What a Mercy is it that God hath not only acquainted us what his Will is, but that he hath made it known by Writing! In the old Times God did reveal his Mind by Revelations, but the Word written is a furer Way of knowing God's Mind than by Revelation, 2 Pet. 1. 19. This Voice which came from Heaven we heard, we have alfo a more fure Word of Prophecy. The Devil is God's Ape and he can transform himself into an Angel of Light; he can deceive with falfe Revelations: As I have heard of One who had (as he thought) a Revelation from God to facrifice his Child, as Abraham had; whereupon he follwing this Impulfion of the Devil, did kill his Child. Thus Satan oft deceives People with Delufions, instead of divine Revelations; therefore we are to be thankful to God for revealing his Mind to us hy Writing: We have a More fure Word of Prophecy. We are not left under a doubtful Sufpence that we fhould not know what to believe, but we have an infallible Rule to go by. The Scripture is our Pole-ftar to direct us to Heaven, it fhews us every Step we are to take; when we go wrong, it inftructs us; when we go right, it comforts us; and 'tis Matter of Thankfulness, that the Scriptures are made intelligible, by being translated. 8. Adore God's diftinguishing Grace, if you have felt the Authority and Power of the Word upon your Confcience; if you can fay as David, Pfal. 119. 50. Thy Word bath quickned me. Chriftian blefs God that he hath not only given thee his Word to be a Rule of Holiness, but his Grace to be a Principle of Holinefs: Blefs God that he hath not only written his Word, but fealed it upon thy Heart, and made it effectual. Canft thou fay it is of divine Infpiration, because thou haft felt it to be of lively Operation? O free Grace! That God fhould send out this Word, and heal thee; that he should heal thee, and not others? that the fame Scripture, which is to them a dead Letter, fhould be to thee a Savour of Life. That there is a GOD. QUEST. III. ༡༡ 1. Implied, That there is a God: The Question, What is God? takes it for granted that there is a God; the Belief of God's Effence is the Foundation of all religious Worfhip, Heb. 11. 6. He that comes to God, muft believe that he is There must be a firft Caufe, which gives a Being and Existence to all Things befides. We come to know that there's a God, 1. By the Book of Nature, the Notion of a Deity is engraven in Man's Heart, it is demonftrable by the Light of Nature. I think it hard for a Man to be a natural Atheist; he may wish there were no God, he may difpute against a Deity, but he cannot in his Judgment believe there is no God, unless by accumulated Sin his Confcience be feared, and he hath fuch a Lethargy upon him, that he hath hath finned away his very Senfe and Reafon. Hammer, the hanging of the Plummets, he We come to know that there is a God by would fay there were fome Artificer did maké his Works; and this is fo evident a Demon- it, and put it into that Order: So, when we ftration of a Godhead, that the moft atheistical fee the excellent Order and Harmony in the Spirits, when they have confidred thefe Works Univerfe, the Sun that great Luminary dif of God, have been forced to acknowledge penfing its Light and Heat to the World, with fome wife and fupream Power the Maker of out which the World were but a Grave or Prif thefe Things; as 'tis reported of Galen and on; the Rivers fending forth their filver others. (1.) We will begin with the greater Streams to refresh the Bodies of Men, and World, 1. The Creation of the glorious Fa- Prevent a Drought; and every Creature acting brick of Heaven and Earth; fure there muft within its Sphere, and keeping its due Bounds; be fome Architect or firft Caufe, the World we muft needs acknowledge there is a God, could not make itfelf: Who could hang the who wifely orders and governs all thefe Earth on Nothing, but the great God? Who Things. Who could fet this great Army of the could Provide fuch rich Furniture for the Hea- Creatures in thir feveral Ranks and Squadrons, vens, the glorious Conftellations, the Firma- and keep them in their conftant March; but ment befpangled with fuch glittering Lights? He, whofe Name is, The Lord of Hofts? And All this fpeaks a Deity: We may fee God's as God doth wifely difpofe all Things in the Glory blazing in the Sun, twinkling in the whole Regiment of the Creatures, fo by his Stars. Who could give the Earth its Clothing, Power he doth fupport them: Did God fuf cover it with Grafs and Corn, adorn it with pend and withdraw his Influence never fo Flowers, enrich it with Gold? Only God, little, the Wheels of the Creation would unpin, Fob 28. 4 Who but God could make the and the Axle-tree break afunder. (3.) The fweet Mufick in the Heavens, caufe the An- Motion of the Creatures: All Motion (as the gels to join in Confort, and found forth the Philofophers fay) is from fomething that is Praises of their Maker? Fob 38. 