Simonides, a heathen poet, being asked by
Riero king of
The text tells us, and it should be remembered, that the Lord
Jesus, the Son of God, who lay in the bosom of the Father, and who only can
reveal him, is here the speaker, that God is a Spirit. It is but little of the
nature of spirits that we, who dwell in tabernacles of clay, are so intimately
connected with flesh and blood, and so naturally impressed with sensible
objects, can know. We cannot fully understand what our own spirits or souls are;
and less do we know of the nature of angels, who are of a superior nature to us;
and far less can we know of the spiritual nature of the Divine Being, which is
utterly incomprehensible by men or angels. However, as all our ideas begin at
what is infinite, in considering the nature of spirits, so we are led to
conceive of God as infinitely more perfect than any finite spirit”.
All we can know of spirits is,
1. That a spirit is the most perfect and excellent of beings,
more excellent than the body, or anything that is purely material.
2. That a spirit is in its own nature immortal, having nothing
in its frame and constitution tending; to dissolution or corruption.
3. That a spirit is capable of understanding, willing, and
putting forth actions agreeable to its nature, which no other being can do. Now
these conceptions of the nature of spirits lead us to conceive of God,
1. As a being that is more perfect and excellent than all
other spirits and beings. Hence he is said to be incorruptible, (Rom. 1:23);
immortal and invisible, (1 Tim. 1:17). He has understandings and will; and so we
conceive of him as the creator and governor of all things; which he could not
be, if he were not an intelligent and sovereign spirit.
2. Though angels and the souls of men are spirits, yet their
excellency is only comparative, that is, they excel the best of all material
beings in their nature and properties. But God, as a spirit, is infinitely more
excellent than all material beings, and all created spirits. Their perfections
are derived from him; and therefore he is called “the Father of spirits,” (Heb.
12:9) and “the God of the spirits of all flesh,” (Num. 16:22); and his
perfections are underived; and he is independently immortal. Hence it is said of
him, that “he only hath immortality,” (1 Tim. 6:16). He is an infinite spirit;
and it can be said of none but him, that “his understanding is Infinite,” (Ps.
147:5).
Now, a spirit is an immaterial substance, (Luke 24:39); and
seeing whatever God is, he is infinitely perfect in it, he is a most pure
spirit. Hence we may infer,
1. That God has no body nor bodily parts. Objection: How then
are eyes, ears, hands, face, and the like, attributed in scripture to God?
Answer: They are attributed to him not properly, but figuratively; they are
spoken of him after the manner of men, in condescension to our weakness; but we
are to understand them after a sort becoming the Divine Majesty. We are to
consider what such bodily parts serve us for, as our eyes for discerning and
knowing, our arms for strength, our hands for action, &c. and we are to conceive
these things to be in God infinitely, which these parts serve for in us. Thus,
when eyes and ears are ascribed to God they signify his omniscience; his hands
denote his power, and his face the manifestation of his love and favor.
2. That God is invisible, and cannot be seen with the eyes of
the body, no not in heaven; for the glorified body is still a body, and God a
spirit, which is no object of the eyes, more than sound, taste, smell, &c. (1
Tim. 1:17).
3. That God is the most suitable good to the nature of our
souls, which are spirits; and can communicate himself, and apply those things to
them, which only can render them happy, as he is the God and Father of our
spirits.
4. That it is sinful and dishonorable to
God, either to make images or pictures of him without us, or to have any image
of him in our minds, which our unruly imagination is apt to frame to itself,
especially in prayer. For God is the object of our understanding, not of our
imagination. God expressly prohibited
5. That externals in worship are of little value with God, who
is a spirit, and requires the heart. They who would be accepted of God must
worship him in spirit and in truth, that is, from an apprehension and saving
knowledge of what he is in Christ to poor sinners. And this saving knowledge of
God in Christ is attainable in this life: for it is the matter of the divine
promise, “I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord,” (Jer.
24:7). “it is written in the prophets, They shall be all taught of God,” (John
6:45). And therefore it should be most earnestly and assiduously sought after by
us, as, unless we attain to it, me must perish for ever.
That we may know what sort of a spirit God is, we must
consider his attributes, which we gather from his word and works, and that two
ways:
1. By denying of, and removing from God, in our minds, all
imperfection which is in the creatures, (Acts 17:29). And thus we come to the
knowledge of his incommunicable attributes, so called because there is no shadow
or vestige of them in the creatures, such as infinity, eternity,
unchangeableness.
2. By attributing unto him, by way, of eminency, whatever is
excellent in the creatures, seeing he is the fountain of all perfection in them,
(Ps. 94:9). And thus we have his communicable attributes, whereof there are some
vestiges and small scantlings in the creature, as being, wisdom, power, &c.
amongst which his spirituality is to be reckoned.
Now, both these sorts of attributes in God are not qualities
in him distinct from himself, but they are God himself. God’s infinity is God
himself, his wisdom is himself; he is wisdom, goodness, (1 John 1:5). Neither
are these attributes so many different things in God; but they are each of them
God himself: for God swears by himself, (Heb. 6:19); yet he swears by his
holiness, (Amos 4:2). He creates by himself, (Isa. 44:24); yet he creates by his
power, (Rom. 1:20). Therefore God’s attributes are God himself. Neither are
these attributes separable from one another; for though we, through weakness,
must think and speak of them separately, yet they are truly but the one infinite
perfection of the divine nature, which cannot be separated therefrom, without
denying that he is an infinitely perfect being.
We have said that God is a spirit; but angels and the souls of
men are spirits too. What then is the difference between them? Why, God is an
infinite, eternal, and unchangeable spirit; but angels and souls are but finite,
were not from eternity, and are changeable spirits. Now, these three, infinity,
eternity, and immutability, are God’s incommunicable attributes, Which we are
next to explain.
First, God is infinite. Infinity is the having no bounds or
limits within which a thing is contained. God then is infinite, i.e. he is
whatsoever he is without bounds, limits, or measure; “Canst thou by searching
find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” (Job 11:7). We
cannot define the presence of God by any certain place, so as to say, Here he
is, but not there; nor by any limits, so as to say, Thus far his being reacheth,
and no further: but he is everywhere present, after a most inconceivable manner,
even in the deepest darkness, and the closest recesses of privacy. He fills all
the innumerable spaces that we can imagine beyond this visible world, and
infinitely more than we can imagine.
Now God is infinite,
(1.) In respect of his being: for of his nature our finite
understandings cannot possibly form any adequate conception. This lies hid in
rays of such bright and radiant glory, as must for ever dazzle the eyes of those
who attempt to look into it.
(2.) In respect of place; and therefore he is everywhere
present: “Can any man hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him?
saith the Lord: do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord,” (Jer. 23:24).
(3.) In respect of time and duration: for the ages of his
eternity cannot be numbered, “nor the number of his years searched out,” (Job
36:26).
(4.) In respect of all his communicable attributes. Thus the
depth of his wisdom cannot be fathomed: “O the depth of the riches both of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways
past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33). “His greatness is unsearchable,” (Ps. 145:3).
The extent of his power cannot be reached: “The thunder of his power who can
understand” (Job 26:14). We cannot understand his powerful thunder, one of the
lowest displays of his majesty in our region, much less the utmost extent and
force of his power, in its terrible effects, especially the power of his anger:
“God is great, and we know him not.” The treasures of the divine goodness cannot
be inventoried: “O how great is thy goodness (says the Psalmist), which thou
hast laid up for them that fear thee, which then hast wrought for them that
trust in thee before the sons of men!” (Ps. 31:19). The brightness of God’s
glory cannot be described; as a full discovery of it would quite overpower the
faculties of any mortal in this imperfect state: for man is weak and unworthy of
it, weak and could not bear it, guilty and could not but dread it: and therefore
God “holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth a cloud upon it,” (Job
26:9). With what propriety, then did he say to Moses, “Thou canst not see my
face; for there shall no man see me, and live!” (Ex. 33: 20).
That God is infinite, is evident from the
natural notions and dictates of the human mind. Hence the heathens, by the light
of nature, attributed this perfection to the Divine Being. Thus one philosopher
pronounced him to be a circle whose centre is everywhere, and whose
circumference is no where; which another philosopher thus expressed in clearer
terms, God is included in no place and excluded from none. Which way soever ye
turn, says Seneca, ye may take notice of God meeting you; for nothing is void of
him: he himself fills all his works, and is present with the whole creation.
Remarkable also is the expression of the prince of Latin poets,
Jovis omnia Plena, “All things are
full of God.” This also appears from several passages of scripture; “The Lord is
God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath,” Deut. 4:39. “The heaven, and
heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee,” (1 Kings 8: 27) says Solomon in his
prayer to God at the dedication of the temple. (See also Ps. 139:4; Jer. 23:23,
24). Again, if God were not infinite and immense, many gross absurdities would
follow from the contrary notion; such as, it is inconsistent with his universal
providence over the world, by which all things are preserved. “In him we live,
move and have our being,” (Acts 17:27). As his providence is over all, his
essence must be equally diffusive. It is inconsistent with his supreme
perfection. No perfection can be wanting in God: and therefore a limited
essence, which is an imperfection, cannot be attributed to him. It is also
inconsistent with his immutability: For if he move and recede from one place to
another, would he not thereby be mutable while yet “with him there is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning,” (
But some may be ready to say, Does not the scripture say, that
God sits in heaven and dwells on high, that heaven is his throne; and does not
the Lord’s prayer teach us to say, Our Father which art in heaven? Now, how can
this agree with his infinity or immensity? I answer, God is indeed said to sit
in heaven and to dwell on high; but he is no where said to dwell only in the
heavens. It is the court of his majestic presence, not the prison of his
essence. There is a three-fold presence of God: A glorious presence, which is
peculiar to heaven: a gracious presence, which the saints enjoy on earth: and an
essential presence, which is equally and alike in all places. Others may allege,
that it is a disparagement to God, to say that he is essentially present in all
places and with all creatures, even on the dunghill of the earth, and in the
sordid sink of hell with the devils and the damned. To this I would only say,
that it is a gross misapprehension of God, and an unaccountable measuring of him
by ourselves, to imagine that He is capable of being infected by anything below.
For he is a pure and spotless being. Whatever is nauseous to our senses cannot
affect him. Darkness is uncomfortable to us: but the darkness and the light are
all one to him. Wickedness may hurt a man; but if we multiply our
transgressions, what can we do unto him? (Job 35:6, 8). To deny the immensity of
God, says one, because of ill-scented places, is to measure God rather by the
nicety of sense, than by the sagacity of reason.
Secondly, The next incommunicable attribute of God is
eternity. Hence he is called “the King eternal,” (1 Tim. 1:17). We find other
things called eternal. But the eternity of all things besides God is only their
having no end, though they had a beginning. Thus angels and the souls of men are
eternal, because they shall never have an end. The covenant of grace is eternal,
because the mercies of it shall last for ever. The gospel is eternal, because
the effects of it shall never wear away. The redemption by Christ is eternal,
for the same reason. And the last judgment is so, because the consequences will
be everlasting. But the eternity of God is his being without beginning and
without end: “From everlasting to everlasting thou art God,” (Ps. 90:2). He was
from everlasting before time, and will remain unto everlasting when time shall
be no more; without beginning of life or end of days.
Thirdly, The next incommunicable
attribute of God is unchangeableness. God is immutable, that is, always the
same, without any alteration. Hence it is Said, “With whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning,” (
Having taken a, short view of the incommunicable attributes of
God, I proceed now to consider those that are called communicable, viz. his
being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Now these things
are in the creatures indeed, but they are in them in a finite way; but God is
infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in these perfections, which no creature is
or can be.
First, There is his being which is his nature or essence and
existence, which are but one thing in God. Creatures indeed have a being, but it
is only a finite being, a being that has a beginning, a, changeable one, and
that may have an end. But God’s being is an infinite being, eternal and
unchangeable, Hence he calls himself, “I AM THAT I AM,” (Ex. 3:14). Hence we may
infer,
1. That God is incomprehensible, and his essence infinite and
unbounded, “His greatness is unsearchable,” (Ps. 145:3). It is not possible for
a finite understanding to comprehend all that is in God; but the nature of God
is a boundless ocean that hath no shore: “Canst thou by searching find out God?
canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection.” (Job 11:7). And though God
perfectly knows himself, that is because his understanding is infinite.
2. God is omnipresent and immense. He is present everywhere,
but bounded no where, not only in respect of his virtue or influence, but of his
essence. This clearly appears from the following passages; “Whither shall I go
from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into
heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there: If I
take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: even
there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me,” (Ps. 139:7, 8,
9, 10). “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can any
hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? saith the Lord,: do not
I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord,” (Jer. 23:23, 24). “Behold the heaven
and heaven of heavens, cannot contain thee,” (1 Kings 8:27). He is there where
the thief is stealing, the unclean person gratifying his base lusts, &c. though
they see him not, and think themselves secure when no other eyes see them.
3. There is no succession in the duration of God; for where
there is not a first, there cannot be a second moment of duration; but God is
eternal: And there can be no succession of time in God’s duration, if he be
unchangeable; for that is a continual change. “One day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” (See 2 Pet. 3:8).
