leaven
the places where they are into Christianity, and cause them to fructify and
grow up in purity and glory : Micah v. 7, ' And the remnant of Jacob shall be
in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the
grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.' It tarries
not for man. It attends not the power of man, the precepts of man, or
inventions of man ; but whose descent is from heaven, and is carried on not
by human power, but by the divine Spirit and providence ; it shall be firmer
than all worldly power, and the strongest kings : Isa. ii. 2, ' And the moun-
tain of the Lord's house shall be established upon the top of the mountains,
and shall be exalted above the hills.' Above mountains and hills, to which
sometimes the powers of the world are compared, Zech. iv. 7. That provi-
dence which gave the church at first a footing in the world upon a weak
foundation to outward appearance, in spite of men and devils will preserve
it, and not suffer it to be blown up ; he will shadow the church with his
win^s in a perpetual succession of the choicest mercies.
2. God will in the greatest exigencies find out means for the protection
of his church. This will be till his providence be at an end. When God
hath removed one instrument of his church's protection, he hath his choice
of others, whom lie can raise and spirit for his work. When those upon
whom the church's hopes hang are taken oil*, he can raise things that are
unlikely to supply the place. As the lutenist accidentally had a grasshopper
leapt upon his instrument, to supply by its noise the place of a string which
1i;mI Dewlj cracked, win Toby his music was continued without interrupt i
God MD spirit men against their own natural fears. It is very improbal
that NicodemUB, our of I fearful disposition, who came to our Saviour by
night for tear of the Jews, should have the courage to assert his oause in
l| )r (ace of B whole council of pliarisees, contriving his death, and at p] .;
blunt the edge of their malioe, though we read of none at that time in the
council to second bim, John rii. 50, 51. The Holy Ghost takes particul
notice that it was be that came to Jesus l»y night.
|,ii i,!' ,\i iniathca, whose name we meet, not with in the catalog!
j UlV of our disciples,i till the time of his death, and then he appears boldly
1,, |, body of JeBUS of Pilate. God will never want instruments for
the preserving that church, which he owns as his. It is observed by Some,
* Cham. vei it. liv. 8 ohap i. p. 16.
-J Qn. ' iu an)' ul tie: c.it.i OUT J Oftl'l di-ciplc-s ' ? — Ed.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 95
that God so ordered it, that the same day that Pelagius, the great poisoner
of the Christian doctrine, was born in Britain, Austin, the most famous de-
fender of the truth, was born in Africa ; that the horn which pushed the
truth should no sooner appear, but the carpenter to cut it off' should be pro-
vided too. As it is observed where poisons grow, antidotes grow near them
by the indulgent provision of the God of nature.
As there is the wisdom of the serpent against the church, so there is the
wisdom of God for it. God's goodness upon his church in former ages is
not all laid out, he hath his stores still, neither is his wisdom nonplussed,
nor his power weakened ; neither is he, nor can he be weary of his care.
3. The church shall in the end prove victorious against all its adversaries,
or providence must miss of its aim. The church is compared to an olive
tree, Hosea xiv. 6, in respect of beauty, ' his beauty shall be as the olive
tree.' It is so also in respect of victory. Olive branches were used in
triumph. God is on the church's side, and he is stronger than the strongest,
and wiser than the wisest, and higher than the highest. Jesus Christ
is the church's head and general ; Christ the head watcheth for the good
of the church, the body. He must be destroyed before the church can.
There is a mighty arm, which, though it may for a time seem withered,
will in the end be stretched out, and get itself the victory. Whilst
Christ is in the ship, it may be tossed, but it shall not be sunk. It may
be beaten down, but like a ball to rebound the higher. The young
tree that is shaken by the wind may lose some leaves, and some fruit too,
but the root gets greater strength and strikes itself deeper into the earth,
and makes the branches more capable of a rich return of fruit the following
year. The church's stature is compared to a palm tree, Cant. vii. 7, which
cannot be depressed by the weights which hang upon it, but riseth the
higher. God uses the same method in the church's, as in Christ's advance-
ment. Our Saviour's death was necessary to his glory, Luke xxiv. 26, and
the church's affliction sometimes to its exaltation. A nation may lose some
battles, and yet be victorious ; the church may have many a cross, but in
the end will surmount all difficulties. Though judgments and apostasies
may be great in a nation, yet God will have a care of his own plants, Isa.
vi. 12, 13 ; ' There shall be a tenth ; it shall return, the holy seed shall be
the substance thereof.' As a tree in winter, which seems dead, but its juice
shall revive into rich and generous blossoms. The ark shall float above the
waters. Babylon shall fall, the Lamb shall stand upon mount Zion. Men
may as well stop the rising of the sun in its mounting to the meridian,
bridle in the tide of the ocean, as hinder the current of an almighty providence.
4. The interest of nations is to bear a respect to the church, and coun-
tenance the worship of God in it. This is to concur with God's main end,
and imitate him in his providential administrations. God's people, what-
ever their enemies suggest to the contrary, are a blessing in the midst of a
land, Isa. xix. 24 ; their interest is greater than the interest of all the
world besides ; though they be but a handful, their fruit shall shake like
Lebanon, Ps. lxxii. 16. The neglect of religion is the ruin of nations. It
i is observed that Cyrus was slain in the war in Scythia, a little after he
neglected the building of the temple of Jerusalem which he had begun.*
Those Persian kings reigned the longest that favoured the Jews in that and
their other just requests. God honoured or disgraced them as they were
kind or cruel to his people. And when they act for the good of his people,
. they shall not be without their reward. When Cyrus should let the Jewish
captives go free without ransom, he should be no loser by it. God would
* Broughton on Dan. x. 10.
96 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CERON. XVI. 9.
give him the labour of Egypt, the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the strength
of the Sabeans into his hand for the price of his people's delivery, Isa. xlv.
13, 14. Those nations which should favour them in the times of their per-
secutions and flights, and give them shelter in their countries, should thrive
and prosper by the blessing of God upon them. If Moab give entertain-
ment to the flying Israelites in the time of the invasion of Shalmanezer, God
will preserve their land that the spoiler shall not enter into the confines of
it, and they shall have kings and judges under the protection of the house
of David, i. e. under the kings of Israel, as some understand it, Isa. xvi. 4,
5. Saints are the guardians of the places where they live, their prayers
have a greater influence than the wisest counsels, or the mightiest force,
2 Kings ii. 12 : ' And Elisha cried, My father, my father ! the chariot of
Israel, and the horsemen thereof.' The Chaldee paraphraseth thus : * Thou
art better to Israel by thy prayers than chariots and horsemen.' This is
the elogy of one single prophet ; what influence then hath the whole church
of God in a place ? The whole world is the better for the church of God.
The Chaldee paraphrase hath a notion upon that, Ps. xxii. 3 : ' But thou
art holy, thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel ;' thou that estab-
lishest the world for the praises of Israel. God hath nothing to do in the
world but the saving of his people. When that is once done, he will put
an end to this frame of things. When he hath gathered his wheat into his
garner, he will burn up the chaff. His people are the spirit and quint-
essence of the world. When this is extracted, the rest are flung upon the
dunghill, as a caput mortuum.
5. We may see hence the ground of most of the judgments in the world.
Men by their rage against the church, will not acknowledge God's govern-
ment of the world for the church's good ; therefore the psalmist, Ps. lix. 13,
' Consume them in wrath, consume them that they may not be, and let
them know that God rules in Jacob unto the ends of the earth.' The church
is the seat of his government, and from thence he extends it to the utter-
most parts of the earth. In Jacob he rules, and for the sake of Jacob he
orders his government to the ends of the earth ; the not acknowledging this
brings wrathful consumptions upon men ; and it is also the end of his judg-
ments to make men know it. It is likely enough the four kings, Gen. xiv.
9, might have gone clear away with all their booty, had not they laid their
fingers upon Lot ; but when they would pack him up among the rest, they
did but solicit their own ruin, and arm the almighty God against them.
God did not think any of the people worth the mention, verse 11 ; only Lot
a righteoni penon, verse 12, he is named, as having God's eye only upon
him. And when Abraham returns from the victory, ver. 10, the rest of the
delivered captives are mentioned in tho bulk, Lot only in particular, as though
all that had been done had been done by God only for Lot's sake. They
might have preserved the whole prey to themselves, had it not been for this
jewel, loo precious in God's account for their custody. And the tearful curse
that God pronounced against the Ammonite and Moabite, that they should
not some into the congregation for ten generations, though any of then
turned proselytes, was because they came not out with so much as bread
and water to meet the [sraelites, and because they hired Balaam to cui
them, Dent, nriii. 8, i. The utter wasting of nations and kingdoms, is t
because tliev will Dot serve the interest of God in his people: Isa. 1\. 1
* For the nation and kingdom thai will not serve thee shall perish ; 3
those nations shall be utterly wasted.' God will bring an utter consumption
upon those people Hint refuse to love them, much more upon those that hate I
them*
2 CflRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OP DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 97
6. What esteem, then, should there be of the godly in the world ? The
providence of God, being chiefly for the good of his people, cannot well fall
upon them, but some drops will fall upon those involved with them in a
common interest. When the corn, and wine, and oil hear Jezreel (the seed
of God), and the earth hears the corn, and the heavens hear the earth, and
God hears the heavens, Hosea ii. 21, 22 ; when their supplications come
up to the great superintendent of the world, many of the wicked will fare
the better for that providence which is given only in answer to Jezreel's
prayer ; God causes his sun to shine upon the unjust, upon them, not for
their sakes. When Nebuchadnezzar issued out that unjust order for the
slaying the Chaldeans for not performing an impossible command in telling
him the dream he had forgotten, Dan. ii. 12, Daniel was sought out to
undergo the same fate; yet by his wisdom God bends the heart of Arioch,
the executioner of this decree, to stay his hand. Daniel goes to the king,
God stays Nebuchadnezzar's fury, and moves his heart to give them time.
The providence is chiefly intended for the preservation of Daniel and his
godly companions, but the rest of the wise men have the benefit of it. As
the water with which a man waters his choicest plants and flowers in his
garden is intended only for them, yet some falling off from those flowers
refresheth the weeds that grow under them. If God had not had such
flowers as Daniel and his companions, the weeds in Chaldea had been
plucked up. Yet the ungrateful world takes no notice of the benefits they
receive from this salt of the earth, which preserves them, and to whom they
are all so much beholding. Lot had been the occasion of restoring Zoar
from captivity, as I mentioned before, for the inhabitants of that city were
engaged with those of Sodom in the fight against the four kings (' And the
king of Bela, the same is Zoar,' Gen. xiv. 8) ; and perhaps were carried
captives with the rest of their neighbours ; and it had been saved from the
flames which fell upon Sodom merely by Lot's prayer : Gen. xix. 21, ' See,
I have accepted thee concerning this thing, that I will not overthrow this city
for the which thou hast spoken ; ' yet he found them a surly people, and was
requited with a rude reception, notwithstanding his kindness : ver. 13, ' He
went up out of Zoar, for he feared to dwell in Zoar.' It was not likely he
was so distrustful of God, that he should overthrow it, when he had abso-
lutely promised him the contrary ; therefore most likely for some churlish
threatenings from them. Nay, Sodom itself was beholden to him for a
small respite of the judgment intended against them. For God tells him
he could do nothing till he were come thither, Gen. xix. 22. And it was
so, for Lot was entered into Zoar before a drop of brimstone and fire was
rained down upon Sodom : ver. 23, 24, ( Then the Lord rained upon
Sodom ; ' when ? When Lot was entered into Zoar. This good the
wicked world get by God's people is so evident, that sometimes wicked men
cannot but take notice of it. Laban, a selfish idolater, was sensible of it :
Gen. xxx. 27, ' I have found by experience that the Lord hath blessed me
lor thy sake.' It was a lesson so legible that he might have learned it
sooner than in fourteen years. The church is the chief object of preserva-
tion, wicked men are preserved for their sakes ; as dung is preserved, not
'or its own sake, but for the manuring a fruitful field, and thorns in the
hedge are preserved for the garden's sake.
7. It is then a very foolish thing for any to contend against the welfare
of God's people. It is to strive against an almighty and unwearied pro-
vidence. Men may indeed sometimes be suffered by God for holy ends to
aave their wills, in some measure, upon the church, but not altogether ;
:hey must first depose him from his throne, blind his eyes, or hold his arm.
VOL. I. G
98 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 CHRON. XVI. 9.
It is as foolish as if a worm should design to dig down a mountain, or chaff
to martial itself in battle array against the wind, or for a poor fly to stop
the motion of a millstone.
(1.) It is foolish, because it is exceeding sinful. What is done against the
church is rather done against God than against it ; since all her constitu-
tion, worship, observances, are directed to God as their ultimate end ; so
that to endeavour to destroy the church is to deny God a worship, deprive
him of his sanctuary, break open his house, ravish his spouse, cut off
Christ's body, rob him of his jewels, and will be so interpreted by God at
the last, upon the scanning of things. If the church be God's house, the
enemies shall answer for every invasion, every forcible entry, for the
breaking down the gates and bars of it, God will sue them at last for dilapi-
dations.
(2.) Very unsuccessful. Shall God be afraid of the multitudes and power
of men ? No more than ' a lion, or a young lion roaring after his prey,
when a multitude of shepherds are called forth against them, shall he be
afraid of their voice, or abase himself for their noise,' Isa. xxxi. 4. Noise
and clamour is all they can do, and that not long; the fierceness of the lion
quickly scatters them. The associations, and men's girding themselves
against the church, is but a preparation to their own ruin : Isa. viii. 9,
1 Associate yourselves together, ye people, and ye shall be broken in
pieces,' three times repeated. Your counsels, saith he, shall not stand
against that presence of God that is with us, ' for God is with us.'
(3.) It is very destructive too. God will not alway be still and refrain
himself; he seems to do so for a while, but when he doth arise he will
destroy and devour at once, Isa. xlii. 14, he will make but ^one morsel
of them. When God is angry with his people, and gives them into the
hands of men to execute his justice upon them, and punish them, he will
even punish those enemies for their cruelty, and going beyond their com-
mission, in satisfying their own immoderate passions upon them. Upon this
account God threatens Babylon : Isa. xlvii. 6, ' I was wroth with my people ;
I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thy hand : thou
didst shew them no mercy;' whereupon God threatens them afterwards,
&c. ; so Zech. i. 15, God was sore displeased with the heathen, for when
he was ' but a little displeased' with his people, ' they helped forward the
affliction.'
Use 2. Is for comfort.
If Jill the providence of God be for tho good of the church, if his eyes run
to and fro to shew himself strong for them, it affords matter of great com-
fort. His providence is continual for them, Zech. iv. 2. He hath seven
pipes to convey kindness to them, as well as seven lamps whereby to
discern their si nuts. His providence is as vast as his omniscience. The
Dumber of pipes belonging to the candlestick of the church is exact accord-
ing to the number of lamps. The church's misery cannot bo hid from God's
eye, let it, he in what part of the earth soever, for his eyes run to and fro
throughout the whole earth, and his sight excites his strength. Upon tho
light of their distressed condition he watchos only for the fittest opportunity
to shew himself strong for them. And when that opportunity comes he is
speedy in the deliverance of them : I's. wiii. 10, ' lie rode upon a cherub,
and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of tho wind.' Ho doth not
only ride upon a cherub, hut fly. His wings are nothing hut wind, which
hath the quickest and strongest motion, which moves the greatest bodi
and turns down all before it. What is tor the good of the whole hath an
iulluencu upon every member of tho body.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 99
1. It is comfort in duties and special services. Nothing shall be wanting
for encouragement to duty, and success in it when God calls any to it, since
all his providence is for the good of the church. Let there be but sincerity
on our parts, in our attempts of service upon God's call, and we need not
fear a want of providence on God's part. God never calls any to serve his
church in any station, but he doth both spirit and encourage them. God
hath in his common providence suited the nature of every creature to that
place in which he hath set it in the world ; and will he not much more in
his special providence suit every one to that place he calls them to, for the
service of his church ? He did not forsake Christ in redeeming his church,
neither will he forsake any in assisting his church. When Joseph of
Arimathea would boldly demand the body of our Saviour, providence made
the way plain before him ; he meets with no check, neither from Pilate nor
the priests, Mat. xxvii. 58, Mark xv. 43.
2. In meanness and lowness. It is one and the same God that rules the
affairs of the whole world, of the church and of every particular member of
it. As it is the same soul that informs the whole body, the meanest mem-
ber as well as that which is most excellent. Not the meanest sincere
Christian but is under God's eye for good. The Spirit acts and animates
every member in the church, the weakest as well as the most towering
Christian. Baruch was but the prophet Jeremiah's amanuensis or scribe,
and servant to Jeremiah (who was no great man in the world himself), yet
God takes notice so of his service, that he would particularly provide for
him, and commands Jeremiah in a way of prophecy to tell him as much :
Jer. xlv. 5, ' I will bring evil upon all flesh, but thy life will I give unto thee
for a prey, whithersoever thou goest.'
3. In the greatest judgments upon others. In an epidemical judg-
ment upon the whole nation of the Jews, God would have a special care of
Baruch. If he should cast his people far off among the heathen, and scatter
them among the countries, yet even there he would be a little sanctuary
unto them. His own presence should supply the want of a temple, so he is
pleased to express himself, Ezek. xi. 16. But how is it possible the great
God can be but a little sanctuary ? His eye is upon them to see their
danger, and his hand upon them to secure them from it. His promise shall
shield them, and his wings shall cover them, Ps. xci. 4. While he hath
indignation, he hath a secret chamber for their security, Isa. xxvi. 20,
an almighty shadow under which they abide, Ps. xci. 1. In times of the
most devouring danger he hath a seal to set upon their foreheads as a mark
of his special protection. We never have so much experience of God's care
and strength as in times of trouble : Ps. xxxvii. 39, ' He is their strength
in time of trouble.' He is a friend who is as able as willing, and as willing
as able to help them, whose watchfulness over them is as much above their
apprehension as it is above their merits.
4. In the greatest extremities wherein his people may be, there are pro-
mises of comfort, Isa. xliii. 2. Both in overflowing waters and scorching
fires he will be with them ; his providence shall attend his promise, and his
truth shall be their shield and buckler, Ps. xci. 4. That surely is a suffi-
cient support ; Christ thought it so, when he only said to his disciples, ' It
is I, be not afraid,' John vi. 17, 18. What though there* be a storm, a
darkness, and trouble, * It is I am he.' The darkness of the night troubles
not the pilot whilst he hath his compass to steer by. If all his providences
be for the good of them that fear him, he can never want means to bring
them out of trouble, because he is always actually exercised in governing
that which is for their good, and till he sees it fit to deliver them, he will be
100 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
with them. Great mercies succeed the sharpest afflictions, Jer. xxx. 5, 6, 7,
&c. When there should be a voice of trembling, and men with their hands
upon their loins, as women in travail, and paleness in their faces from the
excess of their fears, in that day God would break the yoke from them, and
they should serve the Lord their God, and David their king. Though the
night be never so dark, yet it is certain the sun will rise and disperse its
light next morning, and one time or other shew itself in its brightness. We
have no reason to despond in great extremities, since he can think us into
safety, — Ps. xl. 17, ' Lord, think on me,' — much more look us into it; his
thoughts and his eyes move together.
5. In fear of wants. The power of the government of the world cannot
be doubted. His love, as little as it seems, since it hath moved him to pre-
pare heaven to entertain his people at the end of their journey, it will not
be wanting to provide accommodation for them upon the way, since all
things, both good and bad, are at his beck, and under the government of his
gracious wisdom. His eyes run to and fro through the whole earth, not
only to defend them in dangers, but supply them in wants, for his strength
is shewed both ways. Doth he providentially regard them that have no
respect for him, and will he not employ his power for, and extend his care
to them that adore and love him, and keep up his honour in the world? He
will not surely be regardless of the afflictions of his creatures. His people
are not only his creatures, but his new creatures ; their bodies are not only
created by him, but redeemed by his Son. The purchase of the Redeemer
is joined to the providence of the Creator. If he take care of you when he
might have damned you for your sins, will he not much more since you are
believers in Christ? And he cannot damn you believing, unless he renounce
his Son's mediation and his own promise. A natural man provides for his
own, much more a righteous man : Pro. xiii. 22, ' A good man leaves an
inheritance to his children,' much more the God of righteousness, a God
who hath his eye always upon them. His eye will affect his heart, and his
heart spirit the hand of his power to relieve them. He hath ' prepared of
his goodness for the poor,' Ps. lxviii. 10.
6. It is comfort in the low estate of the church at any time. God's eye
is upon his church even whilst he seems to have forsaken them. If he seem
to be departed, it is but in some other part of the earth, to shew himself
strong for them ; wherever his eye is fixed in any part of the world, his
church hath his heart, and his church's relief is his end. Though the
church may sometimes lie among the pots in a dirty condition, yet there is
a time of resurrection, when God will restore it to its true glory, and make
it as white as a dovo with its silver wings, Ps. lxviii. 13. The sun is not
ahvay obscured by a thick cloud, but will bo freed from tho darkness of it.
'Godwill judge his people, and repent himself concerning his servants,'
Ps. exxxv. 14.* It is a comfort to God to deliver his people, and ho will
do it in such a season when it shall be most comfortable to his glory and
their hearts. Tho very name Jerusalem some derive from Jireh S<tl<-»i,
•God will provide in Salem.' The new Jerusalem is the title given to God's
church, IJ.-'V. xxi., and is still the object of his providence, and he will provide
fox it at a pinch : Gen. xxii. 1 I, ' dehovah Jireh,' God will raise up tho
honour and beauty of his church ; groat mon shall bo servants to it, and
employ their strength for it when God shall have mercy on it, Tsa. lx. 10, 12;
yea, tho learning and knowledge of the world shall contribute to the building
of it; vor. 13, ' The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir-troe,
the pino-trco, and tho box together, to beautify tho placo of my sanctuary.
* OrU/V, comfort himself.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 101
It shall be called the city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel,
that she may know that the Lord is her Saviour, and her Redeemer, the
mighty one of Jacob.' As Christ rose in his natural, so he will in his
spiritual body. If Christ when dead could not be kept from rising, Christ
now living shall not be hindered from rising and helping his church. His
own glory is linked with his people's security, and though he may not be
moved for anything in them because of their sinfulness, he will for his own
name, because of its excellency : Ezek. xxxvi. 22, ' I do not this for your
sakes, house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake.' As sorrows in-
creased upon the Israelites, the nearer their deliverance approached.
Because this method of God is the greatest startling even to good men,
let us consider this a little, that God doth, and why God doth, leave his
church to extremities before he doth deliver it.
Take the resolution of this in some propositions.
1. It is indeed God's usual method to leave the church to extremity
before he doth command help. You never heard of any eminent deliverance
of the church but was ushered in by some amazing distress. The Israelites
were not saved till they were put in between sea, hills, and forts, that their
destruction was inevitable, unless heaven relieved them. Pharaoh resolves
to have his will, and God resolves to have his ; but he lets him come with
his whole force and open mouth at the Israelites' backs, and then makes the
waters his sepulchre. Constantine, the man-child in the Revelation, was
preceded by Diocletian, the sharpest persecutor. When his people are at a
loss, it is his usual time to do his greatest works for them ; God had pro-
mised Christ many ages, and yet no appearance of him ; still promise after
promise, and no performance, Ps. xl. 8. It was then, ' Lo, I come,' yet
many hundred years rolled away, and no sight of him yet. Captivity and
affliction, and no Redeemer ; but when the world was overrun with idolatry,
the Jews oppressed by the Romans, the sceptre departed from Judah, Herod
an Edomite and stranger-king, and scarce any faith left, then, then he comes.
The world will be in much the like case at his next coming : Luke xviii. 8,
* When the Son of man comes, shall he find faith in the earth ? ' There
shall be faintings, despondency, unbelief of his promise, as though he had
cast off all care of his church's concerns. It is not meant of a justifying
faith, but a faith in that particular promise of his coming. The faith of the
Israelites must needs begin to flag when they saw their males murdered by
the Egyptians ; could they believe the propagation of the seed of Abraham,
when murder took off the infants, and labour and age would in time the old
ones? Whilst their children were preserved, the promise might easily be
believed. But consider, this was but just before their deliverance ; like a
violent crisis before recovery. He doth then 'judge his people, andrepent
himself for his servants, when he sees their power is gone, and there is none
shut up or left,' Deut. xxxii. 36. He doth so for the wicked many times.
When the amiction of idolatrous Israel was bitter, when there was not any
shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel, then he saved them by the
hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, 2 Kings xiv. 26, 27. He doth so with
private persons ; Peter might have been delivered by God's power out of prison
when he was first sent thither, but God thought it fittest for him to lie in chains,
and free him but the night before his intended execution, Acts xii. 6, 7. Lot
had his goods rifled and carried away captive before God stirred up Abraham
to rescue him. When the hand of the wicked lies heaviest upon the heads of
the righteous, and wrings the most mournful sighs from them ; when they are
needy, and the wicked securely puffing at them, as though they had brought
them to so low a condition as to blow them away with a blast; ' Now,' saith
102 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PEOVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
God, 'will I arise:' Ps. xii. 5, ' For the oppression of the poor, for the sigh-
ing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord ; I will set him at safety
from him that puffeth at him.' Now, this is the time I watched for as fittest
for my own glory and their safety. Then God disappoints them, when they
seem to have got to the goal, with the ball at their foot.
Secondly, God hereby doth glorify himself. He then discovers that there
is nothing too high for his power to check, nothing too subtle for his wisdom
to disappoint, nothing too low for his love to embrace. That is the season
wherein his mercy will be most prized, his power most admired, his wisdom
most adored, and his justice most cleared. God lets the concerns of his
church go backward, that he may bring them on with more glory to himself
and satisfaction to his creature. God will divide the benefit and the honour
between himself and the creature ; he will have the whole glory, and his
creature shall have the sensible advantage. They shall enjoy salvation,
there is their benefit, but ' not by sword or bow, but by the Lord their
God,' Hosea i. 7. Saved they should be, but in such a way wherein the
honour of God might most appear, without any mixture of the creature.
1. God glorifies his power. His eyes run to and fro to shew himself
strong. He will then pitch upon such a season when his strength may
appear most illustrious, and none else have any pretence to claim an equal
strength with him. A time of extremity is the fittest opportunity for this,
when his power cannot be clouded by any interpositions of the creature for
challenging a share in it. The greater the malice against the church, the
weaker the church's ability to help itself, the more glorious is the power of
God magnified in deliverance ; little dangers are not so suitable for the
triumph of an infinite strength. As God let Christ lie three days in the
grave, that his resurrection might be known to be the fruit of a divine power,
for the same end he lets his mystical body lie in the same condition. Had
God brought Israel out of Egypt in the time of the kings that were friends
to them from a kindly remembrance of Joseph, there had been no character
of a divine power, though there had been of a divine truth apparent in the
case ; but he set apart that time for their deliverance, when he was to con-
test with the mightiest opposition from the whole body of the Egyptian
nation, who had forgot Joseph their great benefactor. Had not the disciples
been in a great storm, ready to be cast away, and Christ asleep till they
were in extremity, they had not seen such visible marks of the extensiveness
of their Master's power, Isa. xxxiii. 7, 8, &o. When the hearts of the
strong men fainted, when the Assyrians would not hear the ambassadors of
'<', when they had broke their former covenant, resolved to invade the
land, when their calamity and despair had arrested all their hopes, 'Now,'
when all things are in such a deplorable state, ' will I rise, saith the Lord,
now will I he exalted ; now will I lift up myself.' God was not asleep or
unconcerned, hut he sat still watching for such a season ; now ia three times
repeated. The Psalmist gives us a reeord of this in his particular case.
When the waten of his affliction were many, the enemy strong, and too
strong for him, their strength edged with an intense hatred,' then God
appears to be his stay, ami prevents them in the dav of his calamity, Ps,
xviu. 16-18. God lets his enemies be too strong for him, that he might
appear his only stay, without any mixture of David's strength in the case.
When the Jewi thrift Chrisl OUi of Na/ureth, led him to the hrow oi' the
hill, and were ready to oast him down, then, and not till then, he frees hini-
•elfotlt of their hands, and disappoints the ell'ects of their rage, Luke iv. 29.
As Christ dealt thus for himself, so he deals for his ehurch in all ages.
2. God glorifies his wisdom. 'His oyes rim to and fro throughout the
2 CHKON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 103
whole earth, to shew himself strong.' It is not a bare strength that God
would shew, or such a power which we call in man a brutish valour, without
wit or skill, but to shew his strength with his wisdom, when all his other
attributes may be glorified with that of his power. When all worldly helps
are departed, we can as little ascribe our security to our own wisdom and
industry as to our own strength and power. The physician's skill is best
evidenced in mastering a desperate disease. He will bring the counsels of
the heathen to nought, Ps. xxxiii. 10. He will let them counsel, he will let
them devise and carry on their counsels near to execution, that he may shew
that, as the strength of hell is no match for his power, so the craft of Satan
is no mate for his wisdom. But he raises the trophies of his wisdom upon
the subtle devices of his enemies.
3. God glorifies his care and compassion. "When his people are nearest
crushing, God is nearest preserving. God's mercy is greatest when his
saints' misery is deepest ; when Zion is as an outcast, it shall be taken into
God's protection : Jer. xxx. 16, 17, ' I will heal thee of thy wounds, because
they called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion whom no man seeks after.'
When none stood up to plead for her, when her lovers she depended on,
had forgotten and forsaken her, when they thought her cast out of the care
of any creature, the Creator would take her up. When the ruin was inevi-
table as to man, their preservation was most regarded by God. Had God
stopped Pharaoh at his first march, by raising some mutiny in his army, his
mercy to his people, as well as his power against his enemies, had not been
so conspicuous. The more desperate things are, the fitter subject for the
advancement of God's kindness. Had God conducted the Israelites through
a rich and fruitful country, it would have obscured the glory of his care of
them, which was more signal in directing them through a barren desert,
crowded with fiery serpents, without bread to nourish them, or water to cool
them, wherein he manifested himself to be both their caterer and physician.
Moses was never more peculiarly under God's protection, no, not when he
had the whole guard of Israel about him in the wilderness, than when his
mother had exposed him to the river forlorn, in a pitched ark, and forsaken
by his sister, who stood aloof off to see how providence would conduct him.
When Laban was possessed with fury against Jacob, God countermands it,
and issues out his own order to him, how he should behave himself towards
his son, Gen. xxxi. 24, 29. God times his kindness, so that it may appear
to be nothing else but grace, grace with a witness, that his people may be
able to understand the very particularities of it : Isa. xxx. 18, ' Therefore will
the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you.' He leaves them therefore
for a while to the will of their enemies : verse 17, ' At the rebuke of five
shall you flee, till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain,
and as an ensign upon a hill.' Never is salvation sweeter, and mercy better
relished, than when it snatcheth us out of the teeth of danger. God would
have his mercy valued, and it is fit it should. And when is a calm more
grateful than after the bitterest storm, attended with the highest despair?
God's mercy in sparing Isaac after the knife was at his throat, was more
welcome and more delicious both to father and son, than if God had revealed
his intent to Abraham in the three days' journey to the mount Moriah. But
God suspending his soul in bitterness all that time, prepared his heart for
the valuation of that mercy. When human help forsaketh us, God most
embraceth us : Ps. xxvii. 10, * When my father and mother forsake me,
then the Lord will take me up.'
4. God glorifies his righteousness and justice. There is a measure of
wickedness God stays for, which will be an object of his justice without
104 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
exception. When the measure of a people's covetousness is come, 'then
their end is come, and God will fill them with men as with caterpillars, and
they shall lift up a shout against them,' Jer. li. 13, 14. Hereby God clears
the justice of his proceedings, that he exercised patience so long, that things
were come to that pass, that either his people or his enemies must be de-
stroyed. As the case was with the Israelites, had not God marvellously
appeared, every man of them had been cut off or reduced to slavery. The
die was cast, either the Egyptians or Israelites must be defeated ; either
God must appear for his church, or none would be left in the world to pro-
fess him. In such a case the justice of God is more unexceptionable. No
man has any semblance for complaining of him ; for he struck not till the
safety of his adversaries was inconsistent with his own honour and interest
of the world. When men come to such a height, as to slight and resolve to
break the laws of God, then is the time for the honour of his righteousness
in his own institutions, to vex them in his sore displeasure : Ps. ii. 3, 5,
* Then shall he speak to them in his wrath, and vex them,' &c. When ?
When they resolve to ' cast away his bands and cords from them,' ver. 2.
He is forced to rise then, when men make void his law, and tread down the
honour of it ; when they would not have God to have a standing law in the
world, or a people to profess him : Ps. cxix. 126, ' It is time for the Lord
to work, for they have made void thy law.' When the grapes of wickedness
are thus fully ripe, then is God's time for the honour of his justice to cast
them into the wine-press of his wrath, Rev. xiv. 19, 20. This is God's set
time, when he may glorify, without any exception, his justice in punishing
his enemies' sins, his wisdom in defeating his enemies' plots, his power in
destroying his enemies' strength, and his mercy in relieving his people's
wants.
Thirdly, Such extremities and deliverance in them, are most advantageous
for his people.
1. It being a season to improve and know their interest. Men do not
usually seek to God, or at least so earnestly, as when they are in distress ;
the time of the tempest was the time of the disciples' praying to Christ.
The Israelites, you scarce find them calling upon God but in times of danger
and distress ; hereby God doth encourage and give an argument for prayer.
The Psalmist useth the extremity of the church often as an argument to move
God to pity : Ps. cxxiii. 3, ' Have mercy upon us, Lord, have mercy upon
us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.' We are glutted with con-
tempt, as low as low can be : so Ps. xliv. 23, 24, ' Awake, why sleepest
thou, Lord ? arise, cast us not off for ever ; our soul is bowed to the dust.'
That is the most successful time for prayer, which is the time of the stirring
of God's bowels. He hath been a ' strength to the poor, a strength to tho
needy in bis distress, a refuge from tho storm, a shadow from the heat,
when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm Against the wall,' Isa. xxv. 4.
They in such a time find how considerable their interest is with (iod, when
upon their prayer they shall find relief suitable to every kind of danger they
aro in. The spirit of prayer upon the church is but the presage oi' their
adversaries' ruin. When God seeks to destroy the nations that come against
Jerusalem, he will pour upon the inhabitants of it a spirit of grace and of
■application I Zech. xii. !), 'And in that day I will seek to destroy all tho
nations that come against .Jerusalem, and I will pour upon the houso of
David, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplica-
tion.' This time of extremity, When all their hands fail, should ed^o the
church's prayers. Our great intercessor seems in this ease to set us a
pattern : Zech. i. 12, '0 Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not havo mercy
I CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 105
ipon Jerusalem !' (iTFlN single by itself, not in an affix.) When all the
jarth sits still and is at rest, unconcerned in the affairs of thy church, if
hou wilt not have mercy on them in this strait, who shall relieve them ?
ione else have any mind to it ; then issue out comfortable words to the
ingel from the mouth of God. This is an advantage of extremity ; it sets
Christ a pleading, and the church on praying.
2. As a season for acting faith at present, and an encouragement of re-
.iance upon him in future straits. As a season for acting faith at present.
3ur Saviour lets Lazarus die and stink in the grave, before he raised him,
-hat he might both confirm faith in his disciples' hearts, and settle it in the
learts of some of the Jews. John xi. 15, 45, ' I am glad for your sakes
ihat I was not there, to the intent that ye may believe.' What, let Lazarus
lie, one that he loved, one so strongly pleaded for by two sisters that he
oved too, and solicited upon his friendship to relieve him ! ver. 3, ' Behold,
le whom thou lovest is sick,' and our Saviour glad he was not there to pre-
/ent it ! yes, not glad of Lazarus his extremity, nor of the church's, but of
.he opportunity to give them greater ground of faith and encouragement to
-rust him. The church's faith is God's glory. He that hath many things
-o trust to, is in suspense which he should take hold of; but when there is
)ut one left, with what greediness will he clasp about that ! God cuts down
vorldly props, that we might make him our stay. How will the church in
extremity recollect all the deliverances of it in former ages, and put them up
n pleas to God, for a renewal of his wonted kindness and new successions
)f deliverance, whereby God gets the glory of his former work, and his church
,he present comfort in renewing fiducial acts upon him ! How doth Jehosha-
ohat put God in mind of his gracious assistance acted some ages before,
vhen he was in a strait, by the invasion of a powerful army : 2 Chron.
ix. 7, ' Art not thou our God that didst drive out the inhabitants of this
and before thy people Israel ?' ver. 12, ' We know not what to do, but our
yes are upon thee.' Never are the church's eyes so fixed upon God, never
jod's eyes so fixed upon the church, as in times of their distress. Then
-here is a sweet communion with, and recounting of all their former friend-
ihips. The church then throws itself wholly upon God; its prosperity is
)ut like a troubled sea, its distress is the time of its rest. So Asa, when
.ssaulted by a million of men under Zerah the Ethiopian, how doth he throw
limself and the whole weight of his concerns upon the hands of God, and makes
lis cause God's ! 2 Chron. xiv. 11, « Help us, Lord our God, for we rest
>n thee ; Lord, thou art our God, let not man prevail against thee.'
And there is an encouragement also in the deliverance for future faith. It
;ives a ground for future faith from the riches of the present experience ; in
uch distresses there is the highest experience of God, and hope is the fruit of
ixperience. How apt are we to believe God in other straits, when we have
lad assistance (like they that dreamed) come unexpectedly upon us. God
>verthrew Pharaoh's host in the Red Sea, when they were upon the heels of
he affrighted Israelites and ready to crush them, but God gave them ' to be
neat to the people inhabiting the wilderness,' Ps. lxxiv. 14, as a standing
xcellent dish to feed their hopes for all future deliverances upon their trust
a God. And indeed that deliverance was an earnest of their perpetual
ecurity, by special providence in any succeeding trouble. And God often
;ives them a particular charge to remember that deliverance, with a practical
emembrance to still their fear and support their faith : Beut. vii. 18, ' Thou
halt not be afraid of them, but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God
id unto Pharaoh, and to all the Egyptians.' He would have them remem-
er it as a covenant-mercy, ' what the Lord thy God did,' thy God in cove-
106 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
nant, not what the Lord did barely by an arm of power, but what he did by
a vastness of affection, and as a God of truth and firmness in his covenant.
3. In fitting them by the extremity for a holy reception of the mercy
intended.
God keeps up the distress of his church to expel self-confidence. Trust
in earthly things are the great checks of God's kindness. We hardly
forsake this temper till we are forsaken by all those things we confide in.
Times of extremity make us more humble ; and humility, like the plough,
fits us for the seed of mercy. The gardener's digging up the clods is but
t: prepare the earth for the receiving and nourishing some excellent plants
he intends to put into its womb. There is a certain set time for God's
great actions. He lets the powers of darkness have their hour, and God
will take his hour : Ps. cii. 13, * Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon
S;on : for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.' He hath a
Bet time for the discovery of his mercy, and he will not stay a jot beyond it.
What is this time ? ver. 9, &c. When they ' eat ashes like bread, and
mingle their drink with weeping ;' when they are most humble, and when
the servants of God have more affection to the church ; when their humble
and ardent affections are strong, even to the ruin and rubbish of it ; when
they have a mighty desire and longing for the reparation of it, as the Jews
in captivity had for the very dust of the temple : ver. 14, ■ For thy servants
take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.' For there notes
it to be a reason why the set time was judged by them to be come. That is
God's set time when the church is most believing, most humble, most affec-
tionate to God's interest in it, and most sincere. Without faith we are not
lit to desire mercy, without humility we are not fit to receive it, without
aiFection we are not fit to value it, without sincerity we are not fit to improve
it. Times of extremity contribute to the growth and exercise of those qua-
lifications.
4. In securing them against future straits. For God's disappointing
enemies when they think themselves sure of all, is the highest discourage-
ment to them, and those of the like temper, to renew the like attempt; but
if th<v do, it is an evidence they shall meet with the like success ; it is the
highest vexation to sec their projects diverted, when they have lighted their
mateh, and are ready to give tire. Men may better take notice how God
lovea his people, when he apprehends their adversaries in the very pinnacle
of their pride, and flings them down from the mount of their hopes. It
doth !i> t only (lush the present designs, but dishearten future attempts. The
ptians, after their overthrow at the lied Sea, never attempted to disturb
them in their journey in the wilderness. It was a bridle to all their enemies
ipt Annlek, upon whose country they travelled in the wilderness, when
it WAS the interest of state in all those nations to rout that swarm of peoplo
that, must, have some seat to dwell in ; and every nation might justly fear to
he dispossessed by tie in ; yet we read of no league among those nations
bordering upon the wilderness, such a tenor did God strike into them by
that relet' he gave his people in their extremity at the Lied Sea, whereby
he provided for their future security in their whole journey. It was this
id the heartl of the (iiheonites, one of the nations of Canaan, and.
brought them to a lubmisBlOl) to Joshua, as the sentiment of all their neigh-
bours: Josh. ix. '•>, ' We are come, because of the mime of the Lord thy
God ; for We have board the fame of him, and all that he did in I
And for this and other reason! it may he, that the times before the church's
hist deliverance Shall he sharper than any before, which our Saviour inti-
mates, Mat. xxiv. 21, ' For then there shall be great tribulation, such as
I ClIRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 107
;vas not since the beginning of the world, no, nor ever shall be.' In dis-
soursing his disciples of the troubles at the destruction of Jerusalem, which
was a type of the trouble preceding the end of the world, he adds a discourse
■ what shall be at the end of the world, in the last attempt of the enemies
jf the church ; for, ver. 29, he saith, ' immediately after the tribulation of
ihose days,' he speaks of his coming in the clouds of heaven with great power
xnd glory. And also in the Revelation : Rev. xvi. 18, ' And there was a
great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty
m earthquake, and so great.' This, perhaps, at the pouring out of the
seventh vial, may concern the Christian church as well as the antichristian
party. But the reason why it may be sharper just before that last deliverance,
ihan it was in former ages, may be because it is the last effort the enemy
pall make ; the last demonstration of God's power and wisdom for, and
;are of his church, and justice upon his enemies in such cases ; the last
season for their multiplying their cries, and acting their faith for such a
:oncern.
Use 3. Of exhortation.
If it be so, that the providence of God is chiefly designed for the good of
he church, —
First, Fear not the enemies of the church. It is a wrong to God. Fear
}f man is always attended with a forgetfulness of God : Isa. li. 12, 13, ' £,
3ven I, am he that comforteth you : who art thou, that art afraid of a man
;hat shalt die, and of the son of man that shalt be made as grass : and for-
gettest the Lord thy Maker, who hath stretched forth the heavens,' &c. It
is to value the power of grass above the power of the Creator, as though
.hat had more ability to hurt than God to help. As if men were as strong
is mountains, and God as weak as a bulrush. It is a wrong to his truth ;
lath he not comforted you in his promise ? What creature should then
leject you ? It is a wrong to his mercy. Is he not the Lord thy Maker ?
Calvin refers this to regeneration, and not creation. Hath he not renewed
f ou by his Spirit ? and will he not protect you by his strength ? and that
you may not question his power, look up to the heavens which he hath
stretched out, and the foundation: of the earth which he hath laid. And is
:hat arm which hath done such mighty works, too weak to defend that
work, which is choicer in his eye than either the extended heaven or the
jstablished earth ? We vilify God, and defile his glory, when our fear of man's
■power stifles our faith in God : Isa. viii. 12, 13, ' Neither fear you their fear, nor
be afraid : sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear.'
Let the wicked fear the Assyrians, and engage in confederacies against them ;
but let your eyes be lifted up to me and my providence. God will either
'/urn away the mouth of the cannon from the church, or arm it against the
shot ; either preserve it from a danger, protect it in it, or sanctify it to the
jhurch ; and who need fear a sword in a father's hand ?
1. Will you fear man, who have a God to secure you? The church
'Debugs to God, not to man as a just propriety: Isa. xliii. 1, ' Fear not:
i'or I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by my name : thou art mine.
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee,' &c. ' Thou art
nine,'' not man's. Thou art mine, I am thine. I will be with thee as
bine, I will secure thee as mine. Is my creating, is my forming, is my
'adeeming thee to no purpose ? I will not secure you from trouble ; but
mrely my redemption of you, the propriety I have in you, should secure you
rom fears in those troubles. None shall hurt you whilst I have power to
defend you. God with us, if well considered and believed, is sufficient to still
hose fears which have the greatest outward objects for their encouragement :
108 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
Ps. xxvii. 1, ■ The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid ?'
If God be our strength to support us, why should the weakness of dust and
ashes scare us ? Alliance to great men, and protection of princes, prop up
men's hearts against the fear of others ; and shall alliance to God be of a
weaker efficacy ? A heathen- could so argue, that knew nothing of redemp-
tion. Let the counsels of enemies be crafty, Ps. lxxxiii. 3 ; yet they con-
sult against God's hidden ones, hidden by God, whilst plotted against by
men : who would fear the stratagems of men, whilst protected in an impreg-
nable tower ? God hides, when men are ready to seize the prey. How did
the angel protect a sincere trembling Lot against the invasion of a whole
city, and secured his person whilst he blinded his enemies' eyes that they
could not find the door. Instruments cannot design more maliciously, than
Christ watches over them affectionately. Christ hath his eye to see your
works and danger where Satan hath his throne, Rev. ii. 13.
2. Will you fear men, who have a God to watch over their motions ?
What counsels can prevail where God intends to overrule their resolves ?
There is no place so close as to keep private resolutions from his knowledge.
This was the thought of those statesmen against whom the prophet Isaiah
thunders, Isa. xxix. 15, 16 : ' Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their
counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark ; surely your turn-
ing of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay.' Their
counsels were as well known to him as the potter's clay is to the potter,
which he can either frame into a vessel, or fling away into the mass from
whence he took it. God hath not despoiled himself of his government ; nor
will devolve his right upon any men to dispose of his concerns. When men
think to act so secretly, as though they framed themselves, as though God's
eye were not upon them, he will watch and trace all their motions, and
make them insignificant to their purposes. Satan himself, the slyest and
subtilest agent, is too open to God to hide his counsels from him. Never
fear man till the whole combined policies of hell can control the resolves of
heaven, till God wants omniscience to dive into their secrets, skill to de-
feat their counsels, and an arm to abate their power.
8. Will you fear men or devils, who have a God to restrain them ?
The great dragon and general of the serpent's seed is under a binding
power, who can bind him not only a thousand years, Rev. xx. 2, but a thou-
sand ages. Have his seed more force to resist almightiness than their
Captain? The prophet, speaking of the Assyrians threatening Jerusalem,
and the confusion in some cities tor fear of them, yet, saith he, ' ho shall
remain at Nob,' a city of the Levites, not far from Jerusalem, where he
might have a lull prospect of the city, lie shall but 'shake his hand,' he
shall not, gripe it in his talons : he shall shew his teeth, but not bite, snarl
but not worry, Isa. x. 32. God will let out so much of the enemies' wrath
as may answer big gracious ends to the church in purging of them, but 'the!
remainder of wrath, 1 which remains in their hearts tor the church's destruc
lion, 'he will restrain,' Ps. Ixxvi. 9, 10; as the physician weighs on-
much as may curb tin 1 'ii »ease, not, kill the patient. The chain of provideno<
controls the power of Salan, when it doth not change his desires. The.
I vptian's will against the Israelites was strong, but his power was weak
Might and power is only in the hand of God, who reigns over all, 1 Chron
xxix. 12. And God will exert so much of power to bridle the inclination:
Of nature in the wicked lor the good of his people. He will give them Bel
much line as may serve his holy purposes, but not so much as shall prejudia
the church's standing. A staff is not capablo of giving a smart blow with
* Anion, in ESpist. lib. i. c. U.
ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 109
at the force of the hand that holds it. Wicked men are no more than a staff
i God's hand: Isa. x. 5, ' The rod of my anger, the staff in their hand is my
idignation :' he can either strike with it, or break it in pieces. The staff is
iill in the hand of God, and can do no more than what his merciful arm moves
to ; as he can restrain it, so he can divert it. What should we fear those
hose hearts are in God's hands, whose enmity is under God's restraint,
ho can change their fury into favour, or at least bridle it as he doth the
aves of the sea ? No enemy's shot can exceed God's commission. God
ften laughs when men plot, and disappoints when they begin to act. Some-
mes he makes them act contrary to their intentions. Balaam comes to
arse the people, and God turns his tongue to bless them, which, if guided
y his own heart, would have poured out execrations upon them, Num. xxiii.
, 8. God puts the words into his mouth, but not in his heart, ver. 5, and
lakes him bless that which his heart hates.
4. Will you fear them who have a God to ruin them ? Though the beast
i the Revelations hath seven heads, a reaching wisdom, and ten horns, a
lighty power, Rev. xvii. 3 (both the numbers of seven and ten being num-
ers of perfection in Scripture), yet, with all his wisdom and strength, he shall
imble down to destruction ; they can no more resist God's power than
lustering winds or raging waves can cross his will. When the enemies of
ae church are in combination, like thorns full of prickles ' folded together,'
ben shall they ' be consumed like stubble that is dry,' Nahum i. 10. God
jves to defeat pride : Exod. xviii. 11, 'In the thing wherein they dealt
iroudly, he was above them.' God waits but the time of their swelling to
aake them burst. Absalom kills his brother, withdraws the people from
heir obedience to the king, stirs them up to revolt, enters Jerusalem in his
ither's absence, pollutes his concubines, engages his designs against his life,
aiseth an army against him ; who would not say David was in extremity,
.nd Absalom alone prospering in his designs ? But when Absalom comes
o open force, God arises, an oak catches him, his mule forsakes him, and
oab despatches him. Sennacherib had prospered in his conquest of Judea,
aken many strong towns, laid siege to Jerusalem, solicits the people to
evolt, blasphemes the God of heaven, and then an angel comes and makes
dreadful slaughter in a night, and he, returning to his own country, is
'.illed by his own sons, 2 Kings xix. 7, 35, 36, 37. God's arrows shall
ever miss their mark, and he hath more than one to strike into the hearts
f his enemies : Ps. xviii. 14, ' He sent out his arrows and scattered them.'
Vhat reason then to fear even multitudes, who can never be too strong for
aat God who gave them that little strength they have !
: Secondly, The second duty to which we are exhorted. If all God's pro-
idences tend to the good of his church and people,
2. Then censure not God in his dark providences. As we are often too
^asty in our desires for mercy, and are not content to stay God's time, so
'e are too hasty in making constructions of providence, and will not stay
rod's leisure of informing us. When God seems at the beginning of every
rovidence to speak the same language as Christ did to Peter in washing
is feet, John xiii. 7, ' What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt
now hereafter,' the instruments are visible, the action sensible, but the
rward meaning still lies obscured from our view. We are too short-sighted
) apprehend and judge of God's works ; man cannot understand his own
ay, Prov. xx. 24, much less the ways of an infinite God. God's judgments
re a great deep, Ps. xxxvi. 6 ; we may sooner fathom the deepest part in
lie sea, understand all the turnings of those subterranean passages, lave
'at the ocean with a spoon, or suck in, into our bellies, that great mass of
HO A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
waters, than understand the ways of God with our shallow brains. Ha
makes darkness his pavilion ; he is sometimes very obscure in his ways.
Neither the greatness of his means, nor the wisdom of his workings, can be
fully apprehended by men. We have sense to feel the effects, but not heads
to understand the reasons and methods of the divine government. Eccles.
iii. 11, 'No man can find out the work that God makes from the beginning
to the end.' Though a man may see the beginning of God's works, yet is
he able to walk understandingly along with divine wisdom in every step it
takes ? will he not lose the track often before it comes to an end ? It is
not the face, but the back parts of providence which we behold ; why then
should we usurp an authority beyond our ability, and make ourselves God's
judges, as if infinite wisdom and power were bounded within the narrow
compass of our purblind reasons ? His ways are beyond our tracing, and
his counsels too high for our short measures. Since therefore God satisfies
the righteousness of his own will, let us submit our curiosity to his wisdom, and
forbear our censures of that exact righteousness and superlative wisdom which
we cannot comprehend.
1. Therefore, first fix this in your minds, that God is righteous, wise,
and good in everything. Good, therefore nothing can be hurtful to his
people ; righteous, therefore nothing unjust ; wise, therefore nothing in vain;
our injurious thoughts of him make us so uncharitable towards him, and
greater censurers of his righteous ways than we are of men's wicked actions.
Clouds and darkness are about him ; our eye cannot pierce through his
darkness, or see the frame of his counsels ; yet let these principles be kept
as the centre, that ' righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his
throne,' Ps. lxxxix. 14. He is righteous in his darkness, wise in his "cloudi-
ness ; though his judgments are unsearchable to us, and his ways past find-
ing out by our most industrious inquisitions, and a depth of knowledge and
wisdom there is in them too deep for us to measure, Bom. xi. 33. God was
always righteous, wise, and good ; he is the same still. Though the motions'
of the planets be contrary, yet the sphere where they are fixed, the natures
wherewith they are created, are the same still. Though the providences of
God have various motions, yet the spring of his counsel, the rule of his
goodness, the eye of his wisdom, the arm of his power, are not altered. He
acts by the same rule, disposeth by the same wisdom, orders according tc
the same righteousness ; ho is unchangeable in the midst of the changeahk
effects of providence. The sun is the same body, which admits of no inwafO
alteration, keeps exactly its own motion, though its appearances are some-
times ruddy, Bometimes clear; its heat sometimes more faint, at anothti
time more scorching; its distance sometimes nearer, sometimes farther off-
II,' must be very ignorant that thinks the objects upon which we look througl
:i prism or trigonal glass change their colours as often as they are represent*
so in the various turnings of tint glass. You see the undulations anC
Wavingl of a chain which hangs perpendicularly, one part moves this
and another that way, hut the hand that holds it, or the beam to which it i
fastened, is firm :md steady.
4 2. Distinguish between preparations to the main work and tho perfei
of the work, between the motions of God's eves and the discovery of In
strength; his eve; move before his power. The neglect of this was th
cause of the Israelites' uncharitable censures of the kindness of God; the
interpret God's reducing them into the straits near the lied Sea a d
}•,,,• tin ir destruction, which was hut the preparation for their complel
deliverance, is i way mosl glorious to God, ami most comfortable an'
advantageous to tlcmst ■!
CHRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Ill
He that knows not the use of the grape, would foolishly censure a man
rho should fling them into a wine-press, and squeeze them into mash,
rhich is but a preparation of them to afford that generous liquor which was
be end of their growth.* God treads his grapes in a wine-press to draw
rom thence a delicate wine, and preserve the juice for his own use, which
yould else wither upon the stalk, and dry up to nothing. We judge
tot the husbandman angry with his ground for tearing it with his plough,
tor censure an artificer for hewing his stones or beating his iron, but
xpect patiently the issue of the design. Why should we not pay the same
espect to God which we do to men in their arts, since we are less capable
>f being judges of his incomprehensible wisdom than of the skill of our
ellow-creatures ? God in his cross providence prepares the church for
ruitfulness whilst he ploughs it. He may seem to be digging up the
>owels of the church, while he is only preparing to lay the foundation in
5ion for the raising a noble structure ; and in what shape soever he appears
n his preparations, he will in his perfection of it appear in glory : Ps. cii.
l6, 'When the Lord shall build up Sion, he shall appear in glory;' and
ividence that he was restoring whilst we thought him destroying, and heal-
ng whilst we thought him wounding. As God hath settled a gradual pro-
gress in his works of creation, so by degrees he brings his everlasting
sounsels to perfection. The seasons of the year are not jumbled together,
)ut orderly succeed one another; and the coldness of the winter is but a
^reparation for a seasonable spring and a summer harvest. We do not
inrighteously accuse God of disorder in his common works, why should we
lo it in his special works of providence ? Do we disparage the musician's
;kill for the jarring and intelligible touches in the tuning the instrument,
)ut rather wait for the lesson he intends to play ? If we stay for God's
uller touches of this great instrument of the world in the way of his pro-
vidence, it will, like David's harp, chase away that evil spirit from us which
s now too apt to censure him.
3. Fix not your eye only upon the sensible operations of providence, but
he ultimate end. As in a watch the various wheels have different motions,
ret all subservient to one end, to tell the true hour of the day and the mo-
ion of the sun, so are all the providences of God. Should any have been
preserved in the deluge upon some high mountain who had not known the
iesign of the ark, and had seen it floatiDg upon such a mass of waters, he
■vould have judged the people in it in a deplorable condition, and have con-
;luded that it would have broke against the mountain, or been overturned
oy the waves; yet that was Noah's preservative. Had any of us been with
Christ, and acknowledged him the Saviour of the world, and yet seen him
irucified in such a manner by men, and judged only by that, what wise and
vhat just constructions should we have made of that providence ? Much
..he same as some of his disciples did: Luke xxiv. 21, ' We trusted that it
lad been he which should have redeemed Israel;' but the whole design is
spoiled, we are fools, and he an impostor. Yet this, which seemed to be
he ruin of redemption, was the necessary highway to it by God's constitu-
ion. No other way was it to be procured: ver. 26, ' Ought not Christ to
lave suffered these things, and to have entered into his glory?' His
entrance into glory to perfect our salvation was the end of the sensible
•suffering wherein he laid the foundation. As they charge Christ with impos-
ture, not considering the end, so do we God with unrighteousness when we
j consider not his aim. The end both beautifies and crowns the work ; the
emarks of God's glory in the creation are better drawn from the ends of
* Morn, de verit. Eel. Christian, cap. xii. p. 210, 211.
112 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
the creatures, and their joint subserviency to them, than from any one
single piece of the creation. We must not only consider the present end,
but the remote end, because God in his providence towards his church
hath his end for after times. God acts for ends at a great distance from us,
which may not be completed till we are dead and rotten. How can we
judge of that which respects a thing so remote from us, unless we view it
in that relation ? God's aims in former providences were things to come,
his aims in present providences are things to come. As the matter of the
church's prayers, so the objects of God's providences are things to come :
Isa. xlv. 11, ■ Ask me of things to come, concerning my sons.' * The matter
of their prayers then were, that God would order all things for the coming of
the Messiah. The matter of the church's prayer now is, that God would
order all things for the perfecting the Messiah in his mystical body. The
whole frame of providence is for one entire design ; it is one entire book
with seven seals, Rev. v. 1. The beginning of a book, as well as the
middle, hath relation to the end. The design of God's book of providence
is but one in all the seven seals and periods of time.
4. Consider not only one single act of providence, but the whole scheme,
to make a conclusion. The motions of his eyes are various, but all ends in
discoveries of his strength. Men do not argue from one single proposition,
but draw the conclusion from several propositions knit together. It is by
such a spiritual logic we are to make our conclusions from the way of pro-
vidence ; as in the reading Scripture, if we take not the whole period, we
may make not only nonsense, but blasphemy;* as in that of the psalmist,
1 Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in unrighteousness.' If a man ,
should read only, Thou art not a God, and make a full stop there, it would
be blasphemy ; but reading the whole verse, it is an excellent sense, and an
honourable declaration of God's holiness. Such errors will be committed
in reading the books of providence, if we fix our eyes only in one place, and ,
make a full stop where God hath not made any. We judge not of a picture
by the first draught, but the last lines; not by one shadow or colour, but
by the whole composure. The wisdom of God is best judged of by the
view of the harmony of providence. The single threads of providence may :
seem very weak or knotty and uneven, and seem to administer just occasion
of censure; but will it not as much raise the admiration to see them all .
woven into a curious piece of branched work ? Consider therefore God's
whys of working, but fully judge nothing till the conclusion, for that is to
judge before the time. Judge not then of providcnco at the first appear-
ance ; God may so lose the glory of his work, and you the comfort.
Thirdly. Tho third duty. Inquire into providence, and interpret all
public providences by this rule. We must, search into it, though we are not
able to find out all the reasons of it. What can bo a braver study than that
which is the object, of God's eternal counsel ? Wo aro conformed to God in
our wills, when we have the same ends in our motions ; and we are conformed
to God in our understandings, when we have the same object of our thoughts.
Some providences have their interpretation written in their foreheads, we
m;iv run and read : such as his signal judgments in the world, which oxpr
the wry sin for which they are inflicted ; others are wrapped up in a harder
shell and more covers, and therefore more labour to reach the kernel ; some
;ir.' too high tor our knowledge, none for our inquiry. It is our duty to si
after (iod, though we can never arrivo to a perfect knowlodgo of him : dob
xi. 7, ' Canst thou by searching find out God ? canst thou find out tho
Almighty unto perfection?' He prohibits not tho searching, though he
• Parget! of Justification, part ii. Bonn. 2, p. 12.
2 ChRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 113
asserts the impossibility of finding him out to perfection. What hath God
given us faculties for, but to search after him ? And we must not do it to
satisfy our curiosity, but to increase our knowledge, and consequently our
admiration of his wise and powerful care. Diligence must be used too.
Our first thoughts about things of concernment are usually confused ; so are
our first sights of providence. Providence is a great deep ; deep things are
not seen without stooping down. We must cragaxu-vpa/, as the angels do
when they search into the things of the gospel, 1 Pet. i. 12. Bat let this
aim of God at the good of his church be the rule of your interpretation.
Without this compass to steer our judgments by, we may both lose and rack
ourselves in the wilderness of providence, and fortify our natural atheism and
ignorance instead of our faith. I must confess the study of providence is in
some respect more difficult than in the former ages of the world, because
God seems to manage things in the church more by his wisdom than power,
which is not so intelligible by man as the sensible effects of his strength.
That attribute he manifested most in miraculous ways and the visible minis-
try of angels, as we read in Scripture stories ; now he employs his wisdom
more in ordering second causes, in ordinary ways, to his own high, merciful,
and just ends. Yet since the discovering of Christ, God hath given us a rule
whereby we may discern much of his wisdom in the knowledge of his end, as
the knowledge of Christ removes the veil from the Scripture in our reading
of it : 2 Cor. iii. 14-16, * The same veil remains in the reading of the Old
Testament, which veil is done away in Christ ' (which veil is still upon the
Jews), and makes us understand those parts of the Old Testament which
otherwise would be utterly obscure ; so in the reading the books of provi-
dence, the knowledge of this end of God in them, will help us to understand
the meaning of that which otherwise would non-plus the reason of man. He
that knows the end of one that is making a watch, will not wonder at his
framing small wheels and filing little pins ; but he that understands nothing
of the design, would count it ridiculous for a man so to trifle away his time.
Without the knowledge of this end, we shall expose ourselves to miserable
mistakes ; as Plutarch mistook the cause of the ceasing of oracles, ascribing
it to the change of the nature of the soil, not affording those exhalations as
formerly, or the death of the demons which gave those oracles. He had
'judged otherwise, had he known or believed the rising of a higher power, the
1 Sun of righteousness in the world, w T ho imposed silence upon those angels of
'darkness, the most famous oracles in the world ceasing about the time of
Christ. To imagine to interpret the motions of providence, without a know-
ledge of Christ and the design of God for his church, is as vain as to imagine
-we can paint a sound, or understand a colour by our smell. Correct sense
by reason in this work, and reason by faith. To what end hath God pre-
scribed faith to succour us in the weakness of reason, if it had been capable
to understand his ways without it, and if we make no use of it upon such
-occasions ?
Fourthly. A fourth duty. Consider the former providences God hath
wrought for the church in the past ages. Let him not lose the present glory
of his past works : Ps. cii. 18, ' This shall be written for the generation to
come, and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord,' even for
that work of his which is written to be done in former ages. God loves to
have his former works read and pleaded. It is a keeping a standing praise
. of him in the world. We have had the benefit of them ; it is fit God should
have the glory of them from us, as well as from those who immediately en-
joyed them. Our good was bound up in every former preservation of the
church. If the candlestick had been broken, where had the candle been ?
VOL. I. H
114 A DISCOUKSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
Had the church been destroyed, how could the gospel have been transmitted
to us ? Let the duty we owe to God's glory engage us to a consideration of
them, and the benefit we have had by them also incite us. We usually for-
get not things that are strange, nor things that are profitable ; his works of
old have been works of wonder in themselves, and profitable to us. To what
end are the praises of God discovered to the generations to come, but that
they should reflect those praises to heaven again, and convey them down to
the generations following ? Ps. lxxviii. 4, ' Shewing to the generation to
come the praises of the Lord.'
1. This will help us in our inquiries in present providences.
There is a beautiful connection between former and latter providences ;
they are but several links of one chain. The principle and end is the same ;
that God from whence they come, that Christ to which they tend, is the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever. What God doth now, is but a copy of what
he portrayed in his word as done in former ages ; there are the same goodness,
the same design in both. The births of providence are all of a like temper
and disposition. We cannot miss of the understanding of them, if we com-
pare them with the ancient copies ; for God is in the generation of the right-
eous, the same God still. God is the same, his ends are the same, the events
will be the same.
2. It will support our faith. The reason of our diffidence of God in the
cause of the church, is the forgetfulness of his former appearances for her.
Oh if we did remember his former goodness, we should not be so ready to
doubt of his future care. This was the psalmist's care in his despondencies,
and in his overwhelming troubles of spirit : Ps. lxxvii. 9, 'Hath God forgotten
to be gracious ? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?' but, ver. 10,
he concludes it his infirmity, and resolves upon a review of the records of
God's ancient works for his people, ' and the years of the right hand of the
Most High,' these times wherein he declared his power and his glory, and so
proceeds to the top of all their deliverances, viz., that out of Egypt. Doth
God's wisdom decay, or his power grow feeble? Is not his interest the
same ? Is he not a God still like himself ? Is not his glory as dear to him
as before ? Hath he cast off his affection to his own name ? Why should
not he then do the same works, since he hath tho same concern ? God
himself, to encourage us, calls them to our remembrance : Isa. 1. 2. ' Is my
hand shortened, that I cannot redeem ? or havo I no power to deliver ?
Behold, at my rebuko I do dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness,'
&c. Am not I tho same God that dried up tho sea, that wrought those
ancient wonders which amazed the world ? What doth your distrust signify
but tho impair of my power ? llouso up yourselves to a consideration of
them, : l 1 1 « 1 thence gather fresh supplies to strengthen you in your present
dependence upon me ! lit- puts us in mind of them, because we are apt to
forget them. Gen. it. 6, when it is said Abraham ■ believed in the Lord,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness,' God answered him, vor. 7,
1 1 am tho Lord that brought thee out of l'r of the Chaldees.' Keep up thy
faith ; and to that end, remember what 1 did for thee before in calling th
(last thy eye upon that place whence I delivered thee, either from the idola-
tries of tho place, or the persecution he was in for the true worship of God*
And as God puts him in mind of his mercy he had shewn to him before, for
tho encouragement of his faith, so the people of God have made use of them
to this end. Goliah's sword was counted by David the fittest for his dofei
in his flight, because it had been a monument of God's formor dolivoranc<
him, 1 Sam. xxi. 1). When he asks for a sword or spear, Aluinelech said,
' Tho svrord of Goliah, whom thou slowest, is hero ;' and David said, ' There
2 CnRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 115
is none like that : give it me.' How hasty ho catches at it ! There is none
like that sword, that hath so signal a mercy writ upon it. That very sword
will not only defend me against my enemies, but guard my faith against those
temptations that would invade it. This encouragement of faith and hope is
the end of God in his transmission of the records of his former providences
to us : Ps. lxxviii. G, 7, ' That the generation to come might know them, and
declare them to their children ' from one posterity to another, ' that they
might set their hope in God.'
3. It will enliven our prayer.
It is a mighty plea in prayer. How often doth David urge it ! Thou
hast been my help, thou hast delivered my soul from death, wilt thou not
deliver my feet from falling ? But in the church's concerns too : 1 Chron.
xvi. 11, 12, ' Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.
Remember the marvellous works that he hath done.' A reflection upon
what God hath done should be enjoined* with our desires of what we would
have God to do for us. When Moses was praying upon the top, while
Israel was fighting with Amalek at the foot of the hill, he had the rod of
God in his hand, Exod. xvii. 9 ; that miraculous rod which had amazed
Pharaoh, whose motion summoned all the plagues upon them ; that rod
which had split the sea for their passage, broached the rock for their thirst,
and had been instrumental in many miracles : certainly Moses shewed this
rod to God, and pleaded all those wonderful deliverances God had wrought
instrumentally by it. No doubt but he carried it with him to shew to God
for a plea, as well as to the Israelites, to spirit their resolutions against their
enemies.
4. It will prevent much sin.
A forgetfulness of his former works is one cause of our present provoca-
tions. It was so in the case of the Israelites' sin : Ps. cvi. 7, ' They
remembered not the multitude of his mercies ; but provoked thee at the sea,
even at the Red Sea ; ' they had lost the memory of so many miracles in
Egypt, and which aggravated their sin, ' they provoked him at the sea, at the
Red Sea ; ' they provoked him under a present indigency, as well as against
former mercy ; they provoked him in that place of straits where all the
powers on earth could not have relieved them had heaven neglected them.
The provocation you may see, Exod. xiv. 11, 12, which sprang from a
forgetfulness of his kindness so lately shewed to them. How apt are we to
forget old mercies, when we are so naturally apt to blot out of our memories
mercies newly received ! If this were well considered by men, it would
prevent their enterprises against the church, and consequently their shame
and ruin. Are there records of any who have hardened themselves against
God and prospered ? Job ix. 4. How might in that reflection be seen the
frustrations of counsels, disgracing of attempts, showers of fury and
vengeance from heaven upon the heads of such ! The reason why the
wonderful works of God were to be made known to posterity, was ' that
they might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation of
men,' Ps. lxxviii. 6, 8. If they did consider those transactions of God in
and for his church, they could no more think to stop the breath of per-
petual powerful providence, than to bridle in a storm, or stop the motion
of the sun. To conclude this : God's providential judgments are to be
remembered ; though they are for the punishment of the age that feel them,
they are also for the instruction of the age which succeeds them ; tell,
mQ, number, be as exact as in your accounts, wherein you take notice of
I every number, minute, and cypher. The works of providence as well as the
* That is, 'joined in,' or incorporated. — Ed.
116 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
doctrine of God are parts of a child's catechism, they are to keep up the
consideration of them in themselves, and hand them in instruction to their
children.
F.ithly, The fifth duty. Act faith on God's providence.
Times of trouble should be times of confidence ; fixedness of heart on
God would prevent fears of heart : Ps. cxii. 7, ' He shall not be afraid of
evil tidings: his heart is fixed.' How? ' Trusting in the Lord. His heart
is established, they shall not be moved.' Otherwise without it we shall be
as light as a cock* moved with every blast of evil tidings, our hopes will
swim or sink according to the news we hear. Providence would seem to
sleep, unless faith and prayer awakened it. The disciples had but little faith
in their Master's account, yet that little faith awakened him in a storm,
and he relieved them. Unbelief doth only discourage God from shewing
his power in taking our parts. ' Every one will walk in the name of his god,
and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever,'
Micah iv. 5. Heathens will trust in their idols, and shall not we in that
God that lives for ever ? Have we any reason to have a less esteem of our
confidence in God than heathens had of and in their idols ? We should do
our duty, which is faith and hope, and leave God to do his work, which is
mercy and kindness. By unbelief we deny his providence, disparage his
wisdom, and strip him of his power; we have none else to trust; no
creature can order anything for the church's good without God's commission
and direction. What should we trust him for ? For that wherein his glory
is concerned, which is more worth to him than all the world besides. Trust
him most when instruments fail. God takes them off some time, to shew
that he needs not any, and to have our confidence rightly placed on him,
which staggered before between him and the creature.
1. All the godly formerly did act faith on a less foundation. The godly
patriarchs who lived eight or nine hundred years, depended upon providence
that long time, and shall not we for seventy years, the usual term of man's
life ! They had promises to support them, we have not only the same
promises, but the performances of them too. They had providences, we have
the same and more, all upon record in Scripture, all since the canon of
Scripture was closed, whatsoever God hath remarkably done for his people
in all ages. Adam had hut one promise, and hut little experience of God's
providence, yet no doubt trusted in him. We have a multitude of promises,
not only pronounced, hut sealed, confirmed by many repetitions, which are
fresh obligations laid by God upon himself, the experience of all the pro-
vidences of God towards his church for above live thousand years, and shall
our faith Btagger when upon us arc come the (Mids of the world? Doth it
become us to have our obligations to faith so strong, and our exercise of it
80 weak ? The promise of Christ, Isa. vii. 11, that a virgin should bring
forth ;i Bon, was thought by (lod a sufficient security \o support their con-
fidence in him against the fury of their enemies ; it being a greater wonder
that a. virgin without, loss of her virginity should bring forth a son, than
the routing of an host of enemies. Is not then the performance oi' this,
God's actual sending his Son to us through the womb of a virgin, a higher
ground of confidence tor the church's success in every thing' else, than barely
tho promise could |,<> ? All creatures in danger have a natural confidence
in God : ' Me is the Confidence of ;il| the ends of the earth ;' hut the
church's OOnfidenoe may he more firmly placed in him, because he is par-
ticularly tho God of their salvation : Ps. lxv. 5, ■ By terriblo things in
• That in, a wrathcr-cock or vnnrv— I'm.
2 CflRON. XVI. 9.] A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 117
righteousness wilt thou answer us, God of our salvation ; who art the
confidence of all the ends of the earth.'
2. It is your only way to have mercy for tho church, and for ourselves.
If he ' take pleasure in them that hope in his mercy,' as it is in Ps. cxlvii.
11, he will take pleasure to relieve them, ho will * strengthen the bars of
their gates,' ver. IB. If he take pleasure in them that hope in his mercy,
then the stronger and more lively their hope is, the more intense is God's
pleasure in them. If they do not hope in his mercy, he hath no pleasure in
them, and no delight to them. He hath a goodness laid up for them that
fear him, and he will lay it out too for them that trust in him : Ps. xxxi. 19,
1 Oh how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear
thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of
men ! ' It is laid up for all that fear him, but it is wrought for them that
trust in him. It is manifested upon special acts of trust and reliance, and
wrought before the sons of men. Those that own God publicly in a way of
reliance, God will own them publicly in a way of kindness. Faith is tho
key that unlocks the cabinet of special providence. Those eyes which movo
about all the world are fixed upon those that trust in him : Ps. xxxiii. 18,
1 The eye of the Lord is upon them that hope in his mercy.'
The sixth duty. Wait upon God in the way of his providence. Wait upon
him as he is ■ a faithful Creator,' 1 Pet. iv. 19 ; much more since the title
of being our Redeemer is added to that of our Creator, which strengthens
his relation to us. Not to wait disparageth his care, bounds his power, or
reflects upon his wisdom, as if he had stripped himself of his immense good-
ness, and forgot both his promise and his people ; as if he had cancelled the
covenant, and given up his whole interest to the lusts of men. Wait in the
saddest appearances. The hour of Christ's death was dismal in the world,
and darkness upon the earth ; a miraculous eclipse of the sun taken notice
of by the very heathens ; yet were we never nearer to happiness, than in that
dreadful time when our Saviour was most dyed in his own blood. The san-
guine complexion of the evening sky is a presage of a fair succeeding morn-
ing ; so many times is the red vesture of the church.
1. Wait upon him obedientially.
Commit your souls to God, but in ' well-doing,' 1 Pet. iv. 19. Use no
indirect means ; a contempt of the precept cannot consist with faith in either
promise or providence. The obeying part is ours, the governing part is
God's : Prov. xxiii. 17, 18, ' Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou
in the fear of the Lord all the day long ; for surely there is an end, and thine
expectation shall not be cut off.' God will govern all the day, but we must
fear him all the day. When fear on our part attends government on God's
part, there will be an end of our carnal fears, and a good issue of our hopes.
The greatest deliverances of his church have been when his people has stood
still, Exod. xiv. 13. As that deliverance was a type of all future and a ground
of faith, so the carriage God enjoined was a rule to his people in all future
straits. It is against the laws of God's government for those listed in his
service to stir without order. The law is our standing rule of duty. Provi-
dence cannot be a standing visible rule, because of the variety and seeming
crossness of it sometimes to our apprehensions. Do not presume to lead
God, but be led by him. It is our safety to follow him ; it is our sin and
danger to presume to be his directors. We may lose ourselves when we are
our own blind guides, and fall into a ditch ; but when we follow God, he hath
wisdom to foresee the precipices we may stumble into, and goodness to divert
us from them. By interposing carnal devices, men may perhaps have their
ends, but with little comfort, perhaps much bitterness to themselves. Jacob
118 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XVI. 9.
by his hasty using his own and his mother's sinful project for the blessing,
got it indeed, but a cross too, for he was a man of sorrows all his days. By
waiting in God's way, we shall have our ends with more sweetness, because
purely a fruit of God's care and goodness.
2. Wait patiently. How often are our spirits troubled about future events,
and are afraid of the evil which threatens us, as if we were in pain for God,
and in doubt of his wise conduct ! Think not God's time too long. He
waits as much for a fit opportunity to shew his mercy, as you can wait for
the enjoyment of it : Isa. xxx. 18, « Therefore will the Lord wait, that he
may be gracious unto you ; blessed are all they that wait for him.' It is a
part of our blessedness to wait for God, since it is a part of God's kindness
to wait for a fit season to be gracious to us. It is not for us to prescribe
rules to God, but follow the rules he prescribes to us. He hath freely made
his promise ; let him be master of his own time to make it good. He will
shew as much wisdom in accomplishing, as he did mercy in declaring it.
God can do things in a moment, but it is his wisdom to take time, that his
people may have time to exercise their trust, their hope, and their patience.
He will take time in the ways of his providence, as well as he did in the
works of creation. He allotted six days to that which he could have framed
in a minute. He is judge of what is needful for us, and when it is needful
for us. If God should give us that which is a mercy in its own nature, many
times when we desire it, it might not be a mercy. If we will trust the skill
of his wisdom for the best season, it cannot but be a mercy, for he will give
it us with his own glory and grace wrapped up in it, which will make it
sweeter to himself when his wisdom is honoured, and sweeter to us when our
good is promoted. God's methods appear in the end both wiser and better
than our frames. Infinite goodness aims more at our welfare than our shallow
self-love ; and infinite wisdom can conduct things to our welfare, better than
our short-sighted skill. He that knows all the moments of time, knows best
how to time his actions. As God stayed for a fulness of time to bring the
great redemption by Christ into the world, so he stays for a fulness of time
to bring all the great consequences and appendices of it unto his church.
1 Everything is beautiful in his time,' Eccles. iii. 11 ; in its own time ; in
God's time, not in ours, &c.
0. Wait constantly. Though the wheels of providence seem sometimes
to stand still, Ezek. i. 21, and God seems to put a period to the care of his
church, yet let not us neglect our duty. Wait a while, and the wheels will
be put upon their former rolling. Some particular passages of providence
may trouble us for a while ; but in the issue, God may answer our desires
above our expectations, and thereby confute our fears. His providences are
sometimes like rivers that run under ground, out of sight, but will rise again
with a delightful stream, with some new medicinal quality, contracted from
the earth by tho way. Joseph a prisoner waits upon God for his liberty,
and God gives him freedom with preferment. God can bring about his
people's safety by Unexpected ways. Who would have imagined before, that
his own dre«m should make him a captive, ami Pharaoh's dream make him
a favourite ? 'I lie chief hutler remembers him not till he was in an exigency,
and the divining skill of the wise men of Egypt confounded. Joseph lost
nothing by waiting upon (in. I, \sho made so many circumstances concur to
promote his honour. \V;iit. therefore upon hint in the sorest atllictions. The
church is only atllirted in mercy, hut the enemies of it are pulled up by tho
roofn : Jer. xxx. 11, 'I am with thee to save thee; though I make a full
end of the nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full
end of thee, hut I will correct thee in measure.' God deals with his people
2 ChRON. XVI. 9. J A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 119
as a father, who corrects to reform, not to destroy ; but with his enemies he
deals as a judge. God's providence, like Moses his rod, may seem sometimes
a devouring serpent, but it is to convince the Egyptians, and deliver the
Israelites.
4. Wait in the use of lawful means for preservation. Not to use means,
is to slight his providence, not to trust it. It seems not to consist with the
wisdom of God to order things always so, as to be necessitated to put forth
an extraordinary power in things which his creatures, by a common provi-
dence, can naturally accomplish. God saves by natural means ; when they
will not serve the turn, he will save by supernatural. God chose an ark to
preserve Noah in. He did not want supernatural means for his preservation.
He might have catched him up in a cloud, and continued him there till the
drying of the waters. Noah doth not dispute the business with God, but
prepares an ark according to his order; and he was righteous in his obedience,
as well as in his trust. God would not preserve our Saviour by a miracle,
when ordinary means would serve the turn. He commands Joseph, by his
angel, to flee into Egypt with the child, Mat. ii. 13. Joseph desires not God
to preserve him by an extraordinary power, to save his pains of travelling ;
he submits to God's order, and God quickly clears the way for his return.
Indeed, sometimes the wheels of providence are lifted up from the earth, and
do not go in the ordinary tracts, Ezek. i. 19 ; but miracles must be left to
God's pleasure. For us to desire them, is to tempt our great governor.
The seventh duty. Pray for the church.
It is an encouragement that our suit in this case will not be denied. The
desire of welfare is conformable to his counsel, which shall stand, Prov. xix. 21,
notwithstanding the devices of men. His counsel in particular concerns of
men shall stand ; much more is the stability of his counsel for the church.
He is a God hearing prayer in a way of common providence, and a God
hearing prayer in a way of special attention : Ps. lxi. 1, * Hear my cry,
God, attend unto my prayer.' David desires that God would hear him, as
more particularly concerned in his case. He is so in the concerns of his
ehureh. Will he hear an Ishmael crying for himself, and young lions roar-
ing for their prey, and stop his ears to the voice of his own Spirit in his
people, pleading for the church, dearer to him than the whole mass of nature ?
We have greater arguments to use than in any other case. The relation the
church hath to God ; the affection God hath to the church. ' Lazarus
whom thou lovest is sick,' was Martha's argument to Christ. What greater
encouragement to our petitions than God's affection, than God's relation ?
God loves to have our affection comply with his ; God loves others the better
for soliciting its welfare. Moses had the greatest manifestation of God's love
after he had prayed for the Israelites, Exod. xxxii. 32, though in a case of
sin j and presently after, in Exod. xxxiii. 11, God ' speaks with him face to
face, as a man speaks to his friend ; ' and in the same chapter, and the
beginning of Exod. xxxiv., God shews him his glory as much as he was
capable to bear. Daniel was a great petitioner for the church, Dan. ix. 3, 21.
He was God's great favourite upon that account, x. 2, 5, and had the clearest
and highest revelations made to him of the course of providence in the world.
The eighth duty. When you receive any mercy for the church in answer
of prayer, give God the glory of it.
The variety of his providences gives us matter for new songs and com-
positions, Ps. cxlix. 1. What volleys of joyful shouts, what hallelujahs to
God do we find upon the ruin of antichrist ; Rev. xix. 1-3, God calls for
praise out of the throne, ver. 5, and the church returns it, ver. 6, 7. It is
God rides upon the cherub, it is God that sits upon the wings of the wind,
120 A DISCOURSE OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE. [2 ChRON. XYI. 9.
it is God who is in all instruments to quicken their motions and direct them
to their scope, Ps. xviii. 10.
The ninth duty. Imitate God in his affection to the church.
Christ did what he did for the good of his church, God doth what he doth
for the advantage of the church. Let the same mind be in us that was in
Christ, let the same end be ours which is the end of God. Thus we shall
be like our Creator, thus we shall be like our Governor, thus we shall be
like our Redeemer. Men take it kindly from others that love those they
have a respect for. God loves all that love his people, and blesses them
that bless them : Gen. xii. 3, ' I will bless them that bless thee, and curse
them that curse thee.'
The tenth duty. Look after sincerity before God.
It is for the security of such that God shews himself strong. No man
that fully believes and understands this doctrine but should be glad to be of
that happy society, that assembly of the first-born, who are under the care
of a watchful eye, and the mighty power of the God of the whole earth.
When God chose Israel, the very strangers should for their own interest join
with them, Isa. xiv. 1. And to such as 'take hold of his covenant' he
promises to ' give a name in his house that shall not be cut off,' Isa. lvi.
4, 5 ; yea, even * to the sons of the strangers that shall join themselves to
the Lord,' ver. 6. Let this encourage us to Christianity. God never
encouraged men to be Christians by promises of worldly greatness, but by
promises of a constant care of them for their happiness, by promises of
making all things work together for their good. If God will shew himself
strong for those that are perfect in heart towards him, then he hath no
strength for those that are unsound and false in heart towards him. No
man hath an interest in his special providence without faith. The power,
knowledge, wisdom of God, are all set against him. Though the whole
world be in commotions, the earth be removed, and the mountains cast into
the depths of the sea, there is no ground of fear to faith ; but what buckler
against them hath unbelief and hypocrisy ? What security against wrath
can riches give you ? What defence against his power can your potsherd
strength afford you ? It was not for Job s wealth that God made his boasts
of him, but for his sincerity : Job i. 8, ' Hast thou considered my servant
Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man ?'
And for the want of this he loathes a world. Labour therefore for sincerity
towards God, beg it of God ; get the evidence of it and preserve it.
DISCOURSE ON THE EXISTENCE AND
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.
TO THE HEADER.
This long since promised and greatly expected volume of the reverend author
upon the divine attributes, being transcribed out of his own manuscripts by
the unwearied diligence of those worthy persons that undertook it,* is now
at last come to thy hands. Doubt not but thy reading will pay for thy
waiting, and thy satisfaction make full compensation for thy patience. In
the epistle before his Treatise of Providence, it was intimated that his follow-
ing discourses would not be inferior to that, and we are persuaded that ere
thou hast perused one half of this, thou wilt acknowledge that it w r as modestly
spoken. Enough, assure thyself, thou wilt find here for thy entertainment
and delight, as well as profit. The sublimeness, variety, and rareness of
the truths here handled, together with the elegancy of the composure, neat-
ness of the style, and whatever is wont to make any book desirable, will all
concur in the recommendation of this. What so high and noble a subject,
what so fit for his meditations or thine, as the highest and noblest being,
and those transcendently glorious perfections wherewith he is clothed ! A
mere contemplation of the divine excellencies may afford much pleasure to any
man that loves to exercise his reason, and is addicted to speculation ; but what
incomparable sweetness will holy souls find in viewing and considering those
perfections now, which they are more fully to behold hereafter, and seeing
what manner of God, how wise and powerful, how great, and good, and
Sioly is he in whom the covenant interests them, and in the enjoyment of
*vhom their happiness consists ! If rich men delight to sum up their vast
revenues, to read over their rentals, look upon their hoards ; if they bless
.hemselves in their great wealth, or, to use the prophet's words, Jer. ix. 23,
glory in their riches,' well may believers rejoice and glory in their ' know-
ng the Lord,' ver. 24, # and please themselves in seeing how rich they are in
laving an immensely full and all-sufficient God for their inheritance. Alas,
iow little do most men know of that Deity they profess to serve, and own,
lot as their sovereign only, but their portion ! To such this author might
say, as Paul to the Athenians, Acts xvii. 23, ' Whom you ignorantly wor-
ship, him declare I unto you.' These treatises, reader, will inform thee who
le is whom thou callest thine, present thee with a view of thy chief good,
md make thee value thyself a thousand times more upon thy interest in God,
han upon all external accomplishments and worldly possessions. Who but
ielights to hear well of one whom he loves ? God is thy love, if thou be a
>eliever, and then it cannot but fill thee with delight and ravishment to hear
;o much spoken in his praise. David desired to 'dwell in the house of the
jord,' that he might there ' behold his beauty ;' how much of that beauty
if thou art but capable of seeing it) mayest thou behold in this volume, which
?as our author's main business for about three years before he died, to dis-
may before his hearers ! True, indeed, the Lord's glory, as shining forth
•efore his heavenly courtiers above, is unapproachable by mortal men ; but
smat of it is visible in his works, creation, providence, redemption, falls
.nder the cognisance of his inferior subjects here ; and this is in a great
aeasure presented to view in these discourses, and so much, we may well
ay, as may, by the help of grace, be effectual to raise thy admiration,
* Mr J. Wichens and Mr Ashton.
124
TO THE READER.
attract thy love, provoke thy desires, and enable thee to make some guess
at what is yet unseen ; and why not likewise to clear thy eyes and prepare
them for future sight, as well as turn them away from the contemptible
vanities of this present life ? Whatever is glorious in this world, yet (as
the apostle in another case, 2 Cor. iii. 10) ' hath no glory by reason of the
glory that excels.' This excellent glory is the subject of this book, to which-
all created beauty is but mere shadow and duskiness. If thy eyes be well
fixed on this, they will not be easily drawn to wander after other objects ;
if thy heart be taken with God, it will be mortified to everything that is not
God.
But thou hast in this book, not only an excellent subject in the general,
but great variety of matter, for the employment of thy understanding, as
well as enlivening thy affections, and that too such as thou wilt not readily
find elsewhere ; many excellent things which are out of the road of ordinary
preachers and writers, and which may be grateful to the curious, no less
than satisfactory to the wise and judicious. It is not therefore a book to
be played with, or slept over, but read with the most intent and serious
mind ; for though it afford much pleasure for the fancy, yet much more
work for the heart, and hath indeed enough in it to busy all the faculties.
The dress is complete and decent, yet not garish or theatrical ; the rhetoric
masculine and vigorous, such as became a pulpit, and was never borrowed
from the stage ; the expressions full, clear, apt, and such as are best suited
to the weightiness and spirituality of the truths here delivered. It is plain
he was no empty preacher, but was more for sense than sound, filled up his
words with matter, and chose rather to inform his hearers' mind than to
claw any itching ears. Yet we will not say but some little things, a word
or a phrase now and then he may have, which no doubt had he lived to
transcribe his own sermons, he would have altered. If in some lesser
matters he differ from thee, it is but in such as godly and learned men do
frequently, and may without breach of charity differ in among themselves ;
in some things he may differ from us too, and it may be we from each
other, and where are there any two persons who have in all, especially the ,
more disputable points of religion, exactly the sanfe sentiments, at least
express themselves altogether in the same terms ? But this we must say,
that though he treat of many of tho most abstruse and mysterious doctrines
of Christianity, which are the subjects of great debates and controversies in
the world, yet wo find no one material thing in which he may justly be
called heterodox (unless old heresies bo of late grown orthodox, and his
differing from them must make him faulty), but generally delivers (as in
his former pieces*) what is most consonant to tho faith of this, and other
the best reformed churches, llo was not indeed for that modern divinity
which is so mueh in vogue with somo, who would bo counted tho only sound
divines ; having ■ tasted the old,' he did not ' desiro tho new,' but said ■ the
old is better.' Somo errors, especially tho Socinion, ho sots himself
industriously against, and cuts tho vory sinews of them, yet sometimes
almost without naming tliem.
In the doctrinal part of several of his discourses thou wilt find tho depth
of polemical divinity, and in his inferences from thenco tho sweetness of
practical ; some things which may exercise the profoundest scholar, am!
Other! which may instruct and edify the weakest Christian ; nothing b
more nervous than his reasonings, and nothing more affecting than hil
applications. Though he make great uso of schoolmen, yet they uri
* Trtatiie of Proyidenoe and of Thoughts. [Tho former of which precedes thia
an<l the luttor will ho given in u raboequent volume, — En.]
TO THE READER. 125
certainly more beholden to him than he to them ; he adopts their notions,
but he refines them too, and improves them, and reforms them from the
barbarousness in which they were expressed, and drcsseth them up in his
own language (so far as the nature of the matter will permit, and more
clear terms are to be found), and so makes them intelligible to vulgar
capacities, which in their original rudeness were obscure and strange, even
to learned heads.
In a word, he handles the great truths of the gospel with that perspicuity,
gravity, and majesty which best becomes the oracles of God ; and we have
reason to believe, that no judicious and unbiassed reader but will acknow-
ledge this to be incomparably the best practical treatise the world ever saw
in English upon this subject. What Dr Jackson did (to whom our author
gave all due respect) was more brief, and in another way. Dr Preston did
worthily upon the attributes in his day, but his discourses likewise are
more succinct, when this author's are more fall and large. But whatever
were the mind of God in it, it was not his will that either of these two
should live to finish what he had begun, both being taken away when
preaching upon this subject. Happy souls, whose last breath was spent
in so noble a work, ' praising God while they had any being,' Ps. cxlvi. 2.
His method is much the same in most of these discourses, both in the
doctrinal and practical part, which will make the whole more plain and
facile to ordinary readers. He rarely makes objections, and yet frequently
answers them, by implying them in those propositions he lays down for the
clearing up the truths he asserts. His dexterity is admirable in the appli-
:atory work, where he not only brings down the highest doctrines to the
lowest capacities, but collects great variety of proper, pertinent, useful, and
yet (many times) unthought of inferences, and that from those truths, which
however they afford much matter for inquisition and speculation, yet might
■seem (unless to the most intelligent and judicious Christians) to have a
more remote influence upon practices. He is not like some school writers,
who attenuate and rarefy the matter they discourse of to a degree bordering
Upon annihilation ; at least beat it so thin, that a puff of breath may blow it
'away ; spin their thread so fine, that the cloth, when made up, proves
useless ; solidity dwindles into niceties, and what we thought we had got
by their assertions we lose by their distinctions. But if our author have
: 3ome subtilties and superfine notions in his argumentations, yet he con-
ienseth them again, and consolidates them into substantial and profitable
sorollaries in his applications. And in them his main business is, as to
discipline a profane world for its neglect of God and contempt of him in his
'most adorable and shining perfections, so likewise to shew how the divine
attributes are not only infinitely excellent in themselves, but a grand foun-
dation for all true divine worship, and should be the great motives to pro-
voke men to the exercise of faith, and love, and fear, and humility, and all
that holy obedience they are called to by the gospel ; and this without per-
idventure is the great end of all those rich discoveries God hath in his word
nade of himself to us, Ps. cix. 1. And, reader, if these elaborate dis-
courses of this holy man, through the Lord's blessing, become a means of
aromoting holiness in thee, and stir thee up to love, and live to the God of
ais praise, we are well assured that his end in preaching them is answered,
iind so is ours in publishing them.
Thine in the Lord,
j Edw. Veel.
III. Adams.
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt ; they
have done abominable works ; there is none that doth good. — Ps. XIY. 1.
This psalm is a description of the deplorable corruption by nature of every
son of Adam, since the withering of that common root. Some restrain it
to the gentiles, as a wilderness full of briars and thorns, as not concerning
the Jews, the garden of God, planted by his grace and watered by the dew
of heaven. But the apostle, the best interpreter, rectifies this in extending
it by name to Jews as well as Gentiles : Rom. iii. 9, ' We have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are^ all under sin ;' and ver. 10,
11, 12, cites part of this psalm and other passages of Scripture for the
further evidence of it ; concluding both Jews and Gentiles, every person in
the world, naturally in this state of corruption.
The psalmist first declares the corruption of the faculties of the soul : ' The
fool hath said in his heart.' Secondly, The streams issuing from thence,
1 they are corrupt,' &c. ; the first in atheistical principles, the other in un-
worthy practices ; and lays all the evil, tyranny, lust, and persecutions by
men, as if the world were only for their sake, upon the neglects of God, and
the atheism cherished in their hearts.
1 The fool,' a term in Scripture signifying a wicked man, used also by the
heathen philosophers to signify a vicious person, ^33 as coming from ^33
T T
signifies the extinction of lifo in men, animals, and plants; so the word 'vjj
T
is taken, — Isa. xl. 7, V)% ^3 ' the flower fade th,' Isa. xxviii. 1, — a plant that
hath lost all that juice that made it lovely and useful. So a fool is one that
hath lost his wisdom and right notion of God and divine things, which v
Communicated to man by creation ; ono (load in sin, yet one not so much
void of rational faculties) as of grace iu those faculties ; not 0m 4 that wants
ret mii, but abuses his reason. In Scripture the word signifies foolish.*
1 Said in bis heart;' that is, he thinks, or he doubts, or he wishes. The
thought! of the heart are in the nature of words to (iod, though not to men.
It ii used in the like ease of the atheistical person : Ps. x. 11, 18, ' He hath
I in his heart, God hath forgotten,' ' he hath said in his heart thou wilt
not, requiro it.' He doth not form a syllogism, as Calvin speaks, that there
is no (iod ; he dares not, openly publish it, though he dares secretly think
* Muia 733 and QJJ7 Is? put together, Prut, xxxii. G, 'O foolish people aad
11 w
PS. XIV. l.J • THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 127
it ; he cannot rase out the thoughts of a deity, though he endeavours to
blot those characters of God in his soul ; he hath some doubts whether there
be a God or no : he wishes there were not any, and sometimes hopes there
is none at all ; he could not so ascertain himself by convincing arguments
to produce to the world, but he tampered with his own heart to bring it to
that persuasion, and smothered in himself those notices of a deity, which is
bo plain against the light of nature that such a man may well be called a
fool for it.
1 There is no God.' * NJD7W JT7 non potestas Domini (Chaldee). It is
not Jehovah, which name signifies the essence of God as the prime and
supreme being, but Eloahim, which name signifies the providence of God,
God as a rector and judge. Not that he denies the existence of a supreme
being that created the world, but his regarding the creatures, his government
of the world, and consequently his reward of the righteous or punishments
of the wicked.
There is a threefold denial of God.f 1. Quoad existentiam, this is
absolute atheism. 2. Quoad providentiam, or his inspection into, or care
of the things of the world, bounding him in the heavens. 3. Quoad naturam,
in regard of one or other of the perfections due to his nature.
Of the denial of the providence of God most understand this, J not exclud-
ing the absolute atheist, as Diagoras is reported to be, nor the sceptical
atheist, as Protagoras, who doubted whether there were a God. Those that
deny the providence of God, do in effect deny the being of a God ; for they
strip him of that wisdom, goodness, tenderness, mercy, justice, righteousness,
which are the glory of the Deity. And that principle of a greedy desire to
be uncontrolled in their lusts, which induceth men to a denial of providence,
that thereby they might stifle those seeds of fear which infect and embitter
their sinful pleasures, may as well lead them to deny that there is any such
being as a God. That at one blow their fears may be dashed all in pieces,
and dissolved by the removal of the foundation ; as men who desire liberty
to commit works of darkness would not have the lights in the house dimmed
but extinguished. What men say against providence, because they would
have no check in their lusts, they may say in their hearts against the exist-
ence of God upon the same account ; little difference between the dissenting
from the one, and disowning the other.
' They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that
doth good.'
He speaks of the atheist in the singular, the fool ; of the corruption
.issuing in the life, in the plural ; intimating that some few may choke in
their hearts the sentiments of God and his providence, and positively deny
them, yet there is something of a secret atheism in all, which is the foun-
tain of the evil practices in their lives, not an utter disowning of the being
of a God, but a denial or doubting of some of the rights of his nature.§
When men deny the God of purity, they must needs be polluted in soul and
body, and grow brutish in their actions ; when the sense of religion is
shaken off, all kinds of wickedness is eagerly rushed into, whereby they be-
come as loathsome to God as putrefied carcases are to men.|| Not one or
* D*r6j* TK No God.— Muit. f Cocceius.
\ Not owning him as the Egyptians called, Qzov syxbd/MOV Eugubin. in loc.
I Atheism absolute is not in all men's judgments, but practical is in all men'3
actions.
| The apostle in the Eomans, applying the later part of it to all mankind, but not
the former, as the word translated corrupt signifies.
128 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
two evil actions is the product of such a principle, but the whole scene of a
man's life is corrupted, and becomes execrable.
No man is exempted from some spice of atheism by the deprivation of
his nature, which the Psalmist intimates, ' there is none that cloth good.'
Though there are indelible convictions of the being of a God, that they can-
not absolutely deny it, yet there are some atheistical bubblings in the hearts
of men which evidence themselves in their actions ; as the apostle, Titus
i. 16, ' They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him.'
Evil works are a dust stirred up by an atheistical breath. He that habituates
himself in some sordid lust can scarcely be said seriously and firmly to be-
lieve that there is a God in being ; and the apostle doth not say that they
know God, but they ' profess to know him.' True knowledge and profession
of knowledge are distinct. It intimates also to us the unreasonableness of
atheism in the consequences ; when men shut their eyes against the beams
of so clear a sun, God revengeth himself upon them for their impiety by
leaving them to their own wills, lets them fall into the deepest sink and
dregs of iniquity ; and since they doubt of him in their hearts, suffers them
above others to deny him in their works ; this the apostle discourseth at
large, Ptom. i. 24.
The text, then, is a description of man's corruption.
1. Of his mind. ' The fool hath said in his heart.' No better title than
that of a fool is afforded to the atheist.
2. Of the other faculties. 1. In sins of commission, expressed by the
loathsomeness, ' corrupt,' ■ abominable.' 2. In sins of omission, ' there is
none that doth good ; ' he lays down the corruption of the mind as the cause,
the corruption of the other faculties as the effect.
L It is a great folly to deny or doubt of the existence or being of God ;
or, an atheist is a great fool.
II. Practical atheism is natural to man in his corrupt state. It is against
nature as constituted by God, but natural as nature is depraved by man.
The absolute disowning of the being of a God is not natural to men, but the
contrary is natural ; but an inconsideration of God, or misrepresentation of
his nature, is natural to man as corrupt.
III. A secret atheism, or a partial atheism, is the spring of all the wicked
practices in the world; the disorders of the life spring from the ill disposi-
tions of the heart.
I. For the first, every atheist is a grand fool. If he were not a fool, he
would not imagine a thing so contrary to the stream of the universal reason
in the world, contrary to the rational dictates of his own soul, and contrary
to the testimony of every creature and link in the chain of creation. If he
won; not a fool, he would not strip himself of humanity, and degrade him-
sclf lower than the most despicable brute.
It is a folly; for though God ho so inaccessible that we cannot know him
perfectly, yet he is so much in the light, that we cannot bo totally ignorant
of him ; :is ho Cannot ho comprehended in his ossomv, he cannot he unknown
in his existence ; it is as easy hy reason to understand that ho is, as it is
difficult, to know what ho is.
The demonstration d furnisheth us with for the existenco of i
will be evidence! of the atheist's folly. One would think there wore little
need of Spending time in evidencing this truth, since in the principle of it,
it seems to ho so universally owned, and at the first proposal and domand
gains the assent of most men.
But, 1, doth the growth of atheism among us render this necessary? Msj
it not justly bo suspected that the Rwarms of atheists aro moro numerous in
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 129
our times than history records to have been in any age, when men will not
only say it in their hearts, but publish it with their lips, and boast that they
have shaken off those shackles which bind other men's consciences ? Doth
not the barefaced debauchery of men evidence such a settled sentiment, or
at least a careless belief of the truth, which lies at the root, and sprouts up
in such venomous branches in the world ? Can men's hearts be free from
that principle wherewith their practices are so openly depraved ? It is true
the light of nature shines too vigorously for the power of man totally to put
it out, yet loathsome actions impair and weaken the actual thoughts and
considerations of a deity, and are like mists, that darken the light of the
sun though they cannot extinguish it ; their consciences, as a candlestick,
must hold it, though their unrighteousness obscure it : Rom. i. 18, ' Who
hold the truth in unrighteousness.' The engraved characters of the law of
nature remain, though they daub them with their muddy lusts to make them
illegible, so that since the inconsideration of a deity is the cause of all the
wickedness and extravagancies of men ; and, as Austin saith, the proposi-
tion is always true, ' The fool hath said in his heart,' &c, and more evidently
true in this age than any ; it will not be unnecessary to discourse of the
demonstrations of this first principle.
The apostles spent little time in urging this truth, it was taken for granted
all over the world, and they were generally devout in the worship of those
idols they thought to be gods ; that age ran from one God to many, and our
age is running from one God to none at all.
2. The existence of God is the foundation of all religion. The whole
building totters if the foundation be out of course ; if we have not deliberate
and right notions of it, we shall perform no worship, no service, yield no
affection to him. If there be not a God, it is impossible there can be one ;
for eternity is essential to the notion of a God ; so all religion would be vain
and unreasonable, to pay homage to that which is not in being, nor can ever
be. We must first believe that he is, and that he is what he declares him-
self to be, before we can seek him, adore him, and devote our affections to
him, Heb. xi. 6. We cannot pay God a due and regular homage unless we
understand him in his perfections, ivhat he is ; and we can pay him no
homage at all, unless we believe that he is.
3. It is fit we should know why we believe, that our belief of a God may
appear to be upon undeniable evidence, and that we may give a better rea-
son for his existence than that we have heard our parents and teachers tell
us so, and our acquaintance think so. It is as much as to say there is no
God, when we know not why we believe there is, and would not consider the
arguments for his existence.
4. It is necessary to depress that secret atheism which is in the heart of
every man by nature. Though every visible object which offers itself to our
sense presents a deity to our minds, and exhorts us to subscribe to the truth
of it, yet there is a root of atheism springing up sometimes in wavering
thoughts and foolish imaginations, inordinate actions and secret wishes.
[ Certain it is that every man that doth not love God denies God ; now can
he that disaffects him, and hath a slavish fear of him, wish his existence, and
say to his own heart with any cheerfulness, there is a God, and make it his
chief care to persuade himself of it ? He would persuade himself there is
no God, and stifle the seeds of it in his reason and conscience, that he might
have the greatest liberty to entertain the allurements of the flesh.
It is necessary to excite men to daily and actual considerations of God
and his nature, which would be a bar to much of that wickedness which
overflows in the lives of men.
VOL. I. I
130 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
5. Nor is it unuseful to those that effectually believe and love him ;* for
those who have had a converse with God, and felt his powerful influences in
the secrets of their hearts, to take a prospect of those satisfactory accounts
w T hich reason gives of that God they adore and love, to see every creature
justify them in their owning of him, and affections to him ; indeed, the evi-
dences of a God striking upon the eonscience of those who resolve to cleave
to sin as their chiefest darling, will dash their pleasures with unwelcome
mixtures.
I shall further premise this,
That the folly of atheism is evidenced by the light of reason. Men that
will not listen to Scripture, as having no counterpart of it in their souls,
cannot easily deny natural reason, which riseth up on all sides for the justi-
fication of this truth. There is a natural as well as a revealed knowledge,
and the book of the creatures is legible in declaring the being of a God, as
well as the Scriptures are in declaring the nature of a God ; there are out-
ward objects in the world, and common principles in the conscience ; whence
it may be inferred.
For (1.) God, in regard of his existence, is not only the discovery of faith,
but of reason. God hath revealed not only his being, but some sparks of
his eternal power and Godhead in his works as well as in his word. Rom.
i. 19, 20, ' God hath shewed it unto them.' How?f In his works, by the
things that are made ; it is a discovery to our reason as shining in the crea-
tures, and an object of our faith as breaking out upon us in the Scriptures ;
it is an article of our faith, and an article of our reason. Faith supposeth
natural knowledge, as grace supposeth nature. Faith indeed is properly of
things above reason, purely depending upon revelation. What can be de-
monstrated by natural light is not so properly the object of faith, though in
regard of the addition of a certainty by revelation it is so.
The belief that God is, which the apostle speaks of, Heb. xi. 6, is not so
much of the bare existence of God, as what God is in relation to them that
seek to him, viz., • a re warder.' The apostle speaks of the faith of Abel,
the faith of Enoch, such a faith that pleases God ; but the faith of Abel
testified in his sacrifice, and the faith of Enoch testified in his walking with
God, was not simply a faith of the existence of God. Cain, in the time of
Abel, other men in the world in the time of Enoch, believed this as well as
they ; but it was a faith joined with the worship of God, and desirous to
pleaso him in the way of his own appointment; so that they believed that
God was such as he had declared himself to be in his promise to Adam,
such an one as would be as good as his word, and bruise the serpent's head;
he that socks to (iod according to the mind of (iod, must believe that h
Hindi a (iod that will pardon sin and justify a seeker of him ; that he is a
(ii>d of that ability and will to justify a Binner in that way he hath appointed
tor the cleaning the holiness of his nature, and vindicating the honour of his
law violated hy man.
No man can leek (Iod, or love (iod, unless ho believe him to be thus, anl
ho cannot leak (iod without a discovery of lus own mind how ho would be
sought; lor it is not a seeking (iod in any way of man's invention that
renden him capable of this desired fruit of a reward : he that behoves Go
a reward. •)-, must believe the promiso of (iod concerning the Mosi
IMeii, under the conscience of sin, cannot tell, without, a divine di
whether (iod will rewind, or bow he will reward, the seekers of him, and
therefore cannot act towards him as an object of faith. Would any man
■k (iod merely because be 18, or love him because he is, if he did not
* CoOOOi Sum. Tie nl, c 8, § 1. t A41UU.
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 131
know that he should be acceptable to him ? The bare existence of a thing
is not the ground of affection to it, but those qualities of it, and our interest
in it which render it amiable and delightful. How can men whose con-
sciences fly in their faces seek God or love him, without this knowledge
that he is a rewarder ? Nature doth not shew any way to a sinner how to
reconcile God's provoked justice with his tenderness. The faith the apostle
speaks of here is a faith that eyes the reward as an encouragement, and the
will of God as the rule of its acting, he doth not speak simply of the exist-
ence of God.
I have spoken the more of this place, because the Socinians* use this to
decry any natural knowledge of God, and that the existence of God is only
to be known by revelation, so that by that reason any one that lived with-
out the Scripture hath no ground to believe the being of a God.
The Scripture ascribes a knowledge of God to all nations in the world,
Rom. i. 19; not only a faculty of knowing, if they had arguments and
demonstrations, as an ignorant man in any art hath a faculty to know, but
it ascribes an actual knowledge: ver. 19, 'manifest in them;' ver. 21,
* they knew God,' — not they might know him, they knew him when they
did not care for knowing him. The notices of God are as intelligible to
us by reason as any object in the world is visible ; he is written in every
letter.
(2.) We are often in the Scripture sent to take a prospect of the crea-
tures for a discovery of God. The apostles drew arguments from the topics
of nature when they discoursed with those that owned the Scripture, Rom.
i. 19, as well as when they treated with those that were ignorant of it, as
Acts xiv. 15, 16; and among the philosophers of Athens, Acts xvii. 27, 29.
Such arguments the Holy Ghost in the apostles thought sufficient to con-
vince men of the existence, unity, spirituality, and patience of God.f Such
arguments had not been used by them and the prophets from the visible
things in the world to silence the Gentiles with whom they dealt, had not
this truth, and much more about God, been demonstrated by natural reason;
they knew well enough that probable arguments would not satisfy piercing
and inquisitive minds.
In Paul's account the testimony of the creatures was without contradic-
tion. God himself justifies this way of proceeding by his own example,
and remits Job to the consideration of the creatures, to spell out something
of his divine perfections, Job xxxviii. xxxix. xl. &c. It is but one truth in
philosophy and divinity, that what is false in one cannot be true in another.
Truth,, in what appearance soever, doth never contradict itself.. And this
is so convincing an argument of the existence of God, that God never
vouchsafed any miracle, or put forth any act of omnipotency, besides what
was evident in the creatures, for satisfaction of the curiosity of any atheist,
or the evincing of his being,! as he hath done for the evidencing those truths
which were not written in the book of nature, or for the restoring a decayed
worship, or the protection or deliverance of his people. Those miracles in
publishing the gospel indeed did demonstrate the existence of some supreme
power ; but they were not seals designedly affixed for that, but for the con-
firmation of that truth which was above the ken of purblind reason, and
purely the birth of divine revelation. Yet what proves the truth of any
spiritual doctrine, proves also in that act the existence of the divine Author
of it. The revelation always implies a revealer; and that which manifests
it to be a revelation, manifests also the supreme revealer of it. By the
* Voet. Theol. natural, cap. iii. § 1, p. 22. f Ibid.
\ Lord Bacon has almost the same words in his sixteenth essay. — Ed.
132 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
same light the sun manifests other things to us it also manifests itself. But
what miracles could rationally be supposed to work upon an atheist, who is
not drawn to a sense of the truth proclaimed aloud by so many wonders of
the creation ?
Let us now proceed to the demonstration of the atheist's folly.
It is folly to deny or doubt of a sovereign being, incomprehensible in his
nature, infinite in his essence and perfections, independent in his operations,
who hath given being to the whole frame of sensible and intelligible crea-
tures, and governs them according to their several natures, by an uncon-
ceivable wisdom, who fills the heavens with the glory of his majesty, and
the earth with the influences of his goodness.
It is a folly inexcusable to renounce in this case all appeal to universal
consent, and the joint assurances of the creatures.
Reason 1. It is a folly to deny or doubt of that which has been the acknow-
ledged sentiment of all nations, in all places and ages. There is no nation
but hath owned some kind of religion, and therefore no nation but hath
consented in the notion of a supreme Creator and Governor.
1. This hath been universal.
2. It hath been constant and uninterrupted.
3. Natural and innate.
1. It hath been universally assented to by the judgments and practices of
all nations in the world.
(1.) No nation hath been exempt from it. All histories of former and
later ages have not produced any one nation but fell under the force of this
truth. Though they have differed in their religions, they have agreed in this
truth; here both heathen, Turk, Jew, and Christian centre without any
contention. No quarrel was ever commenced on this score, though about
other opinions wars have been sharp and enmities irreconcilable. The
notion of the existence of a deity was the same in all, Indians as well as
Britons, Americans as well as Jews.
It hath not been an opinion peculiar to this or that people, to this or that
sect of philosophers, but hath been as universal as the reason whereby men
are differenced from other creatures ; so that some have rather defined man
by animal relifjiosum than animal rationale. It is so twisted with reason,
that a man cannot be accounted rational unless ho own an object of reli-
gion ; therefore he that understands not this renounces his humanity when
he renounceth a divinity.
No instanco can be given of any one peoplo in the world that disclaimed
it. It hath been owned by the wise and ignorant, by the learned and
stupid, by thoso who had no other guide but the dimmest light of nature,
as well as by thoso whoso candles were snuffed by a more polite education;
and that without any solemn debute and contention. Though some philo-
sophers havo boon known to change their opinions in the concerns of
nature, yet none era be proved <o have absolutely changed their opinion
ooBeerning the being of a God. One died for asserting one God, none in
the termer agei upon record bath died for asserting no God. Go to the
utmost bounds of America: you may find people without some broken pi<
of the law of nature, hut not without (his Bignature and stamp upon them,
though they wanted commerce with other nations, except as Bavage as them-
selves, in whom the light of nature was as it were sunk into the socket,
who were hut one remove from brutes, who clothe not their bodies, cover
not their hIuuuo, yet were tiny as soon known to own a God as they v
known to he a people. They were possessed with the notion o( a supremo
being, tho author of tho world, had an object of religious adoratiou, put up
Ps. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 133
prayers to the deity they owned for the good things they wanted and the
diverting the evils they feared. No people so untamed, where absolute,
perfect atheism had gained a footing.
Not one nation of tho world known in the time of the Romans that were
without their ceremonies, whereby they signified their devotion to a deity.
They had their places of worship, where they made their vows, presented
their prayers, offered their sacrifices, and implored the assistance of what
they thought to be a god, and in their distresses ran immediately, without
any deliberation, to their gods ; so that the notion of a deity was as inward
and settled in them as their own souls, and indeed runs in the blood of
mankind. The distempers of the understanding cannot utterly deface it ;
you shall scarce find the most distracted bedlam in his raving fits to deny a
God, though he may blaspheme and fancy himself one.
(2.) Nor doth the idolatry and multiplicity of gods in the world weaken,
but confirm this universal consent. Whatsoever unworthy conceits men
have had of God in all nations, or whatsoever degrading representations
they have made of him, yet they all concur in this, that there is a supreme
power to be adored. Though one people worshipped the sun, others the
fire ; and the Egyptians, gods out of their rivers, gardens, and fields ; yet
the notion of a deity existent, who created and governed the world, and
conferred daily benefits upon them, was maintained by all, though applied
to the stars, and in part to those sordid creatures. All the Dagons of the
world establish this truth, and fall down before it. Had not the nations
owned the being of a God, they had never offered incense to an idol ; had
there not been a deep impression of the existence of a deity, they had never
exalted creatures below themselves to the honour of altars : men could not
so easily have been deceived by forged deities, if they had not had a notion
of a real one. Their fondness to set up others in the place of God, evi-
denced a natural knowledge that there was one who had a right to be wor-
shipped. If there were not this sentiment of a deity, no man would ever
have made an image of a piece of wood, worshipped it, prayed to it, and
said, ' Deliver me, for thou art my god,' Isa. xliv. 17. They applied a
general notion to a particular image. The difference is in the manner and
immediate object of worship, not in the formal ground of worship. The
worship sprung from a true principle, though it was not applied to a right
object : while they were rational creatures they could not deface the notion;
yet while they were corrupt creatures it was not difficult to apply themselves
to a wrong object from a true principle. A blind man knows he hath a way
to go as well as one of the clearest sight, but because of his blindness he
may miss the way and stumble into a ditch. No man would be imposed
upon to take a Bristol stone instead of a diamond, if he did not know that
there were such things as diamonds in the world ; nor any man spread forth
his hands to an idol, if he were altogether without the sense of a deity.
Whether it be a false or a true God men apply to, yet in both, the natural
sentiment of a God is evidenced ; all their mistakes were grafts inserted in
this stock, since they would multiply gods rather than deny a deity.
How should such a general submission be entered into by the world, so as
to adore things of base alloy, if the force of religion were not such, that in any
fashion a man would seek the satisfaction of his natural instinct to some
object of worship.* This great diversity confirms this consent to be a good
argument, for it evidenceth it not to be a cheat, combination, or conspiracy
to deceive, or a mutual intelligence, but every one finds it in his climate,
yea, in himself. People would never have given the title of a god to men
• Charron de la Sagesse, livr. i. chap. 7.
134 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
or brntes, had there not been a pre-existing and unquestioned persuasion,
that there was such a being.* How else should the notion of a God come
into their minds ? The notion that there is a God must be more ancient.
(3.) Whatsoever disputes there have been in the world, this of the exist-
ence of God was never the subject of contention. All other things have
been questioned. What jarrings were there among philosophers about
natural things, into how many parties were they split, with what animosities
did they maintain their several judgments ? But we hear of no solemn con-
troversies about the existence of a Supreme Being. This never met with
any considerable contradiction. No nation, that had put other things to
question, would ever suffer this to be disparaged, so much as by a public
doubt. f We find among the heathen contentions about the nature of God,
and the number of gods. Some asserted an innumerable multitude of gods ;
some affirmed him to be subject to birth and death ; some affirmed the
entire world was God ; others fancied him to be a circle of a bright fire ;
others, that he was a spirit diffused through the whole world : yet they una-
nimously concurred in this, as the judgment of universal reason, that there
was such a sovereign being. And those that were sceptical in every thing
else, and asserted that the greatest certainty was that there was nothing cer-
tain, professed a certainty in this. The question was not whether there
was a first cause, but what it was. \ It is much the same thing as the dis-
putes about the nature and matter of the heavens, the sun and planets ;
though there be a great diversity of judgments, yet all agree that there are
heavens, sun, planets. So all the contentions among men about the nature
of God, weaken not, but rather confirm, that there is a God, since there
was never a public formal debate about his existence. Those that have
been ready to pull out one another's eyes for their dissent from their judg-
ments, sharply censured one another's sentiments, envied the births of one
another's wits, always shook hands with an unanimous consent in this :
never censured one another for being of this persuasion, never called it into
question. As what was never controverted among men professing Christian-
ity, but acknowledged by all, though contending about other things, has
reason to be judged a certain truth belonging to the Christian religion ; so
what was never subjected to any controversy, but acknowledged by the
whole world, hath reason to be embraced as a truth without any doubt.
(4.) This universal consent is not prejudiced by some few dissenters.
History doth not reckon twenty professed atheists in all ages in the compass
of tho wholo world ; § and we have not the name of any ono absolute atheist
upon record in Scripture : yet it is questioned, whether any of them, noted
in history with that infamous name, wero downright deniers of the existence
ot God, but rather becauso they disparaged the deities commonly worshipped
by tho nations where they lived, as being of a clearer reason to discern that
those qualities, vulgarly attributed to their gods, as lust and luxury, wan-
tonness and quarrels, wero unworthy of the nafuro of a God. But suppose
they were really what they :uv termed to be, what are they to tho multitude
of nun tint, have sprung out of the loins of Adam? Not so much ns ono
nt of ashes is to all that were rwr tinned into that form by any tires in
your chiinnevs. And many BOOM were not sullieient to weigh down the con-
trary consent of tho whole world, and hear down an universal impression.
Should the laws of a country, Agreed universally to by the whole body o^L
tho people, he accounted vain, bee. ins. | a hundred men of those millions dis-
approve of them, when not their reason, but their folly and base inter.
# Gtefend, Phyi. ? 1. lii>. 1. oep. 2, X Gktttend. Pnyi. ? 1. lib. 4. cap. 2.
t Amyrant de Religion, (>:■ •■• .»o. § Qieiend. Phyt. | 1. lib. 4. cap. 7.
PS. XIV. l.j TIIE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 135
persuades them to dislike them, and dispute against them ? * What if some
men be blind, shall any conclude from thence that eyes are not natural to
men ? Shall we say that the notion of the existence of God is not natural
to men, because a very small number have been of a contrary opinion ?
Shall a man in a dungeon, that never saw the sun, deny that there is a sun,
because one or two blind men tell him there is none, when thousands assure
him there is ? Why should then the exceptions of a few, not one to mil-
lions, discredit that which is voted certainly true by the joint consent of the
world ? Add this too, that if those that are reported to be atheists had had
any considerable reason to step aside from the common persuasion of the
whole world, it is a wonder it met not with entertainment by great numbers
of those, who, by reason of their notorious wickedness and inward disquiets,
might reasonably be thought to wish in their hearts that there were no God.
It is strange, if there were any reason on their side, that in so long a space
of time as hath run out from the creation of the world, there could not be
engaged a considerable number to frame a society for the profession of it.
It hath died with the person that started it, and vanished as soon as it
appeared.
To conclude this, is it not folly for any man to deny or doubt of the being
of a God, to dissent from all mankind, and stand in contradiction to human
nature ? What is the general dictate of nature is a certain truth. It is
impossible that nature can naturally and universally lie ; and therefore those
that ascribe all to nature, and set it in the place of God, contradict them-
selves, if they give not credit to it in that which it universally affirms. A
general consent of all nations is to be esteemed as a law of nature. f Nature
cannot plant in the minds of all men an assent to a falsity, for then the laws
of nature would be destructive to the reason and the minds of men. How T
is it possible that a falsity should be a persuasion spread through all nations,
engraven upon the minds of all men, men of the most towering and men of the
most creeping understanding ; that they should consent to it in all places,
and in those places where the nations have not had any known commerce
with the rest of the known world ? A consent not settled by any law of
man to constrain people to a belief of it ; and indeed it is impossible that
any law of man can constrain the belief of the mind. Would not he deser-
vedly be accounted a fool, that should deny that to be gold which had been
tried and examined by a great number of knowing goldsmiths, and hath
passed the test of all their touchstones ? What excess of folly would it be
for him to deny it to be true gold, if it had been tried by all that had skill
in that metal in all nations in the world !
2. It hath been a constant and uninterrupted consent. It hath been as
ancient as the first age of the world ; no man is able to mention any time
from the beginning of the world, wherein this notion hath not been univer-
sally owned ; it is as old as mankind, and hath run along with the course
of the sun, nor can the date be fixed lower than that.
(1.) In all the changes of the world this hath been maintained. In the
overturnings of the government of states, the alteration of modes of worship,
this hath stood unshaken. The reasons upon which it was founded were in
all revolutions of time accounted satisfactory and convincing, nor could
absolute atheism, in the changes of any laws, ever gain the favour of any
one body of people to be established by a law. When the honour of the
heathen idols was laid in the dust, this suffered no impair. The being of
one God was more vigorously owned when the unreasonableness of multi-
plicity of gods was manifest, and grew taller by the detection of counterfeits.
* Gassend. Phys. § 1. lib. 4. cap. 2. t Cicero.
136 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
When other parts of the law of nature have been violated by some nations,
this hath maintained its standing. The long series of ages hath been so
far from blotting it out, that it hath more strongly confirmed it, and maketh
further progress in the confirmation of it. Time, which hath eaten out the
strength of other things, and blasted mere inventions, hath not been able to
consume this. The discovery of all other impostures never made this by
any society of men to be suspected as one. It will not be easy to name any
imposture that hath walked perpetually in the world without being discovered
and whipped out by some nation or other. Falsities have never been so
universally and constantly owned without public control and question. And
since the world hath detected many errors of the former age, and learning
been increased, this hath been so far from being dimmed, that it hath shone
out clearer with the increase of natural knowledge, and received fresh anc
more vigorous confirmations.
(2.) The fears and anxieties in the consciencies of men have given men
sufficient occasion to root it out, had it been possible for them to do it. If
the notion of the existence of God had been possible to have been dashed
out of the minds of men, they would have done it rather than have suffered
so many troubles in their souls upon the commission of sin ; since they did
[not] want wickedness and wit in so many corrupt ages to have attempted
it and prospered in it, had it been possible. How comes it therefore to
pass that such a multitude of profligate persons, that have been in the world
since the fall of man, should not have rooted out this principle, and dis-
possessed the minds of men of that which gave birth to their tormenting
fears ? How is it possible that all should agree together in a thing which
created fear, and an obligation against the interest of the flesh, if it had
been free for men to discharge themselves of it ? No man, as far as corrupt
nature bears sway in him, is willing to live controlled.
The first man would rather be a god himself than under one, Gen. iii. 5.
Why should men continue this notion in them, which shackled them in their
vile inclinations, if it had been in their power utterly to deface it ? If it
were an imposture, how comes it to pass that all the wicked ages of the
world could never discover that to be a cheat, which kept them in continual
alarms ? Men wanted not will to shake off such apprehensions ; as Adam,
so all his posterity are desirous to hido themselves from God upon the com-
mission of sin, ver. 9, and by the same reason they would hide God from
their souls. What is tho reason they could never attain their will aud their
wish by all their endeavours ? Could thoy possibly have satisfied them-
selves that there wero no God, thoy had discarded their fears, the dis-
turbers of tho repose of their lives, and boon unbridled in their pleasures.
Tho wickodnoss of tho world would never have preserved that which was a
perpetual molestation to it, had it been possible to bo razed out.
Bat sinco mon, under tho turmoils and lashes of their own consciences,
could never bring their hearts to a sottlcd dissent from this truth, it
ovidenceth, that as it took its birth at the beginning of tho world, it cannot
expire, no, not in tho ashes of it, nor in anything, hut tho reduction of tho
soul to that nothing from trhenoe it ■prong. This concoption is so per-
petual, that Qm nature of tho soul must ho dissolvod boforo it bo rooted out,
nor can it ho extinct whilst tho soul endures.
(:*.) Let it bo considered also by us that own tho Scripturo, that tho devil
deemi it impossible to root out this sentiment. It seems to bo so porpotually
fixod, that the devil did not think fit to tempt man to tho denial of tho
existenco of a doity, but Denuded him to beliovo, ho might ascend to that
dignity, and become a god himself: Gen. iii. 1, 'Hath God said?' and
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 137
he there owns him, ver. 5, ' Ye shall become as gods.' He owns God in
the question he asks the woman, and persuades our first parents to be gods
themselves. And in all stories, both ancient and modern, the devil was
never able to tincture men's minds with a professed denial of the deity,
which would have opened a door to a world of more wickedness than hath
been acted, and took away the bar to the breaking out of that evil, which
is naturally in the hearts of men, to the greater prejudice of human societies.
He wanted not malice to raze out all the notions of God, but power ; he
knew it was impossible to effect it, and therefore in vain to attempt it. He
set up himself in several places of the ignorant world as a god, but never
was able to overthrow the opinion of the being of a God. The impressions
of a deity were so strong as not to be struck out by the malice and power
of hell.
What a folly is it then in any to contradict or doubt of this truth, which
all the periods of time have not been able to wear out ; which all the wars
and quarrels of men with their own consciences have not been able to
destroy; which ignorance, and debauchery, its two greatest enemies, cannot
weaken ; which all the falsehoods and errors which have reigned in one or
other part of the world, have not been able to banish ; which lives in the
consents of men in spite of all their wishes to the contrary, and hath grown
stronger and shone clearer by the improvements of natural reason !
3. Natural and innate, which pleads strongly for the perpetuity of it. It is
natural, though some think it not a principal writ in the heart of man ; * it
is so natural that every man is born with a restless instinct to be of some
kind of religion or other, which implies some object of religion. The im-
pression of a deity is as common as reason, and of the same age with
reason. t It is a relic of knowledge after the fall of Adam, like fire under
ashes, which sparkles as soon as ever the heap of ashes is open ; a notion
sealed up in the soul of every man ;$ else how could those people, who
were unknown to one another, separate by seas and mounts, differing in
various customs and manner of living, had no mutual intelligence one with
mother, light upon this as a common sentiment, if they had not been
guided by one uniform reason in all their minds, by one nature common to
;hem all ; though their climates be different, their tempers and constitutions
various, their imaginations in some things as distant from one another as
leaven is from earth, the ceremonies of their religion not all of the same
lind, yet wherever you find human nature, you find this settled persuasion.
3o that the notion of a God seems to be twisted with the nature of man,
md is the first natural branch of common reason, or upon either the first
nspection of a man into himself and his own state and constitution, or upon
he first sight of any external visible object. Nature within man, and nature
vithout man, agree upon the first meeting together to form this sentiment,
hat there is a God. It is as natural as anything we call a common prin-
ciple. One thing which is called a common principle and natural is, that
he whole is greater than the parts. If this be not born with us, yet the
exercise of reason, essential to man, settles it as a certain maxim ; upon the
lividing anything into several parts, he finds every part less than when they
fere all together. By the same exercise of reason, we cannot cast our eyes
pon anything in the world, or exercise our understandings upon ourselves,
ut we must presently imagine there was some cause of those things, some
ause of myself and my own being, so that this truth is as natural to man as
.nything he can call most natural or a common principle.
• Pink. Eph. vi. p. 10, 11. % Amyrant des Keligions, p. 6-9.
t King on Jonah, p. 16.
108 chaenock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
It must be confessed by all, that there is a law of nature writ upon the
hearts of men, which will direct them to commendable actions, if they will
attend to the writing in their own consciences. This law cannot be con-
sidered without the notice of a lawgiver. For it is but a natural and
obvious conclusion, that some superior hand engrafted those principles in
man, since he finds something in him twitching him upon the pursuit of
uncomely actions, though his heart be mightily inclined to them ; man
knows he never planted this principle of reluctancy in his own soul; he can
never be the cause of that which he cannot be friends with. If he were the
cause of it, why doth he not rid himself of it ? No man would endure a
thing that doth frequently molest and disquiet him, if he could cashier it.
It is therefore sown in man by some hand more powerful than man, which
riseth so high and is rooted so strong, that all the force that man can use
cannot pull it up. If therefore this principle be natural in man, and the
law of nature be natural, the notion of a lawgiver must be as natural as the
notion of a printer, or that there is a printer is obvious upon the sight of a
stamp impressed ; after this the multitude of effects in the world step in to
strengthen this beam of natural light, and fche direct conclusion from thence
is, that that power which made those outward objects, implanted this
inward principle ; this is sown in us, born with us, and sprouts up with our
growth ; or as one saith,* it is like letters carved upon the bark of a young
plant, which grows up together with us, and the longer it grows the letters
are more legible.
This is the ground of this universal consent, and why it may well be
termed natural.
This will more evidently appear to be natural, because,
[1.] This consent could not be by mere tradition.
[2.] Nor by any mutual intelligence of governors to keep people in,
awe, which are two things the atheist pleads. The first hath no strong,
foundation, and that other is as absurd and foolish as it is wicked and
abominable.
[3.] Nor was it fear first introduced it. I
[1.] It could not be by mere tradition. Many things indeed are enter-
tained by posterity, which their ancestors delivered to them, and that out oi
a common reverence to their forefathers, and an opinion that they had a
better prospect of things than the increaso of the corruption of succeeding
ages would permit them to have.
Bill if this bo a tradition handed from our ancestors, they also must re-r
ceive it from theirs ; wo must then ascend to the first man, we cannot els<;
Bftpe a confounding ourselves with running into infinite. Was it then thi
only tradition ha left to them ? Is it not probablo he acquainted them witllj
other things in conjunction with this, the nature of God, tho way to worshijj
him, tl aer of the world's existence, his own stato ? Wo may reason
ably suppose him to have a good stock of knowledge ; what is bocomo of it J
It cannot be supposed, that the first man should acquaint his posterity wit
an object of worship, and leave them ignorant of a mode of worship, and c\
the end of worship. We find in Scripture his immediate posterity did th I
first, in sum tires, and without, doubt they were not ignorant of tho otheJ
I low come men to be so uncertain in all other things, and so confident*
this, if it were only a tradition P Bow did debates and irreconcilable que:
fcumi start Dp Concerning Other things, and this remain untouched, hut by
small number ? Whatsoever tradition the first man left besides this, is losi
and DO way recoverable, but by the revelation God hath made in his word
* Charleton.
'S. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.
139
How comes it to pass, this of a God is longer lived than all the rest, which
'e may suppose man left to his immediate descendants ? How come men
) retain the one and forget the other ? What was the reason this survived
ae ruin of the rest, and surmounted the uncertainties into which the other
ink ? Was it likely it should be handed down alone without other attend-
nts on it at first ? Why did it not expire among the Americans, who have
>st the account of their own descent, and the stock from whence they sprung,
ad cannot reckon above eight hundred or a thousand years at most ? Why
as not the manner of the worship of a God transmitted, as well as that of
is existence ? How came men to dissent in their opinions concerning his
ature, whether he was corporeal or incorporeal, finite or infinite, omnipre-
3nt or limited ? Why were not men as negligent to transmit this of his
dstence as that of his nature ? No reason can be rendered for the security
f this above the other, but that there is so clear a tincture of a Deity upon
le minds of men, such traces and shadows of him in the creatures, such
idelible instincts within, and invincible arguments without to keep up this
aiversal consent. The characters are so deep that they cannot possibly be
ized out, which would have been one time or other, in one nation or other,
ad it depended only upon tradition, since one age shakes off frequently the
mtiments of the former.
I cannot think of above one which may be called a tradition, which indeed
as kept up among all nations, viz., sacrifices, which could not be natural
i at instituted. What ground could they have in nature, to imagine that the
ilood of beasts could expiate and wash off the guilt and stains of a rational
mature ? Yet they had in all places (but among the Jews, and some of
lem only) lost the knowledge of the reason and end of the institution, which
ie Scripture acquaints us was to typify and signify the redemption by the
romised seed. This tradition hath been superannuated and laid aside in
'iost parts of the world, while this notion of the existence of a God hath
•ood firm.
Eut suppose it were a tradition, was it likely to be a mere intention* and
gment of the first man ? Had there been no reason for it, his posterity
ould soon have found out the weakness of its foundation. What advantage
ad it been to him to transmit so great a falsehood, to kindle the fears or
! iise the hopes of his posterity, if there were no God ? It cannot be sup-
: osed he should be so void of that natural affection men in all ages bear to
teir descendants, as so grossly to deceive them, and be so contrary to the
mplicity and plainness which appears in all things nearest their original.
[2.] Neither was it by any mutual intelligence of governors among them-
Wves, to keep people in subjection to them. If it were a political design at
rst, it seems it met with the general nature of mankind very ready to give
entertainment.
1 First, It is unaccountable how this should come to pass. It must be
ther by a joint assembly of them, or a mutual correspondence. If by any
jsembly, who were the persons ? Let the name of any one be mentioned.
'/Tien was the time ? Where was the place of this appearance ? By what
ithority did they meet together ? Who made the first motion, and first
arted this great principle of policy ? By what means could they as-
mble from such distant parts of the world ? Human histories are utterly
lent in it, and the Scripture, the ancientest history, gives an account of
;e attempt of Babel, but not a word of any design of this nature.
' What mutual correspondence could such have, whose interests are for the
ost part different, and their designs contrary to one another ? How could
* Qu. ' invention' ?— En.
140 chaknock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1.
they, who were divided by such vast seas, have this mutual converse ? How
could those, who were different in their customs and manners, agree so
unanimously together in one thing to gull the people ? If there had been
such a correspondence between the governors of all nations, what is the
reason some nations should be unknown to the world till of late times ? How
could the business be so secretly managed, as not to take vent, and issue in
a discovery to the world ? Can reason suppose so many in a joint conspi-
racy, and no man's conscience in this life under sharp afflictions, or on his
deathbed, when conscience is most awakened, constrain him to reveal
openly the cheat that beguiled the world ? How came they to be so unani-
mous in this notion, and to differ in their rites almost in every country ?
Why could they not agree in one mode of worship throughout all the world,
as well as in this universal notion ? If there were not a mutual intelligence,
it cannot be conceived how in every nation such a state engineer should rist<
up with the same trick to keep people in awe. What is the reason we can-
not find any law in any one nation, to constrain men to the belief of the'
existence of a God, since politic stratagems have been often fortified by laws V
Besides, such men make use of principles received to effect their contrivances 1
and are not so impolitic as to build designs upon principles that have nc 1
foundation in nature. Some heathen law-givers have pretended a converse
with their gods to make their laws be received by the people with a greate:
veneration, and fix with stronger obligation the observance and perpetuity o. 1
them ; but this was not the introducing of a new principle, but the supposi'
tion of an old received notion, that there was a God, and an application o
that principle to their present design. The pretence had been vain had no
the notion of a God been ingrafted. Politicians are so little possessed witl
a reverence of God, that the first mighty one in the Scripture (which ma*
reasonably gain with the atheist the credit of the ancientest history in tin'
word), is represented without any fear of God. Gen. x. 9, ' Nimrod was I
mighty hunter before the Lord.' An invader and oppressor of his neigh'
hours, and reputed the introducer of a new worship, and being the first tha
built cities after the ilood (as Cain was the first builder of them before th»
flood), built also idolatry with them, and erected a new worship, and wa
so far from strengthening that notion the people had of God, that he en
deavoured to corrupt it ; the first idolatry in common histories being notei
to proceed from that part of tho world, the ancientest idol being at Baby lor
and supposed to be first invented by this person. Whenco by the way pel
haps Koine is in tho Kevelations called Babylon, with respect to that simili
tude of their saint-worship, to the idolatry first set up in that place.* It i
evident politicians have often changed the worship of a nation, but it is nc
upon record, that the first thoughts of an object of worship over entered int
tin: mindfl of people by any trick of theirs.
I Jut to return to tho present argument ; tho being of a God is owned b
BOme nations that havo scarce any form of policy among thorn. It is a
wonderful how any wit should hit upon such an invention, as it is absurd t
Ascribe it to any human device, if there were not prevailing arguments t
constrain the eonsent. Besides, how is it possible they should deceive then
Selves ? \\ hat is the reason the greatest politicians havo their tears of
deity upon their unjust practices, as well as other men, they intended i
befool '■' How many of them have had forlorn consciences upon a deathluu
upon tho consideration of a God to answer an account to in another world
* Or if we Qndei it&nd it, .1 I 10016 think, that he defended Ins invasions undei
text of the pre srving reli fion, it ■. that thoro was a notion of an ol
religion before, since p m oan be without an object of worship*
?S. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 141
.8 it credible they should be frighted by that wherewith they knew they
)eguiled others ? No man satisfying his pleasures would impose such a
leceit upon himself, or render and make himself more miserable than the
,reatures he hath dominion over.
Secondly, It is unaccountable how it should endure so long a time ; that
his policy should be so fortunate as to gain ground in the consciences of
nen, and exercise an empire over them, and meet with such an universal
iiuccess. If the notion of a God were a state-engine, and introduced by some
politic grandees for the ease of government, and preserving people with more
elicity in order, how comes it to pass the first broachers of it were never
ipon record ? There is scarce a false opinion vented in the world, but may
,s a stream be traced to the first head and fountain. The inventors of par-
icular forms of worship are known, and the reasons why they prescribed
hem known ; but what grandee was the author of this ? who can pitch a
ime and person that sprung up this notion ? If any be so insolent as to
mpose a cheat, he can hardly be supposed to be so successful as to deceive
he whole world for many ages. Impostures pass not free through the whole
rorld without examination and discovery. Falsities have not been univer-
ally and constantly owned without control and question. If a cheat imposeth
,pon some towns and countries, he will be found out by the more piercing
iquiries of other places ; and it is not easy to name any imposture that hath
/alked so long in its disguise in the world, without being unmasked and
fhipped out by some nation or other. If this had been a mere trick, there
|/ould have been as much craft in some to discern it as there was in others
ip contrive it. No man can be imagined so wise in a kingdom, but others
pay be found as wise as himself ; and it is not conceivable that so many
ilear-sighted men in all ages should be ignorant of it, and not endeavour to
[fee the world from so great a falsity.* It cannot be found that a trick of
.bate should a 1 ways beguile men of the most piercing insights, as well as the
lost credulous. That a few crafty men should befool all the wise men in
pie world, and the world lie in a belief of it, and never like to be freed from
i. What is the reason the succeeding politicians never knew this stratagem,
ince their maxims are usually handed to their successors ? f
This persuasion of the existence of God, owes not itself to any imposture
r subtlety of men. If it had not been agreeable to common nature and
-pason, it could not so long have borne sway. The imposed yoke would
,ave been cast off by multitudes. Men would not have charged themselves
ith that which was attended with consequences displeasing to the flesh, and
indered them from a full swing of their rebellious passions ; such a shackle
ould have mouldered of itself, or been broke by the extravagances human
tature is inclined unto. The wickedness of men, without question, hath
rompted them to endeavour to unmask it, if it were a cozenage, but could
ever yet be so successful as to free the world from a persuasion, or their
,vra consciences from the tincture, of the existence of a deity. It must be,
lerefore, of an ancienter date than the craft of statesmen, and descend into
le world with the first appearance of human nature. Time, which hath
ictified many errors, improves this notion, makes it shock down its roots
eeper, and spread its branches larger.
It must be a natural truth that shines clear by the detection of those errors
lat have befooled the world, and the wit of man is never able to name any
uman author that first insinuated it into the beliefs of men.
[3.] Nor was it fear first introduced it. Fear is the consequent of wicked-
* Fotherby, A theomastrix, p. 64.
t ' And there is not a Kichelieu, but leaves his axioms to a Mazarin.'
142 ckaknock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1
ness. As man was not created with any inherent sin, so he was not create<
with any terrifying fears ; the one had been against the holiness of the Crea
tor, the other against his goodness. Fear did not make this opinion, bn
the opinion of the being of a deity was the cause of this fear, after his sens'
of angering the deity by his wickedness. The object of fear is before th
act of fear ; there could not be an act of fear exercised about the deity, ti]
it was believed to be existent, and not only so, but offended. For God, a
existent only, is not the object of fear or love : it is not the existence of
thing that excites any of those affections, but the relation a thing bears to u
in particular. God is good, and so the object of love, as well as just, an
thereby the object of fear. He was as much called love (E^w;) and mens, c
mind, in regard of his goodness and understanding, by the heathens, as muc
as by any other name. Neither of those names were proper to insinuat
fear, neither was fear the first principle that made the heathens worship
god. They offered sacrifices out of gratitude to some, as well as to othei
out of fear ; the fear of evils in the world, and the hopes of belief and assis
ance from their gods, and not a terrifying fear of God, was the principal spriD
of their worship. When calamities from the hands of men, or judgments b
the influences of heaven, were upon them, they implored that which the
thought a deity. It was not their fear of him, but a hope in his goodnes
and persuasion of remedy from him, for the averting those evils, that renden
them adorers of a god. If they had not had pre-existent notions of his beir
and goodness, they would never have made addresses to him, or so frequent 1
sought to that they only apprehended as a terrifying object.* When yc<
hear men calling upon God in a time of affrighting thunder, you cann
imagine that the fear of thunder did first introduce the notion of a God, h
implies that it was before apprehended by them, or stamped upon ther
though their fear doth at present actuate that belief, and engage them in<
present exercise of piety ; and whereas the Scripture saith, * the fear of G<
is the beginning of wisdom,' Prov. ix. 10, Ps. cxi. 10, or of all religion, it
not understood of a distracted and terrifying fear, but a reverential fear
him, because of his holiness, or a worship of him, a submission to him, ai
sincere seeking of him.
Well then, is it not a folly for an atheist to deny that which is the reas<
and common sentiment of the whole world, to strip himself of humanity, n
counter to his own consience, prefer a private before a universal judgmei
mve the lie to his own nature and reason, assert things impossible to
proved, nay, impossible to be acted, forge irrationalities for the support'
liis fancy against the common persuasion of tho world, and against hiinscj
ami so much of God as is manifest in him and every man ? Rom. i. 19.
Beaton 2. It is a folly to deny that which all creatures, or all things in fcl
world manifest. y Let us viow this in Scripture since we acknowledge it, a i
after consider tin.' arguments from natural reason.
The apottle resolves it: Rom. i. 19, 20, 'The invisiblo things of him
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are with<
They Know, 0I might know, by tho things that were made,
eternity and power of iti"\ ; their sense might take circuit about every obj<
and their minds collect the being, and something of the perfections oi'
deity. The first discourse of the mind npon the sight of a delicate i
workmanship, is the conclusion of the being of an artificer, and the adi
lion of his skill and industry. The apostle doth not say, the invisihlc tlii:
• Qatatnd. i k. l, L I. a B, p. 2W, 292.
t Jupitei eat quodouoqus vales, &o.
PS. XIY. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 143
of God are believed, or they have an opinion of them, but they are seen, and
clearly seen. They are like crystal glasses, which give a clear representation
of the existence of a deity, like that mirror reported to bo in a temple in
Arcadia, which represented to the spectator, not his own face, but the image
of that deity which he worshipped.
The whole world is like a looking-glass, which whole and entire represents
the image of God, and every broken piece of it, every little shred of a crea-
ture, doth the like ; not only the great ones, elephants and the leviathan,
but ants, flies, worms, whose bodies rather than names we know ; the great
cattle and the creeping things, Gen. i. 24. Not naming there any interme-
diate creature, to direct us to view him in the smaller letters, as well as the
greater characters of the world. His name is glorious, and his attributes
are excellent ' in all the earth,' Ps. viii. 1, in every creature, as the glory of
the sun is in every beam and smaller flash ; he is seen in every insect, in
every spire of grass. The voice of the Creator is in the most contemptible
loreature.* The apostle adds that they are so clearly seen, that men are
inexcusable if they have not some knowledge of God by them ; if they might
not certainly know them, they might have some excuse. So that his exist-
ence is not only probably, but demonstratively, proved from the things of the
i world.
Especially the heavens declare him, which God ' stretches out like a cur-
tain,' Ps. civ. 2, or as some render the word, ' a skin,' whereby is signified,
that heaven is as an open book, which was anciently made of the skins of
beasts, that by the knowledge of them we may be taught the knowledge of
God. Where the Scripture was not revealed, the world served for a witness
jof a God; whatever arguments the Scripture uses to prove it are drawn
(from nature (though indeed it doth not so much prove as suppose the exist-
ence of a God), but what arguments it uses are from the creatures, and
particularly the heavens, which are the public preachers of this doctrine.
The breath of God sounds to all the world through those organ pipes. His
being is visible in their existence, his wisdom in their frame, his power in
their motion, his goodness in their usefulness; for 'their voice goeth to the
end of the earth,' Ps. xix. 1, 2. They have a voice, and their voice is as
intelligible as any common language. And those are so plain heralds of a
fdeity, that the heathen mistook them for deities, and gave them a particular
adoration which was due to that god they declared. The first idolatry
seems to be of those heavenly bodies, which began probably in the time of
; Nimrod. In Job's time it is certain they admired the glory of the sun and
the brightness of the moon, not without kissing their hand, a sign of adora-
tion, Job xxxi. 25, 27. It is evident a man may as well doubt whether there
be a sun, when he sees his beams gilding the earth, as doubt whether there
be a God, when he sees his works spread in the world.
The things in the world declare the existence of a God.
1, In their production; 2, harmony; 3, preservation; 4, answering their
several ends.
1. In their production. The declaration of the existence of God was
the chief end for which they were created, that the notion of a supreme and
independent eternal being might easier incur into the active understanding
of man from the objects of sense dispersed in every corner of the world,
that he might pay a homage and devotion to the Lord of all: Isa. xl. 12,
fl3, 18, 19, &c, ' Have you not understood from the foundation of the
earth, it is he that sits upon the circle of the heaven,' &c. How could
this great heap be brought into being unless a God had framed it ? Every
* Banes in Aquin., Par. 2, Qu. 2, Artie. 2, p. 78, col. 2.
144 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
plant, every atom, as well as every star, at the first meeting whispers thi
in our ears, I have a Creator, I am witness to a deity. Who ever sa
statues or pictures, but presently thinks of a statuary and limner ? W
beholds garments, ships, or houses, but understands there was a weaver,
carpenter, an architect ?* Who can cast his eyes about the world, but mu
think of that power that formed it, and that the goodness which appears
the formation of it hath a perfect residence in some being ? ' Those things
that are good must flow from something perfectly good; that which is chief
in any kind is the cause of all of that kind. Fire, which is most hot, is the
cause of all things which are hot. There is some being therefore which is
the cause of all that perfection which is in the creature, and this is God'
(Aquin. i. qu. 2, art. 3). All things that are demonstrate something from
whence they are. All things have a contracted perfection, and what they
have is communicated to them. Perfections are parcelled out among several
creatures. Anything that is imperfect cannot exist of itself. We are led
therefore by them to consider a fountain which bubbles up in all perfection,
a hand which distributes those several degrees of being and perfection to
what we see. We see that which is imperfect, our minds conclude some-
thing perfect to exist before it ; our eye sees the streams, but our under
standing riseth to the head ; as the eye sees the shadow, but the under
standing informs us whether it be the shadow of a man or of a beast.
God hath given us sense to behold the objects in the world, and under-
standing to reason his existence from them ; the understanding cannot i
conceive a thing to have made itself, that is against all reason, Rom. i. 20. K
As they are made, they speak out a maker, and cannot be a trick of chance,
since they are made with such an immense wisdom, that is too big for the -
grasp of all human understanding. Those that doubt whether the existence j
of God be an implanted principle, yet agree that the effects in the world ,
lead to a supreme and universal cause ; and that if we have not the know-
ledge of it rooted in our natures, yet we have it by discourse, since by all
masters of reason a processus in infinitum must be accounted impossible in '
subordinate causes.
This will appear in several things.
(1.) The world and every creature had a beginning. The Scripture ascer-
tains this to us, Gen. i. David, who was not the first man, gives the praise
to God of his being 'curiously wrought,' &c, Ps. cxxxix. 14, 15. God
gave being to men, and plants, and beasts, before they being to one,t : ,
another. He gives being to them now as the fountain of all being, thou
the several modes of being are from the several natures of second causes.
It is true indeed we are ascertained that they were made by the true God,
that they were made by his word (' By faith we understand that the worlds. .
were framed by the word of God,' &c, Heb. xi. 8), that thoy wero made o(
nothing, and not only this lower world wherein we live, but according to i
the Jewish division, the world of men, tho world of stars, and the world of
spirits and souls. Wo do not waver in it, or doubt of it, as tho heathen
did in their disputes; we know they aro the workmanship of the truo God M
of that God wo ftdore, not of false gods. 'By his word:' without any
instrument Or engine as in earthly structures; 'of things which do not,
appear:' without au\ pro-existent matter, as all artificial works of men are
framed.
Vet, the proof of the beginning of the world is affirmed with gooA
and if it, had a beginning, it bad also somo higher cause than itself;
effect bath a cause.
* Philo, ex lVtav. Tlicol. 1 »<';:. kom. L lih. 1, cap. 1, p. 4, somewhat clou:
PS. XIV. I.J THE EXISTENCE OP GOD. 145
The world was not eternal or from eternity.* The matter of the world
cannot be eternal; matter cannot subsist without form, nor put on any form
without the action of some cause ; this cause must be in being before it
acted ; that which is not cannot act. The cause of the world must neces-
sarily exist before any matter was endued with any form ; that therefore
cannot be eternal before which another did subsist. If it were from
eternity, it would not be subject to mutation ; if the whole was from
eternity, why not also the parts ? What makes the changes so visible,
,hen, if eternity would exempt it from mutability ?
. [1.] Time cannot be infinite, and therefore the world not eternal;! all
motion hath its beginning ; if it were otherwise, we must say the number of
leavenly revolutions of days and nights, which are past to this instant, is
actually infinite, which cannot be in nature. If it were so, it must needs
De granted that a part is equal to the whole ; because infinite being equal to
nfinite, the number of days past in all ages to the beginning of one year
aeing infinite (as they would be, supposing the world had no beginning),
jvould by consequence be equal to the number of days which shall pass to
;he end of the next; whereas the number of days past is indeed but a part,
ind so a part would be equal to the whole.
[2.] Generations of men, animals, and plants could not be from eternity. J
It any man say the world was from eternity, then there must be propaga-
tions of living creatures in the same manner as are at this day, for without
;his the world could not consist. What we see now done must have been
perpetually done, if it be done by a necessity of nature ; but we see nothing
iow that doth arise but by a mutual propagation from another. If the
vorld were eternal, therefore, it must be so in all eternit}'. Take any par-
icular species, suppose a man, if men were from eternity, then there were
nerpetual generations, some were born into the world and some died. Now
he natural condition of generation is, that a man doth not generate a man,
lor a sheep a lamb, as soon as ever itself is brought into the world, but
; ;$ets strength and vigour by degrees, and must arrive to a certain stated age
>efore they can produce the like ; for whilst anything is little and below the
lue age, it cannot increase its kind. Men therefore and other creatures did
tropagate their kind by the same law, not as soon as ever they were born,
;»ut in the interval of some time, and children grew up by degrees in the
bother's womb till they were fit to be brought forth. If this be so, then
rhere could not be an eternal succession of propagating ; for there is no
ternal continuation of time. Time is always to be conceived as having
ne part before another; but that perpetuity of nativities is always after
; ome time, wherein it could not be for the weakness of age. If no man,
! ien, can conceive a propagation from eternity, there must be then a
eginning of generation in time, and consequently the creatures were made
l time.
To express it in the words of one of our own : ' If the world were eternal,
: j must have been in the same posture as it is now, in a state of generation
nd corruption ; and so corruption must have been as eternal as generation,
nd then things that do generate and corrupt must have eternally been, and
ternally not have been : there must be some first way to set generation on
r ork.' § We must lose ourselves in our conceptions ; we cannot conceive
father before a child, as well as we cannot conceive a child before a father ;
nd reason is quite bewildered, and cannot return into a right way of con-
* Daille, 20 Serm. Psa. cii. p. 13, 14.
t Daille ut supra. J Petav. Theo. Dogmat. torn. i. lib. 1, cap. 2, p. 15.
§ Wolseley of Atheism, page 47.
VOL. I. K
146 charnock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1.
ception till it conceive one first of every kind : one first man, one first ani-
mal, one first plant, from whence others do proceed. The argument is unan-
swerable, and the wisest atheist (if any atheist can be called wise) cannot
unloose the knot. We must come to something that is first in every kind,
and this first must have a cause, not of the same kind, but infinite and
independent ; otherwise men run into inconceivable labyrinths and contra-
dictions.
Man, the noblest creature upon earth, hath a beginning. No man in
the world but was some 3 r ears ago no man. If every man we see had
beginning, then the first man had also a beginning, then the world had
beginning ; for the earth, which was made for the use of man, had wanted
that end for which it was made. ' We must pitch upon some one man that was
unborn ;'* that first man must either be eternal, — that cannot be, for he that
hath no beginning hath no end, — or must spring out of the earth, as plants
and trees do, — that cannot be. Why should not the earth produce men to
this day, as it doth plants and trees ? He was therefore made ; and what-
soever is made hath some cause that made it, which is God. If the world
were uncreated, f it were then immutable, but every creature upon [the earth
is in a continual flux, always changing. If things be mutable, they were
created; if created, they were made by some author; whatsoever hath a
beginning must have a maker ; if the world hath a beginning, there was then
a time when it was not : it must have some cause to produce it. That which
makes is before that which is made, and this is God ; which will appear
further in this
Prop. No creature can make itself: the world could not make itself.
If every man had a beginning, every man then was once nothing ; he
could not then make himself, because nothing cannot be the cause of some-
thing : Ps. c. 3, ' The Lord he is God : he hath made us, and not we our-
selves.' Whatsoever begun in time, was not; and when it was nothing, it
had nothing, and could do nothing : and therefore could never give to itself
nor to any other to be, or to be able to do ; for then it gave what it had not,
and did what it could not. J Since reason must acknowledge * first of every
kind, a first man, &c, it must acknowledge him created and made, not by him-
self. Why have not other men since risen up by themselves ? Not by chance ;
why hath not chance produced the like in that long time the world hath
stood ? If we never knew any thing give being to itself, how can we ima-
gine any thing ever could ? If the chiefest part of this lower world cannot,
nor any pari of it hath been known to give being to itself, then the whole
cannot be supposed to give any being to itself. Man did not form himself:.
bifl body is not from himself; it would then have the power of moving
itself, but that is not able to live or act without the presence of the soul.
Whilst the soul is present, tho body moves; when that is absent, the body
lies as a si i] log, not having the least action or motion. His soul
could DOt form itself; can ihat which cannot form the least mote, the least
grain of dust, form itself a nobler BllbBtance limn any upon the earth?
Thil will he evident to every man's reason, if we consider,
1. Nothing can aot before it be. The first man was not, and then
could Dot make himself to be : for any thing to produce itself is to act ; if it
acted before it was, it was then something and nothing at the same time ;l
it had then a being boforo it had a being; it acted when it brought it
into being. How oould it aot without a being, without it was? So that ill
it were the cause of itself, it must be before itself as well as after itself: i
* lviav. ;// supra, page 10. | Dumuaon.
X Petav. Thooa. Dog. torn. i. lib. i. cap. 8, page 14.
Id
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OP GOD. 147
was before it was ; it was as a cause before it was as an effect. Action
always supposes a principle from whence it flows ; as nothing hath no exist-
ence, so it hath no operation ; there must be therefore something of real
existence to give a being to those things that are, and every cause must be
an effect of some other before it be a cause. To be and not be at the same
time, is a manifest contradiction, which would be if any thing made itself.
That which makes is always before that which is made. Who will say the
house is before tho carpenter, or the picture before the limner ? The world
as a creator must be before itself as a creature.
2. That which doth not understand itself, and order itself, could not make
itself. If the first man fully understood his own nature, the excellency of
his own soul, the manner of its operations, why was not that understanding
conveyed to his posterity ? Are not many of them found, w r ho understand
their own nature almost as little as a beast understands itself, or a rose
understands its own sweetness, or a tulip its own colours ? The Scripture
indeed gives us an account how this came about, viz., by the deplorable
rebellion of man, whereby death was brought upon them, a spiritual death,
which includes ignorance as well as an inability to spiritual action, Gen.
ii. 17, Ps. xlix. 8. Thus he fell from his honour, and became like the beasts
that perish, and not retaining God in his knowledge, retained not himself in
his own knowledge.
But what reply can an atheist make to it, who acknowledges no higher
cause than nature ? J£ the soul made itself, how comes it to be so muddy,
so wanting in its knowledge of itself and of other things ? If the soul made
its own understanding, whence did the defect arise ? If some first principle
was settled by the first man in himself, where was the stop, that he did not
implant all in his own mind, and consequently in the minds of all his descend-
ants ? Our souls know little of themselves, little of the world, are every day
upon new inquiries, have little satisfaction in themselves, meet with many
an invincible rub in their way ; and when they seem to come ^to some reso-
lution in some cases, stagger again, and like a stone rolled up to the top of
the hill, quickly find themselves again at the foot. How come they to be so
purblind in truth ? so short of that which they judge true goodness ? How
comes it to pass they cannot order their own rebellious affections, and suffer
the reins they have to hold over their affections to be taken out of their
hands by the unruly fancy and flesh ?
Thus no man that denies the being of a God, and the revelation in Scrip-
ture, can give an account of. Blessed be God that we have the Scripture,
which gives us an account of those things, that all the wit of men could
never inform us of ; and that when they are discovered and known by reve-
lation, they appear not contrary to reason.
3. If the first man made himself, how came he to limit himself? If he
gave himself being, why did he not give himself all the perfections and orna-
ments of being ? Nothing that made itself could sit down contented with a
little, but would have had as much power to give itself that which is less, as
to give itself being when it was nothing. The excellencies it wanted had not
been more difficult to gain than the other which it possessed, as belonging
to its nature. If the first man had been independent upon another, and had
his perfection from himself, he might have acquired that perfection he
wanted, as well as have bestowed upon himself that perfection he had ; and
then there would have been no bounds set to him. He would have been
omniscient and immutable. He might have given himself what he would ;
if he had had the setting his own bounds, he would have set none at all ; for
what should restrain him ? No man now wants ambition to be what he is
148 charnock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1.
not ; and if the first man had not been determined by another, but had given
himself being, he would not have remained in that determinate being, no
more than a toad would remain a toad, if it had power to make itself a man,
and that power it would have had, if it had given itself a being. "Whatso-
ever gives itself being, would give itself all degrees of being, and so would
have no imperfection, because every imperfection is a want of some degree
of being.* He that could give himself matter and life, might give himself
every thing. The giving of life is an act of omnipotence, and what is omni-
potent in one thing, may be in all. Besides, if the first man had made
himself, he would have conveyed himself to all his posterity in the same
manner ; every man would have had all the perfections of the first man, as
every creature hath the perfections of the same kind ; from whence it natu-
rally issues, all are desirous to communicate what they can to their pos-
terity. Communicative goodness belongs to every nature. Every plant
propagates its kind in the same perfection it hath itself; and the nearer any-
thing comes to a rational nature, the greater affection it hath to that which
descends from it ; therefore this affection belongs to a rational nature much
more. The first man, therefore, if he had had power to give himself being, and
consequently all perfection, he would have had as much power to convey it
down to his posterity ; no impediment could have stopped his way : then
all souls proceeding from that first man would have been equally intellectual.