7. When the unmoveable. As for Example, the Elements are Morning Stars fang together, and all the Sons moved by the Influence and Motion of the HeaGod fhoutted for Joy. It a Man fhould go venly Bodies; the Sun and Moon, and these into a far Country, and fee ftately Edifices Planets, are moved by the highest Orb, call'd there, he would never imagine that these Primum Mobile: Now, if one fhould ask, could build themfelves, but that fome greater Who moves that higheft Orb, or the firft Power built them: To imagine that the Work Mover of the Planets? fure it can be no other of the Creation was not framed by God, is as Hand but God himself. if we fhould conceive a curious Landskip to be drawn by a Penfil without the Hand of a Limner; As 17. 24. God that made the World, and all Things therein. To create, is Proper to a Deity. 2. The wife Gubernation of all Things evince there is a God: God is the great Superintendent of the World, he holds the golden Reins of Government in his Hand, guiding all Things moft regularly and harmonioufly to their Proper End; who that eyes Providence, but muft_be forced to acknowledge there is a God? Providence is the Queen and Governess of the World; it is the Hand that turns the Wheel of the whole Creation; Providence fets the Sun its Race, the Sea its Bounds. If God fhould not guide the World, Things would run into an Ataxy and Confufion: When one looks on a Clock, and fees the Motion of the Wheels, the striking of the (2.) Let us fpeak of Man, who is a Microcofm, or leffer World: The excellent Contexture and Frame of his Body, who is wrought curioufly as with Needle work, Pfal. 139. 15. I was curiously wrought in the lowest Parts of the Earth: And the Endowment of this Body with a noble Soul; who but God could make fuch an Union of different Subftances, Flesh and Spirit? In him we live, and move, and have our Being. The quick acute Motion of every Part of the Body, fhews that there is a God, we may fee fomething of him in the fparkling of the Eye: And if the Cabinet of the Body be fo curioufly wrought, what is the Jewel? The Soul hath a celeftial Brightnefs in it; as Damafcen faith, Tis a Diamond fet in a Ring of Clay. What noble Faculties is the Soul endowed with? Understanding, Will, Affections, D 2 which which are a Glafs of the Trinity, as Plato fpeaks. The Matter of the Soul is fpiritual, 'tis a divine Sparkle lighted from Heaven; and being fpiritual, is immortal, as Scaliger notes; anima non fenefcit, the Soul doth not wax old, it lives for ever: And who could create a Soul enobled with fuch rare angelical Properties, but God? We muft needs lay as the Pfalmift, It is he that hath made us, and not we our felves, Pfal. 100. 3. 2. We may Prove a Deity by our Confcience. Confcience is God's Deputy or Vicegerent. Confcience is a Witnefs of a Deity: If there were no Bible to tell us there is a God, yet Confcience might. Confcience, as the Apoftle faith, either accufeth or excufetk, Rom. 2. 15. Confcience Acts in order to an higher Judicatory. 1. Natural Confcience, being kept free from grofs Sin, excufeth. When a Man doth virtuous Actions, lives foberly and righteoufly, obferves the golden Maxim, Doing to others as he would have them to do to him; then Confcience approves, and faith, Well done: Confcience, like a Bee, gives Honey. 2. Natural Confcience in the Wicked doth accufe: When Men go against the Light of Confcience, then they feel the Worm of Confcience. Eheu quis intus fcorpio? Sen. Confcience, being finned againft, fpits Fire in Mens Faces, fills them with Shame and Horror: When the Sinner fees an Hand-writing on the Wall of Confcience, his Countenance is changed. Many have hanged themselves to quiet their Confcience. Tiberius the Emperor, a bloody Man, felt the Lafhes of his Confcience; he was fo haunted with that Fury, that he told the Senate, he fuffered Death daily. And what is it fhould Put a Man's Confcience into fuch an Agony, but the Impreffion ofa Deity, and the Thoughts of coming before God's Tribunal? Thofe who are above all humane Laws, yet are fubject to the Checks of their own Confcience. And 'tis obfervable, the nearer the Wicked approach to Death, the more they are terrified, and Confcience gives a louder Alarm to them; and whence is this, but from the Apprehenfion of Judgment approching? The Soul, being fenfible of its immortal Nature, trembles at him, who never ceaseth to live, and therefore will never cease to punish. 3. That there is a God, appears by the Confent of Nations, by the univerfal Vote and Suffrage of all. Nulla gens tam barbara eui non infideat hæc perfuafio Deum effe Tully; no Nation fo barbarous; (faith Tully) as not to believe there is a God. Tho' the Heathen did mistake in their Devotion, they did not worship the true God, yet they worshipped. a God. They fet up an Altar, To the unknown God, Acts 17. 22. They knew a God fhould be worshipped, tho' they knew not the God whom they worshipped. Some did worship Jupiter, fome Neptune, fome Mars; rather than not to worship fomething, they would worship any Thing. 