4. God is independent, or self-sufficient. His being and
perfections are underived, and not communicated to him, as all finite
perfections are by him to the creature. This self-existence, or independence, is
one of the highest glories of the divine nature, by which he is distinguished
from all creatures, who live, move, and have their being in and from him.
Therefore all our springs are in him, all that we enjoy or hope for is from him;
and we should be entirely devoted to his service and honor.
5. Lastly, This doctrine affords full breasts of consolation
to the godly, who have an infinite, eternal, and unchangeable friend, who will
never leave nor forsake them, but render them completely blessed at last, and
confirm them in that happy state forever. And here is unspeakable terror to
those whose enemy this great and eternal God is; for being his enemies, and
dying in their rebellion, they shall suffer the whole vengeance and wrath
threatened in his word, which he liveth forever to inflict; and he will never
alter what he hath threatened. O let sinners be now persuaded to make this
infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God, their friend through Jesus Christ, and
so they shall infallibly escape the wrath that is to come.
Secondly, The next communicable attribute of God is wisdom.
The personal wisdom of God is Christ, (1 Cor. 1:24). But this is his essential
wisdom, which is that attribute of God whereby he knows himself, and all
possible things, and how to dispose all things to the best ends. Hence he is
said to “know all things,” (John 21:17) and to be “God only wise,” (Rom. 16:27).
Now, God is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his wisdom, “His
understanding is unsearchable,” (Ps. 147:5).
The wisdom of God appears,
1. In the works of creation. The universe is a bright mirror
wherein the wisdom of God may be clearly seen. “The Lord by wisdom made the
heavens,” (Ps. 136:5). “The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by
understanding hath he established the heavens,” (Prov. 3:19). “He hath
established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his
discretion,” (Jer. 10.12). More particularly, the wisdom of God appears, (1.) In
the vast variety of creatures which he hath made. Hence the Psalmist cries out,
“How manifold are thy works, O Lord! in wisdom hast thou made them all,” (Ps.
104:24). (2.) In the admirable and beautiful order and situation of the
creatures. God hath marshaled everything in its proper place and sphere. For
instance, the sun, by its position displays the infinite wisdom of its Creator.
It is placed in the midst of the planets, to enlighten them with its brightness,
and inflame them with its heat, and thereby derive to them such benign qualities
as make them beneficial to all mixed bodies. If it were raised as high as the
stars, the earth would lose its prolific virtue, and remain a dead carcass for
want of its quickening heat; and if it were placed as low as the moon, the air
would be inflamed with its excessive heat, the waters would be dried up, and
every planet scorched. But at the due distance at which it is placed, it
purifies the air, abates the superfluities of the waters, temperately warms the
earth, and so serves all the purposes of life and vegetation. It could not be in
another position without the disorder and hurt of universal nature. Again, the
expansion of the air from the ethereal heavens to the earth is another testimony
of divine wisdom: for it is transparent and of a subtle nature, and so a fit
medium to convey light and celestial influences to this lower world. Moreover,
the situation of the earth doth also trumpet forth the infinite wisdom of its
Divine Maker: for it is as it were the pavement of the world, and placed
lowermost, as being the heaviest body, and fit to receive the weightiest matter.
(3.) In fitting everything for its proper end and use, so that nothing is
unprofitable and useless. After the most diligent and accurate inquiry into the
works of God, there is nothing to be found superfluous, and there is nothing
defective. (4.) In the subordination of all its parts, to one common end. Though
they are of different natures, as lines vastly distant in themselves, yet they
all meet in one common centre, namely, the good and preservation of the whole:
“I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the
earth, and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine, and the oil, and they
shall hear Jezreel,” (Hos. 2:21, 22).
2. In the government of the world. God sits in his secret
place, surrounded with clouds and darkness, holding the rudder of the world in
his hand, and steering its course through all the floatings and tossings of
casualty and contingency to his own appointed ends. There he grasps and turns
the great engine of nature, fastening one pin and loosing another, moving and
removing the several wheels of it, and framing the whole according to the
eternal idea of his own understanding. By his governing providence he directs
all the actions of his creatures; and, by the secret and efficacious penetration
of the divine influence, he powerfully sways and determines them which way he
pleases.
3. In the work of redemption. This is the very masterpiece of
Divine wisdom; and here shines the manifold or diversified wisdom of God, (Eph.
3:10). It appears, (1.) In the contrivance thereof. When man had ruined himself
by sin, all the wisdom of men and angels could never have devised a method for
his recovery. Heaven seemed to be divided upon this awful event. Mercy inclined
to save man, but justice interposed for satisfaction. Justice pleaded the law
and the curse, by which the souls of sinners are forfeited to vengeance. Mercy,
on the other hand, urged, Shall the Almighty build a glorious work, and suffer
it to lie in eternal ruins? shall the most excellent creature in the inferior
world perish through the subtlety of a malicious and rebellious spirit? shall
that arch-rebel triumph for ever, and raise his trophies from the final ruin of
the works of the Most High? Shall the reasonable creature lose the fruition of
God, and God lose the subjection and service of his creatures and, shall all
mankind be made in vain? Mercy further pleaded, That if the rigorous demands of
Justice be heard, it must lie an obscure and unregarded attribute in the divine
essence forever; that it alone must be excluded, while all the rest of the
attributes had their share of honor. Thus the case was infinitely difficult, and
not to be unraveled by the united wit of all the celestial spirits. A bench of
angels was incapable to contrive a method of reconciling infinite mercy with
inflexible justice, of satisfying the demands of the one, and granting the
requests of the other. In this hard exigence [urgency] the wisdom of God
interposed, and in the vast treasure of its incomprehensible light, found out an
admirable expedient to save man without prejudice to the other divine
perfections. The pleas of justice, said the wisdom of God, shall be satisfied in
punishing, and the requests of mercy shall be granted in pardoning. Justice
shall not complain for want of punishment, nor mercy for want of compassion; I
will have an infinite sacrifice to content justice, and the virtue and fruit of
that sacrifice shall delight mercy. Here justice shall have punishment to
accept, and mercy shall have pardon to bestow. My Son shall die, and satisfy
justice by his death; and by the virtue and merit of that sacrifice sinners
shall be received into favor, and herein mercy shall triumph and be glorified.
Here was the most glorious display of wisdom. (2.) In the ordination of a
Mediator every way fitly qualified to reconcile men unto God. A mediator must be
capable of the sentiments and affections of both the parties he is to reconcile,
and a just esteemer of the rights and injuries of the one and the other, and
have a common interest in both. The Son of God, by his incarnation, perfectly
possesses all these qualities. He hath a nature to please God, and a nature to
please sinners. He had both the perfections of the Deity, and all the qualities
and sinless infirmities of the humanity. The one fitted him for things
pertaining to God, and the other furnished him with a sense of the infirmities
of man. —This union of the divine and human nature in the person of Christ was
necessary to fit and qualify him for the discharge of his threefold office of
Prophet, Priest, and King. —As a Prophet, it was requisite he should be God,
that so he might acquaint us with his Father’s will, and reveal the secret
purposes and hidden counsels of heaven concerning our salvation, which were
locked up in the bosom of God from all eternity. And it was needful he should be
man, that he might converse with poor sinners in a familiar manner, and convey
the mind and counsels of God to them, in such a way as they could receive them.
—As a Priest, he behooved to be a man, that so he might be capable to suffer,
and to bear the wrath which the sins of the elect had justly deserved. And it
behooved him to be God, to render his temporary sufferings satisfactory. The
great dignity and excellency of the divine Mediator’s person made his sufferings
of infinite value in God’s account. Though he only suffered as a man, yet he
satisfied as God. —As a King, he must be God, to conquer Satan, convert an elect
world, and effectually subdue the lusts and corruptions of men. And he must be
man, that by the excellency of his example, he might lead us in the way of life.
(3.) In the manner whereby this redemption is accomplished, namely, by the
humiliation of the Son of God. By this he counteracted the sin of angels and
men. Pride is the poison of every sin: for in every transgression the creature
prefers his pleasure to and sets up his own will above God’s. This was the
special sin of Adam. The devil would have leveled heaven by usurpation. He said
in his heart, I will be like the Most High; and man infected with his breath
(when he said, Ye shall be like gods) became sick of the same disease. Now, the
Divine Redeemer, that he might cure our disease in its source and cause by the
quality of the remedy, applied to our pride an unspeakable humility. Man was
guilty of the highest robbery in affecting to be equal with God; and the Son,
who was in the bosom of God, and equal to him in majesty and authority, emptied
himself by assuming the human nature in its servile state, (Phil. 2:6,7,8). It
is said, “The word was made flesh,” (John 1:4). The meanest part of our nature
is specified to signify the greatness of his abasement. There is such an
infinite distance between God and flesh, that the condescension is as admirable
as the contrivance. So great was the malignity of human pride, that such a
profound humility was requisite for the cure of it. And by this Christ destroyed
the works of the devil. (4.) In appointing such contemptible, and in appearance
opposite means, to bring about such glorious effects. The way is as admirable as
the work. Christ ruined the devil’s empire by the very same nature that he had
vanquished, and by the very means which he had made use of to establish and
confirm it. He took not upon him the nature of angels, which is equal to Satan
in strength and power; but he took part of flesh and blood, that he might the
more signally triumph over that proud spirit in the human nature, which was
inferior to his, and had been vanquished by him in paradise. For this end he did
not immediately exercise omnipotent power to destroy him, but managed our
weakness to foil the roaring lion. He did not enter the lists with Satan in the
glory of his Deity, but disguised under the human nature which was subject to
mortality. And thus the devil was overcome in the same nature over which he
first got the victory. For as the whole race of mankind was captivated by him in
Adam the representative, so believers are made victorious over him by the
conquest which their representative obtained in the whole course of his
sufferings. As our ruin was effected by the subtlety of Satan, so our recovery
is wrought by the wisdom of God, who takes the wise in their own craftiness.
Thus eternal life springs from death, glory from ignominy, and blessedness from
a curse. We are healed by stripes, quickened by death, purchased by blood,
crowned by a cross, advanced to the highest honor by the lowest humility,
comforted by sorrows, glorified by disgrace, absolved by condemnation, and made
rich by poverty. Thus the wisdom of God shines with a radiant brightness in the
work of redemption.
I shall conclude this point with a few inferences.
1. God is omniscient; “he knows all things,” (John 21:17).
“All things are naked and open to him,” (Heb. 4:13). His eye sees us wherever we
are. Even future contingencies, as well as the most necessary things are known
to him. This is beautifully described by the Psalmist, (Ps. 139:1,10), which
deserves your serious perusal.
2. His knowledge of all things is not conjectural, but
infallible: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, who hath been his counsellor?” (Rom. 11:33,34).
There is nothing to him contingent or uncertain; but everything falls out
exactly according to his foreknowledge and predetermination.
3. It is altogether independent on the creature, whose motions
and operations were known to him from eternity, and are all regulated by his
counsel.
4. Lastly, To this wise God we may safely entrust all our
concerns, knowing he will manage them all so as to promote his own glory and our
real good.
Thirdly, The next communicable perfection of God is power,
whereby he can do whatever he pleases, and whatsoever is not repugnant to his
nature: “Ah, Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth, by thy
great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee,”
(Jer. 32:17). He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in power; which the
scripture holds forth,1. Positively, “I am the Almighty God,” (Gen. 17:1). 2.
Negatively, “With God nothing shall be impossible,” (Luke 1:37). 3.
Comparatively, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are
possible,” (Matt. 19: 26).
The power of God appears,
1. In the creation of the world, “For the invisible things of
him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead,” (Rom. 1:20). O how
great must that power be, which produced the beautiful fabric of the universe,
without the concurrence of any material cause! This proclaims it to be truly
infinite: for nothing less could make such distant extremes as nothing and being
to meet together. All this was done by a word, one simple act of his will; for
“he spake and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast,” (Ps. 33:9).
2. In the preservation of the world, and all things therein.
He “upholdeth all things by the word of his power,” (Heb. 1:3). He preserves all
the creatures in their proper place, for their proper use and end. It is by the
Divine Power that the heavenly bodies have constantly rolled about in their
spheres for so many ages, without wearing or moving out of their proper course;
and that the tumultuous elements have persisted in their order to this very day.
He preserves the confederacies of nature, sets bounds to the raging sea, and
keeps it within its limits by a girdle of sand. He is the powerful preserver of
man and beast. He preserves them in their kind and species, by the constant
succession of them one after another; so that, though the individuals perish,
yet the species continues. O what a mighty power must that be that sustains so
many creatures, sets bounds to the raging sea, holds the wind in his fists, and
preserves a comely order and sweet harmony among all the creatures!
3. In the government of the world. He is
the supreme Rector of the universe, and manages all things, so that they
contribute to the advancement of his own glory, and the advantage of his people.