What should hinder them from inheriting the same perfections ? whence
should they have diverse qualifications and difference* in their understand-
ings ? No man then would have been subject to those weaknesses, doubt-
ings, and unsatisfied desires of knowledge and perfection. But being all
souls are not alike, it is certain they depend upon some other cause for the
communication of that excellency they have. If the perfections of men be
so contracted and kept within certain bounds, it is certain that they were
not in his own power, and so were not from himself. Whatsoever hath a
determinate being must be limited by some superior cause. There is there-
fore some superior power, that hath thus determined the creature by set
bounds and distinct measures, and hath assigned to every one its proper
nature, that it should not be greater or less than it is ; who hath said of
every one, as of the waves of the sea, Job xxxviii. 11, 'Hitherto shalt
thou come, but no further ;' and this is God. Man could not have
reserved any perfection from his posterity ; for since he doth propagate not
by choice but nature, he could no more have kept back any perfection from
them than he could, as ho pleased, have given any perfection belonging
to his nature to them.
4. That which hath power to givo itself being, cannot want power to pro-
servo that being. J 'reservation is not moro difficult than creation. If the
first man made himself, why did ho not preservo himself? Ho is not now
among the living in the world. How came ho to bo so feeblo as to sink
into the grave ? Why did he not inspire himself with now heat and moisture,
and fill his languishing limbs and declining body with new strength? Why
did ho Dot chase away discuses and death at the first approach ? What en
turo can tin<l I ho dust of the first man ? All his posterity traverse tho st
;md rutin again ; in a short ipaec again their ' age departs, and is removed
from thnii at a shepherd's tent, and is cut off with pining sickness, 1 1
xxxviii. 12. The life of nan il as a wind, and like a cloud that is con-
sumed and vanishes away. 'Tho eye that soos him shall Bee him no more.
Ho returns not to his house, neither doth his place know him any moro,'
* Thcrcforo the beatheni called God rh 6V, the only being. Other things wore
not being*, because they hud not nil deglSSI of being.
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 149
Job vii. 8, 10. The Scripture gives us the reason of this, and lays it upon
the score of sin against his Creator, which no man without revelation can
give any satisfactory account of.
Had the first man made himself, he had been sufficient for himself, able
to support himself without the assistance of any creature. He would not
have needed animals and plants, and other helps to nourish and refresh him,
nor medicines to cure him. He could not be beholding to other things for
his support, which he is certain he never made for himself. His own nature
would have continued that vigour which once he had conferred upon him-
self. He would not have needed the heat and light of the sun ; he would
have wanted nothing sufficient for himself in himself; he needed not have
sought without himself for his own preservation and comfort. What de-
pends upon another is not of itself, and what depends upon things inferior
to itself is less of itself. Since nothing can subsist of itself, since we see
those things upon which man depends for his nourishment and subsistence
growing and decaying, starting into the world and retiring from it, as well
as man himself, some preserving cause must be concluded upon which all
depends.
5. If the first man did produce himself, why did he not produce himself
before ?
It hath been already proved that he had a beginning, and could not be
from eternity. Why then did he not make himself before ? Not because
he would not. For having no being, he could have no will ; he could
neither be willing nor not willing. If he could not then, how could he after-
wards ? If it were in his own power he could have done it, he would have
done it ; if it were not in his own power, then it was in the power of some
other cause, and that is God. How came he by that power to produce him-
self? If the power of producing himself were communicated by another,
then man could not be the cause of himself. That is the cause of it which
communicated that power to it. But if the power of being was in and from
himself, and in no other, nor communicated to him, man would always have
been in act, and always have existed, no hindrance can be conceived. For
that which had the power of being in itself was invincible by anything that
should stand in the way of its own being.
We may conclude from hence the excellency of the Scripture, that it is a
word not to be refused credit. It gives us the most rational account of
things in the 1st and 2d of Genesis, which nothing in the world else is able
to do.
Prop. 2. No creature could make the world. No creature can create
another. If it creates of nothing, it is then omnipotent, and so not a crea-
ture. If it makes something of matter unfit for that which is produced out
of it, then the inquiry will be, Who was the cause of the matter ? and so we
must arrive to some uncreated being, the cause of all. Whatsoever gives
being to any other must be the highest being, and must possess all the per-
fections of that which it gives being to. What visible creature is there
which possesses the perfections of the whole world ? If, therefore, an in-
visible creature made the world, the same inquiries will return, whence that
creature had its being ? For he could not make himself. If any creature
did create the world, he must do it by the strength and virtue of another,
which first gave him being ; and this is God. For whatsoever hath its exist-
ence and virtue of acting from another is not God. If it hath its virtue from
another, it is then a second cause, and so supposeth a first cause. It must
have some cause of itself, or be eternally existent. If eternally existent, it
is not a second cause, but God ; if not eternally existent, we must come to
150 chaenock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
something at length which was the cause of it, or else be bewildered without
being able to give an account of anything. We must come at last to an
infinite, eternal, independent being that was the first cause of this structure
and fabric wherein we and all creatures dwell. The Scripture proclaims this
aloud : Isa. xlv. 6, 7, Dent. iv. 35, ' I am the Lord, and there is none
else. I form the light, and I create darkness.' Man, the noblest creature,
cannot of himself make a man, the chiefest part of the world. If our parents
only, without a superior power, made our bodies or souls, they would know
the frame of them ; as he that makes a lock knows the wards of it ; he that
makes any curious piece of arras knows how he sets the various colours
together, and how many threads went to each division in the web ; he that
makes a watch, having the idea of the whole work in his mind, knows the
motions of it, and the reason of those motions. But both parents and chil-
dren are equally ignorant of the nature of their souls and bodies, and of the
reason of their motions. God only, that had the supreme hand in inform-
ing us, ' in whose book all our members are written, which in continuance
were fashioned,' Ps. cxxxix, 16, knows what we all are ignorant of. If man
hath, in an ordinary course of generation, his being chiefly from an higher
cause than his parents, the world then certainly had its being from some
infinitely wise intelligent being, which is God. If it were, as some fancy,
made by an assembly of atoms, there must be some infinite intelligent cause
that made them, some cause that separated them, some cause that mingled
them together for the piling up so comely a structure as the world. It is
the most absurd thing to think they should meet together by hazard, and
rank themselves in that order we see without a higher and a wise agent.
DO
bo that no creature could make the world. For supposing any creature
was formed before this visible world, and might have a hand in disposing
things, yet he must have a cause of himself, and must act by the virtue and
strength of another, and this is God.
Prop. 3. From hence it follows, that there is a'first cause of things, which
we call God. There must be something supreme in the order of nature,
something which is greater than all, which hath nothing beyond it or above
it, otherwise we must run in infinitum. We see not a river but we conclude
a fountain; a watch, but we conclude an artificer. As all number begins
from unity, so all the multitude of things in the world begins from some
unity, oneness, as the principle of it. It is natural to arise from a view of those
things to the conception of a nature more perfect than any. As from heat
mixed with cold, and light mixed with darkness, men conceive and ariso in
their understanding to an intense heat and a pure light, and from a corporeal
or bodily substance joined with an incorporeal (as man is an earthly body
and a spirit nal soul), wo ascend to a conception of a substance purely in-
corporeal and spiritual, so from a multitude of things in the world, reason
leads us to one choice being abovo all. And since, in all natures in the
world, we still find a superior nature, the nature of ono beast abovo tho
nature of another, the nature of man above the naturo of beasts, and sonio
invisible nature, the worker of strange effects in tho air and earth, which
cannot be ascribed to any visible cause, we must supposo somo nature abovo
all those, of inconceivable perfection.
Every sceptic, one that doubts whether thero bo anything real or no in
tho world, that counts everything an appearance, must necessarily own a
first cause.* They oannot reasonably doubt but that there is some first
cause, which makes the thingl appear so to them. They cannot be tho
causo of their own appearance. For as nothing can have a being from
* Coccci. Sum. Thcol. cap. 8, sec. 33.
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 151
itself, so nothing can appear by itself and its own force. Nothing can be
and not be at the same time. But that which is not, and yet seems to be,
if it be the cause why it seems to be what it is not, it may be said to be and
not to be. But certainly such persons must think themselves to exist. If
they do not, they cannot think ; and if they do exist, they must have some
cause of that existence. So that, which way soever we turn ourselves, we
must in reason own a first cause in the world.
Well, then, might the psalmist term an atheist a fool, that disowns a God
against his own reason. Without owning a God as the first cause of the
world, no man can give any tolerable or satisfactory account of the world to
his own reason.
And this first cause,
I. Must necessarily exist. It is necessary that he by whom all things
are should be before all things, and nothing before him.* And if nothing
be before him, he comes not from any other ; and then he always was, and
without beginning. He is from himself; not that he once was not, but
because he hath not his existence from another, and therefore of necessity
he did exist from all eternity. Nothing can make itself or bring itself into
being ; therefore there must be some being which hath no cause, that depends
upon no other, never was produced by any other, but was what he is from
eternity, and cannot be otherwise, and is not what he is by will, but nature,
necessarily existing, and always existing without any capacity or possibility
• ever not to be.
2. Must be infinitely perfect. Since man knows he is an imperfect being,
I he must suppose the perfections he wants are seated in some other being,
f which hath limited him, and upon which he depends. Whatsover we con-
i ceive of excellency or perfection must be in God ; for we can conceive no
perfection but what God hath given us a power to conceive. And he that
gave us power to conceive a transcendent perfection above whatsoever we
v saw or heard of, hath much more in himself, or else he could not give us
such a conception.
II. As the production of the world, so the harmony of all the parts of it
declare the being and wisdom of a God. Without the acknowledging God,
the atheist can give no account of those things. The multitude, elegancy,
j variety, and beauty of all things are steps whereby to ascend to one fountain
and original of them.
Is it not a folly to deny the being of a wise agent, who sparkles in the
beauty and motions of the heavens, rides upon the wings of the wind, and
is writ upon the flowers and fruits of plants ? As the cause is known by
the effects, so the wisdom of the cause is known by the elegancy of the
work, the proportion of the parts to one another. Who can imagine the
world could be rashly made, and without consultation, which in every part
of it is so artificially framed ?f No work of art?springs up of its own accord.
The world is framed by an excellent art, and therefore made by some skilful
artist. As we hear not a melodious instrument but we conclude there is a
musician that touches it, as well as some skilful hand that framed and dis-
posed it for those lessons, — and no man that hears the pleasant sound of a
lute but will fix his thoughts, not upon the instrument itself, but upon the
skill of the artist that made it, and the art of the musician that strikes it,
though he should not see the first when he saw the lute, nor see the other
when he hears the harmony, — so a rational creature confines not his thoughts
to his sense when he sees the sun in its glory and the moon walking in its
* Petav. Theol. Dog. torn. i. lib. i. cap. 2, page 10, 11.
t Pkilo. Judae. Petav. Theol. Dogmat. torn. i. lib. i. cap. 1, page 9.
152 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
brightness, but riseth up in a contemplation and admiration of that infinite
spirit that composed and filled them with such sweetness.
This appears,
1. In the linking contrary qualities together. All things are compounded
of the elements. Those are endued with contrary qualities, dryness and
moisture, heat) and cold ; these would always be contending with and infest-
ing one another's rights, till the contest ended in the destruction of one or
both. Where fire is predominant, it would suck up the water ; where water
is prevalent, it would quench the fire : the heat would wholly expel the
cold, or the cold overpower the heat. Yet we see them chained and linke
one within another in every body upon the earth, and rendering mutu
offices for the benefit of that body wherein they are seated, and all conspirin
together in their particular quarrels for the public interest of the body. Ho
could those contraries, that of themselves observed no order, that are always
preying upon one another, jointly accord together of themselves for one
common end, if they were not linked in a common band, and reduced to
that order by some incomprehensible wisdom and power, which keeps a
hand upon them, orders their motions, and directs their events, and makes
them friendly pass into one another's natures ? Confusion had been the
result of the discord and diversity of their natures ; no composition could
have been of those conflicting qualities for the frame of any body, nor any
harmony arose from so many jarring strings, if they had not been reduced
into concord by one that is supreme Lord over them, and knows how to
dispose their varieties and enmities for the public good.* If a man should
see a large city or country, consisting of great multitudes of men of different
tempers, full of frauds, and factions, and animosities in their natures against
one another, yet living together in good order and peace, without oppressing
and invading one another, and joining together for the public good, he would .
presently conclude there were some excellent governor, who tempered them
by his wisdom and preserved the public peace, though he had never yet
beheld hirn with his eye. It is as necessary to conclude a God, who mode-
rates the contraries in the world, as to conclude a wise prince, who over- |
rules the contrary dispositions in a state, making every one to keep his own
bounds and confines. Things that are contrary to one another subsist in an i
admirable order.
2. In the subserviency of one thing to another. All the members of liv-
ing creatures are curiously fitted for the service of one another, destined to
a particular end, and endued with a virtue to attain that end, and so dis-
tinctly placed, that one is no hindrance to the other in its operations. f Is
not this more admirablo than to bo the work of chance, which is incapable
to settle such an order, and fix particular and general ends, causing an exact
correspondency of all parts with one another, and every part to conspire
together lor one common end ? One thing is fitted for another. The eye
is fitted for the sun, ;md the sun fitted fur the eye. Soveral sorts of food
aro fitted for several creatures, and those creatures fitted with organs for the
partaking of that food.
(1.) Subserviency of heavenly bodies. The sun, the heart of the world,
is not for itself hut for the good of the world, |. as the heart of man is for the
good of the body. How conveniently is the sun placed, at a distance from
tho earth and the upper hea\cns, to enlighten the stars above and enliven
tho earth below ! [( it wore either higher 01 lower, one part would want its
iniluences. It is not. in the higher parts of the heavens ; tho earth tlan,
* Athani tin i, Petev. Tbeol., Dog. bom. i. Mb, i. cup. l, j>. 1, « r >.
f Gasaond. i'hyaie, seel. i. lib. iv. cup. 2, page i)15. J Loaaius.
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 153
which lives and fructifies by its influence, would have been exposed to a per-
petual winter and chillness, unable to have produced anything for the suste-
nance of man or beast ; if seated lower, the earth had been parched up, tho
world made uninhabitable, and long since had been consumed to ashes by
the strength of its heat. Consider the motion, as well as the situation, of
the sun. Had it stood still, one part of the world had been cherished by
its beams, and tho other left in a desolate widowhood, in a disconsolate
darkness. Besides, the earth would have had no shelter from its perpendi-
cular beams striking perpetually and without any remission upon it. The
same incommodities would have followed upon its fixedness as upon its too
great nearness. By a constant day the beauty of the stars had been ob-
scured, the knowledge of their motions been prevented, and a considerable
part of the glorious wisdom of the Creator in those choice ' works of his
fingers,' Ps. viii. 3, had been veiled from our eyes. It moves in a fixed
line, visits all parts of the earth, scatters in the day its refreshing blessings
in every creek of the earth, and removes the mask from the other beauties
of heaven in the night, which sparkle out to the glory of the Creator. It
spreads its light, warms the earth, cherisheth the seeds, excites the spirit
in the earth, and brings fruit to maturity. View also the air, the vast
extent between heaven and earth, which serves for a watercourse, a cistern
for water to bedew the face of the sunburnt earth, to satisfy the desolate
ground, and to cause the ? bud of the tender herb to spring forth,' Job
xxxviii. 25, 27. Could chance appoint the clouds of the air to interpose as fans
before the scorching heat of the sun and the faint bodies of the creatures ?
Can that be the ' father of the rain,' or ' beget the drops of dew ' ? ver. 28.
Could anything so blind settle those ordinances of heaven for the preserva-
tion of creatures on the earth ? Can this either bring or stay the bottles of
heaven, when ' the dust grows into hardness and the clods cleave fast
together ' ? ver. 37, 38.
(2.) Subserviency of the lower world, the earth and sea, which was
created to be inhabited, Isa. xlv. 18. The sea affords .water to the rivers ;
the rivers, like so many veins, are spread through the whole body of the
earth to refresh and enable it to bring forth fruit for the sustenance of man
and beast: Ps. civ. 10, 11, ' He sends the springs into the valleys, which
run among the hills. They give drink to every beast of the field : the wild
asses quench their thirst. He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and
the herb for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the
earth,' ver. 14. The trees are provided for shades against the extremity of
heat, a refuge for the panting beasts, ' an habitation for birds ' wherein to
make their nests, ver. 17, and a basket for their provision. How are the
valleys and mountains of the earth disposed for the pleasure and profit of
oaan ! Every year are the fields covered with harvests, for the nourishing
ihe creatures; no part is barren, but beneficial to man. The mountains that
are not clothed with grass for his food are set with stones to make him an
habitation ; they have their peculiar services of metals and minerals, for
■he conveniency, and comfort, and benefit of man. Things which are not
.it for his food are medicines for his cure under some painful sickness.
Where the earth brings not forth corn, it brings forth roots for the service
of other creatures. Wood abounds more in those countries where the cold
:s stronger than in others. Can this be the result of chance, or not rather
»f an infinite wisdom ?
Consider the usefulness of the sea for the supply of rivers to refresh the
:arth, ' which go up by the mountains and down by the valleys into the
dace God hath founded for them,' Ps. civ. 8 : a storehouse for fish for the
154 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
nourishment of other creatures, a shop of medicines for cure, and pearls for
ornament ; the band that ties remote nations together, by giving oppor-
tunity of passage to, and commerce -with one another. How should that
natural inclination of the sea to cover the earth submit to this subserviency
to the creatures ? Who hath pounded in this fluid mass of water in certain
limits, and confined it to its own channel for the accommodation of such
creatures, who by its common law can only be upon the earth ? Naturally tb
earth was covered with the deep as with a garment, the waters stood abov<
the mountains : ■ Who set a bound that they might not pass over, that the;
return not again to cover the earth ?' Ps. civ. 6, 9. Was it blind chance
or an infinite power, that ' shut up the sea with doors, and made thic
darkness a swaddling band for it, and said, Hitherto shall thou come, and n
further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed'? Job xxxviii. 8, 9, 11.
All things are so ordered that they are not propter se, but propter aliucl.
What advantage accrues to the sun by its unwearied rolling about the world?
Doth it increase the perfection of its nature by all its circuits ? No, but it
serves the inferior world, it impregnates things by its heat. Not the most
abject thing, but hath its end and use. There is a straight connection : the
earth could not bring forth fruit without the heavens, the heavens could not
water the earth without vapours from it.
(3.) All this subserviency of creatures centres in man. Other creatures
are served by those things as well as ourselves, and they are provided for
their nourishment and refreshment as well as ours ; * yet both they and all
creatures meet in man, as lines in their centres. Things that have no life
or sense are made for those that have both life and sense, and those that
have life and sense are made for those that are endued with reason. When
the psalmist admiringly considers the heavens, moon, and stars, he intimates
man to be the end for which they were created : Ps. viii. 3, 4, ■ What is
man that thou art mindful of him ? ' He expresseth more particularly the
dominion that man hath over ' the beasts of the fields, the fowl of the air
and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea,' ver. 6-8, and con
eludes from thence the ' excellency of God's name in all the earth.' All
things in the world, one way or other, centre in an usefulness for man :
some to feed him, some to clothe him, some to delight him, others to instruct
him, some to exercise his wit, and others his strength. Since man did not
make them, he did not also order them for his own use. If they conspire
to serve him who never made them, they direct man to acknowledge another,
who is the joint Creator both of the lord and the servants under his dominion.
An 1 therefore, as the inferior natures are ordered by an invisible hand for
tin: good of man, so the nature of man is by the same hand ordered to
acknowledge the cxistenco and the glory of the Creator of him. This visible
order man knows lie did not constitute, ho did not settle thoso creatures in
subserviency to himself; they wcro placed in that order before he bad any
acquaintance with them, or existence of himself, which is a question (iod
puts to .lob, to consider of: Job xxxviii. 1, ' Where wast thou when ] laid
tbc foundation of the earth ? Declare if thou hast understanding.* All is
ordered for man's use, the heavene answer to the earth as a roof to a lloor,
both composing a delightful habitation for man ; ' vapours ascend from tho
earth,' and the bea?eni concocts them, and returns them back in welcome
•howen for the supplying of the earth, Jer. x. 18. Tim light o( the sun
descends to beautify the earth, and employs its beat to midwife its fruits,
and thil for tbo good of the community, whereof man is the head; and
though all creatines bavv distinct natures, and must act for particular i
• AmyralA.de Trinitate, p. 18 and p. 18.
3
» t
?S. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 155
according to the law of their creation, yet there is a joint combination for
ihe good of the whole as the common end ; just as all the rivers in the
world, from what part soever they come, whether north or south, fall into
the sea, for the supply of that mass of waters ; which loudly proclaims some
infinitely wise nature who made those things in so exact an harmony. ' As
in a clock, the hammer which strikes the bell leads us to the next wheel,
<hat to another, the little wheel to a greater, whence it derives its motion,
his at last to the spring, which acquaints us that there was some artist
hat framed them in this subordination to one another for this orderly
notion.'*
(4.) This .order or subserviency is regular and uniform. Everything is
ietermined to its peculiar nature. f The sun and moon make day and
light, months and years, determine the seasons, never are defective in
oming back to their station and place, they wander not from their roads,
mock not against one another, nor hinder one another in the functions
issigned them. From a small grain or seed a tree springs, with body, root,
oark, leaves, fruit of the same shape, figure, smell, taste ; that there should
>e as many parts in one as in all of the same kind, and no more, and that
n the womb of a sensitive creature should be formed one of the same kind,
pith all the due members and no more, and the creature that produceth it
mows not how it is formed or how it is perfected. If we say this is
iature, this nature is an intelligent being ; if not, how can it direct all
auses to such uniform ends ? If it be intelligent, this nature must be the
ame we call God, who ordered every herb to yield seed, and every fruit-
fee to yield fruit after its kind, and also every beast and every creeping
ling after its kind, Gen. i. 11, 12, 24.
And everything is determined to its particular season. The sap riseth
"om the root at its appointed time, enlivening and clothing the branches
ith a new garment at such a time of the sun's returning, not wholly
indered by any accidental coldness of the weather, it being often colder at
s return than it was at the sun's departure. All things have their seasons
flourishing, budding, blossoming, bringing forth fruit ; they ripen in their
msons, cast their leaves at the same time, throw off their old clothes, and
the spring appear with new garments, but still in the same fashion.
The winds and the rain have their seasons,!, and seem to be administered
r laws for the profit of man. No satisfactory cause of those things can be
cribed to the earth, the sea, to the air or stars. ' Can any understand
e spreading of his clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle ? ' Job xxxvi. 29.
tie natural reason of those things cannot be demonstrated without recourse
an infinite and intelligent being. Nothing can be rendered capable of the
•ection of those things but a God.
This regularity in plants and animals is in all nations. The heavens have
e same motion in all parts of the world ; all men have the same law o f
,ture in their mind ; all creatures are stamped with the same law o f
eation. In all parts the same creatures serve for the same use ; and thoug h
':9re be different creatures in India and Europe, yet they have the same
;bordination, the same subserviency to one another, and ultimately to
n, which shews that there is a God, and but one God, who tunes all
se different strings to the same notes in all places. It is nature merely
ducts these natural causes in due measures to their proper effects, with-
interfering with one another! Can mere nature be the cause of those
sical proportions of time ? You may as well conceive a lute to sound its
* Morn, dc Verit. cap. i. p. 7. t Amyrant.
X Coccei. Sum. Theol. cap. viii. sec. 77.
156 charnock's works. [Ps. XIY. i.
own strings without the hand of an artist, a city well governed without a
governor, an army keep its stations without a general, as imagine so exact
an order without an orderer. Would any man, when he hears a clock
strike, by fit intervals, the hour of the day, imagine this regularity in it,
without the direction of one that had understanding to manage it? He
would not only regard the motion of the clock, but commend the diligence
of the clock-keeper.
(5.) This order and subserviency is constant. Children change the customs
and manners of their fathers, magistrates change the laws they have received
from their ancestors, and enact new ones in their room ; but in the world
all things consist as they were created at the beginning ; the law of nature
in the creatures hath met with no change.* Who can behold the sun rising
in the morning, the moon shining in the night, increasing and decreasing in
its due spaces, the stars in their regular motions night after night, for all
ages, and yet deny a president over them ? And this motion of the heavenly
bodies, being contrary to the nature of other creatures, who move in order
to rest, must be from some higher cause. But those, ever since the settling
in their places, have been perpetually rounding the world. — Whether it be
the sun or the earth that moves, it is all one ; whence have either of them
this constant and uniform motion ? — What nature, but one powerful and in-
telligent, could give that perpetual motion to the sun, which being bigger
than the earth a hundred sixty-six times, runs many thousand miles with a
mighty swiftness in the space of an hour, with an unwearied diligence per-
forming its daily task, and as a strong man, rejoicing to run its race for
above five thousand years together, without intermission but in the time of
Joshua ? Josh. x. 13. It is not nature's sun, but God's sun, which ho
'makes to rise upon the just and unjust,' Mat. v. 45.
So a plant receives its nourishment from the earth, sends forth its juice
to every branch, forms a bud which spreads it into a blossom and flower;
the leaves of this drop off, and leave a fruit of the same colour and taste,
every year, which being ripened by the sun, leaves seed behind it for the
propagation of its like, which contains in the nature of it the same kind of
buds, blossoms, fruit, which were before ; and, being nourished in the womb
of the earth, and quickened by the power of the sun, discovers itself at
length in all the progresses and motions which its predecessor did. Thus,
in all ages, in all places, every year it performs the same task, spins out
fruit of tin; same colour, taste, virtue, to refresh the several creature for
which they are provided.
This settled stato of things comes from that God who laid tho foundations
of the earth, that it should not be removed for over, Ps. civ. 5, and set
ordinances lor them to act by a stated law, Job xxxviii. 33, according to]
which ih. y move as if they understood themselves to have mado a covenan
with their Creator, Jer. xxxiii. 20.
3. Add to this union of contrary qualities, and tho subsorvioncy of on
thing to another, the admirable variety and diversity of things in tho WOI
What variety of in.tals, living creatures, plants! What variety and dis
tinction in the shape of their leaves, flowers, smell resulting from the
Who can nimiher up tho several BOrtS of heasts on tho earth, birds in
air, fish in the How various are their motions I Some creep, SO
go, some fly, some swim ; ami in all this variety each creature hath i
or members fitted for their peculiar motion. If you consider the multitu
of stars, which shine liko jewels in the heavens, their different magnitude
or the variety of colours in the flowers and tapestry of tho earth, you cou. |
+ l'ctav. ex AtluimiH. Tlicol., !><>;;• torn, i. lib. i. sec. 4.
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 157
10 more conclude they made themselves, or were made by chance, than you
;an imagine a piece of arras, with a diversity of figures and colours, either
vove itself or were knit together by hazard.
How delicious is the sap of the vine, when turned into wine, above that
)fa crab? Both have the same womb of earth to conceive them, both
igree in the nature of wood and twigs as channels to convey it into fruit.
■Vhat is that which makes the one so sweet, tho other so sour, or makes
hat sweet which was a few weeks before unpleasantly sharp ? Is it the
arth ? ■ | No ; they both have the same soil ; the branches may touch each
ther, the strings of their roots may under ground entwine about one another,
s it the sun ? Both have the same beams ; why is not the taste and colour
f the one as gratifying as the other ? Is it the root ? The taste of that is
ar different from that of the fruit it bears. Why do they not, when they
ave the same soil, the same sun, and stand near one another, borrow some-
ling from one another's natures ? No reason can be rendered, but that
lere is a God of infinite wisdom hath determined this variety, and bound
p the nature of each creature within itself. ' Everything follows the law
f its creation, and it is worthy observation that the Creator of them hath
ot given that power to animals, which arise from different species, to pro-
agate the like to themselves ; as mules, that arise from different species.
o reason can be rendered of this but the fixed determination of the Creator
aat those species which were created by him should not be lost in those
fixtures, which are contrary to the law of the creation.'* This cannot
ossibly be ascribed to that which is commonly called nature, but unto the
od of nature, who will not have his creatures exceed their bounds or como
ort of them.
Now, since among those varieties there are some things better than other,
t all are good in their kind, Gen. i. 31, and partake of goodness, there
ust be something better and more excellent than all those, from whom
ey derive that goodness, which inheres in their nature and is communi-
ted by them to others. And this excellent being must inherit in an
inent way in his own nature, the goodness of all those varieties, since
ey made not themselves, but were made by another. All that goodness
ich is scattered in those varieties must be infinitely concentrated in that
ture, which distributed those various perfections to them: Ps. xciv. 9,
e that planted the ear, shall not he hear ? he that formed the eye, shall
t he see ? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know ? ' The
eator is greater than the creature, and whatsoever is in his effects is but
impression of some excellency in himself; there is therefore some chief
untain of goodness, whence all those various goodnesses in the world do
w.
From all this it follows, if there be an order and harmony, there must be
orderer, one that * made the earth by his power, established the world
his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his discretion,' Jer. x. 12.
der being the effect, cannot be the cause of itself. Order is the disposi-
n of things to an end, and is not intelligent, but implies an intelligent
erer; and therefore it is as certain that there is a God as it is certain
re is order in the world. Order is an effect of reason and counsel ; this
on and counsel must have its residence in some being before this order
s fixed. The things ordered are always distinct from that reason and
unsel whereby they are ordered ; and also after it, as the effect is after
cause. No man begins a piece of work but he hath the model of it in
own mind; no man builds a house or makes a watch but he hath the
* Amyrald. de Trinitate, page 21.
158 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
idea or copy of it in his own head. This beautiful world bespeaks an idea
of it or a model, since there is such a magnificent wisdom in the make of
each creature, and the proportion of one creature to another ; this model
must be before the world, as the pattern is always before the thing that is
wrought by it. This therefore must be in some intelligent and wise agent,
and this is God. Since the reason of those things exceed the reason and
all the art of man, who can ascribe them to any inferior cause ? Chance
it could not be ; the motions of chance are not constant, and at seasons, as
the motions of creatures are. That which is by chance is contingent, this
is necessary ; uniformity can never be the birth of chance. Who can
imagine that all the parts of a watch can meet together, and put themselves
in order and motion, by chance ? ' Nor can it be nature only, which indeed
is a disposition of second causes. If nature hath not an understanding, it
cannot work such effects. If nature therefore uses counsel to begin a
thin^, reason to dispose it, art to effect it, virtue to complete it, and power
to govern it, why should it be called nature rather than God ? ' * Nothing
so sure as that that which hath an end to which it tends hath a cause by
which it is ordered to that end. Since therefore all things are ordered in
subserviency to the good of man, they are so ordered by him that made
both man and them. And man must acknowledge the wisdom and good-
ness of his Creator, and act in subserviency to his glory, as other creatures
act in subserviency to his good. Sensible objects were not made only to
gratify the sense of man, but to hand something to his mind as he is a
rational creature, to discover God to him as an object of love and desire to
be enjoyed. f If this be not the effect of it, the order of the creature, as to
such an one, is in vain, and falls short of its true end.
To conclude this ; as when a man comes into a palace, built according to I"
the exactest rule of art, and with an unexceptionable conveniency for the in-
habitants, he would acknowledge both the being and skill of the builder,
so whosoever shall observe the disposition of all the parts of the world, — their
connection, comeliness, the variety of seasons, the swarms of different en
tures, and the mutual offices they render to one another, — cannot conch;
less than that it was contrived by an infinite skill, effected by infinite power,-:
and governed by infinite wisdom. None can imagine a ship to be orderly
conducted without a pilot, nor the parts of the world to perform their several
functions without a wise guide, considering the members of the body cannoijx
perform theirs without the activo presence of the soul. The atheist then is I:
a fool, to deny that which every creature in his constitution assorts, and 1 *::
thereby renders himself unable to give a satisfactory account of that constant 1:;
uniformity in the motions of the creatures.
Prop, 1. As Hit! production and harmony, so particular creatures, pur-
suing and attaining their cutis, manifest that there is a God. All particulai
creatures have natural instincts, which move; them for somo end. Tho in!
tending of an end is a property of a rational creature ; since the lowei
creature! cannot challenge that title, they must act by the understanding
and direction of another. And since man cannot challenge the honoui
of inspiring the creatures with such instincts, it must be ascribed U
Home nature infinitely above any creature in understanding. No ereatur*
doth determine! itself. Why doth the fruits and grain of the earth nouris
us, when the earth, which instrumontally gives them that fitness, canno
nourish us, but because their several ends are determined by one highs
than the world ?
1. Several creatures have several natures. How soon will all creal
* Laotant. t Ooooei. Bum. Theol. cap. 8, see. 03, 04.
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 159
even as soon as they see the light, move to that whereby they must live,
and make use of the natural arms God hath given their kind for their
defence, before they are grown to any maturity to afford them that defence.
: The Scripture makes the appetite of infants to their milk a foundation of
t the divine glory : Ps. viii. 3, l Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
I hast thou ordained strength;' that is, matter of praise and acknowledgment
i of God, in the natural appetite they have to their milk, and their relish of
it. All creatures have a natural affection to their young ones, all young
(ones by a natural instinct move to and receive the nourishment that is
proper for them. Some are their own physicians as well as their own
| caterers, and naturally discern what preserves them in life, and what restores
j them when sick. The swallow flies to its celandine, and the toad hastens to
Jits plantain.
I Can we behold the spider's nets or silkworm's web, the bee's closets or
the ant's granaries, without acknowledging a higher being than a creature,
■who hath planted that genius in them ? The consideration of the nature of
■several creatures God commended to Job (chap, xxxix., where he discourseth
Lo Job of the natural instincts of the goat, the ostrich, horse, and eagle,
J-fcc), to persuade him to the acknowledgment and admiration of God, and
mmiliation of himself.
The spider, as if it understood the art of weaving, fits its web both for its
iwn habitation and a net to catch its prey. The bee builds a cell which
erves for chambers to reside in and a repository for its provision. Birds
,re observed to build their nests with a clammy matter without, for the
drmer duration of it, and with a soft moss and down within, for the con-
leniency and warmth of their young : ' The stork knows his appointed
time,' Jer. viii. 7; 'and the swallows observe the time of their coming;'
hey go and return according to the seasons of the year. This they gain
lot by consideration, it descends to them with their nature; they neither
kain nor increase it by rational deductions. It is not in vain to speak of
hese. How little do we improve by meditation those objects, which daily
, >ffer themselves to our view, full of instruction for us ? And our Saviour
i -sends his disciples to spell God in the lilies, Mat. vi. 28. It is observed
plso that the creatures offensive to man go single ; if they went by
roops, they would bring destruction upon man and beast. This is the
lature of them for the preservation of others.
2. They know not their end. They have a law in their natures, but have
io rational understanding, either of the end to which they are appointed,
>r the means fit to attain it. They naturally do what they do, and move
>y no counsel of their own, but by a law impressed by some higher hand
ipon their natures.
What plant knows why it strikes its root into the earth ? Doth it uncler-
tand what storms it is to contest with, or why it shoots up its branches
owards heaven ? Doth it know it needs the droppings of the clouds to pre-
serve itself, and make it fruitful ? These are acts of understanding: the
,oot is downward to preserve its own standing, the branches upward to pre-
{ erve other creatures. This understanding is not in the creature itself, but
■ riginally in another. Thunders and tempests know not why they are sent,
et by the direction of a mighty hand they are instruments of justice upon a
/icked world.
Rational creatures that act for some end, and know the end they aim at,
et know not the manner of the natural motion of the members to it.* When
i r e intend to look upon a thing, we take no counsel about the natural motion
* Coccei. Sum. Theolog. cap. 8. sec. G7, &c.
160 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
of our eyes, we know not all the principles of their operations ; or how that
dull matter whereof our bodies are composed, is subject to the order of our
minds. We are not of counsel with our stomachs about the concoction of
our meat, or the distribution of the nourishing juice to the several parts of
the body.* Neither the mother nor the foetus sit in council how the forma-
tion should be made in the womb. We know no more than a plant knows
what stature it is of, and what medicinal virtue its fruit hath for the good of
man ; yet all those natural operations are perfectly directed 'to their proper
end, by an higher wisdom than any human understanding is able to con-
ceive, since they exceed the ability of an inanimate or fleshly nature, yea,
and the wisdom of a man. Do we not often see reasonable creatures acting
for one end, and perfecting a higher than what they aimed at, or could sus-
pect ? When Joseph's brethren sold him for a slave, their end was to be
rid of an informer, Gen. xxxvii. 12 ; but the action issued in preparing him
to be the preserver of them and their families. Cyrus his end was to be a
conqueror, but the action ended in being the Jews' deliverer : Prov. xvi. 9,
* A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directs his steps.'
3. Therefore there is some superior understanding and nature which so acts
them. That which acts for an end unknown to itself, depends upon some over-
ruling wisdom that knows that end. Who should direct them in all those
ends, but he that bestowed a being upon them for those ends,f who knows
what is convenient for their life, security, and propagation of their natures ?
An exact knowledge is necessary, both of what is agreeable to them, and the
means whereby they must attain it ; which, since it is not inherent in them, j :
is in that wise God, who puts those instincts into them, and governs them I .
in the exercise of them to such ends. Any man that sees a dart flung, j i
knows it cannot hit the mark without the skill and strength of an archer ; !
or he that sees the hand of a dial pointing to the hours successively, knows
that the dial is ignorant of its own end, and is disposed and directed in that
motion by another. All creatures ignorant of their own natures could not i:
universally in the whole kind, and in every climate and country, without any
difference in the whole world, tend to a certain end, if some over-ruling wis- I
dom did not preside over tho world and guide them ; and if the creatures i$
have a conductor, they have a creator. All things are ' turned round about
by his counsel, that they may do whatsoever he commands them upon the
face of the world in the earth,' Job xxxvii. 12.
So that in this respect tho folly of atheism appears. Without the owning J^
a God no account can bo given of those actions of creatures, that are an J ;
imitation of reason. To say the bees, &c, are rational, is to equal them to{$
man ; nay, mako them his superiors, since they do more by nature than the
wisest man can do by art. It is their own counsel whereby they act, or
another's: if it be their own, they are reasonable creatures ; if by another's, '
it is not mero nature that is necessary ; then other creatures would not be j
without the same skill : there would be no difference among them. If nature
In; restrained by another, it hath a superior; if not, it is a froo agent: it
an understanding being that directs them. And then it is something supe-flty
rior to all ereatores in the world ; and by this, therefore, wo may ascond to
the acknowledgment of the necessity of a (rod.
}')■(>}>. 5. Add to thi! production and order of the world, and tho crcaturetfl:|ji
actin" for their en I, the preservation of them. Nothing can depend upo
itself in its preservation, no more than it could in its heitw. If the ordei
of tho world was not fixed by itself, the preservation of that order cannot beBv
continued by itself.
* Pearson on the Greed, page 3G. f Lcssius de providen. lib. i. pago G.">
PS. XIV. 1.] THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. 1G1
Though the matter of tho world after creation cannot return to that
nothing whence it was fetched, without the power of God that made it
(because the same power is as requisite to reduce a thing to nothing as to
raise a thing from nothing), yet without the actual exerting of a power that
made the creatures they would fall into confusion. Those contesting quali-
ties which arc in every part of it could not have preserved, but would have
consumed and extinguished one another, and reduced the world to that con-
fused chaos wherein it was before the Spirit moved upon the waters. As
contrary parts could not have met together in one form, unless there had
been one that had conjoined them, so they could not have kept together
after their conjunction unless the same hand had preserved them. Natural
contrarieties cannot be reconciled. It is as great power to keep discords
knit, as at first to link them. Who would doubt, but that an army made up of
several nations and humours, would fall into a civil war, and sheathe their
swords in one another's bowels, if they were not under the management of
some wise general, or a ship dash against the rocks without the skill of a
pilot ?* As the body hath neither life nor motion, without the active
presence of the soul, which distributes to every part the virtue of acting,
sets every one in the exercise of its proper function, and resides in every
part, so there is some powerful cause which doth the like in the world, that
rules and tempers it. There is need of the same power and action to pre-
serve a thing, as there was at first to make it. When we consider that we
are preserved, and know that we could not preserve ourselves, we must
necessarily run to some first cause which doth preserve us. All works of
art depend upon nature, and are preserved while they are kept by the force
of nature. As a statue depends upon the matter whereof it is made, whether
stone or brass, this nature therefore must have some superior by whose
influx it is preserved. Since therefore we see a stable order in the things
f the world, that they conspire together for the good and beauty of the
niverse, that they depend upon one another, there must be some principle
pon which they depend, something to which the first link of the chain is
astened, which himself depends upon no superior, but wholly rests in his own
ssence and being. It is the title of God to be the ' preserver of man and
east,' Ps. xxxvi. 6. The psalmist elegantly describeth it: Ps. civ. 24, &c,
The earth is full of his riches ; all wait upon him, that he may give them
heir meat in due season ; when he opens his hand, he fills them with good ;
hen he hides his face, they are troubled : if he take away their breath, they
ie and return to dust ; he sends forth his Spirit, and they are created, and
enews the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever,
d the Lord shall rejoice in his works.' Upon the consideration of all
hich the psalmist, ver. 34, takes a pleasure in the meditation of God, as
e cause and manager of all those things, which issues into a joy in God
nd a praising of him. And why should not the consideration of the power
nd wisdom of God in the creatures produce the same effect in the hearts
f us, if he be our God ? Or as some render it, ' my meditation shall be
weet,' or acceptable f to him,' whereby I find matter of praise in the things
f the world, and offer it to the Creator of it.
Reason 3. It is a folly to deny that which a man's own nature witnesseth
him. The whole frame of bodies and souls bears the impress of the
finite power and wisdom of the Creator. A body framed with an admir-
ble architecture, a soul endowed with understanding, will, judgment,
emory, imagination. Man is the epitome of the world, contains in himself
■he substance of all natures, and the fulness of the whole universe, not only
* Gassend. Phys., Beet. 6, lib. 4, cap. 2, p. 101.
VOL. i. l
162 chaenock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
in regard of theuniversalness of his knowledge, whereby he comprehends
the reasons of many things, but as all the perfections of the several natures
of the world are gathered and united in man for the perfection of his own,
in a smaller volume. In his soul he partakes of heaven, in his body of the
earth. There is the life of plants, the sense of beasts, and the intellectual
nature of angels. Gen. ii. 7, * The Lord breathed into his nostril the
breath of life, and man,' &c, D^VT, of lives. Not one sort of life, but several,
not only an animal, but a rational life, a soul of a nobler extract and
nature than what was given to other creatures.
So that we need not step out of doors, or cast our eyes any further than
ourselves to behold a God. He shines in the capacity of our sxmls and the
vigour of our members. We must flee from ourselves and be stripped of
our own humanity before we can put off the notion of a deity. He that is
ignorant of the existence of God must be possessed with so much folly as to
be ignorant of his own make and frame.
1. In the parts whereof he doth consist, body and soul.
First, Take a prospect of the body. The psalmist counts it a matter of
praise and admiration : Ps. cxxxix. 14, 15, ' I will praise thee ; for I am fear-
fully and wonderfully made. When I was made in secret, and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth, in thy book all my members were
written.' The scheme of man and every member was drawn in his book ;
all the sinews, veins, arteries, bones, like a piece of embroidery or tapestry,
were wrought by God, as it were, with deliberation, like an artificer that
draws out the model of what he is to do in writing, and sets it before him
when he begins his work.
And indeed the fabric of man's body, as well as his soul, is an argument
for a divinity. The artificial structure of it, the elegancy of every part, the
proper situation of them, their proportion one to another, the fitness for
their several functions, drew from Galen* (a heathen, and one that had no
raised sentiments of a deity) a confession of the admirable wisdom and
power of the Creator, and that none but God could frame it.
(1.) In the order, fitness, and usefulness of every part. The whole model
of the body is grounded upon reason. Every member hath its exact pro-
portion, distinct office, regular motion. Every part hath a particular comeli-
ness and convenient temperament bestowed upon it according to its place in
the body. The heart is hot to enliven the whole ; the eye clear to take in
objects to present them to the soul. Every member is fitted for its peculiar
service and action. Some are for sense, some for motion, some for prepar-
ing, and others for dispensing nourishment to the several parts ; they mutu-
ally depend upon and serve one another. What small strings fasten the
particular members together, as ' the earth that hangs upon nothing,' Job
xxvi. 7. Take but one part away, and you either destroy the whole, or
stamp upon it some mark of deformity. All are knit together by an admir-
able symmetry ; all orderly perform their functions, as acting by a settled
law, none swerving from their rule but in case of some predominant humour;
and none of those in so great a multitude of parts stifled in so little a room,
or jostling against ono another to hinder their mutual actions, none can be
better disposed. And the greatest wisdom of a man could not imagine it,
till his eyes present them with the sight and connection of one part and
member with another.
[1.] Tho heart, f How strongly it is guarded with ribs like a wall, that
it might not bo easily hurt ! It draws blood from the liver through a
* Lib. 3, do usu portfam. PetftT. Thcol. Dog., torn. 1, lib. 1, cap. 1, p. G.
t Theod. do provideutiu, Orat. 3.
I I V, 1.] I (.<»!>.
Channel made for tin' purj i BikM it fit to pass thro ;
.
tua) mo! it out ig
ii mi >: : i| upon ilf but i
natural,
mouth t, the I j Il( j it i •
. I mints it . i tho di
win. the whole body, running thro;
nv channi I
, \. i.il i I of a tlito i kin for tl.
1 Lhrough for the supplying of t h.
with . . ; the thi
motion,
U :
h membrane or skin to hinder any oppression by the skull, tl of
. that which coins the animal spirits, sing tl:
which are sent to it, and seems Like a euri ce of m
I. The ear, framed with windings and turnings, to I
ring to offend the brain; so disp led a Imit sounds with I
and deli ht, Ecci . sdi. 1 : filled with an air within. I
tion whereof the sound is transmitted to the brain, as sounds are mi
in the air by diffosing them yon sec cir< de in the water
flinging in a stone* Tliis is the
the I men for [t is by 1
mind, and the mind of another man framed in our
nnderstandin .
5. V\ hip is that of the eye, which i.s in the 1
the sun in the world; set in the head as in a watch-tower, baring tho
ring the greater multitude of spirits necessary for
the act of vision ! How is it provided with defence, by the variety of co
:d accommodate the little humour and part whereby the vision
le I Made of a round figure, and convex, as most commodious to receivo
the ct" objects ; shaded by the eyebrows and eyelids, secured by tho
ids, which are its ornament and safety, which refresh it when it is too
much dried by heat, hinder too much light from insinuating itself into it to
nd it, cleanse it from impurities, by their quick motion preserve it from
invasion, and by contraction confer to the more evident discerning of thi:
1 in the hollow of the bone for security, yet standing out
that things may Ik: perceived more easily on both sides. And this little
ID behold tho earth, and in a moment view things as high as
.
The tongue* for speech framed like a musical instrument ; the teeth
■f sounds ; the lungs serving for bellows to blow the organs,
as it \\ heart : by a continual motion transmitting a pure air
;, expelling that which was smoky and supertluous. I the
that communication of truth hath a i among men ; i
the sense id' ti. would be no converse and commerce without
it. : ons hath an elegancy and attractive force, masl
I
.1; of other parts, or of the multitude of spirits that act <
part, tho quick tlight of them where there is a necessity of their prest :
Solomon, Eeeles* xii., mal .escription of them in his speech of
* Coooei. Sum. Theolog., ca;
164 chaenock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
old age ; and Job speaks of this formation of the body, Job x. 9-11, &c.
Not the least part of the body is made in Tain. The hairs of the head have
their use, as well as are an ornament. The whole symmetry of the body is
a ravishing object. Every member hath a signature and mark of God and
his wisdom ; he is visible in the formation of the members, the beauty of the
parts, and the vigour of the body. This structure could not be from the
body : that only hath a passive power, and cannot act in the absence of the
soul ; nor can it be from the soul. How comes it then to be so ignorant of
the manner of its formation ? The soul knows not the internal parts of its
own body, but by information from others, or inspection into other bodies.
It knows less of the inward frame of the body than it doth of itself. But he
that makes the clock can tell the number and motions of the wheels within,
as well as what figures are without.
This short discourse is useful to raise our admirations of the wisdom of
God, as well as to demonstrate that there is an infinite, wise Creator. And
the consideration of ourselves every day, and the wisdom of God in our frame,
would maintain religion much in the world, since all are so framed that no
man can tell any error in the constitution of him. If thus the body of man
is fitted for the service of his soul by an infinite God, the body ought to be
ordered for the service of this God, and in obedience to him.
(2.) In the admirable difference of the features of men, which is a great
argument that the world was made by a wise Being. This could not be
wrought by chance, or be the work of mere nature, since we find never, or
very rarely, two persons exactly alike. This distinction is a part of infinite
wisdom ; otherwise, what confusion would be introduced into the world !
Without this, parents could not know their children, nor children their parents,
nor a brother his sister, nor a subject his magistrate. Without it there had
been no comfort of relations, no government, no commerce. Debtors would
not have been known from strangers, nor good men from bad ; propriety
could not have been preserved, nor justice executed ; the innocent might
have been apprehended for the nocent ; wickedness could not have been
stopped by any law.
The faces of men are the same for parts, not for features. A dissimiltude
in a likeness ; man, like to all the rest in the world, yet unlike to any, and
differenced by some mark from all, which is not to be observed in any other
species of creatures. This speaks some wise agent which framed man ; since
for the preservation of human society and order in the world, this distinction
was necessary.
Secondly, As man's own nature witnesseth a God to him in the structure
of his body, so also in the nature of his soul.* We know that we have an
understanding in us : a substance we cannot see, but we know it by its ope-
rations, as thinking, reasoning, willing, remembering, and as operating about
things that are invisible and remote from sense. This must needs be distinct
from the body, for that, being but dust and earth in its original, hath not
the power of reasoning and thinking, for then it would have that power when
the soul were absent, as well as when it is present. Besides, if it had that
power of thinking, it could think only of those things which are sensible and
made up of matter, as itself is. This soul hath a greater excellency. It
can know itself, rejoico in itself, which other creatures in this world are not
capable of. Tho soul is tho greatest glory of this lower world ; and as ono
saith,f there seems to bo no more difference between the soul and an
angel, than between a sword in tho scabbard and when it is out of the
scabbard.
* Coccei. Sum. Theolog., cap. 8, soc. 60, 61. t Moro.
. \i V. l. i a i i Of son. L06
i . I its caj.iifiiv. The undi rstandi
the whole world, and paint in itself the b i of all things* It
•pable of approhondiog and d
oatura, "it. ii loi to .-ill ool
all sound II : tomory to rcl
MB aeroini: tb< r thingl to it -'If. It invi
. Ul, p|.
the bowels of naturo, ai i in reasoning from
of troth ; :' I
i notions of things higher than the world*
*J. The quiokiMSs of ite motions* 'Nothing is mora quies in the whole
sun rnns throngh the world in ■ day i this ean do it
in a moment* 1 1 oan 9 with one flight of fancy, asoi od to the I
rhf in isti of the air, thai binder the sight of the eye, cannot bin
>ul ; it c m p i m in i moment iVoui one i ad of tb i
kher, and think of this It ean thin!
mean thin | in the world, and presently, by one east, in the twin]
of an rye, mount ap as high as beav< d. As ii I by
ma] objects, so neither arc the motions of it n I by them* It will
break forth with the gi ir, and conceive things infinitely above it;
though it be in the body, it acts as if it wore aahamed to be cloistered in it.
This could not be the result of any material cause. Who - v mcro
ttex onderstand, think, will? And v. hat it hath not, it cannot give. That
which is destitute Of reason and will, could never Confer reason and will. It
is not the effect of the body, for the body is fitted with members to be sub-
ject to it. | It is in part ruled by the activity of the soul, and in part by tho
msel of the soul. It is Used by the soul, and knows not how it is used.
;ld it be from the parents, since the souls of the children often tran-
..d those of the parents in vivacity, acutcness, and comprehensiveness.
man is stupid, aud begets a son with a capacious understanding ; one
is debauched and beastly in morals, and begets a son who from his infancy
ie virtuous inclinations, which sprout forth in delightful fruit with
the ripeness of his age. § Whence should this difference arise, a fool h>
the wise man, and a debauched the virtuous man ? The wisdom of the one
could not descend from tho foolish soul of the other, nor tho virtues of tho
from the deformed and polluted soul of the parent. It lies not in tho
ms of the body ; for if the folly of the parent proceeded not from their
but the ill disposition of the organs of their bodies, how comes it to
- that the bodies of the children are better organised beyond the goodness
of their immediate cause ? We must recur to some invisible hand, that
makes the difference, who bestows upon one at his pleasure richer qualities
than upon another. You can see nothing in the world endowed with some
uality, but you must imagine some bountiful hand did enrich it
with that dowry. None can be so foolish as to think that a vessel ever
with that sprightly liquor wherewith it is rilled ; or that any-
m the soul should endow it with that knowledge and activity
whJ in it. Nature could not produce it. That nature is in:
it, or not ; if it be not, then it produceth an effect more excellent than
an understanding being surmounts a being that hath no
understanding. If the supreme cause of the soul be intelligent, why do
* Cul. t Tin X Oooeei. Sum. Tl ,61, 68.
§ 1 I or Suppose
of i' .hose moro excellent qualities wars DOfl
.It of til.
166 • chaexock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
not call it God as well as nature ? We must arise from hence to the notion
of a God. A spiritual nature cannot proceed but from a spirit higher than
itself, and of a transcendent perfection above itself. If we believe we have
souls, and understand the state of our own faculties, we must be assured that
there was some invisible hand which bestowed those faculties and the riches
of them upon us. A man must be ignorant of himself before he can be igno-
rant of the existence of God. By considering the nature of our souls, we
may as well be assured that there is a God, as that there is a sun by the
shining of the beams in at our windows. And indeed the soul is a statue
and representation of God, as the landscape of a country or map represents
all the parts of it, but in a far less proportion than the country itself is. The
soul fills the body, and God the world ; the soul sustains the body, and God
the world ; the soul sees, but is not seen ; God sees all things, but is him-
self invisible. How base are they then that prostitute their souls, an image
of God, to base things unexpressibly below their own nature !
3. I might add the union of soul and body. Man is a kind of compound of
angel and beast, of soul and body ; if he were only a soul, he were a kind
of angel ; if only a body, he were another kind of brute. Now, that a body
as vile and dull as earth, and a soul that can mount up to heaven and rove
about the world with so quick a motion, should be linked in so strait an
acquaintance ; that so noble a being as the soul should be an inhabitant in
such a tabernacle of clay, must be owned to some infinite power that hath
so chained it.
4. Man witnesseth to a God in the operations and reflections of conscience :
Kom. ii. 15, ' Their thoughts are accusing or excusing.' An inward com-
fort attends good actions, and an inward torment follows bad ones ; for
there is in every man's conscience fear of punishment and hope of reward.
There is therefore a sense of some superior judge, which hath the power
both of rewarding and punishing. If man w T ere his supreme rule, what need
he fear punishment, since no man would inflict any evil or torment on him-
self; nor can any man be said to reward himself, for all rewards refer to
another, to whom the action is pleasing, and is a conferring some good a
man had not before. If an action be done by a subject or servant, with
hopes of reward, it cannot be imagined that he expects a reward from himself,
but from the prince or person whom he eyes in that action, and for whose
sake ho doth it.
1. There is a law in the minds of men which is a rule of good and evil.
There is a notion of good and evil in the consciences of men, which is
evident by those laws which are common in all countries, for the preserving
human societies, the encouragement of virtue and discouragement of vice ;
what standard should they have for those laws but a common reason ? The
design of those laws was to keep men within the bounds of goodness, for
mutual commerce ; whence the apostle calls the heathen magistrate ' a
minister of God for good,' Rom. xiii. 4 ; and the Gentiles ' do by nature
tho tilings contained in the law,' Horn. ii. 14.
Man in the first instant of tho use of reason finds natural principles within
himself, directing and choosing them ; ho finds a distinction between good
and evil ; how could this bo if there were not some rule in him to try and
distinguish good and evil ? If thero wore not such a law and rule in man,
lie could not sin ; for whero there is no law, there is no transgression. If
man were a law to himself, and his own will his law, there could be no such
thing as evil ; whatsoever ho willed would bo good and agreeable to tho law,
and no action could bo accounted sinful ; the worst act would bo as com-
mendable as tho best. Every thing at man's appointment would bo good or
\ i v. i . Tin- i !•. 1 1 7
evil. I Uy inclii
of that '"""l which
they pr i man bat Inwardly think i well of that which
while hi . :iinl thinks ill of that whioh i bile be commits it.
Those tint are t icioa ■ d i |
Those thai I I, and tho e thai
will reb 1 in others. 'I
and evil ; whenoc doth . met ran thisi bul
principl '
and tl mi in one man a ; in another, t ;
i another; the y arc born with man, and inseparable ft
. 19, • A - in v. to face, so the b
of man to d Common inppo eth thai there is some band wl
in man. I [ow could it el dly un«
No law can be without :i law-giver; no sparks bnt d
kindled by some other. Whence ihonld this law than derive its origin
from man ; he would fain blol it out, and cannot alter it when he i
leration never Intended it ; it is settled therefore I her
hand, which, as it imprinl i it maintains it. b
men, who, were it not for this law, would make the world, mors than ii
Aceldama and field of bl I; for, h ad fcher i supreme good,
the measnre of all other goodness in tl old not have had inch
a thing as good. The Scripture gives us an account that this good •
Lingnished from evil 1>- fore man fell, they were objscta $abilia
I and evil prohibited, and did not depend upon man. Prom
■ man may rationally DC instructed that there IS a Qcd ; for bo may thus
argue : I find myself naturally obliged to do this thing and avoid that, I
tperior that doth oblige mo ; I find something within mo
that directs me to BUCh actions, contrary to my sensitive appetite, thero
mUSi mething above mo therefore that put this principle into m.
nature. If there were no superior, I should ho the supreme judge- of good
and evil. "Were I the lord of that law which doth oblige me, I should find
no contradiction within my ween reason and appetite.
'2. Prom tho t. i of this law of nature fears do arise in tho
of men. Have wc not known or hoard of men struck by so deep
irt that could not be drawn out by the strength of men, or appeased by
tho pleasure of the world, and men crying out with horror upon a death-
: of their past lite, when 'their fear hath come as a desolation, and
ruction as a whirlwind' ? Prov. i. '27. And often in some sharp affliction
the dust hath been blown oil' from men's consciences, which for a while hath
1 tho writing of the law. If men stand in awe of punishment, there
ior to whom they are accountable. If there were no God,
ther no punishment to fear. What reason of any fear, upon the
between the soul and body, if there were not a God
punish, and the soul remained not in being to be punished '.'
1! : 1 1 v will conscience work upon the appearance of an affliction,
rouse its* If fro like an armed man, and fly in a man'- face b I
it? It will 'surprise the hy] I xxxiii. 11. It will
bril mitted I .1 set them in order before tho
his authority and Omni As (
hath D ' 'it a wii -iv. 1 i .
he bath not left himself wit! in e man's own
1. '1 ration I No hath
been any m :i it than from ; not a man but hath one
168 chaenock's wokks. [Ps. XIV. 1.
time or other more or less smarted under the sting of it. All over the
world conscience hath shot its darts. It hath torn the hearts of princes in
the midst of their pleasures ; it hath not flattered them -whom most men
flatter, nor feared to disturb their rest whom no man dares to provoke.
Judges have trembled on a tribunal, when innocents have rejoiced in their
condemnation ; the iron bars upon Pharaoh's conscience were at last broke
up, and he acknowledged the justice of God in all that he did : Exod. ix. 27,
1 1 have sinned, the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.'
Had they been like childish frights at the apprehension of bug-bears, why
hath not reason shaken them off? But, on the contrary, the stronger reason
grows, the smarter those lashes are ; groundless fears had been short-lived,
age and judgment would have worn them off, but they grow sharper with
the growth of persons. The Scripture informs us they have been of as
ancient a date as the revolt of the first man : Gen. iii. 10, ' I was afraid,'
saith Adam, ' because I was naked,' which was an expectation of the judg-
ment of God. All his posterity inherit his fears, when God expresseth him-
self in any tokens of his majesty and providence in the world. Every man's
conscience testifies that he is unlike what he ought to be according to that
law engraven upon his heart. In some, indeed, conscience may be seared
or dimmer ; or, suppose some men may be devoid of conscience, shall it be
denied to be a thing belonging to the nature of man ? Some men have not
their eyes, yet the power of seeing the light is natural to man, and belongs
to the integrity of the body ; who would argue, that because some men are
mad, and have lost their reason by a distemper of the brain, that therefore
reason hath no reality, but is an imaginary thing ? But I think it is a
standing truth, that every man hath been under the scourge of it, one time
or other, in a less or greater degree ; for, since every man is an offender, it
cannot be imagined conscience, which is natural to man and an active faculty,
should always lie idle, without doing this part of its office ? The apostle
tells us of the thoughts, accusing or excusing one another, or by turns,
according as the actions were. Nor is this truth weakened by the corrup-
tions in the world, whereby many have thought themselves bound in con-
science to adhere to a false and superstitious worship and idolatry, as much as
any have thought themselves bound to adhere to a worship commanded by
God. This very thing infers that all men have a reflecting principle in
them ; it is no argument against the being of conscience, but only infers
that it may err in the application of what it naturally owns. We can no
more say, that because some men walk by a false rule, there is no such
thing as conscience, than we can say that because men have errors in their
minds, therefore they have no such faculty as an understanding ; or, because
men will that which is evil, they have no such faculty as a will in them.
2. These operations of conscience are when the wickedness is most secret.
These tormenting fears of vengeance have been frequent in men who have
had no reason to fear man, since, their wickedness being unknown to any
but themselves, they could have no accuser but themselves. They have
been in many acts which their companions have justified them in ; persons
above the stroke of human laws, yea, such as the people have honoured as
gods, have been haunted by them. Conscience hath not been frighted by
the power of princes, or bribed by tho pleasures of courts. David was pur-
sued by his horrors, when ho was by reason of his dignity above the punish-
ment of the law, or at least was not reached by the law ; since, though the
murder of Uriah was intended by him, it was not acted by him. Such
examples are frequent in human records. When tho crime hath been above
any punishment by man, they have had an accuser, judge, and executioner in
r . x iv. i . 169
their own bn I . Can this be originally from a man' If? He who L
and eheriahei him elf wonld Hy from anything that him. It. i
n< 1 moji m whom men oann I . that holds
him in tho \, bould aiToct th< tor that wh
ne?er bring them shame or punishment in thi i world, if there
supreme judge to whom they were I i ant, who e instrnment
Doth it do thi . hathil L an authority from
the men himsi If to im ? [I
niir wills.
peratioo onot 1"' to! man*
It' there be no Godi why do uot men silence the clamours of their eon-
ban that disturb their rest and pi ' I
inquisitive are men after some linsl those convulsion '
would render the char I , and Bing b
i they 'walk in the wickedness of their o rts/ D
. L9. Sow often do men attempt to drown it by sen
perhaps overpower it for a time; but it revives, rewforeeth Uself, and .
i revenge for its former Btop« It holds sin to a man's view, and fixes his
i upon it, whether he will or no: ' The wicked arc like ■ troubl
and cannot rest, 1 I a. lvii. 20. They would wallow in sin without control,
but this inward principle will not suffer it; nothing can shelter men fie
those Mows. What is the reason it could never he cried down ? Man is
an enemy to his own disquiet; what man would continue upon the rack, if
it were in his power to deliver himself? Why have all human rcmeil:-
without success, and not able to extinguish all those operations, thongh all
the wickedness of the heart hath been ready to assisi and second the attempt?
It hath pursued nan notwithstanding all the violence used against it, an I
renewed its BCOUrgea with more severity, as men deal with their resisting
slaves. 3I.m can as little silence those thunders in his soul, as he can the
thunders in the heavens. He must strip himself of his humanity hefore ho
can be stripped of an accusing and affrighting conscience : it sticks as ciose
to him as his nature. Since man cannot throw out the process it makes
against him, it is an evidence that some higher power secures its throne and
standing. Who should put this scourge into the hand of conscience, which
no man in the world is able to wrest out ?
!. We may add, the comfortable reflections of conscience. There are
excusing as well as accusing reflections of conscience, when things are done
as works of the law of nature, Rom. ii. 15. As it doth not forbear to acenso
and torture, when a wickedness, though unknown to others, is committed,
so when I man hath done well, though he be attacked with all the calumnies
the wit ol* man can forge, yet his conscience justifies the action, and fills
him with a singular contentment. As there is torture in sinning, so there
is p< ice and Joy in well-doing. Neither of those it could do, if it did not
Understand a sovereign judge, who punishes the rebels and rewards the well-
doer. Conscience is the foundation of all religion ; and the two pillars upon
which it is built, are the being of God, and the bounty of God to those that
diligently seek him, lleb. xi. 6.
This proves the exif i God. If there were no God, conscience were
< rations of it would have no foundation, if there were not
to take notice, and a hand to punish or reward the action. The accu-
sations of conscience evidence the omniscience and the holiness of
the terrors of con . the justice of God; the approbations i
science, the goodness oi All the order in the world ov .:', next
to the providence of Oo.\, to conscience: without it the world would DC I
170 chaknock's wokks. [Ps. XIV. 1.
Golgotha. As the creatures witness there was a first cause that produced
them, so this principle in man evidenceth itself to be set by the same hand
for the good of that which it had so framed. There could be no conscience
if there were no God, and man could not be a rational creature if there were
no conscience. As there is a rule in us, there must be a judge, whether our
actions be according to the rule ; and since conscience in our corrupted state
is in some particular misled, there must be a power superior to conscience
to judge how it hath behaved itself in its deputed office : we must come to
some supreme judge, who can judge conscience itself. As a man can have
no^ surer evidence that he is a being, than because he thinks, he is a thinking
being, so there is no surer evidence in nature that there is a God, than that
every man hath a natural principle in him, which continually cites him
before God, and puts him in mind of him, and makes him one way or other
fear him, and reflects upon him whether he will or no. A man hath less
power over his conscience than over any other faculty. He may choose
whether he will exercise his understanding about, or move his will to, such
an object, but he hath no such authority over his conscience ; he cannot
limit it, or cause it to cease from acting and reflecting ; and therefore both
that, and the law about which it acts, are settled by some supreme autho-
rity in the mind of man, and this is God.
Prop. 4. The evidence of a God results from the vastness of the desires
in man, and the real dissatisfaction he hath in every thing below himself.
Man hath a boundless appetite after some sovereign good. As his under-
standing is more capacious than any thing below, so is his appetite larger.
This affection of desire exceeds all other affections. Love is determined to
something known : fear to something apprehended ; but desires approach
nearer to infiniteness, and pursue, not only what we know, or what
we have a glimpse of, but what we find wanting in what we already enjoy.
That which the desire of man is most naturally carried after, is bonum ;
some fully satisfying good. We desire knowledge by the sole impulse of
reason ; but we desire good before the excitement of reason, and the desire
is always after good, but not always after knowledge.
Now the soul of man finds an imperfection in every thing here, and can-
not scrape up a perfect satisfaction and felicity. In the highest fruitions of
worldly things, it is still pursuing something else, which speaks a defect in
what it already hath. The world may afford a felicity for our dust, the body,
but not for the inhabitant in it ; it is too mean for that. Is there any one
soul among the sons of men, that can upon due inquiry say, it was at rest and
wanted no more, that hath not sometimes had desires after an immaterial good|?
The soul < follows hard' after such a thing, and hath frequent looks after it,
Ps. lxiii. 8. Man desires a stable good, but no sublunary thing is so ; and
he that doth not desire such a good, wants the rational nature of a man.
This is as natural as understanding, will, and conscience. Whence should
the soal of man have those desires ? How came it to understand that some-
thing is still wanting to make its nature more perfect, if there were not in
it some notion of a more perfect being, which can give it rest ?
Can such a capacity bo supposed to be in it without something in being
able to satisfy it ? If so, the noblest creature in the world is miserablest,
and in a worse condition than any other : other creatures obtain their ulti-
mate desires, ' thoy are fillod with good,' Ps. civ. 28; and shall man only
have a vast desire without any possibility of enjoyment? Nothing in man
is in vain : ho hath objects for his affections, as well as affections for objects.
Every member of his body hath its end, and doth attain it. Every affection
of his soul hath an object, and that in this world ; and shall there be none
! \ IV. 1 . Tin: i If OODi 1 ' 1
for lii i de ire, which o k to Infinite i i planted in
him '.' Tin i boundlc I original from man him
iM ifii. l. r i' the boundi ofthii world
implanted those di ir< i ail I nd ma le him r<
thin v dco the d only n i in that which ii infinite, tl
mething infinite for it to m t In. Sine- nothing in the world, though
a man had the v. hole, can give il ' ' in " :i '
the world only capable to do it, otherwi I be alt
and be more in vain than any other ereatnre.
There la therefore Borne infinite being that can only content]
to the soul, and thii ii God, And that goodness which implanted inch
in tho bouI wonld not do it to no pnrpo a, and mock it. in givm
an infini otion, without intending it the pi b
in. nt, if it doth not by ita own folly deprive of it. The felicitr
human nature mnsl ne< aed thai which i 'It" other creaturi .
i U it is a folly to deny that which all nations in the
world have con enl .1 to, which the frame of the world evideneeth, which
man in his body, soul, operation! of conscience, witnes , so it i
lolly to deny the being of < ;«» I, which is witnessed onto by extraordinary
occurrences in the world.
1. In extraordinary judgments. When a just revenge follows abominable
erimi . cially when the judgment is suited to the sin, by a strange con-
catenation and succession of providences, mi 1 to bring such a par-
ticular punishment ; when the sin of a nation or p< pble in
the inflict .1 judgment, which testifies tint it cannot be a casual thin '. The
Scripture givea as an account of the necessity of such judgments, to keep up
the reverential thoughts of God in the world: Ts. ix. 1(5, • The Lord
kn >wn by the judgment which ho executes, the wicked is snared in the work
of his own hand.' And jealousy is the name of God: Exod. xxxiv. 1 I.
1 Whose name is Jealous.' He is distinguished from false gods by the judg-
3 which he sends, as men arc by their names.
Extraordinary prodigies in many nations have been the heralds of extra-
ordinary judgments, and presages of tho particular judgments which
afterwards they have felt, of which tho lloman histories and others are full.
That there are such things is undeniable, and that the events have been
.Table to tho threatening, unless we will throw away all human testi-
monies, and count all the histories of the world forgeries. Such things are
evidences of some invisible power which orders those affairs. And if there
be invisible powers, there is also an cllicacious cause which moves them ; a
government certainly there is among them as well as in the world, and then
no to some Bupreme governor which presides over them.
Judgments upon notorious offenders have been evident in all ages, the
3 many instances. I shall only mention that of Herod
Agrippa, which Josephus* mentions. Ho receives the flattering applause
lit himself a god ; but by tho sudden stroke upon him
by his torture to confess another. Acts x ii. 21-23. I am God,
Bsith he, in your account, but a higher calls me away ; the will of tho
eiily Deity is to bo endured. The angel ^i tho Lord smote him. The
:nent here was suit< d to the sin ; he that would be a god is eaten up of
Tully il , a Roman king, who com.'
it the most unroyal thing to be religious, or own any other God but
sword, v. nned himself and his who) by lightning from I
Many things are unaccountable Unless we have recourse : I The
* I I :\.
172 CHAENOCKS WORKS. [Ps. XIV. 1
strange revelations of murderers, that have most secretly committed thei
crimes ; the making good some dreadful imprecations, which some wretche:
have used to confirm a lie, and immediately have been struck with that
judgment they wished ; the raising often unexpected persons to be instru-
ments of vengeance on a sinful and perfidious nation ; the overturning the
deepest and surest counsels of men, when they have had a successful pro-
gress, and came to the very point of execution ; the whole design of men's
preservation hath been beaten in pieces by some unforeseen circumstances,
so that judgments have broken in upon them without control, and all their
subtilties been outwitted ; the strange crossing of some in their estates,
though the most wise, industrious, and frugal persons, and that by strange
and unexpected ways ; and it is observable how often everything contributes
to carry on a judgment intended, as if they rationally designed it. All those
loudly proclaim a God in the world ; if there were no God, there would be
no sin ; if no sin, there would be no punishment.
2. In miracles. The course of nature is uniform, and when it is put out
of its course it must be by some superior power invisible to the world, and
by whatsoever invisible instruments they are wrought, the efficacy of them
must depend upon some first cause above nature. Ps. lxxii. 18, ' Blessed
be the Lord God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things,' by himself and
his sole power.
That which cannot be the result of a natural cause, must be the result of
something supernatural ; what is beyond the reach of nature is the effect of
a power superior to nature. For it is quite against the order of nature, and
is the elevation of something to such a pitch, which all nature could not
advance it to. Nature cannot go beyond its own limits ; if it be determined
by another, as hath been formerly proved, it cannot lift itself above itself
without that power that so determined it. Natural agents act necessarily.
The sun doth necessarily shine, fire doth necessarily burn. That cannot
be the result of nature which is above the ability of nature. That cannot
be the work of nature which is against the order of nature. Nature cannot
do anything against itself, or invert its own course.
We must own that such things have been, or we must accuse all the
records of former ages to be a pack of lies, which whosoever doth destroys
the greatest and best part of human knowledge. The miracles mentioned '
in the Scripture, wrought by our Saviour, are acknowledged by the heathen,
by the Jews at this day, though his greatest enemies. There is no dispute
whether such things were wrought, the dead raised, the blind restored to
sight. The heathens have acknowledged the miraculous eclipse of the sun
at the passion of Christ, quite against the rule of nature, the moon being
then in opposition to the sun ; the propagation of Christianity contrary to
the methods whereby other religions have been propagated, that in a few
years the nations of the world should be sprinkled with this doctrine, and
give in a greater catalogue of martyrs courting the devouring flames than all
the religions of the world.
To this might be added the strange hand that was over the Jews, the only
people in the world professing the true God, that should so often be befriended
by their conquerors, so as to rebuild their temple, though they were looked
upon as a people apt to rebel. Dion and Seneca observe, that wherever
they were transplanted they prospered and gave laws to the victors ; so that
this proves also the authority of the Scripture, the truth of Christian reli-
gion, as well as the being of a God, and a superior power over the world.
To this might bo added the bridling the tumultuous passions of men for
the preservation of human societies, which else would run the world into
I IV. 1.] 1 B Di 1 i'-'>
unconceivable eonfi .. 7, 4 Which itilleth the d<
anil the tomolti of the i" ople ;' m al o th f a
or nation, Winn Dpon the very brink of ruin ; the «u r of
prayer when God bath boon bou bl to, and the turning away a judgment,
w Inch in r< iM in»t be expected 1 ml;
people from :i ruin which s. ■ imd movil
impliahmenl . Those things which are purely i
ut, and cam. n by Datura] 'I in tin up . as
pees and ch □ nations, which may b
oft] i of tho times, such things that fall not within this com]
they be foretold and c »loly froi higher hand, and
ire, Thi . in Scripture
the trc l a. di, 'l'.), ' Shew the thing i thai
thai we may know that you an God;' ai I I l ■- 1 % i . l<», i I am God,
doclaru aing, and from ancient times, the thi
that arc no! ye1 done, Baying, My eounsel shall stand, and I will do all
I prophecy was ated to by all the philosopher
i divine illumination. That power which < i, which
all the foresight of men cannot ken and eonj oture, is above nature. And
to fori tell them so certainly as if they did aln ady exist, or had exist '1 1
>, must he the result of a mind infinitely intelligent; because it, is the
lies! way of knowing, and a higher cannot be imagined; and he that
knows things future in Mich a manner must needs know things present and
•. Cyrus was prophesied of by Isaiah, chap. xliv. 28 and xlv., long bef
lie was hem; his victories, spoils, all that should happen in Babylon, bis
bounty to th . came to pass, according to thatpropheey; and the Bight
of that prophecy which the Jews shewed him, as other historians report, \
that which moved him to be favourable to the Jen ■
Ah Bander's sight of Daniel's prophecy concerning his victories moved
him to spare Jerusalem. And are not the four monarchies plainly deci-
phered in that book, before tho fourth rose up in tho world ? That power
which foretells things beyond tho reach of tho wit of man, and orders all
Causes to bring about those predictions, must be an infinite power, the
same that made tho world, sustains it and governs all things in it according
to his pleasure, and to bring about his own ends ; and this being is God.
1. If atheism bo a folly, it is then pernicious to the world, and to the
atheist himself. Wisdom is the band of human societies, the glory of man.
Folly is the disturber of families, cities, nations, the disgrace of human
nature.
1. It is pernicious to the world.
(1.) It would root out the foundations of government. It demolisheth
all order in nations. The being of a God is the guard of the world. The
sense of a God is the foundation of civil order ; without this there is no tie
upon the consciences of men. What force would there bo in oaths for tho
decisions of controversies, what right could there be in appeals made to one
that had no being ? A city of atheists would bo a heap of confusion; there
could be no ground of any commerce when all tho sacred bands of it in tho
consciences of men were snapped a-under, which are torn to pieces and
utterly destroy, 1 by denying the existence of God. What magistral
-eeure in his standing, what private person could bo secure in hisriirht?*
that then bo a truth that is destructive of all public good f If tho
atheist's sentiment, that there were no God, were a truth, and the contrary,
that there were a God, were a falsity, it would then follow that falsity made men
* Lcssiua do Provid., p CG5.
174 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
good and serviceable to one another ; that error were the foundation of all
the beauty, and order, and outward felicity of the world, the fountain of all
good to man. If there were no God, to believe there is one would be an error,
and to believe there is none would be the greatest wisdom, because it would be
the"*greatest truth. And then as it is the greatest wisdom to fear God upon
the apprehension of his existence, Ps. cxi. 10, so it would be the greatest
error to fear him, if there were none. It would unquestionably follow, that
error is the support of the world, the spring of all human advantages, and
that every part of the world were obliged to a falsity for being a quiet
habitation, which is the most absurd thing to imagine. It is a thing impos-
sible to be tolerated by any prince, without laying an axe to the root of the
government.
(2.) It would introduce all evil into the world. If you take away God,
you take away conscience, and thereby all measures and rules of good and
evil. And how could any laws be made when the measure and standard of
them were removed ? All good laws are founded upon the dictates of con-
science and reason, upon common sentiments in human nature, which
spring from a sense of God ; so that if the foundation be demolished, the
whole superstructure must tumble down. A man might be a thief, a mur-
derer, an adulterer, and could not in a strict sense be an offender. The
worst of actions could not be evil if a man were a god to himself, a law to
himself. Nothing but evil deserves a censure, and nothing would be evil if
there were no God, the rector of the world, against whom evil is properly
committed. No man can make that morally evil that is not so in itself.
As where there is a faint sense of God, the heart is more strongly inclined
to wickedness, so where there is no sense of God, the bars are removed,
the flood-gates set open for all wickedness to rush in upon mankind.
Religion pinions men from abominable practices, and restrains them from
being slaves to their own passions; an atheist's arms would be loose to do
anything.* Nothing so villanous and unjust but would be acted, if the
natural fear of a deity were extinguished. The first consequence issuing
from the apprehension of the existence of God, is his government of the
world. If there be no God, then the natural consequence is that there is
no supreme government of the world. Such a notion would cashier all
sentiments of good, and be like a Trojan horse, whence all impurity,
tyranny, and all sorts of mischiefs would break out upon mankind. Cor-
ruption and abominable works in the text are the fruit of the fool's persua-
sion that there is no God. The perverting of the ways of men, oppression,
and extortion, owe their rise to a forgetfulness of God : Jer. iii. 21, ' They
have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God ;'
Ezek. xxii. 12, ' Thou hast greedily gained by extortion, and hast forgotten
me, saith the Lord.' The whole earth would be filled with violence, all
flesh would corrupt their way as it was before the deluge, when probably
atheism did abound more than idolatry ; and if not a disowning the being,
yet denying the providence of God by the posterity of Cain, those of the
family of Seth only calling upon the name of the Lord, Gen. vi. 11, 12
compared with Gen. iv. 2G.
The greatest sense of a deity in any hath been attended with the greatest
innocence of life and usefulness to others, and a weaker sense hath been
attended with a baser impurity. f If there were no God, blasphemy would
be praiseworthy; as tho reproach of idols is praiseworthy, because we tes-
tify that there is no divinity in them. What can be more contemptible
than that which hath no being ? Sin would bo only a false opinion of a
* Lcssius do Frovid., p. GG4. f Lcssius de Provid., p. G65.
. IV. l.| 1 111. i \i ; in. i. i.i OOD. 1 < 5
violated Law and an offended d I achapprehen ions prevail, whi
wide door is opened to the worsl of rill It there be do God, no
la 'liic to liim; all tho religion in the world ii ■ trifle and and
thus the pillars of all human . and that which hath made common-
[the tn flourish, are blows away.
Secondly, 2, It is pernicious tn the atheist himself. It' lie bar no future
punishment, be can q< rd ; -'ill I'i i bo]
confined to a Bwini th and despicable manner of lit' 1 , without an
of so much as a dram of i I happin . Be i ndition
than thr sillie t animal, which hath something t" pi i • it in il
whereas an atbeisi can bays uothing here I bim a full content, no
more than any other man in the WOrldj and Can haTe actioE h
after, il.' deposetb the ooble end of his own being, which we
God and haves satisfaction in bim, to seek a God ami In: rewarded by him;
ami he that departs from this end, recedes from a nature. All tin:
content any creature finds is in performing its end, moving according to its
natural instinct; as it is a joy to tin; sun to run i; ■ race, Ps. xix. 5, in
the same manner it is a satisfaction t<- ev< ry other creature, and its deb'
to observe the law of its creation. What content can any man have that
runs from his end, opposeth his own nature, denies a God by whom ami
for whom he was created, whose image lie bears, which is the glory of his
nature, ami sinks into the very dregs of brutishness? How elegantly is it
described by Bildad: Jobxviii. 7, 8, &c, to the end, 'His own com
shall east him down, terrors shall make him afraid on every side; destruc-
tion shall be ready at his side, the first-born of death shall devour his
Btrength, His confidence shall be rooted out, and it shall bring him to tin;
king of terrors: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. He shall
be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. They that
Conn afi< r him shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before were
affrighted. And this is the place of hirn that knows not God.' If there be
a future reckoning (as his own conscience cannot but sometimes inform him
of), his condition is desperate, and his misery dreadful and unavoidable.
It is not righteous a hell should entertain any else if it refuse him.
2. How lamentable is it that in our times this folly of atheism should
be so rife ! that there should be found such monsters in human nature, in
the midst of the improvements of reason and shinings of the gospel, who
not only make the Scripture the matter of their jeers, but scoff at the judg-
ments and providences of God in the world, and envy their Creator a being,
without whose goodness they had had none themselves ; who contradict in
their carriage what they assert to be their sentiment, when they dreadfully
imprecate damnation to themselves ! Whence should come that damnation
they so rashly wish be poured forth upon them, if there were not a reveng-
ing God ? Formerly atheism was as rare as prodigious, scarce two or three
known in an age. And those that are reported to be so in former ages, are
rather thought to be counted so for mocking at the senseless deities the
common people adored, and laying open their impurities. A mere natural
Btrength would easily discover that those they adored for gods could not
deserve that title, since their original was known, their uncleanncss rnani-
• ami acknowledged by their worshippers. And probably it was so, since
the Christians w< re tinned ul-mi, as Justin informs us, because they acknow-
ledged not their vain idols.
1 question whether there em r was or can be in the world an uninterru]
and internal denial of the being of God, or that men (unless we c
conscience utterly dead) can arrive to such a degree of impiety. For before
176 chaknock's wores. [Ps. XIV. 1.
they can stifle such sentiments in them (whatsoever they may assert), they
must be utter strangers to the common conceptions of reason, and despoil
themselves of their own humanity. He that dares to deny a God with his
lips, yet sets up something or other as a god in his heart. Is it not lament-
able that this sacred truth, consented to by all nations, which is the band
of civil societies, the source of all order in the world, should be denied with
a bare face and disputed against in companies, and the glory of a wise
Creator ascribed to an unintelligent nature, to blind chance ? Are not
such worse than heathens ? They worshipped many gods, these none ;
they preserved a notion of God in the world under a disguise of images,
these would banish him both from earth and heaven, and demolish the
statues of him in their own consciences ; they degraded him, these would
destroy him; they coupled creatures with him — Rom. i. 25, 'Who wor-
shipped the creature with the Creator,' as it may most properly be rendered.
And these would make him worse than a creature, a mere nothing. Earth
is hereby become worse than hell. Atheism is a persuasion, which finds no
footing anywhere else. Hell, that receives such persons, in this point
reforms them ; they can never deny or doubt of his being while they feel
his strokes. The devil, that rejoices at their wickedness, knows them to be
in an error; for he 'believes, and trembles' at the belief, James ii. 19.
This is a forerunner of judgment; boldness in sin is a presage of ven-
geance, especially when the honour of God is more particularly concerned
therein. It tends to the overturning human society, taking off the bridle
from the wicked inclinations of men. And God appears not in such visible
judgments against sin immediately committed against himself, as in the
case of those sins that are destructive to human society. Besides, God as
governor of the world will uphold that, without which all his ordinances in
the world would be useless. Atheism is point blank against all the glory of
God in creation, and against all the glory of God in redemption, and pro-
nounceth at one breath both the Creator and all acts of religion and divine
institutions useless and insignificant.
Since most have had, one time or other, some risings of doubt, whether
there be a God, though few do in expressions deny his being, it may not be
unnecessary to propose some things for the further impressing this truth,
and guarding themselves against such temptations.
1. It is utterly impossible to demonstrate there is no God. He can
choose no medium, but will fall in as a proof for his existence, and a mani-
festation of his excellency rather than against it. The pretences of the
atheist are so ridiculous, that they are not worth the mentioning.
They never saw God, and therefore know not how to believe such a being;
they cannot comprehend him. He would not be God if he could fall within
the narrow model of an human understanding ; he would not be infinite if
he were comprehensible, or to be terminated by our sight. How small a
thing must that bo which is seen by a bodily eye, or grasped by a weak
mind ! If God were visible or comprehensible, he would be limited. Shall
it bo a sufficient demonstration from a blind man that there is no fire in the
room, because he sees it not, though ho feel the warmth of it ? The know-
ledge of the effect is sufficient to conclude the existence of the cause.
Who ever saw his own life ? Is it sufficient to deny a man lives, because
ho beholds not his life, and only knows it by his motion ? He never
saw his own soul, but knows he hath one by his thinking power. The air
renders itself sensible to men in its operations, yet was never seen by
the eye.
If God should render himself visible, they might question as well as now
\ IV. l.j Tin. I \i i . n.i: of ooi>. 177
whether that which was so risible wen Ood of ome delusion. Lfhe should
appear glorious, wo can an little bohold him in hi !'<• glory as an owl
can behold the too is its brightneee; we should still baft hoc him in his
effeot8, us WO do thi) Sim by hi; 1. rains'. It he should shew ;i in ,v miracle,
hotild still sen him hill by hi see him in hit cnatuiv .
everj OOe Of Which WOUld I"- I :i miracle can !»<• wroii-dit t i
one that, bed the ftrtl pro peel of them. To require to I, is to
require that which i. impossible: 1 Tun. \i. H'>, 'lb- dwells in the light
which no man can approach unto; whom DO man li.it 1 1 1000, DOT SSI
It is vi ahle that in- 1 1, for'* he eoveri himself with Light as with ■ gsisesmV
r . civ. '^; it : ible what he is, for 'he makes derki
place, 1 P . \.;n. ll. Nothing more dear to the eye than light, end
nothing more diffionlt to the onderstanding than the nature of it; as I
is tin 1 first objeel ohvious to the sye, so is dod the first object obvious to
the understandings The srgnmenti mom nature <lo with si trengtb
evince Ins existence, than sny pretenees can manifest there u no Qod. No
man c.m SMOTC hims.lt' by any "ood reason there is nono ; for M tor the
4 likeness of events to him that is righteous and him that is wicked, to him
that sacriticeth and to him that sacriticet h not,' Kc-1.-. i\ 2, it is an argu-
ment for ;i reserve of judgment in another state, which every man's con-
science dictates tO him, when the justice of God shall he glorified in another
world as much as his patience is in this.
'J. Whosoever doubts of it makes himself a mark, against which all the
creatures fight. '
All the stars Foughi against Ksers for Israel; all the stars in heaven, and
the dust OB earth, tight tor God against the atheist. He hath as many argu-
ments againei him as there are creatures in the whole compass of heaven
and earth. Be is most unreasonable that denies or doubts of that whose
image and shadow lie sees round about him ; he raay sooner deny the sun
that warms him. the moon that in the night walks in her brightness, deny
the fruits he enjoys from earth, yea, and deny that he doth exist. He must
t. ar his own conscience, fly from his own thoughts, be changed into the
nature of a stone, which hath neither reason nor sense, before he can dis-
engage himself from those arguments which evince the being of a God. He
that would make the natural religion professed in the world a mere romance,
must give the lie to the common sense of mankind ; he must be at an irre-
concilable enmity with his own reason, resolve to hear nothing that it speaks,
if he will not hear what it speaks in this case with a greater evidence than
it can ascertain anything else. God hath so settled himself in the reason of
man. that he must vilify the noblest faculty God hath given him, and put
off nature itself, before he can blot out the notion of a God.
B. No ■'-, stion but those that have been so bold as to deny that there
was a God have sometimes been much afraid they have been in an error,
and ha ~t suspected there was a God, when some sudden prodigy
hath pn - nt. d itself to them and roused their fears. And whatsoever senti-
ments they might have in their blinding prosperity, they have had other kind
of motions in them in their stormy atllictions, and, like Jonah's marii.
have been ready to cry to him for help, whom they disdained to own so much
ns in being while they swam in their pleasures. The thoughts of a d
cannot be so extinguished but they will revive and rush upon a man. at
under some sharp affliction. Amazing judgments will make them q
ir own appn ends somo DM I the
apprehension of him as a judge, while men resolve not to own i
him as a governor. A man cunnut but keep a scent of what rn with
VOL. I. M
178 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
him ; as a vessel that hath been seasoned first with a strong juice will pre-
serve the scent of it, whatsoever liquors are afterwards put into it.
4. What is it for which such men rack their wits, to form notions that
there is no God ? Is it not that they would indulge some vicious habit,
which hath gained the possession of their soul, which they know cannot be
favoured by that holy God, whose notion they would raze out? Ps. xciv. 6, 7.
Is it not for some brutish affection, as degenerative of human nature, as
derogatory to the glory of God ; a lust as unmanly as sinful ?
The terrors of God are the effects of guilt ; and therefore men would wear
out the apprehensions of a deity, that they might be brutish without control.
They would fain believe there were no God, that they might not be men, but
beasts. How great & folly is it to take so much pains in vain for a slavery
and torment i to cast off that which they call a yoke for that whieh really is
one ! There is more pains and toughness of soul requisite to shake off the
apprehensions of God than to believe that he is, and cleave constantly to
him. What a madness is it in any to take so much pains to be less than a
man, by razing out the apprehensions of God, when with less pains he may
be more than an earthly man, by cherishing the notions of God, and walk-
ing answerably thereunto.
5. How unreasonable is it for any man to hazard himself at this rate in
the denial of a God ! The atheist saith he knows not that there is a God ;
but may he not reasonably think there may be one for aught he knows ?
And if there be, what a desperate confusion will he be in, when all his
bravadoes shall prove false ! What can they gain by such an opinion ? A
freedom, say they, from the burdensome yoke of conscience, a liberty to do
what they list, that doth not subject them to divine laws. It is a hard
matter to persuade any that they can gain this. They can gain but a sor-
did pleasure, unworthy the nature of man. But it were well that such
would argue thus : — If there be a God, and I fear and obey him, I gain a
happy eternity ; but if there be no God, I lose nothing but my sordid lusts
by firmly believing there is one. If I be deceived at last, and find a God,
can I think to be rewarded by him for disowning him ? Do not I run a
desperate hazard to lose his favour, his kingdom, and endless felieity, for an
endless torment ? By confessing a God, I venture no loss ; but by denying
him, I run the most desperate hazard if there be one.
He is not a reasonable creature that will not put himself upon such a rea-
sonable arguing.
What a doleful meeting will there be between the God who is denied and
the atheist that denies him, who shall meet with reproaches on God's part,
and terrors of his own! All that he gains is a liberty to defile himself here,
and a certainty to be despised hereafter, if he be in an error, as undoubtedly
he is.
6. Can any such person say he hath done all that ho can to inform him-
self of the being of God, or of other things which he denies ? Or rather,
they would fain imagine there is none, that they may sleep securely in their
lusts, and be free (if they could) from the thunder-claps of conscience? Can
such say they havo used their utmost endeavours to instruct themselves in
this, and can meet with no satisfaction? Were it an abstruse truth, it might
not bo wondered at ; but not to meet with satisfaction in this which every-
thing minds us of and hclpcth, is the fruit of an extreme negligence, stupidity,
and a willingness to be unsatisfied, and a judicial process of God against
them. It is strange any man should be so dark in that upon which depends
the conduct of his life, and the expectation of happiness hereafter.
I do not know what some of you may think, but I believe these things
. I V. 1 . TMK kxisti \. r. Of MOD* 17'.)
m do! bo be propo ed for on to an vex temptations. We
know not wliut wid ptation in b ;i '••, meeting
with i corrupt heart] n apt men to, and though thi any
etheisl here pri I lentally
Diet with suoh who opejUy denied And if the ion happen,
ons tatn n>»t b to apply to tl Bat
1 n. inee those that live in thi iment d<> not jn
themselves worthy of their own oare, they are aoi worthy of I • of
othen ; and a uum must have all the oharity of th< l bioh
th« ■• o, not to confc tnn them, and i- m to th
we are to pit j madmen, who sink onder an unavoidable distem]
as much to abominats them who will fully bug thi
if it be the atheisVs tolly to deny or doubt of the i» ing G "1, it
• Irmly settled in this truth, that God is. We should
never be without our arms is an age wherein a
with. >ut :i <1
; may meel with tiona to it; though the devil formerly nj
attempted to demolish this notion in the world, but was willing to keep it
up, st) the worship due to God might run in his own channel; and
i to preserve it, without which he could not erected that
idolatry which was his gri m in opposition to Godj y/et since the
foundations of that are torn up, and never Like to be rebuilt, lie i lea-
vour, us his last refuge, to banish the notion of God oul of the world, thai
lie may reign as absolutely without it, as he did before by the mistakffs about
the divine nature* But we must not lay all upon Satan ; the corruption of
our own hearts ministers matter to such sparks. Jt is not. Bald, Satan hath
> tin' fool, hut ' The fool hath said in hit heart, There is no God* 1
let them come from what principle soever, silence them quickly, givo
them their dismiss, oppose the whole scheme of nature to fight against
them, as tlif Btars did against Sisera. Stir up sentiments of conscience to
opp timents of corruption. Resolve sooner to believe that yourselves
are not than that trod is not. And if you suppose they at any time como
from Sat m, object to him that you know ho believes the contrary to what
he BUggests. Settle this principle firmly in you, let us behold him that is
invisible, as Moses did, Heb. xi. 27. Let us have the sentiments follow.
upon the notion of a God, to be restrained by a fear of him, excited by S
love to him, not to violate his laws and offend his goodness. He is not a
God careless of our actions, negligent to inflict punishment and bestow
rewards: ' He forgets not the labour of our love,' Heb. vi. 10, nor the in-
ity of our ways. He were not a God if he were not a governor; and
punishments and rewards are as essential to government as a foundation to
a buil ii;. ;. Ills being and his government in rewarding, Heb. xi. 6, which
imp.it - punishment (for the neglects of him are linked together), are not*
to be separated in our thoughts of him.
1. Without this truth filed in us, we can never give him the worship due
to his name. When the knowledge of any thing is fluctuating and uncertain,
our about it ai . 18. We r. gard not that which we think <;
Dot much COnc< HI OS. [fwt do Dot firmly believe there is a (rod, we shall i
him no Bteady worship ; and if we believe not tin ocy of his naJ
-h til oiler him i ; Mai. L 18, 14. 1
kiio f God, tl u and pillar oi
• Qu. which implies punishment for
•t of him, we linkc-1 together, and urt
t Maimon. Fun
180 chaknock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
whole frame of religion is dissolved without this apprehension, and totters if
this apprehension be wavering. Keligion in the heart is as water in a weather
glass, which rises or falls according to the strength or weakness of this belief.
How can any man worship that which he believes not to be, or doubts of ?
Could any man omit the paying an homage to one whom he did believe to
be an omnipotent, wise being, possessing (infinitely above our conceptions)
the perfections of all creatures ? He must either think there is no such
being, or that he is an easy, drowsy, inobservant God, and not such a one
as our natural notions of him, if. listened to, as well as the Scripture, repre-
sent him to be.
2. Without being rooted in this, we cannot order our lives. All our base-
ness, stupidity, dulness, wanderings, vanity, spring from a wavering and un-
settledness in this principle. This gives ground to brutish pleasures, not
only to solicit but conquer us. Abraham expected violence in any place
where God was not owned : Gen. xx. 11, ' Surely the fear of God is not in
this place, and they will slay me for my wife's sake.' The natural knowledge
of God firmly impressed, would choke that which would stifle our reason
and deface our souls. The belief that God is, and what he is, would have
a mighty influence to persuade us to a real religion, and serious considera-
tion, and casting about how to be like to him and united with him.
3. Without it we cannot have any comfort of our lives. Who would will-
ingly live in a stormy world, void of a God ? If we waver in this principle,
to whom should we make our complaints in our afflictions ? Where should
we meet with supports ? How could we satisfy ourselves with the hopes of
a future happiness ? There is a sweetness in the meditation of his existence,
and that he is a creator, Ps. civ. 24. Thoughts of other things have a
bitterness mixed with them : houses, lands, children now are, shortly they
will not be ; but God is, that made the world ; his faithfulness as he is
a creator, is a ground to deposit our souls and concerns in our innocent
sufferings, 1 Peter iv. 19. So far as we are weak in the acknowledg-
ment of God, we deprive ourselves of our content in the view of his infinite
perfections.
4. Without the rooting of this principle, we cannot have a firm belief of
Scripture. The Scripture will be a slight thing to one that hath weak senti-
ments of God. The belief of a God must necessarily precede the belief of any
revelation ; the latter cannot take place without the former as the foundation.
We must firmly believe the being of a God, wherein our happiness doth con-
sist, before we can believe any means which conduct us to him. Moses
begins with the author of creation, before he treats of the promise of redemp-
tion. Paul preached God as a creator to a university, before he preached
Christ as mediator, Acts xvii. 24. What influence can the testimony of
God have in his revelation upon one that doth not firmly assent to the truth
of his being ? All would be in vain that is so often repeated, Thus saith the
Lord, if we do not believe there is a Lord that speaks it. There could be
no awe from his sovereignty in his commands, nor any comfortable taste of
his goodness in his promises. The more we are strengthened in this prin-
ciple, the more credit we shall be able to give to divine revelation, to rest in
his promise, and to reverence his precept ; the authority of all depends upon
the being of the revealer.
To this purpose, since we have handled this discourse by natural argu-
ments,
1. Study God in tho creatures as well as in the Scriptures. The primary
use of the creatures, is to acknowledge God in them ; they were made to
be witnesses of himself and his goodness, and heralds of his glory, which
Pa, XIV. l.j -mi. i d rnm<m ov god. 181
glory of God as creator ' shall endure I Pi« (, ' v - Bl« r J " 1 1 : 1 1 whole
psalm is ft l.riuiv of creation and providence. The woiid if a sftored temple,
man is [ntrodaeed to contemplate it, and behold with praise the glory of
God in the pieeei of his art A - grace doth oof d itroy naive, to the book
of redemption blol i not oat thai of creation. I [ad be not ihewn bimaehTin hie
tares, h,. oonld never have shewn himself in his Ohri L The order of
things required it. God must, be read wherever be ie legible; ilai
tnrei are one book, wherein he bath wrii a pari of the 'excellency of bii
name, 1 I's. viii. 9, as many artiste do in their works and watches. Q
glory, Like the tilin Id, is too precious to be lost wherever it. dro]
nothing 10 vile and base in the world, bnt carries in it at instruction for
man, and drives in further the notion of ft God. As he said of bis c
enter lure, sunt hir rtium />/"/, God disdains not this place, so the I
ereature speaks to man, every shrub in khe field, eyery Hy in the air, ev<
limb in a body i Consider me, God disdains not to appear in me ; he batb
covered in DM his being and a part of his skill, as well ftS in the high*
The creatures manifest the being of God and part of his pi rfections. We
have indeed ft more excellent way, a revelation Betting him forth in a more
excellent manner, a firmer object of dependence, ft brighter object of love,
raising our hearts from self-confidence to a confidence m him. Though the
appearance of God in tho one bo clearer than in the other, yet neither is to
be neglected. The Scripture directs us to nature to view God; it had been
in vain else for the apostle to make use of natural arguments. Nature is
not contrary to Scripture, nor Scripture to nature, unless wo should think
God contrary to himself, who is the author of both.
'2. View God in your own experiences of him. There is a taste and sighi
of his goodness, though no sight of his essence, Ps. xxxiv. 38. By the taste
of his goodness you may know the reality of the fountain, whence it springs
and from whence it Hows. This surpasseth the greatest capacity of a m
natural ' understanding. Experience of the sweetness of the ways of Chris-
tianity is ft mighty preservative against atheism. Many a man knows not
how to prove honey to be sweet by his reason, but by his sense ; and if all
the reason in the world be brought against it, he will not be reasoned out
of what he tastes.
Have not many found the delightful illapses of God into their souls, often
sprinkled with his inward blessings upon their seeking of him ; had secret
warnings in their approaches to him ; and gentle rebukes in their consciences
upon their swervings from him ? Have not many found sometimes an in-
visible hand raising them up when they were dejected, some unexpected
providence stepping in for their relief, and easily perceived that it could not
be a work of chance, nor many times the intention of the instruments he
hath used in it ? You have often found that he is, by finding that he is a
rewarder, and can set to your seals that he is what he hath declared himself
to be in bis word: Isa. xliii. 12, 'I have declared, and have saved, there-
for.' you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.' The secret
touches of God upon the heart, and inward converses with him, are a greater
evidence of the existence of a supremo and infinitely good being, than all
nature.
/ L Is it a folly to deny or doubt of the being of God ? It is a folly also
not to worship God, when we acknowledge his existence. It is our wisdom
then to worship him. As it is not indifferent whether we believe tl:
God or no, so it is not indifferent whether we will give honour to that I
or no. A worship is his righl as he is the author of our h 1 toun-
sain of our happiness. By this only we acknowledge his deity. Though
182 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
profess his being, yet we deny that profession in neglects of worship. To
deny him a worship is as great a folly as to deny his being. He that
renounceth all homage to his Creator, envies him the being which he can-
not deprive him of. The natural inclination to worship is as universal as
the notion of a God ; idolatry else had never gained footing in the world.
The existence of God was never owned in any nation, but a worship of him
was appointed ; and many people who have turned their backs upon some
other parts of the law of nature, have paid a continual homage to some supe-
rior and invisible being. The Jews gave a reason why man was created in
the evening of the Sabbath, because he should begin his being with the
worship of his Maker. As soon as ever he found himself to be a creature,
his first solemn act should be a particular respect to his Creator. ' To fear
God and keep his commandment, is the whole of man,' Eccles. xii. 13, oris
1 whole man ' {Hebrew) ; he is not a man but a beast, without observance
of God. Religion is as requisite as reason to complete a man. He were
not reasonable if he were not religious ; because by neglecting religion,
he neglects the chiefest dictate of reason. Either God framed the world
with so much order, elegancy, and variety, to no purpose, or this was his
end at least, that reasonable creatures should admire him in it, and honour him
for it. The notion of God was not stamped upon men, the shadows of God
did not appear in the creatures to be the subject of an idle contemplation,
but the motive of a due homage to God. He created the world for his glory,
a people for himself, that he might have the honour of his works ; that
since we live and move in him and by him, we should live and move to him
and for him. It was the condemnation of the heathen world, that when
they knew there was a God, they did not give him the glory due to him,
Rom. i. 21. He that denies his being is an atheist to his essence: he
that denies his worship is an atheist to his honour.
5. If it be a folly to deny the being of God, it will be our wisdom then,
since we acknowledge his being, often to think of him. Thoughts are the
first issue of a creature as reasonable, Prov. iv. 23. He that hath given us
the faculty whereby we are able to think, should be the principal object
about which the power of it should be exercised. It is a justice to God the
author of our understandings, a justice to the nature of our understandings,
that the noblest faculty should be employed about the most excellent object.
Our minds are a beam from God ; and therefore, as the beams of the sun,
when they touch the earth, should reflect back upon God. As we seem to
deny the being of God, not to think of him, we seem also to unsoul our
souls, in misemploying the activity of them any other way : like flies, to be
oftener on- dunghills than flowers.
It is made the black mark of an ungodly man or an atheist, that ' God is
not in all his thoughts,' Ps. x. 4. What comfort can be had in the being
of God without thinking of him with reverence and delight ! A God for-
gotten is as good as no God to us.
PRACTICAL ATHEISM.
TV fool li'i'li Utid ni kU heart, There is jtn (,'nil. — I's. XIV. 1.
Doct* B, Practical atheism is natural to man in his depraved state, and
vary frequent in the hearts and lives of men*
I The tool hath said in his heart, There is no God.' He regardi him as
Little as if he had no being. Be said in his heart, not with his tongue, nor
in hifl head ; he never firmly thought it, nor openly asserted it; shame put
I bar to the first, and natural reason to the second. Yet perhaps he had
sometimes some doubts whether there were a God or no ; he wished there
were noi any, and sometimes hoped there were none at all. He could not
ra/.e out the notion of a deity in his mind, hut he neglected the fixing the
Sense of God in his heart, and made it too much his business to deface and
blot out those characters of God in his soul which had been left under the
ruins of original nature.
Men may have atheistical hearts without atheistical heads. Their reasons
may defend the notion of a deity, while their hearts are empty of atfection
to the Deity ; Job's children may 'curse God in their hearts,' Job i. 5,
though not with their lips.
' There is no God.' Most understand it of a denial of the providence of
God, as I have said in opening the former doctrine.
II denies some essential attribute of God, or the exercise of that attribute
in the world.*
Be that denies any essential attribute may be said to deny the being of
God. Whosoever denies angels or men to have reason and will, denies the
human and angelical nature, because understanding and will are essential to
both those natures ; there could neither be angel nor man without them.
No nature can subsist without the perfections essential to that nature, nor
God be conceived of without his. The apostle tells us, Eph. ii. 12, that
she Gentiles were 'without God in the world.' So in some sense all
unbeliever! may be termed atheists ; for rejecting the mediator appointed by
God, they reject that God who appointed him.
But this is beyond the intended scope, natural atheism being the only
subject ; yet this is deduoible from it, that the title of clCioi doth not only
belong to those who denied th nco of God, or to those who contemn
all sense of ■ deity, and would root the conscience and reverence of God
out of tin ir souls, but it bclongl also to these who give not that worship to
ti i which IS due to him; who worship many gods, or who worship one
* Bo tli M3P/W Av 1 ! uea jtatmiat, denying the authority el
in the world.
181 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
God in a false and superstitious manner ; when they have not right concep-
tions of God, nor intend an adoration of him according to the excellency of
his nature. All those that are unconcerned for any particular religion fall
under this character ; though they own a God in general, yet are willing
to acknowledge any god that shall be coined by the powers under whom they
live. The Gentiles were without God in the world ; without the true notion
of God, not without a god of their own framing.
This general or practical atheism is natural to men.
1. Not natural by created, but by corrupted, nature. It is against nature,
as nature came out of the hand of God ; but universally natural, as nature
hath been sophisticated and infected by the serpent's breath. Inconsidera-
tion of God, or misrepresentations of his nature, are as agreeable to corrupt
nature as the disowning the being of a God is contrary to common reason.
God is not denied naturd sed vitiis.*
2. It is universally natural : ' The wicked are estranged from the womb,'
Ps. lviii. 2, ■ They go astray as soon as they be born, their poison is like
the poison of a serpent.' The wicked ; and who by his birth hath a better
title ? They go astray from the dictates of God and the rule of their crea-
tion as soon as ever they be born ; their poison is like the poison of a
serpent, which is radically the same in all of the same species. It is semi-
nally and fundamentally in all men, though there may be a stronger restraint
by a divine hand upon some men than upon others. This principle runs
through the whole stream of nature. The natural bent of every man's heart
is distant from God ; when we attempt anything pleasing to God, it is like
the climbing up a hill against nature ; when anything is displeasing to him,
it is like a current running down the channel in its natural course ; when
we attempt anything that is an acknowledgment of the holiness of God, we
are fain to rush with arms in our hands through a multitude of natural
passions, and fight the way through the oppositions of our own sensitive
appetite. How softly do we naturally sink down into that which sets us at
a greater distance from God ! There is no active, potent, efficacious sense
of a God by nature. ' The heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to
do evil,' Eccl. viii. 11 ; the heart in the singular number, as if there were
but one common heart beat in all mankind, and bent, as with one pulse,
with a joint consent and force to wickedness, without a sense of the autho-
rity of God in the earth ; as if one heart acted every man in the world.
The great apostle cites the text to verify the charge he brought against
all mankind, Rom. iii. 9-12. In his interpretation, the Jews, who owned
one God, and were dignified with special privileges, as well as the Gentiles,
that maintained many gods, are within the compass of this character. The
apostle leaves out the first part of the text, ' The fool hath said in his heart,'
but takes in the latter part, and the verses following. He charges all,
because all, every man of them, was under sin : ' There is none that seeks
God ;' and, ver. 19, he adds, * What the law saith, it speaks to those that
are under the law,' that none should imagine he included only the Gentiles,
and exempted the Jews from this description. The leprosy of atheism had
infected the whole mass of human nature. No man among Jews or Gentiles
did naturally seek God, and therefore all were void of any spark of the
practical sense of the deity. The eil'ects of this atheism are not in all ex-
ternally of an equal size ; yet, in tho fundamentals and radicals of it, there
is not a hair's difference between tho best and the worst men that ever tra-
versed the world. The distinction is laid either in the common grace,
bounding and suppressing it ; or in special grace, killing and crucifying it.
* Auguatin. do Civil. Dei.
I . X I \ . 1 . I ( • A I . A T II K 1 I'-
ll il in e\.ry one cither triumphant. OT militant,
man is any mom horn witl hie acknowledgments of God thun b<
bom with ;i clear know • i all the
plants upon Din earth. ' N. -n. r ( rod.' NonS Seeks God aH
rule, a. hi- i-ii. I. :i hi happiness, whirh is a • I • - 1 • t tin- rivalurv D at
God ; be d Minion with God ; be places nil bappii
in anything inferior to <i<"l; he prefers everything before him, glorifies
sverything above him ; In- hath no delight t" Know him; he regardf not
the w bieh I' ad to him ; be low
holiness; his actions air tinctured and dyed with lelf, and i of that
a Inch is due from him to ( «od.
noblest faculty of man, his understanding, wherein the remain-
of tho image <>f <'<"! are risible, the highest open
th.it faculty, which is wisdom, ii in the judgmenl of the Bpirit of i
rilish,' whiles it is * earthly and sensual, ' James iii. L5« And the
don of the besl man is uo better by nature; b legion of inrj
.•ss it; devilish as the devil, who though he belieVC then i- sG
as if there wen none, and wishes be bad m> superior to pi
him a law, and inflict that punishment upon him which nil erinu
merited. Hence the poison of man by nature is said to be like ' the poi
of a serpent,' alluding to thai terpentine temptation which first infected man-
kin. I, and changed the nature of man into 'he lifcynen of thai of the devil,
T-. i\ in. I. Bo thai notwithstanding the harmony of the world, thai |
men not only with the notice of the being of ■ God, hut darts into
min.ls some remarks of h's power and eternity, thoughts and
of man an so corrupt, as may well be called diabolical, and as
contrary to the perfection of God and the original law of their oal the
actings Of the devil are ; for since every natural man is a child of th
and l- act* d by the diabolical spirit, bo must n< i ds have- that nature which
his father hath, ami the infusion of that venom which the spirit that
- him is possessed with, though the full discovery of it may be restrai
by various circumstances, Bph. ii. 2. To conclude: though no man, or at
1. ast Fi ry few, arrive to a round and positive conclusion in their hearts that
there is no God, yet there is no man that naturally hath in his heart any
reverence of God*
In general, before I come to a particular proof, take some propositions.
Prop. 1. Actions are a greater discovery of a principle than words. The
ay of works is louder and clearer than that of words, and the frame
of men's hearts must he measured rather by what they do than by what they
There may he a mighty distance between the tongue and the heart,
but • of actions is as little guilty of lying as interest is, according
our i i saying. All outward impieties are the branches of an atheism
at the root of our nature, as all pestilential son I an ex p r essions of the con-
>n in the blood. Sin is therefore frequently called ungodliness in our
lish dialect. .Men's practices are the best indexes of their prineij
The current of a man's life is the counterpart of the frame of his heart : who
can deny an error in the Spring or wheels, when he ] ■< rceives an error in
the hand of the dial? Who can deny atheism in the heart, when so much
risible in the life? The taste of the water discovers what mineral it
:ied through. A practical denial of God is worse than a verbal, because
\ e usually : -ion than words ; words may he thefruit
a. but a vil actions are the fruit and evidence of apT lomu
evil principle in the heart. All slighting words of a princi
habitual treason, but a succession of overt b
186 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
settled treasonable disposition in the mind. Those, therefore, are more
deservedly termed atheists, who acknowledge a God and walk as if there
were none, than those (if there can be any such) that deny a God, and walk
as if there were one.
A sense of God in the heart would burst out in the life. Where there is no
reverence of God in the life, it is easily concluded there is less in the heart.
What doth not influence a man when it hath the addition of the eyes and
censures of outward spectators, and the care of a reputation (so much the
god of the world), to strengthen it and restrain the action, must certainly have
less power over the heart when it is single, without any other concurrence.
The flames breaking out of a house discover the fire to be much stronger and
fiercer within. The apostle judgeth those of the circumcision, who gave heed to
Jewish fables, to be deniers of God, though he doth not tax them with any
notorious profaneness : Tit. i. 10, ' They profess that they know God, but-in
works they deny him ;' he gives them epithets contrary to what they arrogated
to themselves.- They boasted themselves to be holy, the apostle calls them
abominable. They bragged that they fulfilled the law, and observed the tra-
ditions of their fathers ; the apostle calls them disobedient, or unpersuadable.
They boasted that they only had the rule of righteousness, and a sound judg-
ment concerning it ; the apostle said they had a reprobate sense, and unfit
for any good work ; and judges against all their vain-glorious brags, that
they had not a reverence of God in their hearts ; there was more of the
denial of God in their works, than there was acknowledgment of God in
their words. Those that have neither God in their thoughts, nor in their
tongues, nor in their works, cannot properly be said to acknowledge him.
Where the honour of God is not practically owned in the lives of men, the
being of God is not sensibly acknowledged in the hearts of men. The prin-
ciple must be of the same kind with the actions ; if the actions be atheistical,
the principle of them can be no better.
Prop. 2. All sin is founded in a secret atheism. Atheism is the spirit of
every sin ; all the flood of impieties in the world break in at the gate of a
secret atheism ; and though several sins may disagree with one another, yet
like^Herod and Pilate against Christ, they join hand in hand against the inte-
rest of God. Though lusts and pleasures be divers, yet they are united in
disobedience to him, Tit. iii. 3. All the wicked inclinations in the heart,
and struggling motions, secret repinings, self-applauding confidences in our
own wisdom, strength, &c, envy, ambition, revenge, are sparks from this
latent fire ; the language of every one of these is, I would be a lord to my-
self, and would not have a God superior to me.
The variety of sins against the first and second table, the neglects of God,
and violences against man, are derived from this in the text, first, ' The fool
hath said in his heart,' and then follows a legion of devils. As all virtuous
actions spring from an acknowledgment of God, so all vicious actions rise from
a lurking denial of him. All licentiousness goes glib down where there is no
sense of God. Abraham judged himself not secure from murder, nor his
wife from defilement in Gerar, if there were no fear of God there, Gen.
xx. 11. He that makes no conscience of sin has no regard to the honour,
and consequently none to the being, of God. ' By the fear of God men
depart from evil,' Prov. xvi. G. By the non-regarding of God men rush
into evil. Pharaoh oppressed Israel because he knew not the Lord. If he
did not deny the being of a deity, yet he had such an unworthy notion of
God as was inconsistent with the nature of a deity ; he, a poor creature,
thought himself a mate for tho Creator.
# Illyric.
Pi, XIV. l.J I'KACI ICAI. Mill. I 1 3 i
Tn rim <>f omission we own not God, in neglecting to perform what he
enjoins. In sins <>f commission we set up BOmS lust in tin- place Oi God,
and pay to thai lh< e which is due to our Maker, [n bothwedie-
own liim ; in the 0X16 1 | v. hat bfl OOmiDind , ill the other b
wli.it In' forbids,
w «• deny hi tj whan ws riolate I !|1S n "' : ~
ness when we oaei our filth before bii faa wiedoni w]
we eel tiji mother role si the guide of our aetioni than thai I bath
light liis sull'ici. ncy win n we DTI ■!'. r I 'ion in I in I N fare I
happiness in bun alone, and bis goodness, when w<
enough to attract us to him. Every sir invades the i and
strips him of one or other of bis perfections, it is each s vilifying of I
sj if he were not ( i< «1 ; ss if he were not the inpreme er< ator and benefactor
of the world ; ai it" we bad not our being from him ; ai it' the air i bed
in. the food we lived by, WON our own by right of lUpl '« macy, not of dOUV
tion : for s subject to slight bis sovereign is to slight his royalty; or s
\unt i master, is to deny his superiority.
Prop. B. Sin implies that (iod is unworthy of I being. Kvery sin ia a
kind ofenrsing God in the heart, Job i. 5; an aim at the destruction of the
being of (iod. not actually, hut virtually; not in the intention of l very sin-
. 1 ut in the nature of every sin. That affection which excites s man to
break his law, would excite him to annihilate his being if it were in his
power, A man in cvtry sin aims to set up his own will as Ids rule, and his
own glory as the end of his actions, against the will and glory of God ; and
could a sinner attain his end, (led would be destroyed : God cannot out-live
bis will and his glory; God cannot have another rule hut his own will, nor
another end hut his own honour, sin is sailed a ' turning the hack' upon
I, .1, r. \wii. 88 ; a ' kicking against him,' Deut. xxxii. 16 ; as if he were
a Blighter person than the meanest beggar. What greater contempt can be
shewed to the meanest, vilest person, than to turn the lack, lift up the heel,
and thrust away with indignation? All which actions, though they signify
that such a one hath a being, yet they testify also that he is unworthy of a
being, that he is an unuseful being in the world, and that it were well the
world were rid of him.
All sin against knowledge is called a reproach of God, Num. xv. 10,
k. xx. 27. Keproach is a vilifying a man as unworthy to he admitted
into company. We naturally judge (iod unlit to be conversed with. God
is the term turned from by a sinner; sin is the term turned to; which
implies a greater excellency in the nature of sin than in the nature of God.
And as we naturally judge it more worthy to have a being in our affections,
so consequently more worthy to have a being in the world, than that infinite
nature from whom we derive our beings, and our all, and upon whom with a
kind of disdain we turn our backs. Whosoever thinks the notion of a deity
Unfit to be cherished in his mind by warm meditation, implies that he c
not whether he hath a being in the world or no. Now though the light of a
deity shines so clearly in man, and the stings of conscience are so smart,
that he cannot absolutelv denv the being of a God, vet most men endeavour
to smother this knowledge, and make the notion of a God a BUpleSfl and
thing: Rom. i. 28, ' They like not to retain God in their knowled
I- C ut out from the presence of the Lord. Gh U. iv. L6 ;
that is. from the worship I Our refusing or abhorring the presence
i man impli - whether he continue? in the world or no, it
is a using loin as if he had BO : lt -
Hence all men in Adam, under th m of the prodigal, I to go
188 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
into a far country. Not in respect of place, because of God's omnipresence,
but in respect of acknowledgment and affection ; they mind and love any-
thing but God. And the descriptions of the nations of the world, lying in
the ruins of Adam's fall, and the dregs of that revolt, is that they know not
God ; they forget God, as if there were no such being above them ; and
indeed, he that doth the works of the devil, owns the devil to be more
worthy of observance, and consequently of a being, than God, whose nature
he forgets, and whose presence he abhors.
Prop. 4. Every sin in its own nature would render God a foolish and
impure being. Many transgressors esteem their acts, which are contrary to
the law of God, both wise and good ; if so, the law against which they are
committed must be both foolish and impure. What a reflection is there
then upon the law- giver ! The moral law is not properly a mere act of
God's will considered in itself, or a tyrannical edict, like those of whom it
may well be said, stat pro ratione voluntas, but it commands those things
which are good in their own nature, and prohibits those things which are in
their own nature evil, and therefore is an act of his wisdom and righteousness,
the result of his wise counsel, and an extract of his pure nature ; as all the
laws of just lawgivers are not only the acts of their will, but of a will
governed by reason and justice, and for the good of the public, whereof
they are conservators. If the moral commands of God were only acts of
his will, and had not an intrinsic necessity, reason, and goodness, God
might have commanded the quite contrary, and made a contrary law,
whereby that which we now call vice might have been canonised for virtue ;
he naight then have forbid any worship of him, love to him, fear of his
name ; he might then have commanded murders, thefts, adulteries. In
the first, he would have united the link of duty from the creature, and dis-
solved the obligations of creatures to him, which is impossible to be con-
ceived ; for from the relation of a creature to God, obligations to God, and
duties upon those obligations, do necessarily result. It had been against
the rule of goodness and justice to have commanded the creature not to love
him, and fear and obey him ; this had been a command against righteous-
ness, goodness, and intrinsic obligations to gratitude. And should murder,
adulteries, rapines have been commanded instead of the contrary, God
would have destroyed his own creation ; he would have acted against the
rule of goodness and order ; he had been an unjust tyrannical governor of
the world ; public society would have been cracked in pieces, and the world
become a shambles, a brothel house, a place below the common sentiments
of a mere man. All sin therefore being against the law of God, the wisdom
and holy rectitude of God's nature is denied in every act of disobedience.
And what is the consequence of this, but that God is both foolish and un-
righteous in commanding that which was neither an act of wisdom as a
governor, nor an act of goodness as a benefactor to his creature ?
As was said before, presumptuous sins are called reproaches of God :
Num. xv. 30, ' The soul that doth aught presumptuously reproacheth the
Lord.' Reproaches of men are either for natural, moral, or intellectual
defects. All reproaches of God must imply a charge either of unrighteous-
ness or ignorance ; if of unrighteousness, it is a denial of his holiness ; if of
ignorance, it is a blemishing his wisdom. If God's laws were not wise and
holy, God would not enjoin them ; and if they are so, we deny infinite wis-
dom and holiness in (iod by not complying with them. As when a man
believes not God when he promises, he ' makes him a liar,' 1 John v. 10, so
he that obeys not a wise and holy God commanding, makes him guilty either
of folly or unrighteousness.
\ IV. 1. rn.M i icai. a rm i ML 1 39
Now, HtippoBo vim l.n. m to ibfoloi6 atheist, who denied tl. • of a
' hud a life IV. ■<■ tVnin any DOtOI t <.r d. f i 1 • - 1 1 1 « - 1 1 1 , would JTOO in
on counl him ho bad as tlu< otln r tl God in being, y< I I
his coiirsi' i»t' action, such a hlack imputation of folly au«l impiinl v Dpon the
God he prof* otli to own, an imputation which
toable oreature '■'
Prop. 6* Bin in itH own naturo endeavour to render Gi It] r-
able being. It is nothing bul an opposition to the will of God. 'J'tn: i
of do croaturo is so much contradict d at the will 'of God I
men; and there is nothing ander the heavens thai the aflfections of bun
nature tend more point blank again t, than againsl God. 'i
slight of him in all the faculties of man ; onr onJ anwillit
him m onr wills an i to follow him : Bom. Tiii. 7, ' The earnal mind
■liiist God ; it is not subject tn the law of Godj dot oan be iub-
jeet. 1 It is true (!. ..rs will caiuii'! be hindered ofil . for then God
would not be supremely blessed, hot unhappy and miserable ; all mi
ariseth from a want of thai which a nature would have and o i hi to ha
. it' anything could era I I id's will, it would be sup. rior to him ;
i would not be omnipotent, and so would lose the perfection of the deity,
and consequently the deity itself ; for thai which did wholly defeat God's
will would be more powerful than he. r.ut sin is a contradiction to the
will of God's revelation j to the will of his precept, and therein doth natu-
rally tend to a superiority over God, and would usurp his omnipotence, and
deprive him of his blessodnoos. Poi if God had not an infinite power to
turn the designs <>i' it to his own glory, bfri tho will of sin could prevail,
I would be totally deprived of his blessedness. Doth riot sin endeavour
to subject God to the extravagant and contrary wills of men, and make him
more I slaw than any creature can be ? For the will of no creature, not the
meanest and moat despicable creature, is so much crossed as the will of I
is bj sin : Isa. xliii. 24, ' Thou hast made me to SCTVC with thy sins ; ' thou
hast end.avour.d to make a mere slave of me by sin. Sin endeavours to sub-
ject the blessed (iod to the humour and lust of every person in the world.
Prop. •'». Men BOOM times in some circumstances do wish the not beil
1. This some think to be tho meaning of the text, * The fool hath said
in his heart, there is no God ; ' that is, he wishes there were no God.
Many tamper with their own hearts to bring them to a persuasion that there
is DO God, and when they cannot do that, they conjure up wishes that tl.
were none. Men naturally have some conscience of sin, and some notices
of justice : Horn. i. 82, ' They know the judgment of God,' and they know
the demerit of sin ; they know the judgment of God, and ' that they which
do such things are worthy of death.' What is tho consequent of this but
r of punishment ? and what is the issue of that fear but a wishing the
judge either unwilling or unable to vindicate the honour of his violated lav.
W: an G Lis the object of such a wish, it is a virtual undeifying of him.
N t to 1 able to punish, is to be impotent : not to be will;-
to be unjust: imperfections inconsistent with the deity. God eannoi
sui rithoot an infinite power to act, and an infinite righteousness ns
the rule of acting. Fear of God is natural to all men; not
isg him, but a bar of being punished by him. The wishing the i rtinotion
of God has its degree in men, aoo owKii g to the degree of their fears of his
knee ; and though such a wish be not in its m< ri lian 1 at in
•uned in hell, yet it hath its starts and D
:i the earth. ok ofv '.hat there were no
I, or that God were destroyed, do fall, —
190 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
1. Terrified consciences, that are mayor missahib* see nothing but matter
of fear round about. As they have lived without the bounds of the law, they
are afraid to fall under the stroke of his justice ; fear wishes the destruction
of that which it apprehends hurtful. It considers him as a God to whom
'vengeance belongs,' as the 'judge of all the earth,' Ps. xciv. 1, 2. The
less hopes such a one hath of his pardon, the more joy he would have to
hear that his judge should be stripped of his life ; he would entertain with
delight any reasons that might support him in the conceit that there were
no God ; in his present state, such a doctrine would be his security from an
account ; he would as much rejoice if there were no God to inflame a hell
for him, as any guilty malefactor would if there were no judge to order a
gibbet for him. Shame may bridle men's words, but the heart will be
casting about for some arguments this way to secure itself. Such as are
at any time in Spira's case, would be willing to cease to be creatures, that
God might cease to be judge. ' The fool hath said in his heart, there is
no Elohim,' no judge, fancying God without any exercise of his judicial
authority. And there is not any wicked man under anguish of spirit, but,
were it within the reach of his power, would take away the life of God, and
rid himself of his fears by destroying his avenger.
2. Debauched persons are not without such wishes sometimes. An
obstinate servant wishes his master's death, from whom he expects correction
for his debaucheries. As man stands in his corrupt nature, it is impossible
but one time or other most debauched persons, at least have some kind of
velleities, or imperfect wishes. It is as natural to men to abhor those things
which are unsuitable and troublesome, as it is to please themselves in things
agreeable to their minds and humours. And since man is so deeply in love
with sin, as to count it the most estimable good, he cannot but wish the
abolition of that law which checks it, and consequently the change of the
lawgiver which enacted it ; and in wishing a change in the holy nature of
God, he wishes a destruction of God, who could not be God, if he ceased to
be immutably holy. They do as certainly wish, that God had not a holy
will to command them, as despairing souls wish, that God had not a righteous
will to punish them ; and to wish conscience extinct for the molestations
they receive from it, is to wish the power conscience represents out of the
world also.
Since the state of sinners is a state of distance from God, and the language
of sinners to God is, ' Depart from us,' Job xxi. 14, they desire as little
the continuance of his being as they desire the knowledge of his ways. The
same reason which moves them to desire God's distance from them, would
move them to desire God's not being. Since the greatest distance would be
most agreeable to them, the destruction of God must be so too ; because
there is no greater distance from us, than in not being. Men would rather
have God not to be, than themselves under control, that sensuality might
range at pleasure. He is like a ' heifer sliding from the yoke,' Hosea iv. 16.
The cursing of God in the heart, feared by Job of his children, intimates a
wishing God despoiled of his authority, that their pleasure might not be
damped by his law ; besides, is there any natural man that sins against
actuated knowledge, but either thinks or wishes that God might not see him,
that God might not, know his actions ? And is not this to wish the destruction
of God, who could not bo God unless he were immense and omniscient?
8. Under this rank fall those who perform external duties only out of a
principle of slavish fear. Many men perform those duties that the law en-
joins, with the same sentiments thai slaves perform their drudgery, and are
* That is, nUDtt "to, J or. xx. 3.— Ed.
Pa, xiv. i . ii. m. 191
Bonttrained la their datiei bj do other bat thote of the whip
Hid the cudgel. Sinco, tin r. fore, they do it with reloei ad leeretlj
murmur wli >. mi t I -m-
mands 'ailed, uml tli.- : commands them wcm in ano:
world. The spirit of i ther, s
Spirit of I "ii i a ■'■• i nl) > yes him as u ju. I ■'■•. 'I : • . :
■operiors m tyrannical, will do! be Diooh concerned in th<
DUO would ho more i^lad to have Lheii I, than \>t<. umli r p< rpetual
| II | ! tli. in.
Many men regard not the infinite goodness in lln ir of hirn, hut
!■ him H emeli tj rannioal, injnriooj to their liberty. Adam's po ' « rity
!iir ■ from the sentiments of their common lath
You know what conceit was the hammer whereby the belli D Jftel
struck the nail into our first parents, which cnv.;.. I d(
the same imagination to all their posterity : Gen. in. 5, • C thai
in the day yon eat thereof, tout eyei shall be opened, and yon shall ho aa
la, knowing good and eril* 1 Alas, poor souls! (io.l knew what he did
when lie forbade yon that frail ; he wai jealona yon ihoold be too happy ; it
■ eroelty in him to deprive you a food so pleasant and delicious. I
apprehension of the severity of God's commands rieeth np no Leas in
that then were DO ( k)d "V. r us, than Adam's appfehenaJOM of < nvv in d 1,
for the restraint of one tree moved him to attempt to he equal with God ;
fear is as powerful to prodoos the one in his posterity, as pride was to pro-
duce the other in the common root Wh.n we apprehend i thing hurtful
to us, we di I much evil to it, as may render it uncapable of d
the hurt we f. ar. As we uim the preservation of what we love or hope tor,
■0 we are naturally apt to wish the not being of that whence wo feai
hurt or trouble. We moat not nnderstand this as if any man did formally
Wish the de-truetion of Gtod, SS God. God in liimself is an infinite mirror
of goodness and ravishing loveliness. Ho is infinitely good, and so univer-
sally pood, and nothing bat good, and is therefore so agreeable to a creature,
I creature, that it is impossihle that the creature, while it bears itself to
God as a creature, should he guilty of this, but thirst after him and cherish
iv motion to him. As no man wishes the destruction of any creature.
a creature, but as it may conduce to something which ho counts may be
al to himself, so no man doth, nor perhaps can wish the cessation
of the Icing of God, as God ; for then he must wish his own being to ceaso
also; but as ho considers him clothed with some perfection-, which he
appr. I :■ injurious to him ; as his holiness in forbidding sin, his joel
in punishing sin. And God being judged in those perfections contrary to
what the revolted creature thinks convenient and good for liimself, he may
h God I of those perfections, that thereby he may be free from all
• of trouble and grief from him in his fallen state. In wishing God de-
prived of thi Be, he w od deprived of his being, because God cannot
without a love of righteousness and hatred of iniquity ; and
he could 1 v his love to the one, or his loathing of the other, without
0688, and witnessing his anger against iniquity.
l. • foes, i nd examine our own eonaeienei &, Di I
we nev. r ] sometimes in the thoughts, how happy we sh
bo, how free in our vain pleasures, if there were no G
trol, subject to no law 1 at oar own,
nnd be guided by no will I flesh? Did w< ■
< . ■ 'I >m i
will to comma I his righteous will to punis.h, &
192 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
Thus much for the general.
For the proof of this, many considerations will bring in evidence ; most
may be reduced to these two generals.
Man would set himself up, first, as his own rule ; secondly, as his own end
and happiness.
I. Man would set himself up as his own rule instead of God. This will
be evidenced in this method.
1. Man naturally disowns the rule God sets him.
2. He owns any other rule rather than that of God's prescribing.
3. These he doth in order to the setting himself up as his own rule.
4. He makes himself not only his own rule, but would make himself the
rule of God, and give laws to his creator.
1. Man naturally disowns the rule God sets him. It is all one to deny
his royalty and to deny his being. When we disown his authority, we dis-
own his Godhead. It is the right of God to be the sovereign of his Crea-
tures ; and it must be a very loose and trivial assent that such men have to
God's superiority over them (and consequently to the excellency of his
beinc, upon which that authority is founded), who are scarce at ease in
themselves, but when they are invading his rights, breaking his bands, cast-
ing away his cords, and contradicting his will.
Every man naturally is a son of Belial, would be without a yoke, and
leap over God's enclosures ; and in breaking oat against his sovereignty, we
disown his being as God. For to be God and sovereign are inseparable ;
he could not be God, if he were not supreme ; nor could he be a creator
without being a lawgiver. To be God, and yet inferior to another, is a con-
tradiction. To make rational creatures without prescribing them a law, is
to make them without holiness, wisdom, and goodness.
(1.) There is in man naturally an unwillingness to have any acquaintance
with the rule God sets him : Ps. xiv. 2, ' None that did understand and seek
God.' The ' refusing instruction,' and ' casting his word behind the back,'
is a part of atheism, Ps. 1. 17. We are heavy in hearing the instructions
either of law or gospel, Heb. v. 11, 12, and slow in the apprehension of
what we hear. The people that God had hedged in from the wilderness of
the world for his own garden were foolish, and did not know God ; were
sottish, and had no understanding of him, Jer. iv. 22. The law of God is
accounted a strange thing, Hos. viii. 12, a thing of a different climate and
a far country from the heart of man, wherewith the mind of man had no
natural acquaintance, and had no desire to have any, or they regarded it as
a sordid thing. What God accounts great and valuable, they account mean
and despicable. Men may shew a civility to a stranger, but scarce contract
an intimacy ; there can be no amicable agreement between the holy will of
God and the heart of a depraved creature : one is holy, the other unholy ;
one is universally good, the other stark naught. The purity of the divine
rule renders it nauseous to the impurity of a carnal heart. Water and fire
may as well friendly kiss each other and live together without quarrelling
and hissing, as the holy will of God and the unregenerate heart of a fallen
creature.
The nauseating a holy rule is an evidence of atheism in the heart, as the
nauseating wholesome food is of putrified phlegm in the stomach. It is
found more or less in every Christian, in the remainders, though not in a
full empire. As there is a law in his mind whereby he delights in the law
of God, so there is a law in his members whereby he wars against the law
of God, Kom. vii. 22, 23, 25. How predominant is this loathing of the law
of God, when corrupt nature is in its full strength, without any principle to
Ph. XIV 1.] nUOlDOAB atiii.ism. 199
control it! Than is in the mind of sue)) i orif s darkness whereby U
ignorant <»r it, and in the will i d ep r a vodnesi whereby it is repu i it.
If man wen naturally willii [end able to in intimate atanee
with, and delighl in the It ■■ fG I, I ; l not bi J favourfbr
i to promise t<> write the law in the b< irt. a man d • r engi
the chronicle of a whole nation, ot all the God in the Seriptore,
npon the harde I marble with nil bare finger, than wi ijllable of the
law of God in i ipiritnal manner npon hie heart* For,
1 . Mi ii :n nt m ii in" the ni« 'in i for the 1 i G
will. All natural men are (bole, who know not, bow to use the ' pric God
pntfl into their hands,' Prov. ivii. ic>; theyptd not i dne < timate a]
opportnnitiefl and meani of grace, and aoeonnt thai law folly which ii the
birth of an infinite and holy wisdom. The knowledge of God whiefa they
may glean from oreatnree, and ii more pleasant to the natural
is not improved to the glory of < J<ni , if we will believe the indietmenl the
itle brings againsi the Gentfles, Rom. i. 21. And most of those that
have dived into the depths of nature, have been more studious of the quali-
ties of the creatures than of the excellency of the nature, or the d y of
the mind of God in them ; who regard only the rising and motions of tho
star, bul follow not with the wise nun, its conduct to the king of the Jews*
How often do we see men filled with an eager thirst for all other kind of
knowledge, thai eannol acquiesce in a twilight discovery, but are inquisitive
into the and reasons of effects, yet are contented with a weak and
[uishing knowledge of God and his law, and are easily tired with tho
proposals (^' them.
Hi' now that nauseates the means whereby ho may come to know and
obey God, has no intention to make the law of (rod his rule. There is no
man that intends seriously an end, hut he intends means in order to that
end ; as when a man intends the preservation or recovery of his health, he
will intend means in order to those ends, otherwise he cannot be said to
intend his health. So he that is not diligent in using means to know the
mind of (rod, has no sound intention to make the will and law of God his
rule. Is not the inquiry after the will of God made a work by the by, and
fain to laoquey after other concerns of an inferior nature, if it hath any place
at all in the soul? which is a despising the being of God. The notion of
the sovereignty of God bears the same date with the notion of hi- I i :
and by the same way that he reveals himself, he reveals his authority over
DS), whether it be by creatures without, or conscience within. All authority
Over rational creatures consists in commanding and directing; the duty of
rational creatures, in compliance with that authority, consists in obeying.
Where there is therefore a careless neglect of those means which convey the
knew!. a will and our duty, there is an utter disowning of God as
our - 'i and our rule.
2. When any part of the mind and will of God breaks in upon men,
they endeavour to shake it off; as a man would a sergeant that comes to
arrest him : ■ They like not to retain God in their knowledg •.' 11 »m. i. 28.
1 A natural msj ie things of the Spirit of God ;' that is, into
his affection : I th them back as men do troublesome and imp >rtunate
They have no kindness to bestow upon it. They thrust \\
shoulders:! the truth .hen it ; i in upon them; and
dash as mnch i ' upon it as the Pharisees did upon the doctrine
iour di their oovetonsneee. As men naturally
without God in the WOT I to be without any
God in their thoughts. Since the spiritual palate of man
VOL. I. I
194 chaknock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1.
truth is unsavoury and ungrateful to us, till our taste and relish is restored
by grace. Hence men damp and quench the motions of the Spirit to obe-
dience and compliance with the dictates of God ; strip them of their life and
vigour, and kill them in the womb. How unable are our memories to retain
the substance of spiritual truth, but like sand in a glass, put in at one part
and runs out at the other ! Have not many a secret wish that the Scrip-
ture had never mentioned some truths, or that they were blotted out of the
Bible, because they face their consciences, and discourage those boiling lusts
they would with eagerness and delight pursue ? Methinks that interruption
John gives our Saviour, when he was upon the reproof of their pride, looks
little better than a design to divert him from a discourse so much against
the grain, by telling him a story of their prohibiting one to cast out devils,
because he followed not them, Mark ix. 33, 38. How glad are men when
they can raise a battery against a command of God, and raise some smart
objection, whereby they may shelter themselves from the strictness of it !
[3.] When men cannot shake off the notices of the will and mind of God,
they have no pleasure in the consideration of them ; which could not pos-
sibly be, if there were a real and fixed design to own the mind and law of
God as our rule. Subjects or servants that love to obey their prince and
master, will delight to read and execute their orders. The devils under-
stand the law of God in their minds, but they loathe the impressions of it
upon their wills. Those miserable spirits are bound in chains of darkness,
evil habits in their wills, that they have not a thought of obeying that law
they know. It was an unclean beast under the law that did not chew the
cud ; it is a corrupt heart that doth not chew truth by meditation. A
natural man is said not to know God, or the things of God ; he may know
them notion ally, but he knows them not affectionately. A sensual soul can
have no delight in a spiritual law. To be sensual and not to have the Spirit
are inseparable, Jude 19.
Natural men may indeed meditate upon the law and truth of God, but
without delight in it ; if they take any pleasure in it, it is only as it is
knowledge, not as it is a rule ; for we delight in nothing that we desire, but
upon the same account that we desire it. Natural men desire to know God
and some part of his will and law, not out of a sense of their practical excel-
lency, but a natural thirst after knowledge ; and if they have a delight, it is
in the act of knowing, not in the object known, not in the duties that stream
from that knowledge ; they design the furnishing their understandings, not
the quickening their affections ; like idle boys that strike fire, not to warm
themselves by the heat, but sport themselves with the sparks ; whereas a
gracious soul accounts not only his meditation, or the operations of his soul
about God and his will to be sweet, but he hath a joy in the object of that
meditation, Ps. civ. 34. Many have the knowledge of God, who have no
delight in him or his will. Owls have eyes to perceive that there is a sun,
but by reason of the weakness of their sight have no pleasure to look upon
a beam of it ; so neither can a man by nature love or delight in the will of
God, because of his natural corruption. That law that riseth up in men for
conviction and instruction, they keep down under the power of corruption,
making their souls not the sanctuary, but prison of truth, Rom. i. 18.
They will keep it down in their hearts, if they cannot keep it out of their
heads, and will not endeavour to know and taste the spirit of it.
[4. J There is further a rising and swelling of the heart against the will of
God. (1.) Internal. God's law cast against a hard heart is like a ball
thrown against a stone wall, by reason of the resistance rebounding the
further from it. Tho meeting of a divine truth and the heart of man, is
. I \ . 1 . I'HACTICAL AIJN.lHM.
like the meeting of two tidee, tin weaker swells lad foams, i o
natural anti|i:itliy i u di\ine mi.-, ami Liu when [til olapp 1
i our 001 against it,
option breaki ont mort strongly ; m on lime
lire by an antipen . and the mote . the eqom
farioualy it bnrni ; or ipon i dunghill makes tbi
ma the thicker and the itefioh the i er, noil poeil
moke hi the lime, or the atench in the dunghill, bat
lent the i eruption : Bom. rii. 8, * 1 1
by the eommendment, wrought in me all manner of c tor
without the law nn lead.' Bin waa in ■ langniahii fit
on in a city, till upon an alarm from the
ad rei i ■■ ; -'ill the nn in tin; b
r its force to maintain ; - 1 1 1 1 • r , like the rapoura of the
it, which unite themselv< i more olo i ly to ing
■on. Deep conviction often provokes neros opposition; aometiinea diapui
is! a divino rulo end in blasphemiei ! Aets liii. 46, ' Contra and
blaspheming* are ooopli her. Men naturally de ire thing that are
forbidden, and reject things commanded, from the oorrnption of natare f
whieh affects an unbounded liberty, and is impatient of returning under thai
yoke it hath shaken off, and there! ii b! the ban of the law, ai
tlic waves roar against the restraint of a bank. When the nndei
dark and tho mind ignorant, sin lies aa dead : ' A man icaree knowa he
hath Bueh motions of conenpiaoenee in him, be finda not the least breath of
wind, but a full calm in his soul; but when be ia awakened by the law, ti
the viciouaness of nature being sensible of an invasion ofita empire, arms
?ine law, and the more the command is urged, the more
\ rously it bends tie strength, and more insolently lifts Up itself against
it.'* He pereeivea more and more atheistical lusts than before ; ' all manner
of concupiscence,' more leprous and contagious than before. "When there
are any motions to turn to God, a reluctancy is presently perceived ; athe-
al thoughts bluster in the mind like the wind, they know not whence they
eome nor whither they go, so unapt is the heart to any acknowledgment
of Gud as bis ruler, and any reunion with him. Hence men are said to
4 resist the Holy Ghost,' Acts vii. 51, to fall against it, a3 the word signifies,
i stone or any ponderous body falls against that which lies in its way ;
they would da^h to pieces or grind to powder that very motion which
is made for their instruction, and tho Spirit too which makes it, and
that not from a lit of passion, but an habitual repugnance. ■ Ye alw
al, it is a fruit of atheism, in tho fourth verso of this Psalm :
1 Who < it up my people as they eat bread. 1 How do the revelations of the
mind of God meet with opposition! And the carnal world like dogs bark
the shining of the moon! So mueh men hate the light, that they
spurn at tl rna that bear it ; and because they cannot endure tho
-ure, often tlingthc earthen vessels against the ground wherein it is held.
[ftheentl I truth render the market worse for Diana's shrines, tho
whole city will be in an uproar, Acts xix. 2 1, 28, 29. When Socrates upon
oral pri: athen idolatry, and asserted the unit]
G I, the who! as, a learned university, ia it him.
I i the pul lie received religion, though with an undoul
truth, he must end his 1 .How hath every earner ot the
world steamed with the blood i ;t would maintain the authori;
* Thea Bahamr. D Bj Irita Benitutb, That 19.
196 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
God in the world ! The devil's children will follow the steps of their father,
and endeavour to bruise the heel of divine truth, that would endeavour to
break the head of corrupt lust.
[5.] Men often seem desirous to be acquainted with the will of God, not
out of any respect to his will and to make it their rule, but upon some other
consideration. Truth is scarce received as truth. There is more of
hypocrisy than sincerity in the pale of the church, and attendance on the
mind of God. The outward dowry of a religious profession makes it often
more desirable than the beauty. Judas was a follower of Christ for the
bag, not out of any affection to the divine revelation. Men sometimes
pretend a desire to be acquainted with the will of God, to satisfy their own
passions, rather than to conform to God's will. The religion of such is not
the judgment of the man, but the passion of the brute. Many entertain a
doctrine for the person's sake, rather than a person for the doctrine's sake,
and believe a thing because it comes from a man they esteem, as if his lips
were more canonical than Scripture.
The apostle implies in the commendation he gives the Thessalonians,
1 Thes. ii. 13, that some receive the word for human interest, not ' as it is
in truth the word and will of God,' to command and govern their consciences
by its sovereign authority; or else they 'have the truth of God' (as St
James speaks of the faith of Christ) ' with respect of persons,' James ii. 1,
and receive it not for the sake of the fountain, but of the channel ; so that
many times the same truth delivered by another is disregarded, which when
dropping from the fancy and mouth of a man's own idol, is cried up as an
oracle. This is to make not God, but man, the rule ; for though we enter-
tain that which materially is the truth of God, yet not formally as his truth,
but as conveyed by one we affect ; and that we receive a truth and not an
error, we owe the obligation to the honesty of the instrument, and not to
the strength and clearness of our own judgment. Wrong considerations may
give admittance to an unclean as well as a clean beast into the ark of the
soul ; that which is contrary to the mind of God may be entertained as well
as that which is agreeable. It is all one to such, that have no respect to
God, what they have ; as it is all one to a spunge to suck up the foulest
water or the sweetest w T ine, when either is applied to it.
[6. J Many that entertain the notions of the will and mind of God admit
them with unsettled and wavering affections. There is a great levity in the heart
of man. The Jews that one day applaud our Saviour w T ith Hosannahs as their
king, vote his crucifixion the next, and use him as a murderer. We begin
in the Spirit and end in the flesh. Our hearts, like lute-strings, are changed
with every change of weather, with every appearance of a temptation; scarce
one motion of God in a thousand prevails with us for a settled abode. It is
a hard task to make a signature of those truths upon our affections, which
will with ease pass current with our understandings; our affections will as soon
loose them as our understandings embrace them. The heart of man is
unstable as water, Gen. xlix. 4, James i. 8. Some were willing to rejoice
in John's light, which reflected a lustre on their minds, but not in his heat,
which would have conveyed a warmth to their hearts ; and the light was
pleasing to them but for a season, John v. 35, while their corruptions lay
as if they were dead, not when they were awakened. Truth may be admitted
one day, and the next day rejected. As Austin saith of a wicked man, he
loves the truth shining, hut ho hates the truth reproving. This is not to
make God, but our own humour, our rule and measure.
[7.] Many desire an acquaintance with the law and truth of God, with a
design to improve somo lust by it, to turn the word of God to bo a pander
Pi. XIV. l.J HUOTIOAL a -i hk ism. 197
to the breach of hii law. This ii so hi from making God's will our rule,
thai we make oui own \ ill law, I [ow manj
interpn to the lusts of
in. ii, .111,1 tin- divine rule (broad I and be Mjuai loo e and
oarnal approhonaiona I It. h i pari of the instability the
hoart to ' w re! the Scrij ' i their o ili. 1 ''.
wliidi they oonld Doi dO| If they did ool Ii I wring thorn to countenance
some deb table error or filthy crime, (npai the first interpretation
made of the Aral law of God wai point blank against the mind of the I
I venomous to the whole raoe of mankind. Pan! him • that
some in i [hi put bis doetrii o ill ansa, and
lelter their preeomption : Elom. \i. 1, 10, 'Shall ■•■
oontinae in sin, that grace may abound?' Poiaonom 001
a drawn from tl I troths; aewhen God's pa t ie n ce ia mad 1
t ipio whenee to irgne Against his providence, Ps. id?. I, or an enoonri
in. nt to oommil evil more gre< cLily s u thongb b cause be ha 1 not presently
1 revengin [ ban 1. be had not an all-seeing eye ; or when tin: doctrine of
justification by (kith ia made ose of to depress a holy lift ; or God's rsadi-
to receive returning sinners an an ement to defer rep till
a death bed. A liar will hunt for shelter in the reward 1 the
midwives that lied to Pharaoh for the pn ion of the males of [srael,
and Rahab's Baring the spies by false intelligence. God knows how to
inguish between grace and eorroption, that they may lio close together,
or I 1 something of moral goodness and moral evil which may bo
mixed. We find their fidelity rewarded, which was a mora] go id ; but not
their lie approved, which was ■ mora] evil. Nor will Christ's conversing
with sinners be S plea fin any to thrust themselves into evil company.
Christ conversed with sinners as s physician with diseased persons, to cure
them, not approve them ; others with profligate persons to receive infec-
lVoia them, not to communicate holiness to them. Satan's children
have Bto lied their father's art, who wanted not perverted Scripture to second
his temptations against our Saviour, Mat IV. 4, G. How often do carnal
hearts turn divine revelation to carnal ends, as the sea fresh water into
salt ! As men subject the precepts of God to carnal interests, so they
subject the truths of God to carnal fancies. When men will allegorise the
word, and make a humorous and crazy fancy the interpreter of divine
oracles, and not the Spirit speaking in the word, this is to enthrone our own
imaginations as the rule of God's law, and depose his law from being the
rule of our reason ; this is to ritle truth of its true mind and intent. It is
more to rob a man of his reason, the essential constitutive part of man, than
of hi This is to refuse an intimate acquaintance with his will. Wo
tell what is the matter of a precept, or the matter of a promise,
if\\. N a sense upon it contiary to the plain meaning of it ; thereby
\\.' shall make the law of God to have a distinct senso according to the
farii ty of men's imaginations, and so make every man's fancy a law to
him
, that this unwillingness to have a spiritual acquaintance with divine
truth is I disowning God as our rule, and a setting up self in his stead, is
evi.l' tins unwillingness respects truth,
ritual and holy. A fleshly mind is most cor.
i spiritual law, and particularly as it is a searching and disco
that would dethrone ill other rules in the soul. As men love to be without
a holy God in the world, so tluy love to be without a holy law, t:. ript
and image of God's holiness, in their hearts, and without holy men, tho lights
198 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
kindled by the Father of lights. As the holiness of God, so the holiness of
the law most offends a carnal heart : Isa. xxx. 11, « Cause the Holy One of
Israel to cease from before us ; prophesy [not] to us right things.' They
could not endure God as a holy one. Herein God places their rebellion,
rejecting him as their rule : ver. 9, ■ Rebellious children, that will not hear
the law of the Lord.' The more pure and precious any discovery of God is,
the more it is disrelished by the world. As spiritual sins are sweetest to a
carnal heart, so spiritual truths are most distasteful. The more of the bright-
ness of the sun any beam conveys, the more offensive it is to a distempered
eye.
Secondly, As it doth most relate to, or lead to God. The devil directs his
fiercest batteries against those doctrines in the word, and those graces in the
heart, which most exalt God, debase man, and bring men to the lowest sub-
jection to their Creator. Such is the doctrine and grace of justifying faith.
That men hate not knowledge as knowledge, but as it directs them to choose
the fear of the Lord, was the determination of the Holy Ghost long ago :
Prov. i. 29, ' For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of
the Lord.' Whatsoever respects God, clears up guilt, witnesses man's revolt
to him, rouseth up conscience, and moves to a return to God, a man naturally
runs from, as Adam did from God, and seeks a shelter in some weak bushes
of error, rather than appear before it. Not that men are unwilling to inquire
into and contemplate some divine truths which lie furthest from the heart,
and concern not themselves immediately with the rectifying the soul. They
may view them with such a pleasure as some might take in beholding the
miracles of our Saviour, who could not endure his searching doctrine. The
light of speculation may be pleasant, but the light of conviction is grievous,
that which galls their conciences, and would affect them with a sense of their
duty to God.
Is it not easy to perceive that when a man begins to be serious in the
concerns of the honour of God and the duty of his soul, he feels a reluctancy
within him, even against the pleas of conscience, which evidenceth that some
unworthy principle has got footing in the hearts of men, which fights against
the declarations of God without and the impressions of the law of God within,
at the same time when a man's own conscience takes part with it, which is
the substance of the apostle's discourse, Rom. vii. 15, 16, &c.
Close discourses of the honour of God and our duty to him are irksome,
when men are upon a merry pin. They are like a damp in a mine, that
takes away their breath ; they shuffle them out as soon as they can, and are
as unwilling to retain the speech of them in their mouths, as the knowledge
of them in their hearts. Gracious speeches, instead of bettering many men,
distemper them, as sometimes sweet perfumes affect a weak head with aches.
Thirdly, As it is most contrary to self. Men are unwilling to acquaint
themselves with any truth that leads to God, because it leads from self.
Every part of the will of God is more or les3 displeasing, as it sounds harsh
against some carnal interest men would set above God, or as a mate with him.
Man cannot desire any intimacy with that law which he regards as a bird of
prey, to pick out his right eye or gnaw off his right hand, his lust, clearer than
himself. The reason we havo such hard thoughts of God's will, is because
we have such high thoughts of ourselves. It is a hard matter to believe or
will that which hath no affinity with some principlo in the understanding, and
no interest in our will and passions. Our unwillingness to be acquainted
with tho will of God, ariseth from the disproportion between that and our
corrupt hearts ; wo are ■ alienated from the life of God in our minds,' Eph.
iv. IB, 19. As wo live not like God, so we neither think or will as God.
Ps. XIV. 1 . I'UACTKM. \
There [i an antipathy in the hear! of man 1 | on ' th d doctrine which I
i i,,. under i sr ; but whataoennw ftanui
the ambition, lasts, and pi f man ia ai nable. Many ara
fond of I lienoea winch m ; i their not
npoo ill rable dexterity in find
ma, mathematical demo • i
turns apoD the i f history, h time an 1 m
and ane its in the itudy of them. In thoae they ha
immediately to 1 1 ■ i . I I I. it
. without th
had thoae sciem - !•.■■ n :• ' im I lelf, ai mneh aa the I will ol 1 1
they had lot I the world. Why did the you
turn his back npon the law of Ohi ' ? Becac • of hie worldly sent w
ili.l th I'll .!■; - I'M mnrk :it tin- doctrine of our S ivioiir, ai. I
ma sett Why did the Jen ili ,; - 1 th
of onr Bavionr, and pat him to death, after the reading 10 many ere lentiala
of Ins being sent from heaves ? Bi canse of ambitiona aelf, that the Romana
come and take away their kingdom. It' the law of 1 1
tn tlic humours of self, it wonld be readily and cordially observed by all d
Belf is the n of a world of seeming rel gions actions ; while i
to be tin 1 obj( ft an I his law the motive, self is the rale and and : Zeeh. rii 5,
• Did yon feel unto me f ' fto.
•_'. aj men discover their diaowning the will of Grod as a rale by unwill-
ingness to I tinted with it, so they diacorer it by the e >t of it,
mnot avoid the notions and some impressions of it. The rule of
God ia I nr inner ; he flies from it as from a frightful bugbear
and nnpleaaani yoke. Bin against the knowledge of the law i I
call, i - ag back from the commandment of God's lips, ' Job xxiii. 12;
a 'easti i word behind them,' Ps. L 17. aa a contemptible thing, fitter
I i be trod len in the dirt than lodged in the heart. Nay, it is a casting it
off as an abominable thing, for so the word n^l signifies : Hos. viii. 3, 'Israel
hath id off the thing that is good ;' an utter refusal of God : Jer. xliv. 16,
* Aj for the word which thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we
will not hearken.' In the slight of his precepts, his essential perfections are
Blighted. In disowning his will as a rule, we disown all those attrib:;
which flow from his will, as goodness, righteousness, and truth. As an act
of the divine understanding is supposed to precede the act of the divine will,
so we slight the infinite reason of God. Every law, though it proceeds from
the wiil of the lawgiver, and doth formally consist in an act of the will, vet
it doth presuppose an act of the understanding. If ' the commandment be
holy, jnst, and good,' as it is (Rom. vii. 12), if it be the image of God's
holt of of his righteousness and the etllux of his goodness, then
in STery breach of it, dirt is cast upon those attributes which shine in it, and
• of all the regards he hath to his own honour, and all the provisions
he • : >r his creature. This atheism or contempt of God, is more ts
OS of bj khan the matter of the sin itself; as a respect to God, in a
weak and u ace, u more than the matter of the obedience ii
iknowledgment of God, so a contempt of God, in an act of
■ re than the matter of diaobedienee. The creature sta-
in such an let, not only in a posture of distance from God, but defiance of
him. It •.. t of mnrder and adultery which Nathan char
nponD -1 principle which spirited those evil The
1 (b • the L >rd' was the v. •nom of them, '2 Sam.
lii. '.♦, 10. It is | to break a law without contempt ; but when men
200 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
pretend to believe there is a God, and that this is the law of God, it shews
a contempt of his majesty. Men naturally account God's laws too strict,
his yoke too heavy, and his limits too strait ; and he that liveth in a con-
tempt of this law, curseth God in his life. How can they believe there is a
God, who despise him as a ruler ? How can they believe him to be a guide,
that disdain to follow him ? To think we firmly believe a God, without
living conformable to his law, is an idle and vain imagination. The true
and sensible motion* of a God cannot subsist with disorder and an affected
unrighteousness.
This contempt is seen,
[1.] In any presumptuous breach of any part of his law. Such sins are
frequently called in Scripture rebellions, which are a denial of the allegiance
we owe to him. By a wilful refusal of his right in one part, we root up
the foundation of that rule he doth justly challenge over us. His right is
as extensive to command us in one thing as in another. And if it be dis-
owned in one thing, it is virtually disowned in all, and the whole statute-
book of God is contemned: James ii. 10, 11, 'Whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all.' A willing breaking
one part, though there be a willing observance of all the other points of it,
is a breach of the whole, because the authority of God, which gives sanc-
tion to the whole, is slighted. The obedience to the rest is dissembled ;
for the love which is the root of all obedience is wanting, for ' love is the
fulfilling the whole law,' Kom. xiii. 10. The rest are obeyed because they
cross not carnal desire so much as the other, and so it is an observance of
himself, not of God. Besides, the authority of God, which is not prevalent
to restrain us from the breach of one point, would be of as little force with
us to restrain us from the breach of all the rest, did the allurements of the
flesh give us as strong a diversion from the one as from the other. And
though the command that is transgressed be the least in the whole law, yet
the authority which enjoins it is the same with that which enacts the greatest.
And it is not so much the matter of the command, as the authority com-
manding, which lays the obligation.
[2.] In the natural averseness to the declarations of God's will and mind,
which way soever they tend. Since man affected to be as God, he desires
to be boundless; he would not have fetters, though they be golden ones,
and conduce to his happiness ; though the law of God be a strength to
them, yet they will not: Isa. xxx. 15, 'In returning shall be your strength;
and you would not.' They would not have a bridle to restrain them from
running into the pit, nor be hedged in by the law, though for their security,
as if they thought it too slavish and low-spirited a thing to be guided by the
will of another. Hence man is compared to a wild ass, that loves to ' snuff
up the wind in the wilderness at her pleasure,' rather than come under the
guidance of God, Jer. ii. 24. From whatsoever quarter of the heavens you
pursue her, she will run to the other.