4. That there is a God, appears by his Prediction of future Things. He who can foretel Things which fhall furely come to Pafs, is the true God. God foretold, that a Virgin should conceive; he Prefixed the Time when the Meffias fhould be cut off, Dan. 9. 26. he foretold, the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon, and who fhould be their Deliverer, a. 45. 1. This is fuch a ftrong Argument to Prove a Deity, as God himself ufeth it to Prove he is the true God, and that all the gods of the Heathens were Fictions and Nullities, Ifa. 41. 22. Teftimonium divinitatis eft veri tas divinationis, Tertual. To foretell Things contingent, and which depend upon no natural Caufes, is Proper to a Deity. 5. That there is a God, appears by God's unlimited Power and Sovereignity. He who can work and none hinder him, is the true God; but God can do fo, Ifa. 43. 13. I will work, and who shall let it? Nothing can hinder Action but fome fuperior Power; but there is no Power above God: All Power that is, is by him, therefore all Power is under him, he hath a mighty Arm, 89. 13. He fees the Defigns Men drive on against him, and Plucks off their Chariot-Wheels; he Maketh Diviners mad, Ifa. 44. 25. He cutteth off the Spirit of Princes: He bridleth the Sea, gives Check to the Leviathan, binds the Devil in Chains; he acts pro arbitrio, he doth what he will, I will work, and who shall let it 6. There are Devils, therefore there is a God. Atheifts cannot deny but there are Devile, and then they muft grant there is a God. We read of divers poffeffed with the Devil. The Devils are called in Scripture, Cafbegnirini, Hairy Ones, because they oft appeared in the Form of Goats or Satyrs. Gerfon, in his Book de probatione spirituum, tells us how Satan on a Time appeared to an holy Man in a meft glorious Manner, profeffing himself to be Chrift; the old Man anfwered, I defire not to fee my Saviour here in this Defert, it fball fuffice me to see him in Heaven. Now, if there be a Devil, then there is a God. Socrates, an Heathen, when he was accufed at his Death, confeffed that, as he thought, there was a malus genius, an evil Spirit, fo he thought there was a Good. into their Cup, and, in the mean while, the Godly, who wept for Sin and ferved God, are afflicted; Pfal. 102. 9. I have caten Afbes like Bread, and mingled my Drink with Weeping. Evil Men enjoy all the Good, and good Men endure all the Evil. But feeing there is a God, he will deal righteoufly with Men, Gen. 18. 25. Shall not the Fudge of all the World do right? Offenders must come to Punifhment. The Sinner's Death-day, and Doomsday is a-coming; Pfal. 37. 13. The Lord feeth that his Day is coming. While there is an Hell, the wicked fhall be fcourged enough; and while there is Eternity, they hall ly there long enough; and God will abundantly compenfate the faithful Service of his People. They fhall have their white Robes and Crowns: Pfal. 58. 11. Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous; verily he is a God that judgeth in the Earth. Becaufe God is God, therefore he will give forth glorious Rewards to his People. Uje 1. Seeing there is a God, this reproves fuch Atheistical Fools as deny it. Epicurus denied there was a Providence, faying, that all Things fell out by Chance, Diagoras. He that faith there is no God, is the wickedett Creature that is; he is worse than a Thief, who doth but take away our Goods from us, but the Atheift would take away our God from us, John 20. They have taken away my Lord. So we may fay of Atheists, They would take away our God from us, in whom all our Hope and Comfort is laid up, Pfal. 14. 1. The Fool bath Ufe 3. Seeing there is a God, Woe to all faid in his Heart, there is no God. He durft fuch as engage this God against them; he lives not fpeak it with his Tongue, but faid it in for ever to be avenged upon them: Ezek. 27. his Heart; he wished it. Sure none can be 14. Can thine Heart endure, or can thine fpeculative Atheists, The Devils believe, and Hands be ftrong in the Day that I fall deal tremble, James 2. 16. I have read of one Ar- with thee? Such as pollute God's Sabbath, thur, a profeffed Atheist, who, when he came oppofe his Saints, trampling thefe Jewels in to die, cried out he was damned: But tho' the Duft; fuch as live in a Contradiction to there are few found who fay, There is no God; God's Word; thefe do engage the infinite Mayet many deny him in their Practices, Tit. 1. jefty of Heaven against them: And how dif 16. In Works they deny kim. Cicero faid of mal will their Cafe, be! Deut. 32. 41. If I Epicurus, Verbis reliquit Deos refuftulit: whet my glittering Sword, and mine Hand The World is full of practical Atheism, moft take hold of Judgment, I will render VenPeople live as if they did not believe there was geance to mine Enemies, I will make mine a God. Darft they lie, defraud, be unclean, Arrows drunk with. Blod, &c. If it be fo if they believed there were a God who would terrible to hear the Lion rore, what is it when call them to an Account? If an Indian, who he begins to tear his Prey? Pfal. 55. 