By his governing providence he directs all the actions and motions of his
creatures, and powerfully determines them which way soever he pleases. All the
creatures are called his host, because he marshals them as an army to serve his
important purposes. The whole system of nature is ready to favor and act for men
when he commands it, and it is ready to punish them when he gives it a
commission. Thus he checked the
(1.) In governing and ordering the hearts of men, so that they
are not masters of their own affections, but often act quite contrary to what
they had firmly resolved or proposed. Of which we have eminent instances in Esau
and Balaam. He hath the hearts of all men in his hands, and can turn them what
way he pleases. Thus he bent the hearts of the Egyptians to favor the
Israelites, by sending them away with great riches given them by way of loan. He
turned Jehoshaphat’s enemies from him when they came with a purpose to destroy
him, (2 Chron. 18:31).
(2.) In governing and managing the most
stubborn creatures, as devils and wicked men. [1.] In his, governing devils.
They have great power, and are full of malice. The devil is always going about
as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. We could have no quiet nor safety
in the world, if his power were not restrained, and his malice curbed by one
that is mightier than the infernal fiend. He would turn all things upside down,
plague the world, burn cities and houses, and plunder us of all the supports of
life, if he were not held in a chain by the Omnipotent Governor of the world.
But God overmasters his strength, so that he cannot move one hair’s breadth
beyond his tether. God has all the devils chained, and he governs all their
motions. The devil could not touch Job in his person and goods without the
divine permission; nor could he enter into the Gadarene swine without a special
license. If we consider the great malice of these invisible enemies, and the
vast extent of their power, we will easily see that there could be no safety or
security for men, if they were not curbed and restrained by a superior power.
[2.] In governing wicked men. All the imaginations of their hearts are evil, and
only evil continually. They are fully bent upon mischief, and drink iniquity
like water. What unbridled licentiousness and headstrong fury would triumph in
the world, and run with a rapid violence, if the Divine Power did not interpose
to bear down the flood gates of it? Human society would be rooted up, the whole
world drenched in blood, and all things would run into a sea of confusion, if
God did not bridle and restrain the lusts and corruptions of men. The king of
Assyria triumphed much in his design against
(3.) In raising up a church to himself in
spite of all his enemies. This is specially seen in founding the New Testament
church, and propagating the gospel through the world. The power of God appears
admirable in planting the gospel, and converting the world to Christianity. For
there were many and great difficulties in the way, as gross and execrable
idolatry; and the nations were strongly confirmed and rooted in their idolatry,
being trained up and inured [indoctrinated] to it from their infant state. It
was as hard to make the Gentiles forsake the religion which they received from
their birth, as to make the Africans change their skin, and the leopard his
spots. The Pagan religion was derived from their progenitors through a long
succession of ages. Hence the heathens accused the Christian religion of
novelty, and urged nothing more plausibly than the argument of immemorial
prescription for their superstition. They would not consider whether it was just
and reasonable, but with a blind deference yielded up themselves to the
authority of the ancients. The pomp of the Pagan worship was very pleasing to
the flesh; the magnificence of their temples, adorned with the trophies of
superstition, their mysterious ceremonies, their music, their processions, their
images and altars, their sacrifices and purifications, and the rest of the
equipage of a carnal religion, drew their respects and strongly affected their
minds through their senses. Whereas the religion of the gospel is spiritual and
serious, holy and pure, and hath nothing to move the carnal part. There was then
an universal depravation of manners among men; the whole earth was covered with
abominations: the most unnatural lusts had lost the fear and shame that
naturally attends them. We may see a melancholy picture of their most abandoned
conversation, (Rom. 1). The powers of the world were bent against the gospel.
The heathen philosopheirs strongly opposed it. When Paul preached at
(4.) In preserving, defending, and
supporting his church under the most terrible tempests of trouble and
persecution which were raised against her. This is promised by our blessed
Saviour: “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it,” (Matt. 16:18). The
most flourishing monarchies have decayed and wasted, and the strongest kingdoms
have been broken in pieces; yet the church hath been preserved to this very day,
notwithstanding all the subtle and potent enemies which in all ages have been
pushing at her. Yea, God has preserved and delivered his church in the greatest
extremities, when the danger in all human appearance was unavoidable; as in
(5.) In the conversion of the elect. Hence the gospel, which
is the means and instrument of conversion, is called the power of God, and the
rod of his strength ; and the day of the success of the gospel in turning
sinners to Christ, is called the day of his power, (Ps. 110:3). O what a mighty
power must that be that stills the waves of a tempestuous sea, quells the lusts
and stubbornness of the heart, demolishes the strong holds of sin in the soul,
routs all the armies of corrupt nature, and makes the obstinate rebellious will
strike sail to Christ! The power of God that is exerted here makes a man to
think on other objects, and speak in another strain, than he did before. O how
admirable is it, that carnal reason should be thus silenced; that legions of
devils should be thus driven out; and that men should part with those sins which
before they esteemed their chiefest ornaments, and stand at defiance with all
the charming allurements and bitter discouragements of the world? The same power
that raised Christ from the grave is exerted in the conversion of a sinner,
(Eph. 1:19, 20). There is greater power exerted in this case than there was in
the creation of the world. For when God made the world, he met with no
opposition; he spake the word, and it was done: but when he comes to convert a
sinner, he meets with all the opposition which the devil and a corrupt heart can
make against him. God wrought but one miracle in the creation: he spake the word
and it was done; but there are many miracles wrought in conversion. The blind is
made to see, the dead raised, and the deaf hears the voice of the Son of God. O
the infinite power of Jehovah! In this work the mighty arm of the Lord in
revealed.
(6.) In preserving the souls of believers amidst the many
dangers to which they are exposed, and bringing them safely to glory at last.
They have many enemies without, a legion of subtle and powerful devils, and a
wicked and ensnaring world, with all its allurements and temptations; and they
have many strong lusts and corruptions within; and their graces are but weak,
and in their infancy and minority, while they are here: So that it may justly be
matter of wonder how they are preserved. But the apostle tells us, that they
“are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,” (1 Pet. 1:5).
Indwelling corruption would soon quench grace in their hearts, if it were not
kept alive by a divine power. But Christ hath pledged his faithfulness for it,
that they shall be kept secure, (John 10:28). It is his power that moderates the
violence of temptations, supports his people under them, defeats the power of
Satan, and bruises him under their feet.
4. Lastly, The power of God appears gloriously in the
redemption of sinners by Jesus Christ. Hence in scripture Christ is called the
power as well as the wisdom of God. This is the most admirable work that ever
God brought forth in the world. More particularly,
(1.) The power of God shines in Christ’s
miraculous conception in the womb of a virgin. The power of the Highest did
overshadow her, (Luke 1:35) and by a creative act framed the humanity of Christ
of the substance of the virgin’s body, and united it to the Divinity. This was
foretold many ages before as the effect of the divine power. When
(2.) In uniting the divine and human nature in the person of
Christ, and that without any confusion of the two natures, or changing the one
into the other. The two natures of Christ are not mixed together, as liquors
that incorporate with one another, when poured into the same vessel. The divine
nature is not turned into the human, nor the human into the divine. One nature
doth not swallow up another, and make a third distinct from both. But they are
distinct, and yet united; conjoined, and yet unmixed: the properties of each
nature are preserved entire. O what a wonder of power was here! that two
natures, a divine and a human, infinitely distant in themselves, should meet
together in a personal conjunction! Here one equal with God is found in the form
of a servant; here God and man are united in one; the Creator and the creature
are miraculously allied in the same subsistence. Here a God of unmixed
blessedness is linked personally with a man of perpetual sorrows. That is an
admirable expression, “The Word was made flesh,” (John 1:14). What can be more
miraculous than for God to become man, and man to become God? that a person
possessed of all the perfections and excellencies of the Deity should inherit
all the infirmities and imperfections of humanity, sin only excepted? Was there
not need of infinite power, to bring together terms which were so far sunder?
Nothing less than an omnipotent power could effect and bring about what an
infinite and incomprehensible wisdom did project in this matter.
(3.) In supporting the human nature of Christ, and keeping it
from sinking under the terrible weight of divine wrath that came upon him for
our sins, and making him victorious over the devil and all the powers of
darkness. His human nature could not possibly have borne up under the wrath of
God and the curse of the law, nor held out under such fearful contests with the
powers of hell and the world, if it had not been upheld by infinite power. Hence
his Father says concerning him, “Behold my servant whom I uphold,” (Isa. 42:1).
(4.) The divine power did evidently appear in raising Christ
from the dead. The apostle tells us, that God exerted his mighty power in Christ
when he raised him from the dead, (Eph. 1:19). The unlocking the belly of the
whale for the deliverance of Jonah, the rescue of Daniel from the den of lions,
and restraining the fire from burning the three children, were signal
declarations of the divine power, and types of the resurrection of our Redeemer.
But all these are nothing to what is represented by them: for that was a power
over natural causes, and curbing of beasts and restraining of elements; but in
the resurrection of Christ, God exercised a power over himself, and quenched the
flames of his own wrath, that was hotter than millions of Nebuchadnezzar’s
furnaces: he unlocked the prison doors wherein the curses of the law had lodged
our Saviour, stronger than the belly and ribs of a leviathan. How admirable was
it, that he should be raised from under the curse of the law, and the infinite
weight of our sins, and brought forth with success and glory after his sharp
encounter with the powers of hell! In this the power of God was gloriously
manifested. Hence he is said to be raised from the dead “by the glory of the
Father,” i.e. by his glorious power; and “declared to be the Son of God with
power, by the resurrection from the dead,” (Rom. 1:4). All the miraculous proofs
by which God acknowledged him for his Son during his life, had been ineffectual
without this. If he had remained in the grave, it had been reasonable to believe
him only an ordinary person, and that his death had been the just punishment of
his presumption in calling himself the Son of God. But his resurrection from the
dead was the most illustrious and convincing evidence, that really he was what
he declared himself to be.
I shall conclude, on this point, with a few inferences.
1. God is omnipotent; that is, can do all things. It is true
he cannot lie nor deny himself, for these are repugnant to his nature, and argue
not power, but weakness and imperfection.
2. God’s power never acts to its utmost extent. He can do more
always than he either doth or will do, (Matt. 3:9). He can do all things
possible; but he only doth what he hath decreed to be done, ((Matt. 26:53, 54).
3. Hence we may be confirmed in our belief of the
resurrection. Some are ready to reckon it a thing impossible, that there can be
a, recollection of the dispersed particles of men’s bodies when they are
dissolved into dust, and scattered into the four winds. But if we consider the
power of God, this will abundantly answer all that can be objected against this
truth. Hence saith the apostle, “Why should it be thought a thing incredible
with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:8). And saith our Saviour to
the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection, “Ye do err, not knowing the
scriptures, nor the power of God.” Almighty power can meet with no let or bar.
Unless the particles of men’s bodies could be scattered beyond the reach of
almighty power, and grinded so small as to escape the knowledge and care of God,
this dispersion can make nothing against the faith and possibility of the
resurrection.
4. Is God of infinite power? then all his promises shall be
most certainly accomplished, whatever difficulties may be in the way thereof.
For God is able to bring to pass whatever he has promised to his people.
Therefore difficulty or improbability should never discourage or weaken our
faith, because the power of God is infinite.
5. They are absolutely sure of salvation who are kept by the
power of God; for God is able to keep them from falling, and his power is
engaged for their preservation. They are surrounded with and infolded in the
arms of Omnipotence; their souls are in safe custody, being committed unto
Christ, from whose hands none can pluck them.
6. Woe to those against whom the power of God is set; for
“they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord, and from the glory of his power,” (2 Thess. 1:9). It is a dreadful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God. Consider this, O ye sinners, and flee
from the wrath that is to come.
7. Abuse not the power of God, by limiting it, as Israel did
in the wilderness, (Ps. 78:19) by trusting to an arm of flesh, as too many are
apt to do, more than to the God of power, (Jer. 17:5) or by fearing the wrath of
man, who can only kill the body, and not dreading the displeasure of Almighty
God, (Isa. 2:12, 13).
8. Lastly, Improve the power of God by faith, depending upon
it for the performance of all his gracious promises towards you and the church;
for “he can work, and who shall let it?” For strength to resist and vanquish,
sin, Satan, and the world, saying, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
And for grace to enable you to the performance of every commanded duty, saying
with the apostle, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
Fourthly, The next communicable attribute of God that falls to
be considered is holiness, which is the absolute purity of his nature, whereby
he delights in whatever is agreeable to his holy will, and in the resemblance of
it that is in the creatures. Or, it is the perfect rectitude and integrity of
the divine essence, whereby in all that he doth he acts like himself and for
himself, delighting in whatever is agreeable to his will and nature, and
abhorring whatever is contrary thereto. Hence he is said to be “glorious in
holiness,” (Ex. 15:11). And “he is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot
look upon iniquity,” (Hab. 1:13). And he is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable
in holiness. Hence the heavenly host proclaim, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of
hosts,” (Isa. 6:3). Now, God is, (1.) Necessarily holy. Not only he will not,
but he cannot look on iniquity. His holiness is not only an act of his will, but
belongs to his essence. (2.) He is essentially holy. Holiness is the essential
glory of the divine nature; yea, it is his very essence. Holiness in men is an
accessory quality and superadded gift, and is separable from the creature. But
in God his essence and his holiness are the same. He could as soon cease to be
God, as cease to be holy. (3.) He is perfectly holy. The best saints on earth
are but holy in part; there is still a mixture of sin in them while here. But,
“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all,” (1 John 1:5). (4.) He is
universally holy; holy in all that he is, in all that he hath, and in all that
he doth. He is holy in his name, in his nature, in his word, and in his
works.(5.) He is originally holy. Angels and men are made holy; but God is holy
of himself, and he is the original spring of all the holiness that is in the
creatures.(6.) He is exemplarily holy. The holiness of God is the example and
pattern of all the holiness that is in the creatures. Hence we are required to
“be holy as God is holy,” (1 Pet. 1:16). (7.) He is perpetually and unchangeably
holy. The best men on earth may change to the worse; they may grow less holy
than they are; but God is immutable in his holiness. He cannot grow more holy
than he is, because he is infinitely holy, and his holiness is incapable of any
addition. Nor can he grow less holy than he is, because then he would cease to
be God.