The Israelites could not endure what was commanded, Heb. xii. 20,
though in regard of the moral part, agreeablo to what they found written in
their own nature, and to the observance whereof they had the highest obli-
gations of any people under heaven, since God had by many prodigies
delivered them from a cruel slavery, the memory of which prefaced the
Decalogue : Exod. xx. 2, ' I am tho Lord thy God, which have brought
theo out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.' They could
not think of the rule of their duty but they must reflect upon the grand incen-
tive of it in their redemption from Egyptian thraldom ; yet this peoplo were
* Qu. ' notion ' ?— Ed.
r . xi v. 1 . ii:\. 1 1. •!. .Mm tnt. 901
•
- t<i (iml, whiofa way soever hi I. When they pi ti in th I
Kilns, th.v cried for deliverance; when lb
Ion di and garlic In Num. i
dehwrancr from l."-|'t, and talk of 1 • t u I 1 1 1 1 1 • '
.Is in tlu« hands of tluir run
tin D nit" the in- ns win :
word of the promi • of God for giving them ft fruitful land. But wl
Ho them ( tod'i order, tl should turn I
the B i & ft, i .
ihoold I. iml nt' Canaan,
. :iini in ■:> i.l 1*1 march.- 1 I ■■ R
b( .1 foi . tli- v will go u). to '
threat.! i . ' \V< will go to the phu*o '.much tin Lord hath promi
10, w bieh c die a ' Iran I
il. The j would preeume to go lip, notwithstandii
bibition, and arc smitten by the Amalekites. Winn G them a
precept, with n promi o up to Osnaan, they long for Egypt; wl
G immandi then to return to the Bed Bea, which
place they longed for, they will shift lidee and go op to Canaan, Num. xxi.
A, 5, fl .;' ftnd when they found they were to b
tin 4 deoerti they took pel b God, end instead of thanking him tor tin:
late .list the Canaanitee, they reproach him for hie conduct from
I p:, and the manna wherewith he nourished them in the wilden
They would not go to Canaan the way God had ohi ten, nor |
solves by the meani God had ordained. They would not I dis-
implain of the badness of the way and the Lightness of manna,
empty of any neoesaary juice to sustain then- nature. Theymurmurij
soli. will and power of God to change all that order which ho I
i in his coiii, gel, and take another, conformable to their vain, foolish
.i< - !■ . And they signified thereby that they would invade his conduct,
and that he should act according to their fancy, which the psalmist cah
' tempting of God, and bruiting the Holy One of Israel,' Ps. ixxviii. 41.
To what point soever the <h durations of God stand, the will of man turns
the quite contrary way. Is not the carriage of this nation, the best then in
the world, a discovery of tho depth of our natural corruption, how cross
man is I .' And that charge God brings ftgainet them may be brought
all men by nature, that they * despise his judgment, ' and have ft
1 . ftbhorrency of his statutes in their soul, Lev. xxvi. 48. N<> sooner
cov er ed from one rebellion, but they revolted to another; so
difficult a tiling it is for man's nature to be rendered capable of conforming
il] o( God. The carriage of his people is but a copy of the nature
Of mankind, and is 'written lor our admonition,' 1 Cor. x. 11. From this
said to ■ make void the law of God,' l's. cxix. 126 ; to make
it of no < m, an antiquated and moth-eaten record. And the Phsrisi
by setting up their traditions against the will of God, are said to make
law 'of n DC eflect,' to strip it of all its authority, as tho word siguil.
-light of that will of God which is mod
honour and nil | tSUre. It is the nature of man, ever til -ni,
to do io : Hosss i . ,; . 7. 'God deaired mercy, and not n
ledge of himself more than burnt-offi ring. But they, like men," as Adam,
'have transgressed the eoveosnV OH • l*S rights, and not 1st h.m be
Lord of one b
* Daillc, Serm. 1 Cor. x. Serin. 9.
202 cha.rnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
We are more curious observers of the fringes of the law than of the
greater concerns of it. The Jews were diligent in sacrifices and offerings,
which God did not urge upon them as principals, but as types of other
things, but negligent of the faith which was to be established by him ; holi-
ness, mercy, pity, which concerned the honour of God as governor of the
world, and were imitations of the holiness and goodness of God, they were
strangers to. This is God's complaint, Isa. i. 11, 12, and 16, 17.
We shall find our hearts most averse to the observation of those laws
which are eternal and essential to righteousness ; such that he could not
but command, as he is a righteous governor; in the observation of which
we come nearest to him, and express his image more clearly, as those laws
for an inward and spiritual worship, a supreme affection to him. God, in
regard of his righteousness and holiness of his nature, and the excellency of
his being, could not command the contrary to these; but this part of his
will our hearts most swell against, our corruption doth most snarl at,
whereas those laws which are only positive, and have no intrinsic righteous-
ness in them, but depend purely upon the will of the lawgiver, and may be
changed at his pleasure (which the other, that have an intrinsic righteous-
ness in them, cannot), we better comply with than that part of his will that
doth express more of the righteousness of his nature, Ps. 1. 6, 17, 19, such
as the ceremonial part of worship, and the ceremonial law among the Jews.
We are more willing to observe order in some outward attendances and
glavering devotions, than discard secret affections to evil, crucify inward
lusts and delightful thoughts. A 'hanging down the head like a bulrush'
is not difficult, but the breaking the heart like a potter's vessel to shreds
and dust (a sacrifice God delights in, whereby the excellency of God and
the vileness of the creature is owned), goes against the grain. To cut off
an outward branch is not so hard as to hack at the root. What God most
loathes, as most contrary to his will, we most love. No sin did God so
severely hate, and no sin were the Jews more inclined unto, than that of
idolatry. The heathen had not ' changed their God ' as the Jews had
'changed their glory,' Jer. ii. 11; and all men are naturally tainted with
this sin, which is so contrary to the holy and excellent nature of God. By
how much the more defect there is of purity in our respects to God, by so
much the more respect there is to some idol within or without us, to humour,
custom, and interest, &c.
Never did any law of God meet with so much opposition as Christianity,
which was the design of God from the first promise to the exhibiting the
Rodeemer, and from thenco to the end of the world. All people drew swords
at first against it. The Romans prepared yokes for their neighbours, but
provided temples for the idols those people worshipped. But Christianity,
the choicest design and most delightful part of the will of God, never met
with a kind entertainment at first in any place. Rome, that entertained all -
others, persecuted this with fire and sword, though sealed by greater testi-
monies from heaven than their own records could report in favour of their
idols.
[4.] In running the greatest hazards, and exposing ourselves to more
trouble to cross the will of God, than is necessary to the observance of it.
It is a vain charge men bring against the divine precepts, that they aro
rigorous, severe, difficult, when, besides the contradiction to our Saviour,
who tells us his yoke is easy and his burden light, they thwart their own
calm reason and judgment. Is there not more difficulty to be vicious,
covetous, violent, cruel, than to bo virtuous, charitable, kind? Doth the
will of God enjoin that that is not conformable to right reason and secretly
\'IY. 1. fftAOTN kL mm
deligfatfal in t! '
ii and Ui«« world - n II of m :1 :i " l l;
I • uv.t ill: I .tintllilh.
:i light, end commence a i" •
im:irilv do wli» n w | in tin- l il»
m. 8, 7. 9, would be ii the « (pen i of ' U ' '
f nil,' |f tin v mulil "», WOOld itrip th(
t luir Datura! a" ' I their DTil botfl lO ezpUl d,'
rather than | " . lo?C ni.iw. Mid a. ilk lniinl.lv with G
Ddueibli bouour . the welfare of thi world, tl
of thi ir i ooJi, and of i nww notion than th I
for.
Doi tinea then dieown Gk)d, whan they will watt u with
thorni, wh< rein th< I frith the erroi turn ifl
their . I ih la down to in ererl isting punishm* at, i d
intolerable to oontradid the will of God '.' When they will |
Btion, with i eombattion in their
their reasons, gnawing earei ind m iry I iTelf, before the honour ol God,
tin- dignity of their naturec, the bappinesi of pi iee ind bealt]
i rved at a cheaper rate than they ire il troy them?
5, In the unwilln ind awkwardneaa of the heart, when it
Q : ee, Ifi nil with both hand fly* 1 afieah vii. :{, bnt
1 with one hand faintly; do life in the bearl nor iny dili
I. What slight and khougfata of God doth this nnwill
imply! It is a wi h\< providence, u though >t under hia
t, and I a wrong to hi-
ther.! were no amiableness in him to make hie bottom
an injury to his goodnees and power, as if 1 not ahle or willir
reward the en take notice of it. i
ign we n little satisfaction in him, and that there is a great unauit-
ablenesa 1" twei a him and us.
Ftrt/, There is a kind of constraint in the first ci "it. We are
rather | to it than enter ourselvee v. lunteers. What we eall
God, is done, naturally, much against our wills; it is not a delightful
1, hut a bitter potion ; we are rather haled than run to it. There is a
otradiction of sin within us against our service, as there was a eontra
tion of sinners without our Saviour against his doing the will of God.
unwieldy to any spiritual Berricc of God ; v.
fi * with them sometimes. Hezekiah, it is said, 'walked
1 rd with a perfect heart,' 2 hangs ex. 8 ; he walked, he made himself to
v. Ik. Man naturally cares not for a walk with God ; if he hath any com-
munion with him, it is with such a dulness and heavin. . as if ho
font of his company. Man's nature, I Bontrary to holi-
ith an B to any act of homage to God, hecause holiness must
at I led ; in every duty wherein we have a communion with
liaite ; now, as men are against the- truth of holi
1 raitable to them, so they are not ; ities
ch require it. and I toe divert them from the thoughts of their
ike, prayer a d
ence a Wt are like fish, that 'drink up iniquity lik<
.i -lk without the f an angle j no
r e willing to do aan '. fiah is of itself to do ser
man. [( is a I il°.
not sondike performances. . . than aff ec ti o n
204 chaenock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1.
conscience, like a task-master, did not scourge them to duty, they would
never perform it.
Let us appeal to ourselves whether we are not more unwilling to secret,
closet, hearty duty to God, than to join with others in some external service ;
as if those inward services were a going to the rack, and rather our penance
than privilege. How much service hath God in the world from the same
principle that vagrants perform their task in Bridewell ! How glad are
many of evasions to back them in the neglect of the commands of God, of
corrupt reasonings from the flesh to waylay an act of obedience, and a
multitude of excuses to blunt the edge of the precept ! The very service of
God shall be a pretence to deprive him of the obedience due to him. Saul
will not be ruled by God's will in the destroying the cattle of the Amalekites,
but by his own ; and will impose upon the will and wisdom of God, judging
God mistaken in his command, and that the cattle God thought fittest to be
meat, to the fowls were fitter to be sacrifices on the altar, 1 Sam. xv. 3, 9,
15, 21.
If we do perform any pd ; whence the apostle
calls all idolatrous feasts ' the table of devils,' ' the cup of devils,' ' sacrifice
to devils,' 'fellowship with devils,' 1 Cor. x. 20, 21. Devils being the real
object of the pagan worship, though not formally intended by the wor-
shipper, though in some parts of the Indies the direct and peculiar worship
is to the devil, that he might not hurt them; and though the intention of
others was to offer to God and not the devil, yet since the action was con-
trary to the will of God, he regards it as a sacrifice to devils. It was not
the intention of Jeroboam to establish priests to the devil when he conse-
crated them to the service of his calves, for Jehu afterwards calls them ■ the
servants of tho Lord : ' 2 Kings x. 23, ' See if there be here none of the
servants of tho Lord,' to distinguish them from the servants of Baal, signi-
fying that the true God was worshipped under those images, and not Baal,
nor any of the gods of tho heathens ; yet Scripture couples the calves and
devils together, and ascribes the worship given to one to be given to tho
other. 2 Chron. xi. 15, ' He ordained him priests for the high places, and
for tho devils, and for tho calves which he had made ; ' so that they were
sacrifices to devils, notwithstanding tho intention of Jeroboam and his sub-
jects that had set them up and worshipped them, because they were contrary
\[ Y. 1 . PI \t.
| ) tin' mind of G >d, iblo t i the do itrine though
the object of tii intention w< I the devil, but
■ deified m m or I i nt. The i
1 action j if ko, wlini uumi Kill tin- I I ifh :t <lc <_'n to
io God service, onr forctolls, John xvi. 2, the anion would not
be i it othi r
of li <>f tli • worship of tho world, which mi
Incline th. ml different from the rarefied will
il is a practical acknowlod [in
ackn 'i •' which 1
divine revelation up ere minted by Satan to I thehon
of ( ;...! in ; 1. It .loth oonoern men U food he I, thai in
then p they have :i divine rale, otherwi
devil as th no medium. Whatsoever ii not from <
from S:i!:m.
' this closer to a . an I ib is m
among are in 1 natural condition, and wed led to th ir l
are onder 1 ernment of Satan : John viii. II. ' Ye are of your
Gather the devil, and the huts of your Gather you will do. 1 I
into ipiritual and earn tl, which division comprehends all, the devil's authority
is owned in both i in spiritual, we conform t<> his example, because tl
commits ; in carnal, we obey his »■///, because those ho di
the one, and sets us e copy .• he tempts to the other, an 1 giv< kind of
a pnoept. Tims man by nature being b willin
md in the levil's iron chains than in God's sil ds.
What greater atheism can there be than to use G >d as if he were inferior
to the devil I to take the pert of his •■', who drew all others
into the t'arti. ■ nai him I to pleasure Satan by offending G d, and
gratify our 1 iry with the injury of our Creator! For a subject to take
arms against his prince with the deadliest enemy both himself and prince
hath in the whole word, adds a greater blackness to the rebellion.
The more visible rule preferred before God in the world is man.
■ opinion of the world is more our rule than the precept of God, and
many men's abstinence from sin is not from a sense of the divine will, no,
nor from a principle of reason, but from an affection to some man on whom
they depend, or tear of punishment from a superior; the same principle with
that in a ravenous beast, who abstains from what he desires for fear onl;
tick or club. Men will walk with the herds, go in fashion with the most,
ik and act as the most do. While we ' conform to the world,' we cannot
perform a ' reason sMe service' to God, nor prove, nor approve practically,
4 wh good and acceptable will of God is.' The apostle puts them in
' > one anotb 1. xii. 1, 2.
Th
1. In complying more with the dictates of men than the will of God.
Men draw encouragement from God's forbearance, to sin more freely against
him, but tl >f punishment for breaking the will of man lays a restraint
in them ; the fear of man is a more powerful curb t n men in tl
duty t:. God. So WS may please a friend, a master, a gov* rnor,
[aidless whether we pi sG 1 or no; men-pleaders are
Man is more advanc ■ rule than God, when wo
mil t<» hum
a prince think nil ithority, if any of fa
: of his s .
will not God make the I -oant of us wfa our
VOL. 1. o
210 chaenock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1.
obedience for fear of one of his creatures ? In the fear of man we as little
acknowledge God for our sovereign as we do for our comforter : Isa.
li. 12, 13, 'I, even I, am he that comforteth you : who art thou, that thou
shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, &c, and forge ttest the Lord
thy maker,' &c. We put a slight upon God, as if he were not able to bear
us out in our duty to him, and uncapable to balance the strength of an arm
of flesh.
[2.] In observing that which is materially the will of God, not because it
is his will, but the injunctions of men. As the word of God may be received,
yet not as his word, so the will of God may be performed, yet not as his
will. It is materially done, but not formally obeyed. An action, and
obedience in that action, are two things ; as when man commands the ceasing
from all works of the ordinary calling on the Sabbath, it is the same that
God eDJoins ; the cessation or attendance of his servants on the hearing the
word are conformable in the matter of it to the will of God, but it is only
conformable in the obediential part of the acts to the will of man, when it is
done only with respect to a human precept. As God hath a right to enact
his laws without consulting his creature in the way of his government, so
man is bound to obey those laws without consulting whether they be agree-
able to men's laws or no. If we act the will of God, because the will of our
superiors concurs with it, we obey not God in that, but man ; a human will
being the rule of our obedience, and not the divine, this is to vilify God,
and make him inferior to man in our esteem, and a valuing the rule of man
above that of our Creator.
Since God is the highest perfection, and infinitely good, whatsoever rule
he gives the creature must be good, else it cannot proceed from God. A
base thing cannot be the product of an infinite excellency, and an unreason-
able thing cannot be the product of an infinite wisdom and goodness ; there-
fore as the respecting God's will before the will of man is excellent and
worthy of a creature, and is an acknowledging the excellency, goodness, and
wisdom of God, so the eyeing the will of man before and above the will of
God, is, on the contrary, a denial of all those in a lump, and a preferring
the wisdom, goodness, and power of man in his law above all those per-
fections of God in his. Whatsoever men do that looks like moral virtue or
abstinence from vices, not out of obedience to the rule God hath set, but
because of custom, necessity, example, r or imitation, they may in the doing
of it be rather said to be apes than Christians.
[3. J In obeying the will of man when it is contrary to the will of God.
As the Israelites willingly ' walked after the commandment,' Hosea v. 11,
not of God, but of Jeroboam in the case of the calves, and * made the
king's heart glad with their lies,' Hosea vii. 3. They cheered him with their
ready obedience to his command for idolatry (which was a lie in itself, and
a lie in them) against the commandment of God and the warnings of the
prophets, rather than cheer the heart of God with their obedience to his
worship instituted by him ; nay, and when God offered them to cure them
their wound, their iniquity breaks out afresh ; they would neither have him
as a Lord to rule them, nor a physician to cure them: Hosea vii. 1, ■ When
I would havo healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered.'
The wholo Persian nation shrunk at once from a duty duo by tho light of
nature to tho Deity, upon a decree that neither God or man should be
petitioned to for thirty days, but only their king, Dan. vi. One only, Daniel,
excepted against it, who preferred his homage to God above obedience to
his prince. An adulterous generation is many times made the rule of
men's professions, as is implied in thoso words of our Saviour, Mark
Pi. XIV. I.] notion 211
viii. 88, ' Wii.i KM ••.. f lull
mil |i] I I 1 1 1 in am
I said ; G i. 1 6,
when tli. v at to ml n ratb( t than
the win I of God be d< en
I
•ii. in ii itur iilv , the ii ; i leia hi
role than tl.
8.) H il . I ■ in i elf up i
:i wills, and not God's,
,. own wills ; and as much i If is
1 ; the hi.. 1 1 a our o i
• the will of ( '"'1 ; account nol him, th
We a. •.miiii: of I
a wills. No prince I upon 1.
invaded, bis d rided, if a subject should r< to him-
self in o] to hi- known will, Trn
God. To
. our chiefesl love, i
tin- of godliness, th< r in the alphal
in the alphabet of practical
and antigod in the world, thai
led God;' kin of ib ■ ' Tim. iii. 2. I'
in the temp and would
denying th l of godliness, which is the rith denying the rui:
\ thr List; Q bending to th will
I . that it would have I nal will oi 1 1
humour and unrighteous will of a ; and this is I in 1 of I
cation I Spirit in the heart of a renewed man ;
flesh wars for the godhl -If, and Spirit fights fol theG>
one would Bettle the throne of the Cr< ator, and the other . .1 a law
. ambition, envy, lust, in the Btead of God.
this will appear in these propositions.
. 1. This is natural to man as ho is corrupted. What was the
the sin of A. lam, is naturally derived with his nature to all poste-
rity. 1 forbidding apple, or th de,
that Ad nn aim . r was the chief i ; hut to live inde-
• ir, and he a god to himself: Gen. iii. 5, ' Y.>u shall
That which was the matter of the devil's temptation, was the
:' man's rebellion. A likeness to God he aspired to in th
1 himself, an infallible interpreter of man's thoughts: ■ B< hold,
man one of us, to kn< I • >ii,' in regard of self-suffi-
. rule to himself. The Jews understand the ambition of
ma:; farther thin an equality with vlieal nature; but
i here n ads it in another sense. << od had ordered man
this prohibition not to eat the fruit of thr tree ^( knowledge of g0< d
evil -d and evil of himself, but to v.
God J his own eoun><
wholly upon him € tion and guidance. C
i off his hand from so small a thing as an apple, when be had
of the Broil i i tl ■ garden, v. ded himself anj
D that pri: him.
dd not have stuck at a If with the
212 chaknock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
pleasing of God, when for so small a thing he would incur the anger of his
Creator.
Thus would he deify his own understanding against the wisdom of God,
and his own appetite against the will of God. This desire of equality with
God, a learned man* thinks the apostle intimates : Phil. ii. 6, ' Who being
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.' The Son's
being in the form of God, and thinking it not robbery to be equal with God,
implies that the robbery of sacrilege committed by our first parents, for
which the Son of God humbled himself to the death of the cross, was an
attempt to be equal with God, and depend no more upon God's directions,
but his own conduct, which could be no less than an invasion of the throne
of God, and endeavour to put himself into a posture to be his mate. Other
sins, adultery and theft, &c, could not be committed by him at that time,
but he immediately puts forth his hand to usurp the power of his Maker.
This treason is the old Adam in every man. The first Adam contradicted
the will of God to set up himself : the second Adam humbled himself, and
did nothing but by the command and will of his Father. This principle,
wherein the venom of the old Adam lies, must be crucified to make way for
the throne of the humble and obedient principle of the new Adam, or
quickening Spirit. Indeed, sin in its own nature is nothing else but a will-
ing according to self, and contrary to the will of God. Lusts are therefore
called the wills of the flesh and of the mind, Eph. ii. 3. As the precepts of
God are God's will, so the violations of these precepts is man's will ; and
thus man usurps a godhead to himself, by giving that honour to his own
will which belongs to God ; appropriating the right of rule to himself, and
denying it to his Creator. That servant that acts according to his own will
with a neglect of his master's, refuseth the duty of a servant, and invades
the right of his master. This self-love, and desire of independency on God,
has been the root of all sin in the world. The great controversy between
God and man hath been, whether he or they shall be God; whether his
reason or theirs, his will or theirs, shall be the guiding principle. As grace
is the union of the will of God and the will of the creature, so sin is the
opposition of the will of self to the will of God. ' Leaning to our own
understanding' is opposed as a natural evil to ' trusting in the Lord,' a
supernatural grace, Prov. iii. 5. Men commonly love what is their own,
their own inventions, their own fancies ; therefore the ways of a wicked
man are called ' the ways of his own heart,' Eccles. xi. 9 ; and the ways of a
superstitious man his own devices : Jer. xviii. 12, ' We will walk after
our own devices ;' we will be a law to ourselves. And what the psalmist
says of the tongue, — ' our tongues are our own, who shall control us?' —
is as truly the language of men's hearts, our wills are our own, who shall
check us ?
Prop. 2. This is evident in the dissatisfaction of men with their own con-
sciences, when they contradict tho desires of self. Conscience is nothing
but an actuated or reflex knowledge of a superior power and an equitable
law ; a law impressed, and a power above it impressing it. Conscience is
not tho law-giver, but tho remembrancer to mind us of that law of nature
imprinted upon our souls, and actuate tho considerations of the duty and
penalty, to apply the rulo to our acts, and pass judgment upon matter of
fact. It is to give the charges, urgo the rule, enjoin the practice of those
notions of right, as part of our duty and obedience.
But man is much displeased with tho directions of conscience, as he is
out of love with the accusations and condemning sentenco of this ollicer of
* Dr Jackson.
r . xi v. l.] i-L.\( 11. \i. if. 219
1 i. \\. cannot h.uiii.i! . and lively practici
of (iod and his will, aud di for putt in mind
of it j they therefore 'like no! to rotaiu God in their know]
thai is, I I i in th< ii'1 blow i' out us [j
be Lord in them I i I m, aud tie
are th< I bo practice of pies. 'I b< y would
;in of li I would i iparkL
divine knowli I • I » flutfc r in their minds, in ord\ up anotbi r diri
in;,' rule Bui dv appetite ; and when they caunot stop the li
d cannot endure to al
in its paths, Job xxiv. 18. Hes] > which had the Loi
ins, but only u natural light or traditional handed from Adam.
Hi all the endi to ^ ti 11 it when it begins I one
earnal pleasure . tuTs evil apirit with :t lit of music] or bribe it with
some fits of s glavering devotion when it holds the law of God in its com-
manding authority before the mind; they would wipe out ail the imp*
sions oi il when it presses tie; advances of God above self, and enter!
it with no better compliment than Ahabdid Ehjah, * 1 1. ist thou found mi ,
di my ?'
[f we are Like I ; God in anything of our Datura] fabric, it is in the supe-
rior and more spiritual part of our souls. The resistance of that which is
most like to God, and instead of God in us, is s disowning of the sovereign
n proa ated by that officer. lit; that would be without consoii ace, would be
without God, whose vicegerent it is, and make the sensitive part, whioh
icienoe opposes, his lawgiver. Thus s man out of respect to sinful self,
quarrels with his natural Belf, and cannot comport himself in a friendly beha-
viour to his interna] implanted principles. J lu hates to come under the
ikes of them, as much as Adam hated to come into the presence of God,
rhe turned traitor against him. The bad entertainment God's deputy hath
in 08, : upon that God whose cause it pleads. It is upon no other
account that men loathe the upright language of their own reasons in those
matters, and wish the eternal silence of their own consciences, but as they
maintain the rights of God, and would hinder the idol of self from usurping
his Godhead and prerogative. Though this power he part of a man's self,
rooted in his nature, as essential to him, and inseparable from him, as tho
best part of his being ; yet he quarrels with it as it is God's deputy, and
kling for the honour of God in his soul, and quarrelling with that sinful
self he would cherish above God. We are not displeased with this faculty
barely as it exeroiseth a self-reflection, but as it is God's vi at, and
ark of his authority in it. In some cases this self-rellecting act
d entertainment, when it acts not in contradiction to self, but
suit Datura] affections : as suppose a man hath in his passion struck
d thereby som mischief to him, the reflection of
conscience will not be unwelcome to him, will work some tenderness in him,
| i;t of self and of natural affection; but in the more
will be rated as a busy body.
• >. Many, if not most actions, materially good in the world, are
douo more able to self, than as they are hon
.. As the word of God may be heard not 01 his word, 1 Theft, ii. 18,
but . -■ pleasing notions in it, «<r discourses against an opinion
or party we difftffHti, so the will. may be performed, not ••ill,
but ish consideration, when we will pleas, i
• ftSS OUI IB i M i ve him as our PJ
command i i to our humour; when W< lei not who
214 chaknock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1.
it is that commands, but how short it comes of displeasing that sin which
rules in our heart, pick and choose what is least burdensome to the flesh
and distasteful to our lusts.
He that doth the will of God, not out of conscience of that will, but
because it is agreeable to himself, casts down the will of God, and sets his
own will in the place of it, takes the crown from the head of God, and places
it upon the head of self. If things are done, not because they are com-
manded by God, but desirable to us, it is a disobedient obedience ; a con-
formity to God's will in regard of the matter, a conformity to our own will
in regard of the motive ; either as the things done are agreeable to natural
and moral self, or sinful self.
1. As they are agreeable to natural or moral self. When men will prac-
tise some points of religion, and walk in the track of some divine precepts,
not because they are divine, but because they are agreeable to their humour
or constitution of nature ; from the sway of a natural bravery, the bias of a
secular interest, not from an ingenuous sense of God's authority, or a volun-
tary submission to his will ; as when a mar* will avoid excess in drinking,
not because it is dishonourable to God, but as it is a blemish to his own
reputation, or an impair of the health of his body, doth this deserve the
name of an observance of the divine injunction, or rather an obedience to
ourselves ? Or when a man will be liberal in the distribution of his charity,
not with an eye to God's precept, but in compliance with his own natural
compassion, or to pleasure the generosity of his nature. The one is obedience
to a man's own preservation, the other an obedience to the interest or impulse
of a moral virtue. It is not respect to the rule ot God, but the authority of
self, and, at the best, is but the performance of the material part of the
divine rule, without any concurrence of a spiritual motive or a spiritual man-
ner. That only is a maintaining the rights of God, when we pay an obser-
vance to his rule, without examining the agreeableness of it to our secular
interest, or consulting with the humour of flesh and blood ; when we will
not decline his service, though we find it cross, and hath no affinity with the
pleasure of our own nature ; such an obedience as Abraham manifested in
his readiness to sacrifice his son ; such an obedience as our Saviour demands
in cutting off the right hand. When we observe anything of divine order
upon the account of its suitableness to our natural sentiments, we shall
readily divide from him, when the interest of nature turns its point against
the interest of God's honour ; w r e shall fall off from him according to the
change we find in our own humours : and can that be valued as a setting
up the rule of God, which must be deposed upon the mutable interest of an
inconstant mind ? Esau had no regard to God in delaying the execution of
his resolution to shorten his brother's days, though he was awed by the
reverence of his father to delay it ; he considered, perhaps, how justly he
might lie under the imputation of hastening crazy Isaac's death, by depriv-
ing him of a beloved son. But had the old man's head been laid, neither
the contrary command of God, nor the nearness of a fraternal relation, could
Lave bound his hands from the act, no more than they did his heart from
the resolution : Gen. xxvii. 41, ' Esau hated Jacob, because of the blessing
wherewith his father blessed him : and Esau said in his heart, The days of
mourning for my father are at hand ; then will I slay my brother.'
So many children, that expect at the death of their parents great inheri-
tances or portions, may he observant of them, not in regard of the rule fixed
by God, but to their own hopes, which they would not frustrate by a dis-
ohligement. Whence is it that many men abstain from gross sins, but in
love to their reputation ? Wickedness may be acted privately, which a man's
. IV. I . nun m m m M 5
puta i b if to tli '"• Tl ■
1 1 i in firoi ng into i brothel-h i which he bath
ai i Him I before, I ' lon
ed with the Israelit( i is men with their blemishing toot
ofa ni ofprr - nt jii-l 'in ' turo
. < »i: ■ iurity, then, no io 1 1 1 « - pleu f 1 1
renewed m< n, i h i have the lav tl n in
: habitual d □ t«> an agreemeni with the law
: ; when wh I inclination, with-
the divine precept, which is appointed nil . This
i I i ind
thai law of hie io b I, which ooghi to be the role of oar Thus
when men ohooee i moral life, i much o
the law of < tod, bni
tool lonatitntione. There is more of self io this, than tion
of God; lor if it were the latter, the revealed If God would o]
i well as hi- natural law. From thie principl
aalf, morality cornea by some to be adi mec I ab • ■ >lical die
•J. as they are i peeable to sinful self. Not thai the commands of G I
rait l to bolster op the corruptions of men, do more than the I
t i excite or revive sin, linn. vii. 8, 9. Bui it ifl Like ■ leandai
taken, not given; an occasion taken by the tomultuon of our depri
ire. The Pharisees w | prayers, no! firom i • use of
duty or i ears of God'i honour, bni to satisfy their ambition, and rake
r fuel for their oovetousnesa (Mat. sxiii. 14, »Yoo devour •
booses, and for a pretence make long prayers'), that th the
•in and richer offerings, to free by their prayera the sonla of
ma firom purgatory; an opinion that some think the J
Bynagogne had then entertained,* since some of their doctors have defer
such a notion. Men may observe some precepts of God to have a better
renieney to break others. Jehu was ordered to cut off the house of
Ahab; the service he undertook was in itself acceptable, but corrupt nature
misaoted that which holiness and righteousness commanded. God appoint,
t i magnify his justice, and check the idolatry that had been supported by
that family. Jehu acted it to satisfy his revenge and ambition; he did it
Fulfil his lust, not the will of God who enjoined him. Jehu applauds it
il. an 1 ( I ■ 1 abhors it as murder, and therefore would ' avenge the blood
• 1 on the house of Jehu,' Hosea i. 4. Such kind of services are not
paid for his own sake, but to ourselves for our lust's sake.
4. Tbia is evident in neglecting to take God's direction upon eme 1 '
occ I if followa the text, • None did seek God.' When we consult
Dot with him, but trust more to our own will and counsel, we make our-
•ur own govern or s) and lords, independent upon him; as though we
;! d he oi counsellors, and manage our concerns without his 1
and asf though our works were in our own hands, and not in tie 1
. il. 1, that we can by our own strength and -
direct then nl end without him. If we must • acquaint onr-
. "i Q 4 1 before we decree a thing, J >b rxii, 28, then to deer
thing with ting God with it, ia t r our purblind
: no of ( ■ without eonsultiii
i. i and deify m own wit and atrength. Wo would rather,
like I. •. illowourowil humour SJ in Bodom, than observe the an |
order to go out of it.
• G( rrax 1 in
216 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
5. As we account the actions of others to be good or evil, as they suit
with or spurn against our fancies and humours. Virtue is a crime, and
vice a virtue, as it is contrary or concurrent with our humours. Little
reason have many men to blame the actions of others, but because they
are not agreeable to what they affect and desire. We would have all men
take directions from us, and move according to our beck; hence that com-
mon speech in the world, Such an one is an honest friend. Why ? Because
he is of their humour, and lacqueys according to their wills. Thus we make
self the measure and square of good and evil in the rest of mankind, and
judge of it by our own fancies, and not by the will of God, the proper rule
of judgment.
Well, then, let us consider,
Is not this very common, are we not naturally more willing to displease
God than displease ourselves, when it comes to a point that we must do one
or other ? Is not our own counsel of more value with us than conformity
to the will of the Creator ? Do not our judgments often run counter to the
judgment of God ? Have his laws a greater respect from us than our own
humours ? Do we scruple the staining his honour when it comes in com-
petition with our own ? Are not the lives of most men a pleasing them-
selves, without a repentance that ever they displeased God ? Is not this to
undeify God, to deify ourselves, and disown the propriety he hath in us by
the right of creation and beneficence ? We order our own ways by our own
humours, as though we were the authors of our own being, and had given
ourselves life and understanding. This is to destroy the order that God
hath placed between our wills and his own, and a lifting up of the foot
above the head; it is the deformity of the creature. The honour of every
rational creature consists in the service of the First Cause of his being; as
the welfare of every creature consists in the orders and proportionable motion
of its members, according to the law of its creation.
He that moves and acts according to a law of his own, offers a manifest
wrong to God, the highest wisdom and chiefest good, disturbs the order of
the world, nulls the design of the righteousness and holiness of God. The
law of God is the rule of that order he would have observed in the world.
He that makes another law his rule, thrusts out the order of the Creator,
and establishes the disorder of the creature.
But this will yet be more evident in the fourth thing.
(4.) Man would make himself the rule of God, and give laws to his Creator.
We are willing God should be our benefactor, but not our ruler; we are
content to admire his excellency and pay him a worship, provided he will
walk by our rule. ' This commits a riot upon his nature ; to think him
to be what we ourselves would have him and wish him to be, Ps. 1. 21. We
would amplify his mercy and contract his justice, we would have his power
enlarged to supply our wants, and straitened when it goes about to revenge
our crimes ; we would have him wise to defeat our enemies, but not to dis-
appoint our unworthy projects; we would have him all eye to regard our
indigence, and blind, not to discern our guilt ; we would have him true to
his promises, regardless of his precepts, and false to his threatenings ; we
would new mint the nature of God according to our models, and shape a God
according to our fancies, as ho made us at first according to his own
image.'* Instead of obeying him, we would have him obey us; instead of
owning and admiring his perfections, we would have him strip himself of his
infinite excellency, and clotho himself with a nature agreeable to our own.
* Decay of Christian piety, p. 169, somewhat changed.
\ i y . i . 217
Tin, is QOJ Only to St up self || tin- law | l.nt to I
imaginations the model of the Datura of God.
1 i pleaeuj pest the
We would Dot hate him eotoonvi Lure, but act what d
from what d Mao d but when
be i impeaehing <>w or othi r p< rfi i lion . and undermining
ln> u«l indict .1 ;it the bar of our pni -
blind r. :i an. Thi i weed ihool inpin .Peter inteo
of onx Savio of humility, bnl I
understands it to be ■ pr< loribing s tan to himself, a c< i John
\in. B, '■».
Tin
i. i be nti i\ in ' oil law* I tow many nn a imply I
Uvea thai they would have God deposed from his government, and some
nnrighteona being step into his throne; as if God had or should chs
laws of holiness into laws of lioentios i if he should i
oal precepts and enaei oontrary ones in their itead. What is the lan-
fsneh praotioes, bnt that they would be God's lawgivers and not
subjects; thai he should deal with them according to their own wills, and
not according to his righteousness; that they could make a more holy*
wise, and righteous Law than the law of God; that their imaginations, and
not God's righteousness, should be the rule of his doing good to them? Jer.
ix. 18, 'They have fonmsftn my law, and walked after the imaginations of
their own heart. '
When an ad is known to bo a sin, and the law that forbids it ackm
to be tiic law of God, and after this we persist in that which is contrary to
it, we tax his wisdom as if he did not understand what was convenient for
us; we would 'teach God knowledge,' Job xxi. 22; it is an implicit wish
that God had laid aside the holiness of his nature, and framed a law to
pleasure our lusts. When God calls for weeping, and mourning, and gird-
ing with sackcloth upon approaching judgments, then the corrupt heart is
for joy and gladness, eating of flesh and drinking of wine, because to-morrow
they Bhonld die, Isa. xxii. 12, 18; as if God had mistaken himself when he
ordered them so much sorrow when their lives were so near an end, and
had Lost his understanding when he ordered such a precept. Disobedience
is therefore called contention — Rom. ii. 8, 'Contentious, and obey not the
truth' — contention against God, whose truth it is that they disobey; a dis-
pute with him, which hath more of wisdom in itself and oonveniency for
them, his truth or their imaginations. The more the love, goodness, and
holini SB of God appears iu any command, the more are we naturally averse
from it, and cast an imputation on him, as if he were foolish, unjust, cruel,
and that we could have advised and directed him better. The goodness of
..ciit to US in appointing a day for his own worship, wherein we
bt converse with him and he with us, and our souls be refreshed with
spiritual communications from him; and we rather use it for the ease of
our I than the advancement of our souls, as it" God were mistaken I
inju: tare when he urged the spiritual part of duty. Every d
• the law is an implicit giving law to him, and a ehai nst
him that he might have provided better for his creature.
1'provii, God's government of the world. If
the oounsels of heaven roll not about according to their Bchen I of
unsearehable depths of his judgments, they call him to th
him, b ■ I > their narro.v . if a
nut-shell could contain an ocean. As corrupt reason OS the high
218 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
truths foolishness, so it counts the most righteous ways unequal. Thus we
commence a suit against God, as though he had not acted righteously and
wisely, but must give an account of his proceedings at our tribunal. This
is to make ourselves God's superiors, and presume to instruct him better in
the government of the world ; as though God hindered himself and the
world in not making us of his privy council, and not ordering his affairs
according to the contrivances of our dim understandings.
Is not this manifest in our immoderate complaints of God's dealings with
his church, as though there were a coldness in God's affections to his church,
and a glowing heat towards it only in us ? Hence are those importunate
desires for things which are not established by any promise, as though we
would overrule and over-persuade God to comply with our humour. We
have an ambition to be God's tutors, and direct him in his counsels ; ' Who
hath been his counsellor,' saith the apostle ? Rom. xi. 34. Who ought not
to be his counsellor, saith corrupt nature ? Men will find fault with God in
what he suffers to be done according to their own minds, when they feel the
bitter fruit of it. When Cain had killed his brother, and his conscience
racked him, how saucily and discontentedly doth he answer God : Gen.
iv. 9, ' Am I my brother's keeper ? ' Since thou dost own thyself the rector
of the world, thou shouldst have preserved his person from my fury ; since
thou dost accept his sacrifice before my offering, preservation was due as
well as acceptance. If this temper be found on earth, no wonder it is
lodged in hell. That deplorable person, under the sensible stroke of God's
sovereign justice, would oppose his nay to God's will : Luke xvi. 30, ' And
he said, Nay, father Abraham : but if one went to them from the dead, they
will repent.' He would presume to prescribe more effectual means than
Moses and the prophets to inform men of the danger they incurred by their
sensuality. ' David was displeased,' it is said, 2 Sam. vi. 8, ' when the
Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah; ' not with Uzzah, who was the object
of his pity, but w 7 ith God, who was the inflicter of that punishment.
When any of our friends have been struck with a rod against our senti-
ments and wishes, have not our hearts been apt to swell in complaints
against God, as though he disregarded the goodness of such a person, did
not see with our eyes, and measure him by our esteem of him ? As if he
should have asked our counsel before he had resolved, and managed himself
according to our will rather than his own. If he be patient to the wicked,
we are apt to tax his holiness, and accuse him as an enemy to his own law.
If he inflict severity upon the righteous, we are ready to suspect his good-
ness, and charge him to be an enemy to his affectionate creature. If he
spare the Nimrods of the world, we are ready to ask, ' Where is the God of
judgment?' Mai. ii. 17. If he afflict the pillars of the earth, we are ready
to question, Where is the God of mercy ? It is impossible, since the de-
praved nature of man, and the various interests and passions in the world,
that infinite power and wisdom can act righteously for the good of the uni-
verse, but he will shake some corrupt interest or other upon the earth ; so
various are the inclinations of men, and such a weather-cock judgment hath
every man in himself, that the divine method he applauds this day, upon a
change of his interest, he will cavil at the next. It is impossible for the
just orders of God to plcaso the same person many weeks, scarce many
minutes together. God must ceaso to be God, or to be holy, if he should
manago tho concerns of the world according to the fancies of men.
How unreasonable is it thus to impose laws upon God ? Must God
revoke his own orders ? govern according to tho dictates of his creature ?
Must God, who hath only power and wisdom to sway the sceptre, become
I'S. X I V. 1 . I'K.M I I'M. 41 Ml I M. 219
tin- ol edienl i abj< in'i humour, i
re the design of a simple creature ? Thii ii not to 1 Q I, bat to
the civ.ttmv in hit throne. Thoogfa thii be do! formally done, . * it
is interpi Tactically done
[n impationoe in our particular concert . [I ii ordinary with man
to ohai ( ' I in his complaint! in the time of affliction,
the commendation the Holy 01 lo Job: Job I in all ' !
thai is, in t ; .it rolled over him, ' he did not 3od
li!\ ; ' he nor thought ai by of the i
and righteousness of God, 5 '"1 him wai
oamea the affliction to be God's oppression of him, and i
: Job \. B, • I "1 for thee that thou shonldst oppr< B •
1 1 i with injustice for punishing him when )
wicked) for which he appeals to God, ' Thou knowi -t thai I am not v,
. and thai c ; * * » l acted no1 like a ( Ireator, v< r. h.
[four projects are disappointed, whal fretfulm
menl are our hearts racked with I How do uncomely »ubble up in
in, interpretatively at least, wishing thai the arms of his power had b
bound, and the eye of his omniscience been hoodwinked, thai
i left to our own liberty and d< sign ; and this oftentimes when
have more reason to Mess him than repine a1 him. The Israelites mur-
mured more against ( tod in the wilderness, with manna in their mouths, than
they did at Pharaoh in the brick kilns, with their garlic and onions betwi
tluir teeth. Though we repine :it instruments in our affliction 1 1 I
count-. m upon himself. The Israelites speak rinst M<
l's interpretation a rebellion against himself, Num. wi. 11 e
pared with ivii. 10. A rebellion is always a d< imposin r laws and eon-
ditions upon thi ast whom the rebellion is raised. The sotti-h dealt
of the vine-dressers in Franconia with the statue of St Urban, the protector
of the fines, upon his own day, is an emblem of our dealing with God. If
it be a char day, and portend a prosperous vintage, they honour the statue,
and drink healths to it ; if it be a rainy day, and presage a scantiness, they
daub it with dirt in indignation. We cast out our mire and dirt against
I when he acts cross to our wishes, and tlatter him when the wind of his
ridence joins itself to the tide of our interest.
M< n Bel a high price upon themselves, and are angry God values them
at the same rate, as if their judgment concerning themselves were more
piercing than his. This is to 'disannul God's judgment,' and 'condemn
him,' and 'count ourselves righteous,' as it is Job xl. 8. This is the epi-
demical disease of human nature ; they think they deserve caret
of rods, and upon crosses are more ready to tear out the heart of God than
humbly upon their own hearts. When we accuse God, we app'
OUn and make ourselves his superiors, intimating that we have acted
•y to him than he to us, which is the highest manner of im-
pon him, as thai emperor accused the justice of God for
snatching him out of the world too soon.* What an high piece of practical
: is this, to desire that that infinite wisdom should be guided by our folly,
and insness of God rather than blemish our own. Insl
of silently submitting to his will and adoring his wisdom, we d( cl dm against
him a-> an unwise and unji rnor. We would invert his order, d
him th( 1 ourselves the propriet and hat
deny on our mercies to be forfeit
(1.) It is i • 1 in envying the
• Coelum . ; iens vitam, &c. \ 10.
220 chaknock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
hath a deep tincture of practical atheism, and is a cause of atheism.* We
are unwilling to leave God to be the proprietor, and do what he will with
his own, and as a Creator to do what he pleases with his creatures ; we
assume a liberty to direct God what portions, when and how he should
bestow upon his creatures ; we would not let him choose his own favourites,
and pitch upon his own instruments for his glory. As if God should have
asked counsel of us how he should dispose of his benefits. We are unwill-
ing to leave to his wisdom the management of his own judgments to the
wicked, and the dispensation of his own love to ourselves. This temper is
natural ; it is as ancient as the first age of the world. Adam envied God a
felicity by himself, and w T ould not spare a tree that he had reserved as a
mark of his sovereignty. The passion that God had given Cain to employ
against his sin he turns against his Creator ; he was wroth with God, Gen.
iv. 5, and with Abel ; but envy was at the root, because his brother's sacri-
fice was accepted and his refused. How could he envy his accepted person
without reflecting upon the acceptor of his offering ! Good men have not
been free from it. Job questions the goodness of God, that he should
1 shine upon the counsel of the wicked,' Job x. 3. Jonah had too much of
self in fearing to be counted a false prophet, when he came with absolute
denunciations of wrath, Jonah iv. 2. And when he could not bring a volley
of destroying judgments upon the Ninevites, he would shoot his fury against
his master, envying those poor people the benefit, and God the honour of
his mercy ; and this after he had been sent into the whale's belly to learn
humiliation, which, though he exercised there, yet those two great branches
of self-pride and envy were not lopped oft* from him in the belly of hell.
And God was fain to take pains with him, and by a gourd scarce makes
him ashamed of his peevishness. Envy is not like to cease, till all atheism
be cashiered, and that is in heaven.
This sin is an imitation of the devil, whose first sin upon earth was envy,
as his first sin in heaven was pride. It is a wishing that to ourselves which
the devil asserted as his right, to give the kingdoms of the world to whom
he pleased, Luke iv. 6. It is an anger with God because he hath not given
us a patent for government. It utters the same language in disparagement
of God as Absalom did in reflection on his father : If I were king in Israel,
justice should be better managed ; if I were Lord of the world, there should
be more wisdom to discern the merits of men, and more righteousness in
distributing to them their several portions. Thus we impose laws upon
God, and would have the righteousness of his will submit to the corruptions
of ours, and have him lower himself to gratify our minds rather than fulfil
his own. We charge the author of those gifts with injustice, that he hath
not dealt equally, or with ignorance, that he hath mistook his mark. In
the same breath that we censure him by our peevishness, we would guide
him by our wills.
This is an unreasonable part of atheism. If all were in the same state
and condition, the order of the world would be impaired. Is God bound to
have a care of thee, and neglect all the world besides ? ' Shall the earth be
forsaken for theo ? Job xviii. 4. Joseph had reason to be displeased with
his brothers, if they had muttered, because he gave Benjamin a double por-
tion, and the rest a singlo. It was unfit that they, who had deserved no
gift at all, should prescribe him rules how to dispense his own doles. Much
moro unworthy is it to deal so with God ; yet this is too rife.
(5.) It is evidenced in corrupt matters or ends of prayer and praise.
When we are importunate for those things that we know not whether the
* Because wickod incu flourish in the world; Sollicitor nullos esse putare Dcos.
P . \'I V. I . ■!.
[rant, 1
<h ic >\< ire I liis uill la any promise to then imp
such condition i on 1 1 1 1 which be i ■ : j I !. 'to gf int, "■ ; : □
. for thii much to to be the i o I of
j'f.i' indeed, by the
petitioning, that ti. i I, bnt ire would nave bim an-God bim elf to
be at i d ■■ ; ■ . and dobs o himielf to r our torn i. V.
■ binge whir' epn pant lot' | ,th
mi nl of the world ; when by lome i □]
think we have g lined indul to bo the tho
more fr
P >. vii. II. ' I hi
I bave paid my vows :' I bave made my peace with God, and I
men! for thee. Or when men desire God to bl in thee
V-; when Balak and Balaam ofl they mi
in the enrsing of the 1 . Num. •. .-. . I ,
' >r :i man to pray I i I to re bim, while h
salvation appointed by Gtodj or to renew him when h • the word, the
only instrument to that purpose, this is to impose Is i God o mtrary
to the declared will and wisdom of ( I "1. and to d Bire him to slight 1
institutions. When we eom i into the presence of ( '< >d with ii < in
and leap from sin to duty, we would impose the law of our <•
ruption on the holiness of God. While we pray the will of God may
done, self-love wishes its own will m iv be performed, as though Q >uld
or humours when we will not obey his precepts. And when s
• any affliction, what is it often but a secret contrivance to 1
and v ■'• v him to our conditions! We will serve him if ho will restore
os : we think thereby to compound tho 1 i with him, .and bring him
down to our terms.
(6.) It is evidenced in positive and bold interpretations of the judgments
of God in the wmld. To interpct the judgments of God to the disadvantage
of the sufferer, unless it be an unusual judgment, and have a remarkable
hand of God in it, and the sin be rendered plainly legible in the affliction,
IB a presumption of this nature. When men will judge the Galileans, wh
■ 1 Pilate mingled with the sacrifices, greater sinners than others,
themselves righteous, because no drops of it were dashed apon ti I ; or
when Bhimei, being of the house of Saul, shall judge according to his <
interest, and desires David's flight upon Absalom's rebellion to be a punish-
■ t for invading the rights of Saul's family, and depriving him of the suc-
tion in the kingdom, 2 Sam. xvi. 5, as if he had been of God's privy
council when he decreed such acts of justice in the world.
Thus we would fasten our own wills as a law or motive upon God, and
rpret hie tooording to the motions of self. Is it not too ordinary,
Is an affliction upon those that bear ill will to us, to judge it to
htingofour fruit of Go I tern for us in i ring
our WTO if we had heard th< f G : . Eli] ' • - '•':.
tan ran, Job xv. 8. This is a judgment according
livine rale, and imposeth laws upon I . implyin
• ish that ould tai <>nly of them, make our eoi
tin ways of ki: nd justice, but : Qg toOUI
this d in the profane world, in those oursee they lily spit
npon any affront ; i bound to draw bis arrowsand - em
• all their ft an 1 pleasure.
1, in mixir. those
222 chaenock's wokks. [Ps. XIY. 1.
which have been ordered by him. Since men are most prone to live by
sense, it is no wonder that a sensible worship, which affects their outward
sense with some kind of amazement, is dear to them, and spiritual worship
most loathsome.
Pompous rites have been the great engine wherewith the devil hath
deceived the souls of men, and wrought them to a nauseating the simplicity
of divine worship, as unworthy the majesty and excellency of God, 2 Cor.
xi. 3. Thus the Jews would not understand the glory of the second temple
in the presence of the Messiah, because it had not the pompous grandeur of
that of Solomon's erecting.
Hence in all ages men have been forward to disfigure God's models, and
dress up a brat of their own ; as though God had been defective in providing
for his own honour in his institutions without the assistance of his creature.
This hath always been in the world : the old world had their imaginations,
and the new world hath continued them. The Israelites, in the midst of
miracles, and under the memory of a famous deliverance, would erect a
calf. The Pharisees, that sat in Moses's chair, would coin new traditions,
and enjoin them to be as current as the law of God, Mat. xxiii. 6. Papists
will be blending the Christian appointments with pagan ceremonies, to
please the carnal fancies of the common people. Altars have been multi-
plied, under the knowledge of the law of God, Hos. viii. 12. Interest is
made the balance of the conveniency of God's injunctions. Jeroboam fitted
a worship to politic ends, and posted up calves to prevent his subjects revolt-
ing from his sceptre, which might be occasioned by their resort to Jerusa-
lem, and converse with the body of the people from whom they were separated,
1 Kings xii. 27. Men will be putting their own dictates with God's laws,
and are unwilling he should be the sole governor of the world without their
counsel : they will not suffer him to be the Lord of that which is purely
and solely his concern. How often hath the practice of the primitive church,
the custom wherein we are bred, the sentiments of our ancestors, been owned
as a more authentic rule in matters of worship, than the mind of God deli-
vered in his word ! It is natural by creation to worship God ; and it is as
natural by corruption for man to worship him in a human way, and not in a
divine. Is not this to impose laws upon God ? to esteem ourselves wiser
than he ? to think him negligent of his own service, and that our feeble
brains can find out ways to accommodate his honour better than himself
hath done ? Thus do men for the most part equal their own imaginations
to God's oracles : as Solomon built a high place to Moloch and Chemosh,
upon the mount of Olives, to face on the east part Jerusalem and the temple,
1 Kings xi. 7. This is not only to impose laws on God, but also to make
self the standard of them.
(8.) It is evidenced, in fitting interpretations of Scripture to their own
minds and humours. Like the Lacedajmonians, that dressed the images of
their gods according to the fashion of their own country, we would wring
Scripture to serve our own designs, and judge the law of God by the law of
sin, and make the serpentine seed in us to be the interpreter of divine
oracles. This is like Belshazzar; to drink healths out of the sacred vessels.
As God is the author of his law and word, so he is the best interpreter of
it ; the Scripture having an impress of divine wisdom, holiness, and good-
ness, must be regarded according to that impress, with a submission and
meekness of spirit and reverence of God in it. But when in our inquiries
into the word, wo inquire not of God, but consult flesh and blood, the tem-
per of the times wherein wo live, or the satisfaction of a party we side
withal, and impose glosses upon it according to our own fancies, it is to
\I V. l. n .. , .. u 228
pat Ian i upon God, and m I the role of bim. Be that inl
law up BOLD uppoti! will of tii
ascribe i to him8( If d . as In- thai 1 it.
I □ falliu [ off 1 oplianoc i, when hii will
toth Upon US an ; i . will u.
pleaseth tin in, :n 1 1 le ivc bim apoo the 1 though < I . .
rve th iir hamoari more than th. j hi i will. a .
from proph • ind could not b< ai b
l<>. a •., and li i ti' 1 ' r unworthy pi i
The in in eami direciioni from oar Savioar, I
expected a confirmation of hie own rules, rath r than an imp
1 7. 22. il.« rather o tr< - I >r oomme i than is
up. >n the disappointment turn ick : ■ h I
nol sutler him to be rich and a Christian I r, and leaves bim i
Miami was aot suitable to the law of I B >mi
that are at a further distance from o ; but when
us to smart under others, if God will iUg,
rill with Herod be a law to ourselves, Mark vi. 20, —7.
More ii: might be oh erv< 1.
I latitude is a Betting up self, and an imposing d. I: .
much as to Bay God did no more than I i to do; as if
mercies we have were an ad of duty iii God, and not ofbouuty, Iii
\ dih : hence are tip- . : . • \\\. wi.;
a a city, and buy and sell,' &C., ' I
commai I, and God most lacaa r their wills. When our h<
not contented with any BUpplyofoUT wants, hut are craving an over;
for oar last ; when we are unsatisfied in the midst of plenty, and still, liko
the grave, cry, Give, give.
Incorrigible n< as under affliction, &o.
II. The second main thing. As man would bo a law to himself, so he
would he his own end and happiness in opposition to God.
11. re four things shall he discoursed on :
1. Man would make himself bis own end and happiness.
2. Ho would make any thing his end and happiness rather than God.
:'.. II.' would make himself the end of all creatures.
I. II.' would make himself the end of Go 1.
1. Man would make himself his own end and happiness. As God o
to ho r the first cause, in point of our dependence on bim, so
ought to be our last end, in point of our enjoyment of him. When wo
th. . fuse him as the first cause ; and wh< o
act f.»r s, and expect a blessedness from ourselves, w< him as
aid last end, which is an undeniable piece of at!
.re of a higher rank than others in the world, an 1 was not
. plants, and other works of the divine power, materially to
glorify (inl; hut a rational creature, intentionally to honour God by obe-
dience t.» his rule, dependence on his goodness, and zeal for his glory. 1
therefore as moch a slighting of God, for man, a creature, to set himself up
as his own rd himself as his own law.
that there is a threefold self-Io
(1.) Natural, which is common to us by the law .,f nature with I
inanimate as well as anim 1 so closely twisted with the
nature of every O that it cannot d but with th.
lotion of nature itself. It aot with the wisdom an - of
God to create an unnatural nature, or to command any thing un:.
224 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
nor doth he ; for when he commands us to sacrifice ourselves, and dearest
lives for himself, it is not without a promise of a more noble state and being
in exchange for what we lose. This self-love is not only commendable,
but necessary, as a rule to measure that duty we owe to our neighbour,
whom we cannot love as ourselves, if we do not first love ourselves : God
having planted this self-love in our nature, makes this natural principle the
measure of our affection to all mankind of the same blood with ourselves.
(2.) Carnal self-love ; when a man loves himself above God, in opposi-
tion to God, with a contempt of God ; when our thoughts, affections,
designs, centre only in our own fleshly interest, and rifle God of his honour,
to make a present of it to ourselves. Thus the natural self-love, in itself
good, becomes criminal by the excess, when it would be superior and not
subordinate to God.
(3.) A gracious self-love. When we love ourselves for higher ends than
the nature of a creature, as a creature dictates, viz., in subserviency to the
glory of God, this is a reduction of the revolted creature to his true and
happy order. A Christian is therefore said to be ' created in Christ to good
works,' Eph. ii. 10. As all creatures were created, not only for themselves,
but for the honour of God, so the grace of the new creation carries a man to
answer this end, and to order all his operations to the honour of God and
his well-pleasing.
The first is from nature, the second from sin, the third from grace. The
first is implanted by creation, the second the fruit of corruption, the third is
by the powerful operation of grace.
This carnal self-love is set up in the stead of God as our last end ; like
the sea, which all the little and great streams of our actions run to, and
rest in. And this is,
1. Natural. It sticks as close to us as our souls ; it is as natural as sin,
the foundation of all the evil in the world. As self-abhorrency is the first
stone that is laid in conversion, so an inordinate self-love was the first inlet
to all iniquity. As grace is a rising from self to centre in God, so is sin a
shrinking from God into the mire of a carnal selfishness. Since every
creature is nearest to itself, and, next, to God, it cannot fall from God, but
must immediately sink into self ; * and therefore all sins are well said to be
branches or modifications of this fundamental passion. What is wrath but
a defence and strengthening self against the attempts of some real or imagi-
nary evil ? Whence springs envy, but from a self-love, grieved at its own
wants in the midst of another's enjoyment, able to supply it ? What is
impatience, but a regret that self is not provided for at the rate of our wish,
and that it hath met with a shock against supposed merit ? What is pride,
but a sense of self-worth, a desire to have self of a higher elevation than
others ? What is drunkenness, but a seeking a satisfaction for sensual self
in the spoils of reason ? No sin is committed as sin, but as it pretends a
self-satisfaction. Sin indeed may well be termed a man's self, because it
is, sinco the loss of original righteousness, the form that overspreads every
part of our souls. The understanding assents to nothing false, but under
the notion of true, and the will embraceth nothing evil, but under the notion
of good ; but the rule whereby we measure the truth and goodness of pro-
posed objects is not the unerring word, but the inclinations of self, the gra-
tifying of which is the aim of our whole lives.
Sin and self are all one. What is called a ' living to sin' in one place,
Rom. vi., is called a living to self in another: 2 Cor. v. 15, ' That they
that live should not live unto themselves.' And upon this account it is
* Moro, Dial. ii. sect. 17, page 274.
!' . XIV. 1.] I'l:\< IK\I. AIM! ISM. 225
thai both the Bebn I NI3H, :».t 1 * I tl • ird dfia r&t /., used in
Scripture to express sin, propurl) minify to mi tip- mark, and from
th:ii n/'//v to which all oar should 1 , viz., the glory of G
When we fell t" loving . we fell from I" God ; and therefore,
when iln' pHulni . i ' '. are none I 1 1 od, viz.,
as tli.' lit and, be pn ently adds, * tl ill gone aside,' riz., i
their true m l then fore I aeome filthy.
8, Binoe il if natural, it il. The not seeking God
universal i tnoc of him. No man in i itate of nature but I
it predominanl ; do r< i tan on tkii tide heaven but hath it partially:
one hath it flourishing, the other hath it. Bti
,• (if ( Juil as tin' chief end, and not to live to OUT lv< . be I
mark of . • i« •! i of the divine image) 2 Cor. r. L6, and I conformity
to Christ, who glorified not himself, 1 1 . . 5, bnl the Father, John Kvii. 1.
then < \. ry man wallowing in the mire of sorrnpi nature |
selt', as a renewed man is biassed by tin honour of God.
ELoly Ghosl excepts none from this crime : PhiHp.ii.2Tj, 'All
their own.' It is rare for them to look ahove or beyond then
soevec may be the immediate Bubject of their thoughts and inqoiri
the utm is their profit, honour, or pleasure. \ er it
ba, that immediately possesses the mind and will, oueen, and
Bwayi the Beeptre, and orders things at that rate, that God is excluded, and
can find no room in all his thoughti i Pa. x. 1, ' The wicked through the
pride of hi- countenance will ak after God; God is not in all his
thoughts. 1 The whole little world of man is so overflowed with a deluge
self, that the dove, the glory el the Creator, can find no place when
its foot ; and if ever it gain the favour of admittance, it is to., and DO
a vassal to some c:irnal prOJOCi ; as the glory of Go I was a masl^for the mur-
dering his servants.
I: is from the power of this principle that the difficulty of conversion
ariseth. A- there is no t pleasure to a believing son! than the ■ iving
itself up to God, and no stronger desire in him than to havo a fixed and
unchangeable will to serve the designs of his honour, so there is no greater
torment to a wicked man than to part with his carnal ends, and lay down
the Dagon of self at the feet of the ark. Self-love and self-opinion in the
Pharisees, waylaid all the entertainment of truth : John v. 44, ' r i ight
honour one of another, and net the honour which comes from God.' It is
an extent, and so insinuating nature, that it winds itself into the
of moral virtues, mixeth with our charity, .Mat. vi. 2, and finds
nourishment in the ashes of martyrdom, 1 Cor. xiii. 3.
This making ourselves our end will appear in a few things.
(1. ) In frequent Belf-applauses, and inward overweening rejections. Nothin 5
more ordinary in the natures of men, than a dotage on their own perfects
acquisitions, on in the world. Most ' think of themselves above what
they ought to think,' Rom. xii. B, 4. i'ew think of themselves so meanly
as ti. ;t to think : this sticks as close to us as our skin ; and as humi-
lity i-> the beau! . tin- te the filthi >t soil of nature. Our thou-
run mi r btfully upon the track of our own perfections than the excel-
lency of God ; and when We find any thing of a seeming worth, that :
make us glitter in I - of the world, how cheerfully do
When tl • ar profai lof men ban
I the floods of them dammed op, the head of.
they -. will swell the higher within, in .^elf-applauding specula!
r own reformation, without acknowledgments of their own v.
VOL. I. P
226 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
and desires of divine assistance to make a further progress. ' I thank God
I am not like this publican,' Luke xviii. 11. A self- reflection, with a con-
tempt rather than compassion to his neighbour, is frequent in every Pha-
risee. The vapours of self-affections in our clouded understandings, like
those in the air in misty mornings, alter the appearance of things, and make
them look bigger than they are. This is thought by some to be the sin of
the fallen angels, who, reflecting upon their own natural excellency, superior
to other creatures, would find a blessedness in their own nature, as God did
in his, and make themselves the last end of their actions. It is from this
principle we are naturally so ready to compare ourselves, rather with those
that are below us, than with those that are above us ; and often think those
that are above us inferior to us, and secretly glory that we are become none
of the meanest and lowest in natural or moral excellencies.
How far were the gracious penmen of the Scripture from this, who when
possessed and directed by the Spirit of God, and filled with a sense of him,
instead of applauding themselves, publish upon record their own faults to all
the eyes of the world ! And if Peter, as some think, dictated the Gospel,
which Mark wrote as his amanuensis, it is observable that his crime in deny-
ing his Master, is aggravated in that gospel in some circumstances, and less
spoken of his repentance than in the other evangelists : ' When he thought
thereon, he wept,' Mark xiv. 72.; but in the other, ■ he went out, and wept
bitterly,' Luke\xxii. 62.
This is one part of atheism and self-idolatry, to magnify ourselves, with
the forgetfulness and to the injury of our Creator.
(2.) In ascribing the glory of what we do or have to ourselves, to our own
wisdom, power, virtue, &c. How flaunting is Nebuchadnezzar at the pros-
pect of Babylon, which he had exalted to be the head of so great an empire :
Dan. iv. 30$ ■ Is not this great Babylon that I have built ? For,' &c. He
struts upon the battlements of his palace, as if there were no God but himself
in the world, while his eye could not but see the heavens above him to be none
of his own framing; attributing his acquisitions to his own arm, and refer-
ring them to his own honour, for his own delight ; not for the honour of God,
as a creature ought ; nor for the advantage of his subjects, as the duty of a
prince. He regards Babylon as his heaven, and himself as his idol, as if he
were all, and God nothing. An example of this we have in the present age ;
but it is often observed that God vindicates his own honour, brings the most
heroical men to contempt and unfortunate ends, as a punishment of their
pride, as he did here: Dan. iv. 31, 'When the word was in the king's
mouth, there fell a voice from heaven,' &c* This was Herod's crime, to
suffer others to do it. He had discovered his eloquence actively, and made
himself his own end passively, in approving the flatteries of the people, and
offered not with one hand to God the glory he received from his people with
the other, Acts xii. 22, 23. Samosatenus is reported to put down the hymns
which were sung for the glory of God and Christ, and caused songs to be
sung in the temple for his own honour.
When anything succeeds well, we are ready to attribute it to our own
prudence and industry. If we meet with a cross, we fret against the stars
and fortune and second causes, and sometimes against God, as they curse
God as well as their king, Isa. viii. 21, not acknowledging any defect in
themselves. The psalmist, by his repetition of ' Not unto us, not unto us,
but to thy namo give glory,' Ps. cxv. 1, implies the naturality of this
temper, and the difficulty to cleanse our hearts from those self-reflections.
If it be angelical to refuse an undue glory stolen from God's throne, Rev.
* Sanderson*! Sermons.
.IV. 1.] HA0TKML Aim. ism. 887
xxii. B, '•' ■• »pi md ineri h it. 'To Nil n glory
ifOOigUN . 1 .'11. It in vile, and tlio dishonour of a ere dure,
who, |,y tli.- l.iw of i. inothor ond. So mush as we
■in- <»\wi err. ht, to the <• oi the Mgaoiij of
our wit, w. bom < i
i in .i. irei to luivD self-pleasing doctrin< , not endn
: i u- anything th • i ■• Dion tells us, ' It is
i bear the n the wioe than the ion . I
It il.iiiiini tli.' ii-i.vu kii • "ii the L »rd, nil pas-
! sh:ill i t tli.' jmiplirt, iirnl :ur. t him
. in. h Micaiah declare to Ahab the evil that shall befall him,
mot ihoil receive orden to slop him np in a d I
doth ii"' upon eombnstible matter than firry will be 1, if
be bnt pinched, This interest of It I barred th iiaH
the entertainment of the truth, end sa in ed h
hands in the blood of the Baptist, to make bim t isorince to that im I
idol, Mark m. M, l:i, g&
(4.) in being highly ooncerned for injuries done to our . lv. i, and little
it ail oonoemed for injnriei done to God. How will the blood riae in
u>, when our honour ami reputation is invaded, and fearee reflect opon the
diahononr God innen in our ughl and bearing, violeni paaaioni will farant-
fonn us into Boanergoioi in the 01 nnooooernedneee render ni
Geilioe in the other. We shall extenuate that which t ( l, and
that which concerns onnehroa. Nothing bnt the death of
Jonathan, i firstborn and a generoni son, will satisfy il, when
the authority of his edict was broken hy his tenting of honey, though In: had
me, committed in ignorance, by the pnrehaee of a gallant
victory. l'.ut when the authority of God was violated in Saving the A:.
-ainst the command of a greater sovereign than himself, he can
daub the business, and axouae it with a design of sacrificing, He was not
so earneei in hindering the people from the breach of Gfod's command, as ho
in vindicating the honour of his own, 1 Sam. xv. 21. He could hardly
admit of an excuse to salve his own honour; hut in the concerns of God's
honour pretends piety, to cloak his avarice.
And it is often sun, when the violation of God's authority an 1 the stain
of our own reputation are coupled together, we are more troubled for what
OS us than for what dishonours God. When Saul had thus trans-
ised, he is desirous that Samuel would turn again to preserve his own
honour before the elders, rather than grieved that he had broken the com-
ma: . 30.
In trusting in ourselves ; wlnn we consult with our own wit and
. more than inquire of God, and ask have of him. As the A i
. \. 18, ' By the llienejll of my hands I have done it, and by wisdom,
for I am prudent.' When we attempt things in the Strength of our own
. snd trust in our own industry, without application to I
for direction, blessing, and ■n oc oo e , wo affeet the privilege of the Deity, and
- of 00 ; tho same language in reality with Ajax in
hers think to overcome with the | ce of th • but
I h tin honour without them.' Dependence and trust IS an
from th L Hi I the crime ot the
I • The Egyptians ai snd not
in our deft etion from Go I, ■'<
when we 00] .: 1 froU ml upon OU1
an arm of fl< sb, we choose the arm of ilesh for our god;
228 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
confidence we ought to place in him, and that adoration which is due to
him, and build it upon another foundation. Not that we are to neglect the
reason and parts God hath given us, or spend more time in prayer than in
consulting about our own affairs, but to mix our own intentions in business,
with ejaculations to heaven, and take God along with us in every motion ;
but certainly it is an idolising of self when we are more diligent in our
attendance on our own wit then fervent in our recourses to God.
(6.) The power of sinful self, above the efficacy of the notion of God, is
evident in our workings for carnal self against the light of our own con-
sciences. When men of sublime reason, and clear natural wisdom, are
voluntary slaves to their own lusts, row against the stream of their own
consciences, serve carnal self with a disgraceful and disturbing drudgery,
making it their god, sacrificing natural self, all sentiments of virtue, and
the quiet of their lives to the pleasure, honour, and satisfaction of carnal
self, — this is a prostituting God in his deputy conscience to carnal affec-
tions, when their eyes are shut against the enlightnings of it, and their ears
deaf to its voice, but open to the least breath and whisper of self ; a debt
that the creature owes supremely to God.
Much more might be said, but let us see what Atheism lurks in this, and
how it intrencheth upon God.
1. It is a usurping God's prerogative. It is God's prerogative to be his
own end, and act for his own glory, because there is nothing superior to him
in excellency and goodness to act for. He had not his being from anything
without himself, whereby he should be obliged to act for anything but him-
self. To make ourselves, then, our last end, is to co-rival God in his being,
the supreme good and blessedness to himself, as if we were our own prin-
ciple, the author of our own being, and were not obliged to a higher power than
ourselves for what we are and have. To direct the lines of all our motions
to ourselves is to imply that they first issued only from ourselves. When
we are rivals to God in his chief end, we own or desire to be rivals to him
in the principle of his being. This is to set ourselves in the place of God.
All things have something without them, and above them as their end. All
inferior creatures act for some superior order in the rank of creation ; the
lesser animals are designed for the greater, and all for man. Man therefore
for something nobler than himself. To make ourselves, therefore, our own end,
is to deny any superior, to whom we are to direct our actions. God alone,
being the supreme being, can be his own ultimate end. For if there were
anything higher and better than God, the purity and righteousness of his
own nature would cause him to act for and toward that as his chiefest mark.
This is the highest sacrilege, to alienate the proper good and rights of God,
and employ them for our own use ; to steal from him his own honour, and
put it into our own cabinets, like those birds that ravished the sacrifice from
the altar and carried it to their own nests.* When we love only ourselves,
and act for no other end but ourselves, we invest ourselves with the dominion
which is the right of God, and take the crown from his head ; for as the
crown belongs to the king, so to love his own will, to will by his own will
and for himself is the property of God, because he hath no other will, no
other end above him to be the rulo and scope of his actions.
When therefore wo are by self-love transformed wholly into ourselves, we
make ourselves our own foundation, without God and against God ; when
we mind our own glory and praise, wo would have a royal state equal with
God, who ■ created all things for himself,' Prov. xvi. 4. What can man do
more for God than he naturally doth for himself, since ho doth all those things
* Sabundo tit. 14G.
!' . xiv. l.] nui noAi Aim. ism. 229
for him If which ha bould do
entimei ide i" bun.
•'. I ilifying W l" i " and; l! ' ! ,,;iin
up bappine is. \\ •• po kpoi ( I to <
it* be were no! ad obje< I i Uen1 and tit for oar Id
it is irrational to make thai our • ad which ii not • I I, and not the fthi<
I ■ , .l.ii\ him t » |.,« |i. :|. r th .'i •.•..■, t'* make liim ii-
i as ..in :'.: to I"' our chii I
b not ill urli acknowledgment at our h behath
(lone for us. \V. rlvi In 4 i uperioi ich kind oi
though we are infinitely more inferior to God than any creature ean be to
M.m eannoi dishonour God more than by referring thai ; " bi
which G le for his own praise, anon at whereof be only hath i
iry and praise, and none else. Be thus • ehangeth the gloi
the incorruptible God unto i corruptible image/ Bom. L 28
• and reputation, which extends but little beyond the limits of l
habitation, or, it' it doth, suxrifi i bul ■ few yean, and |
the :i;.'i' win ivin he lived.
I: is as much as in us lies i destroying of God. By i
troy thai God thai made as, I troy his intention and his
lion. Mir. God eannoi outlive his will and bis glory, 1 be cam
any other rule hut his own will, or any other « nd I at his own honour.
ing op self as our end puts a nullity Upon the trim Deity J by
ourselves t ; and honour which is due to God, we mi
God ii do God. Whosoi rermakes himself s king of his prince's rights
territories, mai n intent to throw him out of his government. To
(die l «>ur end is to undeifv God, since to be the lasl end of a
rational creature is a right inseparable from the nature of the Deity, and there-
: hut self always before US, IS to acknowledge no h
• ourstdv. s to be God.
II. '! iond thing; man would make anything his end and happiness
rather than God. An end is so necessary in all our actions, that he deserves
not the name of a rational creature thai proposcth not one to himself. This
is the distinction between rational creatures and others ; they act with a
formal intention, whereas other creatures are directed to their end by a
natural instinct, and moved by nature to what the others should be m<
by reason. When a man therefore acts for that end, which was not intended
him by the law of his creation, nor is suited to the noble faculties of his Boul,
contrary to God, overturns his order, and merits no better a title
than that o\ an atheist.
A man may be said two ways to make a thing his last end and chief good.
1. Formally. .When he actually judges this or that thing to be his
chi . nd orders all things to it. So man doth not formally jr.
sin I any object which is the incentive of sin to bo his last end.
t be while he bath the exercise of his rational faculties.
•J. Virtually and implicitly. When he loves anytb linst the
Mid prates in the stream of his actions the enjoyment of
the fruition of God, and lays out more strength and I
more time in the gaining that than answering the true end of]
When I sthing 1 I tow God could make him happy wit]
i. or that God could ool him happy without the
thin ton make- of his dainties, the ambitious
OUrs, the U at man oi his lust, and tie
of 1. 1th, and i
230 charnock's works. [Ps. aIV. 1.
most noble end to which he directs his thoughts ; thus he vilifies and lessens
the true God, which can make him happy, in a multitude of false gods, that
can only render him miserable. He that loves pleasure more than God,
says in his heart there is no god but his pleasure. He that loves his belly
more than God, says in his heart there is no god but his belly. Their
happiness is not accounted to lie in that God that made the world, but in the
pleasure or profit they make their god.
In this, though a created object be the immediate and subordinate term to
which we turn, yet principally and ultimately the affection to it terminates
in self; nothing is naturally entertained by us, but as it affects our sense or
mingles with some promise of advantage to us.
This is seen,
1. In the fewer thoughts we have of God than of anything else. Did we
apprehend God to be our chiefest good and highest end, should we grudge
him the pains of a few days' thoughts upon him ? Men in their travels are
frequently thinking upon their intended stage ; but our thoughts run upon
new acquisitions to increase our wealth, rear up our families, revenge our
injuries, and support our reputation. Trifles possess us, but * God is not in
all our thoughts,' Ps. x. 4, seldom the sole object of them. We have
durable thoughts of transitory things, and flitting thoughts of a durable and
eternal good. The covenant of grace engageth the whole heart to God, and
bars anything else from engrossing it ; but what strangers are God and the
souls of most men ! Though we have the knowledge of him by creation,
yet he is for the most part an unknown God in the relations wherein he
stands to us, because a God undelighted in. Hence it is, as one observes,*
that because we observe not the ways of God's wisdom, conceive not of him
in his vast perfections, nor are stricken with an admiration of his goodness,
that we have fewer good sacred poems than of any other kind. The wits of
men hang the wing when they come to exercise their reasons and fancies
about God. Parts and strength are given us, as well as corn and w T ine to
the Israelites, for the service of God, but those are consecrated to some
cursed Baal, Hosea ii. 8. Like Venus in the poet, we forsake heaven to
follow some Adonis.
2. In the greedy pursuit of the world. f When we pursue worldly wealth
or worldly reputation with more vehemency than the riches of grace or the
favour of God. When we have a foolish imagination that our happiness
consists in them, we prefer earth before heaven, broken cisterns which can
hold no water before an ever springing fountain of glory and bliss, and, as
though there were a defect in God, cannot be content with him as our por-
tion without an addition of something inferior to him; when we make it our
hopes to say to the wedge, Thou art my confidence, and rejoice more because
it is great and because our hand hath gotten much, than in the privilege of
communion with God and the promise of an everlasting fruition of him,
Job xxxi. 24, 25, this is so gross, that Job joins it with the idolatry of the
sun and moon, which he purgeth himself of, ver. 26. And the apostle, when
he mentions covetousness or covetous men, passes it not over without the
title of idolatry to tho vice, and idolater to the person, Col. iii. 5, Eph. v. 5, in
that it is a preferring clay and dirt as an end more desirable than the original
of all goodness, in regard of affection and dependence.
8. In a strong addictetlness to sensual pleasures, Philip, iii. 19. Who
make their belly their God, subjecting the truths of God to the maintenance
of their luxury. In debasing tho higher faculties to project for the satis-
* Jackson, book i. cap, 14, p. 48.
t Quod quisquo prsc cicteris petit, summum judicat bonum. — Boet. lib. 3, p. 24.
I IV. l.| l'UACIKM. AIM!. I -M.
(action of the sensitive Lheir ohief bap] whereby many
rontlor then it (if Hitl)lirn:iti I anion
mil groM ut ln-j When men's thoughts run also upon inventing
method tinfy their bestial app.hi leasureH irhi I
arc to 1 1 ■ In 1 i irhieh are the deli els, for tl tion
of i i"'ii and unquestionable rs/nasl oi
when out real 1 1 hi i i . . in, ;i. if tin the chief priori, and not G I.
I . In paying a service upon an \ success in the world inn nts m
than to God tl :u author. When • thi
born inomfi to their dra \ II d>. i. 16. Nol thai tin \ isyrian did offer a
sacrifice to his arm . I to them what was
appropriated the riol >ry to hi and arm • She prophet
hipped their warlike instrassani . whereby they bad i
great fietories, and thoM artifioera who irorahipped t by win
had pnrnhiatd gn tth in the si &od, | \ them ai
■ • i i" happine God who gOfenil thi WOfld.
nd are nol our a licet ions, upon the receiving of good til ireeloai
i to the instruments of conveyance than to the ohief benefactor from
whose eofiers they are taken '.' Do ire not more delight in them, and hug
them with :i greater ciidearedni is, a it' all OQT happinesa dep.
and God were no more than a hare sp. '.' .Just as if when a man v.
warnM l by a beam he ihooid adore that, and not admire the pan thai darts
it out upon him.
5. In paying a H ipOCt to man more than God. When in a public attend-
ance on bii at rvioe, ira will not laugh or be garish, • nasn
hut our hearts shall he in a ridiculous posture, playing with feathers an 1
trifling fancies, though ( ins; as though our bappinf ;sted in
the | ' of nun, and our misery in ■ respect to God. There is no fool
:ii in his heart there is no God, but ho sets up something in his heart
i.
Thi
1. A debasing of God. (1.) In setting up a creature. It speaks God
ISSS amiable than the creature, short of those perfections which some silly
lid tiling which hath engrossed their atl'ections is possessed with : as if
the oanse of all being could be transcended by his creature, and a vile lust
mil, yea, BUrmoont the loveliness of God ; it is to say to God as
rich to the poor, James ii. 8, ' Stand thou there, or sit here under my
tstool ;' it is to sink him below the mire of the world, to order him to
come down from his glorious throne, and take his place below a contemptible
nich in regard of its infinite distance is not to be compared with
him. It Strips God of the love that is clue to him by the right of his nature
and the greatness of his dignity, and of the trust that is due to him as the
first and the elm test good, as though he were too feeble and mean to
be our I. This is intolerable, to make that which is God's foot-
stool, the earth, to climb up into his throne ; to set that in our heart which
i hath i ..n below OUrSelves, and put under our feet; to make
ITS trample upon to dispose of the right God hath to our hearts;*
it is irons than if a aueen should fall in love with the little image of tho
prince in i. tnd slight the beauty of bis person, and >>plo
should adore t: od ■ king in the dirt, and turn their pon
bis presence.
I sin, a lust, a car:
as our i .. honour due to God, and appropi
* Nor p. oO.
232 chaenock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
it to that which is no work of his hands, to that which is loathsome in his
sight, hath disturbed his rest, and wrung out his just breath to kindle a hell
for its eternal lodging, a God-dishonouring and a soul-murdering lust, is
worse than to prefer Barabbas before Christ. The baser the thing, the
worse is the injury to him with whom we would associate it. If it were
some generous principle, a thing useful to the world, that we place in an
equality with, or a superiority above him, though it were a vile usage, yet
it were not altogether so criminal; but to gratify some unworthy appetite, with
the displeasure of the Creator, something below the rational nature of man,
much more infinitely below the excellent majesty of God, is a more unworthy
usage of him. To advance one of the most virtuous nobles in a kingdom as
a mark of our service and subjection, is not so dishonourable to a despised
prince, as to take a scabby beggar, or a rotten carcass to place in his throne.
Creeping things, abominable beasts, the Egyptian idols, cats and crocodiles,
were greater abominations, and a greater despite done to God, than the
image of jealousy at the gate of the altar, Ezek. viii. 5, 6, 10.
And let not any excuse themselves, that it is but one lust or one creature
which is preferred as the end. Is not he an idolater that worships the sun
or moon, one idol, as well as he that worships the whole host of heaven ?
The inordinancy of the heart to one lust may imply a stronger contempt
of him, than if a legion of lusts did possess the heart. It argues a greater
disesteem when he shall be slighted for a single vanity. The depth of Esau's
profaneness in contemning his birthright, and God in it, is aggravated by
his selling it for ' one morsel of meat,' Heb. xii. 16, and that none of the
daintiest, none of the costliest, ' a mess of pottage,' implying, had he parted
with it at a greater rate, it had been more tolerable, and his profaneness
more excusable. And it is reckoned as a high aggravation of the corruption
of the Israelite judges, Amos ii. 6, that ' they sold the poor for a pair of
shoes ;' that is, that they would betray the cause of the poor for a bribe of
no greater value than might purchase them a pair of shoes. To place any
one thing as our chief end, though never so light, doth not excuse. He
that will not stick to break with God for a trifle, a small pleasure, will leap
the hedge upon a greater temptation.
Nay, and if wealth, riches, friends, and the best thing in the world, our
own lives, be preferred before God, as our chief happiness and end but one
moment, it is an infinite wrong, because the infinite goodness and excellency
of God is denied. As though the creature or lust we love, or our own life
which we prefer in that short moment before him, had a goodness in itself,
superior to, and more desirable than the blessedness in God. And though
it should be but one minute, and a man in all the periods of his days both
before and after that failure, should actually and intentionally prefer God
before all other things, yet he doth him an infinite wrong, because God in
every moment is infinitely good, and absolutely desirable, and can never
cease to be good, and cannot have the least shadow or change in him and
his perfections.
2. It is a denying of God. Job. xxxi. 26-28, ' If I beheld the sun when
it shined, and the moon walking in its brightness ; and my heart hath been
secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were iniquity
to be punished by the judge: fori should have denied the Lord above.'
This denial of God is not only the act of an open idolater, but the conse-
quent of a secret confidence, and immoderate joy in worldly goods ; this
denial of God is to be referred to, ver. 24, 25. When a man saith to
gold, ■ Thou art my confidence,' and rejoices because his wealth is great, he
denies that God which is superior to all those, and the proper object of
\IV. 1. pfj
tru lh IdoUtl ipled h( wealth,
and th:it which hath t! And
thou per gnil
d.i i | ft seven r punishment, and falli nnder th
«.|' ii,, )u : ml ,,f u || tli. •' ; it«i
. ' this fcl
i ii, moa ' darnel
and oil., i • ■ I i. i hi I'
im inward heart]! confidence, and an nate trn t. It thi of
i be, much moi
r a brutiHh plonHiirr, ih n donisl G I, and a 1 an abjui
of him, Minv the supreme affection of the tool if nndoobl
: of ill. . and ii-' '"'"" '■
the out\\ard rehire may in a uay of civil n -peel. Nothil
diar to God, eaa I tore, withoot s plain i
oing the rectitude ** ««
nsitiir. . [fQod should command i creature tneh ■ love, and such a confi-
dence in anything inferior to him, he would deny himself bi «y, he
Id deny bimself to be the i oeUenl being. Can the Bomai
from this, when they call thr C m tlHtCOSt, and • the M'
In (,- dotnin < I toneventure,
ivus.m t he iv ton havr world liiiL'sandsensuali ofhnmodci
fondness to anything in the world, to reflect upon themseh
own the being of a God, the;. .ilty of ;, > him,
tha: i from the title of an onwortlj
that are renewed by the - may b< and of a daily
humiliation lor the frequent and too oommon exeur \ their i
ufidenees and affections, whereby thev fall under thr el
an act of practical atheism, though they may be free from an habit of it.
111. The third thing is, man would make himself the < nd of all 61
Man would sit in the SCCi of God, and * set his heart as the he ">d,'
Lord saith of Tyrus, Bzek. xxviii. 2. What is the com
med the chief good and end of other <• ? — a thing
that the heart of God Cannot hut he set upon, it 1 arable right
of the Deity, who must deny himself, if he deny this affection of the heart.
6 ii i- the nature of man derived from this root, to di
with God, it follows that he <i en-attire should he equal with him,
bu1 snl to his ends and his glory. II" thai would make himself G
Id haw the honour proper t.> God; he that thinks himself worthy of his
own supreme affection, thinks bimself worthy to he the obj< d of the supn
; whosoever counts himself the eh;. I and last end,
one place in the thoughts of others. Nothi
khan a desire to have his own judgment the rule i
• nt and opinions of the rest of mankind Hetl
himself in the ]>iace of the prince, doth by that act challenge all thi
md dues belonging to the prince : and apprehending himself fit
be a : also worthy of the hoi
II that loves himself chiefly, and all other tl
dil make himself the end of all creatures. It hath i
only in - Id, that BOOM vain prii
■•es the title . ■ ; divine ons to l»'
For their honour. What hath been
natur. Uy in all. W< Wi • ■ \ •;•' an
234 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
This is evident ; —
1. In pride. When we entertain an high opinion of ourselves, and act
for our own reputes, we dispossess God from our own hearts ; and while we
would have our fame to be in every man's mouth, and be admired in the
hearts of men, we would chase God out of the hearts of others, and deny his
glory a residence anywhere else ; that our glory should reside more in their
minds than the glory of God ; that their thoughts should be filled with our
achievements, more than the works and excellency of God, with our image
and not with the divine. Pride would paramount God in the affections of
others, and justle God out of their souls ; and by the same reason that man
doth thus in the place where he lives, he would do so in the whole world,
and press the whole creation from the service of their true Lord, to his own
service. Every proud man would be counted by others as he counts him-
self, the highest, chiefest piece of goodness, and be adored by others, as
much as he adores and admires himself. No proud man in his self-love,
and self-admiration, thinks himself in an error ; and if he be worthy of his
own admiration, he thinks himself worthy of the highest esteem of others ;
that they should value him above themselves, and value themselves only for
him. What did Nebuchadnezzar intend, by setting up a golden image, and
commanding all his subjects to worship it, upon the highest penalty he
could inflict, but that all should aim only at the pleasing his humour ?
2. In using the creatures contrary to the end God has appointed. God
created the world and all things in it, as steps whereby men might ascend
to a prospect of him, and the acknowledgment of his glory ; and we would
use them to dishonour God, and gratify ourselves. He appointed them to
supply our necessities, and support our rational delights ; and we use them
to cherish our sinful lusts. We wring groans from the creature in diverting
them from their true scope, to one of our own fixing, when we use them not
in his service, but purely for our own, and turn those things he created for
himself to be instruments of rebellion against him to serve our turns ; and
hereby endeavour to defeat the ends of God in them, to establish our own
ends by them. This is a high dishonour to God, a sacrilegious undermin-
ing of his glory,* to reduce what God hath made to serve our own glory,
and our own pleasure ; it perverts the whole order of the world, and directs
it to another end than what God hath constituted, to another intention con-
trary to the intention of God ; and thus man makes himself a god by his
own authority. As all things were made by God, so they are for God ; but
while we aspire to the end of the creation, we deny and envy God the
honour of being creator. We cannot make ourselves the chief end of the
creatures against God's order, but we imply thereby that we were their first
principle ; for if we lived under a sense of the Creator of them while we
enjoy them for our use, we should return the glory to the right owner.
3. This is diabolical ; though the devil, for his first affecting an authority in
heaven, has been hurled down from the state of an angel of light, into that
of darkness, vileness, and misery, to be the most accursed creature living,
yet he still aspires to mate God, contrary to the knowledge of the impossi-
bility of success in it. Neither the terrors he feels, nor the future tor-
ments he doth expect, do a jot abate his ambition to be competitor with his
Creator. How often hath he, since his first sin, arrogated to himself the
honour of a God from tho blind world, and attempted to make the Son of
God, by a particular worship, count him as the chiefest good and benefactor
of tho world ! Mat. iv. 1). Sinco all men by nature are the devil's children,
the serpent's seed, they havo something of this venom in their natures, as
* Sabuudo Tit. 200, p. 352.
XIV. I.] ii:\. i MAI Miiii-M.
well m others of his qualities. Wo ace thai then a prodi-
gious athoi m lurking ander the b< lief of 'l be & ril
I God, but act . like to athei t, and o do bii children.
I\. M:m WOQld mtJce h the end ol (id. 'I'hi v follows
upon Hi," former. \\\ ■ mm
in tht> place of I tod, would n I I I ' in makii the
Mi. lie thai steps into the throne of ■ prino be prinee al bii
loo! ■ tool, and w lulc lie a ' i B, di mand I a sub-
Lion from bim. The order of the creation I by the
entrance of sin** God implanted an affection in man with a double ■ |
tin- one to pitch apoa God, the other to n p oi onnelTee ; but with this
proyiao, thai our affection to Qod should be infinite in regard of the oh,
and centre in him, aa the ehiefesl happine i and b
tions to ourselves should be linite, and refer ultimately to God
final of our being. But sin hath turned man's afl wholly to b
sell". Whereas he should low God first, and himself in Order to God, be
lOfOI himself first, and God in Order to himself . Lore to God II
and lore to self hath usurped the throne, Aa God by creation ' put all
things under the feet' of man, Ps. viii. 6, reserving the heart for him
man by corruption hath diapoaM • l ( - o d of his heart, and put bim un
his own feet. We often intend OUTS* Ives #hen we pretend the honour
God, and make God and religion a stale to some d- igns we ha?c in band,
our Creator s tool for our own ends*
This is i'vi«f nt,
1. In our taring God because of some self-pleasing benefits distributed
by him. There is in men a kind of natural love to God; but it is hut a
mdary one, because God gives them the pood things of th a world,
I their table, fills their CUp, stuffs ih lir . and doth them somo
pood turns by unexpected providences. This is not an affection to God for
the unbounded excellency of his own nature, but for his beneficence, as ho
opens his hand for them; an affection to themselves, and those creatures,
their gold, their honour, which their hearts are most fixed upon, without a
ing spiritual inclination that God should be glorified by them in the
of those mercies. It is rather a disowning of God than any love to him,
1 accuse it postpones God to those things they love him for. This would
appear to be no love, if God should cease to be their benefactor, and deal
with them as a judge ; if he should change his outward smiles into afflicting
frowns, and not only shut his hand, but strip them of what he sent them,
motive of their love being expired, the affection raised by it must cease,
for want of fuel to feed it ; so that God is beholden to sordid c I of
no value (but as they are his creatures) for most of the love the sons of men
pretend to him. The devil spake truth of most men, though not of Job,
when he said, Job i. 10, they ' love not God for nought ;' but while ho
ma 1 . about them and their families, whilst he blesseth the works
of their hands, and increasetli their honour in the land. It is like Peter's
sharp reproof of his Master, when he spake of the ill usage, even to death,
he ' with at Jerusalem, ' This shall not be unto
as much out of love to himsj If as zeal for his Master's ini rest, knowing his
B in such a storm without some drops lighting upon him-
self. All the of nun in the world are wil They
D whilst they may have a prosperous profession, but will not hear one
chip of the cross for the interest of God. They would part
!, but not endure the prick of a lance for him, as the - the
* Pascal, Tens. sec. 30. p. 2'J4.
236 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
miracles of our Saviour, and shrunk at his sufferings. A time of trial dis-
covers these mercenary souls to be more lovers of themselves than their
Maker. This is a pretended love of friendship to God, but a real love to a
lust, only to gain by God. A good man's temper is contrary. Quench
hell, burn heaven, said a holy man, I will love and fear my God.
2. It is evident, in abstinence from some sins, not because they offend
God, but because they are against the interest of some other beloved corrup-
tion, or a bar to something men hunt after in the world. When temperance
is cherished, not to honour God, but preserve a crazy carcass ; prodigality
forsaken, out of a humour of avarice ; uncleanness forsaken, not out of a
hatred of lust, but love to their money ; declining a denial of the interest
and truth of God, not out of affection to them, but an ambitious zeal for
their own reputation. There is a kind of conversion from sin, when God
is not made the term of it: Jer. iv. 1, « If thou wilt return, Israel,
return unto me, saith the Lord.'* When we forbear sin as dogs do the
meat they love ; they forbear not out of a hatred of the carrion, but fear of
the cudgel. These are as wicked in their abstaining from sin as others are
in their furious committing it. Nothing of the honour of God and the end
of his appointments is indeed in all this, but the conveniences self gathers
from them. Again, many of the motives the generality of the world uses
to their friends and relations to draw them from vices are drawn from self,
and used to prop up natural or sinful self in them. Come, reform yourself,
take other courses, you will smut your reputation, and be despicable ; you
will destroy your estate, and commence a beggar ; your family will be un-
done, and you may rot in a prison ; not laying close to them the duty they
owe to God, the dishonour which accrues to him by their unworthy courses,
and the ingratitude to the God of their mercies. Not that the other motives
are to be laid aside and slighted. Mint and cummin may be tithed, but the
weightier concerns are not to be omitted. But this shews that self is the
bias not only of men in their own course, but in their dealings with others.
What should be subordinate to the honour of God, and the duty we owe to
him, is made superior.
3. It is evident, in performing duties merely for a selfish interest ; mak-
ing ourselves the end of religious actions ; paying a homage to that, while
we pretend to render it to God: Zech. vii. 5, ' Did you at all fast unto me,
even unto me ? ' Things ordained by God may fall in with carnal ends
affected by ourselves, and then religion is not kept up by any interest of
God in the conscience, but the interest of self in the heart. We then
sanctify not the name of God in the duty, but gratify ourselves. God may
be the object, self is the end, and a heavenly object is made subservient to
a carnal design. Hypocrisy passes a compliment on God, and is called
flattery : Ps. lxxviii. 30, ' They did flatter him with their lips,' &c. They
gave him a parcel of good words for their own preservation. Flattery, in
the old notion among the heathens, is a vice more peculiar to serve our own
turn, and purvey for the belly. They knew they could not subsist without
God, and therefore gave him a parcel of good words, that he might spare
them, and make provision for them : ' Israel is an empty vine,' Hos. x. 1 ;
a vine, say some, with large branches and few clusters, but ' brings forth
fruit to himself',' while they professed love to God with their lips. It was
that God should promote their covetous designs, and preserve their wealth
and grandeur, Ezek. xxxiii. 31; in which respect an hypocrite may bo well
termed a religious atheist, an atheist masked with religion. The chief
arguments which prevail with many men to perform some duties, and appear
* Trap, on Gon. p. 148.
■; I v. l. MAoi I'M. m in i 287
religions, are th that Ban Shechem Died to th< of
their «• i i \ to submit t<> oircumcision, riz., tb< ' of more wealth:
(ii n. | | QV. 2 I . 22, ' If i \< iy male am- .i
oircumoised, ihall not I and th< . and < of
theirs, be our
Th BD,
i l.i lii unweildiness to religions duties win r. not cone* rue 1. With
what lively thoughts will many approach to God when • be
broughl in to Bnpporl their own end .' Bat when th oly
an in it, t h«> duty is n<>) the delight bul Lhe clog ; i aeb t that
warm do! the soul, unlets there be something of self to
them, Jonah was sick of his work, and ran from <<
thonghl he Bhonid get no honour by his m< i . mercy will
propheoy, Jonah iv. 2. Though! i of di adva
sin. nrioe. You iii. i tade a merohanl I all his
be upon the inconstant waves, without ho] vail with ■
natural man to 1"' serious in duly, without expectation of BOmS warm advan-
tage. ' What profit should we hays if we pray to him? 1 is the natural
question, Job w ; . L5. ' Wliai profit shall I have if I be c d from my
sin *.' ' Job \\\v. Bi r shall have mon by my sin than by my
It is d that I dance before the ark, saitfa David, therefore ' 1 will be
more vile,' •! Sum. vi. 22. It is for sell' that I pray, Saitfa B natural man,
therefore I will b< i more warm and quick. Ordinances of God are ol
only as a point of interest, and prayer i> often m when it is L
godly, and most selfish; carnal ends and aileetions will pour out 1;\
expr -. If there he no delight in the means that lead I
no delight in God himself, because love is appetitua union/-, a desire of
union; and where the object is desirable, the means that brings us to it
would he delightful
In calling upon God only in a time of necessity. How officious will
men he in affliction to that God whom they neglect in their prosper: !
1 When he Blew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired
after God ; and they remembered thai God was their rock,' Ps. lxxviii. 84.
They remembered him under the scourge, and forgat him under his smiles.
They vi throne of grace, knock loud at heaven's gates, and give God
no rest for their early and importunate devotions when under distress ; but
wh< n tlu ir desires are answered, and the rod removed, they stand aloof from
him, and rest upon their own bottom ; as Jer. ii. 81, ' We are lord-, we will
e no more unto thee.' When we have need of him, he shall find us
clients at his gate ; and when we have served our turn, he hears no more of
US : like Noah's dove sent out of the ark, that returned to him when
found i the ( EUrth, but came not back when she found a footing i
win re. How often do men apply themselves to God when they have some
• i dn f.r them I And then, too, they are loath to put it
solely into his hand, to manage it for his own honour; but they presun
be his directors, that ho may manage it for their glory. Self spur- men
to the throne ol : they desire to be furnished with some mer
want, or to have the clouds of some judgments which they f ar bio
Thi i 1, bul to ourselves ; as the B tmans worship;
quartans ague as . and Tit ' Pollen , fear and ]
as g it of any affection they had to the disease or the pas-ion, but
for fear to r any hurt by them.
Again, when w : , how ].■
our souls with the consideration of that God that gave it, or lay out the
238 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
mercy in his service ! We are importunate to have him our friend in our
necessities, and are ungratefully careless of him, and his injuries he suffers
by us or others. When he hath discharged us from the rock where we stuck,
we leave him, as having no more need of him, and able to do well enough
without him, as if we were petty gods ourselves, and only wanted a lift from
him at first. This is not to glorify God as God, but as our servant ; not an
honouring of God, but a self-seeking. He would hardly beg at God's door
if he could pleasure himself without him.
(3.) In begging his assistance to our own projects. When we lay the plot
of our own affairs, and then come to God, not for counsel but blessing, self
only shall give us counsel how to act ; but because we believe there is a God
that governs the world, we will desire him to contribute success. God is
not consulted with till the counsel of self be fixed ; then God must be the
executor of our will. Self must be the principal, and God the instrument to
hatch what we have contrived. It is worse when we beg of God to favour
some sinful aim ; the psalmist implies this, Ps. lxvi. 18, ' If I regard ini-
quity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.' Iniquity regarded as the
aim in prayer renders the prayer successless, and the suppliant an atheist in
debasing God to back his lust by his holy providence.
The disciples had determined revenge, and because they could not act it
without their master, they would have him be their second in their vindic-
tive passion : Luke ix. 55, ' Call for fire from heaven.'
We scarce seek God till we have modelled the whole contrivance in our
own brains, and resolved upon the methods of performance, as though there
were not a fulness of wisdom in God to guide us in resolves, as well as
power to breathe success upon them.
(4.) In impatience upon the refusal of our desires. How often do men's
spirits rise against God, when he steps not in with the assistance they want !
If the glory of God swayed more with them than their private interest, they
would let God be judge of his own glory, and rather magnify his wisdom than
complain of his want of goodness. Selfish hearts will charge God with
neglect of them, if he be not as quick in their supplies as they are in their
desires, like those in Isa. lviii. 3, ' Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and
thou seest not ? wherefore have we afflicted our souls, and thou takest no
knowledge ? ' When we aim at God's glory in our importunities, we shall
fall down in humble submissions when he denies us ; whereas self riseth up
in bold expostulations, as if God were our servant, and had neglected the
service he owed us, not to come at our call. We over- value the satisfactions
of self above the honour of God. Besides, if what we desire be a sin, our
impatience at a refusal is more intolerable. It is an anger, that God will
not lay aside his holiness to serve our corruption.
5. In the actual aims men have in their duties. In prayer for temporal
things, when we desire health for our own ease, wealth for our own sensu-
ality, strength for our revenge, children for the increase of our family, gifts
for our applause, as Simon Magus did the Holy Ghost, or when some of
those ends are aimed at, this is to desire God not to serve himself of us,
but to be a servant to our worldly interest, our vain glory, the greatening of
our names, &c. In spiritual mercies begged for, when pardon of sin is
desired only for our own security from eternal vengeance ; sanctification
desired only to make us fit for everlasting blessedness ; peace of conscience
only that we may lead our lives more comfortably in the world ; when we
have not actual intentions for the glory of God, or when our thoughts of
God's honour aro overtopped by tho aims of self-advantage. Not but that as
God hath pressed us to those things by motives drawn from the blessedness
\ i v. i . nuonoAL h mm. w.)
derived to oorselrei by them, m we may them with i | ■> our-
selves ; Imt this respect must bi eon! n I within the due banks, in subordi-
nation to the glory of (io.l, not uh.ivr it, dot in nn equal balance with it.
Thai which ie Dourishii) | or medicinal in the first or m o >u I d< gree, i i In the
fourth or fifth degree more d< trnoti?e poison.
Let us consider it loriontfy ; though ■ duty \» oearenly, doth not some
and smut 01 in it f
|1.) Bow ia it with our confessions of in? are they not more to pro-
cure oar pardon than to pJwbi oureelvi i befon <> I, at to be (rood i
the ahaini that hinder ni from bringing him the glory for which we e
cii .it.-. | ; i.r more to partake of his benefits th:iu to hoin.ur liim in ;.
the rights of his justice? I><> ire not bewail em ai it hath mh I
us, qo1 ai it oppoaed the bolineei of God? J>o we not shuffle with G
and eonfe8s ourf sin, while we ro oerre another, as if we would allnre God,
by deolaringonr dislike of one, to gire as liberty to commit wantonm
another J oof to abbot ourselves, bat to daab with God }
'1. Is it any baiter in our private and family worship? Are not men
aSjaemblieS frequented by soiiH!, when some upon whom they have | dep.n-
denoe may eye them, and hare a better opinion of them and affection to
them , . ) If God were the sole end of our hearts, would they not he as </i
Kng under the sole oyo of God as our tongues or carriages arc seemingly
008 under the eye of man'? Arc not family duties performed by some
that their voices may be heard, and their reputation supported among golJv
neighbours ?
[8.] Is not the charity of many men tainted with this end, self? Mat.
vi. 1. as the Pharisees were while they set the miserable object before them,
but not the Lord, bestowing alms, not so much upon the necessities of tho
people, as tho friendship wo owe them for some particular respects; or
casting our bread upon those waters which stream down in the sight of tho
world, that our doles may be visible to them and commended by them ; or
when we think to oblige God to pardon our transgressions, as if we merited
it and heaven too at his hands, by bestowing a few pence upon indigent
persons. And,
[4.] Is it not the same with the reproofs of men ? Is not heat and anger
carried out with full sail when our worldly interest is prejudiced, and be-
calmed in tho concerns of God ? Do not masters reprove their servants
with more vehemency, for the neglect of their trade and business, than tho
neglect of divine duties, and that upon religious arguments, pretending
the honour of God, that they may mind their own interest? But when
they are negligent in what they owe to God no noise is made, they
I without rebuke. Is not this to make God and religion a stale to their
own ends ? It is a part of atheism, not to regard the injuries done to
i, as Tiberius. \ Let God's wrongs be looked to, or cared for by
himself.
5. 1- it not thus in our seeming zeal for religion ? As Demetrius and
the craftemen at Epheras cried up aloud the greatness of Diana of the
Bpheeiana, not out of any true zeal they had for her, but their gain, which
d by the confluence of her worshippers, and the sale of her own
shr: fcs xix. '2 1. 28L
[6.] In ma of the namo of God to countenanco our sin. When
ap an opinion th.it is a friend to our lusts, and then dig deep into tho
Beriptore to and crutches to support it, and authoriso our pi ; when
* I • perl hi. p. 337. % Dei injuria Deo curso.
f yu. ■one l t— En.
240 chaknock's wokks. [Ps. XIV. 1.
men will thank God for what they have got by unlawful means, fathering
the fruit of their cheating craft, and the simplicity of their chapmen upon
God ; crediting their cozenage by his name, as men do brass money, with
a thin plate of silver and the stamp and image of the prince. The Jews
urge the law of God for the crucifying his Son : John xix. 7, * We have a
law, and by that law he is to die ; ' and would make him a party in their
private revenge.* Thus often when we have faltered in some actions we
wipe our mouths, as if we sought God more than our own interest, prostitut-
ing the sacred name and honour of God, either to hatch or defend some
unworthy lust against his word.
Is not all this a high degree of atheism ?
1. It is a vilifying God, an abuse of the highest good. Other sins sub-
ject the creature and outward things to them; but acting in religious services
for self subjects not only the highest concernments of men's souls, but the
Creator himself to the creature, nay, to make God contribute to that which
is the pleasure of the devil ; a greater slight than to cast the gifts of a
prince to a herd of nasty swine. It were more excusable to serve ourselves
of God upon the higher accounts, such that materially conduced to his glory,
but it is an intolerable wrong to make him and his ordinances caterers for
our own bellies, as they did, Hosea viii. 13. t They sacrificed the Q*OrQn
of which the offerer might eat, not of out of any reference to God, but love
to their gluttony ; not please him, but feast themselves. The belly was truly
made the god, when God was served only in order to the belly : as though
the blessed God had his being, and his ordinances were enjoined to pleasure
their foolish and wanton appetites ; as though the work of God were only
to patronise unrighteous ends, and be as bad as themselves, and become a
pander to their corrupt affections.
2. Because it is a vilifying of God, it is an undeifying or dethroning God.
It is an acting as if we were the lords, and God our vassal ; a setting up
those secular ends in the place of God, who ought to be our ultimate end
in every action ; to whom a glory is as due as his mercy to us is utterly
unmerited by us. He that thinks to cheat and put the fool upon God by
his pretences, doth not heartily believe there is such a being. He could not
have the notion of a God without that of omniscience and justice ; an eye to
see the cheat, and an arm to punish it. The notion of the one would direct
him in the manner of his services* and the sense of the other would scare
him from the cherishing his unworthy ends. He that serves God with a
sole respect to himself is prepared for any idolatry ; his religion shall warp
with the times and his interest ; he shall deny the true God for an idol,
when his worldly interest shall advise him to it, and pay the same reverence
to the basest image which he pretends now to pay to God ; as the Israelites
were as real for idolatry under their basest princes as they were pretenders
to the true religion under those that were pious.
Before I come to the use of this, give me leave to evince this practical
atheism by two other considerations.
1. Unworthy imaginations of God.
• The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God ; ' that is, he is not
such a God as you report him to be ; this is meant by their being corrupt,
in the second verse corrupt being taken for playing the idolaters, Exod.
xxxii. 7. We cannot comprehend God ; if we could, wo should cease to be
finite ; and because we cannot comprehend him, we erect strange images of
him in our fancies and affections. And since guilt came upon us, because
we cannot root out tho notions of God, we would debase the majesty and
* Sanderson's Sermons, part ii. p. 158. f Vid. Cocc. in locum.
Ps. xiv. i.| nuonoAL inm. 2 1 1
nature of God, thai we may Imvc boom eaee in our adliedi
w lth Bome oomforl in ti. ■! kindlj
- is universal io men b ' I • I i no! in ill bii th
I' . \. I. \. : in any thoughl < of his
nature, And gre ttn< of 1 ty. A the be ithon did i
neither do they eon i I ' J
with BOID4 or other ill opinion of him, thinking him not bo holy,
. Ttul, j I ai 1"' i s . :i 1 1« 1 as tin 1 natural forer of a human undir-
itandin arrive to. \\ e join I i Grod in our vain I
and repn nl him not aa he ia, bul would have him to !"•, At I
own u . lit.- 1 to our own plea lire. We ael thai i of
im:i . on work, and then o df), whom
a not ion
him into so narrow a mould 08 to think that him-elf, who had
newlj Bpronted an by his almighty power, was fit to be b >l in kn
nd had vain hop [rasp aa mneh as infiniteneea. It' he in
tirsl declining began l" have Buch a conceit, it ia no doubt hut ■
bad under a maaa of corruption. Winn holy Agar speaks of God, !.
out thai he had not 'the understanding of a man, nor the knowledge of the
holy,' Prov. lxx. 2, 8. He did not think rationally of God as man might by
ogth at bis firei creation. There are as many carved imagea of G i
as there are minda of men, and aa monatroua ahapea as those corruptions
into which they would transform him.
1 1 nee aprang,
1. [dolatry. Vain ima OB first set afloat'and kept up this in tho
world. Vam imaginations of I G L ' whose glory they changed into the
im:i rruptible man,' Rom. i. 21, -'■'>. They had set up vain images
of him in their fancy, before they set up idolatrous representations of him in
their temples ; the likening him to those idols of wood and stone, and
various metal8, were the fruit of an'idea erected in their own minds. This
ia a mighty debasing the divine nature, and rendering him no better than
that baaa and stupid matter they make the visible object of their adoration,
ailing him with those base creatures they think worthy to be the repre-
sent of him. Yet how far did this crime spread itself in all corners of
the world, not only among the more barbarous and ignorant, but the more
polished and civilized nations I Judea only, where God had placed the ark
of b nee, being free from it in some intervals of time only, after some
ping judgment. And though they vomited up their idols under some
sharp b . they licked them up again after the heavens were cleared
r their heads. The whole book of Judges makes mention of it. And
igh an evangelical Light hath chased that idolatry away from a great part
the principle remaining, coins more spiritual idols in the
heart, which arc brought before God in acts of worship.
•J. Sen .ill superstition received its rise and growth. Winn we mint a
ur own complexion, like to us in mutable and various
angry and soon appeased, it is no wonder that we invent ways
sing him after we have offended him, and think to expiate the sin of
our souls by Bome melancholy devotions and self-chastisements. Bupen
lion '■ lut an nnacriptural and nnrevealed dread of G
&t<fi6aifiMia. When they imagine him a rigorous, and severe master, tl
• about for wa him whom they thought so hard I
•y mean thought of him, as if a slight and pompoua d
sily bribe and flatter him out of his rig
or ba -ud quiet little children, and what.- ever
I . i. y
242 charnock's works. [Ps. XIY. 1.
pleased us could please a God infinitely above us. Such narrow conceits
had the Philistines, when they thought to still the anger of the God of
Israel, whom they thought they possessed in the ark, with the present of a
few golden mice, 1 Sam. vi. 3, 4. All the superstition this day living in
the world is built upon this foundation ; so natural it is to man to pull God
down to his own imaginations, rather than raise up his imaginations up to God.
Hence doth arise also the diffidence of his mercy, though they repent,
measuring God by the contracted models of their own spirits, as though his
nature were as difficult to pardon their offences against him, as they are to
remit wrongs done to themselves.
3. Hence springs all presumption, the common disease of the world. All
the wickedness in the world, which is nothing else but presuming upon God,
rises from the ill interpretations of the goodness of God, breaking out upon
them in the works of creation and providence. The corruption of man's
nature engendered by those notions of goodness a monstrous birth of vain
imaginations, not of themselves primarily, but of God ; whence arose all
that folly and darkness in their minds and conversations : Rom. i. 20, 21,
• They glorified him not as God,' but according to themselves imagined him
good that themselves might be bad, fancied him so indulgent as to neglect
his honour for their sensuality. How doth the unclean person represent
him to his own thoughts but as a goat, the murderer as a tiger, the sensual
person as a swine, while they fancy a god indulgent to their crimes without
their repentance ! As the image on the seal is stamped upon the wax, so
the thoughts of the heart are printed upon the actions. God's patience is
apprehended to be an approbation of their vices, and from the consideration
of his forbearance they fashion a god that they believe will smile upon their
crimes ; they imagine a god that plays with them, and though he threatens,
doth it only to scare, but means not as he speaks ; a god they fancy like
themselves, that would do as they would do, not be angry for what they
count a light offence : Ps. 1. 21, ■ Thou thoughtest I was such a one as thy-
self; ' that God and they were exactly alike, as two tallies. ■ Our wilful mis-
apprehensions of God are the cause of our misbehaviour in all his worship ;
our slovenly and lazy services tell him to his face what slight thoughts and
appprehensions we have of him.'*
. Compare these two together.
Superstition ariseth from terrifying misapprehensions of God ; pre-
sumption from self-pleasing thoughts. One represents him only rigorous,
and the other careless ; one makes us over-officious in serving him by our
own rules, and the other over-bold in offending him according to our
humours. The want of a true notion of God's justice makes some men
slight him ; and the want of a true apprehension of his goodness makes
others too servile in their approaches to him. One makes us careless of
duties, and the other makes us look on them rather as physic than food ;
an unsupportable penance than a desirable privilege. In this case hell is
the principle of duty performed to heaven. The superstitious man believes
God hath scarce mercy to pardon ; the presumptuous man believes he hath
no such perfection as justice to punish. The one makes him insignificant
to what ho desires, kindness and goodness ; the other renders him insig-
nificant to what ho fears, his vindictive justice. What between the idolater,
the superstitious, tho presumptuous person, God should look like no God
in the world.
These unworthy imaginations of God are likewise,
A vilifying of him, debasing tho Creator to be a crcaturo of their own
* Gurnal, part ii. p. 245, 246.
I'.-;. XIV, l.] nuonciL *. 2 18
Ganoies, patting their o bim not sec
to that beautiful image be im] I apoa them bj >n, bat the
defaced image they inhi fall, and which i i, the im
the devil which ipi volt tod ap
it poe lible to bi e b p ol ire i I » the (ancie i of mi d, it
would be the mi il mos krou
sen bti
We honour <i"d when we have wortl of bim Buitabie to hi<
nature ; when we oonoeive of bim ae a b anboan and
i m. \\ il from bim when w ich qaal
lid be d bon ible d to a wise and | i ""1 man, ae inj
imparity. Thai men debt i I when they invert hi : 1 1 < 1
ite bim according to their im be first created tie m ae
)u< own : and think bim not worthy to Go i. onli i he (ally the
moald they would cist, him into, and be what ia unworthy of I
i do nnt conceive of God ai he would have them, but bo must bo what
they would have him, one of their own ahaping.
(1.) This ia worse than idolatry. The groeseet idolater oommite not a
crime bo heinous, by changing hie glory into the image of creeping things
and Ben creatures, as ilio im earning God to be as one of our sinful
. and likening him to those filthy images wo erect in our fancies ; ono
makes him an earthly God, like an earthly creature; tho other (ancles him
an Unjasl and impure God, like a wicked creature: ono sets up an in
him in the earth, which is his footstool ; the other sets up an image of him
in the heart, which ought to be bis throne.
It is worse than absolute at Ik ism or a denial of God. Diffniut
imut now ess*, quodoungus non Ua/uerU t ut sbm <i<l»!<it, was the opinion
of Tertollian.* It is more commendable to think bim not to be, than to think
him such a ono as is inconsistent with his nature. Letter to deny his
CS than to deny his perfection. No wise man but would rather have
his memory rot than bo accounted infamous, and would bo more obliged to
him thai should deny that ever he had a baing in the world, than to say he
<ii 1 indeed live, but ho was a sot, a debauched person, and a man not to be
trusted. When wo apprehend God deceitful in his promises, unrighteous
in his threatenings, unwilling to pardon upon repentance, or resolved to
pardon notwithstanding impenitency, these are things either unworthy of
the nature of God, or contrary to that revelation he hath given of himself.
Bet! c tor a man never to have been born than be for ever miserable ; so
better to be thought no God than represented impotent or negligent, unjust
itful, which are more contrary to the nature of God than hell can bo
to the ' t criminal. In this sense perhaps the apostle affirms tho
atiles, Kph. ii. 12, to be such as are ' without God in the world,' as
being more atheists in adoring God uuder such notions as they commonly
did, than if they had acknowledged no God at all."
•J. Thifl ifl evident by our natural desire to bo distant from him, and
Unwillii " » have any acquaintance with him. Sin set us first at a dis-
tan I ; and every new act of gross sin estrangeth us more from him,
and in d .. us more for him : it makes us both afraid and ashamed bo
bim. Bensoal men were of this frame that Job discourscth of: Job
xxi. 7 9, an ill. L5. Where grace reigns, the nearer to God, the moro
irons the motion ; the nearer anything approaches to us that is the object
of our de&ires, the more eagerly do Wi press forward to it; but our blood
th at the approaches of anything to which we have an aversion. We
* 'JYrtul. coat. Marcion, lib. i. cap. 'J.
244 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
have naturally a loathing of God's coming to us, or our return to him ; we
seek not after him as our happiness ; and when he offers himself, we like it
not, but put a disgrace upon him in choosing other things before him. God
and we are naturally at as great a distance as light and darkness, life and
death, heaven and hell. The stronger impression of God anything hath, the
more we fry from it. The glory of God in reflection upon Moses his face
scared the Israelites ; they who desired God to speak to them by Moses,
when they saw a signal impression of God upon his countenance, were afraid
to come near him, as they were before unwilling to come near to God, Exod.
xxxiv. 30. Not that the blessed God is in his own nature a frightful object,
but our own guilt renders him so to us, and ourselves indisposed to converse
with him ; as the light of the sun is as irksome to a distempered eye as it
is in its own nature desirable to a sound one. The saints themselves have
had so much frailty, that they have cried out that they were undone, if they
had any more than ordinary discoveries of a God made unto them ; as if
they wished him more remote from them. Vileness cannot endure the splen-
dour of majesty, nor guilt the glory of a judge.
We have naturally, (1.) No desire of remembrance of him ; (2.) or con-
verse with him ; (3.) or thorough return to him ; (4.) or close imitation of
him : as if there were not such being as God in the world ; or as if we
wished there were none at all ; so feeble and spiritless are our thoughts of
the hems' of a God.
O
(1.) No desire for the remembrance of him. How delightful are other
things in our minds ! How burdensome the memorials of God, from whom
we have our being ! With what pleasure do we contemplate the nature of
creatures, even of flies and toads ; while our minds tire in the search of him
who hath bestowed upon us our knowing and meditating faculties ! Though God
shews himself to us in every creature, in the meanest weed as well as in the
highest heavens, and is more apparent in them to our reasons than them-
selves can be to our sense, yet though we see them, we will not behold God
in them. We will view them to please our sense, to improve our reason in
their natural perfections ; but pass by the consideration of God's perfections
so visibly beaming from them. Thus we play the beasts and atheists in the
very exercise of reason, and neglect our Creator to gratify our sense ; as
though the pleasure of that were more desirable than the knowledge of God.
The desire of our souls is not ' towards his name and the remembrance of
him,' Isa. xxvi. 8, when we set not ourselves in a posture to feast our souls
with deep and serious meditations of him ; have a thought of him only
by the by and away, as if we were afraid of too intimate acquaintance
with him.
Are not the thoughts of God rather our invaders than our guests, seldom
invited to reside and take up their home in our hearts ? Have we not, when
they have broken in upon us, bid them ■ depart from us,' Job xxii. 17, and
warned them to come no more upon our ground ; sent them packing as soon
as we could, and were glad when they were gone ? And when they have
departed, have we not often been afraid they should return again upon us,
and therefore looked about for other inmates, things not good ; or if good,
infinitely below God, to possess the room of our hearts before any thoughts
of him should appear again ? Have wo not- often been glad of excuses to
shake off present thoughts of him ; and when we have wanted real ones,
found out pretences to keep God and our hearts at a distance? Is not this
a part of atheism, to be so unwilling to employ our faculties about the
giver of them, to refuse to exercise them in a way of grateful remembrance
of him, as though they wcro none of his gift, but our own acquisition ;
■ IV. l.J HUl ||. M. AUIl.ISM.
though the God that tmlv gave them I -hi to tin n, and he that
think* (tn as i :i u w;iv oi ' worthy
tho
Do no! ', lii it M '">". :i "' 1 abhor tJlis natural
ess, And that when they wonld thinl i many th mpt
them and turn them to thii Do th( d their up]
■joo l»I«-, their noli I the im| I !
iral atheism I over ho re.
with linn. 'I I
mand for I. oly the Babbaih day, inolnding all the dut
and the cho >ur Datarai unwillin m, an 1
f them. God | thii command with
man hath do heart fox spiritual dntii ■
■piritoa] duty, which aeti hi immediately face to bee with God, bat in
: it we find naturally i tt iitance from some powerful pie;
inbseribe to th oh of the apostle, that ' when
wpnld do good, svil ii present with ns. 1 No reason of this oan I
& red l'ii; the natural temper of onr souls and an ai rom
i under any coo on; for though onr guilt first made the breach,
thii aversion to a converse with him itepi ap without any actual
i upon our guilt, which may render God terrible to oi i
jud not also, in our attendance upon him, more pi I riththo
model of worship which gratify our fancy, than to have cur souls in
Mod with the object of worship himself?
a part of our natural atheism. 'I inch dutiee off
. or m part, by affecting i coldness in them, is to east off the fear of
th • Lord, Job sv. i. Not to call upon God, and not to know him, are ono
and the same thing, Jer. x. 25. Either we think there is no such being in
the world, or ti i slight I one, that he deserves not the respect ho
calls for impotent and poor, that he cannot supply what our necessi-
ties require.
No desire of a thorough return to him. The first man fled from him
fection, though he had do refuge to fly to but the grace of his
Creator. Cain went from his prea nee, would bo a fugitive from God, ra'
than a supplicant to him ; when by faith in, and application of the promised
B l< mi r, he might have escaped the wrath to come for his brother's blood,
I mitigate 1 the sorrows he was justly sentenced to bear in the world.
thing will separate prodigal man from COmmoniDg with swine, and make
him return to his Esther, but an empty trough ; have we but husks to feed
on, we shall never think of a father's presence. It were well if our sores
and in i rould drive us to him; but when our ' strength is devoured.
wih urn to the Lord our God, nor seek him for all this,' Hosea vii. 10.
N G I of judgment, nor his mighty power as a Lord,
nor u arms ns the Lord their God, could move them t > turn their eyes
and their 1. rardshim. The more he invites us to partake of nil
run from him to provoke his wrath : the louder '
them by hi closer they stuck to their Baal, 11 \m i n. -.
turn teki when he itretchee out his hand, stop our can when he litts
up : we fly from him when he courts us and shelter l
any bush h Eul hand, that would lay hold upon us ; nor
him, till I up with thorns.' and
iiit any by-way, Sosea i:. *'». 7. NN
• the pain of ' ; he is
brought to a spiritual lubjection to God, nor persuaded to a hurreuder
246 chaenock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
at a summons, but sweetly overpowered by storm, and victoriously drawn
into the arms of God. God stands ready, but the heart stands off: grace
is full of entreaties, and the soul full of excuses ; divine love offers, and
carnal self-love rejects. Nothing so pleases us, as when we are furthest
from him ; as if anything were more amiable, anything more desirable than
himself.
(4.) No desire of any close imitation of him. When our Saviour was
to come as a refiner's fire to purify the sons of Levi, the cry is, ' Who shall
abide the day of his coming ?' Mai. iii. 2, 3. Since we are alienated from
the life of God, we desire no more naturally to live the life of God, than a toad
or any other animal desires to live the life of a man. No heart that knows
God but hath a holy ambition to imitate him ; no soul that refuseth him for
a copy, but is ignorant of his excellency ; of this temper is all mankind
naturally. Man in corruption is as loath to be like God in holiness, as
Adam after his creation was desirous to be like God in knowledge ; his pos-
terity are like their father, who soon turned his back upon his original copy.
What can be worse than this ? Can the denial of his being be a greater
injury than this contempt of him ; as if he had not goodness to deserve our
remembrance, nor amiableness fit for our converse ; as if he were not a Lord
fit for our subjection, nor had a holiness that deserved our imitation ?
IV. For the use of this. It serves,
1. For information.
(1.) It gives us occasion to admire the wonderful patience and mercy of
God. How many millions of practical atheists breathe every day in his air,
and live upon his bounty, who deserve to be inhabitants in hell, rather than
possessors of the earth ! An infinite holiness is offended, an infinite
justice is provoked ; yet an infinite patience forbears the punishment, and
an infinite goodness relieves our wants. The more we had merited his jus-
tice and forfeited his favour, the more is his affection enhanced, which makes
his hand so liberal to us.
At the first invasion of his rights, he mitigates the terror of the threaten-
ing, which was set to defend his law, with the grace of a promise to relieve
and recover his rebellious creature, Gen. iii. 15. Who would have looked
for anything but tearing thunders, sweeping judgments, to rase up the foun-
dations of the apostate world ? But oh, how great are his bowels to his
aspiring competitors! Have we not experimented his contrivances for our
good, though we have refused him for our happiness ? Has he not opened
his arms, when we spurned with our feet; held out his alluring mercy, when
we have brandished against him a rebellious sword ? Has he not entreated
us while we have invaded him, as if he were unwilling to lose us, who are
ambitious to destroy ourselves ? Has he yet denied us the care of his
providence, while we have denied him the rights of his honour, and would
appropriate them to ourselves ? Has the sun forborne shining upon us,
though we have shot our arrows against him ? Have not our beings been
supported by his goodness, while we have endeavoured to climb up to his
throne ; and his mercies continued to charm us, while we have used them
as weapons to injure him ? Our own necessities might excite us to own
him as our happiness, but ho adds his invitations to the voice of our wants.
Has he not promised a kingdom to those that would strip him of his crown,
and proclaimed pardon, upon repentance, to those that would take away his
glory ? and hath so twisted together his own end, which is his honour,
and man's true end, which is his salvation, that a man cannot truly mind
himself and his own salvation, but ho must mind God's glory; and cannot
be intent upon God's honour but by the samo act ho promotes himself and
\I V. 1 . I I'llACl U U. A I ill I M. 247
hie own happim G I I <• any j of dissatisf
turn to I boOOOT himself. All thoM won bii
bun enhanced by the beinousnei n, a multitude of
.1 him abort the Dnliiindi mpta from
evL 7. \\ Lheir prinoe, aiming el hie
in him, e ell tl lily
afforded them, without whioh they would I without whieh th
I be anable to i thoir al •■ I from (1 IV
I i i i not God had ' i I , I and
infinite ri -1. the dc pite the world bad done bim in re: ■ :n - ■
their rule, happ . ironld have emptie I him 1 R >m. ii. i.
i tific it i.'ii of the ezereiee of hie jnetiee. us
: loudly .it also stops our moat] ie>
nice. \Yh it. ciiii I i:irp a i
th.< deepieing and diegraoing so great a being? ] apt
anger, an I when we will not own inn f >r oar happim
i il we should feel the misery of separation from him. It' he thai
guilty of treason d< to] »se ins life, what punishment can be thought
t enough for him thai to prefer himself before ■
Infinitely good, and so foolish ae to intade the rights of one infinitely
powerful ? It is mi injustice t ire to bo for ever left to himself, to
he can make <>f that self he was so busily employed to
set op in the place of his I r. The soul of man an infinite
punishment for despising an infinite good. And is it not unequitable that
that si If. which man makes bis rule an<l happiness above God, should
me his torment and mieery by the righteov of that God whom he
• 1.
h a necessity of a new state and frame of soul, to alter an
We forget God, think of him with reluctaney, have no
in our c I acts. This cannot be our original state.
i being infin I, never let man come out of his hands with this
actual unwilling i acknowledge and servo him. He never intended to
dethrone himself for the work of his hands, or that the creature should have
any other end than that of his Creator. As the apostle saith in the case of
the Galatians' error, Gal. v. 8, ' This persuasion came not of him that called
you,' so this frame comes not from him that created you. How much,
ther lo we need a restoring principle in as I Instead of ordering our-
selves according to the will of God, we are desirous to ' fulfil the wills of
. Bph. ii. 8. There is a necessity of some other principle in us to
Ice us fulfil the will of God, since we were created for God, not for the
ih.
\\V can no more bo voluntarily serviceable to God while our serpentine
nature and devilish habits remain in us, than we can suppose the devil em
rilling to glorify God while the nature ho contracted by his fall abides
illy in him. Our nature and will must be changed, that our actions
ma 1, that we may delightfully meditate on him, and
draw t: of our ol • from him. Since this atheism is seal
in natn most be in OUT nature. Since our first aspii
the the fruits of the serpent's breath, whieh tainted our
Bate t DO a r. moval of this taint, whereby our natures may be
on the si le of God aga Id .'an, as they were before on th •
ii ':. apernatoral principle 1
;tural Ii! I, since we are naturally all from the
lite of ii ;.' aatores from God is I g as our
248 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
inclinations to evil ; we are disgusted with one, and pressed with the other ;
we have no will, no heart to come to God in any service. This nature must
be broken in pieces, and new moulded, before we can make God our rule
and our end. While men's deeds are evil, they cannot comply with God,
John iii. 19, 20, much less while their natures are evil. Till this be done,
all the service a man performs riseth from some evil imagination of the
heart, which is evil, only evil, and that continually, Gen. vi. 5, from wrong
notions of God, wrong notions of duty, or corrupt motives. All the pre-
tences of devotion to God are but the adoration of some golden image.
Prayers to God for the ends of self, are like those of the devil to our Saviour,
when he asked leave to go into the herd of swine. The object was right,
Christ ; the end was the destruction of the swine, and the satisfaction of
their malice to the owners. There is a necessity, then, that depraved ends
should be removed, that that which was God's end in our framing may be
our end in our acting, viz., his glory, which cannot be without a change of
nature. We can never honour him supremely whom we do not supremely
love. Till this be, we cannot glorify God as God, though we do things by
his command and order, no more than when God employed the devil in
afflicting Job, chap. i. His performance cannot be said to be good, because
his end was not the same with God's. He acted out of malice what God
commanded out of sovereignty, and for gracious designs. Had God em-
ployed an holy angel in his design upon Job, the action had been good in
the affliction, because his nature was holy, and therefore his ends holy ;
but bad in the devil, because his ends were base and unworthy.
(4.) We may gather from hence the difficulty of conversion, and mortifica-
tion to follow thereupon. W T hat is the reason men receive no more impres-
sion from the voice of God and the light of his truth, than a dead man in
the grave doth from the roaring thunder, or a blind mole from the light of
the sun ? It is because our atheism is as great as the deadness of the one
or the blindness of the other. The principle in the heart is strong to shut
the door both of the thoughts and affections against God. If a friend oblige
us, we shall act for him as for ourselves. We are won by entreaties ; soft
words overcome us ; but our hearts are as deaf as the hardest rock at the
call of God. Neither the joys of heaven proposed by him can allure us, nor
the flashed terrors of hell affright us to him ; as if we conceived God unable
to bestow the one or execute the other. The true reason is, God and self
contest for the deity. The law of sin is, God must be at the foot- stool;
the law of God is, sin must be utterly deposed. Now it is difficult to leave
a law beloved for a law long ago discarded. The mind of man will hunt
after anything, the will of man embrace anything ; upon the proposal of
mean objects, the spirit of man spreads its wings, flies to catch them, be-
comes one with them ; but attempt to bring it under the power of God, the
wings flag, the creature looks lifeless, as though there were no spring of
motion in it. It is as much crucified to God as the holy apostle was to the
world. The sin of the heart discovers its strength the more God discovers
the holiness of his will, Horn. vii. 9-12. The love of sin hath been predo-
minant in our nature, has quashed a love to God, if not extinguished it.
Hence also is the difficulty of mortification. This is a work tending to
the honour of God, the abasing of that inordinately aspiring humour in our-
selves. If the nature of man bo inclined to sin, as it is, it must needs be
bent against anything that opposes it. It is impossible to strike any true
blow at any lust, till the true sense of God bo re-entertained in the soil where
it ought to grow. Who can bo naturally willing to crucify what is incor-
porated with him, his flesh; what is dearest to him, himself? Is it an
Pi, xi v. l . n , i . \ i . \ 1 1 ! i i k, 249
for man, the competitor a i . I i tu n bi ai I bim-
•elf, ill it -.'it' should oferihro i d empire, I | " ns
ko .i! I i ih. -.Hi . i membei i tnd subdue
own affection! ? II I • aatan i b ; m nil
■in, Job rxxi. B8, 'l: l cover my trai . \ lam,*
troy it, and aa unwillii , rl with bis carnal affec n ol
devils were with the man I An i • l»< " h<
>ii I fired from our, be will endeavour to i
I to i aeei iwine, win d ti. from ti.
i of that man.
Here v, the reaeon of nnbelief. That wbioh bath m< i d
it meete with most aversion from ds; that which bath ieaet of G
r inolinationi in us. What is the > that ti
of man ii more nnwilling to embrace the gospel than acknowledge the i quity
of the Ian '.' Beoanse there ii more of God's nature and p< rfeetion
in i pel than in the law; besides, there is more reliance on G
distance from self commanded in the gospel. Tin: law pnta e man upon bis
own strength, the gospel takes him off from bia own bottom. 'J he
acknowledges bim to bays i power in himself, and to aet for his own reward;
the gospel strips him of all his prond and towering thi 2 r.
brings him to his due place, the foot of God, orders him to deny tali
his Own rule, right IS, and end, and henceforth not to live to him
8 Cor. \. L6. This is the true reason why men are mon
than against the law, because it doth more deify God and debase man.
Hence it is easier to reduce men to some moral virtue than to faith; to
make men blnah at their outward vices, hut not at the inward impurity of
their natures. Sei ee it is observed that those thai assert that all happiness
did arise from something in a man'a sell', as the Stoics and Epicureans did,
and that a wise man was equal with God, wi re greater enemies to the truths
of the gOSjM 1 than others, Acts xvii. IB, because it lays the axe to the root
of their principal opinion ; takes the one from their self-sufficiency, and the
other from their Si It- gratification. It opposeth the brutish principle of the one,
which placed happiness in the pleasures of the body, and the more noblo
principle of the other, which placed happiness in the virtue of the mind.
The one was for B sensual, the other for a moral self, both disowned by tho
doctrine of the gospel.
(6. | It informs us, consequently, who can be the author of grace and con-
I every other good work. No practical atheist ever yet turned
to God but was turned by God ; and not to acknowledge it to God ii I
part of this atheism, since it is a robbing God of the honour of one of his
BUOSi glorious works. If this practical atheism be natural to man ever since
taint of nature in paradise, what can be expected from it but a
sting of the work of God, and setting up all the forces of nature against
the operations of grace, till a day of power dawn and clear up upon the
soui B. Not ail the angels in heaven, or men upon earth, can be
Imagini d to be able to persuade a man to fall out with himself; nothing e m
turn the ti . :. | >wer above nature. God took away the
itifying Spirit from man, as a penalty for the first sin ; who can regain it
but by his will and pleasure ? Who can [ it but he that removed it?
Since every man hath the same fundamental atheism in him by D it"'
Id be a rule to himself, ai so Gar from
himself that all Dgth of Ids corrupt ;re is alarmed up t
to their arms, upon any attempt Gol ma'.. -ain the fort. 'I DC will is
dust God, that it is like many wills twisted together: Eph. i
250 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
1 wills of the flesh,' we translate it the ' desires of the flesh.' Like many
threads twisted in a cable, never to be snapped asunder by a human arm, a
power and will above ours can only untwist so many wills in a knot. Man
cannot rise to an acknowledgment of God without God. Hell may as well
become heaven, the devil be changed into an angel of light. The devil
cannot but desire happiness, he knows the misery into which he is fallen ;
he cannot be desirous of that punishment he knows is reserved for him.
Why doth he not sanctify God and glorify his Creator, wherein there is
abundantly more pleasure than in his malicious course ? Why doth he not
petition to recover his ancient standing ? He will not, there are chains of
darkness upon his faculties ; he will not be otherwise than he is. His
desire to be god of the world sways him against his own interest, and out
of love to his malice he will not sin at a less rate to make a diminution of
his punishment. Man, if God utterly refuseth to work upon him, is no
better, and to maintain his atheism would venture a hell. How is it pos-
sible for a man to turn himself to that God, against whom he hath a quarrel
in his nature, the most rooted and settled habit in him being to set himself
in the place of God ? An atheist by nature can no more alter his own
temper, and engrave in himself the divine nature, than a rock can carve
itself into the statue of a man, or a serpent, that is an enemy to man, could
or would raise itself to the nobility of the human nature. That soul that by
nature would strip God of his rights, cannot, without a divine power, be made
conformable to him, and acknowledge sincerely and cordially the rights and
glory of God.
(7.) We may here see the reason why there can be no justification by the
best and strongest works of nature. Can that which hath atheism at the
root justify either the action or person ? What strength can those works
have which have neither God's law for their rule, nor his glory for their
end, that are not wrought by any spiritual strength for him, nor tend with
any spiritual affection to him ? Can these be a foundation for the most
holy God to pronounce a creature righteous ? They will justify his justice
in condemning, but cannot sway his justice to an absolution. Every natural
man in his works picks and chooses ; he owns the will of God no further
than he can wring it to suit the law of his members, and minds not the
honour of God, but as it justles not with his own glory and secular ends.
Can he be righteous that prefers his own will and his own honour before
the will and honour of the Creator? However men's actions may be bene-
ficial to others, what reason hath God to esteem them, wherein there is no
respect to him but themselves, whereby they dethrone him in their thoughts,
while they seem to own him in their religious works ? Every day reproves
us with something different from the rule, thousands of wanderings offer
themselves to our eyes. Can justification be expected from that which in
itself is matter of despair ?
(8.) See here the cause of all the apostasy in the world. Practical atheism
was never conquered in such, they are still * alienated from the life of God,'
and will not live to God, as he lives to himself and his own honour, Eph.
iv. 17, 18. 'ihey loathe his rule and distaste his glory; are loath to step
out of themselves to promote the ends of another ; find not the satisfaction
in him as they do in themselves. They will be judges of what is good for
them and righteous in itself, rather than admit of God to judge for them.
When men draw back from truth to error, it is to such opinions which may
serve more to foment and cherish their ambition, covetousness, or some
beloved lust that disputes with God for precedency, and is designed to be
served before him : John xii. 42, 43, ' They love the praise of men more
\I V. 1.! PB401 I'M- Aim. i m. 251
• the pnJM of GooV A pn G rring man I I • I > ■ ! ,n tn '. v
would not 001 I ( bri i, and < rod in him.
i'.i. i This shews dj tli" excellency of lb tod Ohrisi ■ ]
man in hi and M1S
nature n qc res. It 1 1] m in in the d i I i »m I en, and
i that throne where be on [hf I i hM
annihili i It"; the go pel gl >rifl
man. In our I »it wo would be like him in knowledge; in the meani
he h .■'". provided for onr n
The g i8pel she an object of humiliation,
for onr imitation. Th i tore tell
the | i us a more magnifioent report of him. The light ol ual
i atheism, and th it of th nans an I
spiritual atheism in the hearts of men.
/ '2. Of exhortation.
i : us labour to I e « m ible of this athi ism in our nat
humbled for it Bow should we lie in the dust, and go bowing under the
humbling thoughts of it all our days! Bhall we nol be sensible of that
whereby we spill the blood of our a stab tot) t ot our
own salvation ? Bhall we be worse than any creature, uot to bewail that
whieh tends to our destruction ? li a that doth noi lane nt it cannot ehal-
e the character of a Christian, hath nothing of the divine li:'': and I
ted in his SOUl. Not ■ man hut shall one day I ible, when the
eternal God shall call him out to examination, and charge his conscience to
discover .rime, which will then own the authority whereby it acted;
when the hear! shall be torn open, and the secrets of it brought to public
view, and the world and man himself Bhall sec what a viperous brood of
lp( principles and ends nested in his heart Let us, therefore, bo
truly sensible of it, till the consideration draws tears from our eyes and sor-
from our souls. Let US urge the thoughts of it upon our hearts, till the
o( that pride be eaten out, and our stubbornness changed into humili
till our heads become waters, and our eyes fountains of tears, and be a spring
of prayer to God, to change the heart and mortify the atheism in it, and con-
r what a sad thing it is to be a practical atheist ; and who is not so by
natu
Let us be sensible of it in ourselves. Have any of our hearts been a soil
the fear and reverence of God hath naturally grown? Have we a
to know him, or a will to embrace him? Do wo delight in his will,
and love the remembrance of his name? Are our respects to him as God
:1 to the speculative knowledge we have of his nature? Is the heart,
wherein he hath stamped his image, reserved for his residence? Is not the
I than the Creator of the world, as though that could con-
tril •; • r happiness than the author of it ? Have not creatures
as much of OUT loVe, fear, trust, nay, more than God, that framed both them
not too often relied upon our own - , and made
a calf of our own wisdom, and said of God as the Israelites of MoSCS, 'As
for this M wot not what is become of him.' El d. xxxii. 1 ; I
to our drag and our :
our industry, than to the wisdom and blessii. I ? AM
from th of atheism ? * It is as in.:
one time in on. I I lmve I me in full p
gdom. Have there not been frequent
. ilept when fa
* i . | • it
252
charnock's wobxs. [Ps. XIY. 1.
in our ears, as if there had been no such being as a God in the world ; how many
stragglings have been against our approaches to him ? Hath not folly often
been committed with vain imaginations starting up in the time of religious
service, which we would scarce vouchsafe a look to at another time, and in
another business, but would have thrust them away with indignation ? Had
they stepped in to interrupt our worldly affairs, they would have been trouble-
some intruders, but while we are with God they are acceptable guests. How
unwilling have our hearts been to fortify themselves with strong and in-
fluencing considerations of God before we addressed to him ? Is it not too
often that our lifelessness in prayer proceeds from this atheism, a neglect of
seeing what arguments and pleas may be drawn from the divine' perfections,
to second our suit in hand, and quicken our hearts in the service ? Whence
are those indispositions to any spiritual duty, but because we have not due
thoughts of the majesty, holiness, goodness, and excellency of God ? Is
there any duty which leads to a more particular inquiry after him, or a more
clear vision of him, but our hearts have been ready to rise up and call it
cursed rather than blessed ? Are not our minds bemisted with an ignorance
of him, our wills drawn by aversion from him, our affections rising in dis-
taste of him ? More willing to know anything than his nature, and more
industrious to do anything than his will ? Do we not all fall under some
one or other of these considerations ? Is it not fit then that we should have
a sense of them ? It is to be bewailed by us that so little of God is in our
hearts, when so many evidences of the love of God are in the creatures, that
God should be so little our end who hath been so much our benefactor, that
he should be so little in our thoughts who sparkles in everything which pre-
sents itself to our e} r es.
(2.) Let us be sensible of it in others. We ought to have a just execration
of the too open iniquity in the midst of us, and imitate holy David, whose
tears plentifully gushed out, < because men kept not God's law,' Ps. cxix. 136.
And is it not a time to exercise this pious lamentation? Hath the wicked
atheism of any age been, greater, or can you find worse in hell than we may
hear of, and behold on earth ? How is the excellent majesty of God adored
by the angels in heaven, despised and reproached by men on earth, as if his
name were published to be matter of their sport ! What a gasping thing is
a natural sense of God among men in the world ! Is not the law of God,
accompanied with such dreadful threatenings and curses, made light of, as if
men would place their honour in being above or beyond any sense of that
glorious majesty ? How many wallow in pleasures, as if they had been
made men only to turn brutes, and their souls given them only for salt to
keep their bodies from putrefying ? It is as well a part of atheism not to be
sensible of the abuses of God's name and laws by others, as to violate them
ourselves. What is the language of a stupid senselessness of them, but that
there is no God in the world, whose glory is worth a vindication, and deserves
our regards ?
That we may be sensible of the un worthiness of neglecting God as our
rule and end, consider,
1. The unreasonableness of it as it concerns God.
(1.) First, It is a high contempt of God. It is an inverting the order of
things, a making God the highest to become the lowest, and self the lowest
to become the highest ; to bo guided by every base companion, some idle
vanity, some carnal interest, is to acknowledge an excellency abounding in
them which is wanting in God ; an equity in their orders and none in God's
precepts ; a goodness in their promises and a falsity in God's, as if infinite
excellency were a mere vanity, and to act for God were the debasement of
\ IV. 1.] i'i:\< 1 1 \;. \iii! i
our i : to id for *<\{, or the
glory aii'l advancement of it. To ] the honour of
if our being and i upport. Do i
to th it i tie f do i i their m
of it in their il to th<
to a holy soul P I >■• any obey the comi
more readini than they do the orders of their affection ' l»
leap more r< a lily into the many ini
of hell to meet their Delilahs? Bow cheerfdlly did the I
their ornai a of an idol f who would nol
for the honour of their deliverer! E »d. B, ' All the people brake off
h' to in ike 1 1 1 1 onr and is in
ire, then to make ourselves or anythin i >nr end i- ti
in the rank of evils.
adly, [t is a contempt of God ae the mott amiable object. 'i !
is infinitely excellent and desirable: Zech. i\. 17, ' How great i
, and li"' gr< it is his beauty I ' There is nothing in him but what i
ravish our affections ; none thai know-; him but I'm: keep
them with him; he hath nothing in him which can he a proper ol
contempt, no defects or shadow of evil j there is infinil
us, ami infinite goodness to allure dj ; the author of ne-
ir of onr lives ; why then should man, which is his image, b
to alight the beautiful original which stamped it on him I II • . th most
lovely object, therefore to be studied, therefore to he honoured, therefore to
bo followed. In regard of his perfection, he hath the highest right to onr
thoughts. All other beio eminently contained in ) nee, and
were produced by his infinite power. The creature hath nothing but what
it hath from God. And is it not unworthy to prefer the c fore tho
original, to fall in love with a picture instead of the beauty it represents?
The creature, which we advance to be our rule and end, can no more report
to us the true amiahlcness of God, than a few colours mixed and suited
r upon a piece of cloth can the moral and intellectual loveliness of
tho soul of man. To contemn God one moment is more base than if all
creatures were contemned by us for ever; because the excellency of crea-
tures is to God like that of a drop to the sea, or a spark to the glory of un-
conceivable millions of suns. As much as the excellency of God is ah >ve
our conceptions, so much doth the debasing of him admit of unexpressiblo
[ravatioi
2. Coupler the ingratitude in it. That we should resist that God with
our . who made us the work of his hands, and count him as nothing
from whom we derive all tho good that we are or have, there is no con-
tempt of man bat steps in here to aggravate our slighth
cause t no relation one man can stand in to another wherein God doth
not more highly appear to man. If we abhor the unworthy carriage of a
child to a I rvant to an indulgent master, a man to
obligi; ; . why do ni' I that toward^ God which they cannot
ik of without abhorreney if act. d by another against man"? I> ('. nl a
beim: I led than man, and more worthy oi mpt thai .
crcatur .' I - would 1 tctor should live in the -
in I • with us, and • Kohacge a WOtd with him ;
this is OUT 180, who have the work I 1 in our
in our 1 in our daily : I think of him,
converse so little with him, serve everything before him, and |
254 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
thin» above him.'* Whence have we our mercies but from his hand? Who,
besides him, maintains our breath this moment ? Would he call for our
spirits this moment, they must depart from us to attend his command.
There is not a moment wherein our unworthy carriage is not aggravated,
because there is not a moment wherein he is not a guardian, and gives us
not tastes of a fresh bounty. And it is no light aggravation of our crime
that we injure him, without whose bounty in giving us our being, we had
not been capable of casting contempt upon him ; that he that hath the
greatest stamp of his image, man, should deserve the character of the worst
of his rebels ; that he who hath only reason by the gift of God to judge of
the equity of the laws of God, should swell against them as grievous, and
the government of the lawgiver as burdensome. Can it lessen the crime, to
use the principle wherein we excel the beasts, to the disadvantage of God,
who endowed us with that principle above the beasts.
(1.) It is a debasing of God beyond what the devil doth at present. He
is more excusable in his present state of acting than man is in his present
refusing God for his rule and end. He strives against a God that exerciseth
upon him a vindictive justice ; we debase a God that loads us with his daily
mercies. The despairing devils are excluded from any mercy or divine
patience, but we are not only under the long-suffering of his patience, but
the large expressions of his bounty. He would not be governed by him
when he was only his bountiful Creator. W T e refuse to be guided by him
after he hath given us the blessing of creation from his own hand, and the
more obliging blessings of redemption by the hand and blood of his Son.
It cannot be imagined that the devils and the damned should ever make
God their end, since he hath assured them he will not be their happiness,
and shut up all his perfections from their experimental notice, but those of
his power to preserve them, and his justice to punish them. They have no
grant from God of ever having a heart to comply with his will, or ever
having the honour to be actively employed for his glory. They have some
plea for their present contempt of God ; not in regard of his nature, for he
is infinitely amiable, excellent, and lovely, but in regard of his administration
towards them. But what plea can man have for his practical atheism, who
lives by his power, is sustained by his bounty, and solicited by his Spirit ?
What an ungrateful thing is it to put off the nature of man for that of devils,
and dishonour God under mercy, as the devils do under his wrathful anger !
(2.) It is an ungrateful contempt of God, who cannot be injurious to us.
He cannot do us wrong, because he cannot be unjust: Gen. xviii. 25, 'Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do right ? ' His nature doth as much abhor
unrighteousness as love a communicative goodness. He never commanded
anything but what was highly conducible to the happiness of man. Infinite
goodness can no more injure man than it can dishonour itself. It lays out
itself in additions of kindness, and whiles we debase him, he continues to
benefit us. And is it not an unparalleled ingratitude to turn our backs upon
an object so lovely, an object so loving, in the midst of varieties of allure-
ments from him ? God did create intellectual creatures, angels and men,
that he might communicate more of himself, and his own goodness and holi-
ness to man, than creatures of a lower rank were capable of. What do we
do by rejecting him as a rule and end, but cross, as much as in us lies, God's
end in our creation, and shut our souls against the communications of those
perfections ho was so willing to bestow ? We use him as if he intended us the
greatest wrong, when it is impossible for him to do any to any of his creatures.
8. Consider tho misery which will attend such a temper if it continue
* Reynolds.
\ I v. l.j nun ii. ai. ai i
predominant. Tho •• that tin their hap]
ol do other bul to be thin I bj him 11 to toy relief and com]
lion. A di ■ from < tod I nothing bnl a i
from < J <>.i b( . When the dei il, a onld
knee himielf above < i ommit the
'cursed above all c i , iii. l I. When wo will not aeknowl
bim a God of all glory, we shall be pi tted from hi] Q 1 of all com-
fori : 'All they thai are alar off ihall peri b, 1 P . 27. Thii ii the
of all woe. Whai the prodigal Buffered ws onld I
father and live of himself. \\ i ;• ii ambitioni to I
heaven, will at last find oil soul to become I hell. As it loved all
.1 l be grieved with all things for itself. A ii .. mid
nst the right of God, it shall thru be iti own torou i
by the jnstios of Go I.
*j. Doty. Watch against th : s atheism, and be daily employed in tho
mortification of it. En every action we should make the inquiry, Whai
the role I observe? l^ it God's will or my own? Whether do my ini
tioni tcml to set op God or self? Ai mncfa 1 1 we d< itroy this, we
the power of sin. ] wo things are the head of the serpent in as, which
we must be bruising by the power of the or . S a uothing else 1
turning from God and centring in self, and most in the inferior part of self.
[f we bend our force against those two, si 1 f - will and self-ends, we shall ini
sept atheism at the Bpring-head, take away that which doth constitute and
animate all sin. The 1 sparks must vanish, if the lire he quenched which
affords them fuel. Tiny are but two short this k in every under-
taking: Is God my rule in re [ard of his will '.' [fl Q i my end in regard of
his glory ? All sin lies iu the neglect of these, all grace lies in the practice
of them.
Without some degree of the mortification of these, we cannot make profit-
able and comfortable approaches to God. "When we come with idols in our
is, we shall be answered according to the multitude and the baseness of
them too, Ezek. xiv. 1. What expectation of a good look from him can
WS hive, when we come before him with undeifying thoughts of him, a
I bition in our mouths, and a sword in our hearts to stab his honour !
To this purpose,
n in the views of the excellencies of God. "When we have no
intercourse with God by delightful meditations, we begin to be estranged
from him, and prepare ourselves to live without God in the world. Strange-
Lhe mother and nurse of disaffection. We alight men sometimes
iuso we know them not. The very beasts delight in the company of men,
when being trained and familiar, they become acquainted with their disposi-
tion. A daily converse with God would discover so much of loveliness in
oainre, so much of sweetness in his ways, that our injurious thoughts of
i would wear off, and we should count it our honour to contemn our-
selves and magnify him. By this means, a slavish fear, which is both a
God and a torment to the soul, 1 John iv. 18, and the root of
atheism, will be cast out, and an ingenious* fear of him wrought in the
-ed thoughts on him would issue out in affections to him,
which would engage our hearts to make him both our rule and our end.
This course would stifle any temptations to gross atheism wherewith good
imetimes haunted, by confirming us more in the belief of
and di8COUragl any • » a deliberate practical atheism. We are not
like to espouse any principlo which is confuted by the delightful converse we
* That is 'ingenuous.' — Ed.
256 charnock's works. [Ps. XIV. 1.
daily have with him. The more we thus enter into the presence chamber
of God, the more we cling about him with our affections ; the more vigor-
ous and lively will the true notion of God grow up in us, and be able to
prevent anything which may dishonour him and debase our souls.
Let us therefore consider him as the only happiness, set up the true God
in our understandings, possess our hearts with a deep sense of his desirable
excellency above all other things. This is the main thing we are to do in
order to our great business. All the directions in the world, with the
neglect of this, will be insignificant ciphers. The neglect of this is common,
and is the basis of all the mischiefs which happen to the souls of men.
(2.) To this purpose, prize and study the Scripture. We can have no
delight in meditation on him unless we know him,*and we cannot know him
but by the means of his own revelation. When the revelation is despised,
the revealer will be of little esteem. Men do not throw off God from being
their rule, till they throw off Scripture from being their guide ; and God
must needs be cast off from being an end, when the Scripture is rejected
from being a rule. Those that do not care to know his will, that love to be
ignorant of his nature, can never be affected to his honour. Let, therefore,
the subtilties of reason veil to the doctrine of faith, and the humour of the
will to the command of the word.
(3.) Take heed of sensual pleasures, and be very watchful and cautious in
the use of those comforts God allows us. Job was afraid, when his sons
feasted, that they should ' curse God in their hearts,' Job i. 4, 5. It was
not without cause that the apostle Peter joined sobriety with watchfulness
and prayer : 1 Pet. iv. 7, ' The end of all things is at hand ; be ye therefore
sober, and watch unto prayer.' A moderate use of worldly comforts.
Prayer is the great acknowledgment of God, and too much sensuality is a
hindrance of this, and a step to atheism. Belshazzar's lifting himself up
against the Lord, and not glorifying of God, is charged upon his sensuality,
Dan. v. 23. Nothing is more apt to quench the notions of God, and root
out the conscience of him, than an addictedness to sensual pleasures. There-
fore take heed of that snare.
(4.) Take heed of sins against knowledge. The more sins against know-
ledge are committed, the more careless we are, and the more careless we
shall be of God and his honour. We shall more fear his judicial power, and
the more we fear that, the more we shall disaffect that God in whose hand
vengeance is, and to whom it doth belong. Atheism in conversation pro-
ceeds to atheism in affection, and that will endeavour to sink into atheism in
opinion and judgment.
The sum of the whole.
And now consider, in the whole, what has been spoken.
1. Man would set himself up as his own rule. He disowns the rule of
God, is unwilling to have any acquaintance with the rule God sets him,
ne^li^ent in using the means for the knowledge of his will, and endeavours
to shake it off when any notices of it breaks in upon him. When he cannot
expel it, he hath no pleasure in the consideration of it, and the heart swells
against it. When the notions of the will of God are entertained, it is on
some other consideration, or with wavering and unsettled affections. Many
times men design to improve some lust by his truth. This unwillingness
respects truth, as it is most spiritual and holy, as it most relates and leads
to God, as it is most contrary to self. He is guilty of contempt of the will
of God, which is seen in every presumptuous breach of his law ; in the
natural aversions to tho declaration of his will and mind, which way soever
he turns ; in slighting that part of his will which is most for his honour ;
Ps. XIV. 1. PlAOflOAL ATH11SM. 257
In the awkwardness of the 1 Bod ft ferries) ; a constraint
in the fir.-,! cum '.in. lit ; slightffl I ii. th-- ■ I* |lfd of fix- matter j
in regard of the frame, without i [oarj many di tractions, much
wearinc m j In d< arti i peetationi ere not
. ned opon our j In ore ikii irith God.
m in naturally o ber role, rather than thai ofOod'i preaeri
The rulo of Satan, the will of man ; in complying mow with the dictates of
men than the will of God ; In ob erring that which ii materially ho, not
it is bii will, bnl the injnnetioni of men ; in ol the will of man,
wh< n it is contrary to the will of ( ted. This man doth, In order to thi
ting np himself. Thii ia natural to man, i b Men are d
I with their own consciences, when they contradict the de ire of i eht
M | sotioni in the world ere done, mom because the} an -if,
than u they are hononrable to God ; as they an able to natnral ai I
moral self, or sinful self, ft ii evident in neglects of taking God's directions
upon emergent occasions; in counting the actions of others to be good or
I, as they suit with, or spurn against, our fancies an«1 hnmonrs. Man
would make himself the rule of God, and give laws to bis Creator, in striving
■gainst his law, disapproving of his methods of government in the world, in
impatience In our particular oonoerns, envying the gifts and prosperity of
others, corrupt matter or cuds of prayer or praise, hold Interpretations of
the judgment! of God In tl> ,v world, mixing rales in the worship of God with
rhieh have hem ordained by him, suiting Interpretations of Scripture
with our own minds and humours, felling IV from God after some fair com-
pliances, when his will grates upon us and crosseth ours.
2. Man would be his own end. This is natural and universal. This is
seen in frequent self-applausefl and inward overweening reflections ; in
ascribing the glory of what we do or have to ourselves ; in desire of self-
pleasing doctrines ; in being highly concerned in injuries done to ourselves,
and little or not at all concerned for injuries done to God ; in trusting in
Ourselves ; in working for carnal self, against the light of our own consciences.
This is a usurping God's prerogative, vilifying God, destroying God. Man
would make anything bis end or happiness rather than God. This appears
in the fewer thoughts we have of him than of anything else : in the greedy
pursuit of the world ; in the strong addictedness to sensual pleasures ; in
paving a service, upon any success in the world, to instruments more than
to God. This is a debasing God, in setting up a creature ; but more in
Betting up a base lust : it is a denying of God. Man would make himself
the end of all creatures : in pride, using the creatures contrary to the end
God hath appointed ; this is to dishonour God, and it is diabolical. Man
would make himself the end of God : in loving God, because of some self-
pleasing benefits distributed by bim ; in abstinence from some sins, because
they are against the interest of some other beloved corruption ; in perform-
ing duties merely for a selfish interest, which is evident in unwieldincss in
n iigions duties where self is not concerned ; in calling upon God only in a
G of necessity ; in 5 his assistance to our own projects, after wo
have by our own craft laid the p^ > m impatience upon a refusal of our
res ; in selfish aims we have in our duties. This is a vilifying God, a
dethroning him. In unworthy imaginations of God, universal in man by
nature. B QCC sprin :ition, presumption, the common
disease of the world. This is a vilifying God, worse than idolatry, w
•1 absolute atheism. Natural d ' 1 be distant from him ; no desires
for the rememl f him ; no desires of c with him ; no desires
of a thorough return to bim ; no desire of any close imitation of him.
vol. 1. a
A DISCOURSE UPON GOD'S BEING A SPIRIT.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and
in truth. — John IV. 24.
The words are part of the dialogue between our Saviour and the Samaritan
woman. Christ, intending to return from Judea to Galilee, passed through
the country of Samaria, a place inhabited not by Jews, but a mixed com-
pany of several nations,* and some remainders of the posterity of Israel,
who escaped the captivity and were returned from Assyria, and being
weary with his journey, arrived about the sixth hour, or noon (according
to the Jews' reckoning the time of the day), at a w T ell that Jacob had digged,
which was of great account among the inhabitants for the antiquity of it, as
well as the usefulness of it, in supplying their necessities. He being
thirsty, and having none to furnish him wherewith to draw water, at last
comes a woman from the city, whom he desires to give him some water to
drink. The woman, perceiving him by his language or habit to be a Jew,
wonders at the question, since the hatred the Jews bore the Samaritans was
so great, that they would not vouchsafe to have any commerce with them,
not only in religious but civil affairs, and common offices belonging to
mankind. Hence our Saviour takes occasion to publish to her the doc-
trine of the gospel, and excuseth her rude answer by her ignorance of him ;
and tells her, that if she had asked him a greater matter, even that which
concerned her eternal salvation, he would readily have granted it, notwith-
standing the rooted hatred between the Jews and Samaritans, and bestowed
a water of a greater virtue, the ' water of life,' ver. 10, or ' living water.'