22. Connever heard of a God, fhould come among us, fider this, ye that forget God, left I tear you and have no other Means to convince him of a in Pieces. O that Men would think of this, Deity, but the Lives of Men in our Age, fure who go on in Sin! Shall we engage the great ly he would be of Protagoras his Mind, who God against us? God ftrikes flow, but headid hang in a doubtful Sufpence, and did que- vy: fob 40. 9. Haft thou an Arm like God? ftion whether there were a God; utrum Dii Canft thou ftrike fuch a Blow? God is the fint non aufim affirmare. best Friend, but the worft Enemy. If he can look Men into their Grave, How far can he throw them? Who knows the Power of his Wrath? Pfal. 90. 11. What Fools are they, who for a Drop of Pleafure drink a Sea of Wrath? Paracelfus fpeaks of a Frenzy fome Use 2. Seeing there is a God, he will deal righteously, and give juft Rewards to Men, Things feem to be carried in the World very unequally, the Wicked flourish, Pfalm 73. they who tempt God are delivered, Mal. 3. 15. the ripe Clufters of Grapes are squeezed have, have, which will make them die dancing: Sinners go dancing to Hell. Ufe 4. Seeing there is a God, let us firmly believe this great Article of our Creed. What Religion can there be in Men, if they do not believe a Diety? He that cometh to God, muft believe that he is. To worship God, and pray to him, and not believe there is a God, Irrifio Dei eft, It is to put a high Scorn and Contempt upon God. Believe that God is the only true God; fuch a God as he hath revealed himfelf in his Word, A Lover of Righteoufnefs, and Hater of Wickedness, Pfal. 45. 7. The real Belief of a Diety gives Life to all religious Worfhip: The more we believe the Truth and Infinitenefs of God, the more holy and angelical we are in our Lives. Whether we are alone, or in Company, God fees us: he is the Heart-fearcher; the Belief of this would make us live always under God's Eye, Pfal 16. 8. I have fet the Lord always before me. The Belief of a Diety would be a Bridle to Sin, a Spur to Duty; it would add Wings to Prayer, and Oyl to the Lamp of our Devotion. The Belief of a Deity would caufe Dependence upon God in all our Straits and Ex igencies; Gen. 17. 1. I am God Allfufficient; a God that can fupply all your Wants, fcatter all your Fears, refolve all your Doubts, conquer all your Temptations: The Arm of God's Power can never be fhrunk; he can create Mercy for us, and therefore can help, and not be beholden to the Creature. Did we believe there is a God, we fhould fo depend on his Providence as not to ufe any indirect Means; we would not run our felves into Sin to rid our felves out of Trouble: 2 Kings 1. 4. Is it not because there is not a God in Ifrael that ye go to enquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron? When Men run to finful Shifts, is it not because they do not believe there is a God, or that he is All-fufficient? 2. Seeing there is a God, let us labour to get an Intereft in him, Pfal. 48. 14. This God is our God. Two Things will comfort us, Derty and Property: Since the Fall we have loft Likene's to God, and Communion with God let us labour to recover this loft Intereft, and pronounce this Shibboleth, My God, Pfal. 43. 5. Tis little Comfort to know there is a God, unless he be ours; God offers himself to be our God, Jer. 31. 33. I will be their God. And Faith catcheth hold of the Offer, it appropriates God, and makes all that is in him over to us to be ours; his Wisdom to be ours, to teach us; his Holinefs ours, to fanctify us; his Spirit ours to comfort us; his Mercy ours, to fave us. To be able to fay, God is mine, is more than to have all the Mines of Gold and Silver. 3. Seeing there is a God, let us ferve and worship him as a God: It was an Indictment brought in against them, Rom. 1. 21. They glorified him not as God. 1. Let us Pray to him as to a God. Pray with Fervency, Jam. 5. 16. An effectual fervent Prayer prevails much. This is both the Fire and the Incense; without Fervency 'tis no Prayer. 2. Love him as a God, Deut. 6. 5. Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart. To Love him with all the Heart, is to give him a Precedency in our Love, defire to let him have the Cream of our Affections; to Love him not only appretiatively, but intenfively, as much as we can. As the Sun-beams united, in a Burning-glafs burn the hotter, fo all our Affections fhould be united, that our Love to God may be more ardent. 3. Obey him as a God: All Creatures obey him, the Stars fight his Battles, the Wind and Sea obey him, Mark 4. 41. much more fhould Man, whom God hath endu'd with a Principle of Reason: He is God, and hath a Sovereignty over us; therefore as we received Life from him, fo we must receive a Law from him, and fubmit to his Will in all Things: This is to kifs him with a Kiss of Loyalty, and it is to glorify him as God. GOD |