The holiness of God is manifested and discovered,
1. In his word; and that both in the
precepts and promises thereof, God manifested his hatred and detestation of sin
even in a variety of sacrifices under the ceremonial law; and the occasional
washings and sprinklings upon ceremonial defilements, which polluted only the
body, were a clear proof, that everything that had a resemblance to evil was
loathsome to God. All the legal sacrifices, washings, and purifications, were
designed to express what an evil sin is, and how hateful and abominable it is to
him. But the holiness of God is most remarkably expressed in the moral law.
Hence the law is said to be holy, (Rom. 7:12). It is a true transcript of the
holiness of God. And it is holy in its precepts. It requires an exact, perfect,
and complete holiness in the whole man, in every faculty of the soul, and in
every member of the body. It is holy in its prohibitions. It forbids and
condemns all impurity and filthiness whatsoever. It discharges not only sinful
words and actions, gross and atrocious crimes, and profane, blasphemous, and
unprofitable speeches, but all sinful thoughts and irregular motions of the
heart. Hence is that exhortation, “0
2. The holiness of God is manifested in his works. Hence the
Psalmist saith, “The Lord is holy in all his works,” (Ps. 145:17). More
particularly,
(1.) The divine holiness appears in the creation of man.
Solomon tells us that, “God made man upright;” (Eccl. 7:29) and Moses says, that
he was “made after the image of God,” (Gen. 1:27). Now, the image of God in man
consists chiefly in holiness. Therefore the new man is said to be “created after
God in righteousness and true holiness,” (Eph. 4:24). Adam was made with a
perfection of grace. There was an entire and universal rectitude in all its
faculties, disposing them to their proper operations. There was no disorder
among his affections, but a perfect agreement between the flesh and the spirit;
and they both joined in the service of God. He fully obeyed the first and great
command, of loving the Lord with all his soul and strength, and his love to
other things was regulated by his love to God. When Adam dropped from the
creating finger of God, he had knowledge in his understanding, sanctity in his
will, and rectitude in his affections. There was such a harmony among all his
faculties, that his members yielded to his affections, his affections to his
will, his will obeyed his reason, and his reason was subject to the law of God.
Here then was a display of the divine purity.
(2.) In the works of
[1.] God’s holiness and hatred of sin is clearly manifested in
his punishing the angels that sinned. It is said, “God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment,” (2 Pet. 2:4). Neither their mighty
numbers, nor the nobility of their natures, could incline their offended
Sovereign to spare them; they were immediately turned out of heaven, and
expelled from the divine presence. Their case is hopeless and helpless; no mercy
will ever be shown to one of them, being under the blackness of darkness
forever.
[2.] In the punishment threatened and inflicted on man for his
first apostasy from God. Man in his first state was the friend and favorite of
heaven; by his extraction and descent he was the Son of God, a little lower than
the angels; consecrated and crowned for the service of his Maker, and appointed
as king over the inferior world; he was placed in paradise, the garden of God,
and admitted to fellowship and communion with him. But sin hath divested him of
all his dignity and glory. By his rebellion against his Creator, he made a
forfeiture of his dominion, and so lost the obedience of the sensible creatures,
and the service of the insensible. He was thrust out of paradise, banished from
the presence of God, and debarred from fellowship and communion with him. God
immediately sentenced him and all his posterity to misery, death, and ruin. This
is a clear demonstration of the infinite purity and holiness of God. But blessed
be God, for Jesus Christ, the second Adam, who hath restored that which the
first Adam took away.
[3.] In executing terrible and strange
judgments upon sinners. It was for sin that God drowned the old world with a
deluge of water, rained hell out of heaven upon
[4.] In punishing sins seemingly small with great and heavy
judgments. A multitude of angels were sent down to hell for an aspiring thought,
as some think. Uzzah, a good man, was struck dead in a moment for touching the
ark; yea, fifty thousand Bethshemites were smitten dead for looking into it. We
are apt to entertain slight thoughts of many sins: but God hath set forth some
as examples of his hatred and abhorrence of sins seemingly small, for a warning
to others, and a testimony and demonstration of his exact holiness.
[5.] In bringing heavy afflictions on his
own people for sin. Even the sins of believers in Christ do sometimes cost them
very dear. He will not suffer them to pass without correction for their
transgressions. Though they are exempted from everlasting torments in hell, yet
they are not spared from the furnace of affliction here on earth. We have
instances of this in David, Solomon, Jonah, and other saints. Yea, sometimes God
in this life, punishes sin more severely in his own people than in other men.
Moses was excluded from the
[6.] In sentencing so many of Adam’s posterity to everlasting
torments for sin. That an infinitely good God, who is goodness itself, and
delights in mercy, should adjudge so many of his own creatures to the
everlasting pains and torments of hell, must proceed from his infinite holiness,
on account of something infinitely detested and abhorred by him.
3. The holiness of God appears in our redemption by Jesus
Christ. Here his love to holiness and his hatred of sin is most conspicuous. All
the demonstrations that ever God gave of his hatred of sin were nothing in
comparison of this. Neither all the vials of wrath and judgment which God hath
poured out since the world began, nor the flaming furnace of a sinner’s
conscience, nor the groans and roarings of the damned in hell, nor that
irreversible sentence pronounced against the fallen angels, do afford such a
demonstration of the divine holiness, and hatred of sin, as the death and
sufferings of the blessed Redeemer. This will appear, if ye consider,
(1.) The great dignity and excellency of his person. He was
the eternal and only begotten Son of God, the brightness of his Father’s glory,
and the express image of his person. Yet he must descend from the throne of his
majesty, divest himself of his robes of insupportable light, take upon him the
form of a servant, become a curse, and bleed to death for sin. Did ever sin
appear so hateful to God as here? To demonstrate God’s infinite holiness, and
hatred of sin, he would have the most glorious and most excellent person in
heaven and earth to suffer for it. He would have his own Son to die on a
disgraceful cross, and be exposed to the terrible flames of divine wrath, rather
than sin should live, and his holiness remain for ever disparaged by the
violations of his law.
(2.) How dear he was to his Father. He was his only begotten
Son, he had not another; the only darling and the chief delight of his soul, who
had lain in his bosom from all eternity. Yet as dear as he was to God, he would
not and could not spare him, when he stood charged with his people’s sins. For
saith the apostle, “God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us
all,” (Rom. 8:32). As he spared him not in a way of free bounty, giving him
freely as a ransom for their souls! so he spared him not in a way of vindictive
justice, but exacted the utmost mite of satisfaction from him for their sins.
(3.) The greatness of his sufferings. Indeed the extremity of
his sufferings cannot be expressed. Insensible nature, as if it had been capable
of understanding and affection, was disordered in its whole frame at his death.
The sun forsook his shining, and clothed the whole heavens in black; so that the
air was dark at noon-day, as if it had been midnight. The earth shook and
trembled, the rocks were rent asunder, and universal nature shrank. Christ
suffered all that wrath which was due to the elect for their sins. His
sufferings were equivalent to those of the damned. He suffered a punishment of
loss: for all the comforting influences of the Spirit were suspended for a time.
The divine nature kept back all its joys from the human nature of Christ, in the
time of his greatest sufferings. We deserved to have been separated from God
forever; and therefore our Redeemer was deserted for a time. There was a
suspension of all joy and comfort from his soul, when he needed it most. This
was most afflicting and cutting to him, who had never seen a frown in his
Father’s face before. It made him cry out with a lamentable accent, “My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Again, he suffered a punishment of sense, and
that with respect to both his body and soul. The elect had forfeited both soul
and body to divine vengeance; and therefore Christ suffered in both. The
sufferings of his body were indeed terrible. It was filled with exquisite
torture and pain. His hands and his feet, the most sensible parts were pierced
with nails. His body was distended with such pains and torments as when all the
parts are out of joint. Hence it is said of him, “I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax, it is melted in the
midst of my bowels, my strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue
cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me unto the dust of death,” (Ps.
22:14,15). Now, thus did the Son of God suffer. His pure and blessed hands,
which were never stretched out but to do good, were pierced and rent asunder:
and those feet which bore the Redeemer of the world, and for which the very
waters had a reverence, were nailed to a tree. His body which was the precious
workmanship of the Holy Ghost, and the temple of the Deity was destroyed. But
his bodily sufferings were but the body of his sufferings. It was the sufferings
of his soul that was the soul of his sufferings. No tongue can tell you what he
endured here. When all the comforting influences of the Spirit were suspended,
then an impetuous torrent of unmixed sorrows broke into his soul. O what agonies
and conflicts, what sharp encounters, and distresses did he meet with from the
wrath of God that was poured out upon him! He bore the wrath of an angry God,
pure wrath without any alloy or mixture, and all that wrath which was due to the
elect through all eternity for their innumerable sins. Sin was so hateful to
God, that nothing could expiate it, or satisfy for it, but the death and bitter
agonies of his dear Son.
(4.) Consider the cause of his sufferings. It was not for any
sin of his own, for he had none, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners. They were made his only by a voluntary susception, by taking his
people’s sins upon him. And though they were only imputed to him, yet God would
not spare him. So that there is nothing wherein the divine holiness and hatred
of sin is so manifest as in the sufferings of his own dear Son. This was a
greater demonstration thereof than if all men and angels had suffered for it
eternally in hell-fire.
It remains now to shut up this point with a few inferences.
1. Hence see the great evil of sin. It strikes against the
divine holiness, which is the peculiar glory of the Deity so that it is not only
contrary to our own interest, but to the very nature of God. All sin aims in
general at the being of God, but especially at the holiness of his being. There
are some sins that strike more directly against one divine perfection, and some
against another; but all sins agree together in their enmity against the
holiness of God. Hence, when Sennacherib’s sin is aggravated, the Holy Spirit
takes the rise from this perfection: “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?
and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high?
even against the Holy One of Israel,” (2 Kings 19:22). God cannot but hate that
which is directly opposite to the glory of his nature, and the lustre and
varnish of all his other perfections. Now, what an horrid evil must that be
which is so contrary to the holy nature of God, and which is infinitely detested
and abhorred by him?
2. Hence see the excellency of true gospel-holiness, Holiness
is the glory and beauty of God, and the glory of the heavenly angels; and
therefore it must be the glory of men and women, that which makes them truly
glorious. In this respect the king’s daughter is said to be all glorious within.
The church is glorious, because she is holy. Hence Christ sanctifies and
cleanses it, that he may present it to himself a glorious church, (Eph.
5:25,26). Holiness is the image of God in the rational creature. The more holy
one is, the more like is he to God. This is our chief excellency. Man’s original
glory and happiness consisted in this; and the excellency of angels above devils
lies in this. Holiness hath a self-evidencing excellency in it. There is such a
beauty and majesty in it, as commands an acknowledgment of it from the
consciences of all sorts of knowing men.
3. God can have no gracious communion
with unholy sinners: “For what fellowship hath righteousness with
unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14). It
is simply impossible that an infinitely holy God should embrace vile polluted
sinners that are not washed from their filthiness. They can have no fellowship
with him here or hereafter. God will not give impure sinners one good look; for
“he is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity,” (Hab.
1:13). All communion is founded on union, and union upon likeness. But what
likeness is there between a holy God and vile polluted creatures? Therefore they
can never expect to have any communion with him, unless they be made clean.
Hence they are directed to this, in order to their communion with God: “Draw
nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and
purify your hearts, ye double-minded,” (
4. The best of saints, who have attained the highest degrees,
and made the greatest improvements in holiness and purity, may be ashamed in the
presence of an infinitely holy God; for they are far short of that holiness
which God requires, and all the purity they have attained is sadly tinctured
with impurity. It had this effect upon the evangelical prophet, when he had a
vision of the holy God. “Woe is me,” says he, “for I am undone, because I am of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine
eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts,” (Isa. 6:5).
5. Despisers of holiness are despisers of God. For holiness is
the glory of God, and that in which he delights above all things. For men,
therefore, to despise holiness in the saints, and to make a mock of their holy
lives and practices, is a high contempt of the holy God, who will highly resent
such a great indignity done him.