The woman is no less astonished at his reply than she was at his first
demand. It was strange to hear a man speak of giving living water to one
of whom he had begged the water of that spring, and had no vessel to draw
any to quench his own thirst. She therefore demands whence he could
have this water that ho speaks of, ver. 11, since she conceived him not
greater than Jacob, who had digged that well and drunk of it. Our
Saviour, desirous to make a progress in that work he had begun, extols
the water he spake of abovo this of the well, from its particular virtue, fully
to refresh thoso that drank of it, and be as a cooling and comforting foun-
tain within them, of moro efficacy than that without, ver. 13, 14. The
woman, conceiving a good opinion of onr Saviour, desires to partake of this
* Ainiraut, Paraph, sur Jean.
go it. 259
• ' ' tho
spirituality of I ( rist finding her to take
Hon m bif Hin
I >iv he <h'l communicate tin of bin grace, I >i
to th.' oily and bring li< r husband with h< , ?er« L6
■
• he unclean I i much t
•i" thii w:it< r ia much I by ).. r.
of
1 7. .nil the propbi I
t««lN ber that the bad bad five hu
rhom she was divoroi 1; and ti t with • her
ful lnisl an I, and in living with bun the fiolal
11 upon ber i I . ]
affected with this disc wing him to 1"- ill old
those things l»ut in an extraordinary •«
;i prophet, ver. L9 upon this opinion slio
ems him able to decide a question which had been cat ed batwi d
them and the - 1 oai the plana of worship, v< r, 'i<», tii, \r t •
shipping in thai mountain, and the Jaws affirmio J
of worship, she pleads the antiquity of the worship in this place* Abral
having built an altar there, Gen. xii. 7, and Jacob ap a fa
Syria. And Burely, had the place been capahl
as they, and so wall acquainted with the will of God, would not have pitched
upon that pi i • borate their worship.
quity hath too, too often bewitched the minis of men, and d
them from the i 1 will ol lien arc more willing to imitate tho
i of their famous ancestors, than conform th tho
1 will of th.ir Creator. The Samaritans would imitate the patriarchs
in the place of worship, hut not in the faith of the worshippers.
Christ answers her. that this question would quickly he resolved by a new
state of the church which was near at hand, and neither J< . which
t* the prec . nor that mountain, should be of any i luo
in that concern than any other place in tho world, ver. 21. .to
make her sensible of her sin and that of her country hat
>■ worship in that mountain was not according to tho will of God, ho
having, Ion altars built in this place, fixed Jerusalem as the placo
of s les, they had not the knowledge of that God which ought
to be worshipped by them, but the dews had the true object of worship and
the true manner of worship, according to I deration God had made of
• them, ver. 22. But all thai service snail vanish, the veil of tho
pie shall bo rent in twain, and that carnal Worship give place to ono
more Spiritual; shadows shall fly before substance, and truth advance i'
. and the worship oi I with the i of tho
B 3 ich a worship, and such worshi] k :
. 'For God Spirit: and these that worship him m -hip
. in spirit and in truth. of OUT Saviour
I nal worship invi I I by men, r com-
manded by hin | and that upon this
. infinil I is not I
I n which is ft p] yrthly imagiriati
':d;. S lie, ' S (
but it is m Old and
• Qa.T.-u t Vulgar Lat. lllvr.
260 . charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
the predicate before the subject ; as Ps. v. 9, ' Their throat is an open
sepulchre,' in the Hebrew, * A sepulchre open their throat ;' so Ps. cxi. 3,
'His work is honourable and glorious;' Hebr., 'Honour and glory his
work.' And there wants not one example in the same evangelist : John
i. 1, 'And the Word was God;' Greek, 'And God was the Word.' In all
the predicate, or what is ascribed, is put before the subject to which it is
ascribed.
One tells us, and he an head of a party that hath made a disturbance in
the church of God,* that this place is not aptly brought to prove God to be
a Spirit. And the reason of Christ runs not thus, God is of a spiritual
essence, and therefore must be worshipped with a spiritual worship ; for the
essence of God is not the foundation of his worship, but his will; for then
we were not to worship him with a corporeal worship, because he is not a
body, but with an invisible and eternal worship, because he is invisible and
eternal.
But the nature of God is the foundation of worship, the will of God is the
rule of worship ; the matter and manner is to be performed according to the
will of God. But is the nature of the object of worship to be excluded ?
No; as the object is, so ought our devotion to be, spiritual as he is spiritual.
God in his commands for worship respected the discovery of his own nature;
in the law, he respected the discovery of his mercy and justice, and there-
fore commanded a worship by sacrifices. A spiritual worship without those
institutions would not have declared those attributes, which was God's end
to display to the world in Christ. And though the nature of God is to be
respected in worship, yet the obligations of the creature are to be considered.
God is a Spirit, therefore must have a spiritual worship. The creature hath
a body as well as a soul, and both from God ; and therefore ought to wor-
ship God with the one as well as the other, since one as well as the other is
freely bestow r ed upon him.
The spirituality of God was the foundation of the change from the Judaical
carnal worship to a more spiritual and evangelical.
' God is a Spirit.' That is, he hath nothing corporeal, no mixture of
matter ; not a visible substance, a bodily form.f He is a Spirit, not a
bare spiritual substance, but an understanding, willing Spirit; holy, wise,
good, and just. Before Christ spake of the Father, ver. 23, the first person
in the Trinity, now he speaks of God essentially. The word Father is
personal, the word God essential. So that our Saviour would render a
reason, not from any one person in the blessed Trinity, but from the divine
nature, why we should worship in spirit; and therefore makes use of the
word God, the being a spirit being common to the other persons with the
Father.
This is the reason of the proposition, ver. 23, of a spiritual worship.
Every nature delights in that which is like it, and distastes that which is
most different from it. If God were corporeal, he might be pleased with
the victims of beasts, and the beautiful magnificence of temples, and the
noise of music; but being a Spirit, ho cannot be gratified with carnal
things. He demands something better and greater than all those, that soul
which he made, that soul which ho hath endowed, a spirit of a frame suit-
able to his nature. He indeod appointed sacrifices and a temple, as shadows
of those things which were to bo most acceptable to him in tho Messiah, but
they were imposed only ' till tho time of reformation,' Heb. ix. 10.
' Must worship him.' Not thoy may, or it would be moro agreeable to
God to have such a manner of worship, but thoy must. It is not exclusive
* Episcop. Institut. lib. iv. cap. 3. t Mclancthon.
John IV. 21.] it. B61
of bodily worship, for thii wen to exclude ill public i
whk : med without r. iroi of Hi
hip im 1 d< ritual I
i scarcely v. with oar spirits without i
the ool n i in in. r.ut fag < 'ing
Dpon .in - ii wee * of Mm
r the J
used the ontwai if lign hut M if tl
diil of tin i ii-li r t
him, witho OC of Ul '1 man. | It il uh if I
on moil i parate youi from all can i to wbieh tho
God Bed, an 1 n q& r i woi bip chief] i
. an i ii I the
oondition of the object, who ii i Spirit.
* In ipirit ind truth.' The evangel now n the
ad\autag| of thfl former, that WM a UiedoW Mid fl /mv, thii the I
truth. J Spirit, say s me, il heft Oppo I I to the ! , truth
to hypocritical <; or rather broth ii op] in
of worth in tin outward action. It is principally oppo* 1 to
ouf Saviour saitli, ret. 28, 'The honx oometf and
Hal it been oppoeed to hypocrisy, Ohriei now
tliii required t rut h in the inward | 1 all true i
shippers had served him with a sincere i The
old patriarchs did worship God in Spirit and truth, as taken for sincerity.
i a worship was always and is perpetually dm: to (ind, I ho
are LemaUywill ho a Spirit. ■ And il i, ' The Father
worship him;' not tkdU seek, he always sought it, it always
; to him by ono or other in the world. And the prophets
rebnked them for reeting upon their outward solemnities, Isa.
lviii. 7 and Micah vi. 8. But a worship without legal rites was proper to
an evangelical state and the times of the gospel, God having then exhibited
Christ, and brought into the world the substance of those shadows and tho
tations; there was no more need to continue them when
the true reason of them was ceased. All laws do naturally expire when the
fame reason npon which they weii first framed is changed.
Or by spirit may be meant such a worship as is kindled in the heart by
tth of the Holy Ghost. Since we are dead in sin, a spiritual light
and flame in the heart, suitable to the nature of the object of our worship,
1 in M without tho operation of a supernatural grace. And
the fathers could not worship God without the Spirit, yet in tho
being a fuller effusion of the Spirit, the c 'ate
is . I • the I iministration of the Spirit,' and the 'newness of the Spirit,'
in i I the legal economy, entitle 1 the ' oldness of the letter/
I Oor. iii. 8, \\ m. vii. G. The evangelical state is more suited to the
Date than any other. Such a worship God must have, whereby
he is ackn< 1 to be the true sanetiner and quickener of the soul. Tho
i. i I tho more full his man as ate*
: ritual is tho worship WS return to God. Tho gospel pSSJOf oiF
tho ragged l avis of the taw, an 1 .11 remove what is material in
the . and change tho ordinances of worship into that of a spiritual
pra: .
In the is,
* - X Amyrald in Ice. I Chomnit.
t Amy raid in loc. $ MujcuI. 5 Muacul.
262 charnock's works. [John IY. 24.
1. A proposition: ' God is a Spirit,' the foundation of all religion.
2. An inference: ' they that worship him,' &c.
As God, a worship belongs to him; as a Spirit, a spiritual worship is due
to him. In the inference we have,
1. The manner of worship : ' in spirit and in truth.'
2. The necessity of such a worship: 'must.'
The proposition declares the nature of God; the inference, the duty of
man.
The observations lie plain.
Obs. 1. God is a pure spiritual being; he is a Spirit.
2. The worship due from the creature to God must be agreeable to the
nature of God, and purely spiritual.
3. The evangelical state is suited to the nature of God.
For the first,
Doct. God is a pure spiritual being.
It is the observation of one,* that the plain assertion of God's being a
Spirit is found but once in the whole Bible, and that is in this place ; which
may well be wondered at, because God is so often described with hands,
feet, eyes, and ears, in the form and figure of a man. The spiritual nature
of God is deducible from many places; but not anywhere, as I remember,
asserted tot idem, verbis but in this text. Some allege that place, 2 Cor. iii.
17, ' The Lord is that Spirit,' for the proof of it, but that seems to have a
different sense. In the text, the nature of God is described; in that place,
the operations of God in the gospel. ■ It is not the ministry of Moses, or
that old covenant, which communicates to you that Spirit it speaks of; but
it is the Lord Jesus, and the doctrine of the gospel delivered by him, whereby
this Spirit and liberty is dispensed to you. He opposes here the liberty of
the gospel to the servitude of the law.' f It is from Christ that a divine
virtue diffuseth itself by the gospel ; it is by him, not by the law, that we
partake of that Spirit.
The spirituality of God is as evident as his being.! If we grant that God
is, we must necessarily grant that he cannot be corporeal, because a body is
of an imperfect nature. It will appear incredible to any that acknowledge
God the first being and creator of all things, that he should be a massy,
heavy body, and have eyes and ears, feet and hands, as we have.
For the explication of it.
1. Spirit is taken various ways in Scripture. It signifies sometimes an
aerial substance, as Ps. xi. 6, 'A horrible tempest;' Heb., 'A spirit of tem-
pest;' sometimes the breath, which is a thin substance: Gen. vi. 17, 'All
flesh wherein is the breath of life;' Heb., 'Spirit of life.' A thin substance,
though it be material and corporeal, is called spirit; and in the bodies of
living creatures, that which is the principle of their actions is called spirits,
the animal and vital spirits ; and the finer parts extracted from plants and
minerals wo call spirits, those volatile parts separated from that gross
matter wherein they were immersed, because they come nearest to the
naturo of an incorporeal substance. And from this notion of the word, it is
translated to signify those substances that are purely immaterial, as angels
and the souls of men. Angels are called spirits, Ps. civ. 4 ; ' Who makes
his angels spirits,' Heb. i. 14. And not only good angels are so called,
but evil angels, M;irk i. 27. Souls of men are called spirits, Eccles. xii., and
the soul of Christ is called so, John xix. 30, whence God is called ' the God
of the spirits of all flesh, 1 Numb. xvi. 22 : and spirit is opposed to flesh :
* Episcop. Institut. 1. iv. c. 3. % Suarcz. dc Deo, vol. i. p. 9, col. 2.
t Aiiiyruhl in loc.
Jos* iv. 'i\.\ iiniT.
I ' mh ■ are 0«tb, and not b j»iri t . * An 1 our
HUP givei us IK,- DOllOn Of ■ Hpirit. to 1 of
a bodji Lnl k baring flttfa - loads
1 taken for those tiling wlii I
■ ., I i
■pint,' Numb. \iv. 2 Tlio
, ;i .!, 1 1 ■ . ! in th.it thai
i LI, * A 1 I uttes ill oil mind,' 4 :ill bii not
i tin the r< bemont i mind, a of
it is ii fine immaterial sub t tnc
f :i:i 1 other tliil A :..• re i If, :is tl.
ithont the aonl, no mo* i ibip mo mow .about
wind and wa
die I ■ spirit, i - noi a body, not having tb
.holly i from an
We find • principle within ni nobler than that of our
the natora of <«" I according to that winch ie moM
worthy in oil and no( according to that which is the fik of our
Qod il :i mOSl BpiritnaJ spirit, more; spiritual than all angelf, all
eoola i Tjj r)-t ;NkS '"' a " '" , '"' oatuw of being, io he
the nature! of spirit. Ee bath nothing gro material
in his i
1. When we say < * . . 1 ia i Spirit, it ii to be nndentood by way of d
ti Q, There arc two ways of knowiu Vir-
ion, affirming that of him in a way ofeminency which is i ii in the
i whan we say Qod ia a , good. The ol I ion,
when we remove from God in our coneep ahat is tainted with imper-
fection in tl to him whatsoever : nt,
the otfa from him whatexx v.r ia imperfect. The first is like a
limning, which adda one c i another to make a comely picture; the
other is like a carving, which pins and cuts away whatsoever is superfluous,
to make a complete statue. This way of negation is more easy; we better
onderatan 1 wh It not, than what he i$ t and most of our knowledge of
G i is by this way. As when we s iy God is infinite, immense, immutable,
they an ; he hath no limits, is confined to no place, admits of no
change. § When we remove from him what is inconsistent with his be
da more strongly assert his being, and know more of him wheD we
elevate him above all, and above our own capacity. And when we say God
is a Spirit, it is a negation ; he is not a bo Iy ; he consists not of various
.ulcd one without and beyond another. lie is not a spirit so as
our BOnll arc, to be the form of any holy ; a spirit, not as angels ai. 1 souls
are, but infinitely higher. We call him so because, in regard of our weak-
not any other term of excellency to express or conceive of
him by. We transfer it to (rod in honour, because spirit is the highest
excellency in our nature. Yet we must apprehend God above any spirit,
since his nature is so great, that he cannot be declared by human speech,
pea >y human sense, or conceived by human understanding.
The sec aid thing, i a Spirit.
Some among the heathens imagined God to have a holy; some
thought him to ha Iy of air, some a heavenly body, some a human
* This ll not said of the Egyptians, but of their horses. — En.
t Gerhard. X G*n> I in. i q 8, e I*
$ Cooaaf Sum. TheoL, cap. 8. | Thea Bedaau, part i£ p. 1000.
264 chaenock's works. [John IV. 24.
body;* and many of them ascribed bodies to their gods, but bodies without
blood, without corruption ; bodies made up of the finest and thinnest atoms ;
such bodies, which, if compared with ours, were as no bodies. The Sadducees
also, who denied all spirits, and yet acknowledged a God, must conclude
him to be a body, and no spirit. Some among Christians have been of that
opinion. Tertullian is charged by some, and excused by others ; and some
monks of Egypt were so fierce for this error, that they attempted to kill one
Theophilus, a bishop, for not being of that judgment.
But the wiser heathens f were of another mind, and esteemed it an
unholy thing (bvx. osiov) to have such imaginations of God. And some
Christians have thought God only to be free from anything of body ; because
he is omnipresent, immutable, he is only incorporeal and spiritual : all
things else, even the angels, are clothed with bodies, though of a neater
matter, and a more active frame than ours ; a pure spiritual nature they
allowed to no being but God. Scripture and reason meet together to assert
the spirituality of God. Had God had the lineaments of a body, the Gen-
tiles had not fallen under that accusation of ' changing his glory into that of
a corruptible man,' Eom. i. 23.
This is signified by the name God gives himself: Exod. iii. 14, ' I am that
I am,' a simple, pure, uncompounded being, without any created mixture ;
as infinitely above the being of creatures as above the conceptions of crea-
tures : Job xxxvii. 23, ' Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out.'
He is so much a Spirit that he is the ' Father of spirits,' Heb. xii. 9. The
Almighty Father is not of a nature inferior to his children. The soul is a
spirit ; it could not else exert actions without the assistance of the body, as
the act of understanding itself and its own nature, the act of willing, and
willing things against the incitements and interest of the body. It could
not else conceive of God, angels, and immaterial substances. It could not
else be so active as with one glance to fetch a compass from earth to heaven,
and by a sudden motion to elevate the understanding from an earthly
thought to the thinking of things as high as the highest heavens. If we
have this opinion of our souls, which in the nobleness of their acts surmount
the body, without which the body is but a dull inactive piece of clay, we
must needs have a higher conception of God than to clog him with any
matter, though of a finer temper than ours. We must conceive of him by
the perfections of our souls, without the vileness of our bodies. If God
made man according to his image, we must raise our thoughts of God
according to the noblest part of that image, and imagine the exemplar or
copy not to come short, but to exceed the thing copied by it. God were
not the most excellent substance if he were not a Spirit. Spiritual sub-
stances are more excellent than bodily, the soul of man more excellent than
other animals, angels more excellent than men. They contain in their own
nature whatsoever dignity there is in the inferior creatures. God must have,
therefore, an excellency above all those, and therefore is entirely remote
from the conditions of a body.
It is a gross conceit, therefore, to think that God is such a spirit as the
air is ; \ for that is to be a body as the air is, though it be a thin one ; and
if God were no more a spirit than that, or than angels, he would not be the
most simple being. Yet some§ think that the spiritual Deity was repre-
sented by the air in the ark of the testament. It was unlawful to represent
him by any imago that God had prohibited. Everything about the ark had
• Vossius Idolol., lib. ii. cap. i. Forbes, Instrument, 1. i. c. 86.
f Plutarch, incorporalis ratio; divinus spiritus, Seneca.
t Calov. Socin. Troflig., p. 129, 130. \ Amyrald sup., Heb. ix. p. 146, &c.
JolIN IV. 14.] OOD IB A BI'IKIT.
I partiou] ii signification, to about it ngnj
Of Christ, but -Hunt tho natun: of Gol. A
tli Dg pur< ly invisible, an 1 filing under DOthifl
bin mind of nan. n • the fitto it; it r< | •■ l
iu\isil.ility of Qod, uir being in ; Air • :.
H If through ill | rid, it glidei tbi into
nil C the spaoe i ^< '« and »arth ; there in no plaeo
\\ 1.. r- in ( iod i esclit.
To this; —
i. i Spirit, 1m oonld not b lor. All multitude
1 I to, h mul; it 1 1 < I « : then
anil ii mi ft! not
sonosire number without conceiving I of it in that wh
number, vis., i unit. You eftnnot eoneeifi any mixture bat yon must
• tuple thing to be I innJ and bnaii of if. 'I . ■ --rkH
done I . bavs their foundation in
spiritual. Every srtifioer, watchmaker, carpenter, bath i model in I
rthe iron Ins designs to frame. The material and outward fabri
ting to ko inward and ipiritnftl idea. A spiritual i
a ipiritnal faculty as the subject of it. God oonld not nave an idea of I
Dumber of creatures be brought into being if he bad not s ipiritnal
The wisdom whereby the world wa d ecu! I m tho
fruit of a eorporeal nature; such natures arc not eapable of un img
nnd eomprehending the things which arc within the ex
much less i f producing them ; and then fore 1 1 ists, which have only cor-
poreal faculties, more to objects by the force of their sense, and hays no
knowledge of things as thej are comprehended by the understanding of man.
All a i 1 1 1 lligent and spiritual agent. The effects of
lom, goodness, power, are so great and admirable, that they bespeak
him a more perfect and eminent bring than can possibly be beheld under ft
bodily shape. Can a corporeal substance ' put wisdom in the inward parts,
an i give understanding to the heart'? Job xxxviii. 8G.
-. [fGod were not B pure Spirit, he could not be one. If God had a
osisting of distinct members, as ours, or all of one nature, as tho
water an 1 air are, yet he were then capable of division, and therefore could
not be entirely one. Either those parts would be finite or infinite: if
finite, they are not parts of God, for to be God and finite is a contradiction;
if infinite, then there are as many infinites as distinct members, an 1 there-
many deities. Suppose this body had all parts of the same nature,
as air and water hath, every little part of air is as much air as the greatest,
and every little part of water is as much water as tho ocean ; so every littlo
pari God would be as much God as the whole, as many particular deities
to i 1 1 1 as little atoms to compose a body. What can be more
absurd? 1 tad a body like a human body, and were compounded of
bod; ul, of substance and quality, ho could not bo the most perfect
unity ; i I be made up of distinct parts, and those of a distinct nature,
fts the i fa human body are. Where there is the
the greatest simplicity ; but God is one. As he is free from
any change, so he is void of any multitude: Deiit. vi. -1, 'The Lord our
Lord. 1
8. 1 I a body ftl we have, be would not be invisible, livery
material thing is not visible : tho air is a body, yet invisible, but it is sensil
cooling quality of it is felt by us at every breath, and we know it by our
* Amvral. moral, torn. i. p. H
266
chaknock's works. [John IV. 24.
touch, which is the most material sense. Every body, that hath members
like to bodies, is visible ; but God is invisible.* The apostle reckons it
amongst his other perfections : 1 Tim. i. 17, ' Now unto the King eternal,
immortal, invisible.' He is invisible to our sense, which beholds nothing
but material and coloured things ; and incomprehensible to our understand-
ing, that conceives nothing but what is finite. God is therefore a Spirit
incapable of being seen, and infinitely incapable of being understood. If he
be invisible, he is also spiritual. If he had a body, and hid it from our eyes,
he might be said not to be seen, but could not be said to be invisible. When
we say a thing is visible, we understand that it hath such qualities which
are the object of sense, though we may never see that which in its own
nature is to be seen. God hath no such qualities as fall under the percep-
tion of our sense. His works are visible to us, but not his Godhead, Rom.
i. 20. The nature of a human body is to be seen and handled ; Christ
gives us such a description of it : Luke xxiv. 39, ' Handle me and see, for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have ;' but man hath been so
far from seeing God, that it is impossible he can see him, 1 Tim. vi. 16.
There is such a disproportion between an infinite object and a finite sense
and understanding, that it is utterly impossible either to behold or compre-
hend him ; but if God had a body more luminous and glorious than that of
the sun, he would be as well visible to us as the sun, though the immensity
of that light would dazzle our eyes, and forbid any close inspection into him
by the virtue of our sense. We have seen the shape and figure of the sun,
but no man hath ever seen the shape of God, John v. 37. If God had a
body he were visible, though he might not perfectly and fully be seen by
us;f as we see the heavens, though we see not the extension, latitude, and
greatness of them. Though God hath manifested himself in a bodily shape,
Gen. xviii. 1, and elsewhere Jehovah appeared to Abraham, yet the sub-
stance of God was not seen, no more than the substance of angels was seen
in their apparitions to men. A body was formed to be made visible by
them, and such actions done in that body, that spake the person that did
them to be of a higher eminency than a bare corporeal creature. Some-
times a representation is made to the inward sense and imagination, as to
Micaiah, 1 Kings xx. 19, and to Isaiah, chap. vi. 1 ; but they saw not the
essence of God, but some images and figures of him proportioned to their
sense or imagination. The essence of God no man ever saw, nor can see,
John i. 18.
Nor doth it follow that God hath a body, | because Jacob is said to ' see
God face to face,' Gen. xxxii. 30 ; and Moses had the like privilege, Deut.
xxxiv. 10. This only signifies a fuller and clearer manifestation of God, by
some representations offered to the bodily sense, or rather to the inward spirit;
for God tells Moses he could not see his face, Exod. xxxiii. 20 ; and that
none ever saw the similitude of God, Deut. iv. 15. Were God a corporeal
substance, he might in some measure be seen by corporeal eyes.
4. If God were not a Spirit, ho could not be infinite. All bodies are of
a finite nature : every body is material, and every material thing is termi-
nated. The sun, a vast body, hath a bounded greatness : the heavens, of a
mighty bulk, yet have their limits. If God had a body, he must consist of
parts; those parts would be bounded and limited, and whatsoever is limited
is of a finite virtue, and therefore below an infinite nature. Reason there-
fore tells us, that the most excellent nature, as God is, cannot bo of a cor-
poreal condition, becauso of the limitation and other actions which belong
* Daillo in Tim. J Goulart. do Dieu. p. 95, 96.
| Goulart. do Dieu, p. 94.
I IV. 24.] :t.
It, Q i, for • the 1
him, 1 2 < Ihron. ii. •'.. Th i those ira
to bim, ii- i sth >nd tba
MH.
If God In Lhon he can bi in bio ; it be bad, th<
A
▼ossi-1 i pound ■■ f Jin (<mi
I • hov oannol to
the .1
tint : 'i. ui the whole bulk
th. in th
i is .
than ;i i 10 thai if God WCW in/' I
I
doI i Bpiril . '
of in .ur. ids eitfa illy
i lii.iii depends upon the c
I union i soul end body ; win n I
I, the « of h man eeaaeth, and the tion of a man d
upon every m< | io that if one 1"; wanl tion
\ if ■ man bath lost a limb, ; I bim not ■
man, i i upon which hi an
re man, did d< p n 1. It' ( hod, th< i had a a of
the Deity would depend noon every part of that body; ai urti
! •'. the mo ncy would be molti] lie i
the number of I ; for that which i >nmlcd
lependent than that which is c rer.
oq] i be a <i» pendent being if be h I
ogj lor the eomponnding pari ''ire
that which is compounded by them, as the soul and body are before
the man which results from the union of them. K G< I had part U 1
ily men: we h;iw, or any composition, the I 1
urtsj, an 1 those parts be sup' ose I to be 1" i 1 : for
that which is a part is before that whoso part it is. As in artificial things
it, all the parts of a watch or clock arc in time b- '
that watch, which is made by setting those pari D t. In natural thin ,
the members of a body framed before 11 it a
I that the parts of this body are before that which is COO I by
them. We can conceive no other of God, if he were not a pure, eni
1 Spirit : if he had distil, et parts, he would depend upon them ; thoso
old 1 e I- fore bim : his essence would be the effect ol distinct
raid not be absolutely and entirely the first beincf. I
i . ■'•. ' I am the first, and I am the last.' II I is the fix
nothing 19 ; :m : whereas, if lie had bodily parts, and these finite, it
up of those parts which are not I d that
which i Q 1. is :•: order of nature before that which is God. So that
E :it, he could not be ind< t.
5. I not a Spirit, 1 not immutable and unchangeable.
II ibility depends upon his simplicity, lb' is nnchai feable in his
an 1 unmixed spirito d I r is
divided into t I r i I into
the nature. V\
impoun ible in its own nature, though i" " bo
changed. Adam, who was constituted of bo ly and soul, had fa i in
2G8 chaenock's works. [John IY. 24.
innocence, had not died ; there had been no separation made between his
soul and body whereof he was constituted, and his body had not resolved
into those principles of dust from whence it was extracted ; yet in his own
nature he was dissoluble into those distinct parts whereof he was compounded.
And so the glorified saints in heaven, after the resurrection, and the happy
meeting of their souls and bodies in a new marriage knot, shall never be
dissolved ; yet in their own nature they are mutable and dissoluble, and can-
not be otherwise, because they are made up of such distinct parts that may
be separated in their own nature, unless sustained by the grace of God.
They are immutable by will, the will of God, not by nature. God is immu-
table by nature as well as will ; as he hath a necessary existence, so he hath
a necessary unchangeableness ; Mai. iii. 6, ■ I the Lord change not.' He is
as unchangeable in his essence, as in his veracity and faithfulnes. They are
perfections belonging to his nature ; but if he were not a pure Spirit, he
could not be immutable by nature.
7. If God were not a pure Spirit, he could not be omnipresent. He is
' in heaven above, and the earth below,' Deut. iv. 39. He ' fills heaven and
earth,' Jer. xxiii. 24. The divine essence is at once in heaven and earth ;
but it is impossible a body can be in two places at one and the same time.
Since God is everywhere, he must be spiritual. Had he a body, he could
not penetrate all things ; he would be circumscribed in place. He could not
be everywhere but in parts, not in the whole ; one member in one place,
and another in another ; for to be confined to a particular place is the pro-
perty of the body, but since he is diffused through the whole world, ' higher
than heaven, deeper than hell, longer than the earth, broader than the sea,'
Job xi. 8, he hath not any corporeal matter. If he had a body wherewith
to fill heaven and earth, there could be no body besides his own. It is the
nature of bodies to bound one another, and hinder the extending of one
another. Two bodies cannot be in the same place, in the same point of
earth : one excludes the other ; and it will follow hence that we are nothing,
no substances, mere illusions ; there could be no place for any body else.*
If his body were as big as the world, as it must be, if with that he filled
heaven and earth, there would not be room for him to move a hand or a foot,
or extend a finger ; for there would be no place remaining for the motion.
8. If God were not a Spirit, he could not be the most perfect being. The
more perfect anything is in the rank of creatures, the more spiritual and simple
it is, as gold is the more pure and perfect, that hath least mixture of other
metals. If God were not a Spirit, there would be creatures of a more excel-
lent nature than God, as angels and souls, which the Scripture calls spirits,
in opposition to bodies. There is more of perfection in the first notion of
a spirit, than in the notion of a body. God cannot be less perfect than his
creatures, and contribute an excellency of being to them which he wants him-
self. If angels and souls possess such an excellency, and God want that
excellency, he would be less than his creatures, and excellency of the effect
would exceed the excellency of the cause ; but every creature, even the
highest creature, is infinitely short of the perfection of God ; for whatsoever
excellency they have is finite and limited : it is but a spark from the sun, a
drop from the ocean ; but God is unboundedly perfect in the highest man-
ner, without any limitation ; and therefore above spirits, angels, the highest
creatures that were made by him. An infinite sublimity, a pure act, to
which nothing can be added, from which nothing can be taken. ' In him
there is light and no darkness,' 1 John i. 5 ; spirituality without any mat-
ter, perfection without any shadow or taint of imperfection ; light piercoth
* Gamackeua Thool. torn. i. quost. 3, cap. 1.
John IV. 21.] oor> ih a spirit.
Into iH thing!, I n purity, i' | of no BUxtllM (.[ any-
thlDg rise with it.
it. may be said, if Ood l <• :i B] eta bi
:i S|ui it, how c< ' ' t • n t<i ; bell a*
in <»ur i ribed t«» bim soul, but partienlar bodilj
it t! it in plain in tbil text by
B ar ?
. It ii trad many parti of tba body and natnral affeol
God i I '.'in \ !..
i ; mi pie of t!. month, Ac. ; cur a£
r, A ■. I lilt it
1 . Thai lli is is- in eoml I irOTU
If known to ni:iu, whom l
own nature to roefa raj n n ntaii the
Baton. B ■ '• by the oondition of our nature nothing
of itself in our ondentanding, but ai it ii conducted in
rve.l bimielf Of ttlOM thil ah arc most i i to
our mdMi most obvious to our understand
b bis own natnre, and those things which i
of | of. As our BOnls are bilked with our ,,ur
is linked with onr sense, thai we run scarce is thing at
Aral l •;' rporeal form and figure, till
the obj ake, by the help of separation of the spiritna] rub-
rporeal fancy, and consid< r it in its own natnre. We arc
.;'.<• a spirit without some kind of n semblance to tiling
>w it. nor nnderstand the actions of a spirit without e ing tho
Imman holy in rem! members. A- ries of an-
other life are signified to us by the pi of this, go the nature of God,
by a gr nsion to onr capacities, is signified to as by a likei
l r familiar the things are to us which God uses to this
porpoee, the more proper they are to teach us what ho intends by them.
Ans. 2. All such representation are to signify the acts of God, as they
me likeness to those which wo perform by those members he ascribes
to him- B i that those members ascribed to him rather note his visible
operations to us. than his visible nature, and signify that God doth some
>ks like to those which men do by the assistance of those organs of their
I So lorn of God is called his eye, because ho knows that
i Lis mind which we see with our eyes. The efheiem tod i g called
his li ■ ma, because, as we act with our hands, so doth God with his
power. Tho divine cflicacios arc signified. By his eyes and
stand his omniscience; by his face, the manifestation of his favour ; by his
mouth, the revelation of his will; by his nostrils, the acceptation of onr
. tho tenderness of his compassion ; by his heart, the
stions ; by his hand, the strength of his power; by his •
quity o! And in this he intends instruction and com-
fort : by 1. his watchfulness over us; by his cars, his
the cries of the oppressed, Pg, xxxiv. 16 ; by his arm
-an arm to (i mies, and an arm to his
I . . '.' ; all those attributed t> God to signify divine actions,
which ho doth without 1 is we do with tl
Ans. 8. Consider also that only thoso members which are the instruments
• loquitur lex secundum linrniam filiorum bominum.
f Amy nil. do Triu. p. 218; life
270 chaknock's woeks. [John IY. 24.
of the noblest actions, and under that consideration, are used by him to
represent a notion of him to our minds. Whatsoever is perfect and excel-
lent is ascribed to him, but nothing that savours of imperfection.* The
heart is ascribed to him, it being the principle of vital actions, to signify the
life that he hath in himself. Watchful and discerniDg eyes, not sleepy
and lazy ones ; a mouth to reveal his will, not to take in food. To eat and
sleep are never ascribed to him, nor those parts that belong to the preparing
or transmitting nourishment to the several parts of the body, as stomach,
liver, reins, nor bowels under that consideration, but as they are significant
of compassion ; but only those parts are ascribed to him whereby we acquire
knowledge, as eyes and ears, the organs of learning and wisdom ; or to
communicate it to others, as the mouth, lips, tongue, as they are instruments
of speaking, not of tasting. Or those parts which signify strength and
power, or whereby we perform the actions of charity for the relief of others.
Taste and touch, senses that extend no further than to corporeal things, and
are the grossest of all the senses, are never ascribed to him.
It were worth consideration,! whether this describing God by the members
of an human body were so much figuratively to be understood, as with
respect to the incarnation of our Saviour, who was to assume the human
nature and all the members of a human body.
Asaph, speaking in the person of God : Ps. lxxviii. 2, ' I will open my
mouth in parables.' In regard of God it is to be understood figuratively,
but in regard of Christ literally, to whom it is applied, Mat. xiii. 34, 35.
And that apparition, Isa. vi., which was the appearance of Jehovah, is
applied to Christ, John xii. 40, 41.
After the report of the creation, and the forming of man, we read of God's
speaking to him, but not of God's appearing to him in any visible shape. $
A voice might be formed in the air to give man notice of his duty ; some
way of information he must have what positive laws he was to observe,
besides that law which was engraven in his nature, which we call the
law of nature ; and without a voice the knowledge of the divine will
could not be so conveniently communicated to man. Though God was
heard in a voice, he was not seen in a shape ; but after the fall we several
times read of his appearing in such a form. Though we read of his speak-
ing before man's committing of sin, yet not of his walking, which is more
corporeal, till afterwards, Gen. iii. 8. Though God would not have man
believe him to be corporeal, yet he judged it expedient to give some pre-notices
of that divine incarnation which he had promised. §
5. Therefore we must not conceive of the visible Deity, according to the
letter of such expressions, but the true intent of them. Though the Scrip-
ture speaks of his eyes and arms, yet it denies them to be arms of flesh,
Job x. 4, 2 Chron. xxxii. 8. We must not conceive of God according to the
letter, but the design of the metaphor. When we hear things described by
metaphorical expressions, for the clearing them up to our fancy, we conceive
not of them under that garb, but remove the veil by an act of our reason.
When Christ is called a sun, a vine, bread, is any so stupid as to conceive
him to bo a vine with material branches and clusters, or be of the samo
nature with a loaf? But the things designed by such metaphors are obvious
to the conception of a mean understanding. If we would conceive God to
have a body like a man, because he describes himself so, we may conceit him
to bo like a bird, because he is mentioned with wings, Ps. xxxvi. 7, or like
* Epiecop. Institu. 1. -1, Beet. W, cap. 3.
t It is Zanohy'B observation, torn. '2, do natura Dei, lib. i. cap. 4, tkes. 9.
I Aniyrald. Mural, torn. i. p. 208, 294. '$ Amyrald.
Jons IV. 2 1. 1 ■:> I I I ■ I DM t* { 21 1
a lion or la >pard, 1 bimielf to than) in the iota of hit 1 1
and for , I I • i . . Y. \ I I | horn, lirv, t
strength ami wrath. I God to 1 . such,
they would make him oot only a man, I a monater.
• • .. . • Chald par iphra t, apon pai * ; o
. when li'- lui-r.U
with an] . he Ira
nl of tin m, as whan G I, 1 1 . which imp!
ii loc li d ol on, aii ■• on one pi another, he I and
• .•.' w. honld c< aa
of tl ■• Whan i aid com ni-
: of his hand, his power ; of h , hia immutability;
l of him aa rannoonting nol on] of
i butthe apiritual exc< lleney of the moat dignified on , aometh
, great, spit itnali as nothing ••an be conceived big
CI kith <m.',j is truly Daw Hguratu$ t and for hii ia it moro
ly permitted to the .lews to think of God In the ah m.
/ , If G "I be a pure spiritual being, then,
1 . Ifan is i i. ac soi i i and
The f God in man consisted not in whal an, but in
win! ia i >; not in the conformation of the members, bnt rather in the
spiritual I of the soul, or, moat of all, in the holy endowments of
: Eph. it. 24, 'Tint ye put on the i in, which, ai
I I in right id true holiness,' Col. iii. 10. 'I
which is v by redeeming grace, was the image of God by o 1
nature. Tin' ii 1 cannot be in thai part which ia c I i as
with . but rather in that wherein we i toe! all livin . in
landing, and an immortal spirit. God expressly saith, tli.it
non a similitude' of him, Dent. iv. 15, 16, which had not been truo
if man in n iv had been the image and similitude of God, for
then a figui ' 1 1 had been seen every day, aa often as we saw a man or
Id on: : nor would the apostle's argument stand good: Acts
xvii. 29, that ' the ( \odhi ad is not like to stone graven by art ' if we were not
the oftaprii nd bore the stamp of his nature in our spirits rather
than our bodies.) It was a fancy of Eugubinus that, when God set upon
isJ creation of man, he took a bodily form for an exemplar of that
which he would express in his work, and, therefore, that the words of Moses,
. i. 26, are to be understood of the body of man, because there waa in
man such a shape which God had tin I :ed. To let alone God's form-
for thai w.uk as a groundless fancy, man can in no a
1 v of God in regard of the substance of his body, but
• «11 bo b e ma le in the image of God, whose bodies havo
the B ime meml the body of man for the most part, and excel men in
land swiftness of their motion, ability of 1
th, and in some kind of ingenuities also wi
and beholden to their skill. The soul c.
ing a spiritual substance, yet, con 1
singly in r« gard of its spiritual substance, cannot well be i rid to be tl.
of < ty, may as well be calk
of a man, for tl * aunilitn man and a brute in 1
of I n be D( | the hi in the rank
of [fit doth not consist in tho in
fliore'i 127,
X l \, i. hh. It oap, i. p. In J.
272 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
it in any similitude of the body. This image consisted partly in the state
of man as he had dominion over the creatures, partly in the nature of man
as he was an intelligent being, and thereby was capable of having a grant of
that dominion, but principally in the conformity of the soul with God in the
frame of his spirit and the holiness of his actions ; not at all in the figure
and form of his body physically, though morally there might be, as there was
a rectitude in the body, as an instrument to conform to the holy motions of
the soul, as the holiness of the soul sparkled in the actions and members of
the body. If man were like God because he hath a body, whatsoever hath
a body hath some resemblance to God, and may be said to be in part his
image ; but the truth is, the essence of all creatures cannot be an image
of the immense essence of God.
2. If God be a pure Spirit, it is unreasonable to frame any image or picture
of God.* Some heathens have been wiser in this than some Christians.
Pythagoras forbade his scholars to engrave any shape of him upon a ring,
because he was not to be comprehended by sense, but conceived only in our
minds ; our hands are as unable to fashion him as our own eyes to see him.t
The ancient Romans worshipped their gods one hundred and seventy years
before any material representations of them,| and the ancient idolatrous
Germans thought it a wicked thing to represent God in a human shape ; yet
some, and those no Romanists, labour to defend the making images of God
in the resemblance of man ; because he is so represented in Scripture, he
may be,§ saith one, conceived so in our minds and figured so to our sense. If
this were a good reason, why may he not be pictured as a lion, horn, eagle,
rock, since he is under such metaphors shadowed to us ? The same ground
there is for the one as for the other. What though man be a nobler creature,
God hath no more the body of a man than that of an eagle, and some per-
fections in other creatures represent some excellencies in his nature and
actions which cannot be figured by a human shape, as strength by the lion,
swiftness and readiness by the wings of the bird. But God hath absolutely
prohibited the making any image whatsoever of him, and that with terrible
threatenings : Exod. xx. 5, ' I the Lord am a jealous God, visiting the ini-
quities of the fathers upon their children,' and Deut. v. 8, 9. After God had
given the Israelites the commandment wherein he forbade them to have any
God before him, he forbids all figuring of him by the hand of man ; not only
images, but any likeness of him either by things in heaven, in the earth, or
in the water. How often doth he discover his indignation by the prophets,
against them that offer to mould him in a creature form ! This law was not
to serve a particular dispensation, or to endure a particular time, but it was
a declaration of his will, invariable in all places and all times, being founded
upon the immutable nature of his being, and therefore agreeable to the law
of nature ; otherwise, not chargeable upon the heathens. And, therefore,
when God had declared his nature and his works in a stately and majestic
eloquence, he demands of them, to whom they would liken him, or what
likeness they would compare unto him, Isa. xl. 18 ; where they could
find anything that would be a lively image and resemblance of his infinite
excellency ? Founding it upon the infiniteness of his nature, which neces-
sarily implies the spirituality of it. God is infinitely abovo any statue, and
those that think to draw God by a stroke of a pencil, or form him by the
engravings of art, aro more stupid than the statues themselves.
To shew the unreasonableness of it, consider,
* Jamblyc. protrcpt, cap. 21, symb. 24.
t Austin de Civitat. Dei. lib. iv. cap. 81, out of Varro. J Tacitus.
\ Gerhard Loc. Comrauu. vol. iv. ; Exegesis do natura Dei, cap. 8, sect. 1.
John [V. 24. i. 278
1 •• image of I : L If our nu oious
BOUlfl rum ol iimot fraiii- ; it
bend bim in our mind i, than to fauna
liim in an inn" • t.. OUT I !•• inli it
impossible for the i ;• o of 1 bio for I of man
to ] knows bun bat
himself, iiiui. • en desri ihe 1 i i 111 bill ' I m v.v .1: ;i!,- Qjf
• i\ part of I
God ? I tend thi l odilj figure, and dii ide it.
II 'h tl riginaJ copy, whence tl
soii! infinitely more piritual than d
\ i i • Lance; thai
lion in natore between them; I impla f infinite, imn . i
invisible, incorruptible ' ituc ii a compound, finite, limil
temporal, i ruptible body. God spirit,; but a
, not hears, nor ] k i <•• i % . ■ - anything. But Buppo 1 1 G l
ile to mould an image of it in the true
of thai bo ly. G d the statue of an excellent monarch repreaent the d
and air of his eountenanoe, though made by the skilfullest workman in the
world ? It" God had b bo ly in b< ime on aaure suited to his excellency, v.
ii poa ibl • for man to make an exaol image of him, who cannot picture tho
light, heat, motion, magnitude, and dazzling property of t ; . ; Tho
I any oorporaa] nature of the laasi creature, the tamper, instinct,
artifice, are beyond the power of a caning tool, much more is G 1.
X ■ ■ Ice any corporeal representation of God ; -s unworthy of God, It
ifl a • to his nature. V rnal corruptible im
to be tit for a representation of God, renders CuA no better than a ear
ami corporeal being. It is a kind of debasing an angel, who is a spiritual
nature, | .' him in a bodily shape, who is as far removed from any
fleshlin< bb as heaven from earth ; much more to degrade the glory of the
divine nature to the lineaments of a man. Tho whole stock of images is
but a lie of God : J. r. L, 8, 14, * A doctrine of vanities and falsehood.' It
rep' him in a false garb to the world, and sinks his glory into that of
•rruptible creature, Rom. i. 23, 25* It impairs tho reverence of God
in the minds of men, and by degrees may debase men's apprehensions of
I, and be a means to make them believe he is such a one as themselves,
and that not being free from the figure, he is not also free from the imper-
of their bodies. Corporeal images of God were the fruits of base
imaginations of him ; and as they sprung from them, so they contribute to a
ter corruption of the notions of the divine nature. The heathens began
their fir ns of him by the imago of a corruptible man, then of
birds, till tl 1, not only to four-footed beasts, but creeping thi]
as the apostle seems to intimate in his enumeration, Rom.
L28. 1' honourable to have continued in human representation
of him, than have sunk 80 low a- tents, the baser images, though
the first 1: i infinitely unworthy of him, he being more above a man,
though the nol tare, than man is above a worm, a toad, or tho most
ping thing upon the earth. To think we can make an im
:' marble, or an ingot of gold, ifl a greater debasing of I
I it would be of a gri at prince, if you should represent him in the statuo
V. | by a calf, it is said, ' T:
.' l. 1. nxii. Bl. And the sin of Jeroboam, i
:ion of God by the at Dan and 1-
" i his, Sura. Thcol.. 17 •
▼OL, I. s
274 chaknock's wokks. [John IV. 24.
called more emphatically, Hosea x. 15, D3J"|jn D^l, ' the wickedness of
your wickedness,' the very scum and dregs of wickedness. As men debased
God by this, so God debased men for this ; he degraded the Israelites into
captivity under the worst of their enemies, and punished the heathens with
spiritual judgments, as uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts,
Kom. i. 24, which is repeated again in other expressions, ver. 26, 27, as
a meet recompence for their disgracing the spiritual nature of God. Had
God been like to man, they had not offended in it ; but I mention this to
shew a probable reason of those base lusts which are in the midst of us,
that have scarce been exceeded by any nation, viz., the unworthy and
unspiritual conceits of God, which are as much a debasing of him as
material images were when they were more rife in the world, and may be as
well the cause of those spiritual judgments upon men as the worshipping
molten and carved images were the cause of the same upon the heathen.
(3.) Yet this is natural to man. Wherein we may see the contrariety of
man to God. Though God be a Spirit, yet there is nothing man is more
prone to than to represent him under a corporeal form. The most famous
guides of the heathen world have fashioned him, not only according to the
more honourable images of men, but bestialised him in the form of a
brute. The Egyptians, whose country was the school of learning to Greece,
were notoriously guilty of this brutishness, in worshipping an ox for an image
of their god ; and the Philistines their Dagon, in a figure composed of the
image of a woman and a fish.* Such representations were ancient in the
oriental parts. The gods of Laban, that he accuseth Jacob of stealing from
him, are supposed to be little figures of men, Gen. xxxi. 30, 34. Such was
the Israelites' golden calf; their worship was not terminated on the image,
but they worshipped the true God under that representation. They could
not be so brutish to call a calf their deliverer, and give to him a great title,
— ' These be thy gods, Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt,' Exod. xxxii. 4, — or that which they knew belonged to the true God,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They knew the calf to be formed of
their earrings, but they had consecrated it to God as a representation of
him. Though they chose the form of the Egyptian idol, yet they knew
that Apis, Osiris, and Isis, the gods the Egyptians adored in that figure, had
not wrought their redemption from bondage, but would have used their force,
had they been possessed of any, to have kept them under the yoke, rather
than have freed them from it. The feast also which they celebrated before
that image is called by Aaron the feast of the Lord : ver. 5, ' A feast to
Jehovah,' the incommunicable name of the Creator of the world. It is
therefore evident, that both the priest and the people pretended to serve the
true God, not any false divinity of Egypt ; that God who had rescued them
from Egypt with a mighty hand, divided the Red Sea before them, destroyed
their enemies, conducted them, fed them by miracle, spoken to them from
mount Sinai, and amazed them by his thunderings and lightnings when he
instructed them by his law, a God they could not so soon forget. And
with this representing God by that image, they are charged by the psalmist :
Ps. cvi. 19, 20, * They made a calf in Horeb, and changed their glory into
the similitude of an ox that eatcth grass.' They changed their glory ; that
is, God the glory of Israel ; so that they took this figure for the image of
the true God of Israel, their own God, not the God of any other nation in
the world. Jeroboam intended no other by his calves, but symbols of the
presence of tho truo God, instead of tho ark and the propitiatory which
remained among tho Jews. Wo sco tho inclinations of our natures in the
* Daille, super, Cor. i. 10, Scr. 3.
JORM I\'. '-' <■ ■;■ "• it. 276
of the I mu lib . bole world to tx or up
l'a Dame, and p and in Hint the inn
loon set op in the ( church, and I the picture of God in
in old niiin . a iminiftf. it is
prone to the nature of moo.
To repn i ai I . and to worihip him in
that ini i ■ i
■ : G . nor intended a worship to unv of the i n d<-itieH by it,
but worshipped tlmt (tod in it who bad o lai ly and miracnl I
thi in iv.'in ■ cni. 1 servitude, and oonld Dot b natural rea on jo I i
be oloihed with I bodily lhapo, much loss to ho like an «•
:t hem than thai of idoial
i (' •■. -,. 7. Be colli ih« in Idolaters, who before thai oalfl
Job i :.■"». Suppose we oonld make inch an in
1 aa might perfectly represenl him, jot linee God bath prohibited it,
lhall wo be wiser than God? Be bath sufficiently mai fin
kswithoul in j b< in the creatoroe, more particularly in
the heavens, which declare hie glory. Bii w< more eieelleni repre-
sentation! of him, aa being the works of bii own bands, than anything that in
the product of the art of man. Bis j ory sparkles in the h< . moon,
and \ magnified f his wisdom and | yet the
ling the hand to the sun or the heavens, us n sel-
keney and majesty of God, is idolatry in Scripture aeeonnt, and a denial of
G i. Jobxxxi. 28 28,i prostituting the glory of God to a creature. EH1
the worship is terminated on the image itself,* and then it is coi
all to be idolatry, I hip to a creature which
the God; or not terminated in tho imago, hot in the ohj<
ropi ■ by it ; it is then l foolish thing; we may as well terminate our
worship on the true object, without as with an imago. An erected statue is no
nor symbol ofGod'a special presence, as the ark, tabernacle, temple were.
It is no part of divine institution, has no authority of a command to sup-
. no cordial of a promise to encourage it; and the image being infinitely
' mt from, and below the majesty and spirituality of God, cannot con-
stitute one object of worship with him. To put a religious character upon
any imi the corrupt imagination of man, as a representation of
the invisible and spiritual Deity, is to think the Godhead to be like silver and
I, or stone graven by art and man's device, Acts xvii. 29.
I doctrine will direct us in our conceptions of God as a pure,
bet spirit, than which nothing can be imagined more perfect, more pure,
more spiritual.
i l.i VTc cannot have an adequate or suitable conception of God. He
Us in B ible light ; inaccessible to the acuteness of our fancy, as
well as the weakness of our sense. If we could have thoughts of him as
h and excellent as his nature, our conceptions must be as infinite
as fa All our imaginations of him cannot represent him, beeat
- Unite ; it cannot, therefore, represent to us a full and
substantial notion of an infinite being. We cannot speak or think worthily
Qgh of him who . r than our words, faster than our understand::
"\Yi. ik or think of God M hands 1 first to'us by the notice wo
nd explains to us some particular
rather than the fulness of his essence. No creature, :
all creatures togetlnr, can furnish us with such a magnificent notion of
God I . give 01 a clear :" him. Yet God in his word is pleased to
• Lawioa, body of Divin., p. 1G1.
276 chaenock's works. [John IV. 24.
step below his own excellency, and point us to those excellencies in his
works, whereby we may ascend to the knowledge of those excellencies which
are in his nature. But the creatures, whence we draw our lessons, being
finite, and our understandings being finite, it is utterly impossible to have a
notion of God commensurate to the immensity and spirituality of his being.
1 God is not like to visible creatures, nor is there any proportion between
him and the most spiritual.'* We cannot have a full notion of a spiritual
nature, much less can we have of God, who is a Spirit above spirits. No
spirit can clearly represent him. The angels, that are great spirits, are
bounded in their extent, finite in their being, and of a mutable nature.
Yet though we cannot have a suitable conception of God, we must not
content ourselves without any conception of him. It is our sin not to
endeavour after a true notion of him ; it is our sin to rest in a mean and low
notion of him, when our reason tells us we are capable of having higher ; but
if we ascend as high as we can, though we shall then come short of a suitable
notion of him, this is not our sin, but our weakness. God is infinitely superior
to the choicest conceptions, not only of a sinner, but of a creature. If all
conceptions of God below the true nature of God were sin, there is not a holy
angel in heaven free from sin, because though they are the most capacious
creatures, yet they cannot have such a notion of an infinite being as is fully
suitable to his nature, unless they were infinite as he himself is.
(2.) But, however, we must by no means conceive of God under a human
or corporeal shape. Since we cannot have conceptions honourable enough
for his nature, we must take heed we entertain not any which may debase
his nature. Though we cannot comprehend him as he is, we must be care-
ful not to fancy him to be what he is not. It is a vain thing to conceive
him with human lineaments. We must think higher of him than to ascribe
to him so mean a shape. We deny his spirituality when we fancy him under
such a form. He is spiritual, and between that which is spiritual and that
which is corporeal there is no resemblance. f Indeed, Daniel saw God in a
human form : Dan. vii. 9, ' The Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was
white as snow, and the hairs of his head like pure wool : ' he is described as
coming to judgment. It is not meant of Christ probably ; because Christ,
ver. 13, is called the Son of man coming near to the Ancient of days. This
is not the proper shape of God, for no man hath seen his shape. It was a
vision wherein such representations were made, as were accommodated to
the inward sense of Daniel. Daniel saw him in a rapture or ecstasy, wherein
outward senses are of no use. God is described, not as ho is in himself, of
a human form, but in regard of his fitness to judge. White denotes the
purity and simplicity of the divine nature ; Ancient of days, in regard of his
eternity ; white hair, in regard of his prudence and wisdom, which is more
eminent in age than youth, and more fit to discern causes and to distinguish
between right and wrong. Visions are riddles, and must not be understood
in a literal sense. We are to watch against such determinate conceptions
of God. Vain imaginations do easily infest us ; tinder will not sooner take
fire, than our natures kindle into wrong notions of the divine majesty. We
are very apt to fashion a god like ourselves. We must therefore look upon
such representations of God as accommodated to our weakness, and no more
think them to be literal descriptions of God, as ho is in himself, than we
will think tlio imago of tho sun in the water to be the true sun in the
heavens. Wo may indeed conceive of Christ as man, who hath in heaven
the vestment of our nature, and is Dcusfirjuratus, though we cannot conceive
tho Godhead under a human shape.
* Amyrald, Moral., torn. i. p. 289. f Episc. Institut., lib. iv. sec 2, c. 17.
John IV. 24. ood is a spout. 277
[1.] To liivr i nob • bo I ' . \ e ffp
fancy ol G ridioalo I as injuriou God, m a wooden
nation b •' lI »
tin- image i which an ti i I ' < d's
cssciicti by our lino, In . m to i
though! I y the w< and unworthim ]
» limit :m intim!. « c.ss. - 1 1.-« ■ , an I pull him down to 001
and render that whioh ii one ibly ado i [oal with os. [I
impossible e Ood after the manner of a body, bat v.
bring him down to the proporti in of • body, which i to diminish
and stoop him below the dignity of his nature. God is a pore Spirit ; he
hath nothing of the natore and tincture of a body. Wi.
eonceivea of him as having a bodily form, thoogh be fancy the mo ifbJ
and eomely body, instead of owning his dignity, detracl the sup
emii lellenoy of his natore and ble i. When men fane i
themselves in their oorporeal oatore, they will Boon make s pi
and i i him their oorropt oatore ; and while they clothe him with
their bodies, invest him also in the infirmities of them. Qod isajeal
, very Bensible of any disgrace, and will be as much u
inward idolatry, as an outward. That command, Bxod. xx. ■!, which fort
eorpor al urn i ps, would not indulge carnal imaginations, since the nature of
God is ss mooh wi by unworthy images erected in the fancy, as by
statues carv< d out of stone or metals. ( me, as well as the other, is a desv
ing of our true spouse and committing adultery, one with a material ims
and the other with a carnal notion of <i<m1. since God humbles Inn
our apprehensions, we should not debase him in thinking him to be that iu
bis nature, which he maki s only I resemblance of himself to us.
[2.] To have such fancies of God, will obstruct and pollute our worship
of him. How is it possible to give him a right worship, of whom we have
bo debasing a notion ? VYe shall never think a corporeal deity worthy of a
dedication of our spirits. The hating instruction, and casting God's word
behind the back, is charged upon the imagination they had, that God •.
1 such a one as themselves,' Ps. 1. 17, 21. Many of the wiser heathens
not judge their statues to be their gods, or their gods to be like their statues,
but suited them to their politic designs, and judged them a good invention
to keep people within the bounds of obedience and devotion by such visible
figures of them, which might imprint a reverence and fear of those gods upon
them. J nit these were false measures. A despised and undervalued god is
not an object of petition or affection. Who would address seriously to a god
he i Apprehensions of? The more raised thoughts WS have of him,
the vil- we shall have of ourselves. They would make us humble
and self-abhorrent in our supplications to him : Job xlii. 0, ' Wherefore I
abhor myself}' fce.
Though we must not conceive of God, as of a human or corporeal
shape, cannot think of God without some reflection upon our own
being. Ws cannot conceive him to be an intelligent being, but we must
make some OOD D between him and our own understanding natun .
come to a know : him. Since we SIS ( oclosed in bodies, we appreln 1
nothing but what conns in by sens . and what we in some sort measure by
sensible ol •/• ots. And in the consideration of those things which we di
to abstract from sense, we are fain to make use of the assistances of B(
and visible things. And therefore, when WS frame the highest notion, ti
will be some similitude of somo corporeal thing in our fancy ; and though
we would spiritualise our thoughts, and aim at a more abstracted and raised
278 CHAENOCK S WORKS. [JOHN IY. 24.
understanding, yet 'there will be some dregs of matter sticking to our con-
ceptions ; yet we still judge, by argument and reasoning, what the thing is
we think of under those material images. A corporeal image will follow us,
as the shadow doth the body.- While we are in the body and surrounded
with fleshly matter, we cannot think of things without some help from cor-
poreal representations. Something of sense will interpose itself in our purest
conceptions of spiritual things, for the faculties which serve for contemplation
are either corporeal, as the sense and fancy, or so allied to them, that nothing
passes into them but by the organs of the body, f so that there is a natural
inclination to figure nothing but under a corporeal notion, till by an attentive
application of the mind and reason to the object thought upon, we separate
that which is bodily from that which is spiritual, and by degrees ascend to
that true notion of that we think upon, and would have a due conception of
in our mind. Therefore God tempers the declaration of himself to our weak-
ness, and the condition of our natures. He condescends to our littleness
and narrowness, when he declares himself by the similitude of bodily mem-
bers ; as the light of the sun is tempered, and diffuseth itself to our sense
through the air and vapours, that our weak eyes may not be too much dazzled
with it. Without it we could not know or judge of the sun, because we could
have no use of our sense, which we must have before we can judge of it in
our understanding; so we are not able to conceive of spiritual beings
in the purity of their own nature, without such a temperament, and such
shadows to usher them into our minds. And therefore we find the Spirit of
God accommodates himself to our contracted and tethered capacities, and
uses such expressions of God as are suited to us, in this state of flesh wherein
we are ; and therefore, because we cannot apprehend God in the simplicity
of his own being and his undivided essence, he draws the representations of
himself from several creatures, and several actions of those creatures : as
sometimes he is said to be angry, to walk, to sit, to fly. Not that we should
rest in such conceptions of him, but take our rise from this foundation, and
such perfections in the creatures, to mount up to a knowledge of God's
nature by those several steps, and conceive of him by those divided excellen-
cies, because we cannot conceive of him in the purity of his own essence. J
We cannot possibly think or speak of God, unless we transfer the names of
created perfections to him ; yet we are to conceive of them in a higher
manner when we apply them to the divine nature, than when we consider
them in the several creatures formally, exceeding those perfections and excel-
lencies which are in the creature, and in a more excellent manner. As one§
saith : ' Though we cannot comprehend God without the help of such resem-
blances, yet we may, without making an image of him ; so that inability of
ours excuseth those apprehensions of him from any way offending against
his divine nature.' These are not notions so much suited to the nature of
God as the weakness of man. They are helps to our meditations, but ought
not to be formal conceptions of him. We may assist ourselves in our appre-
hensions of him, by consideriug the subtilty and spirituality of air, and con-
sidering the members of a body, without thinking him to be air or to have
any corporeal member. Our reason tells us that whatsoever is a body is
limited and bounded, and the notion of infiniteness and bodiliness cannot
agree and consist together ; and therefore, what is offered by our fancy should
be purified by our reason.
(4.) Thereforo wo are to elevate and refine all our notions of God, and
spiritualise our conceptions of him. Every man is to have a conception of
* Nazianzen. J Lessius.
t Amyrald, Moral, torn. i. p. 180, &c. $ Towerson on tho Commandments, p 112.
Jobs iv. °.i.| god n a nm, 879
God, therefore he on 'lit. t" have mm "f tli" lii [heel deration. Bi
cannot bays H full i >f him, we should endeavour to make it (
as pan us u." cum. Though wi cannot oonooiYOof < i - .. I , bat pome c o rporeal
repre entations or images Ed our mindi will kx d with d
iu thfl lii wh< D We Loot Dp00 Ihi hcSN inception rid must
hi"li. -r. As whi'ii wu Mfl thi dl 'li in I
globe, or a kingdom in a map, if helps our conoepiione, but doth noil
ruinate them ; -civo thom to 1"' of U -' bort
oripiion of 1 1 nm ; . < > 1 1 1 . i endeavour to reft ition
«'t God, to i ber and bigher, and bavs our appro! itill m
purified; separating tho perfect from tin- imperfect,
and ih" oth< r; oouoeive bim to in- a spirit diifu ed through all,
oontaining all, peroeii ingall. All the perfections of God are infinib ■• I
above th" i roellencii i of the creatures, above wi i can b
by the oleareei and most piercing understanding. The uatun G
spirit, is infinitely superior to whatsoever we can conceive perfect in the
notion i>( a Created spirit. Whatsoever God If, be li infinitely BO. B
infinite wisdom, infinite goodness, infinite knowledge! infinite power, infinite
spirit, infinitely distant from the weakness of creatures, infinitely mom
aboTS th«> excellencies of creatures. As easy to bo known that he is, as im-
dble to be comprehended what, he is*
Conceive of him as excellent, without any imperfection. A Spirit with-
out parts : great without quantity ; perfect without quality ; everywhere
without place ; powerful without members ; understanding without igno-
rance ; wise without reasoning; light without darkness; infinitely moro
[ling the beauty of all creatures, than the light in the sun pure and un-
yiolate I lendour of the sun dispersed and divided through a
cloudy and misty air. And when you have risen to the highest, conceive
him yet infinitely above all you can conceive of spirit, and acknowledge the
infirmity of your own minds. And whatsoever conception comes into your
minds, say, This is not God, God is more than this. If I could conceive him,
he were not God, for God is incomprehensibly above whatsoever I can say,
whatsoever I can think and conceive of him.
I. If God be a Spirit, no corporeal thing can defile him.
Some bring an argument against the omnipresence of God, that it is a dis-
paragement to the divine essence to be everywhere, in nasty cottages as
well as beautiful palaces and garnished temples. "What placo can defile a
spirit? Is light, which approaches to the nature of spirit, polluted by
shining upon a dunghill, or a sunbeam tainted by darting upon a quag-
mire ? Doth an angel contract any soil, by stepping into a nasty prison to
deliver Peter ? "What can steam from the most noisome body, to pollute
the spiritual nature of God? As he is 'of purer eyes than to behold ini-
quity,' Hab. i. 13, so he is of a moro spiritual substanco than to contract
any physical pollution from the places where ho doth diffuse himself. Did
our Saviour, who had a true body, derive any taint from the lepers he touched,
the diseases ho cured, or the devils ho expelled ? God is a puro Spirit,
plungeth himself into no filth, is dashed with no spot by being present with
all bodies. 1' li I only receive defilement from bodies.
Ittfermet 5. If God bo a Spirit, ho is active and communicative. Ho
is not d ' ' i with heavy and sluggish matter, which is cause of dulness
and inactivity. The moro subtle, thin, and approaching nearer the nature
of a spirit anything is, the moro ditfusivo it is. Air is a gliding substance,
spreads itself through all religions,* pierccth into all bodies ; it fills the
* Qu. 'regions'?— Ed.
280
chaenock's works. [John IV. 24.
space between heaven and earth, there is nothing but partakes of the virtue
of it. Light, which is an emblem of spirit, insinuates itself into all places,
refresheth all things. As spirits are fuller, so they are more overflowing,
more piercing, more operative than bodies. Thej Egyptians' horses were
weak things, because they were flesh and not spirit, Isa. xxxi. 3. The soul
being a spirit, conveys more to the body than the body can to it. What
cannot so great a Spirit do for us ! What cannot so great a Spirit work in
us ! God being a Spirit above all spirits, can pierce into the centre of all
spirits ; make his way into the most secret recesses ; stamp w r hat he pleases.
It is no more to him to turn our spirits, than to make a wilderness become
waters, and speak a chaos into a beautiful frame of heaven and earth. He
can act our souls with infinite more ease than our souls can act our bodies ;
he can fix in us what motions, frames, inclinations he pleases ; he can come
and settle in our hearts with all his treasures. It is an encouragement to
confide in him, when we petition him for spiritual blessings. As he is a
Spirit, he is possessed with spiritual blessings, Eph. i. 3. A spirit delights
to bestow things suitable to its nature, as bodies do to communicate what is
agreeable to theirs. As he is a Father of spirits, w r e may go to him for the
welfare of our spirits ; he being a Spirit, is as able to repair our spirits, as
he was to create them.
As he is a Spirit, he is indefatigable in acting. The members of the
body tire and flag ; but who ever heard of a soul w r earied with being active !
Who ever heard of a weary angel ! In the purest simplicity, there is the
greatest power, the most efficacious goodness, the most reaching justice to
affect the spirit, that can insinuate itself everywhere to punish wickedness
without weariness, as well as to comfort goodness. God is active, because
he is Spirit ; and if we be like to God, the more spiritual we are, the more
active we shall be.
Inference 6. God being a Spirit, is immortal. His being immortal and
being invisible are joined together, 1 Tim. i. 17. Spirits are in their nature
incorruptible ; they can only perish by that hand that framed them. Every
compounded thing is subject to mutation ; but God being a pure and simple
Spirit, is without corruption, without any shadow of change, James i. 17.
Where there is composition, there is some kind of repugnancy of one part
against the other ; and where there is repugnancy, there is a capability of
dissolution. God, in regard of his infinite spirituality, hath nothing in his
own nature contrary to it ; can have nothing in himself which is not him-
self. The world perishes, friends change and are dissolved, bodies moulder,
because they are mutable. God is a Spirit in the highest excellency and
glory of spirits ; nothing is beyond him, nothing above him, no contrariety
within him. This is our comfort, if we devote ourselves to him ; this God
is our God ; this Spirit is our Spirit ; this is our all, our immutable, our
incorruptible support ; a Spirit that cannot die and leave us.
Inference 7. If God be a Spirit, we see how we can only converse with
him ; by our spirits. Bodies and spirits are not suitable to one another; we
can only see, know, embraco a spirit with our spirits. He judges not of us
by our corporeal actions, nor our external devotions, by our masks and dis-
guises, he fixes his eye upon the framo of the heart, bends his ear to the
groans of our spirits. Ho is not pleased with outward pomp, he is not a
body ; thereforo tho beauty of temples, delicacy of sacrifices, fumes of
incense, aro not grateful to him ; by thoso or any external action we have
no communion with him. A spirit, when broken, is his delightful sacrifice,
Ps. li. 17; we must thereforo have our spirits fitted for him, be 'renewed
in tho spirit of our mind,' Eph. iv. 23, that we may bo in a posture to live
.J..IIN I\'. I 1. IT.
With liim, an I I 8 With him. \ I to
l I. ut in our i pii its ; 1
BON Spiritual an\th.: ur hath the
olotatt onion, i ther soonor than that when the \
di\ idc 1 by the int. rpo ition ol
i 8. [f i
inn Spirit can only be fill I frith ■ spirit. I ' flows from
Ilk. m * an. I suitablei U 1 «'f
tii.' spiiitu.il nature of otu soul, in biiiL
.in no iiiMi.. I .c nall\ i with that which is corpoi
1 ' .in .1. light in tho oompai
.1 a In; iril than pui
th. t Spirit, can only roach oat a fail content to oar spirits. .Man hi
i ..t' tii.' creation; nothing below liim can be tit tor It. bing
ova bin . ffi rs its* If to but ( We hate no i
enoe with angels. The influence they have opon as, the i
afford Di| eorel ind nndiscerned; bat God, the b Spirit, ol
himself to as in his Eton, in his ordins risible in i creature,
ts liim.-t If to ns in r\. ; to him We m , in liim
we mn I '1 had no rest from t: ion till he had made man,
, man can hare I in the creation till ho rests in Q G only
1 our dwelling-place, 1 P . to. 1; our souls should only long for him, P .
lxiii. 1 ; our souls should only wait opon him. The spirit of man 1
:h to its original ^ I < » i\\- , till it be carried up on the wings of faith and
to its original The face of th.' sou] looks m itiful wl
turn. .1 ;<» the i < tod, tli,. l';ith, r of spirits ; win □ I • < d spirit is
fixed upon the original Spirit, drawing from it life and glory. Spirit is only
spirit. I Spirit is our principle, we must therefore
upon him. G Spirit hath some resemblance to us as his in.
must therefore only satisfy ourselves in him.
/ 9. If God be a Spirit, we should take most care of that
wherein we ire like to God. Spirit is nobler than body, we must therefore
value our spirits above our bodies; the soul as spirit partakes more of the
divine nature, and deserves more of our choicest cares. If we have any
to this Spirit, wo should have a real affection to our own spirit, as
ring a stamp of the spiritual divinity, the chief, st of all the works of
God; as it is said of I '•• i.< moth, Job xl. 1 ( J. That which is most the in.
of this immense Spirit should be our darling; so David calls his soul, 1 I.
.. 17. Shall we take care of that wherein we partake not of God, and
not delight in the jewel which hath his own signature upon it? God-,
not only the framer of spirits, end the end of spirits, but the copy and
:' spirits. God partakes of no corporiety, he is pure Spirit.
■ We act, as if we were only matter and body ! We have but
little kindness for this great Spirit as well as our own, if we take no care of
his imi Sspring, since he is not only Spirit, but the Father of spirits,
. •...:. 9.
In) 10. If G lb I Spirit, 1. 1 us take heed of those sins which are
spiritual. Paul distinguisheth between the filth of the flesh and that of the
spirit, '2 C'or. vii. 1 ; by the ono we defile the body, by the other we defile
tho spirit, which in regard of its nature is of kin to the Creator. To wit
ono who is near of kin t" a prince is WOTSC than to injure an inferior sub-
lake our spirits, which ar 1 in their
nature, and framed according to hil , a stage to act vain in. ns,
wicked desires, and unclean affections, we wrong God iu the excellency of
282 cha.enock's works. [John IV. 24.
his work, and reflect upon the nobleness of the pattern ; we wrong him in
that part where he hath stamped the most signal character of his own
spiritual nature, we defile that whereby we have only converse w r ith him as
a Spirit, which he hath ordered more immediately to represent him in this
nature, than all corporeal things in the world can, and make that Spirit
with whom we desire to be joined unfit for such a knot. God's spirituality
is the root of his other perfections. We have already heard he could not
be infinite, omnipresent, immutable without it. Spiritual sins are the
greatest root of bitterness within us ; as grace in our spirits renders us
more like to a spiritual God, so spiritual sins bring us into a conformity
to a degraded devil, Eph. ii. 2, 3. Carnal sins change us from men to
brutes, and spiritual sins divest us of the image of God for the image of
Satan. We should by no means make our spirits a dunghill, which bear
upon them the character of the spiritual nature of God, and were made for
his residence. Let us therefore behave ourselves towards God in all those
ways which the spiritual nature of God requires us.
\ Disciii i;si; ri'iiN 8PIRIT0 LL WORSHIP.
I ni . <inl (Key that itonhip lii>» mu i worthip him in 7 irii and in
l.ulh.— John IV. li 1 .
ELwdig tlms despatched the first proposition, 'God ifl i Spirit,' it will not
be amiss to handle ths inference onr Saviour makss from that proposition,
which is ths sooonfl obsi (ration propounded.
'. That ths worship dos from HI to God ought to be spiritual, and
spiritually perform*' 1.
Spirit and truth SXS DIM lerstood variously. Either we arc to worship 1
l. N : by l< - il ceremonies j the evangelical administration I sailed
spirit in opposition to ths legal ordinances as carnal, and truth in opposi-
to them SS typical. As ths whole Judaical service is called flesh, fo the
whole evangelical service is called spirit. Or spirit may be opposed to the
worship at .Jerusalem, as it was carnal; troth, to the worship on the mount
Qerizim, because it was false. They had not the true object of worship,
nor the true medium of worship as those at Jerusalem had. Their worship
should cease, because it was false, and the Jewish worship should cease,
■ it was carnal.
There is no need of a candle when the sun spreads its beams in the air;
no need of those ceremonies when the Sun of righteousness appeared ; they
only served for a candle to instruct and direct men till the time of his
coming. The shadows are chased away by the displaying the substance, so
that they can be of no more use in the worship of God, since the end for
which they were instituted is expired, and that is discovered to us in the
pel, which the Jews sought for in vain among the baggage and stuff of
their ceremonies.
2. With I spiritual and sincere frame. 'In spirit, i.-\ with spirit;
with the inward operations of all the faculties of our souls, and the cream
and flower of them ; and the reason is, be ought to be a worship
suitable to the nature of O d. And as the worship was to bo spiritual, so
the exercise of that [p ought to be in a spiritual manmr. ■ It shall
be a worship in truth, because the true (rod shall h I without those
vain imaginations, and fantastic resemblances of him, which were common
among the blind Gentiles, and contrary to the glorious nature of God, and
unworthy i. Il shall be a worship in spirit,
without those carnal rites U ! Jewi rested on. Bosh ■ posture
* Iangrnd, tern. ii. p. 777. Tav! r ;e, sec. SO.
284 chaknock's works. [John IY. 24.
of soul, which is the life and ornament of every service, God looks for at
your hands. There must be some proportion between the object adored,
and the manner in which we adore it. It must not be a mere corporeal
worship, because God is not a body ; but it must rise from the centre of our
soul, because God is a Spirit. If he were a body, a bodily worship might
suit him, images might be fit to represent him ; but being a Spirit, our
bodily services enter us not into communion with him. Being a Spirit, we
must banish from our minds all carnal imaginations of him, and separate
from our wills all cold and dissembled affections to him. We must not only
have a loud voice, but an elevated soul ; not only a bended knee, but a
broken heart ; not only a supplicating tone, but a groaning spirit ; not only
a ready ear for the word, but a receiving heart ; and this shall be of greater
value with him than the most costly outward services offered at Gerizim or
Jerusalem.
Our Saviour certainly meant not, by worshipping in spirit, only the matter
of the evangelical service as opposed to the legal administration, without
the manner wherein it was to be performed. It is true, God always sought
a worship in spirit ; he expected the heart of the worshipper should join
with his instituted rights of adoration in every exercise of them ; but he
expects such a carriage more under the gospel administration, because of the
clearer discoveries of his nature made in it, and the greater assistances con-
veyed by it.
I shall therefore,
I. Lay dow r n some general propositions.
II. Shew what this spiritual worship is.
III. Why we must offer to God a spiritual service.
IV. The use.
? I. Some general propositions.
Prop. 1. First, The right exercise of worship is founded upon and riseth
from the spirituality of God.* The first ground of the worship we render
to God is the infinite excellency of his nature, which is not only one
attribute, but results from all ; for God as God is the object of worship, and
the notion of God consists not in thinking him wise, good, just, but all those
infinitely beyond any conception. And hence it follows that God is an
object infinitely to be loved and honoured. His goodness is sometimes
spoken of in Scripture as a motive of our homage : Ps. cxxx. 4, ' There is
forgiveness with thee that thou may est be feared.' Fear, in the Scripture
dialect, signifies the whole worship of God : Acts x. 35, ' But in every nation
he that fears him is accepted of him ;' so 2 Kings xvii. 32, 33. If God
should act towards men according to the rigours of his justice due to them
for the least of their crimes, there could be no exercise of any affection but
that of despair, which could not engender a worship of God, which ought
to be joined with love, not with hatred. The beneficence and patience of
God, and his readiness to pardon men, is the reason of the honour they return
to him. And this is so evident a motive, that generally the idolatrous world
ranked those creatures in the number of their gods, which they perceived
useful and beneficial to mankind, as the sun and moon, the Egyptians the
ox, &c. And tho more beneficial anything appeared to mankind, the higher
station men gave it in the rank of their deities, and bestowed a more peculiar
and solemn worship upon it. Men worshipped God to procure or continue
his favour, which would not have been acted by them, had they not con-
ceived it a pleasing thing to him to be merciful and gracious.
* Ames Mcdul. lib. ii. cap. 4, sec. 20.
John IV. '1 1. mi KJAI 4 J-r,
:rtil!l.'S lllS I'd t() !!
earning firo ;' which inoladoi bie bolino i, wh< ■ . m w< -II
as i doUi pun \\ ho but rod totally
brul ' could
behold the effect i of i i
as ft consuming firo, and d< I im, and rather ,n-
aideration to blasphemy and despair, than to seek all
li tho infinite po 1 1 1, 1 inoom-
prehi d ible go >dn< . the hoi i nature, the vigilance of nil on
• in« bounty of hia hand si jnify to man ll hould love and honour
him, and are the i bip, yel the piritnality of hie oatari
tin' rale of worship, rod direct! ni to render onr duty to him with all the
.■I" ooi soul . As hi i goodm oui npon d .
justice to him ; rod as he ifl the moil ezeellent naton .
him in the highest manner with the ohoicesl affectii
s - that indeed the spirituality of <'"<l eomefl chiefly into con □ in
matter of worship. All hi ctions are grounded upon this. Ee could
not be infinite, immutable, omniscient, it' he w< re a corporeal bein u* We
cannot give him ■ worship unless we judge him worthy, ezeellent, and de-
serving a worship at our hands ; ami we cannot judge him Worthy of a wor-
ship unless we hi a apprehensions rod admirations of bis infinite
virtues; and we cannot apprehend and admire those perl . but as
i shining in their effects. When wo sec, th<
frame of the world to be the work of bis power, the order of tl I
be tin' fruit o[ his wisdom, and the usefulness of tho world to be the pro-
duet of his goodness, we find the motive of worship; and
[hing that this power, wil I, infinitely transcend any cor-
poreal nature, we find s rule of worship, that it ought to bo offered by us
in a manner suitahle to such 1 nature as is infinitely above any bodily bein^.
His being a Spirit declares what ho is, his other perfections declare what
kind of Spirit he is. All God's perfections suppose him a Spirit ; all centre
in this. His wisdom doth not suppose him merciful, or his mercy suppose
him omniscient. There may bo distinct notions of those, but all suppose
him to he of a spiritual nature. How cold and frozen will our devotions bo
if we consider not his omniscience, whereby he discerns our heart- !' How
carnal will our services be if we consider him not as a pure spirit ! In our
oilers to, and transactions with men, we deal not with them as mere
animals, but as rational creatures; and we debase their natures if we treat
them other , And if we have not raised apprehensions of God's apiril
nature in our treating with him, but allow him only such frames as we think
tit enough for men, wo debase his spirituality to tho littleness of our own
being. We must therefore possess our souls with this, we shall else render
him no then ■ fleshly service. We do not much concern ourselves in
those thinga of which wo aro either utterly ignorant, or have but slight
appn 1: of.
That is the first proposition; tho right exercise of worship is grounded
upon the spiritual! - d.
.'. 'I nil Bpilitual worship of God is manifest by the light of naturo
i him. In reference to tli i ~ . ler,
1. The outward means or matter of that worship which would li-
able to Go I t known by the light of natur . hip,
and for a spiritual worship by the ties of our souls, was natural, and
• Amyi . 1 '. .crt. G, i;;. . . 1, ; . r_\ t Amirant :
286 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
part of the law of creation, though the determination of the particular acts
whereby God would have this homage testified was of positive institution,
and depended not upon the law of creation. Though Adam in innocence
knew God was to be worshipped, yet by nature he did not know by what
outward acts he was to pay this respect, or at what time he was more
solemnly to be exercised in it than at another. This depended upon the
directions God, as the sovereign governor and lawgiver, should prescribe.
You therefore find the positive institutions of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, and the determination of the time of worship, Gen. ii. 3, 17.
Had there been any such notion in Adam naturally, as strong as that other,
that a worship was due to God, there would have been found some relics of
these modes universally consented to by mankind, as well as of the other.
But though all nations have by an universal consent concurred in the
acknowledgment of the being of God, and his right to adoration, and the
obligation of the creature to it, and that there ought to be some public rule
and polity in matters of religion (for no nation hath been in the world with-
out a worship, and without external acts and certain ceremonies to signify
that worship), yet their modes and rites have been as various as their
climates, unless in that common notion of sacrifices, not descending to them
by nature, but tradition, from Adam ; and the various ways of worship have
been more provoking than pleasing. Every nation suited the kind of wor-
ship to their particular ends and polities they designed to rule by. How
God was to be worshipped is more difficult to be discerned by nature with
its eyes out than with its eyes clear. The pillars upon which the worship
of God stands cannot be discerned without revelation,* no more than blind
Samson could tell where the pillars of the Philistines' theatre stood, without
one to conduct him. What Adam could not see with his sound eyes, we
cannot with our dim eyes ; he must be told from heaven what worship was
fit for the God of heaven. It is not by nature that we can have such a full
prospect of God as may content and quiet us. This is the noble effect of
divine revelation, he only knows himself, and can only make himself known
to us. It could not be supposed that an infinite God should have no per-
fections but what "were visible in the works of his hands, and that these
perfections should not be infinitely greater than as they were sensible in
their present effects. This had been to apprehend God a limited being,
meaner than he is. Now it is impossible to honour God as we ought, unless
we know him as he is ; and we could not know him as he is without divine
revelation from himself; for none but God can acquaint us with his own
nature. And therefore the nations void of this conduct heap up modes of
worship from their own imaginations, unworthy of the majesty of God, and
below the nature of man. A rational man would scarce have owned such for
si^ns of honour, as the Scripture mentions in the services of Baal and
Dagon, much less an infinitely wise and glorious God. And when God
had signified his mind to his own people, how unwilling were they to rest
satisfied with God's determination, but would be warping to their own inven-
tions, and make gods, and ways of worship to themselves, Amos v. 26, as
in the matter of the golden calf, as was lately spoken of.
2. Though the outward manner of worship acceptable to God could not be
known without revelation, and thoso revelations might be various, yet the
inward manner of worship with our spirits was manifest by nature. And not
only manifest by nature to Adam in innocence, but after his fall, and the scales
he had brought upon his understanding by that fall. When God gave him
his positive institutions before the fall, or whatsoever additions God should
* King on Jonah, p. G3.
John IN', li 1 . i. .nip. L! 7
n*lo lmd In i I in that 1 1 d be appointed him ai
:.i.i to tc tifj bi acknowledge him by I no
com main! to him i aowledgments I itward n
pr. .in with tin- intention and prim i
ire would instruct bim inwithoul i .1 t] ibly
ha\ inl'l.ui. lliiuk th.it
pn !' til' iliilc.i) e of Hi. : |i an I
' him, vsnH in
without de?otii age <»f 1. <
M eoold doI bul di corn l j r n il< otioa opon I
Wtii ui.i.l.' : as well as I ; for it if a natma' principl
the i; :...;•'..• I : of him, tad through him,
aro nil thiii'' ,' a.-., that the whole when as dot I G
and that hii bodjy, the dreggy and do I , is oatm . do! fit to
God, without that nobler principle which h. bad
ition linked with it. Nothing in the whole law of nature, ai it ii in-
formed of religion, waa clearer, next to the 1" G I, than th;.-, mm
irorahippiDg God with the mind and spirit. And sj the G.niii.
sunk M low into the mud of idolatry M to think the U W0f hi]
wen really thai . but the representaj of theu
10 they n. v. r -h Sk ri '1 this principle in thr notion of it, th.it (i.,,1 wi
oared with the beat they i id the best they had, As th.
(h nied thr h. ing of ■ God in the notion, though th< y did in the practice, so
th. cted this principle in ootion, though t
a do, in the inward < ti.mofit. I [them that
. animus, mimi ami spirit, and the n
with the mind and spirit. That religion did not consist in ;
of thr body, but the work of the soul : wi ,<occh of one of them,*
■Is not bo much clothed with purple garments as a pure
.;.' And of another, f 'Go<i n garde not the multitude of the sacrifi. .
but the disposition of the sacrifice!-.' It is not fit we should deny God the
.in and flower, and give him the slotten part and the stalks. And with
whal and intention of mind they thought their worship WSJ to 1 ,
p. rform.il is evident by the priests' crying out often, hoc ays, mind this, let
your spirits he intent upon it.
This could not but result,
(1.) From the knowledge of ourselves. It is a natural principle, 'God
hath made us, and not we ourselves,' Ps. c. 1, 2. Man knows hiin-. \i to
rational creature. As a creature, he was to serve his Creator; ai
rational creature, with the best part of that rational nature he d. from
him. By the same act of reason that he knows himself to be a creature, he
knows himself to have a Creator. That t: I .tor is more excellent than
himself, and that an honour is due from him t i ; I ator for framing of
bim ; and therefore this honour was to be offered to him by the most excel-
rt which was framed by him. Man cannot consider himself as a
thinking, understanding being, but ho must know that he must gire God the
honour of his thoughts, and worship him with t : .eulties whereby he
think.-, wills, and acta. !!• mu.-t know his faculties were given him to I
and to act for the glory of that God wl him his soul and the facm:
of it ; and he could not in reason think they must be onlv active in his own
, and the service of the mature, and idle and unprofitable in the a
vice of his Creator. With the same powers of our soul whereby wo con-
* y J, M . 18. f Iamblich.
X Amyi 110.
288 chaknock's works. [John IV. 24.
template God, we must also worship God. We cannot think of him but
with our minds, nor love him but with our will ; and we cannot worship him
without the acts of thinking and loving, and therefore cannot worship him
without the exercise of our inward faculties. How is it possible, then, for
any man that knows his own nature, to think that extended hands, bended
knees, and lifted up eyes, were sufficient acts of worship, without a quick-
ened and active spirit !
(2.) From the knowledge of God. As there was a knowledge of God by
nature, so the same nature did dictate to man that God was to be glorified
as God. The apostle implies the inference in the charge he brings against
them for neglecting it, Rom. i. 21. ' We should speak of God as he is,'
said one ; * and the same reason would inform them that they were to act
towards God as he is. The excellency of the object required a worship
according to the dignity of his nature, which could not be answered but by
the most serious inward affection as well as outward decency ; and a want
of this cannot but be judged to be unbecoming the majesty of the Creator of
the world, and the excellency of religion. No nation, no person did ever
assert that the vilest part of man was enough for the most excellent being,
as God is ; that a bodily service could be a sufficient acknowledgment of the
greatness of God, or a sufficient return for the bounty of God.f Man could
not but know that he was to act in religion conformably to the object of
religion, and to the excellency of his own soul. The notion of a God was
sufficient to fill the mind of man with admiration and reverence, and the
first conclusion from it would be to honour God, and that he have all the
affection placed on him that so infinite and spiritual a being did deserve.
The progress then would be, that this excellent being was to be honoured
with the motions of the understanding and will, with the purest and most
spiritual powers in the nature of man, because he was a spiritual being, and
had nothing of matter mingled with him. Such a brutish imagination to
suppose that blood and fumes, beasts and incense, could please a Deity,
without a spiritual frame, cannot be supposed to befall any but those that
had lost their reason in the rubbish of sense. Mere rational nature could
never conclude that so excellent a spirit would be put off with a mere animal
service, and attendance of matter and body without spirit, when they them-
selves, of an inferior nature, would be loath to sit down contented with an
outside service from those that belong to them ; so that this instruction of
our Saviour, that God is to be worshipped in spirit and truth, is conform-
able to the sentiments of nature, and drawn from the most undeniable prin-
ciples of it. The excellency of God's nature, and the excellent constitution
of human faculties, concur naturally to support this persuasion. This was
as natural to be known by men, as the necessity of justice and temperance
for the support of human societies and bodies. It is to be feared that if
there be not among us such brutish apprehensions, there are such brutish
dealings with God in our services against the light of nature, when we place
all our worship of God in outward attendances and drooping countenances,
with unbelieving frames and formal devotions ; when prayer is muttered over
in private slightly, as a parrot learns lessons by rote, not understanding
what it speaks, or to what end it speaks it ; not glorifying God in thought
and spirit, with understanding and will.
(3.) Spiritual worship, thoreforo, was always required by God, and always
offered to him by one or other. Man had a perpetual obligation upon him
to such a worship, from tho naturo of God ; and what is founded upon the
nature of God is unvariable. This and that particular modo of worship
* Bias. t Amyrald, ib.
JOHK I\'. i> I.J si ii'.
may ' wai old I ■ '•'
as the expression is of the h II. h. i. I I, rj, hul fof
His spirituality fails not, th ; ii]» of him in Spirit DQ
inn throe [h all ways en '
re any Borvice but tint which is spiritual can be b mud. '1
■ nt' ii.it 1 1 1. ■ is the Ii -lit G I ; th.- [] dit «-t' !.
what was dictated bj tli.it was always, sad will sJ IbyO
Ths worshippin God 1>< ing perpetually das from the or-
ship I I is as perpetually Jim right, though tl I
expri -ins honour were different, one waj in i hip
was then due, since s solemn time for that worship was sppo
under the la w v another under the gospel. The :>■ God in
! t'.ill down before his throne; yet though they differ ii
tlii * v agree in tins nece^ary in 'ir ii. Mit, all rites, though of a diffei
must 1"' offered to him d it animated with th
•il. AI-. I'a sacrifice had not been so excellent in G
. without those gracious habits and afi working in his soul,
ii •. \i. i. Faith works by lore ; his heart was on fire as well as his
[flee. Cain reel 1 upon his present, perhaps thought he had obii
I .. ll.' depended upon the outward ceremony, but sough! not for tho
inward purity. It. was an offering brought to the l< ffd, CK n. iv. had
right obj( ot, hut not tho right manner : ver. 7, ' If thou d 11, shall
thou not be accepted '.'' And in the oommand sJ to Abrah
1 Walk before me, and be thou perfect, 1 was the direction in all our religions
and walkings with God. A sincere act of the mind and will, looking
>nd all symbols, extending the soul to s pitch for abore tho
body, and seeing the day of Christ through the veil of tho ceremonies, •
dred by God. And though Moses, by God'a order, had instituted s
multitude of carnal ordin inoes, sacrifices, washings, ohlations of sensible
things, and recommended to the people the diligent observation of those
tutes by the allurements of promises and denouncing of threatening , as
it' tin re w.re nothing else to be regarded, and the true workings of grace
were to be buried under s heap of ceremonies, yet sometimes he doth point
them to the inward worship, and, by the command of God, requires of them
the ' circumcision of the heart,' Deut. x. 16, the 'turning to God with all
their heart and all their soul,' Deut. xxx. 10, whereby they might recollect
that it was the engagement of the heart and the worship of the spirit that
most I lo to God, and that he took not any pleasure in their
rvae.ee of ceremonies, without true piety within, and the true purity of
tin ir thong]
(4.) It is therefore as much every man's duty to worship God in spirit, as-
it is their duty to worship him. Worship is so due to him I G I, as that
he thai ty. And spiritual worship is so due, that
he that pirituality. It i- a .hit of justice we owe to
I worship him, and it is as much a debt of .! I worship him
to his nature. Worship is nothing else hut a rendering to God
honour th . to him, and tl. the right p tstnre I : irits
in it is as i. r more due than the material worship in the modes of his
own pi . . i both upon his nature and upon his com-
i y upon : ; that is perpetually due, f the
ml whi p mnS I up, and t":
diverted another way; such I the mind thh
God, has I
with affectii a mocking God with a feather. A i.:;ional
VOL. I. T
290 chaenock's works. [John IV. 24.
nature must worship God with that wherein the glory of God doth most
sparkle in him. God is most visible in the frame of the soul; it is there
his image glitters. He hath given us a jewel as well as a case, and the
jewel as well as the case we must return to him. The spirit is God's gift,
and must return to him, Eccles. xii. 7. It must return to him in every service
morally, as well as it must return to him at last physically. It is not fit
we should serve our Maker only with that which is the brute in us, and
withhold from him that which doth constitute us reasonable creatures. We
must give him our bodies, but ■ a living sacrifice,' Eom. xii. 1. If the
spirit be absent from God when the body is before him, we present a dead
sacrifice. It is morally dead in the duty, though it be naturally alive in
the posture and action. It is not an indifferent thing whether we shall
worship God or no, nor is it an indifferent thing whether we shall worship
him with our spirits or no. As the excellency of man's knowledge consists
in knowing things as they are in truth, so the excellency of the will in
willing things as they are in goodness. As it is the excellency of man to
know God as God, so it is no less his excellency, as well as his duty, to
honour God as God. As the obligation we have to the power of God for
our being binds us to a worship of him, so the obligation we have to his
bounty, for fashioning us according to his own image, binds us to an exer-
cise of that part wherein his image doth consist. God hath 'made all things
for himself,' Prov. xvi. 4 ; that is, for the evidence of his own goodness and
wisdom. We are therefore to render him a glory according to the excel-
lency of his nature, discovered in the frame of our own. It is as much our
sin not to glorify God as God, as not to attempt the glorifying of him at all.
It is our sin not to worship God as God, as well as to omit the testifying
any respect at all to him. As the divine nature is the object of worship, so
the divine perfections are to be honoured in worship. We do not honour
God, if we honour him not as he is; we honour him not as a spirit, if we
think him not worthy of the ardours and ravishing admirations of our spirits.
If we think the devotions of the body are sufficient for him, we contract him
into the condition of our own being, and not only deny him to be a spiritual
nature, but dash out all those perfections which he could not be possessed
of were he not a spirit.
5. The ceremonial law was abolished to promote the spirituality of divine
worship. That service was gross, carnal, calculated for an infant and sensi-
tive church. It consisted in rudiments, the circumcision of the flesh, the
blood and smoke of sacrifices, the streams of incense, observation of days,
distinction of meats, corporal purifications ; every leaf of the law is clogged
with some rite to be particularly observed by them. The spirituality of
worship lay veiled under a thick cloud, that the people could not behold the
glory of the gospel, which lay covered under those shadows : 2 Cor. iii. 13,
* They could not stedfastly look to the end of that which was abolished ! '
They understood not the glory and spiritual intent of the law, and therefore
came short of that spiritual frame in the worship of God, which was their
duty ; and therefore, in opposition to this administration, the worship of
God under the gospel is called by our Saviour in the text, a worship in
spirit ; more spiritual for the matter, more spiritual for the motives, and
more spiritual for the manner and frames of worship.
(1.) This legal service is called flesh in Scripture, in opposition to tho
gospel, which is called spirit. The ordinances of the law, though of divine
institution, aro dignified by tho apostle with no better a title than carnal
ordinances, Heb. ix. 10, and a carnal command, Heb. vii. 16 ; but the
gospel is called tho ministration of tho spirit, as being attended with a special
John IV. 84. sfuutual womhip. ii c » i
and spirit 1 1 : 1 1 efficacy on the minds of men, 8 iiL 8. An] the
• • l of j of Um gospel,
tamed about to drink of the thiol thi law, tl
tln-m that i'i iM in the pii 'in ide perfect in the
,' ( i;i!. iii. fl ; tin v \\ ml II • ' ' :<• -. - of fiit.li for-
ks. The moral la* tare spirita d, l: «n.
vii. 11, in n I if the abn le of il in of juMtil the oat*
i of it, if called fle ih. Much m >r<
on, which was never intend) 1 I i ran parallel with the moral, nor had
miv fonndation in nature, as the other bad.
That wh ' I in sen which only
tonohed the fleefa ; it il oah\ '1 ' the I nd the ' oldxu i of the letfc r,'
R :i. vii. <*> ; :i^ letters, which are but empty tonndi in then . bnt j*uf
? 1. 1 formed into wor aify something to t' i of the
r. An old letter, :i thing of no efficacy upon the spirit, bnt i i law
written npon paper. The I hath an efficacious spirit attending it,
ngly working npon the mind and will, and monldin \ the son] int i ■
spiritual frame for God j according to the doctrine of U ■ 1, the one
is old and d< the other is now, and increa eth daily.
And as the law itself is called flesh, so the in
it are called ■ Israel after the flesh, 1 1 Cor. x. 18; and the evangelical wor-
shipper is called s *s Jew after the spirit," Rom. ii. 29. They were Is
after the flesh as born of Jacob, nol I 1 after the spirit as born of God;
and therefor.' the apostle calls them I r 1 and nol Ears I, Rom. ix. ;
l rnal birth, not [srael after a spiritual ; [srael in tho circum-
h, not [srael by a regeneration of the heart.
\) The legal ei remonies were not a fit means to bring the heart into a
itual frame. They h id B spiritual intent; the rock and manna prefigured
the salvation and spiritual nourishment by the Redeemer, 1 Cor. x. 3, 4.
The sacrifices were to point them to the justice of God in the punishment
in, and the merev of God in substituting them in their steads, as types
of th ■ B leemer and the ransom by his blood. The circumcision of the
h was to instruct them in the circumcision of the heart. They were llcsh
in regard of their matter, weakness, and cloudiness ; spiritual in regard of
their intent and signification ; they did instruct, but not efficaciously work
spiritual aff ctions in the soul of the worshipper. They were ' weak
an I v elements,' Gal. iv. 9, had neither wealth to enrich nor strei:
to nourish the soul. They could not perfect tho comers to them, or put
them into a frame agreeable to the nature of God, Heb. x. 1, ix. 9, nor
1 purge the conscience from those dead ' and dull dispositions which were by
nature in them, ver. 11 ; being carnal, they could not have an efficacy to
purify the conscience of the offerer, and work spiritual effects. Had U
rithout the exhibition of Christ, they could never have wrov.
any change in us, or purchased any favour for us.* At the best tin
id came un< •xpressibly short of the efficacy of that person and
stat T I a man is too weak to |
i what the man hi SB do, it wants the life, spirit, and
activity of the "• whole pomp and scene was suit' 1 more to
tho se: than the intellectual r. . like pietur pleased the
fancy of chill: than improved their reason. The J
i a state of chilli. v. 2, an 1 that administration a
If. 24. The law was a r, fitted for their weak and child
acity, and could no more spiritualise the heart than the teachings in a
* Burgos, VinJ p. 25G.
292 chaknock's wokks. [John IY. 24.
primer school can enable the mind, and make it fit for affairs of state ;
and, because they could not better the spirit, they were instituted only for a
time, as elements delivered to an infant age, which naturally lives a life of
sense rather than a life of reason. It was also a servile state, which doth
rather debase than elevate tbe mind, rather carnalise than spiritualise the
heart; besides, it is a sense of mercy that both melts and elevates the heart
into a spiritual frame : Ps. cxxx. 4, • There is forgiveness with thee that
thou mayest be feared.' And they had in that state but some glimmerings
of mercy in the daily bloody intimations of justice. There was no sacrifice
for some sins, but a cutting off without the least hints of pardon ; and in the
yearly remembrance of sin there was as much to shiver them with fear as to
possess them with hopes, and such a state which always held them under
the conscience of sin could not produce a free spirit, which was necessary
for a worship of God according to his nature.
(3.) In their use they rather hindered than furthered a spiritual worship.
In their own nature they did not tend to the obstructing a spiritual worship,
for then they had been contrary to the nature of religion and the end of God
who appointed them. Nor did God cover the evangelical doctrine under the
clouds of the legal administration, to hinder the people of Israel from per-
ceiving it, but because they were not yet capable to bear the splendour of it
had it been clearly set before them. The shining of the face of Moses was
too dazzling for their weak eyes, and therefore there was a necessity of a
veil, not for the things themselves, but the weakness of their eyes, 2 Cor.
iii. 13, 14. The carnal affections of that people sunk down into the things
themselves, stuck in the outward pomp, and pierced not through the veil
to the spiritual intent of them ; and by the use of them, without rational
conceptions, they besotted their minds, and became senseless of those
spiritual motions required of them. Hence came all their expectations of a
carnal Messiah ; the veil of ceremonies was so thick, and the film upon their
eyes so condensed, that they could not look through the veil to the Spirit of
Christ. They beheld not the heavenly Canaan for the beautj r of the earthly,
nor minded the regeneration of the spirit while they rested upon the purifi-
cations of the flesh. The prevalency of sense and sensitive affections diverted
their minds from inquiring into the intent of them. Sense and matter are
often clogs to the mind, and sensible objects are the same often to spiritual
motions. Our souls are never more raised than when they are abstracted
from the entanglements of them. A pompous worship, made up of many
sensible objects, weakens the spirituality of religion. Those that are most
zealous for outward are usually most cold and indifferent in inward observ-
ances, and those that overdo in carnal modes usually underdo in spiritual
affections.
This was the Jewish state.* The nature of the ceremonies being pompous
and earthly, by their show and beauty meeting with their weakness and
childish affections, filled their eyes with an outward lustre, allured their
minds, and detained them from seeking things higher and more spiritual.
The kernel of those rites lay concealed in a thick shell, the spiritual glory
was little seen, and the spiritual sweetness little tasted. Unless the Scripture
be diligently searchod, it seems to transfer the worship of God from true
faith and the spiritual motions of the heart, and stake it down to outward
observances and the oput operatum ; besides, the voice of the law did only
declare sacrifices, and invited tho worshipper to them with a promise of the
atonement of sin, turning away the wrath of God. It never plainly acquainted
them that thoso things were types and shadows of something future, that
* Illyric. <I»! vclam. Mosis, p. 221, &c.
•I >HM IV. 8 I. SI'IKIl i ' l. WOIIHIIIP.
they uviv only outward purifici D
at the time 01 appointing them that those sacrifice! Boold not abolish nog
ami n eoneile them to (toil. I their death
an i ion iii thai I tlo to I rewi khan can 1 i I in
the ti'. o 1 i ■ ■ eamal . 1 1 f » ■ , arid
tli« r< trip ; he designs th< and
would li its i religion o( th(> same nature* M i | mi i mind to b
th.'ir reason above the thii illy unwilling to raise
ih. 'in up to thi i which are allied to tl
therefore tin- more Rpiritaal anv ordinance i-, the mon averse ih the beerl
man to it. Tin ' simplicity of the go> pel,' bich OUT Diodl Hi
■ 1 by things th.it plea uiv the . I
onri i i lie liqnonshnc i of h. r pelat I I I
this principle hath iprnng :ill the idolatry in the world. The •'•
they bad i <i l who had delivered them, bat they would have a sensible
them, ! \ii. 1 ; and the papacy at thii day is a
witness of the truth of this natural corruption.
(4.) Upon tl oonntSi then , G I lined himself f
pleased with that kind of worship. Be was not displeased with them, ss they
were h i own institution, and ordained for the r< presenting (though in so
obsenre manner) tl : >s thingi of the gosp< I ; nor wsj he offende I with
those peopl f them, for since he bad command* , it was
then- duty to perform them, and their sin to oegled them ; hut he was d
pleased with them as they were | I by them, with souls dly
d in the practices, SJ the ceremonies were lly earnal in tl
stance. It wai not their disohedienoe to oh them; but it wt
disobedience, and ■ contempt of the end of the institution, to rest upon them,
to bi warm in them and eold in morals. They fed upon the- bone, and
neglected the marrow ; pleased themselves with the shell, and sought not
for the kernel. They joined not with them the internal worship of God, fear
of him, with faith in the promised seed, which lay veiled un 1. r those OOVOf-
: Sob. \i. 6, * I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of
re than burnt-offerings.' And therefore he seems sometime-
of his own institutions, and calls them not his own, but thrir sacrifices, their
h sets, I- 1. i. 11, Tl. They were aii by appointment, th in by abuse. The
institution was from his goodness and con*; ion, therefore his ; the cor-
ruption of them was from the vice of their nature, therefore th . He often
blamed them for tin lir carnality in them, shewed bis dislike of placing all
their religion in them, gives the sacrificers, upon that account, no better a
title than that of the ' princes of Sodom and Gomorrah,' Isa. i. 10 ; and
compares the sacrifices themselves to the ' cutting off a dog's neck,' ' swine's
blood,' and th- ' murder of a man,' Isa. lxvi. B. And indeed God never
tabled them, or expressed any delight in them. II- fleBPISOd the feasts of
the Wicked, ¥. 21, and had no esteem for the material offerings of the
y : I 1 -. 1. 18, ' Will 1 eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats ? '
which i s to his saints ami people, 1. fan he comes to reprove tho
wicked, which he I r. 16, ' l'.ut to the wicked, God said,' &c. So
.!;. 1. . that 1 | to disown them to be any part of
his command, when he brought his people out of the land of Egypt : Jer«
vii. 22, ' 1 not to your fathers, nur commanded them concerning
burnt-offer:: i ; i. r p g ird them, in c
parison of that inward frame which he had required by the moral law ; that
Dg giten before the law of ceremonies, obliged them, in the first plao
an observance of those precepts. They seemed to be below the nature of
294 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
God, and could not of themselves please hirn. None could in reason per-
suade themselves that the death of a beast was a proportionable offering for
the sin of a man, or ever was intended for the expiation of transgression.
In the same rank are all our bodily services under the gospel. A loud voice
without spirit, bended bulrushes without inward affections, are no more
delightful to God than the sacrifices of animals. It is but a change of one
brute for another of a higher species ; a mere brute, for that part of man
which hath an agreement with brutes. Such a service is a mere animal
service, and not spiritual.
(5.) ' And therefore God never intended that sort of worship to be durable,
and had often mentioned the change of it for one more spiritual. It was
not good or evil in itself ; whatsoever goodness it had was solely derived to
it by institution, and therefore it was mutable. It had no conformity with
the spiritual nature of God, who was to be worshipped, nor with the rational
nature of man, who was to worship. And therefore he often speaks of taking
away the new moons, and feasts, and sacrifices, and all the ceremonial wor-
ship, as things he took no pleasure in, to have a worship more suited to
his excellent nature. But he never speaks of removing the gospel adminis-
tration, and the worship prescribed there, as being more agreeable to the
nature and perfections of God, and displaying them more illustriously to the
world.
The apostle tells us it was to be disannulled because of its weakness, Heb.
vii. 18. A determinate time was fixed for its duration, till the accomplish-
ment of the truth figured under that pedagogy, Gal. iv. 2. Some of the
modes of that worship being only typical, must naturally expire and be insig-
nificant in their use, upon the finishing of that by the Eedeemer, which they
did prefigure ; and other parts of it, though God suffered them so long because
of the weakness of the worshipper, yet because it became not God to be
always worshipped in that manner, he would reject them, and introduce
another more spiritual and elevated. ' Incense and a pure offering' should
be offered everywhere unto his name, Mai. i. 11.
He often told them he would make a new covenant by the Messiah, and
the old should be rejected ;* that the ' former things should not be remem-
bered, and the things of old no more considered,' when he should do ' a new
thing in the earth,' Isa. xliii. 18, 19. Even the ark of the covenant, the
symbol of his presence and the glory of the Lord in that nation, should not
any more be remembered and visited, Jer. iii. 16 ; that the temple and
sacrifices should be rejected, and others established ; that the order of the
Aaronical priesthood should be abolished, and that of Melchisedec set up in
the stead of it in the person of the Messiah, to endure for ever, Ps. ex. ;
that Jerusalem should be changed, a new heaven and earth created, a worship
more conformable to heaven, more advantageous to earth. God had pro-
ceeded in the removal of some part of it, before the time of taking down the
whole furniture of this house. The pot of manna was lost, Urim and
Thummim ceased, the glory of the temple was diminished, and the ignorant
people wept at the sight of tho one, without raising their faith and hope in
the consideration of tho other, which was promised to be filled with a spiritual
glory. And as soon as ever the gospel was spread in the world, God thun-
dered out his judgments upon that place in which he had fixed all those legal
observances ; so that tho Jews, in the letter and flesh, could never practise
tho main part of their worship, sinco they were expelled from that place
whero it was only to be celebrated. It is one thousand six hundred years
sinco they have been deprived of their altar, which was the foundation of all
* Pascal. Pen., 142.
John IV. Si.] hi-iuih.u. woi;siin\ 800
tin- i red in 1 1 1 ' without i ...
I pi . .:i flpho i phim,' Uo8. iii. i.
God fully pot iO I command bfl gave to thfl a]
i in tliriu to u i, iii the i li«'.ir bil S
Ma irbich i
, in whom 1 am well pldtltd : li« Ml DJ
1 n to til. it whol
.a thfl rail of thfl t < • r 1 1 1 » I «• .
. which wits carnal, B f thu
on of inn!), \\ial..ii ■ .1, is iiuil. I, ami a ipirituaJ Wi
tfl world, tliat wfl mi in a nxoi
ami with more spiritual (ran
/ 8. i ..■ irrio an I woi hip thfl if ipiril I thfl
aanofl of it. mote spiritual. Bpiritnaiil
■ arnahty WM of thfl IftH | thfl gOSpfll Lfl tfa ■ it. Wfl
[rom thfl emploj mentfl of iflnafl, and brought m an i to a b arenly
Jewi had p row I upon them ; wa fa
l rviefl preaeribed to ai j the praiaea of God, communion with G I in spirit,
through bis Son Jesus Christ, and itronger foundations for apiritnal afl
It i a lei onablfl sendee, Bom. xii. 1. It ia suited to a
ire, thoogh it finds no d u ndahip from the corruption of reason. It i
sen, asonai.lt: faculti. I of thfl BOUl, an i a i I iACflth
them while it employe them. Thfl word muonabU may be I I I
atmo*, 1 as well as tble service ; an evangelical service, in oppoeition
to a law service. All evangelical servico is reasonable, and all truly .
[elicaL
of the WOrahip is spiritual. It consists in love of God, faith
in < I > liis goodness, meditation on him, and communion with
him. It la] amonial, apiritaaliaeth the moral. Ihecommanda
that our duty to God, as well as those that concerned our duty to
our neighbour, wen n duced by Christ to the spiritual intention.
The HOtivet are Bpiritual. It is a state of more grace, Bfl well as of more
truth, .John i. 17, Bupported by ipiritual promises, beaming out in spiritual
privileges. 11 >mes down in it to earth, to spiritualise earth for
real.
The mamur of worship is more spiritual. Higher flights of the soul,
nger ardours of atl'ections, sincerer aims at his glory ; mists are removed
from our minds, clogs from the soul ; more of love than fear ; faith in Christ
kin:. tnetions, and works by them.
The to spiritual worship are greater. The Spirit doth not
drop, but is plentifully poured out. It doth not light sometimes upon, but
dwells in, the heart Christ suited the gospel to a spiritual heart, and the
. it ehangeth a carnal heart to make it lit for a spiritual gospel. He blows
rdeii, and causes thfl spieefl to flow forth ; and often makes the
hip like the - of Amminadab in a quick and nimble motion.
bleaied L rd . iotir by his death discovered to us the nature of
1, and after his n sent 1 l it to fit us for the worship of God,
ith him.
ring breath is more delightful to God than
mil; up of the richest pearls, and smoking with the c
.use it is spiritual ; and a mite of spirit is of D rth
than tfa :.e holy angel is more excellent than a
whole world of mere bodies.
* V. Hammond, in loc.
296 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
Prop. 7. Yet the worship of God with our bodies is not to be rejected
upon the account that God requires a spiritual worship. Though we must
perform the weightier duties of the law, yet we are not to omit and leave
undone the lighter precepts ; since both the magnolia and minutula legis,
the greater and the lesser duties of the law, have the stamp of divine autho-
rity upon them.
As God, under the ceremonial law, did not command the worship of the
body, and the observation of outward rites, without the engagement of the
spirit, so neither doth he command that of the spirit without the peculiar
attendance of the body.
The Schwelkfendians denied bodily worship ; and the indecent postures
of many in public attendance intimate no great care either of composing their
bodies or spirits. A morally discomposed body intimates a tainted heart.
Our bodies as well as our spirits are to be presented to God, Rom. xii. 1.
Our bodies in lieu of the sacrifices of beasts, as in the Judaical institutions :
body for the whole man ; a living sacrifice, not to be slain, as the beasts
were, but living a new life, in a holy posture, with crucified affections.
This is the inference the apostle makes of the privileges of justification,
adoption, co-heirship with Christ, which he had before discoursed of; pri-
vileges conferred upon the person, and: not upon a part of man.
1. Bodily worship is due to God. He hath a right to an adoration by
our bodies as they are his by creation ; his right is not diminished but
increased by the blessing of redemption : 1 Cor. vi. 20, ' For you are bought
with a price ; therefore glorify God in your bodies and your spirits, which are
God's.' The body as well as the spirit is redeemed, since our Saviour suf-
fered crucifixion in his body, as well as agonies in his soul. Body is not
taken here for the whole man, as it may be in Rom. xii. ; but for the mate-
rial part of our nature, it being distinguished from the spirit. If we are to
render to God an obedience with our bodies, we are to render him such acts
of worship with our bodies as they are capable of. As God is ' the Father of
spirits,' so he is ' the God of all flesh ;' therefore the flesh he hath framed of
the earth, as well as the noble portion he hath breathed into us, cannot be
denied him without a palpable injustice. The service of the body we must not
deny to God, unless we will deny him to be the author of it, and the exer-
cise of his providential care about it. The mercies of God are renewed
every day upon our bodies as well as our souls, and therefore they ought to
express a fealty to God for his bounty every day. ■ Both are from God,
both should be for God. Man consists of body and soul ; the service of
man is the service of both. The body is to be sanctified as well as the
soul, and therefore to be offered to God as well as the soul. Both are
to be glorified, both are to glorify. As our Saviour's divinity was manifested
in his body, so should our spirituality in ours. To give God the service
of the body, and not of the soul, is hypocrisy; to give God the service of
the spirit, and not of the body, is sacrilege ; to give him neither, atheism.'*
If the only part of man that is visible were exempted from the service of God,
thero could be no visible testimonies of piety given upon any occasion :
since not a moiety of man, but the whole, is God's creature, he ought to pay
a homage with the whole, and not only with a moiety of himself.
2. Worship in societies is due to God, but this cannot be without some
bodily expressions. The law of nature doth as much direct men to combine
together in public societies for tho acknowledgment of God, as in civil com-
munities for self-preservation and ordor ; and the notice of a society for
religion is moro ancient than tho mention of civil associations for politic
* Sherman's Groek in tho Temple, p. 61, G2.
N IV. 24. BPIRITl M. ■'
Hoi upon I 1
i . ,,, the time of B m bnt Adam u I
■
kind in- thor in com]
1 1 | || -hi thai ii ' I
- 1 l ; hour by
i ,1ml. i, !: ,: 1 hot I
rati : i ('in-. • i l t i
pping God in (
ill saints in ■ i |
■hip, G .it Hi.- . d l of the da] .' at
public worship among the - 1 toted
r, whence calli '1 ' t ; God, P • Info H - ' 3*b-
l • tuti >1 to acknowli Ig God a common I P iblic
ap the niemoriali of God in ■ world Pjone to i
■ . . i in ■ heart prone to forgi tfulu m. Ti ■'' °° m *
pany, not singly, at the birth of Christ, Lukeii. 18, and praii
only with s simple elevation of their spiritual natore, bnt andibl rm«
in the air. All'. rt ions atv inoiv liv.lv. spiritl mOW raised in
public than private; God will credit his own ordinance. I
by layii sds in one place ; • rotion inflai
union of manyhearts, and by a join! | : nor can the approach of the
day of judgment, or particular judgments upon ' l nation. writ of
from inch i II. d.. x. 26, ' Not forsaking the i | our-
seh • ther, hut so much the m Urn toy approach]
^Y! lay of judgment, <>r the day of I
traction and the Christian | sootion, I | itleusesil asanai
:i them to the ol srrvan.v. not to I QCOUTagC them to a r
Since, therefore, natural light informs us, and divine institution commands
publicly to acknowledge curs. Ives the servants of God, it implies the
the body. Booh scknowledgmenti cannot bo without visible t.
monies, and outward i I of devotion, as well as inward affi
Ibis promotes G( l'i 1 oour, checks others' profaneness, allures men to
the same expressions of duty. And though there may be hypocrisy, and
an outward garb without an' inward frame, yet better ■ moiety of worship
than n< US at all; I,:; r acknowledge God's right in one than disown it
in both.
J< lUS Christ, the most spiritual worshipper, WOTsl with his
1 ly. Be prayed orally, and kneeled, ' Father, if it be thy will, 1 A •.. Luke
Xxii, 11. L2. He I with his mouth, 'Father, I thank thee,' M '.
si. 26. Ss i::':< 1 up hi , as well as elevated his spirit, when he j n I
for mercy received, or 1 I for the blessings bis disciples
Want i. J on D. 11 ; xvii. 1. The it Of the spirit must have vent
attl The holy men of God have empl
bf OS of worship ; Abraham in Calling face, Paul
in kneelii -. [ their np their hands. '1
.! i-rid, yet I worahip God without some dei
ression .t is in one place leaning upon bia staff, B
xi. 21 ; in \ hims.lf upon hi land. ( ien. xlvii. :U. I
i n the ! rd, which without vowels i
be Matte*, i staff; fa
monyofad by ■ r. m swnt ■paters of the body. Indeed, in and
* Stillingflect's Ircnicum. cap. i. sect. 1. p.
298 chaunock's works. [John IV. 24.
separated souls, a worship is performed purely by the spirit ; but whiles
the soul is in conjunction with the body, it can hardly perform a serious
act of worship without some tincture upon the outward man, and reverential
composure of the body. Fire cannot be in the clothes, but it will be felt by
the members ; nor flames be pent up in the soul without bursting out in the
body. The heart can no more restrain itself from breaking out, than Joseph
could inclose his affections, without expressing them in tears to his brethren,
Gen. xlv. 1, 2. ' We believe, and therefore speak,' 2 Cor. iv. 13.
To conclude ; God hath appointed some parts of worship which cannot be
performed without the body, as sacraments ; we have need of them because
we are not wholly spiritual and incorporeal creatures.
The religion which, consists^ in externals only, is not for an intellectual
nature. A worship purely intellectual is too sublime for a nature allied to
sense and depending much upon it. The Christian mode of worship is pro-
portioned to both ; it makes the sense to assist the mind, and elevates the
spirit above the sense. Bodily worship helps the spiritual. The members
of the body reflect back upon the heart, the voice bars distractions, the
tongue sets the heart on fire in good as well as in evil. It is as much against
the light of nature to serve God without external significations, as to serve
him only with them without the intention of the mind. As the invisible
God declares himself to men by visible works and signs, so should we de-
clare our invisible frames by visible expressions. God hath given us a soul
and body in conjunction, and we are to serve him in the same manner he
hath framed us.
II. The second thing I am to shew is, what spiritual worship is. In
general, the whole spirit is to be employed. The name of God is not sancti-
fied but by the engagement of our souls.
Worship is an act of the understanding, apptying itself to the knowledge
of the excellency of God, and actual thoughts of his majesty, recognising
him as the supreme Lord and governor of the world, which is natural know-
ledge ; beholding the glory of his attributes in the Redeemer, which is evan-
gelical knowledge ; this is the sole act of the spirit of man. The same
reason is for all our worship as for our thanksgiving. This must be done
with understanding : Ps. xlvii. 7, ' Sing ye praise with understanding,' with
a knowledge and sense of his greatness, goodness, and wisdom. It is also
an act of the will, whereby the soul adores and reverenceth his majesty, is
ravished with his amiableness, embraccth his goodness, enters itself into an
intimate communion with this most lovely object, and pitcheth all his affec-
tions upon him.
We must worship God understanding^ ; it is not else a reasonable service.
The nature of God and the law of God abhor a blind offering ; we must wor-
ship him heartily, else we offer him a dead sacrifice. A reasonable service
is that wherein the mind doth truly act something with God. All spiritual
acts must be acts of reason, otherwise they are not human acts, because they
want that principle which is constitutive of man, and doth difference him
from other creatures. Acts done only by sense are the acts of a brute ; acts
done by reason are tho acts of a man ; that which is only an act of sense
cannot be an act of religion. The sense without the conduct of reason is
not the subject of religious acts, for then beasts were capable of religion as
well as men. There cannot be religion where there is not reason ; and there
cannot be the exercise of religion, where there is not an exercise of tho
rational faculties. Nothing can bo a Christian act, that is not a human act.
Besides, all worship must be for some end ; the worship of God must be for
Job* I V, nan i •• mi'.
1 3 the i ! (aculii
is I
i'.n tieularly,
I. Spirit uc .. pi
Lai,
i : tho
.1 it can | . a woi ■ " I" 1.
living in pan. I • Il l'« but AxUlE
is of bifl i
|>iiituul lilt: mi: ' I
: ituaJ worship. As do work oan I •
till I Eph. n. LO, ' ('In • ■ I-
oan I . ) 1 1 formed without life in tl
.'. act without Clin t m the SOUl. OUT I
ritual act, afl tie- DDiOD of OW I Oft] with
■ s.s;iry to natural action. Nothing can e.\c< « d the lil
then it should i fin acting, and do that which it bain no p
do. A !>( .ist cannot act like a man, without partaking of tie
i man ; nor i man act like an angel, without partaking of ti
ire. H ' ■• oan w« perform spiritual acts without a spiritual
Wha r worabip pi from the corrupted oatore, cannot
spiritual worship, i it springs not from a spiritual habit If
the are evil cannot ipeak good things, those thai i snot
. piritoal service. Poison is the fruit of a viper's nature : ltat.xii.84,
1 » I can you, being evil, Bp for
the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.' As the root is,
IS tl .If the soul be habitually carnal, the worship cannot be actually
ritual. DS en intention of spirit, but there is no spiritual
} a root of thai intention. A heart may he seii.-,ihly united with
a duty, when it is not Spiritually united with Christ in it. Carnal mot'
\ the mind in an act of worship, as the sense of some
5 affliction may enlarge a man's mind in prayer. Whatsoever is
Is to the nature of God, must have a stamp of Christ upon it ; a
in performance, as well as of his m< ditation* in the acc«
istle lived not, but ' Christ lived in him,' Gal. ii. 2U ; tho
soul worships not, but Christ in him. Not that Christ ] I of
tables ns spiritually to worship, after he enables us spiritually
to livi . A- (iod counts not any soul living but in Christ, so be counts not
piritual worshipper but in Christ. The goodness and fat : tho
frur from the fatness of the olive wherein we are engrafted. W
I find healing in Christ's wings, before God can find spirituality in our
Ail worship issuing from a dead nature, i.-; but a dead service . A
i -not be performed without being knit to a living root.
'J. (Spiritual worship is done by the influence and with the assistance of
d. A heart may be spiritual, when a particular act of wor-
shij .ritual. The Spirit may dwell in the heart, when he D
co on the act I ' bip is then spiritual, when I
that ki: , as that lire upon the a.
wherewith the sacrifices were co: Ciod • in no
sen. i dressed H] .tor, and hath tho
air of his own Spirit in it: th. I natural acts without a sopen
assistance . Without Sn actual i we cannot act from spiritual
motives, nor for spiritual ends, nor in a spiritual manner. Wl c.mnot
* Qu. ' mediation"? — En.
300 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
mortify a lust without the Spirit, Rom. viii. 13, nor quicken a service with-
out the Spirit. Whatsoever corruption is killed, is slain by his power ;
whatsoever duty is spiritualised, is refined by his breath. He ' quickens
our dead bodies' in our resurrection, ver. 11 ; he renews our dead souls in
our regeneration ; he quickens our carnal services in our adorations ; the
choicest acts of worship are but infirmities, without his auxiliary help,
ver. 26. We are logs, unable to move ourselves, till he raise our faculties
to a pitch agreeable to God, puts his hand to the duty, and lifts that up,
and us with it. Never any great act was performed by the apostles to God,
or for God, but they are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Christ
could not have been conceived immaculate as ' that holy thing,' without the
Spirit's overshadowing the virgin ; nor any spiritual act conceived in our
heart, without the Spirit's moving upon us, to bring forth a living religion
from us. The acts of worship are said to be in the Spirit, ' supplication in
the Spirit,' Eph. vi. 18 ; not only with the strength and affection of our
own spirits, but with the mighty operation of the Holy Ghost, if Jude may
be the interpreter, ver. 20, — the Holy Ghost exciting us, impelling us, and
firing our souls by his divine flame, raising up the affections, and making the
soul cry, with a holy importunity, 'Abba, Father.' To render our worship
spiritual, we should, before every engagement in it, implore the actual pres-
ence of the Spirit, without which we are not able to send forth one spiritual
breath or groan, but be wind-bound, like a ship without a gale, and our wor-
ship be no better than carnal. How doth the spouse solicit the Spirit with
an ' Awake, north wind; and come, thou south wind,' &c, Cant. iv. 16.
3. Spiritual worship is done with sincerity. When the heart stands
right to God, and the soul performs what it pretends to perform ; when we
serve God with our spirits, as the apostle, Bom. i. 9, ' God is my witness,
whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son;' this is not meant of the
Holy Ghost, for the apostle would never have called the Spirit of God his
own spirit ; but with my sjririt, that is, a sincere frame of heart. A carnal
worship, whether under the law or gospel, is when we are busied about
external rites, without an inward compliance of soul. God demands the
heart : Prov. xxiii. 26, ■ My son, give me thy heart ; ' not give me thy
tongue, or thy lips, or thy hands ; these may be given without the heart,
but the heart can never be bestowed without these as its attendants. A
heap of services can be no more welcome to God, without our spirits, than
all Jacob's sons could be to Joseph without the Benjamin he desired to see.
God is not taken with the cabinet, but the jewel ; he first respected Abel's
faith and sincerity, and then his sacrifice ; he disrespected Cain's infidelity
and hypocrisy, and then his offering. * For this cause he rejected the
offerings of the Jews, the prayers of the Pharisees, and the alms of Ananias
and Sapphira, because their hearts and their duties were at a distance from one
another. In all spiritual sacrifices our spirits are God's portion. Under
the law the reins were to be consumed by the fire on the altar, because the
secret intentions of the heart were signified by them: Ps. vii. 9, " The Lord
trieth the heart and the reins." It was an ill omen among the heathen if a
victim wanted a heart. The widow's mites, with her heart in them, were
more esteemed than tho richer offerings without it.'* Not the quantity of
service, but the will in it, is of account with this infinite Spirit. All that
was to bo brought for the framing of the tabernacle was to be offered ' will-
ingly with the heart,' Exod. xxv. 7. The more of will, the more of spirituality
and acceptablcness to God : Ps. cxix. 108, ' Accept the free-will-offering of
my lips.' Sincority is tho salt which seasons every sacrifice. Tho heart is
* Moulin. Sermons, Decad. 4, Ser. 4, p. 80.
John IV. 'J 1.] BMKi 1 1 Ub W OBSJUP .
' like 1" lh( heart in • ,,f
(ill \it:il actions, iili.l | | .pit ;! ;ial | QUI : fall spiritual I
II' r can wo im n God ;i ,,y
more than \s<- can d< 1 ;ht io M with l carcass I
bout the hi irt it ii do ■• icticg i
.
l ' OD Of the WOl I Htage pl \\
believe with bi . . i only with 1 I
i rodiont in worship, md it ii ' nhiIi the I
i .1 10, We I • 1 1 nly laid to woi
1 on, but we cannot be ei hip him if sincerity, A
l i tombi with eyes and hands lifted up, , •
t ; it wanta only a i and p
san a mockery, it. re]
it i But to worahip without our ipu
with a picture, an echo, •■ . ml nothing ,.♦, i i
1 , a • eompaeaing him about with lies/ II ea u, L2. Withou
tlir : , and the greatest teal, dissembling with him, ,
the ipiril i bich can o< vex naturally die ; to pn n nt him
only the body, u to present him thai which is « \< ry day crumbling to d
end will al Leal lie rotting in the grave. To offer him ■ few t .'.%■ torn,
in for a sacrifice, i thing unworthy the m i
I | hands, with a irthly soul, are pitiful things for
an i I and glorious Spirit; nay, it is io tar from I tual,
iasphemy; to pretend to be ■ Jew outwardly, wit
inwardly, is in the judgment of Christ t b< me, B v. . . :<.
much reason to those that pretend ■
hip and perform m a spiritual worshipper, but
a blaspheming devil in Samuel's mantle.
I. Spiritual worahip ii i with an unitednete of heart. The
1 dy now and thou with God, but ' nnil 1 to fear' or worship
4 his name, 1 PS. lxxxvi. 11. A spiritual duty must have the engagement of
Spirit, and the thoughts tied up to the spiritual object. The union
all the i the h. art together with the body is the life of the body, |
moral union of our hearts is the life of any duty. A heart quickly flitting
from God makes not God his treasure ; he Blights the Worship, and* therein
affronts the object of worship. All our thoughts ought to be lavished with
( nnd np in him as in a bundle of lite. But whi n m him
her, and run ai: q a fa]] Jui ,i
ath ucy, and a satisfying en sin him. When our thoughts
run from God, it is a tei re no spiritual God.
d would stake down the thoughts to the object affected. It is bul
l I the prophet pi.: : ! .. xxxiii. Bl, ' Bul their fa
j go after thi I vetous I ; ;pe, and the heart dan
' ; off to | multitude of
! Oth< The heart and the Serriee stayed a while I
till found his 1
mz. l B ; stall with God in i
I is seldom with
| in or out of S I: God ihouid knock at the h. art in . v, it
• i not a' i. Oox
Of the In a: | all int: . .
302 charnock's works. [John IY. 24.
that would be apt to haunt us. Worldly affections are to be laid aside, if
we would have our worship spiritual. This was meant by the Jewish
custom of wiping or washing off the dust of their feet before their entrance
into the temple,°and of not bringing money in their girdles. To be spiritual
in worship is to have our souls gathered and bound up wholly in themselves,
and offered to God. Our loins must be girt, as the fashion was in the
eastern countries, where they wore long garments, that they might not
waver with the wind, and be blown between their legs, to obstruct them in
their travel. Our faculties must not hang loose about us. He is a carnal
worshipper that gives God but a piece of his heart, as well as he that denies
him the whole of it ; that hath some thoughts pitched upon God in worship,
and as many willingly upon the world. David sought God, not with a
moiety of his heart, but ■ with his whole heart,' with his entire frame,
Ps. cxix. 10. He brought not half his heart, and left the other in the pos-
session of another master. It was a good lesson Pythagoras gave his
scholars,* not to make the observance of God a work by the by. If those
guests be invited, or entertained kindly, or if they come unexpected, the
spirituality of that worship is lost ; the soul kicks down what is wrought
before. But if they be brow-beaten by us, and our grief rather than our
pleasure, they divert our spiritual intention from the work in hand, but
hinder not God's acceptance of it as spiritual, because they are not the acts
of our will, but offences to our wills.
5. Spiritual worship is performed with a spiritual activity and sensible-
ness of God, with an active understanding to meditate on his excellency,
and an active will to embrace him when he drops upon the soul. If we
understand the amiableness of God, our affections will be ravished ; if we
understand the immensity of his goodness, our spirits will be enlarged.
We are to act with the highest intention, suitable to the greatness of that
God with whom we have to do : Ps. cl. 2, ' Praise him according to his
excellent greatness.' Not that we can worship him equally, but in some
proportion the frame of the heart is to be suited to the excellency of the
object ; our spiritual strength is to be put out to the utmost, as creatures
that act naturally do. The sun shines, and the fire burns, to the utmost of
their natural power. This is so necessary that David, a spiritual worshipper,
prays for it before he sets upon acts of adoration : Ps. lxxx. 18, ' Quicken
us that we may call upon thy name.' As he was loath to have a drowsy
faculty, he was loath to have a drowsy instrument, and would willingly
have them as lively as himself: Ps. lvii. 8, ■ Awake up, my glory; awake,
psaltery and harp : I myself will awake early.' How would this divine soul
screw himself up to God, and be turned into nothing but a holy flame !
Our souls must be boiling hot when we serve the Lord (^sovrsg), Rom.
xii. 11. The heart doth no less burn when it spiritually comes to God,
than when God doth spiritually approach to it, Luke xxiv. 32. A Nabal's
heart, one as cold as a stone, cannot offer up a spiritual service.
Whatsoever is enjoined us as our duty, ought to be performed with the
greatest intcnseness of our spirit. As it is our duty to pray, so it is our
duty to pray with the most fervent importunity. It is our duty to love God,
but with the purest and most sublime affections. Every command of God
requires the whole strength of the creature to be employed in it. That love
to God, wherein all our duty to God is summed up, is to be with all our
strength, with all our might, &c.f Though in the covenant of grace he
hath °miti"atcd the severity of tho law, and requires not from us such an
* 'Ou ydo rraozeyov hit Koiz7a0ai rov <difo. — Iarablich, 1. i. c. 518, p. 87.
t Lady Falkland's Life, p. 130.
.1 ■-. [ V. 9 1 . IfUUTUAl
ttion of our affections as ■
I if ii i the utmost moral in to a
pitol Wli i' h of
jiil' cl ' urolly 1: ai much i
limn iijxiu i tli A :!.. ;•. was
mi activity of • ml io wot hip, an 1 I q a
don 1 tho t< n:| '1, iIm r
an inactivity to sin and an ardonr in dnty. The more the bouI
I: mi. vi. l I . ■ I • i in
nil ih i( coi God and Ins honour. I
adds 1 to our natural, determine - the affi cl to i
rp, the I
erything thai d tho dominion of it ii mor
hip ma) koned as the chief
oemy. When the Spirit is in the iou], Use thi
the belly, the soul hath the activity of a rivi
1 to be swallowed np in God, at the Btreami of th<
Christ ma] pie * kii ad priesl I i Rev. i. 6. I
. then pri per of heart, thai
Off r spiritual sacrilin IS as and priests to ' ' with B
irit in all their m< I I im. We cannot be spiritual
l till we be spiritual kings. The Spirit a] I in the
fire, ai d wh< n munieates, like fire, purity and activity.
Puli linst the light of nature. I do not rememl * tho
1 la nail to any of their t it to
r ipus their unclean idol; hut the P ma aacrifieed to the ran a I
Swift 1 ture. God provide! against those in the law,
eommandin firstling, the offspring of a b! i bo
m 1. or his neck broke, bui by no means to be offered to him, Exod.
xiii. 18. God is B Spirit infinitely active, and therefore frozen and
1 I i •': ••• are unsuitable to him: ' He rides upon a cherub, and
mes ' upon the wings of the wind,' he rides upon 'a swift cloud,'
1 .. 1. and therefore demands of us not a dull reason, but an active
spirit. God is a living God, therefore must have a lively service,
is life, an 1 slothful adorations are not fit to be offered up in the name of
worship of God is called wrestling in Scripture, and Paul was a
• er in the service of his Master : Col. i. 29, ' in an agony' ("•;
Aj Is worship God spiritually with their wings on; and when I
mauds them to worship Christ, the next scripture quoted is that he makes
m ' flames of fire,' Hob. i. 7.
If it be the may wo charge ourselves? What Paul said of the
sei . 1 Tim. v. 6, that she is Shad while she lives,' we may
often of or. d while we worship. Our 1
m tfa • •' are in deliveraneee, 'as those in a dream,' Ps. ezzvi. 1: by
1 shewed the greatness of ! and m» r
men in a dream, whereby ' ver our
folly. This activity doth not consist in outward acts. Tl.
hot and tl art may be faint, hut in an inward stirring, meltil
In ...... i)S ^ jmengible. Strong spiritual atVec-
tioi 1 from out.-
,; . ^piritUi.l performed with acting spiritual habits. When all
;:. tains of tl
. the soul and all that is within it, all the spiritual impresses of
God upon it, erect themselves to bJ holy name. Pi, ciii. 1.
30i charnook's works. [John IV. 24.
This is necessary to make a worship spiritual. As natural agents are
determined to act suitable to their proper nature, so rational agents are to
act conformable to a rational being. When there is a conformity between
the act and the nature whence it flows, it is a good act in its kind ; if it be
rational, it is a good rational act, because suitable to its principle. As a
man endowed with reason must act suitable to that endowment, and exer-
cise his reason in his acting, so a Christian endued with grace must act
suitable to that nature, and exercise his grace in his acting. Acts done by
a natural inclination are no more human acts than the natural acts of a
beast may be said to be human. Though they are the acts of a man as he
is the efficient cause of them, yet they are not human acts, because they
arise not from that principle of reason which denominates him a man. So
acts of worship performed by a bare exercise of reason, are not Christian
and spiritual acts, because they come not from the principle which con-
stitutes him a Christian. Reason is not the principle, for then all rational
creatures would be Christians. They ought therefore to be acts of a
higher principle, exercises of that grace whereby Christians are what they
are - not but that rational acts in worship are due to God, for worship is
due from us as men, and we are settled in that rank of being by our
reason. Grace doth not exclude reason, but ennobles it, and calls it up to
another form ; but we must not rest in a bare rational worship, but exert
that principle whereby we are Christians. To worship God with our reason,
is to worship him as men ; to worship God with our grace, is to worship him
as Christians, and so spiritually; but to worship him only with our bodies, is
no better than brutes.
Our desires of the word are to issue from the regenerate principle :
1 Peter ii. 2, ' As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word.'
It seems to be not a comparison, but a restriction. All worship must have
the same spring, and be the exercise of that principle, otherwise we can
have no communion with God. Friends that have the same habitual dis-
positions have a fundamental fitness for an agreeable converse with one
another 1 but if the temper wherein their likeness consists be languishing,
and the string out of tune, there is not an actual fitness, and the present
indisposition breaks the converse, and renders the company troublesome.
Though we may have the habitual graces which compose in us a resem-
blance to God, yet for want of acting those suitable dispositions, we render
ourselves unfit for his converse, and make the worship, which is funda-
mentally spiritual, to become actually carnal. As the will cannot naturally
act to any object' but by the exercise of its affections, so the heart cannot
spiritually act towards God but by the exercise of graces. This is God's
music: Eph. v. 19, 'singing and making melody to God in your hearts.'
Singing and all other acts of worship are outward, but the spiritual melody
is 'by grace in the heart,' Col. iii. 16. This renders it a spiritual worship,
for it is an effect of the fulness of the Spirit in the soul; as ver. 19, 'But
be filled with the Spirit.' The overflowing of the Spirit in the heart,
setting the soul of a believer thus on work to make a spiritual melody to
God, shews that something higher than bare reason is put in tune in the
heart. Then is the fruit of the gulden pleasant to Christ, when the Holy
Spirit 'the north and south wind, blow upon the spices,' Cant. iv. 1G, and
strike out the fragrancy of them. Since God is the author of graces, and
bestows them to have a glory from them, they are best employed about him
and his service. It is lit ho should have the cream of his own gifts.
Without the exercise of grace;, we perform but a work of nature, and offer
him a few dry bones without marrow.
JOHH !\'. 'J I. PBBI m. i 1 .
The w ; '«• > iim !. 1 l« I : eny
treble be want • berc will b si in tip- music It'
any Ollfl spiritual itril I ill, tho i harm hip will
spoiled.
l. i '.i t, Fa I be acted in worship; a confidence in G
n:itur.il woi I without in the
1. \\ i r oomes to him • I him ■ i
im.l i faithful Creator, E • p eannol be p<
without an I confidence in him ae a graciou H .To
think him a tyrant, medital il; to i .mas a
full of tender bowi spirits th
iiinw of « tod il th.- prop i" object <>!' trust: Ps. .. I . • 1 the
i them thai fear him, upon them thai in Iim marc
worship of ( ted in the < ttd Testament i i mo I
nut bj faith. Fear, or the worship of God, and hope in his
mercy, are linked to '< th< r. When they go hand in hand, th<
Of God is upon us; when WO do not trust, we do not, worship. TJ
Judah had the temple worship among them, i peeially in Josiah's time,
Zeph. iii. 2, the tinio of that j.ropln Minted DO WOTShip,
no trust in tip- worshippers. Interest in God cannot DC impTO
without an SXeroisS of faith. Thi 1 worsliip is prophesied of to 1
confidence in God, us in a husband more than in a lord: 11 ■ - i ii. 16,
'Thou shall call me Isbi, sad shalt call me no more BaalL' 'Thou shalt
call me; 1 that i-, thou Bhall worship m<\ worship being often oomprehen
under invocation. More confidence is to 1 I in s husband or father
than in a lord or master.
If a man have not frith, he is without Christ ; and though a man bo in
I risi by the habit of taith, he performs a duty out of Christ without an act
of faith. Without tln> habit of faith, our persons arc out of Christ ; and with-
out the . x :v • of faith, tho duties arc out of Christ. As the want of faith
in a person is tho death of the soul, so the want of faith in a service is the
death of the offering. Though a man were at the cost of an ox, yet to kill
it without bringing it to the door of tho tabernacle was not a sacrifice but a
murder, Lev. rvii. 8, 1. The tabernacle was a type of Christ, and a look
to him is necessary in every spiritual sacrifice. As there must be faith to
make any act an act of obedience, so there must be faith to make any act
of worsliip spiritual. That service is not spiritual that is not vital, and it
cannot be vital without the exercise of a vital principle ; all spiritual life is
4 hid in Christ,' and drawn from him by faith. Gal. ii. "J". Faith, as it hath
relation to Christ, makes every act of worship a living act, and consequently
a spiritual act. Habitual unbelief cuts us off from the body of Christ : Kom.
xi. 20, ' B of unbelief they were broken off; 1 and a want of actu .
belief breaks OS off from a present communion with Christ in spirit. As
unbelief in us hinders Christ from doing any mighty work, so unbelief in us
■inders us from doing any mighty spiritual duty.
■ of faith, and a confi U DC4 in God, is necess.iry to I
dnt
irship spiritual. Though clod com-
: love Ul the ( >! : the law I
more of fear than lote. The dispensation of tho law was with lu ler,
.. proper to raise horror numb the spirit, which effect it had
u they uo more t
nius of tho gospel, proper I the affection of .
. i.
306 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
law was given ' by the disposition of angels,' with signs to amaze ; the gospel
was ushered in with the songs of angels, composed of peace and good will,
calculated to ravish the soul. Instead of the terrible voice of the law, Do this
and live ; the comfortable voice of the gospel is, Grace, grace. Upon this
account, the principle of the Old Testament was fear, and the worship often
expressed by the fear of God ; the principle of the New Testament is love.
1 The mount Sinai gendereth to bondage,' Gal. iv. 24 ; mount Zion, from
whence the gospel or evangelical law goes forth, gendereth to liberty ; and,
therefore, the Spirit of bondage unto fear, as the property of the law, is
opposed to the state of adoption, the principle of love, as the property of the
gospel, Rom. viii. 15 ; and therefore the worship of God, under the gospel
or New Testament, is oftener expressed by love than fear, as proceeding
from higher principles, and acting nobler passions. In this state we are to
* serve him without fear,' Luke i. 74 ; without a bondage -fear, not without
a fear of unworthy treating him, with a fear of his goodness, as it is pro-
phesied of, Hosea iii. 5. Goodness is not the object of terror, but reverence.
God, in the law, had more the garb of a judge ; in the gospel, of a father ;
the name of a father is sweeter, and bespeaks more of affection. As their
services were with a feeling of the thunders of the law in their consciences,
so is our worship to be with a sense of gospel grace in our spirits. Spiri-
tual worship is that, therefore, which is exercised with a spiritual and
heavenly affection proper to the gospel. The heart should be enlarged,
according to the liberty the gospel gives of drawing near to God as a father;
as he gives us the nobler relation of children, we are to act the nobler quali-
ties of children. Love should act according to its nature, which is desire
of union, desire of a moral union by affections, as well as a mystical union
by faith, as flame aspires to reach flame and become one with it. In every
act of worship we should endeavour to be united to God, and become one
spirit with him. This grace doth spiritualise worship. In that one word
love, God hath wrapt up all the devotion he requires of us. It is the total
sum of the first table, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God ; ' it is to be acted
in everything we do ; but in worship our hearts should more solemnly,' rise
up and acknowledge him amiable and lovely, since the law is stripped of its
cursing power, and made sweet in the blood of the Redeemer. Love is a
thing acceptable of itself, but nothing acceptable without it. The gifts of
one man to another are spiritualised by it. We would not value a present
without the affection of the donor. Every man would lay claim to the love
of others, though he would not to their possessions. Love is God's right in
every service, and the noblest thing we can bestow upon him in our adora-
tions of him. God's gifts to us are not so estimable without his love/nor our
services valuable by him without the exercise of a choice affection. Hezekiah
regarded not his deliverance without the love of the deliverer : ' In love to
my soul thou hast delivered me,' Isa. xxxviii. 17 ; so doth God say, In love
to my honour thou hast worshipped me.
So that love must be acted, to render our worship spiritual.
8. A spiritual sensibleness of our own weakness is necessary to make our
worship spiritual. Affections to God cannot be without relentings in our-
selves. When tho eye is spiritually fixed upon a spiritual God, the heart
will mourn that tho worship is no moro spiritually suitable. The more we
act love upon God, as amiablo and gracious, the moro wo should exercise
grief in ourselves, as wo are vilo and offending. Spiritual worship is a
molting worship as well as an elevating worship; it exalts God, and debaseth
tho creature Tho publican was more spiritual in his humble address to
God, when the Pkarisco was wholly carnal with his swelling language. A
Jons IV. 21. J Hi'ii.m \t. WORBUH . 607
Spiritual love in worship will male Dig
and en:;'. iiim no more, it Is ■ pari of spiritual duty to bewail i
carnality mixed with it. s spiritually when SJS
th. in with u MBM Of < i . j. I'm goodnofl a:. M , in tho Sfl
manner wo rend< r n piritual worship.
J. Bpirii i ii -I. Q I D 1«T kbl | '.vlu-n !
• fitllows hiir.l :it't.r liim,' I'm. l\in. G I of infinite
goodnes i| with I ■■•• A ipinl
inst'.'nn«,l into linii/.r iiii. 1 thirst, And ling
A oarnal worshipper is taken with t!
of the temple, i spiritual worshipper d< • the gj G in lbs
. , p . Ixiii. 8. B sit r God. a hip, to
and Ii op ind for God, Lit! >atfa to i it without
G l. 'the hvi G 1/ Pa. xlii. ii. Hi would i Brim and the
Thummim, the unusual sparkling of tl. upon tho high ptiest'fl
plat . boI the title) of spiritual worship, when the soul dm
no longing inqniru i! I 8ni yon kun whom say soul lores f A ipiritaa]
worship is, when onr di sre ebiefly for God in the worship; as Dai I
desires I » • dwell in the honee of the Lord ;' bni his di lire ii not termini
there, bnt 'to behold the beauty of the Lord/ ''-• xxvii - *\ }Unl ta ^ r tllQ
ittfiahin \ sweetneai of bis presenee. No doubt but Elijah's desires foe tho
enjoyment of God, while hs was mounting to kesnren, were as fiery ss tho
chariot wherein he was carried. Unutterable groans acted in worship aro
the fruit of the Spirit, and certainly render it a spiritual service, Horn. viii.
26, Strong appetites are Is to (sod, and prepare ns so cat the fruit
of worship. A spiritual Paul pressoth forward to know Christ, and tho
I < : urrection ; and a spiritual worshipper actually aspires in every
duty to ka . and the power of his grace. To desire worship as an
end, is carnal ; to desire it as a means, and act desires in it for communion
with God in it, is spiritual, and the fruit of a spiritual life.
:>. Thankfulness and admiration are to be exercised in spiritual services.
This is a worship of spirits. Praise is the adoration of the blessed angels,
1 dan vi. o. and of glorified spirits : ltcv. iv. 11, 'Thou art worthy, Lord,
to receive glory, and honour, and power.' And Rev. v. 13, 11, they worship
him, ascribing ■ blessing, honour, glory, and power to him that sits upon
tho throne, and to tho Lamb for ever and ever.' Other acts of worship are
lined to this life, and leave us as soon as wo have set our foot in heaven.
TheSS no notes but this of praise aro warbled out. Tho power, wisdom,
love, and grace in the dispensation of the gospel seat themselves in tho
thoughts and tongues of blessed souls. Can a worship on earth bo spiritual,
that hath no mixture of an eternal heavenly duty with it? Tho worship of
I in innocence had been chiefly an admiration of him in the works of
and should not our evangelical worship be an admiration of him
in the work of redemption, which is a restoration to a better state '? After
tho petitioning for pardoning grace, Hos. xiv. 2, there is a rendering tho
calves or heifers of our lips, alluding to tho heifers used in eucharistical
The praise of Qrod is the choicest sacrifice and worship, under a
n of redeeming grace. This is the prime and eternal part of
worship under tho gOfl I ihsnst, Ps. cxlix. and cl., speaking of
gospel times, spurs on to this kind of worship: ' Sing to the Lord a
Ml let the children of Zion bo joyful in their King; let the saints
bo joyful in glory, and sing aloud upon their beds; let tho high praises of
God bo in their mouths.' lie begins and ends both psalms with / '
sis Lord. That cannot bo a spiritual and evangelical worship that hath
308 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
nothing of the praise of God in the heart. The consideration of God's ador-
able perfections discovered in the gospel will make us come to him with
more seriousness, beg blessings of him with more confidence, fly to him
with a winged faith and love, and more spiritually glorify him in our
attendances upon him.
6. Spiritual worship is performed with delight. The evangelical worship
is prophetically signified by keeping the feast of tabernacles : ■ They shall
go up from year to year, to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to
keep the feast of tabernacles,' Zech. xiv. 16. Why that feast, when there
were other feasts observed by the Jews ? That was a feast celebrated with
the greatest joy, typical of the gladness which was to be under the exhibi-
tion of the Messiah, and a thankful commemoration of the redemption
wrought by him. It was to be celebrated five days after the solemn day of
atonement, Lev. xxiii. 34, compared with ver. 27, wherein there was one
of the solemnest types of the sacrifice of the death of Christ. In this feast
they commemorated their exchange of Egypt for Canaan, the manna where-
with they were fed, the water out of the rock wherewith they were refreshed.
In remembrance of this, they poured water on the ground, pronouncing
those words in Isaiah, ' they shall draw waters out of the wells of salvation,'
which our Saviour refers to himself,' John vii. 37, inviting them to him to
drink 'upon the last day, the great day of the Feast' of Tabernacles, wherein
this solemn ceremony was observed. Since we are freed by the death of
the Redeemer from the curses of the law, God requires- of us a joy in
spiritual privileges. A sad frame in worship gives the lie to all gospel
liberty, to the purchase of the Redeemer's death, the triumphs of his resur-
rection. It is a carriage as if we were under the influences of the legal fire
and lightning, and an entering a protest against the freedom of the gospel.
The evangelical worship is a spiritual worship, and praise, joy, and delight
are prophesied of as great ingredients in attendance on gospel ordinances,
Isa. xii. 3-5. What was occasion of terror in the worship of God under
the law, is the occasion of delight in the worship of God under the gospel.
The justice and holiness of God, so terrible in the law, becomes comfortable
under the gospel, since they have feasted themselves on the active and
passive obedience of the Redeemer. The approach is to God as gracious,
not to God as unpacified ; as a son to a father, not as a criminal to a judge.
Under the law, God was represented as a judge, remembering their sin in
their sacrifices, and representing the punishment they had merited ; in the
gospel as a father, accepting the atonement, and publishing the reconcilia-
tion wrought by the Redeemer. Delight in God is a gospel frame, therefore
the more joyful, the more spiritual. The Sabbath is to be a delight, not
only in regard of the day, but in regard of the duties of it, Isaiah lviii. 13 ;
in regard of the marvellous work he wrought on it, raising up our blessed
Redeemer on that day, whereby a foundation was laid for the rendering our
persons and services acceptable to God : Ps. cxviii. 24, * This is the day
which the Lord hath made, we will be glad and rejoice in it.' A lumpish
frame becomes not a day and a duty that hath so noble and spiritual a
mark upon it.
The angels, in tho first act of worship after the creation, were highly
joyful : Job xxxviii. 7, They ' shouted for joy,' &0.
The saints have particularly acted this in their worship. David would
not content himself with an approach to tho altar, without going to God as
his ' exceeding joy,' Ps. xliii. 4, my triumphant joy. When he danced
before tho ark, he seems to be transformed into delight and pleasure, 2 Sam.
vi. 14, 16. Ho had as much delight in worship as others had in their
JOHJ I V. 'J I. ii;iii\i, WUMH11P. BOO
harvest : i t 1 1 vinl \ i • thai illy the ipoiling of tl
; joyfully attend upon the oommuni i I. ^ n
there is n flllnoKN of tho Spirit, tin re is ;i ' mal. Ul tho
ln-art,' Bph, \. L8, r.» ; ind win n there is an U1
all spiritual :■.,• pfODtl fail of it IS J0y f 111 ■ DOS* appro. i<-i:
object of the soul's affection. L appttitiu uniom . The more 1"
thi more delight in the approaehiii i tod to the iouI, or th
the soul to God, As the object of woi axniabli i i
means tendi mmunion with thia object arc delightful in the
I. lighl in :i duty, tli-
oftheduty. The more of grace, the more of ] In tho i
the more of nature there ii in any natural agent, the more oi
pleasure in thi i the more heavenly the warship, the more spiritual.
Deli the frame and temper of glory. A bear! filled op to tl
with • tilled up to the brim with the spirit. .Joy is the fruit
of the Boly Ghost, (HI. v. 22.
fl.) \: the joy of God's dispensation, flowing from God, bni <is
>y streaming to God. There is a joy when the comforts of G
are dropped into the soul, as oil upon the wheel, which indeed makes the
(acuities mow with more speed and activity in his service, like tho char.
of Amminadab ; and i soul may serve < k>d in the strength of thi
lelight terminated in the sensible comfort. This is not the joy I mean,
but such a joy that hath God for its object, delighting in him as the term,
in worship as the way to him. The first II I tfon, the other
is our duty. The finl is an act of God's favour to as, 1 weond a sprout
of I ice in OS. The comforts we have from God may elevate our
duties, but the grace WC have within doth spiritualise cur duties.
Nor is every delight an argument of a spiritual service. All the
• worship must he talon in. A man may invent a worship, and
:ht in it, as Mieah in the adoration of his idol, when ho was glad he ha 1
pot both an ephod and a Levite, Judges xvii. As a man may have a con-
tinent in sin, so he may have a contentment in worship; not because it
IS I worship of God, but tho worship of his own invention, agreeable to his
own humour and design, as Isaiah lviii. 2, it is said, they ' delighted in
approaching to God,' but it was for carnal ends. Novelty engenders com-
placency ; but it must be a worship wherein God will delight, and that must
B worship according to his own rule and infinite wisdom, and not our
shallow fancies.
[uires a cheerfulness in his service, especially under the gospel,
v he sits upon a throne of grace, discovers himself in his amiableness,
and acts the covenant of grace and the sweet relation of a Father. The
of old were not to sully themselves with any sorrow when they
ie of their functions. God put a bar to the natural a:
tions of Aaron and his sons when Nadab and Abihu had been cut off by a
severe bar. . x. ('». Every true Christian, in a higher order
of priestbi i person dedicated to joy and peace, offering himself a
lively sacrifice of | ad thanksgiving J and there is no Christian duty
but toff and oed with cheerfulness; He that loves a cheerful
giver in eh irity, re [uires no less a cheerful spirit in acts of worship.
lient in worship, so it is the means to m t spirits
at in worship. When the heart triumphs in the consideration oi divine
and goodness, it will 1 J at anything that offers to jog and
kurb it.
7. Spiritual worship is to bo performed, though with a delight in God,
310 chaknock's wokks. [John IV. 24.
yet with a deep reverence of God. The gospel, in advancing the spirituality
of worship, takes off the terror, but not the reverence of God, which is
nothing else in its own nature but a due and high esteem of the excellency
of a thing according to the nature of it. And therefore the gospel, presenting
us with more illustrious notices of the glorious nature of God, is so far from
indulging any disesteem of him, that it requires of us a greater reverence,
suitable to the height of its discovery, above what could be spelled in the
book of creation. The gospel worship is therefore expressed by trembling :
Hos. xi. 10, ' They shall walk after the Lord; he shall roar like a lion;
when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.' When
the Lion of the tribe of Judah shall lift up his powerful voice in the gospel,
the western Gentiles shall run trembling to walk after the Lord. God bath
alway attended his greatest manifestations with remarkable characters of
majesty, to create a reverence in his creature. He caused the wind to march
before him, to cut the mountain, when he manifested himself to Elijah,
1 Kings xix. 11; a wind and a cloud of fire before that magnificent vision
to Ezekiel, Ezek. i. 4, 5 ; thunders and lightnings before the giving the
law, Exod. xix. 18 ; and a mighty wind before the giving the Spirit, Acts
ii. God requires of us an awe of him in the very act of performance. The
angels are pure, and cannot fear him as sinners, but in reverence they cover
their faces when they stand before him, Isaiah vi. 2. His power should
make us reverence him, as we are creatures ; his justice, as we are sinners;
his goodness, as we are restored creatures. ' God is clothed with unspeak-
able majesty ; the glory of his face shines brighter than the lights of heaven
in their beauty. Before him the angels tremble, and the heavens melt ; we
ought not, therefore, to come before him with the sacrifice of fools, nor
tender a duty to him without falling low upon our faces, and bowing the
knees of our hearts in token of reverence.'* Not a slavish fear, like that of
devils, but a godly fear, like that of saints, Heb. xii. 28, joined with a sense
of an unmoveable kingdom, becometh us. And this the apostle calls a
grace necessary to make our service acceptable ; and therefore the grace
necessary to make it spiritual, since nothing finds admission to God but
what is of a spiritual nature. The consideration of his glorious nature
should imprint an awful respect upon our souls to him. His goodness
should make his majesty more adorable to us, as his majesty makes his
goodness more admirable in his condescensions to us. As God is a Spirit,
our worship must be spiritual ; and being he is the supreme Spirit, our
worship must be reverential. We must observe the state he takes upon him
in his ordinances; ' he is in heaven, we upon the earth;' we must not there-
fore be ' hasty to utter anything before God,' Eccles. v. 7. Consider him a
Spirit in the highest heavens, and ourselves spirits dwelling in a dreggy
earth. . Loose and garish frames debase him to our own quality ; slight pos-
tures of spirit intimate him to be a slight and mean being ; our being in
covenant with him must not lower our awful apprehensions of him. As he
is ' the Lord thy God,' it is a ■ glorious and fearful name,' or wonderful,
Deut. xxviii. 58. Though he lay by his justice to believers, he doth not lay
by his majesty. When wo have a confidence in him, because he is the Lord
our God, we must have awful thoughts of his majesty, because his name is
glorious. God is terrible from his holy places, in regard of the great things
he doth for his Israel, Ps. lxviii. 85. We should behave ourselves with that
inward honour and respect of him as if he were present to our bodily eyes.
The higher apprehensions wo havo of his majesty, the greater awe will be
upon our hearts in his presence, and the greater spirituality in our acts.
* Daillc, Sur. 3. Jean, p. HO.
v. 24.] on 1 1 \i. v.'.i.miii'. Bl l
>>'•■ should manage our hearts to i bad i vi i of God la bii heavenly
">■■
h. Spiritual worahip ii to 1"' performed mifa humility in our Hpiritn.
Thia ia to follow upon tl: ; «• I. A. ■■■>■ are t > ha-.e 1,
thou Q I. thai •., may noi debaee him, we m i low tti
mt before bim. When we 1 » «. of the
divine maji shall bi ea worma ia our own thoughts, and c
worms into his \\'.- 000 D( i" bim in his glory, hut
hi'. pportnnitv t > r< fleel a] on oui elv< , and con id< r bow ba
revolted from him, and h ly W« lie I him. Ah I
goepel affor reaterdi G nature* and 10 ana
f aim, so it help i us to a fuller under
vileness and weakness, and therefore is propi r to cng< ndei humility.
mora apiiitnal and evangelical therefore any • humble it
That is a spiritual lervioe thai doth moat manifeat the glory of God,
and this cannot, he manifested by DJ without manife8ting our OWD < inpti-
and nothingness. The heathens I ible of th .t.y of humility
by the light of nature; 4 after the nam' of G i mined by r B< u I on
the temple ai Delphos, followed I mw, wh aa inainnatedi that
when we have to do with (lod, who is the only En$, we should behave our-
selves witfa I of our own infirmity and infinite distance from him.
a person, so a duty, leavened with pride, hath nothing of sincerity, and there-
nothing of spirituality in it : Hah. ii. I, • Hil BOfll, which is lifted up,
II not upright in him.' The elders that were crowned by God to he ki
ami prieata, to otter spiritual sacrifices, uncrown themselves in their worship
of him, and cast down their ornaments at his feet, llcv. iv. 10 compared
with y. The Greek word to worship, - ft, lignifiei to creep like a dog
upon his belly before his master, to lie low. How deep should our sense
bl o{ the privilege of God's admitting us to his worship, and affording us
such a mercy under our deserts of wrath ! How mean should bo our
thoughts, both of our persons and performances ! How* patiently should
we wait upon God for the success of worship ! How did Abraham, the
father of the faithful, equal himself to the earth when he supplicated the
God of heaven, and devoted himself to him under the title of very dust and
es ! Gen. xviii. 27. Isaiah did but behold an evangelical apparition of
God and the angels worshipping him, and presently reflects upon his own
uncleanncss, Isa. vi. 5. God's presence both requires and causes humility.
How lowly is David in his own opinion, after a magnificent duty performed
by him.-' if and his people : 1 Chron. xxix. 14, ' Who am I ? and what is
my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly ? ' The more spiritual
the soul is m its carriage to God, the more humble it is ; and the more
gracious God is in his communications to the soul, the lower it lies.
God commanded not the fiercer creatures to be offered to him in sacrifices,
but lambs and kids, meek and lowly creatures ; none that had stings in
IBM ir tails or venom in their tongues. f The meek lamb was tho daily
sacrifice : the dovea wan to be offered by pairs ; God would not have hi
mixed with any sacrifice, Lev. ii. 11. That bi\ adl choler, and choler pride ;
but oil ho commanded to be QBad, that sir, :.d mollifies the parts.
Swelling \ ride and boiling passions render our services carnal ; they cannot
bo spiritual without an humble I -s and an innocent sincerity ; ono
grain of this tr || the most costly sacrifices. A contrite heart pal
gloss upon worship, Ps. Ii. 16, 17. The departure of men and angels from
* Plutarch, afoctl p. M4.
t Camlam acnleatam Tel linguam Digram Alexaud. ab Alex. 1. 3, c. 12,
312 chaenock's works. [John IY. 24.
God began in pride ; our approaches and return to him must begin in
humility ; and therefore all those graces which are bottomed on humility
must be acted in worship, as faith, and a sense of our own indigence. Our
blessed Saviour, the most spiritual worshipper, prostrated himself in the
garden with the greatest lowliness, and offered himself upon the cross a
sacrifice with the greatest humility. Melted souls in worship have the most
spiritual conformity to the person of Christ in the state of humiliation, and
his design in that state ; as worship without it is not suitable to God, so
neither is it advantageous for us. A time of worship is a time of God's
communication. The vessel must be melted to receive the mould it is
designed for ; softened wax is fittest to receive a stamp, and a spiritually
melted soul fittest to receive a spiritual impression. We cannot perform
duty in an evangelical and spiritual strain without the meltingness and
meanness in ourselves which the gospel requires.
9. Spiritual worship is to be performed with holiness. God is a holy
Spirit ; a likeness to God must attend the worshipping of God, as he is ;
holiness is alway in season, ' it becomes his house for ever,' Ps. xciii. 5.
We can never ' serve the living God ' till we have ' consciences purged from
dead works,' Heb. ix. 14. Dead works in our consciences are unsuitable to
God, an eternal living Spirit. The more mortified the heart, the more
quickened the service. Nothing can please an infinite purity but that which
is pure ; since God is in his glory in his ordinances, we must not be in our
filthiness. The holiness of his Spirit doth sparkle in his ordinances ; the
holiness of our spirits ought also to sparkle in our observance- of them.
The holiness of God is most celebrated in the worship of angels, Isa. vi. 3,
Rev. iv. 8. Spiritual worship ought to be like angelical ; that cannot be
with souls totally impure. As there must be perfect holiness to make a
worship perfectly spiritual, so there must be some degree of holiness to
make it in any measure spiritual. God would have all the utensils of the
sanctuary employed about his service to be holy ; the inwards of the sacrifice
were to be rinsed thrice.* The crop and feathers of sacrificed doves was to
be hungf eastward towards the entrance of the temple, at a distance from the
holy of holies, where the presence of God was most eminent, Lev. i. 16.
When Aaron was to go into the holy of holies, he was to sanctify himself
in an extraordinary manner, Lev. xvi. 4. The priests were to be barefooted
in the temple in the exercise of their office ; shoes alway were to be put off
upon holy ground : ' Look to thy foot when thou goest to the house of God/
saith the wise man, Eccles. v. 1. Strip the affections, the feet of the soul,
of all the dirt contracted ; discard all earthly and base thoughts from the
heart. A beast was not to touch the mount Sinai without losing his life ;
nor can we come near the throne with brutish affections without losing the
life and fruit of the worship. An unholy soul degrades himself from a spirit
to a brute, and the worship from spiritual to brutish. If any unmortified
sin be found in the life, as it was in the comers to the temple, it taints and
pollutes the worship, Isa. i. 15, Jer. vii. 9, 10. All worship is an acknow-
ledgment of the excellency of God as he is holy ; hence it is called a ' sancti-
fying God's name.' How can any person sanctify God's name that hath not
a holy resemblance to his nature ? If ho be not holy as he is holy, he
cannot worship him according to his excellency in spirit and in truth ; no
worship is spiritual wherein wo have not a communion with God. But
what intercourse can there bo between a holy God and an impure creature,
between light and darkness '? We have no fellowship with him in any
service, unless wo ' walk in tho light,' in service and out of service, as he is
* As the Jewish doctors obscrvo on Lev. i. 9. -f Qu. ' flung"? — Ed.
.Ions I V. -2 1. IF. B18
•. 1 John i. 7. 'I
God without washing their hands, when b\ Lh
their hi do ide th< l
fy in. thin' ; tli.- frame ol
mboli : I' . . 6, •] will wash i . bo
will 1 .-..uii, ass thine alt ; . I » l . B the app<
monies, but not without oli : ^ t:i :
t upon out rai I hip ; bn( toil i
be i are in the | . i !
in worship onghl to be our <'oniimi.il oare. It
service, wherein we would b tmunion with God, it must be in bolini
mid walk with Christ, it moil be in whrl ail. i. rIIu
the white " urm< nl i the | on when they went I
A - u ithOQl tin- we '•■•inn ■ « • ;
the beauty of (iod in his <>wn ordis
10. Bpiritnal worship is performed with spiritual en Is, with rai '"1 ain
the glory ft' < iod. No duty oan be Bpiritnal thai hath a carnal aim. Wl
: to be the prineipaJ « d I. In all our
he is to be I, as he is the principle of our being ; much more in
i he is th«> object of our worship. The worship of (iod in
Scriptuz by the - seeking of him,' II. ib. ri. ,- '. Htm, not our-
selves ; all is to be r< ferrt d I. Aj wi t. to live to ourselTes, I
;m il itate, worship fox
Rom. \iv. 7. 8. As all actions hit ■!. nomina' I from t: veil
• teir obj upon the sum.' account they are denomii iritual.
The end spiritualiseth our natural actions, much more 3
ilttes deyoted to him when the-, in him. If the intenti
i vil, there is nothing hut darkness in the whole service, Luke xi. B4.
first institution of the Sahhath, the solemn day for worship, was to con-
template the glorv of (iod in his stupendous works of creation, and rei.
him a homage for them : Rev, iv. 11, ■ Thou art worthy, Lord, to receive
honour, glory, and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy
rare tiny are and w< re created. 1 No worship can he re t urned withont
a glorifying of (iod ; and we cannot actually glorify him without direct a:
at the promoting his honour. As we have immediately to do with <<
W6 are immediately to mind the praise of (iod. As we are not to content
ourselves with habitual grace, but be rich in the exercise of it in worship, 80
t to acquit Be in habitual aims at the glory of God, without the
actual overflowing! of our hearts in those aims.
It is natural for man to worship God for m If. S df-rightcousness is the
rooted aim of man in his worship revolt from (iod; and being
ihle it is not to lie found in his natural actions, b s for it in .
d and religious, gj the- first pride we Hung G I off from being our
sov. mom being our and ; Bince a pharisaica] spirit struts it in
do things to be set U, hut to be admired I
1 . Iviii. :i, ■ Wherefore 1. and thou takest no know!
<> nip them instead of being worshipped by them.
I carriage, after his eacrif .1 in his warship ;
.
sovereign, and God tl.. and when his design is not an-
iv not pratifit ;. DO ire a rebd to (ml. and a murderer of
his brothi r. Sach baa I will rise up in OUT worship from I
death, which cleav. . and mix tl. ritfa OUT
with the fish in the net. David t: . after 1.. le bad offered will-
314 chaenock's works. [John IV. 24.
ingly to the temple, begs of God that their ' hearts might be prepared to
him,' 1 Chron. xxix. 18 ; that their hearts might stand right to God, without
any squinting to self-ends.
Some present themselves to God, as poor men offer a present to a great
person, not to honour them, but to gain for themselves a reward richer than
their gift. ' What profit is it that we have kept his ordinances?' &c, Mai.
iii. 14. Some worship him, intending thereby to make him amends for the
wrong they have done him, wipe off their scores, and satisfy their debts ; as
though a spiritual wrong could be recompensed with a bodily service, and
an infinite Spirit be outwitted and appeased by a carnal flattery. Self is
the spirit of carnality. To pretend a homage to God, and intend only the
advantage of self,|is rather to mock him than worship him. When we be-
lieve that we ought to be satisfied rather than God glorified; we set God
below ourselves, imagine that he should submit his own honour to our
advantage. We make ourselves more glorious than God, as though we were
not made for him, but he hath a being only for us ; this is to have a very
low esteem of the majesty of God. Whatsoever any man aims at in worship
above the glory of God, that he forms as an idol to himself instead of God,
and sets up a golden image. God counts not this as a worship. The offerings
made in the wilderness for forty years together, God esteemed as not offered
to him : Amos v. 25, ' Have you offered to me sacrifices and offerings in
the wilderness forty years, house of Israel ? ' They did it not to God,
but to themselves ; for their own security, and the attainment of the pos-
session of the promised land. A spiritual worshipper performs not worship
for some hopes of carnal advantage ; he uses ordinances as means to bring
God and his soul together, to be more fitted to honour God in the world in
his particular place. When he hath been inflamed and humble in any
address or duty, he gives God the glory ; his heart suits the doxology at the
end of the Lord's prayer, ascribes the kingdom, power, and glory to God
alone ; and if any viper of pride starts out upon him, he endeavours pre-
sently to shake it off. That which was the first end of our framing ought to
be the chief end of our acting towards God. But when men have the same
ends in worship as brutes, the satisfaction of a sensitive part, the service is
no more than brutish. The acting for a sensitive end is unworthy of the
majesty of God to whom we address, and unbecoming a rational creature.
The acting for a sensitive end is not rational, much less can it be a spiritual
service ; though the acting may be good in itself, yet not good in the agent,
because he wants a due end. We are then spiritual, when we have the same
end in our redeemed services as God had in his redeeming love, viz., his
own glory.
11. Spiritual service is offered to God in the name of Christ. Those are
only ' spiritual sacrifices ' that are ■ offered up to God by Jesus Christ,'
1 Peter ii. 5 ; that are the fruits of the sanctification of the Spirit, and
offered in the mediation of the Son. As the altar sanctifies the gift, so doth
Christ spiritualise our services for God's acceptation ; as the fire upon the
altar separated the airy and finer parts of the sacrifice from the terrene and
earthly. This is the golden altar upon which the prayers of the saints are
offered up before the throne, ltcv. viii. 3. As all that we have from God
streams through his blood, so all that we give to God ascends by virtue of
his merits. All the blessings God gave to the Israelites camo out of Zion, —
Ps. exxxiv. 3, ■ Tho Lord bless thee out of Zion,' — that is, from the gospel
hid under the law ; all tho duties wo present to God, are to be presented in
Zion, in an evangelical manner. All our worship must be bottomed on
Christ. God hath intended that wo should ' honour tho Son as wo honour
JoHX I V. fl 1. UUUTUAK BJUMUFi ^ 1 •"'
th< Father.' As we b( i: :ir the Father 1 • y off r'.: nlj t . )
BO we :iro ti) honour the Boo bj offering it only in his name. I .
I is w. 11 jil.ns. 1, POCHm in liim alone be finds our services spin:
worthy of acceptation. We must then fore take I of bin f
iptritti and tin- la !.r ... hold him, ti spiritual i. p. To
do anything in th.- DJU I ', is not t<> i i li< ffl :.. ..p shall
BCC< . hut to have on! ad HOOD ( ;
of it, .i tpon the work done* as oan il 1 1 pi an i ■ to do.
'Mi. nt their acknowledgments to God by man, ai on
only present his liy C'hri t. Lt WM nth rl v unlawful, :. hinldin
temple, to sacrifice anywh< . The t< mple boii ■' a I i it in
utterly unlawful for u.s to preeeot our
i is the way to l'«' spiritual. It 1 out of CI
. bare do other notions hut those of I behold
him a Spirit, hut environed with justice and wrath tor lim I ; huf. tic C
Blderation of him in Christ veils liis justice, draws forth Ins DK
•s him more b Father than a Judge. In Chri it, the aspect of jt
i, and by that the t • r 1 1 j > • i" of tip- eiva':;iv; BO that in and by '
liator we can have a spiritual 'boldness, and acoi God with sonfi-
denc . i ph. iii. 12, whereby tho spirit is kept from benumb I
distraction, and our souls quickened and refined. The thou
Christ, in a duty of worship, quickly elevates the soul, and spiritnalizetb
whole service. Sin makes our services hlack, and the blood of Christ m
b our j k ud services white.
To c include th
1 1 1 is a Spirit infinitely happy, therefore wo must approach to him with
cheerfulness ; be is a Spirit of infinite majesty, therefore we must come
ire him with r. \> renee ; he is a Spirit infinitely high, therefore ••
r up our sacrifices with the deepest humility; he is a Spirit infinitely
holy, therefore wo must address with purity; he is a Spirit infinitely glo-
rious, wo must therefore acknowledge his excellency in all that we do, I
in our measures contribute to his glory, by having tho highest aims in his
worship ; he is a Spirit infinitely provoked by us, therefore we must oiler
up our worship iu the name of a pacifying mediator and intercessor.
III. The third general is, "Why a spiritual worship is due to G< d, and to
be offered to him. Wo must consider the object of worship, and the sub-
ject of worship; tho worshipper and the worshipped. God is a spiritual
being, man is a reasonable creature. The nature of God informs us what
Lb fit to he presented to him; our own nature informs us what is fit to bo
I llted by US.
<>)i 1. The best we have is to be presented to God in worship. I'< r,
1. B '1 is tho most excellent being, he is to be served by DS with
tho most excellent thing wo have, and with tho choicest veneration. (.
[lent, that we cannot render him what he deseil
We must render him what we are able to other: the best of our ate I
the flower of our strength, tho cream and top of our spirits. By tho samo
reason that hound to give to h, l the 1 - s1 worship, we must oiler it
to him in th We cannot give to God anything too ■:
bo 1 rvices become not
his : . Mai. i. 1:5, li. [f is imbecoming the majesty of Q . and tho
reason of a en ature, to pive him a trivial thing. It is unworthy ow
th<- best of our Btrength on our hist, an 1 the wont and weakest in tho
An infinite Spirit should have affections as near to infinite
316 chaenock's wokks. [John IV. 24.
as we can. As he is a Spirit without bounds, so he should have a service
without limits : when we have given him all, we ' cannot serve him' accord-
ing to the excellency of his nature, Joshua xxiv. 19 ; and shall we give him
less than all ? His infinite excellency, and our dependence on him as crea-
tures, demands the choicest adoration. Our spirits being the noblest part
of our nature, are as due to him as the service of our bodies, which are the
vilest. To serve him with the worst only is to diminish his honour.
2. Under the law God commanded the best to be offered him. He would
have the males, the best of the kind ; the fat, the best of the creature,
Exod. xxix. 13, the inward fat, not the offals. He commanded them to
offer him the firstlings of the flock ; not the firstlings of the womb, but the
firstlings of the year, the Jewish cattle having two breeding times, in the
beginning of the spring and the beginning of September ; the latter breed was
the weaker, which Jacob knew, Gen. xxx., when he laid the rods before
the cattle when they were strong in the spring, and withheld them when
they were feeble in the autumn. One reason, as the Jews say, why God
accepted not the offerings of Cain was, because he brought the meanest, not
the best of the fruit ; and therefore it is said only that he brought of
the fruit of the ground, Gen. iv. 3, not the first of the fruit, or the best of
the fruit, as Abel, who brought the firstling of his flock, and the fat
thereof, ver. 4.
3. And this the heathen practised by the light of nature. They for the
most part offered males, as being more worthy ; and burnt the male, not
the female, frankincense, as it is divided into those two kinds. They offered
the best when they offered their children to Moloch. Nothing more excel-
lent than man, and nothing dearer to parents than their children, which
are parts of themselves. When the Israelites would have a golden calf
for a representation of God, they would dedicate their jewels, and strip
their wives and children of their richest ornaments, to shew their devotion.
Shall men serve their dumb idols with the best of their substance, and the
strength of their souls ; and shall the living God have a duller service from
us than idols had from them ? God requires no such hard but delightful
worship from us, our spirits.
4. All creatures serve man, by the providential order of God, with the
best they have. As we, by God's appointment, receive from creatures the
best they can give, ought w r e not with a free will render to God the best we
can offer ? The beasts give us their best fat, the trees their best fruit, the
sun its best light, the fountains their best streams : shall God order us
the best from creatures, and we put him off with the worst from ourselves ?
5. God hath given us the choicest thing he had : a Redeemer that was
1 the power of God, and the wisdom of God ;' the best he had in heaven,
his own Son, and in himself a sacrifice for us, that we might be enabled to
present ourselves a sacrifice to him. And Christ offered himself for us, the
best he had, and that with the strength of the Deity ' through the eternal
Spirit ;' and shall we grudge God the best part of ourselves ? As God would
have a worship from his creature, so it must be with the best part of his creature.
If we havo ' given ourselves to the Lord,' 2 Cor. viii. 5, we can worship
with no less than ourselves. What is the man without his spirit ? If we
are to worship God with all that we havo received from him, we must worship
him with the best part we havo received from him. It is but a small glory
wo can givo him with tho best, and shall we deprive him of his right by | I
giving him tho worst ? As what wo are is from God, so what we are
ought to bo for God. Creation is tho foundation of worship : Ps. c. 2, 8,
1 Servo tho Lord with gladness : know yo that the Lord he is God ; it is he
JOHW I V, 2 I. si-iiu 1 1 m. WOMMBt Bl 7
that made us.' Ilf hath onnoblod di with spiritual affections; when ii it
lit tts t for as to employ them, bo! upon him? and at what time, but when
ilemnlj to oonTersc with him ? Is
bonoor of his beel ' • to ni than ai
thing ni tin' world. < Itbcr tbi • d, that thi
from us, but our spirits are the mosl durable gift. B itional facull mot
I mo\ ed v, ithoul q dissolution of nature.
Weill then ; ' ;i 1 tod, be i to be bonotu . all the
and ardour that the Infiuit m-l
the incomparable* obligations be hath laid upon as in th
pur ban I . In all our worship, therefore, our minds on (hi to b i.'- 'I with
the admiration, love, and revereui rify
r not our end, and honour him not| onl<
choicest we have.
2. We cannot else act towards God accordn be natn
rational en atures. Spiritual worship is due to ( rod, bi can ■■• of bis natn
and due from as, because of our nature* As we are to ad G
arc to adore him as men, The nature of a rational creature mas
impression upon him: heoannoi view his own nature without haying this
duty striking upon his mind. As be knows by inspection into himself, that
there was a God that made him, so that be is made to be in subjection to
I, subjection to him in his spirit as well as bis body, and ought morally
to testify this natural dependence on him* His constitution informs him
that he hath a capacity to convene with (Jod J that he cannot CO] ith
him hut by those inward faculties. If it could bo managed by 1.
without his spirit, beasts might as well converse with God as men. Jt
never be s ' reasonable service' as it ought to be, Horn, xii. 1, unless tbo
unable faculties be employed in the management of it. It must be a
worship prodigiously lame, without the concurrence of the chiefeet part of
man with it. As we are to act conformably to the naturo of the object, so
also to the nature of our own faculties. Our faculties in the very gift of
them to us were destined to he exercised ; about what ? What ? All other
things but the author of them ? It is a conceit cannot enter into the heart
of a rational creature, that he should act as such a creature in other thii
and as a -tone in things relating to the donor of them ; as a man with his
mind about him in the allairs of tbo world, as a beast without reason in his
acts towards God. If a man did not employ his reason in other things, he
would be an unprofitable creature in the world. If he do not employ his
spiritual faculties in worship, he denies them the proper end and use for which
they l an him ; it is a practical denial that God hath given him a soul,
and that God hath any right to the exercise of it. It' there were no worship
appointed by God in the world, the natural inclination of man to some kind
of religion would be in vain ; and if our inward faculties not emp!
in the duties ^( religion, they would be in vain. The true end of God in
the endowment of us with them would be defeated by us, as much as lies in
us, if we did not serve him with that which we have from him solely
at his own cost. As no man can with reason conclude that the rest com-
manded on the Sabbath, and the sanctitication of it, was only a rest of the
.—that had In en performed by the beasts as well as men; but some
higher end was aimed at for the rational civature, — so no man can think
that the n.mmand for worship terminated only in t: BOS of the I
that God should give tho command to man as a reasonable creature, and
expect no other servico from him than that of a br
* Amy: it p. 311.
318 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
God did not require a worship from man for any want he had, or any-
essential honour that could accrue to him, but that men might testify their
gratitude to him, and dependence on him. It is the most horrid ingratitude
not to have lively and deep sentiments of gratitude after such obligations,
and not to make those due acknowledgments that are proper for a rational
creature. Religion is the highest and choicest act of a reasonable creature.
No creature under heaven is capable of it that wants reason. As it is a
violation of reason not to worship God, so it is no less a violation of reason
not to w r orship him with the heart and spirit. It is a high dishonour to
God, and defeats him not only of the service due to him from man, but that
which is due to him from all the creatures. Every creature, as it is an
effect of God's power and wisdom, doth passively worship God; that is, it
doth afford matter of adoration to man, that hath reason to collect it and
return it where it is due. Without the exercise of the soul, we can no more
hand it to God, than without such an exercise we can gather it from the
creature ; so that by this neglect the creatures are restrained from answering
their chief end ; they cannot pay any service to God without man ; nor can
man without the employment of his rational faculties render a homage to
God, any more than beasts can. This engagement of our inward power
stands firm and unviolable, let the modes of worship be what they will, or the
changes of them by the sovereign authority of God never so frequent, this could
not expire or be changed as long as the nature of man endured. As man
had not been capable of a command for worship, unless he had been endued
with spiritual faculties, so he is not active in a true practice of worship,
unless they be employed by him in it. The constitution of man makes this
manner of worship perpetually obligatory, and the obligation can never
cease till man cease to be a creature furnished with such faculties. In our
worship, therefore, if we would act like rational creatures, we should extend
all the powers of our souls to the utmost pitch, and essay to have appre-
hensions of God equal to the excellency of his nature, which though we may
attempt, we can never attain.
t Reason 3. Without this engagement of our spirits, no act is an act of
worship. True worship being an acknowledgment of God and the perfec-
tions of his nature, results only from the soul, that being only capable of
knowing God, and those perfections, which are the object and motive of
worship. The posture of the body is but to testify the inward temper and
affection of the mind. If therefore it testifies what it is not, it is a lie and
no worship. The cringes a beast may be taught to make to an altar may
as well be called worship, since a man thinks as little of that God he pre-
tends to honour, as the beast doth of the altar to which he bows. Worship
is a reverent remembrance of God, and giving some honour to him with the
intention of the soul. It cannot justly have the name of worship that wants
the essential part of it. It is an ascribing to God the glory of his nature,
an owning subjection and obedience to him as our sovereign Lord. This is
as impossible to be performed without the spirit as that there can be life
and motion in a body without a soul. It is a drawing near to God, not in
regard of his essential presence, — so all things are near to God, — but in
acknowledgment of his excellency, which is an act of the spirit ; without
this, the worst of men in a place of worship are as near to God as the best.
The necessity of the conjunction of our soul ariseth from the nature of wor-
ship, which being the most serious thing we can be employed in, the highest
converse with tho highest object requires the choicest temper of spirit in
the performance. That cannot be an act of worship which is not an act of
piety and virtue, but thero is no act of virtue done by the members of the
Jon IV. Mi ifuuTUAL wuMiif. :;i!j
.• wltiiout ths ooncnmnoi of I may m trail
call tho presence of a dead carcass in a pi. ice of \\oi\ship an net of religion,
as tin- | | of a 111 iv without an intent spirit.
Of (In- lOOl from 0D1 il natural, tin; oil; !; tliat ,<\y
lift less, bat this renders tin- act loathsome I the
soul gives lift; to the 1 Um 0] the
actions. As lie cai form of ■ n. to, I | si .
soul, 10 that cannot bu hip that want an e ., ant ial pai t, the act of |
spirit. ( k>d i ill ool fooob ilia an; without I
lisite qnalifi : M ■ ■ i v. 8, 'Tiny shall go with i.
tlwir herds to Mokthi Lord,' Ac A multitude of lamb and bolloci for
■aerinee to epp< i G A'l sag . God would not give it tb
ship, though instituted by himself, when it wand 1 the QUalitii of loh I
. iv. The spirit of whoredom was in the midst of them, fi r« i. [ot
judgment of our Saviour it is a vain worship, WOOD tin; traditions of I
are taught for the doctrines of God, Mat. xv. ( J ; and DO I \ OS DO I t it
1m, when the bodies of men are presented to supplj the plase of their spirits.
IB Omission of duty is a contempt of (ioi reign authority, so I
omission of the manner of it is a contempt of it, an 1 of Oil smisbL I
lency ; and that which is a contempt and mockery can lay no jut claim to
the title o( worship.
R •' ■■ 1. There is in worship an approach of God to man. It
instituted U) this purpose, that God might give out his blessings to DO
And Ought not our spirits to he prepftiod an 1 fl aly to receive his communi-
cations '.' We are in such acts more- peculiarly in his presence. In the
Israelites 1 hearing the law, it said God was to ' come among them,' Exod.
xix. It), 11, Then, men aro said to stand before the Lord: Deut. x. 9,
1 G I I ire whom 1 stand;' that is, whom I worship. And therefore
wlnn Cain forsook the worship of God, settled in his father's family, ho is
I to 'go out from the presence of the Lord,' Gen. iv. 1G. God is
essentially present in the world, graciously present in his church. The
name of the evangelical city is Jehovah Shammak: Ezck. xlviii. 35, 'The
Lord is there.' God is more graciously present in the evangelical institu-
tions than in the legal; he 'loves the gates of Zion, more than all tho
dwellings of Jacob,' Ps. lxxxvii. 2. His evangelical law and worship which
was to go forth from Zion, as tho other did from Sinai, Micah iv. 2. God
delights to approach to men, and converse with them in the worship insti-
tuted in the gospel, more than in all the dwellings of Jacob. If God be
graciously present, ought not we to bo spiritually present ? A lifeless
earcass service becomes not so high and delectable a presence as this ; it is
to thrust him from us, not invite him to us ; it is to practise in tho ordi-
nances what tho prophet predicts concerning men's usage of our Saviour:
. liii. 2, ' There is no form, no comeliness, nor beauty that we should desiro
him.' A slightnesi in worship reflects upon the excellency of the object of
worship. God and his worship are so linked together, that whosoever thinks
the one not worth his inward care, esteems the other not worth his inw .
affection. How unworthy a slight is it of God, who proffers the opening his
treasure, the n-impres.-ing his imago, conferring his K> us
into his pn when he hath no need for us, wdio hath millions of angels
1 him in his court, and celebrate his praise ! He that worships uot
God with his spirit, regards not God's e in his ordinane
slights the groat end of God in them, and that perfection he may attain by
them. We can only expect what God hath promised to giv. . wo
render to him what ho hath commanded us to present. If we put oil' God
320 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
with a shell, he will put us off with a husk. How can we expect his heart,
when we do not not give him ours ? or hope for the blessing needful for us,
when we render not the glory due to him ? It cannot be an advantageous
worship without spiritual graces ; for those are uniting, and union is the
ground of all communion.
Beasoji 5. To have a spiritual worship is God's end in the restoration of
the creature, both in redemption by his Son, and sanctification by his Spirit.
A fitness for spiritual offerings was the end of the coming of Christ, Mai.
iii. 3. He should purge them, as gold and silver by fire, a spirit burning up
their dross, melting them into a holy compliance with, and submission to,
God. To what purpose ? That they may ' offer to the Lord an offering
in righteousness,' a pure offering from a purified spirit. He came to
* bring us to God,' 1 Peter iii. 18, in such a garb as that we might be fit
to converse with him. Can w r e be thus without a fixedness of our spirits
on him ?
The ' offering of spiritual sacrifices ' is the end of making any ■ a spiritual
habitation, and a holy priesthood,' 1 Peter ii. 5. We can no more be
worshippers of God, without a worshipper's nature, than a man be a man
without human nature. As man was at first created for the honour and
worship of God, so the design of restoring that image, which was defaced
by sin, tends to the same end. We are not brought to God by Christ, nor
are our services presented to him, if they be without our spirits. Would any
man, that undertakes to bring another to a prince, introduce him in a slovenly
and sordid habit, such a garb that he knows hateful to him ? or bring the
clothes or skin of a man stuffed with straw, instead of the person ? To
come with our skins before God, without our spirits, is contrary to the design
of God in redemption and regeneration.
If a carnal worship would have pleased God, a carnal heart would have
served his turn, without the expense of his Spirit in sanctification. He
bestows upon man a spiritual nature, that he may return to him a spiritual
service. He enlightens the understanding, that he may have a rational
service, and new moulds the will, that he may have a voluntary service. As
it is the milk of the word wherewith he feeds us, so it is the service of the
word wherewith we must glorify him. So much as there is of confusedness
in our understanding, so much of starting and levity in our wills, so much
of slipperiness and skipping in our affections, so much is abated of the due
qualities of the worship of God, and so much we fall short of the end of
redemption and sanctification.
Reason 6. A spiritual worship is to be offered to God, because no worship
but that can J)e acceptable. We can never be secured of acceptance without
it. He being a Spirit, nothing but the worship in spirit can be suitable to
him. What is unsuitable cannot be acceptable. There must be something
in us, to make our services capable of being presented by Christ for an actual
acceptation. No service is ■ acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,' but as it is
a ' spiritual sacrifice,' and offered by a spiritual heart, 1 Pet. ii. 5. The
sacrifice is first spiritual, before it be acceptable to God by Christ. When
it is ' an offering in righteousness,' it is then, and only then, pleasant to the
Lord, Mai. iii. 8, 4. No prince would accept a gift that is unsuitable to his
majesty, and bolow the condition of the person that presents it. Would he
bo pleased with a bottlo of water for drink, from one that hath his cellar full
of wine ? How unacceptable must that be that is unsuitable to the divine
majesty ! And what can bo moro unsuitable, than a withdrawing the opera-
tions of our souls from him, in the oblation of our bodies ? We as little
' glorify God as God' when wo givo him only a corporeal worship, as the
John IV. 21.] spiritual wonsnir. 821
1: then did when the] nted him In a eorpofoal ibape, Bom. L SI ;
one m well us ili«« other denies his ipiritotl nature. Thii ii iron •, for bad
it been lawful I God to the eye, it oool bot
by ■ bodily B pre raited I i >!•• ; bnt sines it is ooeoonary to worship
him, it cannot I..- hv I bottt 1 1 j 'ion of the
spirit A ipiritaal frame "'">'
adornments, tlmn tl and the ii ;h< -t prophetical illaminati
The glory of lli^ I tnnpli I
A <i l accounts the ipiritaal glory ofordinencei mo I for oj, so
our ipiritaal ettendanos upon ordiaaoc bim. II" that
often the great I riees without it, offers bat fle b: n ■ . riii. 18, ' 1
ifloe Booh In the saerifioee of my offerings, hut the Lord u
not.' Spiritual fr.mi. - IN the soul m religious services ; fill other carriages
without them, are eontemptible to thii spirit. Weeao neroi larelam
tli it promiee of God, nun,- ihall ' leek my bee in fain. 1 Wt inset a nun
of bim, when we want a doe temper of spirit fox him ; end rain
spirits shall ban rain returns. It is more contrary to the natm G d'l
holiness to hare eommnnion with such, than it is contrary to tho nature of
light to hare oommnnion with darkness.
1 Y. To make OM of this :
/ 1. First, it serves for information.
1. If spiritual worship bo required by God, how sad is it for thorn that
are so far from giving God a ipiritaal worship, that they render him no
worship at all ! 1 speak not of tho neglect of puhlic, but of private ; when
men present not a devotion to God from one year's end to the other. Tho
speech of our Saviour, that we must worship God in spirit and in truth,
implies that a worship is duo to him from every one. That is the common
impression upon the eonselenoei of all men in tho world, if they hare not,
by some constant course in grosi sins, hardened their souls, and stifled those
natural sentiments. There was never a nation in the world without some
kind of religion, and no religion was ever without some modes to testify a
devotion. The heathens had their sacrifices and purifications ; and the Jews,
by God's order, had their rites whereby they were to express their allegiance
to God.
Consider,
(1.) Worship is a duty incumbent upon all men. It is a homage mankind
owes to God, under the relation wherein he stands obliged to him. It is a
prime and immutable justice to own our allegiance to him. It is as unchange-
able a truth that God is to be worshipped, as that God is. He is to be wor-
shipped as God, as Creator, and therefore by all, since he is the Creator of
all, the Lord of all, and all are his creatures, and all are his subjects. Wor-
ship is founded upon creation, Ps. c. 2, 3. It is due to God for himself and
Ueoey, and therefore due from all. It is due upon the
account of man's nature. The human rational nature is the same in all.
"Whatsoever is due to God upon tho account of man's nature, and the natural
obligations he hath laid upon man, is duo from all men, because they all
enjoy tho benefits which ere proper to their nature.
D in no state Wl | h d, not Ban 1 I exempt d from it. In par
had his Sabbath meats. Man tin r. fore dissolves the obligation
of a r by neglecting the worship of God.
B in the first pUc I. As soon ae Noah eame out of
the ark, he contrived not a habitation for himself, but an altar for the Lord,
.-knowledge him the author of his preservation from the doing I
VOL. I. X
322 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
viii. 20 ; and wheresoever Abraham came, his first business was to erect an
altar, and pay his arrears of gratitude to God, before he ran upon the score
for new mercies, Gen. xii. 7, xiii. 4, 18. He left a testimony of worship
wherever he came.
(2.) Wholly therefore to neglect it, is a high degree of atheism. He that
* calls not upon God,' * saith in his heart, There is no God,' and seems to
have the sentiments of natural conscience as to God stifled in him, Ps. xiv.
1, 4. It must arise from a conceit that there is no God, or that we are
equal to him (adoration not being due from persons of an equal state), or
that God is unable or unwilling to take notice of the adoring acts of his
creatures. What is any of these but an undeifying the supreme Majesty ?
When we lay aside all thoughts of paying any homage to him, we are in a
fair way opinionatively to deny him, as much as we practically disown him.
Where there is no knowledge of God, that is, no acknowledgment of God, a
gap is opened to all licentiousness, Hos. iv. 1, 2 ; and that by degrees brawns
the conscience, and razeth out the sense of God. Those forsake God that
' forget his holy mountain,' Isa. lxv. 11. They do not practically own him
as the Creator of their souls or bodies. It is the sin of Cain, who, turning
his back upon worship, is said to ■ go out from the presence of the Lord,'
Gen. iv. 16. Not to worship him with our spirits, is against his law of
creation ; not to worship him at all, is against his act of creation ; not to
worship him in truth is hypocrisy ; not to worship him at all is atheism,
whereby we render ourselves worse than the worms in the earth, or a toad
in a ditch.
(3.) To perform a worship to a false God, or to the true God in a false
manner, seems to be less a sin than to live in perpetual neglect of it. Though
it be directed to a false object instead of God, yet it is under the notion of a
God, and so is an acknowledgment of such a being as God in the world ;
whereas the total neglect of any worship is a practical denying of the exist-
ence of any supreme Majesty.
Whosoever constantly omits a public and private worship, transgresses
against an universally-received dictate, for all nations have agreed in the
common notion of worshipping God, though they have disagreed in the
several modes and rites whereby they would testify that adoration. By a
worship of God, though superstitious, a veneration and reverence of such a
being is maintained in the world ; whereas by a total neglect of worship, he
is virtually disowned and discarded, if not from his existence, yet from his
providence and government of the world. All the mercies we breathe in are
denied to flow from him. A foolish worship owns religion, though it be-
spatters it. As if a stranger coming into a country mistakes a subject for
the prince, and pays that reverence to the subject which is due to the prince,
though he mistakes the object, yet he owns an authority ; or if he pays any
respect to the true prince of that country after the mode of his own, though
appearing ridiculous in the place where he is, he owns the authority of the
prince ; whereas the omission of all respect would be a contempt of majesty.
And therefore, the judgments of God have been more signal upon the sacri-
legious contemners of worship among the heathens, than upon those that
were diligent and devout in their false worship ; and they generally owned
the blessings received, to tho preservation of a sense and worship of a deity
among them. Though such a worship bo not acceptable to God, and every
man is bound to offer to God a devotion agreeable to his own mind, yet it is
commendable, not as worship, but as it speaks an acknowledgment of such a
being as God, in his power in creation, and his beneficence in his providence.
Well, then, omissions of worship aro to be avoided. Lot no man execute
John IV. 84, EBTTUAI IF,
tli ii op '•! him •• If, which God will
fend bid God d no him, who will at 1 1 ' ir God bid bin
dep I liim. '1 h man liatli ' to be
wor \ in ' an h" t, or
it him in a ' !i dit in mil -r. 1 1 •
if attention npon the fourth command, ' Ii member I p holy
tin 1 S ibbath 'I i < ' ' I
11 1 ' in it. 'I mmund thoroforo, which cona i
\v i 1 1
lei au\ • I cannot find
in it. 'I'll.- farther from God, the moro carnal mull w N'n man
from the sunl
G I commanded ;> circumcised heari in the J< I I"'
ttward tost of religion Ii" bad then
appointed; In* rding to his command* thai th
tli<> sacrifices, and practise the legal purifications he had commandi
would have them diligently (h he had di that he imp • I
them only for a tin: . II Saviour <>:•! PC 1 tin' practice of I
tiw rights as long as the law remained anrepealed, as in the ease of I
r, Mark \iv. I. It is an injustice t ) refuse tin- ofterin
to the manner lie hath in his wisdom prescribed rain 1.
I • piritn il worship I ■ l. then
2. It informs ns, tint diligence in ontward worship is not to 1 ; in.
t* may attend all their days on worshipi with a j i heart and on-
quickened frame, and think to compensate the neglect of the manner, with
abundance of the matter of service. ( I
and liv nol the itself. As th. th of sin lies in
the inward frame of the h. art, so tl tgth of worship in the inward com-
plezion and temper oi the sonl. Whai do a thousar: 1 'vail, with-
out Cutting the throat ofoOT carnal aff I What are loud praveTS, hut
ounding brass and tinkling cymbals, without divine charity I A Phari-
saical dilig< nee in outward form-, without inward spirit, had no better a title-
by <mr Saviour, than that of hypocritical. God d -'res not
Lfices, nor delights in burnt offerings. Shadows arc not to be offered
of substance. God required the heart of man for itself; but com-
manded ontward ceremonies, as subservient to inward worship,
and spurs unto it. Th never appointed as the substance of religion,
auxiliaries to it. "What value had the offering of the human nature of
Chri ; of, if he had OOt had a divine nature to qualify him the
pri " I And what is the oblation of our bodies, without a prie8tly act of
t in the ,'ation of it ! Could th I lites have called them-
mhippers «>f God according to his order, if they had brought a
that had died in a ditch, or been killed at borne ? They
Mr, the I at the foot of it. A
ithout, had no* luable as one brought
alive to tin Iter than a thousand
rott' ire iii tl .vithout
relai th.- antitype, so fa H the ontward i
hip, without faith in the Red I ! -r a holy with a sapless
of the same nature with that of the Israel n they
A I spiritual worship is dead whiles he
h by hi Is of it, bo may, like the
angel of the ehorefa a name to live,' Kev. iii. 1. What
• Daille, . ii.
324 chaenock's -works. [John IV. 24.
security can we expect from a multitude of dead services ! "What weak
shields are they against the holy eye and revenging wrath of God ! What
man, but one out of his wits, would solicit a dead man to be his advocate or
champion ? Diligence in outward worship is not to be rested in.
Use 2. Shall be for examination. Let us try ourselves concerning the
manner of our worship. We are now in the end of the world, and the dregs
of time ; wherein the apostle predicts, there may be much of a ■ form, and
little of the power of godliness,' 2 Tim. iii. 1, 5. And therefore it stands
us in hand to search into ourselves, whether it be not thus with us ; whether
there be as much reverence in our spirits, as there may be devotion in our
countenances and outward carriages.
1. How therefore are our hearts prepared to worship? Is our diligence
greater to put our hearts in an adoring posture, than our bodies in a decent
garb ? Or are we content to have a muddy heart, so we may have a dressed
carcass ? To have a spirit a cage of unclean birds, while we wipe the filth
from the outside of the platter, is no better than a pharisaical devotion, and
deserves no better a name than that of a whited sepulchre.
Do we take opportunities to excite and quicken our spirits to the perform-
ance, and cry aloud with David, ' Awake, awake, my glory '? Are not our
hearts asleep when Christ knocks ? When we hear the voice of God, ' Seek
my face,' do we answer him with warm resolutions, ' Thy face, Lord, we
will seek'? Ps. xxvii, 8. Do we comply with spiritual motions, and strike
whiles the iron is hot ? Is there not more of reluctancy than readiness ? Is
there a quick rising of the soul in reverenee to the motion, as Eglon to
Ehud, or a sullen hanging the head at the first approach of it ? Or if our
hearts seem to be engaged and on fire, what are the motives that quicken
that fire ? Is it only the blast of a natural conscience, fear of hell, desires
of heaven as abstracted from God ? Or is it an affection to God, an obe-
dient will to please him, longings to enjoy him, as a holy and sanctifying
God in his ordinances, as well as a blessed and glorified God in heaven ?
What do we expect in our approaches from him? That which may make
divine impressions upon us, and more exactly conform us to the divine
nature ? Or do we design nothing but an empty formality, a rolling eye,
and a filling the air with a few words, without any openings of heart to
receive the incomes, which according to the nature of the duty might be
conveyed to us ? Can this be a spiritual worship ? The soul then ' closely
waits' upon him, when its ' expectation is only from him,' Ps. lxii. 6. Are
our hearts seasoned with a sense of sin, a sight of our spiritual wants,
raised notions of God, glowing affections to him, strong appetite after a
spiritual fulness ? Do we rouse up our sleepy spirits, and make a covenant
with all that is within us to attend upon him ? So much as we want of
this, so much we come short of a spiritual worship. In Ps. lvii. 7, ' My
heart is fixed, God, my heart is fixed.' David would fix his heart, before
he would engage in a praising act of worship. He appeals to God about it,
and that with doubling the expression, as being certain of an inward pre-
paredness. Can we make tho same appeals in a fixation of spirit ?
2. How are our hearts fixed upon him, how do they cleave to him in the
duty ? Do wo resign our spirits to God, and make them an entire holocaust,
a whole burnt-offering in his worship ? Oh, do we not willingly admit carnal
thoughts to mix themselves with spiritual duties, and fasten our minds to
tho creature, under pretences of directing them to the Creator ? Do we not
pass a mere compliment on God, by some superficial act of devotion, while
somo covetous, envious, ambitious, voluptuous imagination may possess our
minds ? Do we not invert God's order, and worship a lust instead of God
.Toi:\- IV. fl 1.] BPinn iai. woi:i imp.
With our spirit, that should DOl baffll the I • sHbet from our souls
Of I", lief, lut widi :i ipiritual disdain I"- serineed to the just indignation of
God? ii »w <>H. n do ' ii al, mi tar ;'
instaad of eruoif su thoa L rdofouruTafj ow
outward aai I ooi inward stark naught ! Do wo not often
regard iniquity mora than God In ooi baarta, in i ' wot nip, roll
soma filthy imi i aa a sweet morsel under our * i,rn
than in <i "!'.' Do not. our ipiriti imeU rani of tartta
whil ; r to li ' l b n full of thick el ' !i(, ' r
' bandi ware fill of blood' '•' I a. L L5. Whan W6 narifl 4 wrap
op our lonli in <• tmmunion with some sordid fancy, whan we mould sntwme
our ipiriti about an amiabl G I '•' While we hi d him, i
lore to somethii bin f Thi i i to >, or
iwaar by the Lord, end by tfalenam, Zeph. i. r>. n d doth an a]
fancy ren ier e service inwardly ridiculous, under outward postuMi
skipping to the shop, wareho mting-house, in the spaeeof ■ short
prayer] And we are before God as i Babel, a confusion of internal Ian-
■ I this in those parts of worship which are in the right use moat
agreeable to God, profitable for ourselYes, ruinous to the kingdom of sin
ami Sat in, and me HIS to bring US into a closer communion with tl o divine
majesty. Can this be i spiritual worship?
'A. Bowdoi in worship? Though the instrument he strung,
if t In* Btrings be not wound up, what melody ean be the issue? All readi-
1 alacrity discover a strength of nature, and a read Hi CSS in spirituals
irituality in the heart. As nnsifecting th of God are
not spiritual thoughts, so unanTeeting addresses to God are not spiritual
add' Well then, what awakenings and elevations of faith and love-
have we? what strong outflowing of our souls to him? what indignation
inet sin? what admirations of redeeming grace? How low have we
brought our corruptions to the footstool of Christ, to be mado his con-
quered enemies ? how straitly have wo clasped our faith about the cross and
the throne of < to become his intimate spouse? Do we in hearing
hang upon the lips of Christ ; in prayer, take hold of God and will not let
him go ; in confession, rend the caul of our hearts, and indict out souls
before him with a deep humility ? Do we act more by a soaring love than
a drooping fear ? So far as our spirits are servile, so far they are legal and
carnal ; so much as they aro free and spontaneous, so much they are evan-
gelical and spiritual. As men under the law are subject to the constraint of
. Heb. ii. 15, ' all their lifetime,' in all their worship, so under the
ipel they are under a constraint of love, 2 Cor. v. 11. How then are
believing affections exercised, which are always accompanied with holy I
a f. ar of his goodness that admits us into his presence, and a fear to offend
him in our act of worship ? So much as we have of forced or feeble affec-
tion, so much we have of carnality.
1. li v do We find our harts after worship? By our after-carriage wo
may judge ^i the spirituality of it.
(1.) How ai I to inward strength ? When a worship is spiritually
M is more strengthened, corruption more mortified. The
soul, like Samson after his awakening, goes out with a renewed strength.
As tho inward man is renewed day by day, that is, every day, so it is
renewed in every worship. Every shower makes tho grass and fruit grow
in g •■ rand where the root I, and the weeds where the ground is
naught. The more prepared the heart is to obedience in other duties after
worship, tho more evidence there is that it hath been spiritual in the eicr-
326 chaenock's wokks. [John IY. 24.
cise of it. It is the end of God in every dispensation, as in that of John
Baptist, to • make ready a people prepared for the Lord,' Luke i. 17 ; when
the heart is by worship prepared for fresh acts of obedience, and hath a
more exact watchfulness against the encroachments of sin. As carnal men,
after worship, sprout up in spiritual wickedness, so do spiritual worshippers
in spiritual graces. Spiritual fruits are a sign of a spiritual frame. When
men are more prone to sin after duty, it is a sign there was but little com-
munion with God in it, and a greater strength of sin, because such an act is
contrary to the end of worship, which is the subduing of sin. It is a sign
the physic hath wrought well, w r hen the stomach hath a better appetite to its
appointed food; and worship hath been well performed when we have a
stronger inclination to other acts well pleasirig to God, and a more sensible
distaste of those temptations we too much relished before. It is a sign of a
good concoction, when there is a greater strength in the vitals of religion, a
more eager desire to know God. When Moses had been praying to God,
and prevailed with him, he puts up a higher request, to behold his glory,
Exod. xxxiii. 13, 18. When the appetite stands strong to fuller discoveries
of God, it is a sign there hath been a spiritual converse with him.
(2.) How is it especially as to humility. The Pharisees' worship was,
without dispute, carnal ; and we find them not more humble after all their
devotions, but over-grown with more weeds of spiritual pride ; they per-
formed them as their righteousness. What men dare plead before God in
his day, they plead before them in their hearts in their day ; but this men
will do at the day of judgment, 'we have prophesied in thy name,' &c, Mat.
vii. 11. They shew what tincture their services left upon their spirits.
That which excludes them from any acceptation at the last day, excludes
them from any estimation of being spiritual in this day. The carnal wor-
shippers charge God with injustice in not rewarding them, and claim an
acceptation as a compensation due to them : Isa. lviii. 3, ' Wherefore have
we afflicted our souls, and thou takest no knowledge?' A spiritual wor-
shipper looks upon his duties with shame, as well as he doth upon his sins
with confusion, and implores the mercy of God for the one as well as the
other. In Psalm cxliii. 2, the prophet David, after his supplications, begs
of God not to enter into judgment with him, and acknowledges any answer
that God should give him, as a fruit of his faithfulness to his promise, and
not the merit of his worship. * In thy faithfulness answer me,' &c. What-
soever springs from a gracious principle, and is the breath of the Spirit, leaves
a man more humble ; whereas that which proceeds from a stock of nature, hath
the true blood of nature running in the veins of it, viz., that pride which is
naturally derived from Adam. The breathing of the divine Spirit is in
everything to conform us to our Kedeemer ; that being the main work of his
office is his work in every particular Christian act influenced by him. Now
Jesus Christ in all his actions was an exact pattern of humility. After the
institution and celebration of the Supper, a special act of worship in the
church, though he had a sense of all the authority his Father had given him,
yet he humbles himself to wash his disciples' feet, John xiii. 2-4. And
after his sublime prayer, John xvii., he humbles himself to the death, and
oners himself to his murderers, because of his Father's pleasure : John
xviii. 1, ' When he had spoken those words, he went over the brook KedroiT
into the garden. What is the end of God in appointing worship is the end
of a spiritual heart in offering it, not his own exaltation, but God's glory.
Glorifying tho namo of God is the fruit of that evangelical worship the
Gontiles were in timo to give to God : Ps. lxxxvi. 9, ■ All nations which
thou hast mado shall come and worship before thee, Lord ; and shall
JoliN IV. 'J I. Sl'IKIHAl. W.Kiill'. B27
glorify thy name.' I.. 1 U examine, Hi, n, wi BDg ourselves tie r
in of Mm- own vil.nr. s tnd glorioiu i Spirit.
SrliMrni.il ii tin- heart <«f all go I. [olicol spiritual worahip
mi »t be without the at of the main
\\ ii.it u, 1. ■■ ' V, • | and what ig
tin" oojecl of that ] i amunioo b td with Godi i
ilii.-n.- \ in i I it something which bath touched on ,,r
tickled our fane ' \ th th of Bin \a known by th 'f<d
tlic : it aftor tln« oomii the
object of our delightful romombrance after the perxonnani , [I was a
David ritual in the worship of God in the tabernacl I 1
it. I ed for the spiritual part of it when he was exiled from it.
II :ily for liberl the tab rnacle, bul
* power and glory of < tod is the I' •
buii. 2. His d for it oonld not have been ao ardent, if hi
upon what had paaaad had not been delightful; dot could oil aoul be i I
out in him for the want of Buch opportumtiefi if the remembrance c wu-
• he had had with < tod had noi bean accompanied with i delightful reli
r . alii. I. Let ui examine what delight we find in ourspiril nip.
I's? :i is of comfort. An<l it is \. rv aomfortabla I i ler that toe
leal worahip with tin 1 bear! and spirit, flowing from a principle ofgn .
is more acceptable than the moat pompom vent ration, yea, if the oblal
were aa preoioua aa the whole circuit of heaven and earth, without it. That
eup of cold wai □ to any as nil disciple, will value
rvioe above s costly Bacrince. God hath his eye upon them that
honour his nature. II.- would not 'seek such to Worship him' if he did not
intend tO aceepi Mich a worship from them. "When wc therefor.: invoko
him, and prai8e]him, which are the prime parti of religion, he will receivo
it I ..our from us, and 0V< rlook intirmities mixed with the graces.
The great [natter of discomfort, and that which makes us question tho
spirituality of worship, is the many starts of our spirits and roving! to other
thin
r to which,
1. It is to be confessed that these starts arc natural to us. Who is free
from them '? We bear in our own bosom a nest of turbulent thoughts, which,
like busy gnats, will be buzzing about us while we are in our most inward and
spiritual converses. Many wild beasts lurk in a man's heart, as in a close
and covert wood, and scarce' discover themselves but at our solemn worship.
Xo duty BO holy, no worship so spiritual, that can wholly privilege us
from them. They will jog us in our most weighty employments, that, as
I said to Cain, sin lies at the door, and enters in, and makes a riot in
our souls. As it is said of wicked men, they cannot sleep for multitudo of
thoughts, Eccles. v. 12, so it may be of many a good man, he cannot wor-
ship for multitudo of thoughts. There will bo starts, and more in our
religious than natural employments; it is natural to man. Some therefore
think thel tied to Aaron'fl garments between the pomegrana: to
warn the people, and recall their fugitive mindl to the present service, wl
they heard the sound of them, upon the least motion of the high pri
The Bacrifice of Abraham, the father of the faithful, was not t from
the f..wis picking at it, Gen. xv. 11. Zeehariah himself was drowsy in the
midst of his vision, which being more ai causo a heavenly
intentneaa: Zech. iv. l. pel that talked with me came again, and
awaked me, as a man out of sleep." He had |>een roueed up
before, but he was ready to drop down again; his heart was gone t.ll the
328 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
angel jogged him. We may complain of such imaginations, as Jeremiah
doth of the enemies of the Jews : Lam. iv. 19, ' Our persecutors are swifter
than eagles ; ' they light upon us with as much speed as eagles upon a car-
cass ; they pursue us upon the mountain of divine institution, and they lay
wait for us in the wilderness, in our retired addresses to God.
And this will be so while,
(1.) There is natural corruption in us. There are in 'a godly man two
contrary principles, flesh and spirit, which endeavour to hinder one an-
other's acts,,and are always stirring upon the offensive or defensive part,
Gal. v. 17. There is a body of death continually exhaling its noisome
vapours. It is a body of death in our worship as well as in our natures ;
it snaps our resolutions asunder, Rom. vii. 19 ; it hinders us in the doing
good, and contradicts our wills in the stirring up evil. This corruption
being seated in all the faculties, and a constant domestic in them, has the
greater opportunity to trouble us, since it is by those faculties that we
spiritually transact with God ; and it stirs more in the time of religious
exercises, though it be in part mortified ; as a wounded beast, though
tired, will rage and strive to its utmost, when the enemy is about to fetch a
blow at it. All duties of worship tend to the wounding of corruption ; and
it is no wonder to feel the striving of sin to defend itself and offend us, when
we have our arms in our hands to mortify it, that the blow may be diverted
which is directed against it.
The apostles had aspiring thoughts, and being persuaded of an earthly
kingdom, expected a grandeur in it. And though we find some appearance
of it at other times, — as when they were casting out devils, and gave an
account of it to their Master, he gives them a kind of a check, Luke x. 20,
intimating that there was some kind of evil in their rejoicing upon that
account, — yet this never swelled so high as to break out into a quarrel who
should be greatest, until they had the most solemn ordinance, the Lord's
supper, to quell it, Luke xxii. 24. Our corruption is like lime, which dis-
covers not its fire by any smoke or heat till you cast water, the enemy of
fire, upon it ; neither doth our natural corruption rage so much as when we
are using means to quench and destroy it.
(2.) While there is a devil, and we in his precinct. As he accuseth us to
God, so he disturbs us in ourselves ; he is a bold spirit, and loves to intrude
himself when we are conversing with God. We read that when the angels
presented themselves before God, Satan comes among them, Job i. 6.
Motions from Satan will thrust themselves in with our most raised and
angelical frames. He loves to take off the edge of our spirits from God;
he acts but after the old rate ; he from the first envied God an obedience
from man, and envied man the felicity of communion with God; he is
unwilling God should have the honour of worship, and that we should have
the fruit of it ; he hath himself lost it, and therefore is unwilling we should
enjoy it; and being subtle, he knows how to make impressions upon us suit-
able to our inbred corruptions, and assaults us in the weakest part ; he
knows all the avenues to get within us (as he did in the temptation of Eve),
and being a spirit, ho wants not a power to dart them immediately upon our
fancy; and being a spirit, and therefore active and nimble, he can shoot
thoso darts faster than our weakness can beat them off. He is diligent
also, and watcheth for his prey, and seeks to devour our services as well as
our souls, and snatch our best morsels from us. We know he mixed him-
self with our Saviour's retirements in the wilderness, and endeavoured to
fly-blow his holy converse with his Father in the preparation to his media-
tory work.
.1 EX l\'. 14.] spikiii \i. WCH
i i Q i'; np^, rui'l imitates the Spirit in
braneer. Ah the Spirit bri I ' and dlTUM DTO - mind,
to quicken our iroi liip, s<i ti..- • i . - -, l i.r.n >h evil t ! i dud I, an I 1 1 lee>
foun to Easten th. m in our loul i to di tnrb as. And though all th<
o liavo in woi hip am nut pun
he claps his hands, ami I them «>n I.I..
vico in ■
An I both thoM di which ari is from our \
, in wor ihip wh< □ |
affliction. This 860D1S t . 1. • I > r. Wli.ri, |] II,
he prays God to ' unite his heart to bar and ame/ hi
■ under some affliction, or f< ar of hi i me from ti
tioos of spirit, and those p which arise in i ii upon t
■ the d( f my en< m es s and
ji'1'1 i thee and attendance on thru. Job also in his afflictio
plains, Job xvii. 11, that his purpOSM WOTe broken off« EL COUld not
make an eren thn thoughts and resolutions; the; guentry
mapped ter, like rotten yam when one is winding op.
1 tin n and spiritual worshippers have lain onder this trouble. r I'l.
they are a sign of weaknj . or some ol itruetions in tl 5 of
•■•, yel they are no! alway evidences of s wan1 of graeOi What
ariseth from our own corruption, is to be matter of humiliation and resist-
aiii'i' ; what ariseth from Satan, should edge OUT minds to S Doble OOnqj
of them* If the apostle did comfort himself with liis disapproving of what
1 • from the natural Spring of sin within him, with his law
from his Inst, ami charges it not upon him- If, but upon the
sin that dwelt in him, with whieh he had broken off the for). ic, and
was resolved never to enter into amity with it, by the same reason wo
may comfort ourselves, if such thoughts arc undelighte 1 in, and alienate
not our hearts from the worship of God by all their busy intrusions to
interrupt us.
1?. These distractions (not allowed) may be occasions, by an holy improve-
ment, to make our hearts moro spiritual after worship, though they disturb
us in it, by answering those ends for which we may suppose God permits
them to invade us. And that is,
(1.) When they arc occasions to bumble us.
[1.] For our carriage in the particular worship. There is nothing so
us as spiritual pride; it deprived devils and men of the presence of
1 1, and will binder us of the influence of God. If we had had raised and
uninterrupted motions in worship, we should bo apt to be lifted up; and
the devil stands ready to tempt us to self-confidence. You know how it
with Paul, k 2 Cor. xii. 1-7, his bufietingS were occasions to render him
more spiritual than his raptures, because more humble. God sutlers those
. starts, and distractions to prevent our spiritual pride, which is
as a worm at the root of spiritual worship, and minds us of the dusty frame
ir spirits, how easily they are blown away, afl he sends sickness to put
us in mind of the shortness of our breath ami the ca to lose it. God
lid make US ashamed of ourselves in bis p . that we may
what is good in any duty is merely from his grace and Spirit, and not
from ; that with Paul W6 may cry out, ' By hat wo
are,' and by gr do what wa do. We may be hereby ma bio
' God can alway find something in OUT 1 of
yiug us the successful fruit If we cannot stand upon our dnl
for salvation, what can wo bottom upon in ourselves? If, the: they
330 chaknock's works. [John IV. 24.
are occasions to make us out of love with any righteousness of our own, to
make us break our hearts for them because we cannot keep them out, if we
mourn for them as our sins, and count them our great afflictions, we have
attained that brokenness which is a choice ingredient in a spiritual sacrifice.
Though we have been disturbed by them, yet we are not robbed of the suc-
cess ; we may behold an answer of our worship in our humiliation in spite
of all of them.
_ [2.] For the baseness of our nature. These unsteady motions help us to
discern that heap of vermin that breeds in our nature. Would any man
think he had such an averseness to his Creator and benefactor, such an
unsuitableness to him, such an estrangedness from him, were it not for his
inspection into his distracted frames ? God suffers this to hang over us as
a rod of correction, to discover and fetch out the folly of our hearts. Could
we imagine our natures so highly contrary to that God who is so infinitely
amiable, so desirable an object, or that there should be so much folly and
madness in the heart, as to draw back from God in those services which
God hath appointed as pipes through which to communicate his grace, to
convey himself, his love, and goodness to the creature ? If, therefore, we
have a deep sense of, and strong reflections upon, our base nature, and
bewail that mass of averseness which lies there, and that fulness of irreve-
rence towards the God of our mercies, the object of our worship, it is a
blessed improvement of our wanderings and diversions. Certainly if any
Israelite had brought a lame and rotten lamb to be sacrificed to God, and
afterward had bewailed it, and laid open his heart to God in a sensible and
humble confession of it, that repentance had been a better sacrifice, and more
acceptable in the sight of God, than if he had brought a sound and a living
offering.
(2.) When they are occasions to make us prize duties of worship. When
we argue, as rationally we may, that they are of singular use, since our
corrupt hearts and a malicious devil doth chiefly endeavour to hinder us
from them, and that we find we have not those gadding thoughts when we
are upon worldly business, or upon any sinful design which may dishonour
God and wound our souls, this is a sign sin and Satan dislike worship, for
he is too subtile a spirit to oppose that which would further his kingdom.
As it is an argument the Scripture is the word of God, because the wicked-
ness of the world doth so much oppose it, so it is a ground to believe the
profitableness and excellency of worship because Satan and our own unruly
hearts do so much interrupt us in it. If, therefore, we make this use of
our cross-steps in worship, to have a greater value for such duties, more
affections to them and desires to be frequent in them, our hearts are grow-
ing spiritual, under the weights that would depress them to carnality.
(3.) When we take a rise from hence, to have heavenly admirations of
the graciousness of God ; that he should pity and pardon so many slight
addresses to him, and give any gracious returns to us. Though men have
foolish ranging every day, and in every duty, yet free grace is so tender as
not to punish them : Gen. viii. 21, ■ And the Lord smelt a sweet savour;
and the Lord said in his heart, I will not curse the ground for man's sake ;
for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.' It is observable
that this was just after a sacrifice which Noah offered to God, ver. 20 ; but
probably not without infirmities common to human nature, which may be
grounded upon the reason God gives, that though ho had destroyed the earth
before, because of tho evil of man's imaginations, Gen. vi. 5, he still found
evil imaginations ; he doth not say in the heart of Shem, or others of Noah's
family, but in man's heart, including Noah also, who had both the judgments
John IV. fl 1. ,;;i 1 1 \i. v..ii:.sinr.
of I tod ujii.il the format irorl I, tod th '' ,m
before Ins tv. ; ; \. i\v evil imp
fend thou [fa It wi i I i: ': •
finding our hea ml in wot bip, al frames of thank
that ( hod li t:h height o< I in our adi
soy fruil of such i di trad from
them to frame, which < bumble
ftoki of < IcmI. \\ In u I » ..
tuuiul: i rhieh had lutll-d his mind, and p < .vsed h.
nnl i notions of < tod in the j
b doth bis bouI mount in astonishment and thankful]
merej, rer, 12, Notwithstanding bisdisl God did gracioo
his promise, and answer bis desire; then it is, * What shall I i tho
I i.'' Bis bear! was more affected for it, because it, bad b
•::tt.> in former distrusts. It is indeed i ground of wond<
patience of the Spirit of < k> 1, thai he should guide out hearts ■-•.;..
• ill OUt ; as it. is tin- patience of I BIS V I to gtli li
scholar, while he mixes his writing with many blot . it- is not on
infirmities the spirit helps us in, and helps over, but many, Bom. viii.
I Bign of a spiritual heart when lie can take ■ rise to bl I
the renewing and blowing op his affections, In the midai
08 from Satan to th ry, and tin: lcadinc.-s of 1.
to comply with them.
When we take occasion from thence to priae the mediation of Christ.
The more distractions jog us, the more ne< d we should n ing out to a
B now by faith. One part of cur Saviour's office is to stand between us
and the infirmities of our worship. Ashe is an advocate, he presents our
Services, and pleads for th.iii and us, 1 John ii. 1 ; for the sins of our duti ,
ell SS for our other BUIS. Jesus Christ is an high priest, S] I by
God to take away the iniquities Of our holy things, which \ I by
ite upon his mitre, Exod. ixviii. 86, :'> s . Were th. re no im]
Li >i;s, wire there- no creeping up of those frogs into our minds, we would
think our worship would merit acceptance with God upon its own account ;
if we behold our own weakness, that not a tear, a groan, a sigh is so
pure, but must have Christ to make it entertainable ; that there is no wor-
ship without those blemishes; aud upon this, throw all our services into the
I of Christ for acceptance, and solicit him to put his merits in the front
to make our ciphers app. ar valuable : it is a spiritual act, th-
in the gospel being to advance the honour and mediation of his Son. That
■ a spiritual and evangelical act, which answers the evangelical design. The
f Satan and our own corruption is defeated, when those interrup-
tion as run swifter, and take faster hold on the high priest, who is to
our worship to God, and our own souls rei by.
Christ had temptations offered to him by I rfl in his wilderness
that from an imental knowled ight be able more com]
sioi. succour us, lleh. ii. 18: w< . raoh assaults in our
cially, that wo may he able more highly to value him and his
saed
8. Let us not therefore I by those interruptions ..
of our 1.
(1.) If we find in oureeh .nee of them. The flesh will
be lusting: that cannot be hindered ; yet if we do not fulfil I I it,
up at it.- command and go about it , we may 1 6
rit : Gal. v. 16, 17, alk in the Spirit,' if we ' iuliii not the lusts of
332 chaenock's works. [John IV. 24.
the flesh,' though there be a lusting of the flesh against the spirit. So we
worship in the Spirit, though there be carnal thoughts arising, if we do not
fulfil them ; though the stirring of them discovers some contrariety in us to
God, yet the resistance manifests that there is a principle of contrariety in
us to them ; that as there is something of flesh that lusts against the spirit, so
there is something of spirit in worship which lusts against the flesh. We
must take heed of omitting worship, because of such inroads, and lying down
in the mire of a total neglect. If our spirits are made more lively and
vigorous against them ; if those cold vapours which have risen from our
hearts, make us like a spring in the midst of the cold earth more warm,
there is in this case more reason for us to bless God than to be discouraged.
God looks upon it as the disease, not the wilfulness of our nature ; as the
weakness of the flesh, not the wilfulness of the spirit. If we would shut
the door upon them, it seems they are unwelcome company ; men do not
use to lock their doors upon those they love : if they break in and disturb
us with their impertinencies, we need not be discomforted, unless we give
them a share in our affections, and turn our back upon God to entertain
them. If their presence makes us sad, their flight would make us joyful.
(2.) If we find ourselves excited to a stricter watch over our hearts against
them ; as travellers will be careful when they come to places where they
have been robbed before, that they be not so easily surprised again. We
should not only lament when we have had such foolish imaginations in wor-
ship breaking in upon us, but also bless God that we have had no more,
since we have hearts so fruitful of weeds. We should give God the glory
when we find our hearts preserved from these intruders, and not boast of
ourselves, but return him our praise for the watch and guard he kept over
us to preserve us from such thieves.
Let us not be discomforted ; for as the greatness of our sins upon our
turning to God is no hindrance to our justification, because it doth not
depend upon our conversion as the meritorious cause, but upon the infinite
value of our Saviour's satisfaction, which reaches the greatest sins as well
as the least, so the multitude of our bewailed distractions in worship are
not a hindrance to our acceptation, because of the uncontrollable power of
Christ's intercession.
Use 4 is for exhortation. Since spiritual worship is due to God, and
the Father seeks such to worship him, how much should we endeavour to
satisfy the desire and order of God, and act conformable to the law of our
creation and the love of redemption ! Our end must be the same in worship
which was God's end in creation and redemption : to glorify his name, set
forth his perfections, and be rendered fit, as creatures and redeemed ones, to
partake of that grace which is the fruit of worship. An evangelical dispen-
sation requires a spiritual homage ; to neglect, therefore, either the matter
or manner of gospel duties, is to put a slight upon gospel privileges. The
manner of duty is ever of more value than the matter ; the scarlet dye is
more precious than the cloth tinctured with it. God respects more the dis-
position of the sacrificer than the multitude of the sacrifices.* The solemn
feasts appointed by God were but dung, as managed by the Jews, Mai. ii. 3.
The heart is often welcome without the body, but the body never grateful
without the heart. Tho inward acts of the Spirit require nothing from with-
out to constitute them good in themselves ; but the outward acts of devotion
require inward acts to render them savoury to God. As the goodness of out-
ward acts consists not in tho acts themselves, so tho acceptableness of them
* MaXXov rh dou.uovioj xpo; rh tuv (pvovrwv r\Qog % ruv QuofAtvwv TXqOog. —
Porphyr. de Abstincntia.
John IV. 21.] himuihai. v..#i. mi-, ;;;;:;
i ifa not from the aeta them i thi Inward fri
and quickening tho . m blood iad ipiriti running throe i of
1 duty tO make it u li . . flOfl in ■ : < \i I. In,), • in
WOnthip hinder not God's a ,rt spirit. -I lr. /rare b.,
then to ir. 'J'n :i of borning fle h tod fill
the I •!. render tl i the outward sonsos, but
i imelt 1 SWcct S!l\ulir ill tlielU us tl.. J I. I
heart unci spirit are oilcred up to < i - • « 1 . it may be a aav<.;;j v <lu' v, too
attend, d with unsavoury imp. rfection . ; bnt a thousand
stamp of ia. th, a thooaaod ipiritoal datiei with an bahitual oarnalitj,
•icli with < kxL
i pnrs i, as well as the temple wi mr, of
tlm thie\is that would rob (lod of In. due iromnip. Antiquity bad at
, wharein it was a erime to bring any gold; th I thai
irorahip laid their gold aside h. fore they wen! into th.- tempi .
should lay aside our worldly and trading thou ,n we B
ship: l-;t. xwi. '.), ' With my spirit within me will I toak lb I.
our mindi ha gadding abroad, and exiled from God and than It
will be thus whan * the deaire of our soul ii to oil nam.-, and the ran*
1 ranee of him,' far. 8. When ha hath given ao gn at and admirable a gift,
bat Of his Son, in whom an all things necessary to salvation,
ness, peace, and pardon of sin, we should manage the r. in. ml .r nil
name in worship with the oloaaai nnitodneoi of heart, and the most spiritual
aflaotiona. The motion of the spirit ii the brat act in religion ; to thi
in i v. -1-y act. The dan! requires the spirit of his votaries : should
bare I loH dedication than tho devil?
Bfiol l bank this exhortation :
1. Not to give God our spirit is a groat sin. It is a mockery of God, not
Worship ; contempt, not adoration, whatever our outward fervencv or pro-
itioni may be.* Every alienation of our hearts from him is a real scorn
put upon him. The acts of the soul are real, and more tho acts of the man
than the acts of the body, because thej are the acts of the choicest part of
man, and of that which is the first spring of all bodily motions ; it is tho
}.6yo; iibiadiro;, tho internal speech, whereby we must speak with God. To
give him, therefore, only an external form of worship, without the life of it,
is a taking his name in vain. We mock him, when we mind not what wo
are -pi aking to him, or what he is speaking to us ; when the motions of our
hearts are contrary to the motions of our tongues ; when we do anything
before him slovenly, impudently, or rashly. As in a lutinist it is absurd to
sing one tune and play another, so it is a foul thing to tell God one tl
With our lips, and think another thing with our hearts. It is a sin like that
the apostle chargeth the heathens with : Rom. i. 28, ' They like not to retain
I in their know ledge ; ' their stomachs are sick while thej are upon any
duty, and never leave working, till they have thrown up all the spiritual part
of worship, and rid th. I of the thoughts of God, which are as unwel-
:id troublesome guests to them. Whan nun behave tin 1 in
1 tod as if God. were not God, they do not only defame him, but
. him, and violate the unchangeable p, s of the divine nature.
(1.) It IS against the majesty of God, when we have not awful thoughts of
tha - ; when our souls cleave not to him
wL. d him in prayer, or whan i. - out Disorders in bis word.
It is a conti mpt of the majesty of a prince, if, whiles he is speaking to
we listen not to him ei. nee and attention, but turn our backs on
• Son laUl irolcstalio contra factum, ia a rule in tho civil law.
334 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
him to play with one of his hounds or talk with a beggar, or while we speak
to him to rake in a dunghill. Solomon adviseth us to ' keep our foot when
we go to the house of God,' Eccles. v. 1. Our affections should be steady,
and not slip away again ; why ? ver. 2. Because ' God is in heaven,' &c.
He is a God of majesty, earthly dirty frames are unsuitable to the God of
heaven, low spirits are unsuitable to the Most High. We would not bring
our mean servants or dirty dogs in a prince's presence chamber ; yet we
bring not only our worldly but our profane affections into God's presence.
We give in this case those services to God which our governor would think
unworthy of him, Mai. i. 8. The more excellent and glorious God is, the
greater contempt of him it is to suffer such foolish affections to be competi-
tors with him for our hearts. It is a scorn put upon him to converse with
a creature while we are dealing with him ; but a greater to converse in our
thoughts and fancies with some sordid lust which is most hateful to him.
And the more aggravation it attracts, in that we are to apprehend him, the
most glorious object, sitting upon his throne in time of worship, and our-
selves standing as vile creatures before him, supplicating for our lives, and
the conveyances of grace and mercy to our souls. As if a grand mutineer,
instead of humble begging the pardon of his offending prince, should present
his petition not only scribbled and blotted, but besmeared with some loath-
some excrement. It is unbecoming the majesty both of God and the worship
itself, to present him with a picture instead of substance, and bring a world
of nasty affections in our hearts, and ridiculous toys in our heads before
him, and worship with indisposed and heedless souls. Mai. i. 14, He is a
great king, therefore address to him with fear and reverence.
(2.) It is against the life of God. Is a dead worship proportioned to a
living God ? The separation of heavenly affections from our souls before
God, makes them as much a carcass in his sight as the divorce of the soul
makes the body a carcass. When the affections are separated, worship is
no longer worship but a dead offering, a lifeless bulk ; for the essence and
spirit of worship is departed. Though the soul be present with the body in
a way of information, yet it is not present in a way of affection, and this is
the w r orst ; for it is not the separation of the soul from informing that doth
separate a man from God, but the removal of our affections from him. If
a man pretend an application to God, and sleep and snore all the time,
without question such a one did not worship. In a careless worship the
heart is morally dead while the eyes are open. The heart of the spouse
awaked whiles her eyes slept, Cant. v. 2, and our hearts on the contrary
sleep while our eyes awake.
Our blessed Saviour hath died to ' purge our consciences from dead works '
and frames, that we may ' serve the living God,' Heb. ix. 14 ; to serve God
as a God of life. David's soul cried and fainted for God under this con-
sideration, Ps. xlii. 2. But to present our bodies without our spirits is such
a usage of God that implies he is a dead image, not worthy of any but a
dead and heartless service, like one of those idols the psalmist speaks of,
Ps. cxv. 5, that ' have eyes and see not, ears and hear not,' no life in it.
Though it be not an objective idolatry, because the worship is directed to
the true God, yet I may call it a subjective idolatry, in regard of the frame,
lit only to be presented to some senseless stock. We intimate God to be
no better than an idol, and to have no more knowledge of us and insight
into us than an idol can have. If wo did believe him to be the living God,
vre durst not como beforo him with services so unsuitable to him, and
reproaches of him.
(3.) It is against tho infinitoness of God. We should worship God with
Join. IV. 9 1. MUUTIIAXi DP, 880
those boundlc 1 affection! which bear upon them a shadow or image of hia
inilniteness, such a, the d< J, which know no limits, but start
out bajondwhal the heart nfnian p<> r
tare was to he offered to God in icrifioe, but inch run
fly, For ' dm before God with a light creeping (ram
lo wor hip him with the Iowa ' finite affoctioi
1 mean or torn, mighl sat infinite being; bj though a 1
lhallow creature could give enough to 1 him the heart,
l we eannoi give bim r wor hip proportionable to hi 1 infinit
did our a in our • p him u
of our dutii .
! pinst the spirituality of God. God b Ing a Spirii for a
lii|) in spirit : to withhold this from him, impliea him t 1 be
corporeal matter. A a a Spirit, he looka for the 1 | iti
prayer, a treml irl in the word] I 1. Ixvi. k 2. To brii but
the body when we come to a spiritual God to I"": apiritual b
for spiritual communications, which can only be di
tner, ia unsuitable to the apiritnal nature of God. A mere earn
implicitly denies his spirituality, which r. <piir« | el US highi
than mere corporeal ones*
Worship ahonld he rational, not an imaginative service, wh i
the activity of our noblest faculties ; and our fancy ought tohai
in it. hut in Bubaerviency to the more spiritual part of our soul.
(5.) Et is against the supremacy of God. As God i one, th only
ts Bhould be one, el iving wholly to him, and uu l
from him. In pretending to deal with him, we aekrj hisD 1
sovereignty; but in withholding our choices! faculties and affections ft
him, and the Btarting of OUT minds to vain objects, we intimate th lity
with God, and their right as well as his to our heart- and affections. It
is as if a prinoeas should commit adultery with some base scullion while sho
is 1 r husband, which would be a plain denial of his sole right to her.
It intimates that other things arc superior to God ; they are true sovereigns
thai ! our hearts. If a man were addressing himself to a princ I
should in an instant turn his back upon him upon a beck or nod from some
inconsiderable person, is it not an evidence that that person that invited
him away hath a greater BOV< P i.rnty over him than that prince I he
applying himself? And do we not discard God's absolute dominion
Over us. when, at the least heck of a corrupt inclination, we can dispose of
our ; > it. and alienate them from God? As they in BzeSL. xxxiii. .".-J,
the service of God for the service of their covctousness, which evide*
that they owned the authority of sin more than the authority of God. This
ia not to serve God as our Lord and absolute master, but to make God serve
our turn, and submit his sovereignty to the supremacy of some unworthy
affection* The creature is preferred before the Creator, when the heart
mi: upon it in time of religious worship, and our own carnal ini
swallows up the affi otiona that are duo to God : it ia ' an idol set up in the
'.;. xiv. 1, in his solemn presence, and attracts that devotion to
If which we only " uv to 01ir aovereign Lord : and the more ba- I ,-on-
ptible that is to which the spirit is devoi ■ 1, the more contempt there is
of G inion. Judas his loss, with a Hail, Blast r, was no act of
• an owning his M Bthoiity, but a designing *
of his cove! 1 in the betraying of him.
(6.1 It is against the wisdom of God God, as a God of or ' -put
earthly things in subordination to heavenly, and we by this unworthy
336 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
carriage invert this order, and put heavenly things in subordination to
earthly, in placing mean and low things in our hearts, and bringing them
so placed into God's presence, which his wisdom at the creation put under
our feet. A service without spiritual affections is a ■ sacrifice of fools,'
Eccles. v. 1, which have lost their brains and understandings; a foolish
spirit is very unsuitable to an infinitely wise God. Well may God say of
such a one, as Achish of David, who seemed mad, ■ Why have you brought
this fellow to play the madman in my presence ? shall this fellow come into
my house ?' 1 Sam. xxi. 15.
(7.) It is against the omnisciency of God. To carry it fair without and
impertinently within, is as though God had not an all- seeing eye that could
pierce into the heart, and understand every motion of the inward faculties ;
as though God were easily cheated with an outward fawning service, like an
apothecary's box with a gilded title, that may be full of cobwebs within.
What is such a carriage, but a design to deceive God, when with Herod
■we pretend to worship Christ, and intend to murder all the motions of
Christ in our souls I A heedless spirit, an estrangement of our souls, a
giving the reins to them to run out from the presence of God to see every
reed shaken with the wind, is to deny him to be searcher of hearts, and the
discerner of secret thoughts ; as though he could not look through us to the
darkness and remoteness of our minds, but were an ignorant God, who
might be put off with the worst as well as the best in our flock. If we did
really believe there were a God of infinite knowledge, who saw our frames,
and whether we came dressed with wedding-garments suitable to the duties
we are about to perform, should we be so garish, and put him off with such
trivial stuff, without any reverence of his majesty ?
(8.) It is against the holiness of God. To alienate our spirits is to offend
him while we pretend to worship him ; though we may be mighty officious
in the external part, yet our base and carnal affections make all our worship
but as a heap of dung ; and who would not look upon it as an affront to lay
dung before a prince's throne ? Prov. xxi. 27, * The sacrifice of the wicked
is an abomination : how much more when he brings it with a wicked mind ? '
A putrified carcass under the law had not been so great an affront to the
holiness of God as a frothy, unmelted heart, and a wanton fancy in a time of
worship. God is so holy, that if we could offer the worship of angels, and
the quintessence of our souls in his service, it would be beneath his infinite
purity. How unworthy then are they of him, when they are presented not
only without the sense of our uncleanness, but sullied with the fumes and
exhalations of our corrupt affections, which are so many plague-spots upon
our duties, contrary to the unspotted purity of the divine nature ! Is not
this an unworthy conceit of God, and injurious to his infinite holiness ?
(9.) It is against the love and kindness of God. It is a condescension in
God to admit a piece of earth to offer up a duty to him, when he hath
myriads of angels to attend him in his court and celebrate his praise ; to
admit man to be an attendant on him, and a partner with angels, is a high
favour. It is not a single mercy, but a heap of mercies to be admitted into
the presence of God: Va. v. 7, ' I will come into thy house in the multitude
of thy mercies.' When the blessed God is so kind as to give us access to
his majesty, do we not undervalue his kindness when we deal uncivilly with
him, and deny him the choicest part of ourselves ? It is a contempt of his
sovereignty, as our spirits are duo to him by nature ; a contempt of his
goodness, as our spirits are due to him by gratitude ! How abusive a
carriage is it to mako use of his mercy to encourage our impudence, that
should excite our fear and reverence ! How unworthy would it be for an
John IV. 24.] IfUITUAX WOMBft
tadigmt debtor to bring to his indulgent croditor an empty purso I of
mentl \Vh«n God fa it his I" J i to rnroura;'e our
approaches to bim, stand re ni the pardon of no and full
felicity, the best thingi be bath, is it ■ tit requital of Imh kindness to g
bin i formal onl : lo only, ■■. to have the heart overswayed
with other thoughts and affections, us if nil oil |
temptible as to bt at our hands ? It is i contempt of tho
love and kindne ;s i.t' (In I.
1 1<».) It is the niffieieney md f< U Winn wo pivo
< I I our bodiei and the creators our spirits, it intinates ■ eoneeit that tl.
is in ire content to be bad is the creature than in ( rod blessed r, thai
kho waters in tl I r thm those in the fountain* Is not this
l pre • i,i the Lie, end denying those promises srherein he I
(I. •! Li-. Ml :o. to tho spirit, is the God of tho
f all flesh ?
If we did imagine the excellency md loveliness of God wen worthy to be
the oltimate object of our affections, the heart would attend mora <
upon him, md be terminated in him; <h<l we believe (« r >d to be all-sufficient,
lull of grace md goodnc s, i tender Father, not willing to fo is own,
willing as well as able to supply their want-, the heart wouM not ho lamely
ad opon him, and would not upon every impertinenoy be diverted from
him. There is much of a wrong notion of God, m 1 :i predominancy of tho
world above bin in the heart, when we can more savonrly relish the thoughts
of low inferior things than heavenly, md lei our spirits upon every trifling
d be fa [itives from him. It is i testimony that we make not Go 1
our ohii d. If apprehensions of his excellency did possess: onr souls,
they would be I ' 1 "ii bin, clued to him ; wc should not listen to that
rabble of foolish thoughts that steal our hearts so often from him. "Wero
our breathings after God as strong as the pantings of the hart after tho
water brooks, we should be like that creature, not diverted in our course by
v puddle. Were I lod the predominant satisfactory object in our eye, he
would carry our whole soul along with him.
When our spirits readily retreat from God in worship upon even' giddy
motion, it is a kind of repentance that ever we did como near him, and
implies that there is a fuller satisfaction, and more attractive excellency, in
that which doth so easily divert us, than in that God to whose worship we
did pretend to address ourselves ; it is as if, when we were petitioning a prince,
WS should immediately turn about, and make request to one of his guard,
though so mean a person wero more ablo to give us the boon wc want,
than the sovereign is.
'J. Consideration by way of motive. To have our spirits off from God
in worship is a bad sign. It was not so in innocence. The heart of Adam
I 1 deal 1 : the law of God was engraven upon him ; he could
apply himself to tho fulfilling of it without any twinkling; there was no
folly and vanity in his mind, no independency in his thoughts, no duty WSJ
was in him a pronencss to, and delight in, all tho
duties of worship. It is the fall hath distempered us, and the more un-
thero is in our spirits, the more carnal our alVections are in
hip, the more evidence there is of I Dgth of that revolt* I
(1.) It argues much corruption in the heart. As by the eructations of
the the wi] and foulness of it, so by the
inordinate motions of our minds and hearts we may judge of tho weaki
of its coiim A ■•: n is evidenced by the eruptions and
ebullitions of it in worship, when they are more sudden, numerous, and
... i. I
338 chaknock's works. [John IV. 24.
vigorous than the motions of grace. When the heart is apt like tinder to
catch fire from Satan, it is a sign of much combustible matter suitable to
his temptation. Were not corruption strong, the soul could not turn so
easily from God when it is in his presence, and hath advantageous oppor-
tunity to create a fear and awe of God in it ; such base fruit could not
sprout up so suddenly were there not much sap and juice in the root of sin.
What communion with a living root can be evidenced without exercises
of an inward life ! That Spirit, which is a well of living waters in a gracious
heart, will be especially springing up when it is before God.
(2,) It shews much affection to earthly things, and little to heavenly.
There must needs be an inordinate affection to earthly things, when upon every
slight solicitation we can part with God, and turn the back upon a service
glorious for him, and advantageous for ourselves, to wed our hearts to some
idle fancy that signifies nothing. How can we be said to entertain God in
our affections, when we give him not the precedency in our understandings,
but let every trifle jostle the sense of God out of our minds ? Were our
hearts fully determined to spiritual things, such vanities could not seat
themselves in our understandings, and divide our spirits from God. Were
our hearts balanced with a love to God, the world could never steal our
hearts so much from his worship, but his worship would draw our hearts to it.
It shews a base neutrality in the greatest concernments, a halting between
God and Baal, a contrariety between affection and conscience, when natural
conscience presses a man to duties of worship, and his other affections pull
him back, draw him to carnal objects, and make him slight that whereby
he may honour God. God argues the profaneness of the Jews' hearts from
the wickedness they brought into his house and acted there : Jer. xxiii.,
* Yea, in my house,' that is, my worship, ' I found their wickedness,' saith
the Lord, Carnality in worship is a kind of an idolatrous frame ; when the
heart is renewed, idols are cast to the moles and the bats, Isa. ii. 20.
(3.) It shews much hypocrisy to have our spirits off from God. The
mouth speaks, and the carriage pretends, what the heart doth not think ;
there is a dissent of the heart from the pretence of the body.
Instability is a sure sign of hypocrisy. Double thoughts argue a double
heart. The wicked are compared to chaff, Ps. i. 4, for the uncertain and
various motions of their minds by the least wind of fancy. The least motion
of a carnal object diverts the spirit from God, as the scent of carrion doth
the raven from the flight it was set upon.
The people of God are called God's spouse, and God calls himself their
husband ; whereby is noted the most intimate union of the soul with God,
and that there ought to be the highest love and affection to him, and faith-
fulness in his worship ; but when the heart doth start from him in worship,
it is a sign of the unstedfastness of it with God, and a disrelish of any
communion with him. It is as God complains of the Israelites, a going
a-whoring after our own imaginations.
As grace respects God as the object of worship, so it looks most upon
God in approaching to him. Where there is a likeness and love, there is a
desire of converse and intimacy ; if there be no spiritual entwining about
God in our worship, it is a sign there is no likeness to him, no true sense of
him, no renewed image of God in us. Every living image will move strongly
to join itself with its original copy, and be glad, with Jacob, to sit steadily in
those chariots that shall convey him to his beloved Joseph.
Motive 8. Consider tho danger of a carnal worship.
(1.) We lose the comfort of worship. Tho soul is a great gainer when it
offers a spiritual worship, and as great a loser when it is unfaithful with God.
John I V. '2\. mm i \i. won nil-.
lehery and psrfidiot binder oommeres among men, so doth bypo-
. in its own nal mmunion with God. God never promised any-
thing to the esre*^ btf to the spirit of i G I bath no obi
upon lnin by ;m\ word of bl . to ruward us with himself, when >rm
il not tO bimsell. Whl ids Worship, wr hive only the oiit-
of an ordinance. \V< ]"•<•: no kernel, when Wl G «ly
las shell Hs that only licks the out.si<le of th \wA
with the rich oordisJ snolosed within. A sold and lazy i ■ will make
G i to withdrew the light <»i" bii eonntenenoe,
delightful oommanii upon oa ; bnt if ws come before bin
a livsliness itions, end Bteedinesi <>f heart, be will drew the veil, sad
or? to display itself before ne. en bumble praying Oh
and a warm iifloctionets Christian in worship, will so, »n find a God who Ki
I with Bucb frames, and oannoJ long withhold himself from the sooL
When our beerti era inflamed with lore to him in worship, it ii i pn para-
tiou tor some sel of love on his part, whereby hs mi uihei to gratify
us. When John was ' in the Spirit on the Lord's day/— 4 in spiril
smployment, and meditation, end other duties, — be had ti tion
of whal should happen to the ehuroh in all a - . It .. i. 1". His b
tlic sp:nt, intimates his ordinary course on that day, and not anj
nary act m linn, though it was followed with an extraordinary d
God to him. When be wsj thui L, hs ' beard ■ \ bind him.'
i doth not require of ns spirituality in worship to advantage him
that ws might be prepared bo be advantaged by him. It' ws hare ■ elear
and well dispoi • it is not s benefit to the sun, hut fin us I i rec
benefit! bom bii beams. Worship is an act that perfects our own souls ;
they SIS then most widened by spiritual frames, to receive the infill
divine b as eye most opened reserves the fruit of the sun's light
letter than the eye that is shut. The communications of God are more or
. seeording II oar Bpiritua] frames are more or less in OUT worship. God
will not give his blessings to unsuitable hearts. What a nasty vessel is a
earnal heart for a spiritual communication! The chief end of every duty
enjoined by Ciod is to have communion with him; and therefore it is called
a drawing near to God. It is impossible, therefore, that the outward part
of any duty can answer the end of God in his institution. It is not a bodily
appearance or gesture whereby men can have communion with Grod, but by
the impressions of the heart and reilections of the heart upon God. Without
this, all the rich streams of grace will run beside us, and the growth of the
Boul be hindered and impaired. * A diligent hand makes rich,' saith the
wise man ; a diligent heart in spiritual worship brings in rich incomes to the
humble and spiritual soul.
It renders the worship not only unacceptable, but abominable to God.
It makes our gold to become dross, it soils our duties, and beepote our souls.
A carnal and unsteady frame shews an tndinerency of spirit at beet; and
InkewarmneSS is as ungrateful to God as heavy and nauseous meat is to the
aaeh ; he ' spues them out of his mouth,' liev. iii. 16, As our grac
i d 4h overlook infirmities where intentions are good, and eir:
.:. 1 Strong, so he loathes the services where the fram. - I
{hi : l's. iwi. is, ■ if I regard uriqmty in my heart, the Lord v.;.,
-.r my prayer.' Lukewarm and inditler. stink in tie
(. 1. The i.' art ssems to bathe Qod, when it starts from him upc
U, when it IS unwilling to employ itself about and stick el .ru;
and sen G Lbs pleased with such a frame? The more of th and
spirit is iu any service, th< real goodness there is in it, and the more
340 CHARNOCX'S WORKS. [JOHN IV. 24,
savoury it is to God ; the less of the heart and spirit, the less of goodness,
and the more nauseous to God, who loves righteousness and ■ truth in the
inward parts,' Ps. li. 9. And therefore infinite goodness and holiness can-
not but hate worship presented to him with deceitful, carnal, and flitting
affections. They must be more nauseous to God than a putrified carcass
can be to man ; they are the profanings of that which should be the habi-
tation of the spirit ; they make the spirit, the seat of duty, a filthy dung-
hill, and are as loathsome to God as money-changers in the temple were to
our Saviour.
We see the evil of carnal frames, and the necessity and benefit of
spiritual frames. For further help in this last, let us practise these folding
directions :
Direct. 1. Keep up spiritual frames out of worship. To avoid low affec-
tions, we must keep our hearts as much as we can in a settled elevation. If
we admit unworthy dispositions at one time, we shall not easily be rid of
them at another. * As he that would not be bitten with gnats in the night,
must keep his windows shut in the day : when they are once entered,
it is not easy to expel them ; in which respect, one adviseth, to be such
out of worship as we would be in worship. If we mix spiritual affections
with our worldly employments, worldly affections will not mingle themselves
so easily with our heavenly engagements. If our hearts be spiritual in our
outward calling, they will scarce be carnal in our religious service. If we
1 walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh,' Gal. v. 16. A
spiritual walk in the day will hinder carnal lustings in worship. The
fire was to be kept alive upon the altar when sacrifices were not offered, from
morning till night, from night till morning, as well as in the very time of
sacrifice. A spiritual life and vigour out of worship, would render it at its
season sweet and easy, and preserve a spontaneity and preparedness to it,
and make it both natural and pleasant to us.
Anything that doth unhinge and discompose our spirits, is inconsistent
with religious services, which are to be performed with the greatest sedate-
ness and gravity. All irregular passions disturb the serenity of the spirit,
and open the door for Satan. Saith the apostle, ' Let not the sun go down
upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil,' Eph. iv. 26, 27. Where
wrath breaks, the lock, the devil will quickly be over the threshold ; and
though they be allayed, yet they leave the heart some time after, like the sea,
rolling and swelling after the storm is ceased.
Mixture with ill company leaves a tincture upon us in worship. Ephraim's
allying himself with the Gentiles, bred an indifferency in religion : Hosea
vii. 8, Ephraim ' hath mixed with the people ;' • Ephraim is a cake not
turned.' It will make our hearts, and consequently our services, half dough,
as well as half baked. These and the like make the Holy Spirit withdraw
himself, and then the soul lies like a wind-bound vessel, and can make no
way. When the sun departs from us, it carries its beams away with it ; then
doth ■ darkness spread itself over the earth, and the beasts of the forests
creep out,' Ps. civ. 20. When the Spirit withdraws a while from a good
man, it carries away (though not habitual, yet) much of the exciting and
assisting grace ; and then carnal dispositions perk up themselves from the
bosom of natural corruption. To bo spiritual in worship, we must bar tho
door at other times against that which is contrary to it. As ho that would
not be infected with a contngious disease, carries some preservative about
with him, and inures himself to good scents.
To this end, be much in secret ejaculations to God ; these are the purest
* Fitzherbcrt, Pol. in lielig., part ii. cap. 19, sect. 12.
John IV. 21. j srimi I \i. P01 B Ml
hts of Hid sonl, that bai of ferronr and !■
H' Mr | liv.llIir-S ill the Hpi.it, IlM'l UV.lY.r it 111' I
r free 1 a an i eetiYil jr. A < would
make Mm- whole lii :i,;ri
lien habits of gi
Direct, 2. ]
on him.
i i commanding affection, :i anil ee ; it <
oul to one centre. The ion] I ' bath to do
i him, is houiul to tho beloved objed ! it ean mind noih ring
ineh impreasiona. When the affection is set to tl • ry-
tliii: th i to d D] ob 11; a Di I
Mm • i I m. xxix. :;. Carnal iV.un. , like tk • fo rla, mil be light-
apon the laerinee, bat not when uned. Though U I oi
the Been mute them, yel the heal of the fire drive* tip ■ to their di I inee.
A il;i:nin g lofe will singe the flies thai endeavour to interrupt and disturb
D . The happineai of heaven consists in i full attraction of the eon] to God,
by hii gloriooa influence apon it. There will be inch a diffusion of hii
Ineei throughout the aoula of the b . ai will unite the affection! |
teetly to him. Theee affections, which arc scattered here, will be thcro
gathered Into one Same, noting to him, and eentering in him. There-
the more of a heevenlj | we onr affection! hen, the more
led and uniform will onr hearte be in all their motions to God, and 0]
rations about him.
■ dependence on him : Prov. svi. B, ' Commit thy works to tho
1 . M thy thoughts shall bo eetabliahed.' Let us go out in G
I, nnd not in onr own ; vain is the help of man in anything, and vain
lie help of the heart. It is throe I I only wo can do valiantly in
itoal COD H well as temporal; the want of this makes but slight
impressions apon the spirit.
Nourish right conceptions of tho majesty of God in your minds.
Let DM consider, thai we are drawing to God, tho most amiable object, tho
Of beings, worthy of infinite honour, and highly meriting the highest
affections we oao give ; a God that made the world by a word ; that upholds
the great frame of heaven and earth ; a majesty abovo the conceptions of
; who uses not his power to strike us to our deserved punishment,
but his love an 1 bounty to allure us; a Gt)d that gave all the creatures to
serve us and can in a trice make them as much our enemies as he hath now
le them our servants. L. i t us view him in his greatness, and in his
loess, that onr hearts may have a true value of the worship of so great
a majesty, and count it the most worthy employment with all diligence to
i him. When we have a fear of God, it will make our worship
serious ; when we have a joy in God, it will make our worship durable. Our
affections will be raised, when we represent God in the most reverential,
and obliging circumstances. We honour the majesty of God,
:i duo reverence, according to the greatness and
; and in this reverence of his majesty doth worship
1 I of God will make low frames in us before
him. It" ■ I an infinite glorious Spirit, how would our heart!
r than our knees in his pres en ce 1 How humbly, how b-b.evingly
tlmist, when he eOQSidi n <i 1 to be without comparison
i'.i the ' whom none <>t" the sons of tho mighty can be hke:
when ti. ^ none like to him in strength or faithfuhnss round about,
. lxxxix. (3-3. Wo should have also deep impressions of the omniscience
342 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
of God ; and remember we have to deal with a God that searcheth the
heart and trieth the reins ; to whom the most secret temper is as visible as
the loudest words are audible ; that though man judges by outward expres-
sions, God judges by inward affections. As the law of God regulates the
inward frames of the heart, so the eye of God pitches upon the inward in-
tentions of the soul. If God were visibly present with us, should we not
approach to him with strong affections, summon our spirits to attend upon
him, behave ourselves modestly before him ? Let us consider, he is as
really present with us, as if he were visible to us ; let us therefore preserve
a strong sense of the presence of God. No man but one out of his wits,
when he were in the presence of a prince, and? making a speech to him,
would break off at every period, and run after the catching of butterflies.
Kemember in all worship you are before the Lord, to whom all things are
open and naked.
Direct. 4. Let us take heed of inordinate desires after the world. As the
world steals away a man's heart from the word, so it doth from all other
worship ; ■ it chokes the word,' Mat. xiii. 27 ; it stifles all the spiritual
breathings after God in every duty. The edge of the soul is blunted by it,
and made too dull for such sublime exercises. The apostle's rule in prayer,
1 Peter iv. 7, when he joins ' sobriety' with ■ watching unto prayer,' is of
concern in all worship, sobriety in the pursuit and use of all worldly things.
A man drunk with worldly fumes cannot watch, cannot be heavenly, affec-
tionate, spiritual in service. There is a magnetic force in the earth, to
hinder our flights to heaven. Birds, when they take their first flights from
the earth, have more flutterings of their wings, than when they are mounted
further in the air, and got more without the sphere of the earth's attractive-
ness ; the motion of their wings is more steady, that you can scarce perceive
them stir ; they move like a ship with a full gale. The world is a clog
upon the soul, and a bar to spiritual frames. It is as hard to elevate the
heart to God in the midst of a hurry of worldly affairs, as it is difficult to
meditate when we are near a great noise of waters falling from a precipice,
or in the midst of a volley of muskets. Their clayey affections bemire the
heart, and make it unfit for such high flights it is to take in worship. There-
fore get your hearts clear from worldly thoughts and desires, if you would
be more spiritual in worship.
Direct. 5. Let us be deeply sensible of our present wants, and the sup-
plies we may meet with in worship. Cold affections to the things we would
have, will grow cooler. Weakness of desire for the communications in
worship, will freeze our hearts at the time of worship, and make way for vain
and foolish diversions. A beggar that is ready to perish, and knows he is
next door to ruin, will not slightly and dully beg an alms, and will not be
diverted from his importunity by every slight call, or the moving of an atom
in the air. Is it pardon we would have ? Let us apprehend the blackness
of 6in, with the aggravations of it as it respects God ; let us be deeply sen-
sible of the want of pardon and worth of mercy, and get our affections into
such a frame as a condemned man would do. Let us consider, that as we
are now at the throne of God's grace, we shall shortly be at the bar of God's
justice ; and if tho soul should bo forlorn there, how fixedly and earnestly
would it plead for mercy ! Let us endeavour to stir up the same aflections
now, which wo havo seen somo dying men have, and which we suppose de-
spairing souls would have dono at God's tribunal.* We must be sensible
that the life or death of our souls depends upon worship. Would we not
be ashamed to be ridiculous in our carriage while wo are eating ? and shall
* Guliol. Paris, Rhetor. Divin. cap. xxvi. p. 350, col. i.
John IV. 24.] MUTUAL worship. Ml
wo not bfl ashamed to 1m cold or gari h befbn G !. when Um salvation of
our souls, ;is well as the honour < -no -rin 1 J If Iff did SSfl the
liciips ot" sins, thfl otornity of punishment due to than; if wc <li'l i, e :m
angry and otl'en hd ; i I •,. ; if wn did nee the rich- , of merry, the ;'lorioiiH
out 'oil! ' - "I' < i • I iii || ' urirv, t h«- 1 .1- - . ■ 1 do|. «s out to linn
when they .spiritually attend upon him: hoth tin; one :ind the other would
make us perform our duties liuiiihly, sincen !; , :uid affectionately,
■ad wait upon him with our wind.) loulf, to fa
I. Let our ■■< use of this bfl • IUOOU raged |»y thfl consideration of our
Siv:our presontin i whal aflection doth bfl pntflofthifl
DMfitfli his blood Bhod upon thfl OrOM now in heaven! And Hindi ■
hearl ild and fro/on, llitt !y, when his affections m
inu.di (Minvi •?!.• 1 '.' Ohriflt doib not present :mv man's ca-e and duties with-
out | ol his waii's, ;md shall Wfl have none of our o
I ( thlfl J ft us affect our hearts with a if what, lUppliflfl
\\v ha\e met with in former worship. The delightful reiuembrai hat
converse* wo have had with 3od iu former worship, would ipiritOflJiflfl 001
bflfljrtfl for the present worship. Had I'eter a vi< I Ihriflt I glory in thfl
mount fresh in his thoughts, bfl would not so easily have tOTDfld his hark
upon his master. Nor would the Israelites haw been at leisure for their
idolatry, bfl 1 they preserved the sense of tho majesty of God dj i in
his late thunders from mount Sinai.
/> '. 6, If anything intrudes that, may choke the worship, east it
speedily out. We cannot hinder Satan and our OWD Corruption from |
len to us, hut we may hindor thfl BnCflflflfl Of them. We cannot
hinder the gnats from hu/./'ng about us when we art; in our husiness, hut
may prevent them from settling apon us. A man that ifl running on a con-
siderable errand, will shun all Q] l iry discourse that may make him
t or loiter in his husiness. What though there may he something
offered that is good in itself; yet if it hath a tendency to despoil God of his
honour, and oursei\es of the spiritual intentness in worship, send it away.
Those thai weed a field of corn, examine not the nature and particular
virtues of the weeds hut consider only how they choke tho corn, to which
the native juice of tho soil is designed. Consider what you are about ; and
if anything interpose that may divert you, or cool your affections in your
ut worship, east it out.
Direct. 7. As to private worship, let us lay hold of tho most melting
opportunities and frames. When we find our hearts in a more than ordi-
nary spiritual frame, let us look upon it as a call from God to attend him.
Such impressions and motions are God's voice, inviting us into communion
with him in some particular act of worship, and promising us some succ ss
in it. When the psalmist had a secret motioi k God's face, and com-
plied with it, Pa. xxvii. 8, thfl issue is the encouragement of his heart,
whieh breaks out into an exhortation to others to be of good courage, and
wait on the Lord, ver. 18, 11, ' Wait on the Lord, bo of good courage, and
he ihall strengthen thy heart; wait, I say, on the Lord.'
One blow will do more on thfl iron when it is hot, than a hundred when
it is sold. United met ill ma] mp 1 with any impression ; but onco
hardened, will with difficulty bfl brought into thfl figure we intend.*
D L 8. Lfll us examine ourselves at the end of every act of worship,
and ehi I for any carnality Wfl perceive in theni. L
SW of them, and examine the Why art thou so low ual,
my soul? as 1 >:ivid did of hifl Iness : Ps. xlii. 5, ■ Why art
* Koyuold8.
844 charnock's works. [John IV. 24.
thou cast down, my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me ?' If
any unworthy frames have surprised us in worship, let us seek them out
after worship ; call them to the bar ; make an exact scrutiny into the causes
of them, that we may prevent their incursions another time ; let our pulses
beat quick, by way of anger and indignation, against them. This would be
a repairing what hath been amiss ; otherwise they may grow, and clog an
after worship more than they did a former. Daily examination is an anti-
dote against the temptations of the following day, and constant examination
of ourselves after duty is a preservative against vain encroachments in fol-
lowing duties ; and upon the finding them out, let us apply the blood of
Christ by faith for our cure, and draw strength from the death of Christ for
the conquest of them, and let us also be humbled for them. God lifts up
the humble. When we are humbled for our carnal frames in one duty, we
shall find ourselves by the grace of God more elevated in the next.
a DisiDi i;si; ii'iin Tin; i;ti:iimtv or GOD.
the mountains u ilit fmiJi, or cm tlmu hadtt formed (<
ami the worl& % even from §vtrlasting (■■> tverUutbig, thou an (i>><L —
1 M.M XC. 2.
Tin. Utl« of this psalm is a prayer; the author, Mo-... Some think not
only this, but the ten following psalms ware i ed by him. The title
wherewith he is dignified is 'tin; man of God,' as also in Dent, mm. 1 :
one inspired by him, to bo his interpreter, and deliver hie oracles; one
particularly directed by him ; one who, as a m rant, ditl diligently employ
himself in his Blaster's bnsinesSi and acted lor the glory of God.* Ho was
the minister of the old Testament, and the prophet of the Nuw.t
re are two parts of this psalm.
1. A complaint iA' the frailty of man's life in general, vcr. 3-0 ; and then
a particular complaint of tho condition of the church, ver. 8— 10.J
2. A prayer, ?er, 12.
But he speaks of the shortness of human life, he fortifies them by
the consideration of the refuge they had and should find in God: ver. 1,
' Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.'
We have had no settled abode in the earth since the time of Abraham's 1
called out from Ur of the Chaldees. We have had Canaan in a promi .
we have it not yet in possession ; we have been exposed to the > n lties of
an Oppressing enemy, and the incommodities of a desert wild< ; wo
have wanted the fruits of the earth, but not the dews of heaven. * Thoa
hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.' Abraham was under thy
conduct, Isaac and Jacob under thy care. Their posterity were multiplied by
thee, and that under their oppressions. Thou hast been our shield against
dangers our security in the times of trouble. When we wars pursued to
the Ell i sea, it was not a creature delivered us; and when we feared tho
pinching of our bowels in the del it, it was not a creature rained mauna
upon us. Thou hast been our dwelling-place ; thou hast kept open house
fori;-, sheltered ni it storms, and preserved us from mischief, as a
house doth an inhabitant from wind alu-r, and that not in one or
two, but in all ..lions. Some think an allusion is here mile to tho
ark, to which they were to have n in all emergencies. Our
and have not been from created things; not from the ark, but from
tho God of the ark.
* Coccci in loc. t Austin tn loc % Taroui m loc.
346 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
Observe,
1. God is a perpetual refuge and security to his people. His providence
is not confined to one generation ; it is not one age only that tastes of his
bounty and compassion. His eye never yet slept, nor hath he suffered the
little ship of his church to be swallowed up, though it hath been tossed
upon the waves. He hath always been an haven to preserve us, a house to
secure us. He hath always had compassions to pity us, and power to pro-
tect us. He hath had a face to shine, when the world hath had an angry
countenance to frown.* He brought Enoch home by an extraordinary
translation from a brutish world ; and when he was resolved to reckon with
men for their brutish lives, he lodged Noah, the Phoenix of the world, in an
ark, and kept him alive as a spark in the midst of many waters, whereby to
rekindle a church in the world. In all generations he is a dwelling-place,
to secure his people here, or entertain them above.
His providence is not wearied, nor his care fainting. He never wanted
will to relieve us, for ' he hath been our refuge ; ' nor ever can want power
to support us, for he is a God ■ from everlasting to everlasting.' The church
never wanted a pilot to steer her, and a rock to shelter her, and dash in
pieces the waves which threaten her.
2. How worthy is it to remember former benefits, when we come to beg
for new ! Never were the records of God's mercies so exactly revised as
when his people have stood in need of new editions of his power. How
necessary are our wants to stir us up to pay the rent of thankfulness in
arrear ! He renders himself doubly unworthy of the mercies he wants, that
doth not gratefully acknowledge the mercies he hath received. God scarce
promised any deliverance to the Israelites, and they in their distress scarce
prayed for any deliverance, but that from Egypt was mentioned on both
sides : by God to encourage them, and by them to acknowledge their con-
fidence in him. The greater our dangers, the more we should call to mind
God's former kindness. We are not only thankfully to acknowledge the
mercies bestowed upon our persons, or in our age, but those of former times.
Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.
Moses was not living in the former generations, yet he appropriates the
former mercies to the present age. Mercies as well as generations proceed
out of the loins of those that have gone before. All mankind are but one
Adam, the whole church but one bod}\
In the second verse he backs his former consideration.
1. By the greatness of his power in forming the world.
2. By the boundlessness of his duration ; ' from everlasting to everlast-
ing.' As thou hast been our dwelling-place, and expended upon us the
strength of thy power and riches of thy love, so we have no reason to doubt
the continuance on thy part, if we be not wanting on our parts; for the vast
mountains and fruitful earth are the works of thy hands, and there is less
power requisite for our relief than there was for their creation ; and though
so much strength hath been upon various occasions manifested, yet thy arm
is not weakened ; for ' from everlasting to everlasting thou art God.'f
Thou hast always been God, and no time can be assigned as the begin-
ning of thy being.J The mountains are not of so long a standing as thy-
self ; they are the effects of thy power, and therefore cannot be equal to thy
duration. Since they are effects, they suppose a precedency of their cause.
If wo would look back, wo can reach no further than the beginning of the
creation, and account tho years from the first foundation of the world ; but
after that we must lose ourselves in tho abyss of eternity. We have no
* Thcodorct in loc. f ?N, strong. % Amyrald. in loc.
r . x< '. Tin-, i.i nun n <n ooid«
clue to snide our thoushts ; wi nnds in 1 1 1 •-• 1 1 irnity; but as
for until, he tniMT. . :li tin- \v».rl-l ft !'- I ■!-;.•■. Mid by thy order, pronoiii I
eonoeraing ill men, returns to the dust, Mid moulders into tie
B mountains ioom understand i . as beii ' :i i"" r0
derated nature; bj earth thoy undorHtand human nature, the earth b<
the habitation of men. Then ii no net I to din rl in tl
letter to such i , • ,-. Tl ' If :iI "l amounts
bo this : be neither began with the beginning of time, nor will < eith
the end of it." II- did doI begin when m
father-, but liifl bein ' did precede tlio creation of the world, I
Created being was forniod, and any time lettled.
the monntaine were brought forth, tore they e I n
or born, the word being need in those n i in Scripture ; 1 tood
op higher than the reel of the earthly me i God bad create L it -• • m that
monntaine were not eaenalry oast np by the foree of the d | the
ground, and driving ssreral pareels of it together, to ip into s m
body, as the sea doth the sand in sereral places, but they wen; at first
formed by ( tod.
eternity of Go 1 is here described.
1. In his priority ' before the world.'
'J. In the extension of his duration : ' From everlasting to everlasting thou
art (i..d.' Be was before the world, yet ho neither began nor i ads. B
not a temporary, but an eternal God. It takes in both parts of eternity,
what was before the creation of the world, and what is after. Though the
, be one permanent state without succ e ss ion , yet the Spir I
God, suiting himself to the weakness of our conception, divides it into two
parts, one past before the foundation of the world, another to com- after the
destruction of the world; as be did exist before all ages, and SS lie will .
ifter all ag< .
Many truths lie COUChcd in the verse.
1. The world had a beginning of being. It was not from eternity; it was
once nothing. Had it been of a very long duration, some records would
have remained of somo memorable actions done of a longer date than any
extant.
'J. The world owes its being to the creating power of God. ' Thou 1
formed it' out of nothing ink/being. Thou, that is, God. It could not
spring into being of itself: it was nothing; it must have a former.
B. God was in being before the world. The cause must be before the
t; that Word which gives being must be before Uiat which rece;
bei:
4. This Being was from eternity: ' from everlasting.'
f>. This Being shall endure to eternity: ' to ererlaeti
C. There is but one God, one Eternal : ' From everlasting to everlasting
thou arl None else but one hath the | ■ of eternity; the g
of tho heathen cannot lay claim to it.
/' L G fan siernal duration. The eternity of God is the foui
tion of the stability of the covenant, the great rl ofs Christian. The
God in Scripture is to set forth his dealing with men in the way
int. The priority of God before all thh [ins the Bible:
•In the beginning God ereafc I,' (Jen. i. 1. Hie covenant can have no
foundation but in his duration before and after the world. f And Moses
e mentions his eternity, not only with respect to the >
but to his federal provident a is the dwelling-place of Ins p a all
* a»a;^o; xa/' SJf SI loc. \ Calv. in loc
348 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
generations. The duration of God for ever is more spoken of in Scripture
than his eternity a parte ante, though that is the foundation of all the com-
iort we can take from his immortality. If he had a beginning, he might
have an end, and so all our happiness, hope, and being would expire with
him ; but the Scripture sometimes takes notice of his being without begin-
ning as well as without end : ' Thou art from everlasting,' Ps. xciii. 2 ;
* Blessed be God from everlasting to everlasting,' Ps. xli. 13 ; ' I was set up
from everlasting,' Prov. viii. 23. If his wisdom were from everlasting, him-
self was from everlasting. Whether we understand it of Christ the Son of
God, or of the essential wisdom of God, it is all one to the present purpose.
The wisdom of God supposeth the essence of God, as habits in creatures
suppose the being of some power or faculty as their subject. The wisdom
of God supposeth mind and understanding, essence and substance.
The notion of eternity is difficult, as Austin said of time:* If no man
will ask me the question what time is, I know well enough what it is ; but
if any ask me what it is, I know not how to explain it. So may I say of
eternity; it is easy in the word pronounced, but hardly understood, and more
hardly expressed ; it is better expressed by negative than positive words.
Though we cannot comprehend eternity, yet we may comprehend that
there is an eternity ; as though we cannot comprehend the essence of God,
what he is, yet we may comprehend that he is ; we may understand the
notion of his existence, though we cannot understand the infiniteness of his
nature. Yet we may better understand eternity than infiniteness ; we can
better conceive a time with the addition of numberless days and years, than
imagine a being without bounds ; whence the apostle joins his eternity with
his power : ' His eternal power and Godhead,' Rom. i. 20 ; because, next
to the power of God apprehended in the creature, we come necessarily, by
reasoning, to acknowledge the eternity of God. He that hath an incompre-
hensible power, must needs have an eternity of nature. His power is most
sensible in the creatures to the eye of man, and his eternity easily from
thence deducible by the reason of man.
_ 1. Eternity is a perpetual duration, which hath neither beginning nor end.
Time hath both. Those things we say are in time, that have beginning,
grow up by degrees, have succession of parts. Eternity is contrary to time,
and is therefore a permanent and immutable state, a perfect possession of
life without any variation. It comprehends in itself all years, all ages, all
periods of ages. It never begins ! It endures after every duration of time,
and never ceaseth. It doth as much outrun time as it went before the be-
ginning of it. Time supposeth something before it, but there can be nothing
before eternity ; it were not then eternity. Time hath a continual succes-
sion ; the former time passeth away, and another succeeds ; the last year is
not this year, nor this year the next. We must conceive of eternity con-
trary to the notion of time. As the nature of time consists in the succession
of parts, so the nature of eternity in an infinite immutable duration. f Eter-
nity and time differ as the sea and rivers ; the sea never changes place, and
is always one water, but the rivers glide along, and are swallowed up in the
sea ; so is time by eternity.
A thing is said to be eternal, or everlasting rather, in Scripture,
2. When it is of a long duration, though it will have an end ; when it
hath no measures of time determined to it. So circumcision is said to be in
the flesh ' for an everlasting covenant,' Gen. xvii. 14 ; not purely everlast-
ing, but so long as that administration of the covenant should endure.
And so when a servant would not leave his master, but would have his
* Consul, lib. ii. Confus. 15. f Moulin. Cor. i., Scr. 2, p. 52.
SO. 2.] Tin
iut ' fur < n r,' I). ut. \v. 17; /. < .,
(ill the jubilee, whieh ws r. So the
er is said to . L«v. \i. liO. <
.in for all
• I ; I an, which ;
natii us, Indeed, oircumc
t In- i waH ii M"ii, viz., " God of
lirli. ■ n lures I'nr ever; and that envim . | whi'-hwas
m of the fl< ib, i h ill rem tin f
.1 ' of the thin •
The 1 it; :.:
peremptory in it, thai
i '..-In i. I him if fi om a participation of i
I . •■ I ■ ■ irere to be perpetnal i
by them, viz., the death of Christ, whieb to endnre in the
of it. Aiul the ' i '•'■ foi i. 24, in
nption signified by it, which was to 1"' of i
< to !"• an everlastin [lory of bee
I, to bi for ever oonferred opon the spirit f Abraham.
:'.. When s thing bath do end, thou -h it hath a
lis are everlasting ; though their b ball never o
was i time when their 'I nothin
they shall never be nothing Bgain, but shall live in i
h - happin ry.
Bnti • rnal that hath neither beginnii 1; nn<l thus
lity is a pr ipertyofGod. In this dootrine I shall shew,
I.I! tQ mal, Of in what \g Lis property.
II. Tb t !. si, end must d so.
III. Thai eternity is only proper to God, and not common to him with
any creature.
IV.
T. Bovf GK J is eternal, or in what respects he is so. Eternity is a nega-
tive attribute, and is a denying of God any measures of time, as immensity
him any bounds of place; as immensity is the diffhffl >n of
his rnity is the duration of his essence; and when we say
iude from him all possibility of beginning and ending,
all ilux and change. As th. te of God cannot be bounded by any
place, BO it is not to be limited by any time; as it is his imm. to be
• it is his eternity to be always. .\ ted things are said
to 1 re in regard of place, and to be present, past, or future in
rd of time, so the Creator in regard of place is ev. 1
of i mper* His duration is a • is boundless;
1 always will be, and will no more have an end than he
■ : and this is an excellency 1 g to the Supremo
! them, and his
ots all places, SO his eternity comprehends all times, all
ml inth. them.}
1. (i.> 1 is without beginnii
•In the begins eg it the world,' Gen. i. 1. Q then
hat point can be set wherein God be.
if ! • ated ti.
I. : : . though all other things had time and beginnu I him.
• Qesi t Crallres, Jo Dee, oep. evOL p. ti. :.J, torn. .
350 chaenock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
unity is before all numbers, so is God before all his creatures. Abraham
called upon the name of the ■ everlasting God,' Q^y ^ Gen. xxi. 33,
the eternal God. It is opposed to heathen gods, which were but of yester-
day, new coined, and so new; but the eternal God was before the world
was made. In that sense it is to be understood: Rom. xvi. 26, 'The
mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made
manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the command
of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of
faith.' The gospel is not preached by the command of a new and tem-
porary God, but of that God that was before all ages. Though the mani-
festation of it be in time, yet the purpose and resolve of it was from eternity.
If there were decrees before the foundation of the world, there was a
decreer before the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the
world he loved Christ as a mediator, John xvii. 24 ; a foreordination of him
was before the foundation of the world, Eph. i. 4. A choice of men, and
therefore a chooser before the foundation of the world ; a ■ grace given in
Christ before the world began,' 2 Tim. i. 9, and therefore a donor of that
grace. From those places, saith Crellius, it appears that God was before
the foundation of the world ; but they do not assert an absolute eternity.
But to be before all creatures, is equivalent to his being from eternity.*
Time began with the foundation of the world, but God being before time,
could have no beginning in time ; before the beginning of the creation and
the beginning of time, there could be nothing but eternity, nothing but what
was uncreated, that is, nothing but what was without beginning. To be in
time, is to have a beginning; to be before all time, is never to have a
beginning, but always to be ; for as between the Creator and creatures there
is no medium, so between time and eternity there is no medium. It is as
easily deduced that he that was before all creatures is eternal, as he that
made all creatures is God ; if he had a beginning, he must have it from
another, or from himself. If from another, that from whom he received his
bein» would be better than he, so more a God than he. He cannot be God
that is not supreme, he cannot be supreme that owes his being to the
power of another. He would not be said ' only to have immortality ' as he
is, 1 Tim. vi. 16, if he had it dependent upon another; nor could he have
a beginning from himself. If he had given beginning to himself, then he
was once nothing, there was a time when he was not ; if he was not, how
could he be the cause of himself? It is impossible for any to give a
beginning and being to itself; if it acts, it must exist, and so exist before it
existed. A thin« would exist as a cause before it existed as an effect. He
that is not cannot be the cause that he is. If therefore God doth exist,
and hath not his being from another, he must exist from eternity. There-
fore when we say God is of and from himself, we mean not that God gave
being to himself ; but it is negatively to be understood, that he hath no
cause of existence without himself.
Whatsoever number of millions of millions of years we can imagine before
the creation of the world, yet God was infinitely before those ; he is there-
fore called ' the Ancient of days,' Dan. vii. 9, as being before all days and
time, and eminently containing in himself all times and ages. Though
indeed God cannot properly be called ancient, that will testify that he is
decaying, and shortly will not be ; no more than he can be called young,
which would signify that ho was not long before. All created things are
new and fresh, but no creaturo can find out any beginning of God. It is
impossible there should be any beginning of him.
* Coccei, Sum. Thool. p. 48 ; Gerhard, Exegcs. cap. lxxxvi. 4, p. 266.
Pi, X(\ 2.] Tin: in. i:\ii, <w <;od.
'2. God is without ond. Ho alwnyi \\a-, ilwajl If, Hid alwayi will
what lie is. lb- r. in. iin - :i!v..i;. une in being ; ho far from any char
th;it iii) shadow of it cm touch him, .lam. -si. 17. He will continue in I •
as long hh ho hatli already enjoyed it ; and if we c..uld add . | many
millions of years together, we are still iih far from an end as from I
I inning, for ' the I i i hall enduri | it is imp
sible he should not be, I- .ii" from all et« mity, ho it is impossible that ho
should not be to all eternity. The Scripture i i in testi-
Bioniai "l this eternity of Qo&, & part* i '• oi Lion of
world. Be ii said to 'li\e (or ever, 1 i; 9, 10. The i trth shall
j»' riah, but God shall endure for erer, and bi hall bate no end,
cii. 27. l'lanN and :niimals grow Dp fi"in .-mall h. ginning!, am., to their
full growth and decline again, and ha\e alwajl K marl. aide all in
their nature ; hut there is DO declination in God by all the rOTOlotioE
time. II. iic.' Mime think the incorruptibility of the I 1 •
the Shittun or c. dar wood, whereof tin: ark Wll made, it being Of an ii.
ruptible nature, Bxod. \w. I<>.
That which had no beginning of duration can never have as end, or anj
interruptions in it. Since God never depended Upon any, what should
make lum case to bo what eternally he hath been, or put • stop to the
continuance of his perfections'.' Jle cannot will his own d< m ; that
DJt universal nature in all things to cease from being, if tie v cm
preserve themselves. lit! cannot desert his own being, because he cannot
but love himself as the best and chi. : id. The reason that anything
decays, is either its own native weakness, or superior power of Something
eonti.u, to it.* Thero is no weakness in the nature of God that cm jn1
tluce any corruption, because ho is infinitely simple, without anv mixture.
Nor can he be overpowered by anything else ; a Weaker cannot hurt hirn,
and a Stronger than he there cannot be. Nor can he be outwitted or cir-
cumvented, because of his infinite wisdom. As he received his being from
none, so he cannot bo deprived of it by any. As he doth necessarily 63
so lie doth me. BSSjrily always exist. This indeed is the property of God ;
nothing so proper to him as always to be. Whatsoever perfection any
being bath, if it bo not eternal it is not divine. God only is immortal,!
1 Tim. vi. 10; he only is so by a necessity of nature. Angels, souks, ,
bodies too, after the resurrection, shall be immortal; not by nature but
grant ; they are subject to return to nothing, if that word that raised them
from nothing should speak them into nothing again. It is as easy with
God to strip them of it as to invest them with it; nay, it is impossible but
that they should perish, if God should withdraw his power from preserving
them, which he exerted in creating them. But God is immovably fixed in
his own being, that as none gave him his life, so none can deprive him of
his life, or the least particle of it. Not a jot of the happiness and life which
( I infinitely possesses can be lost; it will be as durable to everlasting as it
hath been possessed from everlasting.
3. There is no succession in God. God is without succession or change;
it is a part of eternity: 'From everlasting to everlasting he is God,'
tin God doth not only always n main in being, but he always remains
the same in that being: 'Thou art the same,' l's. cii. 27. The being of
S, the being of God is permanent, and remain
with all its perfections, unchanged in an infinite duration. Indeed, the :
notion of et. mity is to be with. Dl 1 I .'inning and end, which notes to us the
duration of a being in regard of its I BJ but to have no succession,
Crelliud, de Deu, cap. xviii. p, 11. f Daillo in loc.
352 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2,
nothing first or last, notes rather the perfection of a being in regard of its
essence.
The creatures are in a perpetual flux ; something is acquired, or some-
thing lost, every day. A man is the same in regard of existence when he
is a man as he was when he was a child, but there is a new succession of
quantities and qualities in him. Every day he acquires something till he
comes to his maturity, every day he loseth something till he comes to his
period. A man is not the same at night that he was in the morning,
something is expired and something is added ; every day there is a change
in his age, a change in his substance, a change in his accidents ; but God
hath his whole being in one and the same point or moment of eternity.
He receives nothing as an addition to what he was before, he loseth nothing
of what he was before ; he is always the same excellency and perfection in
the same infiniteness as ever. His 'years do not fail,' Heb. i. 12; his
3 7 ears do not come and go as others do, there is not this day, to-morrow, or
yesterday with him. As nothing is past or future with him in regard of
knowledge, but all things are present, so nothing is past or future in regard
of his essence. He is not in his essence this day what he was not before,
or will be the next day and year what he is not now.* All his perfections
are most perfect in him every moment, before all ages, after all ages. As
he hath his whole essence undivided in every place, as well as in immense
space, so he hath all his being in one moment of time, as well as in infinite
intervals of time.f Some illustrate the difference between eternity and
time by the similitude of a tree or a rock standing upon the side of a river
or shore of the sea ; the tree stands, always the same and unmoved, while
the waters of the river glide along at the foot. The flux is in the river,
but the tree acquires nothing but a diverse respect and relation of presence
to the various parts of the river as they flow. The waters of the river press
on, and push forward one another, and what the river hath this minute it
hath not the same the next; so are all sublunary things in a continual flux.
And though the angels have no substantial change, yet they have an acci-
dental, for the actions of the angels this day are not the same individual
actions which they performed yesterday; but in God there is no change, he
always remains the same.
Of a creature it may be said, he was, or he is, or he shall be. J Of God
it cannot be said but only he is ; he is what he always was, and he is what
he always will be ; whereas a creature is what he was not, and will be what
he is not now. As it may be said of the flame of a candle, it is flame, but it
is not the same individual flame as was before, nor is it the same that will
be presently after ; there is a continual dissolution of it into air, and a con-
tinual supply for the generation of more ; while it continues it may be said
there is a flame, yet not entirely one, but in a succession of parts : so of
a man it may be said, he is in a succession of parts ; but he is not the
same that he was, and will not be the same that he is. But God is the
same without any succession of parts, and of time ; of him it may be said,
ho is ; he is no more now than he was, and he shall be no more hereafter
than he is. God possesses a firm and absolute being, always constant to
himself; § ho sees all things sliding under him in a continual variation ; he
beholds the revolutions in the world without any change of his most glori-
ous and immoveable nature. All other things pass from one state to
* Lossius, do perfect, divin. lib. iv. cap. 1.
t Gamacheus in Aquin. part i. qu. 10, eap. 1.
j Gtissend, torn. i. ; Physic, sec. i. 1. 2, c. 7, p. 223.
\ Daille, Melange do iSennons, p. 252.
I' . \< I, B WD*
!ht, from their original to their eclipse and di traction; bni Q I
p , being in one indi point, having noithcr b nd,
He.
! .) Then I ■ :' ( I L 'I •' • '• ! - '" of
in
the divine mind, for nil tin him from «-t- rnitv in i I
of hii knowledge, though they are not actually ] rorld in i I
of their exi bonoe. II" doth not know one thing now and »n,
SOS all thingl at ' Known unto I I all thiogl from tin- )>(•■
of the worl .18, bnt in their true r.rdi-r . fifl
they lie in the el >nn»el of God, to be brought forth in time. Tli" :
:t siiiv. ••! md order of thii they are wro I I if
>n in God i l of bia knon led p of them. I
thinga that shall be wrought, and the order of them in their ben (W
upon the ita;'" of the wurM ; y. t imtli tin- things and the order
by one act. Though all thingi be present with God, yet they | in
him in the order of their appearance in the world, and noi ao pn lent with
him as if they ahould be wrought at ones. The death of Christ was to pre-
orrection in order of time; there ia i d in this; I
sxe known hv God, y, t the act of his knowl I
shout Christ ai dying and risuig at the same time, bo that there
i in thingi when there is no succession in God'i knowledge of Uk
Sin. knows time, he knows all thingi ss they an in time ; l
not know nil thingi to DS at 01100, though he knows at OUCC what is, lias
l a, an.l will be. All thingi are ent, and to come in regard of
; but there is noi past, present, and to come in regard of
l*i knowledge of them, 1 because h< nd knows not by any other hut
by him* If; hi il nil own light by which ho sees, his own glass wherein he
- ; beholding himself, he behotdi all things.
Th< re is no lucceeaion in the decrees of God. He dcth not decreo
tliis now which lie decreed not before, for as his works were known from
the beginning of the world, so his works were decreed from the boginnii:
the world ; as they are known at once, so they are decreed at once ; tl
is a succession in the execution of them, first grace, then glory ; but tho
purpose of God for the bestowing of both was in one and the same moment
of eternity : Eph. i. 4, 'He chose us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy;' the choice of Christ, and the choice of
some in him to be holy, and to be happy, were before the foundation of the
rid. It is by the eternal counsel of God all thingi app ar in time ; they
appear in tluir order, according to the counsel and will of God, from eternity.
The redemption of tho world is after the creation of the world, but the
reby the world was created, and whereby it was redeemed, was
from eternity.
(3.) God is his own eternity. He tfl not eternal by grant, and the dis-
posal of any other, but by nature and essence. The eternity of God i|
not: ;t the duration of God, and the duration of God is not!
else but his e luring, exittentia durans* If eternity wore any-
thing distinct from God, and not of the SI of God, then thero would
metbing which was not God ay to period God. Ai immortalU
the of a rational ereatir V rnitv is the ah
:i of God, y< loss and lustre of all others. Every perfection woold
imperfect if it ' elwsyi I | n.
: is essentially whatsoever he is, and thero is nothing in God but his
* Parisicn t Calov. Socinian.
VOL. I. Z
354 chaenock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
essence. Duration or continuance in being in creatures differs from their
being, for they might exist but for one instant, in which case they may be
said to have being, but not duration, because all duration includes prius et
posterius. All creatures may cease from being, if it be the pleasure of God;
they are not therefore durable by their essence, and therefore are not their
own duration, no more than they are their own existence ; and though some
creatures, as angels and souls, may be called everlasting, as a perpetual life
is communicated to them by God, yet they can never be called their own
eternity, because such a duration is not simply necessary nor essential to
them, but accidental, depending upon the pleasure of another ; there is
nothing in their nature that can hinder them from losing it, if God, from
whom they received it, should design to take it away ; but as God is his
own necessity of existing, so he is in his own duration in existing.* As he
doth necessarily exist by himself, so he will always necessarily exist by
himself.
(4.) Hence all the perfections of God are eternal. In regard of the
divine eternity, all things in God are eternal : his power, mercy, wisdom,
justice, knowledge. God himself were not eternal if any of his perfections,
w r hich are essential to him, were not eternal also ; he had not else been a
perfect God from all eternity, and so his whole self had not been eternal.
If anything belonging to the nature of a thing be wanting, it cannot be said
to be that thing which it ought to be ; if anything requisite to the nature of
God had been wanting one moment, he could not have been said to be an
eternal God.
II. The second thing, God is eternal. The Spirit of God in Scripture
condescends to our capacities in signifying the eternity of God by days and
years, which are terms belonging to time, whereby we measure it, Ps.
cii. 27 ; but we must no more conceive that God is bounded or measured
by time, and hath succession of days because of those expressions, than we
can conclude him to have a body because members are ascribed to him in
Scripture, to help our conceptions of his glorious nature and operations.
Though years are ascribed to him, yet they are such as cannot be numbered,
cannot be finished, since there is no proportion between the duration of God
and the years of men : ■ The number of his years cannot be searched out,
for he makes small the drops of water, they pour down rain according to
the vapour thereof,' Job xxxvi. 26, 27. The numbers of the drops of rain
which have fallen in all parts of the earth since the creation of the world, if
subtracted from the number of the years of God, would be found a small
quantity, a mere nothing to the years of God. As all the nations in the
world compared with God are but as the ' drop of a bucket, worse than no-
thing, than vanity,' Isa. xl. 15, so all the ages of the world, if compared
with God, amount not to" so much as the one hundred thousandth part of a
minute. The minutes from the creation may be numbered, but the years
of the duration of God, being infinite, are without measure.
As one day is to the life of man, so are a thousand years to the life of
God, Ps. xc. 4. The Holy Ghost expresseth himself to the capacity of man,
to give us some notion of an infinite duration, by a resemblance suited to the
capacity of man.t If a thousand years bo but as a day to the life of God,
then as a year is to the life of man, so are three hundred sixty-five thousand
years to the life of God ; and as seventy years are to the life of man, so are
twenty-five millions four J hundred and fifty thousand years to the life of
God. Yet still, sinco there is no proportion between time and eternity, we
* Gassond. ♦ Amyrald, Trin. p. 44. $ ' five.' — Ed.
; \C 2.] -ii:i. i i B50
inn.-. t dart our thou ;hta beyond all those, 1 fur yean ind dayi measure only
Um duration of . Bnd ol I bit thai an material and i
poreal, mbjod to tin- motion of tl nrnieh maki
rnity is i v parta, a« looking bs and
forward, by the difl wbiofa i
and ii| an ] bo h tbii might I ■ n of i j in
being, though but for an hour, it was tin- last minutr, it and it %*•• i i 1
• minute, yel tl" B Ij Qhoet would dealan to
G I, as inolnding all parts of time ; be always wi ysshaU
. it mighl al i of bim he was, and it may I of
him he Will be. There is mi time when lio began, no timu when lie shall
[| eannol be said of a sreatnre be alwayi wa . be alwaj i what be
was, and he always will be wh itGodal is what ho was, and
alwayi will be what be Is, so thai it is i ?sry ugnificent i . of Um
eternity of God, as can 1 e suit, d to our estpaoH
l. M eten tj i evident, by the name God gives himself : Bx Liii. 14,
• \ i G | said Onto Moses, I am thai I am; thus r shalt thou say to the
ehildren of brai 1, 1 an hath lenl me unto von.' Thii is thi name wh< n
he is distinguished bom all creatures. I am is his proper name. Ibis
nription being in the pies nl ten s, shews that his esse n ce knows no p I
nor future. It' it were as was t it would intimate he were not now what he
if it were he will be, it would intimate he were not yet what ho
will be; hut / am; 1 am the only being, the root of all beings; he is thi
the greatest distance from not being, and that is sternal; so that v
signifies nil eternity, as well as his perfection and immutability. As / am
iks the want of 00 iks the want of no duration;
and therefore the French, wherever they find this word Jehovah in - ip-
ture, which we translate Lore*, and Lord eternal, render it the Eternal t —
i always and immutably the same. The eternity of God is opposed to
the volubility of time, which is extended into past, present, and to come.
Our time is but a small drop, as sand to all the atoms and small particles of
which the world is made : but God is an unbounded sea of being, — ' I am
that I am,' i.r. am infinite life. I have not that now which I had not for-
merly ; I shall not afterwards have that which I have not now. I am that
rery moment which I was, and will he in all moments of time. Nothing
can be added to me, nothing can be detracted from me. There is noth.
Superior to him which can detract from him, nothing desirable that can be
added to him. Now if thero were any beginning and end of God, any
succession in him, he coul 1 not be / am ; j for in regard of what was past he
would not be, in regard of what was to come he is not yet. And upon this
account a heathen § argues well, of all creatures it may be said they were,
or they will be, but of God it cannot be said anything else but E$t t God it,
lass he fills an eternal duration. A creature cannot be said to be if it
4 yet, nor if it be not now, but hath been. ||
God only can be Balled / am ; all creatures have more of not being than
y creature was nothing from eternity, before it was m
: and if it bo corruptible in its whole nature, it will bo
nothing to eternity after it hath been something in time ; and if it be not
corruptible in its nature, as th . or in every part of its nature, as man
in regard of nil soul, yet it hah not properly a being, because it is den
" D i 8 di. 27, p. 21.
t K this argument. <!■ D p. 18, p. 49
.;.l 16. '1 i. ,. 11. § riutarch, d T K/ i. p. i
a Exod. . Jt. 13.
356 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
dent upon the pleasure of God to continue it, or deprive it of it ; and while
it is, it is mutable, and all mutability is a mixture of not being. If God,
therefore, be properly I am, i. e. being, it follows that he'always was ; for if
he were not always, he must, as was argued before, be produced by some
other, or by himself. By another he could not, then he had not been God,
but a creature; nor by himself, for then, as producing, he must be before
himself, as produced ; he had been before he was. And he always will be,
for being I am, having all being in himself, and the fountain of all being to
everything else, how can he ever have his name changed to I am not?
2. God hath life in himself: John v. 26, ■ The Father hath life in him-
self.' He is the 'living God,' therefore ' stedfast'for ever,' Dan. vi. 26.
He hath life by his essence, not by participation. He is a sun to give light
and life to all creatures, but receives not light or life from anything, and
therefore he hath an unlimited life ; not a drop of life, but a fountain ; not
a spark of a limited life, but a life transcending all bounds. He hath life in
himself ; all creatures have their life in him, and from him. He that hath
life in himself doth necessarily exist, and could never be made to exist, for
then he had not life in himself, but in that which made him to exist, and
gave him life. What doth necessarily exist, therefore, exists from eternity;
what hath being of itself could never be produced in time, could not want
being one moment, because it hath being from its essence, without influence
of any efficient cause. When God pronounced his name, I am that lam,
angels and men were in being ; the world had been created above two thou-
sand four hundred years.* Moses, to whom he then speaks, was in being ;
yet God only is, because he only hath the fountain of being in himself, but
all that they were was a rivulet from him. He hath from nothing else that
he doth subsist ; everything else hath its subsistence from him as their root,
as the beam from the sun, as the rivers and fountains from the sea. All
life is seated in God, as in its proper throne, in its most perfect purity.
God is life ; it is in him originally, radically, therefore eternally. He is a
pure act, nothing but vigour and act. He hath by his nature that life which
others have by his grant ; whence the apostle saith, 1 Tim. vi. 16, not only
that he is immortal, but he 'hath immortality' in a full possession, fee-
simple, not depending upon the will of another, but containing all things
within himself. He that hath life in himself, and is from himself, cannot
but be. He always was, because he received his being from no other, and
none can take away that being which was not given by another.f If there
were any space before he did exist, then there were something which made
him to exist ; life would not then be in him, but in that which produced him
into being. He could not then be God, but that other which gave him
being would be God. And to say God sprung into being by chance, when
we see nothing in the world that is brought forth by chance, but hath
some cause of its existence, would be vain ; for since God is a being, chance,
which is nothing, could not bring forth something: and by the same reason
that ho sprung up by chance, he might totally vanish by chance. What a
strange notion of a God would this be, such a God that had no life in him-
self, but from chance.
Sinco ho had life in himself, and that there was no cause of his existence,
ho can have no cause of his limitation, and can no more be determined to
a time than he can to a place. What hath life in itself hath life without
bounds, and can never desert it, nor be deprived of it ; so that he lives
necessarily, and it is absolutely impossible that he should not live ; whereas
* Fetav. Thool. Dogm., torn. i. lib. i. c. G, sec. 6, 7.
t Amyrald, do Triuit., p. 48.
!' . \<\ 2.] I III. l.ll .l:Ml'» 01 '."!».
«
nil 0th«r thin:'; ' li\. , :i:,l DO 1 have their being in him,' -\<-l I xvii.
88 ; m . ' ' nothing it bii m
i ■' 1 1 not immutable In hii nature. It is
iinmuta! ho without eterni' vhatso-
, is chan '<■ I. in • ' ■ •'
t | 1 .■ M D ll it WM : t ,. t h to I I I !■ H 1 H -a--. D HB-
not, th< to 1 G .'t' then i ith< r 1 •
• II in it : M il. ni. ('», ' I nni tin I ' ;' Job DO
. • Touching tin- AJmight oannot Bud bin onl
I n, from hii and to naturi J< ■ . to bii immutability
in hii | II. il lio ii"' 1" '"M eternal, th< hern the greatest
, from Hot!. Something. A chair'.- of •
than a cli.in '■• of purpoee. Cod ii . guttering ilwayi in the hhimh
glory; no | ' up in youth, no | on to :i /••. It" 1. not
without • unlink in ono point of eternity, I fOUld bf I
from peet to present, from present to future. The eternity ofG I
i ;i shield against all kind of mutability. If injthillg sprang Bf in tho
essence of God that was not then before, Km could not be said to m either
IH i ternal or an Dnohinged substance.
i. God could not be an infinitely perfect being, if he were not eternal. A
finite duration is inoonaiitent with infinite pe r fection. Whatsoever is con-
tracted within the limits of time, cannot swallow Dp all perfection! in itself.
I hath an unsearchable perfection : ' Canst thou by searching find out
God *.' eenai thon find out the Almighty unto perfection ?' Job xi. 7. Ho
cannot he found out, he is infinite, because he ii incomprehi neible. Incom-
prehensibility iriieth from in infinite perfection, which cannot be fathomed
he short lims of man's understanding. His essence, in regard of its
diffusion and in regard of its duration, is incomprehensible, as well as his
action. If God, therefore, had beginning) he could not be infinite ; if not
infinite, lie did not possess the highest perfection, because a perfection might
bee 1 beyond it. If his being could fail, he were not perfect. Can
that deserve the name of the highest perfection, which is capable of corrup-
tion and dissolution ? To be finite and limited is the greatest imperfection,
for it consists in a denial of being, lie could not be the most blessed being
if he were not always so, and should not for ever remain to be so ; and
whatsoever perfections he had, would be soured by the thoughtl that in time
they would md so could not be pure perfections, because not perma-
nent ; but he is ' blessed from everlasting to everlasting,' Ps. xli. 13. Had
he l 1" ginning, he could not have all perfection without limitation ; he would
have been limited by that which gave him beginning ; that which gave him
Ig would bfl God and not himself, and so more perfect than he. But
since God is the most sovereign perfection, than which nothing can be ima-
gined p- rfecter by the moei capacious understanding, he is certainly eternal ;
being infinite, nothing can be iddf 1 I » him, nothing detracted from him.
5. I dd not be omnipotent, almighty, if he were not eternal. The
title of Almighi - not with ■ nature that had a beginning ; whatsoever
hath a beginnii I nothing, and when it was nothing, could act no-
thing. Wl > being, 1 II no power; neither doth the title
of Almighty agree with | p< nilhing nature. He can do nothing to purp
that cannot lumselfl the outward force and violence of enc-
iinst the inward causes of corruption and dissolution. No account
• I be made of man. ' *h is in his nostr: ii. 22.
i Grady if hi were of the like n ?
II • could not properly be almighty t that were not always mvjhty. If ho be
358 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
omnipotent, nothing can impair him ; he that hath all power can have no
hurt.* If he doth whatsoever he pleaseth, nothing can make him miserable,
since misery consists in those things which happen against our will. The
almightiness and eternity of God are linked together : 'I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which was, and which
is, and which is to come, the Almighty,' Rev. i. 8. Almighty because eter-
nal, and eternal because almighty.
6. God would not be the first cause of all, if he were not eternal. But
he is ' the first and the last,' Rev. i. 8 ; the first cause of all things, the last
end of all things, f That which is the first cannot begin to be : it were not
then the first. It cannot cease to be : whatsoever is dissolved, is dissolved
into that whereof it doth consist, which was before it, and then it was not
the first. | The world might not have been ; it was once nothing : it must
have some cause to call it out of nothing. Nothing hath no power to make
itself something ; there is a superior cause, by whose will and power it comes
into being, and so gives all the creatures their distinct forms.
This power cannot but be eternal, it must be before the world ; the foun-
der must be before the foundation, § and his existence must be from eternity,
or we must say nothing did exist from eternity. And if there were no being
from eternity, there could not now be any being in time. What we see, and
w r hat we are, must arise from itself or some other. It cannot from itself.
If anything made itself, it had a power to make itself ; it then had an active
power before it had a being. It was something in regard of power, and was
nothing in regard of existence, at the same time. Suppose it had a power
to produce itself, this power must be conferred upon it by another ; and so
the power of producing itself was not from itself, but from another. But if
the power of being was from itself, why did it not produce itself before ?
Why was it one moment out of being ? If there be any existence of things,
it is necessary that that which was the first cause should exist from eternity. ||
Whatsoever was the immediate cause of the world, yet the first and chief
cause, wherein we must rest, must have nothing before it ; if it had anything
before it, it were not the first. He therefore that is the first cause must be
without beginning, nothing must be before him. If he had a beginning from
some other, he could not be the first principle and author of all things. If
he be the first cause of all things, he must give himself a beginning, or to
be from eternity. He could not give himself a beginning : whatsoever begins
in time was nothing before, and when it was nothing, it could do nothing ;
it could not give itself anything, for then it gave what it had not, and did
what it could not. If he made himself in time, why did he not make him-
self before ? What hindered him ? It was either because he could not, or
because he would not. If he could not, he always wanted power, and always
would, unless it were bestowed upon him, and then he could not be said to
be from himself. If he would not make himself before, then he might have
made himself when he would : how had he the power of willing and nilling
without a being ? Nothing cannot will or nill ; nothing hath no faculties.
So that it is necessary to grant some eternal being, or run into inextricable
labyrinths and mazes. If we deny some eternal being, we must deny all
being : our own being, the being of everything about us ; unconceivable
absurditios will arise.
So then, if God were tho causo of all things, ho did exist before all things,
and that from eternity.
* Voot. Natural. Theol., p. 310. g Crellius de Deo, cap. 18, p. 43.
t Firfn.de Immort., lib. il. cap. 5. || retav.Theol.Dogmat.,tora.i. 1. i.e. 10,11.
J Coccci Sum. Theol.
. Of .;<>]..
ill. The third thii only pi I God, and not communi-
cable. I'
■ the Lord of the on ifta f eterail | prop* I that
when the apoetle would prove the i rhieisniiMi-
1 1 %• an. I i i art tin- MOM,
III thai] DOt fill,' Hilt, i . 1 < » 1 '
if eternity belongi I ■ any but '
1 only to dats immorl ii'y.' l Tim. H. L6. All oifa
being from linn, and • deprived of their I • him. All thii
[ on him, ho <»t" n Ml r tliii are like clothes, which would
l i i>.I | : thrill not. Iinlm
□dent immortality. Angela and
by donatlOD from God, not by tlnir own • upon tl
I . doI necessary in thrir own nature. ( rod mi [ht bare annihilate I tl
r he had oreated thi i that thrir duration cannot, pro]
■;.ty, it b oeal to them, and depending nponfhe will of th
I . by whom they may be extinguished. It. is riot an abaolnte and
^sary, hut a pi , imniort i! tv. Wi: :, ifl tern;
rary ; whataoever ii rtcrnil, ii GkxL
It i| a contradiction to sav a nvalurr | i trrnal : M DOthic
is creati I, so nothing en ' I is eternal. What i tore
of do I cannot be <•< rnal, eternity being the God. ]
tare, in the notion of i e, speaks s dependence on
therefore oann I rnaL As it is repngnant to tfa I not to
at to t ; .'' nature of a creature to be eternal ; for
■ would i e i | ; I I • thi ' . and ths Creator, or the cause,
' . |
It would he all OH ait many gods, SS in my eternals ; and all one
I I can be I, as to say s creature can be uncreated, which is
I I be i kernel.
1. Creation is a producing something from nothing. What was once
nothing, cannot therefore bo eternal : its not being was eternal ; there!
its : iuld not be eternal, for it should be then before it was, and would
be something when it was nothing. It is the nature of a creature to be
nothing before it was created ; what was nothing before it was, cannot
equal with God in an eternity of duration.
St, There is no creaturo but is mutable, therefore not eternal. As it had
a change from nothing to something, so it may be changed from being to not
It' the creature were not mutable, it would be most perfect,
would not be a creature, but God, for God only is most i t is as
much the essence of a creature to he mutable, as it is the essence of Go I
Lo. Mutability and eternity are utterly inconsistent.
8. N i is infinite, therefore not eternal. To be intinite in dura-
tion, is all one as to be intinite in essence. It is as ible to conceive
a creature immense, tilling all places el rnal, extended to all ages;
bee l •;.< r can DS without intiniteness, which is the property of the
I » ity, | A creature ma U be without bounds of place, as limitations of
■
1. N i • :':" t of an intellectual pent, can be equal in duration I
cause. The prodc natural agente s anient often aathemseh
sun prodnoeth B beam as old in time as itself; but who ,
piece of wise workmanship as old as the wise artificer? G
Creature, QOt necessarily and naturally, as the sun dotfa a beam, but freely,
* ]' t ' le Perfect* lib. rr. cap. & ♦ Ibid.
360 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
as an intelligent agent. The sun was not necessary ; it might be or not be,
according to the pleasure of God. A free act of the will is necessary to
precede in order of time, as the cause of such effects as are purely voluntary.*
Those causes that act as soon as they exist, act naturally, necessarily, not
freely, and cannot cease from acting.
But suppose a creature might have existed by the will of God from eter-
nity : yet, as some think, it could not be said, absolutely and in its own
nature, to be eternal, because eternity was not of the essence of it. The
creature could not be its own duration ; for though it were from eternity, it
might not have been from eternity, because its existence depended upon the
free will of God, who might have chose whether he would have created it or no.
God only is eternal, ' the first and the last, the beginning and the end,'
who, as he subsisted before any creature had a being, so he will eternally
subsist, if all creatures were reduced to nothing.
IV. Use. 1. Information.
(1.) If God be of an eternal duration, then Christ is God. Eternity is the
property of God, but it is ascribed to Christ : ' He is before all things,' Col.
i. 17, i.e. all created things. He is therefore no creature ; and if no crea-
ture, eternal. 'All things were created by him,' both in heaven and in earth,
angels as well as men, ■ whether they be thrones or dominions,' Col. i. 16.
If all things were his creatures, then he is no creature ; if he were, all things
were not created by him, or he must create himself.
He hath no difference of time, for he is ' the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever,' Heb. xiii. 8 ; Rev. i. 8, ■ He which is, and which was, and which
is to come : ' the same with the name of God, I am, which signifies his
eternity. He is no more to-day than he was yesterday, nor will be any other
to-morrow than he is to-day ; and therefore Melchisedec, whose descent,
birth and death, father and mother, beginning and end of days, are not upon
record, was a type of the existence of Christ, without difference of time :
■ Having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of
God,' Heb. vii. 3. The suppression of his birth and death was intended by
the Holy Ghost as a type of the excellency of Christ's person in regard of
his eternity, and the duration of his charge in regard of his priesthood. As
there was an appearance of an eternity in the suppression of the race of
Melchisedec, so there is a true eternity in the Son of God. How could the
eternity of the Son of God be expressed by any resemblance so well, as by
such a suppression of the beginning and end of this great person, different
from the custom of the Spirit of God in the Old Testament, who often records
the generations and ends of holy men ; and why might not this, which was
a kind of a shadow of eternity, be a representation of the true eternity of
Christ, as well as the restoration of Isaac to his father without death, is said
to be a figure of the resurrection of Christ after a real death. f Melchisedec
is only mentioned once (without any record of his extraction), in his appear-
ance to Abraham after his victory, as if he came from heaven only for that
action, and instantly disappeared again, as if he had been an eternal person.
And Christ himself hints his own eternity : ' I came forth from the Father,
and am come into the world ; again I leave tho world, and go to the Father,'
John xvi. 28. Ho goes to tho Father as he came from the Father ; he goes
to the Father for everlasting, so he came from the Father from everlasting ;
there is the same duration in coming forth from the Father as in returning
to the Father. But more plainly, John xvii. 5, ho speaks of a glory that
he ' had with the Father before the world was,' when there was no creature
* Crellius de Deo, cap. 18, p. 43. t Mestrsozat. in loc.
I \C. 2.] Till. I. II. KM 1 '. <-l «."I».
in 1 :•.: i IB actual f.'l<>ry, and Dot only in .!■ BR •• ■; foi
bad, and whv D
tther, glorifj ilk thai glorj which I bad with tie >rld
was,' it' it wart <>ni :• In:in »
lio was before the world was, bee ■'• ( '- !
omathing peculiar to bim, tl poe» *M
wis ; glorify ma, ambraea, honour dm aa thy Bon, wh< rat l
m the eyeo of to* worid handled d folly aa a ear h only
in decree, why is not the like - Beripi
as of Chris) 1 Whv did be nol oaa the tame •• thai
ware th< d with him, who had i riory In d< I
li.ui. 1 in the Old Testament ; ' Tin- I me in tl
lus way, before bii works of old, 1 Pro?, mi. 82. If be ware U
ited before bimaelf if I God ; it
> properly meant of the essential wiadom of God, sine- ti ; .
nms in the name of a peraoo, and several pai ■■ '■ • arawhieh be)
not s.» mneh to the essential wi dom of God f as far. L8,
'ami the (toward month do I bate ;' which belong! rather to the ho]
< 1 than to tln« essential wisdom of God ; 1 1 ride », H is disti ngui sh '1 from
Jehovah, as poaaeaaed by him and rejoicing before him. 5fe1 plainer, lucah
v. •_>, "Out of thee,' i.e. Bethlehem, 'shall he corns forth to be ruler in
l tel, whose goings forth be; i from of old, from ting/ 'DfO
JCtnt* ' llom tlu> ways* of eternity.' There ire two goings forth of Christ
described, one from Bethlehem in the days of his incarnation, and another
from eternity. The Holy (ihost adds after his prediction of his incarnation,
going ont from STerlaating, that none should donbt of his deity. It this
going out from everlasting were only in the purpose of God, it might
David and of every creature. And in Isa. ix. he is particularly
called the Everlasting, or eternal Father ; not the Father in the Trinity,
but a father to us ; yet eternal, the Father of eternity. As he is ' the
mighty God,' so he is ' the everlasting Father.' Can such a title be ascribed
:iy whoso being depends upon the will of another, and may be dashed
out at the pleasure of a superior ?
As the eternity of God is the ground of all religion, so the eternity of
Ohlisl is the ground of the Christian religion. Could our sins be perfectly
expiated had he not an eternal divinity to answer for the offences committed
inst an eternal God? Temporary Bufferings had been of little validity,
without an intiniteness and eternity in his person to add weight to his passion.
i be eternal, he knows all things as present. 1 Ail things are
present to him in his eternity ; for this is the notion of eternity, to be with-
out succession. If eternity DC one indivisible point, and is not diffused into
nd succeeding parts, then that which is known in it or by it is
pere ithout any succession, for knowledge is as the substance of the
person knowing ; if that hath various actions and distinct from itself, t.
it Dl Is tilings in ditVerences of time as time presents them to view ;
but ' iod's being depends not upon the revolutions of time, so neither
doth* his knowledge ; it exceeds all motions of years and days, comprehends
infinite - • and future. God Considers all things in his <
in one simple knowledge, as if they were now acted before him : Acts ST. 18,
• Known unto ( I from the beginning of the world ;' dV
'cux- tculo, from eternity, (iod's knowled :nal with him.
If he knows that in time which he did not know from eternif. . dd not
icily perfect, since ki ion of an intelligi .re.
♦ Qu. 'days/ t 1'
362 chaknock's works. f [Ps. XC. 2.
(3.) How bold and foolish is it for a mortal creature to censure the counsels
and actions of an eternal God, or be too curious in his inquisitions ? It is
by the consideration of the unsearchable number of the years of God that
Elihu checks too bold inquiries : ' Who hath enjoined him his way, or who
can say thou hast wrought iniquity ? Behold, God is great, and we know
him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out,' Job xxxvi.
26 compared with ver. 23. Eternity sets God above our inquiries and
censures. Infants of a day old are not able to understand the acts of wise
and grey heads. Shall we, that are of so short a being and understanding
as yesterday, presume to measure the motions of eternity by our scanty
intellects ? we that cannot foresee an unexpected accident which falls in
to blast a well laid design, and run a ship many leagues back from the
intended harbour ? We cannot understand the reason of things we see done
in time, the motions of the sea, the generation of rain, the nature of light,
the sympathies and antipathies of the creatures ; and shall we dare to
censure the actions of an eternal God, so infinitely beyond our reach ? The
counsels of a boundless being are not to be scanned by the brain of a silly
worm, that hath breathed but a few minutes in the world. Since eternity'
cannot be comprehended in time, it is not to be judged by a creature of time.
1 Let us remember to magnify his works which we behold,' because he is
eternal, which is the exhortation of Elihu backed by this doctrine of God's
eternity, Job xxxvi. 24, and not accuse any work of him who is the ancient
of days, or presume to direct him of whose eternity we come infinitely short.
Whenever therefore any unworthy notion of the counsels and works of God
is suggested to us by Satan or our own corrupt hearts, let us look backward
to God's eternal and our own short duration, and silence ourselves with the
same question wherewith God put a stop to the reasoning of Job, chap,
xxxviii. 4, ' Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? '
and reprove ourselves for our curiosity, since we are of so short a standing,
and were nothing when the eternal God laid the first stone of the world.
(4.) What a folly and boldness is there in sin, since an eternal God is
offended thereby ! All sin is aggravated by God's eternity. The blackness
of the heathen idolatry was in changing ' the glory of the incorruptible God,'
Rom. i. 23, erecting resemblances of him contrary to his immortal nature ;
as if the eternal God, whose life is as unlimited as eternity, were like those
creatures whose beings are measured by the short ell of time, which are of
a corruptible nature, and daily passing on to corruption. They could not
really deprive God of his glory and immortality, but they did in estimation.
There is in the nature of every sin a tendency to reduce God to a not being.
He that thinks unworthily of God, or acts unworthily towards him, doth (as
much as in him lies) sully and destroy these two perfections of his, immuta-
bility and eternity. It is a carriage as if he were as contemptible as a
creature that were but of yesterday, and shall not remain in being to-morrow.
He that would put an end to God's glory by darkening it, would put an end
to God's life by destroying it. He that should love a beast with as great
an affection as he loves a man, contemns a rational creature, and he that
loves a perishing thing with the same affection he should love an everlasting
God, contemns his eternity ; he debaseth the duration of God below that of
the world ; the low valuation of God speaks him, in his esteem, no better
than withering grass, or a gourd, which lasts for a night; and the creature,
which possesses his affection, to bo a good that lasts for ever. How foolish
then is every sin, that tends to destroy a being that cannot destroy or desert
himself ; a being, without whose eternity the sinner himself could not have
had the capacity of a being, to affront him ! How base is that which would
1\;. X< '. 'J. Tin of (joD.