6. There is no access to God without a Mediator. “For our God
is a consuming fire,” (Heb. 12:29), and our sin hath made us as stubble fully
dry. He is infinitely pure and holy, and we are vile filthy creatures; so that
it is quite impossible for us to have any access to him, or communion with him,
on our own account. We have all reason to cry out, as “Who is able to stand
before this holy Lord God?” (1 Sam. 6:20). There is no standing before him
without a Mediator. The spots and blemishes of our best duties cannot be hid
from the eyes of his holiness. He cannot accept of a righteousness lower than
that which bears some suitableness to the holiness of his nature: but even our
highest obedience and best righteousness does not in any degree suit the divine
holiness: and therefore it cannot challenge any acceptance with God. The
righteousness of Christ, being the righteousness of God, a perfect and unspotted
righteousness, is that wherein alone the holiness of God can acquiesce, and is
the foundation of all access to God, and communion with him.
7. Is God infinitely and necessarily
holy, so that he cannot but hate sin? then how admirable is the patience of God
towards this land, and the generation wherein we live? How much sin and
wickedness abounds amongst us? Alas! all kinds of sin woefully prevail at this
day among all ranks and degrees of persons, high and low, rich and poor, noble
and ignoble; all have corrupted their way. Sins of a heinous nature are to be
found among us, such as bid God defiance; horrid blasphemies, hideous oaths,
vile adulteries, cruel oppressions, contempt of religion, and gross profanation
of the Lord’s day. Add to all these, ingratitude, worldliness, pride, and
self-conceit among such as are more eminent for a profession of religion. All
these are committed under a clear gospel-light, after signal mercies and
deliverances, against the most solemn covenant engagements, personal and
national, and against manifold rebukes and warnings from the word and providence
of God. And alas! how are these sins increased and multiplied? Who can compute
the number of the sins which one profane wretch is guilty of? But what are these
to the sins of a whole city? and what are the sins of a whole city to the sins
of the whole nation? Who can compute the number of the sins which
8. Lastly, Be exhorted to make a suitable improvement of the
holiness of God, by fleeing to Jesus Christ, whose perfect righteousness alone
can make you acceptable to God, and whose Spirit can sanctify and cleanse you;
by giving thanks at the remembrance of the divine holiness, by proclaiming the
glory thereof; and by studying holiness in all manner of life and conversation.
Fifthly, The next communicable attribute of God that falls
under our consideration is his justice, which is the perfect rectitude of his
nature, whereby he is infinitely righteous and equal, both in himself, and in
all his dealings with his creatures: “Just and right is he,” (Deut. 32:4). God
is just to himself in acting in all things agreeable to his nature and
perfections. All his actions are such as become such a pure and holy being as he
is. He cannot do anything that is contrary to the perfection of his nature: he
cannot lie nor deny himself. He is just to himself in maintaining his own glory,
and his divine rights and prerogatives; for he will not give his glory to
another. And he is just towards his creatures in all his dealings with them,
particularly with man. Here God may be considered, 1. As a sovereign Lord; and,
2. As supreme governor and Judge of the world.
1. As sovereign Lord. And so he hath a right to do with his
own what he will. He may order and dispose of all the creatures according to his
pleasure, (Dan. 4:35). We are all in his hand as clay in the hand of the potter.
He hath a sovereign and absolute right to use and dispose of us according to his
own pleasure, to set bounds to our habitation, carve out our lot in the world,
and set us high or low, in prosperity or adversity, as he pleaseth. It is so
also, as to his dispensations of grace. He may give grace to whom he will, and
withhold it from whom he will; and what he wills in that matter is just and
right, because he wills it.
2. As supreme Governor and Judge of the world. And so he is
just in governing his rational creatures in a way agreeable to their nature,
according to a law which he has given them. His justice in this character is
either legislative or executive.
(1.) There is a legislative justice, which is that whereby he
gives most just and righteous laws to his creatures, commanding and forbidding
what is fit for them in right reason to do and forbear. “For the Lord is our
judge, the Lord is our king, the Lord is our lawgiver,” (Isa. 33:22). Man being
a reasonable creature, capable of moral government, therefore, that God might
rule him according to his nature, he hath given him a law, confirmed by promises
of reward, to draw him by hope, and by threatenings of punishment to deter him
by fear. Hence Moses tells the Israelites, that he had “set before them life and
good, and death and evil,” (Deut. 30:15) and that he had “set before them life
and death, blessing and cursing,” (v. 19).
(2.) There is God’s executive justice, called also by some his
judicial justice, by others his distributive justice. In this respect he is just
in giving every one his due, and in rendering unto all men according to their
works, without respect of persons. This executive justice of God is either
remunerative or afflictive.
[1.] There is a remunerative or rewarding justice. God is just
in rewarding the righteous. “Verily there is a reward for the righteous,” (Ps.
58:11). The saints shall not serve him for nought. Though they may be losers for
him, yet they shall not be losers by him: “God is not unrighteous to forget your
work and labour of love,” (Heb. 6:10). He bountifully rewards his people’s
obedience, and their diligence and faithfulness in his service. Hence David
says, “The Lord rewardeth me according to my righteousness,” (Ps. 18:20).
Sometimes he rewards them with temporal blessings: for godliness hath the
promise of this life, as well as that which is to come. Sometimes providence
doth notably interpose, and load obedience with blessings here in the world, to
the conviction of all beholders, so that men are constrained to say, “Verily
there is a reward for the righteous.” But however he do as to outward things,
yet he rewards his people with inward blessings. There are fresh supplies and
influences of grace, near and intimate communion with him, sweet manifestations
of his favor and love, intimations of peace and pardon, and joy and peace in
believing, &c. Even “in keeping his commandments there is great reward,” (Ps.
19:11). And he rewards them with eternal blessings, (2 Thess. 1:7). Now, this
reward is not of debt but of grace. It doth not imply any merit, but is free and
gratuitous. It is not because they deserve it, but because Christ has merited
it, and God has graciously promised it.
[2.] There is an afflictive justice. God
is just in all the afflictions and troubles which he brings upon his creatures;
because he always punishes sinners by a law. The violations of his holy and
righteous laws make them obnoxious to his judgments. Sometimes God sends
afflictions upon people to chastise and correct them for their sins. Now, all
the troubles of believers are of this kind: for as many as he loves, he rebukes
and chastens. Some of their afflictions are intended to reduce them from their
strayings. Hence says David, “Before I was afflicted I went astray,” and, “It
was good for me that I was afflicted.” Indeed God choseth some in the furnace of
affliction. The hot furnace is God’s work-house wherein he sometimes forms
vessels of honor. Manasseh is an eminent instance of this. Many that were never
serious before, are brought to consider their ways in their affliction.
Sometimes God takes vengeance on wicked men for their sins and disobedience to
his laws: and this is called vindictive justice, (
The justice of God is manifested and discovered,
1. In the temporal judgments which he brings upon sinners even
in this life. The saints own this: “Thou art just in all that is brought upon
us,” (Neh. 9:33). The end and design of all God’s judgments is to witness to the
world, that he is a just and righteous God. All the fearful plagues and terrible
judgments which God has brought upon the world, proclaim and manifest his
justice.
2. In sentencing so many of Adam’s posterity to everlasting
pains and torments for sin, according to that dreadful sentence which shall be
pronounced at the last day: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels,” (Matt. 25:41). If you could descend into
the bottomless pit, and view the pains and torments of hell, and hear the
terrible shrieks and roarings of the damned wallowing in these sulphureous
flames, you could not shun to cry out, O the severity of divine justice! Though
they are the works of God’s own hands, and roar and cry under their torments,
yet they cannot obtain any mitigation of their pains, nay, not so much as one
drop of water to cool their tongues. That an infinitely good and gracious God,
that delights in mercy, should thus torment so many of his own creatures, O how
incorruptible must his justice be!
3. In the death and sufferings of Christ. God gave his beloved
Son to the death for this end, that it might be known what a just and righteous
God he is. So the apostle shows us, “Whom God has set forth to be a
propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness,” (Rom.
3:25) &c. He set him forth in garments rolled in blood, to declare his justice
and righteousness to the world. After man turned rebel, and apostatized from
God, there was no way to keep up the credit and honor of divine justice, but
either a strict execution of the law’s sentence, or a full satisfaction. The
execution would have destroyed the whole race of Adam. Therefore Christ stepped
in, and made a sufficient satisfaction by his death and sufferings, that so God
might exercise his mercy without prejudice to his justice. Thus the blood of the
Son of God must be shed for sin, to let the world see that he is a just and
righteous God. The justice of God could and would be satisfied with no less.
Hence it is said, “God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to the death
for us all,” (Rom. 8:32). If forbearance might have been expected from any,
surely it might from God, who is full of pity and tender mercy: yet God in this
case spared him not. If one might have expected sparing mercy and abatement from
any, surely Christ might most of all expect it from his own Father; yet God
spared not his own Son. Sparing mercy is the lowest degree of mercy; yet it was
denied to Christ, when he stood in the room of the elect. God abated him not a
minute of the time appointed for his sufferings, nor one degree of the wrath
which he was to bear. Nay, though in the garden, when Christ fell on the ground,
and put up that lamentable and pitiful cry, “Father, if it be possible, let this
cup pass from me;” yet no abatement was granted to him. The Father of mercies
saw his dear Son humbled in his presence, and yet dealt with him in extreme
severity. The sword of justice was in a manner asleep before, in all the
terrible judgments which had been executed on the world, but now it must be
awakened and roused up to pierce the heart of the blessed Redeemer. Hence it is
said, “awake O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my
fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd,” (Zech. 13:7). If divine
justice had descended from heaven in a visible form, and hanged up millions of
sinners in chains of wrath, it had not been such a demonstration of the wrath of
God, and his hatred of sin, as the death and sufferings of his own Son. When we
hear that God exposed his own Son to the utmost severity of wrath and vengeance,
may we not justly cry out O the infinite evil of sin! O the inflexible severity
of divine justice! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God.
4. The justice of God will be clearly manifested at the great
day. God hath reared up many trophies already to the honor of his power and
justice out of the ruins of his most insolent enemies: but then will be the most
solemn triumph of divine justice. The apostle tells us that “he hath appointed a
day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he
hath ordained: whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath
raised him from the dead,” (Acts 17:31). On that awful day the justice and
righteousness of God shall be clearly revealed, therefore it is called “the day
of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,” (Rom. 2:5). The equity of
God’s dealings and dispensations is not now so fully seen: but all will be open
and manifest on that day. Then he will liberally reward the righteous, and
severely punish the wicked.
5.
God’s
justice will shine forever in the torments of the damned in hell. The smoke of
their furnace, their yellings and roarings, will proclaim through eternity the
inerrorable justice and severity of God. It is not enough for the satisfaction
of his justice to deprive them of heaven and happiness; but he will inflict the
most tormenting punishment upon sense and conscience in hell. For as both soul
and body were guilty in this life, the one as the guide, the other as the
instrument of sin, so it is but just and equal that they should both feel the
penal effects of it hereafter. Sinners shall then be tormented in that wherein
they most delighted: they shall then be invested with those objects which will
cause the most dolorous perceptions in their sensitive faculties. The lake of
fire and brimstone, the blackness of darkness, forever, are words of a terrible
signification. But no words can fully express the terrible ingredients of their
misery. Their punishment will be in proportion to the glory of God’s majesty
that is provoked, and the extent of his power. And as the soul was the
principal, and the body but an accessary in the works of sin; so its capacious
faculties shall be far more tormented than the limited faculties of the outward
senses. The fiery attributes of God shall be transmitted through the glass of
conscience, and concentrated upon damned spirits. The fire without will not be
so tormenting as the fire within them. Then all the tormenting passions will be
inflamed. What rancor, reluctance, and rage, will there be against the just
power that sentenced them to hell! what impatience and indignation against
themselves for their willful and inexcusable sins, the just cause of it! how
will they curse their creation, and wish their utter extinction as the final
remedy of their misery! But all their ardent wishes will be in vain. For the
guilt of sin will never be expiated, nor God so far reconciled as to annihilate
them. As long as there is justice in heaven, or fire in hell, as long as God and
eternity shall continue, they must suffer those torments which the strength and
patience of an angel cannot bear one hour. The justice of God will blaze forth
forever in the agonies and torments of the damned.
It may not be improper here to take notice of, and answer some
objections that are made against the divine justice.
Object.1. If God be infinitely just and righteous, how stands
it with his justice that insolent contemners of his majesty and laws should
prosper in the world? This was observed by the saints long ago; (see Ps.
73:5,8,7,12); and has proved a stumbling-block to some of God’s own children,
and has been apt to make them question his justice; (see Job 21:7-14; Jer.
12:1,2).
But in answer, consider,
1. That the wicked may be sometimes
instruments to do God’s work. Though they do not design and intend his glory,
yet they may be instrumental in promoting it. Thus Cyrus was instrumental for
the building of God’s temple at
2. God doth not always let the wicked prosper in their sin.
There are some whom he punishes openly, that his justice may be observed by all.
Hence the Psalmist saith, “The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands,”
(Ps. 9:18). Sometimes their prosperity is but short lived, and they are suddenly
cast down, as the Psalmist remarks, (Ps. 73:18,19,20). His justice is seen
striking men dead sometimes in the very act of sin; as in the case of Zimri and
Cozbi, Pharaoh, Sennacherib, &c.