DOJ lei the woi r« miiiii in tl ' '■ uch
inun: |i;im< in nol < !. larii ' the fountain and thai raid
no! oniv put ao end to the beauty of the world, but tfa
I 5, i I [ow <in ml fill is it to lie und< r tl i ' I '• I
rnity is ai great :i terror to him thai hatei bim, m it i afort to him
thai lov< i him, I ha ' livifl ngking, the i
ahail doI I" ■ abide b nation,' Jor. x. 1«». Though God be 1
in their thou ;ht«, mi 1 is mad of in tb of
G eternity, when he oomei to judge the world, shall •
of him tremble. That the judge and punishor liv<
grievanc oul in i I addi an unconceivable w<
what the infinitencs<t < . r could do without thai
tion ; Ins eternity makei the puniahment more dreadful than b ;
liis power mak< i p, but ins eternity renderi it perpetual ; i ••» r to •
the en i of every lash.
And how ted ii it to think thai God lej ] si to pawn for the
puniahment of obeiinate sinners, and th it. by an oath, thai he will
* whel his glittering sword,' thai nil ' hand shall take hold of judgment,' thai
will ■ render vengeance to his enemiee, and ■ reward to them thai I
him,' a reward proportioned to the of their , andthegl
of an eternal God I Deut, xzzii. 10, 11,'] lift np my hand to hi 1
. I live for ever ;' i.r. as Surely as I live for ever, I will v. Ii lit-
tering sword, As none can com-.' 1 with b perpetuity, ao none can
I with such a laetingm God. It ii i great loi
ship richly fraught in the bottom of the sea, never to I ;pon the shore;
but how muoh greater ii it to lose el i God,* which we were
capable of eti rnally enjoying, an 1 undergo nn evil as durable as that God
I, and wire m ,i possibility of avoiding? The miseries of men
r this life are not eased, but sharpened by the life* and eternity of God.
/ '2. The second Has is of comfort. What foundation of comfort can wo
have in any of God's attributes, were it not for his iniinitcness and eternity,
though he be merciful, good, wise, faithful. "What support could there be
if they were p< rfections belonging to a corruptible God '? What hopes of a
i to happiness can we have, or of the duration of it, if that
I that promised it were not immortal to continue it, as well as power-
ful to effect it ? His power were not almighty, if his duration were not
nal.
1. If God be eternal, his covenant will bo so. It is founded upon the
rnity of God; the oath whereby he confirms it, is by his life. B
there is none great* r than himself, he swears by himself, Ikb. vi. 13, or by
1 a own life, which he th, together with his eternity, for the full per-
form . BO that if he lives for ever, the covenant shall not be disannulled,
it is an immutable counsel, 7CS\ 16, 17. The immutability of his counsel
>.vs the immutability of his nature. Immutability and eternity go hand
in 1. ther. The promise of eternal lift is as ancient as God him
in it gard of the purpose of the promise, or in regard of the promise made to
Christ : Titus i. 'J, ' Sternal lift . which God promised before the
Afl it hath an ante-eternity, BO it hath a DO0t-4 trinity ; tlnre-
jpel, which is the d< nant published, is termed '
lasting gospel, 1 B ; , which can no more be altered and perish than
d vanish into nothing. He can as little morally d
•ruth as he can naturally desert hi Tho covei. re-
sented in a green colour, to note its petpt I luxe. ' The rami ■'• . the
* Qn. 'good'?— 1 1).
364 chaknock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
emblem of the covenant ■ about the throne, was like to an emerald,' a stone
of a green colour, Rev. iv. 3 ; whereas the natural rainbow hath many colours,
but this but one, to signify its eternity.
2. If God be eternal, he being our God in covenant, is an eternal good
and possession. ' This God is our God for ever and ever,' Ps. xlviii. 14 ;
he is a ' dwelling place in all generations.' We shall traverse the world a
while, and then arrive at the blessings Jacob wished for Joseph : ' The
blessings of the everlasting hills,' Gen. xlix. 26. If an estate of a thousand
pound per annum render a man's life comfortable for a short time, how
much more may the soul be swallowed up with joy in the enjoyment of the
Creator, whose years never fail, who lives for ever to be enjoyed, and can
keep us in life for ever to enjoy him ! Death indeed will seize upon us by God's
irreversible order, but the immortal Creator will make him disgorge his
morsel, and land us in a glorious immortality, our souls at their dissolution,
and our bodies at the resurrection ; after which they shall remain for ever,
and employ the extent of that boundless eternity in the fruition of the
sovereign and eternal God ; for it is impossible that the believer, who is
united to the immortal God, that is from everlasting to everlasting, can ever
perish ; for being in conjunction with him who is an ever flowing fountain
of life, he cannot suffer him to remain in the jaws of death. While God is
eternal, and always the same, it is not possible that those that partake of his
spiritual life should not also partake of his eternal ; it is from the considera-
tion of the endlessness of the years of God that the church comforts herself,
that her ' children shall continue,' and ' their seed be established for ever,'
Ps. cii. 27, 28. And from the eternity of God, Habakkuk, chap. i. ver. 12,
concludes the eternity of believers, * Art thou not from everlasting, Lord
my God, my Holy One ? we shall not die, Lord.' After they are retired
from this world, they shall live for ever with God, without any change by
the multitude of those imaginable years and ages that shall run for ever. It
is that God that hath neither beginning nor end, that is our God, who
hath not only immortality in himself, but immortality to give out to others.
As he hath abundance of Spirit to quicken them, Mai. ii. 15, so he hath
abundance of immortality to continue them. It is only in the consideration
of this a man can with wisdom say, ' Soul, take thy ease, thou hast goods
laid up for many years ; ' to say it of any other possession, is the greatest
folly in the judgment of our Saviour, Luke xii. 19, 20. Mortality shall be
swallowed up of immortality ; rivers of pleasure shall be for evermore.
Death is a word never spoken there by any, never heard by any in that
possession of eternity ; it is for ever put out, as one of Christ's conquered
enemies.
The happiness depends upon the presence of God, with whom believers
shall be for ever present. Happiness cannot perish as long as God lives :
he is the first and the last ; the first of all delights, nothing before him ; the
last of all pleasures, nothing beyond him: a paradise of delights in every
point, without a flaming sword.
3. The enjoyment of God will be as fresh and glorious after many ages
as it was at first. God is eternal, and eternity knows no change ; there
will then be the fullest possession, without any decay in the object enjoyed.
There can be nothing past, nothing future ; time neither adds to it, nor
detracts from it ; that infinite fulness of perfection which flourisheth in him
now, will flourish eternally, without any discolouring of it in the least by
those innumerable ages that shall run to eternity, much less any despoiling
him of them. He is the same in his endless duration, Ps. cii. 27. As
God is, so will the eternity of him be, without succession, without division.
\C 2.] -111! iv Of 8 B6I
'I OfjOJ will ; fttj without • • , !„• KbODgbi of with
el for i without future to be i rpeeted with tora
When we i bim in bii eternity without
n ; n of all ithont the pai that
may be wiahed to return, or expectation of future joys which n I
!i. Time is fluid, ble ; an
will be as savoury and sal n bat tl. •
onr has When the ,; I. | | ■ , .
ujM.il yon, r mil] |
rcil, us numerous :is t ; , il, ( . Sim, in the li
of i nntenancc ton ihali live, ihaU be b - bri -lit a i al *
anee. Be will be 10 far from flow, thai he will fl
fall as at t oommnnicatioD of himself in glory to ii
itting Qpon liis tin ,l .•,,:.:
his at, is like a jasper itone, which is of a Jour, i
alwayi delightful, Re?, iv. :; ; beer; .■ God \g all h_
. i pure act of life, sparkling now and fresh rajs of life and light to the
tore, flourishing with a perpetual spring, an I content
capacious desire ; forming yonr interest, pleasure, and satisfaction with
infinite variety, without any ehange or ineeession. JIo will hav< . to
increase delights, and eternity to perpetuate them ; this will be the fruit of
the enjoyment of an infinite, an eternal God. He is not h cistern, but a
fountain, wherein water is al\v;i\s Living, and m v, r putrifies.
I. If God be eternal, here is a si ( ground of comfort against all the
distresses of the church, and the threats of the church's enemi* . God's
abiding for ever is the plea Jeremiah makes for his return to his forsaken
church: Lament v. 19, ■ Thou, Lord, i\ it for ever; thy throne from
generation to generation. 1 The church is weak ; created things are easily
cut oft. What prop is there hut that (iod that lives for ever? What
though Jerusalem lost its bulwarks, tho templo were defaced, the land
ted, yet the God of Jerusalem sits upon an eternal throne, and from
everlasting to everlasting there is no diminution of his power. The prophet
intimates in this complaint that it is not agreeable to God's eternity to for-
get his people, to whom he hath from eternity bore good will. In the
greatest confusions, tho church's eyes are to be fixed upon the eternity of
God's throne, where he sits as governor of the world. No creature can take
any comfort in this perfection but the church ; other creatures depend upon
God, but the church is united to him.
The first discovery of the name I am, which signifies the divine eternity
as well as immutability, was for tho comfort of the oppressed Israelites in
I. iii. 14, 15; it was then published from the secret place of
the Almighty, as the only strong cordial to refresh them. It hath not vet,
it shall not ever lose its virtue in any of tho miseries that have or shall suc-
ively befall the church ; it is a comfort as durable as the God whose
nan Be is still I am, and the same to the church as he was then to
his Israel. His spiritual Israel ha 'it to the glories of it than
the carnal Israel could have. No oppression can be greater than theirs*
what was a comfort suited to that distress hath the same suitableness to
every other oppression. It was not a temporary name, but a name for
ever, his ' memorial to all gencrati r. Iff, and reaeheth to the ehux
of the Gentiles, with whom he I - the God of Abraham, ratiryu
covenant by the Messiah, which he made with Abraham the father of tho
faithful.
The church's enemies are not to be feared ; they may • spring as tho
366 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
grass,' but soon after do wither by their own inward principles of decay, or ar<
cut down by the hand of God, Ps. xcii. 7-9. Thay may be instruments
of the an^er of God, but they shall be scattered as the workers of iniquity,
by the hand of the Lord ' that is high for evermore,' ver. 8, and is engaged
by his promise to preserve a church in the world. They may threaten, but
their breath may vanish as soon as their threatenings are pronounced, for
they carry their breath in no surer a place than their own nostrils, upon which
the eternal God can put his hand, and sink them with all their rage. \Do
the prophets ' and the instructors of the church ' live for ever ? ' Zech.
i. 15. No. Shall, then, the adversaries and disturbers of the church live
for ever ? They shall vanish as a shadow ; their being depends upon the
eternal God of the faithful, and the everlasting judge of the wicked. He
that inhabits eternity is above them that inhabit mortality, and must,
whether they will or no, ' say to corruption, Thou art my father ; and to the
worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister,' Job. xvii. 14. When they will
act with a confidence as if they were living gods, he will not be mated, but
evidence himself to be a living God above them. Why then should mortal
men be feared in their frowns, when an immortal God hath'promised protec-
tion in his word, and lives for ever to perform it ?
5. Hence follows another comfort ; since God is eternal, he hath as much
power as will to be as good as his word. His promises are established upon
his eternity, and this perfection is a main ground of trust : Isa. xxvi. 4,
' Trust in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength,'
D^oVu? "T)2f HIPP »TQ* H-is name is doubled, that name Jah and Jehovah,
which was always the strength of his people, and not a single one, but the
strength or rock of eternities ; not a failing, but an eternal truth and power ;
that as his strength is eternal, so our trust in him should imitate his eternity
in its perpetuity ; and therefore in the despondency of his people, as if God
had forgot his promises and made no account of them, or his word, and were
weary of doing good, he calls them to reflect on what they had heard of his
eternity, which is attended with immutability, who hath an infiniteness of
power to perform his will, and an infiniteness of understanding to judge of
the right seasons of it, Isa. xl. 27, 28 ; his wisdom, will, truth, have always
been, and will to eternity be, the same. He wants not life any more than
love for ever to help us ; since his word is past, he will never fail us ; since
his life continues, he can never be out of a capacity to relieve us ; and
therefore, whenever we foolishly charge him by our distrustful thoughts, we
forget his love, which made the promise, and his eternal life, which can
accomplish it. As his word is the bottom of our trust, and his truth is the
assurance of his sincerity, so his eternity is the assurance, of his ability to
perform. His ' word stands for ever,' Isa. xl. 8. A man may be my friend
this day, and be in another world to-morrow ; and though he be never so
sincere in his word, yet death snaps his life asunder, and forbids the execu-
tion. But as God cannot die, so he cannot lie, because he is the eternity
of Israel : 1 Sam. xv. 29, ' The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent,'
n¥3> perpetuity or eternity of Israel. Eternity implies immutability ; we
could have no ground for our hopes if we knew him not to be longer lived
than ourselves. The psalmist beats off our hands from trust in men, be-
cause ' their breath goes forth, they return to their earth, and in that day
their thoughts perish,' Ps. cxlvi. 3, 4. And if the God of Jacob were like
them, what happiness could wo have in making him our help? As his
sovereignty in giving precepts had not been a strong ground of obedience,
without considering him as an eternal lawgiver, who could maintain his
rights ; so his kindness in making the promises had not been a strong ground
\C. 2.J 'in:
of confidence, without considering him m ai ;hta
ind whose Life can never ' And thin may 1 i.-ason why the
Holy Ghoct mention! bo ofl( □ thi | ids
ento-eternitj ; I '«-st foundation bfa ind
.•, which respects ohieflj that whicli in future, ami not that which if
• . yet, ind< ed, do essurana I if bii sj
nity be doI o< rtein. li he h id a I" "iunin ', h- i\r on end ; end if
he bed a chan ;e h ture, ho might have in bi c >un oil ; I all
tin i as hiiii Dal, ami all th< i
lie the fruil bo chan ■• •!. 1 1 old
ehen p them for tl . ho would nol I
. >t ; it' f. »r tin- worse, lie had QOt bet D I ■»< -m. tie
Men mej break their promieee, becei] •• they an without ht;
hut Qo 1. thai inhabits eternity, foreknows all things that shall I <• don
fthi v had been thru acting before him ; and nothing can inl
or work a change in bis resold . the least oireumstana
nally foreseen by him. Though there may in- rariationi and ens
our sight, the winds may tack about, and every hour new and i
happen, yei the eternal Qod, who is eternally true to his word, sits at tho
:i. and the winds and tin- waves obey him. And thou bonld d<
his promise a thousand years, y< I he is ' noi slack, 1 ii l'« tor iii. B, '■•. I r he
defers it but s day to his eternity ; end who would not with comfort
il.i \ in expectation of a considerable edvant
is Pot exhortation*
1. To something which concerns us in ourseli
*J. To something which concerns us with respect to God.
1. To something which concerns qj in ourseli
(1.) Let us be deeply affected with our sins long since committed. Though
theyari ith us, they are in regard of God's eternity pn Bent with bii
th( n IS no succession in eternity as there is in time. All things are be:
1 1 1 at once ; our sins are before him, as if committed this moment, though
long ago. As he is what ho is in regard of duration, so lie kn
what he knows in regard of knowledge ; as be is not more than he was, nor
shall not be any more than he is, so bo always knew what ho knows, and
shall i. to know what he now knows ; as himself, so bis knowh I
is one indivisible point of eternity. Ho knows nothing but what lie did
know from eternity ; he shall know no more for the future than be now
knows. Our sins being present with him in bis eternity, should ho present
with us in regard of our remembrance of them, and sorrow for them. What
though many years are lapsed, much time run out, and our iniquities almost
blotted out of our memory ! yet since a thou ITS are in God's sight,
and in regard of bis eternity, but as a day, — Ps. xc. 4, ' A thousand Tears
in thy sight aro but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in tho
:it,' — they are before him ; for, suppose a man were as old as the
rid, above live thousand six hundred years, tho sins committed five
thousand years ago are, according to that rule, but as if they were committed
live da; so that sixty-two wars are but as an hour and a-half, and the
sins committed for; re as if ti. committed but this
hour. But if wo will go further, and consider them but as a W
about three hours (for the night, consisting of twelve hours, was
divided into Set watches), then a thousand y. | j n
the sight of God, and then sins committed sixty y , are but as if :
were committed within tin
* Crcllius do Doo. cap. 18, p, N.
368 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
Let none of us set light by the iniquities committed many years ago, and
imagine that length of time can wipe out their guilt. No ; let us consider
them in relation to God's eternity, and excite an inward remorse, as if they
had been but the birth of this moment.
(2.) Let the consideration of God's eternity abate our pride. This is the
design of the verses following the text, the eternity of God being so suffi-
cient to make us understand our own nothingness, which ought to be one
great end of man, especially as fallen. The eternity of God should make
us as much disesteem ourselves, as the excellency of God made Job abhor
himself, Job xlii. 5, 6. His excellency should humble us under a sense
of our vanity, and his eternity under a sense of the shortness of our dura-
tion. If man compares himself with other creatures, he may be too sen-
sible of his greatness ; but if he compares himself with God, he cannot but
be sensible of his baseness.
[1.] In regard of our impotence to comprehend this eternity of God.
How little do we know, how little can we know, of God's eternity ! We
cannot fully conceive it, much less express it : we have a brutish under-
standing in all those things, as Agur said of himself, Prov. xxx. 7.
What is infinite and eternal cannot be comprehended by finite and tem-
porary creatures. If it could, it would not be infinite and eternal; for to
know a thing, is to know the extent and cause of it. It is repugnant to
eternity to be known, because it hath no limits, no causes ; the most soaring
understanding cannot have a proportionable understanding of it.* What
disproportion is there between a drop of water and the sea, in their great-
ness and motion ! Yet by a drop we may arrive to a knowledge of the nature
of the sea, which is a mass of drops joined together ; but the longest dura-
tion of times cannot make us know what eternity is, because there is no
proportion between time and eternity. The years of God are as numberless
as his thoughts, Ps. xl. 5, and our minds as far from reckoning the one as
the other. If our understandings are too gross to comprehend the majesty
of his infinite works, they are much more too short to comprehend the
infiniteness of his eternity.
[2.] In regard of the vast disproportion of our duration to this duration
of God.
First, We have more of not being than being. We were nothing from an
unbegun eternity, and we might have been nothing to an endless eternity,
had not God cailed us unto being ; and if he please, we may be nothing by
a short annihilating word, as we were something by a creating word. As it
is the prerogative of God to be ' I am that I am,' so it is the property of
a creature to be I am not what I am ; I am not by myself what I am, but
by the indulgence of another. I was nothing formerly, I may be nothing
a^ain, unless he that is I am make me to subsist what I now am. Nothing
is as much the title of the creature, as being is the title of God. Nothing
is so holy as God, because nothing hath being as God : 1 Sam. ii. 2, ■ There
is none holy as the Lord ; for there is none besides thee.' Man's life is an
ima^e, a dream, which are next to nothing; and if compared with God,
worse than nothing, a nullity as well as a vanity ; because * with God
only is the fountain of life,' Ps. xxxvi. 9. The creature is but a drop
of life from him, dependent on him. A drop of water is a nothing, if
compared with the vast conflux of waters, and numberless drops in the
ocean.
How unworthy is it for dust and ashes, kneaded together in time, to strut
against the Father of eternity ! Much more unworthy for that which is
* Charron. Vent. liv. i. chap. 6, p. 17, &c.
\(\ 2.] Tin: IfORfl 009
nothing, worso than nothing, U) quarrel with that which is only being, Hid
•qua] bin -If with him that inhabits eternity.
rully, \\ 'i:np. After an unaccount-
able eternity v.;n run nut, in |hl nry dr<-"s ..f tim- . a few yearn ago w0
uii 1, :i:i 1 id -fie ..f th'- l«:i >■ A and viloit cine s of the world, tho
|Um€ an. I t!:. earth J ma It Of th:it u I bird build th»-jr
f that whioh creeping th their habitai ista
trample upon. II a creaturo, to ii 4 - jjir<', m
if li ! ■ ty, and as i t.-rnal M God, : l r j * 1 ho his
eternity !
Thirdly, \\ ' ut of a short, duration in regard of our
life in this world. Ouv I flux : -in not
game fin entire day; youth quickly succeeds childhood, : afl
speedily treadi upon the heeli «>f youth; then Ki a eontmnsJ dffhrnon of
minutes, as there is of sands in a "his-;. He is M a watch wound up at the
»f his life, and from thai tine 1 i-i rum. n till 1. to
the bottom: lOmc part of our lives is cut Off every day, every minute. I.
is hut a moment, what i pit cannot hi recalled ; what is future cannot he
insured. If we enjoy this inommt, we hive lost, that whieh is past, and
shall pret e ntly loOC this by the next that is to come.
The short duration of men is s. t out in Scripture hy such creatur*
■•ear : a worm, Joh x\v. ('., that can scare*- tin a winter;
that withers by the summer sun. Life is a flower BOOH withering,
Job xiv. 8 ; a vapour POOH vanish: IM iv. If : a smoke soon disap-
pear: n '. Ps. cii. 8. The strongest man is hut Compacted du-t. tlie fahric
must moulder, the highest mountain falls and comes to nought, lime "ives
rnity ; we live now, and die to-morrow. Not a man, since the
world began, ever liv. 1 a day in Qod'l sight ; for no man ever lived a thou-
sand years. The longest day of any man's lifo never amounted to twenty-
four hours in the account of divine eternity. A life of so many hundred
y t an, with the addition ' he died,' makes up tho greatest part of the history
of the patriarchs, Gen. v. ; and since the life of man hnth been curtailed, if
any he in the world eighty years, he scarce properly lives sixty of them, since
tho fourth part of time is at least consumed in sleep.
\ peeler difference there is between tho duration of God and that of a
creature, than between tho lifo of one for a minute, nnd the life of one that
should live as many years as the whole crlobe of heaven and earth, if changed
i papers, could contain figures. And this life, thongfa hut of short dura-
tion according to tho period God hath determined, is easily cut off; the
treasure of life is deposited in a brittle vessel. A small stone hitting against
uchadnezzar's statue will tumble it down into a poor and nasty grave ;
rape-Stone, the bono of a fish, a small fly in the throat, a moist damp,
are enough to destroy an earthly eternity, and reduce it to nothing.
What a nothing then is our shortness, if compared with God's eternity !
our frailty, with God's duration ! How humble then should perishing
fore an eternal God, witli whom ' our days are as a hat.
1th, and our ag ■'..' ' I PS. xxxix. f>. The angels, that have been
of as long a duration as heaven and earth, tremble before him. the heavens
melt at his presence ; and shall we, that are but of yesterday, approach a
divine eternity with unhumbled souls, and oflSI th..- calves of our lips with
the :" devils, and stand upon our terms with him, without falli:
our faces, with ro but dust and sshes, and creatures of
time ? How easilv it is to reason out man's humility, but how hard is it to
reason man into it !
vol. i. at
370 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
(3.) Let the consideration of God's eternity take off our love and confi-
dence from the world, and the things thereof. The .eternity of God reproaches
a pursuit of the world, as preferring a momentary pleasure before an ever-
lasting God ; as though a temporal world could be a better supply than a
God whose years never fail. Alas, what is this earth men are so greedy of,
and will get, though by blood and sweat ! What is this whole earth, if we
had the entire possession of it, if compared with the vast .heavens, the seat
of angels and blessed spirits ! It is but as an atom to the greatest moun-
tain, or a drop of dew to the immense ocean. How foolish is it to prefer a
drop before the sea, or an atom before the world ! The earth is but a point
to the sun, the sun with its whole orb but a little part of the heavens, com-
pared with the whole fabric. If a man had the possession of all those, there
could be no comparison between those that have had a beginning, and shall
have an end, and God, w r ho is without either of them. Yet how many are
there that make nothing of the divine eternity, and imagine an eternity of
nothing !
[1.] The world hath been but of a short standing. It is not yet six
thousand years since the foundations of it were laid, and therefore it cannot
have a boundless excellency, as that God, who hath been from everlasting,
doth possess. If Adam had lived to this day, and been as absolute lord of
his posterity as he w r as of the other creatures, had it been a competent
object to take up his heart, had he not been a madman to have preferred
this little created pleasure before an everlasting, uncreated God ; a thing
that had a dependent beginning, before that which had an independent
eternity !
[2.] The beauties of the world are transitory and perishing. The
whole world is nothing else but a fluid thing, the fashion of it is a pageantry
'passing away,' 1 Cor. vii. 31. Though the glories of it might be con-
ceived greater than they are, yet they are not consistent, but transient.
There cannot be an entire enjoyment of them, because they grow up and
expire every moment, and slip away between our fiugers while we are using
them. Have we not heard of God's dispersing the greatest empires like
' chaff before a whirlwind, or as smoke out of a chimney,' Hosea xiii. 3,
which, though it appears as a compacted cloud, as if it would choke the
sun, is quickly scattered into several parts of the air, and becomes invisible ?
Nettles have often been heirs to stately palaces, as God threatens Israel,
Hosea ix. G. We cannot promise ourselves over night anything the next
day. A kingdom with the glory of a throne may be cut off in a morning,
Hosea x. 15. The new wine may be taken from the mouth when the vintage
is ripe, the devouring locust may snatch away both the hopes of that and
the harvest, Joel i. 15 ; they are therefore things which are not, and nothing
cannot be a fit object for confidence or affection : Prov. xxiii. 5, ' Wilt thou
set thy eyes upon that which is not ? for riches certainly make themselves
wings.' They are not properly beings, because they are not stable, but
flitting. They are not, because they may not be the next moment to us
what they are this ; they are but cisterns, not springs ; and ' broken
cisterns,' not sound and stable; no solidity in their substance, nor stability
in their duration. What a foolish thing is it then to prefer a transient
felicity, a mere nullity, before an eternal God ! What a senseless thing
would it bo in a man to prefer the map of a kingdom, which the hand of a
child can tear in pieces, before the kingdom shadowed by it ! How much
more inexcusable is it to value tilings that are so far from being eternal,
that they aro not so much as dusky resemblances of an eternity ! Were
the things of tho world moro glorious than they are, yet they aro but as a
\C. 2.] TIM ITY OF (.
tin in :i olofl I, which >m<- < short of the trtio Rtin in the 1i avena
.• and dural cam th. i ibly
1 bubble in Ifa
i dm i . world
will cml in ;i MinlV. wh<
the • an, that thine
lit for ■ soul which
an in! ire, was
, without iUCD .
i
Id, dot 'ill while in tb ]
are said to be ( . when tl
with tb G I in anotbex Life, EL b. rii 28. ]
ennobled bj m irith the
i them ; they cannot .1 nature ihonld
supply it with what it war'
.! hath a resemblance to God in a ]
ndishmenl a of earthly thin:'-, to d
iblishmont, and lacqney after I ly, which ii hut. a ibadoi
soul, and was made to follow it and serve it! Bnt while it bnsieth i
icr in tl c hing body, and a in
tbinge that glid<
nature, reproacheth that God who hath imprinted npon it an i.
rnity, and loseth the comfort of the <
II a shall the whole world, if our , ;rablo as that, be an ha]
OS, who have souls that shall survive all the d< I
.• in those flames that shall fire the wholo frame of nature at tho
world ■' 2 Peter iii. L0«
i. i provide for an happy interest in the cterni
le for an eternal stai . I he soul hath such a ,iou
in its nature, that it is lit for < U rnity, and cannot display all its operations
but in eternity; to an eternity it must go, and live as I God himself
lives. Things of a short duration arc not proportioned to a soul made for
an eternal continuance; to see that it be a comfortable eternity, is worm all
our care. Man is a i n casting civature, considers not only the present, but
the ful . in his provisions for his family J and shall he disgrace
Ore in e ff all consideration of a future eternity? (i. t possession
therefore of the eternal God, A ' portion in this life' is the lot of those who
U be for ever miserable, PS. xvii. 11 ; but God, an 'ever! ■ ortion,'
;' them that ar< d for happu ! ' God is my portion for
. Ps. lxxiii. 26.
Tune is short, 1 Cor. vii. 20. The whole time for which God designed
this building of the world is of a little compass ; it is a stage erected for
rational cr upon for . the
:' which time is run out, an i then shall time like a rivulet
fali rnity, from whence it sprung. As tin . slip
.:ty, so it will end in eternity. Our ad'... in the |
rra, and oannol
: . by all our ; what is ft;; not promise OUT
we . i . . •/ minute thai
ining till thi ath ; an I
further child I orn
In all I but a
bet. 1 death,' si David eaid of hinioLi:', 1 Sam. xx. D. The littlo
372 charnock's works. [Ps. XC. 2.
time that remains for the devil till the day of judgment, envenoms his
wrath; he rageth, because 'his time is short,' Rev. xii. 12. The little
time that remains between this moment and our death, should quicken our
diligence to inherit the endless and unchangeable eternity of God.
[5.] Often meditate on the eternity of God. The holiness, power, and
eternity of God are the fundamental articles of all religion, upon which the
whole body of it leans : his holiness for conformity to him, his power and
eternity for the support of faith and hope. The strong and incessant cries
of the four beasts, representing that Christian church, are ' Holy, holy,
holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come,' Rev. iv. 8.
Though his power is intimated, yet the chiefest are his holiness, three
times expressed; and his eternity, which is repeated, ver. 9, 'who lives for
ever and ever.' This ought to be the constant practice in the church of the
Gentiles, which this book chiefly respects. The meditation of his convert-
ing grace manifested to Paul ravished the apostle's heart, but not without the
triumphant consideration of his immortality and eternity, which are the prin-
cipal parts of the doxology: 1 Tim. i. 15-17, 'Now unto the King eternal,
immortal, invisible, only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever/'
It could be no great transport to the spirit to consider him glorious, with-
out considering him immortal; the unconfinedness of his perfections in
regard of time presents the soul with matter of the greatest complacency.
The happiness of our souls depends upon his other attributes, but the per-
petuity of it upon his eternity. Is it a comfort to view his immense
wisdom, his overflowing goodness, his tender mercy, his unerring truth ?
What comfort were there in any of those, if it were a wisdom that could be
baffled, a goodness that could be damped, a mercy that can expire, and a
truth that can perish with the subject of it ! Without eternity, what were
all his other perfections but as glorious yet withering flowers, a great but a
decaying beauty ! By a frequent meditation of God's eternity, we should
become more sensible of our own vanity and the world's triflingness. How
nothing should ourselves, how nothing would all other things appear in our
eyes ! how coldly should we desire them ! how feebly should we place any
trust in them ! Should we not think ourselves worthy of contempt to doat
upon a perishing glory, to expect support from an arm of flesh, when there
is an eternal beauty to ravish us, an eternal arm to protect us ? Asaph,
when he considered God a ' portion for ever,' thought nothing of the glories
of the earth, or the beauties of the created heavens worth his appetite or
complacency, but God, Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26. Besides, an elevating frame of
heart at the consideration of God's eternity, would batter down the strong-
holds and engines of any temptation. A slight temptation will not know
where to find and catch hold of a soul high and hid in a meditation of it ;
and if he doth, there will not be wanting from hence preservatives to resist
and conquer it. What transitory pleasures will not the thoughts of God's
eternity stifle ! When this work busieth a soul, it is too great to suffer it
to descend, to listen to a sleeveless errand from hell or the world. The
wanton allurements of the flesh will be put off with indignation. The prof-
fers of the world will be ridiculous when they are cast into the balance with
the eternity of God, which sticking in our thoughts, we shall not be so easy
a prey for the fowler's gin.
Let us therefore often meditato upon this, but not in a bare speculation,
without engaging our affections, and making every notion of the divine
eternity end in a suitable impression upon our hearts. This would be much
like the disciples gazing upon tho heavens at tho ascension of their Master,
while they forgat tho practice of his orders, Acts i. 11. We may else find
r . \c. 2.] ity ok mk B78
niton of < i 1 1, and Iom ' ,;it
to rlcrnity.
8, And benee the ess • of tli.'
foil.' w il!i ;i i
i 1. 1 [/God be c< n :. i. >w worth "f our i
tnmunioD with I . . ' I ■• I
i.lin ; to tin I I then should w. love him,
who ii doI "iiiy lorely in his nature, but sternallj | I
1 • | ,1 in him* -if, which Appear u
be l >r< It, i-y how much the mon
i, who ii the ohii f g od, how mneh mon infinitely 1"
su j . . rnally 10 I N I I
, or millions , oot of the •
time, 1 ut of (trinity ; ai 16, uneonreivably imm<
The bring him infinitely, perpetually, is in aet of bom him for
l. sternal < Eoelleney. \\ him the one, :rn -
Diortal, though ire cannot the other, became they an finite. B
loeetfa in himself all the azoelleneiee of hearen and earth I
BhouKl have an aili-ction, not only of time in this world, bnt of eternity in
tin' future ; and if we did oot owe him e lore for what we an by him,
owe him ■ lore for what he is in himeelf; ami mon for what he is, than for
whit he i- to us. Hi is mon worthy of OUT B I becauso ho is tho
l. than because he ii our Creator; beca u se he Ki mon ex cell ent
in his n.ituiv than in his trai, :ions. The beams of his g ' I
us. an t i direct our thoughts and affections to him; but his own etei
llenoy ought to be the ground and foundation of our affections to him.
And truly, but < Dal, nothing bnt God is worth tho
bring ; and we do but a just right to our love, to pitch it upon that which
can all us ami be | sd by us, upon an object that cannot
ire our affection, and put it out of countenance by a dissolution.
And if our happuu H C nsists in being like to God, we should imitate him
in loving him as he loves himself, and as long as he loves himself. God
cannot do more to himself than love himself; he can make no addition to
hi> essence, nor diminution from it. What should we do less to an eternal
being, than to bestow affections upon him, like his own to himself, sinco
an find nothing so durable as himself, for which we should love it!
(2.) He only is worthy of our best service. Tho ' Ancient of days' is to
1 before all that are younger than himself; our best obedienco is
due to him as a God of unconfined excellency. Every thing that is excellent
rres S feneration suitable to its excellency. As God is infinite, he hath
right to a boundless service ; as he is eternal, ho hath right to a perpetual
serriee. As service is a debt of justice upon tho account of tho excellency
of his nature, so a perpetual service is as much a debt of justico upon tho
unt of his eternity. If God be infinite and eternal, ho merits an honour
and comportment from his creatures suited to the unlimited perfection of his
. the duration of his being. How worthy is the psalm: lu-
• I will sing unto tho Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my
God whik I have any bring,' Pa. civ. 33. It is the use he makes of the
Hess duration of the glory of Gtod, and will extend to all other service as
as praise. To m rrs other things, or to serve onrselresi is to waste a
Dpon that which is nothing. In devoting ourselves to God, we servo
him that is ; that was, so as that he never began ; is to come, so as that
1.' | shall s&d ; by whom all things are what they are ; who hath both
ual knowledge to remember our service, and eternal goodness to reward it.
A DISCOURSE UPON THE IMMUTABILITY
OF GOD.
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old as a
garment: as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. — Ps. CII. 26, 27.
This psalm contains a complaint of a people pressed with a great calamity ;
some think of the Jewish church in Babylon, others think the psalmist doth
here personate mankind lying under a state of corruption, because he wishes
for the coming of the Messiah, to accomplish that redemption promised by
God, and needed by them. Indeed, the title of the psalm is ' A prayer of
the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and pours out his complaint before
the Lord :' whether afflicted with the sense of corruption, or with the sense
of oppression. And the redemption by the Messiah, which the ancient
church looked upon as the fountain of their deliverance from a sinful or a
servile bondage, is in this psalm spoken of: a set time appointed for the
discovery of his mercy to Sion, ver. 13 ; an appearance in glory to build up
Sion, ver. 16; the loosening of the prisoner by redemption, and them
that are appointed to death, ver. 20 ; the calling of the Gentiles, ver. 22 ;
and the latter part of the psalm, wherein are the verses I have read, are
applied to Christ, Heb. i. Whatsoever the design of the psalm might be,
many things are intermingled that concern the kingdom of the Messiah, and
redemption by Christ.
Some make three parts of the psalm.
1. A petition plainly delivered : ver. 1,2,' Hear my prayer, Lord, and
let my cry come unto thee,' &c.
2. The petition strongly and argumentativcly enforced and pleaded,
ver. 3, from the misery of the petitioner in himself, and his reproach from
his enemies.
3. An acting of faith, in the expectation of an answer in the general
redemption promised: ver. 12, 13, 'But thou, Lord, shalt enduro for
ever ; thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Sion : the heathen shall fear
thy name.'
The first part is the petition pleaded, the second part is the petition
answered in an assuranco that there should in time bo a full deliverance.*
* Parcus.
Pi. OE '7.j -iiii ;; < : '
The de ignofth bureh in the truth of the dii
pron igh the foundations of tbt world I be ripped up, i
the ' : tbric of thorn be unpinned and
to i of i* d ' •' should eon-
tint] not up 'M tli • change ibloness of crea
tan the immal I the lw b is an
little subject
them* aj he hid ribed
• leeril i to God
her.- th Both i . end of ih<: world
here ascertained. Tb< odeed from the ; appeanu
i Id. '1
firm ; the motioni of the heavenly b re the same, their.
i ; individu rapt, bnl the and Idndi
the D«t the sin of
i the ch moe of the world acce ss a r y to
tnplish I of God for the glory of his elect Th do
irally ] ime fancied an old age of the world, wherein it
inn-' urilydi I of sjiimeis do f or thai the parts of the
. arc broken off by their robbing one against another in then
motion, and falling to the earth, are the seeds of those things that grow op
among o
II • names here the most stalilo part* of the
world, and the most beantifoJ of the creation, those that are fin
from eorru] to Hi ireby the immutability of
i. that though the heavens ai have a pr tire of uxedneos
above other parts of the world, ereatnros that reside below, the
main the same as they a L, and the centre of the
earth rel Iness, and are 1 lantifnl and fresh in their ag'
they were in their youth m :p t notwithstanding the change of the
elen ften turned into air, so that there D
remain hut little of that air which was first created by reason of the con-
tinual transmutation ; yet this firmness of the earth and heavens is not to
I 1 in comparison of the unmovcablencs and fixedness of the being
of God. As city comes short of the glory of his being, so doth
their brmni SB come short of his stability.
OS and earth understand tho creatures which reside in the
hose which are in the air, which is called hea D in Scrip-
ture ; but the ruin and fall of these being seen every day, had been no lit
illustration of the unchancroablencss of (!<• i.
1 They shall perish, they shall be changed. 1
1. They Pa IS perish, say some ; they have it not from themselves that
they do not perish, but from thee, who didst endue them with an incor-
1 perish if thon speakest the word; thou canst
with as much istroy them as thon canst create them. Pmt the
• (if their possibility, but the eertsinty of their perishing.
'2. '{'::■ v I ill perish in their qualities and motion, not in their substance,
Fay othi rs. 'I'h y shall from that motion which is designed pro}'
for the generati of things in the earth, but in regard of
their substance ty they shall remain. A- when the - or
wheels of a clock or watch are taken otT. the material parts remain, though
the time of the d H th.T
To ; airy alw tiling into nothing, an arm ., by
* l'lin. Uiat. lib. 2, cap. 3. f Coccei. in loc.
376 charnock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
which both the matter and the form are destroyed, but a ceasing of the
present appearance of them ; a ceasing to be what they now are, as a man
is said to perish when he dies, whereas the better part of man doth not
cease to be. The figure of the body moulders away, and the matter of it
returns to dust ; but the soul, being immortal, ceaseth not to act, when the
body, by reason of the absence of the soul, is incapable of acting. So the
heavens shall perish. The appearance they now have shall vanish, and a
more glorious and incorruptible frame be erected by the power and good-
ness of God. The dissolution of heaven and earth is meant by the word
perish ; the raising a new frame is signified by the word changed ; as if the
Spirit of God would prevent any wrong meaning of the word perish by alle-
viating the sense of that by another which signifies only a mutation and
change ; as when we change a habit and garment, we quit the old to receive
the new.
1 As a garment, as a vesture.' Thou shalt change them ; — Septuagint,
sX/ge/s, ■ Thou shalt fold them up.' The heavens are compared to a curtain,
Ps. civ. 2, and shall in due time be folded up as cloths and curtains are.
As a garment encompasseth the whole body, so do the heavens encircle the
earth.* Some say, as a garment is folded up to be laid aside, that when
there is need it may be taken again for use, so shalt thou fold up the hea-
vens like a garment, that when they are repaired, thou mayest again stretch
them out about the earth ; thou shalt fold them up, so that what did appear
shall not now appear. It may be illustrated by the metaphor of a scroll or
book, which the Spirit of God useth, Isa. xxxiv. 4, Rev. vi. 14, ' The
heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together.' When a book is
rolled up or shut, nothing can be read in it till it be opened again ; so the
face of the heavens, wherein the stars are as letters declaring the glory of
God, shall be shut or rolled together, so that nothing shall appear till by its
renovation it be opened again. As a garment it shall be changed, not to be
used in the same fashion and for the same use again. It seems indeed to
be for the worse ; an old garment is not changed but into rags, to be put to
other uses, and afterwards thrown upon the dunghill. But similitudes are
not to be pressed too far ; and this will not agree with the new heavens and
new earth, physically so as well as metaphorically so. It is not likely the
heavens will be put to a worse use than God designed them for in creation.
However, a change as a garment speaks not a total corruption, but an altera-
tion of qualities, as a garment, not to be used in the same fashion as before.
We may observe,
1. That it is probable the world shall not be annihilated, but refined. It
shall lose its present form and fashion, but not its foundation. Indeed, as
God raised it from nothing, so he can reduce it into nothing ; yet it doth not
appear that God will annihilate it, and utterly destroy both the matter and
form of it ; part shall be consumed, and part purified : 2 Peter iii. 12, 13,
1 The heavens shall be on fire, and dissolved. Nevertheless we, according
to his promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth.' They shall be
melted down, as gold by the artificer, to be refined from its dross, and
wrought into a more beautiful fashion, that they may serve the design of
God for those that shall resido therein ; a new world, wherein righteousness
shall dwell, the apostle opposing it thereby to the old world, wherein
wickedness did reside. The heavens are to be purged, as the vessels that
held the sin-offering wore to be purified by the fire of the sanctuary.
God indeed will take down this scaffold, which he hath built to publish
his glory. As every individual hath a certain term of its duration, so an
* Estius in Ueb. i.
r . en. M| 87.] Tin i.od. :; '~
ippOIDted fof kbi univ.r.-al nature of hea\. n and cart.li : I.-.a. h. 6,
' The I. shall vain h I. v. i.i.-h irfl. A H
i .lwd ami at:, una:. 1 Into air, DOt aninhiiav I, ho hhall the world assumo
a new faoe, and have a greater elearneeo and iplendour. Ah th.
man diaoota d into dost ihall bftfi more glori At lh< ii
tion ; ua ft vob; i <l"-.\ii to remove tl I
i i moro i I ••! of tli<' ifoi km
(1.) , rid was D04 ■ I bj tlf d it was rati.
r than 00OMIIIM -1 ; h<> it shall I r r. lined by the It • ho
un.l.-r an in. eovcrablo ruin.
It is Dot lik.lv God would lik< u the i i M of fa
and th. litj 01 Ins spiritual [fttftftl, to th.' d
be h.a\. h.' doth m .i ■ . B >, B61 if tin j
from before Dim. Though thai place may only tend to an a> iiianoe of a
church in th.- world while tin- world < ndu; tl would !,.• hi.:, email com-
fort if the hftpp f belieren ohooid i ■ 1 1 • 1 1 1 1 • -• no longer thftii the I
tunl earth, it' tiny wov to have ■ totftl p< ri.»d.
(8.) 1 '■< ndee, the bodiei of the saints mnat have plaee tor their rapport to
8 in, and glorious objeotl fitted to thote glori ■ i • nail ho
Ored tO them. Not hi any carnal way, which our Saviour rejeetftf w]
he saith there is- do eftting, or drinking, or mftrrying, .v.-., in th
Id, hut whereby th. J DD ifj God J thODgh how Of in what :
i shall be not d iron] I be rftftDDi H to di termiDe ; onlj bing
crx-viry tor tho eor p oreal itate of men, that there may be an -
iee as trail fti their souls,
i i.i again, li m aonld the ereatnre, the world, or anj part of it, be .said
liven i from the bondi -■ of oorrnption into I nous libert]
the loni of God, if the whole frame of heaven and earth wcro to be annihi-
late d '.' B 'in. viii. 21. The apoatle also saith that ' t :uro waits with
an aarpaal axpeetatiOD for this manifestation of tho sons of (iod,' TOT. 19,
which would havu DO foundation if the whole frame should be reduced to
nothing. What joyful expectation can there be in any of a total ruin '? IIo\v
should the creature he capahle of partaking in this glorious liberty of tho
of God '.' • As the world, for tho sin of man, lost its first dignity, and
was earned after the fall, and the beauty bestowed upon it by creation de-
faeed, so it shall recover that ancient glOTJ, when he shall be fully i
by the resurrection to that dignity he lost by his first sin. As man shall
i from his corruptibility, to receive that glory which is prepared for him,
so shall I B freed from that imperfection or corruptibility, th
I upon the face of them, to receive a new glory suited to lh< ir
nature, and answerable to the design of God, when the glorioni liberty of
the naintfl shall bo accomplish, i.; As, when a prince's nuptials are sol. m-
niei d, the whole country echoes with joy, so the inaninia' ireft, when
the time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, shall have a delight and
from that renovation. The apostle letfl forth tho wholo world as a
poaning, and the Beriptore is frequent in such eaetaphora, ai w\
lid to wait upon (iod, and to be troubled, Pa, civ. 87, S
1 to leap, and the mountains to rejoice. T tare is
•aid m, as the h. awns are aaid to di elare the glory oi God,
naturally, Dot rationally. It is not likely angels are h. IDt, the
they cannot hut desire it: 1 with the dishonour .
r.-pi ith in tho world, they cannot but long for th
his honour, in the restoration of tho creature to its tl And indeed
* Bjper. iu Hebi L t ai I sur IK.
378 charnock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
the angels are employed to serve man in this sinful state, and cannot but in
holiness wish the creature freed from his corruption. Nor is it meant of
the new creatures, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, those he brings
in afterwards, ver. 23, ' groaning,' and ' waiting for the adoption,' where he
distinguished the rational creature from the creature he had spoken of
before. If he had meant the believing creature, by that creature that desired
the liberty of the sons of God, what need had there been of that additional
distinction, ' and not only they, but we also, who have the first fruits of the
Spirit, groan within ourselves'? whereby it seems he means some crea-
tures below rational creatures, since neither angels nor blessed souls can be
said to travail in pain with that distress as a woman in travail hath, as the
word signifies, who perform the work joyfully which God sets them upon.*
If the creatures be subject to vanity by the sin of man, they shall also par-
take of a happiness by the restoration of man. The earth hath both thorns
and thistles and venomous beasts, the air hath had its tempests and infec-
tious qualities, the water hath caused its floods and deluges. The creature
hath been abused to luxury and intemperance, and been tyrannised over by
man, contrary to the end of its creation. It is convenient that some time
should be allotted for the creature's attaining its true end, and that it may
partake of the peace of man, as it hath done of the fruits of his sin ; other-
wise it would seem that sin had prevailed more than grace, and would have
had more power to deface, than grace to restore things into their due order.
(5.) Again, upon what account should the psalmist exhort the heavens to
rejoice and the earth to be glad, when God comes to judge the world with
righteousness, Ps. xcvi. 11-13, if they should be annihilated, and sunk for
ever into nothing ? It would seem, saith Daille, to be an impertinent figure
if the Judge of the world brought them to a total destruction. An entire
ruin could not be matter of triumph to creatures, who naturally have that
instinct or inclination put into them by their Creator to preserve themselves,
and to effect their own preservation.
(6.) Again, the Lord is to rejoice in his works, Ps. civ. 31 : ' The glory
of the Lord shall endure for ever ; the Lord shall rejoice in his works ;' not
hath, but shall rejoice in his works ; in the works of creation, which the
psalmist had enumerated, and which is the whole scope of the psalm. And
he intimates that it is part of the glory of the Lord which endures for ever ;
that is, his manifestative glory, to rejoice in his works. The glory of the
Lord must be understood with reference to the creation he had spoken of
before. How short was that joy God had in his works, after he had sent
them beautified out of his hand ! How soon did he ' repent' not only ■ that
he had made man,' but ' was grieved at the heart' also that he made the
other creatures which man's sin had disordered ! Gen. vi. 7. What joy can
God have in them, since the curse upon the entrance of sin into the world
remains upon them ? If they are to be annihilated upon the full restoration
of his holiness, what time will God have to rejoice in the other works of
creation ? It is the joy of God to see all his works in their due order, every
one pointing to their true end, marching together in their excellency, accord-
ing to his first intendment in their creation. Did God create the world to
perform its end only for one day ? Scarce so much, if Adam fell the very
first day of his creation. What would have been their end if Adam had been
confirmed in a state of happiness as the angels were, it is likely will be
answered and performed upon the complete restoration of man to that happy
state from whence he fell. What artificer compiles a work by his skill but
to rejoice in it ? and shall God havo no joy from the works of his hands ?
* Mestrtczat but. Ileb. i.
Pi. en 7.]
• i tin-in which < .
, initl which :u lllH
'I
/ '. 1. v.
1 rld'i ch
Km L7; so ■ » L
'I ; that i:
opofl it ^ l
bath . and U
the holy an
p into tli.- I • • rorld, tfa
!. • in with
grief in
. and the nmi of the frond.
" II •.. f< li ii i thing is it ; I '■
•h, and be do more wh I 3
: the en ation, shall not
they mi h and ondi E
thei p the en ation, the lit! walkii
about the world, that are perishing and d;
them clothed with life i
■p Ued . and are snch frail I
■pirite and . i . . meat of the h< .
glory oi i I, yet i • nor th(
mony, order, 1 and glory of them, shall preserve
:i and melting at tl of the Lord,
they have i I in the same p -tare from the creation till this day,
• antiqo down to a cha fore the
will an I their Creator; and shall we rest upon that which shall
Vanish like Bhall wo take any creature for our support, i
that will crack on l< r onr f. 1 1, and most by the order of thi ir L
tor deceive our hopes? Perishing things ran he no support to tin: soul ;
if we WOOid have rest, we moat run I I rest in Qod. II >w
honld that be to as, wh ■ fashion shall pass away, which shall
long in its present form and appearance ; contempti!
as the work of God ; I ptible a- I, not con-
tcn i] as to attain our end. If these must be cl how
tin- to be the centre of our souls, that change in our
far and al de away in oni -t of them.
I b ith all [] >f his
nature, are pronounced the same, without any
• doth not only assert the eternal d 'iod,
I in thai
] • • D shaft ( immutability in thi . '
To i :. Inn .
and ad what is I doth
RV1 Pintt, . it. He c aid not be
id be ahai ■ I lhan wh Ibo
Imist tl. rac »
. thou art I . no same God, the same
• K. tiua in llcb. i.
380 chaenock's works. [Ps. CI1. 26, 27.
in essence and nature, the same in will and purpose, thou dost change all
other things as thou pleasest ; but thou art immutable in every respect, and
receivest no shadow of change, though never so light and small. The psalmist
here alludes to the name Jehovah, 1 am* and doth not only ascribe im-
mutability to God, but exclude everything else from partaking in that per-
fection. All things else are tottering ; God sees all other things in continual
motion under his feet, like water passing away and no more seen, while he
remains fixed and immoveable. His wisdom and power, his knowledge and
will, are always the same. His essence can receive no alteration, neither by
itself nor by any external cause ; whereas other things either naturally de-
cline to destruction, pass from one term to another till they come to their
period ; or shall at the last day be wrapped up, after God hath completed
his will in them and by them ; as a man doth a garment he intends to repair
and transform to another use.
So that in the text God, as immutable, is opposed to all creatures, as
perishing and changeable.
Doct.^ God is unchangeable in his essence, nature, and perfections. Im-
mutability and eternity are linked together ; and indeed true eternity is true
immutability^ whence eternity is defined the possession of an immutable life.
Yet immutability differs from eternity in our conception. Immutability re-
spects the essence or existence of a thing, eternity respects the duration of
a being in that state ; or rather, immutability is the state itself,! eternity is
the measure of that state. A thing is said to be changed, when it is other-
wise now in regard of nature, state, will, or any quality than it was before ;
when either something is added to it or taken from it ; when it either loses
or acquires. But now it is the essential property of God, not to have any
accession to, or diminution of, his essence or attributes, but to remain
entirely the same. He wants nothing, he loses nothing, but doth uniformly
exist by himself, without any new nature, new thought, new will, new pur-
pose, or new place.
This unchangeableness of God was anciently represented by the figure of
a cube,j a piece of metal or wood framed four square ; when every side is
exactly of the same equality, cast it which way you will, it will always be in
the same posture, because it is equal to itself in all its dimensions. He was
therefore said to be the centre of all things, and other things the circumfe-
rence ; the centre is never moved while the circumference is ; it remains
immoveable in the midst of the circle. ■ There is no variableness nor shadow
of turning with him,' James i. 17. The moon hath her spots, so hath the
sun ; there is a mixture of light and darkness ; it hath its changes ; some-
times it is in the increase, sometimes in the wane ; it is always either gain-
ing or losing, and by the turnings and motions, either of the heavenly bodies
or of the earth, it is in its eclipse, by the interposition of the earth between
that and the sun. The sun also hath its diurnal and annual motion ; it
riseth and sets, and puts on a different face. It doth notalway shine with a
noonday light ; it is sometimes vailed with clouds and vapours ; it is always
going from ono tropic to another, whereby it makes various shadows on the
earth, and produceth the various seasons of the year ; it is not always in
our hemisphere, nor doth it always shine with an equal force and brightness
in it. Such shadows and variations have no placo in the eternal Father of
lights ; he hath not the least spot or diminution of brightness ; nothing can
cloud him or eclipse him. For tho better understanding this perfection of
God,
* AXXo/wffswj xg'urruv, above all change, Theodor.
t Gamachous. J Amyrant sur Ucb. ix. p. 153.
I "II. 96, 27. TIIK IMMlVrUJU.irY OF (.(.I).
[ hall premise three thinga.
1. The immutability of God if a perfection, [xnmutabilij
itself, without relation to othi r things, ii d
ry and imperfection of the < , thattb Ic in malice
tG 1. Bnt as G infinite . nfinitelj wise, boljj
BO it is a p> rfection ii' ' Uuil ho ihooid 06 immutably
nil ' excellency, !'■". In. ■■ ,,-, w i iloni, immutably all til ith>
out (hi old loan imporfoct being. Arc not the angels in 1
who ire oonfira i i in i holy and hap] . more i than wh<
B in ;i poi libilitj i f committing c\ il and Ai not
khi Baintl in heaven, wl ;raco do unalterably '""1 and
' than if till v v.uv a ; Ad mi in j . . ■■ of
their felicity as well as juts. r\ r We count, a rocl., m r< "ard of
lity, more i icollent than the dust, of the grotm 1, or ■ bather th I
tOS8rd about with every wind. Is it. not. also the p. ofthe I
bavo a constant tenor of health, and the glOTJ of B man not to warp a
from what is ju^t and light, by the |iersuasions of any temptations?
'J. Immutability is a glory belonging to all the attributes of Bod. It is
nol i single perfection "( the divine nature, nor is it limited to particular
Objects thus and thns disposed. M' ivy and justice have their distinct
Objects and distinct acts ; mercy is conversant about a penitent, justice 0OH«
mt about an obstinate, sinner. In onr notion and oon of the
divine perfections, his perfections ars different; the wisdom of Qod is not
bis power, nor his power his holiness, but immutability is the centre
they all unite. Share is not one p- rfection but may I to be, and trulv
immutable; none of them will app without this beam, th •
Sim of immutability, which renders them highly excellent without the least
shadow of imperfection. How cloudy would his blessedness bo if it were
changeable ; how dim his wisdom if it might be obscured ; how feeble his
power if it were capable to be sickly and languish : how would mercy Ioso
much of its lustre if it could change into wrath, and justice much of its dr> 1
if it could be turned into mercy, while the object of justice remains unfit for
mercy, and one that hath need of mercy continues only fit for the divine
fury } Bnt unchangeableness is a thread that runs through the whole web,
it is the enamel of all the rest ; none of them without it could look with a
triumphant aspect. His power is unchangeable : Isi. xxvi. 1, 'In the Lord
Jehovah is everlasting strength ;' his mercy and his holiness endure forever;
he never could, nor ever can, look upon iniquity, Hab. i. 18 : he is a rock
in the right -s of his ways, the truth of his word, the holiness of his
proc nd the rectitude of his nature. All are expressed: Dent.
xwii. 1. 'Haifa rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment ;
a Qod of truth and without iniquity, just and right he is.' All that we con-
r in God is unchangeable, for his essence and his properties are the same,
ami therefore what is i rily belonging to the essence of God belt:
also to every perfection of the nature of God ; none of them can receive any
i or diminution. From the unohangeableneefl of his nature the
. chap. i. 17, infers the unchangeableness of his holiness, and
himself in Mai. iii. ♦'>, the unchangeableness of his counsel.
8. Unchan I cessarily pertain to the nature of God. It
v with the rectitude of his nature ; he can no more be
chat than he can be unrighteous in his actions. God
• BSSrj I .vssarily what he is, and th. I
ably what he is. Mutability 'ingency ; if any perfection of
his nature could be l i from him, he would cease to be God ; uhat
3S2 chakxock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
did not possess the whole nature of God could not have the essence of God ;
it is reciprocated with the nature of God. Whatsoever is immutable by
nature, is God; whatsoever is God, is immutable by nature. Some creatures
are immutable by his grace and power ;* God is holy, happy, wise, good
by his essence ; angels and men are made holy, wise, happy, strong, and
good by qualities and graces. The holiness, happiness, and wisdom of
saints and angels, as they had a beginning, so they are capable of increase
and diminution, and of an end also ; for their standing is not from themselves,
or from the nature of created strength, holiness, or wisdom, which in them-
selves are apt to fail and finally to decay, but from the stability and confirma-
tion they have by the gift and grace of God. The heaven and earth shall
be changed, and after that renewal and reparation they shall not be changed.
Our bodies after the resurrection shall not be changed, but for ever be 'made
conformable to the glorious body of Christ,' Philip, iii. 21 ; but this is by the
powerful grace of God : so that, indeed, those things may be said afterwards
rather to be unchanged than unchangeable, because they are not so by
nature, but by sovereign dispensation ; as creatures have not necessary
beings, so they have not necessary immutability. Necessity of being, and,
therefore, immutability of being, belongs by nature to God ; otherwise, if
there were any change in God, he would be sometimes what he w r as not, and
would cease to be what he was, which is against the nature, and, indeed,
against the natural notion of a Deit}\ Let us see then,
I. In what regards God is immutable.
II. Prove that God is immutable.
III. That this is proper to God and incommunicable to any creature.
IV. Some propositions to clear the unchangeableness of God from any-
thing that seems contrary to it.
V. The use.
I. First, In what respects God is unchangeable.
1. God is unchangeable in his essence. He is unalterably fixed in his
being, that not a particle of it can be lost from it, nor a mite added to it.
If a man continue in being as long as Methuselah, nine hundred and sixty-
nine years, yet there is not a day, nay, an hour, wherein there is not some
alteration in his substance ; though no substantial part is wanting, yet there
is an addition to him by his food, a diminution of something by his labour;
he is always making some acquisition or suffering some loss ; but in God
there can be no alteration by the accession of anything to make his sub-
stance greater or better, or by diminution to make it less or worse ; he who
hath no being from another cannot but be always what he is. God is tho
first being, an independent being ; he was not produced of himself, or of any
other, but by nature always hath been, and therefore cannot by himself, or
by any other, be changed from what he is in his own nature : that which is
not may as well assume to itself a being, as he, who hath and is all being,
have the least change from what he is. Again, because he is a Spirit, he is
not subject to those mutations which are found in corporeal and bodily
natures ; because he is an absolutely simple Spirit, not having the least
particle of composition, he is not capable of those changes which may be
in created spirits.
(1.) If his essence were mutable, God would not truly be. It could not
be truly said by himself, / am thai I am, Exod. iii. 14, if he were such a
tiling or being at this time, and a different being at another time. What-
soever is changed properly is not, because it doth not remain to be what it
* Archbold. Scrm.
r . Oil. 26, 27.] nm :; •:;
; Hi it which changed ill ho Borao-
thii it may
bo said such a . bing iH d
was in its first I it it tu, it i hut
: i it
it will 1
from what it was b I
Dot be him thai
if ho woro < , it might bo said
1 . bat hs will : bat he ii ; or b bat be is, bat 11
nco in so ild H"
/ .//i th it t / am ; foi thoagh 1.
. >■• fa DO what be w
tin, If i. ild not b •• j
ie in In; I: be eh inge I for tfa
an in:'.. iii what be was befoi r JO t
infinitely b I, and the | of tfa it ild nol
. ox a< I. ipprehensioi] of a bapj . it ;
it" 1. i I for the wo] - be oonld do! ba?e a j in it i
the diminution of bit case
of b iare. 1 1 i - pleosnre d >i 1"' infinite befoi
eh. i ; it coul 1 not DC in:' 1
for the worse. If he changed fox the better, b< had an
infinite ; and nol haying an infinii
. be would have a finite m of !>•
I tween finite and infinite. Then though the change were forth
■ ithing would be still wanting to make him
infinitely i ; because being finite, he could not change to that wh
is in£ r iinito and infinite 01 distant, that they i
her; that is, that that which is finite should becomo
in£ i.ieh is infinite should become unite ; so that suppo
him mutable, his essence in no stato of change could furnish him with
infinite | ind blessedness.
. if God's essence bo changed, ho either increascth or dimi-
Whatsoovcr is changed dotli either gain by receiving someti.
larger and than it had in itself before, or gains nothing by 1
changed. It' the former, then it receives more than itself, more had
in i fore. The divine nature cannot be inci . for wh g
i y thing than what it had in itself before, must necessarily ret
it i: ther, b nothing can give to itself that which it hath not;
innot receive from another what he hath not a)
wl. ier thing n is derived from him, and therefore cantai
in him, as the fountain contains the virtue in itself which it convevs to the
mot gain anything. If a thing that is cfa D 1
tehai , it loseth c »mething of what it had before in
ist be by itself or some other. God cannot receive
iiing in himself; he cannot will his own diminution; I
is . ire. Ham vj as well will his own
action; but i: is impossible
semblan . for ho
.' 1 Tim. vi. 16, '
1 in any particle of his .
by a:., [finite simplicity admi:
• B .jriu. in Totavio.
384 chaenock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
nothing distinct from himself, or contrary to himself. All decreases come,
from something contrary to the nature of that thing which doth decrease.
Whatsoever is made less than itself was not truly unum, one and simple,
because that which divides itself in separation was not the same in con-
junction. Nor can he be diminished by any other without himself, because
nothing is superior to God, nothing stronger than God which can oppress
him ; but whatsoever is changed, is weaker than that which changeth it,
and sinks under a power it cannot successfully resist ; weakness belongs not
to the Deity.* Nor, lastly, can God change from a state wherein he is to
another state equal to the former, as men in some cases may do ; for in
passing from one state to another equal to it, something must be parted with
which he had before, that some other thing may accrue to him as a recom-
pence for that loss, to make him equal to what he was. This recompence
then he had not before, though he had something equal to it ; and in this
case it could not be said by God, I am that I am, but I am equal to what I
was ; for in this case there would be a diminution and increase which (as
was shewed) cannot be in God.
(4.) Again, God is of himself, from no other.f Natures, which are made
by God, may increase, because they began to be ; they may decrease,
because they were made of nothing, and so tend to nothing ; the condition
of their originals leads them to defect, and the power of their Creator brings
them to increase. But God hath no original, he hath no defect, because he
was not made of nothing ; he hath no increase, because he had no beginning ;
he was before all things, and therefore depends upon no other thing which
by its own change can bring any change upon him. J That which is from
itself cannot be changed, because it hath nothing before it, nothing more
excellent than itself; but that which is from another, as its first cause
and chief good, may be changed by that which was its efficient cause and
last end.
2. God is immutable in regard of knowledge. God hath known from all
eternity all that which he can know, so that nothing is hid from him ; he
knows not at present any more than he hath known from eternity, and that
which he knows now, he always knows : ' All things are open and naked
before him,' Heb. iv. 13. A man is said to be changed in regard of know-
ledge, when he knows that now which he did not know before, or knows
that to be false now which he thought true before, or hath something for
the object of his understanding now, which he had not before ; but
(1.) This would be repugnant to the wisdom and omniscience which be-
longs to the notion of a Deity. That cannot be God that is not infinitely
wise ; that cannot be infinitely wise that is either ignorant of or mistaken
in his apprehension of any one thing. If God be changed in knowledge, it
must be for want of wisdom : all change of this nature in creatures implies
this defect preceding or accompanying it. Such a thought of God would
have been unworthy of him that is ' only wise,' that hath no mate for wis-
dom, 1 Tim. i. 17, none wise besides himself. If he knew that thing this
day which he knew not before, he would not be an only wise being, for a
being that did know everything at once might be conceived, and so a wiser
being be apprehended by the mind of man. If God understood a thing at
one time which ho did not at another, ho would be changed from ignorance
to knowledge ; as, if he could not do that this day which he could do to-
morrow, ho would bo changed from impotence to power. He could not be
always omniscient, becauso there might be yet something still to come which
* Victorimis in Petavio. \ Petav. torn. i. p. 817.
t Austin. Fulgen in Petavio.
I' . Oil. "'''. ''7. • l:I!.IIV
rt not, though he may 1 it arn pa t. What way
■
It' In- I >•• cli:m"r.l in I: under-
'. be
r it.
hangeable in li im unfit
to be an object of I II ild want
the due I linmont if his 11 . for
th.it mi •' ' l • i ' bich in ' | and
that m whiol ind to '
ID uii!'' I :ui ill '
■ i • | tl.l,. | n
in knowledge, and might promise thai now which he wo I
ta nnfil to !"• promii e I, and then I fit to I
old make him an incompetent object of dread in regard of
r he might threaten thai now which he might knon
• ot tit or jnsl to be inflict I. \ ch mind and under-
onot make i dv i 'lit judgment of thing I
thingi to be avoided. Nowise man would judg trust i
m ' and flittii m.
G l must oeede be unchangeable in his knowledge : but, as the sel
t as the sun always shin.-, bo ( k)d alwa
never eeaseth to ihinei I I never ceaseth to fa
from the fast compass of his understanding, no more than anythii •
shelter itself without the verge of bis p m r. This hither appears in th I .
I.) God knows by his own essence. II" doth not know as we do, by
habitSi qualiti< 9, s, whereby be mistaken at one time and r
tilled at another. He hath not an understanding distinct from hi
: but 1' ing the most simple being, his understanding in his
essence : an m the infiniteness of nil oonclude the infinite-
anderstandj from the unchangeablenees of his > we
•lv conclude the unehangeabl a as of his knowledge. Since, there-
1 is without all composition^ and his understanding is not distinct
from hi-; 8SS6H06, what he knows he knows by his essence ; and there can
then be no moro mutability in his knowledge than there can be in his
: and if there were any in that, he could not be God, because he
would have the properly of a creature. If his understanding then be his
essence, his kn is as necessary, ns unchangeable, as his as. As
eminently contains all perfections in itself, ' aiding
comprehends all things past, present, and future in itself. If his under-
' and nil ere not one and the same, ho were not simple,
but COmponnde 1 ; if compounded, he would Consist of }< lite : if he consisted
of parts, an independent being, and so would not be God.
I all thl' us intuitive I ct. AS there is no BOOsest
in 1. that he now and another thing hereafter, i i
ther 'e^sion in his knowledge. lie knows things that are -
and BS t of intuit:
!'■ . all things future ai nt to him in r. -;rd of
•iity and omnipres. t though t ; and fSJ
in the thin | of them and tl rsJ changes in
ire is invariable and unalterable. As i ' that could see
with hie syo at le eomj
ild
see the whole I ■ uniformly; this part now in the ca
vol. i. ab
386 chaknock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
west, without any change in his eye ; for he sees every part and every mo-
tion together ; and though that great body varies and whirls about, and is
in continual agitation, his eye remains stedfast, suffers no change, beholds
all their motions at once, and by one glance.* God knows all things from
eternity, and therefore perpetually knows them ; the reason is, because the
divine knowledge is infinite : Ps. cxlvii. 5, ' His understanding is infinite ;'
and therefore comprehends all knowable truths at once. An eternal know-
ledge comprehends in itself all time, and beholds past and present in the
same manner, and therefore his knowledge is immutable. By one simple
knowledge he considers the infinite spaces of past and future.
(3.) God's knowledge and will is the cause of all things and their succes-
sions. There can be no pretence of any changeableness of knowledge in
God, but in this case, before things come to pass, he knows that they will
come to pass ; after they are come to pass, he knows that they are past and
slid away.f This would be something, if the succession of things were the
cause of the divine knowledge, as it is of our knowledge ; but on the con-
trary, the divine knowledge and will is the cause of the succession of them.
God doth not know creatures because they are, but they are because he
knows them : ' All his works were known to him from the beginning of the
world,' Acts xv. 18. All his works were not known to him, if the events of
all those works were not also known to him. If they were not known to
him, how should he make them ? He could not do anything ignorantly.
He made them then after he knew them, and did not know them after he
made them. His knowledge of them made a change in them ; their existence
made no change in his knowledge. He knew them when they were to be
created, in the same manner that he knew them after they were created ;
before they were brought into act, as well as after they were brought into
act ; before they were made, they were, and were not ; they were in the
knowledge of God when they were not in their own nature. God did not
receive his knowledge from their existence, but his knowledge and will acted
upon them to bring them into being.
(4.) Therefore the distinction of past and future makes no change in the
knowledge of God. When a thing is past, God hath no more distinct
knowledge of it after it is past than he had when it was to come ; all things
were all in their circumstances of past, present, and to come, seen by his
understanding as they were determined by his will ; J besides, to know a
day to be past or future is only to know the state of that day in itself, and
to know its relation to that which follows and that which went before.
This day wherein we are, if we consider it in the state wherein it was yester-
day, it was to come, it was future ; but, if we consider it in that state where-
in it will be to-morrow, we understand it as past. This in man cannot be
said to be a different knowledge of the thing itself, but only of the circum-
stance attending a thing, and the different relation of it ; as I see the sun
this day, I know it was up yesterday, I know it will be up to-morrow, my
knowledge of the sun is the same ; if there be any change, it is in the sun,
not in my knowledge, only I apply my knowledge to such particular circum-
stances. How much more must tho knowledge of those things in God be
unchangeable, who knows all those states, conditions, and circumstances
most perfectly from eternity, wherein there is no succession, no past or
future, and therefore will know them for ever ! He always beholds the
same thing ; he sees, indeed, succession in things, and he sees a thing to
bo past which before was futuro ; as from eternity ho saw Adam as existing
* Suarcz. vol. i. p. I'M. f Austin, liradwardine.
J Gamach. in Aquiii. Qu. 9, cap. i. p. 73.
Pi. OH 7.] 887
•icli u tin).! ; in ul i be, in 11. mg
time bfl I i •• tl i ho know from I
1.: sw in tbi dot ; tli *as a variation in A
was of him in all l»i
was do! pn lent to hn was i"
eternity.
« f it,
:l|>ivh. :.
thou ' ■
\\e must cuic. : .
.ill imp. "VO
thai God; the knowledge of 1 1
• 1 1 , i Infinite, P .
| .. , imuiln i m no niorc bfl Calcul ited 04
unt by Qfl, than infi , winch I
\\ . can do mow an
of the manner of bii K; ; di-
rv of b : wfl may ai well comprehend one ae 1
This Wfl must OOnclodfl, tli I I [n 'A
with and another thing with mu pre do; but being a Spirit, he
I and knows only with mind, and his mind ifl b
ablfl as himself; and t] ia Dot now another thing than what
bfl • bfl kno aything now in another manner than ai Km 1.
it from eternity. II • -, | all tfa D [8 in the \ M th
doth not var . ither doth his vision.
::. G : : of his will and purpose. A change in
pnrpofl • it, when a man determines to do that now which before he d
to do, « r to do the contrary ; when a man I that thing which he
loved, or begins to love thai which be before hated. When tho will is
i. a m hi h will that which he willed not before, and cea-
ill that which bfl wilhl before. But whatsoever God hath decreed,
immutable; wl God hath promised, shall he accomplished : 'The
1 tint g i mouth shall not return to him void, but it shall
that which he pleascth,' Isa. lv. 11 ; whatsoever 'he poi
will do,' Isa. xlvi. 11. Num. xxiii. 19. His decrees are ti died
1 mourn i. vi. 1 : brass, as having substance as
I . ing immoveable, not only by any creature, but by himi
they stand upon the 1 SSis I f infallible wisdom, and are .supported
Prom this immutability of his will published to
man, there could be no release from the severity of the law, without satistac-
by the death of a mediator, since it was the unalterable will of
i that death should be the wages of Bin ; and from this immutable will it
fch of time from tli". first promise of tl. r to his
. and the daily pTOP cations of men, altered not his purposo for the
t of it in the fulness of that time he had resolved upon ; nor
did the wicl hinder the addition of several promise
bur
X i Da .'. this out, consid.
I I m.1 is the same with his essence. If God ha 1 a
essence, he would not be the most simple beiiiL,'. I
m himsi If. As his ni
, God understanding, so h:s will is I
it D*w being thei the essence i
though it is cc : i according to our weakness as a faculty, it is as h:s
388 charnock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
understanding and wisdom, eternal and immutable, and can no more be
changed than his essence. The immutability of the divine counsel depends
upon that of his essence. He is the Lord Jehovah, therefore he is true to
his word : Mai. iii. 6, Isa. xliii. 13, ' Yea, before the day was, I am he, and
there is none that can deliver out of my hand.' He is the same, immutable
in his essence, therefore irresistible in his power.
(2.) There is a concurrence of God's will and understanding in everything.
As his knowledge is eternal, so is his purpose. Things created had not been
known to be, had not God resolved them to be [by] the act of his will. The
existence of anything supposeth an act of his will. Again, as God knows all
things by one simple vision of his understanding, so he wills all things by
one act of volition ; therefore the purpose of God in the Scripture is not
expressed by counsels, in the plural number, but counsel, shewing that all
the purposes of God are not various, but as one will, branching itself out
into many acts towards the creature, but all knit in one root,- all links of
one chain. Whatsoever is eternal is immutable. As his knowledge is
eternal, and therefore immutable, so is his will. He wills or nills nothing
to be in time, but what he willed and nilled from eternity. If he willed in
time that to be that he willed not from eternity, then he would know that
in time which he knew not from eternity ; for God knows nothing future
but as his will orders it to be future, and in time to be brought into being.
(3.) There can be no reason for any change in the will of God. When
men change in their minds, it must be for want of foresight, because they
could not foresee all the rubs and bars which might suddenly offer them-
selves ; which, if they had foreseen, they w r ould not have taken such mea-
sures. Hence men often will that which they afterwards wish they had not
willed, when they come to understand it clearer, and see that to be injurious
to them w T hich they thought to be good for them ; or else the change pro-
ceeds from a natural instability without any just cause, and an easiness to
be drawn into that which is unrighteous ; or else it proceeds from a want
of power, when men take new counsels, because they are invincibly hindered
from executing the old. But none of those can be in God.
[1.] It cannot be for want of foresight. What can be wanting to an in-
finite understanding ? How can any unknown event defeat his purpose,
since nothing happens in the world but what he wills to effect, or wills to
permit, and therefore all future events are present with him ? Besides, it
doth not consist with God's wisdom to resolve anything but upon the
highest reason ; and what is the highest and infinite reason cannot but be
unalterable in itself, for there can be no reason and wisdom higher than the
highest. All God's purposes are not bare acts of will, but acts of counsel :
Eph. i. 11, ■ He works all things according to the counsel of his own will;'
and he doth not say so much that his will as that his ' counsel shall stand,'
Isa. xlvi. 10. It stands because it is counsel. And the immutability of a
promise is called the ■ immutability of his counsel,' Heb. vi. 17, as being
introduced and settled by the most perfect wisdom, and therefore to be
carried on to a full and complete execution. His purpose then cannot be
changed for want of foresight, for this would be a charge of weakness.
[2.] Nor can it proceed from a natural instability of his will, or an easi-
ness to be drawn to that which is unrighteous. If his will should not
adhere to his counsel, it is becauso it is not fit to be followed, or because it
will not follow it. If not fit to be followed, it is a reflection upon his
wisdom; if it be established, and ho will not follow it, there is a contrariety
in God, as there is in a fallen creature, will against wisdom. That cannot
* Qu. 'knot'?— Ed.
*
r . ci I. 80, 27.] hi; m.ii.n '. (ji (ion. B89
bi in God which be hat. , in a creators, r of faculties, and
b.in ( out of thi place. 'I'll.- I f God is like •
mountain, r 'i le of bi m immovable in
all tho groat mounl in the world (are th of man:
'II. ! DOt S8 a man that he should i '■ ' . ■ ho
II u i
■ ••', or w : i |., rfoim. II.. ti-rnal j
r unrightoou - ; if ri and b me unholy
Lhe change; ii not right in.lv, then be wm unri
the change; whiob ii tails, it would reilucl upon
I . which if a blaephemOU nation. ' i : I
I'm i . i .. r fox the then Uk I ( I I i
a, then he was not v. ise an
can it. be for want • Who h;ith DO
all the combined d< md < nd< nu d can make the i
. \i\. 21, ' There arc d heartj
nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that ihall stand;' that, end that oj
■hall stall. 1. .Man hath a D0W6T U) devise an.l im IgjnS, l.iit. DO |
I and execute of himself. God wan:.-, no more pow< ct what ho
will, than he wante nnderstanding to know what, ii lit.
\Y. li, tin ii. MM.'.' Co. I wanted not wisdom to frame hie decrees, nor holi-
olate th.ni, nor power to effect them, wi old make liim
change them, since there can be no reason Buperior to hie, no event an-
i by him, no holiness comparable to hie, no anrighi
in him, DO power equal to his to put a ruh in his way?
(4.) Though the will of ( lod be immutable, yet it is not to be nnd< rstood
the thingB themselves so willed are immutable. Nor will the im-
mutability of the things willed by him follow upon the Dnchangeableneee of
his will in willing them; though Cod be firm in willing them, yet he doth
not will that they should alway be. God did not perpetually will the
things which he one d to be done. He decreed that
Christ should sutler, but he did not decree that Christ should alway sutler;
so he willed the Moeaical rites for a time, but he did not will that they
should alway continue; he willed that they should endure only for a time,
and when the time came for their ceasing, God had been mutable if lie had
Dot put an end to them, because his will had fixed such a period. So that
the fth^ngmg ,,f those things which he had once appointed to be practised,
is so far from charging Cod with changeableness, that God would le
mutable if he did not take them away, since ho decreed as well their aboli-
tion at such a time as their continuance till such a time, so that the removal
of them was pursuant to his unchangeable will and decree. If God had
should alway continue, and afterwards changed that
decree, and resolved the abrogation of them, then inde. 1 God had 1
mutable; he had I I one decree by another, he had then seen an
error in . end there must be some weakness in the reason
and wisdom whereon it was grounded.] But it was not so here, for the
change of ti tWI is SO far from Blurring God with any mutability, that
m is no other than the issue of I
Cor fron in himself to change this or that di
the . to bring such ■ dispensation into the world. Tho
f was eternal and immutable, but the thing
porary an 1 mutabi . .'. eternity doth not make tl
loth the immutability of th
Tjr.diss.iiL tQsu'wUltl ual doing"?— I
390 chaenock's woeks. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
the thing so decreed to be immutable. As, for example, God decreed from
all eternity to create the world, the eternity of this decree did not make the
world to be in being and actually created from eternity; so God decreed
immutably that the world so created should continue for such a time ; the
decree is immutable if the world perish at that time, and would not be
immutable if the world did endure beyond that time that God hath fixed for
the duration of it. As when a prince orders a man's remaining in prison
for so many days, if he be prevailed with to give him a delivery before those
days, or to continue him in custody for the same crime after those days, his
order is changed; but if he orders the delivery of him just at that time till
which he had before decreed that he should continue in prison, the purpose
and order of the prince remains firm, and the change in the state of the
prisoner is the fruit of that firm and fixed resolution ; so that we must dis-
tinguish between the person decreeing, the decree itself, and the thing
decreed. The person decreeing, viz., God, is in himself immutable, and
the decree is immutable, but the thing decreed may be mutable ; and if it
were not changed according to the first purpose, it would argue the decree
itself to be changed; for whiles a man wills that this may be done now and
another thing done afterwards, the same will remains, and though there be
a change in the effect, there is no change in the will.
(5.) The immutability of God's will doth not infringe the liberty of it.
The liberty of God's will consists with the necessity of continuing his pur-
pose. God is necessarily good, immutably good; yet he is freely so, and
would not be otherwise than what he is. God was free in his first purpose;
and purposing this or that by an infallible and unerring wisdom, it would
be a weakness to change the purpose. But indeed the liberty- of God's will
doth not seem so much to consist in an indifferency to this or that, as in an
independency on anything without himself. His will was free, because it
did not depend upon the objects about which his will was conversant. To
be immutably good, is no point of imperfection, but the height of perfection.
4. As God is unchangeable in regard of essence, knowledge, purpose, so
he is unchangeable in regard of place. He cannot be changed in time,
because he is eternity; so he cannot be changed in place, because he hath
ubiquity. He is eternal, therefore cannot be changed in time ; he is omni-
present, therefore cannot be changed in place ; he doth not begin to be in
one place wherein he was not before, or cease to be in a place wherein he
was before. He that fills every place in heaven and earth, cannot change
place; he cannot leave one to possess another, that is equally in regard
of his essence in all: 'He fills heaven and earth,' Jer. xxiii. 24. The
heavens, that are not subject to those changes to which sublunary bodies are
subject, that are not diminished in quantity or quality, yet they are alway
changing place in regard of their motion ; no part of them doth alway con-
tinue in the same point. But God hath no chnnge of' his nature, because
he is most inward in everything. He is substantially in all space, real and
imaginary; there is no part of the world which he doth not fill; no place
can be imagined wherein he doth not exist. Suppose a million of worlds
above and about this, encircling one another, his essence would be in
every part and point of those worlds, because it is indivisible, it cannot be
divided ; nor can it be contained within those created limits of millions of
worlds, when the most soaring and best coining fancy hath run through all
creatures, to the highest sphere of the heavens, and imagined one world
after another, till it can fancy no more. None of these, nor all of these,
can contain God; for 'the heaven of heavens cannot contain him,' 1 Kings
viii. 27. He is ' higher than heaven, deeper than hell,' Job xi. 8, and
P ' ! : 7.] mi
h Infinite imaginary n 1 created limits, lie v.ho hath
do fiu ■<• of l' in '. c Ami though I
hi bag in to be in the ic world
hot wm in the lamo in si eiwey in
elf 1'V In i "w n • iet.
v near to him/ J jf lot 'I do(
but by ip oi J and ial infln neei f 1 1 anpp »rtin^ grs
As • -.-, the into the I ] "*
in i' and order in the h«:i\ < the beami • the
hton the ro >m, to whan < lod ia eaid I lown <>r
1 1 . . 5, i I. ;i eh togs of p
ahai tward acta, elf in ways of I
or n mont8, in the efflaxei of nil love oi the names of nil wrath.
Whei i men fool flu' warm beami of his grace i ■ Of
I tin 1 hot eoali of hie an pi scorching them. I
Dear to ni ii not 10 mnch nil eoming I i as, bnt b I i him,;
•i watermen pull i rope thai ii in one end fastened to the and the
r end to the vessel, the shore is immoveable, yet it.
> them, but they really move to the ihore. God is an immoveable
r>>ck, we are ii mating and nnoertau ; while ho eeemi to approaeh
i doth really make as to approach to him. He comes n by
any ehange of place himself, bnl di to him by i change of mind, will,
and affection! in us.
II. The second thing propounded is the reaeom to prove God immutable.
aeknowled I to be so; Plato and the Pythagoreana
called Gtod, oi 1 principle, &vrk t idem; the evil principle
ther thing, changeable ; one thing one time and another thing an-
Daniel vi. 26, * II" is the living God, and Btedfast for e ,
L The 1 cifies this attribute : Exod. iii. 14, 'lam that
I am ; 1 am hath i to yon. 1 It signifies his immutability as well as
:iity. / am B - eternity ; thai or the fame thai I oat, his
immutability. As it respects the essence of God, it signifies his unchange-
able being from eternity to eternity ;• as it respects the creature, it sanities
his constancy in his counsels and promises, which spring from no other
cause but the unchangeableness of his nature. The : why men M ind
not to their covenant, is because they are not always the same. / OSI, that
I am the same, before the creation of the world, and since the creation
of the world ; before the entrance of sin, and since the entrance of sin;
re their going into Egypt, and whiles they remain in Egypt. The very
name Jth . according to the grammatical order, a mark of God's
nuchar * It never hath anything added to it, nor anything taken
from it ; it hath no plural number, no affixes, a custom peculiar to the eastern
r changes its letters as other words do. That only is a
true being, which hath not only an eternal existence, but stability in it :
that H not truly a being that never remains in tho same state. ff All th.
* Qmmtchent, ut supra.
f The an it by thie similitude.
I I ..• l<J/av 'at/ iyj.tj.'v.Gv, lib. j.
lib. iii.
[ 'I np. J Amyrald. do Trinitat. p. 433.
•* Spanhcii 8jnl . p 89.
tt G, sect. G, 7, 8.
392 chaenock's works. |Ps. CII. 26, 27.
that are changed cease to be what they were, and begin to be what they were
not, and therefore cannot have the title truly applied to them they are ;
they are indeed, but like a river in a continual flux, that no man ever sees
the same ; let his eye be fixed upon one place of it, the water he sees slides
away, and that which he saw not succeeds in its place ; let him take his eye
off but for the least moment, and fix it there again, and he sees not the same
that he saw before. All sensible things are in a perpetual stream ; that
which is sometimes this and sometimes that, is not, because it is not always
the same ; whatsoever is changed, is something now which it was not alway ;
but of God it is said I am, which could not be if he were changeable ; for
it may be said of him he is not, as well as he is, because he is not what he
was. If we say not of him he was, nor he will be, but only he is, whence
should any change arrive ? He must invincibly remain the same, of whose
nature, perfections, knowledge, and will, it cannot be said it was, as if it
were not now in him ; or it shall be, as if it were not yet in him ; but he is,
because he doth not only exist, but doth alway exist the same. I am, that
is, I receive from no other what I am in myself. He depends upon no
other in his essence, knowledge, purposes, and therefore hath no changing
power over him.
2. If God were changeable, he could not be the most perfect being. God
is the most perfect being, and possesses in himself infinite and essential good-
ness : Mat. v. 48, ' Your heavenly Father is perfect.' If he could change
from that perfection, he were not the highest exemplar and copy for us to
write after. If God doth change, it must be either to a greater perfection
than he had before, or to a less, mutatio perfectiva vel amissiva; if he changes
to acquire a perfection he had not, then he was not before the most excel-
lent being necessarily ; he was not what he might be ; there was a defect in
him, and a privation of that which is better than what he had and was, and
then he was not alway the best, and so was not alway God ; and being not
alway God, could never be God ; for to begin to be God is against the
notion of God. Not to a less perfection than he had ; that were to change
to imperfection, and to lose a perfection which he possessed before, and
cease to be the best being ; for he would lose some good which he had, and
acquire some evil which he was free from before. So that the sovereign perfec-
tion of God is an invincible bar to any change in him ; for which way soever
you cast it for a change, his supreme excellency is impaired and nulled by
it ; for in all change there is something from which a thing is changed, and
something to which it is changed : so that on the one part there is a loss of
what it had, and on the other part there is an acquisition of what it had not.
If to the better, he was not perfect, and so was not God ; if to the worse,
he will not be perfect, and so be no longer God after that change.
If God be changed, his change must be voluntary or necessary ; if volun-
tary, he then intends the change for the better, and chose it to acquire a
perfection by it. The will must be carried out to anything under the notion
of some goodness in that which it desires. Since good is the object of the
desire and will of the creature, evil cannot be the object of the desire and
will of the Creator. And if ho should be changed for the worse when he did
really intend the better, it would speak a defect of wisdom, and a mistake of
that for good which was evil and imperfect in itself; and if it be for the bet-
ter, it must be a motion or change for something without himself; that
which ho desireth is not possessed by himself but by some other. There is
then some good without him and above him, which is the end in this change;
for nothing acts but for some end, and that end is within itself or without
itself. If the end for which God changes be without himself, then thcro is
Pi. On. 26, 17. na mum uuun
something better than himself. D I f" r
the i be doI 1 1 I t want ol . he
beet good. In- had the imj I wisdom, 1.
happiness ; if In- had I I power to effect it, it i.
prill, I [| tin ii wanl
which ii Qeoeseaiy is the supreme I".:.;'. Volui raid uoi
ebangod for the worse, he could ool be soeh so enem;
ihere ii nothing bol would hinder its own im] d end becoming
N. oeeaejrilj he eouJ
i tli.ii the difficulties epokon of before will i ox it dm
i i em uoi be I another, I"
good bat what it hath received from thi that
toul loss to himself: dox made worse. \ made him . it
ii. but th it cannot touch hi
the end nature of the sin . 6, 7, ■ If th .
whai Must him? or if thy tran I, what
: thoo unto him ? [f thou be righteous, what thou him ' ox what
i?ef he a( thy hand?' Be hath no addition by the ...an, no
more than the sun hath of light by s multitude of toxel lied on I
h ; nox any more impaix by the sins of nu a, than the light of the sun
hath by men's shooting arxows against it.
were not the most simple being if he wexeiiot immutable.* Thexe
ii in everything that is mutable s composition, eitb i ■ utial or ace.
and in all changes something of the thing ehangi d remains, and soi
of it oeaseth and is done awayj i . unple, in sn ac
a white wall be made black, it loses Ue white colour ; but the wall itself,
which was the subject of that colour, remains, and loses nothing of its sub-
1. k< wii . in i Bubstantial change, as when wood is burnt, the sub-
:ial part of wood is lost, the earthly part is change 1 into ashes, the airy
par: Is in smoke, the watery part is changed into air by the fire.
There is not an annihilation of it, but S resolution of it into those pa
whereof it was compounded ; and this change doth evidence that it was com-
pounded of several parts distinct from one another. If there were any
change in God, it is by separating something from him, or adding some-
thing to him : if by separating something from him, then he was com-
pounded of something distinct from himself; for if it were not distinct from
himself, it could uoi be s< parated from him without loss of bis being ; if
ling anything to him, then it is a compounding of him, either substantially
or accidentally.
Mutability is absolutely inconsistent with simplicity, whether the chat.,
come from an internal or external principle. If a change be wrought by
without, it BUppoeeth either contrary or various parte in the th
bo changed, whereof it don. it ; if it be wrought by anything within, it
SUppoeeth that the thing so changed doth consist of one part that doth chai
it, and another pert that is changed, and bo it would not be a simple be!: .
v anything within himself, all in (iod would I
bo God ; bis CUOIIOC would depend uj if some would
l pail wexe able to change ox d
which doth change WOUl 1 . that which is cha:. be
I; so Qod la oon-deity, and i
ad upon d aid be
iud« I . part immutabi ; that muLibil
* * . tan th in Prim. I . . .\ rain. . cap. 1. ;
394 charnock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
is against the notion of God's independency as well as his simplicity.* God
is the most simple being; for that which is first in nature, having nothing
beyond it, cannot by any means be thought to be compounded; for whatso-
ever is so depends upon the parts whereof it is compounded, and so is not
the first being. Now God being infinitely simple, hath nothing in himself
which is not himself, and therefore cannot will any change in himself, he
being his own essence and existence.
4. God were not eternal if he were mutable. In all change there is
something that perishes, either substantially or accidentally. All change is
a kind of death, or imitation of death ; that which was, dies, and begins to
be what it was not. The soul of man, though it ceaseth not to be and exist,
yet when it ceaseth to be in quality what it was, it is said to die. Adam
died when he changed from integrity to corruption, though both his soul
and body were in being, Gen. ii. 17 ; and the soul of a regenerate man is
said to 'die to sin,' Rom. vi. 11, when it is changed from sin to grace.
In all change there is a resemblance of death : so the notion of mutability
is against the eternity of God. If anything be acquired by a change, then
that which is acquired was not from eternity, and so he was not wholly
eternal ; if anything be lost which was from eternity, he is not wholly ever-
lasting ; if he did decrease by the change, something in him which had no
beginning would have an end ; if he did increase by that change, something
in him would have a beginning that might have no end.f What is changed
doth not remain, and what doth not remain is not eternal. Though
God alway remains in regard of existence, he would be immortal and live
alway ; yet if he should suffer any change he could not properly be eternal,
because he would not alway be the same, and would not in every part be
eternal ; for all change is finished in time, one moment preceding, another
moment following, but that which is before time cannot be changed by time.
God cannot be eternally what he was ; that is, he cannot have a true
eternity, if he had a new knowledge, new purpose, a new essence ; if he
were sometimes this and sometimes that, sometimes know this and some-
times know that, sometimes purpose this and afterwards hath a new pur-
pose, he would be partly temporary and partly eternal, not truly and
universally eternal. He that hath anything of newness, hath not properly
and truly an entire eternit} r . Again, by the same reason that God could in
the least cease to be what he was, he might also cease wholly to be, and no
reason can be rendered why God might not cease wholly to be, as well as
cease to be entirely and uniformly what he was. All changeableness im-
plies a corruptibility.
5. If God were changeable, he were not infinite and almighty. All change
ends in addition or diminution ; if anything be added, he was not infinite
before ; if anything be diminished, he is not infinite after. All change implies
bounds and limits to that which is changed; but God is infinite, 'his great-
ness is unsearchable,' Ps. cxlv. 3, Ipn ]*N, no end, no term. We can add
number to number without any end, and can conceive an infinite number,
yet the greatness of God is beyond all our conceptions. But if there could
be any chango in his greatness for the better, it would not be unsearchable
before that change ; if for the worse, it would not be unsearchable after that
change. Whatsoever hath limits and is changeable, is conceivable and
Bearchable ; but God is not only not known, but impossible in his own
nature to be known and searched out, and therefore impossible to have any
Picinaa Zacliar. Mifylen. in Peta., torn. i. p. 1G9.
■f Austin in Pet., torn. i. p. 201.
P OH, '.''>. 27.] tin
diminuti m in bis nature. All that wl
, or oeaseth in it was l
I I i -•;.'.: :
for to bi I. If ho I
to him.
I proceed from hii
it' from himself, il
in r, he would b
and which changoH him, < ithor in . or
will ; in 1 otfa :m ioftb lity ; an inability in • an
inability in him I her.
• : ■• 1 Dttl
l immutable. Princi]
than things which proceed from those principli i, and this i
Principles in cod icience, u b< reby mi q ai i
ain firmly ei n in their minds. The root lies firml; th,
wbi baken with the wind. The I
m, are more firm and stable than those things which are •
their influence. All things in the world ai
virtue which is and unless it v. . aid be ( 1 in
motion, n i m ition eonld be He c i i full
tion to the infin I ouls of his | Nothi
trulj il i>( man hut rest, that
which ii ot, and immntably | i it would l«' subject I i
th<> . and variation which the h< ing
The principle of all thin be immutable,* which is descri
the principle of number, wherein there ii s reaemblance of God's
A unit is not variable, it continues in il naturo
immutably an unit ; it never varies from itself, it cannot he ch inged from
- it wen ininotcnt towards others, that it changes all
numbei 1 1 any number, it is the beginnii g of that number, but
the unit is not inereai 1 by it j a new number ariseth from that addition,
the unit still remains the same, and adds a value to other l . hut
I none from them.
III. The third thing to speak to i .
That immutability is proper to God, and incommunicable to any creature.
J to every creature as a creature, and immutability is tho
sols ' h d. He only is infinite wisdom, able to foreknow future
infinitely powerful, able to call forth all mean- ."t ;
lt'.u r wisdom to contrive, nor strength to • .ho
inseL None being above him, nothing in him C
to him, and -tivc in no bi and perfection, he cannot vary
in 1 ; nature. Hail not immutability as well as eternity been
a pi | ertaining to the divine nature, as well as
and eternal do s argument to prove Christ to be Cod
rpetuaJ 1 come short of any convincing strength.
nlies to Christ : lleb. i. 10-12, ' They :-hall
art the i had been no strength in tho
: , if immut ire did belong to any creature.
Th ndent.
1.0 t to sense. All plants and animals,
as they have their duration bounded in certain limits, sowhil
* I aeomost: I; Gerhard, loc. com.
396 chaknock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
they proceed from their rise to their fall ; they pass through many sensible
alterations, from one degree of growth to another, from buds to blossoms,
from blossoms to flowers and fruits ; they come to their pitch that nature
hath set them, and return back to the state from whence they sprung ; there
is not a day but they make some acquisition, or suffer some loss ; they die
and spring up every day ; nothing in them more certain than their incon-
stancy : ' The creature is subject to vanity,' Bom. viii. 20. The heavenly
bodies are changing their place ; the sun every day is running his race, and
stays not in the same point ; and though they are not changed in their
essence, yet they are in their place ; some indeed say there is a continual
generation of light in the sun, as there is a loss of light by the casting out
its beams, as in a fountain there ;is a flowing out of the streams, and a
continual generation of supply. And though these heavenly bodies have
kept their standing and motion from the time of their creation, yet both the
sun's standing still in Joshua's time, and its going back in Hezekiah's
time, shew that they are changeable at the pleasure of God.
But in man the change is perpetually visible ; every day there is a change
from ignorance to knowledge, from one will to another, from passion to
passion, sometimes sad, and sometimes cheerful, sometimes craving this
and presently nauseating it. His body changes from health to sickness, or
from weakness to strength ; some alteration there is either in body or mind.
Man, who is the noblest creature, the subordinate end of the creation of
other things, cannot assure himself of a consistency and fixedness in any-
thing the short space of a day, no, not of a minute ; all his months are
* months of vanity,' Job vii. 3 ; whence the psalmist calls man, ' at the
best estate, altogether vanity,' Ps. xxxix. 5, a mere heap of vanity. As he
contains in his nature the nature of all creatures, so he inherits in his nature
the vanity of all creatures. A little world, the centre of the world, and of
the vanity of the world ; j'ea, ' lighter than vanity,' Ps. lxii. 9 ; more move-
able than a feather ; tossed between passion and passion ; daily changing
his end, and changing the means ; an image of nothing.
2. Spiritual natures, as angels. They change not in their being, but that
is from the indulgence of God ; they change not in their goodness, but that
is not from their nature, but divine grace in their confirmation ; but they
change in their knowledge, they know more by Christ than they did by
creation, 1 Tim. iii. 16. They have an addition of knowledge every day, by
the providential dispensations of God to his church, Eph. iii. 10, and the
increase of their astonishment and love is according to the increase of their
knowledge and insight. They cannot have a new discovery without new
admirations of what is discovered to them. There is a change in their joy
when there is a change in a sinner, Luke xv. 10. They were changed in
their essence when they were made such glorious spirits of nothing. Some
of them were changed in their will, when of holy they became impure. The
good angels were changed in their understandings when the glories of God
in Christ were presented to their view ; and all can be changed in their
essence again ; and as they were made of nothing, so, by the power of God,
may be reduced to nothing again. So glorified souls shall have an un-
changed operation about God, for they shall behold his face without any
grief or fear of loss, without vagrant thoughts ; but they can never be un-
changeable in their nature, because they can never pass from finite to
infinite.
No creature can bo unchangeable in its nature.
(1.) Because every creature rose from nothing. As they rose from no-
thing, so they tend to nothing, unless they are preserved by God. The
I' . ill. 26, 27. re i v < i t r 1 1 of sod.
on <>f* :i ere tturi , boean ic, to 1
l ■ >mething of nothing, and thi of noth
Tin' hoii begins from ch
tli.- i ssoncG of :i ereatnre in hu i uncreated, I
therefore and It' be were made, If oonld immutable, for
the wry makio | i 1 1 1 » > I- n '. Ail
. ai they wnv 111.- fruit
Is I'" mutable, 1 they were the i i 't' nothi
B c ; ipon Hi'- v.iil ..f God. ''
; nol npon them I' . bni apon another for their I"
being from the word ofhii month and the arm
si> by ill' 1 tame word they can be cancelled info noth ; turn into as
little sign ificaney as when they were nothing. II" thai them l
I. .mm by a word destroy them, l ' , riv. 29. [f God
their breath, they die, and return into their do '.' I i the po
I tor thai things might b I ttoally w
power of the Creator thai things, after they are, nurj 'hey
are, and thev are in their own nature as reducible to nothing as tb
Incible by the power of God from nothing; for there needs no moi
an act .>f <b>d"s will fo null them, as there needed only an art ()'' ' will
lake them. Creatures are all subject to :i high r Th< • are all
. nothing. II.- 'loth according to his will in the armies of b
aiul among tin* inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say
onto him what does! thou''.' Dan. iv. 85. Bni God is unchangeable, be-
^ he i- the highest good; none ahovo him, all below him; all dependent
on him, himself upon none.
iture is al solntely perfect. \.> ereatnre o > perfect, or
'be, bni 'him: by the infinite power of God may he a Ided to it;
for whatsoever is finite may receiv. r additions, ami therefore a change.
iture you can imagine, hut in your thoughts you may fancy him
ible of greater perfections than you know he hath, or than rcallv he
hath. The perfections of all creatures arc searchable, the perfection of God
is only unsearchable, Job xi. 6, and therefore ho only immutable.
I only is always the same. Time makes no addition to him, nor
diminisheth anything of him. His nature and essence, his wisdom and will,
have always been the same from eternity, and shall be the same to eternity,
without any variation.
IV. The fourth thing propounded, is some propositions to clear this nn-
changeableness of God from anything that seems contrary to it.
1. T n WSjI no change in God when he began t I create the world in
time. ition was a real change, but the change was not subjectively
in God, but in the creature; the creature 1>. gan to be what it was not before.
I ition i- con as active or passive;* active creation is the will I 1
of God \ : this is from eternity, because God willed from
eternity v in time. Thi-; never had beginning, for God never
in time to understand anything, to will anything, or to be able to do a
thi alway undi alway willed, those things which ho
from eternity to produce in time. The decree of God may
:i for t!. '. that i> eternal and th the ob
decreed, that is in time ; so that there may bo a change in the i
not in the will whereby the object doth BXISt,
(1.) There « I I 1 1 by the act
• Qemach. in \ art i. Aquin. . 7_\
398 chaenock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
was no new will in him. There was no new act of his will which was not
before. The creation begun in time, but the will of creating was from eter-
nity. The work w r as new, but the decree whence that new work sprung was
as ancient as the Ancient of days. When the time of creating came, God
was not made ex nolente volens, as we are ; for whatsoever God willed to bo
now done, he willed from eternity to be done ; but he willed also that it
should not be done till such an instant of time, and that it should not exist
before such a time. If God had willed the creation of the world only at that
time when the world was produced, and not before, then, indeed, God had
been changeable. But though God spake that word which he had not spoke
before, whereby the world was brought into act, yet he did not will that will
he willed not before. God did not create by a new counsel or new will, but
by that which was from eternity, Eph. i. 9. All things are wrought accord-
ing to that ' purpose in himself,' and ' according to the counsel of his will/
ver. 11 ; and as the holiness of the elect is the fruit of his eternal will ' before
the foundation of the world,' ver. 4, so likewise is the existence of things,
and of those persons whom he did elect. As when an artificer frames a
house or a temple according to that model he had in his mind some years
before, there is no change in the model in his mind, the artificer is the
same, though the work is produced by him some time after he had framed
that copy of it in his own mind ; but there is a change of the thing produced
by him according to that model. Or when a rich man intends, four or five
years hence, if he lives, to build an hospital, is there any change in his will
when, after the expiration of that time, he builds and endows it ? Though
it be after his will, yet it is the fruit of his precedent will ; so God from all
eternity did will and command that the creatures should exist in such a part
of time ; and by this eternal will all things, whether past, present, or to
come, did, do, and shall exist at that point of time which that will did ap-
point for them. Not as though God had a new will when things stood up
in being, but only that which was prepared in his immutable counsel and
will from eternity doth then appear. There can be no instant fixed from
eternity wherein it can be said God did not will the creation of the world ;
for had the will of God for the shortest moment been undetermined to the
creation of the world, and afterwards resolved upon it, there had been a
moral change in God from not willing to willing ; but this there was not, for
God executes nothing in time which he had not ordained from eternity, and
appointed all the means and circumstances whereby it should be brought
about ; as the determination of our Saviour to suffer was not a new will, but
an eternal counsel, and wrought no change in God, Acts ii. 23.
(2.) There is no change in God by the act of creation, because there was
no new power in God. Had God had a will at the time of the creation,
which he had not before, there had been a moral change in him ; so had
there been in him a power only to create then and not before ; there had
been a physical change in him from weakness to ability. There can be no
more new power in God than there can be a new will in God ; for his will
is his power, and what he willeth to effect that he doth effect. As he was
unchangeably holy, so he was unchangeably almighty, ' which was, and is, and
is to come,' llev. iv. 8 ; which was almighty, and is almighty, and ever will
be almighty. The work, therefore, makes no change in God, but there is a
change in tho thing wrought by that power of God. Suppose you had a
seal engraven upon some metal a hundred years old, or as old as tho crea-
tion, and you should this day, so many ages after the engraving of it, mako
an impression of that seal upon wax, would you say tho engravement upon
tho seal wero changed becauso it produced that stamp upon tho wax now
. '.27. j
which it diil not before? N i in the wax, wh
rm \>y tho i: n ; not in Iho seal, t:.
ble of imprinting the same I God th
nrhen be npoa th
no moi i Lhom into several forms,
tlum the
boose i.-. enl mi. or that wh.ei,
l | .1 «l. ;: ill the DOU I out
i bi a' oi
in lit- tin!:;; culigub ii. i or warmed by that I 1 ] ins
in, whioh • ispable i tho
it that instant whea itworki tlum.
author of a new work, he is not ehangedi beeaoee I it by an
.ml will and an eternal pos
there any new relation aeqnij
. i. Tin ! was .i now relation acquired by the CI :i a
man sins, he hath another relation ti> God tlum lie bad before; i
I as a criminal to a j . 'nut there is no cha:. nut
in the mali The l" io ; of men makes no more change in i than
tin- sins of men, As a fan • on our light hand, ;. - ur tin
at it is on our left hand, sometimes in; . BOmetil
irding to our motion near it or ahout it, and the turning of th
There is no change in the tree, which remains linn and
bnl the change is wholly in the posture of tho body, whereby the ti
1 e said t<> be before us or behind ua, or on the right hand or •
ban I. Gtod gained no new relation of Lord or Creator by the creation ;
though he had created nothing to role over, yet lie had the power to en
nigh he did not create and rule. Afl a man maybe called a
skilful writer though 1. not write, beeause be is able to do it w
t a man skilful in physic is called a physician though he doth not
that skill, or discover his art in the distribution of medicines, be-
cause he may do it when he p] . it depends upon bis own will to shew
art when be bas a mind to it, so the name Creator and Lord be!
»■ M : nit v, because be could create and rule though he did not
.ml rule. But howsoever, if there were any such change of relation, that
God may bo called Creator and Lord after the creation and. not before, it is
not a change in essence, nor in knowledge, nor in will ; God gains no per-
:on nor diminution by it, his knowledge is not increased by it ; he is no
more by it than he was and will boent his lifting up, 2 Cor. xii. 7 ; and this
good man was subject to this sin, as we find afterwards in the case of the Baby-
lonish ambassadors ; and God delayed this other part of the message to
humble him, and draw out his prayer ; and, as soon as ever he found
Hezekiah in this temper, he sent Isaiah w T ith a comfortable message of
recovery, so that the will of God was to signify to him the mortality of his
distemper, and afterwards to relieve him by a message of an extraordinary
recovery.
Prop. 5. God is not changed, when of loving to any creatures he be-
comes angry with them, or of angry he becomes appeased. The change in
these cases is in the creature ; according to the alteration in the creature, it
stands in a various relation to God ; an innocent creature is the object of
his kindness, an offending creature is the object of his anger ; there is a
change in the dispensation of God, as there is a change in the creature,
making himself capable of such dispensations. God always acts according
to the immutable nature of his holiness, and can no more change in his
affections to good and evil, than he can in his essence. When the devils
now fallen stood as glorious angels, they were the objects of God's love,
because holy. When they fell, they were the objects of God's hatred, be-
cause impure ; the same reason which made him love them while they were
pure, made him hate them when they were criminal. The reason of his
various dispensations to them was the same in both, as considered in God,
his immutable holiness, but as respecting the creature different ; the nature
of the creature was changed, but the divine holy nature of God remained the
same. ' With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure, and with the froward
thou wilt shew thyself froward,' Ps. xviii. 26. He is a refreshing light to
those that obey him, and a consuming fire to those that resist him. Though
the same angels were not always loved, yet the same reason that moved him
to love them, moved him to hate them. It had argued a change in God, if
he had loved them alway, in whatsoever posture they were towards him. It
could not be counted love, but a weakness and impotent fondness ; the
change is in the object, not in the affection of God. For the object loved
before is not beloved now, becauso that which was the motive of love, is not
now in it. So that tho creature having a different state from what it had,
falls under a difforcnt affection or dispensation.
It had been a mutable affection in God, to love that which was not worthy
of love, with the same love wherewith he loved that which had the greatest
27. tin: !•!•.:; i \i.:i.n V 405
resemblance to ' Had the fall ' : thsl itatc and
for i!m' If, hecau r In- !..fl loved t h.tt which was
OOBtrurv t . himself and the im i ■'■■ of n holiness, which made then
appear I I in bin light The will of God ii unchangeably set to
love right I h it.- iniquity, and from this ha*. 1 1 tO puni D it.
' 1 1 - • . » i m i ttfal ureatare
h ith the communie j ' v ee.
Is the Him <-li ii i one t i another, accord-
of the i i ral ml i the hum i
fragrant, and
effect ii it in tl • . i'Ut in Ihfl Ittty
the • one, and pro lueeUi I ime quality
of h< it. s.i it" an unholy soul approach to God, God pon
him ; if ■ holy aooJ oome before him, t : mutable p< d in
God out nil Idndne him. A ome think, the ann would
than aeoreh us, if Liee were of the lei I ire and
puhstance v. ith that luminary.
the will of God for creating the world wae no new, bnl an efernil
will, though it manifested itself in time, so the will of God for the pon
ntent of sin, or the reconciliation of the sinner, w w will, the
Ins wrath in time break out in tl: it upon siim. re, Hid his !
Hows out in the "i penitents. Chriit by nil d< ath reconciling
God to man. did not alter the will of God, but did what was consonant to
his eternal will. Be same not to change his will, but to execute his will:
• Lo 1 e : . i thy will, o God,' H l). x. 7. And the grace of God in
Ohr a new grace, but an old grade in i new appearance ; ' tho
I hath appe ire l.' Titus ii. 11.
/■ . 6. A change of laws by God argnea no ehange in God, when G I
abn laws which he hi 1 lettled in the church, and enacts oth
1 i] ■ '. of this something the last day j I shall only add thie, God co mmand ed
■ i the J( I B, " -h- n the church was in an infant state, and rcmov 1
those laws when the church came to growth. The elements of the world
were mm 1 to the state of children, Gal. iv. 3. A mother feeds not the
infant with the same diet as she doth when it is grown up. Our Saviour
not his disciplei with some thingi at one time which he did at
ano* • they were not ahlo to bear them. Where was the change,
in Chriit*! will, or in their growth from a state of weakness to that of
Ugth ? A physician prescribes not the same thing to a person in health,
as he doth to one conflicting with a distemper; nor tho same thing in the
nning, as he doth in the state or declination of the disease. Tho
pin will and skill are the same, but the capacity and necessity
of the patient for this or that medicine or method of proceeding are not]
the
Win banged the ceremonial law, thero was no change in the divino
will, hut an m of his will. For when God commanded the observance]
of tl 1 not the perpetuity of it; nay, in the prophet he
I cessation of it; he decreed to command it, but he 1 to
maud it only for men a time ; so that the abrogation of it was no lees
nn execution of h> .hlishment of it for a seas
Ug of it was pursuant to his decree for the I it,
and the nulling of it was pursuant to his decree of continuing it i
lh a son- S | that in all this there was no change in the v^ill of G
re j what char fSf there are in tho
world, are not in God or his will, but in tho events of things, and the d;f-
406 chabnock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
ferent relations of things to God ; it is in the creature, not in the Creator.
The sun alway remains of the same hue, and is not discoloured in itself,
because it shines green through a green glass, and blue through a blue glass ;
the different colours come from the glass, not from the sun. The change
is alway in the disposition of the creature, not in the nature of God or
his will.
V. Use 1. For information.
1. If God be unchangeable in his nature, and immutability be a property
of God, then Christ hath a divine nature. This in the psalm is applied to
Christ in the Hebrews, Heb. i. 11, where he joins the citation out of this
psalm with that out of Ps. xlv. 6, 7, ' Thy throne, God, is for ever and
ever : thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity : therefore God, even
thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows ; and
thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth,' &c. As
the first must necessarily be meant of Christ the mediator, — and therein
he is distinguished from God, as one anointed by him, — so the other must
be meant of Christ, whereby he is made one with God in regard of the crea-
tion and dissolution of the world, in regard of eternity and immutability.
Both the testimonies are linked together by the copulative and : ' And thou
Lord,' declaring thereby that they are both to be understood of the same
person, the Son of God. The design of the chapter is to prove Christ to be
God ; and such things are spoken of him as could not belong to any creature,
no, not to the most excellent of angels. The same person that is said to
be anointed above his fellows, and is said to lay the foundation of the earth
and heavens, is said to be ' the same,' that is, the same in himself. The
prerogative of sameness belongs to that person, as well as creation of heaven
and earth.
The Socinians say it is spoken of God, and that God shall destroy the
heavens by Christ ; if so, Christ is not a mere creature, not created when
he was incarnate ; for the same person that shall change the world, did
create the world. If God shall change the world by him, God also created
the world by him. He was then before the world was ; for how could God
create the world by one that was not ? that was not in being till after the
creation of the world ? The heavens shall be changed, but the person who
is to change the heavens is said to be the same, or unchangeable, in the crea-
tion as well as the dissolution of the world. This sameness refers to the
whole sentence.
The psalm wherein the text is,* and whence this in the Hebrews is cited,
is properly meant of Christ, and redemption by him, and the completing of
it at the last day, and not of the Babylonish captivity. That captivity was
not so deplorable as the state the psalmist describes. Daniel and his com-
panions flourished in that captivity. It could not reasonably be said of them,
* that their days were consumed like smoke,' their ' heart withered like
grass ;' that they ' forgot to eat their bread,' as it is, ver. 3, 4 ; besides, he
complains of shortness of life, ver. 11. But none had any more reason to
complain of that in the time of the captivity, than before and after it, than
at any other time. Their deliverance would contribute nothing to the natural
length of their lives ; besides, when Sion should be built, the ' heathen
should fear the name of the Lord' (that is, worship God), ■ and all the kings
of the earth his glory,' ver. 15. Tho rearing tho second temple after the
doliveranco did not proselyto tho nations ; nor did tho kings of the earth wor-
ship tho glory of God ; nor did God appear in such glory at the erecting tho
* Placeus do Doitato Christi.
r . en. 10, 17.] tin- -. i : i i . i n oi i -107
ill temple. Thi I .vftg loss glorious than the fir.t, for it
wanted boom of the oraamtnta trb of the flwt. Bat it is
I of tins itate, that * win ii tin- Lord hhoulti l>nil<l u|» Bion, bi should
appear in bii gloi .1 0, bi | , in I i
ill appear in gl<>ry :iI "l l>ta i 1 d up 8 ion. Son of
:, the Redeemer of the world; ha builds up the ehnrob, be oaoacc Ibi
DttiODI to f( if tin- I.' I, .u.-l thi IdngB of the earth I ry. II-: broko
down th-' jKirtitioii wall, and Opened a door lor tl.
II-' attack tho ehaini from off the pri , and 4 1 I those tl.
:.» death' l»y t lit* etirse of tho l.iw, \. r. 20* An i to tl D is
ribed the creation of tb<' world; and In- amccd to remain tim
e in thr ini-1 A 4 an infinite number of cb
• likely the pealmiai ra not onli the be [innin r of redempl
til.' completing of if at the Beoond < uug of Cnriet ; for he complain of
tho whitdi sh;tll bo remoTcd by his lecond coming, viz., the ihort]
of life, pereeoutiona, and reproaohee, wherewith the ehnrob ii afflicted in
this world ; and OOmfbrtfl DOt himself with thOM attributes which arc directlj
oppoted to the mercy of God, the covenant of God, but with th
th.it are opposed to mortality and calamity , the unchangeal I and
God; and from thence infers a perpetnaJ eetabliahment of
• Tho children of thy servants shall continue, and th< u I ball
itabliahed before thee,' ver. 28 ; ao thai the paalm ii
in the whole diaconrae at Ohriat, and aaaerta hia divinity, which the apoetle,
in interpreter, doth rally evidence ; applying it to him, and man
his deity by his immutability as well as etermty. While all other thi]
their forms, and DOM through multitudes of variations, he Dtly
reanaina the same, and shall be the same, when all the empires of the w
ahall slide away, and a period be put to the present motions of the creation.*
A:, i | ili- re was 00 change made in his being by the creation of things, so
neither shall there be by the final alteration of things; ho shall sec them
finish, as be saw them rise up into being, and be the same after their reign
fore their original ; he is ' the first and the last,' lev. i. 17.
8, Here ia ground and encouragement for worship. An atheist will
make inothcc use of this. If God be immutable, why should we worship
him, why should we pray to him? Good will come if he wills it, evil C
not be averted by all our supplications, if he hath ordered it to fall upon us.
Bnt certainly, since unchangeobleneaa in knowing, and willing goodness
is a perfection, an adoration and admiration is due to God, upon tho
account of this excellence. If he be God, ho is to be reverenced, and the
more highly n verenoed, because he cannot but bo God.
. n, what comfort could it bo to pray to a god, that, like the chameleon,
changed colours every day, every moment ? What encouragement could there
bo to lift up our eyes to ono that were of one mind this day, and of another
mind to-morrow f Who would put up a petition to an earthly prince that
W< re so mutable as to grant a petition one day, and deny it another, and
Ige hia f I Jut if a prince promise this or that thing upon such
or loch a condition, and you know hia promise to be as unchangeable as tho
laws of the M- ;- | an 1 Peniana, WOnld any man reason thus ;— because it is
HlJflhangpaMfl. we will not seek to him, we will not perform the eondii
D which the fruit of the proclamation is to be enjoyed? — Who would not
at such an inference ridiculous? What blessings hath not »i I pro-
1 upon the condition of seeking him ? Were he of an unrighteous
nat. .Me in his mind, this would be a bar to our .-coking him,
* Daille, Ifelang. daa Sermons, part ii. sect. i. p. 8-10, kc.
408 charnock's works. ' [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
and frustrate our hopes. But since it is otherwise, is not this excellency of
his nature the highest encouragement to ask of him the blessings he hath
promised, and a beam from heaven to fire our zeal in asking? If you
desire things against his will, which he hath declared he will not grant,
prayer then would be an act of disobedience, an injury to him, as well as an
act of folly in itself ; his unchangeableness then might stifle such desires.
But if we ask according to his will, and according to our reasonable wants,
what ground have we to make such a ridiculous argument ? He hath willed
everything that may be for our good, if we perform the condition he hath
required ; and hath put it upon record, that we may know it and regulate
our desires and supplications according to it. If we will not seek him, his
immutability cannot be a bar, but our own folly is the cause ; and by our
neglect we despoil him of this perfection as to us, and either imply that ho
is not sincere, and means not as he speaks ; or that he is as changeable as
the wind, sometimes this thing, sometimes that, and not at all to be con-
fided in. If we ask according to his revealed will, the unchangeableness of
his nature will assure us of the grant ; and what a presumption would it be
in a creature dependent upon his sovereign, to ask that which he knows he
has declared his will against, since there is no good we can want but he
hath promised to give, upon our sincere and ardent desire for it.
God hath decreed to give this or that to man, but conditionally, and by
the means of inquiring after him, and asking for it : Ezek. xxxvi. 37, Mat.
vii. 7, ' Ask, and you shall receive ;' as much as to say, You shall not receive
unless you ask. When the highest promises are made, God expects they
shall be put in suit. Our Saviour joins the promise and the petition
together, the promise to encourage the petition, and the petition to enjoy
the promise. He doth not say, perhaps it shall be given, but it shall, that
is, it certainly shall ; your heavenly Father is unchangeably willing to give
you those things. We must depend upon his immutability for the thing,
and submit to his wisdom for the time. Prayer is an acknowledgment of
our dependence upon God, which dependence could have no firm foundation
without unchangeableness. Prayer doth not desire any change in God, but
is offered to God that he would confer those things which he hath immu-
tably willed to communicate ; but he willed them not without prayer as the
means of bestowing them. The light of the sun is ordered for our comfort,
for the discovery of visible things, for the ripening the fruits of the earth ;
but withal^it is required that we use our faculty of seeing, that we employ
our industry in sowing and planting, and expose our fruits to the view of the
sun, that they may receive the influence of it. If a man shuts his eyes, and
complains that the sun has changed into darkness, it would be ridiculous ;
the sun is not changed, but we alter ourselves. Nor is God changed in not
giving us the blessings he hath promised, because ho hath promised in the
way of a due address to him, and opening our souls to receive his influence ;
and to this, his immutability is the greatest encouragement.
8. This shews how contrary man is to God, in regard of his inconstancy.
What an infinite distanco is there between the immutable God and mutable
man, and how should we bewail this flittingness in our nature !
There is a mutability in us as creatures, and a creaturo cannot but be
mutable by nature, otherwise it were not a creature, but God. The establish-
ment of any creaturo is from grace and gift. Naturally we tend to nothing,
as we come from nothing. This creature-mutability is not our sin, yet it
should cause us to lio down under a sense of our own nothingness in the
presence of the Creator. The angels, as creatures, though not corrupt,
cover their faces beforo him. And the arguments God uses to humble Job,
I' . < it. 86, 27.J in! ood.
thOQgh I fallen er.-aluri-, arc QOt fmiii I BptlOD,
i.mi with tliat, but firom the i bis m I
•I* ll.ncv of hil imlwiv declared in bil works,
fore men that haw mi . n .• <>f < i i humilit; i t that
they ture-8, a« Well as MMTQ]
II ii th.- .1 •
Maury in ••■ .. 1, wi it n itlirul t
iff otioni \ alar, and by th<
the obj( ol of knowlod^o uinl love. \\ 1 !, ' r "
'. will, and afl. rt :. >n an A'l:iin lia I in innocence J DUl
s.unr light, the same bin, and the easae b ill tst
hii I • ; tin- irons 1 in his head made him anatal le ii to,
and thai in ins heart oj I in Ins affections. EL ol
Hi • ini.. : v of (in 1 t.. that of the <1. vil, from in:
from an ability to be itedfeift to i perpetual ineo H
i, and liis wine was mixed with vvati r,* I i. i. 22. 1 1 '•
(1.) To inconstancy in truth, oppo ed to the Immutability of knowl<
in « k>d. 1 1 oni minds Boatin ' i i id I aowl<
Truth in ns is like thoM tphsmcra, oreatnrei of a day's eontinnanee, ipn
In the morning and expiree at nij It. Sow toon doth that fly away in rn
hi which we have bad, not only tome weak :' of, not which wi
learned and had boom relieh of I The devil ' stood ootinth< troth,' J
vii. -t i, and then fore managi i his en • I i make us us nmtable
eel£ (hir mi di reel, and eorrnpl reasonu nij 1
we nek np water, and a light eompreeaion d aki - oi ipont it out
Trutbj are ool engraven upon our bearta, but writ ai in d • by the
bT of wind: 'carried about with every wind too,' Bph. iv. I 1,
like B ship without a pilot and sails, at t of tlio next storm J Of
like clouds, that are tenants to the wind and sun, moved by the wind, :
ted by the sun. The Qalatiazi c lied into the grace of
I, but they \ moved from it. Gal. i. C. Some have been reported
to have memstruamjidem, kept an opinion for a month, and many are like
him thai believed the soul's immortality no longer than he had Plato's 1
of that subject in his hand.* One likens such to children ; they play with
truths as children do with babies, one while embrace them, and a little after
throw them into the dirt. How soon do we forget what the truth is
.« n d to us, and what it represented ns to be ! James i. 23, 24. Is it
a thing to le bewailed, that man should be BUch a weather-cork, tun
ritfa every breath of wind, and shifting aspects as the wind shifts
|
rtaney in will and affections, opposed to the immutability of will
in God. V' i- between God and Baal; and while we are not only
bit upon motion a little way, look back with a hankering a
Bodom lines lifted np with heavenly intentions, and presently i
D with earthly cans ; like a ship that by an advancing wave si ems to
ind the next fall of the wave makes it sink down to the
depths. We change purposes oftenerthan fashions, and our resolutions arc
like letters in \ of no mark n mains. We will be as John to-
I t, Slid as Judas tomorrow to 1 stray him. nnd by an BUWOli
of God; resolved to be SI holy as
!s in the morning, when the evening beholds m •"■«
? often do v what before w< loved, and shun what before we loi
I And cur resolutions are like 1 fcal, which break at the
♦ Bedf risfs Oswnoel, p. MO,
410 chahnock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
first knock, are dashed in pieces by the next temptation. Saul resolved
not to persecute David any more, but you soon find him upon his old game.
Pharaoh more than once promised, and probably resolved, to let Israel go ;
but at the end of the storm his purposes vanish, Exod. viii. 27, 32. When
an affliction pmcheth men, they intend to change their course, and the next
news of ease changes their intentions ; like a bow, not fully bent in their
inclinations, they cannot reach the mark, but live many years between reso-
lutions of obedience and affections to rebellion, Ps. lxxviii. 17 ; and what
promises men make to God are often the fruit of their passion, their fear,
not of their will. The Israelites were startled at the terrors wherewith the
law was delivered, and promised obedience, Exod. xx. 19 ; but a month
after forgat them, and made a golden calf, and in the sight of Sinai call for
and dance before their gods, Exod. xxxii. Never people more inconstant.
Peter, who vowed an allegiance to his Master, and a courage to stick to
him, forswears him almost with the same breath. Those that cry out with
a zeal, ' The Lord he is God,' shortly after return to the service of their
idols, 1 Kings xviii. 39. That which seems to be our pleasure this day, is
our vexation to-morrow. A fear of a judgment puts us into a religious
pang, and a love to our lusts reduceth us to a rebellious inclination ; as
soon as the danger is over, the saint is forgotten. Salvation and damnation
present themselves to us, touch us, and engender some weak wishes, which
are dissolved by the next allurements of a carnal interest. No hold can be
taken of our promises, no credit is to be given to our resolutions.
(3.) Inconstancy in practice. How much beginning in the Spirit and
ending in the flesh ; one day in the sanctuary, another in the stews ; clear in
the morning as the sun, and clouded before noon ; in heaven by an excellency
of gifts, in hell by a course of profaneness ! Like a flower, which some
mention, that changes its colour three times a day, one part white, then
purple, then yellow. The spirit lusts against the iiesh, and the flesh
quickly triumphs over the spirit. In a good man, how often is there a
spiritual lethargy ! Though he doth not openly defame God, yet he doth
not always glorify him; he doth not forsake the truth, but he doth not
always make the attainment of it, and settlement in it, his business. This
levity discovers itself in religious duties : ' When I would do good, evil is
present with me,' Rom. vii. 21. Never more present than when we have a
mind to do good, and never more present than when we have a mind to do
the best and greatest good. How hard is it to make our thoughts and affec-
tions keep their stand ! Place them upon a good object, and they will be
frisking from it, as a bird from one bough, one fruit to another. We vary
postures according to the various objects we meet with. The course of the
world is a very airy thing, suited to the uncertain motions of that prince of
the power of the air which works in it, Eph. ii. 2.
This ought to be bewailed by us. Though we may stand fast in the truth,
though we may spin our resolutions into a firm web, though the spirit may
triumph over the flesh in our practice, yet we ought to bewail it, because
inconstancy is our nature, and what fixedness we have in good is from grace.
What wc find practised by most men, is natural to all.* ' As face answers
to face in a glass, so doth heart to heart,' Prov. xxvii. 19 ; a face in the glass
is not more like a natural face, whoso imago it is, than one man's heart is
naturally like another.
First, It is natural to those out of the church. Nebuchadnezzar is so
affected with Daniel's prophetic spirit, that he would have none accounted
the true God, but tho God of Daniel, Dan. ii. 47. How soon doth this
* Lawrence of Faith, p. 2G2.
r . en. -a',, 27.] Tin-, nun i tuusi n i } ' '
notion Blip from him, Hid 111 image BB I I "p ( '" r :i " to
pain of a most cruel, painful death I Daniel' G li '
miraculous delivi ranee of the tin. ■ ■ obildn □ for not woi b |
makes lnm « ttle i ii. it. m to Mean the bi f G *eb °»
l ,1 ».m. in. 8 ittmg in
1 palace, us if there were do God but himself.
tnuihi, it is natural to those in the church. Th I ; tbc
only church God bad in khs irorld, and • notable exam] 1c of moos
r tin- miracloa of I'.'; pt, they murium, -d
I traoh marching %\ 1 1 1 1 an army at their beels. XI
the miiiiKi tli.-v were hefore food i>f. \\ hi "I
I ometimes worshipped God, and sometimes idols, not only the
idols of one oation, hut of all their neighbours, [n which rogard God calls
Ins heril peckled bird, Jer. sii< 9, ft peacock, saith J , ineon-
op of \ai i> ties of idolatrous oolonrs and o
levity of spirit is the root of all n our thoughts in
the service of God ; it is ti of all revolts and aposi >mhim; it
makes ni unfit t •< ivc the communications of God ; whal
is like words wril in sand, raffled oat by the next gale ; wh r is pat
into as is like precious liquour in i palsy hand, soon spilt. It bra
G i; when we have an uncertain judgment of him, i like
to confide in him. An ancertein judgment wiO be followed with s d
ful heart. In fine, where ft is prevalent, it is s certain sign of ongodlini ;
to be driven with the wind Uke chair, and to be nngodly, is all on<
judgment of the Holy Ghost : l's. L l, ' The ungodly . chaff wh
wind drives away,' which signifies uot their destruction, bnt their dis]
sition, f>r th.ir destruction is inferred from it, tor. o, ' Therefore the ungodly
shall not itand in judgment. 1
Bow contrary is this to the unchangeable God, who is always tho same,
and would have UB the same, in OUT religions promises and resolutions for good !
1. If God lie immutable, it is sad news to those that are resolved in
wickedness, or careless of returning to that duty he requires. Sinn- is
must DOt I ipect that God will alter his will, make a breach upon his nature,
and violate his own word, to gratify their lusts. No ; it is not reasonable
I should dishonour himself to secure them, and cease to be God, that
they may continue to be wicked, by changing his own nature, that they :
be unchanged in their vanity. God is the same; goodness is as amiable in
Bight, and sin as abominable in his eyes now, as it was at the beginning
the world. Being the same God, he is tho same enemy to the wicked, as
tin friend to the righteous ; he is the same in knowledge, and canuot
forget sinful acts; lie is the same in will, and cannot approve of unrighteous
goodness cannot but be alway the object of his love, and wicked-
nnot but be alway the object of his hatred ; and S8 his aversion to
sin is alway the same, so as he hath been in his judgments upon sinners,
the same he will be still; for the same perfection of immutability belong
his jusl the punishment of sin, as to his holiness for his disaffection to
Though ' :.t of works was changeable by the crime of man
. }•{ it was unchangeable in regard of God's justice Vindl
- it, winch is inflexible in the punishment of the breaches of his
law had a preceptive part, and a minatory part ; when man
changed the ol n of the precept, the righteous natnn d could
• Dull the execution of the threatening; he could not upon th< at of
Ibii | tioD neglect his just word, and oountem e uurighi
transgression. Though there were no more rational creatines in being but
41 2 charnock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
Adam and Eve, yet God subjected them to that death he had assured them
of; and from this immutability of his will ariseth the necessity of the
suffering of the Son of God for the relief of the apostate creature. His will
in the second covenant is as unchangeable as that in the first, only repent-
ance is settled as the condition of the second, which was not indulged in the
first ; and without repentance the sinner must irrevocably perish, or God
must change his nature. There must be a change in man, there can be
none in God : ' His bow is bent, his arrows are ready, if the wicked do not
turn,' Ps. vii. 12. There is not an atheist, an hypocrite, a profane person,
that ever was upon the earth, but God's soul abhorred him as such, and the
like he will abhor for ever. While any therefore continue so, they may
sooner expect the heavens should roll as they please, the sun stand still at
their order, the stars change their course at their beck, than that God should
change his nature, which is opposite to profaneness and vanity : ■ Who hath
hardened himself against him, and hath prospered ?' Job ix. 4.
Use 2. Of comfort.
The immutability of a good God is a strong ground of consolation. Sub-
jects wish a good prince to live for ever, as being loath to change him, but
care not how soon they are rid of an oppressor. This unchangeableness of
God's will shews him as ready to accept any that come to him as ever he
was, so that we may with confidence make our addresses to him, since he
cannot change his affections to goodness. The fear of change in a friend
hinders a full reliance upon him ; an assurance of stability encourages hope
and confidence. This attribute is the strongest prop for faith in all our
addresses; it is not a single perfection, but the glory of all those that belong
to his nature ; for he is ' unchangeable in his love,' Jer. xxxi. 3 ; * in his
truth,' Ps. cxvii. 2. The more solemn revelation of himself in this name
Jehovah, which signifies chiefly his eternity and immutability, was to sup-
port the Israelites' faith, in expectation of a deliverance from Egypt, that
he had not retracted his purpose, and his promise made to Abraham for
giving Canaan to his posterity. Exod. iii. 14-17. Herein is the basis and
strength of all his promises ; therefore saith the psalmist, ' Those that know
thy name will put their trust in thee,' Ps. ix. 10 ; those that are spiritually
acquainted with thy name Jehovah, and have a true sense of it upon their
hearts, will put their trust in thee. His goodness could not be distrusted,
if his unchangeableness were well apprehended and considered. All distrust
would fly before it as darkness before the sun ; it only gets advantage of
us when we are not well grounded in his name ; and if ever we trusted God,
we have the same reason to trust him for ever : Isa. xxvi. 4, ' Trust in the
Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength,' or as it is
in the Hebrew, ' a rock of ages ;' that is, perpetually unchangeable. We
find the traces of God's immutability in the creatures ; he has by his
peremptory decree set bounds to the sea : ■ Hitherto shalt thou come, but
no furthor; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed,' Job xxxviii. 11.
Do we fear the sea overflowing us in this island ? No, because of his fixed
decree. And is not his promise in his word as unchangeable as his word
concerning inanimate things, as good a ground to rest upon ?
1. The covenant stands unchangeable. Mutable creatures break their
leagues and covenants, and snap them asunder like Samson's cords, when
they are not accommodated to their interests. But an unchangeable God
keeps his : ' The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ;
but my kindness shall not depart from thee, nor shall the covenant of my
peace be removed,' Isa. liv. 10. The heaven and earth shall sooner fall
asunder, and the strongest and firmest parts of the creation crumble to dust,
Pa. CII. 86, B7«] tiii: DOT i ai;ii.i i | Of <;<>n.
cr than ond iota of inv c >vcnant shall fail. It. depends DpOfl thi
onchaugonblcnoHH of Lis will, mil the in ddenesH of his irord, ind
therefore ii called * tin- immutability of in i counsel, 1 Hob. \i. l~. I'
frllit Of the r\ril:i tin ' |'!i: d, whence tic . .-urposcj
an. I grace together, 2 Tun. i. '.). A oo?enant wit!
able, i • ' may not be built upon tl to put
l. (ear in the heart, but with reepeet to the creetui Tl
i-li. is.- Jerusalem in tin* place wherein ii" would dw< I »'or, !'■•
..i. ii. v. t be threaten! to depart from them, when tl"
Hunt with him, ami * the glory of the Lord went up from the midet <<t
the oity to tho mountain on th .. , I.. ■ I., \i. 221. I I Dent of
B dotfa not. run, ' 1 will lie your God, '/you will be niv p bnt ' '
will lio their (.J oil, and they sli.ill DC my people. 1 II •• • w. L9, -■••., 4 I will
oth tbee t<> me for ever; I will lay, Thou art my people; and they
ahall lay, Ihon art my God.' Bit 4 rerlaeting pnrpoee is to wi
in the in aits of the elect. Be pnti i condition to bit covenant ol
the condition of faith, and he resolves to work thai condition in the hi
of the elect; and therefore believers bare two immutable pillars for tl
support, stronger than thoee erected by Solomon at the porch of the
temple, 1 Kings vii. 21 , called Jaehin and Boas, to note khe|firmni - - of that
building dedicated to God: these are dsction^ or the standing counsel of
G 1, and the covenant ofgraet. Be will not revoke the covenant, and blot
the nemOS Ol his elect OUt of tho hook of lii«'.
& 1\ rseveranoe ii ascertained. Jt consists not with the majesty of God
•to call s person effectually to himself to-day, to make him lit foi rnal
love, to give him faith, and take away that faith to-morrow ; his effectual
call is the fruit of his eternal election, and that counsel hath no other foun-
dation hut his constant and unchangeable will ; a foundation that stands
sure, and therefore called the foundation of (rod, and not of tho creature ;
4 the foundation of God stands sure, the Lord knows who are his,' 2 Tim.
ii. I'd. It is not founded upon our own natural strength, it may be then
subject to change, as all the products of nature arc ; the fallen angels had
Created grace in their innocency, but lost it by their fall.* Were this the
foundation of the creature, it might soon be shaken, since man after his
It can ascribe nothing constant to himself but his own inconstancy ;
but the foundation is not in the infirmity of nature, but the strength of grace,
and of the grace of God who is immutable, who wants not virtue to be able,
HOI kindness to be willing, to preserve his own foundation. To what purpose
doth our Saviour tell his disciples their ' names were written in heaven,'
Luke x. 20, but to mark the infallible certainty of their salvation by an
tion to those things which perish and have their names written in the
!i, -ler. xvii. 13, or upon the sand, where they may be defaced ? And
why should Christ order his disciples to rejoice that their names were written
in 1. . it' God were changeable to blot them out again ? Or why should
the spot ITS SSI that though God had rejected the greatest part of tho
id not therefore rejected bis people elected according to his pur-
I 1 immutablo counsel, because there are none of tl of God but
will come to salvation ; for, saith he, ' tho election hath obtained it,' Kom.
xi. 7 ; that is, all those that are of the election have obtained it, and I
others are hardened. Where tho seal of sanetitication is stamped it .
■n, and that foundation shall stand true. ' Tho
foundation of tho Lor Is sure, having this seal, the Lord SHOWS who
are Lis ; that is, tho foundation, the ' naming the name of Christ,' or be!
* Turn I 1 . 121
414 charnock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
incr in Christ and ' departing from iniquity,' is the seal.* As it is impos-
sible when God calls those things that are not, but that they should spring
up into being and appear before him, so it is impossible but that the seed
of God by his eternal purpose should be brought to a spiritual life ; and that
calling cannot be retracted, for that ' gift and calling is without repentance,'
Rom. xi. 29. And when repentance is removed from God in regard of some
works, the immutability of those works is declared ; and the reason of that
immutability is their pure dependence on the eternal favour and unchange-
able grace of God, ' purposed in himself,' Eph. i. 9, 11, and not upon the
mutability of the creature. Hence their happiness is not as patents among
men, quamdiu bene se gesserint, so long as they behave themselves well, but
they have a promise, that they shall behave themselves so as never wholly
to depart from God : Jer. xxxii. 40, ' I will make an everlasting covenant
with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good ; but I
will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' God
will not turn from them, to do them good, and promiseth that they shall
not turn from him for ever or forsake him. And the bottom of it is the
everlasting covenant, and therefore believing and sealing, for security, are
linked together, Eph. i. 13. And when God doth inwardly teach us his
law, he puts in a will not to depart from it : Ps. cxix. 102, ' I have not
departed from thy judgments.' What is the reason ? « For thou hast
taught me.'
3. By this, eternal happiness is ensured. This is the inference made
from the eternity and unchangeableness of God in the verse following the
text : ver. 28, ' The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed
shall be established before thee.' This is the sole conclusion drawn from
those perfections of God solemnly asserted before. The children which the
prophets and apostles have begotten to thee, shall be totally delivered from
the relics of their apostasy and the punishment due to them, and rendered
partakers of immortality with thee, as sons to dwell in their Father's house
for ever. The Spirit begins a spiritual life here, to fit for an immutable life
in glory hereafter, where believers shall be placed upon a throne that cannot
be shaken, and possess a crown that shall not be taken off their heads for
ever.
Use 3. Of exhortation.
1. Let a sense of the changeableness and uncertainty of all other things
beside God be upon us. There are as many changes as there are figures in
the world. The whole fashion of the world is a transient thing ; every man
may say as Job, ' Changes and war are against me,' Job x. 17. Lot chose
the plain of Sodom, because it was the richer soil ; he was but a little time
there before he was taken prisoner, and his substance made the spoil of his
enenry. That is again restored ; but a while after, fire from heaven devours
his wealth, though his person was secured from the judgment by a special
providence. We burn with a desire to settle ourselves, but mistake the way,
and build castles in the air, which vanish like bubbles of soap in water.
And therefore,
(1.) Let not our thoughts dwell much upon them. Do but consider those
souls that are in the possession of an unchangeable God, that behold his
ncvcr-fadin" glory. Would it not be a kind of hell to them, to have their
thoughts starting out to these things, or find any desire in themselves to the
changeable trifles of the earth ? Nay, have we not reason to think that they
cover their faces with shame, that ever they should have such a weakness of
spirit when they were here below, as to spend more thoughts upon them than
* Cocceius.
!' . OH. 26, 27. tin- mi 1 1 1 oi bod* 1 1 5
wen for this] Life, much more Hint they should, i ma,
value and eonri them above an unchangeable good? Do they no!
themielve8, Hint HieV nhould e\er debase tlir immutable perfections of ( I
as to have nogli cting thi oghl i f him al any Lime, tot tl ment of
siicli u mean and inc J '.'
Much leai ihonld we kraal in them or rejoice in them. The
things are mntnblo, and things of such a nature are not fit objects of confi-
dence. 'I'm t not in riches; they have their wanes s
They rise Bomeiimei like a torrent, and flow in upon men; but resemble
•it in ai sudden s fall and departnro, and I
behind them. Trust not in honour j all the honour and applau e in the
worl I ii no batter than an inht ritanoe of wind, which the pilot
of, hut shifts from one corner to another, and bU lally in
same point of the heavens. How in s few sgi i did the boose of 1 1
if monarch, and a man after G< m heart, l to s mean condi-
tion, and nil the glory of that house shut up in the stock of a carp nl
David*! sheep-hook was turned into ■ sceptre, and the Bceptre, by U
hand of providence, turned into s hatehel in Job ph his di scendi
R not immodi rately in wisdom ; thai and learning languish with
A wound in the head may impair that which is the glory of a man. [fan
in be out of frame, folly may succeed, and all a man's prudence 1 c wound
up in an irrecoverable dotage. Nebuchadnezzar was no fool, yel by a sudden
hand of God he became, not only s fool oi i madman, hut s kind of brute.
I; ice not in Btrangth ; that decays, and s mighty man may liv< I his
strong arm withered, and a ' graashoppi r to become i burden,' Bed i. zii. 5.
4 Tl | men shall how themselves, and the grinders shall o< .
they arc few,' far. 8. Nor rejoice in children ; they are like birds upon a
tree, thai make s little chirping music, and presently fall into the fowl r*s
Little did Job expect such Bad news as the loss of all his progeny si a
blow, when the d at bis gate. And such changes happen
when our expectations of comfort, and a contentment in them,
arc at the highest. How often doth a string crack when the musician hath
ind it up to a just height for a tune, and all his pains and delight mar
in a moment ! Nay, all these things change while we are using them, like
ice that melts hetween our fingers, and ilowers that wither uhile we are
smelling to them. The apostle gave them a good title, when he called them
1 uncertain riches,' and thought it a strong argument to dissuade them from
trusting in them, 1 Tim. vi. 17. The wealth of the merchant depends upon
nd waves, and the revenue of the husbandman upon the clouds ;
and since they depend upon those things which arc used to express the most
ehangeableness, they can he no fit object for trust. Besides, God sometimes
1 kindles s fire under all a man's glory,' Isa. x. 10, which doth insensibly
consume it ; and while we have them, the fear of losing them renders us not
v.ry happy in the fruition of them. We can scarce tell whether they are
contentments or no, because sorrow follows them so close at the heels. It
is not an unnecessary exhortation for good men ; the host men have been
apt to place too much trust in them. David thought himself immutable in
his ity ; and such thoughts could not be without some immnd. rate
out i to them, and confidences in them. And Job pi 1
himself to 'die in his nest,' and ' multiply his days as the sand,' without
interruption, dob xxix. 1*. 19, to. : but he was mistaken and di
Let I this : trust not in men, who are as inc. is anyti
and often i "icirmost ardent affections into impl
though the;. ons may not be changed, their power to lulp you may.
41G chaenock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
Hainan's friends, that depended on him one day, were crest-fallen the next,
when their patron was to exchange his chariot of state for an ignominious
gallows.
(3.) Prefer an immutable God before mutable creatures. Is it not a hor-
rible thing to see what we are, and what we possess, daily crumbling to dust,
and in a continual flux from us, and not seek out something that is perma-
nent, and always abides the same, for our portion ? In God, or Wisdom,
which is Christ, there is substance, Prov. viii. 21, in which respect he is
opposed to all the things in the world, that are but shadows, that are shorter
or longer, according to the motion of the sun ; mutable also, by every little
body that intervenes. God is subject to no decay within, to no force
without ; nothing in his own nature can change him from what he is, and
there is no power above can hinder him from being what he will to the soul.
He is an ocean of all perfection. He w r ants nothing without himself to
render him blessed, which may allure him to a change. His creatures can
want nothing out of him to make them happy, whereby they may be enticed
to prefer anything before him. If we enjoy other things, it is by God's
donation, who can as well withdraw them as bestow them ; and it is but a
reasonable as well as a necessary thing to endeavour the enjoyment of the
immutable Benefactor rather than his revocable gifts.
If the creatures had a sufficient virtue in themselves to ravish our thoughts
and engross our souls, yet when we take a prospect of a fixed and unchange-
able being, what beauty, what strength have any of those things to vie with
him ? How can they bear up and maintain their interest against a lively
thought and sense of God ? All the glory of them would fly before him like
that of the stars before the sun. They were once nothing, they may be
nothing again. As their own nature brought them not out of nothing, so
their nature secures them not from being reduced to nothing. What an un-
happiness is it to have our affections set upon that which retains something
of its non esse with its esse, its not being with its being ; that lives indeed,
but in a continual flux, and may lose that pleasureableness to-morrow which
charms us to-day!
2. This doctrine will teach us patience under such providences as declare
his unchangeable will. The rectitude of our wills consists in conformity to
the divine, as discovered in his words and manifested in his providence,
which are the effluxes of his immutable will. The time of trial is appointed
by his immutable will, Dan. xi. 35 ; it is not in the power of the sufferer's
will to shorten it, nor in the power of the enemy's will to lengthen it.
Whatsoever doth happen hath been decreed by God : Eccles. vi. 10, ' That
which hath been is named already ;' therefore to murmur, or be discontented,
is to contend with God, who is mightier than we to maintain his own pur-
poses. God doth act all things conveniently for that immutable end in-
tended by himself, and according to the reason of his own divine will, in
the true point of time most proper for it and for us, not too soon or too
slow, because he is unchangeable in knowledge and wisdom. God doth not
act anything barely by an immutable will, but by an immutable wisdom and
an unchangeable rule of goodness ; and therefore we should not only acquiesce
in what he works, but havo a complacency in it ; and by having our wills
thus knitting themselves with the immutable will of God, we attain some
degree of likeness to him in his own unchangeableness. When, therefore,
God hath manifested his will in opening his decree to the world by his work
of providence, wo must ceaso all disputes against it, and with Aaron hold
our peace, though the affliction be very smart, Lev. x. 8: 'All flesh must
be silent beforo God,' Zech. ii. 13 ; for whatsoovor is his counsol shall stand,
P CE 7.] nil-, mm I tan 117
• . i i [ike a brittl
I slmt u r, then
who can Inn l> r him ?' Job • 1 0. v - >tl
mini .if ho lined to * rare
ii . Tl 'I hath ovidoncod thin or I t to ho his will, tho
Phfti oh'i sin was the in
! i much tii-- mor< i h id been demon t ra-
loliver them. Let i • ■ I r fa
to him, bnl lei I give glory to b i I
of jud ;mont which ho hath appoint I . B
with tho unchangeable will of b pt, the more be the immutable
will nee. We musl d »t think < lod mi
hiH pro I >etter tho c\
i 1)0 impaired in any of hia perfections, [f God changed his purpose, he
would o Pat Qce it i 1 " way to perform the immutable
will of God, and a means \ t a gracious immutability for o \>y
iving the promise : B b. l 86, ' Y. !• I of patience, that after
done the will of God, ye might receive the promi
B. T is ! •trine will teach us to imitate God in th
imov table in goodni is. God d \ck from himself; he finds
notb ter than himself for which he should ohai And
anythin • I' tt r than I • up hearts to i change from him ? The
from the ecliptic line, nor should we from tl
holii ! t obedience is encoura '• I by an unchangeable I
ird it: 1 Cor. w. 58, 'Be ' liaei and immoveable, alv nwflmg
in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour shall not ho in vain in
i 1.' CJnsI is the note of an hypocrite, Ps. Ixxviii. 8
in th it which ifl 4 IS the mark of I saint ; it is the cl
righl i per ra to ' keep the truth/ Isa. xxvi. 2 ; and it is as positj
• he that abides not in tho doctrine of Chris! hath not God,'
•J J ihn 9; bnl he thai doth, 'hath both tho Father and the Son.' - i
much of uncertainty, so much of nature ; so much of firmness in dutv, so
much of grace. We can never honour (rod unless we finish h ; s work.
Christ did not glorif I nl in ' finishing the work God gave him to do,'
John xvii. 1. Tho nearer the world to an end, the moi
immutability seen in his promises and predictions, and the more must our
nnchangeableness be Been in onr ohedience : Heb. x. k J:5, 25, ' L t us 1
the profession of our faith without wavering, and so much the i
you see the day approaching. 1 The Christian Jews were to be the more
tenacious of their faith the nearer they saw the day approaching, the day of
Jerusalem's destruction prophesied of by I . 26; which accom-
plishment : jeat argument to establish the Christian Jews in the
pre: of Chris! to be the Messiah, because the destruction of the citv
was not to | itting off the Messiah. Let us bo therefore con-
' in our ion and and not sutler ourselves to be
driven from him by the ill usage, or flatt* r< 1 from him by the c
world.
D is '■• ksonable. If G '1 be unchangeable in doin - 1. it is
hould be unchangeable in doing him service. If he
that he is (Mir God, onr I am. he would also that we should be his people.
Sis I: dare bin t in his promises, he i
should I in our obedii N bould be unchangeably
faithful to him ; as subjects, have an unchangeable allegiance
to him as our prince. He would not 1. faithful to him hour or
• i. D d
418 chaenock's works. [Ps. CII. 26, 27.
a day, but to the death, Rev. ii. 10. And it is reason we should be his ;
and if we be his children, imitate him in his constancy of his holy purposes.
(2.) It is our glory and interest. To be a reed shaken with every wind
is no commendation among men, and it is less a ground of praise with God.
It was Job's glory that he held fast in his integrity : ■ In all this Job sinned
not,' Job i. 22, — in all this, which whole cities and kingdoms would have
thought ground enough of high exclamations against God. And also against
the temptation of his wife he retained his integrity: chap. ii. 9, ' Dost thou
still retain thy integrity?' The devil, who, by God's permission, stripped
him of his goods and health, yet could not strip him of his grace ; as a
traveller, when the wind and snow beats in his face, wraps his cloak more
closely about him, to preserve that and himself. Better we had never made
profession, than afterwards to abandon it ; such a withering profession serves
for no other use than to aggravate the crime, if any of us fly like a coward
or revolt like a traitor. What profit will it be to a soldier if he hath with-
stood many assaults, and turn his back at last ? If we would have God
crown us with an immutable glory, we must crown our beginnings with a
happy perseverance : Rev. ii. 10, 'Be faithful to the death, and I will give
thee a crown of life.' Not as though this were the cause to merit it, but a
necessary condition to possess it. Constancy in good is accompanied with
an immutability of glory.
(3.) By an unchangeable disposition to good we should begin the happi-
ness of heaven upon earth. This is the perfection of blessed spirits, those
that are nearest to God, as angels and glorified souls, they are immutable ;
not, indeed, by nature, but by grace ; yet not only by a necessity of grace,
but a liberty of will. Grace will not let them change, and that grace doth
animate their wills, that they would not change ; an immutable God fills
their understandings and affections, and gives satisfaction to their desires.
The saints, when they were below, tried other things and found them de-
ficient ; but now they are so fully satisfied with the beatific vision, that,
if Satan should have entrance among the angels and sons of God, it is not
likely he .should have any influence upon them, he could not present to
their understandings anything that could, either at the first glance or upon a
deliberate view, be preferable to what they enjoy and are fixed in.
Well then, let us be immoveable in the knowledge and love of God. It
is the delight of God to see his creatures resemble him in what they are
able. Let not our affections to him be as Jonah's gourd, growing up in
one night and withering the next. Let us not only fight a good fight, but
do so till we have finished our course, and imitate God in an unchangeable-
ness of holy purposes ; and to that purpose examine ourselves daily what
fixedness we have arrived unto ; and, to prevent any temptation to a revolt,
let us often possess our minds with thoughts of the immutability of God's
nature and will, which, like fire under water, will keep a good matter boil-
ing up in us, and make it both retain and increase its heat.
4. Let this doctrine teach us to have recourse to God, and aim at a near
conjunction with him. When our spirits begin to flag, and a cold aguish
temper is drawing upon us, let us go to him who can only fix our hearts,
and furnish us with a ballast to render them stedfast ; as he is only im-
mutable in his nature, so ho is the only principle of immutability as well as
being in the creaturo. Without his grace wo shall be as changeable in our
appearances as a chameleon, and in our turnings as the wind. When Peter
trusted in himself, he changed to tho worse ; it was his master's recourse to
God for him that preserved in him a reducing principle, which changed
him again for tho better and fixed him in it, Luko xxii. 82.
I' Oil. 26, 27. 1 1'.'
It win be «"ir i: !i bin that i ibont
with the li nor li toned bi tl >i cat tiro, nor chai
in the world, bul , moving all 1
:1 arm, according to nil Infinite skill hove bin for our
v.- nil immutability, aa well as anj other perfection of 1
• > him, the mora stabilit
a in om ther from bim, I ro liable to cliai ■■ . r J
line thai t to the pi mm si ha ait subject
lion ; tit.- farther il m it, the wesJu r it. li, and mora Bible
to 1 Let i which ar<
thia 'M : the right of Christ, that shall no^ root;
tin of the Spirit, that ihall nc?er born out, Bythi
ii infinitely by natnra, wi shall oomi to be finitely, immi
mnch as toe capacity of s craai in.
A DISCOURSE UPON GOD'S OMNIPRESENCE.
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him ? saith the Lord:
do not I Jill heaven and earth ? saith the Lord. — Jer. XXIII. 24.
The occasion of this discourse begins, ver. 16, where God admonisheth the
people not to hearken to the words of the false prophets, which spake a
vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. They
made the people vain by their insinuations of peace, when God had proclaimed
war and calamity ; and uttered the dreams of their fancies, and not the visions
of the Lord ; and so turned the people from the expectation of the evil day
which God had threatened : ver. 17, ■ They say still unto them that despise
me, The Lord hath said, Ye shall have peace ; and they say unto every one
that walks after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon
you.' And they invalidate the prophecies of those whom God had sent :
ver. 18, ' Who hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, and hath perceived and
heard his word ? who hath marked his word and heard it ?' ' Who hath
stood in the counsel of the Lord ?' Are they acquainted with the secrets of
God more than we ? Who have the word of the Lord, if we have not ? Or
it may be a continuation of God's admonition. Believe not those prophets ;
for who of them have been acquainted with the secrets of God ? or by what
means should they learn his counsel ? No ; assure yourselves, ' a whirlwind
of the Lord is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind : it shall fall
grievously upon the head of the wicked,' ver. 19. A whirlwind shall come
from Babylon ; it is just at the door, and shall not be blown over ; it shall
fall with a witness upon the wicked people, and the deceiving prophets, and
sweep them together into captivity. For, ver. 20, ' the anger of the Lord
shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the
thoughts of his heart.' My fury shall not be a childish fury, that quickly
languisheth, but shall accomplish whatsoever I threaten, and burn so hot,
as not to be cool till I have satisfied my vengeance ; ■ in the latter days ye
shall consider it perfectly,' ver. 20, when the storm shall beat upon you ; you
shall then know, that the calamities shall answer the words you have heard.
When the conqueror shall waste your grounds, demolish your houses, and
manacle your hands, then shall you consider it, and have the wishes of
fools, that you had had your eyes in your heads before ; you shall then know
the falseness of your guides, and the truth of my prophets, and discern
who stood in the counsel of tho Lord, and subscribe to tho messages I havo
sent you.
JmtL XXIII. £4.] iioi 421
16 under tan I tl onlj <>f th. I
the time of ( Ihi in oppo-
Bition to tli i i I, understanding th
tlir. latenin ' of wrath, which il in in advai ball
in the I l.r i about a legal ri
<, and s<> make it :i prorai •• ; the] ihall then know the intent of
Beriptnre, as I in the latl • nrld, wb<
he rolling op, U II n flecl open then I hall
i opon liiiu whom t and till th< hail
. and believe oothii lical trul
• 1 denieth thai ho Bonl those prop 1 1 , ' I ban nol
rophete, yel they ran ; I have nol »ho
lied. 1 Tli' intruded thi i without a commi ion from m
ill. n- brags are. ] to pro
• 1 in nay counsel, 1 if they hi l \»-> d ini trnete I and inspin 1 by mi
I in;, people to hear my words ;' they would
themselves aocording to my word, 'ami havi I from their
way ;' i. >-., endeaTonred to shake down their false eonfid<
make them sensible of their false notions of me and m
those false prophets eonld not be bo impudent as to boast, that they pro]
i in the name of God, when they had not commission from him, unJ
they had some i otiment that they and their intern
the knowledge and eye of God, he adds, ver. 28, ' A m I iG I :
an i God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall
n.it see him? 1 Have I not the power of seeing and knowing what tl
what tl. mi, what they think? Whyshould I nol have snch s
• I till h< aven and earth' by my essence '.' ' Am I a God at h tnd,
not a < i I afar off '.'" He exclude s lure the doctrine of those th il i icl
the providence of Qod from extending Itself to the inferior things of the
earth ; which error was ancient, ;. ut as the time of Job, as app
by their cpinion, that) clod's eyes w. re hood-winked and muffled
thickness of the clou, is, and could not pierce through their dark and d
body : ' Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not,' Job xxii. 1 J.
B r it to time. Do you imagine me a God new framed like your
3, beginning a little time ago, and not existing before th< I ition of
the world, yea, from eternity? 'a God afar off,' further than your acut
understandings can reach? I am of a longer standing, and you oug) •
v my majesty. But it rather refers to place than time. Do you think
I do not behold everything in the earth as well as in heaven. Am I loc
up within the walls of my palace, and cannot peep out to behold the th:
done in the world ? or that I am so linked to pleasure in the place of my
glor urthly kings are in their courts, that I have no mind or leisure to
take of the e b of men upon earth? God doth not say he
alar off, but only gives an account of the inward thoughts of their minds, or
:' the language expressed by their actions.
The ini :i carries in it a strong atlirmation, and ass:; more
of God's care, and the folly of men in not considering it : ' Am I a Gol at
hand, and not a G "tl? Can any hide himself in -
., -in hiddenness,' in the deepest cells. What! are yon 1
I, that you think me a God careless, ignorant, blind, that I
can see nothing hut as a purblind man what is very near my •
yon so out of your wits, ti. imagine you can de I all
your behaviours speak such a sentiment to lie secret in your heart, thou
* Man .blus, Caatalio, (Ecolamp.
422 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
not formed into a full conception, yet testified by your actions ? No, you
are much mistaken ; it is impossible but that I should see and know all
things, since I am present with all things, and am not at a greater distance
from the things on earth than from the things in heaven, for I fill all that
vast fabric which is divided into those two parts of heaven and earth ; and
he that hath such an infinite essence cannot be distant, cannot be ignorant ;
nothing can be far from his eyes, since everything is so near to his essence.
So that it is an elegant expression of the omniscience of God, and a strong
argument for it. He asserts, first, the universality of his knowledge ; but
lest they should mistake, and confine his presence only to heaven, he adds,
that he * fills heaven and earth.' I do not see things so, as if I were in one
place and the things seen in another, as it is with man ; but whatsoever I
see, I see not without myself, because every corner of heaven and earth is
filled by me. He that fills all must needs see and know all.
^ And indeed men that question the knowledge of God would be more con-
vinced by the doctrine of his immediate presence with them. And this
seems to be the design and manner of arguing in this place. Nothing is
remote from my knowledge, because nothing is distant from my presence.
• I fill heaven and earth.' He doth not say, I am in heaven and earth, but
I fill heaven and earth; i. e., say some,* with my knowledge, others with my
authority or my power. But,
1. The word, filling cannot properly be referred to the act of understand-
ing and will. A presence by knowledge is to be granted, but to say such a
presence fills a place, is an improper speech. Knowledge is not enough to
constitute a presence.
A man at London knows there is such a city as Paris, and knows many
things in it ; can he be concluded therefore to be present in Paris, or fill
any place there, or be present with the things he knows there ? If I know
anything to be distant from me, how can it be present with me ? for by
knowing it to be distant I know it not to be present. Besides, filling
heaven and earth is distinguished here from knowing or seeing. His pre-
sence is rendered as an argument to prove his knowledge. Now, a propo-
sition, and the proof of that proposition, are distinct, and not the same.
It cannot be imagined that God should prove idem per idem, as we say ;
for what would be the import of the speech then, I know all things, I see
all things, because I know and see all things?! The Holy Ghost here
accommodates himself to the capacity of men, because we know that a man
sees and knows that which is done where he is corporally present ; so he
proves that God knows all things that are done in the most secret caverns
of the heart, because he is everywhere in heaven and earth, as light is every-
where in the air, and air everywhere in the world. Hence the schools use
the term repletive for the presence of God.
2. Nor by filling of heaven and earth is meant his authority and power.
It would be improperly said of a king, that in regard of the government of
his kingdom, is everywhere by his authority, that he fills all the cities and
countries of his dominions. ' I, do not I fill ? ' % That I notes the essence
of God, as distinguished according to our capacity, from the perfections
pertaining to his essence, and is in reason better referred to the substance
of God than to those things wo conceive as attributes in him. Besides,
were it meant only of his authority or power, the argument would not run
well. I soe all things, because my authority and power fills heaven and
earth. Power doth not always rightly infer knowledge, no, not in a rational
* Turn porspicacia, turn efficacia.— Grot. J Amyrald, do Trinitate, p. 37.
t Suarez.
Jib. Will. 84. i~«'i
at. M my thingi in ft 1 thority of the Irii
thai di '•< t arrive to the knowlu i >c of tho king ; many thingi un d
1 y the power ofoui irhiofa yet w< not a d I in
<»ur andersl in Ik | . 'I h< re arc many m be Kml
informing U thai we bare no! » mnefa : in
Kiii.. jhtly inforre I ""
.
Bj filling] rth is meant therefore a fillii Lhhise
I of tin- pi
when the Scripture anywhere of the |
)i< :c. ill. [el hi r. 1 1 • : . thai tin
him. We do not say ii : oiv
• i (Mit of heaven nor h pi rth, but the whole I
the whole earth, al one and the lame time, [f I only m -
in ■■.{■. part of e urth, nayi if then any pai I
pari of earth roid of him, he could not be laid to fill them. I fill
and earth; noi ■ part of me filli one place and anotl of me Alia an-
.1 I, <i id, fill heaven and earth, I am whole God filling the hem
iiiid whole God filling the earth. I fill heaven, and yet till earth ; I fill
ii and yei fill brawn, and till heaven and earth at. one and I
God tills his own WOrkl, I heathen philosopher saith.*
II- re ia then i description of God'a pn sence.
1. By power: Am 1 not a God alar oil " ".' a God in the «"' of his
arm.
2. By knowledge: shall 1 not see them?
B. !•' i undeniable ground for inferring the two former, I
lill heaven th.
lentially everywhere present in heaven and earth.
[f God be, he mnsi ; that which is nowhere is nothk -.
I in the world ; not in ono part of it, for then lie were
eirenmserihed by it. If in the world, and only there, though it be
• , he were also limited. Some f therefore said, God was cwrywle
; nowhere. Nowhere J I.e. not bounded by any place, nor receiving
any place anything for his preservation or snstainnient. He is every-
where, became no creature, either body or spirit, can exclude the presence
of b nee'; for lie is not only near, but in everything: Acts xvii. 28,
'In him we live, and move, and have our being.' Not absent from any-
thing, bnl so present with them, that they live and move in him, and move
more in God than in the air or earth wherein they are; nearer to us than
our lb lh to our bones, than the air to our breath. Be cannot be far from
i that live and have every motion in him. The apostle doth not -
l»j him, but in am, to shew the inwardness of his presence.
hi sfa rnity is the perfection whereby he hath neither beginning nor end,
immutability is the perfection whereby he hath neither increase nor diminu-
tion, so immensity or omnipresence is that whereby he hath neither bounds
nor lim tat As he is in all time, yet so as to be above time, so is he in
all pin. as to be above limitation by any place. It f
reesion of B heathen to illustrate this, that God is a sphere or ci:
wis rywhere and circumference nowhere. Qia dm awing
that thl : G I was indivisible, i.>. could not be divided. It can-
not .. here and there the lines Of it terminate; it is like a line drawn
out in infinite . that DO point can be conceived where its Leu
breadth aaa is a vaai of waters, yni to that it
* Si :.- oa, d . lib. iv. o ; . 8, /; *• ; ut suum impUt. t C'liryeostom.
424 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
' Hitherto shalt thou go, and no further.' But it cannot be said of God's>
essence, Hitherto it reaches, and no further ; here it is, and there it is not.
It is plain that God is thus immense, because he is infinite; we have
reason and Scripture to assent to it, though we cannot conceive it. We
know that God is eternal, though eternity is too great to be measured by
the short line of a created understanding. "We cannot conceive the vast-
ness and glory of the heavens, much less that which is so great as to fill
heaven and earth; yea, 'not to be contained in the heaven of heavens,'
1 Kings viii. 27.
Things are said to be present, or in a place.
1. Circumscriptive, as circumscribed. This belongs to things that have
quantity, as bodies that are encompassed by that place wherein they are ;
and a body fills but one particular space wherein it is, and the space is com-
mensurate to every part of it, and every member hath a distinct place. The
hand is not in the same particular space that the foot or head is.
2. Definitive, which belongs to angels and spirits, which are said to be in
a point, yet so as that they cannot be said to be in another at the same
time.
3. Repletive, filling all places ; this belongs only to God. As he is not
measured by time, so he is not limited by place. A body or spirit, because
finite, fills but one space ; God, because infinite, fills ail, yet so as not to be
contained in them, as wine and water is in a vessel. He is from the height
of the heaven to the bottom of the deeps, in every point of the world, and in
the whole circle of it, yet not limited by it, but beyond it.
Now this hath been acknowledged by the wisest in the world.
Some indeed had other notions of God. The more ignorant sort of the
Jews confined him to the temple.* And God intimates that they had such
a thought, when he asserts his presence in heaven and earth, in opposition
to the temple they built as his house and ' the place of his rest.'f And the
idolaters among them thought their gods might be at a distance from them,
which Elias intimates in the scoff he puts upon them : 1 Kings xviii. 27,
' Cry aloud, for he is a god,' meaning Baal ; ■ either he is talking, or he is
pursuing, or he is in a journey ; ' and they follow his advice, and cried
* louder,' ver. 28, whereby it is evident they looked not on it as a mock, but
as a truth. And the Syrians called the God of Israel the god of the hills,
as though his presence were fixed there, and not in the valleys, 1 Kings xx.
23 ; and their own gods in the valleys, and not in the mountains. They
fancied every god to have a particular dominion and presence in one place,
and not in another, and bounded the territories of their gods as they did
those of their princes. J And some thought him tied to, and shut up in,
their temples and groves wherein they worshipped him. § Some of them
thought God to be confined to heaven, and therefore sacrificed upon the
highest mountains, that the steam might ascend nearer heaven, and their
praises be heard better in those places which were nearest to the habitation
of God. But the wiser Jews acknowledged it, and therefore called God place, [|
whereby they denoted his immensity ; he was not contained in any place ;
every part of the world subsists by him. He was a place to himself, greater
than anything made by him. And the wiser heathens acknowledged it also.
One ^f calls God a mind passing through the universal nature of things ;
another, that ho was an infinite and immense air ;** another, that it is as
* Jerome on Isa. lxvi. 1. J Med. Diatrib., vol. i. p. 71, 72.
t Hammond on Mat. vi. 7. \ Dought Analec. excurs. 61. 113.
II OlpD- Grot, upon Mutt. v. 1G. Mares, contra Yolk. lib. i. cap. 27, p. 494.
Tf Vido Miuut. FeL p. 20. * * Plotin. Encad vi. lib. v. cap. 4.
• h i:. Will. 21.]
natural to thin!. G , Hence tbej
eall( : of the world ; thai
body I.- qaiekeo it, so i ( I I rorld to su]
emblanc no ci ature
ean fully resemble < hod in any 01 it wool I
tare, but i. Bat iir and : it.
- ■ I tb< of t li«> world, in th< ■ of all 1"
;u the lo
and tlir In ;i\i IB
air ; and light diffu 1 tb i( 1 If through the whole air, in ,
trulv In-lit, it of tin
mil oth< r, \< t tin v are distinct things, and do!
v ol < i'"l in the whole world, 1
ith any creature, bnl remi roan the 1
bei Now when this oath !.• en own< d by men
the school 01 nature, it i is ■ n at. r shame lo any acquainted with the Scnp-
to deny it. For the understanding of thi . U I
ds premised In general.
.1. This is negatively to be understood. Our know] f God 11
. withdrawing from him, or denying to him, in our conception, 1
or in.]" rfectionj in the creatun . A 1 the infii
a denial of limitation of being, so immensity, or omnipn sence, 1 a d< nial of
limitation of place. Ami wli.n we Bay < i - "1 is /<-/ place, \
understand it thus, that he is not everywhere by i bodiei air
and light are. Ee ii everywhere, i.e. his nature hath no bounds; 1.
tied to any place as the creature is, who, when he is | n Bent in one plaa
i another. As no place can bo without God, i can
- and contain him.
J'r i . '2. There ifl an influential omnipresence of God.
Universal, with all creatures. He ifl i resent with all things by his
authority, because all things arc rabject to him ; by • all
things arc sustain* d by him ; by his knowledge, because all things an
re him. JI< is present in the world, as a king is in all j arte of his king-
dom regally present ; providentially present with all, since his care extends
t • the meant .-; of his creatures, llis power reacheth all, and his knowledge
oeth all.
As « v t rything in the world was created by God, so everything in the world
is pi I by God; and since preservation is not wholly distinct from crea-
tion, it is necessary God should be pr< sent with everything while he pn
it, as well i at with it when he created it : ' Thou pre* rv< Bt man and
\\\i. c» ; he 'upholds all things by the word of his power, 1 Heb.
i. B. There is a virtue sustaining every creature, that it may not fall back
■ that nothing from whence it was elevated by the power of God. All
those natural virtues we call the principles of operation, are fountains spring-
ing from bis goodness and power, all things are a 1 by him,
I by him ; and in t ; ie God is present with all c:
torse, for whatsoever acts another is at with that which it acl nd-
ing forth some virtue and influence whereby it acts. If free
only ' 1 it * move in him,' and by him, Acts xvii. 28, much more aro
tin | r natural B • a virtue communicated to them, and
upheld in them in the time of their acting. This virtual present
to our Benae, t in
our - This influential i b eompared to thai ~un,
which, though Si I distance from the earth, ifl present in the air and
426 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
earth by its light, and within the earth by its influence in concocting those
metals which are in the bowels of it, without being substantially either of
them. God is thus so intimate with every creature, that there is not the
least particle of any creature, but the marks of his power and goodness are
seen in it, and his goodness doth attend them, and is more swift in its effluxes
than the breaking out of light from the sun, which yet are more swift than
can be declared ; but to say he is in the world only by his virtue, is to
acknowledge only the effects of his power and wisdom in the world, that his
eye sees all, his arm supports all, his goodness nourisheth all, but himself
and his essence at a distance from them.* And so the soul of man, accord-
ing to its measure, would have in some kind a more excellent manner of
presence in the body than God, according to the infiniteness of his being
with his creatures ; for that doth not only communicate life to the body, but
is actually present with it, and spreads its whole essence through the body
and every member of it. All grant that God is efficaciously in every creek
of the world, but some say he is only substantially in heaven.
(2.) Limited to such subjects that are capacitated for this or that kind of
presence. Yet it is an omnipresence, because it is a presence in all the
subjects capacitated for it : thus there is a special providential presence of
God with some, in assisting them when he sets them on work as his instru-
ments for some special service in the world. As with Cyrus : Isa. xlv. 2,
1 1 will go before thee ;' and wdth Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander, whom he
protected and directed to execute his counsels in the world*; such a presence
Judas and others, that shall not enjoy his glorious presence, had in the work-
ing of miracles in the world : Mat. vii. 22, ' In thy name we have done many
wonderful works.' Besides, as there is an effective presence of God with all
creatures, because he produced them, and preserves them, so there is an
objective presence of God with rational creatures, because he offers himself
to them, to be known and loved by them.f He is 'near to wicked men in
the offers of grace : Isa. lv. 6, ' Call ye upon him while he is near ;' besides,
there is a gracious presence of God with his people in whom he dwells, and
makes his abode, as in a temple consecrated to him by the graces of the
Spirit. ■ We will come,' i. e. the Father and the Son, ' and make our abode
with him,' John xiv. 23. He is present with all by the presence of his
divinity, but only in his saints by the presence of a gracious efficacy; he
walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks, and hath dignified the con-
gregation of his people with the title of Jehovah Shammah, * the Lord is
there,' Ezek. xlviii. 35 ; 'In Salem is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-
place in Sion,' Ps. lxxvi. 2. As he filled the tabernacle, so he doth the
church, with the signs of his presence ; this is not the presence wherewith
he fills heaven and earth. His Spirit is not bestowed upon all, to reside in
their hearts, enlighten their minds, and bedew them with refreshing com-
forts. When the apostle speaks of God's being ■ above all, and through all,'
Eph. iv. G, — above all in his majesty, through all in his providence, — he doth
not appropriate that, as he doth what follows, and ' in you all ;' in you all by
a special grace ; as God was specially present with Christ by the grace of
union, so he is specially present with his people by the grace of regenera-
tion. So thero are several manifestations of his presence : he hath a pre-
sence of glory in heaven, whereby ho comforts the saints ; a presence of
wrath in hell, whereby ho torments the damned ; in heaven he is a God
spreading his beam of light; in hell, a God distributing his strokes of jus-
tice ; by the one he fills heaven, by the other he fills hell ; by his providence
and essence he fills both heaven and earth.
* Zanch. t Cajetan in Aquin. part i. qu. 8, artic. 3.
• III:. XXIII. M. } ~~
/'/ p, 8. Tin !■ ' '
apholding t loin
understanding Hum, but by his « * •• m-e «•, .nt.L- :.ii. ■» them, j
Qtially present anywhere, il bath (i I much
mon
i i! i essentially I in all ploc< [I n isonable to think
sssono< ■ • I ■ ; nam'
i t. i 'I i nil
tun . •■ as well reach through all | I
ill • il,
: if tin
As all times a it a moment t<> his el .1 plaCCI are. M
to 1; ' ■ r than all t than all pi
the world arc to him '
a btl the 11. it: .-mall dd I . I . . 1
f God may well be thou lit i" be pn at < th that
which ii n.) more than to him, and in all tho , which,
if pat together, are 'a very little thing' in nil band. Th th ft
U . It' a man w, | . be would DO(
rer to tl i od than if he were in the centra of the earth. V.
may not the presence of God in the world that of I -1 in
the body, which is illy granted to ; Qtially in
y of man, which is but a little world ; ai 1 ftl '■
oee, though it i it the same opi ration b
The world i the Cn ator than the body to the bouI, and i
G 1 than the body net la the presence of tl . 'That
glorious in visits (V, ry part of the habitable earth in twenty-
four hours by its beams; which r troughs of the
sell as the pinnacles of the highest mountaii : i
in the Creator of this sun an infinite greater proportion of pi ' Is it
no! • with the essenc I the whole bod; wen
and earth, as it is for the sun to pierce and diffusi through the whole
ail I it and the earth, and send up its light also as far to the regions
above? Do we not so thing like it in sounds and voices ? fa not
the OUnd of a trump t, or any other musical instrument, at tho first
iking out of a Mast, in several places within such a compass at the same
time ? Doth not every ear that hears it receive alike the whole sound of
t odours scented in several places at the same time, in the same
. prop r for Bin filling talus in the Bame in every |
within the compass of it. How far is the noise of thunder heard alike
to i \. rv ear, in places something distant from one another'.' An 1 do we
daily find BUch a manner of presence in those things of so low a concern,
and not imagine a kind of presence of Go : r than all ' I- the
sound of thunder, the voice of God, as it is called, everywhere in such a
cam ball not the essence of an infinite I much more every-
where? Those that would confine the essence of God only to heaven, and
exclude it from the earth, run into great inc I. ft i
her he be in one part ^( the I i, or in the wh
them '.' It" in one part of them, his essence is bounded ; if he mo.
from that part, he is mutal le, for h> i \ a place wherein he was, for
another wherein he WSJ not. If ho bo alv. 1 in on part
oh a notion would render him little better than a Uvil
* F I Fi-'in.
t Muimonid. eck, Bonn, part i. p. :
428 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
If he be in the whole heaven, why cannot his essence possess a greater space
than the whole heavens, which are so vast ? How comes he to be confined
within the compass of that, since the whole heaven compasseth the earth ?
If he be in the whole heaven, he is in places farther distant one from another,
than any part of the earth can be from the heavens ; since the earth is like
a centre in the midst of a circle, it must be nearer to every part of the circle
than some parts of the circle can be to one another. If, therefore, his
essence possesses the whole heavens, no reason can be rendered why he doth
not also possess the earth, since also the earth is but a little point in com-
parison of the vastness of the heavens. If, therefore, he be in every part
of the heavens, why not in every part of the earth ?
The Scripture is plain : Ps. cxxxix. 7-9, < Whither shall I go from thy
Spirit ? or whither shall I fly from thy presence ? If I ascend up to
heaven, thou art there : if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If
I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall uphold
me.' If he be in heaven, earth, hell, sea, he fills all places with his pre-
sence : his presence is here asserted in places the most distant from one
another ; all the places, then, between heaven and earth are possessed by his
presence. It is not meant of his knowledge, for that the psalmist had
spoken of before: ver. 2, 3, 'Thou understandeth my thoughts afar off:
thou art acquainted with all my ways.' Besides, ' thou art there,' not thy
wisdom or knowledge; but thou, thy essence, not only thy virtue. For
having before spoken of his omniscience, he proves that such knowledge
could not be in God, unless he were present in his essence in all places, so
as to be excluded from none. He fills the depths of hell, the extension of
the earth, and the heights of the heavens. When the Scripture mentions
the power of God only, it expresseth it by hand or arm ; but when it men-
tions the Spirit of God, and doth not intend the third person in the Trinity,
it signifies the nature and essence of God ; and so here, when he saith,
1 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit ?' he adds exegetically, ' whither shall
I fly from thy presence,' or Heb. ' face ?' and the face of God in Scripture
signifies the essence of God : Exod. xxxiii. 20, 23, ' Thou canst not see my
face,' and ■ my face shall not be seen;' the effects 'of his power, wisdom,
providence, are seen, which are his back-parts, but not his face. The
effects of his power and wisdom are seen in the world, but his essence is
invisible, and this the psalmist elegantly expresseth. Had I wings endued
with as much quickness as the first dawnings of the morning light, or the
first darts of any sunbeam that spreads itself through the hemisphere, and
passes many miles in as short a space as I can think a thought, I should
find thy presence in all places before me, and could not fly out of the infi-
nite compass of thy essence.
(2.) He is essentially present with all creatures. If he be in all places,
it follows that he is with all creatures in those places ; as he is in heaven,
so he is with all angels ; as ho is in hell, so is he with all devils ; as he is
in the earth and sea, he is with all creatures inhabiting those elements. As
his essential presence was the ground of the first being of things by creation,
so it is the ground of the continued being of things by conservation. As
his essential presence was tho original, so it is the support of the existence
of all tho creatures. What are all those magnificent expressions of his
creative virtue, but testimonies of his essential presence at the laying the
foundation of tho world ? ' When he measured tho waters in the hollow of
his hand, motcd out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of
the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills
.iii:. xxii i. son's i rcn«
in :i !■ .! I'm-. ,' I i. '■.!. I ' forth the God in
tin of tliii . ; •
ith thriii. The waten thai
■ worn no morn than :i < 1 r« • j » in tin- palm <•: I, which U
touch. .1 by bii band. An. I tbti sent with •
• llovill, 114 Well us tin- hi i tin- ! OH
W6U M with tli.< most. B| ' sun. Ho is (
mod nml tin- hi. i I, us i r is mi infinite I
equally
the A t hi Qiao -. as weU I
essence, hut no! in regard of the br< ithii apon t!
• take then like himself: a , ~7, * 1 1
of i in him we life* and move, and have our being.' 'i
ides all; he tells them they should ook the Lord; the I
t | ; essentially ens .1. r. I. \\
tic t glitter in 1 to the end tl; •
■ tin* si'i-kiii ' It" in hi-; own nature and i oce.*
ire what fol . ' in him we I i be onder I bii
power and goodness, perfections of his oatore, di tingoi
oar manner of coneeption from hit of 1
I with 1 ires, [f he bad m •.' it of his efficacy in
it had ' d any proofofhis nearness to as. Who would go about
to prove the body or substance of the sun to be near o .
warm and enlighten us. when i oceth the di
liv<> in the sun, bul
which is so far distant from us. T to be mi
tioal than to intend any leas than his < live in
him not only as the efficient cause of our hie, hut as the foundation,
tail . as if lie were like air. diffused round about
us. .\ move in him, tin Baith, as a sponge in the sea, not
taining him, hut being contained by him. Be compass. ■ t li all, is ana
■ ; he tills all. is comprehended by none. The Creator con-
tains the world, th i contains not the Creator; as tin- hollow of the
I contains the water, the water in the hollow of the hand contains not
the hand, and thereto: hive chose to ther, that the world is
in God, it lives and mows in him, than that God is in the world. If all
tilings thus live and move in him, then ho is present with evcrytl
that hath life and motion ; and as long as the devils and damned h
and motion, and being, so long is he with them, for wl
inov | and moves in him.
Bui now this essentia] presence is,
I.) Without any mixture. ■ I till heaven and earth,' not, I am mi I
with h and earth; his essence is not mixed with tho C -. it
ins the nature of a spoi. . I Qgh
1 by tl ring in it, ami the sea still r
simple, refore it is not mixed with any-
thing. The i the sun is present with the air, hut not mixed with it,
it remains light, and the air remains air; the light of the sun is difl'u- 1
through all th re, it piereeth all transparent 1
mil with all things, yet remains unmixed and nndivi
r mains light, arid the air remains air ; the air is not light t : : m ;h it
en! I. Or, 1 similita I a many I up
in a room, the light is altogether, yet not mixed with one
• Am; Trinit.
430 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
candle hath a particular light belonging to it, which may be separated in a
moment by removing one candle from another ; but if they were mixed they
could not be separated, at least so easily. God is not formally one with
the world, or with any creature in the world by his presence in it ; nor can
any creature in the world, no, not the soul of man or an angel, come to be
essentially one with God, though God be essentially present with it.
(2.) The essential presence is without any division of himself. ■ I fill
heaven and earth,' not part in heaven, and part in earth ; I fill one as well
as the other. One part of his essence is not in one place, and another part
of his essence in another place ; he would then be changeable ; for that part
of his essence which were now in this place, he might alter it to another,
and place that part of his essence which were in another place to this ; but
he is undivided everywhere. As his eternity is one indivisible point, though
in our conception we divide it into past, present, and to come, so the
whole world is as a point to him in regard of place, as before was said ; it
is as a small dust, and grain of dust ; it is impossible that one part of his
essence can be separated from another, for he is not a body, to have one
part separable from another. The light of the sun cannot be cut into parts,
it cannot be shut into any place and kept there, it is entire in every place.
Shall not God, who gives the light that power, be much more present him-
self? Whatsoever hath parts is finite, but God is infinite, therefore hath
no parts of his essence. Besides, if there were such a division of his being,
he would not be the most simple and uncompounded being, but would be
made up of various parts ; he would not be a Spirit ; for parts are evidences
of composition, and it could not be said that God is here or there, but only
a part of God here, and a part- of God there. But he fills heaven and
earth, he is as much a God 'in the earth beneath' as ' in heaven above,'
Deut. iv. 39 ; entirely in all places, not by scraps and fragments of his
essence.
(3.) This essential presence is not by multiplication. For that which
is infinite cannot multiply itself, or make itself more or greater than it
was.
(4.) This essential presence is not by extension or diffusion ; as a piece
of gold may be beaten out to cover a large compass of ground. No ; if
God should create millions of w r orlds, he w r ould be in them all, not by
stretching out his being, but by the infiniteness of his being ; not by a
new growth of his being, but by the same essence he had from eternity ;
upon the same reasons mentioned before, his simplicity and indivisibility.
(5.) But, totally; there is no space, not the least, wherein God is not
wholly according to his essence, and wherein his whole substance doth not
exist ; not a part of heaven can be designed wherein the Creator is not
wholly ; as he is in one part of heaven, he is in every part of heaven.
Some kind of resemblance we may have from the water of the sea, which
fills the great space of the world, and is diffused through all ; yet the essence
of water is in every drop of water in the sea, as much as the whole, and the
same quality of water, though it comes short in quantity ; and why shall
we not allow God a nobler way of presence, without diffusion, as is in that ?
Or take this resemblance, since God likens himself to the light in the
Scripture : ' He covereth himself with light,' Ps. civ. 2 ; 1 John i. 5, * God
is light, and in him is no darkness at all.' A crystal globe hung up in
the air hath light all about it, all within it, every part is pierced by it ;
wherever you see the crystal, you see the light ; the light in one part of
tho crystal cannot bo distinguished from the light in the other part, and the
whole essence of light is in every part ; and shall not God be as much pre-
I . XXIII. 24 . 1 : ; 1
it with 1 irith another ? 4 I
ywhers by I . simple
ir if within and
places, though plac At bi was before and
ond all time, so be if above and boyond all plac<
I time, be mm t al ithont ai ireU
ipaee ; If God were onlj oonfii
in I ice than the world ia in quantity ; ai i m iment earn
rnity, wherein < k>d vrai not i ■ p ux c mi |
eonoeived in the mind of man u h< r< in God
tained in the world dot in the hi iven : I Kings viii. 21
indi • II «>n ili" earth ? Behold, th<
thee. 1 Bolomon wonders that God should appoint a temp]
t > him upon the earth', when be is not contained in the
raitened in the limits of an . he
is i ined in the heavens, i.t, in the manner that be is there ; but
is there in his s, and therefore cannot I t ntained there in
[f it slum]. I be meant only of his power and provident old
eonelnde i i : if bi i p m r and providenc
his essenoe mn i, for the infinil and
of the inflniteness of bis power, it can m v. r enter into any thongnt that
■ flb can have an infinite power, and that an infl
be without an infin see; it cannot be meant of bis providenc .
m should say, the heaven of heaven cannot contain thy providence,
for, naming the D of h< . that which encircles and dous
other parts of the world, he could not suppose a providence I
where there was no object I it about, as no creature is montio;
to be beyond the uttermost heaven, which ho calls hero the heaven of
rens; l . to understand it of his providence doth not <• sith
Solomon's admiration. He wonders that God, that hath so immense an
. should dwall in a temple made with hands ; ho could not so much
wonder at his providence in those things that immediately concern his wor-
ship. Solomon plainly asserts this of God, that ho was so far from being
bounded within the rich wall of the temple, which, with so much cost, he
had framed for the glory of his name, that tho richer palace of the hea
of heavens could not contain him. It is true, it could not contain his pa
and wisdom, because his wisdom could contrive other kind of worlds, and
his p mi r erect them. Bnt doth tho meaning of that wise king reach no
farther than this f Will the power and wisdom of God reside on the earth ?
II was too wise to ask such s question, since every object that hi met
with in the world r I him that tho wisdom and power of God dwelt
arth, and flittered in everything he had created ; and reason
would assure him that the power that had framed this world was able to
frame many more. But Solomon, considering the immensity of God's
cssi PS that (iod should order a house to bo built for him, as if
he wanted roofs, and coverii. . 1 habitation, as bodily creatures do.
WB1 God, indeed, dwell in a t< mple, who hath an essence so imm< I
not to be contained in the heaven of heavens ? It is not the heav, n of
heavens that can I Him, his substance. Sere he I
immensity of his essence and his presence, not only in the 1: ■ . . but
beyond the heav. as ; he that is not contained in the 1 a man is in
. is without, an I . a:: 1 beyond the heavens ; it is not I
they do not contain him, but it is impossible they should contain him, ti
• Bernard.
432 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
1 cannot contain him.' It is impossible then but that he should be above
them ; he that is without the compass of the world is not bounded by the
limits of the world. As his power is not limited by the things he hath made,
but can create innumerable worlds, so can his essence be in innumerable
spaces ; for as he hath power enough to make more worlds, so he hath
essence enough to fill them, and therefore cannot be confined to what he
hath already created. Innumerable worlds cannot be a sufficient place to
contain God ; he can only be a sufficient place to himself;* he that was
before the world, and place, and all things, was to himself a world, a place,
and everything. f He is really out of the w T orld in himself, as he w T as in
himself before the creation of the world ; as, because God was before the
foundation of the world, we conclude his eternity, so, because he is without
the bounds of the world, we conclude his immensity, and from thence his
omnipresence. The world cannot be said to contain him, since it was created
by him ; it cannot contain him now T , who was contained by nothing before
the world was. As there was no place to contain him before the world was,
there can be no place to contain him since the world was.
God micrht create more worlds circular and round as this, and those could
not be so contiguous, but some spaces would be left between ; as, take three
round balls, lay them as close as you can to one another, there will be some
spaces between, none w T ould say but God would be in these spaces, as well
as in the world he had created, though there were nothing real and positive in
those spaces. Why should we then exclude God from those imaginary
spaces without the world ? God might also create many worlds, and
separate them by distances, that they might not touch one another, but be
at a great distance from one another, and would not God fill them as well
as he doth this ? If so, he must also fill the spaces between them, for if he
were in all those worlds, and not in the spaces between those worlds, his
essence would be divided ; there would be gaps in it, his essence would be
cut into parts, and the distance between every part of his essence would be
as great as the space between each world. The essence of God may be
conceived then well enough to be in all those infinite spaces where he can
erect new worlds.
I shall give one place more to prove both these propositions, viz. that God
is essentially in every part of the world, and essentially above ours without
the world : Isa. lxvi. 1, ' The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my foot-
stool.' He is essentially in every part of the world ; he is in heaven and
earth at the same time, as a man is upon his throne and his footstool.
God describes himself in a human shape, accommodated to our capacity, as
if he had his head in heaven and his feet on earth ; doth not his essence
then fill all intermediate spaces between heaven and earth ? As when the
head of a man is in the upper part of a room, and his feet upon the floor,
his body fills up the space between the head and his feet, this is meant of
the essence of God ; it is a similitude drawn from kings sitting upon the
throne, and not their power and authority, but the feet of their persons, are
supported by the footstool ; so here it is not meant only of the perfections
of God, but the essence of God. Besides, God seems to tax them with an
erroneous conceit they had, as though his essence were in the temple, and
not in any part of the world, therefore God makes an opposition between
heaven, and earth, and tho temple : ' Where is the house that you built
unto mo ? and where is tho place of my rest ?' Had he understood it only
of his providence, it had not been anything against their mistake, for they
granted his providence to be not only in the temple, but in all parts of the
* Petav. t Maccor. loc. comraun. cap. xix. p. 153.
7n.XXni.24.] a po'i oMMnti rorai. 488
world. ' win--- ibuild tome?' to mk, not torn;
or provi lenee, bat I ilk '•
A - mi, it th Gfod to i") above the b , if th<> h u hi*
throne ; he lil i apon t h ■ m , | bam 1 1 - the
thrones on which they tit ; eoitoennol bo meant of fa
no i-ir ii in i.) heavens, I | of the
power an. I the pro Gfrod vieibL nothing for
him to employ bii providence ibont; for providence lupposoth a creature
in actual be og ; it moil be th
the world] end in the world.
I i the like proof yon may tee, Job u. 7, B, ' It i
wli.it oenal thoa do? deeper then belli wh I thou ]. ■
thereof is longer than the earth, end broader then be bv
ten. Is tln» unsearchableness of (bid's wisdom, but prOVCt it by the inibi
. of bie eaten oe; H$b, ' tie ii the height of the heavens, 1 he it the top
U the beeyeni ; to that when you nave began et the lo
.1 him through ell the ereetaree, you will and bJtettence filling ell tho
' be at the top of tho world, end infinitely beyond it.
/';•"/'. .">. Tins is the property of Gfod, meommunieeble to any creature.
do creature tea be eternal and immutable, so do creature ran be unman ,
beeaute it cannot be infinite; nothing can be of en infinite nature, end
therefore nothing of en immense pretence but ( tod. It cannot be oommnni*
1 to the human nature of Chriet, though in union with the divine. 4
Borne indeed argue that Christ, in regard of hit human nature, is en
where, b. cause be sits at tho rie;ht hand of ( fod, and the light hand of ( I 1
ii everywhere. His sitting at the right hand of God signifies bit exaltation,
and cannot with any reason bo extended to such a kind of arguing. ' Tho
heerti of kinga are in the hand of God:' are the bearta of kings everywhere,
Vb hand is everywhere ? The souls of the righteous are in tho
hand of Gfod; is tho soul therefore of every righteous man everywhere in tho
world ? The right hand of God is from eternity; is the humanity of Christ
therefore from eternity, because it sits at the right hand of God ? The right
hand of Gfod made the world; did the humanity of Christ therefore make
heaven and earth ? Tho humanity of Christ must then be confounded with
his divinity, he tho same with it, not united to it. All creatures are dis-
tinct from their Creator, and cannot inherit tho properti ..lial to his
nature, as eternity, immensity, immutability, omnipresence, omniscience.
No angel, no soul, no creature can be in all places at once ; before they can
be SO, they must he immense, and so must cease to be creatures, and com-
moner Gfod. This is impossible.
H. Reasons to prove God's essential presence.
11. ison 1. I iu 1 is infinite. As he is infinite, he is everywhere ; as
he is simple, bis whole essence is everywhere; for in regard of his infinite-
i, he hath no bounds; in regard of his simplicity, he hath no parte;
and therefore those that deny God's omnipresence, though U I to
own him infinite, muet really conceive him linite.
1. Cod is infinite in hit perfections. None can set bounds to tern.
■ ■Honey of Gfod : 'his g - is unsearchable,' Pa.
cxlv. B : B |»t., sua :, there is no end, no limitation. What hath no
end is infin Vet it infinite: Job v. 9, ' Which dot h .'. things
and unseaxchal • end of those thin is able to do. 1.
infinite, Pa. exlvii. 5 ; he understands all things, peat, preeent, end U
* Rivet, l'i. ex. p. 301, ool ~.
VOL. I. E
434 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
■what is already made, what is possible to be made ; his duration infinite :
Job xxxvi. 26, ' The number of his years cannot be searched out,' u-havrog.
To make a finite thing of nothing is an argument of an infinite virtue. In-
finite power can only extract something out of the barren womb of nothing,
but all things were drawn forth by the word of God, the heavens and all the
host of them. The sun, moon, stars, the rich embellishments of the world,
appeared in being ' at the breath of his mouth,' Ps. xxxiii. G. The author
therefore must be infinite. And since nothing is the cause of God, or of
any perfection in him, since he derives not his being, or the least spark of
his glorious nature, from anything without him, he cannot be limited in any
part of his nature by anything without him ; and indeed the infiniteness of
his power and his other perfections is asserted by the prophet, when he tells
us that ■ the nations are as a drop of a bucket, or the dust of the balance,
and less than nothing, and vanity,' Isa. xl. 15, 17. They are all so in
regard of his power, wisdom, &c. Conceive what a little thing a grain of
dust or sand is to all the dust that may be made by the rubbish of a house ;
what a little thing the heap of the rubbish of a house is to the vast heap of
the rubbish of a whole city, such a one as London ; how little that also
would be to the dust of a whole empire ; how inconsiderable that also to the
dust of one quarter of the world, Europe or Asia; how much less that still
to the dust of the whole world. The whole world is composed of an uncon-
ceivable number of atoms, and the sea of an unconceivable number of drops ;
now what a little grain of dust is in comparison of the dust of the whole
world, a drop of water from the sea to all the drops remaining in the sea,
that is the whole world to God. Conceive it still less, a mere nothing, yet
is it all less than this in comparison of God. There can be nothing more
magnificently expressive of the infiniteness of God to a human conception
than this expression of God himself in the prophet.
In the perfection of a creature, something still may be thought greater to
be added to it, but God containing all perfections in himself formally, if they
be mere perfections, and eminently, if they be but perfections in the creature
mixed with imperfection, nothing can be thought greater, and therefore every
one of them is infinite.
2. If his perfections be infinite, his essence must be so. How God can
have infinite perfections and a finite essence is unconceivable by a human
or angelical understanding. An infinite power, an infinite wisdom, an in-
finite duration, must needs speak an infinite essence, since the infiniteness
of his attributes is grounded upon the infiniteness of his essence. To own
infinite perfections in a finite subject is contradictor}'. The manner of act-
ing by his power, and knowing by his wisdom, cannot exceed the manner of
being by his essence. His perfections flow from his essence, and the prin-
ciple must be of the same rank with what flows from it ; and if we conceive
his essence to be the cause of his perfections, it is utterly impossible that an
infinite effect should arise from a finite cause ; but indeed his perfections
are his essence ; for though wo conceive the essence of God as the subject,
and the attributes of God as faculties and qualities in that subject, according
to our weak model, who cannot conceive of an infinite God without some
manner of likeness to ourselves ; who find understanding, and will, and
power in us distinct from our substance, yet truly and really there is no dis-
tinction between his cssenco and attributes ; one is inseparable from the
other. His power and wisdom are his essence ; and therefore to maintain
God infinite in the one and iinito in tho other, is to make a monstrous God,
and have an unreasonable notion of tho Deity ; for thero would be the
greatest disproportion in his nature, since there is no greater disproportion
• I I a in. ML] qou'h n 436
r;m nos;il,lv 1., r than there is between finite
and infinite, (i ■ I m mIv then b- i'-'l, luxt have parte of
the • | ;• < ; . i I, • in - : h • most
nmplc being, without the 1 I *it ion, both mnii be equally infln
It", th 'ii, ' • In- not infinite, hie i oiDDot be tafia
which i ; li »'!:
\ - in, how ; hu'il 1 In, < ; rn-,. |.,« I'm i his perfeetione bo in!
• no! bing onl of hii I bom, eithot the one i r the
n. nithor t!i<< e isenee e in be infinil
most be tome of thai impossibility. Thai out
liini, li.iMimo nothing without him ceo be erful an himself, moofa left
erful for him. Nothing within liiru ran he an enemy to
,• what ho is, h* 1 musl bo neoetttrilj Ihi
rfeol being, and therefore n< ily infinite; §in
infinitely is ition then to be lomeihing fin U be i
1 infinite, he is infinite, otherwise be oould be than bo
more blessed and more perfect than he is, which is impossible ; for b(
the • .to whom nothing can be added, be mist needs
infinite.
If. ther an infinite essence, ho hath an infinite pres
An infinite eannol be eontained in ■ finite plane ; as Ihoae th •
whieh are fii ite hive ■ bounded space wherein they arc, to that which is
infinite bath an unbounded space; for as finiteneos speaks limii
infii unboun Le Inoaa. An 1 if wo grant I God an infinite
D, there is no difficulty in acknowledging an infinite < In-
finitene k>d is a property belonging to him in rcgasd of
time and plane ; he ii hounded by no plaee, and limited te no ti-: .
in, infinite essence may II weM be everywhere, as infinite ])ower reach
everything; it may as well be present with every being, as infinite po
in its working may be prei n( with nothing to bring it into being. Whore
G I irkfl by his power, he is present in his essence, because his per
i his essence cannot he 1, an 1 therefore his power, wisdom, good-
ness, cannot be anywhere where his essence is not. His essence cannot bo
severed from his power, nor his power from his essence ; for the power of
< i 1 is nothing but Gfod acting, and the wisdom of God nothing but I -
knowing. As the power of God is always, so is his i ; the po
of God is everywhere, so is his essence. Whatsoever God is, he is alway,
and everywhere. To confine him to a place is to measure his i , as
nmne his actions is to limit his power. His essence being no less in-
tan his power and his wisdom, can bo no more bounded than his
;om : but they are not separable from bis essence, yea, they
essence. If God did not fill the whole world, he would be deter-
miu plane, and excluded from others, and so his substance would
h r. 1 limits, and then something might be co:: \-r than
I that :i creature may be male by Go 1 oi
to fill the w] rid ; for the power of God is able to m
a b ly that should take up the whole Bpaee between heaven an 1 earth,
corner of it. But nothing can bo conceived by any creature
than God; hi If all things, and is exceeded by none. G 1
• include! ii heaven, nor included in the earth; cannot
ther of them; for if wo should imagine them vaster than
they ai Knits; anil if his essonee were conta::. 1
t D;ui eat actus purus tl nullum ha' nm passivom.
436 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
in them, it could be no more infinite than the world which contains it, as
water is not of a larger compass than the vessel which contains it. If the
essence of God were limited either in the heavens or earth, it must needs
be finite, as the heavens and earth are ; but there is no proportion between
finite and infinite ; God therefore cannot be contained in them. If there
were an infinite body, that must be everywhere ; certainly, then, an infinite
spirit must be everywhere. Unless we will account him finite, we can render
no reason w r hy he should not be in one creature as well as in another. If
he be in heaven, which is his creature, why can he not be in the earth,
which is as well his creature as the heavens?
Reason 2. Because of the continual operation of God in the world. This
was one reason made the heathen believe that there was an infinite spirit in
the vast body of the world, acting in everything, and producing those admir-
able motions which we see everywhere in nature. The cause which acts in
the most perfect manner, is also in the most perfect manner present with
its effects.
God preserves all, and therefore is in all. The apostle thought it a good
induction, ' He is not far from us: for in him we live,' Acts xvii. 27. For
being as much as because, shews that from his operation he concluded his
real presence with all. It is not his virtue is not far from every one of us,
but he, his substance, himself ; for none that acknowledge a God will deny
the absence of the virtue of God from any part of the world. He works in
everything, everything works and lives in him ; therefore he is present with
all,* or rather, if things live, they are in God, who gives them life. If
things live, God is in them, and gives them life ; if things move, God is in
them, and gives them motion ; if things have any being, God is in them,
and gives them being; if -God withdraws himself, they presently lose their
being ; and therefore some have compared the creature to the impression of
a seal upon the wafer,f that cannot be preserved but by the presence of the
seal. As his presence was actual with what he created, so his presence is
actual with what he preserves, since creation and preservation do so little
differ ; if God creates things by his essential presence, by the same he sup-
ports them. If his substance cannot be disjoined from his preserving power,
his power and wisdom cannot be separated from his essence ; where there
are the marks of the one, there is the presence of the other ; for it is by his
essence that he is powerful and wise ; no man can distinguish the one from
the other in a simple being. God doth not preserve and act things by a
virtue diffused from him.
It may be demanded whether that virtue be distinct from God ? If it be
not, it is then the essence of God ; if it be distinct, it is a creature, and then
it may be asked how that virtue which preserves other things is preserved
itself? It must be ultimately resolved into the essence of God, or else there
must be a running in infinitum; or else,| is that virtue of God a substance
or not ? Is it endued with understanding or not ? If it hath understand-
ing, how cloth it differ from God ? If it wants understanding, can any
imagine that the support of the world, the guidance of all creatures, the
wonders of nature, can be wrought, preserved, managed, by a virtue that
hath nothing of understanding in it ? If it be not a substance, it can much
less be able to produce such excellent operations as the preserving all the
kinds of things in the world, and ordering them to perform such excellent
ends ; this virtue is therefore God himself, the infinite power and wisdom of
God ; and therefore wheresoever the effects of these are seen in the world,
God is essentially present. Some creatures, indeed, act at a distance by a
* Pont. | Qu. ' water'?— Ed. I Amyrald de Trinitat., p. 10G, 107.
J] R. XXIII. 24. | Ml ii.: i SJCSJ, W
virtue diffused ; but rack i manner of acting cornea from a limitedness of
nature, that such .1 nature cannot. }■< I h. Oft present, ami I its
sobetanei t" ill parte. To eat bj i the rabicet Anita, end it
i pari of indigence. K rt in their k i n"- l«»ins by mini I mee«
, because they cannot ad otherwise; bnl God, being infinitely perl
1 \\.uU all thill .'num. i I 5. Illumination, hanrtili-
oation, "''"'«'. Ac., air the immediate wori G l in •' :i "'' "nmc-
«1 i :i t . . are pi ill what they .Id ; it il an : I the gTI
perf( r to know things immediately whieh are dona i;> ateta!
places, than t<> knoa them at the seeond bend by im brumt ai u It 1 1 no I
a perfection to I >vhere, rather than to he tied to one pi "'• '•'
id in other places I • v instruim
diatelj itself. God indeed acta by mean acond t
dential d itions in the world, hut this is not out of any defect ol
t i work all immediately himself; hut lie thereby ac
acting to the Dators of the ereatnre, and the order of things which I
...i in the world. And whan be works by means, he acts with ti.
us, in thoee means, sustain! their I and virtues in them, concurs
with them by his power, so that Gtod's acting by means doth rather stren g then
- sstMitial presence than weaken it, since there is a oeeeaaary dependence
of (he creatures upon the Ctva'or in their being and SCtO i what t:
are. the\ are by the DOWCT of God | what th.v act, tl -ey act in t':. r of
i eonenrring with them. They have their motion in hirn as well as t:
being; ami where the power of God is. his ess • be can ae they arc
inaeparable; ami so this omnipresenc sth from the simplicity of the
nature The inmv vast anything is, the lesi confined. All that
will acknowledge God so great as to he able to work all things by his will
without an oseontisl presence, cannot imagine him apon the same rea
so little as to he eon!aim<l in and bounded hv any place.
/.'• / on B. Becanae of his supreme perfection.
No perfection is wanting to God ; bat an unbounded eaaanaa is a perfec-
tion, a limited one is an imperfection. Thongh it be a perfection in a man
to !-• wise, yet it is tin imperfection that his wisdom cannot rule all the
thingl that concern him ; though it be a perfection to be present in a place
where his affairs lie, vet is it liis imperfection that he cannot be pn
everywhere in the midst of all his concerns. If any man could be so, it
would he universally owned as a prime perfection in him above others. Is
that which would be a perfection in man to be denied to God ? * As that
which hath life is more perfect than that which hath not life, and that which
haih is more perfect than that which hath only life, as the plants have,
and what hath rOQilon is more perfect than that which hath only life and
- the beasts have, so what is everywhere is more perfect than that
which is bounded in some narrow confines. If a power of motion be more
ileiit than to 1 e 1 i d -rid. and swiftness in a creature be a more excellent
endows n to he slow and snail-like, then to be everywhere without
motion is uneoncrivablv a greater excellency than to be everywhere suc-
ceasivelv by motion. I ts forth his readiness to help 1. pie and
punish his enemies ; or his omnipresence, by swiftness, or ' flying apon the
wingi <»f the win.!.' Ts. xvui. 10. The wind is in every part of the air where
it blows; it cannot I that it is in this or that point of the air whore yon
feel it, so as to exclude it from another part of the air where you are not; it
seems to pi '.\ at once.
1; the divine essence hid any bounds (^ place, it would be irapcrfe<
* Ainyra'.d do Trinitat., p. 74, 76.
438 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
well as if it had bounds of time ; where anything hath limitation, it hath
some defect in being; and therefore, if God wera confined or concluded, he
would be as good as nothing in regard of infiniteness. Whence should this
restraint arise ? There is no power above him to restrain him to a certain
space ; if so, then he would not be God, but that power which restrained
him would be God. Not from his own nature, for the being everywhere
implies no contradiction to his nature ; if his own nature determined him to
a certain place, then if he removed from that place, he would act against his
nature. To conceive any such thing of God is highly absurd. It cannot
be thought God should voluntarily impose any such restraint or confinement
upon himself; this would be to deny himself a perfection he might have.
If God have not this perfection, it is either because it is inconsistent with
his nature, or because he cannot have it, or because he will not. The
former cannot be ; for if he hath impressed upon air and light a resemblance
of his excellency to a diffuse themselves and fill so vast a space, is such an
excellency inconsistent with the Creator more than the creature ? What-
soever perfection the creature hath is eminently in God. Ps. xciv. 8, 9,
* Understand, ye brutish among the people : and ye fools, when will you
be wise ? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear ? he that formed the
eye, shall he not see ? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? '
By the same reason he that hath given such a power to those creatures, air
and light, shall not he be much more filling all spaces of the world ? It is
so clear a rule, that the psalmist fixes a folly and brutishness upon those
that deny it. It is not therefore inconsistent with his nature ; it were not
then a perfection, but an imperfection ; but whatsoever is an excellency in
creatures, cannot in a way of eminency be an imperfection in God. If it be
then a perfection, and God want it, it is because he cannot have it. Where,
then, is his power ? How can he be then the fountain of his own being ?
If he will not, where is his love to his own nature and glory? since no
creature would deny that to itself which it can have and is an excellency to
it. God therefore hath not only a power or fitness to be everywhere, but
he is actually everywhere.
Reason 4. Because of his immutability.
If God did not fill all the spaces of heaven and earth, but only possess
one, yet it must be acknowledged that God hath a power to move himself
to another. It were absurd to fix God in a part of the heavens, like a star
in an orb, without a power of motion to another place. If he be, therefore,
essentially in heaven, may he not bo upon the earth if he please, and trans-
fer his substance from one place to another ? To say he cannot is to deny
him a perfection, which he hath bestowed upon his creatures ; the angels,
his messengers, are sometimes in heaven, sometimes on earth ; the eagles,
meaner creatures, are sometimes in the air out of sight, sometimes upon
the earth. If he doth move, therefore, and recede from one place and settle
in another, doth he not declare himself mutable by changing places, by
being where ho was not before, and in not being where he was before ? Ho
would not fill heaven and earth at once, but successively ; no man can bo
said to fill a room that moves from one part of a room to another ; if, there-
fore, any in their imaginations stake God to the heavens, they render him
less than his creatures ; if they allow him a power of motion from one place
to another, they conceive him changeable ; and, in either of them, they own
him no greater than a finite and limited beirg ; limited to heaven, il they
fix him there; limited to that space, to which they imagine him to move.
Ura.son 5. Because of his omnipotency.
The Almightiness of God is a notion settled in the minds of all, that God
8 I II. 24*] OOD's OMNII-K! 4 ''9
can <I.i v. he :rlly of
bii Data I doth not imp
>■ million • of worl l^ greater t. Billions of be iron i
than t ; , . than in obm tblt
. I, i..i- i
I and bin n >( :<» be tfa mght of a i : hu
essence ; be eannol <i tboai «*■
power iso ; if ho, it that 1 J0
•boa! 1 fill this . md thor I M oil t .
c ' of ih s worl I, that i> not i d infinite ipaeei bej leu
: li li I'h i po Lb a p • ret to act
in the world, everywhere out of t li « ; world; be ia t:. i
world, everywhere out of the world* B this world
b< i: i i i power to make it in to ' <•
Waal • no] then unlimitodly where orld n<> ■ Id r*>
oeived i | rfnJ word? vYby should ho not then be in every
part of the world now? Can it, be thought that God, who wai immense
ire, ehool 1. after li'' li i i I the worl I, eontraet bimaelf to the limil h of
one of in. ereatures, and tic himself to a p irtioular plac • of hi > o •
and l «• leas after nil creation than ho wae before ?
Tin's might also be | ited bj an argument from hia eternity. What
■<■rn.il In .ii is immense in eeaenee ; theeami d which rend i
him eternal rend, rs him immense! ; that which prows him to he always will
prove him to i i .vlierc.
III. The third tiling is. propositions for the further clearing this doctrine
from :my < qs.
1. This troth is not weakened by the expressions in Scripture, where God
is said to dwell in heaven, and in the temple.
(1.) He is, indeed, sail to 'sit in heaven,' Ps. ii. -t, and to 'dwell on
[iii. ■> ; hut he is nowhere said to dwell only in the heavens, as
Confined to them. It is the court of his mnjestical presence, hut not tho
prison of his essence ; for when we are told that the ' heaven is his throne,'
1 u lxvi. 1, wo arc told with the same breath that the 'earth is his foot*
1. lie dwells on biflh in regard of the excellency of his nature, bat ho
is in all places in regard of the diiVusiou of his presence. The soul is
ntiallv in all parts of the body, hut it doth not exert the same opera-
tions in all ; the more nohle discoveries of it are in the head and he irt : in
the In a 1, where it exerciseth the chiefest senses for the enriching the under-
ading; in the heart, where it vitally resides, and communicates Life and
motion io the rest of the body. It doth not understand with the foot or
. though it be iii all parts of the hody it forms. And so Qod may bo
said to dwell in heaven, in regard of the more excellent and majestic repre-
sentation of himself, both to the creatures that inhabit the place, as an
and i and also in those marka of his greatness which ho hath
planted there, those spiritual natures which have a nobler stamp ofGo 1 upon
them, and tho- I bodies, as sun and f-tars, which as BO m my tapers
light 0S :o I ehol i hia glory, Ps. xix. 1, and astonish the mii.dsof men when
apoa them. 1: is bis court, where he hath tho UK ' BM wor-
ship from his creatures, all his courtiers attending there with a puro lovo
and glowing seaL lb there in a epeeial manner, arithoat any oppo-
sition to b eminent; it is therefore called his ' holy dwelling
RC I n. iii. 1*7. The earth bath eoi that title, since si-.
ruining curso upon it ; the earih is not his throue, because his g ivornment
440 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
is opposed ; but heaven is none of Satan's precinct, and the rule of God is
uncontradicted by the inhabitants of it. It is from thence also he hath given
the greatest discoveries of himself; thence he sends the angels his mes-
sengers, his Son upon redemption, his Spirit for sanctification. From
heaven his gifts drop down upon our heads, and his grace upon our hearts,
James iii. 17 ; from thence the chiefest blessings of earth descend. The
motions of the heavens fatten the earth, and the heavenly bodies are but
stewards to the earthly comforts for man by their influence. Heaven is the
richest, vastest, most stedfast and majestic part of the visible creation. It
is there where he will at last manifest himself to his people in a full con-
junction of grace and glory, and be for ever open to his people in unin-
terrupted expressions of goodness, and discoveries of his presence, as a
reward of their labour and service ; and, in these respects, it may peculiarly
be called his throne. And this doth no more hinder his essential presence
in all parts of the earth, than it doth his gracious presence in all the hearts
of his people. God is in heaven, in regard of the manifestation of his glory;
in hell, by the expression of his justice ; in the earth, by the discoveries of
his wisdom, power, patience, and compassion ; in his people, by the monu-
ments of his grace ; and in all, in regard of his substance.
(2.) He is said also to dwell in the ark and temple. It is called, Ps.
xxvi. 8, ' the habitation of his house, and the place where his honour
dwells;' and to dwell in Jerusalem, as in his holy mountain, 'the moun-
tain of the Lord of hosts,' Zech. viii. 3 ; in regard of publishing his oracles,
answering their prayers, manifesting more of his goodness to the Israelites
than to any other nation in the world ; erecting his true worship among
them, which was not settled in any part of the world besides ; and his wor-
ship is principally intended in that psalm. The ark is the place where his
honour dwells ; the worship of God is called the glory of God : ' They
changed the glory of God into an image made like to corruptible men,' Rom.
i. 23, i. e. they changed the worship of God into idolatry ; and to that also
doth the place in Zechariah refer.
Now, because he is said to dwell in heaven, is he essentially only there ?
Is he not as essentially in the temple and ark as he is in heaven, since there
are as high expressions of his habitation there, as of his dwelling in heaven ?
If he dwell only in heaven, how came he to dwell in the temple ? Both are
asserted in Scripture, one as much as the other. If his dwelling in heaven
did not hinder his dwelling in the ark, it could as little hinder the presence
of his essence on the earth. To dwell in heaven and in one part of the
earth at the same time, is all one as to dwell in all parts of heaven and all
parts of earth. If he were in heaven, and in the ark and temple, it was the
same essence in both, though not the same kind of manifestation of himself.
If by his dwelling in heaven he meant his whole essence, why is it not also
to be meant by his dwelling in the ark ? It was not sure part of his essence
that was in heaven, and part of his essence that was on earth ; his essence
would then be divided ; and can it be imagined that he would be in heaven
and the ark at the same time, and not in the spaces between ? Could his
essence be split into fragments, and a gap made in it, that two distinct spaces
should be filled by him, and all between be empty of him ? So that God's
being, said to dwell in heaven, and in the temple, is so far from impairing
the truth of his doctrine, that it more confirms and evidences it.
2. Nor do the expressions of God's coming to us, or departing from us,
impair this doctrine of his omnipresence.
God is said to 'hide his face' from his people, Ps. x. 1, to be 'far from
the wicked,' Prov. xv. 29 ; and the Gentiles are said to be ' afar off,' viz.,
.hi:. XXIII. '1 1. ood's o 441
from God, Bph. ii. 17, end upon the manifestation of Christ, 'made dnt. 1
'J'li. I of air of In es- .nrc,
for th.it. i.s equally oeai t- nil p«n , bat of
way and manifestation of i I Mid U) I
by lore, i ti . > ere in l.iin : 1 John i\. 15, 'Ho thai
hi God, and God mi aim.' Be that lorn in in the thing beloved; end
when two lote "ii«' Another, th< y are in on 1 1
nan bj tnd far from the ird of
works; end < tod ii laid t«> be hi i place by a special mat • ben
he w;is iii tli«' boeh, ESxod. iii., or ma apon mount Bmai :
i I. . 16, • The glory of the Lord abode npon monnt Sinai. 1 God ie
bide oil lace when he withdraws his comforting pr<
tlic repoee of on hearte, flasheth terror into our cod pute
nun under the smart of the i thou (fa he bad ord<
utterly to depart from them, or when he 'loth withdraw bii special a
providence from us in our eftaire. So 1m- departed from Saul, whei
withdrew his direction and protection from him in the i hie
forernment: 1 Sam. wi. l 1, •The Bpiril of the Lord d loV
f. . the spirit of government. God may he far from Dl in I I
us in another; far from us in regard of comfort, in
regard of rapport, when his essential preeence continues tl e. Thie
is a Qeceeeary consequent upon the inuniteneea of God, the i en eet
of the will i>[ Qod; so ho was s.tid to forsake Christ in regard of his
taring his glory from his human nature and inflicting his wrath, though
he was near to him in n gard of nil grace, and presero il him from
any spot in his Bufferings. We do DOl say the sun is departed out of the
(us when it is bemisted; it remain! in the same part of tin: i
j let on its course, though its beams do not reach us by reason ot the 1 ar
• eeii us aid it. The soul is in every part of the body in regard of its
BUti and constantly in it, though it doth not act so iprightly
vigorously at one time as at another in one end the same member, and dis-
r itself so sensibly in its operations; so all tlie various effects of God
towards the sons of men are but diverse operations of one and the same
nee. He is far from us or near to us, as he is a judge or e benefactor.
When he comes to punish, it notes, not the approach of his essence, but
the stroke of his justice; when he comes to benefit, it is not by a new
ss of his essence, but an efflux of his grace. He departs from us when
he lca\< s us to the frowns of his justice, he comes to us when he encirch s
us in the arms of his mercy; but he was equally present with us in both
at ions in regard of his essence. And likewise God is said to
come down — Gen. xi. 5, 'And the Lord came down : he city' — when
he dotfa some signal and wonderful works which attract the minds of men to
the acknowledgment of a supreme power and providence in the world, who
judgi absent and careless before.
;!. Nor is the essential presence of God with all creatures any disparage-
ment to him. Since it was no disparagement to create the heaven and the
ii, it is no disparagement to him to till them. If he v. .ntially
pteeent with them when he created them, it is no dishonour to him to be
ntially present With them to lUpport them. If it were his glory to
.to them by his essence when they wire nothing, can it he Ids d
to 1 y his 6* DJ1CC tiny are son. ( thing, and somethii
ami iii his ey< Gen. i. Bl, 'Qod saw ereryt] d it
was very good/ or 'mighty good;' all ordered to odness,
wibdom, jower, and to make him adorable to man, and therefore t<_ ek am-
442 chajrnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
placency in them. There is a harmony in all things, a combination in them
for those glorious ends for which God created them ; and is it a disgrace
for God to be present with his own harmonious composition ? Is it not a
musician's glory to touch with his fingers the treble, the least and tenderest
string, as well as the strongest and greatest bass ? Hath not everything
some stamp of God's own being upon it, since he eminently contains in
himself the perfections of all his works ? Whatsoever hath being hath a
footstep of God upon it, who is all being. Everything in the earth is his
footstool, having a mark of his foot upon it. All declare the being of God,
because they had their being from God ; and will God account it any dis-
paragement to him to be present with that which confirms his being, and
the glorious perfections of his nature to his intelligent creatures ? The
meanest things are not without their virtues, which may boast God's being
the Creator of them, and rank them in the midst of his works of wisdom as
well as power. Doth God debase himself to be present by his essence with
the things he hath made, more than he doth to know them bv his essence ?
Is not the least thing known by him ? How ? Not by a faculty or act dis-
tinct from his essence, but by his essence itself. How is anything dis-
graceful to the essential presence of God, that is not disgraceful to his
knowledge by his essence ? Besides, would God make anything that
should be an invincible reason to him to part with his own infiniteness, by
a contraction of his own essence into a less compass than before ? It was
immense before, it had no bounds ; and would God make a world that he
would be ashamed to be present with, and continue it to the diminution and
lessening of himself, rather than annihilate it to avoid the disparagement ?
This were to impeach the wisdom of God, and cast a blemish upon his
infinite understanding, that he knows not the consequences of his work, or
is well contented to be impaired in the immensity of his own essence by it.
No man thinks it a dishonour to light, a most excellent creature, to be pre-
sent with a toad or serpent ; and though there be an infinite disproportion
between light, a creature, and the Father of lights, the Creator, yet* God,
being a Spirit, knows how to be with bodies as if they were not bodies. And
being jealous of his own honour, would not, could not, do anything that might
impair it.
4. Nor will it follow, that because God is essentially everywhere, that
everything is God. God is not everywhere by any conjunction, composi-
tion, or mixture with anything on earth. When light is in every part of a
crystal globe, and encircles it close on every side, do they become one ?
No; the crystal remains what it is, and the light retains its own nature.
God is not in us as a part of us, but as an efficient and preserving cause.
It is not by his essential presence, but his efficacious presence, that he
brings any person into a likeness to his own nature. God is so in his
essence with things as to be distinct from them, as a cause from the effect,
as a Creator different from the creature, preserving their nature, not com-
municating his own. His essence touches all, is in conjunction with none.
Finite and infinite cannot be joined. He is not far from us, therefore near
to us; so near, that we ' live and move in him,' Acts xvii. 28. Nothing is
God because it moves in him, any more than a fish in the sea is the sea, or
a part of the sea, because it moves in it.f Doth a man that holds a thing
in the hollow of his hand transform it by that action, and make it like his
hand ? The soul and body are more straitly united than the essence of God
is by his presence with any creature. The soul is in the body as a form in
matter, and from their union doth ariso a man; yet in this near conjunc-
* Gaascnd. t Amyrald do Trinit., p. 99, 100.
J] i. XXIII. 24.] uoi/h <
tion both body and soul remain c) Thi not tin: body,
thi bodj thi soul; they loth l. :M oaeenoee. ]
bo changed into ;i too), DOff tl
, Of ti QtO&i >» 1"
iron, ID Memi I DOt
fai and iri 11 tha ' Bul ach :i kind of arguing
Omoipn lhal if (JcmI with r.s .nili ill\ I be
G i, would exolude biflu from heaven m well i earth. B '"io
"ii, sine.' they lu-Liiiiwl, i seiitiallj in linui-n, ibO hia\eii wh
hi :- bonld i • ■•! into thi nature of God; and by -nst
Lb upon thii ground, thej ran each an i that
they mu d i in to bi oowhere, in 1 that which i rthingl
ll the eillth lit eoine God 1. realise ( rod ii
till) 1.. . I 1 by all to I Dt ?
ii, it" where God ii i atially, that mnal I I, thi d il tl i
(i.) i in a point of thi heavene, Dot only that point moat bo ( '^lio
world, I if that ]>oint be God, bocaoai God ii thi re, then thi point
thed by thai point mnal bi God, md . q lenUy nxa
nn v pointi touched by oni another. We Uvi and mo?i in God, live
and novi in the air ; wi art do more God by that than wi ^ir,
athe in it, end it enters into all th< of oor body ; nay,
where there was I ttraitai union of the di\ine nature to the human in our
Saviuiir, yet tlie DaiOTi of both was distinct, and the liuinaniiy was HOI
ahanged into thi divinity, nor the divinity into thi humanity.
Hot doth it follow, that heraiise God is every w hero, therefore a
.v be worshipped without idolatry. Some of thi heathene, who
acknowli dgi d God's i mni] • I it to the eonntenanoing idolatry;
G< t i lent in everything, they thonght everything might be
worshipped, and soma have Died it as en argomant against thai doctrine;
the I iption ho drawn out into u: . bio
and pernicions conclusions. Have you not mat with any, that from tho
doctrine of God'i trie mercy, and oor Saviour's satisfactory death, havo
drawn poison to feed their lusts, and consume their souls ; a pi LSI D O
posed by their own corruption, and not offered by those truths f Tho
apostle intimates to us, that some did, or at least were ready to he moro
lavish in tinning, because God was abundant in grace : Bom. vi. 1, 2,
all we continue in sin, tli.it grace may abound ?' ver. 1, ' Shall we sin,
becaoss Wi are not under the law but under grace ?' when he | I an
objection that he thought might bo made by some ; but as to this case,
since, though God be present in everything, yet everythj
nature, distinct from the nature of God, therefore it is not to have a «
due I I I liency of (iod. Ai longai anything remains a creature, it is
only to haw- tin rea p ect from us which is due to it in the rank of creatu.
When a prince is present with his guard, ox if he should go arm in arm
with a | . is then fore the veneration and honour due to the nrir.ee to
bo paid to I ant, ox an^ of his guard? Woald the presence oi the
pxin it, <>r would it not rather aggravate it? Hi acluiowled
snob i person equal to me, by giving him my righte, evwa in mj
Though dwelt in the temple, would not the Isxaelitai be bean
aeoounted | I idolatry had they worshipped the id
bims, or the ark, or tl ts of worship, which were exacted
only as II is then: not as n.r.iii reMOB to think
God was as e« k in the temple ae in heaven, •
Died of thi ind thi other? r lhc i j ii ca
444 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
the ' glorious high throne,' Jer. xvii. 12 ; and he is said to * dwell between
the cherubims,' Ps. lxxx. 1, i. e. the two cherubims that were at the two
ends of the mercy-seat, appointed by God as the two sides of his throne in the
sanctuary, Exod. xxv. 18, where he was to ' dwell,' ver. 8, and meet and
| commune with his people,' ver. 22. Could this excuse Manasseh's
idolatry in bringing in a carved image into the house of God ? 2 Chron.
xxxiii. 7. Had it been a good answer to the charge, God is present here,
and therefore everything may be worshipped as God. If he be only essen-
tially in heaven, would it not be idolatry to direct a worship to the heavens,
o • any part of it as a due object, because of the presence of God there ?
Though we look up to the heavens, where we pray and worship God, yet
heaven is not the object of worship, the soul abstracts God from the creature.
6. Nor is God denied by being present with those creatures which seem
filthy to us. Nothing is filthy in the eye of God as his creature ; he could
never else have pronounced all good ; whatsoever is filthy to us, yet as it is
a creature, it owes itself to the power of God. His essence is no more
defiled by being present with it, than his power by producing it. No
creature is foul in itself, though it may seem so to us. Doth not an infant
lie in a womb of filthiness and rottenness ? Yet is not the power of God
present with it, in ' working it curiously in the lower parts of the earth ? '
Are his eyes defiled by 'seeing the substance when it is yet imperfect' ?
Or his hand defiled by ' writing every member in his book ' ? Ps. cxxxix.
15, 16, Have not the vilest and most noisome things excellent medicinal
virtues ? How are they endued with them ? How are those qualities pre-
served in them ? By anything without God or no ? Every artificer looks
with pleasure upon the work he hath wrought with art and skill ; can his
essence be defiled by being present with them, any more than it was in
giving them such virtues, and preserving them in them ? God measures
the heaven and the earth with his hand ; is his hand defiled by the evil
iufluences of the planets, or the corporeal impurities of the earth? Nothing
cm be filthy in the eye of God but sin, since everything else owes its being
to him. What may appear deformed and unworthy to us, is not so to the
Creator ; he sees beauty where we see deformity ; finds goodness where we
behold what is nauseous to us. All creatures, being the effects of his power,
may be the objects of his presence ; can any place be more foul than hell,
if you take it either for the hell of the damned, or for the grave, where there
is rottenness ? yet there he is, Ps. cxxxix. 8. When Satan appeared before
God, and spake with him, Job i. 7, could God contract any impurity by
being present where that filthy spirit was, more impure than any corporeal,
noisome, and defiling thing can be ? No ; God is purity to himself in the
midst of noisomeness ; a heaven to himself in the midst of hell. Who ever
heard of a sunbeam stained by shining upon a quagmire, any more than
sweetened by breaking into a perfumed room !* Though the light shines
upon pure and impure things, yet it mixes not itself with either of them ;
so, though God be present with devils and wicked men, yet without any
mixture, he is present with their essence to sustain and support it, not in
their defection, wherein lies their defilement, and which is not a physical
but a moral evil ; bodily filth can never touch an incorporeal substance.
Spirits are not present with us in the same manner that one body is pre-
sent with another ; bodies can, by a touch only, defile bodies. Is the glory
of an nngel stained by being in a coal mine ? or could the angel that came
into the lions' den, to deliver Daniel, chap. vi. 22, be any more disturbed by
the stench of the place, than he could be scratched by the paws or torn by
* Shelford of the Attributes, p. 170.
Ji.k. XXIII. 24. ooi/h o OB. \ |5
(be teeth of the beasts? Tbeif spiritual them eg
ti.)ii, when tli. v are ' minis! I'll,! , t.h. -ir n
. 7. The ioaJ ii strsitly united with the bo ly, b ititii
white or bleok by the whiteneee or blackness of its h ibitation ; is it i
bj the oorporeeJ imparities of the rhile it continually d is see
of filthy |).)iliitnui ? If tin! ho. ly l>o raft into i o icwer, ii the soul
ili'tili'. 1 h\ it '.' Cm u . to the spirit thftt
animei I it not often tbi
infected by nature. Elozekiah's spirit was tit with
1 1 ■ ■ i » the s.iiv, uinrh some think to I lore, wa
him, l>.t. ixxTiii, '■'>. Sow can any o or po r eeJ filth imps of the
divine es nice '.' 1: in iv um well h»i u-l, thai Gk>d is riot j>r«- i-u t in
end fights for bis people, Joanna uiii. LO, b would not I
turned by the aoiee of eannoni and elaahing of swords, as that he . ; i not i
sriii. in tin- world, beoanae of the ill ecente, Let ns there for e eonela le I
with the expression of a learned man of our own i * ■ To deny the omnii
sanoc of God, beeanae of ill seented places, is to meaanre G id rather by tho
pioety of sense than by the sagacity of reason. '
IV. 1
1. Of information*
(1.) Christ hath s divine nature. As eternity "and immutability, two
incommunicable properties of the divine nature, are aeerihed to Christ, so
also is tins of omnipreeenee or immensity. John iii. 18, 'No man hath
nded np to heaven, but he that came down from he i m the
Son of man which is in heaven.' Not which i/w.s-, but which if; be 000
from heaven by incarnation, and remains in heaven by his divinity. Be
was, while he spake to rlioodemns, locally on earth, in regard of his hnmanHy,
but in heaven according to his deity, as well as upon earth in the union
of his divine and human nature. He descended upon earth, hut he left not
heaven; he was in the world before ho came in the flesh. John i. 10, ■ Be
was in tin- world, and the world was made by him.' He was in the world,
as the ' light that enlightens every man that comes into the world ;' in the
world as God, before he was in the world as man. He was then in tho
world as a man, while be discoursed with Nicodemus, yet so that he •
also in heaven as God. No creature but is bounded in place, either cir-
cumscribed as holy or determined as spirit to be in one space, so as not
to bo in another at the same time ; to leave a place where they were, and
possess a place where they were not. But Christ is so on earth, that at tho
same bnae he is in heaven ; he is therefore infinite. To be in heaven and
earth at the same moment of time, is a property solely belonging to tho
1' ity, wherein no creature can be a partner with hiin. »Hc was in the
ire he came to the world, ' and the world was made by him,'
John i. 1<>. Sis coming was not as the coming of angels, that leave heaven
and begin to !><• on earth, where they were not before, but such a presence
as can be seeribed only to God, who fills heaven and earth. Again, if all
things were made by him, then he was present with all things which v,
made, for where there is a presence of power, there is of
essence, and tfa ho is still present; for tho right and power of con-
servation follows the power of creation. And according to this divino
nature In- prouiis.th his presence with his church: 'There am I in tho
midst of them,' .Mat. xviii. SO. And ' I am with you ahv.iv, even to tho
end of the world,' chap, xxviii. 20, i. e. by his divinity ; for ho had before
♦ Dr More.
446 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
told them that they were not to have him alway with them, chap. xxvi. 11,
i. <?., according to his humanity; but in his divine nature he is present with,
and ' walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks.' If we understand it
of a presence by his Spirit in the midst of the church, doth it invalidate his
essential presence ? No ; he is no less than the Spirit whom he sends, and
therefore as little confined as the Spirit is, who dwells in every believer; and
this may also be inferred from John x. 30, ' My Father and I are one;' not
one by consent, though that be included, but one in power ; for he speaks
not of their consent, but of their joint power in keeping his people. Where
there is a unity of essence there is a unity of presence.
(2.) Here is a confirmation of the spiritual nature of God. If he were
an infinite body, he could not fill heaven and earth, but with the exclusion
of all creatures. Two bodies cannot be in the same space ; they may be
near one another, but not in any of the same points together. A body
bounded he hath not, for that would destroy his immensity ; he could not
then fill heaven and earth, because a body cannot be at one and the same
time in two different spaces ; but God doth not fill heaven at one time, and
the earth at another, but both at the same time. Besides, a limited body
cannot be said to fill the whole earth, but one particular space in the earth
at a time. A body may fill the earth with its virtue, as the sun, but not
with its substance. Nothing can be everywhere with a corporeal weight and
mass ;\but God being infinite, is not tied to any part of the world, but pene-
trates all, and equally acts by his infinite power in all.
(3.) Here is an argument for providence. His presence is mentioned in
the text, in order to his government of the affairs of the world. Is he every-
where, to be unconcerned with every thing ? Before the world had a being,
God was present with himself ; since the world hath a being, he is present
with his creatures, to exercise his wisdom in the ordering, as he did his
power in the production of them. As the knowledge of God is not a bare
contemplation of a thing, so his presence is not a bare inspection into a
thing. Were it an idle, careless, presence, it were a presence to no purpose,
which cannot be imagined of God. Infinite power, goodness, and wisdom,
beinc everywhere present with his essence, are never without their exercise.
He never manifests any of his perfections, but the manifestation is full of
some indulgence and benefit to his creatures. It cannot be supposed God
should neglect those things, wherewith he is constantly present in a way of
efficiency and operation.* He is not everywhere without acting everywhere.
Wherever his essence is, there is a power and virtue worthy of God every-
where dispensed. He governs by his presence what he made by his power,
and is present as an agent with all his works. His power and essence are
together, to preserve them while he pleases, as his power and his essence
are together to create thorn when he saw good to do it. Every creature hath
a stamp of God, and his presence is necessary to keep the impression stand-
in<* upon the creature. As all things are his works, they are the objects of
his care ; and the wisdom he employed in framing them, will not suffer him
to be careless of them. His presence with them, engageth him in honour
not to be a negligent governor. His immensity fits him for government ;
and where there is a fitness, there is an exorcise of government, where there
are objects for the exercise of it. Ho is worthy to have the universal rule
of the world, ho can bo present in all places of his empire, there is nothing
can be dono by any of his subjects, but in his sight. As his eternity renders
him king alway, so his immensity renders him king everywhere. If he were
only present in heaven, it might occasion a suspicion that he minded only
* Cyril.
• I :. XXIII. 24.] OOD -117
Um thin ' - of b w a, in I hid no 8 i for Ihii
but [| !. bore, h *:i i i to 1
of those thingi with which be i \v • an ill En him tho
sou ; an 1 hi bears oil in I md tha
limn i.f hi ;•!. It .
ii- from be d ' i to be with t!.
add pecial cordial, as , 'I will be with thee, an<l !>!'•-.-> tin
xxx. B, -l " '. • I i I 'I
help thee, I will uphold thi ■.' I u sli. LO, 14. I
counl
i i ■ I Tl • [f God 1
everywhere, be Mr; bow whal ii doos - [j \ for this
imself a < ted filling rth, in the
any bide himself in secret places that ] the L
] li I w hal the prophi I , If 1
fill ! i «• nth, the moat secret thi
An ent being cannol be everywhe . and d
rything, than it can be in itself; but he rwhat i
what is thought within. Nothing can be obscure bo him, who is in ei
part of the world, in even- pari of bis creatures. Not a thou rhl
np bul in his sight, who is present in the souls and mind
Sow ( ■ il with him, to wh s < sue th irld is but i . •
and observe everything d ins in this world, as any of ns san I:
• point of place wh< ? If light
. it would behold and know everything don . • itdiffa
i is light (as light in a crystal . il within it, all without
and vant of what is done within and without; no ign c o
apon him wh i hath an nnivers d j
II nee by the way we may take notice of the wonderful patience of I
who bears with so many provocations, not from a principle of ignorance, for
he bears with sins that are committed near him, in his sight, sins that ho
Bees, and cannot hut see.
maybe inferred the incomprehensibility of Gol. II) that
fins 1 earth, cannot be contained in anything ; ho fills the an I
standings of men, the ondersi indings of angels, but is comprehended bv
thai ; it is s rashness to think to find out any boundVof (1
ing of an infinite being; if it were to be measured, it were not infinite ;
B it is infinite, it is not to be measured. God sits above the
rubims, E/.ek. x. 1, above the fulness, above the brightness, not onlv of
a human, but a create 1 understanding. Nothing is more present than ( I
- more hid'; he is light, and yet Obscurity •• his perfections are
ihable ; we know there is an infinite God, bat il ^eth
thee four minds j we know there is no number so ther
I to it ; but no man can put it in pracf | i m -
self in a mass of . What is the reason we eomprel | many,
nay, most things in the world? Tartly from the 1 1 tyoftheobj
an 1 partly from tli : >n of our understanding. II -lien
comprehend <i 1. wh i U, and is exceeded by non all,
an 1 is contained bj re our onderstandin -
Ben > 1 in himself, infinite ; as con
our im tho
. length, an 1 depth of the ana, and at one cast vi
of the heavens ! God and 4 we cannot know him,' Job xxxvi.
* K^^iorr,;, Dl called (.J 1.
448 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
he fills the understanding as he fills heaven and earth : yet is above the
understanding as he is above heaven and earth. He is known by faith,
enjoyed by love, but comprehended by no mind. God is not contained in
that one syllable, God ; by it we apprehend an excellent and unlimited nature ;
himself only understands himself, and can unveil himself.
(6.) How wonderful is God, and how nothing are creatures ! * Ascribe
the greatness to our God,' Deut. xxxii. 3. He is admirable in the considera-
tion of his power, in the extent of his understanding, and no less wonderful
in the immensity of his essence ; that as Austin saith, he is in the world, yet
not confined to it ; he is out of the world, yet not debarred from it ; he is
above the world, yet not elevated by it ; he is below the world, yet not de-
pressed by it ; he is above all, equalled by none ; he is in all, not because
he needs them, but they stand in need of him ; this, as well as eternity,
makes a vast disproportion between God and the creature. The creature is
bounded by a little space, and no space is so great as to bound the Creator.
By this we may take a prospect of our own nothingness ; as in the considera-
tion of God's holiness we are minded of our own impurity ; and in the
thoughts of his wisdom have a view of our own folly ; and in the meditation
of his power, have a sense of our weakness ; so his immensity should make
us, according to our own nature, appear little in our own eyes. What little,
little, little things are we to God ! Less than an atom in the beams of the
sun ; poor drops to a God that fills heaven and earth ; and yet dare we to
strut against him, and dash ourselves against a rock. If the consideration
of ourselves, in comparison with others, be apt to puff us up, the considera-
tion of ourselves, in comparison with God, will be sufficient to pull us down.
If we consider him in the greatness of his essence, there is but little more
proportion between him and us, than between being and not being, than
between a drop and the ocean. How should we never think of God without
a holy admiration of his greatness, and a deep sense of our own littleness !
and as the angels cover their faces before him, with what awe should creep-
inf* worms come into his sight ! and since God fills heaven and earth with
his presence, we should fill heaven and earth with his glory ; for this end
he created angels to praise him in heaven, and men to worship him on earth,
that the places he fills with his presence may be filled with his praise. We
should be swallowed up in admiration of the immensity of God, as men are
at the first sight of the sea, when they behold a mass of waters, without be-
holding the bounds, and immense depth of it.
(7.) How much is this attribute of God forgotten or contemned ! We
pretend to believe him to be present everywhere, and yet many live as if he
were present nowhere.
[1.] It is commonly forgotten, or not believed. All the extravagancies of
men may be traced to the forgetfulness of this attribute as their spring. The
first speech Adam spake in paradise after his fall, testified his unbelief of
this : Gen. iii. 10, ' I heard thy voice in the garden, and I hid myself;' his
car understood the voico of God, but his mind did not conclude the presence
of God ; he thought the trees could shelter him from him, whose eye was
present in the minutest parts of the earth ; he that thought after his sin, that
he could hide himself from the presence of his justice, thought before that
he could hide himself from the presence of his knowledge ; and being deceived
in the one, he would try what would be the fruit of the other. In both he
forgets, if not denies, this attribute ; cither corrupt notions of God, or a
Blight belief of what in general men assent unto, gives birth to every sin.
In all transgressions thcro is something of atheism : either denying the being
of God, or a dash upon somo perfection of God ; a not believing his holi-
!. 24.] 1 If
i to hats it, hii truth that t).' bis
it. I'll' » - 1 < i : ■ r oil' in
r off in the appi
ii' ii prill f in
■I I s him, < i
:i him ; hii lust proaaoth him | ■ ■
pleasuro. lie will lis reason, hod prove n horotic, that he may be
an n Qor ; : l 1 1 • l iim doubly both in the •
in Job, oil
\\n. II.' ilh thick cl i I not able to piei
worl I ; its if his |uv .-nee :m i confini il (hii
the earth •■ >i his oi
lit. Il 1 moo, wlini th to • much I
' il.ir .Ml. . • I ' '!;>\ 1 >l" 1 Hill Willi t!:- .1 l. xllll. 6
I i to i a 'ainsl !• ir, tin u I
our i ir '• tf iln< i of it.
omoipr ■ p u ■ c
tanned. When men will nftsainft that in the pn which th<-v
i or ashame I to d i before the eyo of man. M<n do not pi
ity before • ■ I. ro men. lie thai
t m <\ I ir of in ill not restrain either 1.
nt" fear What ii the 1 of this, bnft th I 1 1
with ns. or hii presence ought to be of 1 i with us, and
influence upon ns, than that of a creature '•' Ask the thief why i ' >
I? Will he not answer, N *s him/ A^k the
ps himself of his <•' . and invades the rights of Will be
.• r, N i • ' Job x\iv. l.">. |(.- disguiseth himself to be
•n bj mm, but Blights the all-seeing eye of G If only a man
know tlimi. they are in terror of the shadow of death, Jobxxrr. 17; they
truck, hut stand unshaken at the | L Is not t
to account <i 1 1 as limited as man, as ignorant, as absenting, as i
than those things which restrain us? It is a d.
below S v. If we can forbear sin from any awe of til ■•• of
man, to whom we are equal in regard of nature; or from (he presence
very m.an man, to whom we are superior in regard of condition ; and
forbear it because wo aro within the ken of God, we r- bhn not only
our inferior, but inferior to the meanest man or child of his en ation, in
whose - would not commit the like action. It i- t r
as! i; as though anythi nt be conceal I
I him, I lioni the least fibres of the heart ar.
II b. iv. 18, who sees as plainly midnight as noonday sins. Now this i-
high aggravation of sin. To break a king's laws in his Bight is more 1
than to fiolats them behind his back ; as it was Hainan's otl'ence when ho
lay upon 1 . . to force the queen before the king's face. The 1
In i qu i ty l a high tincture from this; and no rin can be little that is
an affront in the fico of Qod, and tasting the filth of the creature *he
a eos, — as if a « mid commit adultery before her fa
dishonour his : . and disobey his oonunands in
his ; And hath it not often been thus with US? II
been dis 1 in his sight, before hi -. that t
. iniquity without anger and grief? I-a. l\v. 1"J. • v.- did
:i this home upon David: 8 Bam. ii
* I 1 •. lib. ii. cap. 1U. J Drex . Kl '. lib. ii.
t Qu. • be uotV' — Ll».
VOL. I. I f
450 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
* Thou hast despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight.'
And David, in his repentance, reflects upon himself for it : Ps. li. 4, ' Against
thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.' I observed
not thy presence ; I neglected thee while thy eye was upon me. And this
consideration should sting our hearts in all our confessions of our crimes.
Men will be afraid of the presence of others, whatsoever they think in their
heart. How unworthily do we deal with God, in not giving him so much
as an eye-service, which we do man ?
(8.) How terrible should the thoughts of this attribute be to sinners !
How foolish is it to imagine any hiding-place from the incomprehensible
God, who fills and contains all things, and is present in every point of the
world.* When men have shut the door, and made all darkness within, to
meditate or commit a crime, they cannot in the most intricate recesses be
sheltered from the presence of God. If they could separate themselves from
their own shadows, they could not avoid his company, or be obscured from
his sight : Ps. cxxxix. 12, ■ The darkness and light are both alike to him.'
Hypocrites cannot disguise their sentiments from him ; he is in the most
secret nook of their hearts. No thought is hid, no lust is secret, but the
eye of God beholds this, and that, and the other. He is present with our
heart when we imagine, with our hands when we act. We may exclude the
sun from peeping into our solitudes, but not the eyes of God from beholding
our actions. ' The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil
and good,' Prov. xv. 3. He lies in the depths of our souls, and sees afar off
our designs before we have conceived them. He is in the greatest darkness,
as well as the clearest light ; in the closest thought of the mind, as well as
the openest expressions. Nothing can be hid from him; no, not in the
darkest cells or thickest walls. ' He compasseth our path' wherever we are,
and ' is acquainted with all our ways,' Ps. cxxxix. 3. He is as much pre-
sent with wicked men to observe their sins, as he is to detest them. Where
he is present in his essence, he is present in his attributes : his holiness to hate,
and his justice to punish, if he please to speak the word. It is strange men
should not be mindful of this, when their very sins themselves might put them
in mind of his presence. Whence hast thou the power to act ? Who preserves
thy being, whereby thou art capable of committing that evil ? Is it not his
essential presence that sustains us, and his arm that supports us ? And where
can any man fly from his presence ? Not the vast regions of heaven could
shelter a sinning angel from his eye. How was Adam ferreted out of his
hiding-places in paradise ? Nor can we find the depths of the sea a sufficient
covering to us. If we were with Jonah, closeted up in the belly of a whale ;
if we had the wings of the morning, as quick a motion as the light at the
dawning of the day, that doth in an instant surprise and overpower the
regions of darkness, and could pass to the utmost parts of the earth or hell,
there we should find him ; there his eye would be upon us, there would his
hand lay hold of us, and lead us as a conqueror triumphing over a captive,
Ps. cxxxix. 8-10. Nay, if we could leap out of the compass of heaven and
earth, we should find as little reserves from him. He is without the world
in those infinite spaces which the mind of man can imagine. In regard of
his immensity, nothing in being can be distant from him, wheresoever it is.
Use 2 is for comfort. That God is present everywhere, is as much a
comfort to a good man as it is a terror to a wicked one. He is everywhere
for his people, not only by a necessary perfection of his nature, but an im-
mense diffusion of his goodness. He is in all creatures as their preserver,
* Quo fugis, Enceladc ? Quascunque accesscris oras,
Sub Jovo semper eris.
.hi:. XXIII. 24.] Ml. 451
in thfl diimiii '1 as tin ir terror, in hn people I t.rot.-rtor. I f « - fill hell
with his severity, linivrn with liin vith his ^'race. II
trith bin people i >ii ut -itf i in it I'.-inli-n, as manna fan
the iirk. God i mi tii.- uuii i ring of | ition, in the church as
cabinet, a Hprin^ «>:' a..-. ■ •> i « n. A man ii present some
imi.s in hii field, but iii htfully in i.i garden. A fin at it
hath more of <•■ I . an moti i watchful \ tier :
i 'I ili.- Lad ili) k»T|) ir. ins vineyard ; ' I trill water it
• j moment ay bnrl it, I will keep it. nighl
I pratenoe of < • • nee, which is natural, -'» tin i hich
i oee by covi ii.int, ' I will not leave thee, I
thi i Iter depends upon the former, I ri i the immeu
of God, and ?oo leave no fonndatioo Cor Ins univei .ith
his people m all their emerg< ncies, in all their heart ; and, then fore, wl
he "t in hii i DDoi be absent in b from them that
bar him, it ii from hie filling heaven and earth he proves his kn ■•• of the
designs of the false prophets ; and from the same topic may as well
inferred the employment of his power and grace for his people.
l. The omnipresence of God is comfort in all violent temptations]. Mo
fiery dart can be so present with as, as God is pre enl both with that
the marksman. The mosl j devils cannot be so near c to
as and them. Be is pr< sent with his people, to relieve Uu n ;
with the devil, to manage him to his own holy purposes. So he was -
Job, defeating his enemies, and bringing him triumphantly ont of tl
ising trials. This presence is such s terror that, whatsoever the devil
can tl< spoil ns of, he most leave this nntouohed. He might scratch I
itle with a thorn, 2 l ii. 7, '.», but he conld not rifle him of the ;
I divine which God promised him. He must pn vail so far as
to make Qod cease to be God, before he can make him to be distant from
US : and. while this cannot be, the dt-vils and 111.11 can no more hinder the
of God to the soul, than a child can cut off the rays of the sun
from embellishing the earth ; it is no moan support for a good man, at any
buffeted by s messenger of Satan, to think G ir him, and
hcholds how ill he is u-t d. It would bo a satisfaction to a king's favour'
in the midst of the violence some enemies might use to him upon a 1, to
Understand that the king who loves him, stands behind a curtain, and thro
■ Ind,- si,- the injuries he sutlers ; and wore the devil as considering as he
is malicious, he could not but l>o in groat fear at God'.- being in I
of the righteous, as his serpentine seed is: V>. xiv. 5, 'There wi
,r fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous. 1
-. The omnipn « DOS of < k)d is a comfort in sharp atllictions. G
comfort in this pie-, nee in their nasty prisons, oppressing tribunal.-;
in the overflow or scorching flames, he is still with them, 1
xliii. 2 ; and many times, by his presence, keeps the bush from eonsumh .
(US to be ail in a flame. In atllictions, God shews him-, if D
when friends are most absent: 'When my father and mother for-
sake me, then the Lord shall take me up.' Ps. xxvii. 10; then G
p and gather me into his protection ; H<i>. 'shall gather me, 1 alio I
ling Up the rear in the I (oh, t->
re that I ad, and exposed to famine or wild beasts,
by reason of some disease that disenabled them to keep paos with their
brethren, lie that is the sanctuary of his people in all calami:
with tl: mpport them, than their adv. :
with them, to afflict them: Ps* ilvi, ii, *A present help in the time of
452 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
trouble.' He is present with all things for this end ; though his presence
be a necessary presence, in regard of the immensity of his nature, yet the
end of this presence, in regard that it is for the good of his people, is a
voluntary presence. It is for the good of man he is present in the lower
world, and principally for the good of his people, for whose sake he keeps
up the world : 2 Chron. xvi. 9, ' His eyes run to and fro throughout the
whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is
perfect towards him.' If he doth not deliver good men from afflictions, he
will be so present as to manage them in them, as that his glory shall issue
from them, and their grace be brightened by them.*
What a man was Paul, when he was lodged in a prison, or dragged to the
courts of judicature ; when he was torn with rods, or laden with chains !
Then did he shew the greatest miracles, made the judge tremble upon the
bench, and break the heart, though not the prison, of the jailor, — so power-
ful is the presence of God in the pressures of his people. This presence
outweighs all other comforts, and is more valuable to a Christian than barns
of corn or cellars of wine can be to a covetous man, Ps. iv. 7. It was this
presence was David's cordial in the mutinying of his soldiers, 1 Sam. xxx. 6.
What a comfort is this in exile, or a forced desertion of our habitations !
Good men may be banished from their country, but never from the presence
of their protector ; ye cannot say of any corner of the earth, or of any
dungeon in a prison, God is not here. If you were cast out of your country
a thousand miles off, you are not out of God's precinct, his arm is there to
. cherish the good, as well as to drag out the wicked ; it is the same God, the
same presence in every country, as well as the same sun, moon, and stars ;
and were not God everywhere, yet he could not be meaner than his creature,
the sun in the firmament, which visits every part of the habitable world in
twenty-four hours.
3. The omnipotence f of God is a comfort in all duties of worship. He
is present to observe, and present to accept our petitions, and answer our
suits. Good men have not only the essential presence, which is common to
all, but his gracious presence ; not only the presence that flows from his
nature, but that which flows from his promise ; his essential presence makes
no difference between this and that man in regard of spirituals, without this
in conjunction with it ; his nature is the cause of the presence of his
essence ; his will, engaged by his truth, is the cause of the presence of his
grace. He promised to meet the Israelites in the place where he should set
his name, and in all places where he doth record it : Exod. xx. 24, ' In all
places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee ; '
in every place where I shall manifest the special presence of my divinity.
In all places hands maybe lifted up, without doubting of his ability to hear;
he dwells in the ' contrite hearts,' Isa. Ivii. 15, wherever it is most in- the
exercise of contrition, which is usually in times of special worship ; and that
to revive and refresh them. Habitation notes a special presence ; though
he dwell in the highest heavens, in the sparklings of his glory, he dwells
also in the lowest hearts in the beams of his grace ; as none can expel him
from his dwelling in heaven, so none can reject him from his residence in
the heart. The tabernacle had his peculiar presence fixed to it, Levit.
xxvi. 11 ; his soul should not abhor them as they are washed by Christ,
though they are loathsome by sin. In a greater dispensation there cannot
be a less presence, since tho church, under the New Testament, is called
the temple of tho Lord, wherein lie will both dwell and walk: 2 Cor. vi. 16,
or, ' I will indwell them ; ' as if ho should say, I will dwell in and in them ;
* Cbrysostom. -f- Qu. 'oinnipreseuce ? ' — Ed.
Will. '21.
1 uill dwell in them by bm them I
will be more intimate with then Iota Ihoif i ltn
i :is the livii . i.f. as a God thai bath life in 1 to
OODVi y lii tin-in in tin Mr <• h lnm ; nn I hIi piritual gl
iinmiij; til. Ill in 'imt WIS
.in, I ti.. I church, the mystical I
Ins Son. 1 1 is j.r, not I- I in tin* l. was in 1
shadow ; tl. li i, in his ordinal iiurrh,
IIS tin- jUesenee <>t' u IvlMiJ is tin- L, too, SS a
Will ,.! li. ii. .'», ulimlin" t.i tin- lire travrll-rs in a vrildernefl
to ti i [hi .1 1 be ists. It ii oof the i ice of i
sxclode him ; the looond temple wm not las tin- t. '.
. an 1 ill, .1. , : , .III til ill I",-, I
..•nn. I, as they had in the Ant, because they thonghl it -
>od for the entertainment of him that inhabil bntG rta
them ineett again and again : Hag. ii. 8, 4, ' B<
beBtrnii'. i on with you; 1 khemeanneei of the place ahall not hinder I
lent of iii\ ■ . No matt i it I the p
chamber of the King, wherein hewillmvoui our suit
^ 1 it it* into <>ur Bonle with s perpetnal sweel sbero, ai I
so intimate with every one thai ban him. li" we should »G I • irth
in his amiableneai, as Moses did, should we noi he eneoa I by his
pteei one, I i pn « at onr n qu< iti to him, to echo oral our pi I him "
: have wi no I now tq do it. iinee he 'Tit
with »is, as if he wen viail .' Se is in ti: • room with
near to us as our BOnli to our hodies ; not a WOfd but he bean, DOl ■ motion
but he tees, noi ■ breath but he perceiTei ; he ii through all, ho is in all.
i. The omni] I i ii ■ comfort in all speeial aerfiei Qod
'its any upon a hanl task, hut ho makes promises to. i] • thorn
P the promise ie that of hie pretence.
ho tli.l | the prophetl of Old When he sot them difficult tasks; and
strengthened M oust the face of Pharaoh, by assnring him he would
i his month, 1 Bxod. iv. L2; and when Christ pot his ape ^on
a cont.-st with the whole world, to preach a gospel that would be fo olishne ss
to the On ska, and a itumbling-bloek to the Jews, he gives them a cordial
only composed of his presence : list, xxviii. '20, ' I will be with you.' It
i« this • Iters, by its Light, the darkness of our spirits; it is U
that is | a Of what is dune for his glory in the world: it is this I
iniii If with all that is done for his honour; it is this from whence
springs all the uoe of his en marked out mi -es.
■ >. i nil I o ii not without th- 1 his attrih
When • is, his perfections an, because they an one with his
they aro his essence, though they have their several decrees
i^\ : in the Covenant, he makes over himself as our <>
ill of himself, but his whole deity ; so, in promising of his preeei
he • fit, hut the whole, the presence of all the exoellen
of his na'ure to DC manifested for our good. It is not a ]>ieoe of < I
and another, panel then, but God in bis who md perl ; in
r to iteet and m] ■ ort us. 1.
pit; . r,^, and his e;oodi He is
irkle nut in this Off that pel
>wn honour ; so that \<-
a us in any I I »Ueney of his natnn . IB quickly have recourse to
him npon any em er g en cy; if we an mil
454 charnock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
his goodness ; if we want direction, we have the presence of his wisdom ; if we
are weak, we have the presence of his power ; and should we not rejoice in it, as
a man doth in the presence of a powerful, wealthy, and compassionate friend ?
Use 3. Of exhortation.
1. Let us be much in the actual thoughts of his truth. How should we
enrich our understandings with the knowledge of the excellency of God,
whereof this is none of the least ; nor hath less of honey in its bowels,
though it be more terrible to the wicked than the presence of a lion ! It is
this that makes all other excellencies of the divine nature sweet. What
would grace, wisdom, power, signify at a distance from us ? Let us frame
in our minds a strong idea of it ; it is this makes so great a difference be-
tween the actions of one man and another ; one maintains actual thoughts
of it, another doth not, though all believe it as a perfection pertaining to
the infiniteness of his essence. David, or rather a greater than David, had
God ' always before him ;' there was no time, no occasion, wherein he did
not stir up some lively thoughts of him, Ps. xvi. 8. Let us have right
notions of it : imagine not God as a great king, sitting only in his majesty
in heaven, acting all by his servants and ministers. This, saith one,* is a
childish and unworthy conceit of God, and may in time bring such a con-
ceiver by degrees to deny his providence. The denial of this perfection is
an axe at the root of religion ; if it be not deeply imprinted in the mind,
personal religion grows faint and feeble. Who would fear that God that is
not imagined to be a witness of his actions ? Who would worship a God
at a distance both from the worship and worshipper ? f Let us believe this
truth, but not with an idle faith, as if we did not believe it. Let us know
that as wheresoever the fish moves, it is in the water ; wheresoever the bird
moves, it is in the air ; so wheresoever we move, we are in God. As there
is not a moment but we are under his mercy, so there is not a moment that
we are out of his presence. Let us therefore look upon nothing without
thinking who stands by, without reflecting upon him in whom it lives, moves,
and hath its being. When you view a man, you fix your eyes upon his
body, but your mind upon that invisible part that acts every member by life
and motion, and makes them fit for your converse. Let us not bound our
thoughts to the creatures we see, but pierce through the creature to that
boundless God we do not see. We have continual remembrancers of his
presence ; the light whereby we see, and the air whereby we live, give us
perpetual notices of it, and some weak resemblance. Why should we forget
it ? Yea, what a shame is our unmindfulness of it, when every cast of our
eye, every motion of our lungs, jogs us to remember it. Light is in every
part of the air, in every part of the world, yet not mixed with any ; both
remain entire in their own substance. Let us not be worse than some of
the heathens, who pressed this notion upon themselves for the spiriting
their actions with virtue, that all places were full of God. J This was the
means Basil used to prescribe. Upon a question was asked him, How shall
we do to be serious ? Mind God's presence. How shall we avoid distrac-
tions in service ? Think of God's presence. How shall we resist tempta-
tions ? Oppose to them the presence of God.
(1.) This will be a shield against all temptations. God is present, is
enough to blunt the weapons of hell ; this will secure us from a ready com-
pliance with any baso and vile attractives, and curb that head-strong prin-
ciple in our nature that would join hands with them. The thoughts of this
would, like the powerful presonce of God with the Israelites, take off the
wheels from the chariots of our sensitive appetites, and make them perhaps
* Musculus. | Drexel. X Omnia Diis plena.
XXIII. 21. 000 S oMMJ'UI >|.M i:. 455
move slower :it l.:ist t ft temptation. How did Peter fl. the
temptation whieh had wonted bimf Upon •<*■ look from Ohrist. The ae-
boated faith ol thi i would stifle thi darti i . and lire 01 with an an
• > I i i - 1 1 . 1 1 M the fire that inflamei the darti. Bfo
Ins eight of ' li i in that was invisible' itrengthened him against the costly
pleasures and luxurios of a prinee'scooj ,H 27i •• ft utt.-rh
of i Deity if W6 an do! mofod with this turn from om t God
irsmt. Had our til aetoally considered the nearneei of I
|0 them when they were tempted to cut of tin- forbidden fruit, tin v had not
probably so easily Iiimmi overcome hv tin- t< mptation. \\ >ldier woold
i . i) li;is,. ;is to revolt under tin* v) ■ tender and ol oeral ? 01
what man so negligent of himself as to rob a honse ifl the light of :i jod
I der thai < tod ii 1 1 Dear to I to aolioit
y, i, ; i rer, The devil rtandi by us, bnl G VYe may have >•
thonghl the devil knows ?i<>t, but not ■ thooghi bnt God ii actually pre*
With, as our souls arc with the thoughts they think j DOT ean ||
attract our heart, it' our minds WON fixed on tint iir.i-ihi- thai
to ili:ii excellency, and sustains it, and OOllSJciorod that DO
creatine could he so present with us as the Cr, ;,t. r i .
ffl.) It will be a spur to holy actions. What man would do an unworthy
m, or Bpeak an onhandionie word in the preienee of his prinee 1 The
aye of the general intlamcs the spirit of a loldier. Why did David 'keep
God's teetimoniei 9 ' Beoanae he oonaidered that * nil Ins wi
him, 1 Pi. exix. L68 : beeaoae he was peranaded bii • nt with
God, God's preoepti should be present with him. The same was tin
of Job'i integrity ; * doth he not see my ways?' Job xxxi. 4 ; to ha
in our eye is the way to he sincere, ' walk before me,' as in my light, ' and
be thou perfect,' (Jen. xvii. 1. Communion with God eoniieta chiefly in an
ordering our ways as in the pre* nee of him that is invisible. This would
make us spiritual, raised and watchful in all our passions, if we considered
that (iod is present with us in our shops, in our chambers, in our walks,
and in our meetings, as present with us as with the angels in heaven; who
thongh they have a presence of glory above us, yet have not a great* r
meaanre of his essential presence than we have. What an awe had Jai
upon him when he considered God was present in Bethel, Gen. xxviu. 16,
17. It' God should appear visibly to us when we were alone, should we not
bo reverent and serious before him ? God is everywhere about us, he doth
MimrmpanB us with his presence; should not God's seeing have the same
inllueiice upon us as our seeing God ? He is not more essentially present
if he should so manifest himself to us, than when he doth not ; who would
appear Iwmneinul in the presence of a great person f or not be, ashamed to
'inid in his chamber in a nasty posture, by some visitant '.' Would not
a man blush to be catehed about some mean action, though it were not an
immoral crime '.' It' this truth were impressed upon our spirits, we should
more blush to have our souls daubed with some loathsome lust, swarms of
sin, hk. I :i lie and bogs, creeping about our heart in bis sight. If
the mosi . il man be ashamed to do a dishonest action in the Bight of
a grave and holy man, one of gnat reputation lor wisdom ami integrity,
bow much more should we lift up ourselves in the ways of God, WD
infinite and immense, is everywhere, and infinitely superior t<> m
mote to be regarded I We could not seriously think of his presence, bat
ronld pass some intoi somas between us; we should be potting np
some ] station upon the sense of our indigence, or sending np onr \ •
him upon the sense of his bounty. The actual thoughts of the presence of
456 chaknock's works. [Jer. XXIII. 24.
God is the life and spirit of all religion ; we could not have sluggish spirits
and a careless watch if we considered that his eye is upon us all the day.
(3.) It will quell distractions in worship. The actual thoughts of this
would establish our thoughts, and pull them back when they begin to rove ;
the mind could not boldly give God the slip if it had lively thoughts of it ;
the consideration of this would blow off all the froth that lies on the top of
our spirits. An eye taken up with the presence of one object is not at
leisure to be filled with another ; he that looks intently upon the sun shall
have nothing for a while but the sun in his eye. Oppose to every intruding
thought the idea of the divine omnipresence, and put it to silence by the
awe of his majesty. When the master is present, scholars mind their books,
keep their places, and run not over the forms to play with one another ;
the master's eye keeps an idle servant to his work, that otherwise would be
gazing at every straw, and prating to every passenger. How soon would
the remembrance of this dash all extravagant fancies out of countenance,
just as the news of the approach of a prince would make the courtiers bustle
up themselves, huddle up their vain sports, and prepare themselves for a
reverent behaviour in his sight. We should not dare to give God a piece of
our heart, w ? hen we apprehend him present with the whole ; we should not dare
to mock one that we knew w r ere more inwards with us than we are with our-
selves, and that beheld every motion of our mind as well as action of our body.
Let us endeavour for the more special and influential presence of God.
Let the essential presence of God be the ground of our awe, and his gracious
influential presence the object of our desire. The heathen thought them-
selves secure if they had their little petty household gods with them in their
journeys ; such seem to be the images Rachel stole from her father, Gen.
xxxi. 19, to accompany her travel with their blessings ; she might not at
that time have cast off all respect to those idols, in the acknowledgment of
which she had been educated from her infancy ; and they seem to be kept
by her till God called Jacob to Bethel, after the rape of Dinah, Gen. xxxv.
4, when Jacob called for the strange gods, and hid them under the oak.
The gracious presence of God we should look after in our actions, as
travellers ihat have a charge of money or jewels, desire to keep themselves
in company that may protect them from highwaymen that would rifle them.
Since we have the concerns of the eternal happiness of our souls upon our
hands, we should endeavour to have God's merciful and powerful presence
with us in all our ways : Prov. iii. 6, ' In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths ;' acknowledge him before any action by
imploring ; acknowledge him after, by rendering him the glory ; acknow-
ledge his presence before worship, in worship, after worship. It is this
presence makes a kind of heaven upon earth, causeth affliction to put off the
nature of misery. How much will the presence of the sun outshine the
stars of lesser comforts, and fully answer the want of them ! The ark of
God going before us can only make all things successful. It was this led
the Israelites over Jordan, and settled them in Canaan. Without this, we
signify nothing ; though we live without this, we cannot be distinguished for
ever from devils ; his essential presence they have, and if we have no more,
wo shall be no better. It is the enlivening, fructifying presence of the sun
that revives the languishing earth, and this only can repair our ruined soul.
Let it be therefore our desire, that as he fills heaven and earth by his
essence, he may fill our understandings and wills by his grace ; that we may
have another kind of presence with us than animals have in their brutish
state, or devils in their chains ; his essential presence maintains our beings,
but his gracious presence confers and continues a happiness.
A DISCOURSE ITtiN GOD'S KNOWLEDGE.
•it it <>ur Jjordy nihl of great potter: hit understanding it infinite. —
!' •.: i CXIA II. :,.
T r is iiTuvrf iin who wu tin- author of this psalm, and i ':■ d it was pem
Bom6 think after the return from the Babylonish captivity. I -aim of
praise, ami is made up of matter of praise from the beginning to the end:
God's benefits to the church, his providence oyer In. c
( icellencj o( liis nature.
The pealmist donblei his i tiou to prai : ver. l. ']
the Lord) sing praise to our God:' to praise him from his dominion
/ i ••/ ; from liis graee and m< i; from thi
duty itself, 'it is good, it is comely.' Some read it <<nnehj, some J
desirable, from the various derivation of the word.
aing doth so much delight a gracious soul, as an opportunity of oelebrai-
the perfections and goodness of the Creator.
The higheel duties a creature can render to the Creafa pleasanl and
ditful in themselves, 'it is comely.' Praise is a duty that the
whole soul.
The praise of God is a decent thing, the excellency of G iture
it, and the benefits of God 1 requires it.
It is comely when done as it ought to be, with the heart as well as with
the voice ; a sinner sings ill though his voice be good, the soul in it i
be el rated above earthly things.
The first matter of praise is God's erecting and preserving his church :
v,r. l\ • Ti. !. I doth buildup Jerusalem; he gathers together the ont-
EsraeL 1 The walls of demolished Jerusalem are now re-edified;
I I hath brought back the captivity of Jacob, and reduced his p
r Babylonish exile ; and those that were di
1 to their habitations. Or it may be prophetic of th<
oft! I . and the gathering the outcasts of the Bpiritual Israel, I
ire* as without God in 'hi. and strangers to the «
promise. I I be praised, but especially for building op his ahurefa
and gathering the Gentili . counted as outcasts, 1-.:. xL 1-:
gSihi El them in this world to the faith, and henat:< I
I ' . 1 . Kroni the two tirst \«
1. Ail i Opk are under lied's ;icular regard fa
458 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
church. This is the signet on his hand, as a bracelet upon his arm ; this is
his garden, which he delights to dress ; if he prunes it, it is to purge it ; if he
digs about his vine and wounds the branches, it is to make it more beautiful
with new clusters, and restore it to a fruitful vigour.
2. All great deliverances are to be ascribed to God, as the principal
author, whosoever are the instruments. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem,
he gathers together the outcasts of Israel. This great deliverance from
Babylon is not to be ascribed to Cyrus or Darius, or the rest of our favour-
ers ; it is the Lord that doth it, we had his promise for it, we have now his
performance. Let us not ascribe that which is the effect of his truth, only
to the good- will of men ; it is God's act, ' not by might, nor by power,' nor
by weapons of war, or strength of horses, ' but by the Spirit of the Lord.'
He sent prophets to comfort us while we were exiles, and now he hath
stretched out his own arm to work our deliverance according to his word ;
blind man looks so much upon instruments, that he hardly takes notice of
God, either in afflictions or mercies ; and this is the cause that robs God of
so much prayer and praise in the world.
Verse 3, ' He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.' He
hath now restored those who had no hope but in his word ; he hath dealt
with them as a tender and skilful chirurgeon, he hath applied his curing
plasters, and dropped in his sovereign balsams ; he hath now furnished
our fainting hearts with refreshing cordials, and comforted our wounds with
strengthening ligatures.
How gracious is God, that restores liberty to the captives, and righteous-
ness to the penitent ! Man's misery is the fittest opportunity for God to
make his mercy illustrious in itself, and most welcome to the patient.
He proceeds, verse 4. Wonder not that God calls together the outcasts,
and singles them out from every corner for a return ; why can he not do this,
as well as ' tell the number of the stars, and call them all by their names ' ?
There are none of his people so despicable in the eye of man, but they
are known and regarded by God. Though they are clouded in the world, yet
they are the stars of the world ; and shall God number the inanimate stars
in the heavens, and make no account of his living stars on the earth ? No ;
wherever they are dispersed, he will not forget them; however they are
afflicted, he will not despise them. The stars are so numerous that they are
innumerable by man ; some are visible and known by men, others lie more
hid and undiscovered in a confused light, as those in the milky way; man
cannot see one of them distinctly.
God knows all his people. As he can do what is above the power of man
to perform, so he understands what is above the skill of man to discover.
Shall man measure God by his scantiness ? Proud man must not equal
himself to God, nor cut God as short as his own line.
1 He tells the number of the stars ; and calls them all by their names.'
He hath them all in his list, as generals the names of their soldiers in their
muster-roll, for they are his host, which he marshals in the heavens, as Isa.
xl. 2G, where you have the like expression ; he knows them more distinctly
than man can know anything, and so distinctly as to ' call them all by their
names.' He knows their names, that is, their natural offices, influences, the
different degrees of heat and light, their order and motion ; and all of them,
the least glimmering star as well as the most glaring planet, this man cannot
do : ' Tell the stars if thou be able to number them,' Gen. xv. 5, saith God
to Abraham (whom Josephus represents as a great astronomer) ; yea, they
cannot be numbered, Jer. xxxiii. 22, and the uncertainty of the opinions of
men evidenceth their ignorance of their number, some reckoning 1022,
P . CXLYII. 5.] MD'l knoui.i i
nth. i h »•.».-,. ,,•!,, ,■ inns, ,,11,,-r t.iimi.i,, that, by reason of their
mixtui.- of In-lit with ••iif another, ramiol ned, and otl
p< rluiji it lni'li a , nut tu In- i. .nil. .1 |i\ i i.l iiiiiu. Tu iiiiji".-. nan
on things, iin.l n.unoH according to their Dal
power and dominion, and of wisdom and m from the im]
ol ii. mi. upon the creatures b Adam ii generally
ooneludud, and it wan ul n u fruil of thai dominion liod allowed bin o
tin- cnutun- . Now In- (lint iiumh. is :iml nam. tin . that M<m t« <
Oonfusi .| union mother, Si v% « - 1 1 a- 1 1 * « • appear l<» u.i in un un-
olonded night, ma) well be mippo >.l accurate il -. i. know pie, the
1 n i k iii-' in in. I I. ii
their deliverance ; tin- on. . to him us thr other, and the Dumber
of the odo h^ distinctly known by him u~ the mnltitnde <»t thi
our lii.nl, :iii<l ol "great power : 1 • ■
infinite. 1 Ele wants Dot knowledge to know the ohjeel , d<
effect his will c(>noerning them. Of great power, ro 2D. .Muni
pit i it. ous in power ; to the word 3"i ii rendered, Ps. lxxxri. 6. L6, HDn 2").
A multitude of power, us well us u multitude of DM n • ; ■ | that ex-
ceeds ull created power und understanding.
' lh> ondentanding is infinite.' You may do! ■» wft (p f> « how he ••un eal]
all the itan by Dame, the mnltitnde ol visible being and the
multitude of the inviaible being greater j but you must knon thai I Lie
almighty, bo he is omniscient ; und at tin re if do end of hi • do
• unit can exactly be given of bit Dnderstanding : • hia Dnderstandm
infinite,' ^I)DD PR No number ox account ofitj and so the Bam
ire rendered, Joel i. 6, * A nation strong, and without number. '
of bifl Dnderstanding j Syrtae, no meaeore, no hounds. II i in-
finite, and so ae hk power und Dnderstanding; and vast ifl bifl knowled
thai Wfl can DO luoiv comprehend it. than Wfl ran in. a-i. - that STS
without limits, or t « - 1 1 the inuiut.-s or bonxfl ol eternity. A o then
futhoiu thai whereof there ifl do Dumber, hut which exm i ds all, so that tl.
is do loarnhing of it out ? He knows aniyersals, he knows particulars. We
must not take Dnderstanding, nj13n, here, as Doting a faculty, but the
of the Dnderstanding in the knowledge of things, und the judgment in the
eon-id. -ration of them, and so it is often Dfled.
In the verse there is a description of God.
1. In his essence: 'great is our Lord.'
"2. In his power: 'of great power. 1
8. In his knowledge: 'his Dnderstanding ifl infinite;' his understand-
ing hi bis eye, and his power is his arm. Of his infinite understanding I
am to discos
/'■<'. God hath an infinite knowledge and understanding ; allknowl
Omnipn . which before we Bpake "f, respecta bifl essence; oiniuscienoe
r. -j.. otfl bifl ondentanding, aooording to our manner oi conception.
Thia is clear in Scripture; hence God is culled ■ God of knowled
l Bam. ii. B, ' The Lord is a God of knowledge; 1 Bee, 'knowledges,' in the
phxral Dumber, of all kind of knowledge. It is spoken there to aueU man's
pride in his own reason und parte. Whal is the knowledge of man bul i
rk to the whole element of fire, ■ grain of dust, and worse than Dotbii .
in oompariflon of the knowledge of God, as bifl osaonoa is in comparison of
the essence of (iod '.' All kind of knowledge. He SHOWS what angeld ki.
Whal man knows, und iiitimterv more ; he knOWfl himself, his own
all hlfl cnatuies, the notions und thoughts of tluin ; he ifl anderstai
above Dndexstanding, niind above mind, the mind of minds, the light of
460 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
lights ; this the Greek word &dg signifies in the etymology of it, of 0£/<fta/*
to see, to contemplate ; and dal/xuv of haica sclo. The names of God signify
a nature viewing and piercing all things ; and the attribution of our senses
to God in Scripture, as hearing and seeing, which are the senses whereby
knowledge enters into us, signifies God's knowledge.
1. The notion of God's knowledge of all things lies above the ruins of
nature : it was not obliterated by the fall of man. It was necessary offend-
ing man was to know that he had a Creator whom he had injured, that he
had a Judge to try and punish him ; since God thought fit to keep up the
world, it had been kept up to no purpose, had not this notion been continued
alive in the minds of men ; there would not have been any practice of his
laws, no bar to the worst of crimes. If men had thought they had to deal
with an ignorant Deity, there could be no practice of religion. Who would
lift up his eyes, or spread his hand towards heaven, if he imagined his devo-
tion were directed to a God as blind as the heathens imagined fortune ? To
what boot would it be for them to make heaven and earth resound with their
cries, if they had not thought God had an eye to see them and an ear to
hear them ? And indeed the very notion of a God at the first blush speaks
him a being endued with understanding ; no man can imagine a Creator
void of one of the noblest perfections belonging to those creatures that are
the flower and cream of his works.
2. Therefore all nations acknowledge this, as well as the existence and
being of God. No nation but had their temples, particular ceremonies of
worship, and presented their sacrifices, which they could not have been so
vain as to do, without an acknowledgement of this attribute. This notion
of God's knowledge owed not its rise to tradition, but to natural implanta-
tion ; it was born and grew up with every rational creature. Though the
several nations and men of the world agreed not in one kind of Deity, or in
their sentiments of his nature or other perfections, some judging him
clothed with a fine and pure body, others judging him an uncompounded
spirit, some fixing him to a seat in the heavens, others owning his univer-
sal presence in all parts of the world, yet they all agreed in the universality
of his knowledge ; and their own consciences reflecting their crimes, un-
known to any but themselves, would keep this notion in some vigour whether
they would or no. Now this being implanted in the minds of all men by
nature, cannot be false, for nature imprints not in the minds of all men an
assent to a falsity. Nature w r ould not pervert the reason and minds of men.
Universal notions of God are from original, not lapsed nature, and preserved
in mankind in order to a restoration from a lapsed state. The heathens did
acknowledge this ; in all the solemn covenants, solemnised with oaths and
the invocation of the name of God, this attribute was supposed. f They
confessed knowledge to be peculiar to the Deity ; Scientia Deorum vita,
saith Cicero. Some called him Noug, mens, mind, pure understanding,
without any mote ; 'EToVr?jr, the inspector of all. As they called him Life,
because he was the author of life, so they called him Intellectns, because he
was the author of all knowledge and understanding in his creatures. And
one being asked, Whether any man could be hid from God ? No, saith he,
not so much as thinking. Some call him the Eye of the world,! an ^ ^ ne
*Qu 'SiStfJa/'?— ED.
t Agamemnon (Homer II. 3. v. 277), making a covenant with Priam, invocates
the sun : —
'lUXioc y o£ iruvr epogug x.ui navr eVaxoiis/;.
X Gamach in 1 Pa. Aquin. q. 14. cap. i. p. 119.
Pm. OXLVIL 5«] OOtVl EMOU i.i i )i;i
I by n eye on the lop oft seeptre, beeaftje God
if all eye, and oan be ignorant of aothing.*
Ami the iiiir nation mad tin; rm II. nt m<
eonaeorating tbem to <<"d, and banging Lbem ap in the mid I of kl
temples, in igninoation of i ind hearing all thing ; hence I
call.d (i,xl ii ■■in. as w.ll us the Sci iplm «•, h. ran .• all thin
ltim.
For the better understanding of this, we will inqc
I . \\ bal kind of knowledge 01 audi c tandio I.
II. \\ bal ( '"'I knows.
III. How ( nnl knows thin
I \ . The proof thai Ck>d knows all thii
\ . i of all to 0:1
I. \\ hat kind of onderstanding or knowledge there is in God.
The knowledge of God in Scripture hath various nan. , the
furious relationi or objoeti of it. [nn ipeet of pretmt things, il called
knowledge orsighi ; in reaped of things post, remembn
things I'litm, i, or to oome, it is ealled foreknowledge or | |
i. il. In regard of the aniveraalitj of the ohjeoi . U i ealled omni
in regard of the simple onderstanding of things, it is ealled knowledge ; in
ird of acting and modelling the ways of actii .
prudence, Eph, i. 8, Be most bave knowledge, otherwise he could no!
wise; wisdom is the flower of knowledge, and knowled
wisdom.
As to what this knowledge is, if we know what knowledge is in man, we
may apprehend whaj it is in God, removing all imperfection iron:
ibing to him the most eminent way of onderstanding ; because we ean-
eomprehend God, but as he is pleased to condescend to as in bis own
ways of discovery, — thai is, under some way of similitude to hi- j
creatun 9, -therefore we have a notion of God by his onderstanding and will :
understanding, whereby he conceives and apprehends things ; will, s
1.. 1 tt ads himself in acting, according to his wisdom, and whereby i
approve or disapprove. Yet, we must not measure his understanding by
our own. or think it to be of so gross a temper as a created mind; ti
hath 'eyes of A sh,' or ' sees or knows as man Bees, 1 Job \. I. \\V can no
more meaton his knowledge by ours, than we can measure bis ■ by
our essence. As be hath an incomprehensibli essence, to which ours is but
(i of a bucket, so he hath an incomprehensible knowledgi , to which
- is but :■ rin of dust, or mere darkm as. ' His thoughts
our thoughts, as the heavens are above the earth.'
e knowledge of God is variously divided by the schools, and acknow-
ledged by all divin. .
1. A knowledge vision** ttnmpHcii bttelUgentia ; the one we mav call s
sight, the othi r an understanding ; the one refers to sense, the other to the
mind.
(1). k knowledge of vision or sight Thus God knows himself and all
tilings that really W . or shall be in time: all those things which
i to be, though they an not yet actually sprang up in
but lie couchant in their cai;
[•2*. A knowledge of mteltigenee, or simple understandi]
tliis is not things that are in b that shall by any d , r
bo SI in the world, but such things a>are possible to be wrought bv tiio
* Clem. Alezand. Strom, lib. vi.
462 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
power of God, though they shall never in the least peep up into being, but
lie for ever wrapt up in darkness and nothing.* This also is a necessary
knowledge to be allowed to God, because the object of this knowledge is
necessary. The possibility of more creatures than ever were or shall be, is
a conclusion that hath a necessary truth in it, as it is necessary that the
power of God can produce more creatures, though it be not necessary that
it should produce more creatures ; so it is necessary that whatsoever the
power of God can work, is possible to be. And as God knows this possi-
bility, so he knows all the objects that are thus possible ; and herein doth
much consist the infiniteness of his knowledge, as shall be shewn presently.
These two kinds of knowledge differ. That of vision is of things which
God hath decreed to be, though, they are not yet. That of intelligence is of
things which never shall be, yet they may be, or are possible to be, if God
please to will and order their being ; one respects things that shall be, the
other, things that may be, and are not repugnant to the nature of God to
be. The knowledge of vision follows the act of God's will, and supposeth
an act of God's will before, decreeing things to be. (If we could suppose
any first or second in God's decree, we might say God knew them as pos-
sible before he decreed them ; he knew them as future because he decreed
them.) For without the will of God decreeing a thing to come to pass, God
cannot know that it will infallibly come to pass. But the knowledge of
intelligence stands without any act of his will, in order to the being of those
things he knows. He knows possible things only in his power ; he knows
other things both in his power, as able to effect them, and in his will, as
determining the being of them. Such knowledge we must grant to be in
God, for there is such a kind of knowledge in man ; for man doth not only
know and see what is before his eyes in this world, but he may have a concep-
tion of many more worlds, and many more creatures, which he knows are
possible to the power of God.
2. Secondly, There is a speculative and practical knowledge in God.
(1). A speculative knowledge is, when the truth of a thing is known
without a respect to any working or practical operation. The knowledge of
things possible is in God only speculative, f and some say God's knowledge
of himself is only speculative, because there is nothing for God to work in
himself. And, though he knows himself, yet this knowledge of himself doth
not terminate there, but flowers into a love of himself, and delight in him-
self ; vet this love of himself, and delight in himself, is not enough to make
it a practical knowledge, because it is natural, and naturally and necessarily
flows from the knowledge of himself and his own goodness. He cannot but
love himself, and delight in himself, upon the knowledge of himself. But
that which is properly practice is where there is a dominion over the action,
and it is wrought, not naturally and necessarily, but in a way of freedom
and counsel. As when we see a beautiful flower or other thing, there
ariseth a delight in the mind ; this no man will call practice, because it is
a natural affection of the will, arising from the virtue of the object, without
any consideration of the understanding in a practical manner, by counselling,
commanding, &c.
(2.) A practical knowledge, which tends to operation and practice, and is
the principle of working about things that are known, as the knowledge an
artificer hath in an art or mystery. This knowledge is in God. The know-
ledge he hath of the things he hath decreed, is such a kind of knowledge,
for it terminates in the act of creation, which is not a natural and necessary-
act, as the loving himself and delighting in himself is, but wholly free ; for
* Suarez de Deo, lib. iii. cap. iv. p. 230. t Ibid. p. 138.
!' . ('XLVI I. NOWZJU
it whs ut his liberty whether he would create them or no. Thii ii sailed
tretion : Jor. z. 12, ' He bath tretehed out tb heavens by his «.'
Such also is his knowledge of the things be bath bicfa are in
being, for it terminates In the go?< rnmenl of them foe Ins own glorion
[| \ by this knowledge * the depth ken up, and th. drop do
their de* , Prov, iii. 20. Th i i kno
qaalil id prop i wh.it he oreafa i, ai
ry, and the o immon ■' the world over which be p n that
iiilativo know led G 11 and th
knowledge if hii kno* itures and tl rnable;
m • . .it, this practical knowledgo is nol only of things thai
hut i ible, which 1 ■ • • • J might ma
us he knows tlmt tn.\ can be I, bo be knows how the
civ it: i, and bou to be governed, thoogh be never will creal Thie
is ■ practical knowledge | far it- is not requisite to eon Litnteakno
practioal, actually to act, hut that the knowledge in itself I
action.
::. Thi re is i knowledge of approbation, as well as apprehension* This
the Scripture often mentions. Words of understanding are signify
the a ki of affection. This knowledge adds to the simple aol of the under-
ling, the complacency and pleasure of the will, and is improperly know-
e, because it belongs to the will, and not to the onderstanding ; only it
is radically in the onderstanding, b cause affection implies knowled '•■ : men
cannot approve of that which they are Ignorant of. Thus knowledge is tain
Amos iii. '2, ' You only have I known of all the families of the earth ;' and
2 Tun. ii. 19, 'The Lord knows who are his,' that is, he loves them: he
doth not only know them, hut acknowledge them for Ins own. It notes
only an exact onderstanding, hut a special ears of them ; ai I that to
n. i. 81, ■ Gh d saw everything that he had made,
behold it was very good :' that is, lie saw it with an eye of approbation, as
well as apprehension. This is grounded upon God's knowledge' of vision,
his sight of liis creatures ; for God doth not love or delight in anything
what is actually in being, or what hi; hath decreed to bring into being. On
contrary also, when God doth not approve, ho is said not to know : M •.
xxv. 12, 'I know you not;' and Mat. \ ii. 23, ' 1 never knew you.' He doth
not approve of their works. It is not an ignorance of understanding, hut an
■ ranee of will ; for whiles he saith he never knew them, he testifies that
lid know them, in rendering the reason of his disapproving them, beca
he knows all their works. So he knows them, ami doth not know them, in
a different manner ; he knows them so as to understand them, but he doth
not know them i love them.
We must then ascrihe an universal knowledge to God. If we deny him a
knowledge, or knowledge of intelligence, we destroy his d
.e him ignorant of his own power. If we deny him practical kno
deny OUrseffeS to he his creatures ; for as his creatures, we are the f:
of this his • 'Vert d in creation. If we deny his know
deny his governing dominion. How can he <
and uneontrollahle dominion, that is ignorant of tho nature and qualities of
the things he i If he bad not knowledge, he could mafc
; he that knows not, cannot dictate : we could then have no
B T> deny (iol knowledge, is to dash out the Scripture
ilish the Deity.
God is described in Zech. ii. 0, wit!: hew hi-
* Suaivz ds lAo, 1. iii. c. iv. p. 1 P. 1 .
464 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
knowledge of all things, all occurrences in the world ; and the cherubims, or
whatsoever is meant by the wings, are described to be ' full of eyes both
before and behind,' Ezek. i. 18, round about them ; much more is God all
eye, all ear, all understanding. The sun is a natural image of God. If the
sun had an eye, it would see ; if it had an understanding, it would know all
visible things ; it would see what it shines upon, and understand what it
influenceth in the most obscure bowels of the earth. Doth God excel his
creature the sun in excellency and beauty, and not in light and understanding ?
Certainly more than the sun excels an atom or grain of dust.
We may yet make some representation of this knowledge of God by a lower
thing, a picture, which seems to look upon every one, though there be never
so great a multitude in the room where it hangs. No man can cast his eye
upon it, but it seems to behold him in particular, and so exactly, as if there
were none but him upon whom the eye of it were fixed ; and every man finds
the same cast of it. Shall art frame a thing of that nature, and shall not
the God of art and all knowledge be much more in reality than that is in
imagination ? Shall not God have a far greater capacity to behold everything
in the world, which is infinitely less to him than a wide room to a picture ?
II. The second thing, What God knows ; how far his understanding
reaches.
1. God knows himself, and only knows himself. This is the first and
original knowledge wherein he excels all creatures. No man doth exactly
know himself, much less doth he understand the full nature of a spirit, much
less still the nature and perfections of God ; for what proportion can there
be between a finite faculty and an infinite object ? Herein consists the in-
finiteness of God's knowledge, that he knows his own essence, that he knows
that which is unknowable to any else. It doth not so much consist in know-
ing the creature which he hath made, as in knowing himself who was never
made. It is not so much infinite, because he knows all things which are in
the world, or that shall be, or things that he can make, because the number
of them is finite ; but because he hath a perfect and comprehensive knowledge
of his own infinite perfections.* Though it be said that ' angels see his face,'
Mat. xviii. 10, that sight notes rather their immediate attendance than their
exact knowledge. They see some signs of his presence and majesty, more
illustrious and express than ever appeared to man in this life ; but the essence
of God is invisible to them, hid from them in the secret place of eternity.
None knows God but himself: 1 Cor. ii. 11, ' What man knows the things
of a man save the spirit of a man ? so the things of God knows no man, but
the Spirit of God ; the Spirit of God searches the deep things of God.'
Searcheth, that is, exactly knows, thoroughly understands, as those who have
their eyes in every chink and crevice, to see what lies hid there. The word
starch notes not an inquiry, but an exact knowledge, such as men have of
things upon a diligent scrutiny ; as when God is said to search the heart and
the reins, it doth not signify a precedent ignorance, but an exact knowledge
of the most intimate corners of the hearts of men. As the conceptions of
men are unknown to any but themselves, so the depths of the divine essence,
perfections, and decrees are unknown to any but to God himself ; he only
knows what he is, and what he knows, what he can do, and what he hath
decreed to do.
(1.) For, first, if God did not know himself, he would not be perfect. It
is the perfection of a creature to know itself, much more a perfection belong-
in^ to God. If God did not comprehend himself, he would want an infinite
* Moulin.
pg, OXLVTI. ■>.
perfection, i oul I c I ctivn in that which
intellectual ere iturc • in hdhh' i
bein I' h<
I himself, ho would be nndor the mid
be ignorant of tho 1 Q of
the andor i! ml I on than
without. I G "'till Iraow all things without him
ami Qol know In in si It", ho would no! Imw t!
he would d knowled f 1 1 ■ . - I hjects.
Without the If ho could no! be I
have any compl in itnolf without the kn
manner enjoy itself without audi rstandn
i . : - 1 1 . » t in tin- knowled '■• of anythin
but in the knowledge of himself and I icllency prineipli
all thin p. It". th« . he did oof perfectly know bio I
he could not enjoy a happiness; for to bCj sod no! to knot
ii sj it' a thing were not. He is 'God bl ed for < sr, .5,
and therefon i knowledge of himself.
Without the knowled '<• of himself he could create Dethiii \, For be
would be ignorant of his own power md his own ability; and he that <lotli
not know how far his power extendi could not act. It' he did not b
himself, he could know nothing; and he that knows nothii
lie colli 1 not know an effeet to be possible to him m
power :
Without the kno of himself he con': Be
couM not without the knov >f his own holiness' and right
to men, nor without a knowledge of his own natuc himself
a manner of i it.
All worship must be congruous to the dignity anil nature of the ol
>ped : lio must therefore know his own authority, whereby worship
was to ' • Uency, to which worship was to be Buil
his own glory, to which worship was to he directed. If ho did not. k:
himself, he did not know what to punish, • he could not know what
krary to himself. Not knowing himself, ho would not know what
attempt of him, and what an adoration of him : what was worth;
1. and what was unworthy of him. In tine, ho could not know o*
thingB unless he knew himself. Unless he knew his own power, he could
not know h en at 1 things ; unless he knew nil own wisdom, he c
know the beauty of bis works; unless he knew his own glory, b
know the end ofhil Works ; unless he knew his own holiness, he could
not know what was evil ; and unleil he b - own jn fl q] I
know how to ponish the crimes of his ollend'' And tie
1 . ( tod knows himself, because h : ^ knowled v with his will is the can
all other things that can fall under his cognizance. He knows himself r
M know an thing, that is, first accord:
for ind< himself and all other things at once, 11
the first truth, and re II the first object of his own un I
Th r cellent than himself, and ther
known to him than himself. Ai he ii all knowledge, hath in bim
if know!. . To ' lv to k-
io intelligible to God as God
immediately joined with his under \ as hi;.
If.
2. 1 1 ■ kn »wi bin Ik kn ■■■• b not f and
. i.
466 CHAKNOCK s works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
his own power by the effect, because he knows himself from eternity, before
there was a world, or any effect of his power extant. It is not a knowledge
by the cause, for God hath no cause, nor a knowledge of himself by any
species or anything from without. If it were anything from without himself,
that must be created or uncreated : if uncreated, it would be God, and so
we must either own many gods, or own it to be his essence, and so not dis-
tinct from himself; if created, then his knowledge of himself would depend
upon a creature. He could not then know himself from eternity, but in time,
because nothing can be created from eternity but in time. God knows not
himself by any faculty, for there is no composition in God, he is not made
up of parts, but is a simple being. Some therefore have called God, not
intellectus, understanding, because that savours of a faculty, but intellectio,
intellection. God is all act in the knowledge of himself, and his knowledge
of other things.
[3. J God therefore knows himself perfectly, comprehensively. Nothing
in his own nature is concealed from him, he reflects upon everything that
he is.* There is a positive comprehension, so God doth not comprehend
himself ; for what is comprehended hath bounds, and what is comprehended
by itself is finite to itself. And there is a negative comprehension, God so
comprehends himself ; nothing in his own nature is obscure to him, un-
known by him. For there is as great a perfection in the understanding of
God to know, as there is in the divine nature to be known. The under-
standing of God and the nature of God are both infinite, and so equal to
one another. His understanding is equal to himself; he knows himself so
well, that nothing can be known by him more perfectly than himself is
known to himself. He knows himself in the highest manner, because
nothing is so proportioned to the understanding of God as himself. He
knows his own essence, goodness, power, all his perfections, decrees, inten-
tions, acts, the infinite capacity of his own understanding, so that nothing
of himself is in the dark to himself. And in this respect, some use this
expression, that the infiniteness of God is in a manner finite to himself,
because it is comprehended by himself.
Thus God transcends all creatures. Thus his understanding is truly
infinite, because nothing but himself is an infinite object for it. What
angels may understand of themselves perfectly I know not, but no creature
in the world understands himself. Man understands not fully the excellency
and parts of his own nature ; upon God's knowledge of himself depends the
comfort of his people and the terror of the wicked. This is also a clear
argument for his knowledge of all other things without himself; he that
knows himself must needs know all other things less than himself, and
which were made by himself. When the knowledge of his own immensity
and infiniteness is not an object too difficult for him, the knowledge of a
finite and limited creature in all his actions, thoughts, circumstances, cannot
be too hard for him. Since he knows himself who is infinite, he cannot but
know whatsoever is finite. This is the foundation of all his other knowledge.
The knowledge of everything present, past, and to come is far less than the
knowledge of himself. He is more incomprehensible in his own nature than
all things created, or that can bo created, put together can be. If he then
have a perfect comprehensive knowledge of his own nature, any knowledge
of all other things is less than the knowledge of himself. This ought to be
well considered by us, as the fountain whence all his other knowledge flows.
2. Therefore God knows all other things, whether they be possible, past,
present, or future.
* Ma<ralanous.
I' CXI. \ 1 1. ~>. 46*7
Whether they be thingi thai fa • t m do, l irl
they I e thii ; things 1 '"
uv Dot Jim in the WOmb of tin ir
proper un I in 8 infinite, 1:
things what I 1
lid have bou
I e i ' ■ i' ml of unv on • • , thai mud to him, it
with an exception, a bui G all things but this, a bai
th, i. If tie anythii un«
ico in the v. :i, or Qoo creation, and possil by
Inn:. unknown to him, h
; qoI i> • aim one thing that implied not ■ i
to Ins nature did transcend Ins poi
,11 thin | ble. N ' w what ho
be hath i . whai be won! I not - as
well us wh.it he resolved to ; 1"' knew that he would n
will, i it 'I'm- i- tin' Deri thing which deela infinii
; not is infinite, ami can c I tble
knowledge infinite, in knowing innnmerable
thii: i i ins power. Possibles are infinil is, tibu r
of whai Crod can y\i\ and therefore no end of what God doth 1.:
iiis power would he more infinite than his kn . It' 1.
only what is ereated, there would be an end of his onderBtandi
all c . iv be nnmbered, hut possible this I op
DJ Snj creature. There w the SSAK D of this in i t< -mil y. When
- many nnmbafS of jeaiS are run out, there is still
there st.ll w a end ; and when millions of worldi are created, then
more an end of (iod's power than of eternity. Thus there is no end of
. his knowledge is not terminated by anyth
;ure givi • account of. Clod knowi thingi that
are not. for ■ he calls thingi thai are not as if t hoy were,' Bom. iv. 17. Jl
J thingi that are not as if they were in being; what he calls is not un-
known to him. If he knows things that are not, ho knows things that i
hi knows thingi that shall be because he wills them, so ho
knows thing! that might be, because ho is ablo to cll'ect them. He k:
the inhabitants of Keilah would betray David to Saul if he remained in
that plaei . 1 Bam. xxiii. 11 ; he knew what they would do upon that occa-
i it was never done. As he knew what was in their |
in their wills, so he must needs know what is within the compass of his own
can permit more than lie doth permit, so he knows whai
can permit, and what upon that permission would be done by his creah;.
so Ciod knew the possibility of the Tynans' repentance, if they had the
i the same truths, and beheld the same miracles which
- and presented to the eyes of the Jews, Mat. xi. 21.
This i: ', because,
1. lian knows things that are possible to him, though lie will i.
knows a house in the model he hath of it in his
:• build a house according to that model. A wateh-
ma .mo of I I in his mind, which be will : »rk
with 1. Man what lie could do, though ho n-
intends to do it.f As the no ling of man hath a virtue.
>ees one man it may imagine thousands of men of tl.
Hi par' us, sprightly, intelligent than
* PetaT, Th* L DogQL, lib. ix. 207. t Ficin. dc innuort, lib. ii. cap 10.
468 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
the man he sees, because it is possible such a number may be ; shall not
the understanding of God much more know what he is able to effect, since
the understanding of man can know what he is never able to produce, yet
may be produced by God, viz. that he who produced this man which I see,
can produce a thousand exactly like him ? If the divine understanding did
not know infinite things, but were confined to a certain number, it may be
demanded whether God can understand anything further than that number,
or whether he cannot ? If he can, then he doth actually understand all
those things which he hath a power to understand, otherwise there would
be an increase of God's knowledge, if it were actually now and not before,
and so he would be more perfect than he was before. If he cannot under-
stand them, then he cannot understand what a human mind can under-
stand; for our understandings can multiply numbers in infinitum, and there
is no number so great but a man can still add to it. We must suppose the
divine understanding more excellent in knowledge. God knows all that a
man can imagine, though it never were nor never shall be. He must needs
know whatsoever is in the power of man to imagine or think, because God
concurs to the support of the faculty in that imagination ; and though it
may be replied, an atheist may imagine that there is no God, a man may
imagine that God can lie, or that he can be destroyed, doth God know
therefore that he is not, or that he can lie, or cease to be ? No, he knows
he cannot ; his knowledge extends to things possible, not to things impossible
to himself. He knows it as imaginable by man, not as possible in itself,
because it is utterly impossible* and repugnant to the nature of God, since
he eminently contains in himself all things possible, past, present, and to
come. He cannot know himself without knowing them.
[2. J God knowing his own power, knows whatsoever is in his power to
effect. If he knows not all things possible, he could not know the extent of
his own power, and so would not know himself as a cause sufficient for more
things than he hath created. How can he comprehend himself, who com-
prehends not all effluxes of things possible that may come from him, and be
wrought by him ? How can he know himself as a cause, if he know not
the objects and works which he is able to produce ? f Since the power of
God extends to numberless things, his knowledge also extends to number-
less objects ; as if a unit could see the numbers it could produce, it would
see infinite numbers, for a unit is as it were all number. God, knowing
the fruitfulness of his own virtue, knows a numberless multitude of things
which he can do more than have been done or shall be done by him ; he
therefore knows innumerable worlds, innumerable angels, with higher per-
fections than any of them which he hath created have. So that if the world
should last many millions of years, God knows that he can every day create
another world more capacious than this : and having created an inconceiv-
able number, he knows he could still create more. So that he beholds
infinite worlds, infinite numbers of men and other creatures in himself,
infinite kinds of things, infinite species and individuals under those kinds,
even as many as he can create, if his will did order and determine it ; for
not being ignorant of his own power, he cannot be ignorant of the effects
wherein it may display and discover itself. A comprehensive knowledge of
his own power doth necessarily include the objects of that power; so he
knows whatsoever he could effect, and whatsoever ho could permit, if he
pleased to do it.
If God could not understand moro than he hath created, he could not
creato more than ho hath created ; for it cannot bo conceived how he can
* Gamach. t Ficin. do immort, lib. ii. cap. x.
I' . c\l.\ II. 5.
■ tli.it I q| of; wh.i'
'I" ; be inn ! I. ii,,.'. ft] o t) l,irt oi I
thing is eapabl i much I
the knowli
[| that God knows all ] •• he
Lhoso things which 1
tli« •;. 1 1 in a po ibilit . [f God
hi kne* tii. in wh, ii tl
l I to imagine thai Ins audi
an. I draw knov rom them after thi .11 urd to
.
It be know thoae t Inn th<
v all thioga which he can cr. ato, and Lb
lade thi r thai this knoi
than his knowledgo of things thai
as possible, Dol as thingi thai hall be. It' I
or future, and they ahall never be, ti.
there would be a deceit in it, which cannot be. II • kno
in themseli they are not, uor in tl. hall
i be ; he knowi them in his own power, ool in bis will ; he d
them as able to produce them, not as willing to effect them. Thii
Bible he knows only in his power, things fatun th i'» hi
his will, ai he is both able and determined in hie own good |
• - them. Thoae that shall in-wr COB lily
in himself, as a Bufficien! cause ; the e things th ■■ shall i
knows in himself as thi , and also in their im
i
• > spend OUT thoughts in the admiration of the cx-
and the divine knowledge ; his understanding is infill
. knows all thing 1 [ument used by God bim-
tellency above all the commonly adored
ili. 22, 'Let them shew the former things, what they be, thai we may ™n-
r them, and know the latter end of them. 1 He knows them as if I
•it, and : ; for indeed in his eternil ing
future to his knowledge. This is call. mbran
rhen God remembered Rachel's prayer for a child, Gen. xxx. 22 ; ai 1 lie
dd to )■' into his bottle, and write them into nil f accoui
which signifies the exact and unerring knowledge in G the minute cir-
cum pasl in the world ; and this know! i ■ hook of
. iii. 1 6, rpetual presence of thi:
re him. 'I ignifying the certai
of sins past : Job xiv. 17, ' My tr
i uj) in . ind thou sewest up my iniquity 1' a
from men, that i>ut op in a bag the money they would charily 1.
v uj) th< . and bind it hard that nothing may fall out ; or a
[U0rs, and daub it with pitch and glutinous
stutl", that nothinu may leak out, but be safely kept till tl Of
•..ink, from the I irry with them full of writ:-
o they arc to manage a e a person. Thi
calling to men's minds their past actions, opbraidii
with ti.
1 hing of
infinity in it, Ugh the sins of all men that I D in t:
. 1 of number, yet when the sins of one man in thoiiL-
470 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
words, and deeds, are numberless in his own account, and perhaps in the
account of any creature, the sins of all the vast numbers of men that have
been, or shall be, are much more numberless, it cannot be less than infinite
knowledge that can make a collection of them, and take a survey of them all
at once.
If past things had not been known by God, how could Moses have been
acquainted with the original of things ? How could he have declared the
former transactions, wherein all histories are silent but the Scripture ? How
could he know the cause of man's present misery so many ages after, where-
with all philosophy was unacquainted ? How could he have writ the order
of the creation, the particulars of the sin of Adam, the circumstances of
Cain's murder, the private speech of Lamech to his wives, if God had not
revealed them ? And how could a revelation be made, if things past were
forgotten by him ? Do we not remember many things done among men, as
well as by ourselves, and reserve the forms of divers things in our minds,
which rise as occasions are presented to draw them forth ? And shall not
God much more, who hath no cloud of darkness upon his understanding ?
A man that makes a curious picture, hath the form of it in his mind before
he made it ; and if the fire burn it, the form of it in his mind is not de-
stroyed by the fire, but retained in it. God's memory is no less perfect
than his understanding. If he did not know things past, he could not be a
righteous governor, or exercise any judicial act in a righteous manner ; he
could not dispense rewards and punishments according to his promises and
threatenings, if things that were past could be forgotten by him ; he could
not require that which is past, Eccles. iii. 15, if he did not remember that
which is past.
And though God be said to forget in Scripture, and not to know his people,
and his people pray to him to remember them, as if he had forgotten them,
Ps. cxix. 49, this is improperly; ascribed to God.* As God is said to
repent, when he changes things according to his counsel beyond the expecta-
tion of men, so he is said to forget, when he defers the making good his
promise to the godly, or his threatenrngs to the wicked. This is not a defect
of memory belonging to his mind, but an act of his will. When he is said
to remember his covenant, it is to will grace according to his covenant ;
when he is said to forget his covenant, it is to intercept the influences of it,
whereby to punish the sin of his people ; and when he is said not to know
his people, it is not an absolute forgetfulness of them, but withdrawing from
them the testimonies of his kindness, and clouding the signs of his favour ; so
God in pardoning is said to forget sin, not that he ceaseth to know it, but
ceaseth to punish it. It is not to be meant of a simple forgetfulness, or a
lapse of his memory, but of a judicial forgetfulness; so when his people in
Scripture pray, * Lord, remember thy word unto thy servant,' no more is
to bo understood, but, Lord, fulfil thy word and promise to thy servant.
(3.) He knows things present. Heb. iv. 13, ' All things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.' This is grounded
upon the knowledge of himself; it is not so difficult to know all creatures
exactly, as to know himself, because they are finite, but himself is infinite ;
he knows his own power, and therefore everything through which his omni-
potence is diffused, all the acts and objects of it ; not the least thing that is
tho birth of his power can bo concealed from him ; he knows his own good-
ness, and therefore every object upon which the warm beams of his goodness
strike ; ho therefore knows distinctly the properties of every creature, be-
cause every property in them is a ray of his goodness ; he is not only the
* Bradward.
I' . I \l.\ I I. 5.J I.I.Jh.i;. -171
.-•lit, hut tli • fill that hi ■
t'i built, ■ tli.- model in be
built it. ' II" lool ed upon nil thin • he b 1 1
iimum •■ I thei Q I ; roll <>f » I ' ' '• I
i u itli ; ho did not itlj pronounce th(
uli •
. them .'ill ill tl I ' ': : " n j on )i< ! l -•
sroi Id, or thai anything thai
in liiin lis :i It
know things pr< t in their |
known by man, yea, bj . which the infii te God
! if he did no! know all thii b, it is ] for
the mot t l. '. 1 God to be dec rived and be i I
the understanding. 1 1 to bis ct
unlets he knew their natnr . to which th<
natural ordinances to the sun, moon, and 1 ' . I inanii:
8 Knew the vi jour and virtue in tru
re the i • ia i'" , "•
with tlie wisdom of goven now how far th<
v, whether the laws were Bnited to their ral onaJ
. whether the pnnishmei I re \ n
■ i the trai f i I ;rc.
1. First, Be knows all e .from tli" the lot
well as the \ II • ki owe the r n I their ;■
Job xxxviii. 1 1 ; tli" drops of rain and dew which he hath DCgOtt . 29,
v bird in the air, as m any man doth what lie hath in a i
: P§. I. 11. 'I know all the fowls in the mount Wild
in the field,' which some read e
numbered in his wisdom. Job rxxviii. 87, worm in the earth, ei
drop of rain that falls upon the ground, the Hakes of snow, and the knotl
bail, t! opon the sea shore, the hairs opon th< i o more
nrd to imagine that God knows them, than that God made them ; t
its of his power, as well as the stars, which he rails by their
nan. well as the most glorious angel and blessed spirit; he kn
the- II aa if there were none hut them in particular for him to know ;
re framed by his art as well as tl
thin as well aa the greatest ; he knoi
wn goodness, and therefore all the stamps and impressions of
all his e i; he knows the immediate c fthe I-
eta of those causes. Since his kn< is infi' .••
it 1! (a which are at tl. listance from him,
which approach near, st to not being ; since he did not want po
rente, he cannot want un Kenl inding to know everything he hath c
. qualiti. B, and virtoee of the minutest creature.
of God imbaaed, and sufiers a diminution by
• vilesi I • t inconai lerable things. Is il nc4
nature of anything ? and
[a the un
: of an impurer alloy by know! attire *^ the ranke
mall insect, or by c ringthe deformity of a
•
^o of tl: • of them ? Was Bolomon, wh i km w all from the
472 chaenock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
cedar to the hyssop, debased by so rich a present of wisdom from his
Creator ? Is any glass defiled by presenting a deformed image ? Is there
anything more vile than the imagination, ' which are only evil, and con-
tinually' ? Doth not the mind of man descend to the mud of the earth,
play the adulterer or idolater with mean objects, suck in the most unclean
things ? Yet God knows these in all their circumstances, in every appear-
ance, inside and outside. Is there anything viler than some thoughts of
men, than some actions of men, their unclean beds, and gluttonous vomit-
ing, and Luciferian pride ? Yet do not these fall under the eye of God in
all their nakedness !
The second person's taking human nature, though it obscured, yet it did
not disparage the Deity, or bring any disgrace to it. Is gold the worse for
being formed into the image of a fly ? Doth it not still retain the noble-
ness of the metal ? "When men are despised for descending to the know-
ledge of mean and vile things, it is because they neglect the knowledge of
the greater, and sin in their inquiries after lesser things, with a neglect of
that which concerns more the honour of God and the happiness of them-
selves ; to be ambitious of such a knowledge, and careless of that of more
concern, is criminal and contemptible. But God knows the greatest as well
as the least; mean things are not known by him to exclude the knowledge of
the greater, nor are vile things governed by him to exclude the order of the
better. The deformity of objects known by God doth not deform him, nor
defile him ; he doth not view them without himself, but within .himself,
wherein all things in their ideas are beautiful and comely. Our knowledge
of a deformed thing is not a deforming of our understanding, but is beauti-
ful in the knowledge, though it be not in the object ; nor is there any fear
that the understanding of God should become material by knowing material
things, any more than our understandings lose their spirituality by knowing
the nature of bodies ; it is to be observed therefore that only those senses
of men, as seeing, hearing, smelling, which have those qualities for their
objects that come nearest the nature of spiritual things, as light, sounds,
fragrant odours, are ascribed to God in Scripture ; not touching or tasting, which
are senses that are not exercised without a more immediate commerce with
gross matter ; and the reason maybe, because we should have no gross thoughts
of God, as if he were a body, and made of matter like the things he knows.
[2.] As he knows all creatures, so God knows all the actions of creatures.
He counts in particular all the ways of men : ' Doth he not see all my ways,
and count all my steps?' Job xxxi. 4. He ' tells their wanderings,' as if
one by one, Ps. Ivi. 8 ; ' His eyes are upon all the ways of man, and he
sees all his goings,' Job xxxiv. 21, a metaphor taken from men when they
look wistly, with fixed eyes upon a thing, to view it in every circumstance,
whence it comes, whither it goes, to observe every little motion of it. God's
eye is not a wandering, but a fixed eye, and the ways of man are not only
1 before his eyes,' but he doth exactly ' ponder' them, Prov. v. 21 ; as one
that will not be ignorant of the least mite in them, but weigh and examine
them by tho standard of his law ; he may as well know the motions of our
members as the hairs of our heads ; the smallest actions before they be,
whether civil, natural, or religious, fall under his cognisance. "What meaner
than a man carrying a pitcher ? yet our Saviour foretells it, Luke xxii. 10.
God knows not only what men do, but what they would have done had he
not restrained them ; what Abimelech would have done to Sarah had not
God put a bar in his way, Gen. xx. 6 ; what a man that is taken away in
his youth would have done, had he lived to a riper age ; yea, he knows the
most secret words as well as actions ; the words spoken by the king of
!' . < \1.YI1. B
1 ifl bil I
tm.
world, which are fa i khan
!i an ant lull or DM faivs can 1
the 'llir thou
l.u: ths
■ 1 contrive] i impem
Dioofa an
i.l.' It) him as llies ami : <>' ;i '
I Ins man naturally allow | I I i. M. IE
ill, if minds as I hich ,1 "'. v WMl1 '
naturally implanted in them,
motions. The Scripture U plain and positive in thi :'li
rein .' r . ri .9, tea by the ase of I
parts of metals. The secret intentions and s mostls
, in the reins, he Knows that which no man, do angel is able to an
which a man himself knowi not, oor makes any partienlar n flection upon ;
pint,' Pro?. x\i. 2, hs - all the
. t ions of men, as men do i of coin th
i>. li. rns the thoughts and intents of the heart/ Heb. iv. L2, all
thai is in the mind, all that is in the i d l ,ur l
one though! can h< i withheld from him, Job alii. ' hell
and destruction an kx • re him, much more then the I children of
mi : .11. He works all things in the bowels of the « arth, and bri
forth aUthingBontof thai treasure, ae; but more naturally, God an
of the d< ad, all the re* ptacles and
all the bodies of men consumed by the earth, or devoured by livin -
things thai oal of all being; he knows the thoughts of the devils
and damned creatures, whom he hath cast out of bis care for ever into
arms of his justice, nevermore to east s delightful glance towards them ; d
in any soul in hell (which he hath no need to know, 1 nail
hem by any of the thoughts they now have, sine.; they were e
punishment) is bid from him, much more is he acquainted with
thoughts of living men, the counsels of wh rts are ini-
to tin ir trial and censure; yea, he knows them I
ap into actual being: Ps, czxxix. 2, ' Thou understandeei myth
;' my thoughts, thai is, thought, though innumerable tia
:i a day, ami that in the source and fountain when il
somb, before it is our thought. If he knows th re their
bey can be 1 OUTS, much more doth hek:.
them when they actually Bpring up in us ; he knows the tendency ol th
wh( I ird will light when it is in flight ; he knows them exactly, fa
the: tiled a 'dixvrmr' 01 critic!>. r ' pf the heart, 1 Heb. iv. 12.
1 1, he is mon ban
soul with our i lies, and hath more the | i m ot as than we fa
mows them by sa inspect] m into I
v tin- looks or
its of on r.
F*irtf, God Of the mind and will. 'J
his ov. :
474 chasnocx's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
Jeroboam to have * some good thing in him towards the Lord God of
Israel,' 1 Kings xiv. 13, and the integrity of David and Hezekiah, the
freest motions of the will and affections to him. ' Lord, thou knowest that
I love thee,' saith Peter, John xxi. 17. Love can be no more restrained
than the will itself can. A man may make another to grieve and desire, but
none can force another to love.
Secondly, God discerns all the evil motions of the mind and will ; every
imagination of the heart,' Gen. vi. 5 ; the vanity of men's thoughts, Ps.
xciv. 11 ; their inward darkness and deceitful disguises. No wonder that
God, who fashioned the heart, should understand the motions of it : Ps.
xxxiii. 13, 15, ' He looks from heaven, and beholds all the children of men :
he fashioneth their hearts alike, and considers all their works.' Doth any
man make a watch, and yet be ignorant of its motion ? Did God fling
away the key to this secret cabinet, when he framed it, and put off the power
of unlocking it when he pleased ? He did not surely frame it in such a
posture as that anything in it should be hid from his eye ; he did not fashion
it to be privileged from his government ; which would follow if he were
ignorant of what was minted and coined in it.
He could not be a judge to punish men, if the inward frames and prin-
ciples of men's actions were concealed from him ; an outward action may
glitter to an outward eye, yet the secret spring be a desire of applause, and
not the fear and love of God. If the inward frames of the heart did lie
covered from him in the secret recesses of the heart, those plausible acts,
which in regard of their principles would merit a punishment, would meet
with a reward, and God should bestow happiness where he had denounced
misery. As without the knowledge of what is just, he would not be a wise
Lawgiver, so without the knowledge of what is inwardly committed, he
could not be a righteous judge ; acts that are rotten in the spring, might be
judged good by the fair colour and appearance.
This is the glory of God at the last day, to ' manifest the secrets of all
hearts,' 1 Cor. iv. 5 ; and the prophet Jeremiah links the power of judging,
and the prerogative of trying the hearts together : Jer. xi. 20, ' But thou,
Lord of Hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the
heart ;' and chap. xvii. 10, ' I the Lord search the heart ; I try the reins ;'
To what end ? Even ' to give every man according to his way, and accord-
ing to the fruit of his doings.' And indeed his binding up the whole law
with that command of not coveting, evidenceth that he will judge men by
the inward affections and frames of their hearts. Again, God sustains the
mind of man in every act of thinking. In him we have not only the prin-
ciple of life, but every motion, the motion of our minds as well as of our
members. ' In him we live and move,' &c, Acts xvii. 28. Since he sup-
ports the vigour of the faculty in every act, can he be ignorant of those acts
which spring from the faculty, to which he doth at that instant communicate
power and ability ?
Now this knowledge of the thoughts of men is,
First, An incommunicable property, belonging only to the divine under-
standing. Creatures indeed may know the thoughts of others by divine
revelation, but not by themselves; no creature hath a key immediately to
open the minds of men, and Bee all that loilgeth there ; no creature can
fathom the heart by the lino of created knowledge.* Devils may have a
conjectural knowledge, And] may guess at them, by the acquaintance they
have with the disposition and constitution of men, and the images they
behold in their fancies ; and by some marks which an inward imagination
* Daflle, 8erm, part i. p. 230.
I' .. ( \ I. VI I. I
may stamp upon the brain, !•!
the tl.mi [hi • by it,
i
of ln^. I > ity a i niu.li us 9, 10,
1 The heart of
■ I bo! one ; ' I the Lord I
looks od il ntward n , but the 1
, 7, where God I by th
l .in iw by revelation, i I a did, wl I i /.'\'h
20 ; bat God to more th
himi If, Whit penon opon earth undei tho win md turn
h. art, whal il will have, wh
i ( > • > . l 1.H..A i . lastly.
. God acquire* no new kno*
the of tin-in in tl me. 1 1
bis creature ; no man or ai I may th
the knowledge of them. God were then exolnded from an absolute d
r the )• • k of hii 1" ition ; he • onl I
irior in this b I i ; If, npon whose will I
1. Ige of their inward intention! should depend ; and, th( i
I to i upeh the heart, we must not understand i f i
•re, :m.l n to make an crntiny and inquiry,
what he desired to know ; but 1 1 icity in I
own knowl d oifyin r that hia know]
any man's knowledge can be, of the designs ol
them bj * and thon
their intentions ; thai he knows them aa bad put tl
upon the rack, and forced them to ri plottn
Nor must we understand that in Gen. xxii. 12, wl
i had itn I :h< d out his ban ifiee bis i i>.'N if I know that 1
b God was ignorant of Abraham 'ion
to him. Did Abraham's drawing his knife furnish God with s new know-
No; Grod knew Abraham's pious inclinatd< n.xviii. 19,
1 I know him that lie will command his ehildn
imetimes taken for approbation ; then the , Now 1 approve
istimony of thy bar of me; since thy affection 1 1 t\
bed by the mor fol flam v of aflfi » my will and com-
. i : i ceept thee, and count the* t
: or now 1 know, that is, I have made known and man
m to himself and to the world. Thus Paul uses tl word
v : 1 C-r. ii. *J, 'I havo determined to know nothing;' that is, to
oh nothing, to make known nothing ' but Christ crucified :'
• I know, that is, I have an evidenc riment in this nohlc
. that thou fearest me. Q lescends to our
of him& the manner of men, as it' ho had (as men do) known the
ird at!'.. - by their outward actions.