3. God suffers men to go on in sin and prosper, that he may
render them the more inexcusable. This goodness and forbearance should lead them
to repentance; and when it does not, it aggravates their sin, and makes them the
more inexcusable, when he comes to reckon with them. Hence it is said of
Jezebel, “I gave her space to repent of her fornication, and she repented not,”
(Rev. 2:21). God spins out his mercies toward sinners; and if they do not repent
and amend, his patience will be a witness against them, and his justice will be
more cleared in their condemnation.
4. If God let the wicked prosper for a while, the vial of his
wrath is all that while filling up, his sword is whetting and though he forbear
them for a time, yet longsuffering is not forgiveness. The longer it be era he
give the blow, it will be the heavier when it comes. The last scene of justice
is coming, when the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that
forget God. There is a day of wrath approaching, and revelation of the righteous
judgment of God. Then he will glorify his justice in taking vengeance on them
for all their sins. God hath an eternity in which He will punish the wicked.
Divine justice may be as a lion asleep for a time: but at last this lion will
awake, and roar upon the sinner. Their long continued prosperity will heighten
their eternal condemnation. There are many sinners in hell who lived in great
pomp and prosperity in the world, and are now roaring under the terrible lashes
of inexorable justice. Thus ye may see that the prosperity of the wicked is
consistent enough with the justice of God.
Object. 2. God’s own people oft-times suffer great afflictions
in the world; they are persecuted and oppressed, and meet with a variety of
troubles, (Ps. 73:14). How stands this with the justice of God?
Ans. 1. The ways of God’s judgments, though they are sometimes
secret, yet they are never unjust. God doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve
the children of men. There are culpable causes in them from which their
afflictions spring. They have their spots and blemishes as well as others.
Though they may be free from gross and atrocious crimes, yet they are guilty of
much pride and passion, censoriousness, worldliness, &c. And the sins of God’s
people are more provoking in his sight than the sins of other men. And God will
not suffer them to pass without correction: “You only have I known of all the
families of the earth ; therefore I will punish you for your iniquities,” (Amos
3:2). This justifies God in all the evils that befall them.
2. All the trials and sufferings of the godly are designed to
refine and purify them, to promote their spiritual and eternal good, (Heb.
12:10). Nothing proclaims God’s faithfulness more than his taking such a course
with them as may make them better. Hence says David, “I know, O Lord, that thy
judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me,” (Ps.
119:75). Though they are sometimes pinched with wants, and meet with various
outward troubles, yet even these are the accomplishments of a gracious promise,
and are ordered for their good. It is to chastise them for their sin, and
quicken them to repentance and mortification, to try and exercise their faith
and patience, their sincerity and love to God, to wean their hearts from the
world, and to promote their growth in grace.
3. It is no injustice in God to inflict a lesser punishment to
prevent a greater. The best of God’s children have that in them which is
meritorious of hell; and doth God any wrong to them when he useth only the rod,
when they deserved the scorpion? An earthly parent will not be reckoned cruel or
unjust, if he only correct his children who deserved to be disinherited. When
God corrects his children, he only puts wormwood into their cup, whereas he
might fill it up with fire and brimstone. Under the greatest pressure, they have
just cause rather to admire his mercy, than to complain of His justice. So did
the afflicted church, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.”
Object. 3 If God be infinitely just, how could he transfer the
punishment from the guilty? This is the objection of the Socinians against
Christ’s suffering for the sins of the elect. It is a violation of justice, say
they, to transfer the punishment from one to another. How then could the
righteous God punish his innocent Son for our sins?
I answer to this in general, That in some cases it is not
unjust to punish the innocent for the guilty. For though an innocent person
cannot suffer as innocent without injustice, yet he may voluntarily contract an
obligation which will expose him to deserved sufferings. The innocent may suffer
for the guilty, when he has power to dispose of his own life, and puts himself
freely and voluntarily under an obligation to suffer, and is admitted to suffer
by him who has power to punish, and when no detriment, but rather an advantage,
accrues to the public thereby. In these circumstances, justice hath nothing to
say against the punishing of an innocent person in the room of the guilty. Now,
there is a concurrence of all these in the case in hand.
For, 1. Christ had absolute power to dispose of himself. One
reason why a man is not allowed to lay down his life for another is, because his
life is not at his own disposal. But Christ was absolute lord of his own life,
and had power to keep it or lay it down as he pleased. So he declares, “No man
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father,”
(John 10:18).
2. He freely consented to suffer for his people, and to
undergo the punishment that they deserved. To compel an innocent person to
suffer for the offences of another, may be an injury. But in this case there was
no constraint: for Christ most willingly offered Himself: yea, he was not only
willing, but most earnest and desirous to suffer and die in our room, (Luke
12:50). “I have a, baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it
be accomplished.”
3. The Father admitted him as our Surety, and was well content
that His sufferings should stand for ours, and that we thereupon should be
absolved and discharged. It was the Father’s will that Christ should undertake
this work. Hence it is said, “I delight to do thy will, O my God,” (Ps. 40:2).
And the Father loved Christ, because he so cheerfully consented to it:
“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it again,” (John 10:17).
4. There was no detriment to the public by Christ’s death;
but, on the contrary, many advantages rebounded to it thereby. One reason why an
innocent man cannot suffer for a malefactor is, because the community would lose
a good man, and might suffer by the sparing of an ill member, and the innocent
sufferer cannot have his life restored again being once lost. But in this case
all things are quite otherwise: for Christ laid down his life, but so as to take
it up again. He rose again on the third day, and death was swallowed up in
victory. And those for whom he suffered were reclaimed, effectually changed, and
made serviceable to God and man. So that here there was no injury done to any
party by Christ’s sufferings, though an innocent person. Not to them for whom he
died; for they have inexpressible benefit thereby: he is made to them wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Not to the person suffering: for
he was perfectly willing, and suffered nothing without his own consent. Not to
God: for he himself found out the ransom, and admitted Christ as our Surety. Not
to anything concerned in the government of God: for by the death of Christ all
the ends of God’s government were secured. His honor was hereby vindicated, the
authority of his law preserved, and his subjects, by such an instance of
severity on his own Son, were deterred from violating it. So that there is no
injustice to any in God’s punishing Christ in his people’s stead.
Object. 4. How is it consistent with the justice of God to
punish temporary sins with eternal torments in hell? Some think it hard, and
scarcely consistent with infinite justice, to inflict eternal punishment for
sins committed in a little time. But to clear the justice of God in this,
consider,
1. That eternal punishment is agreeable to the sanction of the
law. The wisdom of God required, that the penalty threatened upon the
transgressor should be in its own nature so dreadful and terrible, that the fear
of it might conquer and overrule all the allurements and temptations to sin. If
it had not been so, it would have reflected upon the wisdom of the Lawgiver, as
if he had been defective, in not binding his subjects firmly enough to their
duty, and the ends of government would not have been obtained. And therefore the
first and second death was threatened to Adam in case of disobedience. And fear,
as a watchful sentinel, was placed in his breast, that no guilty thought or
irregular desire should enter in to break the tables of the law deposited there.
So that eternal death is due to sinners by the sanction of the law.
2. The righteousness of God in punishing the wicked for ever
in hell will appear, if ye consider that God by his infallible promise assures
us, that all who sincerely serve and obey him shall be rewarded with everlasting
happiness. They shall receive a blessedness most worthy of God to bestow, a
blessedness that far surmounts our most comprehensive thoughts and imaginations.
For eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of
man to conceive, what God hath prepared for them that love him. Now, if
everlasting felicity be despised and rejected, nothing remains but endless
misery to be the sinner’s portion. The consequence is infallible: For if sin,
with an eternal hell in its retinue be chosen and embraced, it is most just and
equal that the rational creature should inherit the fruit of its own choice.
What can be more just and reasonable, than that those who are the slaves of the
devil, and maintain his party here in the world, should have their recompense
with him forever hereafter? Nothing can be more just, than that those who now
say to the Almighty, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways,
should receive that dreadful sentence at last, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire.
3. The punishment of the damned must be eternal, because of
the immense guilt and infinite evil of sin. It is owned by common reason, that
there ought to be a proportion between the quality of the offence and the degree
of the punishment. Justice takes the scales into its hand before it takes the
sword. It is a rule in all sorts of judicature, that the degrees of an offence
arise according to the degrees of dignity in the person offended. Now, the
majesty of God is truly infinite, against whom sin is committed; and
consequently the guilt of sin exceeds our boundless thoughts. One act of sin is
rebellion against God, and includes in it the contempt of his majesty, the
contradiction of his holiness, which is his peculiar glory, the denial of his
omniscience and omnipresence, as if he were confined to the heavens, and busied
in regulating the harmonious order of the stars, and did not observe what is
done here below. And there is in it a defiance of his eternal power, and a
provoking him to jealousy, as if we were stronger than he. O, what a dishonor is
it to the God of glory, that proud dust should flee in his face, and control his
authority! What a horrid provocation is it to the Most High, that the reasonable
creature, that is naturally and necessarily a subject, should despise the divine
law and Lawgiver? From this it appears that sin is an infinite evil. There is in
it a concurrence of impiety, ingratitude, perfidiousness [deceitfulness; Ed.],
and whatever may enhance a crime to an excess of wickedness. Now, sin being an
infinite evil, the punishment of it must also be infinite; and because a
creature is not able to bear a punishment infinite in degree, by reason of its
finite and limited nature, therefore it must be infinite in its duration. And
for this cause the punishment of the damned shall never have an end. The
almighty power of God will continue them in their being, but they will curse and
blaspheme that support, which shall be given them only to perpetuate their
torments; and ten thousand times wish that God would destroy them once for all,
and that they might forever shrink away into nothing. But that will never be
granted to them. No; they shall not have so much as the comfort of dying, nor
shall they escape the vengeance of God by annihilation.
4. Their punishment must be eternal: for they will remain
forever unqualified for the least favor. The damned are not changed in hell, but
continue their hatred and blasphemies against God. The seeds of this are in
obstinate sinners here in the world, who are styled haters of God: but in the
damned this hatred is direct and explicit; the fever is heightened into a
frenzy. The glorious and ever-blessed God is the object of their curses and
eternal aversion. Our Lord tells us, that in hell “there is weeping and gnashing
of teeth,” i.e. extreme sorrow and extreme fury. Despair and rage are the proper
passions of lost souls. For when the guilty sufferers are so weak, that they
cannot by patience endure their torments, nor by strength resist the power that
inflicts them, and withal are wicked and stubborn, they are enraged and
irritated by their misery, and foam out blasphemies against the righteous Judge.
We may apply to this purpose what is said of the worshippers of the beast: “They
gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven, because of
their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds,” (Rev. 16:10,11).
The torment and blasphemies of these impenitent idolaters are a true
representation of the state of the damned. Now, as they will always sin; so they
must always suffer. On these accounts, then, it is agreeable to the wisdom and
justice of God that their pains and torments be eternal.
But now it is time to shut up this point with a few
inferences.
1. It is inconsistent with the nature of God to let sin go
unpunished; or, vindictive justice is essential to God. To clear this, consider,
(1.) This is evident from the light of nature. For that God is
just, is strongly and deeply stamped upon the minds of the children of men.
Hence, when the barbarians saw the viper fasten upon Paul’s hand, they cried out
that vengeance pursued him as a murderer, (Acts 28:4). The very instinct of
nature told them, that there was a connection between guilt and punishment. To
deny God to be just, is to offer violence to the principles of nature, to put a
lie upon those notions which are born with and impressed upon our reason. It is
to condemn conscience as a cheat, and all the terrors thereof as a false alarm.
In a word, it is to eradicate all religion, and to open a floodgate to all
wickedness and impiety.
(2.) This appears from scripture
assertions and examples. [1.] Consider scripture examples and declarations, such
as: “Thou art righteous, O Lord, because thou hast judged,” (Rev. 16:5). “The
righteous judgment of God,” (Rom. 2:5). “It is a righteous thing with God to
recompense with tribulation,” (2 Thess. 1:6). “Every transgression and
disobedience received a just recompense of reward,” (Heb. 2:2). “Our God is a
consuming fire,” (Heb. 12:29). “Knowing the judgment of God, that they which
commit such things are worthy of death,” (
(3.) This appears from the nature of God, which carries in it
the utmost detestation of sin; and this necessarily produces punishment. “Upon
the wicked God will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest,”
(Ps. 11:6). Now the reason of all this holy severity is given in the very next
verse, “For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness.” His holy nature prompts
him to love righteousness, and consequently to hate and punish all
unrighteousness.
(4.) It is evident from the nature of sin. What is sin but the
offering of the highest indignity to the infinite and Supreme Being, the
Creator, Preserver, and Benefactor of mankind? It is an affronting of all his
perfections, a reflection upon his wisdom, a contempt of his power, an insult to
his holiness, a disparagement of his goodness, and an open defiance to his truth
and faithfulness. If then sin be such an evil, an evil infinitely worse than we
are capable to represent it, how can any imagine that God will forbear or
neglect to punish such who obstinately live and die in the practice of it?
(5.) This will appear, if ye consider God as a Governor and
Lawgiver. For his authority as such can never be preserved and maintained, if
there be an universal impunity of criminal offences. Rebellion against Heaven
would spread far and wide, devils and wicked men would grow absolutely unruly,
the Divine Majesty and dominion would become contemptible, and his glorious
sovereignty would be rendered vile and despicable, if bold offenders were not
severely checked and punished for their enormities.
(6.) Consider, that if vindictive justice be not essential to
God, it will be very hard, if not impossible, to give any tolerable account of
the death and sufferings of Christ.
1. Is God infinitely just? Then there is a judgment to come.
The justice of God requires that men should reap according to what they have
sown; that it should be well with the righteous, and ill with the wicked. But it
is not apparently so now in this present world. Here things are out of course;
sin is rampant, and runs with a rapid violence. Many times the most guilty
sinners are not punished in the present life; they not only escape the justice
of men, but are under no conspicuous marks of the justice of God. As sinners
prosper and flourish, so saints are wronged and oppressed. They are often cast
in a right cause, and can meet with no justice on the earth; yea, the best men
are often in the worst condition, and merely upon account of their goodness.
They are borne down and oppressed, because they do not make resistance; and are
loaded with sufferings many times, because they bear them with patience. And the
reason of these dispensations is, because now is the time of God’s patience and
of our trial. Therefore there must be a day wherein the justice of God shall be
made manifest. Then he will set all things right. He will crown the righteous,
and condemn the wicked. Then God shall have the glory of his justice, and his
righteousness shall be openly vindicated. At the last day God’s sword shall be
drawn against offenders, and his justice shall be revealed before all the world.
At that day all mouths shall be stopped, and God’s justice shall be fully
vindicated from all the cavils and clamors of unjust men.
2. This lets us see how unlike to God many men are. Some have
no justice at all. Though their place and office oblige them to it, they neither
fear God nor regard man. Many times they pervert justice, they decree
unrighteous decrees, (Isa. 10:1). Many are unjust in their dealings; they trick,
cheat, and defraud their neighbors; sometimes in using false weights, the
balances of deceit are in their hands, (Hos. 12:7). Some hold the Bible in one
hand, and false weights in the other; they cozen, defraud, and cheat, under a
specious profession of religion. Some adulterate their commodities; their wine
is mixed with water, (Isa. 1:22). They mix bad grain with good, and yet sell it
for pure grain. There are many ways by which men deceive and impose upon their
neighbors. All which show what a rare commodity justice is among them. But
remember this is very unlike God. For he is the just and right one; he is
righteous in all his ways. That man cannot possibly be godly who is not just. We
are commanded to imitate him in all his imitable perfections. Though he doth not
bid you be omnipotent, yet you ought to be just.
3. Is God infinitely just? Then we must not expostulate with
or demand a reason of his actions. He hath not only authority on his side, but
justice and equity. In all his dispensations towards men, however afflictive
they be, he is just and righteous. He layeth judgment to the line, and
righteousness to the plummet, (Isa. 28:17). It is below him to give an account
to us of any of his proceedings. The plumb-line of our reason is too short to
fathom the great depths of God’s justice: for his judgments are unsearchable,
and his ways past finding out, (Rom. 11:33). We are to adore his justice, where
we cannot see the reason of it. God’s justice hath often been wronged, but never
did wrong to any. How unreasonable, then, is it for men to expostulate with and
dispute against God?
4. Is God infinitely just? Then the salvation of sinners who
have believed in Christ are most secure, and they need not doubt of pardon and
acceptance. “God is faithful and just to forgive them their sins,” (1 John 1:9).
God hath promised it, and he will not break his word; yea, he stands bound in
justice to do it; for Christ hath satisfied his justice for all your sins who
are believers, so that it hath nothing to crave of you. It doth not stand with
the justice of God to exact the same debt from you. Your Redeemer did not only
satisfy justice, but also merited the exercise of it on your behalf. Hence it is
that God is bound in justice to justify you upon your believing on Christ; for
he is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus, (Rom. 3:26). So
that the thoughts even of divine justice, which are terrible to others, may be
comfortable to believers.
5. Is God infinitely just? Then the destruction of wicked and
impenitent sinners is infallibly certain. For the just God will by no means
acquit the guilty. His justice, which is essential to him, cannot but take
vengeance on you.
6. Lastly, However severely the Lord deals with us, he neither
doth nor can do us any wrong; and therefore we should lay our hand on our mouth:
“Why doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?” (Lam.
3:39).
Sixthly, The goodness of God is the next communicable
attribute that falls to be considered. The divine goodness is that essential
property whereby he is altogether good in himself, and the Author of all good to
his creatures: Thou art good, and dost good, says the Psalmist, (Ps. 119:68).
There is a twofold goodness of God; his absolute and his relative goodness.
1. There is an absolute goodness of God. This is that whereby
he is conceived to be good in himself, without any relation to his creatures.
God is thus good because his nature is infinitely perfect.
2. There is his relative goodness, by which we are to
understand his bounty and benignity. As all fulness dwells in him, so he hath a
strong inclination to let it out to his people on all occasions. The whole earth
is full of his goodness, (Ps. 33:5).
The goodness of God is manifested,
1. In creation. There is no other perfection of the divine
nature so eminently visible in the whole book of the creatures as this is. His
goodness was the cause that he made anything, and his wisdom was the cause that
he made everything in order and harmony. Here the goodness of God shines with a,
glorious lustre. All the varieties of the creatures which he hath made are so
many beams and apparitions of his goodness. It was great goodness to communicate
being to some things without himself, and to extract such a multitude of things
from the depths of nothing, and to give life and breath to some of these
creatures. Divine goodness formed their natures, beautified and adorned them
with their several ornaments and perfections, whereby everything was enabled to
act for the good of the common world. Every creature hath a character of divine
goodness upon it. The whole world is a map to represent, and a herald to
proclaim, this amiable perfection of God. But the goodness of God is manifested
especially in the creation of man. He raised him from the dust by his almighty
power, and placed him in a more sublime condition, and endued him with choicer
prerogatives, than the rest of the creatures. What is man’s soul and body but
like a cabinet curiously carved, with a rich and precious gem enclosed in it!
God hath made him an abridgment of the whole creation: the links of the two
worlds, heaven and earth, are united in him. He communicates with the earth in
the dust of his body, and he participates with the heavens in the crystal of his
soul. He has the life of angels in his reason, and that of animals in his sense.
Further, the divine goodness is manifested in making man after his image, in
furnishing the world with so many creatures for his use, in giving him dominion
over the works of his hands, and making him lord of this lower world.
2. In our redemption by Jesus Christ. O
what astonishing goodness was it for the great and glorious God to give his only
begotten Son to the death for such vile rebels and enemies as we all are by
nature! The goodness of God, under the name of his love, is rendered as the only
cause of our redemption by Christ: “God
so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16). This
is an inexpressible so, a
so that all the angels of heaven
cannot analyze. None can conceive or understand the boundless extent and
dimensions of it. God gave Christ for us to commend his love, and set it off
with an admirable lustre. “God commended his love towards us (saith the
apostle), in that while we were yet enemies, Christ died for us.” O what an
expensive goodness and love was this! Our redemption cost God more than what was
laid out on the whole creation. “The redemption of the soul is precious,” says
the Psalmist. “We are not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and
gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.” Here God parted with his richest
jewel, and with the eternal delight of his soul. This cost Christ dear. The Sun
of righteousness behooved to be eclipsed, and must vail the beams of his divine
glory. He made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was found in the likeness of sinful flesh. He did not appear in worldly pomp
and magnificence, attended with a splendid retinue, and faring deliciously, but
in a mean and low condition, without a settled dwelling-place, and was exposed
to poverty and reproach. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. The
last scene of his life was most painful. Upon the very apprehension of his last
sufferings it is said, “he began to be sorrowful,” as if he had been a stranger
to grief till then. Be endured with unparalleled patience all that wrath and
misery that his people deserved to have suffered for ever in hell. O what a
dreadful deluge of wrath and fiery indignation fell from heaven upon our ark, of
which that of Noah was only but a type! He was bruised and ground to powder as
it were in his agony in the garden. O how did his innocent soul boil under the
fire of divine wrath! His blood brake through every pore of the vessel, by the
extremity of that flame. God spared not his own Son, but dealt with him in
extreme severity. He paid the utmost mite of satisfaction for his people’s sins
that justice could demand. O what admirable love and goodness is manifested
here!
3. In his providential conduct and government. Here we must
distinguish a twofold goodness of God, common and special.
(1.) There is God’s common goodness, which is common to all
the creatures. “God is good to all,” says the Psalmist. All the creatures taste
of his goodness. He preserves them in their beings, continues the species of all
things, concurs with them in their distinct offices, and quickens the womb of
nature. “O Lord, thou preservest man and beast,” says David. He visits us every
day and makes us feel the effects of his goodness, in “giving us rain and
fruitful seasons,” and filling our hearts with food and gladness. He waters the
ground with his showers, and everyday shines with new beams of his goodness.
(2.) There is a, special goodness of God to his own people,
whom he privileges with spiritual and saving blessings. His goodness to them is
truly wonderful, in pardoning their iniquities, healing their spiritual
diseases, sanctifying their natures, hearing and answering their prayers,
bearing with their infirmities, accepting their imperfect services, supporting
them under and delivering them from temptations, solving their doubts, directing
and guiding them in their difficulties.
4. The goodness of God will be most signally manifested at the
last day. It is laid up in heaven, (Ps. 31:19). O who can tell how great
goodness is laid up there? In heaven they shall have draughts of his goodness,
even as much as they can hold. There God will be all in all to them, and
communicate himself to them immediately, without the intervention of ordinances.
I shall conclude with a few inferences.
1. God is a merciful God, and delights in mercy, “His tender
mercies are over all his works,” (Ps. 145:9). There can be no case so bad as to
be above or beyond the reach of mercy, to such as come to him in his own way,
(Isa. 55:7) seeing his goodness is infinite. The difference between the goodness
and mercy of God is, that mercy respects only the miserable, but goodness
extends to the happy also.
Object. But how is the severity of God against the wicked, and
the godly too, consistent with that infinite goodness?
Ans. It is the property of goodness to hate and punish sin.
Hence the Lord said to Moses, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and
I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy,” (Ex. 33:19).
Compare, “Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression,
and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty,” (Ex. 34:7). The
afflictions of the godly are the effect of the divine goodness, and effect
goodness in them. Hence says the apostle, “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth,” (Heb. 12:6). And says the psalmist,
“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes,”
(Ps. 119:71).
2. God can fully satisfy the desire of the soul, and in him it
may rest with complacency and delight. He is all-sufficient in and to himself,
and all his creatures. And this bountiful God should be the centre of our
affections, desires, and joys. We should be restless and uneasy till we find
him, and earnestly long for the rich manifestations of his love and grace.
3. This doctrine of the divine goodness should strongly
recommend to us those hard lessons prescribed by our Lord, and which he urges
upon his followers from the consideration of his own goodness and beneficence:
“Love your enemies,” (Matt. 5:44, 45) &c.
4. Abuse not the divine goodness. This is a great evil, and it
is very frequent and common. It began in the first ages of the world, yea, it
commenced a few minutes after the creation, and it continues to this very day. O
abuse not the goodness of God, by forgetting his benefits, murmuring and
repining at your lot and situation in the world, or by taking liberty to sin
because of his goodness.
5. Seek not your happiness in created things and enjoyments,
but in an ever-bountiful God, who is the spring and source of all goodness and
mercy, and who can fully satisfy all the desires of an immortal soul.
Seventhly, The last communicable attribute of God to be taken
notice of is his truth, which is that perfection of his nature whereby he is
faithful, and free from all falsehood. Hence he is called “the God that cannot
lie,” (Titus 1:2). He is true in himself: “A God of truth, and without
iniquity,” (Deut. 32:4).
Now God is true,
1. In his works both of creation and providence; and that both
in his common and more ordinary works of providence, in preserving and governing
the creatures; and extraordinary ones, such as the glorious work of redemption,
his great and miraculous operations, and the wonderful preservations of and
deliverances granted to his church and people when exposed to the greatest
dangers. God is true in all these; “The works of his hands are verity and
judgment; all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and
are done in truth and uprightness,” (Ps. 111:7, 8). “All the paths of the Lord
are mercy and truth,” (Ps. 25:10). It is a part of the church’s song, “Great and
marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou
King of saints,” (Rev. 15:3). “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous
are thy judgments,” (Rev. 16:7). All God’s works are true and real things, not
chimeras or appearances. He executes true judgments, grants true deliverances,
works true miracles; his mercies are true mercies, and his comforts are true
comforts. He does not deceive or delude his people with vain shows and
appearances.
2. In his word. His word is most pure truth. “Thy word is
truth,” says our Saviour, (John 17:17). And,
(1.) God is true in all the doctrines which he hath revealed.
There is no flaw nor corruption in any of them. They are all the true form of
sound words. And especially he is true in the doctrines of the gospel. Hence we
read of the “truth of the gospel,” (Gal. 2:5); and the gospel is called “the
word of truth,” (Eph. 1:13). Some of the doctrines revealed there are above the
reach of human reason, as the doctrines of the glorious and adorable Trinity,
the union of the two natures in the person of Christ, and the mystical union
between him and believers. But though they cannot be comprehended by reason,
they are not contrary to it.