[4.] (iotl knows all the eviU a d sil
! all sin. This follows upon th If h.^ knows all
and thong] I knows also all the sinfulness in
Thia Zophar infers fin shing mea
ri. 11. ' For he knows vain man; 1.
knows every man, an. I s. .s tho wick. .': ry man. ' He l>"ks down
.' an 1 beholds i y the filthy ■ v in
them, I . all nations in tho world, and • n ;
476 charxock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
none of their iniquity is hid from his eyes. ' He searches Jerusalem with
candles,' Zeph. i. 22. God follows sinners step by step with his eye, and
will not leave searching out till he hath taken them ; a metaphor taken from
one that searches all chinks with a candle, that nothing can be hid from
him. He knows it distinctly in all the parts of it, how an adulterer rises
out of his bed to commit uncleanness ; what contrivances he had, what steps
he took, every circumstance in the w r hole progress ; not only evil in the bulk,
but every one of the blacker spots upon it, which may most aggravate it.
If he did not know evil, how could he permit it, order it, punish it, or par-
don it ? Doth he permit he knows not what ? order [to his own holy ends
what he is ignorant of ? punish or pardon that which lie is uncertain whether
it be a crime or no ? ' Cleanse me,' saith David, * from my secret faults,'
Ps. xix. 12, secret in regard of others, secret in regard of himself; how
could God cleanse him from that whereof he was ignorant ? He knows sins
before they are committed, much more when they are in act ; he foreknew
the idolatry and apostasy of the Jews ; what gods they would serve, in what
measure they would provoke him, and violate his covenant, Deut. xxxi. 20, 21 ;
he knew Judas his sin long before Judas his actual existence, foretelling it
in the Psalms ; and Christ predicts it before he acted it. He sees sins future
in his own permitting will ; he sees sins present in his own supporting act.
As he knows things possible to himself, because he knows his own power ;
so he knows things practicable by the creature, because he knows the power
and principles of the creature.* This sentiment of God is naturally writ in
the fear of sinners, upon lightning, thunder, or some prodigious operation
of God in the w 7 orld ; what is the language of them, but that he sees their
deeds, hears their words, knows the inward sinfulness of their hearts ; that he
doth not only behold them as a mere spectator, but considers them as a just
judge ? And the poets say, that the sins of men leaped into heaven, and
were writ in parchments of Jupiter, scelus in terra geritur, in ccelo scribi-
tur, sin is acted on earth, and recorded in heaven. God, indeed, doth not
behold evil with the approving eye ; he knows it not with a practical know-
ledge to be the author of it, but with a speculative knowledge, so as to under-
stand the fulness of it ; or a knowledge simplicis intelligentm, of simple
intelligence, as he permits them, not positively wills them ;',-he knows them
not with a knowledge of assent to them, but dissent from them. Evil per-
tains to a dissenting act of the mind, and an aversive act of the will ; and
what though evil formally taken hath no distinct conception, because it is a
privation, a defect hath no being, and all knowledge is by the apprehension
of some being, would not this lie as strongly against our own knowledge of
sin ? Sin is the privation of the rectitude due to an act ; and who doubts
man's knowledge of sin ? By his knowing the act, he knows the deficiency
of the act ; the subject of evil hath a being, and so hath a conception in the
mind ; that which hath no being cannot be known by itself, or in itself, but
will it follow that it cannot be known by its contrary ? as we know dark-
ness to be a privation of light, and folly to be a privation of wisdom. God
knows all good by himself, because he is the sovereign good. Is it strange,
then, that he should know all evil, since all evil is in some natural good ?
Secondly, The manner of God's knowing evil is not so easily known ; and,
indeed, as we cannot comprehend the essence of God, though it is easily in-
telligible that there is such a being, so we can as little comprehend the
manner of God's knowledge, though we cannot but conclude him to be an
intelligent being, a pure understanding, knowing all things. As God hath a
higher manner of being than his creatures, so he hath another and higher
* Fotherby, Alkeouia, p. 132.
'• i ! -177
ttle < •
Do! not fl <>w it law '.' an I
'ii ...in, horl of Ins rule ? I !•■ cann I
all the it. Hi d holiness, and shall be
see bow any action ■ .- » of I, 1 1 .,•;.
• in true, and ii it not irue I
evii hull ( \od h
H th i
Mit by kno* ing h , own imn
n, it' no croatnn i would !
In- knows his own hoi
appointed to b I create them, and that I
i by them. I in him
andation in bin
i^ opposite to tint bolinei I. Ai if Ii 'lit p
understand i i only 1
If, it would know what is contrary to itself. God knows all ci
iiis-i which ho hath planted in the creature; be knovi x>m
this goodness, irh an sol
that goodness, and thai is evil. As we know Biel
harmony, blindness by sight, I privation
knows one contrary knows the other. God ki
i which he hath of right on and i of th
tude and goodness which onghl to be in it ; 1
the Is.* A painter an
ad it* any one dashes any I lour apon it, shall i ilso
know tint ? God by his hand painted all creatures, in I apon man
the mp and colour of his own u . the devil defiles it, man daubs
it. I> )th QO( God, that knows his own work, know how this |
some di£Eeren1 from his work? I>oth not God, thai ki
hieh himself was the fountain of, know the change ofthi
:. ho know I . that the devil won: I - where I
m wheat; and. therefore, thai oontr ie in tho echo
whether God knew evil by its opposition to ereai d or oner
is needless. Y>
t lio knows it radically by his own good] mse he km
• hath eommuni I » the creature by his own
in himself. To conclude this head :
of sin doth not 'liness of God's nal
bare know] a crime d >th no1 infect the mind of man with the
tilth and polluti thai crime, for then every man thai knowi ■• of
mm -in r. would, l.y that hare knowl,
with hii . and a judge that condemns b r, may as well
If, if ti The anowled I the
understanding that knows them, hut only the will that appr
is i: vil, in order to pa aenfl UT
•
■:ows all future things, all thin p to come. 1
time of all th
abo-. nred by bos
not kn himself, or in th
• i ' . in, p.
478 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
selves, because they are things to come. Not in himself: if it did, it must
arise from some impotency in his own nature, and so we render him weak ;
or from an unwillingness to know, and so we render him lazy, and an enemy
to his own perfection ; for, simply considered, the knowledge of more things
is a greater perfection than the knowledge of a few ; and if the knowledge
of a thing includes something of perfection, the ignorance of a thing includes
something of imperfection. The knowledge of future things is a greater
perfection than not to know them, and is accounted among men a great part
of wisdom, which they call foresight ; it is then surely a greater perfection
in God to know future things, than to be ignorant of them. And would
God rather have something of imperfection than be possessor of all perfection ?
Nor doth the hindrance lie in the things themselves, because their futurition
depends upon his will ; for as nothing can actually be without his will,
giving it existence, so nothing can be future without his will, designing the
futurity of it. Certainly, if God knows all things possible, which he will
not do, he must know all things future, which he is not only able, but re-
solved to do, or resolved to permit. God's perfect knowledge of himself,
that is, of his own infinite power and concluding will, necessarily includes a
foreknowledge of what he is able to do, and what he will do.
A^ain, if God doth not know future things, there was a time when God
was ignorant of most things in the world, for, before the deluge, he was
more ignorant than after ; the more things were done in the world, the more
knowledge did accrue to God, and so the more perfection ; then, the under-
standing of God was not perfect from eternity, but in time ; nay, is not
perfect yet, if he be ignorant of those things which are still to come to pass ;
he must tarry for a perfection he w r ants, till those futurities come to be in
act, till those things which are to come cease to be future, and begin to be
present. Either God knows them, or desires to know them ; if he desires
to know them and doth not, there is something wanting to him ; all desire
speaks an absence of the object desired, and a sentiment of want in the
person desiring. If he doth not desire to know them, nay, if he doth not
actually know them, it destroys all providence, all his government of affairs,
for his providence hath a concatenation of means with a prospect of some-
thing that is future ; as in Joseph's case, who was put into the pit,
and sold to the Egyptians, in order to his future advancement, and the pre-
servation both of his father and his envious brethren. If God did not know
all the future inclinations and actions of men, something might have been
done by the will of Potiphar, or by the free will of Pharaoh, whereby
Joseph might have been cut short of his advancement, and so God have been
interrupted in the track and method of his designed providences. He that
hath decreed to govern man for that end he hath designed him, knows all
the means before whereby he will govern him, and therefore hath a distinct
and certain knowledge of all things, for a confused knowledge is an imper-
fection in government ; it is in this the infiniteness of his understanding is
more seen than in knowing things past or present ; ' his eyes are as a flame
of fire,' liev. i. 14, in regard of the penetrating virtue of them into things
impenetrable by any else.
To make it further appear that God knows all things future, consider,
1. First, everything which is the object of God's knowledge without him-
self was once only future. There was a moment when nothing was in being
but himself; ho knew nothing actually past, because nothing was past; no-
thing actually present, because nothing had any existence but himself;
therefore only what was future, and why not everything that is future now,
as well as only what was future and to come to pass just at the beginning of
1 \ LYI !
Hi'- i • present, but the thii
them
wm ooee ful
future is
what would h i in [h created 1 I m '.' * l
aid
now tie
till be I luoed them, I bexn in lx I
. I ■ .
then will tfa
whal he willed ; th .
thoy woro mndo,
o tin in, uinl he did in>t make them to tern. 1 1
knew v. I i honld b< before I
■ til !"• I nil thi
oot really in their own nature, but in him i rth and
heai re in liini, m a model in the mind of a workman, which ii in
e it be brought
8. The predietions of future thii] , I not a pro
inything to eome bni ii
be truth of I rtiou in the punctual aceomplishmenl of it. Thii is
■ thing challenged by G diar, wherein he larmounti all
idols tlmt man's in goded in tin; world: I >xli. 21, 2
them bring forth' (speaking of th<
ire us ti. • : shew tli-' thin sre to c
may know that you in Snob s I
16 is here sseril q of him from
all i. . Buofa ■ knowled I . if any could pi I they*
as well as him that
ws may know that you are gods. 1 11 | its bis i stand or fall upon
. .-.A this should be the point which should decide the
y whether he or the heathen idols wore the true God. The e is
managed by this medium: he that knows things to come is God ; I k
things ' 1 am God: the idols know not things to some, to
fore the] an not gods. God submits the being of i ty to ti
. know things to come no more than the heathen idols, which \
r nun, hs would be, in his own account, D than
; no more i God than the pagan idols i this
I : laathcn idols were to be stripped of their deity I t of
this foreknowledge of things to come, would not the fans mom
the Uency if he wen ore in knowledge? He would, in bis
more di Lhfi title and character of a God than i.
11 I he reproach them for that, if it were wanting in himself? It
of future things in their senses, wnen the < . ces-
tn such causes, as light from the sun and heat from the
htanj I ; more of them, angels and devils kn.
not a higher and farther knowled _■ this, he would not
N than angels and d. vils. wl
leesary i in their I .. did predict >
thinu's in the lieali. . but God is dit; . the
- knowledge, in able to ; that
the] UOt, or thin-- in t . . i on the
* Pctaviua changed. + Bfl h . lib. iii. cap. 14.
480 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
liberty of man's will, which the devils could lay no claim to a certain know-
ledge of. Were it only a conjectural knowledge that is here meant, the
devils mi<mt answer they can conjecture, and so their deity were as good as
God's ; for though God might know more things, and conjecture nearer to
what would be, yet still it would be but conjectural, and therefore not a
higher kind of knowledge than what the devils might challenge. How much,
then, is God beholden to the Socinians for denying the knowledge of all
future things to him, upon which here he puts the trial of his deity ? God
asserts his knowledge of things to come as a manifest evidence of his God-
head ; those that deny, therefore, the argument that proves it, deny the
conclusion too ; for this will necessarily follow, that if he be God because
he knows future things, then he that doth not know future things is not
God ; and if God knows not future things but only by conjecture, then there
is no God, because a certain knowledge, so as infallibly to predict things
to come, is an inseparable perfection of the Deity. It was therefore well
said of Austin, that it was as high a madness to deny God to be as* to deny
him the foreknowledge of things to come.
The whole prophetic part of Scripture declares this perfection of God.
Every prophet's candle was lighted at this torch ; they could not have this
foreknowledge of themselves. Why might not many other men have the
same insight, if it were by nature ? f It must be from some superior agent ;
and all nations owned prophecy as a beam from God, a fruit of divine illu-
mination. Prophecy must be totally expunged if this be denied, for the
subjects of prophecy are things future, and no man is properly a prophet
but in prediction. Now prediction is nothing but foretelling, and things
foretold are not yet come ; and the foretelling of them supposeth them not
to be yet, but that they shall be in time. Several such predictions we have
in Scripture, the event whereof hath been certain. The years of famine in
E^ypt foretold that he would order second causes for bringing that judgment
upon them ; the captivity of his people in Babylon ; the calling of the Gen-
tiles ; the rejection of the Jew r s. Daniel's revelation of Nebuchadnezzar's
dream, that prince refers to God as the revealer of secrets, Dan. ii. 47. By
the same reason that he knows one thing future by himself, and by the
infiniteness of his knowledge, before any causes of them appear, he doth
know all things future.
3. Some future things are known by men, and we must allow God a
greater knowledge than any creature. Future things in their causes may be
known by angels and men, as I said before ; whosoever knows necessary
causes, and the efficacy of them, may foretell the effects ; and when he sees
the meeting and concurrence of several causes together, he may presage
what the consequent effect will be of such a concurrence. So physicians
foretell the progress of a disease, the increase or diminution of it by natural
si^ns ; and astronomers foretell eclipses by their observation of the motion
of°heavenly bodies many years before they happen. J Can they be hid from
God, with whom are the reasons of all things ?§ An expert gardener, by
knowing the root in the depth of winter, can tell what flowers and what fruit
it will bear, and tho month when they will peep out their heads ; and shall
not God much more, that knows tho principles of all his creatures, and is
exactly privy to all their natures and qualities, know what they will be, and
what operations shall be from those principles ? Now if God did know
things only in their causes, his knowledge would not be more excellent than
* Qu. 'no higher . . . than*?— Ed.
f Pacuvina said, Siqui qua eventura sunt providmt, crquiparcnt.
% ptisanus. I Fuller'! Pisgah, 1. ii. p. 281.
til'
the tin: ' will COI
cum iic ; than his creature,
h<> i llenl in I of bii I the manner of
II, tli. mi, shall a
nu i ctural know j men, ai
ii dl ' lliblc know :
in do b< i of futon
.1.
as a perfi cl inl
I . God i and will, and then
ill fata I
• from itself, then it would be in Ii pen l< nt
Inte. [f il bath its futurity from a God
future in n
;now, because he willed them to be c
therefore knows thi be knows what he willed. Th
• I ono( arise from the things themseli
Jd bare withonl him ; and knowledge, which i I |
ion, would i • rred upon him by his creator* But i Sod
thin i ible in the i his < | sol things future in I
his own will : in his effecting will, if he hath decree I to pro I n ;
m bis permitting will, as he hath decreed to roller them and dispo m.
lui of 1 1 » i 1 1 «_r -i m< |
things futon . I I wiil hath ]
I om the innniteness of his own nature, simply i . that
;■> be future ; fur as thi G 1 is
infinite (for khan ail possible things should be ratu
known to be future onlj becaase God is infinite, hut I
dea : bia declaration of things to some is (bonded upon bis appoint-
ment of thi sne.f In Ua. xliv. 7, it is said, 'And who, ai I. .ill
call, and declare it, since I appointed the ancient p that
are coming?'! Nothing ia created and ordered in the world hut wl.
dec: nd ordered. God knows his own dec re-
all thin:- winch he hath decreed to exist in time, not the minut.
of the world, could have existed without his will, nol an I
without his will. As life, the principle, so motion, the fruit of that
and from Clod. As he decreed life to this or that thing, so he deer
the sfiect of Life, and decreed to exert his power in i ring
with tie producing effects natural from such can r without such
a c.' could not have acted anything, or produced anyth
And for natural things, which we call I God
fore- iiem all particularly in his own decree I
which i. irily tlow from them, hecause such cau-.s cannot hut
are famished with all things necessary for action, lie knows his
eessarily knows what he hath d<
we most say things come to pass whether God will or no ; or, that he wills
heknoi shat. But this cannot be ; for ' known not all his
i . i." Acts xv. L8. N' ssarily
flows from that principle first laid down, th
nothing is future without I rill. If God did not know future thin .
ho would not know his own will ; for as thin hie could not
* Ghee t
.;h iu Aquin., DSfft i. L2t\
VOL. I. U h
482 chaenock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
known by him unless he knew the fulness of his own power, so things
future could not be known by his understanding unless he knew the resolves
of his own will.
Thus the knowledge of God differs from the knowledge of men. God's
knowledge of his w T orks precedes his works,* man's knowledge of God's
w r orks follows his works. Just as an artificer's knowledge of a watch,
instrument, or engine which he w T ould make, is before his making of it ; he
knows the motions of it, and the reasons of those motions before it is made,
because he knows what he hath determined to work ; he knows not those
motions from the consideration of them after they were made, as the spec-
tator doth, who by viewing the instrument after it is made, gains a know-
ledge from the sight and consideration of it, till he understands the reason
of the whole ; so we know things from the consideration of them after we see
them in being, and therefore we know not future things. But God's know-
ledge doth not arise from things because they are, but because he wills them
to be ; and therefore he knows everything that shall be, because it cannot
be without his will, as the creator and maintainer of all things ; knowing his
own substance, he knows all his works.
5. If God did not know all future things, he would be mutable in his
knowledge.
If he did not know all things that ever were or are to be, there w r ould be
upon the appearance of every new object an addition of light to his under-
standing, and therefore such a change in him as every new knowledge causes
in the mind of a man, or as the sun works in the world upon its rising every
morning, scattering the darkness that was upon the face of the earth. If he
did not know them before they came, he would gain a knowledge by them
when they came to pass, which he had not before they were effected ; his
knowledge would be new according to the newness of the objects, and multi-
plied according to the multitude of the objects. If God did not know things
to come as perfectly as he knew things present and past, but knew those
certainly, and the others doubtfully and conjecturally, he would suffer some
change, and acquire some perfection in his knowledge, when those future
things should cease to be future, and become present ; for he would know
it more perfectly when it were present than he did when it was future, and
so there would be a change from imperfection to a perfection ; but God is
every way immutable.
Besides, that perfection would not arise from the nature of God, but from
the existence and presence of the thing. But who will affirm that God
acquires any perfection of knowledge from his creatures, any more than he
doth of being ? He would not then have had that knowledge, and conse-
quently that perfection from eternity, as he had when he created the world,
and will not have a full perfection of the knowledge of his creature till the
end of the world, nor of immortal souls, which will certainly act as well as
live to eternity. And so God never w r as, nor ever will be perfect in know-
ledge ; for when you have conceived millions of years, wherein angels and
souls live and act, there is still more coming than you can conceive, wherein
they will act. And if God be always changing to eternity from ignorance to
knowledge, as those acts come to be exerted by his creatures, he will not be
perfect in knowledge, no, not to eternity, but will always be changing from
one degree of knowledge to another ; a very unworthy conceit to entertain
of the most blessed, perfect, and infinite God.
Hence then it follows, that,
(1.) God foreknows all his creatures ; all kinds w T hich ho determined to
* Maimonid. Moro Novoch., part iii. cap. 21, p. 393, 394.
p . oxLvn. ■>.
make, all particulars thai should ipring out i f the tin
they should come forth of the womb, the ' I" thy book all
1 1 1 1 • 1 1 1 1 .. ; mitten, 1 P i i. 16. M •' in the Hebn .
Wh< I all tin- p
of them which} E tha numl itb
all their p urti ; they irera written in the ; the
duration of them, how long they anal) remain in I" I aei oponthe
In- know- their Lh, tlio ! with another, and
whal will follow in all their oirena . and tb i unbination
- with tl
Tha daroti f - rerj thin \ i i foreknow a, bi c in e ' ; I
\i\. ained, the nnmbex of 1
thee; thon haet appointed hie bonnda thai he eannol p B
i, boyond which none shall reach ; he ind moi I
y day, month, year, boor of a man'i life.
Ail the acta of his oreatorea are foreknown by him. All •
rase he knows their causes ; volant I ball peak of ai
Thie foreknowledge * in. For H is an unworthy notion of
G I to ascribe to him a conjectural knowledge; if there were only a con-
iral knowledge, he could but conjecturally foretell anythu : then it
is possible the events of things migbl ry to bis predictions. It
would appear then thai God were deceived and mistaken, and then t'.
1 be no rule of trying things whether they were from Gtod or no; for
the rule Gtod seta down to discern his words from the word dse
prophets is tl and certain accomplishment of what is predict* I.
t. wiii. 21, to that question, ■ How shall we know whether Gtod fa
ken or i s, thai ' U the thing doth not eon
1 hath not spoken. 1 If his knowledge of future things were not certs
there were no stability in this rule, it would fall to the ground. We a
1 deceived in any prediction; but the event did answer hi
revelation ; his foreknowledge therefore is certain and infallible. "W
not make (iod uncertain in his knowledge, but we must conceive him
fluctuating and wavering in his will; but if his will be not 'yea and nay,'
but ' yea.' his knowledge is certain, because he doth certainly will
!ve.
(1.) This foreknowledge waa from eternity. Seeing lie knows things pos-
sible in his power, and things future in his will, if his power and resolves
were from eternity, his knowledge must be so too, or else we must make
him ignorant of his own power, and ignorant of his own will from eternity,
and [Uently not from eternity blessed and perfect. His knowledge of
rible things must run parallel with his power, and his knowledge of future
things run parallel with his will. If he willed from eternity, he knew from
rnity what he willed ; but that he did will from eternity we must grant,
on!' would render him changeable, and c i c ive him t i be
time of not willing, willing. The knowledge (rod hath in time v.;
one and the hie onderstanding is his prop
. a&d of an immutable nature.
A'. 1 I: [< i I the acta J OS of a thing is not simply necessary I
>wn.* We may see a thing that i
When it doth not actually m 1 a carpenter may know the hou
oil 11' 1-1 of it in Irs own mind : much I
we may cc: decrees^ fore the foundation
rt i. ij xiv. c. iii. p. 124,
484 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
of tho world, Eph. i. 5, and in other places ; and to be before time was, and
to be from eternity, hath no difference. As God in his being exceeds all
beginning of time, so doth his knowledge all motions of time.
(5.) God foreknows all things, as present with him from eternity.* As
he knows mutable things with an immutable and firm knowledge, so he knows
future things with a present knowledge. Not that the things which are pro-
duced in time were actually and really present with him in their own beings
from eternity, for then they could not be produced in time ; had they a real
existence, then they would not be creatures, but God ; and had they actual
being, then they could not be future, for future speaks a thing to come that
is not yet ; if things had been actually present with him, and yet future,
they had been made before they were made, and had a being before they had
a being ; but they were all present to his knowledge, as if they were in actual
being, because the reason of all things that were to be made was present
with him.
The reason of the will of God that they shall be, was equally eternal with
him,f w 7 herein he saw what, and when, and how he would create things, how
he would govern them, to what ends he would direct them. Thus all things
are present to God's knowledge, though in their own nature they may be past
or future, not in esse reali, but in esse intelUgibili, objectively, not actually
present ; X for as the unchangeableness and infiniteness of God's knowledge
of changeable and finite things doth not make the things he knows immu-
table and infinite, so neither doth the eternity of his knowledge make them
actually present with him from eternity, but all things are present to his
understanding, because he hath at once a view of all successions of times,
and his knowledge of future things is as perfect as of present things, or what
is past. It is not a certain knowledge of present things, and an uncertain
knowledge of future ; but his knowledge of one is as certain and unerring as
his knowledge of the other. § As a man that beholds a circle with several
lines from the centre, beholds the lines as they are joined in the centre, be-
holds them also as they are distant and severed from one another, beholds
them in their extent and in their point all at once, though they may have a
great distance from one another. He saw from the beginning of time to the
last minute of it, all things coming out of their causes, marching in their
order according to his own appointment, as a man may see a multitude of
ants, some creeping one way, some another, employed in several businesses
for their winter provision. The eye of God at once runs through the whole
circle of time, as the eye of man upon a tower sees all the passengers at
once, though some be past, some under the tower, some coming at a farther
distance. God, saith Job, ' looks to the end of the earth, and sees under
the whole heaven,' Job xxviii. 24. The knowledge of God is expressed by
sight in Scripture, and futurity to God is the same thing as distance to us.
We can, with a perspective glass, make things that are afar off appear as if
they were near, and the sun, so many thousand miles distant from us, to
appear as if it were at the end of the glass. Why should then future things
be at so great a distance from God's knowledge, when things so far from us
may bo made to approach so near to us ?
God considers all things, in his own simple knowledge, as if they were
now acted ; and therefore some have chosen to call the knowledge of things
to come not prescienco or foreknowledge, but knowledge, because God sees
all things in one instant, scimtid nunqucm deficient** insiantia\\\ Upon this
* Gerhard Exeges, ch. viii., do Deo, sect. xiii. p. 303.
t Bradward, 1. iii. c. 14. § Pngio Fidci, part i. ch. 19.
I Ilornbeck. . |J Boot. Consolat., lib. v. prof. 6.
Pi. OXLVII. 5,
QOt thing! that nro t<> &d
I i. :\. 6, ' I lild ' ■ though i
bora : tin- lafferic f < ... i, .•.<■., * II" hath our
wound* >
l • . I 1 ' . i . . them,'
•
if thingn won ro lulu.
.1 inoommui thing
raft-
to* in beii
thing! .simp
\\ itii an ,: . . 'In. v 1 1 1 : i ;. i!
tlui; me, lu: nlv conjectural, and of i d
• ..• li< :i t Inn. and in his pi
upon bis pi c ilamitiea, Job i. 11. B • :.
h.i\ 1 ' i i knowled imething fatori
i he w^' b thi m of hi.-. •
. :is in th( b, when be I i h t r i j > 1
of b . when hi the
delivi ranee of bis p< ople.
J.) 1 boa li tin- in. that God for<
the manner of hia knowing all thi] ily
u-d. \\ «■ must Dot, I
understand not the manner how he bath the knowledge of all I It
thy for qb m no more ive
cf bim ; we should then own no more of him than that he d '
thoo, • b, • by searching find out God? thou find out the
Almighty ui d ? ' Job n. 7. Do * 'to
• known to i
ehend the nature of a man, nor what we <• bem wh<
i them, oor do we know what they fancy of a i they look \\i
I know, we andersl tittle the manner of th
imaginations aa they do of ours ; and shall we ascribe a darkness in God as
to fntnre things, e we are ignorant of then . iow
should know them '. " Shall we doubt whether God doth certainly know
t - which we only conjecture '.' A- our power is not tl ire
rof G ,ao neithi r ia our kn<. the jndg
onal on
our Do w< ctly know the manner how we know? shah
:iy that we know anything? Vfe know wv haw goch a
all understanding, bat doth any man certainly know what it
th not, shall li. that which is plain and I to
him .' B i • tain oars*
i inner how n
I we th. li ny that which our wince a
1 this will be a preparation to the last thing.
knows all future couth ; that is, God fa
: app a, or, . and he knows all
ills that ahall DC to thi world.
• all tbii bim,' II- b. iv. L8, th. d all a
f,.r : in the imiulur of thii (
those thin
* Ficinni in Pi 19.
486 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
things which are unknown to man, are known to God, because of the infinite
fulness and perfection of the divine understanding.
Let us see what a contingent is.
That is contingent which we commonly call accidental, as when a tile falls
suddenly upon a man's head as he is walking in the street, or when one
letting off a musket at random shoots another he did not intend to hit ; such
was that arrow whereby Ahab was killed, shot by a soldier at a venture,
1 Kings xxii. 34. This some call a mixed contingent, made up partly of
necessity, and partly of accident ; it is necessary the bullet, when sent out
of the gun, or arrow out of the bow, should fly and light somewhere, but it
is an accident that it hits this or that man, that was never intended by the
archer. Other things, as voluntary actions, are purely contingents, and
have nothing of necessity in them ; all free actions that depend upon the
will of man, whether to do or not to do, are of this nature, because they
depend not upon a necessary cause, as burning doth upon the fire, moisten-
ing upon water, or as descent or falling down is necessary to a heavy body,
for those cannot in their own nature do otherwise ; but the other actions
depend upon a free agent, able to turn to this or that point, and determine
himself as he pleases.
Now we must know that what is accidental in regard of the creature, is
not so in regard of God. The manner of Ahab's death was accidental in
regard of the hand by which he was slain, but not in regard of God, who
foretold his death, and foreknew the shot, and directed the arrow. God was
not uncertain before of the manner of his fall, nor hovered over the battle to
watch for an opportunity to accomplish his own prediction ; what may be or
not be in regard of us, is certain in regard of God. To imagine that what is
accidental to us is so to God, is to measure God by our short line. How
many events, following upon the results of princes in their counsels, seem
to persons ignorant of those counsels to be a hap-hazard, yet were not con-
tingencies to the prince and his assistants, but foreseen by him as certainly
to issue so as they do, which they knew before would be the fruit of such
causes and instruments they would knit together ! That may be necessary
in regard of God's foreknowledge, which is merely accidental in regard of
the natural disposition of the immediate causes which do actually produce
it ; contingent in its own nature and in regard of us, but fixed in the know-
ledge of God. One illustrates it by this similitude : * A master sends two
servants to one and the same place, two several ways, unknown to one
another ; they meet at the place which their master had appointed them ;
their meeting is accidental to them, one knows not of the other, but it w T as
foreseen by the master that they should so meet, and that in regard of them
it would seem a mere accident till they came to explain the business to one
another; both the necessity of their meeting in regard of their master's
order, and the accidentalness of it in regard of themselves, were in both their
circumstances foreknown by the master that employed them.
For the clearing of this, take it in this method.
(1.) It is an unworthy conceit of God, in any, to exclude him from the
knowledge of these things.
[1.] It will be a strange contracting of him, to allow him no greater a
knowledge than we have ourselves. Contingencies are known to us when
they come into act, and pass from futurity do reality; and when they are
present to us, we can order our affairs accordingly; shall we allow God no
greater a measure of knowledge than we have, and make him as blind as
ourselves, not to see things of that nature; before they come to pass ? Shall
* Zanch.
r . cxi.vii. , r ).]
:li. in do mora; God 1 baa
m kno\ . .iii.l thai bo doth, like us, land nritfa admiration at i
:i conjoctun • ■■ same unci rtalnl
Citxl, did ha.
appear to the ... .' i i loth m I • ha
i bul conjecture them ; bat a i iral km
I . I, for thai if aol kno
deity bj making him Btibj< i
i an iini-
ally acknowledged perfocti fomni cience. A i
unworthy of < ii ani-
!. . r in mini hath :i lib* i
ilk to tin « or thai ijiiai I
or thai thing oi do! to do il ; which waj a man frill <•• rtainl;
liin unknown I"
aelf, for he ma) be in all wo imagine thi
miii. iiu >n of hn • 'I from I tocL The e thai
knowledge in such cases, must < '""I hath an opinion tl,
man will resolve rather this way than thai ; — bnl thru if a man by his hi
rmine himself contrary to the opinion of God, G
and what rational creature can own him I God that can D€ I in
anythii e they nni-t saj thai God is a! iiu.-. rtaintj, an
his opinion without detennining it an ; then In- carmoi
ti.l they arc done, he would then <1< p« nd upon the creature lor nia infbri
tion, lus knowledge would be every instant in u<<t
►re came into act; ami since there are every minute an innumerable
multitude ^( various imaginations in the minds of men, there would i
minute an . in of new kno... i God, which he had i ;
h. sidi -. this knowledge would be mutable, according to the waverii
tk resolutions of m while Btanding to this point, anol
while to that, it' he depended upon the creatures 1 determination I
iwledge.
2. If the ; of men wen- unknown before to God, no man can seo
. an he any government of the world by him. Such couth.
may happen, and Mich resolves of men's free wills unknown toG
affairs, and pul him upon new counsels and methods I du-
ing those ends which tied at the firsl creation of things; if thi
happen which God b not of before, this must be thi
where there is no foresight, there is no providence ; things may happ d
sudden, if God he ignorant of them, that they ma] a cluck to Lis
int. nti- »ns and scheme of government, and put him upon eh tho
: it. Sow often doth a small intervening cireun
man. .lash in | a long meditated and well*formed d. Bign.
rssary . . -un and re natural
tl in themselv* magined ; hut i . tho
world, thai many men of free will, ahle t-> determine them-
iat, and which have no constancy in th< : - the
gun a: I ined, DJ B will allow in God as
: foreknowledge of i.
m their .God I his
ry hour, every minute, according to th<
. .'. hioh a ud changeable in the whol.
world in thi
* S
488 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
of men will be, before he could settle his own methods of government ;
and so must govern the world according to their mutability, and not accord-
ing to any certainty in himself. But his ' counsel is stable ' in the midst
of multitudes of free 'devices' in the heart of man, Prov. xix. 21, and
knowing them all before, orders them to be subservient to his own stable
counsel. If he cannot know what to-morrow will bring forth in the mind of
a man, how can he certainly settle his own determination of governing him ;
his degrees and resolves must be temporal, and arise pro re tiatd, and he
must alway be in counsel what he should do upon every change of men's
minds. This is an unworthy conceit of the infinite majesty of heaven, to
make his government depend upon the resolves of men, rather than their
resolves upon the design of God.
(2.) It is therefore certain that God doth foreknow the free and voluntary
acts of man. How could he else order his people to ask of him ' things to
come,' in order to their deliverance, such things as depend upon the will of
man, if he foreknew not the motions of their will, Isa. xlv. 11.
[1.] Actions good or indifferent depending upon the liberty of man's will
as much as any whatsoever. Several of these he hath foretold ; not only a
person to build up Jerusalem was predicted by him, but the name of that
person, Cyrus, Isa. xliv. 28. What is more contingent, or is more the
effect of the liberty of man's will, than the names uf their children ? Was
not the destruction of the Babylonish empire foretold, which Cyrus under-
took, not by any compulsion, but by a free inclination and resolve of his
own will ? And was not the dismission of the Jews into their own country
a voluntary act in that conquerer ? If you consider the liberty of man's
will, might not Cyrus as well have continued their yoke as have struck off
their chains, and kept them captive as well as dismissed them ? Had it not
been for his own interest rather to have strengthened the fetters of so
turbulent a people, who, being tenacious of their religion and laws, different
from that professed by the whole world, were like to make disturbances
more when they were linked in a body in their own country, than when they
were transplanted and scattered into the several parts of his empire ? It
was in the power of Cyrus (take him as a man) to choose one or the other.
His interest invited him to continue their captivity rather than grant their
deliverance, yet God knew that he would willingly do this rather than the
other ; he knew this which depended upon the will of Cyrus ; and why may
not an infinite God foreknow the free acts of all men, as well as of one ? If
the liberty of Cyrus's will was no hindrance to God's certain and infallible
foreknowledge of it, how can the contingency of any other thing be a hin-
drance to him ? for there is the same reason of one and all ; and his govern-
ment extends to every village, every family, every person, as well as to
kingdoms and nations.
So God foretold by his prophet, not only the destruction of Jeroboam's
altar, but the name of the person that should be the instrument of it,
1 Kings xiii. 2, and this about three hundred years before Josiah's birth.
It is a wonder that none of the pious kings of Judah, in detestation of
idolatry, and hopes to recover again the kingdom of Israel, had in all that
space named one of their sous by that name of Josiah, in hopes that that
prophecy should Ik; accomplished by him ; that Manasseh only should do
tli is, who was the greatest imitator of Jeroboam's idolatry among all the
Jewish kings, and indeed went beyond them, and had no mind to destroy
in another kingdom what he propagated in his own. What is freer than
the imposition of a, name? Yet I his be foreknew, and this Josiah was J\Ia-
nasseh's son, 2 Kings xxi. 20. Was there anything more voluntary than for
r . < \ i . \ 1 1 . b .
Pharaoh t i honour the butl r I him to hia pla
baker bj l bim on a gibh I ? 5
i were nol nil tin- rohml . which w< re tip
incemout, t ( ■", which «
and be aimed at l.\ tho I op-
Can all ill-' amount the innnit vim:
inn i, If i Qe voluntary action in i I in-
aumber of « » » 1 j ■ • I 'lu-
ll us and in. lit, why Bhould be not know ti.
:nt.» all thai tho Ii
ill be - I as
thai Ii- >a in the midti of manj • one kn
be Scrip tun an aeeonnl of conl I
n .•. rtainly prove that anything ia onfon
I- onable to think I
.-• thai Ii-' as much hid from the -
.• difficulty to an infinite understanding to know all, th
Indeed, if we den] i luntary
mu8l Btrike our >flf from th< of Scripture predii
remain onaceompliahed, and will be broughl aboul by the voluntary*
Hunt- of men, aa the ruin of antichrist, Ac. It' God fori
■us of man's will, how can he foretell tin in ? [f
perfection ofpr< science, why should we believe s woi
en .lit of tl I of God ia torn Qp by thi
were uncertain of such events, bow can i
bia truth, and hia demanding our belief of them to hi
Were ii good and righteous in God to urge aa to the belief of thai he w<
uncertain of himself? How could he be true in predicting things he v
in requiring credit it which might
ia would necessarily follow, if God did nol foreknow tho
men's wills, whereby many of hia predictions
some remain yet to be accomplished.
•_'. I ireknows the voluntary sinful motions of i]
. i: I hath for several of them. Were not all the minute sinful
omatancea about the death of cur 1 Redeemer, aa the piercing b
giving him gall to drin] , ' Id, as well aa the not breaking bin
ing his garments ? \\ hat were those but the an a, w]
1 willingly, without any constraint ? And I :<>ld by David,
ar prophets, above a thousand, f othnn-
they came to
punctually answered the prophc oi< b. M u y an :. which
1 upon tlieir free will, have 1 i told : the Egyptians' volunl
. 1 8 : Pharaoh's hardening hi
, 19; 1 t ] ih'a me* uld be in vain
. vi. 19; that the Israelites would be rebellious after M
turn idolai -. I N at. xxxi. 16 ; Judas hi
voluntary action, John vi. 71 : he n
kind of repentance for it ; and not * ■ hut
. fails under rep< i
truth hath depended upon this foresight.
• The i
. him, d
of tl ith bim.— J
lib. i.
490 chaknock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
that in Gen. xv. 16, but ' the fourth generation, they shall come hither
again; ' that is, the posterity of Abraham shall come into Canaan ; ' for the
iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.'* God makes a promise to Abra-
ham of giving his posterity the land of Canaan, not presently, but in the
fourth generation. If the truth of God be infallible in the performance of
his promise, his understanding is as infallible in the foresight of the Amorites'
sin : the fulness of their iniquity was to precede the Israelites' possession.
Did the truth of God depend upon an uncertainty ? Did he make the pro-
mise hand over head, as we say? How could he with any wisdom and truth
assure Israel of the possession of the land in the fourth generation, if he had
not been sure that the Amorites would fill up the measure of their iniquities
by that time ? If Abraham had been a Socinian, to deny God's knowledge
of the free acts of men, had he not had a fine excuse for unbelief ? What
would his reply have been to God ? Alas, Lord, this is not a promise to be
relied upon ; the Amorites' iniquity depends upon the acts of their free will,
and such thou canst have no knowledge of. Thou canst see no more than
a likelihood of their iniquity being full, and therefore there is but a likeli-
hood of thy performing thy promise, and not a certainty. Would not this
be judged not only a saucy, but a blasphemous answer ? And upon these
principles the truth of the most faithful God had been dashed to uncertainty
and a peradventure.
Thirdly, God provided a remedy for man's sin, and therefore foresaw the
entrance of it into the world by the fall of Adam. He had a decree before
the foundation of the world, to manifest his wisdom in the gospel by Jesus
Christ, an ' eternal purpose in Jesus Christ,' Eph. iii. 11. And a decree of
election passed before the foundation of the world, a separation of some to
redemption and forgiveness of sin in the blood of Christ, in whom they were
from eternity chosen, as well as in time accepted in Christ, Eph. i. 4, 6, 7,
which is called a ' purpose in himself,' ver. 9. Had not sin entered, there
had been no occasion for the death of the Son of God, it being everywhere
in Scripture laid upon that score. A decree for the shedding of blood sup-
posed a decree for the permission of sin, and a certain foreknowledge of God,
that it would be committed by man. An uncertainty of foreknowledge, and
a fixedness of purpose, are not consistent in a wise man, much less in the
only wise God. God's purpose to manifest his wisdom to men and angels
in this way might have been defeated, had God had only a conjectural fore-
knowledge of the fall of man ; and all those solemn purposes of displaying
his perfections in those methods had been to no purpose. f The provision
of a remedy supposed a certainty of the disease. If a sparrow fall not to
ground without the will of God, how much less could such a deplorable ruin
fall upon mankind, without God's will permitting it, and his knowledge fore-
seeing it !
It is not hard to" conceive how God might foreknow it 4 He indeed
decreed to create man in an excellent state. The goodness of God could not
but furnish him with a power to stand. Yet in his wisdom he might foresee
that the devil would be envious to man's happiness, and would, out of envy,
attempt his subversion. As God knew of what temper the faculties were he
had endued man with, and how far they were able to endure the assaults of
a temptation, so he also foreknew the grand subtilty of Satan, how he would
lay his .mine, and to what point he would drive his temptation ; how he
Would propose and manage it, and direct his battery against the sensitive
appetite, and assault the weakest part of tho fort ; might, he not foresee that
, * Vid. Riret. in loc. exorci. 8G, p, 329.
t Mares, cont. VolkeL lib. i. oap, 24, p. 343. J AmyralcL do Pradestin. cap. G.
r . < UA ii. 6 «...i.', ). ••■ ■ •■• i.i .]-.! . 491
Hi.' effleaoj of the temptaiioD wou of the n
i 1 1 i.u- the malice of S ii.ui would extend ; Ii"
would, accordit dd ehai
tioil without Ins | .. >\\ . i lul r. 'strain! . us Well IIH till i
ihol boo will make ;i bn ach in a I
I. r will l.l..w 1 1 1 * ;i i'..ih.- -.. uhn in l.uilt th.- ..in- dot founded the
other? Won nclude God could not be de< n the jn
oft I event, oe be I.u- a boa far in- would I-
in- be would p. runt man • ice In- d
ire "i all things, be fo b an a:
; . ohadad might oatui but
ho fi i thai Adam would Bink under tin- allun of tin- tem]
tion, as be I that II. im. I would nut 1. 1 l'.< uhadad H
Bince th." whole race of mankind Lies in corruption, an I
the power of the devil, 1 John v. 19, maj no! God, thai
ti.Mi in every man's nature, ami the fora ol every] l * :t t,
y partioular nature will ineline him to upon Buch o l to
him, and what the of the temptation will l>.\ know also the
[i there any difficulty in God's foreknowing this, since man, 1
re of one he is well acquainted with, can conclude wl
will have, and how he will behave himself, upon presenting this oz that
object to him ?
man that understands the disposition of his child or
>re what he will do upon Buch an o m, may not God much m
who knows the inclination of all his creatures, and from eternity run with
hi*. ■ 1 the works h<' intended? Our wills are in the nun
. and Bince <i'"l kno as causes, r than we do our-
why should In- 1"- ignorant of the effect
1 1 d determines to giv< achaman; nut to give it to anol
l»nt leave him to himself, and Buffer Buch I ions to assault him. N
i, knowing the corruption of man in tin- whole mass, and in every pa
it, 18 it not easy for him to foreknow what the future actions of the will will
when the tinder and fire meet together, and how such a man will d<
mine himself, both as to the substance and manner of the action ? [s it
. for him to know how a corrupted temper ami a temptation w2
■:ly privy to all the gall in the hearts of men. ami wh.-.t princi
they will have before they have a being. He ' knows their thoughts afar
1'-. oxzziz. -. as for off as eternity, a- qriain the words, and tl
voluntary as anything; he knows the | ad inclinations of men
in the order of Becond causes; he understands the corruption of i
. as the poison of dragons ami the venom of asps. I ' laid up in
e with him. and sealed among his treasun it. xxxii. 88, :'<i;
rag the treasuree of his foreknowledge, say Borne.
What was the cruelty of Hazael hut a tree act ? x . knew the frame
of hi-- heart, and what acts of murder ami oppression would Bpring from I
bitter fountain, before Saaael had conceived them in hi
12, A- man that SHOWS the mineral through which waters paS8 may k
.t relish they will have before they appear above the earth, bo out
a knew hi would deny him ; he knew what quantity of
•h a Lattery, in what measure ho w.uiM i
would leave 1 Petei ads, ami then I might
ly he known ; : man, God know-, in his OWH will
what measure i will give to determine the will I I. and what
ill withdraw from such a person, or bim,
492 CHAKNOCKS works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
and consequently, how far such a person will fall or not. God knows the
inclinations of the creature ; he knows his own permissions, what degrees of
grace he will either allow him or keep from him, according to which will be the
degree of his sin. This may in some measure help our conceptions in this,
though, as was said before, the manner of God's foreknowledge is not so
easily explicable.
(3). God's foreknowledge of man's voluntary actions doth not necessitate
the will of man. The foreknowledge of God is not deceived, nor the liberty
of man's will diminished. I shall not trouble you with any school distinc-
tions, but be as plain as I can, laying down several propositions in this
case.
Prop. 1. It is certain all necessity doth not take away liberty. Indeed, a
compulsive necessity takes away liberty, but a necessity of immutability
removes not liberty from God ; why should then a necessity of infallibility
in God remove liberty from the creature ? God did not necessarily create
the world, because he decreed it ; yet freely, because his will from eternity
stood to it : he freely decreed it, and freely created it. As the apostle saith,
in regard of God's decrees, ' Who hath been his counsellor ? ' Rom. xi. 34,
so, in regard of his actions, I may say, Who hath been his compeller ? He
freely decreed, and he freely created. Jesus Christ necessarily took our
flesh, because he had covenanted with God so to do, yet he acted freely and
voluntar[iljy according to that covenant, otherwise his death had not been effi-
cacious for us. A good man doth naturally necessarily love his children,
yet voluntary. It is part of the happiness of the blessed to love God un-
changeably, yet freely, for it would not be their happiness if it were done
by compulsion. What is done by force cannot be called felicity, because
there is no delight or complacency in it ; and though the blessed love God
freely, yet, if there were a possibility of change, it would not be their hap-
piness ; their blessedness would be damped by their fear of falling from this
love, and consequently from their nearness to God, in whom their happiness
consists. God foreknows that they will love him for ever, but are they
therefore compelled for ever to love him ? If there were such a kind of
constraint, heaven would be rendered burdensome to them, and so no heaven.
Again, God's foreknowledge of what he will do doth not necessitate him
to do ; he foreknew that he would create a w r orld, yet he freely created
a world. God's foreknowledge doth not necessitate himself, why should it
necessitate us more than himself ? We may instance in ourselves : when we
will a thing, we necessar[iljy use our faculty of will ; and when we freely will
anything, it is necessary that w T e freely will ; but this necessity doth not
exclude but include liberty ; or more plainly, when a man writes or speaks,
whilst he writes or speaks, those actions are necessary, because to speak and
be silent, to write and not to write, at the same time, are impossible ; yet
our writing or speaking doth not take away the power not to write or to be
silent at that time, if a man would be so, for he might have chose whether
he would have spoke or writ. So there is a necessity of such actions of
man which God foresees ; that is, a necessity of infallibility, because God
cannot be deceived, but not a coactive necessity, as if they were compelled
by God to act thus or thus.
Prop. 2. No iiutn can say in any of his voluntary actions that he ever
found any force; upon him. When any of us have done anything according
to our wills, can we say we could not have done the contrary to it? Were
we determined to it in our own intrinsic nature, or did we not determine our-
selves ? Did we not act either according to our reason, or according to
outward allurements ; did we find anything without us or within us that
Ps. OXLVII. 6,
did win ' th ' v. ,i if
do it b< '.-'ii judge it fi{ -...n m I
What though G 1<3 I that you mid do thi i
or that, did yon feel w 1 1 I you d
nature ' i h a tim
find an} thing thai move • j ou to eat 1
yonr om n r< i on and will " [f pi
mid wo not probabl oe kindofp it in the mouth
of Adam? II ■
God, ii ; he could noi in ini
ran* I I -| thai knew nothing ol future things; he could
rant of I i action but he mn i\ ha npon I
though! God |
him, he would not have omitted the p] ly when
: to i •■ the pr i. in the gifl of I
to him, to be the can-.' of his cr me, Gen. iii. L2. Hon came fa
i" nut ( \o I, which their father Adam nevi r thou
rho had more knowledge than all of them? He o old find i
rin bu1 the liberty ofhia own will. He charges it nol npon any n<
l the devil, or any i ■ . from God ; nor doth ho all fthe
woman iry cause of his sin, bul
fruit to him. Judas knew thai our Saviour did foreknow hi . for
he had told him of it in the hearing of bis disciples, John xiii. 21, !
he never ch his crime upon the forekn<
[f Judas had not done it freely, he had had no
his repentance justifies Christ from imp upon him
knowled . No man acts anything but he can give an account of
iii<>' : he cannot father it upon a blind nec< will
cannot be compelled, for then it would I > be will, i :j, I)0 t r
np the foundations of natu order of it, and make men un-
like men, that is. as free agents. God foreknows the s of
irrational creatures; tins concludes no violence npon their nature, for
find their actions to be according to their nature, and apontaneou
foreknowledge ia not, Bimply considered, the c f any-
thing. It puts nothing into things, but only beholds them as pr» Bent,
ring from their proper causes. The knowledge of God is noi the prin-
ciple of things, or the cause of their existence, but directive of the
because God knows it. but because God wills it. either p< -
d8sively. God knows all things possible; y • G
• not broughl into actual exisi ti remain still only
thi: | ible. Knowledge only apprehends a thing, hut acts nothing; it
is the rule of acting, but not the cause of acting : the will is the im:
principle, and the power the immediate cause. To know a thing is no-
do a thing; for then we may he said to e thing that we know. 1'
ry man knows those things which he never did, nor never will
En If is an apprehension of a thing, and is not I
i thing is not the cause of that thing which he sees;
of it as he beholds it. \\ , man writ,
he will wri teh a time; but this foreknowledge i-
Cause of his writing. W. - e a man walk ; hut our vision of him le
him ; he w ;,, walk. | to walk. 1 We
know that death will seize upon all in- seasons
of; ■ will sue • e another; yet is not our ton-!
* Raleigh, oft:. .. lib i. cap. i. sec. IS,
491 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
of this succession of spring after winter, or of the death of all men, or any
man. "We see one man fighting with another ; our sight is not the cause of
that contest, but some quarrel among themselves exciting their own passions.
As the knowledge of present things imposeth no necessity upon them while
they are acting and present, so the knowledge of future things imposeth no
necessity upon them while they are coming. "We are certain there will
be men in the world to-morrow, and that the sea will ebb and flow ; but is
this knowledge of ours the cause that those things will be so ? I know that
the sun will rise to-morrow ; it is true that he shall rise ; but it is not true
that my foreknowledge makes it to rise. If a physician prognosticates, upon
seeing the intemperances and debaucheries of men, that they will fall into
such a distemper, is his prognostication any cause of their disease, or of the
sharpness of any symptoms attending it ? The prophet foretold the cruelty
of Hazael before he committed it ; but who will say that the prophet was
the cause of his commission of that evil ? And thus the foreknowledge of
God takes not away the liberty of man's will, no more than a foreknowledge
that we have of any man's actions takes away his liberty. "We may, upon
our knowledge of the temper of a man, certainly foreknow that if he falls
into such company, and get among his cups, he will be drunk ; but is this
foreknowledge the" cause that he is drunk ? No ; the cause is the liberty of
his own will, and not resisting the temptation. God purposes to leave such
a man to himself and his own ways ; and man being so left, God fore-
knows what will be done by him according to that corrupt nature which is
in him. Though the decree of God, of leaving a man to the liberty of his
own will, be certain, yet the liberty of man's will, as thus left, is the cause
of all the extravagancies he doth commit. Suppose Adam had stood ; would
not God certainly have foreseen that he would have stood ? Yet it would
have been concluded that Adam had stood, not by any necessity of God's
foreknowledge, but by the liberty of his own will. WTiy should, then, the
foreknowledge of God add more necessity to his falling than to his standing ? *
And though it be said sometimes in Scripture that such a thing was done,
* that the Scripture might be fulfilled,' as John xii. 38, ' that the saying of
Esaias might be fulfilled, Lord, who hath believed our report?' the word
that doth not infer that the prediction of the prophet was the cause of the
Jews' unbelief; but infers this, that the prediction was manifested to be
true by their unbelief, and the event answered the prediction. This predic-
tion was not the cause of their sin ; but their foreseen sin was the cause of
this prediction. And so the particle that is taken, Ps. li. 4, ' Against thee,
thee only have I sinned, that thou mightest be justified,' &c. The justify-
ing God was not the end and intent of the sin, but the event of it upon his
acknowledgment.
Prop. 4. God foreknows things because they will come to pass ; but things
are not future because God knows them. Foreknowledge presupposeth the
ol nect which is foreknown. A thing that is to come to pass is the object of the
divine knowledge, but not the cause of the act of divine knowledge ; and
though the foreknowledge of God doth in eternity precede the actual pre-
sence of a thing which is foreseen as future, yet the future thing, in regard
of its futurity, is as eternal as the foreknowledge of God. As the voice is
uttered before it be heard, and a thing is visible before it be seen, and a
thin" knowablo before it be known ; but how comes it to be knowable to
God ? It must be answered, either in the power of God as a thing possible,
or in the will of God as a thing future. He first willed, and then knew what
ho willed ; he knew what hi", willed to effect, and he knew what he willed to
* Rivet in Isa. liii. 1, p. 10.
I' . I ' '. I ;
trilled the death of < I
willed the pormi ion of I
their □ ttnre to tfa il end, \ -\ cnu-
tare, !ui«l t i i him h (! to hind
creature from ti
binder would come t<> |-i i. Mm <lnl I
him : but « I him to
other men would have actod otherwise, <
I Well, (iiul I'm ,'lM
b the motion of our I '. which ho would permit,
which li«' would concur with, which he would n
ends for tl»o manifestation of tho perfection ol It' I
■ men lie in a Kink, no i I
in that filthy place ; but th oessity him |
• I ; e him in thai condition if I paei I
that way.
/ ' . i. God did ooi only fon the mam* r of
actions ; thai is, he did uoi only know thai we would do such a but
we would do them freely. Ee for iw thai the will would
rmine itself to this or thai The knowledge of God I the
ire of things. Though God kno* ble thin main in
tli.' nature of possibility; and though God knows c at thii
they remain in the nature of contingencies ; and though <<
main in the nature of libert; . God
actions of man lary, bu! as free; bo thai liberty is rather establi
by this foreknowledge than removed. God did not foreloaow thai Adam
not a pOW( ad, OT that any man hath imt B - !i ;i
sinful action, bul thai he would uol omii it. Man hath a todooti
wise than that which c » « ». I foreknows he will do. Adam
any inward necessity to tall, nor any man by any inwa ty to
commit this or that particular sin ; bui God foresaw that he would tail,
and tall freely; for he saw the whole circle of means and <•
ich actions ahould be produced, and can be no mi
motions of OUT wills, and the manner of them, than an artificer I
ignoranl of the motions of his watch, and how for the spring will L
the string in the - f an hour. Hi all causes leadi
its in their whole order, and how the free-will of man will comply with
this, or refuse that; he changes not the manner of the creature- 'ion,
wh •
. 6. But what if the foreknowledge of God, and tho liberty of tho
will, cannot bo fully reconciled by man ? Shall wo tl v a perfec-
. in God, 10 Support a liberty in our. elv s '.' Shall we rather fasten i
and accuse him of blindness, to maintain our liberty '?
Th reknow everything, and yet that there is liberty in
rational creature. . i certain: but how fully to reconcile them, -
surmount the und og of man. Some truths tho discrpL
able of bearing in the days of Christ ; and several truths our a
teh as long as the world doth I t in the mean tin:
must on the one hand take heed of conceiving God ignorant, an 1 on tho
other hand of imagining ti no will
inn . and the other will stem to render him unjust, in put Man
for that sin which he could not avoid, but wai at into I d neces-
sity. God own proceedings, and i
up all at the day of judgment ; it M a part of man's curi the fall,
496 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
to be prying into God's secrets, things too high for him, whereby he singes
his own wings, and confounds his own understanding. It is a cursed affec-
tation that runs in the blood of Adam's posterity, to know as God, though
our first father smarted and ruined his posterity in that attempt ; the ways
and knowledge of God are as much ■ above our thoughts' and conceptions,
as ' the heavens are above the earth,' Isa. lv. 9, and so sublime, that we
cannot comprehend them in their true and just greatness ;* his designs are
so mysterious, and the ways of his conduct so profound, that it is not pos-
sible to dive into them. The force of our understandings is below his infinite
wisdom, and therefore we should adore him with an humble astonishment,
and cry out with the apostle ; Rom. xi. 33, ' Oh the depth of the riches of
the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and
his ways past finding out !' Whenever we meet with depths that we cannot
fathom, let us remember that he is God, and we his creatures ; and not be
guilty of so great extravagance, as to think that a subject can pierce into all
the secrets of a prince, or a work understand all the operations of the arti-
ficer. Let us only resolve not to fasten any thing on God that is unworthy
of the perfection of his nature, and dishonourable to the glory of his majesty ;
nor imagine that we can ever step out of the rank of creatures to the glory
of the Deity, to understand fully everything in his nature.
So much for the second general, what God knows.
III. The third is, How God knows all things ? As it is necessary we
should conceive God to be an understanding being, else he could not be God,
so we must conceive his understanding to be infinitely more pure and perfect
than ours in the act of it, else we liken him to ourselves, and debase him as
low as his footstool. As among creatures there are degrees of being and
perfection ; plants above earth and sand, because they have a power of
growth ; beasts above plants, because to their power of growth, there is an
addition of excellency of sense ; rational creatures above beasts, because to
sense there is added the dignity of reason ; the understanding of man is
more noble than all the vegetative power of plants, or the sensitive power of
beasts : God therefore must be infinitely more excellent in his understand-
in^, and therefore in the manner of it.f As man differs from a beast in
regard of his knowledge, so doth God also from man in regard of his know-
ledge. As God therefore is, in being and perfection, infinitely more above a
man than a man is above a beast, the manner of his knowledge must be
infinitely more above a man's knowledge, than the knowledge of a man is
above that of a beast ; our understandings can clasp an object in a moment,
that is at a great distance from our sense ; our eye by one elevated motion
can view the heavens ; the manner of God's understanding must be un con-
ceivably above our glimmerings ; as the manner of his being is infinitely
more perfect than all beings, so must the manner of his understanding be
infinitely more perfect than all created understandings. Indeed, the manner
of God's knowledge can no more be known by us, than his essence can be
known by us ; and the same incapacity in man, which renders him unable
to comprehend the being of God, renders him as unable to comprehend the
manner of God's understanding. J As there is a vast distance between the
essence of God, and our beings, so there is between the thoughts of God
and our thoughts. The heavens are not so much higher than the earth, as
the thoughts of God are above the thoughts of men, yea, and of the highest
* Daillo, Mclanf*. part i. p. 712, 725.
f Maxim. Tyrius Dissert, i. p, 9, 10.
X Maimonidea More Nevockim. part iii. c. xx. p. C9 1-393.
P . c\i.Vii. 5. 187
;tnvl, !
we know thai be <\. the infinil of ( '•<> 1,
ire know that 1 1 1 i bim«
• w!i:it he is ; il
the manner Q 11
Lh imperfections our ki oncamberod with.
I 'i-n.-i :i !, God il«it li iii ilv know all things ; lie ily omni-
iMit, I" c nine of the imin. i be ii Deeeeaai
omniscienti bee thu i nli n i t <-iii- < < < t f 1 1 i m n n< l<i .^t :i •!■ 1 : 1 1 •. I
at the libertj of bii will, whether he will know all things, than
will be abl all things; it is no a I the liberty of his will,
whether he will be omniscient, than whether be will I" i as
»rant, a m be impure ; be I I
will kno l, bat b attal to theoL
In particular.
/'/ . l . God knoi i by bis < of
things in the ideas of his own mind, and t ; i in the decr<
of his own uill ; he knows them not by riewing the things, bnl I
himself; his own i :e is the mirror and book, wherein he beholds all
things that be doth ordain, dispose, and exeonl i be knows aU thi
in the firsl and original can-*', which is no Other than hi .. ill-
. and his own essenoe executing what he wills : be knowi them m his
power as the physical principle, in his will as the moral principle of this .
sak.
Ee borrows not the kno 1 of creatures from th< , norde]
upon them for means of understanding, as we poor worms do, who i
holden to the objects abroad to assist us with im things, and to our
seni nvcv them into our minds : God would then acquire a perfecfl
which are below himself and an excellency from those
things that are vile ; his knowdedgo would not precede the being of the
it the creatures would he before the act of his knowledge. Ir'
he understood by images drawn from the creatures, as we do, there would
be something in God which is not God, viz., the images of things drawn
from outward objects. God would then depend upon ercatur-
which is more noble than a bare being ; for to be understanding, is more
dent than barely to be. Besides, if God's knowledge of bis ;res
rived from the creatures by the impression of anything upon him.
there is upon us, he could not know from eternity, because from eternity
> actual existence of anything but himself; anl therefore there
could not bo any images shot out from any thing, because there was not
anything in being but (rod ; as there is no principle of being to anything but
by his essence, so there is no principle of the knowdedge of anything by
himself but his . If the knowledge of God were distinct from his
. his knowledge were not eternal, because th re is nothing eternal but
.
Hi- no lerstai] Dot a faculty in him as it is in us, but the same with his
of the simplicity of his nature ; God is not neide ii}) of var:
parts, one; distinct from another, as we are, and therefore doth UOtund
• by himself; so that to be i ad to understan I
6 with God; bis essence il the power whereby ho
ond< Qother ; he would then be eompoui 1 not be the i.
him; ]
• an 1 uol le the way and manner of knowing is, tfa
and noble is the know'. .1. :-ou
. i. i i
498 chaknock's wokks. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
the excellency of the medium whereby we know. As a knowledge by reason
is a more noble way of knowing than knowledge by sense, so it is more
excellent for God to know by his essence, than by anything without him,
anything mixed with him ; the first would render him dependent, and the
other would demolish his simplicity.
Again, the natures of all things are contained in God, — not formally, for
then the nature of the creatures would be God ;*■ — but eminently, ' he that
planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see ?'
Ps. xciv. 9. He hath in himself eminently the beauty, perfection, life and
vigour of all creatures ; he created nothing contrary to himself, but every-
thing with some footsteps of himself in them ; he could not have pronounced
them good, as he did, had there been anything in them contrary to his own
goodness ; and therefore as his essence primarily represents itself, so it re-
presents the creatures, and makes them known to him. As the essence of
God is eminently all things, so by understanding his essence, he eminently
understands all things. And therefore he hath not one knowledge of him-
self, and another knowledge of the creatures ; but by knowing himself, as
the original and exemplary cause of all things, he cannot be ignorant of any
creature which he is the cause of ; so that he knows all things, not by an
understanding of them, but by an understanding of himself; by understand-
ing his own power as the efficient of them, his own will as the orderf of them,
his own goodness as the adorner and beautifier of them, his own wisdom as
the disposer of them, and his own holiness, to which many of their actions
are contrary.
As he sees all things possible in his own power,! because he is able to
produce them, so he sees all things future in his own will ; decreeing to
effect them, if they be good ; or decreeing to permit them, if they be evil.
In this glass he sees what he will give being to, and what he will suffer to
fall into a deficiency, without looking out of himself, or borrowing knowledge
from his creatures ; he knows all things in himself. And thus his know T -
ledge is more noble, and of a higher elevation than ours, or the knowledge
of any creature can be ; he knows all things by one comprehension of the
causes in himself.
Trop. 2. God know T s all things by one act of intuition. This the schools
call an intuitive knowledge. This follows upon the other; for if he know
by his own essence, he knows all things by one act; there would be other-
wise a division in his essence, a first and a last, a nearness and a distance.
As what he made, he made by one word, so what he sees, he pierceth into
by one glance from eternity to eternity ; as he wills all things by one act of
his will, so he knows all things by one act of his understanding. He knows
not some things discursively from other things, nor knows one thing suc-
cessively after another. As by one act he imparts essence to things, so by
one act he knows the nature of things.
1. Ho doth not know by discourse as we do ; that is, b} T deducing one
thing from another, and from common notions drawing out other rational
conclusions, and arguing one thing from another, and springing up various
consequences from some principle assented to; but God stands in no need
of reasonings : the making inferences and abstracting things would be stains
in the infinite perfection of God. Here would be a mixture of knowledge
:md ignorance; while he knew the principle, he would not know the con-
Beqnence and conclusion till ho had actually deduced it; one thing would
be known after another, and so he would have an ignorance and then a
knowledge, and there would be different conceptions in God, and knowledge
■ Dionys. 1 Qu. ' orderer ' ? — Ed. J Kendal against Goodwin of Foreknowledge.
I • . ( . I . \ I .
would be multi]
I I ii. i
the woi Id." Ho I th< m all i I
1 1 M- kno
anothei . oth in tin u i\ ..!' hun
i bath d
Hi \ irtuoll) i
himself ho i I i the kn< crcal
< i oar
bend< d i
■
of the Know d ne in the world. God in
aimple act Knows and tfc i . bat wh< □ tfa
line-, if i ii iv< '1 i to the
understand it to 1" distinct from tl:
the Bame act upon dii rms or i
understanding and coin. . no! in God's.
Nor doth he km do ; thai
thin follows from the forme: . ; aU th i
withoal disoom knowledge withoal sac r J
ore anothi i .
Lher. In n gard of th<
yeai one gene]
In the creatru I
U be Buch a sin- ; bat there ach order u I
knowledge, tor he knows all those si; any
succession of knowledge in hime
. in his view of thi\ only
He cannot Bee all the contents of a Letter at once ; ami though
Lis all the lines in the f a book at i . ::d a whole com
in a map, yet to Know what is contained in them, he mast turn his ej€ f
i to word, and line to line, and so -pin out one th:;
1 motion-. We behold a great part of the sea at one- .
Epiphanius, hut not all the dimensions of it; for to know the length of '
way ; to - ith of i - . n < ox i
depth of it, we hath anoth D of tfa
And when we cast oar eyes op to heaven, we Beem I .o in a:
t of the bemisphf hut one object
can attentively p t :h up< a, an I we cannot distinctly view what we
in a lump with motions <A' our eyes, which is not done with
tainly the m is 1 om
ore of their beings, so that it c
i a quantity of i i distinct application of th<
by one. Bui I
all anderstandi]
in his kno'. ling/ in the nature and in ti
inti: illy all
I Am; .7.
500 chaenock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
things by one act, without any motion, much less various motions. The
various changes of things in their substance, qualities, places, and relations,
withdraw not anything from his eye, nor bring any new thing to his know-
ledge. He doth not, upon consideration of present things, turn his mind
from past, or when he beholds future things, turn his mind from present ;
but he sees them not one after another, but all at once and altogether, the
whole circle of his own counsels, and all the various lines drawn forth from
the centre of his will to the circumference of his creatures. Just as if a
man were able in one moment to read a whole library ; or as if you should
imagine a transparent crystal globe, hung up in the midst of a room, and so
framed as to take in the images of all things in the room, the fretwork in
the ceiling, the inlaid parts of the floor, and the particular parts of the
tapestry about it, the eye of a man would behold all the beauty of the room
at once in it. As the sun by one light and heat frames sensible things, so
God by one simple act knows all things. As he knows mutable things by
an immutable knowledge, bodily things by a spiritual knowledge, so he
knows many things by one knowledge : Heb. iv. 13, 'All things are open
and naked to him,' more than any one thing can be to us, and therefore he
views all things at once as well as we can behold and contemplate one thing
alone. As he is the * Father of lights,' a God of infinite understanding,
there is 'no variableness' in his mind, 'nor any shadow of turning' of his
eye as there is of ours, to behold various things, James i. 17. His know-
ledge being eternal, includes all times ; there is nothing past or future with
him, and therefore he beholds all things by one and the same manner of
knowledge, and comprehends all knowable things by one act, and in one
moment.
This must needs be so,
(1.) Because of the eminency of God. God is above all, and therefore
cannot but see the motions of all. He that sits in a theatre, or at the top
of a place, sees all things, all persons ; by one aspect he comprehends the
whole circle of the place ; whereas he that sits below, when he looks before,
he cannot see things behind. God being above all, about all, in all, sees
at once the motions of all. The whole world in the eye of God is less than
a point that divides one sentence from another in a book ; as a cipher, ■ a
grain of dust,' Isa. xl. 15. So little a thing can be seen by man at once,
and all things being as little in the eye of God, are seen at once by him.
As all time is but a moment to his eternity, so all things are but as a point
to the immensity of his knowledge, which he can behold with more ease than
we can move or turn our eye.
(2.) Because all the perfections of knowing are united in God. As par-
ticular senses are divided in man,* — by one he sees, by another he hears, by
another he smells, yet all those are united in one common sense, and this
common sense apprehends all, — so the various and distinct ways of know-
ledge in the creatures, are all eminently united in God. A man, when he
sees a grain of wheat, understands at once all things that can in time pro-
ceed from that seed ; so God, by beholding his own virtue and power,
beholds all things which shall in time be unfolded by him. We have a
shadow of this way of knowledge in our own understanding : the sense only
perceives a thing present, and one object only proper and suitable to it ; as
the eye sees colour, the ear hears sounds, we see this and that man, one
time this, another minute that ; but the understanding abstracts a notion of
the common nature of man, and frames a conception of that nature wherein
all men agree, and so in a manner beholds and understands all men at on'ce,
* Cusan. p. C4C.
r . CXLYI 1. ooo's mow 501
non Datun d, which ii a di
I. .1 p abOTl the I • may t In n 0OU4 I iniinit
pci f! ction in the nnd< rstandii simplj
know b
by dirid
ami to have : > 1 1 ii d"r, to I" 1 like a bud
alway doscanding into the well and fetching v. I [1
mans weakness ti ' •
i on that he can behold all
than upon anotl
/'/ . ::. < | : | indepeli 1- -lit I;. . I
infinite nnderatandin •. He
withoni him, he hath do tutor to instruct him, or book t<> inform him;
* \\ ho luith hem liis counsellor V saith the prophet, I . . 18. i
do need of the counseli of others, nor of the Instrnctions ol Thia
follows upon the first and second propositions; if he knows thi
essence, then as hi , ice is independent from ti
knowledge; he borrows not any images from the creature, l
oi piotnn b of things in his onderstand ; no I t>m the
:ure strike upon him to enlighten him, bui beams from him upon I
world ; the earth Bends noi lighl to the sun, but the son I > th
Onr knowledge indeed depends upon the object, hut all en ited ol
depend apon God's knowledge and will. We could not know en
unless they were, bul creatures could notbeunl G 1 knew them. As
bing that he wills is the cause of his will, so nothing that he kn
the can-. 1 of his knowledge; he did noi make things to know them, bul
knows them to make them. Who will ima [iae that the mark of the fool
the dust is the cause that to I tends in this ox that particular plac
Ifliis knowledge did depend npon the things, then th- oce ofth
did precede i knowledge of them ; to say thai thej are the ea
. s knowledge is to say, that God was not the cause of their being
if he did create them, it I i by a blind and ignorant power, he
he knew not what till ho had produced it. If he be behol
his know], I e creatures he hath made, he had then do knowledge of
them before he made them. If his knowledge were dependent upon tin
it could not be eternal, bul most have a beginning when the crea:
. ;iud be of no longer a date than since the nature of things was in
: il i rjstenee ; for whatsoever is a cause of knowledge doth \
kno . ither in order of time or order of nature ; temp
thin nnot be tlio cause of that knowledge which is efc raal.
His works could not bo foreknown to him, Acts xv. IS, if his kn
commenced with the • ce of his works ; if ho knew them before bo
made them, he could not derive a knowledge from them after they wi
made. He made all things in wisdom, PS. civ. 21. How can this bo
imagined, if the things known were the cause of his know'. fore
I therefore before his action?* God would not then be
the first in the order of knowing sgents, because he would not act by kn
•.'. hut he knew, and know after he ha I
fare which he mad ( > would be before the act of his understand.
whi ie.
Again, sine knowlcd'_'<' is a perfection, if God's know] Mires
ipon th i, he would derrre an from tl.
would lency from any i /<•/ in the divine DUD 1; he would
* I '.lib i. r.i\>. 1").
502 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
not be infinitely perfect in himself. If his perfection in knowledge were
gained from anything without himself and below himself, he would not be
sufficient of himself, but be under an indigence which wanted a supply from
the things he had made, and could not be eternally perfect till he had
created, and seen the effects of his own power, goodness, and wisdom to
render him more wise and knowing in time than he was from eternity.
"Who Ciin fancy such a God as this, without destroying the Deity he pre-
tends to adore? For if his understanding be perfected by something without
him, why may not his essence be perfected by something without him ?
that as he was made knowing by something without him, he might be made
God by something without him ?
How could his understanding be infinite, if it depended upon a finite
object, as upon a cause ? Is the majesty of God to be debased to a mendi-
cant condition, to seek for a supply from things inferior to himself ? Is it
to be imagined that a fool, a toad, a fly should be assistant to the know-
ledge of God ? that the most noble being should be perfected by things so
vile, that the supreme cause of all things should receive any addition of
knowledge, and be determined in his understanding by the notion of things
so mean? To conclude this particular; all things depend upon his know-
ledge, his knowledge depends upon nothing, but is as independent as him-
self, and his own essence.
Prop. 4. God knows all things distinctly. His understanding is infinite
in regard of clearness : ' God is light, and in him is no darkness at all,'
1 John i. 5. He sees not through a mist or cloud ; there is no blemish in
his understanding, no mote or beam in his eye to render anything obscure
to him. Man discerns the surface and outside of things, little or nothing of
the essence of things ; we see the noblest things, but ' as in a glass darkly,'
1 Cor. xiii. 12. The too great nearness, as well as the too great distance of a
thing, hinders our sight; the smallness of a mote escapes our eye, and so our
knowledge ; also the weakness of our understanding is troubled with the multi-
tude of things, and cannot know many things but confusedly. But God knows
the forms and essence of things, every circumstance; nothing is so deep but
he sees to the bottom; he sees the mass, and sees the motes of beings. His
understanding being infinite, is not offended w r ith a multitude of things, or
distracted with the variety of them ; he discerns everything infinitely more
clearly and perfectly than Adam or Solomon could any one thing in the
circle of their knowledge. What knowledge they had was from him ; he
hath therefore infinitely a more perfect knowledge than they were capable
in their natures to receive a communication of. ' All things are open to
him,' Heb. iv. 13. The least fibre in its nakedness and distinct frame is
transparent to him; as by the help of glasses, the mouth, feet, hands of a
small insect are visible to a man, which seem to the eye, without that
assistance, one entire piece, not diversified into parts. All the causes,
qualities, natures, properties of things are open to him : ' He brings out
the host of heaven by number, and calleth them by names,' Isa. xl. 20.
He numbers the hairs of our heads ; what more distinct than number ?
Tims God beholds things in every unity, which makes up the heap. He
knows, and none else can, everything in its true and intimate causes, in its
original and intermediate causes; in himself as the cause of every particular
of their being, every property in their being.
Knowledge by the causes is the most noble and perfect knowledge, and
most suited to the infinite excellency of the divine being ; he created all
things, and ordered them to a universal and particular end ; ho therefore
knows the essential properties of everything, every activity of their nature.
I
all their
which I : os.tli •
in. Fie ki
th( i
I
will, win thor it !><• i
will.
know toil
nworthy of the n : for if < lod I
in t:
•in to : ■ ir which be hath appointed th
intends an end without a knowledge of tl
an i of anything in the world, which fai
i divine nothing in the world bnt d
be inconsistent with the perfection to him ■ blind
in the world. A - th< be nothing imj
imperfect in hie and rstandii
kno 1 know!
• I >arki i • ai d li ;hl arc both alike to him, 1 P -. . 1 -. II
tinctly into the
im.
1 I things infallibly. Bis nndi i
in rcRurd of certainty. K • aa far from fail]
. Mat. v. 1 B. And
I rinty of oi - ell aa the ol
if his know ledge lil le that I
knowledge of the lea8t thing in the world,
ken in his own i ; for, knowing himself co
he must kr infallibly. Since 1:
rror in his nnderstanding, than d in
his i ansela arc aa nnerring as his eas< nee is |
knowledge as infallible as 1 is free from
.1 knows all things with a knowledge of vision,
wills them, his knowledge must be aa infallible
6 will certainly he effected : ' What he hath thought shall
iih pm . - 1 : ' li hall
ill do all his . dvi. 1Q« 1
ruj'' the foundations of it may be out of com- >, but tl
qo bar upon the author ol nature. Ee hath an in£
own will, he can effect what 1
rb n G
be I 'ht.' ar: ;u tlarl.' . v ^ • given
why God knows a thing he infallibly wi
A r ain, tie 'his diff< the knowledge oi tl
j, that ■
I an in
■
504
chaenock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
not much more be a stain upon the blessedness of that God, that is blessed
for ever, to be subject to deceit ? His knowledge, therefore, is not an opinion,
for an opinion is uncertain ; a man knows not what to think, but leans to
one part of the question proposed, rather than to the other. If things did
not come to pass, therefore, as God knows them, his knowledge would be
imperfect ; and since he knows by his essence, his essence also would be
imperfect, if God were exposed to any deceit in his knowledge. He knows
by himself, who is the highest truth ; and therefore it is impossible he should
err in his understanding.
Projj. 6. God know T s immutably. His understanding else could not be
infinite. Every thing and every act that is mutable is finite, it hath its
bounds ; for there is a term from which it changeth, and a term to which it
changes. There is a change in the understanding, w T hen we gain the know-
ledge of a thing which was unknown to us before, or when we actually con-
sider a thing which we did not know before, though we had the principles of
the knowledge of it, or when we know that distinctly which we before knew
confusedly.* None of these can be ascribed to God, without a manifest dis-
paragement of his infiniteness. Our knowledge, indeed, is alway arriving
to us or flowing from us ; we pass from one degree to another, from worse
to better, or from better to worse ; but God loses nothing by the ages that
are run, nor will gain anything by the ages that are to come. If there were
a variation in the knowledge of God, by the daily and hourly changes in the
world, he would grow wiser than he was ; he was not then perfectly wise
before. A change in the objects known, infers not any change in the under-
standing exercised about them. The wheel moves round : the spokes that
are lowest are presently highest, and presently return to be low again ; but
the eye that beholds them changes not with the motion of the wheels. God's
knowledge admits no more of increase or decrease than his essence doth.
Since God knows by his essence, and the essence of God is God himself,
his knowledge must be void of any change. The knowledge of possible
things, arising from the knowledge of his own power, cannot be changed
unless his power be changed, and God become weak and impotent. The
knowledge of future things cannot be changed, because that knowledge ariseth
from his will, which is irreversible : ■ The counsel of the Lord, that shall
stand,' Prov. xix. 21. So that if God can never decay into weakness, and
never turn to inconstancy, there can be no variation of his knowledge. He
knows what he can do, and he knows what he will do, and both these being
immutable, his knowledge must consequently be so too. It was not neces-
sary that this or that creature should be, and therefore it was not necessary
that God should know this or that creature with a knowledge of vision ; but
after the will of God had determined the existence of this or that creature,
his knowledge being then determined to this or that object, did necessarily
continue unchangeable. God therefore knows no more now than he did
before ; and at the end of the world, he shall know no more than he doth
now ; and from eternity he knows no less than he doth now, and shall do
to eternity. Though things pass into being and out of being, the knowledge
of God doth not vary with them, for he knows them as well before they
were as when they are, and knows them as well when they are past, as when
they are present.
Prop, 7. God knows all things perpetually, i.e. in act. Since he knows
by his essence, he always knows, because his essence never ceaseth, but is
a pure act ; so that he doth not know only in habit, but in act. Men that
have the knowledge of some art or science, have it always in habit, though,
* Tileni Syntagma, part. i. disp. xiii. theft, 13.
P . CXI. VI I. V
, I nt doth not so lutK'li us tin: his Senses Dp.
r slumb
ire] of I. ' hIuiuI" anl of
liis knowled li
: tin* worl I,
Q tlif net of kl»o\vl( .' . 1 ; : l 1 1 * 1 lh(
ft will fa God, 1
of knowledge. Al traj \ k essence,
i p bat bath I.. and coas oil from I
I
.
fire, he still Knows it.
io, therefore, in regard of this perpetual acl
eali nut nit, ll, < tus, hut ' th< ition of inl
proper English word to the understand i
rnaJ with him, 10 hii kno ; all tii
! in the b tiom of hii i 1 all thii
in their seasons, that oothing nen i feo him, nothing old j
him.f What is done in a thousand actually pre ent with
knowledge, as what is • . or in i ch in th with
- 1 thou I do in"]"' than a i in
ht ' is to as, Pfe. ze. 4. God ia ii
th( refore in the
iiki- • . God hath all acl
il and habitual, km
IV. The fourth
/,'<</. l. God must know what any creature than any
rare knowa. Tl og done in the world, bul
other; every action ia al least known by the
re known by the Gr< ator, who cannot be exc I by anj
. rallofthei I every creature is known by hi .
ore is made by him. And as God works all ti
power, so he knows all things by an infinite understanding.)
Lion of God requires this.§ All that tnolud
ntial defect art- formally in God ; Int knowledge includi
it is in (Jo 1. KnowL • an 1
an excellency j ignorance ia et. It is impossible that the ain
found in the most perfect being. Since t
knowledge for I it. A
d no more he wise without knowl< Ige, than 1
without th. Nov. ( i B . wi. 27, ami th -nly
ring in ' <> of knowledge, incom] I all
.
ritual anything is, the mor The
dull la notliii 9, but •
sated in tl. . which ia of a ipiriraal nature, which kn
things that in ra things that
i ritual nature, :
* Plato, ti' rd.
in. qu. xi , p. 118, 1 19.
506 chaknock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
eminent manner in the supreme Spirit of the world ; that is, in the highest
degree of spirituality, and most remote from any matter.
Again, nothing can enjoy other things but by some kind of understanding
them. God hath the highest enjoyment of himself, of all things he hath
created, of all the glory that accrues to him by them; nothing of perfection
and blessedness can be wanting to him. Felicity doth not consist with
ignorance, and all imperfect knowledge is a degree of ignorance. God
therefore doth perfectly know himself, and all things from whence he designs
any glory to himself. The most noble manner of acting must be ascribed
to God, as being the most noble and excellent being. To act by knowledge
is the most excellent manner of acting ; God hath therefore not only know-
ledge, but the most excellent manner of knowledge ; for as it is better to
know than to be ignorant, so it is better to know in the most excellent man-
ner than to have a mean and low kind of knowledge. His knowledge, there-
fore, must be every way as perfect as his essence, infinite as well as that.
An infinite nature must have an infinite knowledge. A God ignorant of
anything cannot be counted infinite, for he is not infinite to whom any
degree of perfection is wanting.
2. All the knowledge in any creature is from God ; and 3 T ou must allow
God a greater and more perfect knowledge than any creature hath, yea, than
all creatures have. All the drops of knowledge any creature hath come
irom God, and all the knowledge in every creature that ever was, is, or shall
be in the whole mass, was derived from him. If all those several drops in
particular creatures were collected into one spirit, into one creature, it would
be an unconceivable knowledge, yet still lower than what the author of all
that knowledge hath ; for God cannot give more knowledge than he hath
himself, nor is the creature capable of receiving so much knowledge as God
hath. As the creature is uncapable of receiving so much power as God
hath, for then it would be almighty, so it is uncapable of receiving so much
knowledge as God hath, for then it would be God. Nothing can be made
by God equal to him in anything ; if anything could be made as knowing as
God, it would be eternal as God, it would be the cause of all things as God.
The knowledge that we poor worms have is an argument God uses for the
asserting the greatness of his own knowledge: Ps. xciv. 10, 'He that
teaches man knowledge, shall not he know ?' Man hath here knowledge
ascribed to him ; the author of this knowledge is God ; he furnished him
with it, and therefore doth in a higher manner possess it, and much more
than can fall under the comprehension of any creature ; as the sun enlightens
all things, but hath more light in itself than it darts upon the earth or the
heavens ; and shall not God eminently contain all that knowledge he imparts
to the creatures, and infinitely more exact and comprehensive ?
3. The accusations of conscience evidence God's knowledge of all actions
of all his creatures. Doth not conscience check for the most secret sins, to
winch none arc privy but a man's self, the whole world beside being ignorant
of his crime ? Do not the fears of another judge "all the heart ? If a judff-
menu above him bo feared, an understanding above him discerning their
secrets is confessed by those fears. Whence can those horrors arise, if there
be not a Superior th.it, understands and records the crime? What perfec-
tion of the divine Being can this relate unto but omniscience? What other
attribute is to be feared, if God were defective in this?
The condemnation of us by our own hearts, when none in the world can
condemn as, renders it legible that there is one 'greater than our hearts '
in respect of knowledge, who ' knows all things,' Uohn iii. 20. Conscience
would be a vain principle, and stintless without this. It would be an easy
P . I MA II. :,.]
mat!
i
1
■
him tbl
culty of will is not in any ci
.
i 1 :i:1i lotl liis memory in U I
of them. An artifi not be ignoranl of i k. If '
himself, he knows him
he know tl li«> is tl
.
-id in tl
me of ' 1 implies an effect. I '
bimtelf in all
iw all bis aete, what his wfr . what 1.
i what liis ] l. The I I is to b<
I rmination of himsi It': and thai kno*
the I all tli«.' eirctu it. How can liis will tv
luce anythi] wae not fit I n in his understanding ? 1
this the prophet argnes the m ling of God, and the
caose 1 •' tor of the ends of the earth,' Isa. xl. 28 ;
ivid gives i f ( tod's knowh d
. and thai ...•_'. 1 •".
16. As tl • • making of things only bel< the
of things. It is absi think that I
th given being to j thai he shonld not know all I
ad their . the plants and their i
- that art' formed by him in wri
the mar' . ami shall I
tatioo of his own virtu
:». Without this kno* ' more be tl n he
conhl be t tor of the world. Knowledge is th
rnment i
cannot be i tl know'., .
• it, and
which it niinn-
. fulls nmh r ' hing falls DJ
. A i hold th
• Brad*
508 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVIL 5.
direct them in right paths. Since the providence of God is about particu-
lars, his knowledge must be about particulars ; he could not else govern
them in particular, nor could all things be said to depend upon him in their
being and operations. Providence depends upon the knowledge of God, and
the exercise of it upon the goodness of God ; it cannot be without under-
standing and will : understanding to know what is convenient, and will to
perform it. When our Saviour therefore speaks of providence, he intimates
these two, in a special manner, ' Your heavenly Father knows that you have
need of these things,' Mat. vi. 32, and goodness, in Luke xi. 13. The
reason of providence is so joined with omniscience that they cannot be
separated. What a kind of God would he be that were ignorant of those
things that were governed by him ! The ascribing this perfection to him
asserts his providence, for it is as easy for one that knows all things to look
over the whole world, if writ with monosyllables in every little particular of
it, as it is with a man to take a view of one letter in an alphabet.
Again,* if God were not omniscient, how could he reward the good, and
punish the evil ? The works of men are either rewardable or punishable,
not only according to their outward circumstances, but inward principles and
ends, and the degrees of venom lurking in the heart. The exact discerning
of these, without a possibility to be deceived, is necessary to pass a right
and infallible judgment upon them, and proportion the censure and punish-
ment to the crime. Without such a knowledge and discerning men would
not have their due ; nay, a judgment, just for the matter, would be unjust
in the manner, because unjustly past, without an understanding of the merit
of the cause. It is necessary therefore that the supreme Judge of the
world should not be thought to be blindfold when he distributes his rewards
and punishments, and muffle his face when he passes his sentence. It is
necessary to ascribe to him the knowledge of men's thoughts and intentions,
the secret wills and aims, the hidden works of darkness in every man's con-
science, because every man's work is to be measured by the will and inward
frame. It is necessary that he should perpetually retain all those things in
the indelible and plain records of his memory, that there may not be any
w T ork without a just proportion of what is due to it. This is the glory of
God, to discover the secrets of all hearts at last ; as, 1 Cor. iv. 5, ' The
Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make mani-
fest the counsels of all hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.'
This knowledge fits him to be a judge ; the reason w r hy ' the ungodly shall
not stand in judgment ' is because God knows their ways, which is implied
in his ' knowing the way of the righteous,' Ps. i. 5, 6.
V. I now proceed to the use.
Use 1. is of information or instruction. If God hath all knowledge, then,
1. Jesus Christ is not a mere creature. The two titles of * wonderful
Counsellor ' and ' mighty God ' are given him in conjunction, Isa. ix. 6 ; not
only the ' angel of the covenant,' as he is called, Mai. iii. 1, or the exe-
cutor of his counsels, but a counsellor, in conjunction with him in counsel, as
well as power. This title is superior to any title given to any of the prophets
in regard of their predictions, and therefore I should take it rather as the
note of his perfect understanding than of his perfect teaching and discover-
ing, as Calvin doth. He is not only the revealer of what he knows, — so were
the prophets according to their measures, — but the counsellor of what he re-
\ ruled, having a perfect understanding of all tho counsels of God, as being
interested in them as tho mighty God. Ho calls himself by the peculiar
* Sabiind, tit. 84, much changed.
title of God, mi I (!.
• i
bo v. Inch Hoard ' hidd< n
tin- ii. i! locked ap t ■ nil the world l
And this was D for the MUDC |" I
tlOB I
thoti ' i
win. I quid
the church. I > Lb, by his kno into all • th
■ the closest particle «•! iron
> ; and called a roe f ii"!:i *
1:1 the BWifllKSS of lil-i lnotii Ii.
ill Be bath a i < i f( <'t knowledge of the Fath< r
nam ■ Father i I I
■ Miliar manner knows the I atl er : * No i 1 1
ber, neither knows any man the Fal
- that I I from any other ; he doth 1 1
band him, whieh is beyond the reach of any ereatnre, with the ad<
aU the divine virtue ; not i of any incapacity in God f bni
pacity of the ereatnre to receive. I (incapable of 1
re incapable of comprehending infinite, so tli I I
d. to compreh( nd God, for tin □ i
be would become infinite, which is a < ■ <
Mae he ' n arc! - the deep tl I I ( r. ii. 10, tl
prebends tin m ; B as the spirit of ;i man doth the thh gi of i man
• man understands what it thinks, and whal it wi]
i ondertiandi whal is in the understanding of God, and what ii in the
will of God. Be hath an absolute knowh dge ascribed to him, and
could n ed to anything hut a divinity. Now, if the Spirit kn<
I, and takes from Ohritj whal he Bhewi of him,
John xvi. l.), he cannot be ignorant of those things himself, he mn
depths of God that aff thai Spirit, thai is n< t igi
the < fthel other's will; since he comprehends the Fail the
Lher him, he is in himself infinite, for God, whose essence is infinit .
infinitely knowable, hut no created understan □ infinitely kno I
The infinitenees of the object hinders it from
that is not infinite Though a creature should understand all :.
cannot he therefore said to understand G< ugh
I may un.i I all the volitions and m< yet it doth not
follow that • l ond< ratand the whole nal
.1 ; or, if a man under 1 the effects of the sun, that tin re for, •
und Is fully the nature of the sun. But Christ knows tin !' I
lay 'in the DOeOtn of the Father.' w is in the g] • with him,
John i. 18, and, from this intimacy with him, he Baw him I m ;
much as ho is kn nwable, and thi
- himself by a conn
knowledge of ( . . in i to\ ■ rly the infinrl
..: u aj I i ox B ! which mai
SUCh a man:
: 'ather hath of 1.
I tores* That
all created things I ; it is a knowh
* 1". lav. T
510 chauxock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
that sinks to the depths of his will, and therefore extends to all the acts of
his will in creation and providence. By knowing the Father, he knows all
things that are contained in the virtue, power, and will of God ; ' whatso-
ever the Father doth, that the Son doth,' John v. 19. As the Father
therefore knows all things he is the cause of, so doth the Son know all things
he is the worker of; as the perfect making of all things belongs to both, so
doth the perfect knowledge of all things belong to both ; where the action is
the same, the knowledge is the same. Now, the Father did not create one
thing, and Christ another, but ' all things were created by him, and for
him,' — all things, ' both in heaven and earth,' Col. i. 16. As he knows
himself, the cause of all things, and the end of all things, he cannot be igno-
rant of all things that were effected by him, and are referred to him. He
knows all creatures in God, as he knows the essence of God ; and knows all
creatures in themselves, as he knows his own acts and the fruits of his
power. Those things must be in his knowledge that were in his power ; ' all
the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge ' of God are ' hid in him,' Col.
ii. 3. Now it is not the wisdom of God to know in part, and be in part
ignorant. He cannot be ignorant of anything, since there is nothing but
what was made by him, John i. 3, and since it is less to know than create ;
for we know many things which we cannot make. If he be the creator, he
cannot but be the discerner of what he made ; this is a part of wisdom
belon<?incr to an artificer, to know the nature and quality of what he
makes.* Since he cannot be ignorant of what he furnished with being,
and with various endowments, he must know them not only universally, but
particularly.
(3.) Christ knows the hearts and affections of men. Peter scruples not
to ascribe to him this knowledge among the knowledge of all other things :
John xxi. 17, 'Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love
thee.' From Christ's knowledge of all things, he concludes his knowledge
of the inward frames and dispositions of men. To search the heart is the
sole prerogative of God : 1 Kings viii. 39, ' For thou, even thou only,
knowest the hearts of all the children of men.' Shall we take only here
with a limitation, as some that are no friends to the deity of Christ would, and
say, God only knows the hearts of men from himself and by his own infinite
virtue ? Why may we not take only in other places with a limitation, and
make nonsense of it, as Ps. lxxxvi. 10, ' thou art God alone'? Is it to be
understood that God is God alone from himself, but other gods may be
made by him, and so there may be numberless infinities ? As God is God
alone, so that none can be God but himself, so he alone knows all the hearts
of all the children of men, and none but he can know them ; this knowledge
is from his nature. \ The reason why God knows the hearts of men is ren-
dered in the Scripture double, because he created them, and because he is
present everywhere, Ps. xxxiii. 13, 15. These two are by the confession
of Christians and pagans universally received as the proper characters of
divinity, whereby the Deity is distinguished from all creatures. Now when
Christ ascribes this to himself, and that with such an emphasis, that nothing
greater than that could be urged, as he doth Rev. ii. 23, we must conclude
that he is of the same essence with God, one with him in his nature, as well
as one with him in his attributes. God only knows the hearts of the chil-
dren of men: there is Hie unity of God; Christ searches the hearts and
reins ; there is a distinction of persons in an oneness of essence. He knows
the hearts of all men, not only of those that were with him in tho time of
the flesh, that have been and shall be since his ascension, but of those that
* Petav. Thcol. Dogmat., torn. i. p. 4G7. t rkeeus de deitate Christi.
b
to bin as t jud
which 1
olf with
i
.
I
ihoul I I
our Bavioui
i i" him, doth not Bay the Fatln i
.
to bound hi
i >ii of him, :
f in in from
rim plainer than thi
himself to them, thongh tl. .
oame because of I
.it prophi t, and
. vor. 28.
I [e had a foreknowledge of I
inclinatii tuaJ being in th<
I, John vi. 64, ' But th<
knew from the beginning who I
should betray him.* V, i from the know]
. • me of th< m
top their am I
. thai 'he knew from the beginni
e, hut a fori
he B lly now and then what was in tin- .
from the beginning of any one's giving up tin ir nai him ; lie ko
whether it were a pretence or sine w who Bhould betray hi .
as no man's inward affection hut \. i by him.
. whether we understand it from tl..
wor] Christ Baith concerning dii . m the h<
not bo ;' thai is, from the beginning of the world, from the h>
law of nature ; or from the beginning of their attending him ;
... ad a certain pr< the inward itions of
and their succeeding sentiment-. Ed foreknew tl fan
of Judas in the midst of his splendid pi
in tlu' r Ught in tin
. how it would s}-rim, f up before it did Bpring up,
irmal a d of it I
denial i wn to I
ion spake i; in I
him ; he foreknew what
lit of tb 'ii which lurked h - □ itiu
1 anvil
mtrary ;
1 into oowardj
.
11 the trea-
512 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
wisdom and knowledge, who knew the inward motions of men's hearts by
his own virtue, and had not only a present knowledge, but a prescience of
them.
2. The second instruction from this position, that God hath an infinite
knowledge and understanding. Then there is a providence exercised by
God in the world, and that about everything. As providence infers omni-
science as the guide of it, so omniscience infers providence as the end of it.
What exercise would there be of this attribute but in the government of the
world ? To this infinite perfection [he] refers, Jer. xvii. 10, ' I the Lord
search the heart, I try the reins, to give every man according to his ways,
and according to the fruit of his doings.' He searches the heart to reward,
he rewards every man according to the rewardableness of his actions. His
government therefore extends to every man in the world ; there is no heart
but he searches, therefore no heart but he governs. To what purpose else
would be this knowledge of all his creatures ? For a mere contemplation
of them ? No. What pleasure can that be to God, who knows himself,
who is infinitely more excellent than all his creatures ? Doth he know
them to neglect all care of them ? This must be either out of sloth, but
how incompatible is laziness to a pure and infinite activity! or out of
majesty, but it is no less for the glory of his majesty to conduct them than
it was for the glory of his pow r er to erect them into being. He that counts
nothing unworthy of his arms to make, nothing unworthy of his under-
standing to know, why should he count anything unworthy of his wisdom
to govern ? If he knows them to neglect them, it must be because he hath
no will to it, or no goodness for it. Either of these would be a stain upon
God ; to want goodness is to be evil, and to want will is to be negligent
and scornful, which are inconsistent with an infinite active goodness. Doth
a father neglect providing for the wants of the family wdiich he knows ?
or a physician the cure of that disease he understands ? God is omni-
scient, he therefore sees all things ; he is good, he doth not therefore neglect
anything, but conducts it to the end he appointed it. There is nothing
so little that can escape his knowledge, and therefore nothing so little but
falls under his providence ; nothing so sublime as to be above his under-
standing and therefore nothing can be without the compass of his conduct ;
nothing can escape his eye, and therefore nothing can escape his care ; nothing
is known by him in vain, as nothing was made by him in vain ; there must
be acknowledged therefore some end of this knowledge of all his creatures. *
3. Hence, then, will follow the certainty of a day of judgment. To what
purpose can we imagine this attribute of omniscience, so often declared and
urged in Scripture to our consideration, but in order to a government of
our practice, and a future trial ? Every perfection of the divine nature hath
sent out brighter rays in the world than this of his infinite knowledge ; his
power hath been seen in the being of *he world, and his wisdom in the order
and harmony of the creatures ; his grace and mercy hath been plentifully
poured out in the mission of a Redeemer ; and his justice hath been elevated
by the dying groans of the Son of God upon the cross. But hath his
omniscience yet met with a glory proportionable to that of his other perfec-
tions ? All the attributes of God that have appeared in some beautiful glim-
merings in the world, wait for a more full manifestation in glory, as the
creatures do for ' tho manifestation of the sons of God,' Horn. viii. 19 ; but
(specially this, sinco it hath been less evidenced than others, and as much
or more abused than any ; it expects, therefore, a public righting in the eyo
of tho world. There have beta indeed some few sparks of this perfection
sensibly struck out now and then in the world, in some horrors of con-
Ps. CXLVII. 5.] 518
. which hnvi mm l«-<- .m.- th.ir own accn f nnkn<
orimi . hi i mit hidden wic iblic ri
i ..•••it tin
. :. r . er, and
l,\ thy wrath w< troubled. Thou Mir iniquities before tl. .
and oai M tl"' • 1 2 w "? V
oifies youth, us wall as secret, i.#. • and tl.
hiitli iiiaiiifi-strd tli not hid I:
i 'h inward b i roi - and i baan 1 1
rorry m< d into a I ns of man would still
kocp imii. m in their mind 'God bath I
hid. from ii and will i their in P .
\. I I . 'ii,, iv must therefore 1'" a time of trial for the public den
of this exoeUeucy, thai il may receive il due honour by a full teal
oan b ■ i shelter from it. . which i in
.. r\ one his due, conld not he gloril'n ,1, im!i
an a.-.'. Mint fox their actions, bo neither would his omnisoit ace apj i ar it
Qlual . without such a mi tion of the
men'i hearts, and of rillanies done under loch and key, whan
conscious to them but the committers of them. Now the I
the time appointed for the opening of the . Dan. vii. l". I. I *ok
Is, and conscience the counterpart, ware never fully i
and read before, only now and than some | urnad to in particular jn
; and out of those l ks shall man be 'judgi
work.-,' K. v. w. L2. Than shall the dad brought with all U
oircumstau rery man's memory; the counsels of
r from their present remembrance ; all the habitual knowledg
of their own actions, shall by God's knowledge of them an
tal review; and their works not only made manifest to then ■ but
•rious to all the world. All the words, thong]
brought forth into the light of their own minds, by the infinite light of (<
understanding reflecting on them. His knowledge renders him an urn n
witness, as well as his .justice a ' swift witness.' .Mai. i.i. 5 ; B swift witm
he shall without any circuit, or length of speech, convince th.ir
con- by an inward illumination of them, to take notice of the bis
I and deformity of their hearts and works. In all jud « > i is
somewhat known to he the searcher of b< arts : the time of .
time of his remembrance : Eoses viii. 18, 'Now will he remember tl
iniquity, and visit their sins ;' hut the great instant, of the lull glori-
fying it. is the grand day of account. This attribute must have s I
; and no time can he lit for it hut a time of a
koning. Jut nnot be exercised without omn r as justice
is a giving -no his due, so there must he know!,
what is • man; the searching the heart is in order to the
ran the work ,
1. This tion in God giv#s ns ground to believe a resurrection. Who
think this too hard for ins power, since not the least atom of tl
of our bodies can escape his knowledge? An infinite understand!]
rery mite of ad ted is; this will nol appear in
irrational to any, upon a serious consideration of this ex>
The body is perished, the matter of it hath been -
for: t Of it hath Ken made th.
urned to the dust thai hath baan Mown away by the wind ; pari ^i it
hath been con. . ush, ravenous
Vol.. I. K k
514 charxock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
spirits have evaporated into air, part of the blood melted into water ; what
then, is the matter of the body annihilated ? Is that wholly perished ? No ;
the foundation remains, though it hath put on variety of forms ; the body
of Abel, the first man that died, nor the body of Adam, are not to this day
reduced to nothing. Indeed, the quantity and the quality of those bodies
have been lost by various changes they have passed through since their dis-
solution ; but the matter or substance of them remains entire, and is not
capable to be destroyed by all those transforming alterations, in so long a
revolution of time.
The body of a man in his infancy and his old age, if it were Methuselah's,
is the same iu the foundation in those multitude of years ; though the quan-
tity of it be altered, the quality different, though the colour and other things
be changed in it, the matter of this body remains the same among all the
alterations after death. And can it be so mixed with other natures and
creatures, as that it is past finding out by an infinite understanding ? Can
any particle of this matter escape the eye of him that makes and beholds all
those various alterations, and where every mite of the substance of those
bodies is particularly lodged, so as that he cannot compact it together again
for a habitation of that soul, that many a year before fled from it ? Since
the knowledge of God is infinite, and his providence extensive over the least
as well as the greatest parts of the world, he must needs know the least as
well as the greatest of his creatures in their beginning, progress, and disso-
lution ; all the forms through w-hich the bodies of all creatures roll, the parti-
cular instants of time, and the particular place when and where those
changes are made, they are all present with him ; and therefore when the
revolution of time allotted by him for the reunion of souls and deceased
bodies is come, it cannot be doubted but out of the treasures of his know-
ledge he can call forth every part of the matter of the bodies of men, from
the first to the last man that expired, and strip it of all those forms and
figures which it shall then have, to compact it to be a lodging for that soul
which before it entertained ; and though the bodies of men have been
devoured by wild beasts in the earth, and fish in the sea, and been lodged
in the stomachs of barbarous men-eaters, the matter is not lost.* There is
but little of the food we take that is turned into the substance of our own
bodies ; that which is not proper for nourishment, which is the greatest part,
is separated and concocted, and rejected ; whatsoever objections are made,
are answered by this attribute. Nothing hinders a God of infinite know-
ledge from discerning every particle of the matter, wheresoever it is dis-
posed ; and since he hath an eye to discern, and a hand to re-collect and
unite, what difficulty is there in believing this article of the Christian faith ?
He that questions this revealed truth of the resurrection of the body, must
question God's omniscience, as well as his omnipotence and pow r er.
5. What semblance of reason is there to expect a justification in the sight
of God by anything in ourselves ? Is there any action done by any of us,
but upon a scrutiny we may find flaw r s and deficiency in it ? What then ?
Shall not this perfection of God discern them ? The motes that escape our
eyes cannot escape his : 1 John iii. 20, ' God is greater than our hearts, and
knows all things ;' so that it is in vain for any man to flatter himself with
the rectitude of any work, or enter into any debate with him who can bring
a thousand articles against us, out of his own infinite records, unknown to
us, and unanswerable by as. If conscience, a representative or counterpart
of God's omniscience in our own bosoms, find nothing done by us but in a
copy short of the original, and beholds, if not Murs, yet imperfections in
* Daillc, Sera. xv. p. 21-1:4.
!' . < ' \l.YII. B
the | ■ . < I much i
•i bouu tl.
witnesses, Urn 1 ■ . il
holineei ho low In i
lllll.'i
hco, fin well flfl nn
holinef n nnbril ; be wi
o mi loreUuidii
n of Lfa - :i'h i
ill appear wh< □ U
impnrif j i niotal be i
ill the : ' il in th(
G
I . man th b >ul l '
himself, think not himself thereforo justified ;'
d infinite and* r , 1 Cor. iv. I
,:i. -J, in bis sight, ' Dnkm
and (rami b. II wt 11 ai
■ : I itll
be, with all my strength to observe tb ands oi I
. l ■ whether my works are
in one manner, i in another manner. Let 1
as join with Job in 1. lotion :
i\. 21 . • I 'ill 1 w.
1 Would 1: Let
ns therefore look after anol teas, wherein tl.
di\ ire, can discern no stain or crook'
. What honour I adoring thong]
this perfection 1 Do we nol honour a man thai ifl ahlo to predict? do wo
n.it think ii ■ part oi ; .' II ire not all natio h a
;lty as I a mark of divinity *? There is tomething more
iahing in the knowledge of future things, both that kn
d that hears tin m, than there Ifl ii 1 of
ts have been accounted in I
. and men have thought it a way to <_'!<>ry to divine and predict.
Hence il wm thai the m oracles gained so much credit; upon
this foundation Were tl led, and the 01 emiefl of man..
I • from t: liction of future things, thongfa their
unbiguoufl, many timet Y. r :':
I many ingenious m the charg
§j , i | • • I
God I for ever, for 1 inoommnnicable
1 1 i . s above tl. - Of the wind, the u:.
Ihonghta, and u rotkfl
of d from the beginnii heee
r otV in the
an< know and know the
.tural. tit I
516 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
thoughts and works of three or four men, of a whole village or neighbour-
hood ! It is greater still to know the imaginations and actions of such a
multitude of men as are contained in London, Paris, or Constantinople ;
how much greater still to know the intentions and practices, the clandestine
contrivances of so many millions, that have, do, or shall swarm in all quar-
ters of the world, every person of them having millions of thoughts, desires,
designs, affections, and actions !
Let this attribute, then, make the blessed God honourable in our eyes
and adorable in all our affections, specially since it is an excellency which
hath so lately discovered itself, in bringing to light the hidden things of
darkness, in opening and in part confounding the wicked devices of bloody
men. Especially let us adore God for it, and admire it in God, since it is
so necessary a perfection, that, without it, the goodness of God had been
impotent, and could not have relieved us ; for what help can a distressed
person expect from a man of the sweetest disposition and the strongest arm,
if the eyes which should discover the danger, and direct the defence and
rescue, were closed up by blindness and darkness ? Adore God for this
wonderful perfection.
7. In the consideration of this excellent attribute, what low thoughts
should we have of our own knowledge, and how humble ought we to be
before God ! There is nothing man is more apt to be proud of than his
knowledge ; it is a perfection he glories in ; but if our own knowledge of the
little outside and barks of things puffs us up, the consideration of the in-
finiteness of God's knowledge should abate the tumour. As our beings are
nothing in regard to the infiniteness of his essence, so our knowledge is
nothing in regard of the vastness of his understanding. We have a spark
of being, but nothing to the heat of the sun ; we have a drop of knowledge,
but nothing to the divine ocean. What a vain thing is it for a shallow
brook to boast of its streams, before a sea whose depths are unfathomable !
As it is a vanity to brag of our strength when we remember the power of
God, and of our prudence when we glance upon the wisdom of God, so it
is no less a vanity to boast of our knowledge when we think of the under-
standing and knowledge of God.
How hard is it for us to know anything ! * Too much noise deafs us,
and too much light dazzles us ; too much distance alienates the object from
us, and too much nearness bars up our sight from beholding it. When we
think ourselves to be near the knowledge of a thing, as a ship to the haven,
a puff of wind blows us away, and the object which we desired to know
eternally flies from us. We burn with a desire of knowledge, and yet are
oppressed with the darkness of ignorance ; we spend our days more in dark
Egypt than in enlightened Goshen. In what narrow bounds is all the know-
ledge of the most intelligent persons included ! t How few understand the
exact harmony of their own bodies, the nature of the life they have in com-
mon with other animals ! Who understands the nature of his own faculties,
how he knows, and how he wills, how the understanding proposeth, and
how the will embraceth, how his spiritual soul is united to his material body,
what the nature is of the operation of our spirits ? Nay, who understands
the nature of his own body, the offices of his senses, the motion of his
members, how they come to obey the command of the will, and a thousand
other things ? What a vain, weak, and ignorant thing is man, when com-
pared with God ! Yet thero is not a greater pride to be found among devils
than among ignorant men, with a little, very little, flashy knowledge. Igno-
rant man is as proud as if he knew as God !
* Pascal, p 170. f Amyraut, do Prsdest , p. 110, 117, somewhat changed.
Pft.OXLTII.ff. r<1 "
i render him honour
in om i dd render m vile in ooz own. God, 1
knowle Igo, i ir from flifdainwig his . <, that
a minister to I No m- p" •. — • d of should
make hi iwell frith to
V7e infinitely moro of i
remembert in ill "ur thoughl of G I that be G oen,
end Lherefo •• Immhle, us I men, nml dJ end
foolish m. mi, to be. A - vr< bonld Ii-* i
i, : 1 1 1 1 1 imp i holy < iuil, f.il m creeturt
il'ul (id I. finite Ci infinite ( tod, |0 !■ 1m. II
•i all knowing <i<>d. All G tributes teach edmii
tin • ; thoughts ft' onr
i: may inform us how mneb tbii sttribute ii injured in the world.
:!•. r \ lam ' the forbidden fruit vu the denial
the omnipn G i Gen. iii. LO, ' I heard thy voice in
th«« garden, and I bid myself, 1 us it* the thickness <»t* I
him from the eye of hi I r. Ami, after Gain's murdi
perfection he affronts: Gen. iv. •.», 4 VYhi Abel, thy broth nth
G I. How roundly doth, he answer, ' I know not I G
man, to be put off with ■ Lie. M m doth si nsturslly hai
tion as much si In* cannot naturally but acknowledge it; be wish* G
stripped of this eminency, thai he might be incapable
his crimes, and iherofthe e I hii heart. En wishing him
prived of this, there ii i hatred of G I himself, Cor it is a I
ntial property without whi.-h he would be s pitiful governor
tin* world. What s kind of <'"'! should that be, ofs sinner'i wishing, that
. wanted a crime, and right punish it? T.
of the consideration of tbii attribute is the cause of all sin in the world :
ll 9. vii. 2, • They consider not in their thai I remember all their
wid not to their hearts, nor make any |
the infiniteness of my knowledge; it is a high contempt of he
were an idol, asei bs stock or stone; in all evil practices this is denu L
We km>w God Bees all thin we live and walk as if he knew noth i
we call him omniscient, and live as if he were ignorant ; we say ho is all
• vt art as if he were wholly Mind.
In particular, this attribute is injured, by invading the peculiar rights of
it, by preenming on it, and by a practical denial of it.
By invading the peculiar rights of it.
1. \\y invocation of creatures. Praying to saints, by the Romanists,
I disparagement to this divine excellency ; he that knows all thingl
only lit to have the petitions of men presented to him. Prayer Buppot
ient being ss the object of it ; no other being but G I .ditto h
that honour scknowled it, no understanding but his is infinil
but his is everywhere. To implore any d< ture for
d in them s prop rty of the l 1 ty, and m
- that were but men, and increase their glory by ■ diminul
l*s honour, in ascribing that perfection to creatures which belongs only
r from understanding t ;
• they kl ■ the WOrdfl of our lips. It is against
thai neither UU Isa.
kid. L6, ' Ahraham is us, an 1 Israel Scknowledgl
th him
for the wh ; ; nut 01 the wh
518 chaknock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
years between the creation of the world and the coming of Christ, was ever
prayed to by the Israelites, or ever imagined to have a share in God's
omniscience, so that to pray to St Peter, St Paul, much less to St Eoch,
St Swithin, St Martin, St Francis, &c, is such a superstition that hath no
footing in the Scripture.
To desire the prayers of the living, with whom we have a communion,
who can understand and grant our desires, is founded upon a mutual charity;
but to implore persons that are absent, at a great distance from us, with
whom we have not, nor know how to have any commerce, supposeth them
in their departure to have put off humanity, and commenced gods, and en-
dued with some part of the divinity to understand our petitions ; * we are,
indeed, to cherish their memories, consider their examples, imitate their
graces, and observe their doctrines ; we are to follow them as saints, but
not elevate them as gods, in ascribing to them such a knowledge which is
only the necessary right of their and our common Creator. As the invoca-
tion of saints mingles them with Christ in the exercise of his office, so it sets
them equal with God in the throne of his omniscience, as if they had as
much credit with God as Christ in a way of mediation, and as much know-
ledge of men's affairs as God himself. Omniscience is peculiar to God, and
incommunicable to any creature ; it is the foundation of all religion, and
therefore one of the choicest acts of it, viz. prayer and invocation. To
direct our vows and petitions to any else is to invade the peculiarity of this
perfection in God, and to rank some creatures in a partnership with him
in it.
[2.] This attribute is injured by curiosity of knowledge, especially of
future things, which God hath not discovered in natural causes, or super-
natural revelation. It is a common error of men's spirits to aspire to know
what God would have hidden, and to pry into divine secrets; and many
men are more willing to remain without the knowledge of those things which
may, with a little industry, be attained, than be divested of the curiosity of
inquiring into those things which are above their reach. It is hence that
some have laid aside the study of the common remedies of nature, to find
out the philosopher's stone, which scarce any ever yet attempted but sunk
in the enterprise. From this inclination to know the most abstruse and
difficult things, it is that the horrors of magic and the vanities of astrology
have sprung, whereby men have thought to find, in a commerce with devils
and the jurisdiction of the stars, the events of their lives, and the disposal
of states and kingdoms.! Hence also arose those multitudes of ways of divi-
nation invented among the heathen, and practised too commonly in these
ages of the world. This is an invasion of God's prerogative, to whom secret
things belong : Deut. xxix. 29, ' Secret things belong unto the Lord our
God, but revealed things belong to us and our children.' It is an intoler-
able boldness to attempt to fathom those, the knowledge whereof God hath
reserved to himself, and to search that which God will have to surpass our
understandings, whereby we more truly envy God' a knowledge superior to
our own, than we in Adam imagined that he envied us. Ambition is the
greatest cause of this, ambition to be accounted some great thing among
men, by reason of a knowledge estranged from the common mass of man-
kind, but more especially that soaring pride to be equal with God, which
lurks in our nature ever since the fall of our first parents. This is not yet
laid aside by man, though it was tho first thing that embroiled the world
witli tho wrath of God. Some think a curiosity of knowledge was the cause
of the fall of the devils ; I am sure it was the foil of Adam, and is yet the
* Daille, Melang. part ii. p. 5G0, 661. | Amyraut, Moral, torn. iii. p. 75, &c.
r . < \i.\ ii. 5.] 519
■ I , : I fur-
I. ■ , .
ofthi kth.
All oariotu and bold inqaii
10 the thi
in, win:. :i<llM'HS,
himI t I. uiv by ' ■ ■
I
I
i i Baperior ) the oeoeeeary d
the i
lod upon and d honour of this aitril
»rv of liis ml'il of nil tliiii!.' . I • ■
i r by ;ii. i phemoo
. ad invests it in that which ii the peculiar hoc
r, when an] r truly, they intend the in
hie witi an nndonbt
rt. While any therefor* by a en
ire, or that which they !, i« ;
, which to be ia only the right of God ; th<
which is the property of God alone, to know the 1
i whether ti, ik trne ox d », and thii I by all nati
true design of an oath, A I i - ^ 1 1 -
r 1 y any on atari
the throne at perfi ction to
r< ings to the ( , for it tfl not in the p
to the troth of the heart, bat of him thai u the aearchex <>i" fa
dnat this attribute l>y oenaoring the of oti
An i Ime indeed falls onder our eognia . under our
: for whatsoever falls onder the authority <>t* man to 1" bed,
lulls onder the judgment of man to be a nam
law of God. Ye1 when a censure ia boiH upon the evil i
obvioui view, if we tab . to judge the hearl
Jed role of the law, tribunal
equal with God's, and usurp a judicial power, |
rernor of the world; and consequently pretend to be p
mniscience, which i i ary to i him capabl
authority. For it is in p
thai <. i « »• 1 hath the supreme right to jo od in n his km
that he hath an incommunicable capacity to jodge.
i m that is doubtful, the good or evil whereof di |
:i, and wherein much of f. aent de]
disc rning the intention of onot jodge any man v.
jht. Booh
. not by our turm God only is the I in such
to whoi DL xiv. 1. Till t]
principle and i action be known by tl
i trim judgment <>f it is n,.t in oar power. 1
deep and hid from I it is intolerable prid<
G O] t Cal ' which he hath
Besides of the ml- urity in mi
Bo. i i
520 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
which may be great and generous in their root and principle, we invade
God's right, as if our ungrounded imaginations and conjectures were in
joint commission with this sovereign perfection ; and thereby we become
usurping 'judges of evil thoughts,' James ii. 4. It is therefore a boldness
worthy to be punished by the judge, to assume to ourselves the capacity
and authority of him who is the only judge. For as the execution of the
divine law for the inward violation of it belongs only to God, so is the
right of judging a prerogative belonging only to his omniscience ; his right
is therefore invaded if we pretend to a knowledge of it. This humour of
men the apostle checks, when he saith, 1 Cor. iv. 5, ' He that judgeth me
is the Lord : therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come,
who will manifest the counsels of all hearts.' It is not the time yet for God
to erect a tribunal for the trial of men's hearts, and the principles of their
actions ; he hath reserved the glorious discovery of this attribute for another
season. We must not therefore presume to judge of the counsels of
men's hearts, till God hath revealed them by opening the treasuries of his
own knowledge.
Much less are we to judge any man's final condition. Manasseh may
sacrifice to devils, and unconverted Paul tear the church in pieces ; but God
had mercy on them and called them. The action may be censured, not the
state, for we know not whom God may call. In censuring men, we may
doubly imitate the devil, in a false accusation of the brethren, as well as in
an ambitious usurpation of the rights of God.
(2.) This perfection is injured, by presuming upon it, or making an ill
use of it : as in the neglect of prayer for the supply of man's wants, be-
cause God knows them already; so that that which is an encouragement to
prayer, they make the reason of restraining it before God. Prayer is not to
administer knowledge to God, but to acknowledge this admirable perfection
of the divine nature. If God did not know, there were indeed no use of
prayer ; it would be as vain a thing to send up our prayers to heaven, as to
implore the senseless statue or picture of a prince for a protection. We
pray because God knows, for though he know our wants with a knowledge
of vision, yet he will not know them with a knowledge of supply, till he be
sought unto, Mat. vi. 82, 33. All the excellencies of God are ground of
adoration ; and this excellency is the ground of that part of worship we call
prayer, Mat. vii. 11. If God be to be worshipped, he is to be called upon :
invocations of his name in our necessities is a chief act of worship, whence
the temple, the place of solemn worship, was not called the house of sacrifice,
but ' the house of prayer.'
Prayer was not appointed for God's information as if he were ignorant,
but for the expression of our desires ; not to furnish him with a knowledge
of what we want, but to manifest to him by some rational sign convenient to
our nature, our sense of that want, which he knows by himself. So that
prayer is not designed to acquaint God with our wants, but to express the
desire of a remedy of our wants. God knows our wants, but hath not made
promises barely to our wants but to our asking, that his omniscience in
hearing, as well as his suiliciency in supplying, may have a sensible honour
in our acknowledgments and receipts. It is therefore an ill use of this
excellency of God to neglect prayer to him as needless, because he knows
already.
(H.) This perfection of God is wronged by a practical denial of it. It is
tho language of every sin, and so God takes it when ho comes to reckon
with men for their impieties. Upon this he charges tho greatness of the
iniquity of Israel, tho overflowing of blood in the land, and the porversonoss
P . < \i.yii. • 000 521
of the ottj : ' Thej %j t T\ 9 Lord 1 fan the earth, and thi L
| |,i, , ; ilimi t.i
| • 1 1 1 1 :
I . [1 will ii|»|m:u- in fori
1 1 i i from be* e of 1
; but
rniiiiiiitli-il in tl.nKn. -.tl
11. Il is to Olll
muffled with th< I the night, Job ssii. 1 L. '1 hi
• of Jonah's flight ; hti mi 'I''
mas' raid not follow him, b - though tho <
could leoure him from the knowli d 1 1
ship could from the dashing of th< W hal I
ace whon ii ly wounded,
inolincd. David'i mote him no! onlj
at as particularly eireumBtantiAted by th( commi ion of it ii I
I ....I : Pg, I, i. • \. mi t tii, e, thee only, have I rim
( \il in thv Bight.' None knew th< of 1 th but i
tuse otto re kn< w it oot, I i
ib's sons used their brother Joseph bo barbarously, they took
hide it from their father, bul i J " whoi
could not be oonoi aled.
Doth not the presence of i child bridle ■ man from the ad of
nn, when the eye of G in him
knowledge were of less value than the righl of i little boy <>r girl, si if ■
child only could Bee, and God were blind. He thai will t rthy
action for fear of an informer, will not forbear ii for God j f( Dani-
lull an intelligencer to him, as man can be an informer
■ate. As we acknowledge the of men Beeing us when
ashamed to commit a filthy action in their view, bo w<
power of God Beeing as when we regard not what we do before the light
has ■ B ret sins are more againsl God than open. Op<
against the law, Beeret Bins are against the law and this prin d ol
liis nature. The majesty of God is not only violate. 1, but the omn
of God disowned, who is the only witness. We must, in all of them, either
imagine him to be without eyes to behold us, or without an arm of jusi
onish us. And often it is, I believe, in such i thai if any thon
ofGod'fl know' trike upon men, they quickly (lump them, lest they
should begin to know what they tear, and fear that they mig]
i - int sinful morsels.
2, It appears in partial confessions before God. Afl by ■ free, full,
ingenuous confession we offer a due glory to 1
and curtailed confession we deny him the honour of it ; for though
oy confession we in pari own him to be a bov< n ign and jud
half and pared ackno at, we own him to be no more than a human
and ignorant Achan's mil confession gave God the
. manifested in the discovery of his bua vn. 19,
t Joshua said to Aehan, My son, give glory to the!
mas d unto him.' And bo, l'-.
t'uth in . ofession, as the word signifieth, in which I sua
rather take it. referring to this attribute, which God bo
with the denial of, ver. 21, telling them thai he would o]
. and indid th< m particularlj for ei
* Q
522 chaenock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
fore you would glorify this attribute, which shall one day break open your
consciences, offer to me a sincere confession. When David speaks of the
happiness of a pardoned man, Ps. xxxii. 1, 2, he adds, 'in whose spirit
there is no guile,' not meaning a sincerity in general, but that ingenuity in
confessing.* To excuse or extenuate sin, is to deny God the knowledge of
the depths of our deceitful hearts. When we will mince it rather than
aggravate it, lay it upon the inducements of others when it was the free act
of our own wills, study shifts to deceive our judge, this is to ' speak lies of
him,' as the expression is, Hosea vii. 13 ; as though he were a God easy to
be cheated, and knew no more than we are willing to declare. What did
Saul's transferring his sin from himself to the people, 1 Sam. xv. 15, but
charge God with a defect in this attribute ? When man could not be like
God in his knowledge, he would fancy a God like to him in his ignorance,
and imagine a possibility of hiding himself from his knowledge ; and all
men tread more or less in their father's steps, and are fruitful to devise
distinctions to disguise errors in doctrine, and excuses to palliate errors in
practice. This crime Job removes from himself, when he speaks of several
acts of his sincerity : ' If I covered my transgression as Adam, by hiding my
iniquity in my bosom,' Job xxxi. 33, I hid not any of my sins in my own
conscience, but acknowledged God a witness of them, and gave God the
glory of his knowledge by a free confession. I did not conceal it from God
as Adam did, or as men ordinarily do, as if God could understand no more
of their secret crimes than they will let him, and had no more sense of their
faults than they would furnish him with. As the first rise of confession is
the owning of this attribute (for the justice of God would not scare men,
nor the holiness of God awe them without a sense of his knowledge
of their iniquities), so to drop out some fragments of confession, discover
some sins, and conceal others, is a plain denial of the extensiveness of the
divine knowledge.
[3.] It is discovered by putting God off with an outside worship. Men
are often flatterers of God, and think to bend him by formal glavering de-
votions, without the concurrence of their hearts, as though he could not
pierce into the darkness of the mind, but did as little know us as one man
knows another. There are such things as ' feigned lips,' Ps. xvii. 1 ; a
contradiction between the heart and the tongue, a clamour in the voice aud
scoffing in the soul, a crying to God, ' Thou art my father, the guide of my
youth,' and yet speaking and doing evil to the utmost of our power, Jer. iii.
4, 5 ; as if God could be imposed upon by fawning pretences, and, like old
Isaac, take Jacob for Esau, and be cozened by the smell of his garments ;
as if he could not discern the negro heart under an angel's garb. Thus
Ephraim, the ten tribes, apostatised from the true religion, would go with
their flocks and their herds to seek the Lord, Hosea v. 6 ; would sacrifice
multitudes of sheep and heifers, which was the main outside of the Jewish
religion ; only with their flocks and their herds, not with their hearts, with
those inward qualifications of (loop humiliation and repentance for sin, as
though outside appearances limited God's observation, whereas God had
told them before that he 'knew Ephraim, and Israel was not hid from
him' ver. 3. Thus to do is to put a cheat upon God, and think to blind
his all-seeing eye, and therefore it is called deceit: Ps. lxxviii. 36, 'They
did flatter him with their mouths.' The word JlilS signifies to deceive as
well as to flatter ; not that tliev or any else can deceive God, but it implies
an endeavour to deceive him by a few dissembling words and gestures, or
an imagination that God was Batisfied with bare professions, and would not
* Camera y. 89, col. 1.
OXLVD
:' in i farther inqi
jii'l'in. i loud \
< i liildren » would I bell,
!!• chin
milt ill ur.H itliil ill!
I. Ill clll'1 until it ■!■ I«
i the understand i
bis luzv
\ i ».• the i
mil. .in «ritl orb, i1
falli I
:iv belief al all.
I with a
i meditation i i wander into «
I doth it intim
iblo or inaudibli
V\ 1 11 i man thin)
1. won] i tell him thai <i<"l di
of hit heart d to hi
of your minds. But ■'
nil Light, muster up coi '
ami BO sink into the puddle of I
dned in darkni I 4.
I i right further in
□ of prayer, which
"Who will cull upon a God thai
her a denial of I cy to 1
t<> know, aa it' Qod were 1. •; itue of i Crete,
i
i hypocritical pr< I f men I b them from
vi God calls them to; when men pretend one thin .
lurks in the veins Bometimes of thi
man. when men are more afraid of I
Almighty. It will pr
ague of the a . . .
Tl b ( ] lain in . A ho, wh< n ordered I
I eloquence, and an ung
1. iv. 10. Tl. il, that before ■■ w »'
Limsilt" in the midsl of Egypt for his conntrym
1 w< a] i veil his carnal fear with a .
1 . • '.. am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh? 1 iii. 11.
allege an inability to go to Pharao] .
n in tl:. m learning, which rendered him capable I
leth him, and ah< wa it all I
and whi - \ the pretence, fear lay at the I
life upon his app aranee before from
ptian, which God intimates to
•Go, pt, for all the
What doth • , but as if G
though we oould lock him
■
* ! lib. ii. en;
524 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
Use 2. The second use is of comfort. It is a ground of great comfort
under the present dispensation wherein we are. We have heard the
doctrinal part, and God hath given us the experimental part of it in his
special providence this day* upon the stage of world. And blessed be God
that he hath given us a ground of comfort without going out of our ordinary
course to fetch it, whereby it seems to be peculiarly of God's ordering for us.
1. It is a comfort in all the clandestine contrivances of men against the
church. His eyes pierce as far as the depths of hell. Not one of his
church's adversaries lies in a mist ; all ara as plain as the stars which he
numbers. 'Mine adversaries are all before thee,' Ps. lxix. 19; more ex-
actly known to thee than I can recount them. It is a prophecy of Christ,
wherein Christ is brought in speaking to God, of his own and the church's
enemies. He comforts himself with this, that God hath his eye upon every
particular person among his adversaries. He knows where they repose
themselves when they go out to consult, and when they come in with their
resolves. He discerns all the rage that spirits their hearts, in what corner
it lurks, how it acts ; all the disorders, motions of it, and every object of
that rage. He cannot be deceived by the closest and subtilest person. Thus
God speaks concerning Sennacherib and his host against Jerusalem, Isa.
xxxvii. 28, 29. After he had spoke of the forming of his church and the
weakness of it, he adds, ' But I know thy abode, and thy going out and thy
coming in, and thy rage against me ; because thy rage against me, and thy
tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy
nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back,' &c. He knows
all the methods of the counsels, the stages they had laid, the manner of
execution of their designs, all the ways whither they turned themselves, and
would use them no better than men do devouring fish and untamed beasts,
with a hook in the nose and a bridle in the mouth. Those statesmen in Isa.
xxix. 15, thought their contrivances too deep for God to fathom, and too
close for God to frustrate : ' They seek deep to hide their counsels from
the Lord ; surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as
the potter's clay,' of no more force and understanding than a potter's vessel,
which understands not its own form wrought by the artificer, nor the use it
is put to by the buyer and possessor ; or shall be esteemed as a potter's
vessel, that can be as easily flung back into the mass from whence it was
taken, as preserved in the figure it is now endued with. No secret designer
is shrouded from God's sight, or can be sheltered from God's arm. He
understands the venom of their hearts better than we can feel it, and dis-
covers their inward fury more plainly than we can see the sting or teeth of
a viper when they are opened for mischief ; and to what purpose doth God
know and see them, but in order to deliver his people from them in his own
due time : ' I know their sorrow, and am come down to deliver them,' Exod.
iii. 7, 8. The walls of Jerusalem are continually before him ; he knows,
therefore, all that would undermine and demolish them. None can hurt
Zion by any ignorance or inadvertency in God.
It is observable that our Saviour, assuming to himself a different title in
every epistle to the seven churches, doth particularly ascribe to himself
this of knowledge and wrath in that to Thyatira, an emblem or de-
scription of the Romish stato : Rev. ii. 19, ' And unto the angel of
the church at Thyatira write: Theso things saith the Son of God,
who hath liis eves like to a flame of lire, and his feet like fine brass.' His
eves, like a flame of fire, are of a piercing nature, insinuating themselves into
all the pores and parts of the body they encounter with ; and his feet, like
* Nov. 1G78, when the popish plol was discovered.
i with, in explain. • I .. ... i bildn D
with death, and all tin- churches thai] kn I I ... hi
I tin- Ik art : ami 1 wi]
your vvoi i. .11
church of Tbj
church as shall act as J< /< I" I. All
II |.n.| . . I
1 ih, nun - ihoth, I
.••>si..n. Ami it' it Ikj laid tliat, .. i . 10
»;. r woi I. . fail b, patii act r it ih 1
< I llllllllt.llll. .1 I ()1 It, l.llt .:
■ .•iiiiiiit!' • ;ial a<l
own< d I ifo thai iiu« pl.t; . tin irai hirmtt
mod ' ''\ thou do!
I will . .1 : In i intu a h. .|,"
• ructiou "1 oof to be at on< . hut in a liu
conaumea a b<
2, Thia p< rf< ction of < i".| fits him to
il, what comfort could we have in any |
we di p. od apon him it' he w< re i porani of o B
pity Q8, hia readini I •< r to |
■ . without his oniniscn : nlonn 1
arm of hie powi r. Thii perfi •
yOUI iin ■im»ramluiu-hf»nk to SHOW \
1 I tn hia omniscience. Thi
him with tl. $iti< - of hia church, and directs all hie oth
tin i- and about hia | foam >y depend upon
hath promised, and upon hia truth arm, upon his auffi<
ami his goodnesa to relies righteouani
mse he hath an infinite understanding to know you and your
and your a< rviei b. And without thia knowledge of hi
drawn from any other perfection ; none of them could be
our hopes and confidence upon. This ia thai the church alv
Ei hath remembered hi- covenant forever, and the word which
he hath commanded to a thousand generations ; ' and ■ ■_'. 'Hei
is holy promise ; ' and Ps. evi, 16, • Ih remembered fort]
•.' II. remembers and understands hi oant, therefore hii i
mise to perform it, and therefore our wants to supply them.
\ml the rat I tod km... of ;i n bia own. }{•■
i in his infinite understanding the exact number of all the individual]
a that belong to him: ~ Tim. ii. 19, • I L I i them that
Be knowa all things, because he hath
hath not only made them, bnt also ch ... Jh-
could no more choose he knew not what, than he could c not
what. Se knowa them under a double title: ot . in
union : i creation ; creator .
in. He cannot be ignorant of them in time whom he foreko
1 ! in time is ih • aame he had I rnity.
knew them that he intended to give the gr
knows tin m after tin 3 . because he know snact i
graor upon them, and his own mark
* Wat the eridenoe of it I rel 1 1 r H
•g, and i : ber
'. in loc.
526 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
them. No doubt but lie that ' calls the stars of heaven by their names,' Ps.
cxlvii. 4, knows the number of those living stars that sparkle in the firma-
ment of his church. He cannot be ignorant of their persons, when he num-
bers the hairs of their heads, and hath registered their names in the book of
life. As he only had an infinite mercy to make the choice, so he only hath
an infinite understanding to comprehend their persons. We only know the
elect of God by a moral assurance in the judgment of charity, when the con-
versation of men is according to the doctrine of God. We have not an in-
fallible knowledge of them, we may be often mistaken ; Judas, a devil, may
be judged by man for a saint, till he be stripped of his disguise. God only
hath an infallible knowledge of them ; he knows his own records, and the
counterparts in the hearts of his people. None can counterfeit his seal, nor
can any raze it out. When the church is either scattered like dust by per-
secution, or overgrown with superstition and idolatry, that there is scarce
any grain of true religion appearing, as in the time of Elijah, who complained
that he was left alone, as if the church had been rooted out of that corner of
the world, 1 Kings xix. 14, 18, yet God knew that he had a number fed in
a cave, and had reserved ' seven thousand men ' that had preserved the
purity of his worship, and ' not bowed their knee to Baal.' * Christ knew his
sheep as well as he is known of them, yea, better than they can know him.
Histoiy acquaints us that Cyrus had so vast a memory that he knew the name
of every particular soldier in his army, which consisted of divers nations.
Shall it be too hard for an infinite understanding to know every one of that
host that march under his banners ? May he not as well know them as
know the number, qualities, influences of those stars which lie concealed
from our eye, as well as those that are visible to our sense ? Yes, he knows
them, as a general, to employ them, as a shepherd, to preserve them. He
knows them in the world to guard them, and he knows them, when they are
out of the world, to gather them, and cull out their bodies, though w r rapped
up in a cloud of the putrified carcasses of the wicked. As he knew them
from all eternity to elect them, so he knows them in time to clothe their
persons with righteousness, to protect their persons in calamity, according
to his good pleasure, and at last to raise and reward them according to his
promise.
4. We may take comfort from hence, that our sincerity cannot be un-
known to an infinite understanding. Not a way of the righteous is con-
cealed from him, and therefore they shall ' stand in judgment before him.'
Ps. i. 6, * The Lord knows the way of the righteous ;' he knows them to
observe them, and he knows them to reward them. How comfortable is it
to appeal to this attribute of God for our integrity, with Hezekiah : 2 Kings
xx. 3, ' Remember, Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with
a perfect heart.' Christ himself is brought in this prophetical psalm draw-
ing out the comfort of this attribute : Ps. xl. 9, ' I have not refrained my
lips, Lord, thou knowest,' meaning his faithfulness in declaring the
righteousness of God. Job follows the same steps : ' Also now, behold, my
record is in heaven, and my witness is on high,' Job xvi. 19; my inno-
cence hath tho testimony of men, but my greatest support is in the records
of God. Also now, or besides the testimony of my own heart, I have
another witness in heaven that knows tho heart, and can only judge of the
principles of my actions, and clear me from the scorn of my friends, and
the accusations of men, with a justification of my innocence. He repeats
it twice, to take the greater comfort in it. God knows that we do that
iu the simplicity of our hearts, which may be judged by men to be done for
* Turrettine'fl Sermons, p. SOL'.
I LYII. B
unworthy ai
inward that which
down ii itlit'ul §i which i
ib with tli.
ider tl
1 1 <i liruvrii, mil . follies
.
ill.' hill-
W bat :i bappin*
who i ill v wipe <'it the dirt •
. i i knows the I'
toople, though 1
conviction,
knows ti . t woi k be bath
abandon
-■ii in < rt us
in (Mil- I i <
U) tlir I
: :i Bcantine I ni a heai t in i
understand the faith and pi
in ?ain. How could I that m
ignorant inward ' I [yp< i
expressions, shoii of t ; :.- i. p]
•
•i is the body, and i
litV. my word ,01
r . \. 1 . . ; be mind, n
parrot ; prayi r is dung i i!
to the words, bnt b
the m< ( deration is a more •
notice than hearing, th< ly ft' the ear. Were not God of an infinite
understanding, an omniscient, he might e cloth. .
the man himself, and ho put off by glittering words, without ■ Bpiril
frame. What matter of i r is it, that we call not 0]
rant idol, but on one that listens to our - l a
despatch, that knows our desires afar off, and from the in:
mercy, joined with his omnii idy to give us ■
>k of remembrance for them that bar him, and forth
•.■I ejaculations to him as well i see of him, Hal. iii.
- they utter, but what ■. and holy ti
they have of him, ' that thought upon his name' t Though millions of sup-
plications be put up at the same I : they have all a di
■■) in an infinite understands nds
:i all. As lie i 3 millions of BU
a vail number of \ • > to n cord them in ord< r to punishment, so he d
tinctly d an infinite number of Dries at the same moment to
: in order to an answer.
in infinite understandi] .
bty multitude i from others, or < ny unn
disti ;ian
that had the bl( as could be con
be throi (
ligible to him as our *
.
528 chaenock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
Rom. viii. 27. Thus David cheers up himself under the neglects of his
friends : Ps. xxxviii. 9, ' Lord, my desire is before thee ; and my groaning
is not hid from thee.' Not a groan of a panting spirit shall be lost till
God hath lost his knowledge, not a petition forgotten while God hath a
record, nor a tear dried while God hath a bottle to reserve it in, Ps. lvi. 8.
Our secret works are also known and observed by him, not only our out-
ward labour, but our inward love in it, Heb. vi. 10. If with Isaac we go
privately into the field to meditate, or secretly ' cast our bread upon the
waters,' he keeps his eye upon us to reward us, and returns the fruit into
our own bosoms, Mat. vi. 4, 6 ; yea, though it be but a cup of cold water,
from an inward spring of love given to a disciple. He sees your works and
your labours, and faith and patience in working them, Rev. ii. 2, all the
marks of your industry, and strength of your intentions, and will be as
exact at last in order to a due praise, as to open sins in order to a just
recompence, 1 Cor. iv. 5.
6. The consideration of this excellent attribute affords comfort in the
afflictions of good men. He knows their pressures, as well as hears their
cries, Exod. iii. 7. His knowledge comes not by information from us, but
his compassionate listening to our cries springs from his own inspection
into our sorrows; he is affected with them before we make discovery of
them. He is not ignorant of the best season, when they may be usefully
inflicted, and when they may be profitably removed. The tribulation and
poverty of his church is not unknown to him : Rev. ii. 8, 9, * I know thy
works and tribulation,' &c. He knows their works, and what tribulation
they meet with for him ; he sees their extremities, when they are toiling
against the wind and tide of the world, Mark vi. 48; yea, the natural
exigencies of the multitude are not neglected by him, he discerns to take
care of them. Our Saviour considered the three days' fasting of his fol-
lowers, and miraculously provides a dish for them in the wilderness. No
good man is ever out of God's mind, and therefore never out of his com-
passionate care ; his eye pierceth into their dungeons, and pities their
miseries. Joseph may forget his brethren, and the disciples not know
Christ when he walks upon the midnight waves and turbulent sea,* but
a lion's den cannot obscure a Daniel from his sight, nor the depths of the
whale's belly bury Jonah from the divine understanding. He discerns
Peter in his chains, and Stephen under the stones of martyrdom ; he knows
Lazarus under his tattered rags, and Abel wallowing in his blood ; his eye
and knowledge goes along with his people when they are transplanted into
foreign countries, and sold for slaves into the islands of the Grecians ; for
1 he will raise them out of the place,' Joel iii. 6, 7. He would defeat the
hopes of the persecutors, and applaud the patience of his people. He
knows his people in the tabernacle of life, and in the ■ valley of the shadow
of death,' Ps. xxiii. He knows all penal evils, because he commissions and
directs them. He knows the instruments, because they are his sword, Ps.
xvii. 13 ; and he knows his gracious sufi'erer, because he hath his mark.
He discerns Job in his anguish, and the devil in his malice. By the direc-
tion of this attribute ho orders calamities, and rescues from them : ' Thou
hast seen it, for thou beholdest mischief and spite,' Ps. x. 14. That is the
comfort of the psalmist, and the comfort of every believer, and the ground
of committing themselves to God under all the injustice of men.
7. It is a comfort in all our infirmities. As he knows our sins to charge
them, so ho kno*s the weakness of our nature to pity us. As his infinite
understanding may scare us, because he knows our transgressions, so it may
* Barlow's Man's Refuge, p. 20, 30.
r . i K i.\ ii.
Mlii ir:il mi.
'II . . I ; . I
■
in pil
I It' I
iption ; v. \
I
of 1 .an well
.
1 1 h
; bat tl
.-n in ; Q arid
mindfn]
i
til r- in. mb< r the mnl ir nature as we
.• much aid our
id 1"' than it i ! 1 1 ii r. membra
f his on honld 1
ir iniin: hut <ln^t when he
■
I
Bi I in the Inrkiog corruptioD in onr
mow by this whither to ail
v of it. I" some cala-
mity i we audi rstand qo! the particoJ u of are inflii I • titions
have pal op bsj . ad the chariot wheels of divine
ii are long in coming. I. I at beg the this
id then
thai \ the mi int, or i the affliction we feel, or bars
the door turn of onr supplioal v. Lim sight cannot
of God can make visible to as. J me
whei Lest with me. inwantofpard particularly
■I his D .'I in OUT desitt a for th | nuance of I we
nil him from his faithfulness, bo in the fear of any insiocerity or
hidden corruption we should implore his oi For i ii a
• I 1 in the whole of his nat lie per-
i in th< il static: i of
' .is David's practice a: r that la
meditation on the omniscience and omnipresence I irni his
thonghts of it ii r the employment of it in tlic cone f his
:. and begS a nit-ivy suitable to the
arch iih . G u«l try my heart : try me, and ki
84, 'And in me,
d me in the way everlasting.' Ii t barely th I i
should know him, for it would I nld
Lhfulnest, o r knowledge io I : but he
ribute in th<
in « bt of any wicked way, and humiliatioD for ma-
tion of it in or d to
this pei , when I i I y
Vol.. I. l 1
530 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLYII. 5.
others, so we may implore it to search us when our sincerity is questioned
by ourselves, that our minds may be enlightened by a beam from his
knowledge, and the little thieves may be pulled out of their dens in our
hearts by the hand of his power. In particular, it is our comfort that w r e
can, and our necessity that we must, address particularly to this, when we
engage solemnly in a work of self-examination ; that we may have a clearer
eye to direct us than our own, that we may not mistake brass for gold, or
counterfeit graces for true ; that nothing that is filthy and fit to be cast out
may escape our sight, and preserve its stations. And we need not question
the laying at the door of this neglect (viz., not calling in this attribute to
our aid, whose proper office it is, as I may so say, to search and inquire) all
the mistakes, ill success, and fruitlessness of our endeavours in self-exami-
nation, 'because we would engage in it in the pitiful strength of our own
dimness, and not in the light of God's countenance, and the assistance of
his eye, which can discern what we cannot see, and discover that to us
which we cannot manifest to ourselves. It is a comfort to a learner of an
art, to have a skilful eye to overlook his work, and inform him of the
defects. Beg the help of the eye of God in all your searches and self-
examinations.
9. The consideration of this attribute is comfortable in our assurances of,
and reflections upon, the pardon of sin, or seeking of it. As God punishes
men for sin according to his knowledge of them, which is greater than
the knowledge their own consciences have of them, so he pardons accord-
ing to his knowledge. He pardons not only according to our know-
ledge, but according to his own. He is greater than any man's heart,
to condemn for that which a man is at present ignorant of, and greater
than our hearts, to pardon that which is not at present visible to us ;
he knows that which the most watchful conscience cannot take a survey
of. If God had not an infinite understanding of us, how could we have a
perfect and full pardon from him ? It would not stand with his honour
to pardon he knew not what. He knows what crimes we have to be pardoned,
when we know not all of them ourselves, that stand in need of a gracious
remission ; his omniscience beholds every sin, to charge it upon our Saviour.
If he knows our sins that are black, he knows every mite of Christ's
righteousness, which is pure, and the utmost extent of his merits, as well as
the demerit of our iniquities. As he knows the filth of our sin, he also
knows the covering of our Saviour ; he knows the value of the Redeemer's
sufferings, and exactly understands every plea in the intercession of our
advocate. Though God knows our sins oculo indice, yet he doth not see
them oculo judice, with a judicial eye. His omniscience stirs not up his
justice to revenge, but his mercy to pity. His infinite understanding of
what Christ hath done directs him to disarm his justice, and sound an alarm
to his bowels. As he understands better than we what we have com-
mitted, so he understands better than we what our Saviour hath merited,
and his eye directs his hand in the blotting out guilt, and applying the remedy.
Use 3. The third use shall be to sinners to humble them, and put them
upon serious consideration. This attribute speaks terrible things to a pro-
fligate sinner. Basil thinks that the lipping open the sins of the damned to
their faces by this perfection of God is more terrible than their other tor-
ments in hell. God knows the persons of wicked men, not one is exempted
from his eye, he sees all the actions of men as well as he knows their per-
sons : Job xi. 11, 'He knows vain men, he sees wickedness also.' Job
xxxiv. 21, 'His eye is upon all their goings.' Ho hears the most private
whispers, Ps. exxxix. 4; the scope, manner, circumstance of speaking he
I < 1 1.\ 1 1 .'dr..
In-'' • 1 -• and< i land ail <>ur tl:
of I
urn , nun. I, abort n
■
thou h
i ' mm lli«j
I'll' I HI I'V the help I ■ .Oil. I I
battel would il to sinners to l
■
tboold 1 -• Know ii
t <• ti ,.!/;... a I tli him '
I . (
.
dot ' on, can hide any sin from the syi i
iro in h b thick< h wedge I
by him, though buried hi the •••
,1 Sarali he unset n by him, when she mock
i tell :i i . niiiiM If w th an
I rod knows it ? \\
bid firoi whether done in the darkness or t, in the midni
r the n an. B
mish. Tho wheels in E (ire full i i
behold tlir sinner, Mid a swift wheel of wrath to overtake hit . G
ill things light is most diffieoltly kepi oat, Tin ' - u
:ht of his countenance,' l'-. :f writ with
mbeem : more visible to him then the
fornications of the Samaritan wounn, perhap i only to hi
oom Christ, John i . I , so
etly done, bnl there is an infallible witness to ] I
G in?isibl most not imagii to him.
■ think from God, the
from <>" .If m< :; m tlie
of all men, as from those of the sun : yea, if theycould
from tin til told not draw them
understanding. How then ran darkm de-
fend u>? With what shame will sinners be filled) when God, who fa
. and writ tin ;i make a repetition of
. and unvi il the web of their wicke
B, \\ . r a In idfui consideration is th joggling hypocrite, that
with an a] | I An infinite and
judges nol according to the veils and shadows, bat sot to truth : • He
: i appearand . i 9 on. xvi. 7. I itward e
\ of s work imposeth not on him ; his . and therefore 1.
ma; nature than I a. By this j> rfection
1, ami beholds th< litter of abominations in the
onl, the true quality and prinei] rk, and
they appear. '
ive him : the d a are known ai . lie
i into the depth bstrnse n '.'.
Led in
to him as ii be
prove as, < iii. 10. V. i
the eyes oi and Ui\
532 ohabnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
ance ; but an infinite understanding, that fathoms the secret depths of the
heart, is too knowing to let a dream pass for a truth, or mistake a shadow
for a body. Though we call God Father all our days, speak the language of
angels, or be endowed with the gift of miracles, he can discern whether we
have his mark upon us ; he can espy the treason of Judas in a kiss ; Herod's
intent of murdering under a specious pretence of worship ; a Pharisee's
fraud under a broad philactery ; a ravenous wolf under the softness of a
sheep's skin ; and the devil in Samuel's mantle, or when he would shroud
himself among the sons of God, Job i. 6, 7. All the rooms of the heart,
and every atom of dust in the least chink of it, is clear to his eye. He can
strip sin from the fairest excuses, pierce into the heart with more ease than
the sun can through the thinnest cloud or vapour, and look through all
Ephraim's ingenious inventions to excuse his idolatry, Hosea v. 3. Hypocrisy
then is a senseless thing, since it cannot escape unmasking by an infinite
understanding. As all our force cannot stop his arm, when he is resolved
to punish, so all our sophistry cannot blind his understanding, when he
comes to judge. Woe to the hypocrite, for God sees him ; all his juggling
is open and naked to infinite understanding.
3. Is it not also a senseless thing to be careless of sins committed long
ago ? The old sins forgotten by men, stick fast in an infinite understanding.
Time cannot raze out that which hath been known from eternity. Why
should they be forgotten many years after they were acted, since they were
foreknown in an eternity before they were committed, or the criminal capable
to practise them ? Amalek must pay their arrears of their ancient unkind-
ness to Israel in the time of Saul, though the generation that committed
them were rotten in their graves, 1 Sam. xv. 2. Old sins are written in a
book, which lies always before God ; and not only our own sins, but the
sins of our fathers, to be requited upon their posterity : Isa. lxv. 6, ' Behold
it is written.' What a vanity is it, then, to be regardless of the sins of an
age that went before us ; because they are in some measure out of our
knowledge, are they therefore blotted out of God's remembrance ? Sins are
bound up with him, as men do bonds, till they resolve to sue for the debt :
1 The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up,' Hosea xiii. 12. As his foreknow-
ledge extends to all acts that shall be done, so his remembrance extends to
all acts that have been done. We may as well say, God foreknows nothing
that shall be done to the end of the world, as that he forgets any things that
hath been done from the beginning of the world. The former ages of the
world are no further distant from him than the latter. God hath a calendar
(as it were) or an account-book of men's sins ever since the beginning of
the world, what they did in their childhood, what in their youth, what in
their manhood, and what in their old age. He hath them 'in store among
his treasure,' Deut. xxxii. 34. He hath neither lost his understanding to
know them, nor his resolution to revenge them. As it follows : ver. 35,
' To me vengeance belongs.' He intends to enrich his justice with a glorious
manifestation, by rendering a due recompence. And it is to be observed,
that God doth not only necessarily remember them, but sometimes binds
himself by an oath to do it : Amos viii. 7, ' The Lord hath sworn by the
excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works ;' or in
the Hebrew, ' If I ever forget any of their works;' that is, let me not be
accounted a God for ever, if I do forget ; ht me lose my Godhead, if I lose
my remembrance. It is not Letl a misery to (he wicked, than it is a com-
fort to the godly, that their record is in heaven.
4. Let it be observed, that this infinite understanding doth exactly know
the sins of men ; he knows so as to consider. He doth not only know them,
Pa. CXI-Yli 588
hut intently behold them i I' . si. i. •
■ metaphor m meo, would
tly and ; it ia Dot a I
I . 1 I . • .
; i .11. hi hold - and krj n i th<
ticulsr man, u if I
r their Pi. n
Be ii t a 1 ' B
! i!l). II. in
there ia to bl<
;: v an I quantil I
CHI!
minute when, the hut.' t which ii i oomm the numl
■■ii. ■ i : ey bav<
i. \iv. S '. n I •
wililcrn Dhe whole guUt in every circumatance
of nun's i ch an ii
understanding c e subja ' iniquity if mfti
him/ Jer. ii. 22.
men'a i i aa to jn Thi mni-
:i authority in I
justice. 1 1 the ni l is in order to a jo
x. 1 l. • Thou I i miachief, to requite it with thy band.
knowledge direeta the band of his justice, and Calls
under his i nee but will fajj under hi aa little
■ ■ in bia knowled •■•. II
omniscience, tl ay be ;» judge in his righi • B
of the wicked 1 i • their works, and testify his shh
thai which is of high value with men, Luke xvi. 15. Sin is not pre-
serred in 1. r written down in bia looks to
an old manuscript, but to b 1 one daj and c out in the t
Be writes them to publish them, and nem in I
light of his countenance, to bring them to the light of their c . What
d( ration ia it, to think that the Bins of a d
in an infallible understanding, much more I What ■ num-
. then, do tl of a month, a year, ten or forty
mai • ! What an infinite number
them, all hound up in the court-r Ua of (
orm brought oul d ! W;
ads, ret d's kne
to I : out against the sinner in due time, without an on ~;blo
horn
. Let us havo a sense of God's
knowk n our hearts. All wickednesa hath a spring from a wai
dm it. ] !xxxvi. 1 I ;
proud rose np ■• him, and \ :ht after hi
car. I them. They think <
an i • iw they art. Wh( n t: f this attri-
i!l impi. ty. ^
•
: bia infinite ui
What faith could then t, in witneaess? 1:
founda human - - upon which corn-
ice stands bo lissolvedl What soc; . be
534 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
preserved if this be not truly believed and faithfully stuck to ? But how
easily would oaths be swallowed and quickly violated if the sense of this
perfection were rooted out of the minds of men ! What fear could they
have of calling to witness a being they imagine blind and ignorant ? Men
secretly imagine that God knows not, or soon forgets, and then make bold
to sin against him, Ezek. viii. 12. How much does it therefore concern us
to cherish and keep alive the sense of this? If God 'writes us upon the
palms of his hands,' as the expression is, to remember us, let us engrave
him upon the tables of our hearts to remember him. It would be a good
motto to write upon our minds, God knows all, he is of infinite under-
standing.
1. This would give check to much iniquity. Can a man's conscience
easily and delightfully swallow that which he is sensible falls under the
cognizance of God, when it is hateful to the eye of his holiness, and renders
the actor odious to him ? ' Doth he not see my ways, and count all my
steps,' saith Job, chap. xxxi. 4. To what end doth he fix this considera-
tion ? To keep him from wanton glances. Temptations have no encour-
agement to come near him that is constantly armed with the thoughts that
his sin is booked in God's omniscience. If any impudent devil hath the
face to tempt us, we should not have the impudence to join issue with him
under the sense of an infinite understanding. How fruitless would his
wiles be against this consideration ! How easily would his snares be
cracked by one sensible thought of this ! This doth Solomon prescribe to
allay the heat of carnal imaginations, Prov. v. 20, 21. It were a useful
question to ask at the appearance of every temptation, at the entrance upon
every action, as the church did in temptations to idolatry, Ps. xliv. 21,
1 Shall not God search this out, for he knows the secrets of the heart ? '
His understanding comprehends us more than our consciences can our acts,
or our understanding our thoughts. Who durst speak treason against a
prince if he were sure he heard him, or that it would come to his know-
ledge ? A sense of God's knowledge of wickedness in the first motion and
inward contrivance would bar the accomplishment and execution. The con-
sideration of God's infinite understanding would cry Stand to the first glances
of the heart to sin.
2. It would make us watchful over our hearts and thoughts. Should we
harbour any unworthy thoughts in our cabinet, if our heads and hearts were
possessed with this useful truth, that God knows everything which comes
into our minds, we should as much blush at the rising of impure thoughts
before the understanding of God as at the discovery of unworthy actions to
the knowledge of men. If we lived under a sense that not a thought of all
those millions which flutter about our minds can be concealed from him,
how watchful and careful should we be of our hearts and thoughts I
3. It would be a good preparation to every duty. This consideration
should be the preface to every service, — The divine understanding knows
how I now act. This would engage us to serious intention, and quell wan-
dering and distracting fancies. Who would come before God with a care-
less and ignorant soul, under a sense of his infinite understanding, and
prerogative of searching the heart? '0 thou that sittest in heaven ' was
a consideration the psalmist had at the beginning of his prayer, Ps. cxxiii. 1,
whereby he testifies not only an apprehension of the majesty and power of
God, but of his omniscience, ai one sitting above beholds all that is below.
Would wo offer to God snch raw and undigested petitions; would there be
ho much flatness in our services; should our hearts so often give us the
slip; would any hang down their heads like a bulrush by an ail'eeted or
I i X1A 1 i
humility wl
fiiith in tin i attrib • aoond, on
tl.»|;
!i all our might, v.
llllll tll.lt 1.1
upon ooi min Is,
or fram iit-
ulili ii. i . of < ur i
l.l i ild lend to |
ption 1 1 andnesa And In
ii m In - walk \x • l I '. 4 \i. I
I of thy f.ii
the Lord under all the
!i fi r Al'i'l's holim I
ing, A • iii'' dooti ine of omni
gioo, so the impression of it would
When :ill oor waya arc imagined I j;i ll
tli. ii k
till we walk bi Core < tod, Gen.
knowledge. What we . what we think, what .
Ur knows every pis
a Nathanarl under the fig-tree, i
so he is to i on i ratanding to be d ]
us walk with as much o if the understanding of all men did c
1 us and our actio: ,
ronld m hnmble. If •■■■
D be, it I Mire all tin
upon earth did perfectly know his . with all their aggravati
whai i knowl( an infinite and just censuring u
When •■ knows our actions, whereof thi
and our thoughts, whereof there are millions ; thai he news all the bl<
d up<»n os, all the injuries we have return* d to him ; thai
. bounty, and our ingratitude; all the idolati
and secret enmity in every man's heart against him ; ail tyranni
b, hiddi n In Iasions of necessary duties, violation of plain precepts
v foolish imagination, with all the circumatam them, and t : .
v in their full anatomy, every mite of unworthiness and wi
and add to this his knowli f hj g
bich are miraculous upon tl
as quick in his n in his and
i inflicting punishment thai :ns no ^
gainst os, hut . and waits I >us
with all this knowledge of our crii ould not tl this
melt our hearts into humiliation before him, and d in begs
pardon and : >f him ?
Again, I in our s uindest
Shall any oi OS v. urn:, as if I
thing by ourselves to c i know son. .many
• Amipiit., lib. :
536 charnock's works. [Ps. CXLVII. 5.
things, to condemn us, and therefore to humble us ? Let the sense of God's
infinite knowledge, therefore, be an incentive and argument for more humi-
liation in us. If we know enough to render ourselves vile in our own eyes,
how much more doth God know to render us vile in his !
6. The consideration of this excellent perfection should make us to
acquiesce in God, and rely upon him in every strait. In public, in private,
he knows all cases, and he knows all remedies. He knows the seasons of
bringing them, and he knows the seasons of removing them, for his own
glory. What is contingent in respect of us, and of our foreknowledge, and
in respect of second causes, it is not so in regard of God's, who hath the
know-ledge of the futurition of all things. He knows all causes in themselves,
and therefore knows what every cause will produce, what will be the event
of every counsel and of every action. How should we commit ourselves
to this God of infinite understanding, who knows all things, and foreknows
everything ; that cannot be forced through ignorance to take new counsel, or
be surprised with anything that can happen to us. This use the psalmist
makes of it : Ps. x. 14, ' Thou hast seen it, the poor committeth him-
self unto thee.' Though ' some trust in chariots and horses,' Ps. xx. 7,
some in counsels and counsellors, some in their arms and courage, and some
in mere vanity and nothing, yet let us ' remember the name' and nature ' of
the Lord our God,' his divine perfections, of which this of his infinite under-
standing and omniscience is none of the least, but so necessary, that without
it he could not be God, and the whole world would be a mere chaos and
confusion.
END OF VOL. I.
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