(2.) In the historical narratives which he hath recorded in
his word, as those of the creation, the fall of man, the drowning of the old
world with the deluge, the incarnation of Christ, the many miracles which he
wrought, his life and bloody death, &c. In these and other historical relations
which we have in the word of God, there is no lie nor mistake at all. Hence Luke
says, in his preface to his history, “It seemed good to me also, having had
perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in
order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightst know the certainty of those
things wherein thou hast been instructed,” (Luke 1:3, 4).
(3.) In his prophetical predictions. None of them fail or come
short of their accomplishment, but are all fulfilled in their season. A man may
foretell such things as depend on natural causes, as rain and snow, heat and
cold, the eclipses of the sun and moon, &c. But things are foretold in the
scriptures which are merely contingent, depending upon the free grace of God, or
the free will of man, as the rejecting of the Jews, the calling of the Gentiles,
&c. None of its predictions have fallen to the ground. Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but his words shall not pass away. The Lord tells the prophet, “The
vision is for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie,”
(Hab. 2:3). And after divers prophetical predictions, it is said, “These sayings
are faithful and true,” (Rev. 22:6).
(4.) In his commands. All his commands are faithful, and his
law is truth. All his precepts which he has given us are counterparts of his own
heart, real copies of his approving will. The matter of them is exactly
consonant to his holiness, and most acceptable and well-pleasing in his sight.
God approves of all that he commands: so that his precepts are a true and
perfect rule of holiness, without any flaw or defect.
(5.) In his threatenings. They are always accomplished in
their season; not one of them shall fail. Says the Lord to the Jews, by the
prophet, “Did not my word take hold of your fathers,” (Zech. 1:6). And the
apostle Paul tells us, “We are sure that the judgment of God is according to
truth against them which commit such things,” (Rom. 2:2). It is true, indeed,
some threatenings are conditional, and to be understood with the exception of
repentance; so that unfeigned repentance and reformation prevent the execution
of them; as is clear in the case of Nineveh: “At what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down,
and to destroy it: if that nation against whom I have pronounced, turn from
their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them,” (Jer.
18:7,8). But divine threatenings will surely be executed upon impenitent and
incorrigible sinners.
(6.) In his promises. All the promises
are yea and amen, i.e. there shall be an infallible accomplishment of them.
Therefore promised blessings are called sure mercies, (Isa. 55:3). And the
gospel, which is the compend of all the promises, is often called
the word of truth. God’s people have
found the truth of the promises many times in their comfortable experience. Says
Joshua to the Israelites, “Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls,
that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God
spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath
failed thereof,” (Josh. 23:14). Joshua was now about to die, and therefore could
not be supposed to feign and dissemble; and he appeals to their own consciences,
“Ye know,” &c. And Solomon speaks to the same purpose: “Blessed be the Lord,
that hath given rest unto his people
And, [1.] This truth and faithfulness of God shines with
peculiar luster in accomplishing the many promises recorded in the holy
scriptures; such as that made to Abraham concerning his seed, that, after their
sojourning in a strange land four hundred and thirty years, they should come out
again with great substance; which was punctually fulfilled, as Moses tells us,
“And it came to pass, at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the
self-same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the
land of Egypt,” (Exod. 12:41). Such also was the accomplishment of the promise
relating to the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian captivity after
seventy years. No length of time nor distance of place can wear the remembrance
of his promise from the divine mind. “He remembered his holy promise,” says the
Psalmist, “and Abraham his servant,” (Ps. 105:42).
[2.] In accomplishing the promises concerning the Messiah. So
it is said, Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ; grace in regard of our pardon,
and truth in regard of the promise of God. This appears in performing the
promise of Christ’s incarnation after so many revolutions of time, and many
expectations of his coming, and many contrary appearances, and long stay of four
thousand years after the first promise. After all this, God made good his word,
by sending his Son into the world. —It appears in performing the promise of his
death and sufferings. God passed his word to the church, that his Son should
suffer death and the wrath of God for elect sinners. And having once passed his
word for this, he would not spare him. Rather than God should break his word,
his own dear Son must suffer a painful, shameful, and cursed death in his body,
and the wrath of God in his innocent soul. —It appears in performing the promise
of his resurrection from the dead. God had said, he would not leave his soul in
hell, [the state of the dead], nor suffer his holy One to see corruption. This
prophecy and promise was accordingly fulfilled: for he was raised from the dead
in solemn triumph. Angels attended his resurrection, and the earth trembled and
shook, as a sign of triumph and a token of victory; by which Christ intimated to
the whole world, that he had overcome death in his own dominions, and lifted up
his, head as a glorious conqueror over all his enemies. It was promised that he
should rise from the dead on the third day; and this was made good to a tittle.
(3.) In fulfilling his promises, when
great difficulties and seeming improbabilities lay in the way of their
accomplishment. Thus God promised to give Abraham a son, and he made it good,
though Sarah was barren, and both Abraham and she were past age. Again, he
brought back the captives from
(4.) In fulfilling promises to his people, when their hopes
and expectations have been given up; (See instances, Ezek. 37:11; Isa. 49:14).
There may be much unbelief in good men, their faith may be sorely staggered. Yet
God is faithful and true. Men may question his promise, but God cannot deny
himself, (2 Tim. 2:13).
(5.) God’s truth and faithfulness in keeping promise is
confirmed by testimonies given to it by the saints in all ages. They have all
set to their seal that God is true. They have all borne witness for God, and
attested his unspotted faithfulness to the generations that were to come; (See
instances, Deut. 7:9; Josh. 23:14; 1 Kings 8:56; Ps. 146:6). All learned men are
for experiments: now, the saints in all ages have made experiments upon God’s
word of promise, and have always found him to be true and faithful. “The word of
the Lord is tried,” says the Psalmist. None that relied on his promise were ever
disappointed. We may here also take a short view of the grounds of God’s
faithfulness. There are divers glorious attributes and perfections of the divine
nature, upon which his truth and faithfulness in keeping promise is built, as so
many strong and unshaken pillars.
As, 1. His perfect knowledge of all things past. His knowledge
is called “book of remembrance,” (Mal. 3:16), to signify the continual presence
of all things past before him. Men do often break their word, because they
forget their promise; but forgetfulness cannot befall a God of infinite
knowledge. He will ever be mindful of his covenant, and remember his holy
covenant and promises, as the Psalmist speaks.
2. His immutability. Though men in making
promises may have a real purpose to perform them, yet they may afterwards change
their mind. But God is always firm to his purpose, and cannot change his mind,
because of his unchangeable nature, (Mal. 3:6;
3. His power. Whatsoever he hath promised to his people, he is
able to perform it. Sometimes men falsify their promise, and cannot make good
their word through a defect of power. But God never out-promised himself. He can
do whatsoever he pleased to do. It is said, “Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that
did he in heaven and in earth,” (Ps. 135:6) &c. Yea, all things are possible
with God. This was the foundation of Abraham’s faith, which kept it from
staggering at the thoughts of the improbabilities which lay in the way of the
accomplishment of the promises, (Rom. 4:21). In the case of civil debts, many a
man cannot keep his promise, because others break to him. But though the whole
creation should break, God is as able as ever. Hence the prophet says, “Although
the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour
of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be
cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation,” (Hab. 3:17,18).
Believers in Christ can never be undone, though the whole creation should
disband and go into ruin.
4. His holiness. Some men are so wicked and malicious, that
though they can yet they will not keep their word. But it is not so with God. He
cannot be charged with any wickedness; for there is no unrighteousness in him,
(Ps. 92:15) by reason of the perfect holiness of his nature. It is impossible
for him to lie. The deceitfulness and treachery that is to be found in men,
flows from the corruption that is lodged in their hearts: but the divine nature
is infinitely pure and holy. “God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the
son of man that he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath
he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Num. 23:19).
5. His justice and righteousness. A man by virtue of a promise
hath a right to the thing promised; so that it is his due; and justice requires
to give everyone his due. So God by his promise makes himself a debtor, and his
justice obliges him to pay. Hence it is said, “God is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins,” (1 John 1:9). He is faithful to pardon, as he hath
promised it; and faithful in keeping promise, because he is just. Though it was
his goodness and mercy to make the promise, yet his justice binds him to make it
good. It is true, when God makes himself a debtor by his promise, it is indeed a
debt of grace; yet it is a debt which it is just for God to pay. Therefore his
word of promise is called “the word of his righteousness,” (Ps. 119:123).
6. The glory and honor of his name may give us full assurance
of his faithfulness in making good his promises. He doth all things for his own
glory; and therefore, wherever you find a promise, the honor of God is given as
security for the performance of it. Hence his people plead this as a mighty
argument to work for them. So, “What wilt thou do unto thy great name” q.d. “O
Lord, thy honour is a thousand times more valuable than our lives. It is of
little importance what become of us. But, O! it is of infinite importance that
the glory of thy name be secured, and thy faithfulness kept pure and unspotted
in the world.” We find Moses pleading to the same purpose, “Lord why doth thy
wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land
of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the
Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the
mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce
wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people;” “It will be sad enough for
the hands of the Egyptians to fall upon thy people; But infinitely worse for the
tongues of the Egyptians to fall upon thy name,” (Exod. 32:11,12). In a word,
the glory of all God’s attributes is engaged for the performance of his
promises, especially his faithfulness and power. Now, these are strong pillars
upon which God’s truth and faithfulness in keeping promise is built. He can as
soon cease to be omniscient, unchangeable, omnipotent, infinitely just and holy,
as he can cease to be true and faithful. He can as soon divest himself of his
glory, and draw an eternal veil over all the shining perfections and
excellencies of his nature, as cease to be faithful and true.
But it is high time to finish this subject.
Inf. 1. Is God infinitely true? Then all hypocrisy and
dissimulation, all falsehood and dishonesty, all lying, cheating, and double
dealing, is most hateful to God, is most opposite to his holy nature, and flows
from the devil and our lusts, as father and mother to them, (John 8:44).
2. This lets us see what a sure foundation we have for our
faith in believing the truth of what is revealed in the holy scriptures; for
they are the word of the God of truth, the word of God that cannot lie. The
truth of God is an immoveable rock, upon which we may safely venture our
salvation. The public faith of heaven is engaged for the happiness of believers;
and can they ever have better security? The whole earth hangs upon the word of
God’s power; and shall not our faith hang upon the word of God’s truth? There is
nothing else we can rest upon, but the truth and faithfulness of God. We cannot
trust in an arm of flesh, for this will fail us in the time of our need; nor can
we trust in our own hearts, for the Spirit of God tells us that he that doth so
is a fool. All other things are sandy foundations, which cannot abide the storm
and trial: but the truth of God is an immoveable rock that cannot be shaken.
3. Hence we see that the reformed Protestant religion is the
only true religion that is in the world, because it is built upon the infallible
truth and veracity of God. We have reason to be thankful to God, that it is not
built upon such sandy foundations as human unwritten traditions, or any human
testimony whatsoever. It is built upon the God of truth, and not upon fallible
men. We admit the testimony of the church as an help to our faith, but not as
the ground and foundation of it. The precious truths which we believe, we
receive them not upon the testimony of the churches, Popes, or councils, but
upon the testimony of the God of truth that cannot lie. But the Popish religion
hath no sure foundation. The faith of Papists is built upon the testimony of
men; so that their religion hath no more certainty in it, than these men have of
infallibility.
4. Hence we may see matter of dreadful terror to all the
wicked; for all the threatenings and curses of the law of a faithful God stand
in full force against them and will at last overwhelm them with rapid fury, if
they do not fly to the mercy and grace of God, as manifested in Jesus Christ,
who by his obedience unto death satisfied all the demands of law and justice, in
the room of all who will take the benefit of his undertaking. Though in their
atheistical unbelief they may bless themselves, saying, that they shall have
peace, though they walk in the imagination of their hearts, to add drunkenness
unto thirst; yet the Lord will not spare them, but the anger of the Lord and his
jealousy will smoke against them, and all the curses that are written in his
holy book shall light upon them; yea his wrathful vengeance, like an overflowing
scourge, shall sweep them off the sinful stage of time into the depths of the
devouring pit, where is nothing but weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.
5. Lastly, Imitate God in this his adorable perfection, by
“speaking the truth in love,” (Eph. 4:15). Let the strictest rules of truth and
sincerity be observed by you in all your dealings and intercourse with men. Lay
aside all lying, falsehood, and dissimulation, all equivocations and secret
reservations in your words and promises, and speak the truth every man with his
neighbor. Thus we have given you a short description of what God is. Imperfect
it is, and imperfect it must be, seeing he is incomprehensible. Do ye study to
believe what is taught you of God, and apply to him, through the Son of his
love, for further discoveries of his glorious perfections and excellencies; and
at length ye shall see him as he is, having a more enlarged and extensive
knowledge of him, his nature and ways; though even then ye will not be able to
comprehend him. For it was a wise and judicious answer of one that was asked,
What God is? that if he knew that fully, he should be a god himself. And indeed
that being which we can comprehend, cannot be God, because he is infinite. O
study God and ye will increase in the knowledge of him.
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